2014 Annapolis 1/2 Marathon Race Report

Every year I tell myself I'll run a flat-ish 1/2 marathon course and really see what I can do...and somehow every time I end up running up and down hills!  I signed up for Annapolis without knowing much about it except it was cheaper than Philly, closer than Philly, and our good friend Mark lives less than a mile from the race start.  When I registered I was pretty sure it would be flat, being a coastal town and all.  After reading some race reports and hearing stories of this race from friends I knew I'd be in for some hills.  At least the hills have a way of keeping it interesting.

Some race reports and stories that I'd heard didn't have much good things to say about the course.  Long, hilly, windy, never running this race again, etc.  I decided I needed to check it out for myself.  I started the 2014 season off with a 1/2 marathon at Rock n'Roll DC (also not really flat) and wanted to close it out with one as well.  All in all this race wasn't bad.

Adam and I headed up to our friend, Mark's house on Friday afternoon.  I made a quick stop for some homeopathic cold remedies as I'd felt a tickle in my throat all day at work.  Zicam, Airborne, sore throat lozenges, etc...I was avoiding the 'good' stuff until post race as to not wreck havoc on my heart rate.  I'm pretty good at rating my RPE, but heart rate really keeps me honest during a race, especially from going out too fast, so wanted my HR to be as reliable as possible for the race.  I probably had the most expensive urine at the race on Saturday morning from the pure amount of vitamin C I took in on Friday.

After hanging out a bit with Mark, Donner, and Heather we all went out to meet up with more DC folk for dinner.  Mark lives close to just about everything, so we walked the 2 blocks to dinner...and it was super cold out.  I started my night with some hot tea to clear the sinuses and keep warm.  I knew the forecasted low of 37 for race morning was likely too good to be true.  Dinner was great and of course entertaining with the crew that accompanied us.  Adam and I headed back to the house after dinner so I could attempt to sleep some this cold bug off.

Race Morning

With a 7am race start I woke up about 2 hours before to get in a decent breakfast and slam some more immune system boosters!  I checked the weather hoping that it would be mid-30's (or warmer! ha) and found 27 degrees.  Oi, not ideal, but at least I'd been running in some colder weather to figure out if my lungs would cooperate and not go into full bronchospasm/exercise-induced asthma mode.  We were able to leave the house at 6:30 and do our warm up jog to race start, check our jackets/extra clothes, and jump in the start corral leaving us with only 3 (actually 7) minutes to wait for the starting gun.  I lined up with Mindy, said a quick hello & good luck to Katie T, and sent Adam off to the front with a good luck kiss before the starting gun.

Float Phase! Thanks for a great pic, Lee!

The Race
My hands were freezing during the first 2 miles, but as the sun came up and my body warmed up I felt great by mile 3.  The course started out fairly flat and I was able to work into my race effort.  I was really also really appreciating the ability to take a full deep breath while I was running -- in the cold!  I'm not sure this is something I've ever been able to do, until recently.  If you missed my post 'The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway' check it out.  The course does have a very interesting intersection during mile 5 in which runner's cross over each other's paths as the volunteer's jump to the side and say 'find a way through, you can do it'!  Very interesting, it really only take a simple change of direction for the out and back/loop runners to mitigate this course issue (maybe other issues then arise).  Seems like something you'd figure out as you design the course and get athlete feed back year after year.  Once past that small obstacle we headed for the Naval Academy Bridge and the land of hills that exists beyond it.  I will say it was more hilly over there than I ever would have expected.  Once we came back across the bridge it flattened out for the last 1.5 miles back to the stadium.  Thank goodness Lee was at mile 11/12...he was probably singing Eric Church songs but I didn't stick around long enough to listen.  I felt great pretty much the entire time (yes, in spite of this illness I'm trying to kick!).  My legs were feeling it by the end, but being able to breathe makes a huge difference.  I decided to carry a small handheld bottle with me and I'm glad I did.  The aid stations had cups full of ice water and iced Gatorade, all the while ice was forming on the roads where water was spilt!  I wanted nothing cold, so my room temperature Osmo Active was perfect.  The finish is a bit anti-climactic as you run through a large parking lot for about a quarter mile before you come around to the side of the finish line and cheering fans.  I chased our friend Caroline into the finisher's chute and was happy to see I'd be finishing with a 4 minute 1/2 marathon PR.  Not too shabby for 27 degrees and sick.  I didn't look at my pace or time once during the race.  I used HR and RPE to guide my effort level, which all and all worked out pretty well.

