Mad Monday Update 2/16/09 & Chili Bowl Report

So Saturday ran the Chili Bowl which has been on the schedule for several years now. The last several years the course has changed so the times are not really comparable but this year was my fastest time yet and my guess would be that it was the slowest course.

The drive up to the race was sheer madness. The roads were slick as could be and there were 11 separate accidents I passed. Relieved that I finally had made it downtown, I grabbed my stuff and after dropping it in my car headed out on a warm-up with CV. The roads were sort of slick and snow-covered and I definitely noted that I would need to be a little careful. It was windy and snowing a bit and during the warm-up I thought about diverting to my car to get my yellow lens glasses. However I did not want to take the time and that ended up being a bad call.

After lining up for the start we were off. The first mile has a slight downhill to Saint Clair before another downhill on W3rd. I hit the first mile at 6:10 and while normally I might consider it fast, with the downhill, it was hard to judge. There were two girls in front and I was just trying to run in a zone I could maintain. Once we turned onto Marginal, I started to feel really miserable as my eyes were watering so bad I felt like I was crying due to the snow and wind. I could barely see and was sort of miserable. My eyes are overly sensitive which I think is due to the 3 eye surgeries I have had. As I made the turn I knew I was going to have to work hard to hold off JC in 4th as she is so strong. Mile 2-6:44. Mile 3 was going to be a challenge, up the W3rd hill and the uphill grade after 6th and some slick footing. I was slowing and the acid started filling my legs on the hill and JC passed with authority and while I tried to hang on, it was not happening. Mile 3-7:07.



I struggled to recover quick after the hill and hit the finish line in 20:39 (6:39 pace) for 4th Overall Female and 1st in AG. Not a bad way to start off the road race season in those conditions.

Despite not really feeling like it, I went out for a cooldown with E, CV (who was just behind me and had a good race), JC and RL. I enjoyed the warm-down and felt much better afterwards.

Then it was time for the fun! I got to see lots of friends out at the race and hang with everyone over chili and some awards. The Tower City Bar was a nice venue for the awards party and it made for a really enjoyable morning.






Monday 2/9 - AM P90X with CV---lots of pushups and other chest, tri and shoulder exercises
- noon- 0.3 miles on treadmill before giving up to do 20 min easy on recumbent bike, stretching (legs tired from weekend)
Tuesday 2/10 - AM 8.2 Miles with BM and CV
- PM 2 hour indoor cycling class
Wednesday 2/11 - 20 miles outside bicycle
Thursday 2/12 - OFF
Friday 2/13 - 6 miles easy outside with E, Rode 6 miles on bike outside before work called
Saturday 2/14 - 6.5 miles including Chili Bowl 5K
Sunday 2/15- 17 miles with SERC 8:07 avg pace (last 4 dropped pace 7:41, 7:36, 7:30; 7:36)
-2550 meter swim (I know about time I made it back to the pool. Started a little rough but it came back)

Totals
Biked - 61 Miles
Ran - 38 Miles (much lower than the 50 average that had been planned)
Swam - 2550 Meters (only got in one w/o of the 3 scheduled)
Core - 1

Thoughts- I need to do a better job planning my workouts and with the structure of them. Still to random and not getting in all of the key ones but in general fitness feeling like it is improving.