Trust The Process

20 mile long run today.  We were down near Baltimore visiting my parents so Lauren and I ran along the NCR trail.  She ran the first 10 with me at 9:42 avg pace.  I was glad Lauren was able to keep the pace under 10 min, conditions were perfect which helped but more importantly she has been getting in some decent miles for her the last few weeks and is in good shape for the half marathon.

For the next 10 miles alone, I ran the following:

6 miles at marathon pace (6:36, 6:48, 6:44, 6:54, 6:54, 6:50),

1 recovery mile (8:43);

2 miles at marathon pace (6:34, 6:51);

1 mile cool down (9:30)

This run felt good after my struggles on Friday.  This being my 3rd 20+ miler of this marathon training cycle, my legs have adapted well to the distance and I feel pretty good afterwards.

5k scheduled for next Saturday.  Not quite sure what to expect.

Speedwork today.  It felt nice to let out some steam today.  My dog has been in the hospital the last two days and the doctors can't figure out what is wrong with her.  It's costing me a fortune too.

2 mile warm up;

1.25 miles @ 5:42 pace, .75 mile recovery (8:30 pace);

0.75 miles @ 5:42 pace, .25 mile recovery (8:30 pace);

2 x 0.50 miles @ 5:42 pace, .25 mile recovery (8:30 pace);

0.25 miles @ 5:27 pace;

0.25 mile cool down (9:30 pace)

I felt like the workout went pretty good.  If I am able to run the 5k on Saturday, I am thinking shooting for just under 6:00 pace is reasonable.

Noon - 7 miles in 53 minutes on the TM including 1 mile at MP

Noon - 5 miles including .5 @ MP.  7:38 avg pace.

Approx 8.25 miles today outside near my office. My garmin died less than a mile into the run. I think i was running for about 70 minutes and I was taking it pretty easy so 8.25 is my best guess.

I am running a 5k tomorrow. I would be happy with a time of 18:30.

I won! I didn't ever expect to be the overall winner of a 5k with a 19 minute time, but a win is a win and I am very happy to check this off my long term goals list.

As you could imagine this was a small race with a light field, about 170 runners (70 men). The course was along a nice bike trail inside of veterans park in Hamilton, NJ. IT was hot this morning and very humid. I ran a slow 1.5 mile warm up and was drenched in sweat. Given the humidity, I knew it was going to be tough to PR today.

The gun went off and about 4 or 5 guys went out in front of me including a 12 year old who took the early lead and finished 5th overall in 21:02, kudos to him. About a quarter mile into the race, I was still in 5th and the pace felt very comfortable (about 6:10). At this point, I felt like I had a good shot to win as the three just in front of me were starting to slow down a little bit. I pushed a little bit and easily moved to 2nd. At about .5 miles, the 12 year old had about a 10 meter lead on me and I quickly passed him to take the lead. I didn't look at my watch again until 1 mile (5:57). I looked back at this point and had built a decent gap on 2nd place. As I hit the oval turn around point around 1.75 miles I looked back and no one was there. I figured I had at least a 20 second lead and figured it was going to be very hard for anyone to catch me so I let up a little bit on the pace. I ran mile 2 in 6:10. I was feeling winded during mile three and let up a bit more knowing I was going to win. I didn't check my watch again until the end of the race. Mile 3 was in 6:25. I pushed it for the final .1 as people were cheering near the finish. I ran the final .1 at 5:57 pace. Overall time was 19:03, 4 seconds off my PR. Afterwards, I was very happy to win, but wished I had pushed it a little bit harder during the last mile. I finished about 25 seconds ahead of 2nd and a minute ahead or 3rd.

For the victory, I won a tennis racquet (not stringed) and a tennis racquet bag that holds at least 3 racquets along with a nice glass paper weight trophy thing. Too bad I don't play tennis, but I think my wife has a friend who will give us a little cash for the racquet/bag.

It was a nicely run event, except for a timing snafu that delayed the awards ceremony. The bib numbers and times were originally correct, but somehow the names attached to the bib numbers were all wrong. It got fixed eventually. I think I will run this again next year.