Spring Running and Hiking

Views while running in Eagle River

Between the half marathon I'm training for in June and the absurdly snow-free warm spring we are having, I've been inspired to get outside and enjoy as much of it as I can. On Friday night I did my first long run for my training - 7.7 miles. The last bit of it by accident - due to a mis-measurement on Google Maps, I thought I was doing a 6 mile loop until I got home and measured again (due to the large discrepancy between how fast I normally run and how long it actually took me).

Unfortunately many trails are still glare ice, so I'm keeping my running to the gym and sidewalks for now. With views from our neighborhood like those above, I can hardly complain. Hiking with ice grippers however, is totally do-able right now. Even on the peaks where there is snow, it is not deep and it's hard packed and easy to walk on.

On Saturday I hiked Wolverine Peak (my first time) with my cousin and another friend. By the end of that one (11 miles round trip), my legs were tired (my cousin had even hiked Bird Ridge on Friday!). But we all rallied for an easy hike in the South Fork of Eagle River on Sunday anyway. You just can't keep Alaskans inside when the weather is fine; no one appreciates 50 degrees like we do.

Emily, Ann Marie, and Max the dog on our way up Wolverine Peak

Ann Marie on Wolverine

Last push to the summit of Wolverine

View to the Northeast from Wolverine

Almost to the top!

Easy South Fork hike

New Barefoot Running Shoes

New shoes!

Ever since I found out that Merrell makes a "barefoot" running shoe in a wide size I've been wanting to order a pair. They cost more than  a few bucks though so I longingly stared at them on the Merrell website for months before I finally shelled out the money and bought a pair. They came a few days ago and I love them. But I've had some issues.

When I put them on I could immediately feel that they were too tight in my mid-foot area - basically where they lace up, but the laces were as loose as they could get. They were definitely the right length though (and I thoroughly enjoy the spacious toe box) so I inspected the lace-up area and found that these silly grey straps were what was making the shoe feel so narrow (funny for a style that is supposed to be wide).

So I pulled the grey thingies out of the lace holes and put the laces through them on their own...much better. As soon as I did that, my right foot felt like it had arrived in the perfect shoe. My left foot is another story.

Ever since I actually started buying shoes in the correct size for my feet (after years of buying bigger sizes for the extra width), it has become very apparent that my left foot is bigger than my right foot. And it's kind of annoying. Especially with tight-fitting shoes like this. So my left foot isn't very happy with this shoe but my right foot loves it. It's only the width that isn't big enough on the left shoe - the length is perfect. I think I'm going to take them into the Wide Shoe Store and see if the left shoe can be stretched.

I have run in these shoes once. I did a mile and a half and I loved it. I naturally land on the ball of my foot when I run so I knew these would feel good to me. You're supposed to ease into them though so I'm back in my regular running shoes for the next couple of runs.

Onion Man Re-Cap

Getting set up in the transition area before the race

In the weeks leading up to this triathlon I started to think that maybe I'd made a mistake signing up for this one; maybe I should have chosen a triathlon with more recreational triathletes like myself: triathletes not worried about winning or really even about their time - triathletes just interested in finishing the race and having a good time. The Onion Man Triathlon website even said something about "competitive" which is definitely not me. But I had already paid the registration fee so it was happening!

When we got to our motel in Walla Walla the day before the race, every bike I saw in the parking lot was waaaaay nicer than mine - another sign I might have signed up for the wrong race! That night I didn't sleep well. I kept having dreams that I had forgotten to do one leg of the race and kept waking up thinking I'd overslept. When I looked at the clock at 5:15 I could hear people showering elsewhere in the motel and car doors closing. I was sure all the serious triathletes were already up and about drinking their energy-packed super breakfast shakes and riding a few miles before the sun was even up. When I finally got up and went down to eat the continental breakfast at 7:00, I finally found all the other "recreational" triathletes. I was so relieved I wasn't the only one!

