Rockin' the Crossroads

Rock the Crossroads:

2+ mi w/u
Goal - 5k @ 17:30 ish
Actual - 5k @ 17:58 (course was 3.17)
             1st place
5 mi c/d
10 mi total
Results
Photos (from the website)

My awesome Kinesio taping job. Anthony is all fixed now!

Anthony and I were very busy last weekend! Saturday we woke up early and headed to Liberty for our Kinesio taping seminar. Yep, we can now tape people up, which will be good for Anthony once he starts his practice. If you've been watching the Olympics at all, you know how popular Kinesio tape has gotten in the athletic world.

The seminar was supposed to go until 5:30, then we were going to head downtown for my evening race scheduled for 7:30 pm. We got out a about 1.5 hours early, so did some shopping and still ended up downtown early.

Warming up before the race

We arrived to packet pickup with the sun still high and temperatures in the upper 90's. Great. We put in a decent warm-up, had time to play around with the camera, then I headed to the start line. As usual, we saw lots of familiar faces (I'm going to miss KC races). The race went better than I thought. The sun had slipped down far enough that the building gave us shade during parts of the race.

Quarter mile in to the race. I'm probably in the top 10 here.

I often have trouble making up my mind for a race plan. Originally I wanted to run fast, then I thought I'd tempo it because of various factors, but it always boils down to the same thing. Once the gun goes off, my competitive streak appears. Of course I got more competitive as, once again, I found myself trailing Ken Moran for most of the race. I tried my hardest to latch on to him. I trailed by maybe 1-2 strides behind and pulled up even to him during the second mile. Ken and I take turns beating each other, and he pulled my through a fast 2.5 miles, splitting 5:35 and 5:47 (this mile was mostly up hill). The guy that finished ahead of me (who we were steadily gaining on) had pulled off with a side stitch and hopped back in once Ken and I ran by. I ended up surging up a hill to pass them both, only to immediately be passed right back by the 3rd place guy. Darn! I thought it would have been really cool to take 3rd overall :) I ticked off a 5:42 for my last mile, and wish I would have looked what I came through the actual 5k mark in (probably 17:34-17:40 ish).

Probably about 1.25 miles into the race.  Trying to hang on to Ken.

Boy was I glad to be finished. With the miles I'm putting in, this 5k sure did feel long. Probably because I'm used to running at 5:30am. The awards were awesome! We got to go up on a huge stage and enjoy an outdoor concert prior to the awards (although most of our time was spent on a 5 mile cool down). It was a rock and roll themed event, and a fun evening.

Ready to be done. It was a solid race.

Week in Review
70 miles (in 10 runs)
1 race
16 hour seminar
1 workout
1 more week left of my first clinical!

Lots of miles. Good race. My legs feel like crap.

Due to the early seminar on Sunday, we were forced to put in a two-a-day. Running that late has thrown us into a bad start for the current week and left us feeling tired and sore (maybe I need some Kinesio tape to inhibit my IT band?) Earlier this week we also put in a good workout. We did 5 x 1k on the track with good recovery. Considering how hot it was that morning, our times were decent.

Girls Just Wanna Run

Week in Review
60 miles
1 day off
15 mile long run
1 workout
1 race

Whew, what a busy week. Unfortunately, I didn't get to the planned 70 miles week. On Monday, Anthony and I attended our first Royals game of the season, and I didn't get up early to run. So there were 2 runs that didn't happen.

This coming weekend is going to be a busy one also. Anthony and I are signed up for a Kinesio Taping seminar that will last all weekend. But it will definitely be worth it! Also this weekend I have an evening race. I just hope it isn't over 100 degrees at race time. Realistically it could be in the upper 90's.  We will see how it goes after being at the seminar from 7:30 am -5:30 pm. At least I won't have to get up early to run before ;)

Girls Just Wanna Run 5k - 7-21-12
1st place
17:59 (course record)
Results

I headed to Springfield last weekend to run my first race in over a month. I ran in the Girls just wanna run 5k, which I ran last year. For me, summer training is more about putting in a good base mileage for the fall and spring seasons. Any race I run I think of as more a workout. Don't get me wrong, I still get competitive, but am not expecting to run PR's or peak for any specific race.

