Big Disappointment!

Well, I wasn't even close to my goal. Hell, I wasn't even close to a PR at all. What a disappointing race. I was slower than two years ago, and that was also a disappointing race. Except for the marathon I did in 2004, I haven't walked this slow (in a non-ultra) since 1/1/2004. I don't know what the root cause was, but I have several ideas:

Not enough training
Irregular training
Hot, muggy weather and a bright, brutal sun
Weight gain (I'm over 10 pounds heavier than I was two years ago)

So I guess it is time to get serious. I've got to get back to my regular training routine, and I've got to get my eating under control. That will be hardest since I haven't been as strict as I once was, and because I have a vacation coming up and it is always hard to eat well when you are on the road. But if I want to race faster, and if I want to do better at my next 24 hour race, then I have to get real.

My next race will be the Flagpole 8k on July 4th. I've raced this race two of the last three years. I intend to PR this race by working on speed until then. We'll see what happens.

Race Summary:
Distance: 20k
Time: 2:19:07
Pace: 11:11

Plans for Weekend, and beyond.....

Well, again I haven't posted in a while. Things have still been very busy at work but they are starting to settle down.

My walking training has been better but still not as consistent as it should be. I've been biking more (last weekend I rode 64 miles, and I rode to work several days during National Bike to Work Week) and doing more speedwork. My speed is better than I expected, but I've got to get more consistent.

This weekend I had 11 miles on my training schedule. I've decided to do the Memorial Day 20k on Monday instead of a long walk today. I did this race two years ago and had a bad day; my pace was 10:50, slower than my half marathon pace at that time. Tomorrow I'm confident I will beat that pace; I would like to get close to or even beat my current half marathon PR pace of 10:13 (which would mean faster than 2:06:58). I'm not sure I can maintain that speed for that distance, but I'll try.

I've slightly adjusted my long term training plans. I still want to focus on road and track races, but I miss the ultra distances. I've decided to try to train for both marathons and fixed duration ultramarathons, like 12 hour, 24 hour and 48 hour races. I'd like to do some fast marathons, and I'd like to beat my Centurion time at last year's Ultracentric. So what I plan to do is alternate long weekends; one weekend I will build toward the marathon distance (first marathon on the schedule is in October, then December) and focus on speed; alternating weekends I will do longer distances (20, then 30, then 40 miles) and focus on distance and time on my feet, not speed. There are two races I will train for, Ultracentric again and the Houston Ultra Weekend, which will be a Centurion event (not sure about Ultracentric yet).

This will be an easier training schedule because I won't be going long every weekend, and because I will train on the track near my house, cutting my normal 45 minute commute to the lake down to 10 minutes. I miss the ultra distances and the extra challenge they present, so I think this will be a good compromise.

In other news, Friday was my 15th wedding anniversary!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day holiday!