Disregard the first 2 spikes! Static electricity!

The multiple out and back designs offered ample chances to cheer for friends, which was great.  The race course itself was gorgeous, we got to run through the quaint downtown of Annapolis, around the hills of Annapolis and into the sunshine as it came up over the water.  The course was almost spot on distance wise - maybe a tad long, but nothing like the years before where it was 13.4 miles.  I didn't love the hills while I was running up them, but they really weren't that bad.

Myself, Mindy and Caroline post race

Post-Race
This race is somewhat known for its post race festivities.  Finishers all get a nice half-zip (complete with thumb holes!).  There is hot tomato bisque soup, all you can eat oysters, and all you can drink beer,  along with some staples like bananas and bagels.  There was a great folk band playing, Dublin Five, and the tent was heated!  We hung out for a little while as all of our friends met up and enjoyed the band for a bit before heading back to the house to get cleaned up for a day on the town.  Annapolis was great because there are plenty of local brunch/lunch places and once the sun was shining it was pretty nice to walk around outside during our brief tour of The Academy a la Mark.

DC Tri Crew and Friends!

So...would I do this race again?  Yes, it's convenient, cheaper than most 1/2's and Annapolis is a great town to spend the day in (probably better when you're not sick).  The drive from DC on race day also isn't bad at all, so it doesn't require an overnight stay.

First off thank you to Mark and Donner for being awesome hosts.  Thank you to the DC Tri group and friends (Caroline, Andy, Heather) who made the weekend even better.  Thank you to sponsors Snapple/DC Tri, Osmo Nutrition, RosePT and Louis Garneau that kept me moving instead of freezing! Thank you and congrats to Adam for always being supportive and super fast!

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway...

I wish I could say this were true, but by the time I was a senior in high school I knew I needed to head south.  After many cold and snowy soccer games in Michigan I had no desire to stick around for 4 more years.  I was stubborn and rarely wore long sleeves under my jersey, never wore tights, and would only occasionally wear gloves.  In August of 2005 I was leaving a beautiful Michigan summer for the hot and humid shores of Beautiful Eagle Creek in Statesboro, Georgia.

Practice Fields on Eagle Creek

I quickly adjusted to the heat and humidity.  I wore jeans to the first day of class as a freshman -- I was sweating before I got halfway to class -- I don't think I wore jeans to class for the next four years.  What used to seem warm for a winter game or practice would soon become what I thought was 'freezing'.  I was hopeful there would be no more training sessions with snowmen as spectators.

It didn't snow once while I was in Statesboro.  The temperatures were mild in the winter and the coldest days we had to deal with while in season were during our away games in Boone, North Carolina.  I never once needed long sleeves, gloves or a headband during game day.  The only white stuff on your uniform after a game was the salt that you had sweated out on it.  Most days were sunny and gorgeous.  

The truth was...I hated the cold.  I'm not sure I really knew it at the time, I just knew I performed better when it wasn't cold.  Any training session we had in the cold I'd cough and have trouble breathing - but since this only happened a few times per year, if that, I just blamed it on coming down with a cold.  Since leaving Statesboro for Washington DC, I've had my fair share of snowdays and cold weather.   I've also had the opportunity to use a treadmill or indoor bike trainer in any instance when I don't want to brave the cold or snow.  There were plenty of times when DC was snow covered and the sun was shining that I put on my running shoes and took in the sights.  I didn't pay attention to heart rate, pace, or any piece of data for that matter.  I simply enjoyed the run and took photo ops when I wanted to.

