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Week 261
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Greetings, 50+ers! MikeL, just wanted to say that, No, I didn't get a chance to run while physically in Des Moines. We were there from Sunday afternoon through midday Tuesday, but we were pretty busy the whole time. Nice races by your wife, btw; good luck on her mile race in a couple days! At any rate, missing those days meant that my weekly total was down a bit (probably OK) and I reached about 27 miles on 5 days with no workouts and a race. Log reads as such:
Sun: 6.0 steady on the road(7:34 pace)
Mon: off (in Des Moines, too busy)
Tues: off (could've run when we got home, but was totally not feeling it)
Wed: 4.0 road-weary miles (7:47 pace)
Thur: 5.1 in 2 shorter runs to and from auto repair shop (included 2-miles @6:54 pace)
Fri: 6.0 (7:36 pace) ran home from airport--dropped off rental
Sat: 5.6 w/5k race @19:43
The humidity around here has really shot up the past few weeks. Daily thunderstorms have made for dicey run planning. The race Saturday was right around 72 degrees @90% humidity, but thankfully overcast skies. The course is a little short (I think it's 3.07 miles), so the time is not quite as good as it looks, but this course has a mean set of hills in mile 3. What I can do is compare to last year, where I ran the same two races (this and the one from a few week's ago.) Three weeks ago I was 9s slower than last year; this week I was 9s faster than last year. I didn't die as badly on mile-3 either (although I felt like I might pass out up the last hill.) Yes, AlanB, I also went out a tad more conservatively. Ignoring the last little bit, here's a comparisons of the first three mile splits--2015:(620,630,648), 2016:(623,624,640). Ended up 7th overall out of 250 or so; 1st age group, but by only 13 seconds, so I'm going to have to up my game.
At this point, despite fewer miles logged, I think I'm actually more fit than last year and now it's mostly a weight issue. I'm still at 172, whereas last year I was at 166, and I should be at 156-158 (it's become a broken record, so until something changes, I'll shut up about it.) Speed is going to be gained more so by what I do in the kitchen than what I do on the roads.
Nice reports from last week!
@Reno: You've come back pretty well! I'd be more than happy with those race times!
@AlanB: I noticed that the past few weeks you've been logging one super long session along with a bunch of shorter ones. Is this intentional, or has it just worked out that way?
@SCgal: Sorry about the calf muscle, hope that you are back to running soon!
@Rtype: Looks like your slow, but steady, progressive approach is fully mature. Is it time to start pushing the speed button, or are you staying away from that?
@Hoser, eh: Tight hips are the scourge of most runners. There are a lot of plyometric exercises to work on those, but I'm thinking that the skating should be great for hip strength. Here's just a few suggested exercises:
http://www.active.com/running/articles/hip-strengthening-and-mobility-exercises-for-runners
OK. That's what I've got for today. Masters HM Championships are today in San Diego. I see a lot of familiar names in the running. Good luck, Masters!
Looking forward, as always, to your reports and discussion.
All the Best!