It's been a nice easy training week. After Tuesday's 8K, I cross-trained on Wednesday (elliptical, 45 min) and was all ready for the race on Thursday.
The Cold Turkey 6K is more like 6.2k, and it's a tough course. A slight uphill for a bit and then up City Creek Canyon; it's uphill for 3K and then downhill for 3.2K.
Kelly and I warmed up for a mile (1600m) with strides and felt OK. The weather was pretty good for this race; it was 35F (2C) and sunny. I actually felt warm enough after the warm-up that I wore just my singlet and tights and took off my long-sleeved shirt. I still wore gloves, though. In the sun it felt fine, but the going up the canyon it was pretty darn cold because it was shaded and there's a stream by the road which cools the air even more. Still, because I was racing so hard I wasn't too bothered by the cold.
We started together at 2:54/500m for the first two splits on the slight uphill. It felt just about right; hard, but not too hard. About this time, I pulled ahead of Kelly a bit, feeling strong, and going through the next 500 in 2:59. I managed some good splits up the hill, doing 3:01 and 3:08 and then 3:03, which included a tiny bit of the downhill. The downhill is nice in that you go much faster; however, I was still working really hard. I saw Kelly at the turnaround, about 20m behind me, and I knew I'd have to work hard to stay in front of her. She gradually caught me on the downhill despite the fact that I did 2:36, 2:35, 2:39, 2:37, and 2:34. She drew close and I pushed hard to the finish, doing 2:36 and then a 1:05 for the last .22km which was 4:56/km! My HR was 179 at the max, and I gave it all I had but it wasn't enough to hold Kelly off. She beat me by 7 seconds. The thing was, I was not at all disappointed in my race, because I broke my PR for this course by a whopping 21 seconds, finishing in 34:45 (vs. last year's 35:06). I honestly think I was probably in better shape last year, as it was just before the 50K, and I'd been training harder. However, a little competition can bring out the best, and that appears to be the case here.
Garmin data here.
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On Friday I recovered with 45 min on the elliptical; I was a bit sore in my glutes and abductors but otherwise OK.
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Today Kelly and I were to do 16K. We were both sore from the race, and Kelly was tired by about 5km, but we just took it easy and were able to finish. Unfortunately I had some serious GI issues today and had to stop a lot in the last 8km for intestinal cramping. I used the restroom a couple of times, and thought I was feeling better when we finished, but the rest of the day wasn't so great either. Not sure if I caught some bug or what? Well, no matter. It's done and tomorrow's a rest day.
16K
6:29/km with ave HR 138; total time 1:43:26.
Garmin data here.
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