Desert Du Race Report

We are back from the desert! The last week was spent enjoying warm weather and dry roads (with bike lanes!!) in Arizona. It was a welcome relief from the cold, wet weather we've been having here in the maritimes. We tied a race into our vaction: the Desert Classic Duathlon near Scottsdale, AZ.

I was really excited for the race! Some of the top pro women were signed up and last year's 25-29 girls were faaassst so I was looking forward to a challenging age group race. The event was held at McDowell Mountain Park just north of Fountain Hills, AZ. It was really pretty, peppered with all sorts of cacti. We first arrived at the park on Friday for trail run of the first leg of the race. The race was a 5.5km run + 32km bike + 4.4km run, both runs being on trails in the park. Mark and I loved the trail! I liked it especially since the last 2 kilometers were a descent. hehe



The following day, Saturday, we went back to the park for a pre-race meeting w/ the race director and to cruise the bike course + second run. Thanks Mark for telling me how bad these shades looked!! hahah



You might be wondering who that little black stealth is that I'm holding there.. ;) She is a new acquisition fully assembled by my stellar boyfriend/personal bike mechanic, Mark! haha He built her to perfection and she is FAST. My first ride on her was the Wednesday of the trip when we did a 20km tour of Sedona, AZ. Other than that, I didn't get much practice in before the race and this is my first tri bike. Those aero bars are scarier than they look! I didn't use them much during the race (check out the pic below) because I felt like I was slowing down and losing control when I got into them v. being comfortable and more aggressive in the side bars. So what if I looked like the amateur that I am? :)

I think we were basically the only people left at the park at 6pm the night before the race, so after our tour of the course we packed it in, headed to Olive Garden for the delicious, carbo-laden meal and back to our hotel for a good night's rest.

We heard there was supposed to be rain in the forecast but shrugged it off. It's the desert, right? Wrong. We woke up to pouring rain and cold temperatures on race day. Nothing a couple of Canadians can't handle! A portion of the race participants weren't so brave. Of the 500 signed up, ~335 competed. Arizonans must be made of sugar. ;) I kid, I kid, the rain sucked and I cannot blame any one for opting out.

Here she is all ready to race...


There was a lot of traffic coming into the park since we took longer than expected to leave the hotel in Scottsdale and make it out to Fountain Hills. Everyone was as bummed about the weather as we were I think, and didn't want to spend any extra time standing around waiting at the start! We had JUST enough time to get the bikes unloaded, put together, down to transition, set up, timing chips, etc. Thank you Mark once again for your patience and helping me out with the fine adjustments on the bike! I had a slipping seat post all week that was still sliding down despite the aluminum shim put into it but Mark managed to tighten it enough on race day that it stayed put!



Before we knew it, we were at the line and the pros were off and racing. It was cool to see some of my favorities; Linsey Corbin, Sam McGlone, Michellie Jones- to name a few. My wave was up after the collegiates. A few words about USAT rules and we were off! There was a nice 800m paved descent into the North trail before starting a 2km ascent after reaching the trailhead. The first trail was muddy but not too bad since the men hadn't been through it yet. I kept up with the girls for the most part but backed off once I reached the peak of the hill and let my legs take me for the remaining 3kms. A photographer snapped this unflattering pic somewhere during this process:


Photo courtesy of Fotojack.com

I felt good after the first run; I didn't kill it but my time was right about where I expected - 27:30 mins, less than 5min per kilometer. Next up it was my favorite- the bike! I transitioned pretty quickly and started the 5 mile gradual ascent out of the park, starting to pass all the girls who ran faster than I did. It was around the 5 mile mark where Mark (who started 3 mins after I did) came up from behind, said hi, and shamelessly motored on by.

The rest of the bike was rather uneventful. I was cautious as there was water on the road. I saw Mark again at the turnaround. He looked visibly confused when I hollered hello to him. :) I had never 'raced' 32km bike before, and we hadn't ridden the entire course the day before, so I kept some energy in mind knowing I might have to dig for it near the end. Here is how NOT to ride a tri bike hehe.. :


Photo courtesy of Fotojack.com

I made a huge mistake during this race. I did not hydrate enough! Silly me, I know these things. I skipped out on water during T1, and didn't reach for my water bottle during the ride. I had eaten a couple shot blocks during the first couple miles of the bike but that was it. As a result, near the end of the bike my calves were cramping. I still made it through with the fastest bike split in my age group - 1:10-something. I was less than impressed but it was good enough for #1 on the bike! At this point, I never knew it, but I was only 23 seconds back from the lead girl in my group!

My mentality through this race was 'survive'. Trail running in mud seemed like a bad idea for my ITBS and repaired ACL, not to mention the wet roads, new bike, etc. I told myself to go for the fastest bike split and then who cares about the second run? I should have! This is the wrong attitude which I will change next time!! I ran SLOW on the second run... walking up most of the 40 foot climb involved half way through. The result was 2nd place in my age group. The first place girl gained 2.5 minutes on me during run #2.



