More Racing

The training hasn't really picked up again, but we're still plugging along getting sessions in when we can. The whole sticking-to-a-schedule thing isn't working out all that well. Part of it is just getting back into the routine; part of it is just finding the time. This past Memorial Day weekend saw a couple of good workouts though. Steph and I joined Teen for a ride down to Mt Vernon on Saturday morning; it was a gorgeous day and we hoped to be out there before the trail got too crowded. It wasn't that bad, but still a lot of folks out riding. In the end we did about 40 miles, which is probably the longest ride I've done this year.

Sunday we were up in Baltimore for an O's game and a 10K in the morning. After success at our last 5K I wanted to see how I was holding up and how my standalone time would compare to what I endured at St A's (I'd never run a timed 10K before). I wanted to at least go under 1:00 (St A's goal time), and would have been happy with a 9:00/mile average, which is about where I thought I should be for this distance. The course covered a lot of the same ground as the St Patrick's 5K we did: nice long downhill on the first mile, then flat to rolling on the main out-and-back leg. The big difference this time was that we had to run back up the hill in the last 1/2 mile or so. I started out way too fast (again) with an 8:00 on the first mile. I slowed back down to just over 9:00 on the next two, but mile 4 at the turnaround was rough. We went out and back across an overpass just before the gates to Fort McHenry and the sun was starting to get to me; it was turning out to be a hot day with not much shade at all on this part. Mile 5 was mostly flat/downhill and I managed sub-9:00 there, but then we climbed one gradual hill back to the Harbor Pavilion and then another steeper one back up to the finish line. Mile 6 was around 10:30, and I was feeling every step. There was a slight downhill to start the last 0.2 which gave me the energy to pick up the pace to the finish. Total time: 56:42, 9:09 average. It's almost 10 minutes faster than my St A's time, so I'll take that.