I apologize for the lack of photos. I am a bad blogger.
So Saturday was the culmination of my college running career. All 1 and one half seasons of it. It was a fantastic. Was it the greatest race? No not really for me personally…but was it a good race? YES.
I took a day to really gather my thoughts of this race. I don’t know what I was expecting but I was expecting a lot I suppose as my senior race. I completed the 6k in 26:04, which is just under a 7 minute pace. I’m certainly happy with that but I think I was hungry for more.
Anyways, the race was rather chilly. I didn’t take my warmups off until the last stride out (or roughly 2 minutes before the race started). It was so windy though, some of those tiny girls were getting lift off. Just kidding, but I thought that I might blow away.
There were 42 teams present today, and just over 300 runners I believe. Something like that. Funneling down into a 5 person wide course is pretty difficult but at least we weren’t Box 1 like last year (which probably added 15 seconds to my time).
So back to my race. Even though we were in a middle box, I literally got out worse than I ever have before. I think out of the 300 girls in the race, 299 of them were in front of me.
My first mile split was 6:45 and I really just thought my race was over. I hadn’t hit any hills and normally I take XC races out around 6:30 because the second mile has the hills. Then I looked down and saw my damn shoe was untied. I had been somewhat boxed in the first mile (meaning I couldn’t pass girls because there were so many and no space). I took a quick mental check of my life (I really do this too). I noticed my breathing was fine, my legs were fine and I was feeling not the greatest but not like I was about peel over. So I started moving up spaces.
I saw my brother in the woods after mile one. His whole cross country team cheered for me as well. My next mile was actually a 6:48 and I was pretty shocked because that included a hill that was essentially walking up stairs. I should have gone back to photograph it. The third mile was 7:02 and was almost the identical course of the second mile. Then the last 800 meters we finished strong through a series of mini rolling hills and I had a big problems with the downhills. I am not a downhill runner and I want to work on that. I honestly think I go slower on downhills than uphills. I was also worried I might lose my shoe.
As I said in dailymile, I’m happy with this race, I truly am. However, this should have been a time I would expect to go early in the season, but since I had a stress fracture I couldn’t run and it pushed everything back. I can’t expect to be holding 6:30s on a cross country course, with no speed work and two months of running. Since I’m now two months exactly out of my hiatus I am allowed to run speed work again. I enjoyed this race a lot, but it is really frustrating when girls that you know you could hang with had you been able to run more, blow you out of the water.
And on to the future of lolz:
My training actually is taking a different turn though and going more into half marathon training. My school doesn’t have an indoor/outdoor program so really I’m a free woman now. Free to run miles how I want, when I want, where I want.
Just call me lolzthefreewoman
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So where does that take me now? Well-it takes me beginning to build my base up for half marathon training. I am going to spend the next 2 (yes 2) months running easy. Not running for pace, not running for time. If I feel good, Ill run fast. If I feel bad, I will run slow (or not run). It will all lead up to January 7th when I run a 20k (12.4 miles). It’s half on trails and half on pavement.
Question for you:
Where is your exercise/training taking you?
Glad your race went well, even if you’re not really satisfied with your time, I think it’s a great time. Most people I know can’t run a 5K that fast, let alone a 6K, and I would love to run miles in the 7 minute/mile range! Either way it sounds like you really enjoyed running and I hope you can get used to your life without swimming + running… it’s gotta be different now that you won’t have workouts or a coach on your back, you’re free from all that to do whatever you want, and that’s sorta nice :).
I hate running down hills too.. I am so much more slow going down than up! Yay for being free and training for a half!!
So you can teach me to run uphill, I’l teach you to run down hill. I am a downhill demon! It’s actually kind of bad because that takes more of a toll on your legs than going up hill. My uphills are so bad. I think I psyche myself out too much. I’m excited for the future of lolzthefreewoman. I think you’re going to kick ass.
Great job in the race, especially with the windy weather! It sure was windy when I was running yesterday too. I love your easy approach to running for the next 2 months and focusing on running how you feel. I do a lot of planning out routes or mileage, but some of my favorite runs are unplanned and without a watch!
Great Job! I know it’s bittersweet since it’s the end of your season. But I know it also great to run when, where, and what you want to run. I’m training for a half as well. I’d like to know how your team done. Anyways, great job and run free!!
Congrats on a great race, Hollie! You did the best that you could given the cirumstances. I cannot wait to read more about your 20K training. I, too, am done with “team running” until next year’s XC season so I’m looking forward to signing up for my first half-marathon! Maybe we can share some stories…Haha. 😀
Congratulations on the race, you really did everything well in spite of the circumstances! I would love to be better at running up hill, so let’s trade secrets on that.. I have down hill down! (no pun intended 😉 )
Sounds like a great race! I love race recaps!! I also love the idea of running freely. Runs like that are seriously the best….no worrying about time or miles or whatever! Just fun and freedom!
whoo for conquering this race! Stress fracture’s take ages to heal and you’ve done an amazing job at making a comeback 🙂
I’m with you on feeling your runs as oppose to concentrating on time. Definitely more enjoyable. I don’t run my first half marathon till April/May 2012. All my training over the summer holidays will be focused on longer distances!
You are frikkin Superwoman! I’m a weights girl. My new training program is for strength and endurance for the upcoming ski season. So far, I’ve never been stronger! I’m squatting more than my body weight, so I’m stoked that all of my dedication is paying off.
1/2 marathon sounds way cooler, lol! You win!! I can’t wait to hear all about the training deets.
xo
Mindy
EMBRACE IT! You have the freedom to do whatever the heck workout you want! I will admit, I have allowed myself to slack more than normal now that I am on my own with my exercising, but it is nice to not have anyone forcing me to do something I don’t enjoy! And you still have the friends there to support you when needed!