Rachel's 10K Series #2 Race Report

Saturday I raced the second race in the Magnuson 10K monthly series. I wasn't feeling very confident going into the race for a number of reasons. First off, I feel like my training has somewhat suffered since I started working full time. Each week I'm getting better at managing training with working 40 hours (though between commuting and my lunch break I'm actually 'at' work for 10-11 hours a day!). But come race morning, I felt like I hadn't gotten in the training I would have liked, since I really wanted to PR at this race again.

I was also discouraged by the outrageous wind I woke up to. Gusts of about 15mph had been blowing all night, and didn't seem to be weakening as the morning went on. The race started pretty late--10am--but the wind didn't die down until much later. Windy racing is always a struggle..but as I reminded myself at the start line, weather affects everyone in a race equally.

I tried to keep that perspective as we all shuffled towards the start line, hugging our arms and hopping up and down. The sun was out, but with the wind chill it was pretty darn cold. In fact, I was one of the only people out there in shorts. I was just glad I remembered to bring my gloves!

The gun went off, and I started out at a comfortable pace. My plan was to run the race like last time: comfortable for the first 5K, and push it in the second with whatever I have left. The first mile was cold and windy, so I made sure to keep the pace slow but steady. At the 1 mile marker, I felt great. Mile two was the hardest mile of the race. I kept expecting to see the mile marker but never did, and at one point I decided I must have passed it without realizing it. Well of course then a ways down the trail I actually did pass the mile 2 marker! That was rough, but I kept on. The third mile went a little better..smooth and fairly comfortable. I felt tired due to a poor night's sleep, but fine otherwise.

About 400m from the 5k point there is a short hairpin section that allows runners to pass each other and see who is running in front of them. At this point I saw a girl in a white scarf running about 45 seconds ahead of me. I thought maybe I could catch her, and hoped I could. But when I reached the hairpin and looked ahead, she was nowhere in sight.

At the 5K mark I deliberatly looked away from the time clock. At this point I still believed there was no way I could PR. But about a minute after passing through the halfway point curiosity got the better of me and I glanced at my watch to see 25:59. I couldn't believe it! I knew I was running slowly, but had no idea I was running that slow. I realized I had more left in my tank than I probably should, and had simply paced the first 5K poorly. I immediately picked up the pace. The fourth mile felt great--strong, fast, light. I passed a few guys and kept speeding up. the fifth mile I told myself 'just one more mile' and went for it. The girl with the white scarf was still nowhere to be seen, but I charged ahead, determined to at least finish in less than 50 minutes. At the hairpin again I saw her--finally!--only a few meters ahead. I tried to pass her going my pace but realized it would take too long. Then, as though I remembered I could run faster, I switched into a higher gear and sprinted past her, hoping to discourage her from trying to catch me. I held the sprint as best I could for the last 400m, got passed by two guys in the final meters, but was shocked when I saw 46:06 on the clock. a 40 second PR from last month, with limited training, 15mph winds, and a horrendously slow first 5k time. I must have run the second 5K in about 21:00-21:30, which would be a 5K PR for me. I was the first female finisher and 10th overall out of 96.

I'm pleased with my race overall, although it was probably one of my worst-paced races to date. I learned some good lessons and am excited to fight for another PR at the 3rd race in this great series!

More Vacation Training

Well it's Saturday morning, and this little tropical vacation is winding down. We leave today around 1:45pm. As promised, here's a little post about the rest of my training during this trip.

Monday I wasn't feeling super great..tired and a little uninspired to go train indoors again. But I got up, got ready, and hopped on the treadmill for what actually turned out to be a great run. 10min. warm-up, then 5x 2min. hills/3 min. flat. The hill sections got higher with each rep. After the reps I ran at just below 5k pace to finish out 5 miles, and called it a day.

Wednesday I fell in love with a new trainer workout. 10min. warm-up, then 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 climbing reps with equal rest between. It made the hour fly by! On some of the reps I sat the last minute or two and really tried to push it in a big gear, which hurt but was also great. I did a half hour of strength and core, and was done.

Thursday was an off day! I was gone on an excursion from 7am to 6:30pm, and by the time we got back it was dinnertime for sure. I think it was probably good for me to take a day off, too! I didn't necessarily felt like I needed a day off, probably because I'm only working out once a day here, but still I know it was good for me to take a little break.

Friday I woke up and had some serious stomach issues. I thought I wasn't going to be able to run at all! But by 7am it seemed better, so I headed back to the treadmill for some more hill repeats. I only made it 30 minutes before I had to stop. The run itself wasn't great either. But I'm glad I tried! I got in a half hour of strength (no core! That would've been asking for a disaster!) and that was it.

This morning I thought long and hard about sleeping in for just one day on this trip. But then I decided I really didn't want to sleep in..or anyways I convinced myself I didn't. Got on the spinner bike and did the pyramid climbing workout again. So fun! After that I got in a short core session, and that's it!

All in all I'm pretty happy I was able to continue training, at least to a certain degree, on this vacation. It is possible to train on vacation, it just requires some dedication. For me it required getting up at 6am every morning, but I would've been miserable if I didn't train. And maybe the best part of it all was indulging in pina coladas and the buffet guilt-free! :)

Vacation Training

First off, please excuse any poor grammar or misspellings in this post! Im typing from a keyboard synched to Spanish!

Im on vacation in Puerto Vallarta with my family right now, and thought Id write a post about how Im maintaining training as best I can here. Although we are on the beach in a tropical paradise, I havent been able to swim since we got here 3 days ago. The current in the bay where the hotel is is strong with a nasty undertow, so swimming in open water is highly discouraged and risky. There is also no lap pool here. Just a 10m water polo pool..and I havent been able to bring myself to work out in it for two reasons. 1, Id have to flip or turn every four strokes or so. And 2, there are no lane end markers in the pool, so I would inevitably slam into or completely miss the wall!

But I have been able to train every day so far. On the first day I got up at 6am (3am Oregon time!) and was on the treadmill by 7am. I ran 35 minutes, then did a strangth session. Im glad the gym here has a stocked gym, because Ive been meaning to incorporate strength into my training for awhile now..and the limited training options here make this the perfect time! As for the treadmill run, unfortunately none of the roads around here (of which there are only 3, actually) are necessarily safe to run on. No shoulder, sidewalk or lights, and drivers here certainly arent looking out for pedestrians on the narrow two lane cliffside highways. So its the treadmill for me!

Yesterday I was up and at the gym by 7 again, this time for an hour on the spinner bike. I dont remember the exact workout, but it involved about 10 minutes of warm up, then some 1 minute reps of: 1 minute climbing out of the saddle on a high gear, followed by 1 minute recovery. I did maybe 4 reps, then went straight into TT/tempoing for about 20 minutes, with a few climb intervals thrown in. After the tempoing was a short recovery, then more climb reps, then more tempo. The whole ride was only an hour but it hurt! I did a short core workout after that, and called it a day.

Today I wasnt able to work out first thing in the morning, because the whole family was up and out the door by 7:30 for a zipline adventure tour, which was so fun! But once we got back to the hotel and Id laid in the sun for awhile, I started to get bored and antsy, so I headed to the gym around 4pm for 45 minutes on the elliptical and a strength session. A stabalizer muscle above my left ankle has been bothering me since my first tready run here, so I figured ellipticaling would be a good alternative to a run today. It felt great, and was the perfect way to ease the tightness in my quads from yesterdays spin.

Ill post again when Im stateside about how I managed training over the last 4 days of my trip!

sample

this will get deleted later