First Race in 3 1/2 years

Randy Park

Been away from this news group for a couple of years or more. Way too
much static, OT posts, back then.

I ran my first race, a 5K, in 3 1/2 years this past weekend. It was also the
first race since I started taking an anti arrhythmia medication for PVCs
2 years ago. I did it mostly to find out what real effect the medication had
on my times.

I had started running again in mid August and had been doing it 4 - 5 times
a week, slowly building up miles and effort. If this had been 3 years ago I
would have had a finish time in the 20 minute range. My time on this race
was 24:11. I was expecting to finish around 23:30 and was on target for
it until the third mile, which was mostly up hill, not a lot, but enough to
really slow me down. Had sore legs for a couple of days afterwards; very
unusual.

The race was held in Balboa Park, San Diego, where I was staying for the
last month. Now I'm settling down in my new home north of Tucson.

Splits:
Mile 1: 7:41 slightly uphill
Mile 2: 7:22 slightly downhill, sharp downhill near end
Mile 3: 8:22 steady uphill most of the way
Last 0.1: 0:46 downhill

Bottom line... That medication lowers my maximum heart rate from about
175 to 145, which in turn really slows me down while running. This takes
some getting used to, and it certainly affects the motivation level.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Teresa Bippert-Plymate

Randy Park wrote:
> Been away from this news group for a couple of years or more. Way too
> much static, OT posts, back then.

It's still pretty bad, unfortunately. Get out your killfile and start
loading it up!

> I ran my first race, a 5K, in 3 1/2 years this past weekend. It was also the
> first race since I started taking an anti arrhythmia medication for PVCs
> 2 years ago. I did it mostly to find out what real effect the medication had
> on my times.
>
> I had started running again in mid August and had been doing it 4 - 5 times
> a week, slowly building up miles and effort. If this had been 3 years ago I
> would have had a finish time in the 20 minute range. My time on this race
> was 24:11. I was expecting to finish around 23:30 and was on target for
> it until the third mile, which was mostly up hill, not a lot, but enough to
> really slow me down. Had sore legs for a couple of days afterwards; very
> unusual.

Welcome back, and congrats! Really not that much of a drop for having
been off running for so long. Especially with a third-mile hill. And the
new medication, to say the least.

> The race was held in Balboa Park, San Diego, where I was staying for the
> last month. Now I'm settling down in my new home north of Tucson.

Welcome to Tucson! If you don't already know, the AZ Roadrunners are
an active group: azroadrunners.org. Next rr race is a 10K Jan 27th.
Hope to see you at one of the events.

> Splits:
> Mile 1: 7:41 slightly uphill
> Mile 2: 7:22 slightly downhill, sharp downhill near end
> Mile 3: 8:22 steady uphill most of the way
> Last 0.1: 0:46 downhill
>
> Bottom line... That medication lowers my maximum heart rate from about
> 175 to 145, which in turn really slows me down while running. This takes
> some getting used to, and it certainly affects the motivation level.

I'll bet, that is quite a difference in heart rate. I'll be curious to
hear what others on the group may have in the way of experience with it,
and how they've coped. But big congrats for the race, and for getting
back into the running!

Teresa in AZ

Jsquared

Teresa Bippert-Plymate wrote:
> Randy Park wrote:
>> Been away from this news group for a couple of years or more. Way too
>> much static, OT posts, back then.
>
> It's still pretty bad, unfortunately. Get out your killfile and start
> loading it up!
>
Haven't been here in a couple years myself and I swear I still recognize
some of the trolls.
I'm using Thunderbird so how do you create a killfile to filter out some
of this crap.

JJ

Teresa Bippert-Plymate

Jsquared wrote:
> Teresa Bippert-Plymate wrote:
>> Randy Park wrote:
>>> Been away from this news group for a couple of years or more. Way too
>>> much static, OT posts, back then.
>>
>> It's still pretty bad, unfortunately. Get out your killfile and start
>> loading it up!
>>
> Haven't been here in a couple years myself and I swear I still recognize
> some of the trolls.
> I'm using Thunderbird so how do you create a killfile to filter out some
> of this crap.
>
> JJ

Go to Tools, Message Filters, New, and then create the filters. I just
started using TB too, so I can't speak to how well the filters work.
Maybe in a week or two. Good Luck!

Teresa in AZ