Doing What I Can

was gonna do a time trial 5k today, but i randomly stopped a little after the 2 mile marker. this was a solo effot, and i was completely frozen, it was 30 degrees with wc in the low to mid 20s, i wore just race shorts a race top and arm warmers with glove and hat, definitely underdressed as my lungs were on fire, im not used to the cold yet. kind of bummed i didnt see this through to the 5k mark as i would have challenged sub 17, but the cold was killing my lungs. Other than that, i felt i had a really good pace through 2 miles, hit 5:24, and 5:36 respectively to make the even 11 minutes at the 2 mile, not bad for non-racing conditions and given the cold temps. 

7 easy today, felt pretty average. 43 degrees, hardly any wind, just kind of a there run i guess. splits:

1- 6:52.9

2- 6:48.1

3- 6:45.5

4- 6:51.2

5- 6:59.6

6- 6:59.2

7- 7:18.8 uphill

total-- 48:35, 6:56.5 avg pace,  overall pretty even splits

4 miles in the dark, didnt really push hard. 28:44, 7:11 pace, my first and last miles were both 7:05.2 ...kind a weird nuance of my run tonight.

3 easy, pretty nice morning for late november. 7:27, 7:22, 6:56, 21:47 total, 7:16 avg pace. did strides after 6x50 as per usual

First off, i wanna start off by saying i measured this course online and it appears to be a touch short, maybe closer to 3 miles...regardless, i just show up and run races so if it is billed as a 5k, who am i to question that? that being said, i felt like the pace i ran was accurate to a 5k. got up early and drove to webster city, always try to do this race, they changed up the course a lot this last year, and its definitely for the better, a lot faster. very good weather for thanksgiving in iowa, 40 degrees at racetime with south winds, got up to mid-60s (record highs!) by afternoon. 

gun went off, and within the first 800 meters it was a 3 man race, this other guy and i decided to run down the leader together and we battled, we caught the leader about 2 miles in and all ran together til about 800 to go when the pack blew apart, the leader dropped off and the other guy i was with took off, i had battled and answered several surges all race long, it was a very strategic battle, but i couldnt cover his last move and he put 15 seconds on me to win, i came in second with my 2nd fastest clocking ever--16:43, i was 5 seconds from a PR. no splits on the course so i just have the overall time, but i am obviously very happy with that. felt wonderful running, had a lot of range as far as being able to surge and pace. only downside is the course was maybe a bit short, and i was also so close to PR-ing that it would have been nice to knock off 6 more seconds and set a new personal best, my 5k best has stood for 3 years now..its time for it to fall.

In other news, my 11 year-old brother ran as well and in this his first 5k ever ran 23:40, a very impressive and surprising time given he just woke up and ran. i was very proud of him, he maybe has a future in this sport! 

8 easy ones after work tonight, had to go into work at 6 am to open the store and worked an 11 and a half hour shift, pretty nice night for a run though, 55 degrees. splits were pretty even:

1-  7:15.2

2- 7:12.3

3- 7:12.4

4- 7:02.9

5- 7:03.6

6- 6:59.4

7- 7:09.2

8- 7:07.7

TOTAL-- 57:02, 7:08 avg pace

strides then ice bath