Upper Arlington 5-Miler + Weekend Recap

Saturday Swim-Bike-Run

Saturday was supposed to be a mock-triathlon triple workout. It started off well, as we got down to the pool and put in a 30 minute swim. Meredith was flying, completing 1600m in the 30 minutes. I was a little slower, coming in around 1400m, I think. At least she was going fast, and I wasn't as slow as I felt seeing her zoom by me.

We then drove out to her parents' house, where we were supposed to begin a 2 hour bike ride. The first street took us into a pretty nasty headwind, and Meredith got a little panicked about how tough it was, and decided to scrap the rest of the day's workouts. We were also going to watch her high school track team in the district meet, so we opted for that instead.

Caught Kremey-Handed!

On our way back from the swim, we stopped by Kroger to pick up some gels for our ride and run. As we left the store, we saw the Krispy Kreme truck parked outside, back door wide open, and full of pallets of sweet, sweet donuts. Sadly, as we sidled closer to get a better look (and sniff), the driver came out of the store with a "Don't think I can't see you guys..." and a smile. No free pallets of donuts for us.

Sunday Bike-Run

Take two.

Sunday began a bit on the chilly side, so we postponed our bike till late morning. Again, we started from Meredith's parents' place, and rode out from there to Croton along the same path I used for my 2:30 ride. When we told our 5-year-old nephew where we were riding, his response? "You should take a car, actually." It's a nice ride for two, since we were able to ride side-by-side for quite a few of the quiet roads. It was a beautiful day, and I'm sure Meredith will post some pictures from the ride.

Because we were running a race the next morning, we shortened the run from 30 minutes down to 1 mile, so we'd still get the brick experience without tiring the legs any more than necessary. Our nephew decided to tag along on his bike and entertain us with his comments.

"And you know what?" (Followed by story after story)
"Actually, Uncle Dave is running faster."
"Actually, Meredith is running faster."
"You guys should try to run a little faster."
"I'm faster than you guys are."

Upper Arlington 5-Miler

I mentioned before that I had a faster half-marathon PR pace than 5 mile pace. This race reminded me why that was. It's not a flat course, for what we're used to around here!

Mile 1 - Mostly flat, with a little bit of roll. Dodging around people, being passed by people you'll see again later...the usual small race things.

8:14

Mile 2 - This mile is almost exclusively downhill, and winds through wooded residential areas. There's a loop at the bottom, and I just got to the point where it splits in time to see the leader.

7:52

Mile 3 - "What goes down, must come back up." There's a bit of a false hope in this mile, too. After you climb for a while, it turns and flattens out, only to head back down again. I just tried to take little steps and not burn out too badly.

8:34

Mile 4 - More uphill, and a nice short stretch on a wooded trail. The runners were pretty sparse near me in this part, and the guy I had picked out to tail stopped to walk. :P

8:30

Mile 5 - Some slight uphill, but probably flat to anyone not from the midwest. I was a little disappointed I couldn't bring it in better than I did, as I felt like I ran faster than my split indicated.

8:24

Overall time: 41:34 (8:18/mile) PR by 1:04, or 19s/mile.

I was happy with the way I ran this race. I tried to adjust my strides to the slope, and I think it worked out pretty well. I didn't fall apart on any of the uphill stretches. There wasn't a whole lot in the tank to sprint in to the finish, but that's probably a sign that I ran well. Or at least that I had done a bunch of workouts this weekend. :)