Dash for the Beads 10K

Race: Dash for the Beads 10K
Watch Time: 58:17
Official Time: 57:02
Pace: 9:08 min/mi

Comments: "Hey! Why don't I do a 10K?" I said to myself one day while out running.

"There's one coming up right in the neighborhood and I can just walk over to it," I said passing a sign for said event.

"It will be a nice casual tune up and a lot of fun," I said as the warm winter sun dappled my face.

I should never listen to me.

I'm certain the Dash for the Beads is a charming neighborhood event on most years. This was not most years. As I expected going in, it suffers from the chaos of smaller events. But this iteration of the event featured one really rough complication; the weather.

The temperature at 6 a.m. was right at 60 degrees. Almost ideal. By 8 a.m. it had plummeted more than 20 degrees. By race time it was hovering in the mid 30s and still falling. And there was a nice torturous breeze to go with it.

I walked over to the race and by the time I got there my face felt frozen solid. I knew I had to dress for the run but the throwaway sweatshirt wasn't blunting the breeze. Thankfully they had a warm event tent. I waited inside until about 10 minutes before the race start and headed to the starting line. It was just as cold as before.

Then the race start was delayed. We waited. And waited. And waited. I was not the only runner who started going into pretty violent chills. Finally, a full 15 minutes later we got to go. Of course I went out too fast in a desperate effort to warm up.

The first half of the race was a mess. A lot of hills (that I expected) which kept me from finding a comfortable groove. I did focus on keeping a constant pace on the hills and not letting the early ones burn me out. And I was still running too fast which didn't bode well for the second half of the thing.

Then, just before mile 4, I started to feel in control. It kinda came out of nowhere and surprised me. I found my pace was strong and I started reeling in a few of the folks who had passed me early. Then I ran into the hoards of 5K walkers complete with strollers, dogs and little regard for anyone trying to pass them. Dodging these morons took a good minute off my time.

I finished under an hour which was my unspoken goal. My average pace was in striking distance of 9 minutes per mile which I would be overjoyed over if it holds going forward. All in all, a strong effort for my return to racing.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 39:52
Pace: 9:57 min/mi

Comments: Much better weather today but still pretty chilly out. I waited a while but didn't want to put this off all day. I also did my daily upper body workout before the run. That is going to take a bit of getting used to.

No land speed record today. No negative split. The only big positive was keeping it under 40 minutes. But I really wasn't planning on having a world beating effort today. With the 10K on Saturday I just wanted some solid miles and not too much fatigue.

The real breakthrough was hitting more miles this year than I amassed in all of 2017. That might be more of a reflection on how little I did last year but I'm pretty pleased nonetheless.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 42:48
Pace: 10:41 min/mi

Comments: I intended to go out yesterday for this run but felt like butt the entire day. Kind of like a really bad hangover day without the hangover. For now, I'm chalking it up to the hard runs on the weekend and the travel schedule. I'll revisit that diagnosis if the issues drag on at all.

As a result, I decided to keep this one slow and deliberate. I expected a slog and a slog I got. It was also on the cold side which made things that much more miserable. But I felt good about the effort and I'll wait until Thursday to decide where I am at physically.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 37:49
Pace: 9:27 min/mi

Comments: Weird little run but, in the end, very satisfactory. I knew I had to get today's run in to meet my goals but found myself more hesitant than usual to get out the door. I also didn't follow my routine of eating at least and energy bar before going out.

I knew I had a pretty strong pace but, at the end of the first lap I was feeling like I might not be able to sustain it through the planned run (or, possibly, even finish). Then I got a boost out of the downhill and found myself cruising through the second half. I even considered going for six miles but decided to play it safe.

Split-wise, this was a very strong effort with every mile faster than the last. The sub-9:30 total pace was not my best for this run but the splits were far more consistent than on runs I've done this fast.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 39:13
Pace: 9:47 min/mi

Comments: Three days off due to a work trip and other commitments. My intention was to do a long run today but I decided against it after getting up this morning. I was more worn out from the trip than I expected and I can probably do as much good by runs on consecutive days this week.

The temperatures were brisk today which allowed me to get out in the early afternoon which helped some. I felt I was struggling a bit at points but, when I checked my splits, they were remarkably consistent. The first and third (downhill) miles as well as the second and fourth (uphill) miles were all within a second of each other.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 37:19
Pace: 9:19 min/mi

Comments: After the successful long run on Sunday, I'm feeling pretty optimistic about my progress thus far. So much so I found myself looking for possible upcoming marathons this morning. Probably need to tap the brakes a bit on that for the moment.

I wanted to push things a bit on this one but without monitoring the whole thing. So I focused on a regular cadence and taking advantage of the downhills. The breakdown was very encouraging; negative splits overall with the last two miles coming in at exactly 9:11 each. 

Long Run

Distance: 9 miles
Time: 1:31:47
Pace: 10:12 min/mi

Comments: To be on track for the half marathon next month I needed to get in an eight miler this weekend. I intended to do this yesterday but felt very fatigued when I woke up. So I chose to move the long run to today.

It was chilly when I got out to White Rock Lake but not inordinately so. I had a bit of a rough time getting started. The first two miles were very uncomfortable and I worried if I had bitten off a bit more than I could chew.

But by mile four I was feeling much better and the second half of the run went extremely well (from mile four on, every mile was faster than the one prior). I even decided to put in the extra mile to make the lake loop complete. Best of all, when I was done I felt pretty good, not worn out and beaten.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 39:13
Pace: 9:47 min/mi

Comments: Odd run. I started out rather well and felt reasonably confident I could keep the pace steady over the course of the workout. But by the end of the second mile, I felt I was dragging pretty hard. Unsurprisingly, that was the slowest lap of the entire run.

Since the odd numbered miles are mostly downhill, I made an effort to concentrate on keeping a steady pace and push the fatigue out of my mind. For the final mile, I made a very concerted effort to push myself and actually delivered the fastest mile of the run.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 41:00
Pace: 10:14 min/mi

Comments: I was very sensitive to my pace on this run given the little scare with the hamstring yesterday. Short steps and letting up off the throttle whenever I felt myself going a bit too fast. Still, I had a pretty good pace over the course of this effort.

Overall, I certainly have the strength to gut through these runs if I need to but I have to be careful to getting too far out in front of my conditioning. Keeping it that close to the edge is a recipe for injury. And an injury is the fastest way to waste all the effort I've poured into this over the past three weeks.

Fitness Run

Distance: 2 miles
Time: 19:45
Pace: 9:50 min/mi

Comments: This was a mixed bag of a run that skewed toward the crappy. I got up and out the door early, like I planned but that's about all that went right. It was chilly, but not overly so, which led me to take this one on a bit on the quick side.

At just past the mile mark, I got a twinge in my left hamstring. Not at the level of a sprain but certainly enough to make me cautious. When it didn't ease off after a few minutes I decided to cut the run short at two miles out of an abundance of caution.