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After the Xmas morning's long run (13.1 miles @ pedestrian pace) I had two saunas (in the morning and evening, both were pure luxus!) and ate a lot. I mean LOT! We visited my dad and watched some photos on computer. It felt pretty normal even if he is not yet able to speak nor move his right arm and leg too much. Luckily his mind and thinking wasn't hit by the stroke.
Yesterday morning I ran in Somerniemi. It's a tiny village, and I didn't see any cars during the hour on the road. Think about that!
Today it was again time for a tempo run. Unfortunately the conditions were annoying - none of the strides I took had grip on the ground. It was almost like running on ice. However, I was able to run faster (3.1 miler, 5.50/mile) than a week ago.
Both hamstring are now pretty tense. They just went through 5k race with tiny up- and downhills. But they really deserved it. I ran Police Pace 5k, and really had to race with Peter K. and Mike C. Peter caught me around 2.5k mark, but I was able to respond to his surge at 4k mark. While both hamstrings were whinning like me, I was still able to keep my pace to the finish (16.15). It wasn't any PR race, but I'm still pretty happy with the effort and the outcome. At least it was under 17 minutes...
Today offered me Damien's 5k with low expectations. I just wanted to run a 5k, and I sort of did. Etiophians ran fast, faster of them ran a new course record 14.32. I was fourth with 16.47 two seconds behind female winner. I paced her almost for two miles, and that kind of helped me, too. So I'm pretty happy even with this slow time.In the evening we rode an easy bike ride, 70 mins. In all, week was 62 miles.
What a nice race in the center of Baltimore with 4.200 runners. I secretly hoped to run sub 16 minutes, but ended up with 16.05. I'm still a little happy with this result even if I shouldn't be. 16 minutes is nothing, but at this point it's ok. After all this was the fastest 5k that I have ran in the US. Run itself felt like an ordinary steady state pace without any extra gears available. Just like running a slightly faster workout. Today's result is coherent with the workouts done, and based on the CC's 10-miler I should have been only 10 seconds faster. So not a big disaster. The course was insane - first half mile downhill and then basically flat streets. I was 5th overall, and GRC's Red Fox broke the magic 15 minutes (14.58) for the first time and won the whole race of course. Sweetie ran a PR by a minute! She is getting closer and closer...Weekly total was only 69 miles. Next up - Flagstaff, AZ.
Penguin Pace 5k here in Columbia. I aimed at 16.30 (at least) but ended up with not-too-satisfying 16.45 and took second place. Carlos was 25 seconds faster today. I'm slightly disappointed because I ran that same time alone in the dark in the early December, so training is going well...? Only thing that eases the pain is that Dec test run was not on this course.... this course is not the PR course. So should I stop whining and just be happy. Oooooh what a joy! No really, I'm feeling just okay with this one. Good tune-up for something. Weekly mileage 77.
Monday started with an easy shake off run. Today I gotta run faster tempo run (that was supposed be yesterdays race) already during early afternoon, since in the evening we are invited to celebrate the 91th Finnish Independence Day (which actually was already on Saturday) at the Finnish Embassy in D.C.
I'm back (the update this blog...) from "faster" tempo run. I ran steady 5k on the Bagel Run course (between mile 1 and 4.1) in time 16.45 (~5.24/mile). I'm quite happy with that except that same hamsting/buttock pain from last December is back. There is only one (or maybe two) four letter word to describe that one. But still, I'm happy. And 36.
This morning I was thinking about doing some faster run, but I wasn't able to make any decisions. Fortunately, there was a 5k at the Striders weekly race which was just suitable for todays goal. I ran that and some extra seconds as well due to not knowing the exact turning point. Hence, I'll take 12-15 seconds off the official time, 16.5x. That equals close to 16.40s in a grinding and hilly course. Faster would of course be much nicer but...Week 76 miles.
Olisipa pitänyt lauantaina ajatella taas seuraavaa mailia ja päivää pidemmälle. Enhän mä enää palaudu ikäni saatika kuntoni puolesta liian reippaasta pitkästä lenkistä niin, että juoksu olisi ylihuomenna rallatusta. Tänään kone kossahti ennen ensimmäistä mailia. Kesken alamäen alkoi painaa aivan vietävästi, vaikka samaan aikaan oli vähän niinkuin kaikki pelissä. Siitä meni vielä muutama sata metriä kunnes tuli ensimmäinen pitkähkö nousu, jonka huipulla kone piiputti entisestään. Ja se oli vasta alkua. Kaveri, jonka voitin viime viikonloppuna, heitti lentämällä ohi joku maili ennen maalia ja mä vain korisin. Ja hän on vielä 40v, mutta jälleen paranevassa iskussa. Kuulemma GPS:n mukaan ylipitkään vitoseen (3.27 mailia) kului 16.46, joka oli tasan 46 sekuntia hitaammin kuin tavoite tälle aamulle. Nyt pystyn juoksemaan 5-16 km:n kisat aikalailla samaa kilsavauhtia, mikä ei ole lainkaan hyvä merkki mistään... Mitähän keksisi seuraavaksi? Ehkäpä jos alkaa rassaamaan 3.05-3.10 -vauhteja niin ehkäpä siitä sitten tuleva maratonkin vähän helpottuu. Enpä ole aamun kulusta montaa mieltä. Fraun jalkakaan ei kestänyt kisaa, joten hiphei. 
