Monday, November 10, 2008

Running Journal Month 11 (November 2008)

Week 48 (11/24-11/30)
Week 48 mileage: 40.8
2008 mileage: 1304.9
2008 race miles: 554.7
2008 races: 61

And....the Quad Dipsea is history! I ran easy alongside Lisa in the 5 mile Turkey Trail Trot on Thursday and so I felt good on Sunday for the race. What can I say? There was perfect weather and I ran a satisfying time, with splits at 1:30, 1:30, 1:35 and 1:38. Now that I know the course, I think next year I'll go a little faster on the downhills and try to break 6 hours. Strangely, I feel much better than after the skyline to the sea 50k, either because that was the first or because that had a lot more downhill (so more running). One thing I did during the Quad was to take some extra ibuprofen, which I think helped prevent my knees from swelling up, and they feel fine. I'm curious to see how it all feels this coming Sunday at CIM, where my goal is just to run it with no time goal in mind.

Race Stats:

Quad Dipsea 6:12:57 - 100th overall/221; 4th Age

Turkey Trail Trot 5M - 44:41; 155/676; 23/158 Age

Week 47 (11/17-11/23)
Week 47 mileage: 17.8
2008 mileage: 1264.1
2008 race miles: 521.30
2008 races: 59

Ahh, races! Got to the SC Turkey Trot on time, but waited in the bathroom line too long and missed the start by a minute! Due to that, ran it not caring about my time and enjoying the views a bit more than usual, but as not many women showed up, I still got 2nd in my age group. Overall, I liked the race and would probably do it again. It must have been a good warmup because I ran Sunday's 4 mile race at a faster pace than my 5k PR pace! I went out faster than usual - I think my mile splits were around 6:48; 7:00; 7:12; 7:18. I wonder what would happen if I could pace myself a bit better and try to do all 7s or 7:05s. It's hard to pace exactly, though, but I think it's key. This week will be wild because of Thanksgiving's 5 mile trail trot followed by Saturday's Quad Dipsea!!! I'm really excited as I've been anticipating doing this race since the Dipsea, but have to admit to being a little bit scared! Hang in there knees!

Race Stats:
Santa Cruz Track Club Turkey Trot 10k -48:16 [watch - ~47:20]; 68/267; 2nd Age
DSE Great Highway 3.95M - 28:19; 3rd F


Week 46 (11/10-11/16)
Week 46 mileage: 43.4
2008 mileage: 1246.3
2008 race miles: 511.15
2008 races: 57

This was a backwards week because it was a great training week and not such a great racing week...well, at least Saturday wasn't great. Saturday, everything hurt and I'm not entirely sure why, but I'll just chalk it up to being tired. Sunday I tied my 5k PR though, so that was good. For training, I was able to make it to Rancho twice, the dish once and the track for intervals. I won't be able to do that this week because it's just too hard to run on Monday after a double race weekend (and not smart either). I may be able to do something light on Friday though...I could do Dish (or Rancho), Rancho, track, dish perhaps... I really hope I do well at the 10k that's coming up because it's a certified course so if I can just shave 16 seconds off my 10k time I could get into the sub-seeded category for certain races. Although, probably because I'm hoping for it, it won't happen. We'll see.


Race Stats:

PCTR Stinson Beach 30k - 3:27:59; 6th F; 40/133; 4th Age

DSE Polo Field 5k - 22:21; 32/154; 2nd F; 2nd Age


Week 45 (11/3-11/9)
Week 45 mileage: 20.4
2008 mileage: 1202.9
2008 race miles: 489.45
2008 races: 55

This weekend I only did one race for a change - another DSE 10k and I'm happy to say that I held close to my PR of last week (missed by 10 seconds), but considering the crowds, cobblestones and headwinds, I was happy with my time. I think perhaps the speedwork is helping even though I've only done it for two weeks now... I'm feeling strong and relatively uninjured and I just hope I can keep this going through the end of the year (or at least until the quad dipsea). I'm pretty nervous about doing the quad dipsea because the double wreaked havoc on my knees, but I think I'll run more gently in the quad and there are no killer shortcuts so perhaps it won't be as bad as I think... we'll see.


Race Stats:

DSE Embarcadero 10k - 45:29; 6th F; 2nd Age