Better Late Than Never! Pteranodon Ptrot Race Report, and My Distance PR run.

This was an annual race put on by the local dinosaur museum, the Pteranodon Ptrot (Ptwenty-first Annual this year ;) ). It's taken many different forms over the years but was a 5K this year. I was not racing for myself but pacing Alexis at her request. She wanted to pace herself in her two most recent races, but asked that I pace her this time. I was happy to do this, and it worked out perfectly because I was scheduled for a 17-mile long run the next day, a distance PR. Probably not the world's greatest idea to race all-out before a long run at a new distance, so I was treating this as a much more enjoyable than usual recovery run.

Alexis and I showed up a little after 7am, got our numbers, and met up with friends Carl and his wife Jo Ann, and their neighbor. We chatted for a bit and then Alexis and I got in a little bit of a warmup with Carl. DD and I noticed that one of the other boys from her youth track program was there (he wound up winning the 12 and under boys).

We lined up shortly thereafter and were off. It starts out gently enough but then we cross the river, and go up a pretty big hill. Then down another and up another big hill...then down to the turnaround and on back.

Alexis needed to stop and walk a few times for side stitches. She seemed to be doing well, though, and managing those walk breaks and taking them when she needed and picking it up again as soon as she was able. Not a banner, A+ day if you went by time alone but she really stuck it out through the tough spots and definitely an A for effort with the heat, mosquitoes and hills.

I didn't catch her exact time-it was 33 or low 34:xx I believe. After waiting around for quite awhile while they "tabulated scores" as one of the race volunteers announced (I thought, uh-oh...were we graded on our form too?), they finally came out and did awards. A got 1st AG in 12 and under, and Carl and JA also took their AG's.

I was sort of curious how I'd have done running this for myself..the winning time in my AG was about 25:XX and it seemed like the hills really do make it a "Personal Worst Worthy" course. It was a fun little race, though, and certainly a very challenging course. I think that next year I'm going to twist Frank's arm to run with A so I can see what kind of world of hurt I could put myself into on the hills. :)

So, the next day, I got out at around 6 a.m. for my 17 miler. I had yet another wild feline sighting (bobcat this time), and also passed some guy four times out there on our riverfront trail loops. I talked to him after the run (he was cooling down and stretching at the same time), and it turns out that he'll be running the Chicago marathon this fall. This isn't a big area so it was nice to meet a runner I'd never met before at local races, and give each other the "nice run" salute. I wound up taking a completely different route than planned, switching things up on the fly (didn't feel like running past the bobcat ahead on the trail when I saw it, so I turned around and headed in another direction). That probably kept things from becoming quite boring-in hindsight it was a total same ol' same ol' route on the schedule originally and it was invigorating to switch things up. I averaged 9:25 miles but followed the Pfitz guideline to start around 20% slower than marathon pace and finish at 10% slower than MP.

It's a cutback week now-woohoo! If things go well, I'll be on my way to Utah on Saturday for a treadmill for home use, and then we'll cancel our gym membership when it expires next month. It will be SUCH a great thing to be able to run at home. I'll have more flexibility to run at different times, and then Frank can go mountain bike at the same time because I will be home. If anyone's reading this-cross your fingers that my van in the shop for a strange air conditioning problem is fixed tomorrow so we can drive to Utah to make the purchase. Ah, the fun of living four hours from any major city!

Pfitz Week Four is History!

I think I'm FINALLY starting to settle down with this plan. I felt sort of backed into a corner for the first couple of weeks, but I'm working it out. I know it's just going to get tougher once the first six week period on the plan draws to a close, but it's supposed to be that way-I don't feel like I'm falling hopelessly behind on the first part of the plan anymore.

One thing I finally got right all this week-recovery runs at the proper pace. I was taking them WAAAAAAAAAAAY too fast during the first two weeks. I think that's only natural-I mean, really, who wants to slow from their moderately hard pace all the way down to a jog/easy run? That's what I thought when I started the plan. After a couple of rough mid-week medium long runs, though, I realized that there WAS a method to the madness and that the recovery runs SHOULD be done at a very easy pace. I did both recovery runs slowly this week, and I definitely felt the difference. There was no fatigue when I started the next hard run because I didn't wear myself out on the recovery run. Of course, this isn't rocket science-but I think that slowing down is one of the toughest things mentally for a runner to master. I'll keep working on this, and fight that urge to go faster on easy days.

Another note on the Pfitz plan, and the midweek run. I have a love/hate relationship with that medium long run. There's not enough time in the early morning for me to do it outdoors safely, and get home before kids start waking up. It's pushing 100 by early evening as well. So-off to the gym to run on the treadmill.

Ten miles is a LONG way to go on a gym treadmill. It's monotonous. It reeks in that place. I mentioned in another blog post that they NEVER pop open that door downstairs to pump the air out from the swamp cooler. And I'm dog tired before I even set foot in the gym at 7pm or so. This run is paying dividends, though, with my weekend long runs. I really can't believe it! While I will stop short of calling a 15 long run in the heat "easy," I felt strong out there yesterday. I was pretty tired by mile 13, but I knew I could finish strong, and wasn't ticking off the miles wishing to be done for the first 13. I don't know that the long runs would feel this good without the midweek run.

So, on to week five. My first schedule juggling occurs this weekend, but it's not much of a stretch. I'll be pacing the oldest kiddo in a local 5K on Saturday, and will treat that as my recovery run. My long run will shift ahead one day to Sunday. Those switches shouldn't be bad, in and of themselves...it'll probably be the Monday evening run that becomes a bit challenging. Oh well, that which doesn't kill me makes me stronger (I hope)!