A New PR, Time for the Next Cycle

Well - I'm back from my extended East Coast trip. I spent most of my time in New Jersey. Despite it's reputation as a dump (in large part thanks to Newark), much of New Jersey is heavily forested. I was hoping that I would be there in time for Autumn colors. But, the weather back there this year was awesome! I found out when I got there that it hasn't been cold yet, so it was too early for fall colors. The weather was so nice that it was just like Southern California on the East Coast last week!

I decided before I left that I was going to put training on the back burner for a week. My body would most likely appreciate the rest (I was starting to feel some fatigue during the final weeks of the program). Plus, I wasn't going to need to to try to find running routes. Anyone who has spent time in New Jersey understands - most of the major roads do not have sidewalks.

I'm back now, so it's time to start up again. On Monday, I will be starting the Higdon Intermediate Half Marathon plan culminating in the Southern California Half Marathon on January 10th. I'm going to ramp up the first couple of weeks to put my mileage back on the 35 to 40 per week to start and into the 50's on peak.

Finally, before I left last Saturday, I ran the Harbor Heritage 5K here in Newport Beach. I set a new PR, but I was still a little disappointed at my performance. I was hoping to break 26 minutes. But I was caught near the back of the pack at the start (becuase I wasn't paying attention) and had to pick my way through the crowds for the first mile. Then, it was a beautiful day - but very dry. I started having some breathing problems at mile 2 with a dry throat and cough, so had to slow down a little to grab some water and catch my breath. I ended up with an 8:40 split over mile 2, which pretty much shot my chance at 26 minutes. My other two miles ( mile 1 and mile 3) were at 8:20. The 26 minute pace was an 8:22. So, bottom line was a 26:11. That put my 12 of 24 in my age group, and 241 out of 656 overall. Not bad, but I had expected better. Guess I need to put in the miles and keep my nose to the grindstone!