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Ran a 10k - Official Thread (13 Viewers)
- Thread starter Ned
- Start date
JShare87
Footballguy
I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I’ve only really put in the work during my first and second marathons. When I say putting in the work, I haven’t really gone above and beyond. For instance, diet, strength training, recovery, etc.. I go through phases where it all comes together. Have I put it all together for 12-18 weeks straight? No. Seeing @Juxtatarot add strength training to his daily work and the results he’s seen makes me wonder what a bunch of us are truly capable of. Hopefully I can put it all together and keep it together for an entire training block. If I do that, I believe I could come close to 2:59:59.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
It can be a bit of a trap though. There will always be things we can be doing better. When is the time to say, “OK, that’s enough!”?
MAC_32
Footballguy
No matter how well it's articulated it's impossible to describe to someone that hasn't experienced it, but you know when you're there.
JShare87
Footballguy
I get that and maybe that’s why it’s been on my mind recently. Everything I do in life, I try and do the right way. I don’t like cutting corners. I try to be extremely efficient in everything I do. So, I beat myself up because I think I’m half-assing training because I know I could do so much more. But at what point is it too much? The struggles runners face!
ChiefD
Footballguy
I think it depends on the runner.
For me, I don't love it. I never have and never will. But I tolerate it because I love the end result. I also love this thread and the camaraderie and friendships that have developed here.
So it's easy for me to say "it's time to back off." I'd argue that is my biggest weakness with running - I back off too easily. I need to find the balance somehow.
But one thing I did learn from my last marathon is that if I give it my all (and I did that cycle), I WILL achieve what I want. I just need to somehow apply that to the in-between-cycles- training.
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tri-man 47
Footballguy
A perpetual challenge, too, is that life gets in the way. I see @Juxtatarot doing sub-6:00/mi runs in the morning darkness; I see @Zasada this week starting a 13 miler at 3:45 a.m.! I see a number of you guys - as I did in earlier years - juggling running and family and work schedules. Even if we know the ideal training cycle, life doesn't necessarily cooperate.
MAC_32
Footballguy
Timely post - I decided to pass on a fall marathon today. I've got a snip early June, vacation late June, another one early August, and talks of a long weekend in between. Looking like I need to find a race memorial day weekend then pick something shorter to target mid-late fall cause there isn't gonna be any training in June and July.
tri-man 47
Footballguy
Get the jock strap from @xulf after he stitches his initials in it? Pass that thing through the ranks as kind of our BMF trophy.
xulf
Footballguy
xulf
Footballguy
ChiefD
Footballguy
Don't use mine.May want to see about using another doctor
Unless you want a daughter 10 months later.
El Floppo
Footballguy
Ok friends, some taper workout advizes please.
Race is a week from Sat, on the 24th. I was going to a last workout tomorrow, speed day.
Instead of intervals, was thinking 2m tempo....thoughts?
Sat I'll do a 10m+/- run at easy pace followed by 7m Pickle on Sunday at conversational pace. Thoughts?
Tues and Thursday will do 3-4m easy running with a couple very short pickups.
Following Sat...crush souls.
Race is a week from Sat, on the 24th. I was going to a last workout tomorrow, speed day.
Instead of intervals, was thinking 2m tempo....thoughts?
Sat I'll do a 10m+/- run at easy pace followed by 7m Pickle on Sunday at conversational pace. Thoughts?
Tues and Thursday will do 3-4m easy running with a couple very short pickups.
Following Sat...crush souls.
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Juxtatarot
Footballguy
A two mile tempo seems really short, particularly for a last workout 9 days before the race.
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
It’s a half, right?
Personally, I’d do intervals because for me, speed is my weakness with 13.1 (as opposed to endurance).
if you do a 2 mile tempo, I don’t think it will do much. If you want a tempo workout, I’d do something much more substantial, something like 6-8 miles of tempo but at 10-15 seconds faster than goal pace. I’d want to get my body used to that faster pace so when race day comes, the goal pace with raceday boost will seem easy (at least the first half).
