So, I am an official triathlete. The race yesterday was completely awesome- I now have a serious hankering to do another tri, this time outside. It was 10 minutes in the pool, 30 minutes on the bike trainer, and 20 minutes on the treadmill. The pool portion went really well- the water was a little colder than what I am used to at the Y, but I knocked out 22 laps in the time allotted!
On the bike trainer my butt was going "Wow, Em, thanks so much for NOT investing in bike shorts and leaving your tailbone bruised like a banana." I didn't really feel the soreness until I got in the car after the race, but I could tell by 15 minutes into the bike trainer session that wooden chairs were not going to be my friends for the next couple of days. I got 9.85 miles in, but apparently some 12 year old kid in an earlier heat got 12 miles! WHAT.THE.HECK.
The treadmill was my favorite part- we had to set it at a 1% incline, but I felt awesome and was able to keep a 7 minute pace the first ten minutes. I had to turn it down a little to a 7:30 for 3 minutes because my heart was beating really fast (not enough electrolyte intake... it was hard to drink on the bike, and the swim didn't allow any time for chugging the purple sludge ), but then I got it back up to 7 minutes flat, and ended at a 6:30 pace for a total distance of 2.77. I had an awesome playlist to help keep me entertained during the bike and run, which was definitely necessary since the spinning room was literally just a room filled with bikes and nothing else, and the TVs above the treadmill were so high I felt like if I watched them I would faceplant onto the 'mill and give myself an accidental nosejob.
My calves were screaming when I hopped off the treadmill, and I was limping around the rest of the night, but I felt AWESOME... until this morning.
When I was little, I used to get the worst growing pains at night, and that is exactly what this morning's pain felt like. Luckily I didn't really have too much time to focus on it since we were in the car 30 minutes after I woke up. I got to the 10-miler with plenty of time to spare, and felt good, if not tight, for the first few miles. Then my stomach started acting up.... UGH. I ran with my buddy Jon, so our conversation distracted me from my growing discomfort, but at mile 5, when I saw a port-a-potty near by, I ran for that thing like it was the finish line. At that point, I was focusing on finishing the race, not getting a good time, so I didn't worry too much about the time I was wasting.
I was okay after that, until mile 8, when my legs just went dead. Completely dead. It probably didn't help that the course was hillier than anything I have ever ran in my entire life- there were LITERALLY NO FLAT SECTIONS. Good training for Charlottesville, bad training after a triathlon...
Mile 9 was better, and at mile 9.5 I was running alongside these two guys and they were cheering for me to sprint to the finish and "go get 'em," so go get 'em I did! I had a finishing kick that came out of nowhere when I saw my Dad and his colleague at the end, though I think I kicked it up because the woman he was with is an amazing runner who finished 3rd in Boston and runs a 6:30 mile WHEN BEARING CHILDREN, so I wanted to impress her, since I basically want to be her someday...
Have you noticed that after a hard race, walking around actually seems to help more than an ice bath? It does for me anyways. I skipped the ice today in favor of flushing out the legs with all the trekking around while shopping, and 60 minutes on the elliptical and 45 minutes of leg strength while watching CupCake Wars!!
All in all, a great weekend, though now my left glute is so knotted it probably resembles my hair after I get out of the pool, and I think I have a date with my foam roller in the future.
I leave you with a delicious new dessert idea: 1/2 a sweet potato with rice pudding, Kamut puffs, whipped cream, and cinnamon:
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