Garin Park XC Challenge 2009

I wasn't really focusing on this race with as much intensity as the previous XC races this season. Perhaps that was because I just wasn't as nervous for this one. I've proved to myself that I can race faster than prior years; I'm in the middle of my hard training and have been tired from it recently, and we weren't going to have a full team. Then, we got the e-mail that we had 5 gals! It didn't hit me that now I had pressure to run fast until I walked to registration this morning. "They are counting on me to get as many places as possible in the end," I thought. Nervousness ensued. I saw one teammate and we warmed up together, but we didn't see any more until about 15 minutes before the race. Only 2 more. We didn't have a 5th. So, the race started and the pressure was off... all of us.

Garin is pretty hilly in the middle miles. You start out in a valley and after about a half mile, the course climbs until the mile mark, then there is a slight downhill until a hairpin turn that takes you up a steep incline that eases out, brings you into a dip and then takes you up a shorter steep hill. Then we went careening down hill (FUN!) and into a loop with less steep inclines and declines. At about 2.5 miles, we lose all that elevation gain in a quarter mile or less and race back through the valley to the finish.

My splits from the Garmin were: 7:04, 7:09, 6:41, extra time to get to the finish. I don't have my official time yet, but my watch said 21:46. That is 5 seconds faster than my PR on that course. My legs aren't feeling wasted yet, so I didn't obliterate myself. Last weekend, I did a tempo interval workout at Garin and I could barely walk after. Either that helped, or I didn't push the hills as hard. Or both. This was mostly of the time-trial sort of race for me mentally than a competitive session.

JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge 2009

Woo! I wasn't really focusing on this race and decided to use it as a workout, doing about tempo pace. The race is a super flat 3.5 miles around Chrissy Field in San Francisco. Here were my random goals/wants:

• Break 24 minutes (6:51 pace)
• Finish in the top 20 women

Boy, do goals really get you going fast. This was the second time this season where I felt I was actually racing instead of running a time trial. So, after a really short warmup, I started off at what I thought was a relaxed pace, only to find out at the mile mark that I ran 6:07. Whoops! Immediately after, we ran against a long 1+ mile headwind section. It felt like a bike race, where I just drafted behind guys and gals in front of me. I tried to stay with/keep in sight the gals with me and in front of me and we all pretty much did that, albeit much slower than the first mile. The second two miles were at 6:40 pace. By the way, I went through 3 miles at 19:35, which extrapolated to 3.1 would be about 20:15. I haven't done a 20:15 in a long while, and I think I can actually break the 20-minute barrier if I do a flat 5k road race this season. That was so exciting!

In the end I finished 18th woman at 22:57, a full minute faster than my goal, and good thing, because otherwise I wouldn't have made it in the top 20. This race (especially that first mile) was definitely a confidence booster.

Golden Gate Park Open 2009

Did I meet my goals? Barely no.

The course is two, 2-mile loops of grass, dirt trails and a bit of sand in places with a log-jump thrown in for good measure. A bunch of us were wearing Garmins during the race and pinned the total distance between 4.08 and 4.14 miles. Mine recorded 4.09.

The legs did feel less snappy than at Santa Cruz, and the terrain was a little more slippery too, especially since I was wearing my XC waffles from HS and somehow they were a little too big. Weird. Hopefully, I'll get used to this new training intensity for the next race at Garin (in 2 weeks.)

I tried to go out conservatively, but that only worked for the first 300 meters and then I started passing people and got excited and motivated to pass more people until I petered out a little before mile 1. That is when people started passing me. I passed a few people who looked like they suddenly pooped out and a few going my pace, but overall I believe I was in the negative side of passing people the last 3 miles. I think I was positive in the uphill or downhill sections, but those silly flat parts...

According to the Garmin, my first mile was 6:36. Not bad. ;) My first 2 miles were 13:43 and the second two were 13:52. According to the race markings, my first lap was 13:48 (I think that is what it said...maybe it was 13:58?), and the second must have been 14:13 (or 14:03? that makes a bit more sense...), because I finished in 28:01. That's two seconds out of may goal. So close. But, it was exactly 30 seconds slower than Santa Cruz. heh! Magic 30 seconds.

I would like to note that my average heart rate for the last mile was 200. I didn't know I could hold that rate for that long, but I guess I was working hard...

Golden Gate Goals

This weekend comes the true test of fitness. I've run the Golden Gate XC course at least 6 times, so I have a great array of attempts and durations. Most importantly, I have results there when I've been my fittest post-collegiately. Looking at past results, it seems as if my best time is 28:43. Comparing other runners' times between same-year UCSC and Golden Gate results, it seems doable to finish within 30 seconds of my Santa Cruz time.

Goals:

• Break 28 minutes
• Hydrate this week
• Once again, start the race conservatively
  

My only worry is that this is the first week of longer speedwork -- I have two workouts during the week -- and I may be tired for the race. It isn't a big deal because this is still an early-season race, but I'd like to do well regardless.