Race Week!

Sunday is my next race in the Minnesota Distance Running Association (MDRA) "Grand Prix" series. (Click here for a little article that I wrote about this - it's NOT to late to sign up to do the Grand Prix!)

My workouts haven't been great, but as I keep saying, "I'm OK with that." I got in a solid long run about a week ago, but it wasn't fast. In fact, my "fast" miles were slower than my "fast" miles as I was getting ready to go into the Securian Run Half Marathon about 2 months ago. I also got in a RARE speed-workout last week when I found out a big meeting was canceled. I hit the track for this:

3 x 1600 meters with 90 seconds rest:

- 2:51, 2:46: 5:37
- 2:48, 2:41: 5:29
- 2:47, 2:40: 5:27

5:31.0 / 1600 average

That's not bad for early March. Still, I need to work on that a bit...

So, this weekend's race is an 8K (or JUST shy of 5 miles). It starts right down the road from my house, so I'll just be able to jog there from home as my warm-up. (This race has a 5K and an 8K, and it was at this race 2 years ago that I set my current 5K PR.) The race has a decent uphill to Snelling, then gently down, then gently up, and then down the decent hill at Snelling to the finish:

(As with most elevation charts, the course isn't quite this dramatic)

And here's a little "truth time" regarding this race. When I did the 8K 4 years ago, I did it in 30:30. I'm a much better runner now, and I've been trying NOT to think about what I might be able to do. BUT, when I registered, it asked for your expected finish time, so I had to give it a thought. Here's what I said:

29 minutes for an 8K is averaging 5:50 / mile. Actually, I'd love to be SUB-29. I'll just try to go hard and NOT save too much for the finish, but we'll have to wait and see what happens this weekend....