The House of Husar

Tonight I had a great run. I was a little tired and took a quick thirty minute nap before hitting the pavement. I set my iPod to 8k since I wanted to put in some good miles for some of my challenges on the Nike Plus website. I started out slow wanting to build up my speed a little each kilometer. That is one thing I am really bad about when I run my 5k races. The way I run it is really too short for me to build my speed like I really should and want. I feel like I am a rabbit (a slow one) right out of the gate and it is hard to build on that.

But tonight I wanted to get in 8k. I ran from my house to Ashworth and wanted to get a far down it passed Valley High School as I could. I did a little stretching before I ran to get loose but less than I normally might do. 1k, 2k, 3k, 4k, I was still going. I decided to not turn around at 4k and head back even though that was was at my halfway point for my goal of 8k. I was well passed the 5k mark before I turned around at 16th street. I was still feeling great. My lungs were performing. Not winded at all. I had a few pains in my legs and the shin on my right leg. That is also the leg with my knee that has been acting up. I also did not wear my brace tonight. 6k, 7k, 8k, feeling really good. Too good I told myself. I just kept going and my lungs just kept pumping the air in and out. I ended up doing 11.89k for my total distance in 1:12:39. Not any real records being broken there but just look at my speed progression from start to finish. I could have not asked for much better.

When I finally reached my street I was not huffing and buffing dying for air. I felt good. I believe I could have gone 20k tonight if I kept running. I am guessing my legs would have given out before my lungs did. And the best thing was I burned 1139 calories according to the old iPod. Yea! 190 lbs here I come.

I did a killer workout tonight. I felt pretty rested so I decided to push it a little for my sprint day. I ran down to Valley High School so that was 3.18k. Pretty good warm up with some good hills to get the legs burning. Once down to the track at Valley I did 5×100m to get the legs switched from slow twitch to fast switch. Then is was 2×800, 2×400, and finally 2×200. I was really pushing it and the 3.18k run down to the track really had an impact on my sprint speed but I guess that was the point.

When I finished the first 400 I was just beat. I was about to quit and start running back home. But I stuck it out and finished the workout. I was sweating like crazy so I was glad they had water down there. Several times I started to feel sick while sprinting and then on the way home. But the run home was kind of strange. I was really tired but just kept going. My lungs never got tired despite my legs being just dead.

I plan to take tomorrow off and let the legs heal a little. I wore my knee brace tonight and the knee did not bother me. After I got back home and took the brace off I felt it a little but nothing major. I think my knee issue might be related to that same leg being much tighter that my other leg. So tomorrow I am just going to stretch and maybe some core work. It is about time I start dedicating some time to general core work. I have been running almost exclusively.

Here is what the rest of the week is going to look like.

Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 3-5k easy
Thursday: 5-8k easy
Friday: Off
Saturday: 3-5k fast
Sunday: Off

All you doubters and nay-sayers out there should be ashamed of yourself. Telling me to not run and pull off the course. Shame on you!

Yea, I ran the 5k. I put on the old $13 brace and did a little Mr. Miyagi mind over matter on the knee. And guess what? I felt pretty good. Not only that but I ran a 24:47.00. Yea Baby! Not only did I get a PR race time but I won the Men’s 30-39 age group. That is a pretty good time for me considering I have not ran since Tuesday while I was resting the knee.

The course was pretty hilly with two and a half laps around a city park. That meant I had to do the hills twice. Ugh! I started off real quick since it was down hill for about .5k. I then slowed down a little bit. The last 2k I picked up the pace and finished good and strong. There was a hill up to the finish line and I felt like slow motion going up that bad boy. But I made it. This was my first race where I wore a electronic timer bib so that was pretty cool. But I do think the course was just a little short. None the less my 24:47.00 was an official time so I can’t complain.

Here is a link to the official results. It only show the top 3 in each group and the top 3 also got medals. Yea! http://www.racedaytimingsolutions.com/GUTS_AND_GLORY_82507.HTM

I am pretty sure I would have pulled off the course if my knee was really hurting but it felt fine in the brace. Right now it is a little sore but no more than what it was yesterday. So I am pretty sure I did not do any more damage. Unless it swells up and starts hurting more I will run next week with the brace and play it by ear.

Our friend Jill also won her age group with a 29:53. Terra did the 5k walk and came in with a 38:11. Everyone did just great!