Knoxville Trip and Caroline Can! – Weekend Part 1

Whew, what an exhausting but wonderful weekend.  This weekend I reclaimed my role as stellar spectator, rather than race participant.  The Boy and I departed early Friday morning for the 500 mile journey down to Knoxville, TN for the Rev 3 Triathlon Series.

 After arriving in Knoxville, we quickly changed and hit the road to attend Moonpies and Moonshine, an event benefiting Caroline Can! I cannot begin to describe how wonderful this event was.  We arrived at a beautiful Southern home, on a balmy Spring night.  Everyone was in good spirits, and incredibly warm and welcoming.  We dined on traditional eats: coleslaw, potato salad, and some pork BBQ for the meat inclined, then topped dinner off with some key lime pie and warm peach cobbler.  OMG yum.  We ate our dinner on the dock as the sun set over the river.  Could not possibly ask for a more serene and peaceful environment.

After dinner we headed up to the house to watch a video and learn more about Caroline Can.  This organization and story are nothing short of inspirational.  The namesake, Caroline, suffered a traumatic brain injury 5 years ago.  She began her treatment at the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center, and through the strength of her will, the support of her family, and the amazing care and support from the Rehab Center, Caroline has been able to progress and inspire others.  Her family is probably the most supportive, positive and selfless bunch I have ever encountered.  They set up the campaign in order to raise money for the Rehab Center, to give back to the organization, and help others who have suffered similar injuries.

The video was beautiful.  It was emotional and raw, while uplifting, touching and exciting.  Caroline’s exuberance was contagious, and the atmosphere was so positive and warm.  The video was followed by a performance by Us Two and Him, a Bluegrass group whose lead singer just so happens to be Caroline’s Uncle Phil, the “him” in the title.  Their performance was fun and humorous, and really just capped off an unbelievable evening.

In addition to the event, Caroline and her brothers continue to inspire by actually competing in the Rev 3 OLYMPIC distance triathlon.  That’s 1500m swim, 26ish mile bike, and a 10K.  In the water, Caroline is pulled by her brothers, Reid and Jay, in a canoe-like apparatus.

This race, the bike wasn’t in working condition, so the boys rode on together.  Here’s what it looks like normally (top middle):

Caroline rejoined them for the run, and they finished strong!

Family Support 🙂

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rewinding just a bit to earlier in the day…

Conveniently, Blacksburg, Virginia, home of the Virginia Tech Hokies, was due to be passed riiiiiight around lunchtime, perfect!  A bunch of my high school friends went to college there, but I had never been so I was really excited to check it out.

The campus was lovely.  It had unique architecture, which gave the whole campus a unified feel.  There were tons of students out and about, probably celebrating their last few days on campus, since it was Graduation Weekend.  We travelled to the main strip on campus, where there were local restaurants and shops.  It was a super cute college town, and it was really nice to just be able to walk around and enjoy it.

We sought gastronomical guidance from a VT grad who gave us two perfect options:  1. Cabo’s Fish Taco’s (described as “the best fish taco’s” our recommender had ever had, so who could resist!), and 2. Gillies, a vegetarian friendly restaurant down the block.  While the Boy enjoyed his fish taco delight, I pondered the options at Gillie’s.  It’s certainly not often I have too many options as a vegetarian, and I was rather excited by it.

I decided to go bold: Tofu Reuben.  Whoa.  I figured, when in Blacksburg…get a veg New York specialty??  Okay, perhaps that logic doesn’t quite make sense to some, but it was a perfect choice.  The tofu with the sauerkraut and melted cheese with the Russian dressing and marbled rye danced over my taste buds and formed a perfectly delicious and balanced sandwich.  Win.

 

Stay tuned for a running tour of Knoxville and a Race Recap!

Pike’s Peek 10K Race Recap!

Phew.  Glad that’s over! I raced the Pike’s Peek 10K this morning.  Here’s the start!

Results!

