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| Staying relaxed before the start |
Thursday, August 13th, 2015
Cigna 5k
Last Thursday I drove up to Manchester, NH to run the Cigna 5k, at the request of my coach, even though my legs were still tired from racing and a long run over the past weekend. I lowered my standards a little bit before the race, it was 78 degrees and sunny (although the humidity was mild for New England) and it ended up taking me 3 hours and twenty minutes to get there. I had run this race several years ago with some guys from Keene and for some reason none of us ran well, despite the fact it is suppose to be a fast course. I got in 2.5 for a warmup, plus plenty of striders. The first mile of the course is a very gradual uphill, the second mile starts off downhill and then has a few mild rollers, the third mile is just straight and flat until about 2.85, where you climb a hill up to the 3 mile mark, before kicking it in to the finish line. The gun went off and I started out behind a few girls, I eventually passed one of the girls from NYC just before the first mile (5:31) and felt good. My second mile was 5:34+ and I thought at this point I was going to have a huge PR. Then the third mile came, and added some time. The open straightaway seemed to go on forever and the sun was beating down during that section pretty good. When I made the final turn up the hill I passed some people, but I am sure that hill added a good 10 seconds to my time. I finished in 17:29 for third place, a 4 second PR.
After the race I had a 4 x 3 minute on workout. I did this solely based off of effort, I didn't even record the pace I was running on my watch, although I'm sure it wasn't any faster than 6:20's. I stayed for the awards ceremony before heading up to Hanover to stay with my friend Janne for the night. We got in 8 miles in the morning before I left to come home. That afternoon I got in another easy 5 miles in the pine bush with Josh.
Sunday, August 16th- Easy 20 miles with Hannah, 12 with Frank, and warmed up with Tom, Scott and Matt. Nothing special, just needed to get in 20 miles that morning and we did, averaged around 7:05 pace.
Monday, August 17th- The heat has returned! I woke up and ran several miles in Scotia that morning, took a nap, and then went to the TAW XC run that evening. I ran fairly easy, although I did push the uphills, to finish first female, 5th overall. It was 90 degrees, yuck! That evening I really worked on recovery as I knew I had a hard workout planned for the morning. Contrast shower, foam rolled, elevated legs and PROTEIN! Omelets and protein shakes are my easy go to meals when I get home late.  |
Tuesday, August 18th- 5:00 am wake-up to meet Hannah at Corning Preserve at 6:00. It was already 74 degrees with 90% humidity. My workout that morning was 4 x 2 miles, 2 minute rest at 6:00 pace. We did a 3 mile warmup before starting; the first 2 were 5:56, 6:02- perfect. The second set, not so much.. 5:45, 5:54, which really hurt me on the third set-6:10, 6:02, and then I closed in 6:09, 5:58. So overall, the workout panned out to be exactly 6:00 pace, which I was happy with, especially considering the humidity that morning, but it was also the first time in years (?) the second half of my workout was slower than my first half. Aside from the humidity, the fact I ran the XC race the night before and didn't have any water available after the first set of my workout probably didn't help, but I got the job done.
Wednesday, August 19th- I got 12 miles in this morning (84 minutes) out on some nice country roads, it was actually the Turning Stone half marathon course (where I also won $127 in black jack the night before!). The sun wasn't out, which was good, but it was still super humid. I replenished with some eggs, and peanut butter/banana stuffed french toast before going to my massage this afternoon, which KILLED, but needed to be done. I'm drinking lots of fluids tonight!
I get to run easy doubles the next couple days and hopefully recovery fully before my long run/workout this weekend. I start my new job tomorrow and am pretty excited, although I must say the past 2 weeks of no work has been pretty ideal for training. I wasn't even running a TON, but it allowed me to take multiple ice baths, epsom baths, foam roll and nap, all things which suffer when working full-time.
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| My love. |
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