Admittedly, I train mostly for marathons so my logic may be a bit off.
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Juxtatarot
Footballguy
Maybe 6 would be OK but 8 at under half marathon pace seems like too hard an effort. (IMO)
MAC_32
Footballguy
@El Floppo, this is one place where a HR monitor would help - objectively knowing when you probably should pull the plug.
El Floppo
Footballguy
8 would kick my ### for a week.
Is 4 not enough? I can shoot for 5 or 6 I suppose... we're supposed to get a nor-easter tomorrow, so my pace may be a little wonky.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
The race is 10 days away. So crush this run and then let your body heal. It’s all easy from here on in.
gruecd
Footballguy
El Floppo
Footballguy
Only did the 4.
Succumbed to the mind game of "my breathing doesn't feel right a few days after my covid shot- I shouldn't be feeling light-headed....my back is tightening up too much...my hamstring is feeling pushed...etc, etc" inner-dialogue telling me to stop. All of that is true, but I'll never know if I could have pushed another two...two that likely would help on race day. Oh well.
I looked at the two weeks training leading up to the thread Thanksgiving chiefd hm, and I pushed less on this day- 7x .25m intervals.
So even though I'm disappointed in myself for losing the mental fight this am, i still feel good about the 4 I did do (at <7- 5k pr) and the training I've done up to now. I think I'm in good shape for the hm- hoping there are enough runners there to have people pace/push me past comfort zones.
Thanks for the advice everyone!
Eta...the weather was ideal too- low 50s, low wind, cloudy. the rain is now coming later
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El Floppo
Footballguy
Yes.
It wasn't supposed to rain at all Saturday, so i got caught completely off guard. and it flat out poured for 5-10mins before cooling into nip guillotine conditions.
the moops
Footballguy
OK - so haven't posted here since my initial foray into this thread. But wanted to respond to this and the previous post about being careful running everyday for I would get hurt.
I eased off the every day thing, but only by about once a week. Missed a few days after my second vaccine shot, but otherwise am still getting the one mile a day in 6/7 days on average. I haven't gotten hurt yet - and I do think the occasional day off really helps.
Unfortunately, the niece didn't want to race me. She was all like "I'm not running a mile just for the hell of it - I only do that when I have to at track practice or a meet". I could tell she was secretly terrified of being embarrassed though
You were right about the heat and humidity, except for the 2nd day I was down there. Ran the mile the first day and it was like 6:30 which has turned out to be the high end of my typical run and I remember thinking @gianmarcocan go suck it. It is crazy how different I feel on days and sometimes I feel like I am cruising, and I run a 7:20 and other days I feel sluggish and I run a 6:30. Anyway - my 2nd day down there followed a night of me and my brother drinking approximately 30 IPA's and staying up until 1AM watching videos of old Grateful Dead shows we went to back in the day. I hadn't seen him in over 1.5 years, so we were slugging back many beers. Well, woke up late, drank some coffee - and went out and ran a 5:55 mile
Haven't followed that up with anything close, and the rest of my time down in FL I was really slow.
And now, just yesterday, I decided to run 2 miles instead. Uh-oh. Is this how it all starts? Will I be running a 5K next month? 10K in 6 months? And I managed to run 15:30 for the 2 miles, which was better than I hoped for.
I am secretly hoping I feel good enough to sign up for some 5K trail running series this summer. They are probably my wife's favorite thing to do, so I am sort of planning to sign up for a couple with her, which is something I never thought I would do.
And @gruecdnice job on the marathon dude!
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
Good job! You are ready for this half and I'm excited to see what you can do with it.
Only did the 4.
Succumbed to the mind game of "my breathing doesn't feel right a few days after my covid shot- I shouldn't be feeling light-headed....my back is tightening up too much...my hamstring is feeling pushed...etc, etc" inner-dialogue telling me to stop. All of that is true, but I'll never know if I could have pushed another two...two that likely would help on race day. Oh well.
