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April 17, 2007
Wind, Hills, Mental Fog . . . and Another PR
Before I launch into a recap of the past week, I just want to echo what some other people have said, and express my heartfelt sadness about what has happened at Virginia Tech. Like most people, I was shocked to leave my own college campus last night, turn on NPR, and hear that 32 people had been killed. It's unfathomable to think about the situation - words often fail at times like these. It's just scary - as a graduate student and teacher - to think of how vulnerable our college campuses are . . .
I don't have an appropriate way of transitioning into my running . . . so here goes:
My half mile repeats went surprisingly well, but I did not do all 10 of them; I compromised with myself and did 8 . . . but that meant that the final two had to be all out. So I ran the first two in 3:05, the next 4 in 3:00, and then I cranked out a 2:55 and a 2:49. I was ready to pass out by the end, but I was glad that I made it through the workout! I did this on Thursday. On Friday I ran 7 miles, and on Saturday I ran 4 miles before a giant conference on women's and girls' rights as human rights that I have been involved with for quite a few months. Our conference was a wild success and I am already looking forward to helping out next year (when I have more time, I will dive into the conference in a more detailed fashion).
Since I was not able to run with my usual Saturday group for our workout (the conference was an all-day affair), I decided to jump into a half marathon on Sunday. While I went in with the intention of running it as a workout, I ended up PRing by 47 seconds. H. - my sort of coach - gave me a reasonable game plan: run the first ten around 1:07 and finish the final 5K under 21:00. I did exactly that and ended up crossing the line in 1:27:13. (6:39.5 pace).
And here's the mental fog part: I was absolutely, 100 percent miserable from the smack of the gun! Last week marked the first week that I actually ran 6 days in a row and my mileage hit the mid 40s. This is relatively new terrority for me - the last time my mileage jumped like that was . . . well, a long time ago! My legs were definitely feeling the workout from Thursday and I had to convince myself to hang in there. The weather was fairly nice (nothing like the horrid conditions in Boston): 34 at the start and dry. BUT, we had a mad head wind to contend with for 7 miles AND the course was hilly! I guess I sign up for races in the midwest assuming that they are flat. NOPE. So not only were my legs fatigued, but I had to run up hills the entire time . . . blah.
I saw B. at mile 5 and threatened to drop out. Saw him again at mile 7 and said the same thing. Saw him again at mile 9 and thought the same thing but kept it to myself. Saw him again at mile 12 and I was *finally* getting it together. I was annoyed at my inability to move my legs so I dropped at 6:23 mile at mile 11 and then the final two miles - going uphill - were around 6:30-6:35. I have never finished a race faster than I started so this was a giant improvement. I ran completely alone for the final 11 miles of the race . . . I had a lot of time to think; too much time to think! Overall, I was extremely happy that I hung in there when my legs clearly rebelled against the notion of racing. As much as I wanted to drop out, I found another gear mentally that I have never found before in a race . . . as punishing as the experience was, it was the best racing experience I have had to date. My previous half marathons were run with other people and large crowds.
I have another half coming up in June and I have some ambitious goals!! We'll see . . .
I took yesterday off and today I think I am going to run a nice and easy 4-5 miles.
Posted by bridget at April 17, 2007 8:35 AM
Comments
nice race.
Posted by: indigo at April 17, 2007 9:09 AM
Great job on your PR Bridget! Congrats - hope those legs are feeling better!
Posted by: Beth at April 17, 2007 10:42 AM
Congratulations! I can't imagine feeling that bad for that much of a race and then still picking up the pace at the end. That's awesome!
Posted by: Alison at April 17, 2007 11:03 AM
1:27:13 very sweet indeed... way to run Bridget! Some nice mental literature in there...
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at April 17, 2007 2:26 PM
Nice one! You rock!
Posted by: becky at April 17, 2007 4:24 PM
You're a total stud for pushing through the mental blocks and gettin' it dun'! Nice job and nice new PR! Recover happy and well!
Posted by: Meghan at April 17, 2007 9:18 PM
Way to go Bridget!! Congrats on the PR and the exercise in mental toughness :)
Posted by: barb at April 19, 2007 1:43 PM