Monday, April 20, 2009

Training on Through

I have this very bad habit of tapering for every little race that comes my way. It does not matter if it is the smallest most insignificant race in the world, I have this bad habit of taking the two days before the race easy. This causes my solid training to be interrupted by small insignificant races. This year I set a goal to train through races that are not A races. Even if this means doing speed or hill repeats the day before a race so be it. Solid training is more important than setting a PR at some random 5k.

With the Spokane river run coming up I Really wanted to beat my time from last year, This is one of my favorite races because it is right by my house on the trails that I run every day. I finally got some injuries off my back, and was training solid again. Against my strong desire to do a very mini taper for this race, I trained hard the week leading up to it.

The day before the race I decided to not give myself any form of a taper. Saturdays are a brick day for me, so as planned it was time for a Brick. My Saturday brick consisted of 60 miles at 21mph, followed by a 10 mile tempo run at 6:12 pace. Felling good i pushed hard on the run knowing I was racing in the morning. The plan was to fry my legs, Then come race time mentally work on toughing out a race. You can physically be the toughest person in the world, but if you have no mental toughness, your strength will not carry you far. I did not care what place I was in the race, as long as mentally I gave my best.

Race morning went pretty normal, hung out with some fellow Tri-Fusionites, and then warmed up for 30 min. Warming up my legs felt heavy and I knew it would be a long 10k. The Race unfolded with positive splits. I started fast then gradually slowed down. The one thing that had me nervous the whole race was weather to run through the giant puddle at the end or around it? I had been contemplating this all night. But when i arrived at the puddle I ran straight through it, splashing the race photographer. After the puddle it was a short run to the finish. My final time was 32:38(10k). I was actually quite pleased with this, because it is a new 10k Pr for me.

All I can say is that the Spokane River run is a great race. If you have not competed in it, you are missing out. It was so cool to see so many people I knew out there race morning, racing the trails. Untill the next race(which will probably be my next post) happy training :)

5 comments:

Spokane Al said...

Congratulations on a great race. I envy you guys who can run on trails without tripping and falling regularly.

Matt said...

Great race on tired legs! scary to see how much worse you would have destroyed the field if you had tapered! Great work, Your gonna Rock Boise!!

Tiffany said...

32:38? Are you freaking kidding me?! Unbelievable, Hosh! Awesome job - especially considering training right through the race. I don't think you're human...

Steve said...

I did a 5k once in 32 minutes. You are freakin fast and way to see the big picture and train through the race. It is definitely tough knowing your competition may be rested but the big goal is way out there.

jessithompson said...

Way to go, Hoshberry! You da man!