My goals for the Prairie Fire half marathon have been ever fluid, to say the least. In January it was a goal race, but after 5 weeks off with tendon issue #1, I decided I likely wouldn’t have any great races this spring and eased back into training. Training went better than expected, progressed faster than expected (not necessarily smart!), and was uninterrupted for about 5 weeks, so I began thinking that I might just be able to run a solid half there after all, weather permitting.
Then tendon issue #2 occurred and I questioned whether I would even be able to run the race (I was already registered). I immediately stopped running when my tendon bothered me just slightly, and didn’t start back again until it felt 100% because I was so paranoid following the previous injury. This amounted to just 12 days off, which was much better than 5 weeks but still left me feeling soft and out of shape!
However, my first handful of runs back went better than I
expected. I was probably nicely tapered and rested, but I felt strong and
like I might be able to race respectfully after all. I went out for 12
miles on my third run back, because I figured that if I couldn’t finish that
pain-free, then I had no business even trying to race a half. The 12 miler
turned into a 14 miler that I finished feeling strong with a 6:25 mile. That was cram workout 1!
And that led me to today’s workout, cram workout 2: an 8-mile tempo at
half-ish pace. Mondays are usually a cross-training only day for me, but
my schedule hasn’t been “set” for a couple of weeks with the tendon issue
popping up, and I figured it would be better to run it today than tomorrow in
order to have more days between this workout and the race (normally I wouldn’t
do a long tempo quite this close to a race, but I felt like I needed it mentally
to have some idea about how to pace!).
I figured I would start at 6:40 pace and see what
happened. 6:40 pace is a 1:27 half, so while off my PR of 1:24 it would
still be one of my better times, as I have run far more halves in the 1:30s
than in the 1:20s.
Lucky for me, Missy wanted to run this workout with me with
me, and we decided to meet at a trail that is close to both of our homes.
At 5:15 a.m. we took off on a warm-up and psyched ourselves up. Since I’d
run a handful of miles recently faster than 6:40, including the 6:25 final mile
in a 14-mile long run, I didn’t think that 6:40 would be too challenging, and
for the first 2 miles it wasn’t (although they were a tad slow, with both at
6:42.X). I knew it was a bad idea for Missy and I to run a hard run first
after not running together for a couple of weeks, because we had a million
things to talk about! Initially talking was okay and although I felt
residual fatigue in my legs I hoped I would loosen up and feel strong.
The course we ran is pretty much up gradual incline in miles
2, 3, and 4, then back down it on the way back. When I’m in good shape I
really like it, because once you turn around you speed up noticeably without
even trying! Well, I’m not in the best shape and my legs were feeling
Friday’s long run plus Saturday’s double and strength work, and during mile 3 I
started absolutely hating the course. The incline was killing me! I
switched from trying to stay in the 6:40’s to just trying to hang on until we
could turn around. That looked like two 6:55.X’s in a row.
 |
| Splits rounded up |
 |
| This felt like a heck of a lot more than 119 feet!! |
 |
| Final stretch of Prairie Fire 2015 - this is what pain looks like! |
