2006 Credit Union Texas Twister 10k

-

A 10k PR

I ran a race this morning. I hadn't really planned on it, but I knew there was going to be one and I went back and forth about doing it. Yesterday morning when I got up and saw 8 miles on my training plan, I assessed my body and it told me it didn't want to go 8 miles. So I decided 6.2 miles fast would even out to 8 slow so I headed down to Run Tex and registered for the race. We did a really short (5 miles) and easy bike ride yesterday to spin my legs out a bit.

This morning I woke up several times: 4 AM, 5 AM, 6 AM, of course, going back to sleep at 6:15 so that my alarm could go off at 6:30. Luckily, with Daylight Saving Time ending, it was actually just about my regular time to get up. My stomach was feeling weird and I was a little concerned.

I ate my normal pre-race breakfast (small bowl of Rice Krispies with a tiny bit of soy milk, half an apple with the peel removed, and a small glass of juice) and headed out. I arrived at the race site and did a warm up trot from my car to the race site, picked up my timing chip and make one last stop at the port-a-potty. Last night I decided I wanted to do the race in around 1 hour, 10 minutes. My previous 10k PR was 1 hour, 12 minutes. As I waited for the race to start, I wasn't hoping for a PR, I decided I was going to get a PR.

I airhorn went off and I started my iPod loaded up with 3 Podrunner podcasts: 2 at 175 and 1 at 170. I started on 175 and I repeated a mantra to myself, "I am fast. I am strong." I checked my GPS. The plan was to to the first mile no faster than 11 minutes, then keep the remaining miles at or below 11 minutes.

About midway through the first mile, I started feeling really sick to my stomach and started worrying I was going to have to duck off the course and throw up. I wished I didn't have my long sleeve shirt tied around my waist. It was cold before the start, but while waiting for the race to start I got hot and it was too close to the start and my car was too far away to take it back. I loosened the shirt, my race belt, and my water bottle belt a little bit. I had three Clif Shot Blocks in my pouch but the thought of them made my stomach turn even more.

I tried to forget about my tummy and repeated my mantra. I just knew I was going to have a PR regardless. Looking back I never ever thought, "Oh, I hope I can PR..." or "Maybe I'll be able to PR today." I just made the decision to do it and did.

Miles 1-2 were a bit hilly. I just relaxed up them like Coach Karen taught us and then flew on the downhills, letting my momentum carry me down. Just after mile 2 was a killer hill and my stomach really rebelled, but I just repeated my mantra, listened to the Podrunner beat and kept my legs and feet relaxed.

Around mile 3, the course had flattened out and I was excited to see the race clock at 34 minutes (34:17 is my 5k PR). I was on track. I took some sips of gatorade from my bottle and realized that my stomach was feeling somewhat (but not completely) better. I tried to pick up the pace a bit. I picked up perhaps too much because I slowed down at mile 4 which was my fasted mile.

Finally I arrived at mile 5 and was excited that I only had a little over a mile to go. The next 1.2 miles flew by. I gave every last bit I had and when I hit mile 6 I really started pushing. When the finish was in sight, I pushed hard, but I didn't run as fast I have on past runs. I had spent just about everything in the previous 6 miles.

I ran across the finish and hit my watch. 1 hour, 8 minutes - 2 minutes under my goal and 4 minutes under my previous PR. I did it! I felt so emotional. I grabbed some water and nearly started crying. I was overcome and it felt so great. I realized my stomach was feeling somewhat better so I grabbed a banana, some pretzels and a carton of OJ while I walked around a bit to cool down. I felt a little light headed and super tired.

I stretched and headed back to my car so I could make my way to swim class where I had an hour of swimming ahead of me. Whew! I didn't have the best swim ever, but I still swam 2000 yards in an hour. I'm not too sore or tired this evening. I actually feel like the swimming afterwards did me good.

I'm still so proud of myself. I really had a great race despite the stomach issues. Now I have a new 10k PR to break. I have to say, I really like that distance!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10-Night France, Iceland, and Norway Cruise - Day 7 At Sea

-
Image
At Sea It’s another day at sea. And this time without laundry (don’t worry, more laundry is coming). Which is good because the day was jam-packed with activities we wanted to do. I woke up at 6:30 and headed to the gym. I found a tiny little piece of real estate and I did a BODYCOMBAT. I had already started learning the chorey for the next release I would be teaching and I knew it somewhat and so I put on the masterclass and listened, but didn’t watch (there really wasn’t any way to watch anyway). I’m sure people thought I was a weirdo punching and kicking in a little corner. It wouldn't be the last time I'd eke out a little corner to punch nothing for an hour. After that I went back to the room and showered and put on my pajamas. Yes, my pajamas. It was time for our FB cruise meet group pajama breakfast. We all descended on Royal Palace at 8 AM decked out in our jammies for breakfast. It was a lot of fun and some families went all out in matching PJs. Emmaline ate breakfast wi
Read more

Fitness Instructor Journey, Part 4: Unbreakable

-
Image
It's been one year since I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Not that this is something to celebrate, but it's going to be a hard day to forget for the rest of my life. As I've said previously, I'm not an "everything happens for a reason" person but I do find that sometimes the course of our lives can shift in unexpected ways when we face great challenges.  As I stood on the podium this morning to teach my BODYCOMBAT class, I couldn't help but reflect on the fact that if I had not faced the challenge of having cancer, I likely would not have ever become a BODYCOMBAT institutor. Taking that journey was far outside my comfort zone and not something I ever thought I would do.  When I started working for Fitness Connection 5 years ago, I took a BODYPUMP class for the first time and immediately fell in love with it. I loved the music and how it made me feel. I had a big goofy grin on my face the whole class. I also took a BODYCOMBAT class. I did not love it. I
Read more

10-Night France, Iceland, and Norway Cruise - Day 8 Reykjavik, Iceland

-
Image
Reykjavik About a month before we were supposed to set sail someone posted in our FB cruise meet group that there was an issue with the dock at Isafjordur (our second stop in Iceland). They were dredging the harbor to create a new dock that could accommodate larger ships, like the Disney Dream. But apparently it wasn’t ready and a lot of ships were having to cancel that stop. Some of the smaller ships were able to use tenders.  We kept waiting to hear what would happen and we were hopeful, but then, with less than a week before we were set to leave, we got an email from DCL that the port was cancelled and unfortunately, they were unable to secure an alternative port for us. We were really unhappy about it. The cruise already had more sea days than we really wanted and now we were getting another.  I was scrambling to figure out how to get the horseback riding that Emmaline really wanted to do tacked onto another port day. Ultimately, we decided we had the most time in Reykjavik and we
Read more