Richmond Marathon Training: Week 5 – Falmouth Road Race + SLOG

Another week of training complete! I’m happy to say that after last week’s stupidity, my leg is doing a lot better. It’s still not 100% and I have some lingering pain that I’m hoping today’s sports massage with my genius-who-cures-all can help, but overall it’s feeling so much better.

This was an interesting week of training. My pace for my Thursday and Friday runs were much faster than I had been running for my “easy pace.” On Thursday, I ran for 35 minutes at a 9:14 average pace, but I felt like I was moving SO slowly the entire time.

It was an incredibly humid day and the entire time I ran my only thought was “SLOG.” My legs felt heavy, my pace  felt slow. I don’t allow my watch to show my pace when I am running for time so I had no idea I wasn’t running my typical it’s-very-humid-and-I-am-coming-back-from-multiple-injuries 11:30 pace. Slog Slog Slog Slog Slog Slog. It was a sloggy run.

So my pace — which is  starting to resemble where I was last year — was a really nice surprise to see once I finished. And I ran the next morning, another humid run where I also got poured on, at a 9:04 average pace. I hope this means I’m getting my running fitness back and isn’t just a fluke.

Here’s how my training was last week:

Week 5: August 5 – August 11

• Monday – 15 min w.u. 2-3 mile tempo (9:59, 9:43, 8:52) at MP + 10 sec (HA), 15 min c.d.(5.8 mi)
• Tuesday – OFF
• Wednesday – Refine Method outdoor class including 4×30 sec sprints up-hill (0.28 mi)
• Thursday – 35 mins easy (3.79 mi) {SLOG}
• Friday – 32 mins with 4x100m strides (3.6 mi)
• Saturday – OFF
• Sunday –Falmouth Road Race, 7 miles in 1:06:43

Total miles: 20.47

Oh yeah, I  ran in a race and met my running coach Steph Rothstein Bruce there!

Let me backtrack. The expo was better than any marathon expo I’ve been to. I got really useful swag — a (free) fitted tech shirt that actually fits me from 13.1 marathon, a discount code for Zooma Cape Cod (which runs directly in front of Andy’s parents’ house), water bottles, bag clips, olive oil samples, hummus samples, sunblock and more. I also bought an awesome Falmouth Road Race t-shirt (that I already wore twice) and three headbands.

Every runner gets a free Falmouth Road Race mug. Also, this awesome race bib:

12,800 people ran this 7-mile race. Isn’t that nuts? Even crazier is the fact that all runners have to take yellow school buses to the start. You can’t drive there. You’d think it would be mass chaos getting that many people organized, but it was a machine! I was so impressed by how quickly the line moved to get on the buses and how seamless the entire operation was.

Once we got to the start area, my friend Josh and I lounged on some grass in the sun until I found Tina.

Photo credit: Carrots N Cake

We all chatted and then it was time to get this race started.

The entire course runs along the beach and the views are stunning. The first 3.5 miles or so are very hilly but not bad if you’re used to the Central Park hills. My friend Josh — who is much faster than me — stayed back in my corral with me and graciously ran the entire course with me.

I am so grateful to him. Without him, I would have been a lot slower, a lot more miserable and might have seriously considered quitting.

In case you didn’t pick up on it yet, I had an extremely tough race.

I was hoping to run 9:00 miles. Still a good deal slower than my 10K PR (53:55) but faster than I’ve been running. About 30 seconds into the race I realized that couldn’t happen. I just didn’t feel great; it was not my day. I was relieved that the course was so narrow and crowded in the beginning because it forced us to be slower and I really needed that.

The hills didn’t bother my legs but they did seem to bother my rib, which I thought was totally healed but apparently is not. It hurt me the entire 3.5 miles we ran on the rolling hills. By the time the course flattened out, I felt trapped because there was no way Andy could drive and pick me up from any spot on this course. I had no choice but to keep going.

When the hills stopped my rib stopped hurting so bad and instead my neck spasmed up and started giving me trouble. REALLY??! I finally get relief from one injury and another takes over? I can’t just run in peace?

I stuck with it and eventually my neck stopped being so troublesome, but I just did not feel good. I told Josh he doesn’t have to stick with me and he should go faster if he wanted, but he was grateful to have me there to it turned out. He hadn’t been running much lately and was happy to go a little slower, take in the sights, and stick with me so we could motivate each other. He also didn’t love the heat. He even said he would stay with me if I decided to walk the rest of race (which I did consider at times).

I was so happy for that. I did not want to be alone. I know I would have walked, slowed down, made this entire experience even longer. I wanted to stick with whatever pace we were at so I could be done faster. So I did my best.

Falmouth Road Race course

The crowd support was phenomenal — this 7-mile run brings out more excited spectators than many marathons! Our bibs had our names on them and I was thankful for the two cheers I got by name. Josh got LOTS of cheers though!

The reason for that? People can pronounce his name. No one knows what to do with DORI. Josh is recognizable.

Despite feeling badly, I was able to appreciate how gorgeous this course was, winding alongside the beach. At 2.5 miles someone called out “you’re halfway there!” and I turned to Josh and said “We are absolutely not halfway there.”

We laughed about it and at 3.5 I thought to myself “NOW we are halfway there” and at 4.5 I thought “it’s been 2 miles since that kid said that” and I went on this way every mile on the .5. It seemed to help me realize the miles were passing and I would be able to finish soon enough.

In the last mile we encountered some more hills and my rib started acting up again. The absolute worst hill was in the last half mile of the race — it was so steep and I was gasping for air trying to keep up with Josh, who amazed me by the way he powered up that hill at full speed when so many other people were slowing down and walking. I kept gasping for air well after the hill was behind us.

That last mile was also my fastest.

Splits

1 – 10’04″/mi
2 – 9’52″/mi
3 – 9’38″/mi
4 – 9’14″/mi
5 – 9’18″/mi
6 – 9’14″/mi
7 – 9’01″/mi

Total time: 1:06: 43

Not bad considering I felt terrible the entire time, I’m coming back from THREE injuries now and have only been running again for about six weeks!

Once I stopped running, my rib felt fine and I’ve been icing it. I hope it’s just nothing. I can’t believe how many things are sabotaging my training!

After the race everyone walks to a large grassy area with tons more free things! There were Clif samples, Tribe hummus samples, Yasso Frozen Yogurt Bars and more. In the midst of this chaos, I ventured off to find my coach Steph. I hung around the awards ceremony stage, asked someone who looked elite if she knew where Steph was (she didn’t know who Steph was) and basically just creepily hovered all around. I was all set to go (I felt bad that my pup was outside in the hot sun and packed crowds for so long) when I spotted her!

I didn’t even think to take a photo — which I really regret — but it was so nice to finally meet the person in charge of my training. And, of course, to meet someone I consider a celebrity!

Once we finally got home, Larry helped me with my dailymile entry.

And then we spent the rest of the day doing this.

I’m really glad I got to finally run the Falmouth Road Race. The energy was amazing, the crowd support unreal and the course beautiful. I’m not sure I’d run it again because it was such a to-do in getting there and getting out of the race areas. I would, however, go back to that expo!

Have you run the Falmouth Road Race? What’s your favorite race expo and why? Are you too a victim of SLOG?