Observations and pictures

I've been struggling with some really tired legs since my race. I've done several pretty hard runs, and managed to hit my paces (OK, confession time, I did run my track workouts way, way faster than I was supposed to, stupid, I now). I am entertaining the idea that I peak quickly and go flat thereafter.

Case in point:

2010 - HM PR by 7 minutes, one month later feeling flat at Boston 2010 (blister as well, but I did feel flat).

2011 - 30K @ 6:57, one month later feeling flat at Baystate (still great result, but I was capable of more).

I am a fast twitch gal. I believe my best distances are 200m and 400m. The longer the distance, the more I slow down. I've got some really strong quads which help with the speed. I can take a lot of pain, but for short periods of time. This also means that I tire easily and I am starting to believe that my body can only handle 8 weeks max of speed before needing rest. Although I had a great 5K last weekend, I am confident that I could have had a better one 1 or 2 weeks before. This is something I am going to discuss with my coach and take into consideration when planning for my fall marathon. I think I need a long base, with lots of 20 milers, all at MAF HR, and then an 8 week push of speed and MP. My MAF pace has gone down a lot and I believe that when rested, my current MAF pace is lower or close to my MP PR pace. Crazy.  

So, I think I am going to need to rest a bit in May. I so happen to travel for a conference in Hawaii on May 10th, and then go to Maui for a vacation with the family, and what better time to rest than then? I can swim more and run less, and just move away from a strict season. The stress will be gone and I won't need the endorphins as much as I do during the typical work week. More time for my family, and now that Petru swims well, he and I can have a ton of fun in the water. Can't wait!

The folks at Run in Blue posted a couple of photos. Interesting to see myself run. I tend to run with my head down instead of looking ahead. My shoulders are not straight. But, I do have a good knee drive and I don't heel strike. 

Start line. Big race, ha?

At the start. Doing some jumps to stay warm. See Tim, sometimes I do listen!

Starting - hunched over, looking at my feet, arms all over the place...hmm

Crossing the finish line with my eye on the watch

Finish line

 

Run in Blue (almost) 5K race report

For those who like short reports:
3.1 (2.98 on my watch) 17:26; 5:52 pace (Garmin pace)
First woman, Second overall
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This was an A race for me. I started specific training for the 5K in March and truly enjoyed it. I did a lot of track, sometimes 2 track sessions in one week. I ran tempos as well. I felt great and my legs and lungs amazed me. Last week I ran 5x1000m with 1 min jog in 5:30-5:45 each and I felt strong, so strong. Then I started tapering and had the roughest time with it. I ran only 30 miles this week and I was going out of my mind. I was moody. All my runs felt horrible, and things got worse and worse as the time went by. I did have a great run on Wednesday morning; 2.61 miles @ 5:58 as part of a "float workout" where you keep the recovery intervals fast.
Here it is, as an excerpt from my training log:

.12; 0:42 5:43 - comfortable; 
.12; 0:48 6:30 -REST 
.12; 0:42 5:43 - easy, slowed myself down 
.12; 0:48 6:30 -REST 
.50; 2:54 5:48 -comfortable 
.15; 1:01 6:46-REST 
.25; 1:26 5:46 - comfortable 
.16; 1:00 6:30 -REST 
.25; 1:26 5:44 - getting hard here, nausea 
.15; 1:00 6:44 -REST 
.25; 1:26 5:48 - HARD, how the hell am I going to run a sub 19, this sucks -> breath, relax, you want to hurt here 
.15; 1:00 6:36-REST 
.25; 1:23 5:38 -push it, give all you've got - surprisingly there was a lot left. 


But my runs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, all 3-4 miles of each felt hard. My legs felt heavy, I was out of breath, and I worked hard not to get in to much trouble with the family. Few people knew about my race, but a good friend who knew sent me some nice emails and they helped a ton. I was going to give 100% on that day, no matter how I would feel. I went to bed thinking about that and tucked my "Today I will" bracelet in my shorts.


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Race:
I got to Somerville @ 7:30 with the family. I was happy to have them there. I warmed up while they searched for traffic lights. I felt horrible. I was slow. I did 4x1 min strides starting @ 6:30 and finishing @ 5:15. My legs felt better after the strides. I was more worried about my mental state. I have never felt like this before a race. It was not good. 


I finished the warm up 2 minutes before the start of the race. Good. I went to the line and started chatting with a couple of guys. It was a small race and I wanted to have faster people in front of me to chase. 


We took off. I lead the pack for the first  .2 and saw my average pace going from 10 something to 5:10 (Garmin slow at picking up actual pace). I was to run this mile no faster than 6, but after the first bit @ 5:10 I was unable to slow this mile down more than a 5:50. It felt...not hard. I was surprised. Tim said the second mile will be the hardest, and it was. I slowed down to a 6 (but was at a 6:15 lap pace for at least .25 there). There were no mile markers on the course and I had no idea whether the course was going to be long, etc. I ran all the tangents as best I could. I passed 2 guys and there was only one other guy in front of me (he ran 16 something). In mile 3 I told myself that I am doing it , I am breaking 19.   I started looking at the time on my watch, and kept telling myself that I have X, Y, Z minutes left. Around 2.5 I noticed that the lace on my L shoe went undone. I started thinking whether I should stop and tie it, or kick my shoe off completely, or just go with it. This served as a nice distraction and it gave me some extra adrenaline, I think, as I was getting faster. I saw Chris at 2.6X and I started running all out. He said I looked strong. I felt like I was running so slow, but my watch said something else. Last mile had average pace 5:43. I crossed the line and collapsed on the dirt. I was dizzy. I asked what my time was and they said 17:23. My watched showed 17:26. Who knows. 


So the course seemed short on my watch. I talked to a few runners and they all had various distances, but no one as short as me. Who knows. I am putting this as a PR for a short 5K, because I want to give myself the option of being able to beat this PR. LOL. This would have been something like 18:05 for 3.1, so I am very pleased. 


Super happy with this race. I beat the mental demons. I ran well. The training paid off. Thanks Tim (but I do want less of a taper next time:). And as I was waiting for awards, my eye caught these beauties. Can you say 'lucky course"? And yes, there is dirt on my hands from collapsing at the finish. Ha!