Sportybrains

Race Location: Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Tri Sugar Land, TX
Objective: See what racing a triathlon is all about. That, and place at the top of AG; do the runner folk proud:)
Distance: Sprint-300m swim, 10-mile bike, 3 mile run (mmm...speed!)

Wow, what a morning, what an experience. Today I flexed my tri muscles for the first time at Andy Stewart's race down in Sugar Land. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect both from the event of myself. This event was actually the first on my calendar post injury (which seems like so long ago now:)) and was a bit of the materialization of all my recent cross-training efforts. I did know that I'm a pretty strong runner, a decent cyclist, and a marginal swimmer-hey, we all have our weaknesses!The rest I just let unfold as it would.

The morning actually started 'comically rocky' as the alarm went off at 4 AM and I stumbled into the kitchen to get my necessary cup of coffee and check everything over. Luckily, I had checked and double-checked my equipment the night before...wow there is much more to keep track of vs. a pair of shoes, singlet, and watch.
I stayed with my parents overnight as they live just 15 minutes from the start, versus my hour from The Woodlands. Even though they have lived in that house a couple years now, I still struggle with the placement of things, this brings blunder #1: every morning I fix cinnamon oatmeal, and this one was no exception, not withstanding that I accidentally grabbed cumin instead of cinnamon! Eww...so much for that! It was all good, though as I was able to sift it out and cover most of it with honey and more cinnamon. It actually tasted more like cinnamon than taco, thank goodness.

Blunder #2 came from being overconfident with the directions to the First Colony Aquatic center. Yeah, I got all turned around in the darkness of the morning-transition opened at 5:15. I felt the squeeze as I had to rush around to find a place I thought would be easy to find, luckily, I google mapped the directions on my phone and eventually pulled in at 5:35. Plenty of time to set up transition. Sweet. Too bad I wasted some adrenaline already!

6:30 or so rolled around and I had comfortably hung up my bike, lined up all my gear in a systematic fashion, and mentally rehearsed how the transitions would go. Self talk went like this: "top down, Adrienne, top down"; as I would gear up and down according to that system. As you will see, this was actually a good system, even though I was iffy on the whole transition thing.

I proceeded to warmup by jogging in the grass, of course sporting some unfamiliar and self-consciousness raising spandex (thanks goes out to PowerBar for providing the race kit!) versus my baggies I like to race in, and swimming a couple laps. My stroke (if you wanna call it that) already felt kind of wonky so I knew just to do the best I could. I ran into my mom, Bill, and the hilarious Marck and Lisa Henthorn before the start. Even though I was feeling a tad unsure of myself at that time, Marck had the perfect shout out to relax me in "Remember, Honey Badger doesn't give a s#!$!" With my slightly wild racing style, the Honey Badger has become my new nickname and personal mascot...gotta go with what sticks, even if its a crazy ravenous animal (that probably smells)!!

Swim start goes off in the pool and before I know it I'm off-I'm just 50 m in when I get tapped to pass-awesome. Keeping the ego in check, I keep chopping along. This was definitely my most shaky event. I have only been swimming once maybe twice a week for 1200m or so. While I work with a bunch of swimmers and triathletes, swimming has historically gotten the shaft in my training. Fending off a pang of panic I steadied myself to climb out of the water in 6:06. Not bad, but not great. Off to T1...

T1: 1:15, not bad at all, off on the bike I go. This is where I started to get in rhythm and feel comfortable. Actually, I felt as if I was in total control of the bike split, as I was more often the passer than passee. I did not take my Garmin along on this race, so I was unaware of speed, but at least I felt fast. I had a fun zipping along Palm Royale and Commonwealth Dr., telling myself "go for it, you're killing it!" I had pretty much forgotten about the swim at that point. Me and "Tessa", my bike, were in sync-sans aerobars and a fancy helmet, I might add-doing it like a runner;)! It was hot,so I made sure to sip plenty of Ironman Perform on the bike along with mentally prepping for the run, knowing it would feel weird at first, but ready to let it rip. Aiming for a bike split under 28:00, I came into T2 in 27:29; good for just under 22 MPH.

