Run the Woodlands 5K ... PR Redux ... ??!?!?!???!

Paige joined Cameron and me to Run The Woodlands 5K this morning. It was a fun morning since we went together. It was raining lightly but in the end that didn't bother any of us.

Official times have not been posted yet but the time called out as I crossed the line was 21:35 which matches my PR from July 4. I'll be watching for the official time to be posted later today or tomorrow.

Ironically between 1.5 and 2 miles, I essentially threw in the towel of trying to make a bid for pushing my best time. I just wasn't feeling it and the rain and the turns seemed to all be conspiring against me. I refocused my efforts on racing. That approach really didn't yield much since no one was pressing me and I really wasn't in reach of reeling anyone in. I think there was a guy tracking me and may have been looking for a battle to the finish. But I wasn't playing that game.

Entirely by accident, I experimented with a two-stage kick at the July 4 race. With the Garmin, I knew when there was exactly 1/2 mile remaining and just took off with everything I had ... for as long as I could (which wasn't all that long). But it allowed me to pass several people. When my speed dropped back down, I focused on holding my regular pace and recovering enough to kick it in with 200 - 300 meters remaining. This approach helped on July 4 so I applied it today. With half a mile left, I dropped the guy who was tracking me and didn't see him again. I got to a point where I saw 2 other runners ahead of me but that was when I was running out of gas at the end of my first burst. I wound it down to recover for the finish and tried to kick it back up to edge the guy in front of me at the end but had waited a little too long and didn't have enough gas in the tank to overtake him. I think he probably beat me by about 4 seconds. I ended up 9th overall which was nice to make it into the Top Ten. Of course, I realize this is a very small local race on a raining morning but it was nice to break into the that top tier.

I had intended to make a second loop to get some miles (scheduled for 6 today) but wasn't up to it. So I'll either go out tonight or sometime tomorrow to roll up a few miles to hit scheduled mileage.

ADDENDUM: What are the odds ...? The official times have been posted and I came in at 21:35. The exact same time as the July 4 Run Wild 5K. I go back to an earlier post about "finding another second out on the course" and having some courage to take a chance and go for it .... Frustrating that I was so close to putting up another PR and just missed it. I suppose it's promising that I didn't feel like I was running a very good race and still came in with the time that I did.

1/2 mile splits:

3:23
3:30 (6:53)
3:41
3:33 (7:14)
3:44
3:20 (7:04)
0:23

Another Easy 7 ... with Jonathan

Got out of the office around 7:15. I was happy to get a call from Jonathan as I was leaving. He ended up joining me at Memorial for a couple loops. It was very good to have someone to talk with while running tonight. He had already done a Kenyan Way workout this morning so it was quite impressive that he was rolling up miles with me tonight.

7 miles @ 9:04 (1:03:25)

7 Along Buffalo Bayou

Tried a new route tonight. I changed at the office and took the Buffalo Bayou trail up to Shepherd and back. I didn't realize there was as much change in terrain along the bayou. The trail was enjoyable. It was around sunset. There is a paved trail most of the way but wide grassy areas to run along the trail (which I did as much as I could). The recent rains had washed the trail in few places.

On my way out, I noticed people congregating at the Waugh Street bridge. The trail took me under the bridge. From the smell and the signs, I noted there was a bat colony under the bridge. They weren't too active yet. On my way back, more people had gathered ... "bat watchers" I suppose ... and the bats were much more active. Having not run along this route before, I wasn't sure of the protocol. The trail went right under the bridge. So I turned along an overpass and circled back to survey the situation. Decided with the bat activity, I was not running under the bridge. I know they most likely wouldn't bother me. I came back to the path, jumped off the trail, went over the bridge, and picked up the trail on the other side of the bridge. I was surprised at how many people had spread their blankets to watch. I wonder if that many people gather each night. Obviously the bats come out around that time every evening ....

I had some trouble with my new GPS watch. It didn't like the fact that I was running under bridges and around tall buildings downtown.

My pace was slower than I wanted but it's really tough to get it going on Monday's after Marsha (my personal trainer) just torches my legs at my morning session.

7.31 miles @ 9:18 (1:07:59)

It was a not-so-easy "easy run" as all of this week's runs are. I'm pulling the plug on the 10K in Lampasas this weekend. Bottom line is that it's a 3:45 drive and I've got to get ready for next week's vacation. I'm still trying to find an alternate race and my end up at the Woodlands 5K and just tack on additional 3 miles after the race.

TRAINING SCHEDULE: JULY 9 - 15

Mon - Easy 7 miles @ 9:02
Wed - Easy 7 miles @ 9:02
Sat - Easy 6 miles @ 9:02

This is a recovery week before ramping up the mileage.