Denouement

A local 10k in Shatin.  Knew there would likely be little competition, but thought it'd be a good workout.  Turned out to be 99% humidity and 17 or 18C, so not really raining but misting, with the bike trail wet.  I wanted to go out at 3:45/k pace and drop in the second half.. 

4k warm up, including good stretching and strides.  Then we were off.  I took the female lead after 200m, but there were probably 20 guys ahead.  Watch showed 3:59 for the first k, not good, because effort felt right.  I had bad sleep for two nights in a row--running out of Ambien kind of forces a detox if you know what I mean. But the bottle did last for 5.5 months here in HK, so not too bad.  I won't try to get more, though, just better to fall asleep the old fashioned way.  Not sure if it was the sleep or just generally not feeling the eye of the tiger, but the pace was off today.  Averaged 3:54 for the next 4k, passed many and was in eighth overall, so 19:36 for the first 5k.  In the 6th k I closed in on #7 and in the 7th k I passed to get into 7th place.  I couldn't quite close in on black shirt ahead of me. 3:53 ave for 6-8k.  I wanted to get down to 3:45 pace for the last 2k and basically did, with a 7:31 last 2k split. I measured 10.1k, so the course might have been slightly long.  From 4-6k we were on a promenade with slick sidewalks (Ma On Shan), and the 180 and the turns were definitely slower than ideal, but that doesn't explain the 38:47.  

6k cool down.  The event was very local, meaning no english instructions or announcements.  Also only earned $100hkd so its the first HK race where I lost money (entry fee less than winnings).  Oh well, the bananas, free water, entertainment and the workout was worth it. 

6.15k in 4:52/k pace.  Feeling like a cold is coming on.  Will nap and ellip later.

Update: did come down with some type of sickness, so I did nap but I did not elliptical :(  Just a sore throat with phlegm and a general feeling of malaise. Still with me as of Thursday.

4:49/k ave.  Still just sick enough to not feel well.  Not sick enough to stay in bed all day.

Had the misfortune of waking up at 4am and not being able to fall back asleep.  So caught the first MTR to Tai Wai and ran for an hour, then crawled into bed once the kids got off to school.  Napped for an hour before PT exercises. My back has been sore, and my right knee sore after the race, so she focused on that.  Some adjustment, elec stim, accupuncture, and assisted stretches. Her stretching concerns me a bit, I get a bit concerned she is going a couple of degrees too far, but whenever I get close to calling uncle she lets up.  The pt appts are free, and they are helpful, so they are worth it.  She has me doing the sitting with the back against the wall exercises daily to try to strengthen my inner quad muscle. So did those and my ten core exercises and leg lift exercise and leg lift weights (and 5 min ellip just to warm up).

Reading a great book for a reading group called Wild Swans, about three generations of women in China.  So fascinating, it is just whetting my appetite to read more about living in Mainland.  I have read a couple of Chinese history books, but biographical nonfiction is so much more interesting and touching. 

Ben had a track meet in West Island, so I went to that this morning and didn't have time for my workout.  So I went out for my workout today at around 2:30pm, and it was hot! about 22-23C (71-73F).  I warmed up 6k, then 3 x 2k at HM pace, 3 min rest between.  I wanted 3:50 pace. Did them on the bike path instead of the track, to help prep emotionally for my tempo run next week.  3:49 pace for first 2k, 3:48 for the second, and 3:48 for the third.  Started to panic in the third because it felt harder than HM pace (but I was at 3:47 pace at that point, but I told myself to run smoothly and calmed myself down well.  Throat acted up with the harder breathing, coughed a couple of times, and still don't feel great but this has never broken into a full fledged sickness. over 6k cool down.  

easy 60 min.

Met with Curtis, Christian and Colin in Tung Chung.  They could have warned me they were going to go at a clip, but I guess I should expect no less when running with fast guys.  I was supposed to do 23-26k with last 3k at HM pace.  After a couple of k slow (5:13/k), then 10 more k moderate (4:37k), I was left in the dust as we circled the airport.  I didn't want to get too far left behind, and could mostly see them ahead, and did 5k in 4:23 pace (7:03/mi pace), which was really me going 4:16 for 4k then slowing down, then did another 5k in 4:40 pace, and had to go to the bathroom so bad I felt sick and couldn't even think in that 5k.  Hadn't had any fuel to this point.  Enjoyed a toilet break and ate a third of a power bar, then went on.  Went 4:40 for another 2.5k, then needed to do my final HM push.  Felt like I had already spent what I had in the fast 5k, many k's ago.  I have also been a bit sick and got horrible sleep last night so was feeling like if I skipped this HM bit I was covered in the excuse arena :D

I decided to attempt it, and goal was 3:50 pace.  We had 1.5 k on a nice trail, and was 3:47 pace for that it, but then we were in the city, and had to cross many roads, decide where to turn, did a u turn, so the overall pace of the 3k slowed to 4:00/k.  I'll need to plan this out a bit better next time.  Overall a solid run. 4:38 ave pace overall.  

Left leg was sore in the afternoon/evening.  Felt like a deep ache in my calf, was actually limpy :(