 

This year has been my first year of training while consistently using my heart rate monitor and Garmin.  I've watched myself become a faster more efficient runner.  I've learned about heart training methods and the purpose behind them.  I recently had a couple great training cycles and races at Ironman Lake Placid and IM 70.3 Augusta, but when it came time to start a short training cycle to wrap the season up with a 1/2 marathon it appeared everything was gone.  I could barely make it a mile without wheezing and coughing.  My pace across all my zones dropped...and it would continuously drop as I brought my heart rate up throughout a run.  I gave myself a couple weeks, looked at everything I was doing outside of training and couldn't pinpoint a thing...other than cold weather.  I'd have a couple great midweek runs when I ran after work - while the sun was shining and the temps were hitting the 50s and 60s, but anything early in the morning or in the cold and windy weather was brutal.  I quickly enlisted the help of my doctor, ruled out some more serious possibilities, and moved forward with the most likely explanation -- exercise induced asthma (exacerbated by cold air)...you've got to be kidding me...

As nice as it would be to pick up and head to sunny Florida or Arizona, I'm loving life in DC.  So I'm figuring out why my body freaks out in the cold.  I've got some solutions and ideas that I've tried out this past week and I'm actually now looking forward the TCS Annapolis 1/2 Marathon next Saturday.   In some ways running with lungs that were shutting down in the cold was kind of like training at altitude.  The thought of running horribly slow, while coughing and wheezing my way through 13.1 miles had me considering sherpa duties for a few days (and hoping I wouldn't be confined to the treadmill for the majority of my first training block in 2015).

Here's to one more 2015 race and the fast approaching off-season!

The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving with passion and compassion and
humor and style and generosity and kindness. - Maya Angelou

Augusta 70.3 2014 Race Report

If you've been following my blog for awhile then you probably know I've raced Augusta before.  Every year since 2011 to be exact.  You can read my race reports from 2011, 2012,  and 2013.  Last year Adam and I made the trip and both raced -- I think he loved Augusta as much or maybe even more than I do.  There wasn't much hesitation or discussion when registration opened for 2014 - we signed up and convinced some friends to join us for a fun and fast weekend.  If you're planning on going to Augusta read this whole report -- if you want just the race details scroll down to the actual race report.

PRE-RACE: Friday and Saturday

We hit the road very early on Friday morning.  The drive was mostly non-eventful and we made pretty good time.  We drove straight to the Queen Anne Inn so we could unload our gear and bikes, catch up with some friends who were a bit ahead of us, and check out our home base for the weekend.  After 3 attempts of finding good lodging in Augusta when I found the Queen Anne Inn (located at mile 1 of the run course) I quickly reserved the 3rd floor for our group.  The Inn was about 1 mile from transition and 1 mile from race check-in.  Val, one of the owner's of the Bed and Breakfast, was amazing and

Awesome Good Luck Graphic from RosePT!

very sweet.  Our bikes were welcomed right into the living room, breakfast was perfect (even on race day morning!) and the location couldn't be beat.  After checking out the B&B we headed over to race check-in.  It was more-or-less non eventful.  We heard the water temp was about 68* and we were looking at an almost definite wetsuit legal swim.  We headed outside to the riverwalk to take a look at the swift current we'd be swimming with on Sunday.  Not so fast - the river was standing still!  We left with faith that the current would pick up by Sunday morning.  After some rest and getting our bikes ready back at the B&B we headed to Farmhaus on Broad St. for dinner.  If you're headed to Augusta and you're looking for a great burger/sandwich definitely try Farmhaus.

Saturday morning was nice and relaxed with a good homemade breakfast and no rush to get anywhere.  Once everyone was up and fed we headed over to the swim start to take the river for a ride (we hoped).  Yes, indeed the current was kicking and we were swimming much faster than normal, about 20-30s/100m faster.   We swam to the boat launch near the 2nd bridge and had such a good time that we walked back to the swim start to go for round 2.  This time we decided to attempt swimming to the first buoy and then turning around and swimming against the current back to the floating dock.  Once we made it back up river we headed back to go for a short bike and run.  Mr. felt great on a short 20 minute spin and my legs felt ready to race during my shake out run.  A much different feeling than the sluggish taper legs I had during Thursday's workouts.

