All you can eat Stec

I ran the 15TH ANNUAL NORTHWEST CROSS COUNTRY CLASSIC yesterday for my birthday.  First of all, here are the stats:
Time: 22:47
Avg Pace:  7:20
Avg Speed: 8.3 mph
Max Speed: 13.1 MPH (at the end)
Avg Heart Rate: 166
Max Heart Rate: 185
Mile 1:  6:30
Mile 2:  7:31
Mile 3:  7:41
Last .12:  6:24/mi pace

I ran it with Travis (my younger brother) and my mom.  My goal was to come as close as I could to Travis and possibly give him a run for his money.  I don’t get the opportunity to run with him since he lives in Seattle, so I decided to base my pace on what he was doing.

It was also my 30th birthday and I’ve been specifically training for the 5k for a few months so I wanted to get a pretty good time.

Oh, and the race had a bit of a decent hill that you went up three times, which haven’t been on my other 5k courses I’ve ran this year.  I feel I’m pretty good at hills but it could hurt my on my goal of hitting my PR.
So the race started out and, of course, the pace was incredibly fast.  Travis was weaving in and out of people, and I was only a few steps behind.  We rifled up the first hill and I made up some good ground.  A quarter mile later, I really could feel it.  I knew I couldn’t keep at that pace for long.  A quick glance at my watch and it showed me going 6:10/mi!  Ouch!  Thats faster than my 400 meter interval time lol.  I had to let Travis go and maintain a 6:45-7:00 pace.

I was doing pretty good for the first mile, and then we came around and had to go up that hill again.  That made me really feel it.  A minute or two after that hill I began to ponder why I was even doing this.  I should be relaxing on my birthday! 

And just as I started to get into a rhythm again, up the hill again.  The last mile was brutal.  My entire body was burning.

As I approached the finish and went around the track to finish the race, I really felt like I had nothing left. I was pushing it hard but looking back I was really running on my heels.

At the 20 meters this young kid I had passed earlier that mile was sprinting passed me.

As soon as I noticed it I leaped into a full sprint and BARELY beat him.

Although I didn’t beat my brother, and I didn’t get a PR - I did have a lot of fun and came back with some more motivation.  I once again learned the lesson of starting out too fast.   I loved being out there with the family - It was really cool to see my mom run the race and push herself.  I loved cheering her on.

So I ran the 5k in Salem yesterday.  First of all, here’s the stats:

Time: 22:32
Avg Pace:  7:13
Avg Speed: 8.3 MPH
Max Speed:10.7 MPH (at the start and end)
Avg Heart Rate: 160
Max Heart Rate: 176
Mile 1:  7:11
Mile 2:  7:15
Mile 3:  7:22
Last .12:  6:03/mi pace

Everything went pretty good considering we showed up about five minutes before the race and really didn’t have time to warmup or stretch.  I wanted to at least run a 7:26 which i guestimated from my 10k run two weeks ago.  Once the gun went off and I started quickly I knew 7:26 was going to be WAY easy and I was just going to push it as hard as I could.

One thing that always makes me laugh is the people at the start and how fast they’re going.  A lot of people I can tell they are going to poop out rather quickly, and am surprised by how long they hold on till they do.  There was this one 10 year old that was sprinting at SUPER SPEED for the first 200-400 meters, then died… lol.  But I was thinking during the race about what percent of running is mental.  I remember at that kids age thinking that if I really really had the motivation I could  run endlessly at top speed.  Too bad your body gets in your way…. or does it?

Anyways, I had this older guy breathing down my neck the entire way and we helped push each other.  It was a smaller race and it does get a little annoying in races if you have to run by yourself, so it was nice to run with someone.

One thing I did that was kind of mean that I didn’t realize I did until after I did it, is I had a garmin watch and so I told the older guy that we had a half mile left and gave him a bit of encouraging words.  With much enthusiasm he passed me and started hauling towards the finish.  Of course a half mile is way too long for us to really kick it in that fast so he slowed down with 200 meters left and I was able to pass him.  Whoops.

Today I ran my 10k in Junction City, oregon.  I was pleased to find some old freinds, Mark and Sarah Agsten from Roseburg.  Mark asked if I was going to keep up with Sarah and was like LOL.

Anyways, my shins were a bit sore but found that a mile warmup and stretching helped quite a bit.  At the start I’m usually tempted to run WAY fast - and then the rest of the race turns out awful.  I just had to keep telling myself, "run your own race," and kept a pace of 8:00/mi while everyone flew by.  I finished with a pace of 7:51 so I kept to my goal pace (and a bit faster) the entire time.

One thing that was cool was for the last few miles I ran with this guy and we motivated and pushed each other to the finish.  Its nice to have someone there to push you while feeling the same amount of pain.  At the end of the race some older guy came up to me and thanked me — he was right behind me and said I motivated him through the last mile and a half. Runners are so nice!
Most importantly, I know what I can do for the next race and I’ll be even more prepared.  It was 11 bucks and a Saturday morning well spent!

Stats of the race –
Place: 183
Division:  Age 25-29
Div/Total:  14/26
Time:  48:44
Pace:  7:51

And some Garmin stats:
Avg Heart Rate: 162
Max heart rate: 176
Avg Speed: 7.7mph
Avg Pace: 7:49
Time: 48:37

Sprint Triathalon on Saturday with my brother was a blast.  I learned that I got a lot of work to do.

I’m a better runner and swimmer than my brother technique wise, but his cardiovasular superiority rubbed me into the ground on both events.  Some of his spokes flew off in the middle of the bike ride so I was able to gain a little bit of ground there.

I REALLY need to work on my cardio before I do one of these things again.  In the middle of the swim I was winded and resorted to a breath stroke and I think that started my downfall for the rest of the run, since that stroke uses a lot of legs.  Swimming with all those people is rough — its hard to keep concentration when someone is punching you every 10 seconds.

My bicyciling needs some work too.  And once I started running it was an hour and a half into the race it was a challenge to stay above 9 minutes/mile.  ouch!  Anyways, I’m commited to getting my training going starting monday and busting it out during the off season and coming back to smoke my brother next year… or at least being able to compete with him.
Oh, and I’ll post a video with footage of the race and pictures so you guys can see how much I sucked.  Might be a bit painful for me to watch now but will be nice next year when I’m more fit.