All of my training this summer was focused toward this past weekend. I was concerned that I had peaked too early because my Leesburg 20K and Ragnar DC both went very well, and then my body just started rebelling. I wondered if I had over-trained (or run those two races too hard), because it was one little tweak after another. I took time off as needed, and I was afraid that I would pay for it at the Hokie Half Marathon, my focal race of the fall.
Monday
Monday should more or less be considered a rest day. I ran/walked 1.75 miles with a client at a 14:38 pace. Later in the day I walked 1 mile (15:18 pace) on a treadmill while my client warmed up.
Tuesday
Many of our MRTT ladies were racing this past weekend, so we skipped our hill workout and ran 5.5 miles at an easy conversation pace of 9:29.
Wednesday
I had the opportunity to participate in a 3-D Gait Analysis at George Mason University’s Smart Lab on Wednesday. It was a very cool experience. I’ll be dedicating a full recap to it later in the week, and will be giving away two 3-D Gait Analysis sessions to two local readers. Please stay tuned!
Thursday
I woke up to texts from two of my running friends saying they were sick on Thursday morning, so there were only two of us running. We met at 5:30 AM for 5 miles (9:09 average pace), and for the first time, I had an uneasy feeling during our run. We always see lots of runners and bikers, but there are times that no one else is around. As we crossed a small road on a pretty secluded part of the trail three men came walking perpendicularly toward us from the road. We could smell cigarette smoke, so we knew that they weren’t out for their morning workout. We continued on with our run, and Kelley mentioned that she had her pepper spray (I didn’t have mine). We turned around, and as we approached the area of the trail where we had seen the men, we saw them walking along the trail individually, and because we were wearing our headlamps and running straight toward them, we could see that they were highway workers wearing hardhats and reflective vests; and one of them was carrying a coffee cup. They replied to our, “Good mornings,” and one of them said that he wished he had as much energy as we did.
When we got back to the parking lot, I snapped a quick selfie of our skeleton reflective vests. When it’s completely dark at the end of our run, there are not many photo options.
Friday
Bill and drove to Blacksburg on Friday afternoon, and rested for the race.
Saturday
We had the curtains drawn tightly in our hotel room, and our room was almost totally dark come sunrise. We slept well past sunrise and got a total of ten hours of sleep! We had considered going for a short hike, but with the recent rains we were afraid the trails would be muddy and slippery, and didn’t want to risk falling and hurting ourselves the day before our race.
Instead, we walked about two miles around campus on our way to Greek’s Cellar, one of our favorite pizza places when were at Tech.
The pizza was as good as we remembered, but we ordered too big of a pie and threw almost half of it away. It was a perfect lunch! I’m not sure if I’ve ever had pizza the day before a race, but two slices and some salad seemed perfect!
Sunday
Finally, race morning was here! It rained during the entire Hokie Half Marathon and I finished in 1:55:26 (8:48 pace). Right after the race, I dodged raindrops to stop by the time-keeping tent to ask when the awards ceremony would be. I was told that it had been canceled, but they could give me my official time, but not place. Either I misunderstood, or was told the wrong time, and thought I’d PR’d. Instead, I missed PR’ing by 52 seconds. Still, I met my goal of running a sub 2-hour half on a hilly course, and cut 11 minutes off of last year’s Hokie Half! Lesson learned, don’t post anything until you see it in writing! Of course, I’ll be writing a complete recap in the next day or two, and hopefully, age group results will be posted by then.
Total weekly workouts:
Running – 23.6 miles
Run/walk – 1.75 miles
Walking – 3 miles
Lifting – 0 hours
Planks – 12 (longest 2:35)
- Questions:
- What’s your favorite race distance?
- Where’s your favorite running trail?
- Who raced this weekend?
I never would have noticed had you not told me you mis-stated! Ha-but thanks for being honest. I am impressed with how well you did in the rain. I have a love/hate relationship with rain and races and I usually only love it in June, July, or August. The rest of the year, I HATE cold rain and the way it makes me freeze. Glad youstill had a solid race, though!