It was a toasty morning for a 5k. It already 80 degrees by the 7:30 am start. I think the race was a bit smaller than last year, but there was still quite an impressive crowd. Almost immediately I found myself in the front of the pack. Being warm and comfortable with the little cushion I had on the next runner, I was very tempted to slow down and run at a more comfortable pace. However, the lead bicyclist kept me honest as he continued to encourage me to continue running hard. I think he was really excited for me, as he mentioned several times that I was on pace to run a course record ;)

I pretty much ran steady the entire race as I ticked of rather consistent miles. I opened with a 5:51, then ran 5:49 and closed with 5:48. Probably I sped up down the home stretch as I could see the clock was still under 18 minutes.

Week in Review

63 miles
2 doubles
2 acclerations
12 mi long run
1 weights (oops)

The start of high mileage (what I consider high) is about to begin. It's going to be a looong summer. This week was pure mileage with some runs ending the last few miles at goal marathon pace. So basically just picked up the pace by about 30 seconds per mile. Next week we intend to do a little workout on Tuesday because I might be racing a 5k in Springfield on Saturday. It's been about a month since I've run a mile under 6 minutes, so I need to gently remind myself that those speeds do exist. We are headed down to hopefully get signed up to lease an apartment beginning in September! Hard to believe we are done in Kansas City :( It's going to be nice to be near family, but I'm going to miss all the cool races up here and the running community. After the 5k in Springfield, I'm signed up for a 5k the following week in Kansas City. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the race was in the evening. I will make every effort to be there, but if temperatures are still in the upper 90's or (gulp) in the 100's, I may opt out. It's just not smart to try and race at those temperatures.

Well, I'm 2/3's of the way done with my first clinical rotation! Only 3 weeks left and then I start my in-patient rotation in Joplin (I can't wait to see Alison, Paula, and Terra!). That is if I can ever get ahold of my new CI. I left my phone number and e-mail with her last week, but have heard nothing. I'm going to be very busy this week. The goal is to finish my inservice so that I can present next monday. I also need to type up my case study. The goal is to have all this done by the end of Tuesday. Now that's it's written down, it must be done! And tomorrow we are going to our first Royals game of the season!!! Poor Anthony has been waiting for like 2 months.

Down Weeks in Review

After a hard race effort during May and early June, I've taken the last two weeks easy to regenerate for the fall season. I'll mostly be putting in pure mileage with a few workouts sprinkled in here and there to make things interesting. I'll also throw in a few 5k's so my body doesn't forget what sub 6:00 pace feels like.

Week in Review
42 miles
2 weights
9 mi long run
1 accleration run
4 weeks down of my clinical rotation :) (5 to go)

I'm fairly pleased with my first week back. I must admit that I was enjoying staying in my air-conditioned apartment, rather than venturing out into the 90+ degree heat. We've been setting record highs across the midwest, and even getting up before 5 AM, we still wake up 80 degrees and there's no relief in sight. The plan is to add doubles not this week, but the following.

Something different I'll be trying for part of the summer is moving my long runs to Saturday. This way I can do my mid-week long run on Tuesdays (I don't have to work) rather than Wednesdays. I'm getting anxious to reach my highest weekly mileage this summer!

I'm really enjoying myself at my first long-term clinical. I'm learning ALOT actually being in a clinic. Everyone is pretty laid back and more than willing to help me with anything I may need. What's really cool, is that on our lunch break most of the staff heads to the gym to workout! This is great because it practically forces me to do my abs and weights :)

Good news for Anthony! He passed his 4th and final national board exam. So next time you see him make sure to call him Dr.Reed ;) We are planning on moving to the Springfield area, so if anyone needs treatment (what athlete doesn't have some sort of pain?), he's planning on having his business up and running by November.