I ran in the Heritage Run 10K in downtown Rockford on Sunday, my first race of the year. It was nice to get that first race out of the way, and to remind my body what the all-out effort of a race feels like. Training for such a long period of time without racing, I've started to wonder whether all of the effort is paying off. On Sunday I found out the answer is 'yes'.
I did not pre-register for the race, and with it raining in the morning, I wasn't sure if I would compete. When the rain let up, and the temperature got up into the high 50's, however, I decided to do it. The 1 pm start time could not have worked out better. I ran, finished, caught my breath, had a Powerade and piece of bread, and when the sky suddenly darkened ominously, I walked to my car. About ten steps before getting in, there was a big gust of wind and the rain started pouring. Couldn't have been better timed... for me. Those who were still on the course after about 55 minutes unfortunately had to finish in a hard rain.
I was very happy with my result. I've done virtually no speed work this year, focusing my run energy on my weekly long runs, rather than the shorter ones during the week, and because of this, these were probably six of the fastest miles I've run all year... all in a row. I finished in 43:44, around 45 seconds slower than last year, but without anyone pushing me like last year, I was excited about achieving that time. The best part is... I've never felt better after a 10K, and this is one of my fastest ever (not counting High School). The top five finishers in each age group medaled, and I snuck in a fifth place finish. Sucks being 30... if I were still in the 25-29 division (or the 35-39, for that matter), I would have finished second. That's the breaks though. Overall, a great race, and a great shot of confidence as I continue training.
Today Zack and I ran a laid-back 3 miles, though on a hilly course, and then practiced transitions in preparation for the Peanut Butter Duathlon this Saturday. We started in our running shoes, ran and changed into our bike shoes and helmets, mounted, rode a quick tiny loop, dismounted, changed back into our running shoes, repeat, repeat... It was fun, as we got a little competitive, and we figured out a few little time-savers that we would never have thought of without physically trying them. I'm excited to do the duathlon now simply to try out my new transition skills.
Tonight I swam the first time trial of my training regimen... 1650 yards. I'm not sure why the author chose that distance, but that's what the plan called for, so that's what I did. It was a great, solid swim. I finally have some quantitative evidence that I'm much farther along swimming-wise in my training than last year. I checked my split every 400 yards, and I maintained a pace faster than my swim times in both the Freeport and Rockton triathlons last year. So basically I swam 400 yards four times in a row, each time faster than I could sprint it one time last year. And... I had a lot left in the tank. I pushed hard, but was conservative. As I get more practice at racing in the pool, I'll learn to know my limits better, and will be able to attack them more aggressively.
Very exciting couple of days.
4/26 6.2 mile run (2009 OSF Heritage Run 10K Results)
4/27 3 mile run, transition practice with Zack, Swim: 100 warm-up, 100 w/pull buoy, 100 w/Techpaddles, 1650 time trial, 300 cool-down
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