Monday: 0
Tuesday: 10 Miles. I always thought it would be a great idea to a fun run double, where an easy morning run would precede the evening fun run. Last year, I was too lazy to do this, but I decided to try it out. Just 5 miles, easy pace. Easy pace is supposed to be low-7s, but every time I've attempted I run 6:50s and it feels pretty easy. This was a low-7s run, as my thighs felt heavy and I felt slow and tired most of the run. Despite not feeling that great, it felt like I'd feel better at the fun run because of it.
In the evening was the first Stonington fun run, a little later than usual into the season (but I actually would missed any if it had started earlier). I was looking for 5:50 pace. We arrived very late, and had to rush our warm-up. A little less than two miles, and then I quickly used the bathroom and changed into a faster shoe. I saw a fast-looking group and next to them were two recent CT high school graduates, one of them being James Rose. Most, if not all, were capable of running under 5:50 pace, so I wasn't worried about having to lead. When we started, I stayed right behind Rose, constantly checking my watch for pace. After a quarter mile, average pace was 6:20, so I gradually picked it up, passing him in the process. And that was it. I was completely alone for the rest of it. I guess everyone decided to run it easy...really easy. I won quite easily in 18:01 (although there was no racing clock, no clear finish line, or no one timing), and it felt mostly good. It went by quickly, my watch got my average pace at 5:47, and the only discomfort was that I put my shoes on too tight, hurting my feet a little.
Wednesday: 8 Miles. Westerly fun run. I was worried that I may not perform well because I hadn't hydrated or eaten properly throughout the day (not enough of either), and I was feeling weak. To get decent mileage out of a fun run, I'd have to do a longer warm-up and/or cool-down (or find a longer fun run distance). I went for a three-mile warm-up from the house. It was good. My legs and feet felt great, and I didn't feel like I was lacking energy. I had to use the bathroom badly the last mile, but that obviously wouldn't affect my actual fun run.
I went to the bathroom, drank some water, and tried to find some shade before we started running. On Tuesday, I had put my shoes on too tight because they felt loose. On Wednesday, I was more careful of making that mistake again, but they felt really loose so I tightened them. This week, I predicted we would have two additions to the sub-18 club (not including Jonny H and myself). Muddy was doing strides, so I assumed he was running it somewhat hard, and a fast-looking runner in a pink singlet. Before the start, I saw someone else talking to him (the pink singlet) and pointing to me. They stared for a while.
I didn't want to go out as hard in the first quarter mile as I did last week, so I lined up second row. It may have been a mistake, because of group of much younger kids lined up right in front of me. The pink singlet guy lined up behind me. Then we were off.
I immediately had to work my way around the younger kids. I passed them quickly and was moving up many places. Passed dad and muddy, until Jonny was right ahead of me. Of us. The pink singlet runner was now right behind me, passing people as I was. We both went by Jonny on Bayberry, and the pace was about what I wanted. Pink singlet was now right next to me, and as I tried to turn left he kept going straight, forcing me to bump into him. A simple point left corrected his error, and he didn't get in the way after that. We turned onto Crandall, and Jonny pulled up right behind us, making it a lead pack of three. At this point in the race I noticed: A) both he and Jonny were breathing somewhat loudly while I wasn't, B) this group of three was fun to run in, but as I kept looking at my watch it was usually off (mid to high 5:30s instead of 5:30 exactly or slightly under) which told me staying with the pack was actually slowing me down, C) My feet hurt a little because my shoes were too tight and my thighs felt heavy. It soon dropped to a pack of two, maybe at the next turn. We went through the mile in 5:34, slower than I wanted. We stayed right next to each other. I passed him to try to balance out the pace, but it wasn't working. I couldn't get into a fast groove, and my lower body wasn't feeling great. I struggled going up Ocean View, and eventually he took the lead for the first time. I was actually couldn't even keep up. He was dropping me, and I couldn't make a move to take the lead. When we went downhill, something happened. Before I was off the pace and unable to correct it, now I surged past him on the downhill and forgot about my thigh and foot problems. I had a few seconds of a lead at the top of the hill and was no longer uncomfortable or unable to pick up the pace. This felt more like it. I ran speedily down the slight downhill on shore road, and had a good lead by the time I turned onto Crandall. I had corrected the pace, now down to 5:29. Even though I just needed to cruise to a 5:30 final mile to meet my pace goal, I really didn't want to lose my lead and decided to run the last mile hard. I felt great doing, continually picking the pace. I ran a 5:10 final mile and finished pretty strong as well. 17:10 official time, 16:35 on watch (at the 5K mark), 5:22 average pace. Had been thinking about running Rocky Point 5K for quite a while, and this (only six seconds off 5K PR based on watch split) was a good indication I could PR there. Immediately after I finished I felt like my feet were suddenly burning, a sensation that went away when I took my shoes off (definitely tied them too tight).
Concluded with two mile cool-down, where I felt absolutely awful with both foot pain and weakness.
Thursday: 7 Miles. Woke up later than I wanted to, and was really dreading this run. And I had good reason to, as it was awful. After mile 2, I felt so weak and ready to collapse. Not fun at all. Tried to avoid long boring stretches on busy roads, so incorporated several quieter neighborhood roads for a good portion of the run.
Friday: 4 Miles. Low energy Shakeout/low mileage run before Rocky Point 5K. I had been looking into this one for a while, and really thinking about doing my June races every since track started to come to a close. I was thinking if I didn't qualify for New Englands I'd do a road 5K that Saturday or the BRR five-miler. Once I did make New Englands, I thought about doing the BRR 5K the day after, but I didn't have much interest as it wasn't one of my favorite events and I was okay with skipping. I still went, but neither race/post-race activities were as exciting as expected. There weren't any notable races nearby the following weekend, so it was this weekend that I would return to racing. There were two races: Bottone Mile Friday night and Rocky Point 5K. I ended up deciding on Rocky Point. There were a few good reasons (my mile PR needs an update, I've been longing to run another track race, I could get my first back-to-back win) to do Bottone, but the reasons not to do it (I haven't had much success in the 1500 since indoor, I haven't done any speed training since track ended, I'd rather go for a 5K PR, lack of competition) won over.
Saturday: 7 Miles, Rocky Point. I'll do a separate and more detailed post later this week, but here's the basic summary. Left too late (registered only 10 mins before start!), didn't drink enough, and barely warmed up. Did a few strides. Competition was Bronson Venable, and two other High School (one just graduated) distance athletes I ran against frequently. Pace went out hard, so eventually I backed off a little and let the top two go. I ran with another Sophomore/soon-to-be Junior for a mile and a half, but he dropped off after a while. At two miles, I was at 5:10 average and not close to either 4th or 2nd place. Mile 3 was tough, especially the uphill finish. I saw the clock ticking up, and crossed the line just under my PR, official time 16:27. Group cooldown with some of the top runners of 3 miles, which is longer than I probably would've gone on my own.
Sunday: 8 Miles, super easy barn running.
Overall, a very solid week. Stepped up the mileage a little bit from last week, and will probably do a little more this week. Also, another positive was the 5K PR and most of my runs (5 of 6) were pretty fun, whereas last week only half of them were actually fun. More to come on a Rocky Point post.
Weekly Total: 44 Miles
YTD Total: 1,029 Miles
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