Race Day Means Dinning Out Night

This has to become some kind of tradition, having dinner at our favorite restaurant after a race.

 


 
Today’s race was tough for me, mentally more than physically.
Of course I will do a full review, soon.

 
But in the meantime I’ll just tell you this.
After trying hard to get away from people, to keep my paces, to pass some girls that I’ve seen on other races (and they are fast for me), after having everything go great… at about the 14 KM mark we merged with all the 10K’ers.

 
There were a lot of them, and it was demoralizing to have so many people in front of me again, to start weaving again. I wasn’t sure we would stay on the same course until the end and I was afraid of missing a turn and going the wrong way. A lot of mental energy went into all of this, at a point in the race that I didn’t have much mental energy left.

 
This is a bit before the 14K mark, if I recognize the area correctly.. see there’s not a lot of people around me.

 


 
This is around the 18K… look at the masses! Tough shit.
I don’t know why I put my glasses up, everything was bothering me by now.

 


 
I still managed to PR, I know that. I don’t know what my official result is yet, but my Garmin’s time is 01:39:10 and it took me a few seconds to turn it off, so I’m a little below that. Garmin distance was 21.26, but that’s close enough, the difference is all corners and weaving.
Now if my official result could be 01:38:xx that would be awesome. Even 01:38:59.

 
Just so you know, I was hoping for 01:38:37, how random is that number. It came from the splits I was hoping for (05:10, 05:00, 4:55..) and the last .1 KM made the final time I was hoping for kind of funny. That result is not happening, but that’s OK.

 
It was a great race overall, I am so happy I ran it. It was well organized and everything went smoothly, including parking, start line (not as crowded as I feared), great energy, lots of aid stations, DJ’s, music bands.. quite an event. I want you all here next year!

 

 

Have you raced an international race? Would you consider running one?

 

 

Taper Workouts and Weekending

Yesterday I started tapering for my upcoming half marathon next Friday. Well kind of because the weekend workouts, Friday and Saturday, cannot really be considered tapering, except for today’s “long” run which was “only” 15.2KM/9.4M instead of the usual 20+ KM.  But I still have 5 days of really light workouts until the race.

 
Taper week workouts are:

 
Friday: Ran 9KM/5.6M on the treadmill, divided into tempo run and some intervals at the end. Then strength training and spinning class.

 
Saturday: Ran 15.2KM/9.4M outside. This was supposed to be easy pace, but wasn’t, once again. Average pace 04:41 Min/KM (07:33 Min/Mile). That’s my half marathon right there, if I can keep it up for another 5.9KM/3.7M. Not sure I can.
I went for a short swim afterwards just to get my legs into some cold pool water.

 


 
Sunday: Rest day.

 
Monday: Short HIIT run, no longer than 30 minutes, including warm up. Swimming.

 
Tuesday: Short easy run outside, about 8KM/5M.

 
Wednesday: Light swimming, no running.

 
Thursday: Rest day.

 
The weekend is almost over around here, it was a nice one with perfect weather.
We went out for some coffee yesterday afternoon. Actually we went out to get a present for a kid whose birthday party we had today, but the coffee part is what counts.

 


 
Today after my run/swim, we went to the birthday party, which was a picnic at the park, really nice. Food, sun, family, friends, chocolate birthday cake.. perfect.

 


 

 

Another Good Weekend Run, and Should I Wear Long Tights to a Race?

The weekend is when I do my longer and harder workouts.
I just like to start the week like that (in my mind, my week in terms of training starts on the weekend).

 
My weekend started with a 25KM/15.5M run, so I was pretty beat after that.

 
Back in the day when my long run was about 13K/8M, I used to drive to the gym afterwards and do strength work.
That’s not happening anymore.

 
I wanted to do an easy 7KM/4.3M the next day, but same as last weekend (seriously, what a pattern), I ended up with 11KM/6.8M, not so easy pace.

 


 
It was a nice run, it was cold, and my legs just moved faster than I wanted them to.  Sounds ridiculous but it’s true.
It makes me wonder about tapering, I have such good runs on tired legs sometimes.

 
I went to the gym afterwards and got my strength routine done.  Then I went to spin class.

 


 
I used to love spinning and would make such a hard effort in this class.  Now I take it as a light post run workout, let’s burn some fat on 70%-80% effort, max. Running has taken over my life.


 
I’m considering wearing these long tights to my half marathon in 2 weeks.

 


 
They are Mizuno compression tights and I always have good runs in them.  I think the really do something for me.

 
But I am concerned about getting too warm.  I always wear shorts to races, and sleeveless tops, to keep as cool as possible.
I don’t know what the weather will be like on race day, but probably about 12C/54F.. just an average of what’s been going on lately.

 

Do you wear long pants or long sleeve shirts to races?

 

 

LSD turns to LFD, once again

Perfect start to the weekend: a 23KM/14.3M run at 6:30 in the morning, on the Yaffo to Tel Aviv boardwalk, and back.

 
I definitely got an early start on everyone, look at that empty parking lot.

 


 
I know some people get it and some people think I’m crazy, but to me an early run, especially a long run, is the best way to start the day.

