The race was located at South Lakes High School in Reston, VA with a race start of 8:00AM. Since I no longer live in the area I decided to pick up my race packet that morning instead of driving from Alexandria to Reston Town Center the Saturday before the race and then back again Sunday.
I arrived at about 6:50AM Sunday morning. Parking was ample and after picking up my packet, which only took a few minutes, I went back to the car to relax a bit before the race.
At about 7:40AM I decided I should visit the ladies' room before the race began. I entered the high school, which was open to the racers and had two restrooms with a few stall available, the lines for these restrooms seemed eternal but lucky for me as I walked around I heard someone say that there were porta-potties outside by the track that had almost no line...so I headed there and only waited a few minutes.
The race started a little late at 8:05AM. The course was great with many rolling hills and a lovely view of the lakeside community. There were water stops at miles 3, 6, and 8.5...I heard people complain about there being no porta-potties on course but frankly I didn't have to go so I didn't really notice but I am sure I would have been peeved if I did have to go.
After Tampa my runs had been feeling much more difficult and this one was no exception...I think it may have to do with overtraining...I had been following the Nike Women's DC Half Intermediate training plan which called for much more weekly mileage than I was used to and I wasn't exactly taking it easy on the easy run days and adding CrossFit to the mix also didn't help...all my own fault for lack of good judgment. Most training plans assume that you are in optimal condition all the time and are only doing what is in the training plan...they don't account for stressful days at work or at home, illness, lack of sleep, other fitness activities you may do, your individual level of fitness, etc...so be careful when deciding to follow one of these...listen to your body and track your progress if you're becoming slower and are always tired and sore then maybe you need to modify your plan.
I finished in 1:22:05 about 5 minutes slower than my best 10 milers (Perfect 10 Ten Miler last September). I felt that I could have probably pushed a bit harder but was afraid of getting injured especially with the many other races I have coming up this spring.
Overall this was a great race with a challenging but not overly challenging course and I will be doing it again next year. The medal this year was much larger and heavier than last year but overall the same design.
 |
| Reston 10 Miler finisher medals 2013 (left) and 2014 (right) |
As for my training I'm going back to following my own training plan from last fall...3 weekday (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) runs between 4-6 miles (one day of speed work a week), 3 days of CrossFit (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) a week, and one weekend long run/race....I'm also adding yoga twice a week to help with flexibility...I'm hoping that by sticking with this plan I can improve my future times.
2014 1st Quarter Race Schedule
2/23/2014 Gasparilla Distance Classic-Tampa Bay Run Half Marathon 2:00:18
3/02/2014 Reston 10 Miler 1:22:05
3/09/2014 St. Patrick’s Day 8K
3/15/2014 DC Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon
3/29/2014 The Runway 5 Miler
No comments:
Post a Comment