I looked at the two weeks training leading up to the thread Thanksgiving chiefd hm, and I pushed less on this day- 7x .25m intervals.
So even though I'm disappointed in myself for losing the mental fight this am, i still feel good about the 4 I did do (at <7- 5k pr) and the training I've done up to now. I think I'm in good shape for the hm- hoping there are enough runners there to have people pace/push me past comfort zones.
Thanks for the advice everyone!
Eta...the weather was ideal too- low 50s, low wind, cloudy. the rain is now coming later
Let's gooooooooo!
ChiefD
Footballguy
I want to kick you in the balls.followed a night of me and my brother drinking approximately 30 IPA's and staying up until 1AM watching videos of old Grateful Dead shows we went to back in the day. I hadn't seen him in over 1.5 years, so we were slugging back many beers. Well, woke up late, drank some coffee - and went out and ran a 5:55 mile
ChiefD
Footballguy
la di da I'll just go out and get hammered and watch some videos with my long lost brother and be in florida where it's all hot and bothered and wake up late so its even hotter and flat out fly by running a 5:55 mile which most guys in here can't do and I'll just roll out of bed and do it.......
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tri-man 47
Footballguy
Around here, we typically don't need challenging weather conditions messing with our workout to share this sentiment.
tri-man 47
Footballguy
4's better than none. As to the inner-dialogue, I was fighting some of that yesterday. I was doing a rather hilly 12 miles with the worst, long hill near the end ..and a plan to loop back to repeat the hill (and add the final couple miles). First time up, the inner-dialogue started, but I was able to shut down with a simple thought of "Yup!" ...Yup, I committed to this, so I'm doing it! Yup, this is the challenge I wanted! Oddly effective as a quick shutdown of the negative dialogue. Kind of the old "embrace the suck."
Zasada
Footballguy
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
Approved! Welcome to the club! I don't see you have any runs. Did you just join Strava?
PM are the initials for those who want to follow him.
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the moops
Footballguy
Was using google fit for running and ride with gps for cycling. Did just join strava today and just posted my first run
El Floppo
Footballguy
MAC_32
Footballguy
You could ask 10 different experienced runners and get 10 different reasonable answers. Generally speaking, there is probably not anything you can do to benefit your fitness starting about now. You can only hurt it. The objective is to stay fresh (less volume relative to training) and your runs crisp (no Gian'ing).
Do that then hone in on your diet, rest, the last 36 hours before the race, and especially race morning.
Do that then hone in on your diet, rest, the last 36 hours before the race, and especially race morning.
gianmarco
Footballguy
And hydrate well. Work on it for the few days heading into the race.
Should we also talk about beet juice?
bushdocda
Footballguy
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
MAC_32
Footballguy
bushdocda
Footballguy
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
Personally, I’d go closer to 7-8 easy miles. I wouldn’t jazz it up. If anything, I’d do a few strides 3 days before the race to wake the legs up.
But all of this is personal preference.
gruecd
Footballguy
I promised you guys a race report, so here goes.
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the pre-story, but suffice it to say that I wasn’t feeling super confident coming into this race. With a newborn at home, my training had been inconsistent at best—I had a couple bigger weeks, and I did manage to do one 20-miler and a couple 18s, but I didn’t really do much quality, and my overall mileage wasn’t anywhere near where I’d normally like it to be. On top of that, I was probably 10 pounds over my ideal racing weight, and at 1-2 seconds/mile/pound, you're talking 4-8 extra minutes. Bottom line, my expectations weren’t super high. Absolute best-case scenario, I’d run 3:10 pace (7:15/mile) through the first 20 and then hopefully drop the hammer and finish somewhere in the 3:06-3:07 range.
