ilanarama: me, The Other Half, Moab UT 2009 (marathon)
Ilana ([personal profile] ilanarama) wrote2013-09-12 11:06 am
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first race of the cycle!

This Saturday will be my first race of the training cycle - my first race since my half marathon six months ago! I'm a little nervous, because it's an entirely new course to me, and a distance I haven't raced in nearly two years; but I do love racing, and I'm excited to see how I do.

There is no way I'm going to beat or even match my PR of 43:06 from the Winter Sun 10K nearly two years ago, as that was set on a significantly downhill course at about 2500 ft lower elevation than here (race report). But I think I'm in better shape now that I was then. A week before that race I ran a 6x half mile workout with 2 minute recoveries, targeting 7:10-7:15 pace for the first 4 reps, then letting myself go - I ran the 5th at 7 minute pace even, and then blew up on the last with a 7:31.

I did the same workout on Tuesday, targeting 6:55 pace, and averaged 6:51, no blowups. My heart rate was considerably lower, too, both for the speed intervals and for the recoveries - in fact, my recoveries before the older race were at higher HR than my average HR during the intervals on Tuesday! But I'm not sure how the HR translates, because all of my HR values have been lower lately; does this mean I'm not working as hard, or that my working HR range has shifted lower?

So, what am I looking at? The Runworks calculator has a hills-equivalent calculator, and when I feed in the data from my Winter Sun PR (58 ft of uphills and 375 ft of downhills, as calculated by SportTracks' elevation correction plugin) it tells me that the equivalent time on a flat course would be 44:01, and with some modest total uphills and downhills - say, 60 ft total up and down - 44:13. Then I plug that number back in and ask for the conversion from 4300 ft to 7000 ft, which gives me 44:59.

So, that's my goal: under 45 minutes. (The more under 45 minutes, the better, of course.) Which incidentally would be much faster than my last 10K at this elevation, 47:22 at the Fem 10 in 2010. That would be a pace of about 7:14, which is a bit faster than my tempo runs have been, and my longest tempo run has been four miles; six miles at a faster pace will be tough! But if race-day magic works, I might be able to pull it off. We shall see!
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[personal profile] meri_oddities 2013-09-12 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm constantly amazed at how fast you run. I can't wait to hear what you do for your marathon with this kind of training.

I'm still hoping for a decent Marine Corps and by decent, I mean under 5 hours. OTOH, I've just have a 150+ mile month (first in a long time) and looking at a second one this month. So, maybe the miles will pay off.
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[personal profile] meri_oddities 2013-09-12 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I am running Chicago, but I'm thinking it's going to be more of a training run. I'm always faster at the 2nd Marathon than the 1st.

As for CIM, you are probably underestimating yourself. The training you're doing will pay off for you.

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[personal profile] meri_oddities 2013-09-12 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow. 3:25 would be awesome. I love to see my friends run fast, even if I don't. I just don't have the determination to do 60 miles in a week -- that said, I'm going to be at 50+ next week, I think.

I don't have a problem taking it slow. I am torn between kicking back and just enjoying Chicago and the scenery and neighborhoods or trying to go fast. I will likely make a game time decision depending on how I feel. I'm better trained this year than I have been in a long time. So, maybe.

[identity profile] justrunjim.blogspot.com 2013-09-13 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
You've been running really well lately. I dsy you go sub 45 easily. Race day magic happens. PS I did not know about the Runworks hills-equivalent calculator existed do thanks for the link

calc

(Anonymous) 2013-09-13 09:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Neat calculator - never seen one like that. Good luck at the race!
-AP