I ran yesterday morning and it felt like running underwater and the high was 97 yesterday with the same predicted for today, I kind of knew what to expect, but it was harder than I thought.
I got there this morning and I planned on doing a two-mile warmup, race, and two-mile cooldown. I did 2.2 miles as a warmup and I was drenched. It was in the 70s and close to 100% humidity.
I had a semi-plan today. I knew some of the runners and I figured I would probably end up a place or two behind a guy who ran 18:59 at the 5k 4 weeks ago (it's a very small field). I planned to get behind him slowly let him go, then find someone to race with.
I only half follow the plan. I got behind 18:59 guy and let him go but found myself completely alone on the trail. We left the paved section and got on the trail around a mile in I guess. As a little bonus we had a thunderstorm last night that left some nice mud patched on the trail. Somewhere after getting on the trail, a jogger coming the other way told me I was in 5th. I had a hard time keeping the effort up and frankly slacked off in the second mile. At about mile 2.5, I heard footstep behind me. Oh crap, I guess I have to race. I really hoped he would just blow by me and I could relax. Well, he didn't and I kept him behind me until less than half a mile to go when he passed me on a long hill. I looked at his face and figured he had to be at least 40 (turns out he was in his 50s) so it wasn't too bad. This is the one thing I was disappointed in -- I need to stop letting people by at the end.
I hadn't looked at my watch since early in the race because I knew how ridiculously slow I was going and the only thought midway through was to stay ahead of the guy behind me. I was still a little surprised to see something as ridiculously slow as 35:57 when crossed the line. Everybody was slow though. The guy who passed me at the end finished 11 seconds ahead. Looking at the 5k results from a month ago, he finished 1 place and 5 seconds back then, so despite the time, today wasn't that bad.
It wasn't a bad days work though. I won my age group (M30-39) because the overall winner who is 33 couldn't win twice. I came away with $30 at a restaurant that we actually go to plus a pretty nice race t-shirt.
With all the chatting after the race and the lack of will to suffer in the heat, I only managed a 1-mile cooldown. I could tell by how my legs felt during the cooldown that I didn't push myself too hard and I should recover pretty quickly. The one caveat is that after the race, when I was stretching (which I never do), I did kind of a deep knee bend (no idea why -- heat sickness???) and felt a pain in my right knee. I'm hoping that will just go away.
The week--
Mo - 5 maintenance w/ 4 or 5 striders
Tu - 8.6 w/ 10x160m w/160m jog -- mostly 33 secs
We - 9.3 moderate, 8:29 @ 144 bpm
Th - 5.3 very easy, 8:50 @ 134 bpm -- very good HR for the pace
Fr - 0
Sa - 8.6 very easy, but it was hot and humid! 9:21 @141 bpm
Su - 2.2 wup, race 5 miles in 35:57, 1 mile cooldown
Week - 45 miles, 8:44 avg pace, avg 145 bpm
This week, I'll be back at it. I'll probably do the 160s again on Tuesday since I think hills are harder and it will only be two days after a race.
Everybody root for Webb today at the Pre Classic!
2 comments:
Nice job!! 97 - ouch! And here I am complaining about mid 80s! The humidity is crazy painful though. I ran 6 on Saturday in 80 degree weather / 80% humidity and my HR was through the roof! Nuts.
Congrats on a great race and training week!
Webb looked really flat today--true, first race of the year, but that's a bit worrisome with OT coming very, very soon.
If you're around other runners who are usually in your time frame, then I'd say the time/effort is appropriate. There's no way to run well for time when heat, terrain, and other external factors kick in.
That said, you're looking to be in shape in a few months, not now
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