Running Week Ending 4/22

Monday- Steady 8 miles 54:50
Ran the Sweet trail, Dame Rd. Loop out by the bay, felt great. Had a lot of fun on the trails, I was trying to focus on my foot work and getting through the spots with tough footing by planning out my steps and taking longer steps for the nice big stepping rocks. I was sorta trying to go over the technical stuff, rather than slowing down to go through it. Good run, felt great, but really hot after i finished, took about 10 minutes to stop sweating.

Tuesday-Track workout 7.5 miles 4 sets of 400, 200, 200.
We've got a nice thing going lately with my buddy Alex Hilson, we've been meeting on tuesday nights for track work outs and it's been great to keep us honest. I had the day off today, but after doing yard work in the sun all day I was still wiped by the time I got to the track, and would have probably just gone easy if we didn't have Alex planning to meet us.
I had planned on doing something heavier tonight, but had planned a nice light work out for Abbey who ran long two days in a row, by the time we got to the track I decided to do that with her instead. The work out went great though, it was right in Alex's wheel house and it was awesome to see the former 400 runner ripping some 200's. For myself it went well, but some of the faster ones really felt like a grind, not so much light and snappy. Here's the splits. 66, 35, 32, 74, 37, 34, 70, 33, 34, 72, 33, 32. Splits were a little up and down, it took me a couple tries to get into the rythym of the work out.

Wednesday-5 easy
Just an easy 5 today, still really sore from the work out yesterday.

Thursday- 6 miles easy.
Still tight from tuesday night, I'm thinking i might have run those repeats harder than I needed to. I tried to take it easy, but despite being sore I feel well rested after yesterday and was having trouble holding back.

Friday- 8 miles w/5k race.
Ran the Delta Dental/NHTI 5k tonight. It was kinda hectic trying to get out of work on time to get there, but I wound up getting there with plenty of time to spare. I grabbed mine and Abbey's package and then once she got there, we headed out for a warm up. I wasn't feeling great, and my calf was still feeling really tight.
Saw the CMS contingent on the line, in Scott Clark, Mike Q and Dave Dunham and did some striders.
The race got out kinda slow, and we were bunched up for the first half mile, before we hit the trail section of the course things started to string out, but I just focused on trying to run with Mike. I got through the mile in 5:18, although the kid reading out the times said it was 4:10. I threw my hands up to celebrate my new mile PR. Next mile I was just focusing on Mike, but he was putting more and more space on me. I hit the 2 mile in 10:55 and was still feeling pretty good. I knew Dave and Scott would be coming if I let myself fall asleep, so I just focused on pushing the pace and not letting them catch me. Around one of the last corners I was able to catch a glance back and saw someone pretty close behind me. That got the wheels going and I pushed it in pretty hard the last quarter mile into the finish. I Wound up with a 17:07 for 5th overall, in my best race of the season so far.

Saturday- easy 5 miles on some beautiful trails at Wagon Wheel Farm down in Durham. There's not a lot there, but was able to loop around some gorgeous grass loops cut around the fields for 37 minutes with out getting bored.

Sunday- 9.5 with a win at Red's Shoe Barn 5 Miler in 28:46
I've wanted to run this race since highschool, but had never gotten down to it before. Last year I realized that Community Partners the organization I work for is very involved in the race, and gives and recieves a lot of support from this race. Last year I couldn't make it cause I was working, but this year I had the day off and was really excited to wear my green Community Partners shirt to race. Community Partners is a great organization and they do an unbelievable amount of good for the Seacoast Community, in the way of supports and services to individuals with developmental, and mental health needs. So today to race for them, and be able to get the win was a real honor, but honestly I just got lucky.

Lining up I didn't recognize anyone on the line, and figured that had to be a good sign but ya never know in the seacoast there's so many guys out there. Getting out in the first mile I was trying to set a good pace but stay relaxed, I got out in 5:32 and felt surprisingly good for the pace, the next mile is rolling and with a pretty big lead already I slowed down a bit to 5:55 for mile 2. I didn't mean to let off the gas quite that much and I let some of my competitors start to close the gap over that mile. At one point a spectator said I only had about 20 yards, so I focused on pulling away over that mile, and wasn't making much ground as I ran a 5:59 for the 3rd mile which is mostly uphill. On the 4th mile I started to feel a bit better, and was able to pull far enough away to not have to worry about the guy behind me. But I only managed to push a 5:53 on the mostly flat mile. The last mile is all downhill and I tried to use it and managed a 5:26, to finish up in 28:46. Not too bad, It was a great to get a win, and I was glad I didn't have to push too hard in the race, after running a hard 5k on friday night. Felt strong and I won 75 dollars to Red's to get a pair of shoes with. Good timing too because Abbey needs to get a new pair soon.

Week Total:50 miles with two decent races. I'm feeling pretty good.