Rhett

Weekly Review 

The plan for the week was to keep everything about the same but decrease running miles while increasing speed. I feel like I accomplished this and in the process I feel like I am 100% healthy going into my race week. 
 

I totaled 26 miles running and really felt strong cardiovascularly on my fast 10 miler Thursday. I cycled twice, once with the group and once on my bike trainer. My cycling muscles are getting stronger. I really felt good on the climbs Saturday. I swam twice. I swam twice and was significantly faster per 100m Friday than I have been. I also got in two core workouts and 2 lower body workouts this week. I guess 2 is the magic number on everything but running. 
 

I'll be cutting back more at the beginning of this next week since race day is Thursday. I'll do a short run with some speed work tomorrow and possibly Tuesday before we head out.  Wednesday will probably a short shake out ru with a few strides.  Then 13.1 on Turkey Day before eating too much. Hopefully I'll feel good enough to get out on the trails up in the mountains Friday and Saturday. I won't be doing any cross training this week. 
 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

One more adjustment to the shoe laces of my Adios Pros. Now they don't slip on my heal and feel as good as they will get. For my foot I still think the toe box is a bit small but I feel fast when I wear them. 
 

1 mile warm up. 4 x 400m in 1:25 with 400m Walk recovery. 1 mile cool down. 

I decided not to get up early and run before we took off so today was a rest day. 

3 easy miles with 4 x 1 minute fast mixed in. 

It was a cold morning for a race, especially for this Arizona guy. John and I arrived a few minutes before the start. It was 32 degrees and windy.  We walked over to the start area where I found Dan and the race mercifully started before I began to shiver too much. 
 

I didn't really have a pace plan but to run what felt comfortable and Dan said he was going to start off with me so we took off together at a comfortable pace. For the first couple miles we got snow flurries but nothing stuck.  We ran and talked for about 8.5 miles before we both had to start focusing on running.  He pulled a little ahead of me for about half a mile then he stopped at an aid station that I just grabbed a cup and kept going. It took him a mile or more to catch back up to me. We then ran together until about mile 12 when he took off on an uphill and I had to let him go if I wanted to finish. Over the last quarter mile or so I closed the gap with a last final push but he had gapped me too much to catch him and he beat me comfortably by 15 seconds. He finished 44 and I finished 45. He also took 2nd in our age group so I got 3rd.  I am 49 he is 45 so I think I should get a 20 second handicap 🤔. Sounds fair right? 5 seconds per year.  My finishing time was 1:33:23 which is faster than I thought I would be considering it was a last minute race without any half marathon specific training. 

John was running his first race ever and did great finishing in 2:10. He had a good experience and is ready to do some more. 
 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
 

3 mile walk with my wife.  I am trying to be good and take a few days recovery since I was wasn't fully training to run that far that fast. Hopefully I'll be back running next week but maybe I'll just do a week of cross training.