Week 25: 2025 Race Recap #1
The 2025 race season is officially underway! Lots of training and events between now and November, and it started off very well! 2025 Garmin Olathe Half Marathon in the Land of Oz. It's a mouthful of a name and the full race recap is coming ahead. Getting to this week's stats, it was a recovery week. Last one until my two taper weeks right before Eagleman. The next four weeks are going to get CRAZY!!!
Weekly Stats:
- Swim (3x)
- 3.18 miles (5,600 yards)
- 1:53:11
- Bike (3x)
- 64.28 miles
- 3:45:07
- Run (2x)
- 18.70 miles
- 2:59:05
- Strength (1x)
- 18:01
- Yoga (3x)
- 1:13:06
- WEEK TOTALS:
- 12 workout sessions
- 86.16 miles
- 10:08:30
Training Notes:
Race week #1 in the books! This was a recovery week to give my body a little rest. I slapped a half marathon into it and although I ran harder and longer for the race than the plan called for, it fit right into the schedule perfectly. I have 4 more race-specific training weeks then two taper weeks right before Eagleman.
Two strength and five yoga sessions were on the schedule for the week, but due to some time crunches, I didn't get one of the strength sessions in and I missed two yoga sessions. As of yet, I haven't missed a primary workout, though.
I re-tested myself on my swim pace and bike HR zones this week. Both went well. For the swim test, I swam a warmup then a 400-yard and 200-yard set as fast as I could hold the pace. From my previous test, I improved by 5 seconds and 9 seconds respectively. A lot of time spent in the pool for minor gains, but I'm still on the way up. I'm really striving for being able to swim faster than I have before, but more to swim faster at the same effort. If I gain 4-5 minutes on the swim but am exhausted at the end, I don't see the point. I would rather see an improvement of only 1 or 2 minutes and get out of the water feeling stronger. I'm at the point that I'm probably not going to get faster. Maybe a little but it will be by seconds, not minutes. But I can go longer without tiring out as much so I'm doing what I need to do for the long distances.
Early in the week, I was telling Chad that I was most worried about my bike fitness as I've pretty much been inside on the trainer. I was able to ride outside on Tuesday for another short 30-minute ride. Just trying to keep my HR in my zones was impossible. Even getting to the main road I was already out of my zone. I felt good but the HR was too high. On Wednesday I did my HR threshold test on the bike. 15-minute warm up then 30 minute ride as hard as I could go and keep the tempo. On my normal roads that I ride to my south, last summer I was riding around 16.5-18 MPH. On this ride I held 19.9 MPH for the 30 minutes. My HR was just a little higher than what it was for the slower rides last summer. I probably left some effort out on the road as it's hard to know what is all-out the first long ride outdoors, but I felt a lot better about my HR. After the ride I texted Chad again and told him I was going to be just fine on the bike. With the new bike fit, new aero wheels and Star Wars-looking aero helmet, I just put my head down a hit the pedals. With almost 1,000' of elevation gain on this 60-min total ride, that exceeds my Maryland total elevation ascent during the entire 56 miles by over 600'. Maryland is only 350' total, so I did that 3x on this ride. Hills in training will be my friend for Maryland and Florida!
For my runs this week, I only had two. The first on Tuesday was an anaerobic interval run. Julie rode her bike with me on the Coffee Creek Trail. I had 6 intervals of high HR runs. Although I got down to the low 7:00/mile range in my pace, my watch says I didn't do well on the workout. All about the HR lag and my HR not going immediately back down or back up to the zone the plan prescribes. So I just ignore my watch. What does it know anyway? My second run was the half marathon on Saturday. More on that one in just a minute!
Race Recap!
I haven't run a stand-alone running race in 11 years. My last half marathon was the Olathe half in 2012 when I set my PR at 1:54:20. The next two years I did full marathons and it has been all triathlons since then. It felt very strange to not have to worry about a wetsuit, goggles, bike, helmet, towel, and all the things that go into a triathlon. All I had to have were my shoes, timing chip (funny story there) and my gels. And then just run.
A little backtrack to the packet pickup time. I went in on Thursday. Free goodies filled up my bag, chances for Royals tickets, event shirt, and my envelope with all the important things. I opened it up to see what my bib number was (#1224) but couldn't find my timing chip that attaches to my shoe. I asked the lady where that was and she didn't understand what I was talking about. She called another guy over and I asked him the same question. Both of them looked at me like I was crazy. After a few seconds, it clicked in to the guy what I was asking about. He said it was attached to the back of the bib and flipped mine over to show me the sticker on the back. What kind of sorcery is this?! I guess I've been out of the running race game long enough that they've moved on to newer and better ways. I might have felt like a half marathon newbie, but hey, now I know. And knowing is half the battle. Go Joe!
