wet 15K

 
It was raining this morning, steadily. The forecast was for showers all day, but it looked better toward afternoon and evening. However, since it's Father's Day and my parents are coming over for dinner, going later was out of the question. It was 52F (11C), which wasn't bad at all. I was glad it was 52 and raining not 42 and raining - that would have been COLD. As it was, I was just about right in my jacket (which got soaked...I need a truly waterproof jacket!), short-sleeved shirt, capris, and baseball hat to keep the rain out of my eyes. I would NOT have been a happy camper without the hat for sure!

I started off easy because of the rain and general laziness. But the workout went well and I picked it up as I went on, and gained grit and determination along the way. I was to do 15K with two 6-min bursts at 20K pace (6 min/km). Normally I do the bursts earlier in the workout to get them out of the way, but today I decided to warm up a bit more and do them later in the workout. I wanted to shoot for pretty even 5K splits. I ended up doing the bursts from 6-7km and 10-11km. My first burst was decent - maybe too fast! - with 500m splits of 2:49 and 2:58. My second one was harder; the first 500m was 2:54, but the second 500m had a very slight uphill on the south end of Liberty Park and I was tired, so it was only 3:04. Still, not bad, and my HR was in upper 150s-low 160s for most of the bursts.

I felt better today than on my 15K on Thursday. I had more stamina for the last 5K and really worked it up the hill going home. My 5K splits were: 31:34, 31:16 (1:02:50), and 31:29 (1:34:19). Nice! Total was 1:34:19 for the 15K with ave pace 6:17/km and ave HR 151. Still not back to where I was before the shin injury, but getting closer.

Time is running out for me though. I was motivating myself today by imagining that I was chasing the other athletes. It helped, but I also felt a bit discouraged. I wish I could have been training harder. I wanted to desperately, but I couldn't. It's so frustrating. I keep saying that, but there is no other way to describe the feeling. This event is really important to me, and I haven't been able to train the way I really wanted to. That's life, though. I just have to keep my focus on having fun and enjoying the races and my friends. That's honestly the best part about this sport is the wonderful friends I have made. That, and the physical and mental and emotional benefits.

Wow, as I write this the rain is still pouring down. Of course when I got home I was soaked to the skin - everything was completely drenched and not a dry spot on me. It felt good to get a hot shower afterward.

Garmin connect data here.