I got into St. Louis on Saturday morning, where my gracious host @gianmarcopicked me up at the airport. The flight was pretty turbulent, so I wasn’t feeling the best. We headed straight downtown to grab my race packet (navigating the various street closures for the Saturday races) and then to his place for a quick 3-mile shakeout run before going back downtown to catch the Brewers/Cardinals game (9-5 win for the good guys). I distinctly remember just feeling “off.” My stomach never really settled down from the flight, and I was nervous about the race—I was unprepared, and I was afraid that I’d be running 26.2 miles all by myself due to the wave start. On top of that, this was my first time away from home since having the baby. After the game, we went to dinner, and I could only eat half my food…and then I went to the bathroom and threw it all up. Thankfully I’d done a good job of topping off the fuel stores on Friday. When we got back to the house I sampled a couple of Mrs. Gian’s delicious desserts, got my stuff organized for the morning, and headed to bed.
Race morning was thankfully uneventful. Up at 5:00, got dressed, put Vaseline on my toes, took care of my bathroom business, and ate a blueberry bagel with some cream cheese. We were out the door by 6am, and I was at the start line by 6:30. We started at the Chain of Rocks bridge roughly 15 miles north of downtown, and they had it set up like a school drop-off where you pulled in, dropped off your runner(s), and pulled out. Every 10 minutes they released a new wave in staggered groups of 10-15 runners. I used the porta-potty and watched as the 6:30, 6:40, and 6:50 groups went off. I turned on my music and did a couple of easy strides, and I actually started to feel a little better. Temperature was OK in the upper 40s, but there was nasty west wind gusting well over 20mph. I got into the chute with the 3rd or 4th group of runners in the 7:00 wave, and soon we were off over the bridge into Illinois.
Miles 1-3
This course was kinda unique, starting with an 11(ish)-mile out-and-back section to the northeast and then point-to-point south to downtown St. Louis. We immediately went up and over one bridge and crossed another shortly thereafter. Garmin says the race had 409 feet of elevation gain, and these two bridges (which we’d ultimately cross twice) made up a lot of it. That said, it was early, and I had the substantial wind at my back, so I clipped off these first 3 miles at 7:04/7:03/7:02. There were probably 250 runners who’d started ahead of me, and I was picking people off left and right. I was feeling pretty good.
Miles 4-8
At this point, we navigated a couple of hairpin turns and then headed northeast for a little 5-mile out-and-back section on a crushed limestone trail along the Mississippi River levee. This part sucked. The trail was wet and mushy, and I was wearing shoes (Saucony Endorphin Pro) that really weren’t suited for the terrain. On top of that, it was wide open, so there was nothing to block the wind, and at times it took a conscious effort to keep it from pushing you sideways. I held pace reasonably well (7:08/7:15/7:08/7:12/7:16) on this section, and I collected dozens of “kills,” but it required more effort than I would’ve liked this early. Gian was posted up at the beginning/end of this section, and as I turned right to head back west over the bridges towards the start, I remember saying to him, “Shoot me after this part.”
Miles 9-11
Same two bridges, and straight into the wind. The first bridge wasn’t too bad, as the incline actually helped block the wind a bit, and for some reason it wasn’t too bad on the stretch between the bridges either. Miles 9-10 were 7:12/7:04. But the second (last) bridge sucked. I remember looking at my watch at one point and having to really compel myself to pick up the pace. I managed to finish the mile in 7:23, and shortly thereafter we came off the bridge and turned south onto the paved St. Louis Riverfront Trail. We’d run on this for roughly the next 14 miles.
Miles 12-15
Almost immediately, the trail crossed the road and went up and back down a fairly significant hill before crossing back over to the original side of the road less than a mile later. If the RD had cared at all about making it a fast(er) course, they could’ve just had us run on the shoulder of the road for that little bit. The hill itself wasn’t that bad—it was just annoying. The Gians were there cheering at both ends of the hill. It was really nice being able to look forward to seeing them throughout the race. This stretch was heading southwest, so it was still a bit of a headwind, and I felt it. That said, while one guy did pass me during this section (the first of only two times I was passed all day), I was still picking off runners left and right. This is actually the stretch where Gian posted the video of me passing the guy. Nothing else too memorable from this part. Splits 7:15/7:08/7:17/7:15.
