Another week, another race. This Triple Crown series kicks my butt every year, although to be fair I’ve never hit 70 mile weeks in the in-between weeks. One more race to go!

Monday: Started the day with the Jasyoga Running Efficiency Boost in the morning as part of my Extra Salt goal to include an extra strength day on Mondays. DUDE. This was hard. It was hard when I did it and I was definitely sore after. Will definitely do again! Ran after work and was cranky about all of it. I started on the treadmill and did my first 5 inside but my calf/achilles was bothering me (thanks, 4mm drop shoes!). I ended up going outside even though it was cold and sleeting for the last 3. They were much quicker than the first part!

Tuesday: Treadmill day, hella windy and cold. 3 miles steady-state with 4×1 minute on/1 minute off before and after the SSR. Not a great day. I accidentally turned off the treadmill during the SSR, and then I needed an emergency bathroom break. So a bit of a hot mess. HR was super high. Not sure if that was because it was hot or what, but dialed it back a little. Coach’s notes said not to borrow from Saturday’s race. Did Jasyoga after.

IMG_1124Wednesday: Easy miles from the gym before teaching Pilates. Not much of note, still windy. Oh! My podcast episode came out! I had the opportunity to chat with Denny Krahe for the DizRuns podcast. His series is so fun to listen to, like you’re out on a run with a new training partner. You can find my episode here.

Thursday: Taught Pilates Strength first then headed out for 8 easy with strides at the end. My training log notes say, “Long day.” I went to work, then to watch WVU’s first-round NCAA basketball game with my husband (family tradition), then to Pilates, then to run. Zonked.

Friday: Easy shakeout run in the morning, felt clunky.

Saturday: Rodes City Run 10k. My Personal Best Training teammate Blake and his wife Kelly stayed with us Friday night — our first houseguests since moving! We rode down to the race together and met another PBT’er, Jordan, who had gotten up at 3:30 a.m. to drop his fiancé off at the airport and then drive to Louisville. CRAZY RUNNERS. We warmed up together for 2 miles then I did another mile by myself. I felt okay but still not as peppy as I did two weeks ago.

IMG_1167
Squad.

The weather was good, mid-40s, but it was super-windy like a lot of other places this weekend.

My race plan from coach was to go out around 39-minute pace for the first 5000 and then try to reel people in over the second half.

I failed this plan dismally.

I went out at 5k pace, about 15-20 seconds faster than I should’ve been. Mile 2 was slow like I knew it would be — huge hill — 6:30. I got back on target for mile 3, 6:14. I went through 5k in about the right time because the first two miles offset each other to about goal pace … but I was on the struggle bus, people, and it wasn’t pretty.

I used a hill around mile 4 to put in a surge and get past another girl, 6:16 and now headed into the wind. Mile 5 is ugly, 6:24, as we’re heading into downtown the wind is strong. We make the last turn around 5.5 and I’ve caught up with some other guys and tuck in and try to draft. Mile 6 is 6:19, better but definitely not what I wanted. My watch had a final 400 meters in 91, so 6-flat pace which is about all the kicking I could ask for. Officially 39:18 for 9th female.

I was really hoping to PR at this race — I ran 39:13 there last year for my PR. Last year I split a lot more evenly and closed better in the last 1.2, and by that I mean I actually followed the race plan.

So, a learning experience. Sometimes you need a reminder that going out too fast hurts. Follow the race plan, dummy.

That said, last year the top 5 guys were all sub-30 and this year the top 5 was 30:42-30:55. (The women’s times were even more different but the field was, too.) Maybe without the wind …

Cooled down 2 miles with my friend Rhi, then we had a PBT foam rolling and stretching party at my house followed by brunch. Even though I didn’t quite race how I wanted, I had a great time hanging out with my team. We should know tomorrow if we won the team challenge!

Sunday: Ran a couple of errands first because it was supposed to warm up a lot. Really sloggy recovery miles plus an extra 400m to even out the week’s mileage because I’m like that. Started listening to the Missing Richard Simmons podcast. I’m hoping to do some Jasyoga later today, too.

Totals: 54 miles, 160 minutes of Pilates and Yoga.