Fall racing begins!
At Sole Sports with my new McDowell Mountain Man Tech T! Love it, thanks Jay! Check out his great blog in which I was a guest blogger a few weeks ago!
I am now in the midst of my third week in a row of 100 miles. Next week I will be 'tapering' to 90 for the Phoenix 10k where I hope to set a PR. I have been feeling SO wonderful. I am recovering really well and nailing all of my workouts. I feel so much more fluid and fit when running a lot of miles.
So..on to this 10k business. My short distance race results need to be better. I would like them to align a little more with my 2:37 marathon time. I have been doing some really hard workouts that have challenged me and have helped me to build up some good leg turnover. The short distances are always a challenge for me. I am a kind of an 'ease into the race' kind of gal. The *all out* right from the gun scares me and makes me very uncomfortable. The last few weeks I have been getting better at being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Needless to say, I have high expectations of myself at the 10k. I am excited to run a very fast race and I know I will succeed!
I will leave you with a few of my new favorite fall goodies in honor of fall racing:
Trader Joe's Butters!!! YUM!! Perfect on toast, bagels, and we use the fig on crackers with cheese.
Chocolate from Paris! Yes, my lovely friend and training partner Tere is trying to make me fat. You heard it here first folks!
We all know I love coffee and I love this Ultragen Cappuccino recovery drink. Well, I just found a way to make this drink exponentially better than it already is....
Mix it with this little gem... I know Soy is not the greatest for you- everything in moderation!, but it is SO GOOD!
Roughing it
This past weekend I got suckered in to going camping. Those of you who know me, know that I prefer “cabining”, not camping. We only went for one night so that Matt could get in some rock climbing, so it wasn't so bad. They even had restrooms at the campsite. Score! Besides being cold, I had a pretty good time. Dare I say I might even camp again! (in a year or so.)
Before we headed up to Prescott, I got a surprise in the mail from my favorite food company... PERFECT FOODS BARS!!!!!! Now I did not have to fret about making sure I had enough food packed for the night! The bars cover all bases..breakfast...snack...lunch....! If you have not yet tried them, you need to get on it! SO good! I am so lucky to have such a great company behind me!
With my favorite PF Bars- Carob Chip!
Read more about the Perfect Foods Company here. They are AWESOME. *love*
Yum..Pumpkin Porters at The Raven Cafe in Prescott
USA 10 Mile Championships
Before I get to my race report, I have to say that I LOVE racing in Minnesota. The staff and volunteers are so amazing. We were well taken care of and I just loved being there!
Soooo... had a bad race. Nothing went awry except for myself. I was super excited to race and wasn't really nervous, just excited! Race morning I felt good. When the race began, I think I just made the rookie mistake of letting myself get carried out way too fast. My goal was to run a 5:40 pace for the 10 miles which would have brought me in at under 57:00. I was so worried about finishing in last place that I went out with all of the other girls and had opening 2 miles of around/under 5:30 pace each. Talk about not sticking to my race plan! I wanted to start out no faster than 5:40 pace and then just try to dip under 5:40's for the last 3 miles. I think those first 2 miles caused me to bomb my race. I came in to the 5 mile mark at an average of 5:41 pace, but I had no energy the second half of the race. I slowed big time. I still have not looked at my last splits. My Garmin was off the mile markers anyways, and let's face it, I just don't want to look!
I ended in 58:13- 5:50 avg. pace (I came through the 10 mile mark at the AFC half marathon in 57:40) and placed 25th in the US Championships. I knew the field was completely stacked, but 25th! I should have run much better than that!
Honestly, a little (ok, a lot) embarrassed about it. I know that I am in good shape right now.After the race, I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. However, it was good for me to get experience racing with such fast women and to put myself out there. I have been meeting lots of really sweet new friends at these races and its good for me to 'rub elbows' with the best in the country.
Going forward I know I need to work on:
1. Continuing my visualization/affirmation daily.
2. Eating more the days before the race. I made another rookie mistake of trying to hard to get at and stay at my 'race weight' all week and I think it bit me in the arse. Feeling strong is way more important.
3. Telling myself that I am capable of holding these paces. I need to be pushing the envelope and know that it will feel uncomfortable.
After the race, I had a semi- freak out. You know, the whole "Do I just totally suck?, maybe I need to move up to Flagstaff before the Olympic Trials, Should I quit my job completly to get more rest?" kind of freak out. Luckily I have a great support system that has talked me out of the above and brought me back to being level-headed! My parents were there, so that was so awesome. I think that was the reason I was so excited to race. With them living in Milwaukee, they don't get to see all of my races so it is really special when they come out. We spent the rest of the day catching up and of course, watching the Packers game. Super fun!
After the race with Mom and Dad.
Going forward I am building up speed for a 10k next month. This month will include lots of track work, which I am nervous about but I know it will serve me well, so I am also excited!
Packer fun at Sally'sThanks for coming Mom and Dad!
