This weekend was certainly one of the more interesting ones I've had in a while. I got back from New Hampshire Saturday night, watched a couple of episodes of Futurama on Netflix, and then just passed out for about 7 hours only to wake up at 5AM to get ready to do it all again.
This time, I was to be the runner on a triathlon relay team covering the half Ironman distance; though the Ironman phrase was no where to be found since this was not one of their events. Its a good thing there is not a company that owns the phrase "marathon." Anyway, this race, the Half Full Triathlon had the half, as well as an olympic triathlon, and relays for both races.
The half required 0.9 miles of swimming, 56 miles of biking, and a half marathon run. My team was "sponsored" by Cerasport, a small company that makes its own rice based electrolyte drink. We got a free entry ($270 for the team) and tri jerseys to run in, as well as a bunch of free cerasport mix. It actually tastes pretty good; not as sweet as Gatorade.
Of course, 0.9 miles of swimming and 56 miles of biking takes a really freaking long time. So although I got to the race at 6:30 (advantage: parking near the start), I didn't actually start my run until about 11:15. It was also rather cold to be standing around outside waiting, not to mention I needed a big breakfast to actually survive until the race.
After having an awesome breakfast from one of the race day vendors: eggs, bacon, hash browns, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and cheese, I went to my car and basically slept in warmth until 10:20AM. Maybe not the best pre-race meal but like I said, I was hungry!
By 11:20 my cyclist handed the chip off to me and I was off to the races. It was hard to tell of our exact position (turned out we were 5th off the bike), and I had no idea who I even needed to pass. There were individuals, a couple of relay divisions, and the course was two loops. I figured if I just passed a lot of people, we would gain a few spots.
I went out rather relaxed since this was basically going to just be a marathon paced run. I got an awful lot of comments about how strong I looked (some of them in a very condescending tone, because apparently running well is offensive) even though I wasn't really running an earth shattering pace. Silly multi sport athletes...
I actually started my watch in the wrong place inside transition...it should have been when I got out and a couple of the mile markers seemed like they were off, not to mention that the whole course may have been slightly short (though running out of transition probably made up for it). I've actually noticed this a lot in multi sport events; courses don't always seem quite as accurate as road races. But whatever, it was close enough.
My average ended up being 6:09 pace for a 1:20:35 overall. I actually continued to feel stronger as the race went on and slowly picked it up as I was not on marathon pace initially. I felt rather refreshed at the end of the race, which is how I should feel if this were a marathon paced run. Combine my 1:18:45, and I've got a "2 day marathon" time under 2:40. I have no idea what that means, but it certainly shouldn't be a bad thing, and can't be any more worthless than Yasso 800s for measuring marathon readiness (yea I said it).
As it turns out, I pretty much sandbagged the shit out of this race. What I intended to do Saturday actually happened Sunday in much more dramatic fashion. Our team ended up winning, and apparently the next closest relay runner's time was in excess of 1:40. Yea....
We got some beer mugs and got to stand on top of a podium, so that was fun.
Overall, I'm pleased. My only concern is my left leg. My left quad which was tight last week seems to have been re-aggravated by all the flying/driving I did this week (lots of car ride time in NH). It might be my left glute that is causing the issue since it hurts to sit down on it sometimes. It may be so tight that it is pulling on my leg or something.
Regardless, it felt better during today's race than yesterday's. Stretching helps, as does staying warm and not in freezing cold rain; recently I've been lax in stretching. I'll probably take Monday off unless I suddenly feel better and see how it is Tuesday morning.
Mileage for the week...Mid 60s for running, only 55 on the bike; no time for cycling...
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