Final Finish Time:    54:52

Pace:   8:49

Place:  Finished 391 out of 1445 women, 59 out of 203 in my age group.  Almost top quarter so not too bad.

Here are my splits:

Mile	Pace
1	8:40
2	8:40
3	8:48
4	8:57
5	9:08
6	8:56
.2	1:22 (6:49 pace!)

I felt really strong the first two miles, and felt like I was maintaining a steady pace (which apparently I was).  3rd mile….about 3/4 miles up hill.  Now, we’re not talking Mt. Everest here, it was a slight incline.  But man oh man did it tucker me out!  The effect hit me at mile 4…I started bonking.  I walked a few times.  Had to catch my breath.  Plus, my stomach tightened up and I started feeling my toe nails cutting into my toes.  So, mile 5 was no bueno.

Around 5.6, I looked at my watch and thought “okay, you don’t feel great, but you’ve been training for this for so long.  Now suck it up and get to that finish line.”  Which I did!  The last half mile or so I ran in the low 8s, and totally gave it all I had to cruise to the finish.  It helped that the last .2 was a niiiice down hill.

My heart rate was pretty insane.  The last chunk it got up to 202 beats per minute.  Considering your max is supposed to be 200, that’s pretty high.  But, for me, 190 is pretty typical at high exertion so it makes sense.

Honestly, it was a great race.  The packet pickup was easy, and race day was well organized.  Plenty of parking, not terrible traffic. The course was great, although I could have done with a few less inclines, there were way more gentle declines where you could really stride out.  Plus, the weather was perfect for a race, about mid 50s and sunny.  Added bonus: Plenty of Port-o-Potty’s which is usually a HUGE problem with races.

Post race was also quite well done with music and a bouncy house (there was a kid’s fun run), along with a TON of food.  The most I’ve ever seen at a race.

While in theory this was great, I found the food options quite ironic.  See, the race was hosted by Kaiser Permanente, a health care provider.  I expected, ya know, healthy choices.  Not so much.  Options:  Pizza. Popeye’s Fried Chicken.  All meat subs (no veg option).  Pulled Pork and Chicken BBQ.  Donuts.  Chinese Food.  Ice cream.

Hmmm.  Strange.  Adding to the irony, Whole Foods had a table, so I hoped for good stuff there.  Fail – They were only handing out water…and pamphlets!  Egads.

Definitely a little shocked that a race promoting health and well-being chose these options, but I was probably the only one bothered.  People were stoked.  It’s a super bummer when you finish a race and the post race festivities and food suck so, all in all, still a well-done race I would definitely do again.  (**Note, I’d perhaps be less on my soap box had the Popeye’s tent had biscuits.  I LOVE buttermilk biscuits.  But since they didn’t, I could pretend I had willpower 😉 )

Anyhoo, we held off on eating the race food in favor of The Original Pancake House which I’ve been wanting to try forever.  Totally worth it.  I got a simple meal: Buttermilk pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs.  Pancakes were sweet and rich and fluffy and delicious.  Hashbrowns were crispy and the eggs were light and well done.

Last tidbit.  While we were on our way back to the car, we saw a pair of newly weds who had just raced together.  How do I know you ask?  Perhaps because they were dressed like this:

So Cute!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And just in case you’re interested, here are the workouts for the week:

Monday: Off

Tuesday: Ladder sprints (1600, 1200, 800, 400 then repeat)

Wednesday: Swim – 100m w/u, 5x100m, 100m kick [repeat], 400m c/d – about a mile, not bad 🙂

Thursday: Tempo – 2x2mile at about 8:40 first, then about 9:00 second, plus half mile warm up and cool down.  Kinda slow, I think the swim the night before tuckered me out!

Friday: Slow and Steady 4 miler.  Didn’t want to press my luck before the race, just ran a few to loosen up.

Saturday:  Off

Sunday:  Race Day!

Final Countdown!

