The Week That Was: Nov 19 - Nov 25th

Summary
First week of base prior to my build period in January. The main aim was to get some solid bike time as well as continue the run mileage in prep for the marathon on Dec 10th. The week also included the annual Cold Turkey 10km.....my 8th consecutive year of racing this race. It ended being a good week and no signs of the back issue either.

Sat Nov 19th: Run to store at a steady run pace, focusing on form. Also rode in the computrainer studio after work for 60mins. Run - 13.26miles

Sun Nov 20th: Made sure that I had a decent warm-up prior to the Cold Turkey 10km after the run yesterday. I think for the first time the weather was mild for this race and I felt solid throughout. Came in 3rd overall in 34mins 53secs. In hindsight I think I probably could have gone harder but it was a good test prior to the marathon. The legs responded well to speedwork after the longer run on Sat. Immediately after the race went and rode with the guys for 40miles....legs felt rough through the hills of Crownsville! Run - 8.8miles

Mon Nov 21st: Swim at lunch and then a computrainer class after work. Day off from running. Need to get the feel for the water again but lap times weren't far off from usual. Little bit of ITBS after the riding of late. It's always like this as I get back into all 3 sports.

Tues Nov 22nd: Another swim at lunch, have to make the most of the availability to swim during lunch as they aren't always guaranteed! Briefly rode the Columbia tri course on the computrainer after work.

Weds Nov 23rd: Stretching of the ITB over the past few days has seemed to do the trick like it always does. Got onto the treadmill and did an awesome hill repeat session. After a couple of days off from running, felt great. Combined the workout with strength training in the gym. If you haven't tried strength in "barefoot" I would certainly try it. I use Zem Gear "shoes" and they are excellent for dynamic strength moves......you may get some strange looks though. Run - 5.13miles
Thurs Nov 24th: Thanksgiving day.....in the absence of a local turkey trot, I headed out and did some V02 max intervals. Didn't feel too spritely but managed seven intervals at sub 5:50min/miles. Typically, the intervals were uphill and into the wind. These intervals are run at 2min on at 5-10km pace with 3min recovery. Run - 9.03miles

Fri Nov 25th: We had a Cranksgiving ride at the store......1st annual and we had over 40 riders. Rode to the store on the fixie and with riding sag ended up with a solid 50mile day. Managed some hill repeats as I was going to the front to back of the groups out on the road. Good times.


Total Run Mileage - 35.62miles
Total Run Time - 4hr 5mins

Total Time - 13hrs 39mins

Cold Turkey 10km Race Report.....

This time of year is a bit of a dead spot for blogging really as apart for the process of base training there isn't really much going on worth blogging about, hence the 2-3 week hiatus. The past weekend however, saw me run the traditional Thanksgiving race held in Edgewater for the Cold Turkey 10km. This is a great local race put on by the Annapolis Striders and saw them eclipse the 500 runner mark this year, which I think is the biggest year yet.

We had got back from a weeks vacation in the Outer Banks on Friday and after a 70 mile ride on the Saturday I wasn't overly confident of what would happen on Sunday morning. I know the course as well as any having raced this race since 2004 and it is deceptively tough with rolling hills throughout.

The race started out pretty well and the first mile saw a group of four at the front and fortunately I was in it. Around Mile 2, the eventual winner got a gap, which he stretched to a minute by the end, and I was sitting in 3rd with 2nd a hundred yards ahead and 4th right on my heels. We were clipping along at just over 5:30min/miles and the positions would stay the same throughout mile 4. At that point I gapped the 4th place runner and tried to make some headway to 2nd place but to no avail.

The good news though was that I stayed in 3rd and managed to break 35minutes by stopping the clock at 34mins 52secs for a new 10km PR, the bad news that although winning my age group by 6minutes, I wasn't eligible for the frozen turkey prize on account of being on the overall podium. Perhaps next year I need to win or just hang back and finish in 4th :-)

The Cold Turkey 10km is a good fall race and is well run by the Striders all in a good cause too. If you are looking for a Thanksgiving race next year give this one a try.

Cold Turkey 10km....No Turkey 2008!

Me and the Turkey!

As is tradition the race season well and truly ended this past Sunday at the Annapolis Striders annual Cold Turkey 10km. I had won this race for the past two years but standing on the start line I wasn't exactly expecting to get the 3-peat primarily due to:

a) my speed work has been lacking;

b) I was still pretty sore from a weights session on Saturday (not to mention the afternoon spent at Annapolis Mall!); and

c) Matt Fortin, who has won everything in sight this year, was also here.
Chilling at the start (literally!)

The gun went and off went Fortin quickly followed by 15 year old Cody Vernon. I settled into 4th but after the loop in the School pushed into 3rd and tried to keep the leaders close. Unfortunately there were not any mile markers out this year and so it wasn't until the course turn-around (the course is an out and back) that I would get any idea of the pace.



I was feeling quite good although couldn't keep the top 2 close and therefore was determined to keep 3rd. Hitting the hills between miles 2-4 I was alone in 3rd and after the turnaround had a gap of about 35 seconds over 4th. I was a similar distance behind 2nd place. I also calculated that I was at about 5mins 50secs miles and with downhills over the majority of the last two miles, I was aiming for under 36mins.

The earlier hills must have taken their toll on 4th and 5th place as the gap grew on the downhills and I was able to roll into the finish.....although I did try to sprint to the tape to try to get under 35mins 30secs. I was just outside at 35mins 31secs, but it was a new PB for the 10km. Matt Fortin took the win in 33mins 18secs, with 2nd being at 34mins 27secs.

Looks like 35mins 30secs to me........:-)

That was the good news, the bad news is that there was no frozen turkey as a prize this year. You have to be first overall or first in Age Group to get the turkey, being 3rd overall I was ineligible for AG prizes.

So far I am one week into the off-season, three to go and then the training for next season will kick in again. I might jump into a couple of running races over the next few weeks but it will be on a spur of the moment kinda thing....other than that workouts will just be random with little structure and just for fun.

Last race of the year done.........