PR's aren't all they're cracked up to be...

I've learned in the past 6 months that I'm not a good blogger. Honestly, when I'm riding or running I often come up with little tidbits of info to throw up on my blog, but I get home and never ever follow through with it. I'm finding out though that lots of people come to my website and take a boo at my blog. How disturbing that the first thing they see is a pad full of goo drawn out of my foot:) Time to move on past that.

So... TONS of things I could write about. Maybe about how today I was riding in a pace line behind Ken and the great Carmen Augustini into a kick arse headwind thinking I'm about the luckiest gal in the whole world to be riding behind these uber rider blokes. I could talk about that.

I could also talk about missing Terry "Tigger" Toma... but that's too hard right now. She's been gone since April 1st and I still don't have it in place. It will take a while.

I could also talk about the fact that my two daughters are aging and at the ages of 13 and 15 going into grades 9 and 11 I'm too darn close to being out of a "Mommy" job. I don't really want to talk about that either.

So many options... so little time.

Let's talk about the PR that pissed me off!!!!!

I'm not a fast runner. My times are coming down though and darn it, I'm working at it. From the perspective of some folks, I do OK. From the perspective of other (speedy) folks, I'm a big of a plodder. Still, I'm doing the work to improve, and it's paying off.

To why am I pissy about a PR? (The alliteration is killing me!)

The Foothills Academy 10k was a few weeks ago. I didn't taper really but I wanted to see a 44?? when I crossed the finish line. That was my goal. I'm not big on time goals but for this 10k, I set a time goal thinking it was realistic that I be able to accomplish it.

So, I started the race and I felt GREAT! I used my foot pod for pace, and was holding just below goal pace. Those darn km markers said I was going faster than I was, but who the heck is going to listen to that when I have my speed right on my wrist. At about 3k I started to feel not as good, but I hung on like a trooper. At the 5k mark I was amazed to see my 5k pr! How cool is that! A 5k pr in a 10k race:) Oops... can you say "poor execution"!!!!

So, the next 5k I suffered... BADLY. I will even admit to walking. Yup... I had a bit of a mental lapse for about 10 seconds and I walked. I'm a bit shamed to admit it, but I was hurting SO bad. I tried all the tried and true mental tricks... the ones that get me through and IM race. Nothing worked. I walked.

After that I pulled myself together and soldiered on. I had to finish this thing and I could still hit the goal time. Pain is temporary... pride is forever... right!!!

At the finish I clicked my watch. Mission accomplished. The deed is done. I finally have an official 1ok time reading "44" and I should have been thrilled!!!! Why wasn't I?

It all comes down to my deep rooted belief that a well executed race is a beautiful thing. Any distance any speed... if you execute well the time will come. Process goals process goals process goals. That's the key. What will you eat and drink? How will you pace? What are your mental strategies to keep your legs moving when your brain tells them to stop? These are a few of the things we need to look after to race well.

On this day, on this simple little 10k, I got the time goal, but my execution sucked. In the end I ran the second 5k 1:14 slower than the first. That is just ugly. The wierd thing is that poor pacing totally took away from the joy of the time. I would have been very happy with my finish stat IF I'd raced well. Who knew:)

So... next time you go to a start line think about what you value most and put the "steps" in place to honor that. I know I will... if I ever do another 10k!!!! Maybe next month.

Bye for now:) Angie