I hit T2 in a fury ready to run. I changed out of my bike shoes, replaced the helmet with my Brooks visor (keepin' it real!), slid on the Green Silences and was off. T2 time 1:50-a bit slow, but who cares-time to RUN! I went out of the transition area and immediately started passing people-pretty sweet feeling. I felt comfortable but like I was working it, basically on the edge of blowing up and held it. The odd heavy feeling was there but not burdensome for the first half mile or so. I went through the first mile in 6:33 and kept trucking from there. The two loop course went by super-quick as I saw the finish line ahead. "Wow, I guess this technically makes me a triathlete now" I thought to myself, and kicked it in-at this point I was a bit gassed and ready to finish. I crossed the line in 56:21; run split 19:27 (6:29/mi.). I was happy with the run pace, especially after hammering the bike beforehand.

When I finished I knew I had done relatively well, but not sure about placement. This is one of the big differences between triathlon and running-you often don't really have a reference point. Eventually enough, I found out that I pulled off 1st in my age group-for the first time, I'll take it!! All in all, I was happy with how I performed and enjoyed the experience. I think I really succeeded mentally on this one, always staying positive and just trying to have fun out there.

In closing, I'm glad I found tris to cycle in during the summer months when my running mileage needs to come down a touch. Several people have already asked me if I'm making the 'switch' from mostly running to mostly tris...let's just say that I have a good deal of 'unfinished business' with running for now. This unfinished business will likely become a more common subject on the blog for the upcoming months. It's already been and is going to be a fun ride ahead! For now, the "honey badger" is tired!



Run Happy!

Why not, you ask? There are SO many reasons.

I'll start by flashing back to last weekend as I get my gear out for my ordinary weekend long run, when Coach Bill asked what I was doing the next weekend. I answered that I was scheduled to put on a clinic for a Team in Training group for my nutrition sponsor PowerBar.I knew something was up and I tried to brace myself for the next part of his answer, and this one for sure as he responded: "We're going to Alabama." For those who regularly follow, you are probably aware that me and my running club put on a fundraiser for the W.S. Neal Eagles track team over there a few weeks ago.

This weekend it was my good friend Coach Rebecca Massie's turn to host her Neal fundraiser event, the Blueberry Chase 5k back in her hometown of Brewton, AL-obviously not your neighborhood 5k, at least not for me. Of course, I couldn't miss the opportunity to double-dip for the team, regardless of the length of hours driving there and back. I was in-I rescheduled my clinic, apologized to the coordinator and the rest is history! Looks like "Mt. Carbohydrate" will have to exist in my apartment a little longer:)!

Here's the best part: Rebecca had NO idea we were coming!!....So Friday afternoon rolls around, my appointments come and go, and we're on I-10 headed that direction. Obviously, I have never traveled that far via car to run a race before, but the race itself was just a small part of it. For the first time in a long time, I went into a race not in it for blood, but to just be there. Another atypicality for me.

Saturday morning brought a successful surprise. I will never forget Becca's face and response as I walked up! Absolutely priceless! Everyone had succeeded in not slipping up via Facebook or anything like that. The race went along a shady residential area with some neat, well-manicured and classic homes. Far from the pre-fab postmodern I have here in The Woodlands. This town actually has history.

Rebecca and her volunteers did a great job with the course, set-up, and everything else involved. Even with little sleep and some serious "car legs" I managed to put down a respectable 19:20 and got 1st Female/2nd OA. My award was an adorable picture frame that was made by Rebecca's students. This was such a neat experience to actually be present where it will soon all happen-that's right, the track is getting fixed at W.S. Neal High sometime soon this summer! I also found it rewarding to meet one of her athletes who was handing out water at the finish-impressive that a HS student gets up at 7:00 am to help out!

