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Week 152
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Salutations, 50+ers, on this first Sunday in May. I’m feeling a bit chipper, not just because the weather has improved, but because I feel like I’m acclimating well to my “new normal”. I managed another 32+ mile week on 5 days and don’t feel any worse for wear. Here’s how the week panned out:
Sun: 5 easy
Mon: off (too stormy)
Tue: 6.1 easy-to-moderate
Wed: 7.3 w/8x(1 lap on,1/2 lap off) averages: 86s on, 56s off
Thur: 7.4 easyish
Fri: off
Sat: 6.5 miles w/5k in 20:17 (splits: 6:07,6:50*,6:38*,:42) *I think the mile-2 marker was long.
I was really happy with Wednesday’s intervals (remember, this track is short, so add back ~5-6 s to compare to 400’s). My buddy who ran Boston in 2:27:32 this year (after starting taking running seriously under 2 years ago and in only his second ever marathon!) came out to the track and helped me run these (he was jogging, I was working hard, haha!) Ran the first four in about 88s average, then he encouraged me to get down to 85s….and we went 84.8,84.3,82.6,81.9 (I’ll acknowledge that the rest jog times went up about 1-2s, though)---it was a confidence booster.
Ran a race on Saturday. I know I’m far from fit, but I figure I might as well start racing myself back into shape. Plus it’s just plain fun to get out and see my fellow runners and get some positive energy to carry me forward. In doing so, I try to keep myself in check and not kill that last mile fighting for every last second. This was a little Derby Day 5K and 10K race with about 120 runners in each of the two events. The 10K went off first, followed by the 5K 10 minutes later. After the 10Kers took off, I looked around the start and really didn’t see anyone that I thought might challenge; turns out I was right, so there was no danger of killing myself trying to race someone. When the gun sounded, of course, an 11-12 year old was off to win the first 400, but once I reeled him back in, it was pretty much just me out on a hard tempo run. The first mile was too fast, but it’s good to know that I can get down close to 6-min/mile without utterly exhausting myself. It was a simple out and back, so the two mile mark should have been 160m (or about 40s, at this pace) short of the mile mark on the return. Seemed much closer than that…it was more like 100m (length of a track straight). So I’m thinking my second- and third- mile-splits should more accurately be flipped. So I won the race handily, but again, it was kind of a hollow victory in that most of the top finishers were masters runners; I speculate that a lot of the younger, faster runners were sleeping in to take full advantage of Derby Day festivities (kind of a big deal own here in Kentucky, if you can imagine.)
When I got home, I finally weighed myself again for the first time in several weeks, only to see that I haven’t lost any weight in the past month---in fact I’m up 2 lbs! So the good news is that I’m aerobically fitter than I thought; the bad news is that the increased exercise isn’t doing it and I’m really going to have to get serious about portion control…..ugh.
Congratulations to Ken on being inducted to the RRCA Hall of Fame this weekend up in Spokane, WA---an extremely well-deserved honor. Here’s a blurb on this year’s two inductees:
http://www.rrca.org/about/history/hall-of-fame/2010/
Muddy Girl, I’ve had (and continue to have) my share of hip issues, so I know how frustrating some of the hip exercises can be (especially the balance exercises). I’m certain they can help alleviate some of the strain on your calves, and you’ll be better for them. The only cautionary point I’ll make is to be mindful not to strain while doing them and to give yourself ample recovery before running again after doing core exercises. As has been pointed out several times here (and probably is responsible for my own abdominal issues), the appropriate core exercises can improve your overall fitness, but running on a fatigued core can also do more harm than good. I trust that you'll be more judicious than I have been.
Gretehund, glad that your ankle is coming along. AlanB, I hope that you are recuperating well since your Boston adventure, and similarly racerdb and OGII I trust that you took it down a notch this week and hopefully are more refreshed.
OK. That’s about all I got for this week. Glad to read that many of the others have been having good spring weeks of training, and I look forward to hearing about this week.
Any races to report?
Cheers!