Amy recently posted…A Day in NYC
My marathon and 5K PR’s were both set in the pouring rain, so I wasn’t at all surprised when I ran well on Sunday. I’ll talk about how I was dressed in my recap, but I think the rain keeps me cool and that helps. It was 52° at race start, so I wasn’t cold. If it had been much colder, I would have frozen!
That pizza looks delicious!! I wish my undergrad hosted a half marathon 🙂 Congratulations on the sub-2!
Jennifer recently posted…NYC Marathon Training 10/6-10/12 – Week 17
Thanks, Jenny! And yes, I’ve always loved The Cellar’s pizza. The crust has a sort of smoky flavor that is amazing!
Wow 11 minutes is a huge accomplishment! Looking forward to reading about your gait analysis and what you learned from them.
Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner recently posted…Army Ten Miler
I’m finishing the Hokie Half recap first, and then hope to post about the gait analysis on Thursday.
congrats on finishing the half!! I’ve been to VT a few times but have never tried that pizza place.
Jess recently posted…Monday motivation – have no fear
Thanks, Jess! I don’t know how long Greek’s Cellar has been around, but at least since 1976 when I started school at VT. At the time, there was also Greek’s Two (same great pizza), but it’s closed since then.
Great Job !!! It was tough out there. I had the misfortune of stepping in a puddle of water before I even got to the start line. I was 15 seconds slower than last year but when I checked details from last year, the course was slightly different. There were more elevation changes. So I was happy as I had come of 3 months of real light running due to Achilles injury.
Love the race, the bling and the pre and post race shirts were a 100% improvement on last year. Oh and I git to see my two daughters who are studying there,. What more could a Dad ask for.
Yes, they had to cut a pretty flat section out at the NRV Mall that’s undergoing construction (bridge is being built to expand the Huckleberry Trail in the opposite direction from Blacksburg). They made up that distance on the hills of Blacksburg.
I agree that this race has the best swag out there! Of course, a non-Hokie might not like it as much as we Hokies do! Awesome that you got to see your daughters! 🙂
Be sure to stop back by tomorrow to check out my full recap, and let me know what I missed.
wow – that’s a huge improvement over last year’s race! congrats 🙂 and pizza the night before a race always works for me 🙂 can’t wait to read your recap!
Courtney @ Eat Pray Run DC recently posted…Blogger Tip Tuesday: Great Blogging Resources
Thanks, Courtney!
i ran the hokie half this weekend and think i recognized you by the food tent but didn’t say “hello” because you looked like you were heading home (and also i was freezing and shivering and probably incoherent) . i started reading your blog a few weeks ago after googling last year’s hokie half recaps. looking forward to reading your recap for this year’s race!
Aw, I wish you had said hello! I love meeting my readers and having a face to put with our interactions! Hope you enjoyed the race as much as I did! I hope to get my recap posted by this evening.
I think my new favorite distance is the 10 Miler. I’ve been doing a lot of those and I definitely love them. Congrats on a great race! Can’t wait to hear about your gait review!
Sue @ This Mama Runs for Cupcakes recently posted…MCM Training Recap– Week 15
I leaning toward the 5K being my favorite distance to race, and I can’t believe this marathon lover is saying that! 🙂
I’m hoping to post the gait review on Thursday.
The gait analysis sounds fun! Nice job with your half, 52 seconds is pretty close!!
Courtney @ Don’t Blink. Just Run. recently posted…GORUCK Light Class 481
The gait analysis was very fun and informative. I plan to post my recap on Monday.
Congrats again on a great race! I’m glad things went well, despite worries of having peaked too early in your racing season. My favorite race distance is definitely the half marathon. As far as actual trails, my favorite place to run is Pandapas Pond. My favorite “regular” trail is a toss up between the Huckleberry Trail and the Dora/New River Trails.
Fun fact: My sophomore or junior year of high school (can’t remember which), we had States for swimming at the Freedom Center in Manassas. I remember it fondly 🙂
Meagan recently posted…The Hanson Taper (an oxymoron)
How cool that you’ve been to the Freedom Aquatic Center! I could smell chlorine the second I opened the front door. That’s got to be a happy odor for swimmers!
[…] website, but by looking at the preliminary results, I can calculate where I finished. I am not posting anything though, until I see it in writing! I’m not going to make the same mistake twice! […]