Thanks for starting us off, Alf. Sounds like a solid week.
Horst, I'm probably not quite as "unvarnished" as Charlie, I still think you can have some decent races. They will be sub-optimal, so I don't think you should be trying to peak for these races. If they are spaced too close together, however, you won't be able to properly recover between them, so maybe being realistic and choose the last race to key on and the others as tune-up. From your responses, it seems that you are approaching this with a pretty honest self-assessment. Great that you've fallen in with some faster ex-pats!
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Week 104
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Salutations, 50+ compadres. It’s the first time in a while that I’ve felt like I’ve had a “normal” running week. Seven days of running yielded 45 or so miles. The week’s log reads as such:
Sun: 7.6 easy
Mon: 3.9 + 6x9 stories of stairs
Tues: 5.2 easy
Wed: 9 w/8x(1/2-lap on (37s), 1/2-lap off (52s))
Thur: 4.0 easy
Fri: 5.0 easy w/6x30s stride-outs
Sat: 9.2 w/5k race in 18:06
Did my usual post-run routine of 120 retro-running steps and 2x80 sidling jumping jacks all but Mon. and Wed., plus did some upper strength work Sat. and 5 hours of heavy yard work both Mon. and Tues.
Reflections:
-The Stairs were good for my hip; it felt looser the rest of the week just from that one session. I think I’ll start doing them weekly.
-I felt I did a better job this week preparing to race Saturday. The mid-week workout was easier (remember, it’s only a 375m track….so add 2s to the on and 2.5s to the off to compare to a 400m track). Ran 3.4 miles to the track, ran the repeats, then ran 3.7 miles home.
-I’ve been running in the afternoons, and it was in the 80’s all week. Thursday’s run says easy, but truth be told, the heat had finally gotten to me by then, and it was a very sluggish 4 miles.
-Friday was an easy run with 6-30s strides to just get some turn-over in the old legs.
-I was surprised as anyone with the race result on Saturday. I was expecting to run somewhere in the 18:2X range, based on how the training has gone and comparing to last year (same course), where I ran 18:17 on a better lead-up month and better weather conditions (55 vs. 72 degree start temps). Granted, we’d done a lot of driving during the prior week last year….so maybe that says something about being able to be at home and not on the road. I don’t have a race report, but with no money on the line, I finished 5th overall (1st 50+) with the winning time around 16-flat. The lady that just beat me last week was 30s behind me this week. She said she was feeling a little race weary, I believe it as she’d run a ton of races this spring. After I got home from the race, I tacked on another 4 easy miles.
Our daughter is at a 4-day outdoor music event in the Ozarks this weekend. They had some heavy storms pass through both Thursday and Friday nights (including the one that just dumped on Oklahoma City again). Very fortunate that they are safe (although a bit soggy, haha) as the five girls hunkered down both those nights by trying to sleep in their Corolla! Ahh, I remember those youthful, adventurous days! At any rate, my heart goes out to those that have lost so much during these violent outbursts of storms. A quick and easy way to help is to text REDCROSS to 90999—it donates $10 towards disaster relief attached to your cell-phone bill.
Hope things are going well in your neck of the woods! As always, I look forward to what you have to offer up this week….anyone want to venture a race report?
Cheers!