Weekly Sweats: Turkey Trot Edition

A tale of 20.1 miles, one weight workout, one race, and one trip to the men's room.


I'm linking up with the Weekly Run Down, please head over to Kim and Deborah to check it out.
 
Monday: 3 treadmill miles easy, weights at lunch

Tuesday: 4 treadmill miles: 1 mile warm up, then 3 x 6 minutes fast/3 minutes recover

Wednesday: off to rest up for the race.  If I'd been at work I would have gotten a weight workout in at lunch, but I was home and just found endless things to do that were more interesting.

Thursday: Turkey Trot! If you're keeping score, this is my second time registering for a Turkey Trot and my first ever time actually running one.  Last year I registered for The Big Deal Big City Turkey Trot, which sounded great until race day morning dawned.  I didn't feel particularly great, it was super cold, and I just couldn't get my head around making a two hour round trip to stand in the cold and run 3 miles, so I bailed in favor of a treadmill run with no regrets.  But that was last year.

If there's anything you can say about me, I learn from previous bad ideas.  This year I registered for the race that was closest to me, a mere 20 minutes away.  The town opened up their high school campus for the race.  My GPS took me to the back of the school, and it was still pretty dark when I got there and I couldn't see where to go.  I tried a few doors but they were all locked.  Then I saw a few guys heading for a door that was propped open.  I followed and...found myself in a room full of lockers.  It took just a second for me to realize that I was in the men's room.  It was huge and I couldn't see my way to the door, and I debated going back outside or trying to rush my way through and hope that I went in the direction of the door.  There were a few guys hanging out (fully clothed) and they were incredibly helpful in guiding me where I needed to go.

The race itself was so much fun.  It was mid 30's and snowed a bit at the start.  I knew that I would mess myself up if I tried to go for a time goal, so I just ran, following my 5k protocol of not killing myself in the first mile, picking it up in the 2nd, really picking it up in the third, and sprinting at the very end.

My finish time of 32:32/10:30 pace wasn't a record but given that I wasn't trying to go fast, I'm very happy with it.  It blows my mind that I can run that in a race without particularly trying but if I were to lace up my shoes and just go outside for a run, I would not be able to hit that pace.

At any rate, the course was nice, not hard but it did have some rolling hills, the race was a decent size (not too small, not too big),  and the race shirt is long sleeved and very cute and I have worn it shamelessly all weekend.  And super props that the course was exactly 3.1 miles!!!  There was no chocolate milk at the finish (sigh) but I was able to grab a banana to take home to my husband per our racing tradition.  All of which is to say that I will be back next year, and now that I know the building's layout, I won't be returning to the men's room.

I also have to say, it was so nice to "just" run a 5k instead of a half marathon;-)  Also not gonna lie, I love a mid-week race because I can run the race and still get my weekend long run. 

Friday: You know I love the treadmill but I took advantage of my day off and got outside.  4 miles on a hilly route.

Saturday: 6 miles outside==>4 mile warmup and then 0.10 miles fast/0.10 miles recover for the last two miles.  I procrastinated forever but the worst part of this run was truly getting started.  After that everything went by in a dream and by the end I was on such a high that I kind of wanted to keep going.

Sunday: off!

Next up: a 10k next weekend, a 5 miler on Christmas Eve, and a 5k on New Year's Eve.