Denouement

This is the Hong Kong track and field championship.  Yiu Kit Ching, the only one who could beat me, did not run 2 of the qualifying races (she just ran one, and had the fastest time of 17:34) so she did not qualify.  Ali was not there, she was running a road 10k her sponsor sponsors, so I was on my own in this race.  I thought I was in shape to do 17:34, but that it would be hard without anyone to push me.  I thought keeping 85's then kicking at the end would get me there.

warmed up 4.34k, stretching, strides.  I took a 200m split, then 400s.  Coach Paul was there and I was happy about that because he called splits and encouraged me.

200m	42s
1	85
2	85
3	84
4	86
5	86
6	87
7	86
8	86
9	87
10-12	4:11

I guess I didn't need that third column. Not much to say, just couldn't quite dig in and get the job done on my own, but I am pretty happy with the race.  I know I would have beat 17:47 with a competitor.  I did 17:47 twice in the spring but the temperatures were cooler in the spring (22C for one and colder for the other).  There was a thermometer at the track.  It was 24C at the start and warming, only 70% humidity.

400m cool down, quick shower, awards, then I caught a long taxi to church so I could teach my primary kids.  They liked my shiny trophy :D 

I put my 10,000m race on Monday, just because I want to enter them as separate race reports, but they both were on Sunday. 

I jogged perhaps 3k before the race, and perhaps 2k after.  It's hard to say when you have let your GPS watch die on you.  So I was running watchless, and it was hot!  It got up to 29.3C, but was down to 28.8C by the time we lined up to start at 3:50pm.  It was sunny too, no cloud cover, but only 60% humidity so not as bad as it could have been.  I didn't think keeping 90 sec/lap was possible in the heat, but I didn't want to start slower, so Coach and I agreed I should just try to keep 90's as long as possible.  Yiu Kit Ching doesn't do track 10k's (she steeples) so it was Ali and I, and I knew I could beat her so long I didn't blow up.  Which as fast start could do, esp if I got a cramp.

I convinced my family to come and they cheered me in the stands.  Coach is a Mormon, so his kids and wife came and cheered me: Go Sister Lowry. I have never been called Sister Lowry while showing my bare midriff and sweating like a pig competing on a Sunday.  It made me smile until the pain made smiling a luxury.  I took drinks of water 4 times in the race, I think. 

I don't have splits from my watch but I think I did 89 for the first three, then settled into the 90's for the most part.  At halfway I was still under 6:00 pace overall by 5 seconds, which I could watch on a screen with a timer as I crossed, plus Coach was yelling splits to me.  I was thinking, wow, I could break 38 maybe, even if I dropped to 92's.  As the race went on, it was a bit of tailwind on the hot side of the track, but a shadow crept into lane 1 2/3 through the race, if not sooner, to make the headwind side also a cooler side.  It was kind of fun to wonder what my next split would be (since I didn't have 200m feedback) and to see how long I could hold on.  Turns on I held on pretty much the whole way.  I did three 91's and one 92 (lap 5, I thought I had four laps to go and to find out I had five took a bit of wind out of my sails).  As the race wound down I could see Ali and I was getting closer to lapping her, and I was in striking distance with 200m to go, so I apologized to her in my head and kicked it in, passing her with 150m to go.  She did well, considering her times from the past, with a 38:4something.  I got 37:07, my best 10k time since last fall, and under pretty hot conditions.  I was so happy with my performance.  

Monday:

AM 16.18k (10.05 miles) at 4:56 pace.  Started slower and felt dead for 4k then perked up. My weigh in is my lowest in 11 months.  I was dehydrated, but I will take it. My month of no sugar treats is paying off.

Met Ali at 7am at HKSI for 2-4 x 5k at HM pace on the track.  We are both pretty tired and sore still from our weekend races, but I wanted to do 3, since that is a step up from the 2 x 20 min tempo we did a couple of weeks ago.  I thought I like 92's but I would start at 93's and try to drop to 92's on the second and third rep. 92 straight through would get me a 19:10, while 93 would get me 19:23.  Ali started the first one but dropped off after a couple of laps and dropped out after 7 laps.  My first was 19:24, so right at 93's.  I jogged a lap rest (just under 4 minutes), then started again (Ali started with me but didn't even last a lap) and got 19:22.  I just tried to stay in the sustainable hurt place.  Another rest of about 3:45, then did the final one for 19:11.

Legs were quite shot during the warm up and I am sure they are pretty banged up now, though they are in a post workout zombie mode.  I want to get a massage since some areas around my left knee are hurty, but I am not sure when I can get one.  Better email Anthony, my sports massage guy, and get the ball rolling.  

I would like to do the elliptical this afternoon instead of a second run, but it is some type of HK holiday today, so the gym is not open.   

 PM: core workout and 6.6k run.   

Met Roberto and ran 10.55k at 4:52/k ave pace.  Then went home and took a nap, then was gone all day.  1.5 hour massage, shopping and a research seminar.  Lots of walking and stairs.

Met Roberto for a tempo workout.  Did it at my supposed lactic threshold.  My vo2max results have been given to my coach but he has been out of town and mia, so I don't know what it is, and this infor would have been really useful this week with all the tempoish workouts.  Anyway, Roberto said it should be 3:56 pace.  So we warmed up 3.74k at 5:01/k pace, then did the 45 min tempo.  First 5k was 3:56 pace, then, next 5k I was wanting to push and he wanted to hold me back so he asked me about who I was voting for and we talked politics while tempoing.  It worked and the pace for that 5k was 3:55/k.  Last bit was 1.48k at 3:53/k pace.  3.48k cool down at 5:01/k pace.  

No afternoon workout because I was at Disneyland HK all day with the family.  Lots of walking and standing and my feet were so tired by the end.  We left the park just before it closed at 11pm. 

Ran 12.41k including 8 strides at the end.

PM: core workout and 40 min elliptical 

Plan was 25-30k with a 12-14k MP tempo in the middle. My current MP is about 4:00/k, probably about a 2:50.  I went to bed with a little sore throat and woke up with it.  My legs felt good as I ran to the MTR station, but as Roberto and I warmed up we both felt pretty dead.  Perhaps Thursday was still with us.  I wasn't sure I would do the tempo at all, but I knew that I tend to need a warm up before feeling good so gave myself the space to warm up nice and slow.  Our first 5k was 4:52/k pace, but the first 3k were slower than 5:00 pace, so we were starting to warm up. Second 5k was 4:24/k pace, feeling much better.  Took an ANS gu at around 10.5k, then at 11.83k we started our tempo (4:29/k for the 1.83k).  We were going right into headwind for about 4k, so the pace was off.  Roberto was also feeling awful and dropped out of the tempo after 4k so I put in music.  First 5k of tempo was 4:03/k ave pace, second was 3:56/k pace, and last 2 k were in 7:49, so exactly 3:59/k ave pace for the whole tempo and slightly progressive.  My legs felt shot for the approx 6k cool down.  It very much felt like how a 20 miler felt at the end when you are just starting to do them, even though this wasn't a 20 miler.  The tempo and the mileage in this week have added a bit of wear and tear on the legs.  

Had a great weigh in, I know some of that is dehydration but some of it is real.  It's been over a month of no sweets.  It matters. It feels like a game now.  I will be breaking my no sweet fast on Nov 6th when I am in charge of desserts for a friends baby shower: choc raspberry cake, cream puffs, and homemade english toffee and peanut brittle :D