Weekend in review

After the successful suck fest with hill repeats last week, I once again joined my friend Mika last Thursday for more half mile hill repeats.This round was even more challenging due to the fact that my dumb ass forgot that I had already scheduled speed work with a client that same morning, just a few hours before. SO, after running 3 minute repeats at 8:15 pace six times with 3 min recoveries, I got to rest a few hours before our lovely hill workout.
  It was warmer than the week prior, which just added to the fun. The hill is just a tick over a half mile, with about a 5% grade. Our goal time to the top is around 5minutes 10 seconds. I felt okay on the first three trips up, but the last time was a struggle! We stayed fairly consistent. Four repeats: 5:15, 5:02, 5:04, 5:08. Here is a pic of the aftermath:

  Friday morning started with teaching a spin class at 5:30am, then followed with a 5K run at 9:30am. I could definitely feel the previous days workouts in my legs on that 5K run! I enjoyed a delightful nap Friday afternoon in my ProCompression socks and drank lots of water the rest of the day. Bedtime came early Friday night! 
  Saturday morning I took a group of runners out for a practice run of the local "Quay 5K" route. We had a good turnout, and after a slow start I picked it up a little and did 5K in 28:45.

Me and the 5K Crew!

I spent Saturday afternoon getting my mountain bike ready as I was going to be lead biker for the North Carolina Road Runners Club Invitational Half Marathon on Sunday morning. Needless to say, Saturday night was about as exciting as Friday night was.
 The Half started at 7am and it was crazy humid with rain in the forecast. The race wound through Umstead State park, along the hilly bridle trail and ended with a short section along a greenway. The count down started, and I was off, with several hundred runners chasing me down the road. The first mile was paved, until we got to the entrance gate of the park, where it turned to crushed gravel. There was a lead pack of about five guys who sprinted out ahead of the pack early. By the first aid station at mile three, it was just me and the lead runner, and this dude was flying! We cruised through the next AS, then past AS #3, and before I knew it, we were at the turn around. The lead runner had a nice gap on the rest of the field now, as we could see who was behind us now.This guy was making me work hard on the bike, and I was a tad nervous about climbing "The Corkscrew" hill and "Cemetery" hill on our way back. We started to see the main field of the runners on our way back, and I was making sure folks stayed to their right to leave a lane for us. I made it up corkscrew fairly easily but really started to feel the burn in the legs going up cemetery hill. The lead runner behind me seemed unaffected by the hills or humidity, as he methodically pounded through the course. We leveled off after the airport overlook and flew down the trail back towards the exit of the park. There was also a 10K race, which started at 7:15am. We were now beginning to pass folks finishing up the 10K! We exited the park and got onto the greenway. The greeway was much more narrow than the bridle trail, so I had to really watch folks and keep shouting "on your left!" and "lead runner!" to clean a path for us. The section on the greenway was short. and before I knew it we were done!  Congratulations to Derek Fenton on a great race. He ran the half in 1:18:53. That's a 6:02 min/mile pace. No wonder I was tired!
  Not content with that thrashing, I met a client for a run immediately after the bike. We ran 4.3 hilly miles. I was now shot for real. Thanks God the rain held off for both workouts.
  Needless to say, Sunday afternoon was not very productive.