It has been a while...

It has been a while since I have written a post and PR'd in a race. Luckily, I am now accomplishing both. Although I have not written in a couple weeks, I have continued to keep up my weekly regime of about 20-25 miles a week, including a long run of about 10 miles. It seems as though things are paying off. I ran the Scotland 10K yesterday and got my first PR in a race in almost 2 years! I was beginning to think that it may not happen again. I guess I felt "in the zone" and just kept on going. In order to get in my long run for the week, I ran about 2.5 to 3 miles before the race started to get me warmed up and also to add a few miles in. The race started about a minute early (according to my watch) so I got to the starting line of the race just as the gun went off. This wasn't a problem since I figured I'll just squeeze in the middle of the pack. I was able to get in a fast first mile (7:52) but I didn't think at that point that a PR was in store. However, by the time the fifth mile came around, I ran three 7:30 miles in a row and then ran a 7:10 mile for mile 5. At that point I knew that I was on pace for a possible PR. I was feeling good up to that point so once I passed the 5 mile mark, I just gave it all I had. I crossed the line in 46:15, beating my previous best by :36. My previous best 10K was the Joe Kleinerman 10K, all the way back in 2001. My split times for the race were:

Mile 1 - 7:52
Mile 2 - 7:29
Mile 3 - 7:29
Mile 4 - 7:31
Mile 5 - 7:10
Final 1.2 miles - 8:41 (7:14 - mile pace)
Overall time - 46:15, pace - 7:27

This was a great race for me and showed me that I can still continue to get faster if I work hard at it. I was looking forward to the Lehigh Valley Half at the end of April, but unfortunately something just came up and will be unable to run it. I'll just have to sign up for another one soon instead.

Exercise over the past week - Mon - off, Tues - spinning, Weds - 5 miles, Thurs - 6 miles, Fri -off, Sat - off, Sunday - a little more than 9 miles

Colon Cancer Challenge 15K - 3/9/08

Sunday morning was the Colon Cancer Challenge 15K. This is a race that I have done a couple times in the past and is one that I like running. I have been doing my 10 mile runs every weekend for the past couple months but at a slower pace, usually between 8:30 and 8:50. I wanted to use this race to give me a chance to run at a faster, "race" pace and give me a good idea where I was at this early in the year. I was encouraged by my time at the Manhattan Half, but I haven't run a race at a longer distance since then, which was about a month and a half ago.

I was happy with both my overall time and pace. I was looking back at my past times for this race and I came up with a goal time of running under 1:12:00. I ended up running a total time of 1:11:57 for an overall pace of 7:44. I think this bodes well for the training I have been doing so far and gives me a good gauge in creating a goal time when I run the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon in a month and a half. I was a little worried though since my back was hurting me earlier in the week and my hamstrings and glutes were pretty tight and I didn't know how they would react in the cold weather. I got a sports massage on the Friday before the race and it worked pretty well to loosen me up. Although I was a lot looser than earlier in the week, I did experience some glute and lower back stiffness during the race but I made sure to stretch afterwards. The weather was a bit tough during the race. The cold wasn't the problem - it was the wind. I found myself struggling at times to push through the wind on the hills but I guess it is good practice. My pacing was relatively consistent throughout the entire race and I was surprised that I was able to get out of the gate relatively quickly for the first mile and keep it up for the duration. Below are the mile breakouts (it seems as if the mile markers were off for miles 2 and 3)

Mile 1 - 7:59
Mile 2 - 7:11 (this was definitely wrong)
Mile 3 - 8:21 (the mile markers were off)
Mile 4 - 7:43
Mile 5 - 7:41
Mile 6 - 7:48
Mile 7 - 7:35
Mile 8 - 7:49
Last 1.3 miles - 9:48 (7:32 mile pace)

Overall time: 1:11:57 and a pace of 7:44

Running for the week - Monday (6.2 with downtown group), Tuesday (spinning), Wednesday (off), Thursday (6), Friday(weights and sports massage), Saturday off, Sunday (9.3)

In For a Tune Up - 3/7/08

I think that it's a good idea to go in for a sports massage once or twice a year. It's a good way to keep the body loose and address any problem or tight areas - kind of like bringing your car in every 6 months for a checkup or inspection. Although I stretch more than most people, it seems inevitable that my glutes, hamstrings and hip flexors are going to tighten up. Once that happens, the snowball effect occurs - it gets harder and harder to strectch the areas that are troubling me, so I stretch them less and less and then things get to the point that it affects my running. This is exactly what happened recently. My usual problems areas were starting to feel uncomfortable a few weeks ago and I tried to work through them to no avail. Then during the downtown Monday night run this week, my lower back stiffened up (which never happens) and did not get better throughout the rest of the run. I needed to run almost straight up because my back was getting tighter and tighter. Although it got a little better through stretching during the week, I figured it was a good idea to nip it in the bud and get a sports massage which I got today - again at Eastside Massage. I wanted to make sure that it didn't get to the point like last August. I waited much too long to get a massage and my hip flexors and glutes were killing me and it was very uncomfortable to run. Also, if I didn't address my back and glutes soon, I didn't want to jeopardize my half marathon coming up at the end of April

The downtown run - Although I really like running it, I find that my body feels "messed up" for the rest of the week. I'm not sure if this is because I'm used to having Monday as a day off or because of the harder concrete surfaces that we run on the West Side. It could be that when I run on a Monday, it usually comes after a Saturday and Sunday run. Three days in a row might be too much for now. I'm not going to stop going to the downtown run but I think I need to make sure not to run the Sunday before.

Week of 2/25/08

Just the facts:

Monday- off
Tuesday- Spinning
Wednesday- Weights
Thursday- 6 miles
Friday- Off
Saturday- 10 miles down the west side bike trail - total time 1:24:17 for an 8:25 pace - felt very good
Sunday- 4.5 miles on the treadmill

I really like the 10 mile distance. It's a long enough run that doesn't take up the whole day and doesn't wipe you out afterwards.