This week I ran w/ my long-neglected 4-legged training partner, did a reverse-tri, and dumped my bike.






Here's me and Biscuit the Wonder Dog, our 5yo rat terrier, back at his fighting weight. He and I ran to a new PR at the time (27:30) and an AG award in the NetJets 5k. He's packed on a few pounds in the last couple of years and can't run distances in the heat like he used to.









This is the Main Street Bridge in Westerville. It connects the northern terminus of the Alum Creek
bike trail (on the left of the creek in
this pic) to Alum Creek Park (on the
right). It's slated to be torn down and rebuilt, starting in July. And it's a good thing, because there's a huge pothole in the middle of the sidewalk which is easy to avoid on foot but tough to navigate on a bike. The pic on the left shows the Curb of Death, which is about a foot high and close to traffic. Yes, I tipped over the curb on my bike Friday while trying to navigate around the traffic-side of the hole. Landed on my back with the bike on top of me right next to bumper-to-bumper (and thankfully slow-moving) traffic. Even gently tapped my helmet on the pavement. A runner and two cars stopped. I was more mad than hurt, even though I have a scabby knee and I'm still discovering bruises on my thighs. The take-home lesson for the kiddies? Wear your helmets!

Saturday morning was hot but not oppressively humid. IronAnn and I ran, biked, swam in an unofficial Reverse IronMan. In case you didn't already know, it's a lot harder to swim in open water (even calm Alum Creek) than in a pool. I did my half-mile with a combo of strokes - my breast-stroke and side-stroke splits were about equal to my free-style ones. And since the time cut-off for the 2.2-mile section of the IronMan is 2.5 hours, I'd have to get a lot faster in my open-water swimming before I could consider that "challenge."

Summary for the week:

Monday - ran 2 loops of the Blendon Woods hilly gravel trail, 3.9 miles @ 10:44
Tuesday - ran 1 loop of the Sharon Woods multiuse trail, 3.8 miles @ 10:02 (90 degrees)
Wednesday - MIT Book Club ("South of Broad" by Pat Conroy), a belly full of homemade Indian food nearly wiped me out
Thursday - brief Biscuit run in the neighborhood, 2.65 miles @ 11:08
Friday - biked on the Alum Creek trail, 15.35 miles @ 16 mph
Saturday - ran on the Olentangy trail w/ MIT, 6.85 miles @ 10:10; biked on the Olentangy trail, 16.33 miles @ 13.5 mph; swam at Alum Creek Beach, 0.5 miles (800 yards) in 30:30
Sunday - pseudo-crosstraining (helping Mom downsize and move to smaller house)

Week ending June 20

This week I relearned how to swim, remembered why runners have to time their blood donations, and developed a new respect for an amazing class of runners.

Monday - biked 13.3m @ 16.6mph on the Alum Creek Trail
Tuesday - ran 3.9m @ 10:30m/m, 2 loops on the hilly gravel Blendon Woods trail; planned to do an easy run, but felt great on the second loop and cranked out a negative split
Wednesday - swimming approx. 800 yards at the Columbus Academy indoor pool w/ my new instructor Gloria "Gator" McCarthy; in one hour, I progressed from not being able to swim 25yds freestyle to swimming 100yds twice, and finished w/ challenging Gator in 25yd sprints :)
Thursday - hammered out a 1.36m tempo run at 5k pace (8:30) at Antrim Lake, then rode 14m w/ friends at approximately 14mph on the Olentangy Trail
Friday - iron count was a whopping 12.6, so I dropped off a pint w/ the Red Cross
Saturday - ran 6.2m @ 10:25m/m pace, long-run suffered from the humidity and yesterday's blood donation; then road-tripped up to Mohican to cheer on friends and help at an aid station during the 50/100-mile ultramarathon:



My family was relieved to hear that I've finally found an endurance sport in which I have no interest in participating...

Week ending June 13

I did a "bike fit" with John at Bike Source (Sawmill & Bethel Roads) this week. He assessed my strength, flexibility, and symmetry; then made appropriate modifications to my new bike and shoes. He significantly pulled back the aero bars and tweaked the seat position. He also added supports in my shoes (not a surprise, due to my collapsing arches and history of plantar fasciitis) and adjusted the cleats. I'll go back after a few weeks of riding for a final tune-up.

Saturday's MIT met at the Ohio Health building on Polaris/Africa Roads in Westerville. OH is a sponsor of MIT and we meet there about once a month. It's a nice change of pace and offers the opportunity to run on one of my favorite hidden treasures, Alum Creek Trail. However, it also involves crossing several busy roads and there is no shade for the first/last 3 miles, which is challenging in the summer. I'm sure the cyclists on the Olentangy Trail appreciate not having to share the trail with 500 MITers one Saturday each month. :)

The training schedules for the Columbus Half and Full marathons call for fairly modest long-run mileage this early in the season. This week, the Beginner Halfs had 3 miles; everyone else had 5 miles. Leslie led a group of alumni (fresh off of May races) for 7 miles.

After MIT, I met IronAnn at Alum Creek Beach. The Wendy's Women's Triathlon had just wrapped up (I actually got there in time to cheer on the last dozen or so triathletes) and she wanted to test the water to see if she'd need her wetsuit for Sunday's sprint tri. I needed to get an idea of what my pace was, in prep for the JCC Triathlon on July 4th. We swam 200 yards. Ann's freestyle looked smooth and effortless - I could see how she did this for 2.2 miles at IronMan Arizona last November! Me? I tried to swim the crawl, but my heart rate and breathing were both elevated (from the cold water? nerves?) so I side-stroked instead and averaged 4 mins/100 yds. The swim is NOT my strength - I know I need to take tri-specific classes to learn how to do the crawl efficiently.


(this is my wetsuit...but not my bod)

Sunday, I watched the IronMan 70.3 (aka Half Ironman) championship on TV. My Running Buddy Kirsten is doing a Half IM next month. Maybe me too, one day...

Monday - 16m bike on Alum Creek Trail @ 16.6 mph
Tuesday - bike fit at Bike Source, rode 45mins on trainer at 60% effort
Wednesday - 3.9m at Blendon Woods (hilly gravel trail) @ 10:47 m/m
Friday - 6.0m at Sharon Woods (bike trail + hilly gravel trail) @ 10:30 m/m
Saturday - 4.2m in Westerville (MIT run), 200yd swim in Alum Creek

Week(s) ending June 6

It's been a hectic two weeks, without much spare time to run or bike.  However I did plenty of "crosstraining" - raced a 5k, walked in the Ironton (Ohio) Memorial Day parade, danced at my HS reunion, hosted family from Virginia/New York/Washington State, and watched DD2 get her HS diploma and helped put on a 6-hour grad party with 5 other girls and their families at Blendon Woods.

I finished the 5k in 27:30, which is in the top 25% of my 5k times.  I was 2nd of 12 in my Age Group and I got a nice plaque to add to my Race Bling shelf.

I'll need to spend some time on my bike after work Monday, as I'm scheduled for a fitting at Bike Source on Tuesday.  I'm ready to get back on some semblance of a training schedule!

Summary - 

May 23 - 5.25m bike at Blendon Woods

May 24 - 4.0m run w/ Biscuit

May 27 - 3.8m tempo run at Sharon Woods

May 31 - 0.5m warm-up, 5k race, ~ 4m walk/march in the parade

June 6 - 7.4m long-run at Olentangy Trail w/ MIT