On October 16 I participated in a very small 5k, put on by a local gym and my former running coach; the secret to placing in your age group is running small races. I don't recall the last 5k that I ran, it's been that long. I have been so focused on running half and full marathons I never even considered shorter events. I was the third female finisher; this earned me a medal and a pair of shoes. My time was 24:30, a 7:46 pace; I came in 13th overall (I told you it was a small race). The gym also has a Boot Camp program and they had set-up an obstacle course in the parking lot, I had never done anything like this so I gave it a try - wow, it was hard but really, really fun. Their goal of sucking new people in to the program was met, I signed up for a month trial of the Boot Camp.
On the 17th I ran in an all women's half marathon; I had to get on a plane to Chicago at 1:30 that afternoon and the race didn't start until 9:00 a.m. That meant my number one goal was to finish in less than 2 hours so I could have time to quickly clean-up & hit the airport. It was a spectacular morning, 37 degrees at the start but crystal clear; a perfect day! I ran with two friends and we thought we would start at an 8:30 pace and slow down if necessary. My half PR was 1:55 and I was two weeks post marathon; I thought 8:30's would be a reach but I was just running for run that morning. To my unbelievable surprise, I finished in 1:51 which is an 8:31 pace; a 4 minute PR. I was astounded; we had a fabulous run and it felt EASY. My new half goal is going to be 1:49; I'm running another half on December 12th and I think I will go for it!
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| Here we are post race, what a great group of ladies |
This past Saturday I ran in another small 5k (not quite as small as the first) and again was the 3rd female to finish; another PR 24:11 This was after being out of town for a week and not running one inch during this time. I feel like I had more in me; my confidence is really improving, it was an area I needed to work on.
I need to get into a manageable schedule for running and cross training; it's been hard to get a handle on since St. George - any suggestions?
Have an awesome week.
nice job with those speedy legs! I have no training suggestions at all, but am impressed with all your PRs! woo!
ReplyDeletewow! congrats on the running and all the speed! sounds like the marathoning has paid off huge in the shorter distances :) good work!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the two AG awards and your multiple PRs...wow 1:51...you are fast! :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think we do better when we take the pressure off! Congrats on the multiple PRs!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the THREE PRs! You are speedy!
ReplyDeleteLook at you with all the PR's! You must have done something right with St. George. Congrats!!! I can't begin to imagine running fast right now. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, what a killer couple of weeks. I have no idea how you set back-to-back-to-back PRs. I feel like I keep saying it takes about a month to recover from the marathon. Looks like you're riding that fitness base.
ReplyDelete6 weeks or so until the next Half, depends on what you're comfortable with. You can definitely get in quality training, running 3 days per week with one of those days dedicated to speed. That should shave off the time you need for the PR. Long runs, you should have no problem ramping those up either. I would start at 6 miles and add 2 each week (unless that sounds too short).
I crosstrain every other day, it's whatever works best with your schedule and need for rest. Good luck!