Finish time: 2:05:15
Mark did amazingly well with a time of 1:45!

We survived the crazy wet desert du!! yeah!!


This picture does not capture the amount of MUD on my legs, shoes, everywhere!! haha



All in all? Really fun race, great vacation, and I'm really motivated to race season! Next up is the B.A.A. 5km in April in Boston when I travel with Mark to watch him run the Boston Marathon!

PEI Marathon Weekend - ending the season with another PB halfie!

2468 Bria Brown, 247/480 overall, Halifax PE CA, F 24/62 [age group 20-29], 1:59:42 (clock), 1:59:25 (chip), 5:42 (pace per km)

Mission: two half marathons, two weekends in a row accomplished! The weather turned out to be beautiful on Sunday despite another week of miserable rain, wind, and cold. The marathon weekend attracted some 1800 participants this year, a new record, which is fantastic for Charlottetown. Mark and I took the ferry over Friday evening and thankfully the rest of the weekend was smooth sailing relative to that "a la Titanic" fiasco. It was an interesting birthday, to say the least. Mom's curry chicken & carrot cake make up for the traumatizing boat ride.

We took Friday off (got our bikes tuned up in Truro on the way to the ferry) and only did a quick 20 minute run on Saturday. Sunday morning we were able to sleep in a bit (10am race start wha?!), grabbed some lattes at Beanz and headed to the race start. This was my third time running the PEI Half Marathon and unfortunately my sister was not running it this year like she always has in the past. BE trained for the full marathon and developed a stress fracture in her tibia a few weeks ago and therefore could not run the race. She's away for med school so she didn't bother making the flight home, understandably. However Mark (he finished 5th overall! such a speed demon), Mom, Michael, and BE's friend Jenn were running so I had lots of company. It was great to see some familiar faces from my old UPEI running group (we have come a long way!). Uncle Randy & Aunt Donna came to support at the finish line as well.

This was my "A" race (as Mark calls it) for this season. When we sketched out my goals back in April, originally this one was supposed to be a sub 1:50 but I had a lot more work to do on my surgery leg this season than we first anticipated. May was a month of strength & plyometrics, a crappy 10k race, and a lot of frustration. Things started to come around in June when I ran a PB 10k and built up some aerobic base. Finally, through July and August I was seeing some real progress especially with the addition of cycling and swimming to my regime. My runs became longer through Aug/Sept and I decided a realistic goal for PEI would be sub 2 hours. Next year is going to be my year, I needed this season to really get into shape again after my ITB problems last winter.

The race itself was interesting because I left my Garmin in Halifax and had to rely completely on the 2:00 half pace bunny (she did a great job, thanks Pam!). That's exactly what I did. My gait was off after about 16km, as kindly noted by a fellow runner passing by. That's what I get for asking my body to run two half marathons so close together I suppose. I wasn't hurting though, just tired. I wasn't feeling so hot after finishing the three infamous hills all towards the last 5k of the course but Mark ran out to meet me at about 400m remaining and ran with me into the finish. I finished right on goal but naturally I think I could have done better if I hadn't of ran the race the weekend before. Ah well! I was stoked to end the season with a PB and am looking forward to next summer (full marathon? Half Ironman? ;)). I really can't complain about beating last year's time by 12.5 minutes, and I look forward to demolishing that time next year.

Now it's time to plan a winter of strength training and endurance building!
SO far this week, doing well taking a rest...

MON - off
TUES - off
WED - 30k recovery ride w/ Mark

2009 Valley Harvest Half Marathon

New half marathon PR! By 11.5 minutes at that!

1 | 5:37
2 | 5:52
3 | 5:54
4 | 5:52
5 | 5:48
6 | 5:52
7 | 5:56
8 | 5:54
9 | 5:43
10| 5:59
11| 5:43
12| 5:34
13| 5:39
14| 6:00
15| 5:30
16| 5:20
17| 5:30
18| 5:52
19| 5:36
20| 5:35
21| 5:25
21.08km | 2:00:36 | 5:43min/km (a la Garmin)Chip time: 2:00:39 | 5:45min/km | 33/77 females 20-29



I'm running the PEI half marathon next weekend so I wasn't sure how to run this but I decided to go by feel. I could have killed myself to get a 1:50-something but I was happy to PR on a hilly course and save some stamina for next weekend!

My First Triathlon: Race Report

I will start off by saying that I FINISHED! Whoop! :) That was my first goal. My second goal was not to hang on to a kayak during the swim (also accomplished) and my third was not to take any walk breaks during the run (check!). It was tough not having Mark there for support (ironically he is currently in Australia at the ITU Triathlon World Championships as an Age Grouper). Some of his tri friends were spectating though and were a great cheer squad for me! I finished 63/113 overall and 7/17 in my age group. I think with a lot of work on the swim this winter I could be a contender in my age group next season.

SWIM (23:06):

Wow, all I can do is laugh! hahaha I was SO nervous this morning that I thought I might get sick. All of my training went out the window when I arrived at the lake. There were 120 participants in the sprint triathlon and they all looked like SWIMMERS to me! Unlike them, I did not have a wetsuit and would instead be sporting my swimsuit with some tri shorts.

