Winter Series II (8 mi)

My goal for today's race was to beat 1:00:34, my 6.5 mile time on the first race of the series.  The first race is mostly grueling trail, but today's race is flat, slightly uphill on the way out and slightly downhill on the way back.  I anticipated running a 7:30 pace out and 7:00 pace back, without worrying about place.  In the end, I was pleasantly surprised.

I ran a comfortable 6:30 for the first mile, and let my body decide when to fall into pace on subsequent miles.  Watching my Garmin, I was continually faster than my anticipated mile times.  While I was nervous about burning out early, my body felt good at the current pace, so I decided to go with it.  I had no idea where I was in the standings for females.  I really hadn't paid any attention to the people around me.  Though, I began falling into place with a couple of younger guys at the third mile.  As we approached the 4 mile turnaround, I became aware that we hadn't seen a female, yet.  I knew one woman was in front of me, and I was becoming aware that this put me in second place.  I wasn't ready for that much pressure, but quickly began to change my thinking.  Many women were close behind, and now was my opportunity to create a larger gap in the race and the series.

I picked up my speed to 6:30 again for a couple of miles.  The two young men kept close behind.  After about two miles, they passed me at a 6:50 pace.  We ran shoulder to shoulder for the remainder of the race.  I didn't care about beating them, I just knew that if I gave up a cascade would begin: my pace would dwindle and the girls behind would catch me.  My mantras became, "don't leave me, don't leave me, don't leave me"  and "don't lose 'em, don't lose 'em, don't lose 'em."  In truth, I was probably quite annoying.  At a 6:50 pace, they were clearly just clocking some miles for the USAFA Track and Field team.  They held a casual conversation with each other the entire way.  I kept my best to stay out of it, but I was an uncomfortably close third wheel.  I lost them with about 1/2 mile to finish, when they began pushing their pace.

I finished at 56:38, about 9 minutes faster than last year, in 2nd place overall.  I owe my finish to the cadets that brought me in.  I was sure to thank them in the end.  I've moved from 8th to 3rd in the series, and I'm confident that I can keep my standing.  People ask me how I've improved my running so much all the time.  I'm really not sure.  There are so many variables to consider.  Perhaps it's the large amount of cross training, allowing my body more adequate recovery for the few runs that I do during the week.  Maybe it's that my few runs are long distance, hills or speed.  I never do a recovery run.  I save recovery days for swimming, cycling and yoga.  I'm also listening to my body and am more apt to take breaks.  I plan on taking March, April and May off from running and racing to allow for minor repairs and rest.  I think it's also the positive mental attitude.  I had a taste of speed and a year of PR's.  Now, I am testing my limits only to find that the human body is truly limitless. 

Winter Series I (6.5ish)

My Winter Series experience began with a bout of food poisoning on Friday night.  It turns out that root vegetables sitting in the fridge for a month eventually go bad.  Come Saturday morning, I convinced myself that I was feeling fine.  Mile 3 told a different story. 

Cheyenne Canyon State Park was in its full beauty on Saturday morning.  The sun was shining, and I was wearing a running skirt and short sleeves in January.  The cloudless skies and dusty earth at the start didn't tell the story of the icy trails awaiting us in the hills.  Luckily, I had many encounters with slick ice without screw shoes this season, so I planned ahead and wore them for the race.  I had read the trails were 30% covered, only to discover that they were probably 50-60%.  The ice is sneaky this season, melting during our warm winter days only to form an ice luge during the cold mountainous nights. 

At the starting line, I didn't recognize any familiar female faces, but began discussing training and Duane's injuries with a guy that races and trains with Duane.  This was not a wise place to start.  I found myself pacing with males that are usually finishing while I'm at the 3/4 point.  Though this wasn't a bad start, it definitely left me feeling embarrassed as the front women left me in the dust.  I didn't hold first for long (which was not a goal...as this race tends to draw faster shorter distance girls).  However, when I lost fifth, I was getting frustrated.  When I ended up seventh, then finally eighth, I just didn't care anymore.  I think I would have competed a lot better if it wasn't for fighting food poisoning around 3.5 miles.  I can't begin to explain the discomfort that I felt during this event.  Keeping myself from vomiting, or worse, was consuming my focus.

My goal was to compete in and around 1 hour.  I finished in 1:00:34.  I'm satisfied with my performance, and I'm hoping to beat this time in my 8 mile race next weekend.  My "secret" goal is to finish in the top 3 of the Series.  Though, I know this is somewhat dependent on who continues to fight through the drudgery ahead.  I also know that this isn't a likely goal, since I'm typically 4 or 5.  However, I'm interested in seeing what I'm capable of when my goal is outside of my safety net and I push myself to limits that seem impossible.  It's time I step out of my comfort zone.  

Rescue Run 10K: Setting the stage for 2012

I had a rough week, to say the least.  Tackling the holidays with a toddler should be enough to sum it up, but I also had the flu for my birthday on Friday.  I tried hitting the spinning bike, yesterday, to make sure I was well enough to race and I had a tough, sucking wind kinda ride.  So, I set off to race today with the intent to run, have fun and bring in the new year right.  In the back of my head, I knew I would run my hardest, but I certainly wasn't going to kill myself over it.  Besides, I had two glasses of wine yesterday, so I wasn't expecting much. 

Aspen had the right idea, this morning.  We intended to have her run the Diaper Derby with Duane, but she was fast asleep and when the baby sleeps, we are in full support of her deep slumber.  I'm pretty sure she and Duane planned to sleep in somehow.  Duane was happy to stay home, but only because he has fallen victim to the dreaded plantar fasciitis.  We had registered him for the Rescue Run and the Winter Series, but I think he'll be taking a break from running entirely, at least until the spring.  Though this is a frustrating time for him, it has helped us devote more time to multisport adventures.  We've enjoyed a couple of great Falcon trail rides and have explored gym equipment beyond treadmills. 

As I prepared myself for today's race,  I was a little nervous that I had just gotten over the flu and haven't been running as much.  I was nearly ready to back out of the event and curl up with a good book or run the Garden, instead.  Let's face it, racing is intimidating now that I'm actually racing.  Nonetheless, I rounded up my spirit and my things and headed out the door. 

It was a surprisingly cold morning.  But the kind of cold that makes you leave your hat in the car, because it doesn't look that bad, only to wind up diverting your warmup run back to your car to get said hat.  I'm glad I did this.  I continued a great warmup jog up and down the first hill of the race (a total mile) and hit the starting line with seven minutes to spare.  At the start, I encountered the usual suspects: the really fast girl, the girls that run around my pace, the girls that will try to pace with me and die on the hill, and the girls that are vaguely familiar (they also race everything). 

I had a solid first mile.  I'm really comfortable pacing on an uphill start, being that most of my training runs begin with a long hill.  My place was pretty set after the first mile.  Like I said, some women tried to pace with me, but I lost them on the hill.  And the women in front of me were out of sight.  Around mile 3, I was passed by a woman with so much gusto, that it made me wonder why she was behind me in the first place, like she started the race with her much slower male counterpart.  The final 1.5 miles are downhill.  At this point I was passed by a few men, who most likely gave it their all to not be beat by a girl.  They probably went home and took a nap, afterwords. 

In the end, I finished at 46:53 as the 5th overall and 1st in my age group.  Last year's finish was 54:43.  I was most excited that I was ahead of women and men that typically pace with or beat me.  Either they partied too hard last night, or my cross training is paying off.  Either way, look out Winter Series!