Tuesday's Training Update: Plus 2 Miler Race Report

Last week went fine. Not a great week, but not bad either. Just so-so I guess. My schedule was a little weird. I didn't get to run on Tuesday per usual, and would have liked to run on Thursday but the rain got in my way, so the training schedule was a little off.

My tempo run on Wednesday went well. At work, I have a 1.25 mile loop that I run over and over for my tempo runs. My first 1.25 miles was around 6:40 pace. You know, on workout days I tend to get a little overly excited; the first lap I have a lot of trouble controlling myself. 6:40 was too fast for a 7.5 mile run. The next loop was 7:10 pace, and I managed to keep the pace within a few seconds of 7:10 for the remaining loops. The final pace wound up being 7:06 per mile. I was pretty tired afterward though. It definitely wasn't easy.

Thursday morning I decided to sign up for a local 4th of July 2 miler. The race was only 2 miles from my home, and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to run a race so close to home. I was a little nervous though, 2 miles is so short, and I knew that I wouldn't have a chance to run any shorter intervals prior to race day. I ran there for a warm up and got ready to run! I had a racing chip so I wasn't concerned about where on the line I was. That was probably a mistake. Later I figured out that they didn't use the chip time, just the official race time. I started my watch when I crossed the start line, but it was a good 20 - 30 seconds before I even started running after I crossed the start! At which point I started to panic a little. Once I managed to start running, I did fine. According to my watch I crossed the mile marker at exactly 6:27 (that's even with all the walking). When I crossed the finish line my watch read 13:01. Later I checked the official results, but they didn't have chip times. Kind of makes you wonder why they went to the trouble of having chips? I was a little disappointed knowing that I lost a lot of time because I didn't position myself well at the start, but it was still fun. I've already informed Nick that we're doing it as a family next year, and I'll push the stroller. I think Kaylee would love it, and afterward there's a parade.


Here's where I share last week's training:
Monday: 60 minute bike
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 7.5 tempo run at 7:06 pace
Thursday: 90 minute bike
Friday: 7.25 mile run
Saturday: 2 mile race at 6:30 + 4 mile warm up/cooldown
Sunday: 4 mile run at 10 minute pace