The End of the Winter Series

Yesterday was officially the last race of the Bucks County Road Runners Winter Series.  I can't say that I am sad about it, actually it is nice to know that I won't feel obligated to drive down to Tyler State Park next Sunday morning or any Sunday morning for the next ten months.  What I will say is that as far as keeping me motivated during this cold and snowy winter, it has served its purpose and I think I am faster now than I was three months ago.  It has build a solid base for my running as my half-marathon training is in full swing and my Ironman base building is moving along.

So yesterday was the Staggered Start 4.6 mile race, a race that is staged so that just about everyone will finish around the same time.  No one except for a select few know how the "staggers" are computed, but in essence they are based on previous race performances by each individual.  Based on those performances you are assigned a time (mine was 31:50) and you start running when you time is shown on the clock at the Start/Finish line.  The lower your number the sooner you start (slower runners) and the higher the later you start (faster runners).  The race is unique in two ways, the first being that you are trying to catch as many runners as possible by the end of the race (I caught my fair share), and the second that you are running fast so that you don't get passed (yes, I was passed many times). 

Before the race, knowing that I needed to run eight to nine miles on the day, I opted to do an easy three mile run to loosen up a bit.  This probably wasn't the wisest thing to do as I was not feeling all that great when it came time to race.  I did my best to catch other runners and to not get caught.  I ran pretty hard, but not as hard as I could have had I not done the three miles prior.  I finished at 1:03:20, which is 31:50 (my stagger) plus 31:30 (my run time).  I was happy with my finish, although I wish I could have run a bit faster.  My pace for the run was 6:50/mile, but I really think it could have been better.  C'est le vie.

After the race I went home and watched the Liverpool v. Blackburn soccer match (2 - 1 win for the Might Reds!) and then caught most of the USA v. Canada Olympic hockey finals (BOOO!  Canada won 3 - 2 in OT).  By the time my wife and I put the girls in bed at 8:00PM, I was pretty beat.  I think I probably fell asleep by 9:30PM

Today has been a good day for me.  I banged out 1,750M in the pool (500M warm-up; 5 x 200M; 250M cool down), and felt good doing it.  Oh, I forgot to mention that I picked up a new pair of goggles, Speedos.  I have been using the Aquasphere Kaiman since I started swimming but have been having issues with leakage lately.  I decided it was time to get a new pair of goggles and I ran over to a local running/swimming store (Training Zone Sports) to pick out a pair.  Well, I wore my new Speedo Vanquisher 2.0s this morning and I didn't have one problem with them, they fit great!  I also grabbed a bottle of shampoo/conditioner while we were there, Summer Solutions, that claims to remove the chlorine smell from hair (so far so good).

At lunch I just did 4.3 miles in 34:05 (7:55/mile), 152 BPM, I was trying to run it at an easy pace and to keep my heartrate down.  Of course on the back part of the out-and-back run I picked it up a bit and ended up doing negative splits.  There are worst things that can happen I suppose.

Now it is time to get some work done before heading out to pick up my girls.  Later!