Since mid-February I've done 4 races. Given that my focus is training for the Victoria 70.3, which looms just 9 weeks away, I haven't done as much running as usual. But with 3 PRs in 4 races I guess it worked out anyway ;)
Heart and Sole 5k
Some friends from my DAYL Leadership class are part of the Lawyers in the Community organization that put this event on, so a group of us in the class decided to show our support and run the 5k. It was from Winfrey Point at White Rock lake, at least my 3rd race to run there, so I knew the terrain well, and while I usually run solo it was fun to catch up with friends on this day.
I finished in 23:59, not my fastest 5k but among the top 2 or 3 fastest. One of these days I want to pick a 5k to actually train for and see what I can do when I really focus on that distance.
Rhythm & Blues Quarter Marathon
I was looking for another event to get a 10k in before the Rock N Roll Half, and this was close enough. A new event right in my backyard in downtown Las Colinas and at 6.55 miles it was just a little longer than a 10k. It was cool and rainy and the event wasn't the best-organized, owing perhaps to it being its first year, but the course was familiar and as I was reminded, rain doesn't really matter once you're moving. I forget my exact time, 53ish minutes or so, but since it was the only time I've raced that distance, by definition it was a PR ;) It gave me hope that when I ran the same course the next month I'd be able to earn a new 10k PR.
Rock N Roll Half Marathon
Besides Victoria 70.3, this is the race I focused my spring on. In theory I followed a training plan that was a mix of half Ironman and advanced half marathon. In practice I've been dealing with lingering posterior shin pain so I skipped some weekday runs to give them more time to recover. I had targeted this for months as a chance at a new PR but didn't know if that was still realistic given that I wouldn't really have a taper period and with my training geared more to triathlon than pure running. Nevertheless, it's a race I've always enjoyed and I was looking forward to it even when the weather forecast looked cool and rainy.
Fortunately, the rain was accomodating enough to hold off so it ended up being 50s and cloudy, pretty much perfect race weather (and preferable to the 70s on race day 2012 and 40s and windy last year). The course was changed this year so I was interested to see how the new course would go. The new course was interesting as I saw areas I hadn't explored before and I was able to hold my planned 8:23 pace over the first 10 miles. Then, around mile 10, it all went uphill. Not steep, but steadily inclining for the better part of the next 2 miles. I had been feeling strong and was hoping for a sub-1:50 finish but hills on tired legs forced me to slow a bit. Still, as I entered the final mile (which, fortunately, was downhill) I knew a PR was still within reach if I could hold a good pace. I ended up finishing in 1:51:34, a PR by only about 20 seconds, but a PR nonetheless. I was satisfied.
My old half marathon PR was 3 years old and due for replacement. Since Rebecca was born I haven't made a half marathon my target race so I feel like the distance hasn't gotten my best shot in awhile. But even before this event, I had decided that after 70.3, I wouldn't do anything longer than a half marathon for the rest of the year. I like the marathon distance and will do it again, but will enjoy the change of training schedule and the chance to really focus on gaining speed at the half distance and shorter. With a focused training plan, good weather, and a proper taper, I'm hoping I can shed a few minutes off my time. My plan is to make my focus for the rest of the year after 70.3 the Dallas Marathon Half in December, with some 5ks and 10ks thrown in throughout the fall as practice and for fun. It'll be fun to focus on shorter, more intense training runs and I'm hopeful that that plus more strength training will help me down the line to become a faster marathoner.
Irving Marathon 10k
The Irving Marathon series is in its 3rd year. In year 1, 10 weeks postpartum, I ran the 5k distance and, to my great surprise, finished 3rd in my age group despite what I considered a rather slow time (the age group placement was entirely reflective of the field, not me, but, well, all those people I beat probably hadn't just had a baby ;)). Last year I did the 10k and earned a new PR and 1st in my age group. I had my sights set on achieving the same thing this year. I set a target pace for myself of 7:55/mile and finished just a little over at 7:57, still good for a 49:20 finish and a new PR by almost a minute. At first the results showed I earned 2nd in my age group but when final results were tallied, the person ahead of me moved into the overall female finisher awards and I moved up to 1st in age group. 2 years in a row...I've got a streak to defend now!
I really like the 10k race distance. Long enough that it's not all-out, but short enough that I can hold a pretty aggressive pace the whole time. Looking forward to seeing what I can do at this distance when I really focus on it.
And I guess that's the takeaway from my spring. I had 4 good events and 3 PRs despite being in triathlon training. So what can I do when I shift focus to shorter running distances? It'll be fun to find out.
What's next
As I enter the home stretch of 70.3 training, I've got 2 tris I'm using as practice events. One, an "X-50" in early May, includes a 1 mile swim, 40 mile bike, and 9 mile run. The other, the LifeTime CapTexTri in Austin later in May, is an international distance event-.93 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, and 10k run. I won free entry to it and it'll be good practice for racing away from home. Both will give me good practice swimming in and getting into and out of my new wetsuit (scored on clearance for $50!). After all that? Time to go to Canada and put all these hours and miles of training to use.
I feel confident I could do the event today, but will use the remaining time to focus on building my bike strength. At this point I feel like my swim is as good as it's going to be, and with it being such a small portion of the race it's not the best use of my time to try to get a few minutes faster there. Likewise, my run is solid. But I feel like I can get faster and stronger on the bike, and improvement there will give me the best bang for the buck, so to speak. So my plan for the balance of the training time is to maintain fitness on the swim and run, improve on the bike, and get to the start line healthy.
For the past few months I've been going to one Orange Theory Fitness class a week and it seems to be a great addition to my routine. The hourlong class is equal parts weight training and high intensity interval cardio, and I find that both of those aspects fill previous holes in my training. I've long known I needed to add some strength training but never enjoyed it. I'm sure it would be better to do it more than once a week but this is 30 minutes more per week than I was doing before. And the HIIT training has forced me to push myself harder and realize I can do more than I thought. I was able to work at an average heart rate of 164 over the RNR Half, which I don't think I could have done before. So with OTF as part of my routine going forward I'm optimistic for 70.3 and into the fall.My plan for the rest of the summer is to keep active most days but without a specific schedule. I may add a 2nd OTF class in the week, run, rollerblade, whatever gets me out the door. I'll shift focus to half marathon training by early September.