Saturday afternoon involved resting prepping bikes and rolling them down to transition for bike racking.  This was the first year Ironman had separate racks for AWA athletes.  I got to rack just 6 spaces down from Adam, which was cool and convenient, but it also meant I wouldn't know where I stood within my age group during coming out of the water and coming off the bike.  Obviously not a huge deal since the focus of this race was nailing the plan, and the plan had nothing to do with where anyone else was on the course.

We took in a taste of the local restaurant scene for dinner.  A few blocks form Queen Anne Inn is Luigi's Italian Restaurant.  We walked over and had no wait (around 5:30) for a table of 9!  We were happy athletes.  Service was good, food was good and people watching was excellent.  We encountered a group of Irish Travelers from just outside of Aiken, SC that apparently eat at Luigi's every Saturday night.  If you are not familiar with the Irish Travelers Google Image search them and then read the Wikipedia page.

RACE DAY - SUNDAY

Earl AM at the B&B

We had an early start to the day on Sunday morning.  Breakfast was my usual pre-race meal of chex, granola, banana and lactose free milk along with apple sauce and toast+nutella.  I actually saved the toast+nutella to eat after going to transition while I was waiting the 2+ hours before my wave would
actually start.  We walked over to transition and had plenty of time to set up before taking the shuttle back up to swim start.

They do an excellent job with the National Anthem every year at this race.  The past couple years it has involved a paratrooper target demo team jumping out of an airplane - the last one with a very large flag.  It's a pretty cool site to see standing atop the levy near the Savannah River.   Soon after the pro's were off and age group waves were lining up an filing down the ramp to the starting dock.  I camped out on the curb since I still had more than an hour before I even needed to think about getting my wetsuit on.  Once some of our friends started to head off for race start time seemed to fly by.  In no time at all it seemed like the youngest of us were getting our wetsuits zipped up so we could start our race.

THE SWIM - 1.2 Miles - 28:14
I've been working on my swim and I've been practicing executing a race plan that involved drafting and swimming straight.  For the most part it came together in Augusta!  I was able to execute my start plan, find feet and maintain those feet for a better portion of the swim.  We were catching people from the wave before us before we hit the first buoy.   I was able to sight regularly and maintain a mostly straight
path to the finish.  The swim was relatively contact free.  As we got near the last 400-500 meters or so we were hitting a lot of slower swimmers that were just treading water.  Navigating through some of the crowds from the waves before was a little tricky but soon the final buoy was right in front of my and I was headed to the boat ramp.

T1 - 3:03
The run up from the boat ramp to the wetsuit strippers and transition area is a decent length which gave me plenty of time to get out of the top half of my wetsuit and wiggle it down to my hips as I ran.  The wetsuit strippers were fantastic and I continued on into transition.  Bike shoes, helmet, and sunglasses on and then I was off with Mr.

THE BIKE - 56 Miles - 2:39:00
I started off on the bike with a high cadence and tried to stay relaxed to let my HR come down.  I was passed soon after by a girl in my age group literally standing up and hammering.  I just stuck to my plan, knowing I'd most likely see her again.  Just a few miles into the bike course I saw the lead male pro on his way back in.  No one else was within sight of him.  Less than 5 miles into the course is the first steady, gradual climb on your way to South Carolina, here is where I saw the girl who went blowing by me just a few miles earlier.  She was standing up and hammering again, and once I passed her she really hammered until she passed me again.  For a brief I got slightly worried that she was probably an uber bike and even better runner.  I reminded myself to stick to my plan and let the cards fall where they will.  I couldn't control anything else about the race other than what I was doing and my execution.  After the first 20 minutes or so I made some adjustments to the plan to account for the humidity that was present and I started in on my nutrition and hydration.  I ended up going through 4
bottles of Osmo Active Hydration which was one more than I would have thought I'd need but I pee'd don schedule and felt strong the entire time.  The aid stations on the bike course were excellent adn all handoffs went off without a hitch.  Since I started in the 2nd to last wave there were a lot of people who seemed to be riding to the left and got good practice with "on your left" - it may have come out a little stern a few times.  The first half of this bike course was more windy than it's ever been over the past few years.  Luckily, it didn't slow me down too much compared to last year.  I really love this bike course and have enjoyed it every time I've raced on it.  Rolling back in to Augusta I was feeling strong and ready to run.  I even got some applause from folks at the dismount line for my flying dismount sans shoes.

