Today marked my 2nd cross country race of the season. Well, I guess it technically was my 3rd, but I dropped out the 2nd, The Illini challenge, due to nasty blisters on my arches forming. When I opened up this fall season at Loyola Lakefront Invite in the Sean Earl division, that marked my first race since straining my calf at the American Miler's Club Track meets in Indianapolis to end my track summer racing. (I strained it with less than 200 meters to go and I was on pace to set for sub 3:49, which would have been a PR...)
Sooooo, at Loyola, an 8k, it was nasty windy and pretty darn chilly. I went out pretty conservative that day and just never got into the race. I managed to run a 26:06 8k, if I hadn't broken down mentally in the middle of the race, I may have been able to run sub 25:45 on that windy day...If I had to guess, due to the conditions the course was probably 30 seconds slow. Loyola was my home cross country course in college and I ran there in high school too, so I know the course really well, even though there has been slight changes...
At Illinois I was feeling great, running with the lead pack through 3k...the blister on my right arch had already started forming. You see, I haven't worn socks with my racing spikes since early high school, even for cross country. I have never had a major issue either. So this race I ran with the spikes I used for indoor and outdoor track, but never ran over a mile in them...so lesson learned. I ended up pulling out at 5k after blisters were hurting quite a bit. I ran a pretty quick 15:42, which was good to know. If it had been just a 5k race, I know I could have possibly ran a PR (sub 15:10)...but I don't want to start keeping the if, and or but's going!
Today's race, well let's just say I put it all together. The race was out in Seattle at one of my favorite places to run, Woodland park. I never did a ton of runs there or workouts, but did run through the park during many runs. Anywho, I got out fast the first k (3:00) and just sat in and got into a rhythm. I forgot how hilly the course was plus on top of it the rains from the past few days made the course pretty sloppy, especially after 3 races before the Men's. The course was a 2k loop that we did 5 times (so 10k...) so you kind of knew where to run and where not to run with the slop each time around. The first K (and 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th) were all about 20 seconds faster than the 2nd (4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th), which proved how much hillier the course was heading back toward the start. I ended up out kicking a teammate for Club Northwest for 3rd place overall. The team ended up sweeping the top 5 and having a perfect score!!! I have never been on a team that has been able to do that! 6th place was another team...
Well as I came by the finish line with 400 meters to go, the announcer called me out as a miler and to watch out for my closing speed. I don't know what my last 400 split was, but I know it was pretty good, but after the race I realized that I am slowly developing a wider range than I thought I could have. YES, the mile is my race of choice, but it nice to realize that I can compete with some really good runners in 3k-10k! I am really looking forward to running for Club Northwest at USATF Club Nationals December 11th in Charlotte, NC!
Cheers to running!
(and now recovering...)
Peace out friends!
Shawn
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment