Birmingham

2012 Racing

OutForARunAdmin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:15:00 +0000

Mercedes Marathon – Birmingham, AL February 12, 2012

This was my big target through out the winter and I attacked it with everything that I had. Coming off a disappointing showing in Miami for the Half Ironman, I kind of threw myself right back into training mode after two weeks off. Some people say I ran the risk of burn out but I knew I was good to go. I was mentally strong to push the marathon and my body felt strong to handle the training through winter.

Birmingham was a big success for me. A very nice PR of 2:56:22 on a deceptively hilly course (at least for me)…almost a full nine minutes from what I did in Piney Point last spring. For that day on that race course the 2:56 was the best time that I could have ran but I know there is more out there for me to grab. But for the time being I am going to enjoy being a sub 3 marathoner and wait for next goal to present itself in time. No need to rush it. It will come.

Boston Marathon – Boston, MA April 16, 2012

After running my first marathon with Lindsey (San Diego RockN’ Roll) in 2008 I never envisioned myself with the speed needed to qualify for Boston. The first one was a very painful 3:48 and change. After four years, 10 marathons, and endless miles I will be toeing the start line in Hopkington, MA in a couple of weeks and will cross the finish line 26 miles later as an official Boston Marathon runner. I have no plans what so ever to “race” Boston. This one will be for fun. I put my work already for this race. See Piney Point 2011. The current plan is to run somewhere in the neighborhood of 3:10-3:15…but we will see how it goes. I am kind of sad that I do not get to share this moment with Lindsey. (The real runner who qualified for Boston in her first marathon)

We will be traveling with my parents to Boston and will have two full days in New England to just hang out. Besides getting some Boston Marathon swag and taking my picture by the sign in Hopkington, MA I am looking forward to a mini vacation and taking in my the sights and sounds the Patriot’s Day race has to offer.

500 Festival Mini Marathon – Indianapolis, IN May 5, 2012

This race kind of came out of nowhere. Despite that, I’m excited to race this distance. It has been a long time since I have specifically set out to race a half marathon. My current unofficial best half was in February at Mercedes when I came through the half way point at 1:26…on a hilly course in the middle of a full.

I have already begun my transitions toward Iroman base building so I am not doing any running specific for this race besides making sure I am getting in a weekly tempo or speed workout. Despite this, I am confident that I can run in the low 1:20-1:22…which would be a great get for me. The only thing that has me a bit concerned is my placement in the starting corrals. The Indy Mini is the biggest half in the country and I was unable to obtain seeding since I signed up so late so I am curious how far back I will get placed. I would really hate to spend 8 miles dodging traffic. I might just have to do a little gate hoping right before the gun time and cozy into the A corral.

High Cliff Triathlon (Half Iron Distance) – Lake Winnebago, WI June 16, 2012

Brian Meyer, who I am doing IMWI with in September, came up with this race. It will fit nicely into the Ironman prep to test out the fitness, recon Wisconsin a little and get back into the triathlon endurance mindset. I don’t really have any expectations for this race but after a disappointment in Miami last October it would be nice to have strong Half Iron race under my belt.

Ironman Wisconsin – Madison, WI September 9, 2012

The big one! It seems so long ago that I signed up for this race. It sold out in a little over 24 hours an entire year before race day. At this point into the racing season (it hasn’t really started for a lot of people) I am pretty excited about the challenge of a full distance triathlon. I have no idea what to expect come race day but I am looking forward to it for sure.

I’ve been slowly building some bike strength and have been getting back into the water for a couple of weeks now. If I can keep up with my cycling I think I will be in a good spot come September. It should really start to pick up intensity after Boston and especially after the Mini in May.

I went mountain biking the other day with a guy who happened to be the founder of Headsweats. He was talking Ironman, his company is heavily involved in the sport, and he made a great observation. He told me for the first Ironman be careful not to put so much mental stress on yourself that you become overwhelmed and pace yourself because it is a long day. Seems like great advice to me! I look forward to the mental and physical challenge.

