18:00 at the Marshall Gobble Wobble

… for a 3 mile “5k”.

Definitely not what I was hoping for, but a good trial nonetheless.

At the start. No one wanted to step to the front of the line. Nathan in blue on the left, me in the gray T-shirt, and Leigh in the light gray shirt to my right. Smiles all around!

I started off in the pace I was hoping for. I was aiming for sub-18, which is 5:45/mile. I went through mile 1 in 5:45. Perfect! My legs were straining more than usual that early, but I told myself to go for it. Sometimes you just have to go for it, as you’ll never know the outcome if you would have held back. Was sub-18 in me after a terrible week+ of training while sick?

The next mile was 6:12. My legs were just tired and weak.

Then, 6:23. YIKES.

1st female, 5th overall.Luckily, I still pulled out the Porath household win, as Nathan was pretty close behind me in 6th place at 18:18. Race results are here.

Leigh, a fairly new TNC athlete, ran a new PR of 18:50 (19:35 5k conversion). That’s nearly a minute off of her old 5k PR, set a month ago. It’s fun to see her progress, and I’m thankful to have the opportunity to help her get there. I told her not to expect minutes to come off of her time each month going forward :).

Training recap for the week (60 miles, was written as 70):

Mon: 10 miles. Very tired. Skipped PM run of 4 miles.

Tue: OFF

Wed: 6.2 miles in the morning. Got home to a text from Jerry telling me to scrap the PM run. Ug. I know he is right, but I really hate dialing back. Ever. But, I appreciated the extra time to catch up on work and pack for the long weekend!

Thursday 10 miles total (3 mile WU, 3 mile race in 18:00, 4 CD). This was the first race result where I haven’t shown positive progress, which is a little disappointing. I think I’m in low-18 or sub-18 5k shape, but will have to wait for another try at Northfield’s Jingle Bell run in mid-December. Mental note: I also need to start doing the little things better, like eating and flexibility. I’m older now, ya know.

Found Marie Sample, the Marshall girls XC head coach, for the cool down and made a date to run together later in the weekend.

Friday: 10 miles recovery with Leighton and Leigh, about 8-8:10 pace.

Saturday: 10.5 miles with Marie and Nate @ 7:30 pace. Felt good, actually! Marie began as an assistant XC coach my senior year of high school and I have looked up to her ever since. It was great to talk about XC coaching, team ideas, etc. Plus, I ran some goals by her — and she has me thinking a little differently about a few things including a few tips she had for running fast post-pregnancy (she qualified for the Olympic Trials in 2008 after having 3 girls). Things like adding aerobic work (not aerobic miles, but literally, aerobics…), other “random” movements that aren’t necessarily running or sport-specific (as we age we just don’t “play” anymore so lose a lot of functionality), and a few other things. I may reach out to her for a more specific plan, if she might be willing (Team Nichole 2.0 may be forming…). In general, though, I LOVE that woman. Mentors and friends like her are hard to come by.

Nathan, Leigh, me, Marie. I make Leigh and Marie feel tall 🙂

Sunday: 12 miles with Leigh back in Northfield at 8:15 pace (was supposed to be a double of 12 – 8/4 – but the route ended up being 10.5… so I decided just to get it all done and run 12). Hindsight, I probably needed to split up the run to add to recovery, but oh well. It also meant that I got to run longer and chat longer with an awesome lady!

Monday starts a new week – here is hoping for recovered legs and good workouts. Your turn: How did your Turkey Trot go?

PS – Between FB and Blog post entries, Kristy Powell Wynn won with her 5k guess of 18:37!