Denouement

Warmed up 6k, then did 3 x 1600m, 3 min rest.  A cut back workout because of race on Sunday.  

goal pace was 10k pace, though I am sure my pace was closer to 5k pace :D

I was confused about my 200m splits on the first one, spent the first 800m trying to figure out if 41-42 is what I wanted to get 5:48 (I know, I am supposed to be an accountant, but running, esp fast running makes me slow).  When I went by the half at 2:47, I knew I had overshot my 5:48 pace (hmmm, lets do the math, already 13 secs below 6 min pace).  So my splits on the first mile were a tad crazy (82, 85, 87, 88) 5:43 total

So a fast first mile is bad because I like to negative split (obviously not always internally within the mile).  Kept much more even the second mile and got 5:42 (2:50 first half, 2:52 second). 

The third mile I went through the first half at 2:52, came through the 1000 at 3:35 (43) then did three 42's in the last 600m for a 5:40.

This workout reminded me of my dear college days.  Back when I tried out for BYU, the try out was 3 x 1600m repeats, 6:00 or faster (he eventually ratcheted it down).  I failed this try out twice, I only got on the team after three attempts, and even the third try out was unimpressive.  It is good to know that at 35 (ok I will be 35 at the end of the month) I can still make the team. 

core workout

omgoodness, decided to watch Vanilla Sky instead of run on the treadmill this evening :/

Ran long way to Kowloon Tsai park, then did 4 x 100m (17, 16, 16, 16) then ran home.

30 min very easy. Stretching.

5:30 race start means 4am wake up and a truncated warm up.  Got out the door by 4:25, and got to the race start at about 5am (infrequent MTR service).  Managed 2.6k warm up, some stretching.  Yiu Kit Cheng is at the start, as far as I know she is my competition, but you never know who will show up.  Weather was about 61F with 85% humidity, sprinkling at times.

Plan was to go out 4:00k pace til the turn around, pick it up a bit, then pick it up more in the second half of the race, let Yiu Kit lead and take the lead after the first half of the race.  Yiu started out fast, so she definitely started with the lead.  I started out a bit faster than I wanted, but wanted to keep contact, stayed behind a friend Peter for 3k, then passed him.  Lots of guys.  I would shield wind for a bit then pass.  Typical of HK, I felt like there was a head wind no matter which direction I was going.  First 5k was 19:33, or 3:55/k pace.  Kept going straight to a turn around at about 6.5k, after turn around there was some definite downhill.  Second 5k was 19:23.  Yiu Kit was not gaining on me.  I kept passing men, but so did she, because she was always several men ahead.  At 12.7 or so we go downhill into the tunnel, I lap at 13 to get splits, 11:14 for 3k, so that's 3:45/k pace, pretty fast, in keeping with downhill, but not gaining on Yiu Kit.  14k was 3:45, then 15-16 was 8:15, an uphill stretch out of the tunnel and onto an overpass.  She is 3.5 cones ahead of me, I made up some ground coming out. 17-18 were 7:52.  Somewhere in here I get to three cones behind her, but then I start to slip.  I think I was about 25 seconds behind by 18k. I measured 3.26 to finish: 12 minutes, 3:41 ave pace if 3.26, 3:52 ave pace if it was 3.1.  I don't remember and swerving along the course :D  These splits all add up to 1:22:02, so there were some odd half seconds in there.  Looking back at these splits.  I am pleased.  I wish in a way that I had gone out with Yiu Kit because racing her the whole way could have pushed me to a faster time.  However, my splits were incredibly consistent, when the elevation changes are taken into account, so for a 1:22:05, I couldn't have paced much better.  I always seem to leave a bit undone, though, and I can't wait to race Yiu Kit again and am grateful she is here to push me.  

This is my sixth Hong Kong race and my first time getting beat :D  It's a good thing in a way. 

80 minutes elliptical split in two sessions.  PT appt.  Legs just a little sore.

13.3k @ 4:41 ave pace.  Don't really feel the half marathon in me.

16.21k at 4:37 pace.

Run to Kowloon Tsai Park.  There was some track event there so I was grateful for the 500m rubber jogging trail around the track.  Did 6 x 100m sprints (17,17,17,16,16,16) with drills in between. 12 k plus strides. 

Core workout. 

