Training update!

Week recap...

Tuesday, track workout...went fairly smooth but it was slightly modified as I did it on a dirt path at a park near home. Quite wet and slippery so had to be careful.

Wednesday, Group cycling night. Consisted of warm up, 2 sets of 3 - 1 mile repeats with one my recoveries and a longer recovery between the two sets, followed by a cool down. The workouts have gotten shorter due to running out of daylight. A little cooler this week so I wore a jacket and felt pretty comfortable. Only one more week of Wednesday bike nights left for the year. It's been a good run and learning experience...how fortunate we have been for Pete Gladden, New Vision Cycling and the the other individuals who have made this possible!

Thursday, 8 mile tempo run. Pushed the pace most the way. Finished in 1:01.19, pretty sore and tired afterwards. Fairly consistent splits.

Friday, rest

Saturday, Dolores Sawan 5K for Ovarian cancer. This race was part of the Hermes Road Race Series I participate in. It is generally a smaller race with a fairly flat course with small rollers. Went out sighty behind another female that I was hoping to stay with. I know from past races she always beats me but I was thought perhaps taking some hints from her pace could help me. Mile one, feeling tired but not too bad. 6:50. Mile 2 had a turn around at 1.6 out and with the turn the strong wind hit ya in the face. Getting winded but pushing on-7:20. Last mile I continued pushing harder than I wanted to go in an attempt to not lose anymore ground and passed one of the woman who were ahead that had to walk. My body aching and yearning for the finish line I finally made it. Still did not break that darn 22 I keep hoping for but managed to finish in 22:19 (7:12 pace), 4 seconds behind the lady I worked so hard to stay with. Ended up 4th overall female and 1st age group. To top it all off I had bought 3 raffle tickets and lo and behold my ticket was pulled and I won this really cool Cleveland Indians basket. Wahooo!!!

Side note-the best thing about a 5K is pushing the body so hard that my knee pain is not at the top of my hurt list during the race. However afterwards continued my normal regiman of icing which has become quite common.

Sunday-woke up at 5:50 AM to drive out towards Akron to get in my long run. Let me say, the idea of doing this was just so unappealing as I was getting ready this morning. Still tired, knee aching already, rain beating on the house so loud....wondering why am I doing this. I arrived just before 7 and was on my way for my first 5 solo. Fortunately the rain had stopped 10 minutes before I arrived. It was still dark when I started but luckily the towpath where I ran is mainly crushed limestone and not too wet. First 2.5 went quick and I turned around to go meet up with everyone else. I had a chance to eat a half a clif bar and some gatorade while the group assembled. I tried to keep lose while waiting and before long we were off. The sun started to come out and the scenery down in the park was just gorgeous. You can tell fall is here. Three of us set out together and I was thankful for the company. About 5 miles in we walked for about 30 seconds to take in some fluids. Let me tell ya how much I love my fanny camelback on these long runs...always thankful to have it!

Then we took off again the last 2.5 before turning around where we took another 30 second break. My knee had a dull ache and my feet were numb as could be. The numb feet thing is a reoccuring thing with me. My friend says I should try to concentrate on not landing on the ball of my feet all the time. So I am planning to try to work on that. Took another walk break after the next 2.5 for 30 seconds to take in more fluids and so my friend could take a gel. Then he did a quick stretch on me which helped immensely. Aother random runner joined us for a couple miles and the guys swapped marathon stories and I worked on just keeping up. I was exhausted but did not want to let on. It just seemed like if I kept saying I was OK, that it would just be so. Walked for another 30 seconds before the last 2.5. Oh the knee was screaming not to make it start again, but I was in the home stretch so no giving up now. And then Oh happy day starting running through my head as I saw my car. Thank goodness I had made it and it had actually went fairly smoothly. Yes, I hurt. Yes, I felt exhausted. But there were no major struggles and things went pretty well. I am sure so much of this was made possible with my company. It is so much easier to have the distraction of conversation versus thinking about how much you hurt. So now I start my taper. Of course, could have had some more long runs but just trying to work with what I have on my bumb leg. So I am off to do some more icing!!!