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September 25, 2005
85, 86, 87.1
During the past week I ran 91 miles (a new high), and work has been very busy, and I've just been too tired and uninspired to write anything until now. I'm still a little tired.
Anyway, this was the peak & pinnacle of the p plan, mileage-wise. It was also supposed to include a 22-miler, a track workout (6x1200), two medium-long runs, and some strides. Up until now I've hardly deviated from the Plan, but this week I swapped the track workout for an actual 5K race. Anyone who's read this blog much knows I hate track workouts and 5Ks almost equally, so I wasn't exactly trading up. I thought that the additional mental workout of a race would be good for me.
The course was certified and a little hilly (odd for here). I ran the course to warm up; this turned out to be a big help later and I recommend it to anyone. It was sunny, upper 70s and about 192% RH at the start. I saw a woman from my running club who's in my age group and who's beaten me forever; I decided my goal would be to keep her in sight. We started, and I had no trouble staying 3 - 4 seconds behind her and her training partner. By a half-mile I was running with them, and a quarter-mile later I decided just to go on ahead, sure the woman would catch me later as I was dying (I was wrong). I hit the first mile in 6:20 and felt really good. During the 2nd mile the woman's training partner caught and passed me; I let him go but ended up passing him back later in the mile. I ran past the 2nd mile marker while daydreaming about something or other; several seconds later I realized I should hit the watch and it said 6:32. The last mile had a couple of short hills and a longer, grindy hill just before the finish (these are Florida hills, mind you - the kind that people laugh at). I passed a couple of guys on these and just tried to pick it up as best I could and hang on. 3rd mile said 6:22 (short) and I finished in 19:54. It wasn't a PR but I was 2nd woman and 1st masters, and anyway I was really happy to get back under 20 without wanting to die. Parts of the race felt hard, but I never though about DNFing, so I guess I wasn't running hard enough.
After the race I cooled down with running-club people, including both the woman who won and the woman I'd wanted to trail (and her training partner), and my friend Albert, who's at the very same point in the P Plan as I am. He ended up 2nd man and 1st masters, and we were both pretty happy to have done this in miles 85 - 87.1 of a 91-mile week.
Taper starts for real now. I ran 17 insanely slow miles today, and the next time I string 17 together will be in Baltimore. Work, however, will stay crazy for at least 2 more weeks. I hope I can get through it.
Posted by joe positive at September 25, 2005 3:10 PM
Comments
Congrats on some outstanding training and, additionally, a good 5K amidst your high mileage training. A good day in paradise!
Posted by: MandM at September 25, 2005 11:28 PM