Upping My Game

Fifth Overall. How crazy is that? I totally didn't expect it. I also was surprised to see I won my age group. Where did all this happen you ask?

This past Sunday, I decided to do the Ace of Hearts 15K in Clearwater, as a tune-up for Marine Corps Marathon...just to see how my endurance is holding up (or should I say, how it is returning). I'm happy to say that it's almost back to where it should be! I still have a little work to do, as well as some mental confidence training to accomplish. But it's all starting to fall into place again.

For Sunday's run, my goal was to just go out and see how my breathing, heart rate, and endurance stacked up since I've started training harder for running. I wanted to see, also, how CrossFitting like a madman these past couple weeks has affected my muscular endurance. I wrote the following in my BT blog about it.

It was very hot...about 80 degrees and high humidity...at the start. The race started at the bottom of an overpass and went up immediately. After that it was flat with a few false flats for about 4 miles. On the way back there was a 10% climb and the overpass again, which brought the distance to 6 miles. It turned out that Mile 6 was pretty much all uphill.
Another flat out and back for three miles finished the race. My pace was all over the place. I took a gel at Mile 3 and felt good...but REALLY needed one at Mile 6, which you can see by my pace. At Mile 7 I saw a guy gaining on me and didn't wanna lose my top 5 overall placement so I turned it up. I'd noticed he was gaining on me when my pace fell into the 7's...so I figured he must be running about 7 flat. I thought if I just keep my pace under 7, I'd stay ahead of him. I was right. As my pace increased, so did my interval. I managed to stay ahead of him but he wasn't far behind. So I made sure to keep my effort high.
About 8 miles in, I was really feelin' it. I had taken my last gel at Mile 6 and I needed some nutrition. I was at the last aid station so this time I took Gatorade. I'd only taken water up til that point. I was almost done but I was afraid I'd lose my position if I let my effort get any lower.
At Mile 9 I thought I was gonna throw up. My pace was still about 6:40 but my effort was thru the roof. Only 0.3 to go... I came into the park and looked behind me. I was far enough in front of the 6th place guy that I knew I'd just be able to cruise thru the finish chute without a sprint, so I didn't sprint...I most assuredly would have thrown up. 1:03:33 was on the clock when I passed thru. New 15K PR by almost 5 minutes!!

I am attributing all this power/speed return to my focus on running, my giving up pure bodybuilding, and increasing my CrossFit volume. Today I wanted to have a long sweaty workout so I made up my own.

I'm calling this one "The Continuum"...
100 jumprope
Row 400m
21 pullups
15 clean and jerk, 95#
9 burpees
Row 300m
21 pushups
15 snatch, 95#
9 weighted jumping lunges, 2x10# plates
Row 200m
21 situps
15 overhead squat, 70#
9 weighted vertical jumps, 2x10# plates
Row 100m
21 squats
15 KB/DB swing, 1.5pood/55#
9 thrusters, 70#
100 jumprope
19:41 was my total time. It was exactly what I needed. I will continue to do CF right thru my MCM taper but I'll do easier, less taxing workouts. I still wanna sweat though.