GHS Swamp Rabbit Half training - Race Week!

Monday - short run & lift
Work project took over, no workout.

Tuesday - #10kTuesday
Got out for a run in the beautiful spring-like weather and apparently the flowers also think it's spring, too.

Kept a good steady pace, not too fast, but felt strong and consistent. Average moving pace 8:48/mi.

Wednesday - rest
Done.

Thursday - #speedworkThursday
Plan: 30 min tempo, peak ~ 7:30/mi
Done and done. It was almost *hot* outside today. Hello spring!

Hit all the splits pretty much dead on, though went a bit too fast on the first tempo split (Split #2) so the bump up to the next segment wasn't very much. Had some tightness in my shins on the cooldown, so did an extra .5mi walk afterwards to help loosen things up.

Friday - yoga
Ended up working from home after spending half of the previous night at the ER with little man. Not how I anticipated starting off the race weekend!

Saturday - Race Day
Race Report: GHS Swamp Rabbit Half Marathon

Sunday - rest

Race Report: GHS Swamp Rabbit Half Marathon

I set my sights on this race back in early December as my "get back to pre-baby shape" race, specifically for the half marathon. At the time, my mileage was right where it needed to be after doing the Croft Trail Half Marathon in November, but my speed was still lacking. I laid out my training plan with time to spare (I tend to start training plans a few weeks late) but I had everything ready and was feeling confident about my chances to get back into decent shape & speed.

The first half of training went really well, pretty much exactly according to plan. I was afraid I'd set myself up to peak too early and get distracted by doing the Yeti or Not 25k Trail Run at the beginning of February. The weeks following that race did not go according to plan, I've missed a lot of runs, and oh there was that trip to Spain 2 weeks ago where I PR'd at the Barcelona Half Marathon by 1 second.

So that brings us to this weekend.

Pre-race
In the days leading up to the race, I felt confident. My time at Barcelona gave me the assurance that I was certainly physically capable of a PR, and I had the added benefit of being at home on a normal sleeping and eating schedule. A small kink in the plan came about Thursday night when D woke up at 12:30am wheezing and unable to breathe properly, so we spent the next ~5 hours at the Emergency Room, and Friday we worked from home/caught up on sleep. So much for things going according to plan! (He's fine now, btw).

Still, Friday night was good - easy packet pick-up during the day, pasta for dinner, decent bedtime, and an alarm set for 6 a.m. to get me to the start line in plenty of time.

Had yogurt & granola for breakfast, pre-race poop right on schedule before I left the house (this is always a noteworthy accomplishment), and got to the race start with about 15 mins to spare. I'd opted not to warm up before the race since the first few miles were slightly hilly and the temperatures were plenty warm. Definitely a change from the last time I ran this race 2 years ago when it was 11 degrees at the start!

Start line!

I lined up right near the 1:45 pacer, fully intending to stick with him through the first ~8 miles of the race, then pull ahead if I felt good.

Pacer Greg

The Race

My plan to stick with the 1:45 pacer lasted approximately 100 yards into the race, when I turned a corner and pulled ahead of him on a hill. I never saw him again.

The first couple of miles of the race are the "hilly"miles. I say that as a purely relative term, because this course is flat (actually, it's a net downhill). According to Garmin, there are 300 feet of elevation gain, and 500 feet of elevation loss. I felt good through the hills, no desire to slow down or really feel any push to get up them. The long stretch on Highway 276 wasn't thrilling but thankfully it was short-lived and we hopped onto the Swamp Rabbit Trail at about the 3.5mi mark.

The next miles passed quickly. I run this trail so frequently that it felt just like another weekend long run... except thankfully I didn't have the stroller and I was running much faster than I would usually do a long run! I felt good through the middle miles and ate some gummies around mile 7.

I was glad I decided to wear my hydration vest because it was so nice to not have to worry about water stops and strategically plan my water intake. Plus being able to breeze around the crowds at the water tables was an added benefit!

I started to struggle around Mile 9. I was tired, and I started to have doubts about being able to hold the pace for the rest of the race, much less give an extra push to the finish like I'd planned. I realized, however, that since I was ahead of the pacer, I didn't have to push extra to the finish if I didn't want to. I felt like a PR was pretty much in the bag as long as I held steady, so I focused on that.

I ate the rest of my gummies over the next couple of miles, and by Mile 11 I really felt like I was toast. My legs were tired, my feet hurt, and I started to have the thoughts of "ugh, I don't even want  to PR, I just want to stop and walk." But with it so close, I kept pushing onward.