Well, race day is less than 2 weeks away, it’s time to get serious!  My goal for the next two weeks exercise wise is just to train smart and keep it up.  My bigger goal is to fix my nutrition.  I’ve fallen into a big eating rut, wherein I eat anything and everything I want…and it has to stop.  I just feel gross and I’m not sleeping and I don’t feel healthy.  So, beginning this post on Monday and updating throughout the week, hopefully I’ll have good news by the end!

Monday: 10K time trial – 54:11

So, the time I’m happy with (it’s exactly an 8:45 pace), but it’s misleading as it doesn’t include stops.  The run itself was pretty bad.  My stomach was not in good shape (see nutrition above), the room was really hot, and I SWEAR my garmin was going way slower than I was (this, however, is exceedingly unlikely as the last time I calibrated it, it was dead on).  Not the best of ways to start the week.

Tuesday: Fartlek – 4.5miles

Decided to just wing it this morning!  The workout consisted of 90, 60, and 30 second intervals at 8.0, 8.3, and 8.5 pace (between 7 and 7:30 per mile), up and down the ladder for about 3 and a half miles, with warm up and cool down added in 🙂  Actually a fun way to spice it up and keep myself entertained!

Wednesday: Body Pump Class

Fun class, lots of work with the bar, isolating muscle groups (bicep, tricep, shoulder/back, quad and hamstring, abs)…good cross training day.  Description of the Class: “BodyPump is the original barbell class that strengthens your entire body. This workout challenges all your major muscle groups by using the best weight-room exercises like squats, presses, lifts and curls. Great music, awesome instructors and your choice of weight inspire you to get the results you came for – and fast.”

Friday: Pilates and abs

Saturday:  Outside run on a local trail – 6.5miles

Set out on a beautiful morning for my last outdoor run before the race.  Unfortunately, I didn’t prepare that well.  I wore much heavier clothes than the weather demanded, and the high 70s sunny temperature certainly required water that I definitely didn’t bring.  Tough run but I’m super glad I got out there and did it.

Sunday: Laundry malfunction – no workout.  Note to readers:  Even if you think you’re being all on top of stuff by doing laungry on Saturday…make sure you either also put said laundry in the dryer, or leave out what you need for your Sunday morning workout.  Oops.

Workout Round up, gearing up for the race!

Monday:  Cardio mix  – 20 min elliptical, 1 mile row, 8 min stair step, 10 min stationary bike.  After yesterday’s LSD, I wanted to still get in a work out and sweat a bit, but give my joints a rest 🙂

Tuesday: Tempo – 5 miles

Half mile warm up at 6.0, then 2 x 2 miles at race pace (7.0 = about 8:20-8:30 pace).  The pace was a touch ambitious.  I had to hold on to the sides a few times to open my lungs.  After the first set, I stepped off the treadmill and walked around the gym for about 2 minutes, then hopped back on.  I had to lower the speed to 6.7 for a bit, I was feeling really tired!  I also stepped off for about 30 seconds between the 3rd and 4th mile.

Weekly workouts :)

So, you *may* have noticed a lack of workout posts.  This is directly correlated to the lack of workouts.   I tried to distract you through pictures and food, but, fact of the matter is I haven’t been very consistent lately, and the workouts I have done haven’t exactly been blog worthy!  But, with my race 4 short weeks away, there’s no more time for laziness and excuses!

Race Recap – Scope it Out 5K

First I’ll reveal that if you go to their website, you won’t find my name   This is because I didn’t actually register.  I was on the fence about the race until the night before.  Things were so hectic with the move, and I didn’t work out nearly as much as I should have (meaning only 2 runs prior to the race) and I ate terribly, trying to work my way through the culinary delights of my new home.

Workouts 2/27 – 3/4

Monday: LSD

Actually Slow this week.  Props to me 🙂  It took just over 68 minutes (average of 9:43 pace).  That is a very long time!  But, in order to “absorb the gains” and all that, I kept it slow.  My heart rate was under 160 until about the 4th mile, and under 170 until the 6th.  I call that a win!

