The Week That Was

Monday: 1.0hr. run (zone 2 on RPE)
Tuesday: upper body (+ basic legs) weights
Wednesday: morning 1.0hr. run (zone 2 on RPE); evening 1.0hr. run (zone 2 on RPE)
Thursday: upper body (+ basic legs) weights
Saturday: 2.0hr. treadmill run (zone 2)
Sunday: upper body (+ basic legs) weights

Volunteered at the Off the Beaten Track ultra event on Sunday, staffing a water station. All participants (9 individuals, 17 teams) completed successfully - congratulations! Another fine event, thanks to the volunteers, sponsors, and organizers.

Gym disruption now underway - World Gym's location closed on Sunday, they are due to re-open in their new location on March 4th. I bought a membership at Anytime Fitness on Saturday, so I was able to go there to lift weights dark and early before my water stop duties.

The Week That Was

Monday: 1.0hr. run (zone 2 on RPE)
Tuesday: upper body (+ basic legs) weights
Wednesday: morning 1.0hr. run (zone 2 on RPE); evening 1.0hr. run (zone 2/zone 3 on RPE)
Thursday: upper body (+ basic legs) weights
Saturday: 2.0hr. treadmill run (zone 1/zone 2)
Sunday: upper body (+ basic legs) weights

Pretty much a model week, with an extra dose of basic legs weights and a somewhat easier Saturday run.

Might bang out another (near) model week before next round of disruptions (9 day gym closure, visitors, and travels). The visitors and travels are welcome - the gym closure not so much!

The Week That Was

Tuesday: upper body weights
Wednesday: 1.0hr. run (zone 2)
Saturday: 0.67hr. run (zone 2)
Sunday: upper body weights

I gather that doing the upper body weights on Tuesday came at significant cost to recovery. Wednesday it was clear to me that I was more deeply in recovery debt than I had been the previous Wednesday.

Sunday morning I volunteered at the CayKids Triathlon - a safe successful event with over 200 kids participating.

The Week That Was

Tuesday: upper body weights
Wednesday: 1.0hr. run (zone 2, some zone 3)
Sunday: 4.0 mile run in 28:37 (relay leg, race effort)

Full Event Result: Cross Island Relay 2012

Wow, those results went up quickly!

Team Results
We were 13th team overall.
Team Time: 3:04:10 (24 mile event)
My Split: 28:37 (4 mile leg)

It seems that the 12th place team finished 2:23 ahead of me - never in my sight.

I like my 28:37. Fits well with my thinking from last week, and the Runner's World Race Time Predictor gives a predicted marathon time of 3:29:48 (which would be a substantial PR for me, and would now be a BQ time). Today I ran without Garmin so that result's on feel alone (with knowledge of the course, but no mile markers and no stopwatch).

Conditions for me were good, because it was overcast and it rained about an hour before my run - lower humidity and the asphalt wasn't baking.

Event Placing: Cross Island Relay 2012

All team members (Thong Distance Banana Smugglers) completed their respective legs of the Cross Island Relay 2012 without permanent injury (or indeed any injury), and all were happy with their performances and the event.

We placed 13th team overall out of 74 teams. I'll quote the team's time overall and my split when they're online.

I ran the final four mile leg - passed three runners, none passed me. No finish line dramatics - nobody was on my heels, and I was so far behind the 12th finisher that he or she was never in my sight.

Our thanks to the volunteers, sponsors (Fidelity), and organizers (under the aegis of the Hash House Harriers).

Performance Notes: Stride Against Cancer 2012

Nutrition & Hydration:
For a 6am start I had breakfast at 3:30am - cup of green tea, 16oz. of low fat chocolate milk, and 20oz. of water with a salt tab. I took a gel approximately 10 minutes before event start. I took Gatorade at almost all of the aid stations - late in the run I took water at a couple, in part to pour some over my head. Nutrition seemed fine; in retrospect might have tried to take in a bit more fluid, but wasn't markedly under-hydrated.

Pacing:
Heart rate was elevated pre-event; I gather that was primarily psychological arousal. By the second mile marker I was settled in at about 8:20/mile pace on the basis of RPE - my heart rate was not a reasonable basis. At the turnaround I bumped up to about 8:07/mile pace on the basis of RPE. When I hit the last quarter of the course RPE was saying zone 5a and heart rate monitor was saying well into zone 5b, so I held around 8:07/mile to the finish. Those numbers don't quite add up to my finish time, but that's what I was seeing when I looked.

Comment:
13 seconds per mile is a noticeable negative split and I wasn't totally blown out at the finish line. A good effort; maybe there was a slightly faster time available to me, but not significantly faster - heck, I'd even had a haircut on Friday. Mainly I didn't care to suffer for a marginal time improvement, but I also didn't want to risk compromising next week's relay. I made a time good enough for my corral assignment purpose if called upon.

Looking ahead:
I've put the overall time into running calculators to get a supposed equivalent effort pace for a four mile effort, but then I've goosed it a bit; I expect to look for a 7:30/mile pace at Sunday's relay (depending upon conditions).

Conditions:
Weather.com yesterday was predicting the following conditions:
Time / Actual Temp / Feels Like / Humidity / Wind (from/speed)
6am / 75F / 75F / 87% / ENE 5mph
7am / 75F / 75F / 87% / ENE 4mph
8am / 76F / 76F / 84% / ENE 5mph
(Sunrise: 7:01am)
That seems in line with how it felt before the start and after finishing.