I had such a confidence boost of a training week this past week. Starting with my workout on Tuesday and ending with a good half marathon test run of the Go! St. Louis 10k.
Tuesday: 4×1 mile workout with 90 sec rest
- warm up: .48 miles @ 9:51 pace
- mile 1: 7:49
- mile 2: 7:48
- mile 3: 8:07
- mile 4: 8:05
- cool down: .5 @ 9:29 pace
When I say this workout changed me, I mean it in more ways than one. I felt comfortable with mile 1 and 2. Mile 3 and 4 were against the wind and I really dug deep to provide that same effort. I just felt really good afterwards and started thinking about my 5k. All I ever wanted to do in college was go sub 20 and I gave up on that dream when I got out of shape and older. But those are not reasons to give up on a dream, even if you are far from it at this current moment. So that is back on my goals, but not my focus right now. Just because I got a little excited about that, doesn’t take away from my current focus on this half marathon!
I will make my decision on if I need a fall half marathon this year, once I run this half marathon on the 29th. Just wanted to give a little sneak of what may be happening in the future.
Thursday: Easy run – 3.4 miles @ 10:03 pace
I wanted to have a few days of recovery for my 10k, so I went out on Thursday for an easy run. I was going to do around 4-5 but in all honesty, I just felt done. One of those runs where I was already almost back home and didn’t want to add on extra miles. So I just called it.
Sunday: Go! St. Louis 10k!
I originally really wanted to sign up for this race as my initial half marathon because it was my very first half marathon I ever did and also the same one that I still have yet to PR from. However, I did not like that the start and finish locations were not near each other and I didn’t want to have to use the shuttle. Just personal preference in our current state of the world. I still wanted to be a part of this and well, the Gooey Louie gooey butter cake at the finish line was the biggest pull. Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the EndurAlliance team with Gatorade and they provided me with my fuel for my training. This race was a sponsored event by them so I was able to get a comped entry and that was so nice! I am no longer on the team, but still representing for the race and also the Gatorade Endurance is still what I use to fuel my runs.
What Went Great!
- Parking! You know this is always where I get the most anxiety is the parking situation for races. I always think I will have trouble and will be late to the race (this has happened a few times to me.) It was so seamless because I prepaid and was able to find my lot and a space perfectly. Then I just followed the crowd to find the start.
- My pacing! Obviously my watch and my actual chip time have discrepancies in pace and length of the route, much like you would expect being around multiple GPS’s and tall buildings. I also backtracked a little (more in the what did not go well part.) However, I felt STRONG the entire time and I felt that I started out conservatively, swerved around and found my space as I could. The goal was to do progression miles and for the most part, I did.
- The hills. I did not look at the elevation or course map really and I had no expectations. What I found was a lot of hilly bits, but this was a good thing because I don’t really know how much I will have of that in my half but I want to feel strong and that’s exactly what I felt during these. I didn’t really feel like I was slowed down too terribly much.
- I had fun. I was just so pleased with my effort along the way and was just thinking how much fun I was having with all these strangers while we ran together.
What Went Not So Great
- Finding the start. We were following 10k signs but we were actually on the course itself. This really wasn’t terrible though because I arrived early enough and we found where we needed to be and I still had time to do a shorter warm up and use the restroom.
- Opening my gel. So I wouldn’t be using gels normally in a 10k because I’m not running for more than 60 minutes. However, the whole purpose of this race was to trial everything I had been wanting to do for the half marathon. I take gels about every 3 miles in my long runs, but I normally stop to consume. I don’t want to stop during a race, so hence the gel. Glad I practiced in a race setting because your girl dropped it trying to open it. I was trying to open with my hands and have learned I will need to just use my teeth. Learning moment. When I dropped it, I stopped and thought about turning to get it but in reality I didn’t need it, so I just kept going. But then everyone behind me was yelling to let me know I dropped it, so I didn’t really want to be the a-hole that left it there. So yes, I did turn and grab it and continue on my way.
- The arch ground switchback sidewalk. Honestly, this also was not a big deal but it was towards the beginning where we had not yet quite spread out from everyone, so we all were trying to get onto this sidewalk at the same time. It probably helped save my energy at the start anyway, just was a bit hard getting stuck behind people. I also think my corral was a bit off because people were walking, but once again, no big deal.
- My headphones died at mile 5. Yup. I thought they had enough charge but obviously not. So I had to endure the cruel incline right after you came flying down the switchback sidewalk, with only my thoughts of how strong I am to make it to the finish LOL.
As you can see, there really wasn’t much that did not go well, the tiniest of things that really didn’t make a difference and I just had so much fun!
Ready for another week of training! We are almost to race day!
