New Year 2010 and Steam Whistle Race Report.

Closing out 2009 – This was a year of many firsts. I stepped into the deep end and signed up for my first ½ ironman as well as my first full ironman. I enjoyed the experience of both races. I also increased my volume in all three disciplines – the swim / bike / run. While increasing my volume I was able to achieve a Personal Best in almost all of my races (actually all of my races except for the Jazz Half Marathon – I ran this race for fun). I believe that this is typical of your third year in endurance sports. I am hoping to continue this trend by dipping into my ironman base.


Races in 2009:

Run for Love 5K – 19:19 PR
St. Thomas Irish Italian 5K – 19:09 PR
April Fool’s Duathlon – PR – 57:07 ***
70.3 New Orleans – 5:30 PR ***
Heatwave Triathlon – 2:09 PR (by 5 minutes)
Dragonfly Triathlon – 1:36 PR ***
Sunfish Triathlon – 1:17 PR (by 6 minutes)
Heart O’Dixie Triathlon – 2:13 PR (by 10 minutes)
Ironman Louisville – PR – 11:18 ***

Jazz Half Marathon – 1:40 (NO PR)
Baton Rouge Beach Half Marathon- 1:37:07 PR (by 8 seconds)
Ole Man River Half Marathon – PR – 1:33:53 PR (by 4 + minutes)
*** First time at this distance

2009 Totals –

Bike:        4459.58 Mi - 249h 19m 14s Pace: 17.88 Mi/hr
Run:         1023.25 Mi - 148h 28m 31s Pace: 08m 38s Mi
Swim:  231014.00 Yd -   76h 31m 30s Pace: 01m 59s /100 YdAvg

As you can see in the chart below – my volume for October and November really dropped off of the map. I did not meet any of my mileage goals for the year (5000 bike / 1200 run / 300,000 swim) but I count this year as a huge success!  On a side note, last month was my biggest running month for the year – I guess that is what happens when you shift to a running based goal (to BQ at the Mardi Gras Marathon).

Now onto The Steam Whistle 12K New Year’s Day race.

This race is on the trace just out my back door.  Jodie and I rode our bikes down to Jackson Station and picked up our race packets.  I programmed my GPS watch to run at a 6:40 minute / mile pace. This would be a reach for me. Last week I ran a strong 4 mile tempo run with the last 3 miles being at 6:40 pace. I though that in race conditions I could, maybe, push this pace and last for the entire 12K (7.45 miles). This would be tough. It was a cold morning lining up at Jackson Station and we were all anxious to run. I spoke with Steve C. before the race and hoped that I could pace off of him. He was not sure of the pace that he would be running. I stuck to my plan and ran off of the ‘virtual partner’. He was set for exactly 6:40 minutes per mile which should allow for me to finish the race at just under 50 minutes. This would be my Gold Medal goal for the race.

First the first 2 K’s I was in fourth place – first and second being way out in front and pulling away fast. I was running a little too fast and quickly got about 180 feet ahead of the ‘virtual partner’. This guy just goes out too slow – or maybe I was a little too fast. I tried to slow down just a little bit and run even pace. I was slowing during the middle part of the race – Terry and Robin paced me easily. They were just doing a ‘training run’. They passed me easily. I was able to pick up the pace towards the end of the run and achieve my goal time. I finished the race in 49:38 with an average pace of 6:39. I met my goal and I am going to continue to try to race myself to a Boston Qualifying Time of 3:14:59 (7:28 minutes / mile pace). I ran this race hard with an average heart rate of 181. I ended up finishing 6th out of 97 and first in my age group. Everyone that beat me was years older (8 of the top 10 were older than 42). These guys were always fast and have just gotten older.  After helping clean up and getting Jim's truck unstuck (a huge effort by many pine belt pacers) - Jim and I decided to get a few more miles under our belts.  We got another 4.6 miles to end up with just over 12 miles for the day.