After almost six weeks of off runs, I've had THREE great tempo/race runs in a row. First off was the Froggy Five last Sunday. It was a five-mile trail race down in Dippykill. I came in third overall out of thirty women. My first time placing overall! I was two minutes behind the second-place girl - although I had better footwork on the downhills, she had obviously done more hillwork and was able to pull away during the uphill portions for the win.
My next tempo run was the Fun Run on Thursday. It was cool and rainy (in fact, almost called off due to thunder) and the course was HillyMan. GoldenBraid showed up and I planted myself behind her according to plan. I was tempted to pull away but just reminded myself I still had miles to go. Around mile two we went separate ways up the hill and I came back down about three hundred meters ahead of her. I managed to pull away even further and came in at a PR-shattering 30:50, which translates into (wait for it), a 7:32 pace. Holy shit! I am officially a 7:30 runner! I'm mad though - they didn't have the results in Saturday's paper so I have to wait for Dr. Z to go through the back issues to see where I placed.
It wasn't a fluke either. This morning I ran a 23:30 5K WITHOUT GoldenBraid there to pace me. (It showed - I did take a very brief walk break.) A little better pacing and I'll break 23:30 without having to improve my cardio.
So yay for breakthroughs!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Sorry So Long...
...since I've posted. It's not that it hasn't been busy, I just haven't been doing very well in the world of sports lately so I didn't feel much like posting.
Anyway, the Fun Run was last night. I had an okay pace (8:10) going - not great, but it was hot and I wasn't feeling well, when I had to make a pit stop around mile three. Amazingly enough, making a detour at the Athletic Center did NOT have me coming in last. In fact, about half a dozen people came in AFTER me. I still had a terrible time at 4.5 miles in 38:40 though. Ugh. I have GOT to get my GI problems under control for running.
Sensei looked at my kata on Wednesday and I screwed up Annaku. Dammit. Not the actual kata - my footwork was just shit. In any case, no new stripes for me. I'm still a Brown 2 even though I got my belt eight freakin' months ago. (Not to mention that brown belt is the hardest belt because you're expected to always volunteer, teach, run warmup, etc. Why couldn't I have been stuck at purple belt or something?)
On a positive note, I managed to nearly match my 5K PR on Sunday despite humid conditions. Having Dr. Z along roaddogging definitely helped. I also found out that my supposed 5K route is closer to 3.2 miles and my time at the 5K marker was 24:00. I may break 24 before the season ends yet. (My original goal was to break 25.)
No canoe news. We've missed the last few races so that I could go to footraces instead. (Not that there's a lot of canoe races midsummer for some strange reason.) This weekend is no exception - we're skipping Saturday's Saranac Flatwater Challenge so that I can do the Dippykill Froggy Five - a five mile trail race in Warrensburg. I'll miss part of the Ironman but should still catch most of it.
Anyway, the Fun Run was last night. I had an okay pace (8:10) going - not great, but it was hot and I wasn't feeling well, when I had to make a pit stop around mile three. Amazingly enough, making a detour at the Athletic Center did NOT have me coming in last. In fact, about half a dozen people came in AFTER me. I still had a terrible time at 4.5 miles in 38:40 though. Ugh. I have GOT to get my GI problems under control for running.
Sensei looked at my kata on Wednesday and I screwed up Annaku. Dammit. Not the actual kata - my footwork was just shit. In any case, no new stripes for me. I'm still a Brown 2 even though I got my belt eight freakin' months ago. (Not to mention that brown belt is the hardest belt because you're expected to always volunteer, teach, run warmup, etc. Why couldn't I have been stuck at purple belt or something?)
On a positive note, I managed to nearly match my 5K PR on Sunday despite humid conditions. Having Dr. Z along roaddogging definitely helped. I also found out that my supposed 5K route is closer to 3.2 miles and my time at the 5K marker was 24:00. I may break 24 before the season ends yet. (My original goal was to break 25.)
No canoe news. We've missed the last few races so that I could go to footraces instead. (Not that there's a lot of canoe races midsummer for some strange reason.) This weekend is no exception - we're skipping Saturday's Saranac Flatwater Challenge so that I can do the Dippykill Froggy Five - a five mile trail race in Warrensburg. I'll miss part of the Ironman but should still catch most of it.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Not So Much Zoom
So...The 5K for Missing Children. Argh. The whole point was to see what I could do on the flat, fast Freihofer's course with more training and less people to elbow. Well, the people part worked out just fine. I didn't have any problems with people being in the way at all. Unfortunately there was another factor: the heat and humidity. Dr. Z warned me to drink Gatorade and wet my head beforehand, but I did not heed him enough. (We've since come to the agreement that I'll treat him like I should treat a coach and do what he says.)
Anyway, I hit the first mile marker at exactly 7:30. Perfect pace, exactly what I was going for. I had done two miles at 7:30 on Monday, so figured I could do it for 3.1 in a race. Shortly after though, I bonked completely. I made it to the water station around mile 1.5, where I DID wet my head, but had to walk shortly after. I spent the next 1.5 miles run-walking.
I thought that I at least broke 25:00, but no doing. My official time was 25:10. I came in 111 of 295, or at the top 37.3%. Way under my usual place, but still not bad considering my total bonkout. My female stats are even more impressive - 40 of 169 or the top 23%. In the end, not my best showing by far, but not a complete disaster. Still disappointing though.
Yesterday's tempo came in at 24:28, which I was perfectly happy with, time-wise. (Especially considering I had shinsplints and a stomachache so bad I almost went back to bed and the weather was windy and very humid.) What I was NOT happy with was my pacing - I stopped to walk THREE times. Sprint-walk-sprint-walk-sprint-walk-sprint is EXTREMELY inefficient, so hopefully I'll get this problem fixed soon.
Anyway, I hit the first mile marker at exactly 7:30. Perfect pace, exactly what I was going for. I had done two miles at 7:30 on Monday, so figured I could do it for 3.1 in a race. Shortly after though, I bonked completely. I made it to the water station around mile 1.5, where I DID wet my head, but had to walk shortly after. I spent the next 1.5 miles run-walking.
I thought that I at least broke 25:00, but no doing. My official time was 25:10. I came in 111 of 295, or at the top 37.3%. Way under my usual place, but still not bad considering my total bonkout. My female stats are even more impressive - 40 of 169 or the top 23%. In the end, not my best showing by far, but not a complete disaster. Still disappointing though.
Yesterday's tempo came in at 24:28, which I was perfectly happy with, time-wise. (Especially considering I had shinsplints and a stomachache so bad I almost went back to bed and the weather was windy and very humid.) What I was NOT happy with was my pacing - I stopped to walk THREE times. Sprint-walk-sprint-walk-sprint-walk-sprint is EXTREMELY inefficient, so hopefully I'll get this problem fixed soon.
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