One (competition) year later.....

[LLJ]

Hey all: Yesterday I raced in the Flat as A Pancake Duathlon. It was my first race back a year ago, a scant 6 months after surgery. This year my goal was to finish better than last year, hoping to come closer to the year prior to surgery when I won my age group in this race. Well, the 90 degree temperature and intense humidity conspired against me. For all of you who have read any race report I give (like there's so many...) I always do the good news /bad news.
The bad news: My time was overall the same as last year.
My bike,which is usually strong, would make Flyod Landis consider taking drugs (OOOps, not my fault!)
The good news: I wasn't one of the athletes they had to pack in ice and take in the EMS van.
I wasn't the athlete that threw up from heat exhaustion
I wasn't the athlete who stopped and walked and then quit before the race was over.
The good news: I finished! My first run time was the best I've had since surgery!
I stopped for a full 5 mnutes each transition to cool down with ice on my neck and under my arms and pour water on myself.( The race director -a good friend- asked me if I was getting a pedicure)
I stopped each water stop and got ice to re apply to my neck in my bandanna.
The best news of all: I really think I could have run faster, biked harder and done better,but I didn't!!
Follow me here, I am happy because I felt GREAT after the race was done and invited other racers to join me in the "dance" portion of the event! Maybe not a pretty sight: sweaty people with weak legs dancing....(There was a great DJ at the finsh line as well as an shower!) I knew if I pushed harder I might have hurt myself and never would have forgiven myself for being such an idiot!
Some of you might understand feeling lousy after a race and not doing great prior to surgery. I can't wait to race again, I feel good today and I really know I will do better in the next one! (Unless it stays at 110 like they're predicting this week. Good thing there's no such thing a s global warming!)
Tommy I read your post and it was so appropriate!
LLJ

 

[Mary]

 

[BillCobit]

Great job, Laura!

Surviving the heat is no trivial feat. Sounds like you were conditioned for it and smart. The ice trick is great and it really works. A few years ago I survived a 95 degree tri by packing my cap full of ice every mile on the "run" (sooo glad they had it available!). On the other hand, early season heat did me in this year when I set a personal worst that was nowhere near as "good" as my first post-op race

Most importantly, it's good to see you are maintaining that great attitude and having fun. Was there a race photographer there? We'd really like to see a link to the dance pic

Thanks again for all of your help w/ my knee. I'm doing really well - no problem doing several hikes in the Adirondacks two weeks ago, and I'm running and cycling like before. Still doing my rehab exercises at the gym.

Looking forward to your next race report.

Cheers,

 

[Philip]

Good Job!!

Give it up....you don't seem shy! Please give us times and distances.

This brings up other questions for all the competitive athletes out there:

How long surgery did you wait until your first race?

When did you first feel that you could SAFELY race or train at maximum intensity?

Philip

 

[LLJ]

Thanks Mary, Bill and Phil! Bill:Glad to hear your knee is coming along! It's amazing how heat can affect you. I was reading an article in the Sunday times a few weeks ago saying how extreme heat can take major time off a runners performance and endanger them. (Great reading before a race,huh?)
Phillip: I am 1 1/2 years out and personally didn't feel comfortable pushing to my "max" until last month. That is when I felt I had trained back to somewhere near my pre surgery conditioning. I am not there yet. It's a long road,which is probably affected by alot of things personal to each individual's physiology.
As far as numbers: Get ready: first run 10.3 minute per mile pace/15.9 mph bike pace/ 12 minute miles on the last run. As I said, my bike was way below what I would normally do even in training rides,but oh well. Nothing glorious,but I was happy to finish healthy and feeling like I had done a training brick instead of a race. My goal is to win my age group back again next year.
As soon as I find photos I will post them (if I can figure out how) Sorry,no dancing shots were taken !
LLJ

 

[msiwik]

Congrats!

Congrats!

