I am following a training plan to ramp up to Boston.
I am doing the Advanced Plan found on the Runner's World site...found here.
Nothing fancy but essentially right now I am working on my foot speed. Lots of tempo work with a few races thrown in to give you some check points.
So today the plan called for me to run a 5 km. I could not find a 5km around Portland this weekend but I did find a 3 miler...close enough and guaranteed to be a PR since I have never raced that distance before :-)
The race is in its 40th year called the Zena Road Races put on by the Willamette Valley Road
Runners. They also offer a 6 and 9 mile race...but with the hills I saw on the 3 mile I am glad I opted for the shortest of the races!
The route is out in the Willamette Valley near Salem Oregon...you can see the course route by clicking here.
After hitting the early service at church, Trisha and I drove the 45+ mins out to the race which started at 11:00 am. We got to the start of the race with not much time to spare so I did not do a warmup. Whoops...next time!
I also was a little concerned with how as we got closer to the race we moved into more and more hilly country. Out of the flat flood plain and up near the vineyards...ouch.
The weather was close to perfect after the cold and snow we have been getting hit with. At the start I would guess that it was about 40 F (5 C). I even got to wear my racing flats...nice!
All 3 distances (3, 6, and 9 miles) started at the same time. The 3 and 6 miles start going one way with the 9 mile starting in the opposite direction. We started with a gradual downhill.
Good to start but with this being an out and back, it meant a climb to the finish.
I started out controlled especially with no warmup. Soon though we were on an uphill and then a steeper uphill that climbed until about the 1 mile mark. First mile: 6:26. I had hoped to be posting 6 minutes per mile but with the hills I recalibrated mentally an
d kept on pushing.
I made the turn around at 1.5 miles and started to look forward to more downhill than up. Second mile was also 6:26. The first place woman caught up to me and this helped me to find another gear as we made the uphill to start the last mile. My legs were feeling loose by this time so I pressed the accelerator and started to finally make some good time. The downhill ended all too quickly and then it was the half mile climb to the finish. There was one guy that I should have fought to catch but it was not to be. Erg!
Finished in 18:41 with a last mile of 5:47. I believe I was about 7 or 8th place (should they let high school and college runners run in the same race as the rest of us?? :-) ) and was 2nd place in the old man group (35-39). Results should be up here shortly.
I am looking forward to more tempo runs and the next race, 10 km out at Champoeg, which I know is flat and fast.
I even enjoyed watching the Super Bowl with our church small group after a great recovery run in the afternoon...though I don't think I will eat another brat until next year!
I am doing the Advanced Plan found on the Runner's World site...found here.
Nothing fancy but essentially right now I am working on my foot speed. Lots of tempo work with a few races thrown in to give you some check points.
So today the plan called for me to run a 5 km. I could not find a 5km around Portland this weekend but I did find a 3 miler...close enough and guaranteed to be a PR since I have never raced that distance before :-)
The race is in its 40th year called the Zena Road Races put on by the Willamette Valley Road
Runners. They also offer a 6 and 9 mile race...but with the hills I saw on the 3 mile I am glad I opted for the shortest of the races!The route is out in the Willamette Valley near Salem Oregon...you can see the course route by clicking here.
After hitting the early service at church, Trisha and I drove the 45+ mins out to the race which started at 11:00 am. We got to the start of the race with not much time to spare so I did not do a warmup. Whoops...next time!
I also was a little concerned with how as we got closer to the race we moved into more and more hilly country. Out of the flat flood plain and up near the vineyards...ouch.
The weather was close to perfect after the cold and snow we have been getting hit with. At the start I would guess that it was about 40 F (5 C). I even got to wear my racing flats...nice!
All 3 distances (3, 6, and 9 miles) started at the same time. The 3 and 6 miles start going one way with the 9 mile starting in the opposite direction. We started with a gradual downhill.Good to start but with this being an out and back, it meant a climb to the finish.
I started out controlled especially with no warmup. Soon though we were on an uphill and then a steeper uphill that climbed until about the 1 mile mark. First mile: 6:26. I had hoped to be posting 6 minutes per mile but with the hills I recalibrated mentally an
d kept on pushing.I made the turn around at 1.5 miles and started to look forward to more downhill than up. Second mile was also 6:26. The first place woman caught up to me and this helped me to find another gear as we made the uphill to start the last mile. My legs were feeling loose by this time so I pressed the accelerator and started to finally make some good time. The downhill ended all too quickly and then it was the half mile climb to the finish. There was one guy that I should have fought to catch but it was not to be. Erg!
Finished in 18:41 with a last mile of 5:47. I believe I was about 7 or 8th place (should they let high school and college runners run in the same race as the rest of us?? :-) ) and was 2nd place in the old man group (35-39). Results should be up here shortly.
I am looking forward to more tempo runs and the next race, 10 km out at Champoeg, which I know is flat and fast.
I even enjoyed watching the Super Bowl with our church small group after a great recovery run in the afternoon...though I don't think I will eat another brat until next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment