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Week 108
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Greetings fellow semi-centenarians….I can’t believe that June is already done, How’d that happen? Weather-wise, this week was much like the last, only more so—I think we had at least one storm each day. And yet I still ran mostly in the muggy afternoons and evenings. Managed 48 miles on 8 runs.
Sun: 7 with a couple in the 6:30 range.
Mon: 6.2 easy-to-moderate + post-run
Tue: 5.2 w/4.2 on grass + post-run + upper
Wed: 6.9 w/3@18:35 + post-run + statics
Thur: 7.5 easy + post-run + upper
Fri: 4.2 w/8x30s pick-ups + post-run
Sat: 11 (4.7 am w/5k@18:31, 6.3 w/5.3 on grass) + post-run + upper
Notes:
-Nothing too remarkable. I did more focusing-on-kneelift-and-form stuff on the grass Tuesday (not so much on Saturday’s leisurely traipse through the arboretum).
-Wednesday’s track workout looked like it would get scuttled by a storm (and ultimately it did), so I did a tempo run in the late afternoon before the deluge. It felt good, and I finished it stronger than I started (6:17, 6:10, 6:08).
-Friday was just a shack-out day as I decided to jump into a 5k on Saturday. I may have perhaps done 2 too many pick-ups.
-Slacked a little on the ancillary stuff, but at least got something in most days.
Saturday’s race didn’t go as I’d have liked. Was hoping I might go sub-18 on this course, even though there are no flat spots on it. I can think of lot’s of reasons it might not have gone as I thought it might, least of which was lack of sleep catching up with me. Let’s just say I didn’t set myself up very well to run this day and it showed. Fortunately, it’s just a tune-up race for the 10K road race on July 4th.
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Here’s a report (for those that like these sorts of things):
It was an old-fashioned, small-town race with the mayor giving the pre-race honors. Entry fee was $10 for early registrants, jacked all the way up to a whopping $12 for those that registered last-minute, like me. The town’s parks and rec. (and other volunteers) folks manned the event and local patriarch, RJ Corman (yep, him again) bankrolled the race to make sure the 160-or-so mostly-local participants would enjoy the festivities. Race time was 8am and I arrived right at 7am so that I could register, schmooze with some of the runners, and do a little pre-race warm up. I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, going to bed around midnight and waking up around 4:30, so even a couple of cups of coffee could not really get me going; even so, I held out hope that I could pull it together. Here’s a link to the course layout (
http://wilmore.org/gov/parks/2013/RJ-Corman-Run/racemap.jpg
). Note: the start and finish are actually moved forward to where S. Walnut intersects. Last year’s winner who runs in the low-17’s was there, as were a couple of other fast looking 20-something dudes and a couple a faster young ladies, as well. The air-horn sounded promptly at 8am and we rolled the downhill start to the main intersection in town only to start heading back uphill on the other side as we passed through the college. Four fast guys and two girls got out quicker than me, as I just couldn’t get my legs rolling, but this first uphill challenge allowed me to overtake the two girls and reclaim some distance on one of the four dudes. We crested the hill at about 2/3rds of a mile before heading into the back bowl for a loop around the neighborhood. It’s downhill at first, but then turns uphill with its highest point at the corner of Corbitt and Talbott. As we approached the mile mark on the far side of the loop, I passed one of the four runners, and made headway on another who probably shouldn’t have tried to hang with the two front runners. I hit the mile at 6:02 (told you I couldn’t get going this morning…my slowest start in years). I really narrowed the gap on the uphill past the mile, and overtook him on the somewhat sharp decent down Talbott, he couldn’t hang with me as we came out of the neighborhood back up the hill to the two-mile mark. I hit the two mile mark at 12:02. From this point, I was pretty much running solo, with the two leaders well off in front of me. The long downhill back to the main North-South road in town allowed me to catch my legs a bit and mentally prepare for the big climb up E. Linden and S. Maple. It helped that there were some people cheering us on up those hills, as it gave me a boost to push them hard. I can’t believe I actually negative-split the third mile (5:57), as I rolled down the hill to the quaint shops along on E. Main, where there is one last small uphill to conquer. From there the last 10th mile is downhill to the finish, so you can really motor it on in, even on tired legs. Finished third in 18:31; I’m not certain, but this might be the only race I’ve ever run where each mile was faster than the previous. At the finish, they provided water, watermelon, orange slices, bananas, and breakfast biscuits (with country ham), and homemade ice cream; not bad for a $12 entry fee. Most the people actually hung around for the whole awards ceremony, which was nice. Final note: I was dead tired when I got home and took a big nap in the afternoon; I hope that's telling.
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What’s my take-away from this race? I’m still far from where I’d hoped to be this time of year and I don’t feel optimally trained for the 10K this Thursday. From year’s past, doubling the time from this race and adding a minute is about what I can expect, so the over/under is right at 38:00; anything better than that will be a good day. I'll taper a bit more this week and try to improve my sleeping patterns. We'll see.
Thanks Charlie and Mike for informing us on these nutritional issues. Wish I could contribute, but nutrition has never been my strong suit. A basic omnivore, I try to eat plenty of fruits and veggies (esp. dark greens), and shy away from red meat (although I do enjoy a juicy burger now and again); Ice cream and chips-and-salsa are undoubtedly my worst downfalls. Although it's never been an issue for me in the past, thanks for reminding us that we really *do* need to get all our numbers checked.
Anyone have races/notable times to report? I see that KP recorded his 4:34.09 1500m from the PDXmasters meet; MikeF was also in the race @5:16.21. KP’s 2:09.29 800m was just tenth’s off his season’s best from the previous month. Nice job, guys! Would love to get “rlb” to chime back in and tell us about his training and racing this spring…three year’s older and still not too far off his 55-59 AR’s set in 2010.
Hope you all are having good weeks, and good luck to any partaking in 4th of July races! As always, I look forward to your contributions!