Today was the Race to Robie Creek. I was still sore from the workouts on Wednesday and Thursday. The OH squats, Dead-lifts and Curtis Ps were all taxing. My hamstrings and glutes were sore. Considering all this, I still felt decent.
The first 8 miles of the race is an elevation gain of 2,072 feet, almost entirely uphill, with a little flat here and there. I kept a solid pace the first 6 miles. Miles 7-8 (which are essentially straight up hill) were grueling and my pace suffered significantly. My goal was to not stop at all, which I achieved. When I ran with race 5 years ago (at age 17) I ran about 20 minutes slower than I did today and stopped more than a few times. Considering I'm about 20 pounds heavier and significantly stronger today, I'm very happy I beat my old time. The downhill was brutal as well. The last 5 miles are straight down. I got passed a lot more on the downhill than on the uphill. I don't know why this was, last time I remember it being the complete opposite. It's probably because I haven't run for more than an hour in a long time. I felt awesome for the first 6o minutes, but after that I tanked. In my mind, my running only needs to be so good and running for more than hour is not worth it for me, it will hinder other aspects of my fitness too much. I'd rather be a strength athlete that can be a mediocre distance runner than a mediocre strength athlete and a good distance runner. I think this bias in my training really showed today and I'm completely at ease with this. Come mile 7 I was just wishing I was lifting heavy weights, not running any faster.
This race was challenging. I'll probably do it again at some point in my life, I think every 5 years is a good way to go about it. I thought the race was easier today than it was 5 years ago; hopefully I'll say that again in another 5 years. I'm glad I was able to go out and do this race off my general level of fitness, not training my ass off for it and tapering and all that running stuff. My time ended up being 1:16:53.4 (summit) 1:56:57.0 (final).
To be able to set a 350 lb back squat PR last week and then run one of the most challenging half-marathons in America this weekend makes me happy and optimistic about my fitness. I'll probably never be content with my fitness, but I'm definitely in the best shape of my life. I'm excited for the 2011 Crossfit Open to be over and to continue my training through the summer.
It was my birthday this week, I ended up going out and drinking more than a few beers. I was hungover on Sunday. I also ate some abnormal food on Saturday (post-race) and on Sunday.
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