Running Week Recap 10/12 - 10/18
10/13 - 8.3 Mi @ 8:21 pace +
10/14 - 8 Mi @ 8:20 pace (Hills) +
10/16 - 4 Stroller Miles @ 8:11 pace +
10/17 - 6.76 Miles on Bike
10/18 - .61 Mile Warm-Up
13.1 Gulf Coast Half Marathon @ 7:36 pace (PR!) ++
Weekly Total = 34.02
October Total = 93.16
Bike Total = 16.39
It was a very strange week for me. Early in the week I felt very tired and felt I needed some rest, so I decided to skip the run Monday for extra recovery. Ran back to back 8 milers, with one including as many hills as one can in South Louisiana. Again, the legs felt beat up so I took a rest day and then Friday ran 4 miles while pushing the stroller and things felt fine. So, this is where things get interesting. With a race on Sunday, I took Saturday off from running. The Tigers had a big game against the Gators, so I got the campus early to set up and then took my bike to the farmers market. The market is ~ 3-4 miles from our tailgate spot. I made the trip and got my items and while heading back I had an accident. I place all my goodies from the farmers market in my bag that I can wear like a book sack. As I am riding down the rode one of the straps came undone. All that weight moving suddenly made things very unstable, but I thought I was able to correct. I applied the brakes on the bike and this caused the bag to swing forward and proved to be to much for me to overcome and I lost all control. I laid on the ground in pain for a few minutes trying to figure out how bad things where. My calf was the number one thing in pain at the time but no bleeding on the leg. As I started to get myself together and see what was damaged and what wasn't a lot of things felt soar in a short time frame. I only ended up with one area bleeding which was my elbow. It appears most of the force of the fall was taken on my thigh and my shorts prevented any major cuts. I have some very nice bruises on my legs. I picked up my bike and tried to roll it off the street and the tire did not move. After inspecting it, I found the chain was off (Not a big deal) and the back rim was bent. So I'm ~3.5 miles away from my tailgate without a working bike. Thank God for cell phones. I got my uncle to come get me and bring me back to campus. As the day went by my neck/upper back became very sore. My DW said she could feel big knots back there. My neck is still tight and the calf is a little tight as well but everything else seems ok. Tigers played a great game on Saturday and the stadium was electric. Few things compare to a Saturday night in Death Valley. So, the game ended and we booked it out the stadium and made it home in a record of 30 minutes. (Baton Rouge traffic is terrible, and add 100K leaving all at once, it can take 2+ hours to get home after a game). We got home and I had to unload the truck because I was in charge of driving to the race on Sunday. At this point I wasn't even sure if I was going to run the race. I went to bed at 11:45 PM and woke up at 4:00 AM for the race.
Race day morning! I wake up and other than a little tightness things are looking ok. I get my stuff together and head out the door. My friend agreed to drive my truck to the race so I could rest. I got in the back seat and slept for about an hour, so now I have 5+ hours of sleep and I wake up feeling well rested. Before the race I still wasn't 100% if I was going to run it or not, so I went for a little jog to see how things felt. I ran a little over a half mile and felt that I could run the race, but I knew hitting my more aggressive goals would be difficult. The weather was about as good as it could be for mid October in Louisiana. Low 50's, low RH%, and a 5-10 MPH N wind. The race is the final race of a 3 part series called the Gulf Coast Half Marathon. This one was in Mandeville, LA and started in a state park. The route took us along lake Pontchartrain and surrounding areas. The most difficult part (mentally) was a ~3 mile stretch that was a long straightaway. The sun was in our face, but was lined by trees on both sides helping with the wind. It seemed like it lasted forever, and turned out to be my slowest mile of the race. So here is how the race went:
Mile - Split
1 - 7:39
2 - 7:40
3 - 7:32
4 - 7:35
5 - 7:26 (opps)
6 - 7:35
7 - 7:44
8 - 7:36
9 - 7:40
10 - 7:48
11 - 7:49
12 - 7:35
13 - 7:30
0.1 - 6:26
Mile 5 was a little too fast and 10&11 are part of the long straightaway. Official finish time of 1:39:28 which is a PR by ~ 2 minutes, 14 seconds. It was a good race considering everything leading up to the race. I finished 64 / 743 overall and 7/41 in my age group. Achieved my goal of a PR and sub 1:40, and confirmed that I am near where I need to be at this point in training. My next half is in December. If I race it and not use it as part of a training run, I hope to PR again, but we will see how things are going by then.
So it was a strange week, with a lot of interesting events going on, but I am happy how everything turned out.
Edit because I had 1:29:28 and should of been 1:39:28. Big difference!