5/8/06

Yesterday I ran the running leg of the Race for Sight Triathlon here in town. My friend Heather swam and our cyclist was named Brady. I guess he is a good biker. Anyway we did pretty well. I think we smoked all of the teams and I hope we beat all of the individuals. It was probably close. Heather swam her 400 meters in about 6:20ish... She would have gone much faster if she wasn't stuck with so many people. I have no idea how fast Brady rode the 14 miles. Probably 40-45 minutes. It was pretty crazy because all of these people who started way before Heather in the swim were coming in and I started to worry that Brady had a flat tire until I realized that there would be at least a 15 minute delay between the elite individuals and us. So Brady finally came hustling in pushing his bike across the infinite field of bike racks to get to us in the far corner. He pulled off the timing chip and threw it on my leg and I was off. But like a typical runner I started my watch as soon as I started running not thinking to wait until after the transition period to start. Oh well I guess I will find out my official time when the results are ready. So I ran what I thought was 2.7 miles. I was breathing hard 400 meters in and my legs felt like garbage. I guess that's what happens when you take four 15 mile weeks before the race. I did the out and back in 15:30 including my run throught the transition area. So I figure somewhere between 15:00-15:15 is my actual time. I thought it was a pretty dismal time considering it was 2.7 miles. But I talked to one of the members of the crew who set up the course. He said that he measured the course out and back from the finish line as 2.7 miles, the loop around the rec center at the start of the leg was added later. With that, he said, the course was about three miles. So I actually ran pretty well especially considering my lack of training. Not bad at all.

So I took Friday and Saturday off last week. So I only ran Monday, Wednesday and Sunday.

Monday May 1: 35 minutes
Wednesday May 3: 30 minutes
Sunday May 7: 2.5 miles up 3 miles race no cool down
Total 14.5 miles

Today I ran 8 miles with Jamie in 52 minutes... out in 27 back in 25. Not bad for running so little. The injuries seem to be gone. Still working on the stengthening. I need to do that consistently for as long as I run competitively to stave off further setbacks. I hope to get 25-30 miles this week. I won't be running that fast again. Though I have heard running fast is sometimes the prescription for coming back from IT band injuries. It has something to do with the biomechanics of faster running. I assume that there is less eversion with quicker turnover. However, I don't want to spur on a new injury. Either way, I am taking it slow and I feel great.

Boston 2007 here I come.