Not a Great Race, but still a Great Week

See if you can spot the Crackhead in the photo. Trust me, I'm in there!

On Thanksgiving morning, I ran a 5K. Going in, I thought I might be able to win the 50-59 age group, or at least set a minor PR. I am not good at the 5K distance. 10K and up, I do much better. But this race starts a mile from home, and the weather forecast was great, as compared to last year.

Last weekend, I looked up 2005 results and turns out I was 6th in the entire 40-49 age group, and was the highest placed, oldest finisher there. Ha! Last year when I ran the race, it was very cold, and I had not run outdoors in quite awhile. Encouraged by last year's results and in looking at 50-59, I figured running 8:15/mile might get me the win. So I even pre-registered.

Thursday morning dawned cool, and based on Weather Underground, I didn't expect it to be much over 40 at race start. Still, not bad running weather. So it was going to be tights and long sleeves. Initially, I wanted to wear all pink (what I wore for the Disney 1/2 last January), but then decided I needed to be slightly more dressed, so I opted for my Ironman Canada tights (mid-weight, as running tights go) and my new Desoto whatever it is black zip technical top, a regular running hat, and gloves. If nothing else, I was dressed very aerodynamically.

I warmed up running south to the end of my street and back home, which is about .5 mile, and the clothing choice felt perfect. I drank a little more water, and jogged on up town.

There were lots of runners warming up all over the place. I went by the finish line and asked some volunteers where I could puke when I was done. They pointed at a garbage can which has a raised lid on it. I told them they would need to take the lid off! We had a good laugh at that. I ran around some more and needed to pee one more time. In true Crackhead fashion, I found an alley, and funny thing is someone else had already peed there, so I didn't feel at all bad by adding to the puddle.

At the start area, I ran into Mike #1, a guy I know who unfortunately, DNF'ed at IMWI this year. But we didn't talk about that. He looked good, told me I looked good, and we wished one another a good race. He actually beat me last year, and I threatened to beat him this year, but I doubted I would--as I've said, I am no good at 5K distance, but he is. We are both 50 years old.

Waiting for the start, I ran into Mike #2, a guy I know from a few years back that I did a couple of training rides for IMWI with. Nice man, and awesome swimmer. He said he was suffering from some hip issues, and was just going to try things out today. I wished him luck.

I lined up in the 8:00MPM area, knowing full well there were lots of people who were seeded improperly. Last year it took me too long to reach the start line, and this race is not chip timed, so it's all about gun time. But I was optimistic I could pick my way through.

BANG! The gun goes off and we are....SHUFFLING. Mike #1 tells me to just shuffle, and hey, I know, but my time started already so I need to get running. I began picking my way through folks who have absolutely no idea of their running pace, but that's OK, as I began to head for the outside. We were running to my house, or close enough. After about 1/4 mile I was finding clearer space to stay in the center of the road.

I didn't wear my HRM, since I've not been wearing it for a few months now. I also really didn't want to look at my watch, nor did I want to see a race clock. But I DID see the stinking race clock at Mile 1, and it was 8:13. I think I went out too fast, because it must have taken 10" at least to get to the actual start line. Oh well.

Because I saw the stupid clock, I consciously decided to slow down. STUPID, STUPID. It's not like I was going to blow up totally--I just don't know how. But, I could feel the lactic acid building up in my legs, and it didn't feel good, but I didn't want to slow down too much.

I hit Mile 2 at 16:43, so it was 8:30. OUCH! I slowed down big time. Now I knew I only had 1.1 more to go, and hey, I'm not going to die here, I should be able to pick it up. I spotted a woman ahead of me that looked younger who was running a good pace. For about .5 mile, I just decided I needed to not lose her. After that, I don't remember too much except to keep going and forget about how it felt.

I crossed the finish line in 25:37, which is a PR for me, at 8:16/mile. Turns out I ran the last mile in 8:05. Crap! I should have been able to run the entire thing that fast or even faster. Oh well! Thing is I could have kept running another 3.1 at about that pace.

