I Get Around

Now, the Beach Boys were MY generation (actually, also the generation a bit before me, as well). I spent thousands of worthless summer hours cruisin' to their songs and since I lived near a beach (of sorts--Galveston is no Palm Beach) their songs were considered home cookin'. I was a lousy surfer and remain so, but I can belt out Surfer Girl with the best of them.

I'm getting around to my first race of the season--this Saturday is the Texas Half half marathon at White Rock Lake in Dallas. It's a B race for me this year as I'm still focused on my 70.3 in early April, but it's still a race, and I plan to run it smart, well, fairly fast and without getting hurt (I might have those priorities in backwards order). I do not expect a PR this time as my training has been triathlon focused, but then again, you never know (for the uninitiated, PR = personal record=or, Pass out Rather fast. You pick).

This week is a taper week. I love taper weeks. My long run on Sunday was only 7 miles (but it hurt for some reason--it was late in the day and I was tired, and surely the 3 glasses of red wine Sat night had nothing to do with it), Monday was a 1900 yard swim (I remember when I thought those were long, hahahahaha, funny how things change), yesterday (last night) was a brisk tempo 3 mile run at a 10 min mile pace chasing the stars, and this morning was my 5:45 wake up call with Brutal Bob at spin class (no really, Bob, I love your class. Still not sure about the choice of your tunes though). Tomorrow is a short, easy relaxed run and Friday is all about rest and a bit of yoga, maybe a short walk, to keep the system limber and primed. Going to try to get a good night's sleep tonight and tomorrow night as the night before a race (this one is on Saturday, unlike most races which fall on Sunday) I never sleep all that well; too busy thinking about the race and all the things I forgot to pack.

My Patient Spouse, my daughter Sarah, and our rockin' neighbor Terry (same name, different sex) are joining me to run the 5K offered at the race, and will wait patiently for me at the finish line to whisk me off to Cafe Brazil afterwards for a Chicken Brazilian feast (yum!). The race is pretty much all around White Rock lake, and because the trail around the lake is only 9 miles long (actually, a bit less), the race backtracks a bit here and there to make up for those lost four miles (plus one tenth). It's a fairly flat course with a couple of minor uphill sections (you really learn where those are when you are on your bike!) and some small bridges and short uprises. The weather says its gonna be sunny and not too breezy (please God) with a high that day of 70 degrees (this is still January, I think) which probably means a start temp of about 40-45 and hopefully the temp won't climb above 65 during the race or it's going to start getting too warmish for me.

I've been running long runs by running 8 minutes walking 2 minutes and that's how I plan to do the race. It's always hard to walk the first time your watch beeps at 8 minutes (assuming I figure out how to make the new Garmin, which does everything but a load of laundry, and may even do that, beep at 8/2 and still keep track of my pace, time and mile laps). The new Garmin has a charming mode that allows you to track your average pace per each mile (or whatever segment you pick), instead of your current pace (or it can go back and forth--I think--the owner's manual is very long). In this manner I have it in my head what average pace I want to run each mile for the entire 13, slowly getting faster each mile so my second half is faster than my first half (negative split, if you really want to know). Sometimes a hill or wind or a potty or water break can throw the plan for a loop, but you generally can make up for those without killing yourself if you are careful about it.

The biggest thing on long races for me (over a 10K) is to make sure that I don't go out too fast at the start, which is so easy to do for anyone, what with all the crush of people speeding by and your eagerness to get 'er done at full gallop. I have to remind myself that I will pass about 50 percent of these rabbits at mile 10 (the other ones will finish the race before I get to mile 6). When I do my 2 minute walk, I politely move over to the side of the trail before I slow down so no one crashes into me or has to weave around me. I'm packing my race belt with Acel Gel, gummy bears and my own sports drink (I may partake of what they offer, but I've been to races where they offered nothing but water and where they have run out of stuff when us slower runners get there). The gel gets inhaled (there really is no other way to eat a gel than inhale it, I'm sorry to say) at mile 7 or 8, and the gummies are little rewards for each milepost I pass (they also add a sugar rush). Nothing says hooray it's mile 6 than three yellow gummy bears, IMO.

Because this is a B race, if at any time I get hurt or injured, I'm done. I can't let injuries get in my way of the 70.3, so if the old hamstring starts to sing too loud, or something else goes whacko, I'll bear the Walk of Shame. I've never had to do one before in a race, but I'm no longer too proud to stop if I hurt.

And the iPod gets charged up (iPods aren't allowed at triathlons, so I will enjoy using one here). So many choices to start the race with: Danger Zone, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Born to Run, All She Wants to Do is Dance....(hello, Brutal Bob? Great classic rock tunes?).

So...it's nearly race day. What all the training is for!