Realized that I have two races next week, so would have no opportunity to do a 5k tune up race. My last track race was in 1998, in my BYU undergrad days.  Next week I am doing a 10K on tuesday night (25 times around the track--yikes!) and then a 5k Saturday afternoon.  Yiu Kit Cheng, who beat me on Sunday is signed up for both races, but is likely to just race the 5k.  So I have been focusing mentally on the 5k. Competition=better race.  If she doesn't show up to the 10K, a 38:00 should win it.  If she does, then the winning time might be sub 37.  Anyway.  Roberto wanted to do a speed workout, and doing it today meant I am free tomorrow for a long run so we met this morning.  

Plan was 5 x 1000m @ 5k goal pace (3:30), 2 min rest between.  No track was open that early, so we used the markers by the Fotan racetrack.  There are 100m rowing marks along the river.  Very accurate.  There was some wind.  Nothing terrible, but you can see how it affected my pace.  First one started too fast, with the wind, 3:23, back the other way, 3:30, then 3:25, then 3:29, then 3:21 (some crying and groaning to eek this one out, but Roberto was calling for me to sprint).  Roberto is a 3:38ish marathoner who has been injured, but has been cycling and then did a couple of weeks of jogging then WHAM jumps into my workout and can keep pace while harrassing me about going out too fast, or about how I should sprint at the end.  A couple of weeks ago it was Tom telling me to push the last 1k of a tempo.  I am so impressed by these men who can do my workouts at a conversational pace.  

Very nice workout, a confidence builder.  I am as ready as a 12 year track-race rust bucket can be :D 

Ran just over 30k, most of it with Curtis.  4:35 ave pace.  Felt a little tired from yesterday but ok overall. Definitely felt like a long run. 

Met Kevin from the blog, who lives in HK after the run.  Then long cold ride home.   

Ran 11.5 k easy. Went to a new PT today.  He focused on my lower back since that's been bugging me.  He didn't seem concerned about my tight hamstrings.  He did some things the other PT didn't do, but didn't do other things.  Can I find a one stop shop please!

AM: Ran 3 miles easy to loosen up, stretching.

short nap

PM: Got to the track over an hour early.  Good call.  Ran just over 5k warm up while watching the mens 5k, fun.  My Team Italia men did well.  Did some strides with a female teammate, then lined up.  This is my first track race in 14 years.  The start was funny because it was a waterfall start, being a 10,000m, but the ladies did not bunch up. I was the only one in lane one, my teammate, also American, in lane 2, then the asians bunched up in lanes 3 and outer.  Anyway.  I wanted 88-89 per lap and to break 37.  Thought I had an outside chance of breaking 36:38, my best 10k since college (unaided) but I had no competition in the race.  

First mile: 88, 87, 88, 88: 5:52

Second mile: 87, 88, 89, 89 5:53

Third mile: 90, 90, 90, 91 6:02 (trend not good)

Fourth mile: 91, 91, 92, 92: 6:06

Fifth mile: 92, 92, 92, 92: 6:10

Sixth mile: 92, 91, 91, 79: 5:53

I think I lap my first lady around lap 5 or 6, and lap the final lady (my friend and teammate) with five laps to go.  One of the hard things about this race is the need for mental toughness.  I have no men to race, I am just ticking the laps off.  After 7 laps I am already tired and see there are 18 to go.  It was hard, and I felt like quitting, but in the end persevered.  I thought I was going to be above 38, so was pleasantly surprised to be under.  You can tell from my last split I didn't give it all in the race, and wished I would have pushed harder, but I'm a bit rusty on track racing.  It was a good learning experience.  I am excited to have my rival Yiu Kit Cheng in my 5k on Saturday.  

Cooled down just 1200m.  They were turning off the lights on the track so that was my hint to pack up. 

Met a french lady that Roberto put me in contact with.  Ran midday from Shatin to the Science Park area.  12.32k, 4:4? ave pace.  Nice to get to know someone new.  I will be meeting with her again on Friday.

Had a ladies church meeting last night and had a fun time getting to know other ladies.

I am speaking on February 24th at the LDS Asia Women's Conference on "Spiritual Lessons the Marathon has Taught Me."  It has been very good for me, preparing for this the last two months.  I have been reflective and so appreciative of my running experiences over the last 23 years.  I still have to polish the 45 minute presentation though!  I will work hard on it today (when I say hard I mean at least an hour ;) ).

