what's in a name & USMMA 5k race report

our team name is "thph" = "tri hard play harder" but perhaps it's "phth" = "play hard tri harder." regardless, we're going to have the best cheers and team photos, sticking our tongues out like the mature adults we are. maija's new name is fb = "fast bunny," a synthesis of the messaging on her fun swim suits, although i'd like to think fb = "funny bunny." interestingly, my creative nickname in high school-and my anonymous older brother will laugh to remember this -was esther-bunny. fyi, we don't really call each other these acronyms in real life (how odd would that be?), i just use them for typing ease b/c outside of working out, i'm quite lazy.

speaking of lazy, it was not that hard for fb to talk me out of thursday's intended track workout as i am just as excited about doing them as i am about doing my 3-hr round trip commute. when i asked if i could do a long run instead, she said ok but so long as it is 45 mins max. so i sort of listened to her and decided to forego the track workout and did a 2:00 long run, aiming for roughly my 1:30 long run pace. it was a fantastic run, about 1:01 in one direction, including going down one very long slope and 0:59 back, going back up that very long slope. i have been kind of hard on myself about the bike and swim, so it felt great to run and listen to music and not give myself pressure to beat any time. fb was right about her warning that i would be sore afterwards, though, but i guess i needed to learn from experience.

friday, i did fb's recommendation of 40 mins easy w/ 6x30-sec race pace. since the weather was absolutely awful i had to use the dreadmill, but i found that it was easier to push myself on the race pace. then on to columbia swim, the last swim of the season. i was feeling kind of stressed out so my swim felt slow and out of breath, and i practiced telling myself "cool as a cucumber" and "i can do this." the mental exercise in itself is pretty tiring for me, and i am looking forward to post-bassman when i will focus more on running for philly marathon before starting the training program for imlp.

A and i went to A's 10-yr college reunion at the USMMA (US Merchant Marine Academy) in long island today, and typical A-style, we arrived at 6:30 a.m. for the start of the 8:00 5-k race. i had a fantastic time getting a taste of A's college life and am very glad i did not attend this school. they treat the freshmen so roughly, i don't think i would have lasted more than a month! everyone has to wear a pressed and clean uniform all the time (fyi, i still don't know how to iron, nor do i own an iron), and the freshmen always have to walk 6 inches from the curb and say "good morning ma'am" and "good morning sir." in A's day, the freshmen also had to clean all of the barracks, including bathrooms, for themselves and the upperclassmen. i'm sure A can give the full run-down but he has generally good memories of the place, as i believe it gets better as you get older and in charge, and since he had some good friends there. the campus was beautiful and right next to the water, and the people were incredibly polite.

as noted copious times before, i was dreading this 5k, and looking forward to it even less when i saw how few people there were who were running. there were about 20 people, and i was thinking, oh great, i'm going to be last and it's going to be so embarrassing! on top of that, the race director was giving course directions verbally and i am horrible with directions. so off we went, me not being sure at all where to go but not that worried as i thought i'd just follow A from a distance.

mile 1: 6:55 which was my best mile time ever and included a slight uphill. there were about 6 of us in the front, A doing super and 2nd in the lead. A had introduced me to his friend matt and matt's wife jackie earlier, and jackie looked pretty buff and said she trained all the time on hills in humid south korea, so i was slightly intimidated. jackie, matt and i kept switching places until mile 2 when my shoelace came untied and i uttered a profanity before hastily fixing it. i was very focused on breathing ok, keeping up what i thought to be a sustainable 3-mile pace and not trying to get overwhelmed by the whole event. every time jackie passed me, i'd say "nice job" and when i passed her she'd reciprocate. i had decided that the person running in front of me would be virtual sb and was trying to catch him. A's heart rate suddenly shot up so he had to relax a little bit. toward mile 3, i was starting to feel nauseous, and i thought, good sign, b/c we're almost done. my lungs were hurting a little and my heart was beating fast but fb had said i needed to get used to that feeling, so i didn't worry about it much. the person i had thought was virtual sb was slowing down, and i thought, that can't be sb! he's slowing down! i believe i was actually a little annoyed that that was happening. jackie passed me again and i was thinking, it's alright she'll beat me, but then i saw fb-in-my-head yelling at me, "go go go! beat that girl!" i thought, if maija thinks i can beat that girl then i will! so i did, and the rest of the course was almost 1 circle around the track. i kept thinking jackie was right behind me so i pushed it til the end, and when i heard 24:16 i was a little surprised b/c the time sounded a little long. people were talking about how we had missed a turn and A, with his trusty GPA, said that we had actually run 3.4 miles. so 24:16 on 3.4 miles is a really good time for me and i am happy with that. on top of that, i got 4th place overall and 1st place girls! it was my first time i had gotten a 1st place medal, and A's class of '98 won first place as a group. when the race guy announced my name, he said, "for first place girls... esther lee-salazar!" i thought that was so cute (and embarrassing)!

i didn't know i'd ever admit this but i'm quite grateful for the track workouts b/c i can get an idea that it is possible to go a certain pace. while it was great doing interval runs w/ fb once to get a taste of trying to chase someone in real life, i also appreciate doing track workouts alone b/c then i can push it more when i am running with people. i still am not a fan of 5k's though.

today can be considered an easy day, i guess, since it was only a 24-minute run plus some pushups. the plan for tomorrow is to have a bike w/ high cadences and try to find the tappanzee bridge before it gets rebuilt. then track workout on monday, and not too sure about tuesday to thursday since swim is over for the next 2 weeks. fb reminded me of the need to taper before bassman half (oh yeah!) so friday will be an off day and saturday will be ridiculously easy day. bassman should be relatively flat so i will concentrate on technique and staying cool and still doing my best.