Meeting Expecations

Monday, March 16
p.m. 40 min Pool

Tuesday, March 17
a.m. 70min Road
10.1M (map)

p.m. 30min Road + Hill Sprints
4.5M (14.6)

Wednesday, March 18
p.m. 1hr 45min Treadmill
16.3M (30.9)

Thursday, March 19
p.m. 64 min Road
10.1M (41) (map)

Friday, March 20
p.m. 39 min Treadmill
6M (47)

Saturday, March 21
a.m. 30 min Treadmill
4+M (51)

Sunday, March 22
a.m. 21 min Road
3M (54)

p.m. 8k Race 25:25 14th place + 20min Warmup, 60 min Cooldown
16M (70)

Total Miles: 70

Quite an up and down week. I felt pretty good the first part of the week, especially considering the 3 hour run last Sunday. But Friday a 60-75 min run turned into a rough 45 mins. Then I struggled through a 30 min run Saturday before heading back to Eau Claire/Twin Cities for the Human Race. My legs felt pretty good, but my heart rate was higher than normal and I was sweating profusely on the treadmill (more than usual). I briefly considered not traveling for the race, but I had been looking forward to it and I hoped that seeing bare/snow free ground and warmer temps would give me a boost.

Sunday, race-day, I felt so-so, but just warming up with Kurt, Paul and Sonya and doing a long cooldown with Pete, Jason, and Josh made the trip worth it, regardless of the race result.

As for the race itself, I don't know if I've ever had a day where I ran the exact time I though I would and felt exactly how I thought I would feel, no better, no worse. That was the story Sunday. Considering prior to the race I had not run a single 5:07 mile, and then to go out and run five of them, helped me feel pretty good about my training thus far. The conditions worked in my favor as we had a pretty stiff headwind on the way out. That meant I got to spend a little more time in the lead pack then I would have normally - going through the mile in 5:12-5:13. Mile 2 has quite a bit of downhill and the pack started to string out. I came through in 10:11 and somewhere around 10th place. Coming around William Mitchell and picking up the wind at our back (mostly) I was feeling alright, but knew the pace I was running was all I was going to be able to muster through the finish. No kick today. I could run about 5:05 but any faster and I started to rig up a bit. Fast-paced workouts needed. I pretty much held my position getting passed by 1 or 2 people into the finish, but overall I can't complain.

According to Daniels 25:25 puts me in about 1:10 half/2:28 full marathon shape with essentially no workouts under my belt. I hope once I start the marathon cycle in April I'll be able to bring that down a few minutes.