Mile 16-24
The course took a hard turn towards the southeast at this point, and you could really notice the difference with the wind now being much less of an issue and even providing a bit of tailwind at times. As we got further south, there was even a concrete barrier adjacent to the trail that made the wind even less of a factor. Unfortunately, my left hamstring was starting to tighten up a bit, and at one point I asked Gian if he could get me some BioFreeze spray. I was a little worried that it might totally seize up on me, but thankfully it never did. Overall, I was feeling OK, and HR was holding pretty steady in the 160s (comfortably uncomfortable), but I gave up on my original plan of trying to negative split and instead just focused on holding pace through the end. Somewhere around mile 20ish I got passed for the second and final time. The course at this point was super flat with only a couple of minor inclines. Somewhere around Mile 22 we came off the trail and onto city streets. We did a completely arbitrary and unnecessary right turn up a hill, then turned left, then turned left again back down the hill before turning right and continuing on our original course. I can only assume this is because they needed to add mileage, and if that’s the case, there are certainly easier/better ways for them to have done it. We continued down along the riverfront for about a mile past the Arch and then did a 180-degree turn and came back past it again. I know there’s one last hill heading back up from the riverfront, and I’m not looking forward to it. Splits 7:05/7:06/7:06/7:03/7:10/7:15/7:20/7:17/7:18/7:20
Mile 25-Finish
I’d been dreading this hill all weekend, and it didn’t disappoint. About a quarter-mile long and a pretty decent pitch. I made it about a block and a half before my watch chimed to show 7:37 for Mile 25. Ugh, I'm fading. I was running so slowly at one point (or at least it felt like I was running so slowly) that I actually stopped and walked for a few seconds. When I got to the top, my “current mile” pace was showing 8:30-something. No way. Heart rate was hovering around 170 as I started to empty the tank, dropping the pace for Mile 26 to 7:25 by the time I hit the marker. I came around the final turn and looked at my watch, and I knew I could still finish under 3:10. More importantly, I knew I’d be PISSED if I finished in 3:10:02 or something stupid like that. I pushed 6:30 pace into the finish, clocking an official finishing time of 3:09:54. I already have a 2:58:29 BQ in my back pocket for this year, but it was still satisfying to sneak in under the 3:10 qualifying mark for my age. We walked back to the car and headed back to the house, and we capped off a great weekend by having a few beers and watching the Brewers beat the Cardinals AGAIN.
Closing thoughts
As I sit here writing this, I’m happy with my performance given the circumstances, but I’m disappointed in myself for getting out of shape and having to work my way back like this. I actually ran yesterday (Thursday) with a friend of mine in Texas, and my left hamstring and right knee and still both pretty sore. That said, I feel like I’ve got the fire in my belly again (next to all the extra fat), and I’m looking forward to getting back with my coach and working my ### off this summer/fall to get back into PR shape for Monumental. I’ll need to run almost 12 minutes faster than I did on Sunday, but I think I can do it. Actually, I know I can. Thanks to Gian for the support this weekend, and thanks to all of you guys for following along.
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the pre-story, but suffice it to say that I wasn’t feeling super confident coming into this race. With a newborn at home, my training had been inconsistent at best—I had a couple bigger weeks, and I did manage to do one 20-miler and a couple 18s, but I didn’t really do much quality, and my overall mileage wasn’t anywhere near where I’d normally like it to be. On top of that, I was probably 10 pounds over my ideal racing weight, and at 1-2 seconds/mile/pound, you're talking 4-8 extra minutes. Bottom line, my expectations weren’t super high. Absolute best-case scenario, I’d run 3:10 pace (7:15/mile) through the first 20 and then hopefully drop the hammer and finish somewhere in the 3:06-3:07 range.