Tentative:

A couple of Sprint or Olympic distance races just for fun. Last year I really enjoyed doing the shorter races leading up to Ironman Miami and I think I might throw in a couple this year. These distances are so much different than the long/ultra distance races that I am use too and I love the “all-out” nature they present. Indy and the surrounding communities have a great triathlon season so I will have a wide variety of choices when it comes to sprints/Olympics to choose from.

Be consistent and Be smart. You will see results.

Glenn

Mercedes Marathon – Number 10 for Glenn!

OutForARunAdmin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:41:00 +0000

We headed to Birmingham, Alabama for Glenn’s 10^th marathon. I was a little sad that I wouldn’t be running my 10^th marathon also. Apparently there are more important things happening that I am in charge of though. We had Greg along with us for this trip, which means we are RVing it. We were pleasantly surprised with how nice our hotel was- it was a definite upgrade from our standard Extended Stays that we had recently been staying at for races.

On Saturday we hit the expo, lost my wallet, worked out and went out to dinner with friends my dad met mountain biking last summer. The man does not know a stranger. And these people were awesome.

Marathon Morning- Glenn’s up at 4:30am, which means I’m up at 4:30am. I know he’s nervous, but trying to shake it. He had trained so hard & smart for 14 weeks to break 3 hours and I knew he was ready for it. No matter how prepared you get for a race though, you never know what’s really going to happen.


Getting read to head out and race!

Factors you have the ability to control in a marathon:

Did you train well? Not over or under training.
Were you smart about hydrating and clean eating in days leading up to the race?
Are you motivated?
You better not go out to fast, or too slow. Either one can screw up your time; especially once you’ve started running at a speed that has little room for error when trying to PR. You can only push yourself so hard in the first half, if you want to be strong in the second and you can only make up so much time in the second half if you drug your feet getting started. You can control your consistency and you have to.
Are you willing to hurt and let’s face it… not be a big freaking wuss? Because in all honesty if you are going to have a good race and PR, it’s going to hurt and if it doesn’t…. you can probably run a lot faster than you think you can.
Are your ready for those last 6 miles? You can’t make it to mile 20 and think your almost there. There is a lot of racing, mentally & physically in the last 6 miles.

Factors you can’t control in a marathon:

Yikes, this course is hillier than I realized. Unless you’ve ran the course, those elevation maps can sometimes fool you.
Bad cramps – stomach, legs. Most cramps you can work through, but some can really hinder you.
Injury that happened leading up to the race or race day.
OFF DAYS. The absolute worst…. When there is no good reason you just didn’t have it in your bones that day. There’s not much worse than the feeling of failure for no good reason…. Just being off. And we’ve all had those days.

Finishing out mile 20

We saw Glenn at mile seven, twenty and the finish. At mile seven, I was a little confused as to why so many people were ahead of him and was worried I missed him when I saw some many females cruising by. When he came by at 6:24 pace, he looked very comfortable but I wasn’t overly excited. That’s a great pace, but come on…. We all know seven miles is when your just getting warmed up and the racing is about to start. Anyone can go out to hard and just lose it after even thirteen miles. Oh and I also realized I forgot there were half marathoners among the full marathoners at this point and that’s why there were so many people ahead of him.

So we walked the course a bit and cheered for other runners, as I received updates on my phone at his 15K and 30K. Once I received the 30K update (6:26 pace at 18.6 miles… that’s pretty darn consistent), I knew he was right around the corner and had been counting the lead runners to see what place he was rolling in. The first place male was smoking everyone… no competition for him.

I threw my coat off and ran with him for about 25 meters (about as far as this pregnant girl can run at 6:26 pace!) and helped him open his mini cliff bar (we both had numb hands). He looked strong and confident and said he felt fine. I screamed to stay strong and push when it hurts for the last 6 miles.

Dad and I made the 1.5 mile walk to the finish line and cheered on all the runners finishing the full and half along the way. I posted up at mile 26 right where the clock was and anxiously waited for him to make his way up the road. (this was a two loop course) From where I was standing, you could see about a quarter of a mile down the road. As the clock ticked away I was getting nervous. It was at 2:50 when I posted up, so he essentially had around nine minutes to get to where I was standing. When you are running a sub three hour marathon…. Nine minutes is a lot of time.