The only thing that I wish would have been different is that we could have stayed longer. The people there were great, especially letting strange outsiders who drive 9 hours to run a race come hang out with them! I guess I will just have to FLY over there soon.

Before I write a total scrollbar workout, here are some of many things I took away from yesterday's experience:

1. While I have undoubtedly had some racing success and hope to have much more, this is really what running is about-overcoming obstacles that sometimes seem too big to move through.

2. It was confirmed that Rebecca may have the biggest heart in the South, both in a metaphorical and literal sense-she cares deeply about the kids she works with and never gave up on getting them what they deserve. She also runs a mean marathon, has completed and WON an ultramarathon, and regularly puts in some monster weekly mileage in addition to all she does for her team and students. Her perseverance is inspiring.  Maybe one day I can be like her...

3. The trip down there was way worth it. I want to thank everyone involved for putting on a great event and being so welcoming.

4. Running Bill in as he finished his first event in a long time was really neat to do.

4. Although something I already knew-Bill and Jon are awesome.

5. After several failed attempts in the past-I found out that I can actually pull off a surprise!

Now I'm looking forward to attending a home track meet next year:)

Because the mind is always working with the body during running, the mind (which is to say, the brain) is also always being trained along with the body during running. It is while you run that you develop and refine the sense of feel you use to find your maximal sustainable pace. The brain changes physically in response to training every bit as much as the muscles do.


I don't always agree with what Matt Fitzgerald at competitor puts out, but as a sports psychology practitioner, I do see some merit in an article he wrote a month or so ago. According to Fizgerald, the mind is always a step ahead of your body-i.e. we feel positive or negative before our performance actually registers either way. Interesting. I do prescribe and practice regular visualization and other methods outside the act of training, but coupling them together may give you the most bang for your mental buck.

Today's long run ended up being a great set-up for a mental training-distance training duo. While I'm always performing self-talk to guide me through the miles (and occasional frustrations), today I tended to talk less and "listen" more to what was going on as I traversed down Branch Crossing and Terramont Dr. The route assigned by Bill today was not easy and not difficult, with a few hills thrown in my path. It does take some effort to maintain a steady and smooth pace and form here, however. Taking it all in and controlling the output on the run today made for one of the most satisfactory and comfortable long runs in a long time.

Having Travis, a new speedster in our group start out with me was perfect-I had to keep myself from wanting to press early to stay ahead. Staying relaxed at all times is something I'm working on and excelled here-it's amazing what kind of pace you can comfortably hold if you're not binding up anywhere. I kept reminding the legs to just glide through and as a result was comfortably registered at 7:47 pace-odd as it sounds, this is where muscle memory registers from seasons past on the LSD work. Good to see that it's that easy again!

Happy with pace, and navigating the hills, this is where the focus shifted to the stride, as I consciously paid attention to the knee drive-forward and not up and down, with a midfoot landing; arms driving slightly back and relaxed. I can go forever with this type of stride; and this was a mantra I kept repeating. I have to say, it felt pretty cool, just feeling the run out there, as fatigue started to set in, I simply re-dialed in and felt the pace as it carried me forward. Simple, clean running. Learning how to run efficiently, run relaxed and training the stubborn brain on how its done without fuss.  No room for negativity on this Saturday morning ritual, I just didn't feel like complaining-"just stay midfoot". I also didn't feel like quitting at the end, as I usually do. It doesn't always happen like this, but today the mind stayed a step ahead of the body.

Please forgive the rambling nature of this post about just a simple experience-I believe its the little things we pay mind to that eventually pay big dividends. Hopefully some of you may find this aspect of mental training useful. Anyone who works with me in office knows that I take seriously the principles I teach by practicing them myself. Mr. Fitzgerald, you have my agreement on this principle!

 As for the concrete stuff, covered today was about 11.5 miles in just under 1:30, and per tradition finished off with Ironman Restore and a thorough stretch session.

Run Happy!

