So the taper plan worked pretty well. After the 4.0 on Thursday, I took Friday off, which was good, because I ended up working from 8am-midnight, with meal breaks and time to clean up around the house a bit while the programs were running. I had gotten ~ 7 hrs of sleep the night before the night before. I could've had 8, but after I woke up, it was hard to get back to bed because I was getting nervous about a deadline for work. But I had woken up naturally (mostly b/c of the amt of water I drink, I think), so it was okay when I only got ~ 5 hrs the night before the race.
After I woke up, I debated whether or not to shower. Getting wet didn't seem appealing, but I knew that it would wake me up and warm up my muscles, and it did, so I was glad. I'll be sure to always do it. Then, I had an oat bran breakfast before running out the door. I speeded to the packet pickup because I always want to get there early, and I got my shirt and number. Then, I just waited in the lobby, sitting on the hard floor, watching runners come in to pick up their stuff. It was kind of fun, seeing all the diferent kinds of runners, and to just chill and take in the experience. I sat for about 45 minutes, then I went to the bathroom, then I went to my car to put away my gear bag, then I walked around the gym halls to do some dynamic stretching, went to the bathroom again, then went outside to do about a 1/4 mi of warmup total, including striders and some range of motion grapevine, high knees, and butt kicks. Swinging my arms around got my blood flowing pretty effectively. It was an ideal 54 degrees (ideal according to research, I think I prefer a bit cooler).
I took a spot about 20ft behind the start line (to account for at least the 50 ppl who'd finish before me), met someone from another facility in my company (he was wearing a singlet with our logo), and got started. The first mile was an out-and-back on the main road, lined by trees and buildings. The campus is really well-maintained. Its grass is almost like plastic carpet, it's so perfect. Then, the second mile went around the far side of the lake. There was a bit of downhill leading into it, and since it's a loop course, what goes down must go back up. Then, the third mile is when the big hill hit. It's short but steep and saps you of energy. But by then, you have less than a mile to go. The tenths of miles actually sped by pretty quickly, although the last mile went by theh slowest. You must kept thinking, "how far til the end?" During the last mile, my arms, I guess the front sides of the upper arms, got pretty tired from pumping, something that usually only happens in sprints. I was kind of surprised, b/c I had just hit season records for the plank and pushups. Maybe it's just not the right kind of fibers or hasn't had the right kind of training for sprinting actions. Or maybe building up my plank and pushups added to lean muslce mass, but in places where they'd be dead weight for the purposes of arm pumping. Anywy, finally, back to the campus's main drive, and I turned on the afterburners. I ended up having to keep them on for longer than I expected, since the drive was farther than I had anticipated... or just felt farther now that it was the last bit of the race. But that's a good thing. Usually, you turn it on too late, but I was going hard for a while and kicked it for a short while at the very end.
3.1 (watch says 3.24) in 21:52, 6:45 ave... if the watch is correct, 7:03 if it really is 3.1... it probably is 3.1. 260 Cal. Splits> 6:54, 6:54, 8:03. Right on for those first two, dude! Official results: 21:55 gun time, 9/255 for the women, 91/581 overall, 4th for our company team.
I'm happy with that. My objective was to get in a good speed workout while taking advantage of this last chance to run in decently cool weather before the heat sets in. In the past 9 months, I had only raced once, on a grass course, so it was good to get a standard down for an asphalt course before heat muddies up your asessment of your fitness.
Afterwards, I met up with others from my company. My buddy hooked me up with one of our corporate singlets, too. He's like 56 yrs old but beat me with a 21:10... sweet! He used to run in college... 4:20 miles! I hope to still be running and in decent shape years from now.
No injures during the run. Afterwards, my left achilles and bit of the calf were a bit strained. Hopefully, they'll bet better by tomorrow so that I can get some miles in. The rest of the day, my immune system kind of felt down, and I had little appetite. Partially due to the physical stress of the race, I'm sure. But the appetite bit is strange. Allergies? Didn't eat enough immediately after the race? The post-race food they advertised was pretty sad... lots of white flour bagels and then a single box of bananas, which soon got all taken. I think I got the last piece of banana, which they had cut into thirds. Not enough. A good race, but they could up the food quality and amounts a bit, to at least 1 fruit per person.
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