I really don’t know what to take away from today’s race. While I didn’t push my body to the edge today, I did put out an honest effort and my time doesn’t reflect it. On the first note, the Meteor 10k is a great race with a flat and fast route. I highly recommend this race to anyone that’s looking to run a fast 10k on the road. My 10k PR is from this course last year where I ran a 30:28. I’m actually not sure what I ran today. After crossing the line, without thinking I hit stop and cleared the watch. I saw the finishing line clock coming in and I think I might’ve been a smidge over 31:30, but that’s completely a guess. I went out with the lead group and came through the first mile in 4:59, but I really don’t have the mental edge just yet, and I let the group slowly pull away. I’m not saying that I should have held on to the leaders and been with them to the finish, but I do think that I should’ve held on for a bit longer to give myself a chance of having a better race, but that’s part of racing. I came through the 5k in 15:40ish and was a bit discouraged, but I thought that I might still have a chance to make a charge to put myself in the top 5 since I negative split the race the prior year and actually wasn’t through 5k that much slower. Unfortunately, that charge never came; in the last 2 races and last few workouts, I’m really just landing with my foot out too far in front of me and my stride just hasn’t been efficient. I think the 2 contributing factors to this were the fall I took 3.5 weeks ago on an easy a.m. run where I think I fractured my knee cap (I still can’t kneel on it) and the speed work from last week that tore up my calves. I understand that setbacks are typical with running and tearing up my calf muscles are part of building them up for better performances in the future, but the competitive side of me can’t help but wonder exactly what’s going on right now. So the question that I’m trying to figure out am I (a) not fit (b) tired from the miles that I’m running (c) really just in my building phase since I’m coming off of a fractured hip and lack the winter running (d) just not race sharp yet (e) stressed out. In my opinion, it’s probably a little of column (b), (c), (d), and maybe even some of (a) and (e). I keep trying to compare myself to last spring and I do get excited when I run a workout that matches or is faster than what I ran this time last year. However, I’m not consistent with my workouts and my mileage is the highest it’s been since college (100 mile weeks) despite the fact that I’m coming off of a three month layoff from running. No matter how hard I cross trained, cross training isn’t quite the same as running. It helps, but it takes a little while to get the running shape back as my current weight indicates (142-143 compared to 135-138 last fall). I think today was a good little wakeup call to reality. I wasn’t even close to my PR; however, I do need to keep the big picture in mind and to achieve my goals. I do have to weather the lumps along the way. It’s easy to train when everything is going perfectly, as it really has the last couple years, but I realize that I’m going to have to take a few more licks along the way so I can hopefully slap reality back in the face. So while I have every reason to be a little discouraged right now, I’m hoping to weather this, keep the mileage up, and hopefully get the legs back before too long. I have a down week scheduled for the up and coming week; with a little good fortune, maybe the Shamrock Shuffle can be a step in the right direction. I’ve actually been able to sleep well at night lately, so I’m definitely tired from the mileage. I think it’s just a matter of waiting for my body to adjust.
On other notes, if you ever get a chance to watch "professional wrestling" in the front row, do it. It was an absolute blast and Hillarious at times. I even got high 5's from Ray Mysterio and Christian!!! Seriously, though, it was a ton of fun. Props to Stuber on that one. Also, people should vote on what type of cushioning they prefer. I'm somewhat curious whether or not my perception of what people like is completely wrong or not.
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At the beginning of last week, I front loaded my mileage and also planned on running a second run after the Meteor 10k to hit 100 miles while hopefully performing well (so the second part didn't exatly happen, but that's ok for now). I was a little frustrated from the race and wanted to run a little quicker…maybe get down to around 6 flat or slightly faster. It’s somewhat hard to get yourself out the door and run quickly, especially 5-6 hours after a race. This is actually the first time that I've ever run a second run hours after a race. However, I was lucky that Lanni wanted to get in an easy roller blading session and she pulled me out nicely. I ended up running 5:43, 5:26, 5:18, 5:19, 5:17, 5:17, 5:19 for my 7 miler and successfully hit my 100 mile week. What absolutely blows my mind is that this training run really wasn’t that much slower than the race that I ran 5-6 hours before. I really think that my performances will come and it’s just a matter of getting some good turnover work in, shedding a few of the extra lbs, and letting my body get adjusted to the mileage. My legs feel pretty good this morning; actually, they feel the best they’ve felt in the past week. Now it’s officially time for a week of rest and hopefully let the body build itself back up.
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