Now..... on to the running news
Showing posts with label 16 miles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 16 miles. Show all posts
So much to say
Hurts So Good!
Looking forward to the coming week of training!
Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow - virtual4now
16 Mile Long Run..... Check!
I woke up at 5:20 with a planned departure of sometime before 5:40. I started running at 5:41 and started doing the math in my head to realize I once again didn't plan very well to get back in time to avoid a rush to get to church..... oh well, I will get the timing down by the time the marathon is here. :)
I had the first bit of uneasiness at about a half a mile into my run when I came up on a car sitting along a country road. I run around parked cars in neighborhoods all the time but it is just a bit unnerving when it is along a road like this. Things go through your mind wondering if it is just a car that died or if someone (dead or alive) is sitting in the car and what may be lurking in the dark somewhere close by.
Needless to say, I am sitting here writing this post so all went well with the car and no boogieman jumped out at me anywhere.
The next 13 miles were pretty uneventful other than a couple bunny rabbits and trying to carry and juggle my water, Gatorade, and getting my sport beans out of my arm band without losing my cell phone. I really want to get myself some kind of fuel belt to carry liquids and gel or sport beans. I get tired of carrying water and Gatorade bottles, I would much rather my arms be able to relax on these long runs.
At 13.5 miles I had another almost tragic trip and fall like I had a few weeks ago from tripping on my shoe-laces. I was running along and all of a sudden that strange but recognizable restriction of motion occurred with my feet. Remembering the last result of the same feeling I immediately stopped and looked down. To my surprise my right shoe-lace was loosened a bit and even though double knotted it was now much larger loops than how I tie them. I guess the 13 miles and extreme sweating had loosened them up just enough to cause them to (try to) trip me. I took the time to immediately retie the shoe-laces so I wouldn't soon experience the same fate as last time.
My pacing wasn't where I wanted it to be and I am not sure why I was not able to pace where I wanted to. I was aiming at a 10:00 minute pace, but was closer to a 10:30 pace for the first half of the run. The second half I was closer to where I wanted to be with most of the miles in the upper 9's. You can see my splits here.
Well, that is it for now - getting ready to head back out for 6 more miles.... but not by choice. My daughter needs to get in a long run today, but her running buddy called and is sick so she cannot run with her. We do not allow her to run by herself so off I go again for another run. It will be another easy paced run and I will probably once again, like last week, forgo my run tomorrow morning and just let this run count for it.
Till next time.....
Payton's First XC Meet, and My Next 16 Miles
Today was Payton's first cross country meet. Up until this point she has only run the school time trials and has done quite well if I do say so myself. (see here and here)Today's meet was a Stage Race with many schools and many races. Payton was excited and really looking forward to it until we pulled up and she saw how many people were there. She immediately started to stress out about the vast number of kids running.
I talked her down a bit and explained that she didn't have to worry about anything except doing her best and that she would be just fine. She started to settle down a bit more when she saw some of her teammates.
She was running the 8:45 JV race. The coach gave her a choice last week to run either JV or Varsity and she chose JV...... because..... she said she wanted a medal :) What a choice to be able to make as a freshman huh? (proud father moment here)
She went and stood in the dreaded line (we all know what line I am talking about - they have them at every race.... and they always stink) As she stood there I walked over to check up on her.
She was starting to feel the stress a little bit again and actually started to tear up a bit. We once again worked through it and she made it through the line.
She then put her spikes on for her very first real run. She was commenting how she was going to get them dirty in the very first race she wore them in as the course had a few muddy spots.
The time came for her stage and she lined up with two boys from her school, and one other girl from her school. That plus quite a few from many other schools. This was only a two mile race so I explained that she didn't need to hold back as much as she would in a typical 5k Cross Country Race. Time went quickly and then came the gun and they were off.
Two of her coaches and I started walking towards the 1 mile marker so we could see how she and her teammate were doing. There were two very fast girls we missed in her stage race, but it didn't take long before we saw Payton running in the 4th (we thought 2nd) place position (girls), with a first mile split of 6:37. I was thrilled and she was looking really good.
The coaches and I jogged back over to see the girls finish and got there about the time the first boys were crossing the finish line. We were watching closely and we watched the time. There is the first girl, the second, the third...... and then there was Payton.... right where we expected her as far as time.
Payton crossed the finish line strong in 4th place overall (girls) and first place for her team in this stage race. Her time for the two miles was 13:12 with a second mile split of 6:35 - very consistent. The first 5 finishers of each stage race received a medal - she is very proud of hers :)
***Update: Just got the e-mail, her placing in her stage race helped her JV team get 2nd place out of the almost 40 teams that competed.
Now that we have talked about the exciting part I will catch you up a bit on my marathon training.
This past week has been good, putting in 10, 5, 8, 5, and 8 so far this week. Last Sunday I did my long run of 10 miles, and then later that evening put in another 5 miles with Payton so I skipped my 5 mile run on Monday morning. I put in an easy 8 miler on Tuesday, an easy 5 miler on Thursday, and then my 8 mile marathon race pace on Friday morning. I wanted to train for a race pace of 8:45, but my body is much more comfortable and more in the groove at an 8:20/8:30 pace so that is where I am letting it go.
Tomorrow morning I have my first 16 miler on the schedule. I know there will be a lot of new distances from this point out and I am both excited and apprehensive about these new distances. I am not, however, excited about getting up at 5:20 on a Sunday morning, but to finish in time for church I must do what I must do.
I have my mp3 player loaded (Sunday morning radio is useless) and will be heading out the door sometime around 5:30. I have not yet decided what route I will take, but am leaning towards the same route I ran for the 14 mile run two weeks ago and changing up the end enough to add a couple miles.
Wish me luck and I will check back in on the other side of 16!
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