Monday, October 27, 2008

Loop De Loop

Yesterday we ran our BIDWELL CLASSIC route in the park. This was the same as my first half marathon in March. I can't believe it. Most of our group was running in Healdsburg this weekend with the half marathon group. I haven't heard how they've done yet. So since they were all doing a half marathon "time trial" Paul set us up to do one too. So familiar was the key. We've all run a thousand (or so) times around this same park and know it inside and out. The hard part was running past our cars the first loop!

We started out taking the street along the outside as a warm up and to show those who hadn't run the BC the little extra jog we needed to make it 13.1 miles. We then did 4 sets of strides to get our body ready then headed out. My original pace was supposed to be around 9:58/mile but that was like 7 weeks or so ago and we've come along way since then. My first few miles were too fast. I could tell. Mile 1 was like 9:02 or so. OUCH! I wouldn't get too far in a marathon going that pace. I might not get too far in a half going that fast. Usually takes me like 5 (or ten) miles to get warmed up. So we slowed down. About mile 3 I noticed that one of the girls wasn't feeling to hot. I asked her what was up and she said her ankle was bothering her after twisting it yesterday. I told her that if it hurt worse or continued the same but didn't get better she had better take a breather at the car and make up her mileage later but to rest, ice and elevate it (see my first aid teaching days are coming in handy) so she could actually DO the marathon in 6 weeks. She decided at mile 6 that was a good idea. We stopped, signed her out, took a potty break, drank some electrolyte stuff Paul set out for us, at a few moons and headed out for the second loop. Pretty good for a 2.5 minute stop hu?

The second loop we hit our times more strategically. between 9:35 and 9:50 which is where we wanted to be. We ended up averaging about 9:36/mile for the half marathon coming in at just over 2h5m. We did a cool down and stretched. I was in a hurry to get home so I didn't jump in the creek, my usual routine. Bad idea. I hurt today. totally sore and tight. BUMMER. I even wanted to go for a two mile run but the hubby went fishing with my dad so that's not going to happen. Tomorrow is speed work. Speed work. Speed work.

Less than 6 weeks to the marathon. I can't believe it!

2 comments:

Julianne said...

Sounds like a great training run!! What is your target finish time for CIM, btw?

Julianne said...

Your latest comments totallty made me LOL! I think no matter what time you finish the CIM, you should be proud!! It's your first one, after all. AFTER the CIM, you can stress out about your goal and finish time. I only asked because you did emphacise time so much in this post. :-) Also, I think finishing under 4:30 is a great goal!! I thought I was going to finish around 5 hours in my first marathon. But turned out, I finished around 4:15. I told my family and friends to show up around a certain time and by the time I finished, they were just leaving their house! Haha. But still, finishing around 4:10 would be FANTASTIC for your first marathon. Wow! That's an awesome goal! Ok, how about somewhere between 4:10 and 4:30?? :-)