Decided to venture out of my comfort zone this week a little and set up a few new neighborhood paths to try.
Monday was a 6 mile run and it felt considerably cooler. I tried a new neighborhood and did have to consult google maps to find my way back at one point. I am certainly directionally challenged! This neighborhood had a few different entry ways so when everything looks similar it can cause me to get turned around. Managed about 10:26 mm pace for this one.
Wednesday was a little longer at 7 miles . Had to cross a kind of busy road which I don't really enjoy doing, but it was the only way to get to a few new neighborhoods. I reevaluated the decision before the run, and since it's busy but only has 2 lanes and I'd be running during the daytime I felt ok about it. I usually will not run on a road without a sidewalk just due to my own fears of cars hitting me.
But I looked at how long I'd even have to be on it and it wasn't long. Basically just enough to get to the next turn for the following neighborhood. So I decided on best practices during those runs, only on the left side of the road, no headphones in my ears during those times. And I always wear a road ID bracelet. The new neighborhoods felt like unexplored territory which was nice. I had mapped out which roads and approximately how many miles. Also, there is only one entry into each of the neighborhoods and the rest were cul de sacs so I felt like it would be hard for even me (as directionally challenged as I am) to get lost. Managed a similar pace of 10:29 mm.
Thursday was a 6 mile run again. Ran a 10:07 mm pace on a not very exciting route (mostly main streets with sidewalks). I was able to get negative splits so that felt good.
Friday I hadn't planned on running because I had a race scheduled for Saturday and was figuring out how I was going to get 12 weekend miles. The race was a 10k so I randomly surveyed some of my running group and luckily someone was available Friday afternoon. I hadn't run with her before and she has a faster pace but she was nice enough to slow it down for me. She had run a trail race Thursday and was ok with that.
However, did not anticipate the heat which made me have to stop several times. I apologized but she didn't mind the stops. Then a train crossed the road we were running on which made for an unexpected break. Finished this one at about 10:09 mm pace which wasn't bad considering I had to stop a few times.
Saturday was race day. It was a bit complicated as this was the Air Force Marathon, Half, 10k all starting on the same day. The 5k was the night before. I drove Friday night to my friend's house. She had picked up all of our stuff for us so that made it easier. It also was good to have a place to stay. The next morning we got up early at 4am because our plan was to catch the shuttle over to the race start line. We heard thunder at 4am but were hoping the storm might leave before the race.
We got ready and left at 5am after eating something, We arrived for the shuttle around 5:20 and got on. Then the shuttles didn't move for an hour. No one told us what was going on so I checked on my phone. Start was supposed to be at 7:30. However, there was still lightning in the area, so the start was delayed until 8am. Eventually around 6:15 the buses moved to the start. I didn't mind too much because I was sitting. I'm not sure how fun it would be if you were standing on the bus. They had asked everyone to stay in their vehicle due to the storm.
I was sitting next to a person running the full so we talked about his training and how he was hoping to finish today. The ladies I came with were sitting on a different part of the bus due to lack of seating.
Once we got there it looked like the storm was gone. The sky started to clear and we found a place to sit in one of the tents with tables and chairs. Things got underway, and I enjoyed the course, especially the two Ospreys that flew over before the start. We did a 10/2 interval plan which was my friend's goal and finished better than she expected. The water stops were frequent which was great. Also got a really awesome medal, shirt, patch and a hat.
(Our commemorative patch)
(Shoe selfie!)
(Front and back of medals)
Would recommend this one to others. It does tend to be hot time of year so as long as the weather cooperates, it would be enjoyable. The only downside is that it's not very shady being on base and on main roads a lot of the time. But it was cloudy most of the time for us, so it wasn't too bad. The humidity was a little bit high but it wasn't full sun.
Next week is a bigger week mileage wise. 7/6/5/20 total of 38 miles. Then it's taper time! I may revise my taper plan a little upon getting some new advice about cutting back mileage 20% the first week of taper and 25% the second week. More on that later.
No comments:
Post a Comment