It’s been more
than five months since a post and as you can imagine, I have been busy. At the
forefront of all of my distractions was applying for, and getting, a new job. A
new job that I absolutely love! However, applying for a job, interviewing, waiting
for an offer, working through my long period of notice, and then starting a new
job was stressful and required most of my cognitive energy. I feel like I am
really settling in to my new work and am most of the way through my first full
semester on the job. In other words, things are starting to smooth out a bit!
I also
noticed, reading back through my blog posts, that I missed reporting on my Pit
Run performance from the beginning of October. The Pit Run is a 10k held the
first weekend in October and features a seriously brutal hill climb. My goal
was to do the race in less than an hour…AND I DID! 56:39 was my official time.
I really could not have been more thrilled. Not only did I beat my goal, but I
improved on my previous best 10k (on a much flatter course); I ran that race in
June and did it in 1:03.
I was excited
about getting faster so I started doing speed work and hill repeats to help
develop my speed. For the fall 5k race season I was shooting for breaking 25
minutes. My first shot at it came in November at the Hot Cocoa 5k. It is a
reasonably flat race, although it does have two decent climbs. It was a cool
but bright day—really great race weather! To be honest, I didn’t really run a
smart race. Unsurprisingly, I went out a bit fast and ended up running positive
splits…not the best plan: 7:50, 8:18; and 8:25. That would look great if they
were in the reverse order. Oops! I just missed my goal: 25:09 was my gun time! I
was disappointed to have flagged late and missed my goal by so little. On the
upside I finished 4th female overall and 1st in my age
group!
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| I won a mug and a certificate! |
Next up was the Turkey
Trot. This is a great race because it is about as flat and fast as a course can
get. There was freezing rain and sleet in the forecast, but it hadn’t moved in
by the time we started. There was a good field, and I felt strong starting the
race. I was determined to run a smart race and to start a little slower. I
figured that, on this fast and flat course, I shouldn’t have any trouble
shaving ten seconds from my time. I ran an 8:14 first mile and felt like I was
in good shape. I ran an 8:06 second mile and turned the corner to head down the
home stretch and started to feel like hell. My stomach was off, I was sucking
wind, and my legs felt weak. I couldn’t keep up the pace and slacked off just a
little to give myself a rest. Then, the hail and sleet started in the last half
mile. I ended up running an 8:35 third mile. I missed my time goal by nearly a
minute! I was disappointed and frustrated! I went home and had a lovely
Thanksgiving but I couldn’t help being bummed by my performance.
My last chance
to break 25 minutes came on December 31st: the Frostbite 5k. And it
sure was cold that day! I actually don’t really like it too cold for racing. I like
that I don’t boil, but I have a really hard time getting warmed up and keeping
the pace up. The Frostbite route is also fairly hilly and finishes with a long,
steady climb. This ended up being one of those races where you feel like you
are running hard and strong the whole time but your pace just isn’t there. I
ran negative splits, but barely: 8:35, 8:27, 8:23. I even got legged out at the
finish line by a woman who I thought I had left behind with a quarter mile to
go. All of that effort and I finished bent over, near vomiting, with a 26:28. Ugh!
But then I
went home and happened to see my time from the previous year’s Frostbite run:
33:11. I improved by nearly 7 minutes in a year. And if you compared my first
5k (37:50) to my best (25:09) we are talking about over a 12 minute improvement
in about a year. I really can’t complain too much! Here are the stats:
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| Huge improvement in time from 2015 to 2016. |
I took it easy
in December, even though I kept getting outside as much as I could. My mileage—graphed
below—decreased December through February but that is due, at least in part, to
the fact that I don’t track my indoor workouts through this app. As the weather
got really nasty I did more of my workouts on the indoor track or on the
treadmill. You can see that March has correlated with a big uptick in mileage.
Also, I am training for my half marathon in May!
I also
began playing basketball during my lunch hour in January. Which was a lot of
fun. Until it wasn’t. About four weeks into playing I tripped and fell down.
Awkwardly. Like I do. I finished the game but got back to my office and
realized something wasn’t quite right. I went to the doctor’s office that night
and learned I had broken my hand.
It took me
over a week to get in to see the specialist and get the cast on. Wife would NOT
let me run during that time so I spent a lot of time on the stationary bike.
Finally, I got in to see the doc and had the cast put on. The last time I had a
cast the only option was…cast. Plaster. That was it. Nowadays you get to choose
from about ten different colors. So I went with grass green. The PA who put on
the cast also gave me a note saying it was absolutely fine for me to run again.
In fact, he even suggested that if I were to fall on the ice, I should land
cast first—these casts are pretty tough. And there ends the upside of this story.
Casts are
uncomfortable and unwieldy. And did I mention it was on my right (dominant)
hand? Wife wasn’t overjoyed because I couldn’t do dishes, cook, or keep up with
any of my usual household responsibilities. Also, how do you keep your hand
warm when you have a cast on and are trying to run in 20* weather?
Tube socks. That is how. Not classy or pretty, I know, but
effective.
We also got
three feet—you read that right—three feet of snow about three weeks into me
having the cast on. After the first foot we gave up on shoveling. Thank
goodness for great neighbors who come over and help out!
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| Notice the plastic bag over my hand. Headed out to shovel. |
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| That isn't a trick of perspective; the snow bank is actually as tall as I am. |
After four
weeks I had the cast removed but I still had a lot of pain. I went back to the
doc and the PA suggested that four weeks in the cast wasn’t long enough.
Information that would have been more convenient before they removed the cast.
Fortunately, they did not recast the break, but instead made me promise to keep
my splint on at all times and take it easy. I am at week six now (seven since I
broke it) and have one more week before my follow up. Thankfully, it isn’t too
painful and it is nice to have the cast off—it was really impacting my gate and
my form as my mileage was picking up for my half training.
I am just
over a month out from my half and things are going pretty well. I am still a
little twingey in the back of my right leg, but I am going easy and taking care
of it. Fingers crossed! Here are my half goals:
1.
Finish
2.
Finish in less than 2:20
3.
Finish in less than 2:10
WISH ME LUCK!
