Every Race is an Adventure!

AM. I ran the Tri-City loop with Larry and Lyle. I averaged 9:03/mi overall, but at about the midpoint of the six mile run I threw in a 3/4 mile fartlek at 6:38/mi then ran back to rejoin the others.

I thought about throwing in another fartlek about 3/4 mile from the end, but then I remembered that last Monday as we rounded the corner about 1/4 mile from the finish Lyle unexpectedly said, "What ya got?" and took off sprinting to the end. I was surprised at his energy and quickness, my reaction time was slow, and my legs were tired, and he got off to such a big lead so quickly that I never recovered and never caught him. So this morning I decided against the fartlek and for the next 1/2 mile or so plotted my revenge.

Just as we started to approach the corner I said, "I've been waiting for this. What ya got?", and took off. I caught Larry off guard, but I think Lyle must have already been planning to do the same thing, because he was instantly right on my tail. Instinctively I shifted a gear or two in an attempt to break him...because I knew I couldn't hold that pace to the end. I felt him fall back and then I backed off the pace a little the rest of the way. The last time I tried an all out sprint at the end of a training run was a few years ago when I tried to out sprint a high schooler and pulled a muscle. Luckily that fate didn't befall me this morning despite my pride and stupidity. I resolve to not press my luck. The next time Lyle takes off he will beat me, but he'll know that I could beat him if I wanted to. ;)

PM. I ran the Lake View route with Bill (5.1 miles, avg 8:32/mi). He ran the Pike's Peak Ascent on Saturday and it was fun hearing about it. For those of you who know Bill, I'll share a little of what he told me, since he doesn't blog. He said the first 10 miles climbing 6000' to 12000' were hard but not too bad, even though it was raining and had been for days. But once they got above the tree line things got nasty. I think he said the last 3 miles took 1.5 hours as he climbed another 2000' to 14000' soaking wet in below freezing temperatures, 1-2" of snow, with freezing rain and high winds. Amazing! He said there was thunder some time after he passed the 3-miles-to-go checkpoint, and with no trees above 12000' lightning is really dangerous. They started turning back runners (not letting them climb the last 3 miles) and his wife had the unfortunate honor of being the first runner turned back. I believe every race is an adventure, but its obvious some adventures are a little bigger than others. (Bill finished in 3:53:09)

I ran the 2000 N hill route with Larry and Wayne. I considered not going out this morning because of some aches and pains and wanting to be 100% for the Hobble Creek half on Saturday, but I went out anyway and just took it easy. I feel pretty good.

I ran the water tank hills with Larry, Wayne, and Kevin this morning. Larry went to some "get a free meal" sales pitch on smoke alarms and was telling us what he had learned. I felt a little like I was getting the sales pitch without the free meal, but Larry wasn't trying to sell us anything, he was just passing on what he had learned.

Kevin pushed up the hills. We joked that it was to get away from the sales pitch. He said he wished one of us would have went with him, but Wayne has been ill this week, and I'm trying to back off and taper a little for the Hobble Creek half on Saturday.

On the way down we were talking about how running faster often means running more efficiently which makes it easier than slogging along at a slower pace. I decided to just "let go" on the last 1/2 mile down 1600 N (400 E to Main). I didn't push hard. I just let the hill take me while I ran relaxed. I wasn't looking at my watch and was hoping I was running a 6:15-6:20 pace, similar to the pace I'd like to run for the first 5 or 6 downhill miles this Saturday. About 2/3 of the way into the 1/2 mile, where the road begins to level out more, I glanced at my watch and was shocked to see that my pace was 5:50/mi. I averaged 5:52/mi for the 1/2 mile and never really felt like I exerted myself all that much. It was only a 1/2 mile of downhill, but it still boosted my confidence a little for the race Saturday.

On a side note, I finally finished the bathroom yesterday. They installed the counter top and sink in the morning. I took my three daughters to Home Depot (because Karen's out of town) and had them help me pick out a new faucet, which I installed without too much trouble (very unusual for me). I textured where I had patched the walls and touched up the paint, and installed the rods and mirror, and even some drawer liners. It's been a long project, with some setbacks and adversity along the way, but I must say I think it turned out pretty well. There's a marathon analogy in there somewhere.

I was up late last night working with India (and will be again tonight) so I didn't get up early to run. I was considering just resting today and tomorrow in preparation for the Hobble Creek half, but at 5:00pm I had some time so I decided to go for a short run.

I decided to warm up over to the start of the neighborhood 5K route at the park, run the 5K course at "cruising speed", and then cool down back home. By "cruising speed" I mean running efficiently with good form and foot turnover, but not pushing the pace into the discomfort zone.

The mile splits were 6:53 (down), 7:28 (flat), 7:37 (up). The overall average pace for the 4.1 miles, including warm up and cool down, was 7:42/mi. Afterward I did a little stretching and ran the cold water on my legs in the shower for a bit.

Last year and the year before I focused on trying to increase my cruising stride rate to around 180 steps/min. Out of curiosity I counted my stride rate during the downhill mile (6:53) and the uphill mile (7:37) and it was the same, around 192 steps/min. I like to lock into an effort and rhythm and keep moving steadily to the beat in my head. Today the beat was one of my old favorites - "One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Hey! I'm dancing!" (from Hello Dolly).

I feel pretty good about the run, especially since I had forgotten that 5:00pm was the hottest part of the day and it was 95 degrees. Despite the heat, I felt comfortable waltzing along and my legs actually felt better after the run than they did before.

I feel good about today.

I managed to stay with Tom and Nathan for the first half of the race as planned. Then as expected they both pulled away and it wasn't long before I could no longer see them ahead. I saw Rich Lamoreaux ahead of us for most of the first half of the race, but he pulled away with Nathan and Tom.

I did manage to hang on to Hal Amos who I saw in front of me for the rest of the race, but I couldn't close the gap. I had barely beaten him in the last few races we've run together and I think he was sick of it. I talked to him after the race and he was worried about me getting him.

I was worried about Josse getting me. She finished just behind me again, but said she was closing and would have had me in another mile. I don't doubt that. She said in the marathon she's going to get me. I don't doubt that either...but I do hope to make her earn it.

My plan was to run the start of the race this year about the same as last year but hopefully hang on better the second half. As it turns out, I did finish about a minute faster than last year, but I didn't run the second half faster. (It's hard to tell since the mile markers didn't match my Garmin very well.)

Here are the splits for this year and last year. I was using the Garmin miles until mile 7, when I switched to manually pressing the lap reset at the mile markers because they weren't matching the Garmin very well.

I think the best part of the day was seeing so many running friends and having all of them do well. The best part of running for me is the lifestyle and social interactions, and today was a great day.