Week in Review 70 miles
7 runs (1 double)
1 day off
17 mile long run
1 race (and a win!)
1 workout Considering the decrease in mileage, this turned out to be a pretty busy week. Anthony and I have decided to start dwindling our mileage now that summer is over and we have started up with workouts again. We will probably drop down to a more comfortable mileage (around 60 - Yay! no more doubles) and I am looking forward to not being tired every waking moment and running workouts with fresher legs.
MSSU Southern Stampede 2 mi w/u
goal - 5k @ sub 17:30 and top 5 place
actual - 5k @ 17:21
1st place
5 mi c/d Results
Starting Thursday evening: it rained, and it rained, and it rained, and then Saturday morning it poured! Joplin received over 2.5 inches of rain making the Southern Stampede run through "lake Joplin". What a welcome back to my first cross country race in over two years. I had Mom dig out the old spikes and I was ready to go.
Rainy - about half mile into the race
I wanted to make a conscious effort to not get too carried away the first mile. In college it was common for me to open up fast, but it's been a while since I've run a competitive 5k. However, once the race started, I paid no attention to the Garmin and just tried to hang on to the leaders. Considering the conditions, we opened up with a surprisingly fast mile, just under 5:30. At this point it was three Tulsa runners, an Arkansas runner, and myself. On of the Tulsa runners attempted to make a move and gapped the pack by about 10 meters. This didn't last long, we reeled her in a mere quarter mile later, and it was the Arkansas runner's turn to try and break away.
Probably around 2k - brief moment when the rain stopped.
I continued to truck along and managed to take the lead just before 2 miles. This is when I really started to get excited! I had never won the Stampede before, I think the highest I've placed in 3rd? my Senior year and Junior year. I was too scared to look behind me, but I could kind of tell by the crowd's reaction that I had built a little bit of a gap.
Right before I took the lead.
When I got back to the last little loop before heading to the finish, I was starting to build confidence with the gap that I'd managed to create. I knew I couldn't let the other runners be within kicking distance because I was sure I'd get out kicked. I have not done too much speed yet this fall, but I feel really strong right now. Dad said they were announcing who was the leader at each mile, but I guess they didn't announce me because I was unattached. He said they (Dad and Mom) were surprised to see the gator round the corner (800 meters to go) and I was the one right behind it! Lol, I was quite surprised myself :)
About 800m to go!
Poor Anthony! By the time his race game about the course was a hot mess. He, unfortunately, had no spikes and was forced to slip and slide his way through an 8k on a muddy course that had alread had several hundred runners trample over it! In my race, the rain let up, but in his race it poured as harder than it had all morning for about 5 minutes.
This video has a couple good shots of the start and finish and the ponds that we had to cross. Keep in mind that this is only the second race and how much worse it got by the time the high school races were run!
Sunday - 9/2 3 mi w/u
goal: 3 x 2 mi @ 12:00, 11:50, 11:40 w/ half mile recovery
actual: 3 x 2 mi @ 11:31, 11:27, 11:20
5 mi c/d
total: 15 mi
Wow. This went WAY better than I had hoped. Having logged 80 miles (a new weekly high for me) for the past two weeks, my legs were feeling tired and worn down. This week I was forced to cut back my miles due to a blister that developed earlier this week.
Anthony and I ran this workout on the Frisco Trail in Springfield. I'm not sure what got into me, but I opened up my first mile in 5:43, and just hoped I could finish without crawling to the finish. I broke Anthony off fairly quick during the first set (sorry babe), but he managed to hold on for the last two. He probably could have actually broken me off, but was nice enough to push me through the last two. At first I was worried that I had toasted myself for the entire workout. It was hard, but I was able to power through.
Review Week of 8/13-8/19
80 miles
17 mile long run
2 doubles (9 runs)
Week of 8/20-8/26
80 miles
17 mile long run
2 doubles
1 accleration run
Week of 8/27-9/2
70 miles
15 mile long run
1 double
2 workouts
For professional runners, this 80miles/week is mundane and considered a "recovery week". However, for most "normal" people this is bordering insane. For me, whose ability and mentality dwells somewhere in the middle, this is the longest stretch of "high mileage". I have run 70+ miles for the past 6 weeks.
This past week, I was forced to drop two of my doubles because of a blister caused by my new shoes. That's okay though, because this last weekend wore me down. Anthony and I moved into our new apartment on Friday, and we had lots of unpacking to do! The anticipation of this move has made the past 4 weeks fly by, as I'm already halfway through my new clinical rotation in Joplin. Thank goodness. I'm not a big fan of the in-patient setting.
Even Missouri had some of hurricane Isaac.
With some of my big races quickly approaching, it's time to stop simply logging mileage and start the workouts! This past week I opened up with fartlek, so I could ease into fast stuff and run based on effort rather than having the stress of meeting certain time goals. Since moving to Joplin, I've been lacking on my abs and weight routine, so the goal for the upcoming week is to get started on that again.
