Week 2
Week 2 started out slow and painful but ended in a most excellent way.
This week was another week of 3 miles on Tues, 5 miles on Wednesday and 3 miles on Thursday. Thursday my butt was cramping after I did some curls and felt a little pull in my back. I had a herniated disk back in 1991 and this felt a lot like that. Anyway, my 3 miles on Thursday were a little painful till I got warmed up.
Saturday was supposed to be a 3 miler with an 8 mile run on Sunday. However, part II of the Austin Distance Challenge, The Pervasive Power Charge, was scheduled for Sunday so I only did a short 2 miles on Saturday.
I gotta tell ya, I was worried. The Pervasive gets a lot of hype as a very tough race due to the really steep hills. It's a 10 miler and 10 miles is the longest distance I've ever run in my entire life. The last time I did it was like 1982. Add that to the sore ass muscle and I was plenty worried.
So, I got up really early (4:20 AM) to take my daughter in law to work. I ate a banana, drank some water and left the house at about 6:10 for the 7:30 race. I ate another banana on the way to the race and got there a little before 7. The weather was absolutely perfect, clear and cool. Hanging around before a race is tough, time seems to drag but not today. Before I knew it, the airhorn blew and we were off.
I started out slow and easy. I burned out too fast in the 10K a few weeks ago so I just cruised. The front part of the course is pretty easy, a bit of up and down but my entire training course is on hills so no sweat. At about the 4 mile mark, there is a very long steep downhill slope. Running downhill is rough, very hard on the knees but I took it with no problem. At the bottom is what everyone calls The Wall and for goodreason. It's about 1/4 mile damm near straight up. As soon as you turn the corner, you can feel the drag but I just dug in. About half way up, I had to stop and walk but I kept my stride long and as soon as I topped it, I picked back up running again.
Let me tell you, one of the most amazing things about all the running I've been doing is how fast I recover and I recovered really quick after The Wall. I was pretty winded but within a 1/2 mile, I was running strong again and my breathing had settled down. I took another long steep hill without walking.
The last 4 miles is pretty flat. I passed the 6 mile mark and felt strong and had lots of energy and wind left. I started letting my pace increase a bit, still knowing I had another 4 miles to do but feeling too good to run slow. I missed the 7 and 8 mile markers but knew we had to be getting close. Suddenly, there was the 9 mile mark and I was still feeling great. I started pouring on the steam while counting my steps (it takes 726 of my strides to make a mile) so I could have some left. At a 1/2 mile to go, I was still cooking so poured on a little more, passing several people who I had been back and forth with for several miles, crossing the line with a better overall pace than I did for the 10K. Here are my results.
1:39:45
This was a real milestone for me. 10 miles, tying my own personal distance and crossing the finish line feeling like a million bucks.
This new training plan has been a godsend. It's amazing how just doing things a little different can make such a huge difference.
A few hours after the race, I had to hop a plane to Denver for this class:
Sun StorEdge 6920 System Installation and Administration
I'm gonna have to do my week day runs in Denver at a much higher altitude. Should be fun.
This week was another week of 3 miles on Tues, 5 miles on Wednesday and 3 miles on Thursday. Thursday my butt was cramping after I did some curls and felt a little pull in my back. I had a herniated disk back in 1991 and this felt a lot like that. Anyway, my 3 miles on Thursday were a little painful till I got warmed up.
Saturday was supposed to be a 3 miler with an 8 mile run on Sunday. However, part II of the Austin Distance Challenge, The Pervasive Power Charge, was scheduled for Sunday so I only did a short 2 miles on Saturday.
I gotta tell ya, I was worried. The Pervasive gets a lot of hype as a very tough race due to the really steep hills. It's a 10 miler and 10 miles is the longest distance I've ever run in my entire life. The last time I did it was like 1982. Add that to the sore ass muscle and I was plenty worried.
So, I got up really early (4:20 AM) to take my daughter in law to work. I ate a banana, drank some water and left the house at about 6:10 for the 7:30 race. I ate another banana on the way to the race and got there a little before 7. The weather was absolutely perfect, clear and cool. Hanging around before a race is tough, time seems to drag but not today. Before I knew it, the airhorn blew and we were off.
I started out slow and easy. I burned out too fast in the 10K a few weeks ago so I just cruised. The front part of the course is pretty easy, a bit of up and down but my entire training course is on hills so no sweat. At about the 4 mile mark, there is a very long steep downhill slope. Running downhill is rough, very hard on the knees but I took it with no problem. At the bottom is what everyone calls The Wall and for goodreason. It's about 1/4 mile damm near straight up. As soon as you turn the corner, you can feel the drag but I just dug in. About half way up, I had to stop and walk but I kept my stride long and as soon as I topped it, I picked back up running again.
Let me tell you, one of the most amazing things about all the running I've been doing is how fast I recover and I recovered really quick after The Wall. I was pretty winded but within a 1/2 mile, I was running strong again and my breathing had settled down. I took another long steep hill without walking.
The last 4 miles is pretty flat. I passed the 6 mile mark and felt strong and had lots of energy and wind left. I started letting my pace increase a bit, still knowing I had another 4 miles to do but feeling too good to run slow. I missed the 7 and 8 mile markers but knew we had to be getting close. Suddenly, there was the 9 mile mark and I was still feeling great. I started pouring on the steam while counting my steps (it takes 726 of my strides to make a mile) so I could have some left. At a 1/2 mile to go, I was still cooking so poured on a little more, passing several people who I had been back and forth with for several miles, crossing the line with a better overall pace than I did for the 10K. Here are my results.
1:39:45
This was a real milestone for me. 10 miles, tying my own personal distance and crossing the finish line feeling like a million bucks.
This new training plan has been a godsend. It's amazing how just doing things a little different can make such a huge difference.
A few hours after the race, I had to hop a plane to Denver for this class:
Sun StorEdge 6920 System Installation and Administration
I'm gonna have to do my week day runs in Denver at a much higher altitude. Should be fun.
posted by Big Ed at 12:46 PM
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