I basically uintentionally ran my third race in as many weeks this past Saturday. I say it was unintentional because the 5K I ran two weeks ago (while pushing the kids in the stroller) was the result of my wife signing me up for it. The 10K last week (while pushing the kids in the stroller) was a last minute decision. The third race was one I'd planned on and have been looking forward to for awhile. I already chronicled that event in detail a couple of posts ago. Here's how the rest of the week went:
Monday - Rest day from running, but I did play basketball at lunchtime and tweaked my back while attempting a steal. It was pretty sore for awhile, although I did go back into the game briefly (and moving much more slowly).
Tuesday - 8 miles. My back was still pretty sore and, honestly, when I first started the run I didn't think I was going to make it two blocks, much less 8 miles. But, the more I ran the more my back loosened up and it actually turned into a pretty decent run.
Wednesday - 7.1 miles with 6 strides. The back felt much better. It occurred to me that I haven't done strides since before Boston, so I remedied that.
Thursday - 9 with 3 @ half marathon pace. It also occurred to me that I haven't really run any miles since Boston at the pace I'm hoping to run the Deadwood-Mickelson half in, so I decided to try that pace out. It wasn't as "easy" as I had hoped it would be, but I got there.
Friday - 5 miles. Just an easy recovery run in preparation for Saturday's race.
Saturday - 3.7 miles. The Fat Tire Trail Challenge, which I described in a separate post. Also the first time I've ever had the opportunity to race on my birthday.
Sunday - 23 miles. I started this run with no distance in mind, but was shooting for a total time of 3.5 hours. Instead of hitting the trails again, I opted for some rural roads that are actually more similar to the Lean Horse ultra course. I also tried out my potential pacing strategy for Lean Horse, which is to run at an easy pace for 25 minutes and then walk for 5 minutes. I also walked any signifcant uphills, even if it was during my 25 minutes of running (after the uphill, I resumed running). This strategy seemed to work pretty well and I ended up running an average pace of 9:12, which is actually a full minute faster per mile than my goal pace for Lean Horse (10:12 miles would give me an 8.5 hour finish). Of course, my pace is sure to fade some if I run 27 more miles. I might consider shortening the run segment a little but maintaining the same ratio of running to walking (say 15 minutes run/3 minutes walk).
Total - 55.8 miles
The total mileage was a little lower than last week because I replaced one of the back to back long runs with the Fat Tire race, but that's alright. It was well worth it. Now, it's time to start seriously thinking about Deadwood-Mickelson. I'm hoping to get in a fairly decent week of training this week and then a quicky one week taper next week. Sub-1:30 or bust!!
No comments:
Post a Comment