Pounding Out Some Pent Up Frustration
There hasn't been much going on from the Becks' in terms of blogging over the past 6-8 weeks. It's been pretty hectic here with some changes, which I will cover in a later entry, but we'll try and get back to it. Mostly the past 6-8 weeks has been filled with lots of fun with Marc, friends and visiting family, so we can't really complain over here in the northwest.
The blog blackout has also coincided with a running injury that started to rear itself back in April and then started to intensify at the end of June right before my last race, the Seattle Rock 'n Roll ½ Marathon. While I did very well in that race, with much thanks to Coach Lesley, I knew that the pain increasing was not a good sign and that I needed to get it checked out. So I have been doing lots of physical therapy (PT) over July and August with the hopes of rehabbing this issue before my next race in a couple of weeks. It looks like I will not be completely healed, but it should be good enough as the course is a flat one and the hip doesn't seem to bark as much on flat ground.
I have tried running hills at various times over the past 6-8 weeks and have had limited success. That is frustrating only because Seattle is so hilly and it doesn't leave you with many options with respect to running on varied trails. The other frustration has been around 'speedwork' and me not really being cleared to do any because of my injury. This means no track work with the gals. Even though I feel like vomiting after some track sessions because they are pretty hard, I do enjoy the chatter on the recovery laps so not being able to partake in that has been a bit of a bummer.
I've done some "faster" runs over the past couple of months, which has helped, but this morning, I ran a local 10K (~6.2 miles) that benefited Seattle Children's Hospital. I'll add that because of some of the aforementioned changes, my schedule has been really tight in some areas and very loose in other areas. So when I e-mailed Coach Lesley about the normal Saturday run yesterday, I was reminded that I had signed up for the 10K – good one, Jill.
After a great trip to Mt. Rainier for some hiking yesterday and some kayaking the other morning, I was probably a bit tired when I got up this morning. I didn't organize everything the way I typically do before a race, so I got off a bit later than I wanted to. It didn't help that I forgot that the road I would typically take across the lake was closed, so I had to back-track which probably added about 20 minutes to my drive. I *MAY* have broken a few speeding laws as I ventured over to Woodinville, home of some great wineries and the Red Hook Brewery (the race start/finish point). That aside, it was actually a really pretty morning with the sun coming up.
I literally get my chip, bib and everything else worked out with about a minute to spare before the gun goes off at 8am. I take in the smell of barley and hops, which I guess was appropriate given I was at a brewery and all. Race starts and I do the typical weave in and out of people in the 1st ½ mile or so, and I start to settle into a rhythm of some sort. The calf hurts a little, but is tolerable. But in mile 2, I do start to wonder if I need to just take a break from running because I am thinking what a long way I have to go in the race – generally means burnout.
I didn't really put much thought into a goal for this race, so I just decided to go with how I felt. Much to my surprise, I am hitting mile splits at under 8 minutes per mile. I am working hard but figured I would be working much harder to be clocking those times. I guess it helped that the weather was really nice for racing. Partly sunny and in the mid-50s. Oh – and the course was relatively flat, so no real hill struggles.
As I finish mile 4, we hit part of the course that is an "out and back" type of thing. I now know I am going to see faster people as I make my way "out" to the turnaround point. Sometimes it is demoralizing seeing all of those people ahead of you, but I tried to stay focus on hitting my pace. I was running with the same 3 or 4 people throughout most of the race so my goal was to stick with them as much as I could. By mile 4 ½, I knew it was very possible to do something I had never done before – do a 10K in under 50 minutes. A pretty cool milestone, if I can keep with it.
I am coming close to the end of mile 6 and I see my split coming in at 8:00 for that mile, and I tried to get it under so I could have all sub-8:00 splits. No luck. It's 8:00 exactly for mile 6 as I head into the homestretch. Fortunately the finish was very cut and dried, as opposed to making you wind around for an extra ¼ mile to finish the race – now that is demoralizing! My watch says 49:02 with a 7:53 average pace per mile. I am very pleased. I walk around a bit after to get some water and other stuff, and then head to the car. Was glad that I had a bit of a walk to stretch out my legs and hips after the race. Now I am thinking if DeLILLE CELLARS is open for me to grab a glass of D2. J
The compression socks probably helped a bit and didn't make me feel overheated, so I liked that. The pain on the left side came and went, but was tolerable. Not sure how that will translate for my ½ marathon in a couple of weeks, but we'll deal with it. I feel like my upper body was weak as I was moving along in the race, and I am unsure if that is still the residual effects from kayaking for the 1st time in a long time on Wednesday or from yesterday's hike carrying a small'ish backpack. I'll need to work on my arms and shoulders not feeling so tired during intense efforts.
Overall a great effort for a great cause. My new PR for 10Ks was improved by over 5 ½ minutes, so that is something to be proud of. I think I was able to pound out my frustration around not being able to get in some of that much needed 'speedwork'