What's going on

OK, in the last 24 hours I have done so many things wrong. Of course they dont seem wrong while I'm doing them, only partially maybe midway and totally wrong in hindsight.

I took 2 days off of running as per PT Pete. I think the last time I took 2 days off was right after the NJ marathon. I was surprised by how crazy it made me. 

Last night, I trekked to the Bronx to run cross country. There's one more race in the summer series that I'm going to miss so I wanted to do this one. It was hot, but luckily the humidity was low. I warmed up for 2 miles with Claudia. Everything felt fine. I had no real goal for the race. So we lined up and off we went. I think I may have taken the flats a little fast. Again. I felt mostly sorta ok. A few women passed me, I passed a few, I went back and forth with one girl the whole way and got her for good on the last flat half mile. I also managed to hold off 2 girls right at the line. I knew they were close because some kids kept running in front of us and I could hear her yell WATCH OUT so I kicked it up for like the last 10 feet to keep them from passing me. 23:54. Not bad for a hilly course and 80 degree weather. I then did a mile cool down.

Then, I started getting horrible horrible ladytime cramps. I was a mess. This sometimes happens after a hard run though it hasn't in a long time. I waited for my gang of folks, claudia was running with Hilary who is rehabbing a stress fracture and got on the train. I was soaked. All the bathrooms in the park were closed so in my own special klassy way, I changed out of my shorts on the subway.  While I am known for just changing my shirt in public after races (it's legal for women to be topless in the state of New York. A law I love) I think dropping trau on the train might have been a first for me.

I shuffled home, still feeling like crap but well enough to get a half galloon of ice cream on the way. I got home, put myself in the shower and just laid there. I felt terrible. And I hadn't seen Loren all week and she was finally home. I downed a few advil and laid on the bed. Ice cream ended up being my dinner.

So with all this, why did I think it would be a good idea to get up and run 10 miles this morning? Well, it wasn't a good idea. Loren and I got up a little after 6. It certainly had cooled off over night with some rain and we were out the door by 7. My foot was on fire before we left, which is pretty common for first thing in the AM. Loren was doing 4 so left me a little after 2.5. I trudged on hoping I'd warm up enough so my foot wouldn't hurt. It usually does warm up. Not so much today. Then thunder. Then pouring rain. That actually may have been the best part of the whole run. I decided to cut it to 8 and the only reason I didn't cut it more was 8 would get me home. I felt terrible. All the things pointing to why this is not a good idea came up in my mind, too little too late. Oh well. I got home in time to see Loren leaving for work. I put myself in and ice bath then rolled by foot on a frozen water bottle for a few minutes shy of forever.

I feel better now. I'm seeing Pete and 1 and think I will feel even better then.

more dust bowl days

Last night kicked off the Van Cortlandt Track Club's summer cross country series. Every other Thurs. night, head up to the Bronx, pay $5 for your chance to win a pie (over all winners) or a muffin (age group place).

Van Cortlandt is a pretty famous cross country course. It's hosted the Footlocker National HS race, National championships, all kinds of college championships. Everyone comes to race here. It is not an easy course however. I did find these videos that take you on a video tour (4-6) which is pretty cool. The course VCTC uses varies slightly in the exit so you get one more up hill and one less long down hill.

Going into this, I didn't have much of a plan. Of course in my head there's always that little PR voice. The reality is, I'm not very sharp right now. I ran hard on Sat and all my post marathon runs have been slow and not very long. 

Hilary and I lined up fairly close to the front. For the first race of the series, it was crowded. FRNY had about 10 people racing which is a great turn out.

The first 1k is flat and fast. Too fast. I went out WAY too fast, like just under 7 minute pace. And of course, I did that thing, that thing I know better than to do. I felt really good so I just went with it instead of easing off a bit. I knew I was going to pay for it once we got in the woods to the hills. 

When people see the start and haven't run the course, it doesn't look that bad. You start on a fast flat, you end on a fast flat. All the suffering happens in the woods where no one can see you.

As we heading up the first hill, my HR was hitting close to 190. FUN! Hilary was just ahead of me but already out of reach. 

Yup, out too fast, paying for it now. I targeted women in head of me to try and catch them. I think I got 1. I got passed by at least one (a team mate) maybe 2) . I wore my Garmin last night which I almost never do for racing, I really just wanted to see what my HR was going to do. Of course then I couldn't stop looking at it. Watch only next time.

I was trying to make up time on the down hills but it didn't seem to be working too much. As I shot out of the woods for the lass 800m, the man directing traffic pointed at me and said 7. I took that to mean 7th woman. I charged ahead trying to over take the woman just ahead of me, who turned out to be Gabriel, a team mate. I didn't recognize her at the time. I just missed catching her at the end. 

So the FRNY women did well: 5, 6, 7 over all. I think Rachel C. may have got in the top 10 as well, she finished close behind me. We scored 5 muffins for the night. 

Tough crowd! For being 7th over all, I was 3rd in my AG.

I ran a 23:21 (7:31 pace) 5 seconds off my 5k PR, the fastest time I've posted at Van Cortlandt. As the summer rolls on, I see myself breaking that time and breaking 23 minutes.