 
I’ve learnt to love long runs.
It’s not that I didn’t like them before, I was just afraid of them. I guess it makes sense to be afraid of a long run when you first start.

 
Look at these cuties I found on my way to the port’s parking lot:

 


 
Once again, I didn’t take my phone with me on my run. I wanted to take pictures, but didn’t have a proper pocket for it. No big pockets on the tights I wore, and I tried to take it on my long sleeve top but it was jumping around so I put it back in my car.
I have great tight (no jumping around) mesh pockets on my tight shorts, so as soon as the weather is nicer I’ll be able to run with them and carry my phone.

 
I’m 2 weeks away from the Tel Aviv Half Marathon, and since I did a fast finish long run last weekend, the plan was to do an easy run this time.

 
However.

 
Somewhere on the 12KM/7M a guy passed me, and started running right in front of me.
I don’t mind at all when someone passes me, not on regular runs and not on races. I do my thing, I have my plan, I have my paces.

 
But, this guy, wherever he came from (hadn’t seen him anywhere around me before), passed me and just stuck there. I let him be and figured he’d gain some distance on me soon enough, but he didn’t. So after a few minutes I went ahead and passed him again, I can’t run with someone so close to me, when the whole boardwalk is empty.
And then it was on. What ensued was about 5 KM/3M of me not letting him pass me, and him not letting me pass him. Way too funny. OK it was very annoying then, but it’s really funny now.
Eventually I just turned around and ran in the other direction, and not because I couldn’t keep the pace but just because I wanted to do my thing.

 
I still had 7KM/4.3M to finish my run and I actually kept it up for the remainder of the run.
Thanks stranger, for a half marathon distance PR on my Garmin:

 


 
My workout/splits. I was forced to run faster. It wasn’t me.

 


 
I went home straight after the run to shower, since I had to be at my son’s kindergarten at 9:15 for a family activity, and after that to my daughter’s daycare for another family activity.
I got home at 8:45, took a shower, got dressed/makeup, ate a snack really quickly and left.

 
I met my husband and son at the kindergarten (they left a bit earlier than me) and first thing my husband asked me, right in front of all the other parents, is if I hadn’t had time to take a shower. I guess I looked that good.

 

Any running related funny things people told you that you care to share?

Do you compete with the people running around you?

 

 

Half Marathon Rehearsal Run

This weekend I did a rehearsal run for my half marathon coming up in less than 3 weeks.
Is there such a thing as a rehearsal run?
This is what I did that is the same/similar to my upcoming race:

 
1) Early start & running at race time:

 
Most of my runs are early in the morning, so this is an easy one for me. Although this time, instead of running at 6:00 AM or so like I usually do, I waited to start my run until 8:00, the time the race will start, to get a feeling of what the sun feels like while running at that time, temperature, etc.

 


 
2) Distance:

 
I didn’t get to 21.1KM/13.1M, just because. I did 20K/12.4M, to me that’s close enough, that’s what I had scheduled in when I did my training plan, so I stick to it.

 


 
Next weekend I’m doing 23KM/14.3M, although I’ll be doing them all at a slow pace, so it’s not the same (read on).

 
3) Pace / Fast Finish:

 
My race plan is to run all negative splits. Should I say my race dream instead of my race plan?

 
This is what I did on this run as well, average pace for first 10K was 05:10 Min/KM (08:19 Min/Mile), average pace for last 10K was 04:37 Min/KM (07:26 Min/Mile).

 


 
4) Fuel – Before and During:

 
Race nutrition always scare me. Don’t drink too much, don’t drink too little, don’t be hungry, don’t be full..

 
Breakfast was 2 cups of coffee, a granola bar, and 2 large glasses of water. Same will be on race morning. That’s a lot of liquid but it will be needed during the race. I’m bad at drinking while running, that’s a problem.

 
Then I had a GU gel (strawberry banana, not bad) before I started running, and another GU gel (jet blackberry) a bit before half way (9th KM). I wish I could eat more right before the race, like a Clif bar or similar instead of the gel, but I’m afraid it’ll make my stomach feel heavy, cramp, or worse (!!).

 

Like me and my GU

 
5) Gear:

 
I didn’t do a full gear rehearsal just because I’m not going to be wearing anything new anyway. I wore a relatively new pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 16, same I will wear to the race, high knee compression socks, sunglasses and my Garmin FR220. But I wore capris and a light long sleeve top, and to the race it will be short tights and a sleeveless top.

 

 
It was a good run but it was obviously not race effort.

 
The thing is I can’t say this run gave me confidence for the upcoming race, so I’m bummed. The last half of the run was tough, sure my paces were pretty good, but I’m hoping to run faster on the race, and now I’m doubting I’ll be able to.

 
So I guess I’ll find out in 3 weeks.. at the race.. I’m not doing another long hard effort run until then.

 
And the usual after a long run: food, nap, and a lot of rolling.

 
I even have a fast learner around, I guess her hips were tight like mine.

 


 

Do you do a rehearsal run before a race? In terms of distance, pace, gear, fuel, etc.?