Hey Teammate: Great job; great attitude. Heat is a killer which is outside of our control - I think we lose 10 seconds off our optimal pace for every degree over 60 so take that into consideration. Take care, Mark

 

[PJmomrunner]

It's amazing how heat can affect you. I was reading an article in the Sunday times a few weeks ago saying how extreme heat can take major time off a runners performance and endanger them.

Is this the same article that talked about using glycerine to help retain water--something like "each glycerine molecule holds on to three water molecules". That really was a good article to read before a race if it's the same one I saw. I like to read about others' runs and live vicariously....thanks for sharing.

 

[tommy]

Laura, way to go! You are a winner!

Heat is a huge downer for me. Based on heart rate recovery, I figure that 85 vs 60 is worth about 15 beats per minute. Jeff Galloway's marathon training book says that 60-85 is worth 2 minutes per mile. Add another minute pre mile if humidity is over 60%.

Lately even my early morning runs start in the upper 70's. My endurance pace is 12-13 min/mile at 125 BPM. When the sun comes up and temps reach 85, I get wiped out pretty darn quick. Yesterday I sweated 10 ounces per mile. I actually welcome a stiff breeze.

I remember Bill's ice trick. It seems that the events I sign up for seldom have ice. So I don't wear a cap. Wouldn't cha know it, the last one had ice and I had no cap. I grabbed two cups, screamed "Hallelujah", thanked the volunteers profusely, drank one, poured the other over my head and held on to the ice, dropping some down my shirt until it was gone (didn't take long).

The Athens Olympic Marathon was run at about 95F. I guess they train in the heat. Oh to be young and have nothing better to do in the middle of the day but run run run

 

[MikeL]

Pace

Pace

Hey Tommy,
I always appreciate your posts especially regarding pace, endurance and post surgery expectations. I'm in my 6th month post op and my cardiologist told me to slow things down. I was ending my runs with a HR of about 150, which for a 51 year old post op patient is a bit more than he liked. Actually , I should have known better. So I followed his advice and keep my HR to 120-125. And my pace ends up being around 12 minutes per mile give or take. I bought a Nike heart monitor to wear during my runs. Besides giving me continuous HR info, it keeps me from looking at the time. Reading about your experiences also helps me. I'm anxious to race again but will have to wait until my cardio gives me the green light for a higher level of exertion.

 

[LLJ]

Wow, Tom what a science you've got this down to! You can't help but suceed! Yes PJMomrunner, it was the same article. I further researched glycerin loading and found it is probably not something cardiac patients want to do. Unless you do it exactly right (like swallowing lubricant is my idea of a good time) you can end up with swelling and fluid retention in places like your lungs and other organs. I guess we just have to do it the old fashioned way. Thanks everyone for the great feedback----as usual!
LLJ

 

[mntbiker]

Laura,
Congratulations on another successful race. I always enjoy your race reports and look forward to the next one.

That was a tremendous performance.


15.9 mph bike pace - hmmm - I have biker in my name and don't ride at that pace.

 

[tommy]

Laura, I guess its the engineer in me. I like to find out the cause/effect of what I'm experiencing. Then I like to quantify it if possible. It's a learning process. As usual, the more I know (or think I know), the more I realize how little I know.

Heat is such a big boogaboo for me. Some of it may by the memory of barely finishing a marathon in 85F. But surely, it's physical.

Mike, Welcome to VR.com. I'm glad to see that somebody reads my ramblings. We're the same age, but my surgery was 5 1/2 years ago. I enjoy finishing a long run with a bit of a spurt. It's probably good for you to back off on that for now. There's plenty of time.

I'd love to hear more about your progress. Feel free to start another thread to keep us up to speed (pun intended).

I agree about the monitor. I look at my watch less for two reasons. One, because the thing beeps at me, but also because times are not the focus for most of my training. Times are the result, not the objective. Training in the right zone is the objective. I'm still learning the zones (see paragraph 1 ).