Today was my second race of 2011, the Salt Lake City Track Club Winter Series 10k. This race went much better than my first time out. Even though I woke up with a swollen and sore right shin and ankle, it was absolutely not as bad as two weeks ago where I ran the 5k in this series in an official time of 21:00 and a watch time of 20:46. As a result, I was aiming for a sub-40:00 10k today. I thought if everything really went smoothly, I could maybe just get under 38:00. Considering my slightly swollen right ankle and the since my once trusted Garmin 405 just went out on me the other day (i.e., the bezel does not work at all--permanently locked--so I can only tell the time and date on it), any finishing time under 40 minutes I would be happy with.
After meeting up with a few of my friends and Wasatch Back teammates from the office, the race started shortly after 10:00 am. For the first mile, I was a little stiff from not having warmed up, but after the first mile I kind of went into cruise control. Not having a way to judge my pace, I just tried to keep the lead pack in view. Near the 5k-turnaround marker the lead pack went flying past me on their way back to Saltair. Needless to say, these guys are fast and there was no way I was going to come close to keeping up with them; therefore, I just wished them luck as the flew by making the course look way too easy. I just kept my focus on my form on the way back and the last mile-and-a-half seemed to go particularly slow. Thinking I was going to finish in the high 37s or low 38s, it was a pleasant surprise to see 0:36:48 on the clock as I passed the finish line. In summary, two weeks after running a twenty-one minute 5k, I’m making progress and hope to continue it so I’ll be ready for the stairs in two weeks.
Following the race, I went to the office in order to get caught up then to get some time in on the elliptical machine. I was able to complete 19.2 miles on the elliptical before calling it a day.
For my non-running workout, I completed just 300 sit-ups.
Five-Minute Plank Challenge: 2:00
Trying-To-Go-Out-Of-My-Way-To-Eat-Healthy Challenge: a serving a fruit and lean turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread
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