Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

I took Sunday off instead of the usual Monday so I could go fishing with my father-in-law.  This morning I did 5 more on the running trail @ 8:20 pace before we drove home.  My left knee stung a bit through the whole run this time; they usually calm down after a couple miles (and it's usually my right knee).  I think it's the steeper hills on that trail, coupled with the fact that I'd never done 13 miles before.  So I'm really thinking the knees just need a week of complete rest to heal, and they will get it - in May when I'm done racing for awhile.  For now, I'll scale it back to 30 or so miles this week and keep the pace slower until the 5k.

I love running in the afternoon - first, I get to spend the day dreaming up a workout but mostly I'm just plain faster later in the day.  My knees were feeling great - not saying I could go do wall sits but I knew my easy-run-plan for this week was out the window.  I have no self-control.  The workout I decided on was a pyramid - 1 mile each @ HMGP, 10KGP, 5KGP, 10KGP and HMGP.  So after a 1-mile warmup it should look something like 8, 7:30, 7, 7:30, 8 for the pace.

Splits: 8:14 warmup, then 7:54, 7:29, 6:44, 7:09, 7:43.  Average was 7:33 for the entire 6.

I was nervous about even being able to hit the planned splits so it was a nice surprise.  The final 10k mile was a bit of a breakthrough because I should have been wiped out after the sub-7 mile and the last 10k mile was uphill but my breathing was actually recovering.  The last mile felt easy.  I should do more of these target-pace runs because they really keep me interested and engaged - and I go faster.  But only in the afternoon!

Recovery @ 8:32 pace.  I guess there will be no sunshine on my morning runs for awhile - stupid daylight savings...

On the bright side, no soreness from yesterday, knees doing so-so.

Goal-pace run (HM) this morning @ 7:51 pace. I kept all the splits between 7:45 and 7:55. Once I got settled in after a couple miles it started to feel almost comfortable...almost.  So on race day, I may be able to pull it off, we'll see.

Also, I checked the weather forecast at racetime for my 5K on Saturday - looks like 22mph steady winds, 28 degree wind chill and 40% chance of showers.  Great.  The half is still my focus though, so no big deal; it just would've been nice to have more comfortable conditions.

EZ 4 @ 8:38 pace.

They took away most of the rain chance for Saturday morning, which is great news.  Winds will still be 22 mph steady (plus gusts) and cold at racetime.  Maybe I can find someone to draft behind, does that actually work?

The weather ended up being 31 degrees, winds 22 gusting to 35 from the north, ~18 degree wind chill.  But I already paid, and I've never run an actual 5K so I never thought about skipping it.

The race started out going north so the first mile was almost all direct headwind, the second mile was about neutral overall and the last was a tailwind.  I was happy at first that we would get the brutal headwind mile out of the way first but it ended up being my undoing.  Splits were 7:09, 7:24, 7:20, then I never stopped the watch.

The race was small (guessing 50 people or so).  After a minute or so, I was in 4th place, where I would stay the entire time (like I said, small race).  I knew I needed 7:05s to break 22 but I shouldn't have tried to get it on that first mile into gale-force winds!  Anyway I was jelly after that.  The last two-thirds were total misery but I still gave it everything.  I remember taking my gloves off and holding them in the last mile and it felt like my hands barely had the strength to grasp them!  I'm not sure what kind of effort that 7:09 was worth into that wind but it was obviously more than my fitness allowed - I guess it was like sprinting a mile and then expecting to race 2 more right afterward.  I've run 3-mile tempos at a faster overall pace than my race today - oh well, lesson learned!

I don't even know if they're even going to have official results online but if they do I'll update; I think I got 1st or 2nd in my age group but I didn't hang around; it was a bit cold anyway.

**Right after lunch (ouch) I did 2 lazy TM miles to get to 30 for the week.  Still kind of disappointed about that time but now that I've thought about it maybe it was just dumb racing instead of bad fitness.  I shouldn't have tried to stay on goal pace running into a brick wall of wind and expect to recover.  Ah well...  I'll be smarter for the 10K next month.

***Last update - they posted results and the 22:32 was correct.  I was #1 in my AG...out of 2 total!  #4 of 44 racing that day.  There were 21 no-shows, maybe the horizontal sleet scared people away.