Week 10 and Tyler Curtis 5k

I've already blogged about the ant attack that sidelined this week's training a bit......Good news is that my ankle is no longer swollen and hasn't been since Friday evening after wearing my brand new CEP compression socks. I love, love, love these socks! Not very attractive and James keeps cracking jokes about me officially being an old lady now, but I don't care.........they WORK. Now if I only had a pair in pink :).

Saturday was the Tyler Curtis 5k, 15th race in the grand prix series--only 5 more, YAY. Since I'd been under the weather my plan was just to take it easy and get it done without passing out. This is a somewhat challenging course with rolling hills, last year's time was 25:19 (I think) and I was going to be happy with a 25ish minute finish again. Warmed up with Patti, Tala, and Karen for 1.78 miles and felt decent so I knew I would survive the race.

Lined up about 3/4 of the way back thinking if I started there I wouldn't be tempted to take off so fast. Ummm, yeah, best laid plans and all that. I did start off at what felt to be a comfortable pace with Jackie for the first mile but the weird thing was that we ended up doing mile 1 in 7:42, faster than I'd planned. We did get mixed in with another runner who was a very LOUD breather and I had to pull away because it was starting to mess up my rhythm. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to bring my mp3 player so I couldn't use headphones to drown that person out.

Miles 2 and 3 I'd caught up to Karen and just kind of leapfrogged with her for the remainder of the race. She'd pass me on the uphills, I'd pass her on the downhills and this is a hilly 5k so there was quite a bit of that, LOL. Hills were taking a toll so I slowed down--mile 2 was 8:04, mile 3 8:03. Very consistent which is unusual for me on a 5k, mile 3 is almost always quite a bit slower than 2.

Started kicking it for the finish line right at mile 3 and almost passed 2 guys just before it! You should have seen their faces when I pulled out ahead of them. Of course they couldn't let a middle-aged woman outkick them so they finished just barely in front of me. Made them work hard for it though!!!!!!!!!! Karen also got herself a 5k p.r., woo-hoo!!!!!!!

Online results aren't posted yet so don't know my exact finish time, I know I was the 74th across the line overall (male and female). Garmin time was 24:50 but I'd walked around a few seconds before I remembered to hit stop. I also took 3rd place female masters! Nice little plaque for the wall :).

I paid for yesterday's 5k today though. Woke up tired and with my left leg cramping this morning. Also had received a wrong number call just after midnight and Elsie woke me up at 0130 wanting to go to the bathroom :(. So started out today's run tired and achy which is not how you want to begin your first ever 20 miler.

Sooo, what can I say about today other than I survived? James rode his Sun cruiser bicycle with me so I wouldn't have to wear my fuel belt and I would have somebody to talk to. Problem was I was tired, cranky, and sore so didn't feel like talking much. Felt like I was slogging almost the entire run. Took my gels at the proper times, drank as much as I could stand and took lots and lots of walk breaks.........And started fantasizing about an ice bath at mile 11, not a good sign, LOL.

The weather was great, downright chilly for the first hour but the wind came out to play for the last hour and kept picking up more and more. I felt like I was being pushed backwards when I was running into it so everytime I'd turn where it was at my back I'd deliberately pick up the pace to try and make up for the slower portions. Today was also the slowest I'd ever ran up Ella Street. Just couldn't seem to fight the wind and the hill :(.

On my last walk break just before mile 19, I was dragging..........I literally had to yell at myself to just run. James thought it was kind of funny but he also knew I was struggling so didn't say very much, wise decision on his part ;). 20 miles in 3:34:50, average mile pace was 10:44, not bad considering the walk breaks and how tired I was before even starting.

The weekend has taken its toll, I'm hobbling around like a little old lady right now but this time last year 12-14 miles would have me doing this and now it's taking 18-20. Definite improvement. Oh, after stretching I immediately filled up a huge washtub we have for Elsie with cold water and ice and sat with my legs in it until my feet went numb. It felt AWESOME!

Final mileage on the week was 40.86 miles just a bit short of the 42 scheduled. Not going to worry about it though since I was sick most of the week.