Ryan dropped me off at the start of the race with my bike and all my gear and then went and parked. The transition area already seemed pretty full so I wandered around for a minute looking for space on a rack to park my bike. The first two spaces I spotted looked promising until I got to them and saw the fancy bikes parked around them; I got intimidated. I didn't want to be parked next to some super serious racer! So I wandered to the back row, parked my bike, and was immediately relieved when the people around me were chatting about how they were intimidated by all the fancy bikes and wished they had trained a little more. I had found my crowd! The three people to the left of me in the photo above were all awesome. I'm glad I was parked near them and it was fun to "know" some people when we passed each other on different legs of the race.

When I did my first triathlon two years ago I didn't use a wet suit and neither did about half of the people in the race. I thought it would be similar this time. I was wrong! I only saw one person not wearing a wet suit besides myself! I apparently stood out so much that a reporter came up to be just before the race started and asked why I didn't wear a wet suit. I said "I'm from Alaska" and my quote made it in the Walla Walla newspaper. All of this also made me think I shouldn't have signed up for this race.

When I started the swim, I seriously thought for a few seconds that it was going to be too cold. It was after all, a 1500m swim and I knew that would take me 25-30 minutes  - a long time in cold water! But after a few minutes my core warmed up (and my extremities went numb) and I was fine. The most difficult part of the swim (besides occasionally being kicked/hit/swam over) was that it was fairly windy (10mph with gusts up to 20) and the lake was a little choppy. Combine that with 250 swimmers and you get a lot of waves and splashing. I swallowed A LOT of water. I'd come up for a breath and get hit by a wave. It was gross. If I get sick, I know why! My breathing was a little more frantic than I would have liked, but I'm still happy with my time, even if the swim course was a little shorter than they'd intended.

Here I am finishing the swim and about to pass all these suckers who have to unzip their wet suits

My legs were pretty numb and cold when I started the bike. Luckily the sun had come out by then so it didn't take too long to warm up (and by that I mean 5 or 6 miles). The bike course was really lovely. First we rode through the community college, then past vineyards, houses, fields, and then onto a country road in the trees before turning around. On the way out I felt like I just couldn't get going fast - my legs were tired and my feet were numb. Once I hit the turn around, I had a surge of energy. I hadn't realized that we had been gradually climbing uphill. Even the slight descent on the way back made a huge difference. There had also been a serious headwind on the way out and I thought that meant I would have a tailwind on the way back. It didn't. It felt like a headwind both directions! I know that's not possible; it was actually a side-wind, but it still sucked.

Finishing the bike leg

While I was in the transition area changing into my running shoes, I was sure I was going to forget something. Luckily I remembered to take my helmet off before I tried to run out of the transition area (barely). As I was leaving the transition area I heard the announcer say that the seventh place finisher was coming in - six people had already finished the entire race before I'd even started the run!

During the first half mile of the run I was just trying to put one foot in front of the other. My legs felt like lead but I knew they'd loosen up after a while. I felt pretty good between about 1/2 mile into the run and the turn around point at about 3 miles. I hit a bit of a wall after I turned around. We'd been running into the wind and when I turned around, the volunteer at that end said "You'll have a tailwind on you're way back!" For a second, I thought, "Oh, awesome, I hadn't even thought of that!" But I quickly realized it also meant it just felt hot not to have the breeze in my face. By mile 4 I was feeling good again and was just telling myself all I had left was an easy 2 mile jog.

At the end of the race, we ran along the edge of the parking lot - right past the post-race BBQ. The great part was all the spectators and racers who had already finished cheered everyone along while they ate, but the mean part was we had to run past all that delicious-smelling BBQ chicken!

Heading into the last stretch

I ended up being very happy with my time and did not regret choosing this triathlon. There was a good mix of competitive and recreational athletes and a lot of really friendly racers and volunteers. With the exception of the rough pavement and speed bumps at the end/beginning of the bike route, it was a great course.