I knew how hard he worked and how disappointed he would be if he didn’t break three hours. His PR leading up to the race was 3:05, and even though any kind of PR is great, he wanted to break that three hour benchmark and he was prepared to do it. I also knew that there were some nasty hills miles 20-22 so it was hard telling what that would do to his body.

Up the last incline to finish mile 26!

Four LONG minutes later, I see him passing someone coming up the road. I yelled and screamed. He was there and he could walk to the finish and still break three hours. He waved and said hi and ran on by. I sprinted to the finish and the clock rolled over to 2:56:44, with his official time being 2:56:22. PROUD.

This is what you look like after run 26.2 miles at 6:44 pace

Glenn is a very good example of hard work paying off. His first marathon was 3:49. At that time he had no idea what his potential was and never saw a 2:56 coming down the road. He learned how to really train and work hard even when you don’t think you can.

Some people are clearly born with a natural talent to run, but that doesn’t mean they don’t work their asses off to get where they are going. Some people aren’t born with a natural talent, but are determined to pursue their dreams, weather that is a 4:30 marathon or a 2:30 marathon. Glenn pursued his dream today and was willing to work for it, and I am proud to be his wife. He has inspired me to PR once my body is ready to make that happen.

Congratulations on an amazing race Glenn. We finished off our trip to Birmingham with some Dreamland BBQ. It was delicious.

Now that’s a lot of ribs!

Celebrating!

Hey Greg!

Things Keep Changing…..

OutForARunAdmin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:45:00 +0000

My energy came back two weeks ago. I am super thankful for that, but due to the fact that I was so tired and ditched a lot of workouts in my first trimester, I feel that I have some major catching up to do. You really can’t just ramp it up when your 17 weeks pregnant.

I am excited about seeing my belly grow, but I am not totally excited about anything else growing. I don’t like that my legs and butt don’t feel as tight and I want to stop it. I’ve started doing lunges every other day and am incorporating more low key strength training into my workouts now. Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I can’t be fit.

I am learning to be comfortable with 30-45 minutes of cardio and weights. A year ago a 30 minute run was something I considered a cool down, or at best just something to shake my anxiety if I hadn’t made time to workout that day. The thought of going an entire week without at least one good 10 mile run was crazy talk to me. Even when not training for a marathon, I always like to stay in shape to hop in and run one if i want. Keeping a good base made that easy.

Now that my base is a 4 mile run rather than a 10-15 mile run….. I feel a little uneasy. What will it feel like to get out there and start speed work again or go on a 20 mile run? Will my body feel entirely different? I know people bounce back and are incredible athletes after having a baby, but will I have the motivation when I am sleep deprived and exhausted? Right now I feel motivated and plan to keep working out 5-6 days a week throughout the pregnancy. I know for sure I want to run at least one marathon in the fall and we’ll go from there.

Regardless of my fear of fitness loss, I don’t want to take away from the fact that I can’t wait to hold my baby and try my hardest to be a well balanced, mom. I was fortunate enough to be in the room when my sister had her baby and it was the craziest, most amazing experience of my life. I originally thought it might horrify me to the point of being way to scared to do it myself, but luckily she had a great labor and when her baby girl came into the world there was nothing on the planet that I loved more than her. I couldn’t believe how much I could love a baby that wasn’t even mine.

In other news, I really can’t wait for Glenn’s marathon, which has been switched to the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham, AL rather than Myrtle Beach (turns out Myrtle Beach was on the same day as our niece Sofia’s 1st birthday). The race is three weeks from today and I can’t wait to see him break 3 hours. We’re packing up the RV and heading down to AL with Greg. I plan to run the 5K that day and then head out on the course to find him at miles 14 and 21…. at least that’s the plan for now!

He’s fast and he’s gonna break 3:00 hrs.. I know it…. I’ll be tweeting live updates don’t worry! @LindseyHein