I got into St. Louis on Saturday morning, where my gracious host @gianmarcopicked me up at the airport. The flight was pretty turbulent, so I wasn’t feeling the best. We headed straight downtown to grab my race packet (navigating the various street closures for the Saturday races) and then to his place for a quick 3-mile shakeout run before going back downtown to catch the Brewers/Cardinals game (9-5 win for the good guys). I distinctly remember just feeling “off.” My stomach never really settled down from the flight, and I was nervous about the race—I was unprepared, and I was afraid that I’d be running 26.2 miles all by myself due to the wave start. On top of that, this was my first time away from home since having the baby. After the game, we went to dinner, and I could only eat half my food…and then I went to the bathroom and threw it all up. Thankfully I’d done a good job of topping off the fuel stores on Friday. When we got back to the house I sampled a couple of Mrs. Gian’s delicious desserts, got my stuff organized for the morning, and headed to bed.
Race morning was thankfully uneventful. Up at 5:00, got dressed, put Vaseline on my toes, took care of my bathroom business, and ate a blueberry bagel with some cream cheese. We were out the door by 6am, and I was at the start line by 6:30. We started at the Chain of Rocks bridge roughly 15 miles north of downtown, and they had it set up like a school drop-off where you pulled in, dropped off your runner(s), and pulled out. Every 10 minutes they released a new wave in staggered groups of 10-15 runners. I used the porta-potty and watched as the 6:30, 6:40, and 6:50 groups went off. I turned on my music and did a couple of easy strides, and I actually started to feel a little better. Temperature was OK in the upper 40s, but there was nasty west wind gusting well over 20mph. I got into the chute with the 3rd or 4th group of runners in the 7:00 wave, and soon we were off over the bridge into Illinois.
Miles 1-3
This course was kinda unique, starting with an 11(ish)-mile out-and-back section to the northeast and then point-to-point south to downtown St. Louis. We immediately went up and over one bridge and crossed another shortly thereafter. Garmin says the race had 409 feet of elevation gain, and these two bridges (which we’d ultimately cross twice) made up a lot of it. That said, it was early, and I had the substantial wind at my back, so I clipped off these first 3 miles at 7:04/7:03/7:02. There were probably 250 runners who’d started ahead of me, and I was picking people off left and right. I was feeling pretty good.
Miles 4-8
At this point, we navigated a couple of hairpin turns and then headed northeast for a little 5-mile out-and-back section on a crushed limestone trail along the Mississippi River levee. This part sucked. The trail was wet and mushy, and I was wearing shoes (Saucony Endorphin Pro) that really weren’t suited for the terrain. On top of that, it was wide open, so there was nothing to block the wind, and at times it took a conscious effort to keep it from pushing you sideways. I held pace reasonably well (7:08/7:15/7:08/7:12/7:16) on this section, and I collected dozens of “kills,” but it required more effort than I would’ve liked this early. Gian was posted up at the beginning/end of this section, and as I turned right to head back west over the bridges towards the start, I remember saying to him, “Shoot me after this part.”
Miles 9-11
Same two bridges, and straight into the wind. The first bridge wasn’t too bad, as the incline actually helped block the wind a bit, and for some reason it wasn’t too bad on the stretch between the bridges either. Miles 9-10 were 7:12/7:04. But the second (last) bridge sucked. I remember looking at my watch at one point and having to really compel myself to pick up the pace. I managed to finish the mile in 7:23, and shortly thereafter we came off the bridge and turned south onto the paved St. Louis Riverfront Trail. We’d run on this for roughly the next 14 miles.
