Life is a marathon, so pace yourself and run your own race.

After the thrill of PR’ing at my New Year’s Day race, I’ve been suffering a bit of agony. Running all out after weeks of running slower for heart training left me more sore than I have been in a very long time. Since I was so busy reveling in my massive PR, I didn’t bother to ice or stretch and now, two weeks later, I’m still hurting. Better, but hurting. Running like a crazy person after lolly-gagging for 8 weeks was not one of my smarter moves. BUT at least I PR’ed. I have to admit that it was worth it. Dumb, but worth it.

In between popping doses of ibuprofen, I’ve been getting back in the triathlon routine. The Maui Oceanfront Marathon is January 22nd, so in just 10 more days I’ll be making the official switch from marathon training to Ironman training. I’ve been getting in the pool and riding the bike on the trainer, but in an unstructured fashion. At the pool I’ve just been swimming straight laps, and on the trainer I’ve just been biking for time. No drills, no intervals, just putting in time and getting in the routine.

After the marathon, I’ll take two weeks to recover and then it will be time to add a little structure to the mix. I’m going to get my heart rate zones re-evaluated and do some threshold testing with the power meter. Even though I know very little about the power meter and how to use it to improve, it’s already effecting my approach to the bike. I have a rough idea of how much power I’m going to need to maintain during the race, which is scary. Scary enough to make me push it more than I would have otherwise so far before my training plan even starts. I’m also getting a sense of how altering my pedal stroke effects power. I know I’m just scratching the surface what what this device has to offer. It’s a little overwhelming but part of the fun is the complexity of it.

Here in Minneapolis, tomorrow morning will bring a wind chill of -17 and I’ll be forced to run on the treadmill for the first time this winter. The good news? I’ll run wearing shorts, just like I’ll be wearing in Maui 10 days from now. Since I’m really sore and didn’t get many race pace miles in this training session, wearing shorts and the fantastic views might be the best part of the marathon. Thinking about being in Hawaii makes winter in Minneapolis, particularly with no snow to ski on, a little easier. I hope the next time I post I’ll be on the sunny beach and that it will be snowing like crazy at home. I’ve heard the course is crazy hilly, the forecast hot, and the cut off time is 5:45, so I don’t know if I’ll come home with a medal. Coming home with a tan would be a nice consolation prize!

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The Polar Dash 10K is getting to be a New Year’s Day tradition. This is the third time Mike and I have ventured out in Minnesota winter weather to run the race, and it’s the third time that we were impressed with the race organization and had a fun morning. Shuttle buses picked us up just yards from our car and we headed over to heated tents to wait for the start. Here we are waiting and staying toasty warm until the last minute:

I know that I’m wearing huge sunglasses inside the tent. It was really windy out this morning and they help keep my face warm. They also hide the fact that my eyes are closed for 99.9% of all photos.

Here is a picture of Mike in the group at the start. He’s in the middle and looking down.

I lined up just in front of the 9:10 pacer and that worked out very well. That group passed me in the first mile but I passed them back around mile 3. It wasn’t too crowded and the course was nicely sheltered from the 40 mph winds. The wind wasn’t a factor at all and the roads were mostly clear of the couple of inches of snow and ice that we got last night. In previous years, the 10K was the longest distance offered. This year there was a half marathon. If it worked with my schedule, I would consider doing the half in the future. The course is well supported and it’s hard to find a local race that is longer than a 5K this time of year.

I was a little worried that my legs would be tired from my long run on Friday, but I felt really good. Today was the first time since I started heart rate training that I’ve run all out, and I was thrilled that I was able to pick up the pace. In fact, I PR’ed! I ran 54:18 which is 2:44 faster than my previous PR from July 2008. It was also 5:22 faster than my time at this race last year, although last year I had the Disney Half Marathon the following weekend so I didn’t run all out. Still, it’s always nice to get a PR and to see improvement on the same course in similar conditions.

Here I am with my medal:

Mike also PR’ed! Here he is showing off his hardware:

He seemed a little less impressed with himself since his PR was by just 5 seconds, but I told him that when you are going super fast like him, there isn’t as much room for improvement. He was 37th out of 815 runners, which I think is really impressive, especially since he just ran 20 miles on Friday. I finished 11th out of 79 in my division and my overall pace of 8:45 made me pretty happy. The rest of the day included a nap and lots of family time, so 2012 is off to a great start. Happy New Year!

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