Ran by myself 20k.  Wanted a medium long run today since I will be racing Saturday so won't get a long run in then.  

13.07k in 4:5? pace with S. again.

5k on the track.  My rival Yiu Kit Ching was there, and she is fast at the fast stuff (has gone up from the 1500m, not a marathoner yet), so I knew I had my work cut out for me.  The plan was to stick right behind her and surge if I felt good in the second half.  So would love to win, time goal is to break 18 minutes.  

Warmed up 5k, then roll call was not where I expected it.  I am last to roll call, and they gave numbers according to roll call.  We walk to the starting line (200m mark) and then do some strides.  Then we line up.  On the 10,000m on Tuesday we could line up how we wanted so I went to lane 1, then they motioned to me I needed to go to the end.  They made us do the waterfall start according to our check in order, so I was out in lane 8.  I'm embarrassed and flabbergasted.  I don't know if this will affect the start or not.  Turns out it didn't.  Gun shot and I get in quickly, right behind Christy (YKC's english name).  First 200m 40 seconds.  I feel so fresh.  Need 86 to keep 18 pace.  

Lap 1 (after the 200m), 86, feeling very fresh

2 - 87 (what? I am not liking this), 1000m at 3:35, not fast enough in my mind

3 - 86, 

4 - 83, (surging lap for passing) after 3.5 laps I take the lead, I am concerned about keeping pace for breaking 18

5 - 86

6 - 86

7 - 86

8 - 

9 - 86

10 - 87 with three laps to go Christy passes me and gets a couple of seconds on me, as you can see by the split I don't respond, the pace is getting hard to sustain

11 - 86

12 -  78 (thinking, I want to break 17:50)

17:46 end time, Christy ended up 12 seconds ahead, so about 4 sec faster per lap in the last three laps.  

Perhaps I should have waited and not passed her?  But I ran a pretty even race and got a good time.  This is my best 5k since college.  College is a bit of an unfair comparison, too, since in college I was training for the 10k on the track, which is alot more transferable to a 5k than marathon training is.  Next have two 10ks on the road in March, then 25k in Italy in April.  That’s why I am not going to go to Boston.  I plan on doing Boston in 2013 :D  For real this time.

This week is the first real week I am coaching myself.  I guess I did last week too, but there's not a whole lot of choices to be made when you are running two track races in a week.  Today's run was really exciting. 12.93k easy at 4:47 pace.  PT appt later.  He's been working on my lower back but there is no massage in this PT's regamin so I am going to try another I think.  Then I met Kami Semick for the first time.  She is a big time, internationally reknown ultramarathoner (Davy Crockett knows who she is).  She also moved to HK last August.  We had lunch and got to know each other. 

In the evening I gave my 45 minute talk titled "Spiritual Lessons the Marathon has taught Me" to my family.  I gave each of them a note pad, and JJ was the timer (he gave me a five minute warning when I had five minutes left).  JJ started crying in the middle because we wouldn't let him make comments in the middle.  His comment was that I was using too many big words and he couldn't understand anything that I was saying.  That was nice.  Paul said it was the best talk he had ever heard, better than any general conference talk, etc.  Well that may be a bit over the top, but still made me feel good.  Here's the outline

And don't give me crap because I am not perfect about these principles from running, some of these things we are "blessed" to be able to learn over and over, right?

5 lessons from training:

1. Base work

2. Workouts-stresses that enable you to handle bigger stresses in the future

3 The Iterative nature of training cycles

4  Prioritizing our efforts

5 Assembling a support team (ya'll are in my support team)

4 lessons from racing:

1. Fuel along the way

2. I can't run faster than I have strength (I especially get to relearn this one over and over)

3 Don't trust appearances

4 Race the clock

6 priniciples in mental training

1.  Keep your goals in mind

2. Be a part of others' support team

3. You have to practice caring

4. Make peace with the process

5. Trust your coach

6. Celebrate your accomplishments.

Mind-blowing stuff, right?  

Met S. and we went out to Tai Wai.  Went out to the Ma On Shan past the drinking fountain to a couple of dead ends and back to Tai Wai.  S. got 21k.  This is my long run for the week so my plan was 30k, with the last 5k at 3:45-3:50.  

