Richardson Corporate Challenge 5k 2007

Well, I woke up on Sunday morning, and my foot felt almost completely fine! I got up a little late and headed to the University of Texas @ Dallas, where the race was being held. This year, they decided to give points beyond the first 3 finishers as "participation points". As a result, there were 635 participants (previously, 100 to 150 runners)... the lines were AWFUL! The worst part... there was a line to collect our timing chip after the line to collect our race number. I finally ended up cutting the line (after it broke down) and getting my chip.

The race started about 20 minutes late (because of the large amount of extra people). I ran the first bit very calm, and settled into a good pace. I trailed the 3 leaders, and was running in a group of 5 (3 Nortel, Alliance Data, and me). The second mile was an uphill grade, and the Alliance Data runner and me left the others behind. I pulled away from the Alliance runner with about 3/4 of a mile to go and tried hard to catch the #1 Nortel runner. I just didn't have the energy/will to finish hard, and came in 4th about 8 seconds behind him. I was second place for my team.

The rest of the week was mostly base mileage... since I want to build up for the Half Marathon in November. I ran 3 repeat 1 miles on the track a shade under 5:30, and felt good (even though it was around 90 degrees).

Total - S(3.1), M(8), T(4), W(6), F(6 Repeat Miles), S(10) - 37

Race - 5k @ 18:33 (5:49.66, 6:05.79, 6:05.38, 32.3)

Interval - 3 x 1 mile (5:28, 5:25, 5:23)

9/15/07

Bad Week! I started running on Sunday morning, but my body complained... LOUDLY. So, I turned around at 1/2 a mile, and called it a day. I was fatigued on Monday, so took it off. I woke up on Tuesday with my painful foot problem again - in my right foot. I hobbled around a couple days, and since it was still tender on Friday morning, I told the Corporate Challenge 5k coordinator that I probably wouldn't be running on Sunday. But, my foot was feeling ok on Friday evening, so I ran a few miles - about half of it at a pretty quick pace. I woke up Saturday, and my foot was still mostly ok, so I ran an easy 3 miles. We'll see how it works for tomorrow's 5k! I wish I had been able to train completely, but I won't complain if I can help my team.

Total - 8

9/8/2007

I spent the first day of this week climbing Wheeler peak in New Mexico. The climb log describes the hike. I ran downhill the last 2 miles - not hard training per se, but it made my quads pretty sore the next day! Monday was spent travelling back to Dallas. I only have a week before the Richardson Corporate Challenge 5K.

I ran my long run at Erwin Park again - was dead tired about 5 miles into it, and gutted it out to the end.

Total - 32

Interval - 3 x 1 mile @ 5:35

9/1/2007

Started the week off by running an 8 mile loop at Erwin Park. It is a mountain bike singletrack trail, and an excellent cross country run - about half of the trail is open fields, and the other half is through trees and underbrush - the trail is in excellent condition. Good training for the little used muscles as there are ups and downs, a lot of sharp turns, and weaving in and out of trees. I ran early, so it was cool, and I didn't have to contend with any mountain bikers - unfortunately, I ran through a LOT of spider webs (with spiders included!). It was a tough run after my 1.5 mile tempo run less than 36 hours earlier - I felt a bit sore towards the end of the run. I will try to do it again in 2 weeks.

My Tempo run at the end of my training week felt slow (morning), but I was running well... I considered running through 2 more laps to see what my 2 mile time was, but my right calf cramped up, so I just finished the regular 6 laps. I will try for a 2 mile time next week.

Total - 32

Interval - 16 x 400 @ 1:18 with 200 recovery
Tempo - 6 laps - 8:06.88 (2:40.71, 2:41.94, 2:44.23)