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Week 21
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Greetings from Appalachia (OK, just west of it.)
We're deep into the fall racing season. The Chicago Marathon was last Sunday: not a lot of *really* noteworthy times in the 50+ bunch other than the predictably excellent time of Kathryn Martin: 3:10:27, which age-grades to a 97%. Best male 50+ (both time and age-grade), I believe was 56 yo Dave Walters, who ran a respectable 2:47:52 in warm conditions. In other racing, kudos to MG for her race Friday. How'd your boys do in Portland, AK-53?
For me, I managed 50 miles again this week. Nice to hit over 50 miles two weeks in a row. It has made me a little tired, but I know that I will adapt soon (I better!) My daily mileage was:
Sun: 7.5 (easy)
Mon: 6.5 (easy, legs felt pretty dead)
Tues: 8 (with a bit of Fartlek during the middle 5)
Wed: 7.5 (with 5k tempo run @6:15 pace)
Thurs: 8 (easy, legs felt dead for last 3)
Fri: 5 (easy with strides, legs still felt a little tired)
Sat: 5k (race, very windy, cool, legs had no pop) + 4.5 (easy).
For me, "easy" is anything higher than 7:30 pace and is typically 7:45-7:50 pace (from what I have been reading, I should slow it down more....I'm trying.) The Wednesday tempo was happenstance. I wasn't planning to run hard that day, after the Fartlek Tuesday, but I was just feeling really good, so I ramped it up halfway through the run, and just rolled for 5k. It felt hard but controlled, so I was happy with the effort. The race on Sat. was impromptu and was not my best effort. I hadn't planned on racing, but when our Aunt passed away on Thursday due to cancer related issues, I felt compelled to honor her by racing in the "Race for the Cure" race held here. I wouldn't have tempo'ed so hard on Wednesday had I known I was racing Saturday....so it goes. I knew things weren't going to be fast when I came through the mile slower than I had in several years (5:57) and I never could pick it up from there, finishing in 18:46. I may have had some bug, too; after my cool-down run, I spent the rest of the day with an upset stomach and feeling pretty listless. I'll chalk it down as another hard tempo run...didn't really feel like a race. Hopefully, within a few more weeks, I'll have raced my way back into shape. Next weekend there won't be any racing, though, as we head to Chicago for her funeral.
I think we've got enough topics on the table right now, that I don't feel compelled to start another for the moment, so that's all I got.
Hope you guys running in the NYCM have a good taper now that the hard training is essentially complete. Stay healthy and heal up from all those miles. It'll be an adventure, for sure.
Anyone else have some races or goals to talk about?