11 minute Shred!

I am one of those athletes that are super superstitious.  That means that I have before game day rituals that I try to follow for eating, resting, preparing.  With my life in the midst of crazy those rituals have gone out the door. With the 30k race, I was hoping to get back on track but I was as nuts as ever.  Questionable training, surfing instead of running, fun night on Friday, surfing on Saturday, and just hoping that Sunday was going to go well.

Sunday morning came and it was a little wet.  Running 18 miles in rain sounded horrible so I was a little nervous.  I knew that this race would be a good indicator of what my marathon would be like and tell me what I needed to do for the next 7 weeks leading up to it so I told myself to go out there and do my best.  My goal was to stick with the game plan of staying as close to a 9 minute mile for as long as possible.  I wasn't sure how long that would be since my long runs have been spotty but I also knew that I am much stronger than last year doe to cross fit so I was ready to go.

The gun went off and I took off running.  I head a sub 9 mile for the first few miles with hills and felt ok.  There was no rain and I felt good.  Once the hills were done I was ready for the straight run on Kalanianaole.  When I got on Kalanianaole I tried to psych myself up for the flat boring 4 miles, what I wasn't prepared for was the crazy ass wind that began blowing me all over the road.  I tried to draft as much as I could behind other runners but that didn't help either. I had to lean into the wind and run strong. It was taking goal concentration and a lot of energy to do so and I kept thinking that I just needed to get to Hawaii Kai turn around to get a chance to run with the wind.

After the turn around I didn't feel any push from the wind and my body started to get a little tired and my legs and feet sore.  I slowed down my pace because I was already well ahead of my time last year and wanted to play it safe and conservative.  Miles 13-16 wasn't pretty and my lack of long runs became very evident to me.  As I neared Diamond Head I told myself to suck it up and run hard.  Hills have always been my strength so I wanted to run it tough.  I was able to run tough but by the time I was at the top of the hill my calves were starting to seize up and I was a little afraid that I was going to cramp.  Since this never happens to me I have to think about this and make some changed to my race prep.

As I neared the Finish Line I could see that I had a chance to run a sub 2:50 and so I dug deep and pushed as hard as I could without putting my legs under stress and cramps.  I squeezed in at a 2:49.42.8 which was good enough for 6th place in my AG.  I was stoked!

After the race ran a few more miles so that I can mentally say I ran 20 miles in training.  I am one happy chick.