Miles 12-15
Almost immediately, the trail crossed the road and went up and back down a fairly significant hill before crossing back over to the original side of the road less than a mile later. If the RD had cared at all about making it a fast(er) course, they could’ve just had us run on the shoulder of the road for that little bit. The hill itself wasn’t that bad—it was just annoying. The Gians were there cheering at both ends of the hill. It was really nice being able to look forward to seeing them throughout the race. This stretch was heading southwest, so it was still a bit of a headwind, and I felt it. That said, while one guy did pass me during this section (the first of only two times I was passed all day), I was still picking off runners left and right. This is actually the stretch where Gian posted the video of me passing the guy. Nothing else too memorable from this part. Splits 7:15/7:08/7:17/7:15.
Mile 16-24
The course took a hard turn towards the southeast at this point, and you could really notice the difference with the wind now being much less of an issue and even providing a bit of tailwind at times. As we got further south, there was even a concrete barrier adjacent to the trail that made the wind even less of a factor. Unfortunately, my left hamstring was starting to tighten up a bit, and at one point I asked Gian if he could get me some BioFreeze spray. I was a little worried that it might totally seize up on me, but thankfully it never did. Overall, I was feeling OK, and HR was holding pretty steady in the 160s (comfortably uncomfortable), but I gave up on my original plan of trying to negative split and instead just focused on holding pace through the end. Somewhere around mile 20ish I got passed for the second and final time. The course at this point was super flat with only a couple of minor inclines. Somewhere around Mile 22 we came off the trail and onto city streets. We did a completely arbitrary and unnecessary right turn up a hill, then turned left, then turned left again back down the hill before turning right and continuing on our original course. I can only assume this is because they needed to add mileage, and if that’s the case, there are certainly easier/better ways for them to have done it. We continued down along the riverfront for about a mile past the Arch and then did a 180-degree turn and came back past it again. I know there’s one last hill heading back up from the riverfront, and I’m not looking forward to it. Splits 7:05/7:06/7:06/7:03/7:10/7:15/7:20/7:17/7:18/7:20
Mile 25-Finish
I’d been dreading this hill all weekend, and it didn’t disappoint. About a quarter-mile long and a pretty decent pitch. I made it about a block and a half before my watch chimed to show 7:37 for Mile 25. Ugh, I'm fading. I was running so slowly at one point (or at least it felt like I was running so slowly) that I actually stopped and walked for a few seconds. When I got to the top, my “current mile” pace was showing 8:30-something. No way. Heart rate was hovering around 170 as I started to empty the tank, dropping the pace for Mile 26 to 7:25 by the time I hit the marker. I came around the final turn and looked at my watch, and I knew I could still finish under 3:10. More importantly, I knew I’d be PISSED if I finished in 3:10:02 or something stupid like that. I pushed 6:30 pace into the finish, clocking an official finishing time of 3:09:54. I already have a 2:58:29 BQ in my back pocket for this year, but it was still satisfying to sneak in under the 3:10 qualifying mark for my age. We walked back to the car and headed back to the house, and we capped off a great weekend by having a few beers and watching the Brewers beat the Cardinals AGAIN.
Closing thoughts
As I sit here writing this, I’m happy with my performance given the circumstances, but I’m disappointed in myself for getting out of shape and having to work my way back like this. I actually ran yesterday (Thursday) with a friend of mine in Texas, and my left hamstring and right knee and still both pretty sore. That said, I feel like I’ve got the fire in my belly again (next to all the extra fat), and I’m looking forward to getting back with my coach and working my ### off this summer/fall to get back into PR shape for Monumental. I’ll need to run almost 12 minutes faster than I did on Sunday, but I think I can do it. Actually, I know I can. Thanks to Gian for the support this weekend, and thanks to all of you guys for following along.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
@gruecd Great job! Hanging in there during a marathon when you know you’re at less than top shape can certainly be a more impressive effort than those rare times we’re cruising by surprising ourselves and banking PR time.
I did notice from the pictures that you were packing on the pounds though.
I did notice from the pictures that you were packing on the pounds though.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
Nobody racing this weekend? Surprising. It’s the perfect time of year in most of the country.
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