still running
Feb. 17th, 2013 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ilanaramaI know, I said I was so over the Moab races. Expensive, headwinds, long drive, blah blah blah, not running there again, find some other damn race. Except that I kept getting email from the Moab race management telling me that there was still space available in Canyonlands (on March 16h, one month from now); ordinarily it's a lottery, but I guess enough people have been put off by the winds that it didn't fill this year. And I am weak. So I signed myself up for the half marathon, yet again; and I signed Britt up for the concurrent 5-mile race, to give him an excuse to come out to Moab as well! Maybe we'll bring mountain bikes and make a weekend of it.
So as a tune-up race, yesterday morning I ran the Community Cares 5K. I ran the same race last year; at the time it was a PR by 30 seconds, but in April I ran another 5K on a downhill course and took off another 41 seconds. I knew I was unlikely to beat that mark, but hoped to beat my previous time on the same course.
Which I did. By ONE FREAKIN' SECOND. I...guess that means I'm in the same shape I was in last year? Last year I came in second woman OA, though a pro triathlete beat me by two minutes; this year I came in fourth, but all three women ahead of me were either 20 or 21, less than half my age, so I don't feel too bad.
This time I decided to set my Garmin so I could not see my pace as I ran. Ordinarily I have it set to display total time, total distance, average lap pace, and heart rate; I changed it to show only heart rate, so I could see if I was slacking off. As it turned out, it didn't really matter, because I hardly looked at it - I just ran. Really hard. And just like last year, I ran too fast on the first mile and had a hard time holding pace after the turn-around. Of course, the route is more or less flat and downhill to the turn-around, and then flat and uphill, with an uphill right at the finish.
Here are my splits compared with last year:
Total time was 21:43, as compared to 21:44 last year. Woohoo.
So what does this predict for Moab? Well, last year I had my worst Canyonlands ever (and my worst half marathon since getting serious about running) on a hot and windy day. My PR came on a windless day one month after a 22:14 5K (then a PR), though with higher mileage than I'm running now. I think it will all come down to conditions; I might be able to PR (though not by much) if it's cold and calm, but if there's a headwind I'll probably run slower than 1:40.
I guess I'll find out in a month!
So as a tune-up race, yesterday morning I ran the Community Cares 5K. I ran the same race last year; at the time it was a PR by 30 seconds, but in April I ran another 5K on a downhill course and took off another 41 seconds. I knew I was unlikely to beat that mark, but hoped to beat my previous time on the same course.
Which I did. By ONE FREAKIN' SECOND. I...guess that means I'm in the same shape I was in last year? Last year I came in second woman OA, though a pro triathlete beat me by two minutes; this year I came in fourth, but all three women ahead of me were either 20 or 21, less than half my age, so I don't feel too bad.
This time I decided to set my Garmin so I could not see my pace as I ran. Ordinarily I have it set to display total time, total distance, average lap pace, and heart rate; I changed it to show only heart rate, so I could see if I was slacking off. As it turned out, it didn't really matter, because I hardly looked at it - I just ran. Really hard. And just like last year, I ran too fast on the first mile and had a hard time holding pace after the turn-around. Of course, the route is more or less flat and downhill to the turn-around, and then flat and uphill, with an uphill right at the finish.
Here are my splits compared with last year:
| 2013 | 2012 | |
| mile 1 | 6:39 | 6:42 |
| mile 2 | 7:11 | 7:08 |
| mile 3 | 7:25 | 7:22 |
| mile 3.1 | 0:28 | 0:32 |
Total time was 21:43, as compared to 21:44 last year. Woohoo.
So what does this predict for Moab? Well, last year I had my worst Canyonlands ever (and my worst half marathon since getting serious about running) on a hot and windy day. My PR came on a windless day one month after a 22:14 5K (then a PR), though with higher mileage than I'm running now. I think it will all come down to conditions; I might be able to PR (though not by much) if it's cold and calm, but if there's a headwind I'll probably run slower than 1:40.
I guess I'll find out in a month!
From Greenlee
Date: 2013-02-18 04:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-19 05:52 pm (UTC)And yay, course PR :)