Ring Around the Neck 5 Miler

Time: 46:06
Distance: 12.15 km

W/u: 19:07 for 4.01 km
Race: 26:59 for 5 miles

This was the second race of the YMCA North Shore Race Series that Karhu and Craft is sponsoring. If you are finding this blog and have interest in running the series, feel free to hit me up and I can provide some entries. I will only require that you head on over to the New England Running Company and purchase a pair of Karhu shoes. If you're in CLT or OKC and want to run a race this year, I'll be more than happy to host your and have you race in one of our events. Really... don't hesitate to ask. Salem is great during the summer.

Meagan and I set up our booth and hung out for a couple hours before heading off for a light warm up. The wind was going to be a slight factor during the race, but I didn't foresee there being too much competition. Going into the race I wanted to see how the drums were beating to use a term coined by Gabe Jennings. If the rhythm of the race felt right, I would run fast and hard. If not, then I would just run what felt like a good effort and see what the pace would be.

Splits:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	27:02.6	8.14	3:19
1	3:14.1	1.00	3:14
2	3:22.1	1.00	3:22
3	3:24.5	1.00	3:24
4	3:25.4	1.00	3:25
5	3:18.8	1.00	3:19
6	3:18.8	1.00	3:19
7	3:18.1	1.00	3:18
8	3:16.2	1.00	3:16
9	:24.7	0.14	3:00

I took the race out and had a lead from the start. My legs felt pretty good running into the wind but I never felt the effort really squeeze on the lungs. I was running hard and let the race come to me with the terrain dictating the pace. I would have liked to have run faster, but the effort was what it was.

After the race Meagan and I headed over to Scott Freedson-Crosby's new house and enjoyed a great spread of food. We were celebrating he and his fiancé's new home and her birthday. Great times on the weekend.

Meagan's Morning Redemption Workout

Time: 87:11
Distance: 19.34 km

W/u: 21:06 for 4.32 km
W/o Target: 3 x 2 miles at 3:32-3:33/km to start and getting faster (4 mins rest), 4 x 400m at sub-80 secs
W/o Actual: 2 x 2 miles, 2k, 4 x 400
C/d: 12:57 for 2.56 km

It was time to attempt this workout again after yesterday evenings lackluster performance. Meagan and I were out the door early for a warm up to the Hawthorne Hotel. She seemed ready to put forth a good workout with me playing queenmaker.

Splits:
3:30.4, 3:33.0, 3:30.8, 46.2, (4:01);
3:30.9, 3:30.2, 3:34.0, 44.7, (4:01);
3:31.1, 3:28.3, (4:01);
79.0 (2:02), 81.0 (2:02), 79.6 (2:01), 78.4

53:08 total for 12.46 km (4:16/km average)

The effort put forth by Meagan was strong, but we needed to make a slight adjustment after the second 2 mile repeat. She was running strong for the first 2-2.5 km, but I could tell that the final interval was more of a struggle. I opted to have her just run a 2 km on the final interval and hit the 400s at the right pace. We finished up with her showing a little closing speed and running hard, but relaxed.

NRFTW

Time: 44:38
Distance: 10.37 km

W/u: 11:20 for 2.15 km
W/o: 90 sec hard, 60 easy for 5km total
C/d: 16:18 for 3.21 km

I showed up for the No Rest for the Wicked weekly 5k looking to put in a nice little workout. I have completed 60 seconds on, 60 seconds off before over the course. This week I wanted to extend the hard section by 30 seconds and see how the body responded. For it now being spring, this weather sure doesn't feel like it. There were snow flurries throughout tonight's gathering, but the wind wasn't really a factor.

I didn't get much of a warm up before starting out with the group from the corner of the Hawthorne Hotel. Here is how it went down...

Splits:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	17:00.3	5.01	3:24
1	1:30.0	0.47	3:11
2	1:00.0	0.24	4:10
3	1:30.0	0.50	3:02
4	1:00.0	0.25	4:00
5	1:30.0	0.47	3:10
6	1:00.0	0.26	3:51
7	1:30.0	0.48	3:08
8	1:00.0	0.25	4:00
9	1:30.0	0.48	3:08
10	1:00.0	0.25	3:56
11	1:30.0	0.47	3:10
12	1:00.0	0.26	3:55
13	1:30.0	0.48	3:07
14	:30.3	0.15	3:18

I never felt great, but I pressed on making the effort hard. My legs were fairly tired and I didn't have much pop running up the hills. Regardless, I was pleased with doing something more than just running completely relaxed tonight. Looking at the splits, I probably should have backed off on the rest effort and would have run harder on the fast sections.

Meagan's (Pre-Race) Workout

Time: 72:51
Distance: 16.96

W/u: 22:05 for 4.88 km
W/o: 4 x 4 mins (2 mins), 4 x 1 min (1 min), 4 x 30 secs (30 sec)
C/d: 14:18 for 3.02 km

Before we knew Meagan was going to North Carolina to visit accounts this week we had planned for her to race 13.1 New York on Saturday. This workout was intended to be a pre-race workout which I modified to be a little more 5k specific.

We warm up from our house to the Salem Willows and selected a stretch of road that would be really windy and slightly downhill going out and slightly uphill with the wind at our back on the way back. The pace was supposed to be 3:35/km for the 4 minute sections and fast/hard on everything else. Here is what she did...

Splits:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	36:28.0	9.06	4:02
1	3:34.0	1.00	3:34
2	:38.6	0.18	3:32
3	2:01.6	0.39	5:13
4	3:30.7	1.00	3:31
5	:32.5	0.15	3:33
6	2:01.2	0.38	5:22
7	3:33.3	1.00	3:33
8	:29.0	0.13	3:37
9	2:02.3	0.36	5:41
10	3:33.8	1.00	3:34
11	:29.8	0.15	3:23
12	2:01.7	0.40	5:07
13	1:04.2	0.33	3:15
14	1:01.8	0.18	5:45
15	1:02.0	0.31	3:18
16	1:01.8	0.17	5:57
17	1:01.5	0.32	3:12
18	1:01.6	0.17	6:09
19	1:02.1	0.32	3:12
20	1:02.4	0.16	6:38
21	:31.4	0.18	2:59
22	:31.1	0.09	5:32
23	:31.8	0.18	2:57
24	:31.6	0.08	6:30
25	:31.9	0.17	3:08
26	:31.8	0.08	6:19
27	:32.6	0.18	3:04