I freaking rocked it today. Normally I don't come away from races feeling this good about my run, especially when I'm hoping to be in the money and finish 9th, but I seriously don't think I could have gotten any more out of that run. 10 miles, 53:01, 5:18 average per mile, near perfect mile splits, PR by almost a minute, all while living the Booth life. I should mention when I ran my half marathon PR last September, I averaged 5:24 per mile, and weighed about 10 pounds less than I do now.
Today's course headed south from Soldier Field for 10 miles, then flipped and come back north along the same path. I was a little worried, because normally the wind blows south on Lakeshore, so I expected a tailwind on the way out and headwind coming home. Today the winds blew the opposite direction. Add in 55 degree overcast weather and we had perfect racing conditions. I went out pretty hard, and after an opening mile in 5:18, I found myself just behind a pack of 4 in around 10th place. It was a little faster than I wanted to go out, and I didn't feel that springy, but decided the best thing I could do was latch on to these guys and have them block the wind for me for the next four miles. If it meant a slightly faster than comfortable pace so be it.
This ended up being a make or break moment. If I didn't go with these guys, there's no way I would have kept my pace running into the wind, and would have been much more tired, but I still wasn't confident I could run sub-5:20's for 10 miles. It was a big risk to take a mile into the race but it paid off big time. I hung on to them until the turnaround and then they dropped me. I immediately expected my pace would slow and I would slip down to 5:40's or something in that range, but with the tailwind pushing me home I actually ended up negative splitting the race, and ran 53:01 (26:40, 26:21). It's crazy because six weeks ago I couldn't break 27 minutes for an 8k and I just ran two back-to-back in well under that time. I'm not sure how I ran this fast given I'm still weighing in at 200 pounds and could be eating better.
This race does give me hope for the fall, since I will not be running much for the next 10 weeks with my internship in New York. I'll have 12 weeks to get ready for the NYC marathon, and it appears that should be plenty of time to get in shape for a PR.
My splits today: 5:18, 5:19, 5:18, 5:19, 5:24, 5:16, 5:19, 5:16, 5:15, 5:14.
5/30 update: went for a run this morning and my legs felt like jello. They haven't been this drained in a while, so definitely pleased with the effort.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Quarters
Short and Sweet today:
8 x 400 meters with 1 minute recovery:
70, 68, 68, 69, 68, 67, 66, 66
2 mile warm-up and cool-down, good for 6 decent miles today. Legs and arms a little sore from core-work yesterday, but got through it nicely. Felt good to get some lactic acid build-up.
Food-wise I've gotten in the habit of eating a chocolate chip muffin and breakfast burrito when I get to campus on Tuesdays, and so far it has yielded decent results, so I'll temporarily stick to the unhealthy stuff until I learn my lesson. Magic Shoe 5k on Saturday, Soldier Field 10-miler next weekend.
8 x 400 meters with 1 minute recovery:
70, 68, 68, 69, 68, 67, 66, 66
2 mile warm-up and cool-down, good for 6 decent miles today. Legs and arms a little sore from core-work yesterday, but got through it nicely. Felt good to get some lactic acid build-up.
Food-wise I've gotten in the habit of eating a chocolate chip muffin and breakfast burrito when I get to campus on Tuesdays, and so far it has yielded decent results, so I'll temporarily stick to the unhealthy stuff until I learn my lesson. Magic Shoe 5k on Saturday, Soldier Field 10-miler next weekend.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Two More Spring Races
I just started reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. Considering my hobbies, I'm a little late to the game on this one, but I'm already loving it.
Some great quotes from the opening pages:
"In terms of stress relief and sensual pleasure, running is what you have in your life before you have sex. The equipment and desire come factory installed; all you have to do is let 'er rip and hang on for the ride."
"There's something so universal about the sensation, the way running unites our two most primal impulses: fear and pleasure. We run when we are scared, we run when we are ecstatic, we run away from our problems and run around for a good time."
On a related note I've run 50 miles in the last six days and feel myself rounding into form for next weekend at Magic Shoe in Newport Beach and then hopefully for the Soldier Field 10 miler on Memorial Day weekend. On Tuesday I hit the track with Josh Perry and did 2xmile, 2x800 (4:58, 4:57, 2:28, 2:22), while Josh ran 400's on alternating laps with me. I'm hoping for a 10-mile PR. Technically I've never run a 10 mile race so anything will be a PR, but I think I came through 10 miles in around 53:50 during my half marathon last September, so we'll call anything under 54 minutes a PR.
Some great quotes from the opening pages:
"In terms of stress relief and sensual pleasure, running is what you have in your life before you have sex. The equipment and desire come factory installed; all you have to do is let 'er rip and hang on for the ride."
"There's something so universal about the sensation, the way running unites our two most primal impulses: fear and pleasure. We run when we are scared, we run when we are ecstatic, we run away from our problems and run around for a good time."