For the last several months I have had an irritating sleep issue of almost falling asleep within 10 minutes of hitting the pillow, then fulling waking up, then tossing for an hour before going to sleep.  Makes me tired the next day, draws me to the Coke zero or a nap, both of which makes going to sleep at night harder and continues an unhealthy cycle.  So that happened last night so I was tired today, throat is a bit throaty. We averaged 4:40 for the 21k, then on my own I kept between 4:40 and 4:45 until 25k, taking a gel at 23k. I did not want to do a fast finish.  I was tired and already sore.  But I started, about 500m out then 4.5k back to Tai Wai.  Was at 4:00/k at the turn around, down to 3:56 by 1k, dropped gradually to 3:50/k ave pace by 4k, went under the biking underpass, and as I came up, pushing the pace, my GI track said "STOP RIGHT NOW".  I knew that voice and obeyed.  I stopped at 4.22k with 3:49 ave pace.  I wanted to really kick in the last k, but I feel good what I was able to do.  Had to walk a bit then was able to jog it in. 30.02k total.  Will do a shake out run or elliptical this afternoon.

PM:  just over 30 min on TM, practicing my talk, 6k I feel like I might be coming down with something :(

4:54/k pace, half of a core workout

Warm up with S, then did 2 min on/1 min off x 12 fartlek S hasn't done much speed so she did 6.  Mine were an average of 3:35/k pace cool down

Ran an easy run on the tm.  Today I had my talk about spiritual lessons the marathon has taught me.  So I had the opportunity on the TM to review the talk 1.5 times and made some quick tweaks to it after the run then went in for the ladies conference.  My talk went fine, but I felt so trained physically and emotionally afterward.  It felt like I had over exposed myself, because of discussing some triumphs and disappointments that are so close to my heart.  Chilled with my husband that night, ate Moroccan food, yum.  

Warmed up 6.64k with Roberto, then did 2 x 5k.  It was supposed to be at HM pace but I overdid it a bit.  I am glad I could, it means I can do some of the harder workouts I have in mind for myself :D  First 5k was 18:58, or 3:48/k.  Then about 1.8k rest, bathroom and water break, then second 5k was 18:40., 3:44/k.  Wouldn't that be awesome for that to be hm pace?  Cooled down 3.18.  Not too warm but it was humid, so sweating a bit more.

Went to the women's conference after the workout.  Got there for the last general session then went out for lunch with some ladies at a divey Shanhainese restaurant.  Had my first hot and sour soup in HK.  It was great and just like the better H&S soups in the US (you never know if something is "authentic"). They had pork dumplings just like the Costco potstickers, which Ben LOVES so I am excited to finally find a source for those.  Did an afternoon hike around Victoria Peak.  Got home at 5pm.  Made a cake,, some chocolate frosting dinner for Saturday and a meatloaf for tomorrow. Busy because I am hosting a b-day potluck tomorrow.

Cooking, then dishes, then cooking then dishes, then a fabulous potluck.  The cake was in memory of Marion and perfect way to pack in 20 points in one slice.  If you want to see the cake I made see my facebook.  I am so grateful for the friends I have made here and for their support.  I miss my US friends dearly and am excited for some serious catch up over the summer.

Met S. and did 13.04k, 4:54 ave pace, 25 min elliptical and core workout

30 min warm up, then 15 x 1 min on/off.  Didn't pay that much attention to time, just wanted about 10k pace.  It was cold and rainy, perfect for my bday.  Fast bits were 3:27 ave pace, average footstrike of 95.5, off bits were more like 5:30ish pace and ave footstrike of about 87.  Overall ave foot strike including warm up and cool down was 90.  See a trend?

30 min elliptical. 

Met Roberto for a 4 x 3000m tempo interval workout, 3:50 goal pace. 

We did a nice long warm up 7.91k, then started

 1 - 11:30, exactly 3:50 pace, Roberto says like a Swiss watch, 2:00 rest

2 -  11:28, tucking behind Roberto in the headwind, 2:55 rest (potty break)

3 - 11:24, 2:01 rest,

4 - 11:47 for 3.12K, we missed the mark on the road and went long, but were 3:47 pace despite looking around for it and construction interference, so equivalent to 11:21

#3 and #4 were harder, this is very much a workout that catches up to you over time.  I want to increase the length of workouts as I prepare for my 26k race in April.

23.84k overall, core workout in the PM

Poor Mickie got a black eye when we were playing soccer and JJ accidentally kicked him in the eye.  Boys!