Training Log Archive: W

Well, my legs are just a tad tired from yesterday's 10k, but I was already registered for this sprint in Tampere, so.... let's do it! I can't actually remember the name of the race, something about some guy's name and gold and something.... whatever.

I knew my legs were tired and I also didn't have a control description holder or my magnifier, so this sprint was about doing some basic stuff, not trying to run really really hard (because my calves were burning), and keep my focus high at all times.

Missing the control description holder was one of the sillier problems, I found myself checking the map's description for the numbers just in case, which was probably not necessary, but, it did make me feel more secure for the first 3-4 controls. It might have been nice to have my magnifier too, for a couple of the really, really short legs.

In general, though, I raced pretty well, I missed doing some planning in the last set of short short legs and lost some time not realizing that there was an out of bounds area blocking my way towards the last control. Might have been cool to see how well I would have done without the leg fatigue, since I did okay with it. Promising sign for next week if I can get my legs in order by then.

Finlandia Marathon Valon Kymppi! I haven't done a 10k since the climb-y one in the spring, nor have I really been training specifically for this, but I figured I could have *probably* hit a PB since its a relatively flat course (with a few exceptions), and my previous 10k PB came as part of a 10mile race (34:19). I figured, sub-34:00 at least is probably reasonable.

I started off with getting a ribbon to the face. They had that thing where they didn't want people to cross the line so they had a tape that one guy on one end would try to pull really fast out of the way. As I stood there with minutes before the start I got to thinking how this would end badly for me, being on the far right side. And it did, since there was no way the guy was going to be able to pull the ribbon away in the split second I would take one step into it. So, as expected, ribbon to the face. Surely there's a better way to do that.

The plan was to start off controlled as I like to do, and then slowly claw back towards people in front of me. But then I lost my mind and saw one guy who was moving pretty good and decided I wanted to run with him. I was able to hang on to him for about 2.5k, but then he slowly pulled away because there was simply no way I could hang on to that pace. I did the first 3000m in 9:28, which is actually 5 seconds slower than my 3000m PB. So.... I was living dangerously.

Although I kept trying to push and keep him in sight, he slowly pulled away, and by the crossing of the Mattilaniemi bridge on the second lap, I'd completely lost sight of the lead bike light, but I was also well ahead of third. So, although the "race" was over, I was still trying to push as best I could without checking my watch. I was worried if I was behind a PB time I'd slow down and risk getting caught. No doubt my speed dropped on that second lap, and I wonder if I could have run faster if he was in sight, but, whereas I dropped about 40 seconds on the second lap, the winner actually went FASTER on the second lap, and put on an extra minute over 5k. Yikes. He was quick.

Nevertheless, despite that slight drop in motivation on the second lap, I still managed to PB at the finish, by over a minute for a time of 33:17. I have little doubt that with some other racers around me I could have gone sub-33, and now that I'm close enough to that barrier, I have a new target to enthusiastically chase on the road.

Also, amazing evening for a race, +15-ish, just starting to get dark on the second lap. Trails could have been lit a little bit better, though, it was getting a little dark in the forest! Also, Finlandia Marathon had an amazing race kit, because it consisted of a ton of different food. No papers or ads or anything, just food. Awesome.

C • 10 PB 4

Warm-up and cool-down and round numbers.

So tomorrow is that 10k I was talking about! And since I haven't run fast for a little while, I thought it woudl be prudent to go out and do a nice little 10x1min session. Nothing terrible fast, not even 10k pace, but around 3:30, 3:40, just to feel what its like to run fast and not trip over things (ironically, on the way up the stairs to my place, I tripped on the stairs).

Fall is in full swing now which means it smells like wet fallen leaves, but its warm and sunny. Mun lempikausi.

Took a few more days off after the failure of Finnish long distance champs to get my head back on right. I decided to really change things up by doing my usual loop... BACKWARDS. I know, right! This is crazy stuff. And it was a refreshing change. Nice because its not as steep a climb right off the start, a little bit more gradual and the paved part happens first rather than at the end. Maybe I should make this is a habit.

Actually it feels really no different. But I don't know why it took me a year to decide to do it in a different direction.