Am I Holding Myself?

Week 6 - Phase III - Core Workout: VO2 Max -
08/27/12 - 09/02/12 -
Week Total:  42.0 -

My St. George marathon training has not been a "following-a-plan" kind of training. I am just following my own method with some fundamentals taken from plans I have studied and that make sense to me. My running-commute takes most of my time, and I love it. It includes 9.2 miles from/to work, plus 5 to 8 miles with running partner Michelle on the same day. Though I feel tired some afternoons, I haven't felt fatigued not even once. Reducing the mileage two weeks ago was positive and permitted me to climb back to 50 miles without issue. I reduced the mileage this week as well, and will increase it next week to what I foresee will be my highest mileage week. Everything seems to be working out pretty good for me.

This week I worked 7 Yassos and they were tough. I think it was not a good idea to do Yasso's 2 days after a 21-miler. Or maybe it was. My legs were tired, but I still delivered. I did them slower than what I've been doing, but I'm still happy with the results: 3:33-3:33-3:36-3:34-3:31-3:34-3:28.

Next speed work was done on a 10- mile race in a hilly course. The workout had double purpose: Speed, and fast downhills. My marathon is mostly downhill and I need to continue pushing the quads so they don't become marshmallow during the descents. 

My goal was around 1:25-1:26, what would be pretty much my Half Marathon pace. I didn't want to speed up beyond that considering the hilly course. These results would be satisfying for me. 

After seeing and chatting many of my best running friends we were set to go. The first mile was downhill; the second was an ok terrain; the 3rd was a climb. However, I had my  HR under control, and didn't let it go too high. I was surprised that with that, I still got a good splits. As it happens with most of my races when I hold my HR I was now ready to unleash. The worst was gone. I pushed the pace. 

I knew I was doing great when I was about mile 4 and still had not seen the race leader coming back. Then here comes the front of the pack and a little bit later I saw the first female. It happened to be Amanda, a gal that I've just met inside the theater when we were putting our bibs and chip on our shoes. Second was my good friend Ginger, and then I decided to count how many women I had in front of me. When I hit the turn around I was #12. Two girls passed me immediately and I was bumped to #14. I kept pushing for the whole mile 6, and passed 2 ladies. Back to 12. I picked up the pace and at mile 7 I had so much energy that I passed 3 more, including my favorite runner in the world who I hate to pass. She is my hero, Judy Fisher, a World Class runner. Then I sped up. I passed a bunch of guys, but there were no more women in my reach. My thoughts were only to keep pushing just in case somebody else was coming close behind me. The last mile was uphill but I had enough power to climb it.

Fantastic race. FANTASTIC. Exceeded my goal on hilly Gig Harbor. 10 miles/16Km in 1:21:15 for an 8:08 min/mile. 9th female overall, and 1st place in the 50-59 division (which was a very competitive division, the first 3 spots were very, very close). A PR of 25 minutes. And better than that, a nice gathering with my running friends and great food, including a big Panera box full of bagels and cinnamon rolls.

Splits:

1- 7:36
2- 8:09
3- 8:41
4- 8:00
5- 8:11
6- 8:15
7- 8:06
8- 8:04
9- 7:54
10- 8:14

I did the math, and with this effort I can get a high 1:40s for the Half Marathon. This was a tough course, and even if I lose ground in the next 3 miles I think I can make it. Am I Holding Myself? 

Here with female winner Amanda Hoskins (center) - 1:11:47, Ginger Gruber, 2nd overall - 1:14:45, Beverly Schubert - 1:21:51, 3rd in 50-59 division, and Judy Fisher winner 60-69 - 1:22:04

With Shannon Perry and Michael Hsu

With Tony Seabolt and Sharon Butler - Very nice ontheRUNevents photo