On a related note I've run 50 miles in the last six days and feel myself rounding into form for next weekend at Magic Shoe in Newport Beach and then hopefully for the Soldier Field 10 miler on Memorial Day weekend. On Tuesday I hit the track with Josh Perry and did 2xmile, 2x800 (4:58, 4:57, 2:28, 2:22), while Josh ran 400's on alternating laps with me. I'm hoping for a 10-mile PR. Technically I've never run a 10 mile race so anything will be a PR, but I think I came through 10 miles in around 53:50 during my half marathon last September, so we'll call anything under 54 minutes a PR.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Nashville Country Music Half Marathon
We had a great road trip down to Nashville this weekend. Nacho AC represented at the Country Music Half Marathon (me, Betsy, Caroline, Heather, Holly, Shreena, Nicole, Karah all ran). We didn't get settled until about 5pm on Friday, but after sitting in a car for 8 hours I felt I need to shakeout, so I went for a somewhat hilly 5-mile run, which may have been too much, but who knows. Had to settle for turkey and swiss dry at Arby's on the way down because there are no healthy quick serve stops in the south. We had a good "pasta dinner" at an Italian restaurant down the street, plus a glass of wine, figured it's all for good times and didn't think I would run that fast anyways.
I woke up at 5:30 a.m and took the customary 20 minute hot shower to loosen up my legs, then had a banana and bagel for breakfast. After the team photo I warmed-up for a mile and headed to the start. I wanted to keep it as conservative as possible because I wasn't expecting much better than 1:15 given my fitness and the rumored hills. I had glanced at the elevation profile the night before and the hills looked nasty, down 150 feet over the first two miles, then net 250 foot gain over the next four miles, followed by 6-7 miles of downhill, plus a nasty climb during mile 13. I was real safe over the first couple miles, hitting 5:35 and 5:33 before starting my climb. (My target pace was about 5:45 but considering the downhill this was perfect).
I got back on pace during the climb and as I started back uphill I estimated I was in around 7-10th place and figured I'd stay there for now. I didn't know my place because we started next to the marathon and there were some marathoners in front of me. I passed a couple guys on the climb but tried to stay patient and wait for the downhill. Once we were at peak elevation (around 10k - 34:30ish) I allowed myself to accelerate with the downhill and started picking people off. The next three miles I averaged around 5:25 and moved up into 3-4th by 9 miles. I didn't know my place at the time, but there were still a couple people in sight so I gradually worked up toward them. By mile 11 I had passed everyone within sight and just had a cyclist along side of me, plus a 10 second cushion on the guy behind me. Finally after 12 miles I felt ready to bonk, and had one last 75 foot climb before the downhill finish. Luckily I got through that fine and kicked to the finish. It wasn't until I crossed the line that someone told me I got 2nd place, and a better-than-expected time of 1:13:34. I definitely surprised myself. Sometimes all you need to do is get the competitive juices flowing to see a great result and that definitely happened for me yesterday.
Splits as follows: 5:35, 5:33, 5:46, 5:43, 5:43, 5:24, 5:30, 5:41, 5:19, 5:28, 5:35, 5:50, 5:45, 33.
1:13:34
I caught up with Ryan Hall at the Nissan expo after the race and briefly reminisced about high school (Al Bundy, four touchdowns, 1 game ;). Later, I got an invite to the VIP expo for the awards ceremony (free food and beer), as well as VIP passes to the Patron Platinum Club and backstage access for the Montgomery Gentry concert for me and the girls. A pleasant and unexpected surprise to the great result. My PR team and I hit the town after the concert and they tried to get me on stage with a house band, but a little too late. Bummer because I definitely would have milked that one.
Great weekend... benefit of 5 straight 45-mile weeks.
I woke up at 5:30 a.m and took the customary 20 minute hot shower to loosen up my legs, then had a banana and bagel for breakfast. After the team photo I warmed-up for a mile and headed to the start. I wanted to keep it as conservative as possible because I wasn't expecting much better than 1:15 given my fitness and the rumored hills. I had glanced at the elevation profile the night before and the hills looked nasty, down 150 feet over the first two miles, then net 250 foot gain over the next four miles, followed by 6-7 miles of downhill, plus a nasty climb during mile 13. I was real safe over the first couple miles, hitting 5:35 and 5:33 before starting my climb. (My target pace was about 5:45 but considering the downhill this was perfect).
I got back on pace during the climb and as I started back uphill I estimated I was in around 7-10th place and figured I'd stay there for now. I didn't know my place because we started next to the marathon and there were some marathoners in front of me. I passed a couple guys on the climb but tried to stay patient and wait for the downhill. Once we were at peak elevation (around 10k - 34:30ish) I allowed myself to accelerate with the downhill and started picking people off. The next three miles I averaged around 5:25 and moved up into 3-4th by 9 miles. I didn't know my place at the time, but there were still a couple people in sight so I gradually worked up toward them. By mile 11 I had passed everyone within sight and just had a cyclist along side of me, plus a 10 second cushion on the guy behind me. Finally after 12 miles I felt ready to bonk, and had one last 75 foot climb before the downhill finish. Luckily I got through that fine and kicked to the finish. It wasn't until I crossed the line that someone told me I got 2nd place, and a better-than-expected time of 1:13:34. I definitely surprised myself. Sometimes all you need to do is get the competitive juices flowing to see a great result and that definitely happened for me yesterday.
Splits as follows: 5:35, 5:33, 5:46, 5:43, 5:43, 5:24, 5:30, 5:41, 5:19, 5:28, 5:35, 5:50, 5:45, 33.
1:13:34
Great weekend... benefit of 5 straight 45-mile weeks.
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