First – I’m a bit grumpy this morning. I usually eat breakfast at my desk in the morning, and I forgot my breakfast today. And, when I’m hungry, I get grumpy. Very grumpy. Like no one wants to be around me grumpy. And to make matters worse, someone in the office brought donuts today. On the day I forgot my breakfast. Of course. But, no, I didn’t have one. Instead, I ate a Clif Bar that I have stashed in my desk drawer for emergencies…but after running almost 10 miles of hills this morning, that didn’t really do the trick and now I’m hungry again (and grumpy again).
This weekend is another race (I’m sure that surprises no one) – the Cap 10K. It’s the largest 10K in
A lot of people might think 10K’s are easy for me because I run marathons. Only 6 miles? No problem. Wrong. 5 & 10Ks are actually harder for me than marathons. I’m just not a short distance runner. I can run a half marathon at under 7 min mile pace, but my 10K pace won’t be much faster than that. For the shorter races there is no time to ease into the run; the gun sounds and you have to GO. No time to settle in your groove; the race is too short or that.
My PR on that course is 42:04. I’m aiming for around a 41:30ish. That may be optimistic; we will see. My plan is to hang around a 6:42 pace for the first 3 miles (hills) and then try to drop pace to around 6:35 for the last 3.
I ran some hills this morning in preparation for Sunday, as I was a bit disappointed in how I ran the hills in last Sunday’s race (felt like my pace dropped too much going up the hills). I went out early this morning and hit all the big hills in town a few times for a total of 9.64 miles in 1:15:45 (7:52 average pace). It took me about 4 miles to warm-up and find my groove (another reason why I struggle with short races; by the time I’m warmed up, the race is over). However, once I got going I felt strong and fluid up the hills. My last 5 miles were right around a 7:30 pace and that felt very comfortable. We’ll see what Sunday brings…
On another note, I am not convinced my nutrition cleanse is making a difference in my running. I have had much lower levels of energy since I started it…however, this could be due to general fatigue from previous weeks of high mileage training. I reduced training last week and will the next couple weeks leading into the marathon, so we’ll see if that makes a difference. Truth be told, it would probably be worth the money to go see a nutritionist.
And, just for the record, Dan has been tempting me with Mexican food. Like every night “How about we go eat Mexican food?” And, I’m like “no, how about Jason’s Deli?” Stalemate.
Good luck this weekend Erin, I'm sure you'll do well. Regarding your new diet, have you been making sure that you are, in fact, taking in enough calories, and that it has enough fat and protein to provide what you need given your high mileage training? I'm concerned that when I ramp up my running again it will be tough to reverse my own recent tendencies to watch my diet closely.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Greg! Not having enough fat in my diet was one of my concerns and first thoughts as my energy has been lagging; it's something I am going to be more aware of and could very well be the cause. I rarely eat meat (and never red meat) so without the fat from Mexican food or ice cream, I'm probably not getting enough as I am eating mostly veggies, salad, beans and rice. I eat a little bit of peanut butter, but could use more healthy fats. Work in progress for sure!
ReplyDeleteErin, here I am again regarding that diet. First, I know you will kill this weekend's race! I've missed you on DM. I have had to step away from it because of running funk lately...just bad case of the running blahs, period. My diet has been a huge issue and mainly because I am not eating as often as I normally do. I will tell you that for two years I REALLY cleaned up my diet and got rid of a lot. BUT, it was not smart to no longer get my meat/red meat/lean meats/dairy products/healthy fats. I mostly ate fruits and veggies and the occasional brown rice with chicken. This was not good because after two years of mostly plant food, my skin/hair/nails were HORRIBLE! My skin (entire face and scalp) became severely dry. What I learned (duh!) was that I didn't have enough of the EFAs and healthy fats and iron. I started to take Udo's oil. On top of that, I went back to a more "fun" diet...which included splurging!
ReplyDeleteTapering has a way of screwing with your body!!!
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