I had been looking for a longer distance to race this month kind of as a tune-up/fitness test leading up to Wineglass – which is in 7 weeks! ahhh – without much luck. Ideally I wanted to run a half, but then the running store I work for planned to hold it’s annual Battle of Brooklyn 10 mile race in mid-August. And they gave employees free entry! Done and done.
The race came just when training was getting a teeny bit monotonous, so it was cool to have something different to look forward to this week. As for race goals, I really didn’t have anything specific other than to keep a good effort and ~7:45 pace sounded nice. The last time I raced a 10 miler was probably about 5 years ago, so I knew a PR would probably not be a problem.
So! The race was in Brooklyn. This means I woke up pretty much at the “usual” time (5:30 a.m.) to stretch, get ready get walk to the subway for the hour-long trek. I ate my usual pre-race breakfast of a banana, packet of Justin’s almond butter, Nuun and some PowerGel Energy Blasts while waiting to transfer to the Q train. I had gotten a great night’s sleep, so I felt relaxed, happy and amused by all of the characters that live on the subway at 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday. When I got to Prospect Park there was plenty of time to pee, say hello to my friends/co-workers and run a little ~1.25 mile warm-up.
The race!
Was so much fun. It’s basically three loops of Prospect Park, which doesn’t sound super awesome but it was. Right from the start my pace felt comfortable and I just went with it, trying not to look at the Garmin too often because it tends to freak me out (too fast! too slow! ahhh). There is one gnarly hill that slowed my pace a little a few times, but I was able to make up most of it on the downhills.
This is a weird race recap because I’m having a hard time differentiating the miles for more details. I just felt smooth and positive for the whole race, and it was fun to cheer and be cheered for and run in a different area than my usual spots.
co-worker took this action shot!
I’ve been a little apprehensive about my current fitness level since I jumped into marathon training so quickly after injury, and this race was just what I needed to boost the confidence a bit heading into the last leg of training. The race plus warm-up/cool-down was my longest effort of the week, which was also a cutback week in terms of mileage.
- Monday: rest, glorious rest (+50 minutes yoga)
- Tuesday: 10.75 miles – 5 x 5:00 minute pick-ups with 1:00 minute rest, strength (abs, arms)
- Wednesday: 9.25 miles easy with Betsy, strength (abs, legs)
- Thursday: 10.25 miles progression run, strength (abs)
- Friday: 8.5 miles easy, strength (abs, legs)
- Saturday: 8.75 miles easy, strength (abs, arms)
- Sunday: 13.25 miles, 1.25 miles w/u, 10 mile race, 2 miles c/d
Total: 60.75 miles
I’m still on kind of a race high, feeling pretty good and optimistic about the next few weeks of training. This week will be similar mileage-wise but with some flexibility because I’ve got a long-awaited mini-vacation to Portland, Maine planned with my sister next weekend. I haven’t taken even a mini-vacation in years (and haven’t seen sister since May!, and I cannot freaking wait.
I’ve been doing some research/thinking about the latest when it comes to fueling for long runs/races (fuel vs. no fuel), so stay tuned for a post on that later on this week!