Saturday, January 20, 2007

torturous race!

I ran this morning in the biting cold a 5K that went up hills, down hills, up again (actually it was the same, very large hill) with very few flat stretches. My achilles tendon injury from a previous race finally healed after 9 long days of limping about so I was a bit hesitatant about injuring it again. Due to the hills and not training I got my slowest time: 25:36.
(I checked the results on-line and found that I came in 4th in my age group. I compared my time with other ages and found that if I was 5 or 10 years younger I would have placed 2nd. Younger is not necessarily faster!)
While I was bopping around the race organizer's website I found a 1/2 marathon in a few months. Should I go for it? I wouldn't even know how to train for such a race. But I do need to lose those last 5 pounds....
(lots of edits on this, I was mistaken about my time, by 2 minutes!)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

My weekday run is 3.1 miles and I can't get it under 30 minutes. It's hilly, and it is usually 430 am when I head out. My weekend run is 3.8 miles and I can do it in under 34 minutes. I think the 6 hour time difference is a huge part of that.

How many weeks do you have to train for the half? If it were 5 or 6 months away, I would say no problem. Sooner, I think it just depends on how much time you have. If you could do 2 "long" runs a week (starting at, say, 5 miles and working up by a mile every 2-3 weeks), I think you could do it.

kat said...

The 13 miler is in about 12 weeks.

I think I could keep going if I just start and don't go too fast- like the Energizer bunny!

My next race is in 3 weeks, a 6K. Then 2 weeks before an 8K. I need the pressure of an upcoming competition to get my rear out the door and running each day!

Anonymous said...

I agree...we've been looking and haven't seen any races listed in this area. Maybe we're looking in the wrong spots...but we just don't want to drive an hour to get to a race that lasts for 30 minutes.

When I did the 10 miler, I really wanted to stop after the 9th mile. I wistfully looked at those who were walking...the only thing that kept me going was my husband (who would have teased me mercilessly for the rest of my life if I had walked)! You could do it with 12 weeks of training...just get out the door at least 4 days a week.

Anonymous said...

I am totally ignorant when it comes to racing, in fact I think people walked the 400m race faster than I ran it in track (granted that was middleschool). But lately I have been running on the treadmill when my three little girls are napping. I have always been athletic and played sports, and the recent (and I might add unexpected) pleasure I have gotten from running has inspired me to try to improve my times and head outdoors. I have no clue where to begin. Any ideas? Do I start with endurance or improving my speed for say a mile and then work on endurance? I think entering a race could be a good way to get my butt in gear.