Race week

I had another good week in advance of yesterday's Columbus 10K. We had a warm and muggy beginning of the week, but it cooled down nicely midweek. Then it warmed up again for the weekend.

On Monday evening, I ran a very easy five-mile loop down to the track, around a few (six) times, and home. I was still a bit fatigued from Friday's 400m Repetitions.

Monday's recovery run: 5.13 miles, 40:51, 7:58/mile, Avg HR 139 (65% HRR), 85°F

Tuesday night, it was Earth Drummer night. It was sunny, sticky, and not a single member of the team kept his or her shirt on longer than it took to warm up. After a warm-up (2.3 miles), we did our drills, strides, and accelerations before tackling either 800m or 1000m repeats at 10K pace (a race-preparation drill). Those of us coming of the marathon four weeks prior were assigned 800's. The rest of the team ran 1000's. The workout was for six to eight repeats with 400m recovery jogs. I planned from the beginning to stick to six, with a target of 2:58, hoping to keep them all under 3:00.

Because no one else running my pace was running 800's, I ended up running the workout alone. Others were running on the track with me, which still helps, but I had to pace myself. The result was that I went out way too fast for the first 200m. Beyond that, my repeats were good, all within two seconds: 2:53.3, 2:56.8, 2:56.1, 2:58.2, 2:57.7, 2:56.2. And I was happy with my average HR for the 800's. After the first, it was 174 or 175 for the next four and 172 for the last one. (On the last one, I actually got to pace behind a teammate running a 1000.)

Counting a cool-down, the evening totaled about 10 miles.

Tuesday's track workout: 10.0 miles, 1:13:01, 7:18/mile, Avg HR 153 (75% HRR), 82°F-78°F

Wednesday was National Run Day, and I joined the Runners' Club of Greater Cincinnati and the U.C. Running Club for an evening trail run at Mt. Airy Forest. I ended up running with six guys from the U.C. Running Club at a pretty good effort, harder than I planned with a race four days away. But it was fun. We ran a roughly five-mile trail loop. It was hilly, rooty, and, in spots, a bit slick and/or sticky from recent rain. It was also a delightfully cool even, with occasional light rain.

Wednesday's trail run: 5.26 miles, 45:27, 8:38/mile, Avg HR 148 (71% HRR), 60°F, cloudy, cool

On Thursday and Friday, I ran as easily as I could force myself to in order to rest my legs up for Sunday. It was still sub-70° on Thursday, and I barely broke a sweat running eight miles. My HR both days was really low.

Thursday's recovery run: 8.0 miles, 1:07:10, 8:24/mile, Avg HR 127 (57% HRR), 68°F

Friday's recovery run: 5.12 miles, 42:37, 8:19/mile, Avg HR 127 (57% HRR), 75°F, sunny

On Saturday, I took it easy and rested.