Running with Eric

Page 10 of 10

April 30, 2015

Paddle Triathlon

Saturday’s race was the paddle triathlon portion of the Flower City Challenge. I finished with an overall time of 2:47:20, which put me in 59th place. As a member of the first wave with events ordered from my strongest to my weakest, most of the morning was spent with other people passing me by. Ten feet into the run, I was solidly in second place, and while I held off the rest of the field for the first half mile, once I started getting passed it literally did not stop until I reached the finish line. Against my pre-race expectations I did great on the run, and poorly on the bike.

The run went very well. I finished the 5K in 23:03, which was almost a minute and a half faster than I did last year, and represents the fact that running is the one part of the triathlon that I am actually good at.

The biking portion was a disappointment. I finished in 1:26:51 which is actually slower than last year. The gears on my bike, mostly don’t work and I desperately need a new one, but that still really doesn’t excuse the fact that I was unable to match last year’s time.

The Kayaking portion of the race was longer than it was last year, which makes a simple comparison a bit more complicated. While the extra distance made my time of 55:33 slower than before, I placed better compared to the rest of the field. The paddling was still the weakest part of my race, but I feel that it has improved since last year.

The secret portion a triathlon is the transitions, which went well for me. I spent a total of 1:51 in transition this race which as 24 seconds less than it took me last year. Overall, I am pretty happy with how I did with the first half of the Flower City Challenge.

April 20, 2015

Two big races upcoming

This coming weekend I will be participating in two significant races. On Saturday I will be participating in a Paddle Triathalon, followed by a Half-Marathon on Sunday. Between both races I will probably spend at least a combined four and a half hours on the courses.

I participated in the paddle triathlon last year (pictured above) and finished with a time of 2:41:22. I did pretty well in the run, a little below average on the bike, and rather slow on the kayak. While I was happy with the run, I hope to improve upon my times in the later two disciplines. My goal is to finish the run in 24:30, the bike in 1:22:00, and the kayaking 48:00. If I can reach these times, my finish would be four and a half minutes quicker.

For the half-marathon my goal is to finish in under two hours. This will be my third half-marathon, but (more importantly) it is the first time I have run two races in back-to-back days. I am also planning on trying something new in the race in staying with a pace group. My plan is to go out with the 1:50 group, and fall back if I need to. Having not done two races in a row before (even with a 5k) I am a bit unsure on how to rest and eat on the day between the races.

I ran 16 miles last Friday, so I feel good about the running portions of the events, but the biking and kayaking are going to be more challenging. I took a practice run in the kayak on Saturday afternoon and found the current to be fast and challenging. I am better prepared than last year, but still expect to be worn out by the time I am done paddling.

April 16, 2015

First race complete

Yesterday I finished the first race of the season, completing 4.8ish miles worth of hills and mud in 51 minutes and 22 seconds. This is almost six minutes quicker than the last trail race I ran at Mendon Ponds park.

While the full selection of trails was not exactly identical, the times of the top runners actually seem to indicate that last night’s course was slightly more difficult. Overall I was pretty happy with my result, finishing in the top 35th percentile (versus the 63rd percentile in July 2013).

April 15, 2015

Start of the racing season

Later today I am running the Dirt Cheap Trail Race in what will be my first real race of 2015. Technically I have run two previous races early in the year, but this will be the first one without mounds of snow all over the trails.

Today’s race is on trails at Mendon Ponds park. I have run once before at this locations (show in the image above) at what I believe is tonight’s course in reverse. I ran that in 57:15, so assuming that the course is the same length my goal is to improve upon that time. Let’s see how it goes…

April 2, 2015

I want to enter a race, and finish last

At the start of any race a common refrain among runners is “I just don’t want to finish last”. I understand this mindset. The idea that even if you are not close to winning, you just want to finish decently is an easy concept to get behind. Yet I do want to finish last.

I never have finished last in a race, but I have tremendous respect for those who do. Anyone who finishes last is clearly struggling to complete the race, yet manages to do so. Arguably you could say that the person in last place is pushing themselves closer to their limit than anyone else in the race.

Last year I completed my first triathlon. I finished towards the back of the pack. Yet I wasn’t disappointed with myself, but instead I was glad that I had finished my first triathlon. There were still another handful of individuals who struggled even more than I did in order to complete the course.

As much as I would like to improve upon the races that I have already proven as being able to complete, I also want to push myself farther and try to complete races that I don’t have any prior experience in. If I can barely complete a race to the point that I finish last than I can know that I am really pushing myself to my limits.

This isn’t saying that I am going to stop running in shorter races that I know I can complete, but that my training is going to focused on the events that take well over an hour to complete. While most people will focus on the word “last” here, I also want to point out the importance of the word “finish”. The goal is not to drop out of races, or to be unable to complete the course, but to cross the finish line having done something new.