Maria's Running Blog

I didn't know if I could do all 8 miles, but decided to give it a try. Surprisingly, I felt good, and managed the entire distance without too much difficulty. I was tired at the end, but not exhausted, and I could have kept going if I had to. I'm very pleased with this last week, I ran 33+ miles for the week, and this was my farthest run in 7 or 8 months. The weather was windy, but it was 70F and sunny. I had to dodge a lot of people around te park, but that's just inevitable in a large city on a nice summer day. Few times I had to stop due to people overcrowding sidewalk around traffic lights, but it was only for a few seconds.

Tomorrow is another masters track match. I think I'm doing 100m, medley relay (200m or 400m) and javelin.

Total time: 1:12:51 (8:59 pace).

Masters match at Battersea Park track. I ran 100m, 400m leg in the medley relay and did javelin - all scoring in W35 category.

I had time in the beginning to do a mile warmup, and then some stretching, drills and strides. Javelin and 100m were scheduled at the same time, so I was afraid I would have to skip a throw to do 100, but men's javelin was very late, and I ended up doing 100 first. There were 3 ladies in my heat, and I finished dead last! It was the fastest heat, though, so there is my consolation. One woman ran 15.3, another one 15.8 and I did 16.5, 0.1 better than a month ago.

The javelin didn't go so well, either, as I was unable to throw more than 12 meters. Still, I got second place in my age, which was good for the team score.

Finally, there was the relay. It was 200, 200, 400, 800. I was supposed to do 200 leg, but the woman who was going to do 400 was absolutely dead from doing 400 earlier followed by 1500. She is faster than me (she ran 1:11 in the 400), but she just didn't have anything left, so I switched with her and ran 400. This was the greatest relay this season! I got the baton about 2 seconds behind the other team (only 2 teams were running), and I could feel in the first 100 that I can pass the woman in front of me, but I was afraid of using all my energy so early and blow up later, so I relaxed a little and just followed her for the first 200. Then, on the second turn, I could feel that she is getting tired and so I pushed the pace a little and by the end of 300 I passed her and went into the second lane to get clear. I was hurting myself, but not to the point of losing all control of my legs, so I just kept pressing while my team was yelling and cheering me on. When I finished, my hamstrings cramped up, but it wasn't important, because I was done! Our 800 leg girl made the gap even bigger and we won by at least 50m. Our timer whom I asked to time me, because I was curious, told me that I did 76 sec. on my leg. I was very happy, because this is 5 sec. improvement from month ago, and I attribute it to last couple of weeks good running. Another confirmation that even in 400m, aerobic aspect is very important.

We also won the entire match, but only by 6 points, so next match is going to be decisive (we are 2:1 against the other team this season).

I am sore today, but less than couple of weeks ago. Mostly my hamstrings and hip flexors. But I was able to do an easy 6 miler. It was slow, but I got the distance in.

Total time: 55:41 (9:16 pace).

Easy 5 miler, nothing unusual. Had some GI issues, but not too bad. I met another girl from my running club, running in the opposite direction. We usually meet at masters track meets and joke that we never see each other running, although we are both running around the same park. But today we met. Then had an unexpected break when a lost biker asked me for directions.

Total time: 45:06 (9:01 pace).

Did a little workout - ran easy and then tried to speed up to 5K pace for the last 5 minutes. I ended up with 0.54 mi. in 4:01 min. (7:30 pace) - it was hard! I haven't run at a fast pace in at least 6 months (not counting track meets). I think 7:30 now is about right for the 5K pace.

Total time: 54:11 (9:01 pace).