Mike and Amber decided to run this one too and it was fun to have people to run a race with. This race is at midnight on the Fourth of July on the streets around Seattle Center. Running with the beautiful lit up Space Needle as your backdrop is a beautiful thing. I remembered the course being pretty and I remembered it being good fun to run around the streets at midnight. What I forgot was that there were some nasty hills in it. I remembered the first and most major hill but it was much easier last year. Running this race has renewed my commitment to training on hills. In fact, last night I finally made it up the long, challenging hill near my house without having to stop. Progress is being made.
The splits weren't so bad except for the fact that I ran an additional .13 miles that pushed my pace down even further. The splits:
Mile 1 10:18
Mile 2 10:46
Mile 3 10:30
Mile .23 8:37
I love my Garmin. I can now quantify exactly how much I suck. I have official data. Anyway, the official results for a 3.1 mile course was 33:36 which is a 10:49 pace. Garmin recorded a pace of 10:23 for 3.23 miles. I like Garmin's numbers better.
On the bright side, we got really cool race shirts. Part of them glow in the dark. Here we are; "mooning" in our shirts the next night.
The other good part about running such a piss-poor race is that there is no where to go from here but up. Well . . . I guess there is always down too.
2 comments:
I take issue with the assumption that you're getting slower and weaker. Not sure how you can quantify that.
Take a look at your busy schedule, one which saw you take on ridiculous amounts of time and has only recently relieved you of the need to go to school for a while. How long's that been, a few weeks? How much quality training can be done in that amount of time?
It's all a process; as you know, the key is consistency. No three weeks of training (or whatever it is, I know I'm close)is going to suddenly allow you to burn it up. If a 5k PR is in your sights for the year, I'd actually suggest first that you get your mileage base up to 20 miles a week for a few weeks comfortably first. Believe me, this one step will make a big difference in and of itself, even without the speedwork step.
Once you can do 20 a week without feeling "pushed" by it, then start incorporating a tempo run or some fartleks into your routine once a week. Not as an extra workout, just replace one of your regular-paced runs with one of those.
There's no reason you can't continue to PR for some time to come yet.
Dear Madame Starchy:
What nonsense!! You are not getting slower. You've been fast ever since I've known you and that's why you're the most popular girl in school!!
On a more serious note, uhm hi, you're over the age of 29 and can run three miles in under seven days; that is incredible. If I were to try such a vigorous exercise, not only would my knees give out as soon as I bent over to lace my shoes, but they would have to send a search party to find me...at the nearest Arby's. Hugs and love...
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