As I approach my targeted fall race, the Hokie Half Marathon, I’m hoping to peak at just the right time.  Having two other big races a month and two months prior has its advantages and disadvantages.  On the plus side, I’m able to test my training to see where I am in the way of speed and endurance, but on the negative side, I risk injury by pushing myself twice before my goal race.

After a little scare with two minor injuries, I’m feeling great; and neither seemed to bother me much during my crazy weekend of running Ragnar DC.  Before I talk about my Friday and Saturday races, I’ll take you back to Monday and work my way through the week.

Monday
I ran/walked with two different clients on Monday.  My first client and I maintained a 14:52 pace for 3.15 miles at 7:30 AM; and my final client of the day and I kept a 16:05 pace for 2.06 miles at 5 PM.  Both clients are coming along nicely, and I just introduced them to each other so they can workout together, and hopefully get in a few additional workouts per week!

Tuesday
With my headlamp and brand new Knuckle Lights in hand, I met my MRTT buddies at 5:15 AM for an easy conversation pace 5.28-mile run (9:27 pace) on Tuesday.  Since we were racing over the weekend, we kept it easy and skipped our usual hill workout.  I even wore my eyeglasses to make my training run mimic my 2 AM Ragnar second leg run, since I planned to leave my contacts at home when running Ragnar.

DebRunningWithHeadLampKnuckleLights

Wednesday
My BRF was available to meet me for 6.01 easy miles (10:29 pace) on Wednesday.  We had a great run and once I was finished, I was ready to rest my legs until my first Ragnar run on Friday around mid-afternoon.

BackyardTrail

Thursday
I took the day off from running and rested on Thursday, AND packed for Ragnar.

Friday
Van 2 drove up to exchange 6 of the Ragnar Relay in Maryland on Friday.  I don’t want to go into to much detail since I’ll be doing a Ragnar recap.  Friday afternoon around 3:30 I ran my first leg.  After some rolling hills, it was a wickedly steep 3 mile climb up, and 3 miles down totaling 6.84 miles. My average pace was 9:15.  In my recap I’ll share the elevation chart and my mile splits.

RagnarDCDebPosingSidelingHill

Saturday
My first run on Saturday was 6.97 miles at 2 AM through some very nice neighborhoods and some creepy areas.  I maintained an 8:58 pace, and was thankful to almost always have a runner either in front of me or behind me within my sights.  The only time I couldn’t see another runner was through the creepy area!

My third and final leg was 6.9 miles at noon on Saturday, and I averaged a 9:42 pace.  I was booking at very consistent 8:30’s the first 4.5 miles until I hit the hills of Arlington!  Those hills killed me, and I have to admit that I did the walk of shame a few times.

RagnarDCDebFinishedArmsUp

Sunday
After a 12.5-hour sleep, I rested and rolled out my quads today.  Those downhills shredded them, and it will take a few days for them to return to normal!

 

Total weekly workouts:
Running – 32 miles
Run/walk – 5.21 miles
Walking – 0 miles
Lifting – 0 hours

 

  • Questions:
  • Do you have hills where you live? ~ I discovered that our Tuesday morning hills are nothing compared to what I just ran this past weekend!
  • Do you train at night?  Have you ever tried Knuckle Lights?
  • Who raced this weekend?