The Mile 12 sign came up and I thought "OK, this is it... just drive it to the finish. DO IT." I passed one spectator who encouraged me, "Go catch a few, you can do it." So I did... I think I passed at least 5 people in the last mile. According to my splits, I wasn't any faster during that last mile than the previous few, but it felt like I was working SO much harder.

Shocking consistency

I sprinted for the finish line as soon as it was in sight, and crossed the line with the finish clock reading something that started with a 1:42:xx! 😵

Finish line sprint!

YESSSS

Shiny new PR

Official race results say gun time of 01:42:33 / chip time of  01:42:15.

1:42:15 (7:49/mi average pace)

I was 12th of 115 in my age group, and 170 of 1315 overall.

YES!

Post-race recovery included a group breakfast at Tommy's Country Ham House. Most excellent.

GHS Swamp Rabbit Half training - Week 11 of 12

Monday - travel
Flying back from Spain.

Tuesday - #10kTuesday
Used the "steps-only" option today for #10kTuesday. Legs still extremely sore from Sunday's PR effort, and just lots going on in general.

Wednesday - rest
Needed another rest day.

Thursday - run
Ran the Earth Run course at lunch, really nice weather, felt good throughout the run. Seems the legs are recovered after several days' rest, kept a pretty good pace throughout the run especially for being on grass. 3.5mi @ 8:30 avg pace.

Friday - yoga
Good yoga class today, lots of stretching around the hips & glutes, which is always a problem area for me.

Saturday - long run
Took D out in the stroller, started from Furman, looped through campus, then headed north on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. Mid-run stop at the playground so D could run around a bit, then headed back to the car. Felt great throughout the run, no fatigue or other ailments. Strong and steady throughout, moving average a couple seconds below a 9:00/mi pace (whooo sub-9 stroller running!) for total of 9 miles. Fastest miles were Mile 4 (8:41), Mile 8 (8:19!!), and Mile 9 (8:42). Very happy with that.


Bonus run:
Night time run up Paris Mountain! We were hanging out after having dinner with some friends who live at the bottom of Paris Mountain, and after a few drinks one suggests we run up to the top of Paris Mountain. Who am I to turn down a challenge? So I borrowed some shoes and off we went. It was beautiful!

Total 3.8mi to the top and back.

Sunday - rest
Starting the taper. 👍

GHS Swamp Rabbit Half training - Week 10 of 12

Beginning week thoughts: This week is gonna be a little crazy!!

End of week thoughts: Yep, I was right. Multiple travels, a last-minute trip to Spain, and a successful half marathon PR attempt (also last-minute) made for an exciting but slightly stressful week.

Monday - hotel workout
Traveling for work and didn't feel like going to the hotel gym, so I did an old favorite: Jenna Wolfe's Hotel Room Pyramid Workout
This thing takes very little time (it says 10 mins, takes me closer to 15) and totally kicks butt. Did 2 complete rounds. WHEW.

Tuesday - #10kTuesday
Got up early to get the 10k done on the hotel treadmill, got to the gym, and ALL the treadmills were in use. With limited time, I figured I'd start out on the elliptical (ugh) and finish up on the treadmill when one opened up. Thankfully I didn't have to do much more than a mile on the elliptical, then I did a gradual progression on the treadmill. Done and done.

Wednesday - nothing
This week is a little crazy, so with only being in the office 1.5 days this week, I decided I couldn't afford to take the time to workout during lunch like usual. I did walk almost an hour (2.4 mi) on the treadmill desk while I got work done, so that was good.

Thursday - nothing/travel
Scott and I are working this morning and then hopping on a plane to BARCELONA, SPAIN! Yes, this is a last-minute weekend trip to a foreign country (sounds reasonable, right?). Scott got scheduled to visit a customer for work there, and travel plans & other details just kind of worked out so... when the stars align, you just go for it! My parents are coming into town to take care of D for the weekend, and I'll be back late Monday.

Friday - travel
Half the day was the remainder of our flight to Spain, the afternoon we walked around Barcelona seeing some sights. Got 18,000+ steps!

Saturday - walking tour of Barcelona
More walking, almost 24,000 steps.

Sunday - Race Day
Mitja Marató Barcelona
I also got over 40,000 steps today between the race and walking all over Barcelona in the afternoon. Whew!

Race Report: Barcelona Half Marathon

This whole thing came about rather suddenly.

Long story short: Scott got scheduled to go to Barcelona for work, travel plans worked out so that it would be fairly easy and inexpensive for me to join him for the weekend prior, and it just so turns out that we would be there during the Barcelona Half Marathon.

