Freethinker ~ Freerunner

It was a bit of a tough one this morning.  I ran the Full Moon 5K last night and clocked a new PR, which I'm still very stoked about.  We got home late after picking up Ty from Granny's and did not get to bed until sometime around 11.  Ty was of-course not sleeping well last night and my turn to take care of him came at 3:30 when Alisha woke me up because she was exhausted.  I ended up sleeping in his room on a pallet on his floor from 4 to 5, when it was about time for me to start getting ready to run again. 

I left the house at 5:50 so I could meet up with Kevin at 3 miles in on my run course.  We ran for an hour together.  He and I have both been a little sick this week, and so we talked about that and about our races coming up.  His Iron Man is this weekend in Huston and my half marathon is this weekend as well.  

I ran 8 or 9 miles at close to a 7:40 pace, and then I dropped down to around a 8 pace for the remainder.  My legs were really feeling fatigue.  Probably a combination of last nights race and sleep deprivation.  I chugged out my full 2 hours still so as not to slack on my training.  This is m last long run before the half next weekend and I don't want to have any excuses not to be prepared. 

I was a nice cool 45 degree slightly breezy morning.  I would love to get a weather/temperature repeat of this morning on race day.  The current weather report shows a temperature of 64 with a 30% chance of thunderstorms.  It looks like I won't be so lucky, but this is Oklahoma and the weather can change drastically in a day. 

My goal for this week: I need to focus on my workouts and go into the race feeling strong and confident in my self. 

I went running after work today because it did not happen as usual in the morning.  I woke up feeling my sore throat was back with a vengeance.  I think I aggravated my immune system that was working on kicking my cold after the weekends race and Sunday morning 2 hour run on only 5 hours sleep.

So I decided not to run this morning.  I went running when I got home instead.  It felt good after the first quarter mile when my muscles finally loosened up.  Now I just need to kick this cold before the half marathon on Saturday.  

I ran six 400's today at a 5k pace wit a mile warm up and a mile cool down.  I'm still recovering from my cold.  It is interesting that when I finish my workout my throat feels more clear and less sore.  Running cures my cold symptoms if at least only temporarily.  

Splits: 

1:35

1:28

1:29

1:30

1:32

1:33

It really feels weird to only run two miles.  It almost feels more like a short stroll through the neighborhood than an actual workout.   Mere child's play.  My half marathon training is tapering this week and the workouts are slightly less intense. 

I'm looking forward to the race this Saturday.  I'm looking to run it in something close to under 90 minutes.  My previous half time is 1:42:22, so a sub 1:30 should be a nice improvement for me.  I've been training pretty hard for it, but I honestly can't say I've trained as hard as I would like to have trained.

I am also hoping that the world does not end on Saturday as one Christian group has proclaimed will happen as reported on in this Runners World Face Book Update. 

I actually already new about this group and its bizarre prediction from the video below.  This guy actually made this same prediction back in the 1990's that of-course failed to come to fruition.  Needless to say I'm not too worried about it this time. 

I'm finished!  This was the last run of my half marathon training.  It was a Hal Higdon tempo run.  My peak speed which came at 20 minutes in was about a 6:30 pace.  I held that pace for about 3 minutes, and then dropped to about 6:50 for the remainder of the run.   

 I finished tonight feeling really refreshed and strong, which is exactly how I hoped to feel at this point.  I'm not sure if I have achieved sub 90 minute fitness, but I believe I am close.  The adrenaline on race day just might buy me that time, but we will see.  I'm going to enjoy a full nights sleep tonight, pending the little one does not wake us up, and relax tomorrow morning.  I'll go into the race on Saturday feeling strong and fresh.  I think I'll follow Catra Corbett's example and call my race this weekend my rapture run.  

Damn those hills!  Wicked, wicked hills.  I train on the hills weekly, but I did not train on the right hills.  This course had about 120 foot elevation change beginning at mile 6.  I am willing to admit that I also went out a little too fast for my level of training.  I had hoped to finished in under 90 minutes, so I ran my first 3 miles under a 6:50 pace.  I should have played it more conservative and gone out closer to 7:15's.  Had I done that, I probably could have finished in about 1:34:58 instead of 1:39:19.

My actual average pace ended up at 7:34, which is a little discouraging because I had a 13.1 training run 3 weeks ago that I finished at a 7:27 pace.  I should be able to run a race faster than a training run right?  So to recap my errors.  I went out too fast.  I did not account for the hills.  And I'm not sure, but I think I may not have hydrated properly in the morning before the race.  I was feeling pretty parched and was getting liquid at every opportunity.  At the turn around point a volunteer was actually handing out bottles of water.  Most people were not taking them, but I did.  I drank about a third of it and poured another third over my head to cool off.  I took two packs of gel during the race.  The first at about 32 minutes, and the second at 1 hour 5 minutes. 

Considering my aforementioned errors, I actually feel pretty good about this race for the following reasons.  I placed 6 of 24 in my age division.  Only two in my age division achieved my goal time of sub 90 minutes.  I placed 24 overall.  Focus on the positives right.  

Splits:

6:49

6:42

6:53

7:08

7:16

7:26

7:59

7:24

7:18

7:34

8:01

8:19

8:00