Aetna Park to Park 10 miler

I haven’t gotten a chance to update the blog from the vacation! I have a great title post too! 4 runs in 4 states! Stay tuned :-)

Well the past few weeks I have been focusing on the 10 mile Aetna Park to Park race that starts in City Park in Denver. It winds through Cap Hill through Cheeseman Park, Alamo Placita Park and then finishes in Washington Park! I have never run 10 miles before, so this was a big deal! I was slowly building my long runs each week being careful not to run too much too early! I think it paid off :-)

2 weeks ago AA and I got the chance to do a practice run of the route. We got a little messed up at the beginning but my watch clocked in at 9.5 miles (longest run at that point). I did not stop, and while slower, my goal was just to finish. I had been methodically building one extra mile per week since my tri and was able to stick to my schedule. The week before I tapered a little and only did an 8 mile run.

The Race

It started at 7:30 AM near Denver Zoo. Aunt Molly was visiting and was so kind to drop us off at the start since it was a point to point! The race environment seemed very lax but from the look of the runners, there were many veteran runners with a few 10 milers under their belt! With the timing over Labor Day it serves as a great practice jaunt for fall ½ and full marathons!

There were plenty of porta potties and water and Gatorade at the start. I had picked up our packets the day before so it was an easy morning! The race started promptly at 7:30 and we were off! I quickly checked my pace and noticed I was going out a bit too fast and settled in to a 10:30ish pace. The first 3 or so miles wound through City Park and I was ready to hit the streets! I continued to pace myself well and hit right around the 10:30ish for my miles. My watch was beeping a bit before the mile markers and in the end I had about a 10.13 final race distance.

I was amazed at the great traffic control they had since we crossed SO many roads and I never had to stop! As AA pointed out, this is where a lot of the race $ goes to (packing for officers). The first four miles had some uphill but after we left Cheeseman Park I picked up on a nice little downhill and was happy about that! I felt good for the next few miles and continued to pace myself. I found myself not near too many runners but was happy that I seemed to be passing most (albeit slowly) at this point which made me feel good about my pacing. Around mile 8 I was feeling good but the entry in to Wash Park I definitely hit some sort of wall and struggled with a 10:37 pace (on my watch) for mile 9. Once mile 10 hit though, I knew I had to finish strong and made the final mile a 10:00 pace!

My official time had me at a pace 10:36 and my watch had me at a pace of 10:27 – so that averages around 10:30 right!? Officially it will be the 10:36 though! My low expectations had me at 11 min/miles and my optimistic side wanted at least 10:45 so I was happy! My official time was 1:45:37 :-)

The Route

Splits!

 AA had a great race too! His knee has been bothering me a little so he took the previous 10 days off but finished strong at 1:27:51 (8:50 pace). There were 732 finishers in the 10 mile portion of the race. Jen’s boyfriend Danny raced (13th place) and another friend of Jen’s was there as well so it was nice to see some familiar face!

They had bananas, water, energy drinks, bagel things from Panera, duffey rolls and more to eat afterwards - so good!

Post Race!!

 

Looking forward

The 10 miler was a great stepping stone for the ½ marathon approaching on October 21st. Including this weekend, it gives me 6 training weekends and then the race weekend to prep. During that time there is a trip to Napa, trip to Omaha, a trip back east and friends visiting another weekend. 2+ hour training runs are going to be hard but I will try! Here is what I am thinking:

Weekend of: 9/8 – (home) 10 mile run on Sunday 9/15 – (Napa) attempt shorter 5 or 6 mile run 9/22 – (East coast) – 11 mile run Friday after traveling 9/29 – (home) – 12 mile run Sat (Bronco game Sunday!) 10/9 – (visitors) – 13 mile run…somewhere :-) 10/13 – (Nebraska) – 10K race with the family! …taper! 10/20 – race weekend!!!

My Uncle James and Aunt Stella are also driving from Nebraska for the Boulder race so I am really excited to share another race with James and Stella’s first in Colorado! :-)

Been a week....bike...snowshoe...great!

The training has gone well over the past week! I struggled a bit with excess eating this weekend - but that is something else...

I have gotten in two swims since the last blog. One on Thursday - which almost didn't happen. A friend from home asked to grab a drink last minute since she was in Denver for the night, so we met for a drink (IPA nonetheless) :-) I made the good decision to still go to the pool after! Did 40 lengths and felt good, but funny after an IPA :-) Friday went in early to work to get in a bike workout since I took a half day. I was tired though! Only 5.5 miles during the 30 minute time.  Tough week!

No work yesterday and no workout but today got in a bike workout (6.9 miles) in 30 minutes and just got back from a swim! 40 lengths and felt great! I am still doing the 10 lengths and breaking. I can tell the breaths between each length is getting smaller and smaller. Next week I am hoping to either do another 5 or 10 laps, or extend the 10 lengths to 15 lengths between breaths.

Two other exciting things happened this weekend in the tri spectrum.
First on Saturday Aaron and I went to REI and test rode some bikes!!
The first was the Marin Terra Linda bike:

 It is a road bike but slightly hybrid. It felt great on the test ride! I couldn't believe how easy it was ride! The gears were great and it wasn't as hard to ride a road bike as I had thought. This bike is $769

The second bike I looked at was the Cannondale Quick 4 at $629. The tires were a tiny bit bigger which I liked since I'll also be riding it around town. It didn't seem as comfortable but I realized afterwards that I had a Men's bike, whoops! I definitely think one of these two bikes would be wonderful for the Tri and around town. I need to go back for a second ride around and read a few more reviews but they both seem like great bikes.

The other exciting even this weekend was the snowshoe that Aaron and I went on! Aaron already wrote a great write up at Colorado Rambler - his blog! It was a great 5.28 mile hike up and back to Lost Lake in Nederland, CO. One of the cool things was I brought my Garmin Forerunner 110 GPS watch! I had used it a few times for runs and a bike ride, but with my ankle I had only done 3 or 4. Also this was the first time I downloaded the data to my computer. Being an actuary, I love stats and numbers...and this had lots! It showed speed, distance and even elevation! We were able to look this over each mile and see which were the harder areas, etc. The watch also comes with a heart rate monitor, but I didn't wear it for the snowshoe. Below are two of the images from the stats showing the route (from GPS) and the elevation chart!

 So a pretty good week and I am excited to get going on the exercises this week. It felt great to be out and do some cross-training! I love getting outside and getting a workout in :-) 

The doctor also called today and my shoe insert orthodics have arrived! I am going on Friday to get them fitted, and am hoping to go to Boulder Running Company after work to find some new sneakers! Physical Therapy starts a week from tomorrow so I might even be able to run again soon! My ankle didn't hurt at all during the snowshoe. The outside part of my left leg felt a little inflamed the next day, but my calves also are still very sore! 

Happy training!