Tuesday:  Tempo

5 min @ 6.0 warm up and cool down

2 miles at 5K race pace (6.8 on the treadmill, watch showing anywhere between 8:30 and 8:45 pace, probably an average of 8:40).

It was pretty tough…felt really heavy.  But, happy I did a legit tempo.  Aaaaand it shows me just how much work I have to do before race season.

Yoooooou guessed it- Weekly Workout Wrap up!

Not the most awesome of workout weeks.  No excuses, I wasn’t that stressed, wasn’t really sleeping well.  But, I just didn’t really wanna.  Bad I know, but sometimes, you just gotta listen to your body.  So Weds and Thursday, I gave myself a break 🙂

Plus, I was anxiously hoping for good news….which I got!  I’ll post separately about it, but teaser – I got a new job back near DC doing exactly what I want to do!!  I could not possibly be more excited 🙂

Monday:  Cardio Dance Class!

Workouts 2/13-2/19

Monday: off

Tuesday: Fartlek (speed play) – this is a new one for me.  It’s meant to train your body to move faster, but only over short distances, and keep the variance up so you don’t get used to it!

Start with 5 minutes of easy running at 6.1:

One pickups of:

• 90 seconds hard followed by 90 seconds of easy recovery running
• Hard at 7.3, recovery at 6.3

Four pickups of:

• 60 seconds hard followed by 60 seconds of easy recovery running

First 2 sets hard at 7.5, 3rd at 7.7, fourth at 8.0, recover 6.5

• 30 seconds hard followed by 30 seconds of easy recovery running

First 2 sets at 7.7, 3rd at at 8.0, fourth at 8.3

• 15 seconds hard followed by 15 seconds of easy recovery running

First 2 sets at 8.0, 3rd at at 8.0, fourth at 8.3

One pickups of:

• 90 seconds hard followed by 90 seconds of easy recovery running
• Hard at 7.5, recovery at 6.5

5 min cool down at 6.5

10K training plan and workouts :)

As I indicated back in January, I’m gearing up for my first 10K in a couple years.  I’m registered (first step!) for the Pike’s Peak 10K on April 29, 2012. The race schedule has also changed, various things added and subtracted, so once I figure it out more clearly, I’ll post it 🙂

I wanted to train properly for it, so last week I set about making a race plan.  I combined two different programs (seen here and here), along with the advice of The Boy, and came up with the following.

Week	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.	Total
	LSD	Tempo	Hills		Speed	Cross Train
1	4mi	3mi	5-6 Long Hills 4mi		Intervals 6 x400m 5mi			15-17
2	5mi	Fartlek 3mi	Short Hills 4 mi		Yasso 5 mi			16-18
3	6mi	Fartlek 3mi	Long Hills 4 mi		Yasso 5 mi			17-19
4	7mi	Fartlek 3mi	4-5 hills 5K-10K pace		.75mi intervals 5mi			18-20
5	10K race pace	5 x 440s 5K-10K pace	Short Hills 4 – 5 mi		3×1600 intervals 5mi			19-21
6	8mi	Fartlek 4mi	3-4 Long Hills 5K-10K pace		Yasso 5mi			21-23
7	7mi	Fartlek 4mi	Short Hills 5mi		Intervals 400m 4mi	Off	5K RACE	23
8	Off	Fartlek 4mi	Long Hils 5K-10K pace		Yasso 5mi			13-15
9	8mi	Fartlek 5mi	Long Hills 5mi		Ladder intervals: 1600, 1200, 800, 400 – 5mi			22-24
10	7mi	Fartlek 5mi	Short Hills		Yasso 5mi			22-24
11	6mi	Fartlek 4mi	Long Hills		Ladder intervals			18-22
12	Off	Fartlek 3mi	Short Hills		Yasso 4mi		RACE DAY	12 + race

*Notes – some workouts are still up for debate, and this is subject to change based on how often I travel on weekends.

*I’d prefer to do my LSD on weekends like normal people, but that’s not possible when I’m out of town AND it’s freezing!  So, this is the best I could do given my time constraints.