Saturday morning it was all of a 7-minute drive to Garmin. Easy parking and met Chad in front of the parking garage at the start/finish line. Gun time was planned for 6:45AM and I was at the start line at 6:15. Finished up my bottle of water and trying to stay warm in the 54 degree air. Perfect race weather, but before you start, it's a little chilly. I then had a bodily thought (indication?) I should use the port-a-johns before race time. There was a row of about 40 of them and it looked like there was a small group of people waiting. Headed over that way and realized the lines went over the hill and stretched a long way. No way I was going to make it to the port-a-johns and then to the start line on time. So I just knew I'd have to endure the mild discomfort that lay just above my belt line. National anthem (great job singers!) then a countdown, then the cannon!
I was shooting for a sub-two hour time, and lined up with the 1:55 pacer group. I figured if I could stick with those two pacers and that group, I might be able to surge at the end and inch towards my PR time. The first couple of miles were a little faster than what the average should be but there's not a lot to do as you're just swept up with everyone running the half- and full-marathon. Eventually it spreads out, but the first mile especially is jam-packed. Once we got into a rhythm, I felt good. Just found my empty space and kept the pacing group just to my forward right. All good for the first 6 miles. Still felt good, but I walked through the aid stations every couple of miles to be able to drink the water and gatorade so I didn't waterboard myself. After three of these, the pacing group started getting just a little further ahead. I almost caught them again, but think I put too much energy to try and catch up. Started fading just a little bit, but was still holding a good pace. So then it was keeping them in sight. Around mile 8 I knew I couldn't catch up, so I settled into a slightly slower pace and tried to keep my HR steady. I was hovering around 155 BPM; I had been hoping I could be in the low 150's, so I was right on the money.
Julie made it to the MNU circle drive at mile 11. Love seeing her anywhere on the course. She supports me while inwardly (or mostly outwardly) telling me I'm crazy! I knew I was putting out a sub-2 hour pace, and kept looking over my shoulder for the last 3 miles to make sure the 2-hour pacer didn't pass me. At mile 11.5 or so, he caught up to me. CRAP! I told him I just needed to stay in front of him and he told me he was about a minute and a half ahead of time. Good for me then! With my longest run in training so far this year being around 9.7 miles and those miles being low HR, I was feeling good, but had to dig down to keep up the pace to the finish line.
Medal around my neck, chocolate milk at the end (of course!) and cookies from Mike McLane. Finish line pics with Julie, the cast from the Wizard of Oz (good job MNU theater), and KC Wolf. And I still had to pee! Finished off the day with a 2.25 hour trainer ride watching other Everyday Ironman Podcast athletes cross the finish line live at Ironman Texas while talking with Tony (all the way from Melbourne, Australia--he was actually riding in the morning on Sunday his time!), Ashley, and John and Jon. As if the half marathon wasn't enough for one day!! Went to bed tired, but satisfied in my day...
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| My biggest supporter... |
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| We're off to see the Wizard! |
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| Chief's King...dom!! |
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| Top 20 in my age group and I'm at the top of that. I'll take it!! |
Life Applications:
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.
I Corinthians 9:25-26
Everyone out on that course yesterday was running their own race. They all had their reasons, and they all trained in some way for their 10K, half marathon or full marathon. I'm sure some had problems along the course: cramps, blisters, dehydration, self-doubt, or discouragement in the fact that they didn't run the race they set out to do. In the race yesterday, only one person got to come in first (and he was fast!) Everyone else was doing the best they could, and although only one person wins, the other 2000+ were giving it their all.
Everyday life is a race in my faith. I am here on this earth for just a fraction of eternity. So how should I run the race of life? I'm not doing running this race of life for an earthly prize. Yeah, there are benefits if I do well--good family, good job, money, satisfaction. But sometimes the races don't go as planned. I'll bonk. I'll not be able to maintain the pace I want. I may not get to the finish line as fast as I want. It might even be a finish line I wasn't expecting. But I need to be running my race in life for the eternal prize of being with the Lord. I have been very disciplined in my Ironman training. Early mornings, decent (need to be earlier) bedtimes, and doing the workouts even when they're hard or there are challenges to overcome with schedules or fatigue or lack of motivation.
I ask myself all the time what I have to do to be disciplined in my everyday life. Read the Bible more? Pray more? All the above plus extra? For me it comes down to doing the best I can as a human living in this sinful world. Keep my faith, trust in the Lord, and follow His plan for my life. And show others His love even if it's just by being who I am. Every step I take needs to have a purpose. Maybe it's to avoid the pothole in the road. Maybe it's to avoid tripping over the heels of the runner in front of me. Or maybe it's just making sure I stay on the right course (I have completed a 13.5 mile half marathon before but that's for another day!). Hence the middle part of my blog mantra...
We will all hit the finish line of life at some point. We can't stop that from happening. It's how I run the race that matters in the end. Jesus will be at and will BE the finish line with a bottle of water, a chocolate milk and a medal to put around my neck. But He's also running alongside me the entire race. So I can't lose as long as I keep striving towards Him. I just have to....
Keep Fit,
Stay THE Course,
and Keep Moving Forward.
As always, thanks for following along. Up next.... Kansas City Olympic Triathlon in 3 weeks. Then 3 weeks to Eagleman. 2025 is off and running!!
CPC
4/27/25
Olathe, KS
59,239 minutes until 70.3 Eagleman
269,868 minutes until Ironman Florida
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