Woohoo!

Packet pick-up had to be done before race day, so we went over to the event center immediately after we landed. It was basically the top floor of a large circular mall - like a big cylinder building, where the top floor was one big room for event space. Everything was well laid-out and went smoothly.

The view from the top floor was pretty nice, too!

Map of the race course

Ready!

The morning of race day was fairly relaxed, but a little bit stressful since the time change (+6 hours from home) plus new/unfamiliar cuisine was making my stomach somewhat uneasy. I didn't get my PRD (replace "ride" with "race" and you get the idea). 😞

We had breakfast at the hotel then went out to the bus stop that would have taken us to the starting area... except the bus never came. Google Maps indicated it was running about 15 minutes late, but we decided not to wait and walked the 2km to the start line instead. At least it was a nice warm-up walk??

Map of the starting line on the reverse of my race bib

We got to the Arc de Triomf with plenty of time to spare - what a cool place to start the race!

Calm before the race

We slowly made our way towards the starting corrals and I finally found mine: the 1:40-1:50 predicted finish times. As we were walking there, I spotted the pacers getting warmed up. They had small flags stuck into Camelbak-like carriers with the target finish times in big bold letters on the flag. There were pacers at every 5 minute interval as far as I could tell. I decided I should find the 1:45 pacers and try to stick with them as much as possible.

After waiting around for each of the faster corrals to start, we were off at 8:54 a.m.

In the start corrals

I knew I started off fast, and the first kilometer marker seemed to appear very quickly (of course, kms are only 0.62 mi!). It was kind of nice to have the faster appearance of kilometer markers throughout the race, though knowing there were TWENTY ONE of them was a little daunting. Still, being able to tick off progress at a faster rate was kind of motivating. Plus it kept me distracted doing mental math throughout the race. :)

It wasn't until about mile 2 that the 1:45 pacers caught up to me. I decided I would stick with them as long as I could, and if I was still feeling good and keeping pace with them with 3-5 miles remaining, I'd consider trying to pull ahead. I felt strong and steady through the first five miles.

Right about the time I passed the 8km mark, I felt the need to use the bathroom. Oh dear.

I spent the rest of the race fighting the increasingly urgent need to poop. For the record, this is a terrible feeling in general... but an even more terrible feeling when you're running a race and every second counts. Pushing yourself physically is VERY difficult when trying to restrain your bowels. I did everything I could to control/ignore the feelings and just focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

Miles and kilometers ticked by steadily, but the increasing urgency of needing to be done with the race was harder and harder to ignore. I'd decided to start trying to pull ahead of the pacers around 14km. It took another 3km to actually lose them, so with a 5k remaining in the race, it was a desperate sprint (as much as I could manage) for the finish line.

I hadn't looked at my watch the entire race, but as I passed the 20km marker and rounded the corner to where the finish line was in sight (still 3/4mi away) I glanced at my watch. I saw my time was around 1:38. I could still finish with a PR! The finish line was the last of a series of about 5 inflatable arches, which was deceiving since you see one arch and you think you're done, but there are still more to go. I was sprinting as fast as I could go without pooping my pants, and I crossed the finish line at last and stopped my watch...

2 seconds to spare for PR!

My excitement for getting a PR was overshadowed by the immediate and urgent search for a bathroom. The finishers' area was a long walk... first the water station, then the medals, then the fruit, then the ponchos, then finally exiting the area through the Arc de Triomf. I found a race volunteer and asked her where the restrooms were.

"Donde están los baños?"

(with an apologetic look on her face)

"Están muy lejos... Encontrar un café? o bar?"

Translation: They're very far away. Find a cafe or bar?

So off I wandered/waddled to find something. 

Kind of like this.

I desperately barged through the closest cafe across the street, thankfully nobody stopped me to ask for payment or for me to order something before I could get to the bathroom (Europe is notorious for "no public restrooms" in their restaurants). 

Confession: I didn't quite make it in time. 💩😐

Once I'd finished up and felt OK enough to leave, I found Scott outside the cafe and told him we needed to return to the hotel immediately. The 2km walk back to the hotel felt like a long way, between a still-unsettled stomach and sore & tired legs. We finally made it and after a nice hot shower I felt much better, though my stomach didn't entirely recover for the remainder of the trip. 

Still, despite all of the complications and struggles, I'm proud of my efforts there and that I was able to come away with a shiny new PR. 

