NOW WHAT?

I keep forgetting to link to the race results. Click the “results” button, make sure you have 2006 and 8k selected and then hit “display results.” This is one of the more competitive races around; 10 guys under 5:00 pace, 54 under 5:30 pace, 128 under 6:00 pace, etc. I finished 110th out of 1,168 overall and 11th out of 81 in the 35-39 age group.

So I ran one good race. Now what? I spent a winter of base-building. Races are starting to pop up left and right. It must be time to hit the track. Right? Actually it’s time to go vertical with a hill phase.

I’ve been doing some hills once a week with my training group and they’ve helped. But I view those sessions as mainly transitioning from base work to hill work; making that smooth transition that I keep repeating. Besides, the group hill sessions are mainly about getting up the hills quickly. The hill phase I’m referring to has more to do with bounding and building strength, along with including strides; making that transition into the anaerobic phase.

Today I took my first crack at a hill workout and it went okay. Last week’s snowfall allowed me to explore some of the neighborhoods near my office and find some hills. The hill I ran today probably wasn’t big enough, as it only took me 90 seconds to bound up. But I figure it was good enough for my first hill workout, 2 days after a race.

After bounding up the hill I jogged around for about 30 seconds at the top before running down fairly quickly. I tried to take the brakes off, but that’s going to take some practice. At the bottom I included 2 x 200 meter (I used 40 seconds) strides, with a similar jog in between. I did a total of 4 of these circuits. I’m going to try to include 2-3 of these a week for either 3 or 4 weeks.

Two weeks ago I was in a little funk. Having a nice race definitely helps in that category. Now I’m “oozing” (as Seebo would say) excitement and anticipation for the season. It’s hard not to. That freaking McMillan calculator, puts my 8K time at 2:53 flat. Granted, these calculators haven’t really worked for my longer races in the past. However, with the added mileage, this is the year. Heck, even if I fall short and run 2:55 or 2:56, it’s still a PR.

But I need to temper this enthusiasm. I still have 3 months of training. Some of the things I really need to work on (again) are core strength training and diet. I’ve gotten out of the habit of doing core exercises and I need to get going again. As for my diet, if I could just snack better when I’m at home, it’d be a huge improvement. Right now when I get home from work I grab a cookie or a handful of candy. What do you guys do when you just grab a snack? Any suggestions?


Finally, here's one of the reasons I still like triathlons.

You guys are welcome. Heck, even the women get a cheek to look at.

Quote of the day:
“The best way to get something done is to do it.” Jim’s mom