Tag Archives: DC Road Runners

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Aside from a skipped workout over the weekend, I felt really good about this week. I forced myself on the treadmill to push the pace a couple times this week and for the first time started feeling notable progress on my paces. I tallied 35 miles over the course of five runs for the week.

Here’s the day-by-day breakdown:

Monday: I enjoyed my last Florida run Monday morning putting in 6 easy miles.

Tuesday: Rest day.

Wednesday: I hit the treadmill for my speed workout this week to force myself to keep a faster, more consistent pace and it worked. After a 1.5 mile warm up, I put in 4X1200 meter repeats with a 400 recovery in between each. I wrapped up with a 1 mile cool down, a quick strength workout and a P90X core routine.

Thursday: For the second straight year I ran the DC Road Runner’s Resolutions and Predictions 5k. My watch never started so I ran by feel and was initially disappointed when I tried to figure out my finish time after the race. Turns out I was more than a minute off and my chip time put me at 23:03! More to come on this one. I chased the race with my P90X core routine before Ian and I hopped in the car to visit with friends in Ocean City.

DCRRnewyears5k

Friday: Despite maybe having too much to drink the night before, I put in 10 great miles and felt really good doing it. I have to be leery of these kinds of runs though as I went a bit harder than what my easy pace should be, but wasn’t pushing enough to count it as speed work. I want to make sure I don’t put in too many runs in this no man’s land zone that don’t really benefit me. I wrapped up with my P90X core routine again.

Saturday: After driving back from Ocean City I caught a case of the lazies and didn’t make it out for my run, but at the very least got my P90X core routine in to keep my New Year’s streak going. My record is just more than 100 days – we’ll see if I can get near that again.

Sunday: I hit the gym again for my tempo run putting in 9.2 miles with the middle chunk of those as marathon goal pace! I felt really good about finally hitting these paces and feeling comfortable doing so. I hung in at the gym just long enough to do my P90X core workout and another quick strength workout.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all got your year off to a great start as well!

Race Recap: Such A Rush

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Last Wednesday I ran my first-ever track race at the DC Road Runners Track Championships as part of the Bring Back the Mile Tour. It was so much fun and made me sort of wish I’d run track in high school, although I wouldn’t want to give up all the great softball memories and friends I have either.

Rocking my Oiselle stipe tank and distance shorts with CEP compression socks.

Rocking my Oiselle tank and distance shorts with CEP compression socks.

Ian and I drove up to the track about an hour early so I could get signed up for my heat, watch some of the earlier races to see how things were done and get a full warm-up in. My coach gave me a goal time of 6:30 so I ended up signing up for the under-7 minute heat. After my warm-up I was feeling good and made my way toward the start to wait for them to call our heat. I was pretty surprised at how nervous I was for a one-mile race… I mean I’ve done 26X this multiple times.

DCRRTrackRace

Once the starting call was given the nerves were gone and the adrenaline was pumping. It was such a rush and I loved every second of it. I jumped out quick so I wouldn’t get tied up with others near the start and led almost to the 200 mark before the speedsters in my heat took over. I spent most of the race in 4th place. Clocks were set up at the 200 and 400, but somehow I managed to instantly forget my splits. Ian’s pictures gave me a pretty good idea though, and it looks like I ran my first and last laps the fastest with the 3rd one being the slowest.

During lap four I moved up a little and ran with fellow DC Running Coach teammate Michelle. We dueled our way down the final straightaway to the finish. I felt like I was flying. Obviously my pace was nowhere near the elite heats that would go later, but it was still a pretty quick mile for me! We crossed the finish line at almost the same time. They gave me third in 6:21, but to be honest, it was a pretty close call and probably could have gone either way. The pictures are great – we match each other step for step to the finish.

SprintToTheFinish

I’m really loving the shorter races lately and being on the track with people cheering and seeing you run the whole way was a blast. I’ll absolutely look to do another one of these soon.

Have you ever run a track race? What did you think?

Race Recap: Smoking…

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Tuesday night I ran the 2013 Women’s Distance Festival 5k. It was one of the DC Road Runners 2013 Bunion Derby series. It was actually one of two races that night. The race I did was a field of all women and we were followed 15 minutes later by a field of all men running the Run After the Women 5k.

The race took place in Bluemont Park starting near the South Pavilion. The out and back course seemed tailor-made for a PR and a negative split with what felt like a few gentle hills on the way out and slight downhills coming back. Unfortunately, the title of this blog does not describe my pace for the day. Instead it was smoking hot out – well above 90 degrees still at the 7 p.m. start time.

I love warmer weather and will take it over the cold any day, so I hate admitting that the heat slows me down, but this definitely felt like the case Tuesday night. I was drinking water and fruit punch Nuun electrolyte tabs all day so I was really well hydrated or it could have been a lot worse. Still I had an A goal of breaking my 21:25 PR and a B goal of breaking at least 22 minutes, but ended up crossing the line in 23:03. I realized just before the start that I’d forgotten my inhaler and immediately got upset with myself over that. I need to up my mental game when it comes to those kind of things (i.e. my Garmin dying before the start of the Nike Women’s Half), so I don’t let them effect my race.

At the start line.

At the start line.

We started off on a shaded path through the park and turned onto the W&OD trail where the sun was beating down into my eyes until the turnaround. I wish I’d worn sunglasses in addition to my running cap, but that was at least somewhat helpful. My legs felt strong, but my breathing was definitely harder than it should be for the pace I was running. I think it was part still getting my fitness level to where I want it to be, but also a bit due to the heat as well. I finished mile 1 in a (slow for a 5k) 7:15 pace, which wasn’t too bad, but then slowed down drastically on mile 2 – 7:48 – before picking it back up a little for a 7:25 third mile.

Despite the heat it was a really fun race. It looks like another one in their Bunion Derby series is on the same course in couple weeks, so I might give it another shot! I love the smaller races – and being a DC Road Runners club member, this was completely free for me. Can’t beat that! My usual 5k support crew of 1 (Ian) doubled for this race as a college buddy of his was in town and agreed to come along, so it was fun to have them cheering for me as I ran to the finish line.

Have to love those attractive race pics {insert sarcasm}…

dcrr5kfinish2

Courtesy of the DC Road Runners Facebook page

Another positive takeaway was my new shoes felt great. I picked the Newton MV2s up last Friday and other than a slower run over the weekend this was my first big test run with the super light, zero heel-to-toe drop shoes. I really liked how they felt and will keep using them for my shorter races and speed workouts! Also, despite coming in slower than I hoped, I still finished 13th out of 87 women and 6th in my age group! All in all, this was a great way to spend a Tuesday night…especially since it was followed up with a trip to Ray’s Hellburger!