I tell them all the work is done and regardless of how it has gone, the key thing is to relax and realize that the months of training are more important than the last two weeks, so relaxing and letting that training come to fruition is most important. As Coach Dellinger used to say, "the hay is in the barn!"

- Coach Salazar

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Hill of Doom and Increasing my Mileage? Am I Nuts?

RunKeeper Result

Total Distance: 6.19 Miles
Duration: 1:13:49
Avg Pace: 11:56
Avg Speed: 5:03
Elevation: 202

Today's schedule called for 5-6 miles plus some AIs and GPs. I figure if I just run up the Hill of Doom it'll be enough. But even the full course, I would still be only at 5.4 miles. So I had the bright idea to park at my boo's house and run up to Pacers. So that gave me an additional .8 miles.

It was an awkward run because I had a bag with me, but I muddled through.

Once the real fun run started, I found myself actually keeping up with people for the first mile or so (bonus!). This was even up the hill a little ways. Unfortunately, due to my allergies flaring up and my failure to push myself to keep going, I ended up walking up the last part of the Hill of Doom. But even so, I couldn't talk at the top and was coughing up narsties, so perhaps it wasn't so awful that I walked.

By the bye, can I just say Allergies Fail?

I ended up running downhill with a friend at ~10 min/mile - which is technically an AI for me :) but then my stomach was cramping and I just had to walk for a bit, so I let her run on. Then I delved deep into my reserves and ran for the majority of the way back.

As per usual, last one to finish - but I finished :)

After wine tasting, it dawned on me that if I ran .8 miles to get to Pacers, I would have to walk the .8 back to my car. And I was sad. But I did it.

I did get a bit of stretching in and I'm icing as a precaution, but I feel pretty good - just exhausted. No awful pain during the run - just tiredness. It was about 75 degrees at run time though - which helps.

I will say though that I feel myself progressing each week - and every time I run a little bit farther with somebody, or push myself a little bit more, or find myself running for a longer distance at a faster pace, I can't help but celebrate a little bit.

But now it's 10:00 and I am ready to climb into bed and watch some more nerd!tv.


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