The 3rd quarter of calendar 2006 quietly drew to a close Friday. My September saddle time totaled a mere 31:30, bringing the annual number to 305 hours so far. September also brought the resumption of running, and I managed to get in seven short runs before the end of the month, adding three hours to the thirty that I got in during the spring season. My legs seemed to be adapting well, so after Sunday morning I made the two minute trip over to the start of the NRT 5 mile road race. This event is pretty small time, and seemingly getting smaller, as only about 110 runners showed up this year. The weather was drizzly, so that may have hurt. Nobody wanted to line up in the front row, so I started near the front and took off just behind the leaders. The start is a bit downhill, and my HR wasn't too high, so mile marker one came up at 6:12. By now my HR was up around LT, so I tried to settle in.
I'm not a real runner, and my pace is all over the place. The second mile was 6:37. The third mile is slightly uphill. I felt a runner on my shoulder, and tried to really stick on the shallow grades. At one point he was next to me, and I glanced over and saw it was Rightcoast's Uncle Bruce. Continuing on, at the mile three marker, which comes at the high point of the course, brought a split of 6:38. I later found out that my average HR for that mile was 170 (red zone baby) and peaked at 176. This may explain why I fell apart, cracking and running the predominantly downhill fourth mile in 7:04. Pulling it back together on the homestretch down Sheridan Street, the final split was 6:52 for an official finish time of 33:20, 12th place. Certainly a CR for me here, as I've gone as slow as 45 minutes in this early season race. This year I'm trying to step it up, as the Canton 10k is in 28 days and I'd really like to do well.
Last week also saw a grand total of 55 minutes on the bike. I was losing enthusiasm and my legs needed a break. Running might not be the best medicine, but I took some time and setup my cross bike for racing, and I just got into the B Masters field for next Sunday at Gloucester before it closed. I'm looking forward to all the race reports from the weekend. Thanks for reading.
Excellent run solo. Enjoy the Glou festival. I understand that race is a serious holiday shopping experience.
ReplyDeleteso how many hours out of that 305 hours was done on the bike?
ReplyDelete305. That's why is says saddle time. 30 hours running from January until June when I stopped. There is also a trivial amount of time doing classical XC skiing. So hopefully I'll get in another 60-75 hours riding between now and the end of the year, as well as maybe another 20-30 hours of running. This will bring me to a "total workout hours" number somewhere in the low 400's, which hopefully will meet my goal of a 10% increase over last year.
ReplyDeletewow, k. I read it wrong, thought you said that the 30min run made your total time of 305. Sorry.
ReplyDelete