IAFE 5k

This race, if you want to call it that, I do every year at the International Association of Fairs and Expos trade show that my work exhibits in Las Vegas. This race consists of 10-15 people doing a 1 mile walk and 5-10 people doing the 5k. The people that do the run are the people you would typically see starting in the back of a regular 5k race. Last year I won this race so I was back to defend my title. Haha. There is one guy that beat me the first year I did it, I beat him last year and this year...he won. I just did not have it again. I looked up the elevation differences: Des Moines 900ft, Las Vegas 2,000ft. That slight difference I can really feel when I am running. This year I ran 2 miles before the race even started because they don't warm up. Well, they do, you run down the hall of the conference space and group stretch. Not enough for someone looking to get out and get moving right away. The course is around Bally's. Some areas are scary because we are running through the drop off/pick up area and the service parking lot where there are lots of trucks. All 7 of us lined up to go. Dudes #1 and #2 appear to be a father and son pair and they take off first. Last year Dude #1 took off way to fast and so I was not worried about him being in front of me. Dude #3, the winner, follows close behind those 2. I knew I was going to have to keep him in my sights, but I was not wanting to start out that fast. So I was 5th, with Dude #4 in front of me. He was a bit older and wasn't to worried about him. We do 3 laps. Lap number one - I passed Dude #4 at about a half mile. Dude #3 gets into first after about 3/4 mile. I could see dudes #1 and #2 losing their form so I knew they had started to fast and I would soon catch them. I passed Dude #1 at about .9 miles. I passed Dude #2 just after mile one. Now I was feeling tired but did not know why. I think it has to be the elevation changed because I felt the exact same way last year. After about 1.25 miles, Dude #3 was almost a 1/4 mile ahead of me so I had to pick up the pace. I couldn't I tried, but I think my effort to go 10 seconds faster/mile was so much more work than just running at my pace. after 2 miles he was way to far ahead of me to catch him so I just tried to finish strong. We had dominated everyone else by a good 5 min. I really noticed my long training has hurt my short fast races. I need to get some speed work going. I did run the next 2 days as well for a total of about 15 miles for 3 days. My foot started hurting on the last day so I took Wednesday off and Thursday was my travel day back so I did not workout. I am thinking I will sit on the trainer tonight. I don't want to injure my foot again, especially now when there is no need to push myself. I have moved my kickoff starting day from January to December because I eat to much and need to get back into working out. I don't think I am going to go full blown into triathlon training. I am going to try to do some different stuff so I am not getting burnt out.

Equalizer Race Report

This weekend was great. Friday night I attended the prerace dinner. A few people showed up, but it was very fun to hear about other people's races and to just meet some pretty awesome people. Saturday started off to appear to be a gorgeous day until you stepped out from behind the wall and felt the wind. wow, that was cold. I arrived at Gray's Lake and setup my pit area. Basically I just dumped my bag onto the ground. It worked. We started at 8am. I felt really good for the first hour. Easily maintaining a 9:30 pace. 5.733 miles in 53 min. Hour 2 went by pretty quick also and still feeling good, but can tell I needed to eat more. Mile 12 I started to get tired. I grabbed the sport beans and tried to get them down. They tasted really good, but they weren't enough. When I came back around on mile 14, my friends had arrived and asked if I wanted a beer. Yes I do, but probably should wait. So my next time around, they had a beer and an egg sandwich ready for me. Holy cow. That sandwich was so awesome and saved my day. I ate another around mile 20 and it carried me through to the end. I combined my egg sandwich with a gel and water every lap. I finally felt good. At about 5 hours and 25 min, I was at lap 16. I really wanted to get in one more plus some short loops. I put my head down and didn't walk. I finished lap 17 in 20 min and then started the shorter 1/4 mile loops. At the start of lap 5 of the short laps, I figured this was going to be the last one and took it easy. On my way back in, I realized I could get one more in if I hurried. So I pulled out one more short loop to finish with 33.99 miles in 6 hours. The day went so fast. Egg Sandwiches are awesome! One friend and myself finished with 33.99 miles for the 2nd longest actual runs for the 6 hour race. A 69 year old man ran over 36 miles. Makes me feel worthless, lol. After the equalizer, I ended up with a 3rd place finish. It was a great experience and if I am still insane next year, might consider it again. NOT the 24 hour race. I will need to be on more drugs to do that race. As of today I feel great and finally going to workout tonight. I took Monday and Tuesday off to finish some weatherizing stuff to my house and last night spent the evening with Rob. It was great, but I am starting to feel lazy so heading to the gym for a little eliptical and probably shoot around. I still have a few blisters on my feet that are tender, but they are much better today. I also have decided to take November and December easy and regroup my thoughts and goals. I need to take some time off of triathlon as I feel like I am getting burnt out on the training. I am going to try to find a league or something to do over the winter to mix things up. Hopefully in the next couple months I can figure out my race schedule. Probably will start up tri training again in January.

Equalizer Run Plan

I have been unusally slow about getting my race stategy laid out for this weekend and I am not sure why. You would think with such a long race that I would be paying more attention to it. I think the weather changing, being busy at work and trying to get the house winterized have kept me distracted. This morning I have finally put my plans on paper.

Thursday:
Rest, start hydrating. Foods: carbs and protein. Water aerobics, stretch. Good night sleep tonight

Friday:
Stay off feet as much as possible, hydrate all day. Big breakfast and taper meals throughout day. 5:30pm is the prerace meal. Keep it light and stick with the pasta and avoid heavy fiber foods. Water is my friend. Short run and lots of stretching. Get to bed at regular time around 10pm.

Saturday
6:00am: Wake and eat breakfast: Cliff bar (220) with water, get dressed and start slowly on the baby food. Shooting to eat 3 jars by 7 (370 calories total), gather rest of equipment, load car and chill until 7. Pee
7:15: Leave for race, eat 1 gel with water on way to race
7:35ish: arrive at race site, pee, set up “pit” area
7:50: 1 gel with water
7:55: pee
7:58: strip off extra clothes
8:00: Race start – Run

During race: 10-12 oz powerade, 1 gel with 6 oz water and salt tablet – each hour, aleve as needed

I have learned a lot from the Ironman about my feet. I will have them taped up and properly bandaided to start with instead of waiting until I have run 13 miles and severe blisters have formed.
I am excited to get out and race, but also nervous because I haven’t gotten near as much running in as I would have liked. I ran 3 miles on Tuesday and my upper back was stiff Wednesday. I am going to be so sore after this race, but it will be worth it. I hope the rest of my body holds up as I have developed a few achy areas from working