Running Results - Rainbow 'Round the Zoo
I ran my fourth race of the year on Sunday, a scant one week after my my last 5K. Four, you'll recall, was the number needed to qualify for the nice jacket that was the ostensible justification for all this running. The deadline was this week, so I barely snuck in under the wire.
The timing could have been better. On Saturday I sold cheese for 7 hours (i.e., I stood on concrete for 7 hours), followed by a clambake (standing on grass for 4 hours) and a concert at the Grog Shop (more standing on concrete). Having thus abused my knees, I got not nearly enough sleep and staggered into the Zoo at 8am.
The weather was chilly, which might have actually been plus because it numbed my bad knee. The threatening rain thankfully held off until after the race. It's a good thing to, because otherwise I probably would have slid all over the many hills. Yes, unlike the other three races I ran this summer, this course had hills, and not just little hills, but big significant hills. The race was an out-and-back course, so I got hills going in both directions. On the plus side, sprinting down hills really knocks down the times, as evidenced by my splits:
1 mile: 10:25
2 mile: 20:20 (9:55)
Finish: 31:33 (11:13 for 1 mile + 1 meters)
The first mile went pretty well. The gradients here were pretty light, and there was a steep downhill that I sprinted through to make up some time. I didn't walk at all in this mile, which took us past the Bactrian camels.
You'll note that the split for my second mile was faster than the split for my first mile, which is the first time that happened all year. I was surprised by this, because there was a huge hill in the second mile. It was pretty steep and probably 1/3 mile in length. I ran up the first half of the hill, but had to walk up to the top from there. After a flat bit at the top to reach the turnaround point (including the water table) I was able to spring down that hill at high speed, and I made up all of the time I spent walking and then some.
Alas, in the third mile I had to go up that steep downhill from the first mile. Combined with the effort expended on the hills I had to walk a few more times. I was able to muster my customary sprint for the last 100 meters, which took me in at 31:33. On the one hand, that was my worst time of the summer. On the other, it was only 0:53 worst than my previous worst time, which was run on a completely flat course. I definitely improved over the course of the summer. I wasn't particularly concerned about my times, but it's still nice to see.
Since it was only a week since the last race, I only had 2 training runs for a total of 2.8 miles. That brings my official running for the summer to an end. rshruti is trying to talk me into doing a 5 miler on Thanksgiving, but my knees hurt a lot, and I'm leaning toward moving back into the gym for the winter.
The timing could have been better. On Saturday I sold cheese for 7 hours (i.e., I stood on concrete for 7 hours), followed by a clambake (standing on grass for 4 hours) and a concert at the Grog Shop (more standing on concrete). Having thus abused my knees, I got not nearly enough sleep and staggered into the Zoo at 8am.
The weather was chilly, which might have actually been plus because it numbed my bad knee. The threatening rain thankfully held off until after the race. It's a good thing to, because otherwise I probably would have slid all over the many hills. Yes, unlike the other three races I ran this summer, this course had hills, and not just little hills, but big significant hills. The race was an out-and-back course, so I got hills going in both directions. On the plus side, sprinting down hills really knocks down the times, as evidenced by my splits:
1 mile: 10:25
2 mile: 20:20 (9:55)
Finish: 31:33 (11:13 for 1 mile + 1 meters)
The first mile went pretty well. The gradients here were pretty light, and there was a steep downhill that I sprinted through to make up some time. I didn't walk at all in this mile, which took us past the Bactrian camels.
You'll note that the split for my second mile was faster than the split for my first mile, which is the first time that happened all year. I was surprised by this, because there was a huge hill in the second mile. It was pretty steep and probably 1/3 mile in length. I ran up the first half of the hill, but had to walk up to the top from there. After a flat bit at the top to reach the turnaround point (including the water table) I was able to spring down that hill at high speed, and I made up all of the time I spent walking and then some.
Alas, in the third mile I had to go up that steep downhill from the first mile. Combined with the effort expended on the hills I had to walk a few more times. I was able to muster my customary sprint for the last 100 meters, which took me in at 31:33. On the one hand, that was my worst time of the summer. On the other, it was only 0:53 worst than my previous worst time, which was run on a completely flat course. I definitely improved over the course of the summer. I wasn't particularly concerned about my times, but it's still nice to see.
Since it was only a week since the last race, I only had 2 training runs for a total of 2.8 miles. That brings my official running for the summer to an end. rshruti is trying to talk me into doing a 5 miler on Thanksgiving, but my knees hurt a lot, and I'm leaning toward moving back into the gym for the winter.