This week brings the East Bay Challenge, a fairly hilly course yet one I ran a PR last year with a CR of 16:01.
Monday: 10 Miles
Extra mileage was unintentional, but wanted the chance to explore both the campus lakeside bikepath and Wisconsin's renowned XC course. Both were really nice. The lakeside were incredible as well as having a small path out to picnic point and getting to try out a college XC course and run on smooth grass field was enjoyable as well. I also liked the state of Wisconsin much better than that of Illinois.
Tuesday: 7 Miles
Tried something different by heading over to Bradford preserve rather than the track. This was really nice and made the workout much more enjoyable. We ran 2xMile @4:55, followed by an 800 at 2:30. Rest was 2 mins in between the miles, 5 mins in between the mile and the 800. It felt okay- definitely fast and tiring but never brutal. Splits: 4:52/4:55/2:20. Difficulty: 3/5.
Wednesday: 9 Miles
Chose a route in springbrook. Felt mostly good besides being somewhat uncomfortable in my ankle. Felt like a solid shakeout that didn't overdo anything before Friday's race.
Thursday: 7 Miles
East Bay Challenge. Last year I ran the best race of the season, breaking the course record in 16:01 on a fairly hilly course (around 250ft gain). This year I ran my worst race of the season, the only bad one to date. Having last year's race be so great really ramped the expectations for this year. All seasons there had been the important meets to think about, and one of my biggest expectations was to go out and destroy the course, just like I did last year running around 15:45. After some slower times this season, I had to revaluate and was just hoping to be near what I did last year.
I thought I had the win in the bag, but was surprised when Chariho hammered it out and I found myself in third for the first mile. My legs weren't functioning; I already felt tired and was doubting myself. At mile, a very slow 5:14, they let up quite a bit and passed them before immediately opening up a gap. After going through such a slow split yet feeling like it was a hard mile, I didn't think the time would be very good, but I wasn't until I crossed the line in 16:26 where the disappointment set in. 25 seconds off last year's time in my last opportunity to run fast on this course. As one of the meets I really cared about this year, it was pretty heartbreaking to run so terrible in what should have been a major performance for me. After not running well here, it was hard to see this season as anything but a failure.
Friday: 9 Miles
I thought Thursday was just an off day as I had felt great in nearly every practice and meet this season, a huge change from last year but this distance run was far from enjoyable. Besides the regular stomach stress, heavy thighs and stiff feet, my ankle was hurting and unlike some other recent the pain stayed. Wasn't too worried, but wasn't thrilled with this new possible injury.
Saturday: 1 Mile
Went for the regular warm-up on the track after my ankle pain had escalated to the point where walking was painful, the run was many times worse. Did the warm-up but after talking to my coaches, I had to sit the workout out and take the rest off.
Sunday: 0 Miles
Took an official visit to UNH but really annoying that my ankle was still hurting quite a bit to the point where I had to take another 0. Felt better moving around later, which was encouraging but decided to stick to my earlier decision.
Weekly Total: 43 Miles
YTD Total: 1,941 Miles
Weekly Highlight: Running in Wisconsin was an enjoyable treat and diversion.
Weekly Lowlight: End of the week really just did not go my way. After a bad race, I picked up a new injury that kept me out for two days and worried me that it may be more.
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