Colon Cancer Challenge 15K run race report, and WHAT A WEEKEND!!!

Woah!, a LOT was accomplished this weekend, including meeting some totally awesome fellow blogger buddies!

Saturday: The 57 mile ride. ACCOMPLISHED!
Old man winter had a sleeping cold fart on Saturday, giving us 45 degree temps and cold feet. Um, it was 70 last weekend!!!

So I extended my 47 mile ride from last week with another 10 mile loop to go from time trial heaven, to SUPER time trial heaven, to ULTIMATE SUPER time trial heaven. Seriously, this 57 miler is the triathlete's dream route! This ride is going to be a staple route this season. I was able to stay in the aero position a lot longer this time.

One major goal for this ride was to practice my nutrition. My Speefil can hold 40 oz's of liquid, and that seems to be enough to get through this mileage. Of course I might need more in warmer weather. I drank every 10 mins, and every time I had food.

Food wise, I popped a Gu @ 30 mins, Balance Bar @ 60 mins, Gu @ 90 mins, Balance Bar @ 120 mins, Gu @ 150 mins, and had I run afterwards, would have popped another Gu @ 180 mins. This seemed to give me enough energy for the ride, but I am thinking I will need more. This is how much I put down @ Timberman last year, and I ran out of gas @ mile 7 on the run, but I didn't eat anything off the bike. Hopefully the last Gu @ 180 mins will get me to mile 4 on the run, where I can pop another Gu, then another @ mile 8, before assessing if that is enough to bring me home. 3 weeks away from New Orleans!?!?!?

Sunday: 3 races; 2 to cheer on; one to race (with a PR); people to meet.
Today was super race day. Coworkers of mine planned today's 4 mile race in the park awhile back, but due to my run schedule I needed to get in 9+. Just so happens the NYRR's 15K Colon Cancer race was held immediately after the 4 miler. So it turns out I could kill 2 birds with one stone!...that is cheer on some folks, then RACE.

Then one of my fellow blogger buddies, Regina @ Chiu On This, mentioned that she was doing the nytri.org's Central Park Duathlon which started and ended before the 4 miler. So it turns out I could kill 3 birds with one stone! She is also doing Mooseman in June, so it was great to finally meet her in person. I brought my camera, so I was her personal race photographer for the day. Eat that Brightroom and your blurry pictures and your pic-tarded prices!!!! HA! Here she is chicking some guy on the bike!



You are going to do great @ Mooseman, Regina! Head over to her blog and give her some post race loving when you get a chance!! She does these hilarious Foto Friday posts.

Regina then mentioned that our fellow blogger buddy, Krista @ Commitment is Liberating, and her husband, Sam, were volunteering/working the event. I have been following Krista's blog since last summer and it was great to finally meet a real person behind the blog. Actually, it was her husband, Sam, who saw me first and waved. They got lucky and were able to register for next September's edition of The Westchester Triathlon. Get ready to climb some hills!!!

Krista does a Link Love series where she is posting some REALLY great links to articles on blogs that are super helpful, including why a triathlon race is so expensive. Really helps you understand the WHY in this sport in terms of dollars and cents. Head over and leave her a "Thank You, keep this series going!" comment.

And now for today's race report:
15K (9.3 miles)
1:15:18 (New PR!)
8:05 pace

Splits:
Mile 1: 8:12
Mile 2: 7:35 (uuuuummmm....)
Mile 3: 8:50 (UUUMMMM!!!!)
Mile 4: 8:11
Mile 5: 8:14
Mile 6: 8:04
Mile 7: 8:02
Mile 8: 7:56
Mile 9: 7:47
Last .3: 2:21

I first want to remention that I did 57 miles on the bike yesterday, so that means the legs were beat up already. HOWEVER! I followed my recovery plan after the ride and it WORKED! I was so totally not feeling 100% going into the run, but my joints and muscles felt great, just flat. I also want to mention that today's run finished off a 14 hour week of workouts and the biggest week of volume so far this year.This is why I am really proud of myself for today's efforts.

If you look at my splits, especially leading up to mile 3, I was in a deep fog as to how I would do in this race.....as in, did I go out too hard and fall flat with the sudden 8:50 mile 3 and would this describe the rest of the run?

Well, I had a little chat with myself. I said, "Jon, you WILL hit this exact same moment in 3 weeks in New Orleans where you are going to hit a wall early on in the run, and what are you going to do? Are you going to phone in the remainder or are you going to dig deep and see what you are made of?"

Today, I dug deep and it paid off. I see mile 3 as breaking the rust off of the machine. Between miles 4 and 7 my legs felt the best and I was smooth. At mile 7, I knew 2.3 miles was just another 20-ish mins left till the finish and I knew mile 9 was all downhill, so it was really only 1 mile of rollers and the hard part would be done, so really, what is another 8 mins of pain?

I am really glad that I dug deep and I totally surpised myself with a new 15K PR! The last 15K PR I set was during last weekend's half marathon where I hit the 15K mark @ 1:15:58, so a 40 second improvement on tired legs. Could I have held on for another 3.8 miles to PR another half marathon? I don't even want to think of that....I was mentally cooked crossing the finish line today. I am raced out at the moment!

So this weekend was a good barometer for New Orleans in 3 weeks. My bike conditioning could be in a better place, but my run is exceeding my expectations. Unfortunately poor bike conditioning is kryptonite to a strong run. I still have 2-3 more opportunities for a long bike!

Hope your weekend went well! Did you race?