At any rate, my goal was 8:15/mile, so close enough. But would it get me a top 3? I didn't think I'd get first. I got in line for a massage and was behind the woman I had chased near the end. She thanked me for pushing her. What? Apparently, I passed her with about .5 mile to go, and then she said she tried to catch me but couldn't. I thanked her back, saying she made me pick it up there at the end. Turns out she does Olympic distance triathlon, so we chatted a bit about that. She had noticed the M-dot on my hat while she was chasing me. I told her, yeah, I do Ironman, but hey, any distance triathlon makes you a triathlete, and that the shorter stuff is just as hard!

When I got on the table, I got to say hello to a massage therapist I used to go to named Cindy. We are catching up while someone I don't know is working nicely on my legs. After they finished up with me, I chatted some more with Cindy and she introduced me to a guy from Iowa that will be doing IMWI in 2007 as his first Ironman.

I had a few cups of coffee, since I was going to bike when I got home, and stuck around for the awards. Based on what they announced, I didn't even make top 3! SHIT. I looked online yesterday and the times they posted are all messed up, so I don't believe what they posted, but it is what it is, and at least it was a tiny PR. I ran into Mike #3 that I know from my YMCA. He's a really good runner who just started in his late 30's. He qualified for Boston in his first marathon 2 years ago, and this past April, he qualified for Boston AT Boston. I am blessed to know so many really strong athletes.

I ran home, got the leg of lamb ready to roast, put it in the oven and got on my bike for 1:15. Oh man, legs were not willing to hit the FTP that day. So I settled for 90% of FTP, still not bad for having run a 5K. But while I was on the bike I was thinking what a crappy duathlete I would make. But then when I thought about it, a lot of people wouldn't be able to ride at 90% of their FTP right after a 5K so maybe I would not be such a crappy duathlete. At any rate, I seriously looked forward to getting off my bike and starting in on some EATING.

My dad arrived around 1PM, and I was just about to shower. I told him to make himself comfortable, and I got in the shower and moaned. 2 hours of workout (I ended up running total about :45 plus 1:15 of biking) with some real intensity thrown in there. I ate. A LOT. But not so much to be uncomfortable. We waited about 1.5 hours after eating and then had pie with ice cream. Yum. I drank a split of Champagne, toasting myself for having raced that day, and FINALLY toasting myself for doing some pretty good training and racing for the last season.

Looking back on the 5K, I probably shouldn't have run :50 tempo the day before, eh? But whatever. Getting my run frequency and volume up this week is more important than the 5K. Yesterday I did 3 workouts (4 if you count raking leaves)--an abs/core workout plus additional delts/lats (:43), then I swam 2700 yds. (1800 of it was pulling, which feels really good after you've blasted your shoulders and lats), and then I ran 4 miles real easy in :35. The running did not feel very good--my legs were heavy, I started at 2:15PM and hadn't eaten since breakfast (plus 2 pieces of fruit), and had already spent about 1.5 hours raking leaves. But I've learned that sometimes you just have to go even when you feel like you are dragging ass, because it is good for you mentally.

When I finished running, I laid into some Thanksgiving leftovers--I ate some lamb, a baked sweet potato, homemade cranberry sauce, and drank my Endurox. I thought I'd be all in after all that, but I managed to go back out and rake leaves for another 1.5 hours until it got dark, and then I was pretty well toasted for the day.

I've been doing a lot of stretching this week with the extra time that I have, so I'm not really worried that the jump in run volume is going to kill me or anything. I'm not biking that much! Today I have already swum (2800 yard drill workout), and now I'm going to finish the leaves, then ride my bike (outside, I think!), do a short :40 run and then I'm getting a massage. And I am sleeping in tomorrow morning before my long run, and then I'll be going to see the new James Bond movie with my dad.

I'll rack up about 15 hours of training this week and over 3 hours of stretching, which puts me right where I need to be now in preparation for Goofy Challenge. I have GOT to beat the times I posted last year. Can I? Stay tuned....