Sunday, October 25, 2009

End of Week 26

I wrapped up the week with another day of swim/bike/run, tired, but feeling stronger than at the beginning of the week. Week 26 totals:
Swim = 3700 meters
Bike = 144.54 miles
Run = 29.13 miles
Plus stretching, transitions, etc.
Total = 17.39 hours

My Sunday recap......

Run Like Hell Half Marathon:
Jeff showed up at the house at 6am to get into costume and carpool into downtown Portland. Have you ever seen a 6+ foot fairy/angel? It's awesome.
We did the usual driving around for parking, walk to the race, hit the porta-potties, and line up amongst thousands of others who were willing to get up early on a Sunday. We timed it almost perfectly and didn't have to wait long for the horn to go off.
The first 5 miles or so were pretty flat and went by quickly. Around mile 4 I saw a gal from the club and said hello...we ended up running the rest of the race together and had a great time chatting! She's 65 years old and has done many marathons. Today was a PR for her since she's been in her 60s!

Somewhere close the mile 6 the long climb up to Terwilliger started. It was pretty gradual, until the top when it suddenly got a lot steeper. Or maybe it just felt that way.

Once we hit the downhill (the last 4 miles are down or flat), it was pretty fast and easy. It was right around this time that I realized I would be close to a PR. A 17 hour training week, and the day after a 7 hour training day, and I was going to PR on a hilly course. I was so happy.

I crossed the finish line and immediately went to work trying to find Jeff, since he wasn't expecting me for another half hour. We finally met up and headed for warm coffee and the warm car. He had a great race too and beat his half marathon from last month by over a couple of minutes. Yeah!
I hit the lap button on my HRM whenever there was a mile marker:
Miles 1-2 = 21:59 (10:59 pace)
Miles 3-4 = 22:24 (11:12 pace)
Mile 5 = 11:10
Mile 6 = 12:07 (no idea...)
Mile 7 = 11:14
Mile 8 = 11:35
Mile 9 = 11:50 (the steepest part of the hill)
Mile 10 = 11:19
Mile 11 = 10:49
Miles 12-13 = 19:57 (9:56 pace)
Last 0.1 = 00:57
Unofficial final time = 2 hours 25 minutes (PR by over 3 minutes)

Swim
Another swim lesson with Coach Bake. 1700 meters of drills. My form is looking good, now I need to get my butt into the pool this week and build my endurance back up. Ken snapped a photo of me as I dashed out the door yet again...
Bike
I hopped on the trainer after swimming for the last workout of the week. Woohoo! I managed 40 minutes before my warm fluffy robe and cold glass of "Hop Stoopid" tempted me off the saddle.