It began as the tale of a track team who had no track-or at least one they could compete on. Several months ago I read something written about this team by good friend and fellow Brooks runner about the depth of need....you see, not only has the track been unusable for several years, but the team had no matching uniforms, minimal travel costs, and dealt with a gamut of other issues that teens shouldn't have to deal with at such a young age.

 Several months ago I looked around my small, but affluent community of The Woodlands, TX, noticed how blessed myself and fellow runners here are and decided to heed to gumption and host a benefit for this team, the W.S. Neal Eagles. This community, with multi-state title winning track teams, is loaded with resources that most runners only dream of. Throughout this weekend, I was constantly humbled and reminded of how fortunate I really am; the quality and selflessness of my amazing friends, and the transcendent power of running.

Yesterday from 7 AM to 7 PM we worked together, ran together, sweated the Texas sun and heat together, and ended up raising just over $2000 dollars together in a grassroots effort for Coach Rebecca Massie (who also was dubiously dubbed an honorary Texan over the weekend ;)) to take back with her to East Brewton, AL.

I have now had a few hours after dropping Rebecca off at the airport to process everything. We did it. Together. And it was fun! This track meet/12-hour run contest was not a very big event, but it was definitely grassroots and everyone who showed up helped more than they know in supporting the talented, well-coached, but unprivileged Eagle Track team. Instead of writing up my usual lengthy, wordy race report posts, I thought I would share some photos from the event, my first stab at "race directing" and thank some very important individuals and sponsors of which I could not have done this event without.

The set-up next to the track, everyone did a great job donating their time and resources.

3 awesome Brooks chicks: Stacy (our biggest donor of the day), yours truly, and Rebecca.

Our Ultra winner, John Slate, in progress of running 42 miles with his pacer.

Having fun running in club member Joe Martinez who spun 27 miles on the track! WTG!

One of my favorite pics of the day, me and the coach swapped shirts.

Both Rebecca and I ran some, and practically in costume-her in TX swag, me in a vintage singlet. When in Rome, right?!

In closing, I would like to thank everyone who came and ran or donated either at the event or online. Special thanks go out, in no particular order to:

PowerBar-You came through in a BIG way with an ample shipment of needs for the runners and volunteers.
Brooks Running-Thanks for providing the bibs and other logistics for the race.
Dr. Stacy Bacon-Thanks for the magnanimous donation you gave yesterday! This will go very far for the team and not be overlooked.
Rebecca-thanks for your friendship, passion and enthusiasm for running and your team, plus taking time fresh off your own ultramarathon to come spend the weekend in The Woods with us. We miss you already :)!
Bill D.-Never having put an event on before, you steadied the ship. Thanks for your work and support now and always.
Jarrett Smilie-Thanks for donating your talent, time, and proceeds to the team.
Joe M. and Spectrum Catering-Thanks for showing us how it's done on the track and helping with the ice and table needs!
My awesome family and boyfriend-thanks for coming out, braving the heat and working this event!
John L.-Representing the Goose's Acre Running club well!
The Woodlands Running Club.-Thanks for the tent provisions!
Mary C.-Wow, that watermelon was tasty!!

Ok, this may sound like an Oscars speech-and I know I'm forgetting people, everyone helped make a small event fruitful, even if just in a little way. Recently it was announced that the track is getting fixed, and I hope to go attend one of their first meets on it! Go Eagles!

I love that my favorite sport gets it's own day, and especially this year because it falls on a Wednesday. Why Wednesday? Because that is the day I get to go fast-tonight is my traditional Wednesday night workout with my peeps; today I feel that there are a handful some hot, nasty little repeats in store come 7 PM... I love living right next door to a track!

Why do I run? Because I feel empowered and closer to my best all-around self. I run for the discipline and lifestyle of it all. I run because I was born to run. Why do you run?

Here's one of my happiest racing pics, circa 2009.

Just for run, we're extending this day into the weekend: Saturday-Run For the Eagles Benefit! The Woodlands, TX. Can't make it? Check out http://www.active.com/donate/WSNeal.  Here's a newspaper article here about the event.

(Run) Happy National Running Day!