February 2013

Another month passed and let me tell what and how I been training.  I started the month of February with a day off just like any other Fridays.  Saturday was cold at 19 degree at 07:00; I waited till 11:00 to start my 15 miles run.  The run was alright and ran 15.5 miles in total for 1h’56m’58s’; there aren’t much to talk about, other than I finished with a very sore left IT band.  I iced it and rolled on the roller; all I can say for that was “ouch, ouch, ouch…”

Sunday was Super Bowl day and I started a day for an easy 5 miles on local ball park.  I also mixed in few strength exercises on frozen ground.  As you may already know, 49ers lost the game.

Due to sore IT band, I ran easy 44m’15s’ on Monday approx. 6.1 miles; still very tight and sore afterward.  Tried to run easy again on Tuesday, but unsuccessfully and ended up running 48m’07s’ for approx. 7 miles.  That evening on the foam roller was very painful while I groaned with frustrations and worry. 

Wednesday was track out and I planned to run 10 set of Yasso 800 around 2m’53s’and 2m’58s’.  I got to the track early enough to do some warm up and start the workout with Art, Keane, Tom, Catherine, and Ross.  I had good warm up, ran the first four sets was way too fast for my target pace; I split: 2m’52.30, 2m’46.10, 2m’50.90, and 2m’52.90.  I told to myself pull back or suffer later on, then I ran 2m’56.50, 2m’57.10, 2m’54.90, and 2m’57.10 for fifth to eighth.  Before the start of ninth set, I felt the pain on the left side IT band and I told to myself eased little and do it one step at a time; I ran the 3m’01.20 and 3m’01.60 for the last two sets.  That wasn’t pretty and I am not sure what cause that discomfort.  I got home soon after and started rolling while I watch Life on Fire on PBS (good documentary by the way).  Before bed, I took some prescription strength pain killer and hope that cool off that inflammation.

I slept well, but I was too tire to get early to catch early bus, and then didn’t get to work till 08:00.  But I started icing the area soon after I get to desk and go out for a run around 13:00 for easy 45 minutes approx. 6 miles.  Friday of February 8 was an off day. 

I planned to run 17 miles on February 9, but I ended up running 19 miles with the MC Boston Marathon group.  The very next day, I got up with a pretty tender hammy, and then race really relax Country Road 5 Mile in Olney in 32m’38s’.  There isn’t much to talk about that, but painfully to run that race itself and painfully saw people pass me uncontrollably.  MCRRC had a race directors meeting afterward and I learn some interesting insight about the race management. 

Nothing fancy to report about the week of 02/11 other than pretty epic Wednesday track workout during snow.  Before Wednesday’s workout on 02/13 I planned to run 4x1 mile repeat at 6-minute with half mile recovery; I only had a little beanie for my head and that was terrible idea.  Rain started to come down at 18:40, then turn into freezing rain, then sleet, and then turn into snow flake, the beanie couldn’t block any water kept fly into my eye, ultimately that slow my pace down.  I ran 6m’14.7, 6m’11.7, 6m’19.3, and 6m’22.5 for each mile; I logged about 10 miles for the day and I was soaking wet at the end.  Another notable thing report is long run on Saturday, I ran with the MCRRC Boston group and an 18-miler.  I ran the first half easy on Beach Drive, but took the hilly Ross Drive on the return trip from Kemp Mill, and still caught them at the horse staple in RCP.  That was pretty cool to play that catching game and found a 5-dollar bill lay by the curb on Ross Drive.

I planned to race well in RRCA Club Challenge at the end of week of 02/18, so I planned to run a workout with long interval, 2x2-mile at 12m’08s’ with 1-mile recover in between.  It was a night with 30 miles gusting wind and I ran 12m’24s’ and 12m’27s’.  I logged the night about 10 miles and felt pretty confident for the big race ahead.

On race day (02/24), I got out to the starting line early, and met up with several fellow MCRRC teammates for warm up.  At 08:00, GO was called and we are off to go.  It was a wonderful day for racing, wind was not blowing hard, and winter sun was shining to warm up the body quickly.  First mile featured a big downhill and I split at 6m’01s’ and decided to pull back some to 6m’17s' for mile 2 and 3.  Around mile 2.5, Kelly Westlake of Howard County Striders came up from behind and running strong.  I used that opportunity to keep up with her.  Maybe because her and the course took me into faster terrain, I split 6m’09s’ and 6m’08s’ for 4 and 5, respectively; and I clocked 31m’10s’ at the half, that is the fastest 5-mile I ever ran, and I dropped Westlake just before mile 5. 

Starting around mile 5.5, the course turned into hillier and I slowed a down a bit by split at 6m’27s’, 6m’26s’, and 6m’23s’ for mile 6, 7, and 8, respectively.  While struggled with pacing, Melissa Majumdar and Christy Ramsey of Falls Road Running caught up with me, I dug deep, pressed hard, and push forward, and split 6m’14s’, 6m’18s’, and 43s’ for mile 9, 10, and 10.14, respectively.  But I just didn’t have that seventh gear to run them down at the end and they eventually beat me by about 11 seconds. I finished with the race with a time of 1h’03m’27s’ – the best time I ran on the exact same course in the last three tries.  I surely felt the soreness afterward.

I really shouldn’t have sign up Reston 10 Miles for March 3; but I was silly enough to do so.  I wasn’t fully recovered after RRCA 10 and I planned for a fast workout on Wednesday (02/27) by doing 8x800m repeat at 2m’55s’ (Yasso 800).  Weather was pretty good that night and I ran hard; I split 02m'50.90s', 02m'54.90s', 02m'47.50s', 02m'51.40s', 02m'51.00s', 02m'51.90s', 02m'54.90, and 02m'48.90s'.  I felt good about the workout, but I was physically in pain of soreness and tightness.

I felt somewhat better on the last day of February and gone running during lunch hour for 47m’24s’, approx. 6.6 miles.  I finished the month with a total of 208 miles.  I am going put a separate post for race review on Reston 10 Miles in the next blog (soon).