It’s
been an interesting and rewarding few days of running. I set a new 5K PR, solidified some race
goals, had some unexpected training rewards, and I think I’ve even nailed down
what I’m going to give up for Lent.
This
past Saturday was the Fitness, Family, and Friendship 5K in North Cabarrus Park
(Concord, NC). The counselor at my
elementary school and her husband—who happens to coach Cross Country at the
High School—organized the event. I had
run at the park before, and I was looking forward to racing on hard-packed
gravel instead of asphalt. My intention
was to get up super early and log my long mileage for the weekend before going
to the 10 o’clock race, but my sensible wife and the cold weather convinced me
to bag it and get a couple of extra hours of sleep in a warm, comfy bed.
The
extra rest paid off. I went to the part
charged and itching to race. I ran the
course as a warm-up at my projected marathon pace to loosen the legs. I shed my jacket, donned my racing singlet
and arm sleeves, and downed my traditional double espresso gel. I toed the line next to Carly, a college
student I had seen at a few other middle distance races over the past few
months. Carly was faster than me, but I
had been working on my speed quite a bit lately. I would keep an eye on her. Also present were several members of the High
School’s Cross Country team, including Jose, on whom I had my money to win. The rest of the pack included amateur racers like me and a lot of Kannapolis City School District staff.
For
5K, the course was a workout both mentally and physically. Turnarounds and switchbacks led us to climb
the few hills along the gravel greenway a couple of times, and we had to be on
the lookout for faint, spray-painted directional markings to keep us on
course. More than once, I shouted ahead
to others who had missed a turn, and I only knew the way because I ran the
course once already for my warm-up. I
lost the high-school athletes after half a mile, but I kept Carly in and 3
other runners in range. My 1st
mile split was 6:28, almost exactly on pace for a 20 minute finish. Not bad, considering the terrain. By the end of the second mile, the pack in
front of me had drifted back. I made my
move and passed all of them but Carly.
She kept a good 25 yards on me.
Mile 2 was 6:23, which was good to maintain a 20 minute finish, but it
left practically no breathing room. Pun
intended; I was gassed! Mile 3 was more
of chasing Carly and keeping us both on the modestly marked course.
After a quick dip into some rooted woods, we broke out on the greenway
for 200 meters of sprint to the finish.
Carly beat me by 3 seconds, but she and 4 high school track athletes
were the only people to finish ahead of me.
Jose won the race with a near sub-17 minute time. My finishing time and PR was 19:48, so I actually had quickened my pace
a tiny bit during the last 1.1 miles. I
was satisfied.
The
following day, I decided to get my long mileage in with a bunch of other DART
members. I planned on 10 miles at a very
gingerly pace, not wanting to injure myself before the upcoming Umstead Trail
Marathon. 11 miles later, we were headed
up South Street, which was 1200 meters of straight climb. My running buddies Mike and Sam had cajoled
me in to negative splitting the last hill.
We maintained a sub-7 minute pace for the last mile, and crested the
hill at my 5K pace, which is not a workout one typically welcomes at the end of
long run. I finished feeling good though,
and I enjoyed some well-deserved coffee at Summit afterwards.
During
our post-run coffee, Sam and Dave Munger really convinced me to examine my
marathon goals. Up until now, I would
have been pleased to match my Thunder Road pace at upcoming Umstead. Now, I will be disappointed if I don’t
demolish it. Sam, Dave, Mike, and
several other experienced marathoners have been keeping track of my progress
over the past few months, and they all agree I could run a 3:30 road marathon
right now if I wanted. Given the zone in
which I have been training, I must say that I agree with them. Umstead is different, though. 21+ miles of bridle trail plus a good 5 miles
of single-track is a different beast than 26.2 miles of smooth asphalt. Sure, the surface will be softer, but the
pace will be slower as well. The terrain
will be very hilly too. So, I’ve
been including hilly trail runs into my regimen as much as I can in order to
cut down on my road/trail pace differential.
I’m going to PR this beast, with you the readers as my witnesses!
After
Sunday long runs, I like to take Monday as my rest day, or maybe squeeze in
some light strength training. With this
past Monday being Presidents’ Day, I had a little extra time in the morning to
get to school, so I scheduled a 6.4 mile loop with Dave before work. Running from the YMCA to our meeting spot
across from Summit and running back after our loop turned the 6+ miler into
just over 9 miles. Later, I would add
another mile (barefoot) on the treadmill after some weight training, bringing
me to a 10+ mile day, meaning I had back-to-back long run days. For sure I would take a rest day today (Fat
Tuesday). Nope. I woke up feeling like a racehorse, so I
laced up some super-light Innov-8’s and knocked out 7 miles at sub-marathon
pace. I was 2 miles into that run when I
realized I had forgotten to wear my IT Band wraps. My legs were feeling great, and my form felt
spot on, so I finished my morning run elated.
I felt so good throughout the work day, that I promised myself an
evening run just to take advantage of good time. That evening run turned in to just over 10
miles, capping me at 17 for the day. So
much for a rest day.
Well,
there you have it: a back-to-back-to-back set of long run days, all with less
than two weeks until Umstead Marathon. It's Tuesday, and I've nearly passed my mileage for all of last week so far in this week. I
don’t know if this is a good sign or not.
I don’t want to train myself into a corner, but I have to take advantage
of what I have. I have one more longish
run on Sunday, which will NOT exceed 10 miles.
Aside from that, I may throw in one more speed day, and everything else
will be at an easy recovery pace to keep the legs moving.
While
I’m in a resolute mood, I should mention that I have come to my decision as to
what to deny myself for Lent, which starts tomorrow. I already have given up nearly everything
that is bad for me, so this year is quite a challenge. Given that I get a lot of my protein from
nuts, legumes, beans, and whole grains, I figured meat was a logical choice for
a sacrifice. I will continue to eat
eggs, but only local, farm fresh eggs supplied by one of my colleagues at
school. I have not had milk or cheese
for months, and I don't really eat any red meat to speak of, so I'm basically giving up poultry, fish, and the occasional strip of bacon. It will be interesting to
see how my fuel/recovery diet will respond to this change, but I think I can do
it successfully if I plan far enough in advance. We shall see…
Happy
Mardi Gras! Laissez les bon temps
roulez!
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