Week - 8/20-27

This week was a recovery week! Easy stuff.

I moved my easy ride on Sunday to Monday (due to family stuff), swam on Tuesday, ran long with Ruth on Wed (14 miles), took Thursday off, swim Friday, easy ride and 15 min run on Saturday, and then had to race on Sunday.

Hartwood 10 miler: 1:12:44 - 4th overall, 1st Masters (well, Ruth was first, but she finished 3rd).
It was as humid as it was air temperature. Plan was to start out at around 7:20 pace, and then slowly drop the time down to 7:00 or better. Had Ruth, Mike Brooks, and Dan Peterson to join in the run party.

First couple of miles went well, and we were right on target. Then the hills really hit. I never seem to remember just how hilly this course is. And each year it's like a slap in the face. It's one thing to run it easy, but to demand your body to run it hard takes a lot more out of you.

Either way I told the gang that I wasn't going to be picking up any speed, and that I was most likely going to stay right where I was (which on average is what we did, so that was a success). By mile 8 though Ruth had some gas in her tank and she took off. She asked if I was o.k....and I told her to go for it. Then Dan went with her (he had a great race). Me and Mike finished relatively strong, but that one mile when Ruth and Dan pulled ahead took some of the steam out of our sails for a short bit of time before we recovered (or I did). I think all it took was for Rolondo to pass me with a bit more of a mile to go when I got re-energized. Didn't repass him, but he didn't get any further out in front of me.

Oh well....another year down the drain with Hartwood. The good news is that I got to jump in the water and do a nice long cool down swim.