3/26 & 3/27 -- A weekend of tempo

This was going to be a tough weekend. Originally I had lined up a long sub-tempo run, a masters swim, a 2 hour bike + 15min run. But as it turned out I had signed up to run with Snapple at the Multisport Expo 5k competition. I didn't want to miss my long tempo run nor did I want to flake on the 5k... so after consulting with Todd, I decided to tempo both. Would my body hold up? I hope so!

Saturday morning was the long run/tempo with some GRC teammates. We ran easy from the store to Hain's Point, at which point we started the tempo. Patrick and I broke away from the B group pack we started out with, and started pushing 5:15-:25s after a 5:30 first mile. That was better than tempo effort, but we were working together and it felt all right. I was feeling a little congested due to the cherry blossoms around me, but completed the almost 4 miles with little difficulty. I definitely won't be running 5:20s on race day, until hopefully the last 3 miles of the race, so this was a good practice, running that pace around Hain's Point, which is more or less the finishing stretch. 3 miles back to the store and workout #1 was finished.

In the afternoon I went to Curl Burke's masters practice at AU since I would have to miss Ward's practice the next morning. It was a pretty sprint-heavy workout, so it was tough on me, since I am pretty much all slowtwitch in the pool now. Several sets of 4x50s all out with 200easy, with some sets having variations on the 200 total of sprint. I hit even times all throughout, :31 avg on the 50s, 1:08 avg on the 100s, :15 avg on the 25s. Not my fastest times by any means, but it was what I could do. Not slowing down was the key.

Sunday was the race. Dirk, Matias, Chip and I as a team... that's pretty good, if you ask me. Dirk, Matias and I took the lead after half a mile and never really relinquished it... all while holding a tempo effort and sticking together. It was fun, and part of the course ran through the old Georgetown Prep Cross Country classic course, so that brought back some memories of high school XC meets there. We had a late challenge by one guy (who turned out to be a pro-level Xterra guy) but he died out on the track in the last 400, and we three passed him. Dirk first, Matias second, me third, separated by 5 seconds between each, around a 16:30 effort or so. Fun, and a good tempo workout. Started to feel some tightness in my calves, unfortunately, so it might have been a bit much. Still, we won free Newton shoes as a prize ($150 value!), so it was good to WIN.

In the afternoon, I biked in the basement, about 2 hours at 215w, staying within L2. My legs were definitely tired from the run, so this wasn't as easy as it should've been. The run afterward wasn't any easier and my legs were REALLY happy to be done when I arrived back home. It was a tough weekend, but it was a lot of fun to get in the hard work. Now is the time to recover and relax and be fresh again for this coming SUNDAY.

The winning Snapple team after our victory at Prep on Sunday... it was pretty cool to race side by side with Dirk and Matias, two of my best training pals and friends. Matias and I should be doing the same at Cherry Blossom!