A story of going from being a non-runner to planning for a marathon in three years...

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Wind at My Back


Source



I am officially done with running until my half marathon on Saturday. I ran my last almost 4 miles on Tuesday at lunch and lead the pack until the last half mile. I definitely did it faster than the prescribed tempo pace. I admit that when I looked at my Garmin at the mile 1 beep I was shocked to see a time of 8:45. Why was I shocked? Because it was so easy!

We stopped at the half way point so that the people in the group not running a race on Saturday could do some hill work on the sled hill. In our lunch time running group we have three of us running a race on Saturday. One doing the full Illinois Marathon, one doing the full Wisconsin Marathon and me doing the half Wisconsin Marathon. We stood around patiently while the other three guys did 4 hill repeats.

When we turned around to run the 2 miles back it was like hitting a wall. A wall made of wind. Apparently we'd had the wind at our backs on the way out. I guess we should have known by the way Lake Michigan was spraying up in the air on the other side of the concrete barrier! I pretty much had to keep my head down in order to keep my visor from blowing off my head! Speaking of visors, anyone got a good idea on how to wash a really gross one?

Overall it was a great note on which to end this training cycle. Just one more notch in my confidence belt. However, I plan to do another post before Saturday laying out my actual goals and thoughts and possibly what I'm wearing in case anyone wants to stalk come cheer for me. Stay tuned for that.

Finally, in other news, I received a free copy of The Ultimate Runner from the Tom and Amy over at Runners' Lounge. I plan to read it over the next few days and write up a review. The sooner I can get the review done the sooner I can get in the running for a free copy to give away to one of you! Or, if you just can't wait that long, feel free to order your very own copy!

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Activity
Route:--Elev. Avg:592 ft
Location:Chicago, ILElev. Gain:+3 ft
Date:04/27/10Up/Downhill: [+203/-200]
Time:12:19 PMDifficulty:2.4 / 5.0
 
Weather:A Few Clouds
 48 F temp; 43% humidity
 48 F heat index; winds NE 18 G 23
Performance

Distance: 3.99 miles
Time:0:35:12
Speed:6.8 mph
Pace:8' 49 /mi
Calories:470
Map
 
Elevation (ft)
 
Pace (min/mile)
 
Splits
MilePace (min/mile)Speed (mph)Elevation
Gain
actual+/- avgactual+/- avg
18' 45-0' 046.8+0.0+4 ft
28' 34-0' 157.0+0.2-19 ft
39' 10+0' 216.5-0.3+6 ft
end8' 53+0' 046.8-0.1+13 ft
Versus average of 8' 49 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

5 comments:

RunningLaur said...

Have a great race!!!

kilax said...

I was going to ask where that pic was from because I did not recognize it... then I saw the city was so far away and realized it was pretty far south. I wonder if it is on the trail.

The Ultimate Runner looks like a good book!

You are so ready for the half!!! :)

lifestudent said...

Man you have a dedicated running group at lunchtime. Multiple miles, hill repeats? Thats some crazy stuff. When I was in the "real" workworld I had some girls I'd go to lunch with and we would secretly have a couple of beers at lunch and then go back and be unproductive for the rest of the day. I couldnt imagine if I spent that time doing hill repeats instead ;)

Jessica (Bayjb) said...

Wow you have a good track downtown, I hope you did okay with the wind, it was beautiful but brutal. And good luck this weekend!! I'll be thinking of you.

Unknown said...

Good luck on the half!

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