Going back a few weeks. . .
Two weeks ago, we headed to Tulsa so I could run a "rust-buster" 5k. I call it a rust-buster because it was my first time to start racing since the half champs in late June, and the lack of solid training leading up to the race. Some call in a rust-buster, I'll just call it running on fresh legs. Haha.
2 mi w/u
Goal - Hopefully be in good enough shape to break 18 minutes
Win
Actual - 16:51 (I know!!!) a new road PR
1st place
Results
5 mi c/d
First let me say, I have never in my entire life seen so much pink, or so many grown women wearing tutu's! I do love me some pink, but I think I was a bit under dressed. Anyways. . . having had a cold the week leading up to this race, I had several factors working against me.
1. Low mileage
2. Took Monday off because I was sick
3. Started a new job
4. NO workouts
However, those that know me best, know that I'm a gutsy racer willing to at least try. It was pretty much me and another woman (who I recognized as a VERY legit marathon runner. . . I'm talking multiple sub 2:40 marathons!) from the very beginning. I trailed about 2-3 strides back for almost the entire run. 2-3 times, before reaching mile 2, I'd tried to pull up even and run stride for stride, but she had enough foot speed to surge a couple seconds and maintain a 2-3 stride on me. That's okay, I felt some-what smooth, and was perfectly content to just hold on to her a couple strides back. In my mind, I started formulating a plan. I was thinking with half mile to go, I'd surge by and press the last 3 minutes. Plan went off almost to a tea! We rounded a corner with 1k to go, so I surged the corner and kept going, never looking back - just running scared. Rounding the final corner to the home stretch, the crowd was cheering me on - telling me I could dip under the 17 minute mark. At this time, I hadn't really been paying too much attention to the Garmin, so I was SHOCKED to see my time.
Going into the race, I had no set "plan" to help me PR. Seems like sometimes having no plan is the best way to go.
 |
| Clock was a few seconds off from the back side |
80 miles!!
2 doubles
Day 11 of plank challenge
20!!!!! mile long run
With my big race last week, I was going into this week feeling motivated and confident. We hit 80 miles, our highest week since last summer. Not to mention I ran my first 20 miler at a long run, which is my longest training run (prior to was 18). I felt so great during this run. . . and was on pace to break my previous marathon PR had I been running a marathon (and this was on a training run!) It gives me hope that my mediocre training will pay off in 6 weeks at Twin Cities.
Sooooo. . . I guess the 20 miles took it out of me. I actually got out of bed Monday morning feeling fine, even felt fine at work. However, once Marshall and I started our Monday evening run, I didn't feel so fine. It was a little warm, and my legs were dead! So we took a down week (maybe a little too down), hitting only 60 miles. We did have a good race and some mile repeats in there though.
Saturday (8/24)
2 mi w/u
Goal - 10k in sub 36 minutes
win
Actual - 10k @ 34:57
first place woman, 2nd place overall
Results
This past Saturday, I had my second race of the fall season. A local 10k, where I ran a road PR yet again (this one may have actually been short though - about 100meters - so like 20 seconds). About 60 seconds before the race started, I learned that this was a 4 lap course! Which meant that the leaders would hit 5k/10k walker traffic pretty quick. It certainly was quick - by the time we made the first loop (10 minutes later) it wasn't long before coming up on the walkers.
So Marshall started off with a group of 5, leaving me in 6th place running by myself (as usual). Shortly after the mile I picked off 2 men, leaving me in 4th place. After 2-2.5 miles, I realized that Marshall and his pack weren't really pulling away from me. A couple glances at the Garmin had me consistently ticking off 5:45's. Awesome, I thought to myself! This was going better than I had thought. The 4 lap course, which I had originally dreaded, turned out to be pretty nice. I'm a great track runner because the continuous laps just help me get into a rhythm, so I think that is why I ran so well at this race.
One of the guys in Marshall's group pulled off at 5k, so now I'm running in 3rd with two laps to go! I focus on Marshall and hold steady. At the start of the last lap, Marshall's companion dropped off quickly, and I fly by. This is AMAZING, Marshall and I could have a 1-2 punch :) At this point, the announcers had found out we were husband and wife, so I'm almost certain Marshall would slow down and let me finish with him. But wait, it's one mile to go and I'm not gaining much on him, despite my increase in tempo. The glorious picture I had of me and Marshall finishing stride for stride, possibly holding hands together in the air as we cross the finish line, were slowly drifting away. Despite my hard effort and strong last mile, I ended up finishing about 18 seconds behind. Turns out Marshall didn't hear the announcers going on and on about us. He thought I was the other guy and was desperately trying to hold me off!
 |
| This could have been me and Marshall >:( Except then we'd be made fun of forever! Lol |
