1 Corinthians 9:24
Fall is finally upon us. I've greatly enjoyed the temperature drops, for the most part, and do not miss the liberal profusions of sweat I had to endure after those high temperature, high humidity runs of summer.
It's been well over a month since my last race in Columbus, AL and since then my training has taken quite a turn, as I talked about in my last post. Ranger Challenge is still going well, but I'm very ready to get it over with. The competition is this coming weekend at Ft. Benning and will take place over three days. I'm feeling pretty confident about it for the most part. I'm hoping I will preform decently. I did max my PT test for the first time last Monday (75 pushups, 81 situps, 11:43 two mile), but I was pretty well rested for that and it was at the end of the day. Hopefully for the competition I'll be ready to get that score again. Also last week we had one of the most enjoyable practices I've done on R/C: we went to the wet IM fields and did 6 laps on it, barefoot! I never thought I'd see the day. Most team members weren't too happy about the workout but I was lovin it.
I was able to get some good mileage in this weekend in on account of the 3 races I participated in. Last weekend it was impossible for me to get any miles in because I was at Ft. Benning for our battalion FTX. I suppose it was good cross training for me. During the Land Nav portion of our training I was on my feet for a good part of the day hiking through woods 'n stuff, but still, I only got about 28 miles in that week. (Including a little half marathon route out to Loachapoka and back) This weekend was very different though. On Saturday morning I drove out to Valley, AL, one more little speck on the globe that I am now familiar with, to participate in The Great Pumpkin Run, featuring a 10.5k race and 5k race. No one who I knew was running this race so I started making friends once I got there. It seemed like most people running the races were some local runners, but I did see a few people with UK shirts (as in University of Kentucky) on. I wonder if they came all the way down here for the game then drove an extra half hour all the way here just to run a little race. Good for them if they did. I'm not certain why they choose the distance of 10.5k's but at least I would get a PR.
The race began. My strategy was to let all the would be sprinters out first and then I'd reel them in, but that didn't really go to plan. No one was ahead of me. I got out in front and that's the way it stayed. The race was an out 'n back and going out sure sucked. It had a gradual incline for at least the first 2.5 miles then leveled out a bit before the turn around. I didn't bother looking behind me while I ran to see if anyone was sneaking up. When I did start my back portion of the race, the guy in second place was probably 35-45 seconds behind me. Good. Now all I had to do was use gravity to help me find a happy pace and stay there for the finish line and get as much distance between me and the guy behind.
The finish line was in sight. No one in sight behind me. I was in first. This would be the first time ever for me to get a 1st overall finish. But then, disaster... No, just kidding, I won. With a time of 42:07 and an average pace of 6:28/mile, I was quite pleased with myself. The field of runners wasn't entirely impressive, but I didn't really care. Then people started talking about me. Bunches asked if I was on the Auburn track or cross country team (I was wearing an Auburn shirt). Dang, no way am I fast enough for that. The 5k would start a little over an hour later, which was when a few local track kids showed up. For me, the 5k was just kinda something I wanted to get over with. I don't really like that distance and I wasn't sure how I'd do after having just run the other. I did reel in a few of the runners who went out too fast but I guess I had gotten tired. I came in 5th with a time of like 19:37, 6:20 pace. The race as a whole was very well done, especially for it being the first one. The volunteers did a great job and the course distances where spot on. They even had "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" playing in the registration area in the Church gym. After I got a little metal and a $25 gift certificate to Academy Sports for my win, I headed back to AU.
Sunday, The SGA Fall 5k. I'm really not a huge fan of this race. Sure there's lots of free food and drinks at the finish and a lot of people I know are there (even Aubie!), but I just don't like it for some reason. It's a loop I've done a thousand times and it's not a full 5k. Before I ran it, I did the loop backwards to get in 3 warm up miles. The race went ok, I guess. I finished with about a 6 minute pace but that was barely enough to get me in the top 10, I think. I haven't seen the results yet. Afterward, I ran the course backwards again to get in a few more miles. 10 total at the end of the day.
So not too bad a weekend of training. About 20 miles total, not as many as I wanted but considering how 12.5 of those were run at a sub 6:30 pace, I'm not too disappointed. The competition I've been working towards for the past few months is happening next weekend. After that, 4 weeks of training before my first 50 miler. I hope to get in at least two 60+ mile weeks before my taper. For now, I'm going to enjoy my first of many cups of hot apple cider this fall and get to bed early before PT tomorrow morning in sub 40 degree temperatures.
