I blinked and a week has gone by. I want to wish all of you a happy and safe holiday. I know most of my fellow triathletes and endurance runners will find some time over the holiday to squeeze in a workout or two. :)
I sometimes take for granted that there is an overwhelming selection of events where I live. It’s not hard for us to go online and find something to do on any given weekend. It’s usually when I have to travel out of town that my appreciation for those events set in.
A few weeks back I was planning an out of town trip and I was amazed to see that my destination did not have any events going on, not for that weekend but, for that entire month! I contacted the website’s webmaster was relived to find out that there was an event but, it had not been posted yet. I was hoping for a 10K event but, all they have to offer was a 5K event. I was happy they had something rather than nothing at all.
For those of you who are in the middle of training this time of the year can be a bit tricky. Take the time to look at your training calendar and plan your workouts appropriately. It will help you get through the holiday without having to worry about missing any workouts. You may not be able to squeeze them all in but, something is better than nothing. It will also help put your mind at ease when you are attacking those holiday meals. J
My lower abs are still healing day by day. I’m almost back to 100%. I’m looking forward to the day to be able to do core work again. I had a pretty solid workout week. I can usually gauge the effort based on how trashed my legs feel. This morning they were pretty trashed. I got in a good swim and relaxed in the hot tub to help try and loosen them up.
I take with me a positive this week. I ran a 5K this week. I knew it was going to be flat and fast. My last year time of 18:04 was good enough for 29th place overall and 4th in my age group. This year I went in with two goals. I wanted to beat last year’s time and I wanted to place in my age group.
My legs were pretty beat up by a Tuesday morning run work out and my Tuesday evening bike workout. I knew I would have to work to make my goals. This 5K had over 1000 chipped runners and 4000 non chipped runners. I made sure I got up front to avoid trying to get through hoards of runners.
The first mile was pretty fast I was maybe in 20th position and put in a 5:31 pace. The second mile was all head wind. My pace dropped to a 5:51. My legs were really talking to me after the second mile. I was also very careful with my foot placement. There were parts of the course that were not well lit and there were turns with some gravel on them. My first thought was, “Don’t fall”. J The last mile was my gut check mile. I put in my last mile at a 5:43 pace.
As I approached the finish line area I was well aware that there were 4 or 5 of us running in a pack. I had no idea where I stood on my time goal but, I did have my sight on a gentlemen who was running about 5 feet in front of me. He looked like he could be in my age group. I still had that goal in mind. I did not know how many others in my age group were in front of me.
With less than 200 meters to go I decided to sprint. I was going to leave it all out on the line and if they could keep up and beat me the more power to them. I went for it and crossed the finish line at a 4:18 pace. Yes, I was in a full on sprint for about 20 seconds. I can’t remember the last time I pushed this hard but, it felt good to compete with other competitive runners. I honestly can’t remember the last time, if there was a last time when I had to dig deep for a finishing position.
In the end I walked away with a PR (17:38) and a 1st place award in my age group. I finished 12th over all which is a good size move from last year’s 29th overall finish.
I’m eagerly waiting for my abs to be 100%. I want to be able to give the quality workouts I know I need for the upcoming 2012 season.
Again Happy Holidays to everyone!
Thank you for reading this blog entry. As always feel free to email me any questions or comments you may have.
..ej
ej@trilifeblog.com
www.facebook.com/trilifeblog
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