Official chip time 1:44:10 (ONE SECOND PR)

My official "diploma"

GHS Swamp Rabbit Half training - Week 9 of 12

Miles run this week: 24.9

Monday - strength
15min elliptical
strength
10,000 steps - barely!
Legs were feeling super sore and stiff from Sunday's long run, so I took a little extra time for an easy 1.25mi spin on the elliptical. It definitely helped loosen them up!
Spent the rest of my time doing various strength exercises with the resistance band and some pushups & core work.

Tuesday - #10kTuesday
10,000 steps
off-road 10k Tuesday
Took the 10k on the trails today at lunch in preparation for this weekend's race. Ran the Earth Run 5k course plus the Vita Course, then a little extra on the road to finish out the mileage. Gorgeous day!


Wednesday - XT
10,000 steps
14.3mi bike ride
Rode the Sherman College loop with Megan today, and it was such a nice day for a ride! A little breezy like last week, but we had a tailwind on the long straight stretches, so it worked to our advantage. Averaged just under 15 mph for the ride.

Thursday - easy miles
10,000 steps
3.5mi run @ 8:56/mi avg
Traded out speedwork today for some easy miles in preparation for Saturday's race. No structure to today's run, just kept it comfortable - ended up with pretty consistent splits all hovering around the 9:00/mi mark.

Friday - rest
~7,000 steps
I thought about doing yoga today, but with some work activities during lunch (Superbowl party!) and a desire to be truly fully rested for tomorrow, I decided a complete rest day would be good. Planning baked potatoes for dinner tonight = CARB LOADING!

Saturday - Race Day
Yeti or Not 25k
30,000+ steps 

Sunday - rest
Day after a long hard race effort, plus traveling for work = rest day.

Race Report: Yeti or Not 25k

Yeti or not? Doesn't matter, it's race day!

Going into this race, I felt ready(ish). Pretty much all of my training had gone according to plan and I didn't have any concerns about finishing it. I had no idea what to expect as far as time since I hadn't actually done any training on the actual race course. 

Race course map

I knew Dupont State Forest (site of the race) had some good climbs and hills, but wasn't anything terrible like Pisgah. I also knew that it wouldn't be as flat as Camp Croft, so my 2 hour time for the half back in November wasn't a very good gauge. I set my goal at 3 hours for the ~15 mile race.

Race morning rolled around, I ate a normal breakfast (breakfast burritos!) and then headed north on Hwy 276 towards Dupont. It was about a 45 minute drive, and a familiar route, so I wasn't concerned about getting there for the 10am start. I enjoyed this semi-delayed start because 1) I didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn and 2) it allowed the temperatures to rise a little bit with the sun since it was about 24F overnight!

Pre-race... cold! But we got sweet hats.

The cold was interesting because so far this winter I've only run in sub-freezing temperatures maybe twice? And certainly not recently. I packed a whole bunch of extra layers not knowing what to expect. Ended up running in tights (but not fleece-lined), wool socks, long sleeve tech shirt + short sleeve shirt over it, and fleece headband. This turned out to be perfect overall - a bit cold at the start, but quite comfortable after the first couple of miles were done. I even shed my gloves at the first aid station.

The elevation turned out to be challenging but not as relentless as the map would lead you to believe... the first 5 miles looked to be mostly uphill, but it really didn't seem as bad as it looked on paper (YAY!).

The worst bit was the ~2mi climb at the end!

Overall this was such a great race. I felt good and steady through most of the run.

First creek crossing, Mile ~1.5

The early climb up to the first aid station was tough but it really didn't seem as long or as steep as the map made it look. The middle miles really ticked by quickly (and the nice long descent / flat part helped). Got a little tired around miles 9-10, just before the 2nd aid station.

Coming into Aid Station #2

I probably should have stopped to eat a snack earlier than that station, but in my mind I felt better making it there first before taking a little break for some fuel. I walked a bit, ate some Stinger gummies, and then continued onwards. I got lost in my own thoughts for a while in the next few miles, which was nice, and I felt really good by the time I hit mile 13 or so.

The last couple of miles had a few good climbs, which themselves wouldn't have been so hard if I hadn't been going for 2.5 hours already. I walked some of them, and was excited to see the trees clearing and cheering/shouts in the distance meaning the finish line was near!

Finish line! Halleluia!

I was tired and stiff, but feeling good and accomplished. I had a snack, sat and stretched in the sun, and chatted with Shannon for a while before heading out.

Sweet medal!

Finish time: 2:42:35
93 of 182 overall
18 of 40 age group

Happy with this result!

Pre-race photo with my trail running ladies