Here are my official stats:

Final time: 3:10:44
Swim time (1500m or less): 26:01
Transition 1: 2:38
Bike (40k): 1:35:19
Transition 2: 1:16
Run (10k):  1:05:29

Age group place: 4/8
Overall place: 197/223

And this is what I ate for a mid-afternoon snack after the race

Onion Man Triathlon

I survived the Onion Man Triathlon! By all of the measures I care about, my performance was a success: I didn't get hypothermia, I didn't get any flat tires, I finished the 10k run without walking (besides one bathroom pit-stop), and I was under my goal time of 3:15. These were all serious concerns as the lake wasn't exactly warm (60 degrees 8ft from the shore, definitely colder out there in the middle) and I was only one of TWO people without a wet suit. Being from Alaska, I didn't think a wet suit was necessary. And it wasn't. I also have fairly worn out tires on my bike AND the first/last mile of the bike portion of REALLY rough pavement (it was just chip-sealed recently). There are also several speed bumps - none of which are good for old worn-out skinny road tires.

I was not really sure what my time would be like, but I REALLY wanted to be under 3:30 and I thought 3:15 was the most reasonable time to expect so I was pretty happy when I crossed the line at 3:14. Since the women started 5 minutes after the men - and that's when the started the clock - my time was probably about 3:09. They haven't posted the results online yet, but I'm interested to see them. I think my bike time must have been a little faster than I had predicted. Oh, and the swim course turned out to be a little shorter than they had planned it to be, but I'm sure I biked faster than I had expected. =) More tomorrow after I recover...

First (almost) eight-miler

The route I ran home from school today

Today was my first eight mile run in preparation for training for the Onion Man Triathlon in just over two months. I decided the best way to get everything done today that I wanted to do was to take the bus to school, work for a few hours, and then RUN home. I've wanted to do this pretty much since we bought our house three years ago. But at 5.5 miles, it's sort of a big commitment, for me anyway. Up until this winter, 5 miles was a long @$$ run for me. So today I had a plan. I wanted to get in at least seven miles, eight if my knees and hips felt good.

I left school a little after 4:00 this afternoon. I was a bit worried about the weather. Anyone who has been in Seattle for the last few days knows what I'm talking about! We've been having unusually cold and crazy, bipolar weather. Yesterday I biked to school in what started as sprinkles, turned to downpour, and then SNOW! In March! And then, when I came out of the gym an hour later, it was blindingly sunny. In any case, I obsessed this afternoon about what to wear, specifically, whether to wear my raincoat and headband/ear cover thingy. It seems silly to worry about little things like that, but for a run that takes well over an hour, making the wrong decision could end in being wet and cold way longer than necessary.

I ended up taking both. The headband I wore OVER my reflective yellow Scampering Hominids baseball cap (I'm sure this looked super cool) and the raincoat I took off and on several times as the rain started and stopped, but I'm glad I took it.

So left school and headed up 20th, the route I would usually take on my bike. Then to get some extra distance I headed up to 35th and ran through Meadowbrook, then back across Lake City, and because I knew I still wasn't even at seven miles, I ran a bit of a loop around my neighborhood before letting myself go home. I wasn't tracking how far I'd run, but I knew I must have been close to eight miles. I mostly felt great and even got a bit of a second wind for the last two miles. My hip felt fine but my knees did get achy, but that is nothing new.

I mapped my run on the Daily Mile when I got home which said it was 7.8 miles. If I had known I was that close to eight miles I would have kept running!

The Daily Mile

I have finally joined The Daily Mile. If you're not familiar with it, it's a social network site for working out. It's a way to motivate yourself by keeping track of your workouts and following the workouts of your friends. I've been thinking about joining it for over a year. I've always hesitated because my workout routine (or lack thereof) is so sporadic, I thought "what's the point?" To be honest I was also a little embarrassed to post my running distances and times - I didn't want everybody to know how slow I was. But after reading The Average Woman Runner's blog post about finding inspiration through online running networks, I decided it was time to GET OVER IT. Running slow is better than not running at all! And, I've been running pretty consistently (mostly on my treadmill) over the last month and it turns out that I'm not actually as slow as I thought I was. So if you're on the Daily Mile, or you want to join, find me so we can be "friends"!

I also added the Daily Mile widget to the sidebar of the blog. I'm hoping that knowing people are watching my workout logs will help me stay focused and motivated!