Putnam County Classic
This week, I took the opportunity to drive myself into the ground get in some extra long workouts and run a race. Good Times!
After a long run on Sunday (10 miles; long for me lately) and a long ride on Monday (40 miles; still not enough volume!) my wife and I decided to run the Putnam County Classic, and 8-mile race in the next county over. I'd done the race before, but didn't remember it well at all, and this was her first time.
We had checked out the website, which talked about this as a relatively flat race around a lake, which sounded great, but K was worried about it being too flat. I mapped out the race, checked the elevation, and told her not to worry; there was some elevation. That turned out to be an understatement, as there were hills all over the place, including all of mile 6. But we run on hills, so no problem-o.
Overall, we had a good race, and K came in first in her age group (I think I was something like 26th in mine), and we got to see some friends both before and after the race, which was great.
And for me, the people watching and interaction was the best part. (I don't like hills - they were NOT the best part). I saw the new runner, who didn't know not to stop at the water table, another runner who also stopped very often to deal with 'code brown' problems every quarter mile. I talked to someone I thought I recognized (she wasn't her), and got to explain run-walk a few times. People often don't realize that i'm walking in a structured way, not because I'm tired (well, not JUST because I'm tired). At least no one recognized me from the magazine, although I did get my picture taken for the Putnam newspaper! Overexposure continues.......
The long ride went really well, and my new bike (did I mention that? Don't tell my wife about it) performed nicely. It's a faster ride, and I'm getting far more used to the distance cycling.
Unfortunately, I won't get much training in for the next several days. Work will be rough, with many late nights (I just got home, and it's 11:00 p.m. now), and I spend my mornings catching up on sleep rather than working out. I do keep workout clothes in the car, so if I get the opportunity, I'll use it. After that, it's off to vacation, so not much training that week either. I'm going to get back into it with only 5 weeks to go, which means a few more long rides, but that's about it.
It still looks like a nail-biter for me. My confidence in finishing the race is growing, even if my expectations of time are getting longer. At least my race has a really generous time limit - 9 hours - although barring incident, I should only use seven of them.
After a long run on Sunday (10 miles; long for me lately) and a long ride on Monday (40 miles; still not enough volume!) my wife and I decided to run the Putnam County Classic, and 8-mile race in the next county over. I'd done the race before, but didn't remember it well at all, and this was her first time.
We had checked out the website, which talked about this as a relatively flat race around a lake, which sounded great, but K was worried about it being too flat. I mapped out the race, checked the elevation, and told her not to worry; there was some elevation. That turned out to be an understatement, as there were hills all over the place, including all of mile 6. But we run on hills, so no problem-o.
Overall, we had a good race, and K came in first in her age group (I think I was something like 26th in mine), and we got to see some friends both before and after the race, which was great.
And for me, the people watching and interaction was the best part. (I don't like hills - they were NOT the best part). I saw the new runner, who didn't know not to stop at the water table, another runner who also stopped very often to deal with 'code brown' problems every quarter mile. I talked to someone I thought I recognized (she wasn't her), and got to explain run-walk a few times. People often don't realize that i'm walking in a structured way, not because I'm tired (well, not JUST because I'm tired). At least no one recognized me from the magazine, although I did get my picture taken for the Putnam newspaper! Overexposure continues.......
The long ride went really well, and my new bike (did I mention that? Don't tell my wife about it) performed nicely. It's a faster ride, and I'm getting far more used to the distance cycling.
Unfortunately, I won't get much training in for the next several days. Work will be rough, with many late nights (I just got home, and it's 11:00 p.m. now), and I spend my mornings catching up on sleep rather than working out. I do keep workout clothes in the car, so if I get the opportunity, I'll use it. After that, it's off to vacation, so not much training that week either. I'm going to get back into it with only 5 weeks to go, which means a few more long rides, but that's about it.
It still looks like a nail-biter for me. My confidence in finishing the race is growing, even if my expectations of time are getting longer. At least my race has a really generous time limit - 9 hours - although barring incident, I should only use seven of them.
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