T2 - 2:45
A quick run in and helmet off, sunglasses off along with socks and shoes off and we were good to go.  I grabbed my race belt and visor before heading to Run Out.  As I was running down the chute toward the timing mat I noticed a girl in my age group that I hadn't seen yet.

THE RUN - 13.1 Miles - 1:48:32
As I exited T2 with the fellow age grouper, I thought to myself 'I wonder if she's part of a relay because her hair looks too great to have just been sweating under a bike helmet for 2.5+ hours.  I stayed controlled and settled in for the first few miles.  At about mile 2 the fellow age grouper fell behind never to be seen again.  I was feeling great, and thanks to the late start wave I was passing way more people than were passing me.  My run time wasn't blazing fast, but it was the most well executed, as well as fastest run I've had in a HIM to date.  I ran with a small fuel belt hand held bottle and started with Osmo Active Hydration in it.  Once I had finished that I refilled with cold water at a few aid

stations.  The weather was pretty nice, only slightly warm, but there were cold sponges and cups of ice at most of the aid stations which helped to keep me cool.  Around mile 8 I had to really focus and enter a little bit of the pain cave to keep bringing my HR up dropping the pace.  I kept asking myself if I could give 1% more to keep myself going and to keep pushing.  With the help of some caffeinated Gu I was able to nail my run plan.  As I was nearing the finish line I knew I'd be close to breaking 5 hours and close to the front of my wave, especially since I hadn't seen anyone else in my age group (or the younger age group) since mile 2.  Adam was able to get to the finish line area and even capture some video as I mustered what energy I could in an attempt to raise my arms in celebration.

POST RACE
I connected with Adam and some of our friends in the athlete celebration area.  Adam was signed up for a massage and very kindly let me swoop in and take it!  It was great to have an almost immediate post race massage.  Right before the massage we checked the results, my finish result wasn't updated yet, but we did find out that I'd come off the bike in 2nd place.  While I was on the massage table Adam got the final results and had our friend/Snapple teammate, AJ, tell me how I finished!  It was an utter surprise and something I did not expect at all.  One of the best parts was that seconds after finding out that I'd won my age group, they told me Adam had also won his! Decision time...

Adam and I had been discussing whether or not to take a slot to 70.3 World Championships if we each earned one.  We were thinking more likely in the case of a roll down, which would have been a long shot with the limited # of slots this year, but not out of the realm of possibility.  Since we both won our age groups we a couple hours to decide if we'd be going - and because we had the opportunity to travel to Austria and compete together we couldn't turn it down.  It'll make for a crazy and busy 2015 race schedule, but a fun and challenging one fore sure!

Signed, sealed, delivered...Going to Austria!

RESULTS
Finish Time: 5:01:22 (25/987 Females include pros, 1/96 age group)

Top 4 Women 25-29

For anyone who is looking for a first 70.3 I highly recommend this race, it was my first in 2011, and it has been over the year's a number of friends as well.  For anyone else who if possibly considering racing at Augusta, do it.  It's awesome and the atmosphere is really great.  You'll have a fast swim, great bike, and almost fully crowd supported run course.  Unfortunately I won't be racing Augusta in 2015, but instead start my day off with a 2.4 mile swim the Tennessee River and rolling 112 miles through mostly North Georgia.

Thank you to an awesome coach, Kim, from Fuel Your Passion, for setting me up with a great season of training and racing as well as controlling my habit of over training.  Thank you to my sponsors Snapple Triathlon, DC Tri Club, Osmo Hydration, Louis Garneau, Rudy Project Helmets, TrainingPeaks,  and Rose Physical Therapy Group.  Thank you to a wonderful group of friends to share this experience with Angela, Kenn, Ryan, Jess, Lee, Angela, Kevin, AJ and of course to the most supportive boyfriend and family I could ask for.