Thoughts on Sunday's 15K
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Sunday's 15K was an odd race, mostly because I was out of my routine. For one thing, I've ran four times since New Years, and never longer than five miles.
Also, the race started at 11:15. The late start made me think that staying out till midnight and eating breakfast before the race would be fine. Staying out would've worked out ok, except that I was so keyed up from the night that I really didn't sleep. I woke up early so that I'd have time to digest. The problem was that I didn't know what to eat. I've cut grains out of my diet, so I opted for an omelet with lox and onions. Six miles in, I cramped up and stayed cramped for the rest of the race. Why didn't I just have a banana? I don't know. I guess the lack of sleep meant I wasn't thinking so clearly.
The weather was also wierd. It was one of those no-win in-between temperatures. I wore capri pants and my under armour turtle neck and was hot. My friend who ran in less said she was freezing.
I raced in my Inov-8 238's, which I had only worn twice before. I also ran in my knee bands for the first time. The shoes were great. I blistered a tad, but it was the kind of blistering that's gone the next day. The knee bands get annoying after a while, but they do make me feel more confident and I think that helps with speed.
I had told myself that I wasn't going to treat this as a race, but as a training run for the half I'm doing next month in Vienna. I more or less stuck to that and finished in under 1:27.
This is where it gets interesting. If I stuck to my average pace from the 15K for 13.1 miles, I would finish in 2 hours and 56 seconds. You see where this is going? I think I'm too close not to try to go sub-2 in Vienna. I wasn't planning on really racing Vienna, and I don't know that I can beat my last half marathon time (1:57 something), but I'm starting to want to try.
I'll keep you posted.
-Gym Belle-
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