The Triing Lizard

Sunday, March 12, 2006


I completed my maiden voyage at Gasparilla! My first marathon!

Race report:
Alarm went off at 3:30 AM. Yes, that's really damn early. When I first started to do triathlons I used to really worry that I would completely want to fall asleep half way through the race because I would be so tired. But no, it's amazing how adrenaline can always carry you through!
I made coffee with my trusty pour through (didn't expect even Starbucks to be open at this time). Drank coffee and gatorade and ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana. Wrote my goal pacing on my arm: miles 1-5 - 11:30, miles 6-10 - 11:20, miles 10-20 - 11:15. I figured that should be doable since my pacing for my low heart rate training runs has been around 12 minutes per mile. Drove to Tampa. Sat in traffic in Tampa since I think the only parking garage that was open was the convention center one and there were a thousand cars all trying to get in at the same time. Definitely chaotic. I was a little panicky but luckily my bf Jeff who has done dozens of races before was really calm that kind of rubbed off on me. We finally parked, donned our garbage bags and headed to the start. Found out start was delayed which allowed for an additional and much needed bathroom stop.

Going into the race I really wasn't sure what my pacing was going to be. My biggest limiter as far as triathlon went was my aerobic endurance so I've been training using the Maffetone method to bolster that. All of my training runs have been around 11-13 minute pace per mile (varied based on distance). Based on all my calculations I was pretty sure that I would stay within aerobic if I could keep my HR below 170. Once I hit 170 I told myself that I should probably slow down. So I was in the low 160s for the first 5 miles and was maintaining a pretty fast pace, almost 2 minutes per mile faster than my training pace. I kept going at the same pace, only slowing down a little when I saw the 170s on my monitor. When I hit mile 16 and I was at 2:45 I knew I was going to make my goal time of 4:45, I knew I could run 10.2 miles in under 2 hours. I was so psyched!! And then when I got to mile 20 and saw that 9:14 pace I decided to go full out and deal with a crash if it came. I sped up as much as was possible given the strong headwind. It was awesome having people call out my name as I was running, that definitely energized me! I had a gel every 30 minutes which worked out great, I didn't have any stomach problems or cramping. Drank gatorade or water at every water station. With the exception of the water stations and a couple times where I had trouble opening my gel packet and had to stop to use my teeth I was able to run the whole thing!

After I crossed the finish line, I got my metals, hugged Jeff (well, really fell on him might more accurately describe it), collapsed on the side of the road to eat a bagel and drink some coke and water. With Mindy and Jeff's help, hobbled over to get some food which I ate as quickly as I could shovel it in, definitely wasn't pretty. :) I looked down at my watch and I had burned 4800 calories! About an hour after I ate probably the equivalent of two meals I asked Mindy if she could get me the biggest milkshake she could find. For some reason that was the only thing I wanted. She returned with this enormous thing that I had to hold in two hands. I drank it down in about 10 minutes. It was the yummiest thing ever. Later on Jeff and I stopped for Krispy Kremes and then we drove to his parents house and ate a full dinner and had key lime pie for dessert.

Crossing the finish line:







Next up: Columbia Triathlon!!!

2 Comments:

  • Way to go! That's fabulous! I did the 3-race challenge there last year (15K, 5K, half marathon) and had a blast.

    See you at Columbia!!!

    By Blogger Nancy Toby, at 6:21 AM  

  • I am so proud of you! Wow! You go, girl!

    By Blogger Sarah Wilson Belzile, at 2:20 AM  

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