My friend Lisa assured me she would hold my hand out there and I likewise assured her that I would stick by her side. Having another novice to race with made the world of difference out on that lake. The men started 5 minutes before us, and the next thing I knew they were counting down the seconds to our start. That first buoy looked so far away. The buoy that Lisa and I would swim to in training (which we too great pride in accomplishing!) was only about half as far out as the first triathlon buoy. We knew it would be tough but the horn blew and we were off. I started near the back, to the side to give myself room. It didn't matter, nothing could have calmed me from the anxiety that would ensue. It is like I completely forgot how to swim. The water was freezing and I couldn't get any good, deep breaths so I did maybe 5-10 strokes freestyle and started side stroking. Hahaha Lisa stopped and we agreed to do 10 breaths of freestyle, then break. I did less than that and ended up side stroking my way to that first buoy. I couldn't feel my feet because of a) the cold or b) all of my stopping and not keeping my body horizontal.

We chatted with other ladies around us who were also side or breaststroking, and eventually I calmed down, noting that boats and kayaks were close by. It wasn't far from the 1st buoy to the 2nd- maybe 150-200m, and I did my best to freestyle to it. Then we headed for home! Again, more side stroke and breaststroke but before I knew it, I was touching bottom!! Yeah!!! Ran out across the timing mat, and up the hill to the transition area!

T1/BIKE (45:29)
Still no feeling in my feet so running over some gravel to get to my bike didn't matter. I put my helmet on first, as bf had suggested, decided not to wear shades because it was cloudy, threw on my socks & shoes and ran for the mount line. I passed quite a few people on the bike which made me feel good. It was a rolling course with lots of hills- tough stuff! I really wanted a sub-40 bike +T1 but I checked the results and didn't feel bad after seeing that only the top 6 finishers achieved that. Overall, I was 28/113 on the bike and 2/17 in my age group (by 7 seconds). Not bad for a first timer! The time flew and before I knew it, I was dismounting and heading for the bike rack.

T2/RUN (30:53)
In T2 I was greeted by some of Mark's friends, which was nice. I grabbed a few sips of water, ditched the helmet for a hat, and the bike shoes for my sneakers. Off I went!

I normally run 5k's in about 25 minutes so my run time was hard to swallow. My boyfriend and I had done some 3k runs off the bike in training and it was easy for me to stay at a 5min/km pace. But this run was not like my training runs! It was through the trail system at the campground where the tri was based out of. The turf was gravel and the running technical- lots of steep inclines and declines, very little flat. I stopped twice to ask volunteers where the timing mat was to start the run because every time I watched my bf do a triathlon, transition time was clocked and there was a mat at the dismount line AND a mat at the beginning of the run. Not the case here, but nobody was able to give me an answer so I just went for it. This stopping probably cost me 30 or so valuable seconds.

I ran along the out and back route, legs feeling wobbly at first, and kept telling myself to take it easy. I would quicken cadence and count my steps going up the hills to take my mind off the difficulty. Grabbed some water at the turnaround, and I knew I had it in the bag with only 2.5k left. It felt good to be passing some of the sprint men who started 5 minutes ahead of me!

The return run was uneventful, other than getting a little lost at a corner where there should have been a volunteer. I'm still not sure if we went the right way but the 5 or so people behind me followed my lead and we ended up at the finish line. :)

TOTAL TIME: 1:39:27!!! I am really happy with that!! I didn't have a specific goal in mind but sub-1:40 sounds good to me!

New 10km PB!

Support Our Troops Navy 10k - Sunday, August 16, 2009

235 2653 Bria Brown Charlottetown PE CA 15/48 F2029 52:42 52:23 5:15 C

Friday, August 14: OFF
Saturday, August 15: OFF

My ITB was hurting a bit at the end of last week so I took 2 days off. Felt great today and pleased with my time (52:23).

MHR 190
AHR 180

665 calories burned

Monday, June 22: JM30DS Level 2 + 5 mile treadmill run (5.6 mph)
Sunday, June 21: Johnny Miles 10km Race (57:56)
Saturday, June 20: Off (~1km walk)
Friday, June 19: 5km (3.1 mile) easy run
Thursday, June 18: JM30DS Level 1 + 5km (3.1 mile) run easy
Wednesday, June 17: off

Cornwall Classic 10km

Raced w/ Mark on Saturday. New PR!

2009 Bluenose Marathon 10km Race

Place Name City Bib# Time Chip Pace Category Category
Place Gender
Place
598 BRIA BROWN CHARLOTTETOWN 3145 57:19.3 56:58.7 5:44 Women 20 - 29 61/308 214/1204

Very hilly route! I was hoping to run a <55min but knew that was ambitious. I still set a PR and am happy with the run. BE ran 49:54 and also set a PR. Next race is June 6th- another 10km which is much flatter so I know I can get <55min!