Allow me to catch you up...as its been a few days...
Bottomless Ego...A lovely phrase someone close to me came up with...I apparently was full of love for myself yesterday when talking to him. I can't even remember what we were talking about...racing, schooling, how awesome I am--who knows.
After a shake out ride, (1:45 of boring pedaling-no drills, no hard effort) I had a massage with a new woman and she seemed rather thrilled with my muscles, very openly complementing them! She gave a really good, deep massage, that included finding all my knots and getting them out. I felt like I had never pulled the hamstring & felt the loosest I've felt in nearly 2 months! She said she would love to give me a 90 minute massage sometime because I'm so tall & my muscles are so long & she thinks she can get deeper into my neck & arms that she ran out of time for. I'm psyched to have found someone good that I can use on a pretty frequent basis and for a good price (through Massage Envy). I have someone I like who can really dig, but her prices are up there so I usually reserve her for pre or post race or if I'm just a hot mess.
The rest of the day was spent carbing up (why did I bother with the 5 day cleanse, only to spend all of Saturday eating a lot?!) in preparation for the 15k run race that was postponed from the week prior due to the snow storm.
I woke for 7am this morning to get some fuel in me & get to the race. I was hoping to meet with the other racers in the club, but I only saw one woman. I guess the others dropped out or something. I know the postponement threw a couple people off who had planed to be away this weekend. I had some silly race jitters and at one point, I was laying on the floor of the school we started the run at, cracking up. Don't ask. I guess no matter what the race is, I always have some sort of nerves, of varying levels.
I started out too fast, saw a lot of 9:40's on my watch. After a mile & a half, I realized I HAD to back off--starting out this fast is NOT a good idea & it will NOT last--especially on the hilly course. I backed off, let this Asian woman I'd be kinda pacing around go & ran MY race. I was able to keep her in my sights until the final 5k. Over the past several years of racing, I've matured enough to learn how to run MY race & not to sheepishly go with the pack. In this race, most people probably run 5:30's-7:30's per mile...so why would I chase them??
My coach had set a slow pace for me to aim for, but I had goals in mind. I ran this exact course in 2010 in an hour + 50 minutes. It was a HARD run for me then, my gut was killing me, I walked-A LOT & it just sucked. I was very sore after & was useless the rest of the day. I knew I wanted at least 1:45-simply take off 5 minutes...in my head, I wanted 1:40 or 1:41-take off a minute each mile or 10 minutes total from my previous race. This is a pretty aggressive goal, so I never said it aloud or even wrote it down until now. My other goal-I never wanted to walk. Even on the hills, I didn't care if my pace was 15 minute miles, which today, it was at times, I just wanted to keep moving & not give into my mind being fatigued. I talked to my legs a lot, told them to take over when I felt my HR getting too high. They were told to take short, choppy steps to get up those hills and to watch it in regards to the rough, pothole-filled roads.
Other than my quick start, the first 4 miles were pretty good, pretty routine. There was a long hill in the middle, miles 4-6, which were largely on a dirt path. I could feel my ankles rolling a bit & the sides of my calves being pulled. I kept my mind sharp, focused on each step so as to not misstep. I used a lot of the same positive self talk I used in my half Iron last year.
I also talked to Sarah Bruke (recently passed away from a ski injury) and to Sally Meyerhoff (passed away almost a year ago while triathlon training) to ask them to just keep me strong. Both were near my age & just stellar stellar female athletes, both working towards Winter X-Games & the 2012 London Olympics, respectively. I have A LOT of respect for female athletes and those were simply 2 of the best who contributed so much to their sport and gave females someone to look up to.
I had figured if I could push the last 5k, I could hit my 1:40 goal. I tried, but I couldn't. That part of the course was a beast & largely uphill. I pulled out some speed when I could, but decided I should probably just do what I can & not go crazy pushing. Once I hit the driveway of the school, I was grunting, purely exhausted & just left it all out, pushing as hard as I could. I saw 1:44 & took it. 6 minutes off the old race, NO WALKING, I'm a pretty happy camper! When I saw the 1:44, I asked myself if I could've pushed harder for 4 minutes somewhere, and I couldn't. That's how I want every race to feel--NO REGRETS, give it all I got each time!
I think now there's only 2 weeks until the 20k. I ran this course with my friend Christine in '10...but we actually missed a turn & wound up running our own made up 20k. We were both sore with that race, lots of walking, so I'll look forward to putting in some work the next few runs to ensure a PR there as well.
