Sooo... it's been a while. My wife is halfway through pregnancy and I'm getting fat and happy screwing around with various house-projects. I guess now that I've got a handle on how that end of life is shaping up, it's time to get back to that whole "exercise" thing.
Read more...21:12, 27th overall (would have been 4th female... you know... if I were a girl) :)
DEVELOPING...
This was a measuring stick race, and also the unofficial start to running season in the Capital District (Albany). Just two weeks ago, I had nailed a 4-mile training run at an average pace of 7:40/mile. At the time, this was a huge training PR. Then, just last week I dropped the bar even lower by clocking in at 29:40 (7:24/mile). So, you could say I was pretty excited about this race.
Then, however TRAGEDY STRUCK! Not really... but I did feel like I tweaked right above my patella on my left knee while doing some strength-training on Wednesday. "Shit," I thought. I was jeopardizing my training, this weekend's race and, of course, the big picture - DC 10-Miler. So, I laid low until race morning doing my best to ice, poke and prod. The knee still felt a little funky at work or in bed when I shifted on it, but during a test-run this morning it felt NOTHING. Weird, huh? Anyway, the warm-up proved that the race was a 'GO' and it was on from there.
I showed up 30 minutes prior to the race, did the packet pick-up routine and hit the bathroom. I ended up on the starting line about 10-minutes before the gun went off, but then discovered that the garmin I had lent my wife was DRAINED of any batteries. "Shit," I thought. On the other hand, this could be a very good thing because it meant that I would more-or-less race on 'feel' rather than my perception of the times I should be at. Plus, they had clocks at each mile-marker so whatever.
Off we went! And, before I knew it I was through the first mile at ~7:05. NICE! I love the concept of "banking time" early in a race if you feel good. Mentally, it does wonders for me. "Ok, if my goal time is an 8:00 min/mile and I've run the first 5 miles at 7:50/mile, then that means I've got 50 seconds to work with should the wheels fall off." If goals and pace are set correctly, then it's a great way of keeping yourself calm during a race knowing that if things turn South you're not screwed.
On the other hand, I knew that I couldn't hold a 7:00/mile for 4-miles in the current shape I was in - no way. So, I stuck with the feeling and the group I was with and hit mile 2 around 14:28? I don't recall exactly, but I had slowed slightly but still had plenty of time "in the bank" (my goal was sub-30). Things in the mental department started turning dark + stormy during mile 3 and I relented my pace in order to get a handle on things. If I know anything about myself, it's that I can turn the jets on during the last mile and continually ramp up the speed. Knowing that, I thought it was smart to glide through mile 3 at a smart pace and set myself up for a strong finish. A few folks I had been running near passed me or started to pull away, but I knew I had not seen the last of them.
Mile 3 ended right around the 22-minute mark (1 minute in the bank). There was a little up-hill at the beginning where I tempered my effort and held back from pulling the trigger, but after I got over that and regained my breath/perceived HR... it was GO-time. I turned the jets on with about .75 miles remaining and hit a 1/2-mile straightaway right to the finish that saw me catch and pass the original group I was running with. I even picked off a couple of faster runners that were looking to make a move at the finish line. That ALWAYS feels good, whether they're racing me or not! :)
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| Still have never seen a photo of myself running with both feet off the ground... |
Despite the knee injury in September, I've fully recovered and my speed is ahead of where I was last year at this same time. The specific date escapes me, but I believe it was sometime in February of 2011 when my training runs started to consistently happen at a sub-8:00/mile pace. These last few serious 3-milers in specific have fell well under the 8:00/mile bar, with a couple only a few seconds away from knocking a whole minute off the workout. This bodes VERY well if I am able to stay mentally tough and physically strong throughout the remainder of winter training (run strong, not hard!). While it's already mid-January, the weather has been favorable enough to only turn me recently toward majority-treadmill workouts. However, I'm able to get at least one outdoor run per week, the last one being clocked at a 7:36ish min/mile pace.
Not to count my chicks before they're hatched, but I'm following the same training program I used for last year's half marathon, which a few weeks later led to my 21:56 5k PR. If all goes according to plan, I'll have a fantastic shot at setting a sub-8:00 min/mile 10-mile PR and!... wait for it... a very real shot at eclipsing my 5k PR from last year.
Some recent smart dieting has also helped me shed ~5 pounds, which is nice, but I'm anticipating at least another 5 once I start making swimming and biking a more regular part of my 10-miler cross-training. The trick is to make it happen before some of that delicious easter-related candy starts making its way onto the shelves of stores I populate. It's very strange to me that I'd fall victim to such a specific candy at a specific time of year when I have no other dessert-related vices what-so-ever. Candy aside, I've got a great collection of micro-brews that I'm DYING to start laying into. However, I'm very strict in my consumption and stick to a few random rules:
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| Greek Revival Being Revived in Upstate NY |
Since I've officially registered for at least one triathlon, I have a great motivator to start getting back into the pool on a regular basis. Today's attempt was in vain, and the ridiculously overweight pool-director told me that none of the lanes would be open (@ prime-time) due to swim lessons (also run by fat people). While I waited to see if enough people skipped swim class to let them open up a lane for me, I just dropped down every 60 seconds and did 25 push-ups. Nothing ridiculous to sap the strength just in case, but I guess it's better than nothing. In between sets of push-ups, I had ample time to stand around awkwardly on the pool-deck in one of these pondering some swim-related pieces of wisdom. I found a decent list HERE and just wanted to highlight a few of the bullets that struck a chord with me:
I made the executive decision to register for two races last night - one 10-miler and one Sprint Triathlon. The 10-miler is the George Washington Parkway 10-Miler in Alexandria, Virginia on April 22. This race will take the place of the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler which shafted me via a lottery process. The silver lining is that I will have more time to build up my base, thus having more confidence to set lofty speed goals. It may also be nice to run in warm weather, as opposed to the 40-degree weather of last year's DC 13.1 in March.
The second race I signed up for was the Hudson Crossing Sprint Triathlon on June 10. It's a smallish triathlon taking place in Upstate NY that is exceedingly well organized and well-run. I couldn't say enough positive things about the race last year and I really can't wait to give it a go again this year... perhaps with more time for proper training! It's also always nice going back to race the same races b/c you end up having a record you can shoot to break.
All in all, I am exceedingly happy with registering for these two races. One will provide me with copious amounts of motivation to exercise through the winter, while the other will encourage me to stay on top of my swimming and spend some time on the bike-trainer. If you glance sidebar-right and see the very lofty 2012 schedule, you'll note that I have a lot more than just (2) races planned. It's a bit misleading though, b/c many of those are just placeholders that I will need to decide between (or not at all). I hope to hit at least 75% of that list though, for what it's worth!.. especially with the 5Ks and triathlons.
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