Green Valley 8k Report

First time I have run this 8k race at Furman University. It was a fairly well done event. My only complaint would be the lack of aid on the course. One water station would have been nice. Pre-race, I picked up my number the race "jacket": this tyvek looking thing that I might do a boiler inspection in but not actually wear in public. I ran about 1.25 miles and stretched some. Then I went looking for the bathroom. I had my Garmin Forerunner on which doesn't show the time in training mode, so I let the race start sneak up on me. There were plenty others in the building, but they were running the 10miler that started 15 minutes after the 8k. When I exited the building, I had to sprint out about 200 yds to the start and the gun went off about 10 seconds after I arrived.

The first mile was faster than I wanted to go at 6:09, but it was pretty flat and it was the start. Mile two was closer to where I thought I would run at 6:32. I was feeling pretty good, but then mile three was mostly a slow uphill climb the entire way. I slowed down to 6:50, but I passed at least 10 people that mile. Around there I met up with Hal Outen, a local tri guy and we talked briefly and then kept each other working to the end. There were three guys within site of us and we both agreed to make sure we brought them back to us by the end. Mile four was 6:29 and mile five was 6:14. We caught the group in front on the last little hill before the flat mall finish. I pushed just barely ahead of the group with about 0.4 to go to see what the response would be. They all responded, but no aggressively. I let them all catch up, mostly just messing with their heads, and then at 0.25 to go I took off and put a big gap between them all. My last 300 ft (after the Garmin autolapped) was a 4:51 pace. HR was 197 bpm at the finish...yikes!

Total time was 32:32 and was good enough for a 2nd place in my new AG 30-34! I was pretty pleased with the outcome since I haven't been doing any real hard or fast running in the last few months.

Bummer...

Sinus infection, full-blown. I've been so happy this winter to be sinus infection free...I have a history of chronic sinus problems, but my luck has finally run out. So between MLK holiday (pool closed) and sinus junk, I've been sessile for too long now. Wednesday is usually a rest or very light training day (other time committments with family and church typically supercede training), but I'm going to try and get a swim and a run or bike in to get moving again.

On the upside, I just got my cadence sensor and quick release mount for my Garmin Forerunner 305 today. I'm glad to get that setup on my bike so I can be all anal retentive with even more data! I also like the velcro wrist strap better than the factory rubber one, because the loose end never stayed in the holder and always got on my nerves flapping around. Furthermore...Coach has raised my saddle over 1" so far and I can definitely tell the difference in power. I'm riding the trainer on a higher resistance setting in higher gears than I ever have before. I would love to of had a watt meter to see the difference in output.

Thanks Coach...

Since cycling may be my least favorite sport to train, I suffered through 90 min on the trainer today. I was instructed to keep it at 60% (136bpm), which I did fairly well. Mentally, I was definitely ready to quit at 45 min, but managed to hang on. I put in Ghostbusters DVD, which lasts almost exactly 90 min, so it was a big help. Honestly, without a coach to answer to, this workout would not have happened!!

Found a Coach!

After much searching and deliberation, I finally found a Triathlon coach: Steve Pyle. He's a former pro cyclist and seeing as how that's my weakest link, I'm looking to make some huge gains there. Tomorrow is my first official coached workout session. I'm excited that someone else will be doing all the thinking/planning and that I can be held accountable for my training. To be honest, my training last year was less than adequate in several areas, but still managed to race well. I plan on really tearing up the courses this year. My "A" race will be the SC Half. I want to go in the low 5:XX's maybe even under 5 (stretch goal)!! I also want to qualify for Boston this winter. I'll post a tentative race calendar a little later.

What is RSS?

Being the mildly technically, slightly geeky type, I was ashamed that I didn't really understand what RSS was. I was pretty sure I knew what it did, turns out I was right :), but I didn't know how to really access them once they were "feeding" to you. So after a quick Google search I am now fully informed and thought I would shorten the process for the other three people that read the blog!

3:44 of simple, but thorough explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU

Hope you enjoy and add me to your new RSS reader soon!

Turkey Day 8k...well, almost

Spartanburg Running Club puts on an 8k run each Thanksgiving morning. Will and I headed downtown to meet some other folks and go for a run. It's a pretty low key event. The only race entry is a canned good that goes to the local soup kitchen. Scott Wolfe and his boys showed up in some festive holiday hats.

It was butt freakin cold, but we had a good time. I told Will I'd run with him which I did for the first three miles. He was going good for him, averaging about 7:10 for the first 3 miles, but I could tell he was going to fade some more to the end. So, I decided to pick it up. I ran the next 1.5 mi at about 6:35. The course ended up short by a lot. It was 4.5 mi, my time was 31:25 for an average of 6:58/mi. I think I was 14th OA, but I didn't really have any goals other than to have fun.

After the run what else is there to do but visit the local refueling center:

Once home I did a sissy version of a Crossfit workout. 10 pushups, 1 situp, 9 pushups, 2 situps, etc to 1 pushup, 10 situps for time. My time was 5:23 and I was hurting!! I haven't done these in a while!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hope everyone (read as: "the two people who actually read my blog!") has a great Thanksgiving Day tomorrow!!!!!!

I'm heading into downtown Sparkle City (Spartanburg) for the Turkey Day 8k at 7:30am. It's a cool "race." A canned good for the local homeless shelter is the entry fee. The course is through downtown areas and the top 60 finishers get a t-shirt!

Plus it's a good way to make yourself feel better about the copious amounts of food you're about to spend the rest of the day stuffing your face with!