It's been well over a month since my last race in Columbus, AL and since then my training has taken quite a turn, as I talked about in my last post. Ranger Challenge is still going well, but I'm very ready to get it over with. The competition is this coming weekend at Ft. Benning and will take place over three days. I'm feeling pretty confident about it for the most part. I'm hoping I will preform decently. I did max my PT test for the first time last Monday (75 pushups, 81 situps, 11:43 two mile), but I was pretty well rested for that and it was at the end of the day. Hopefully for the competition I'll be ready to get that score again. Also last week we had one of the most enjoyable practices I've done on R/C: we went to the wet IM fields and did 6 laps on it, barefoot! I never thought I'd see the day. Most team members weren't too happy about the workout but I was lovin it.
I was able to get some good mileage in this weekend in on account of the 3 races I participated in. Last weekend it was impossible for me to get any miles in because I was at Ft. Benning for our battalion FTX. I suppose it was good cross training for me. During the Land Nav portion of our training I was on my feet for a good part of the day hiking through woods 'n stuff, but still, I only got about 28 miles in that week. (Including a little half marathon route out to Loachapoka and back) This weekend was very different though. On Saturday morning I drove out to Valley, AL, one more little speck on the globe that I am now familiar with, to participate in The Great Pumpkin Run, featuring a 10.5k race and 5k race. No one who I knew was running this race so I started making friends once I got there. It seemed like most people running the races were some local runners, but I did see a few people with UK shirts (as in University of Kentucky) on. I wonder if they came all the way down here for the game then drove an extra half hour all the way here just to run a little race. Good for them if they did. I'm not certain why they choose the distance of 10.5k's but at least I would get a PR.
The race began. My strategy was to let all the would be sprinters out first and then I'd reel them in, but that didn't really go to plan. No one was ahead of me. I got out in front and that's the way it stayed. The race was an out 'n back and going out sure sucked. It had a gradual incline for at least the first 2.5 miles then leveled out a bit before the turn around. I didn't bother looking behind me while I ran to see if anyone was sneaking up. When I did start my back portion of the race, the guy in second place was probably 35-45 seconds behind me. Good. Now all I had to do was use gravity to help me find a happy pace and stay there for the finish line and get as much distance between me and the guy behind.
The finish line was in sight. No one in sight behind me. I was in first. This would be the first time ever for me to get a 1st overall finish. But then, disaster... No, just kidding, I won. With a time of 42:07 and an average pace of 6:28/mile, I was quite pleased with myself. The field of runners wasn't entirely impressive, but I didn't really care. Then people started talking about me. Bunches asked if I was on the Auburn track or cross country team (I was wearing an Auburn shirt). Dang, no way am I fast enough for that. The 5k would start a little over an hour later, which was when a few local track kids showed up. For me, the 5k was just kinda something I wanted to get over with. I don't really like that distance and I wasn't sure how I'd do after having just run the other. I did reel in a few of the runners who went out too fast but I guess I had gotten tired. I came in 5th with a time of like 19:37, 6:20 pace. The race as a whole was very well done, especially for it being the first one. The volunteers did a great job and the course distances where spot on. They even had "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" playing in the registration area in the Church gym. After I got a little metal and a $25 gift certificate to Academy Sports for my win, I headed back to AU.
Sunday, The SGA Fall 5k. I'm really not a huge fan of this race. Sure there's lots of free food and drinks at the finish and a lot of people I know are there (even Aubie!), but I just don't like it for some reason. It's a loop I've done a thousand times and it's not a full 5k. Before I ran it, I did the loop backwards to get in 3 warm up miles. The race went ok, I guess. I finished with about a 6 minute pace but that was barely enough to get me in the top 10, I think. I haven't seen the results yet. Afterward, I ran the course backwards again to get in a few more miles. 10 total at the end of the day.
So not too bad a weekend of training. About 20 miles total, not as many as I wanted but considering how 12.5 of those were run at a sub 6:30 pace, I'm not too disappointed. The competition I've been working towards for the past few months is happening next weekend. After that, 4 weeks of training before my first 50 miler. I hope to get in at least two 60+ mile weeks before my taper. For now, I'm going to enjoy my first of many cups of hot apple cider this fall and get to bed early before PT tomorrow morning in sub 40 degree temperatures.
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