Speed Phase Week 4 and Ohio City Run and Crawl

Goals:

Total Mileage 60 - 65.

Monday: Easy.
Tuesday: Track.
Wednesday and Friday: easy miles @ 7:20 or slower. 6 x 30 sec @ 5:30 pace on Friday
Thursday: Tempo run, 7 miles @ 6:30
Weekend:
11 miles @ 7:00
14 miles @ 7:25
Throw in a race on one of the weekend days but get in the mileage.

How it played out:

67 miles, 7 runs, Friday off (Cedar Point), 2 swims 2400 meters, and a much needed massage Sunday post run.
Ended up going a little long on Saturday with a morning shakeout and strides before the night race getting in 14 for the day instead of eleven and not averaging anywhere close to 7:00. Oh well!
Sunday I did get in 7:25 pace but it was ugly. Hot and not enough sleep made me a running zombie!

Coach wanted us to jump into a low key local race this weekend before we get into the real racing scene here soon. Two weeks ago I would have dreaded this as I clearly just wasn't feeling up to snuff yet, but after Tuesdays successful track workout I was looking forward to it. Since I was going to Cedar Point Friday I decided a night race Saturday would be good, time to get in a nap Saturday, and good practice for next weekends Hyde Park Blast which is also in the evening. There was a small race in Ohio City to be followed by a bar crawl. Sounded like fun to me! Unfortunately when I got there I realized I knew literally only two people in the entire race (later spotted 3 more friends, but didn't locate them after the race). Bummer! I was looking forward to the post run bar crawl as much as the race so I was hoping to see a few more familiar faces!

Warmed up really easy (It was hot and I was sweaty!) with one of the guys I knew, we did part of the course and while there were a lot of turns it was flat and partially shaded so I knew it should be relatively fast. The course appeared to be legit, which is always a big question mark at smaller local road races. After the warm up I changed into my speedy green Second Sole outfit and Nike Zoom Streaks for a few strides before heading over to the start to get in my legs swings.

Looked like there were at least a few guys around my pace so I wouldn't be completely alone which was nice. I wasn't sure what pace I could hold but I figured if the legs felt good 17:50ish to 18:20ish was the likely result. I decided to try using 1 km splits on the garmin targeting 3:30 to 3:32. I figured a small low key race was the place to try new things!

I got caught off guard by the start, the announcer got out "ready" and "set" and while I was waiting for "Go" there was a ringing of some bells and I was not ready for that so got off with a bit of a delay. Sorry to those behind me! I did my best to just sit in a pack of guys as we maneuvered a bunch of turns in the first mile. I got pulled out a bit too fast in 3:23 for the first km. Ooops! I was behind one of the guys I knew who runs about my pace and somewhere during that first mile the other guy I knew tried to sneak by. I called him out as he pulled ahead quickly. He paced himself much better than I did that first mile! Mile split was somewhere around 5:40 which was right on target.

Someone was playing a radio in their yard for us and got Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" in my head so the rest of the race was ran to that cadence. Unfortunately with the fast start my pace was already dropping and the second km was in 3:37. Average was right on target, but I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to pick it back up. In retrospect using the km targets threw me off, my poor mid race math skills do not allow me to properly calculate finishing times even in the best of scenarios and using the km targets once they got off my math skills really got messed up. I know at some point I was thinking I'd be lucky to run 18:30 even though I hit the 2 mile somewhere around 11:30. I went back and forth with a few of the guys in the second and third mile. 3rd km was 3:40 and I was not doing a good job of upping the effort to get back on pace.

Getting a little hot I was working hard and my breathing was heavy! I did my best to relax my arms, but forgot all about using my mental tricks and was really just in survival mode. I kept waiting for the 4th km split telling myself just 2.5 laps around the track after that! It seemed like eternity before that split finally arrive in 3:45, ouch! The guys I was with were pulling a few steps ahead of me here and I really tried to focus on staying with them. But I certainly could have been more motivated. Finally we got back near the finish and around all the crazy turns, the 3 mile split guy called out 17:17 and I realized if I hammered I could still break 18, so I finally got my butt in gear and moved, but unfortunately I don't think that was the 3 mile mark as I came in a little over 18. Not sure when I stopped my watch but I had 18:07. The race gave me 18:04.89, I'll take the 3 seconds :) So 5:50 pace instead of the 5:40 I would have liked to see, but it was a good hard effort and a good reminder to myself that 5km races are hard and they aren't meant to feel good. I need to remember that next week and come to the line prepared to suffer!

I stayed at the finish and cheered for the next 15 or so girls that came in before heading out for the cool down. I probably should have run this a little faster, but I was content to jog around and chat while running the course backwards and cheering. It was fun to see all the other people racing and walking in such a fun part of the city.

Added bonus I met some new people and had a blast touring a few of the bars I have not had the pleasure of checking out yet. Ohio City was hopping! My 1st place medal even scored me a few free drinks which is always fun (of course I paid for them a bit Sunday morning!). Though I felt a bit ridiculous touring the bars in my racing shorts and tech tee no one seemed to mind the stinky spunky girl with the faux hawk.