Race Report: 605 Race Series 4 Mile

I woke up at 6am to eat some breakfast and head to town to do an early packet pick up and some warm up miles. I was really close to hitting 100 miles for the month of July so that helped me get there to do a couple of extra. I picked up my bib and headed out. It was so thick and muggy, and my head was completely full of mucus. Did that paint a vivid enough picture for you? Uff.

The warm up was a complete slog and I ended up only going 1.5 miles and being completely drenched. I did manage to get some monster snot rockets blown out during the warm up so I could breathe a little bit.

We all lined up for the race announcements and I was excited to see some of my runner friends. I found a couple of pals I thought I could try to stay with and/or keep in my sights based on our recent 5k race series times. 

We started out and I glanced down at my watch a couple minutes in to it to make sure I hadn't gone out too fast (as I tend to do, 7's? um... no thanks, not right now!) and was shocked that my labored pace was an 8:40. Uh... according to Mr. McMillan Running Calculator that should be pretty doable based on my 5k paces. Shoooooot. 

Mile 1 8:53

From there I decided just to run comfortably hard, and maybe my legs would loosen up and have some speed in them the second half of the race! (Spoiler alert: they did not have any speed or additional pep in the second half). I tried to just stay competitive in that I worked to catch people that were loosing steam in front of me.

 

Mile 2 9:15

At the turn around I glanced at my watch and saw 18:20, so my new goal was to finish around 36:40, as I knew I was fading and thought that might help me hunker down a bit. I leap frogged with a couple of gals during this stretch before one finally left me in her dust.

Mile 3 9:09

I tried to reel in a male and female that were in my sights during the final mile and tried to kick with .7 to go in the race. My mile split will tell you how slowly I must've been going for that first .3 miles. My legs just felt like lead.

 

Looking at my running form in the race pictures, I can totally tell why it felt like garbage. For some reason I've reverted back to my bad non-glute using running form. I like to refer to his as my sad panda form. Uff, my hamstrings ache just looking at it.

I finished the last .25 pretty strong, and even had a 7:20 something final kick.

Mile 4 9:08

.05 :21

My final time was 36:48 for a pace of 9:06. A PR. (auto PR, but whatevs)

 

Great start to a race series even if it was a last than fun race performance! That's a heckuva lot faster than I would've run on my own on Sunday in the humidity with a head cold!

Weekly Training Recap

Tuesday I ran to and from barre. I ran hard to class and took it easy on the way home. Both ways were hilly.

I had a tough barre class at the studio. I haven't been to barre in two or three weeks and my muscles felt it. Uff da.

Wednesday I magically convinced Kyle to join me for National running day. Shocker.

Thursdays morning I woke up early for a power vinyasa class. Nice and sweaty and awesome. 

Friday afternoon I hit another barre class. I thought this graphic summed things up perfectly. :P

Sunday I ran long and went 7 miles. It was crazy humid out but it made me so happy to be running long.

Balancing Yoga + Running

At the beginning of March I was reinvigorated to add running back into my life. The weather turned nice, spring races were just around the corner, and I finally felt like I had a handle on my injuries (not to mention I had a new sparkly engagement ring on my finger and extra motivation to look really good for our fall wedding!). I ran a few times and then yoga teacher training started and whoa. Running took a back burner. In addition to the weekends of training, we also have to attend 30 yoga classes with approved instructors, observe 10 yoga classes with approved instructors, assist with 10 yoga classes with approved instructors, and teach 6 free yoga classes to friends/family members.

Can you say overwhelmed?

Running again took a back seat because, whoa commitment overload!

Now that teacher training is over half over (three weekends left!) I think I'm ready to start adding running back in to the routine!

I'm signed up for a 10k in seven weeks, and with zero running base, this could be interesting. I looked at my current fitness class schedule and tried to figure out what would work best. Clearly running running running doesn't do good things to my body, so I need to figure out what combination of running/yoga/strength training keeps me healthy.

For now, my plan is to run three days a week. One easy run on Mondays, one speedier run on Wednesdays (preferably with the running group! I missed those guys!), and then a "long run" on Friday or Saturday depending on my schedule for the week. Since I'm training for a 10k, my long runs will be 4-7 miles, so that should be easy to fit in without tweaking my yoga and fitness class schedule too much. Yoga teacher training weekends will prove to be a challenge though.

Wish me luck!

Weekly Training Recap

Monday started out with a bang. I went to a gentle vinyasa class and then returned home to hit the treadmill for three miles. (I may have found a spring race to train for, aka I'm actually driven to run again! WAHOO!)

The rest of the week was a blur of feeling run down and celebrations!

Sunday I kind of made up for things by attending a power vinyasa class followed by a group run at the running store. Luckily for me, the group was doing an "easy recovery run" the day after their long runs, so I was almost able to stick with the group keeping up a tempo pace. :P And it was shorts and t-shirt weather which is even better!

605 Running Co. Club Member

A new running store, 605 Running Co.,  opened up in Sioux Falls this year downtown, and they have been doing a great job of hosting group runs for area runners to meet up with each other. And they carry Oiselle. So win-win, right?

Before the Sioux Falls half they announced an upcoming running team. YAY! I want to be on a team so badly. And then they announced the time requirements. Lololololz. Nope.

While flipping through instagram on the way home from the Bemidji Marathon, I saw a post announcing their Running Club! I hobbled downtown on still trashed legs Monday afternoon to sign up. I'm so excited to meet other runners in the community. Some of my favorite people are those that  I've met through running, and I'm excited to make new running buddies! I'm sure it'll only help my running as well!

When I signed up I was given a spike bag, and got to pick out a shirt to wear for races. They had adorable long sleeve and short sleeve options, and I was set on a grey one with GREEN logo when I realized, uh.. I never race in anything but a tank top. I asked if they had tank options, and they said they certainly could. So sweaty sisters thinking of signing up, you're welcome!