The stats from Saturday's 10-miler -
Mile 1 - 9:46
Mile 2 - 9:55
Mile 3 - 9:44
Mile 4 - 10:37
Mile 5 - 13:07 - stopped for a bathroom break between Mile 4 and 5
Mile 6 - 9:51 - ate my Gu and drank some water, and started feeling sluggish
Mile 7 - 9:17
Mile 8 - 8:58 - oops - a little too fast, but this is where I got my second wind
Mile 9 - 9:05 - still a bit fast, but feeling good
Mile 10 - 9:36 - perfect finish
Total time - 1 hour and 40 minutes
All in all, a great run. It was warmer than I would have liked, but I headed out at 7am, so the heat wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been later in the day. I drank every last drop of water I had in my fuel belt, though, and was very glad to have it with me.
Miles 1 - 4 were a breeze. The hardest point of the run was between miles 5.5 and 6.5. I was just feeling very sluggish and tired, and had a hard time getting back up to speed after my long break at the halfway point. But as I headed into mile 7, I definitely started to feel better, and that feeling stayed with me through the end of the run, and I finished strong.
Instead of doing walk breaks every 4 minutes, I did walk breaks every mile, and it worked out well. I'm not sure if that will be my plan for the race Saturday, or if I'll go back to the run 4/walk 1 routine. And, well, I'm not sure if I'm doing the race Saturday. My shin feels ok, but it is sore. I'm icing it and I'm taking Aleve, and I'm going for a 3-mile run tomorrow to see how it feels.
If the 3 miles feels ok, I'll do the half Saturday. If the 3-mile run just exacerbates things to the point where I feel like running 13.1 miles is flirting with disaster, I am not going to do it.
I still want to do it, and I really hope I can do it, but the prospect of having to skip this race is not all that devastating to me. What would be far more devastating would be putting myself back to square one with my shin injury, and facing another 8 - 10 weeks without running. No race is worth that. And truthfully, after everything I've gone through to rehab this injury, and all the weeks and months spent not running, I am just incredibly grateful to have even been able to contemplate doing a half-marathon - and to have been able to run 6.5, 8, and 10 miles.
The only thing that truly bums me out is that, even if I do run the race Saturday, I will be there alone. We don't want to ask Scott's parents to watch the boys for nearly the whole day, and even if we did feel ok doing that, I have to leave the house before 5am to get there in time to pick up my packet, and since we couldn't ask someone to come over to babysit at 5am, Scott would have to drive down separately from me, which just seems silly. And the only other option is for him to drive down separately from me, WITH the boys, which is just too much to ask, given that it's a 2-hour drive each way.
It will be hard if I have to cross that finish line without him there, but one of the reasons I wanted to race in Hartford is that they have great crowd support. And while it's always even better to have people you know and love cheering for you, I know that at least there will be strangers cheering me on. If I was doing the full marathon, I'm certain we would have made plans for him to be there, either alone or with the boys, but given the way that things have panned out this summer, and how uncertain my racing plans have been, this is just how it's ended up, and, like I said, I have to be thankful that I'm even at a point where I can consider running this race, so I'll concentrate on that.
As for the aftereffects of a 10-mile run..... I wasn't totally pooped, but I was more tired than I ever have been after a run. I really took my time stretching, and ate a HUGE breakfast. I was completely ravenous - and remained that way all weekend, it seemed.
My muscles were sore on Sunday, and everything felt a little stiff and creaky, but after I went for a nice long bike ride, I felt loads better. I think a low-impact workout was just what the doctor ordered.
It was a great ride, too. I went 21.62 miles in an hour and 15 minutes; 17.3 mph average. The only problem is that I headed out for my ride just as a weather front was moving in, which meant wind, and lots of it. As always, I did an out-and-back route, and most of the out portion was into a strong headwind. How strong? Well, the last mile out was as flat as a pancake, but I was struggling to maintain a 16-mph pace. But when I turned around to head back, that same exact mile clocked in at 23 mph. That's how much the wind was slowing me down.
But I guess if you have to fight a strong headwind, it's better to do it on the way out than on the way back home.
And yesterday I got in a swim at lunchtime. Scott had the day off, so he watched the boys, so I was able to get to the pool when all the lanes were open for lap swim. It was busy, but I managed to get a lane to myself for most of my swim, so I was able to fit in all my drills, and only had to share for about 10 minutes.
Total of 1350 meters, about 500 meters of which were drills. I've started mixing up my intervals for the main portion of my swim, too - I had been doing all 100s, but yesterday I did some 100s, and a couple 200s. I also always do the counting strokes drill, and the first few times I did it, it was taking me about 29 strokes to go one length of the pool. Yesterday it was 26 strokes. If that doesn't demonstrate an improvement in efficiency, I don't know what does!
So, 10-mile run on Saturday, 21-mile bike ride on Sunday, and 3/4 of a mile swim on Monday. Now I just have to eliminate the 24-hour transition times and I'll be ready for a tri!
Hi Michelle!
Thanks for stopping by... If you can do 10 sub-10 minute miles and your shin isn't bothering you, I would say your are OK for the race. I don't think I would give 100%, but I would definitely start out at the R4/W1 and than maybe slide up from there after 15-20 minutes, if you are feeling OK. Important thing is listen to your body. I agree on the whole re-injury thing.
And by all means, tri :-) You are ready!!
Posted by: Wes | October 09, 2007 at 02:10 PM
yeah I don't think you'll place very well with the 24 hour transition time. Great job on the run!!!!
Posted by: Shawn | October 09, 2007 at 03:42 PM
I think you have the right attitude about not injuring yourself for just one race. Smart.
The middle part of a run is usually the hardest mentally, especially if you have never done the distance before. Once you do it several times, it becomes much easier mentally and that translates into an easier time physically as well. You are doing great. Keep it up!
Posted by: Chad in the AZ Desert | October 09, 2007 at 04:59 PM