looking ahead
Apr. 14th, 2012 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ilanaramaI think I've finally recovered from last week's 5K. The problem with running slowly most of the time (and not really pushing hard workouts) is that racing so much faster than any of my training takes a toll on my body. I mean, yay magic pixie dust (and downhill courses la la la) that let me average 6:50 pace for 3.1 miles, when I have only run that fast or faster for max a quarter mile at a time (and not many of them!). But ow ow owie afterward.
This week I have run every day, between 3.8 and 9.3 miles, two runs on the trails and the rest on pavement (rec trail or road). If I run at least 5 tomorrow I'll have 41 miles for the week, same as last week, but I'm hoping to do a bit more than that. Pretty much all my running is slow (relative to my race times); ~9:15 pace on the road, 11:15 on trails.
I'm registered for the Steamworks Half Marathon on 6/9, which is a really awesome race I have run three times and worked at twice (while injured). Rolling hills on a country road, 300 runners, free microbrew at the end. I'm also probably going to run the Narrow Gauge 10-miler on Memorial Day Weekend, which I have run twice. This is the oldest race in Colorado, and involves a steep climb up the back switchbacks on the college mesa, a run around the rim (in the opposite direction of last week's 5K), and then down the fast, straight road off the mesa. (It also involves crossing the train tracks, and both times I ran it I got stopped by the train, although only for ~20 seconds.)
Looking at my training in 2009, which is the year I PRed both at Steamworks and Narrow Gauge, I was averaging 45mpw in the weeks before the race. But I was also running a whole lot more slowly for the most part (although I was doing workouts, intervals and tempos) and at this stage (mid-April) I was only averaging about 30mpw. So I think I'm positioned to get a course PR at both races again. (I don't think I can get a half PR at Steamworks, but I think I can come in under 1:40, which would be a second-best finish and a course PR.) We shall see!
This week I have run every day, between 3.8 and 9.3 miles, two runs on the trails and the rest on pavement (rec trail or road). If I run at least 5 tomorrow I'll have 41 miles for the week, same as last week, but I'm hoping to do a bit more than that. Pretty much all my running is slow (relative to my race times); ~9:15 pace on the road, 11:15 on trails.
I'm registered for the Steamworks Half Marathon on 6/9, which is a really awesome race I have run three times and worked at twice (while injured). Rolling hills on a country road, 300 runners, free microbrew at the end. I'm also probably going to run the Narrow Gauge 10-miler on Memorial Day Weekend, which I have run twice. This is the oldest race in Colorado, and involves a steep climb up the back switchbacks on the college mesa, a run around the rim (in the opposite direction of last week's 5K), and then down the fast, straight road off the mesa. (It also involves crossing the train tracks, and both times I ran it I got stopped by the train, although only for ~20 seconds.)
Looking at my training in 2009, which is the year I PRed both at Steamworks and Narrow Gauge, I was averaging 45mpw in the weeks before the race. But I was also running a whole lot more slowly for the most part (although I was doing workouts, intervals and tempos) and at this stage (mid-April) I was only averaging about 30mpw. So I think I'm positioned to get a course PR at both races again. (I don't think I can get a half PR at Steamworks, but I think I can come in under 1:40, which would be a second-best finish and a course PR.) We shall see!