Monday, May 11, 2009

ANOTHER "PLAN B" WEEKEND
I know other bloggers out there are complaining about the weather too, and once again the all too familiar rainy/windy/cold (your choice) weekend was upon us.
Saturday was our annual 25k, Fifth Third Riverbank Run. In my previous post, I had said I had decided not to do the race this year for various reasons, and I was SO happy I had made that decision and hadn't backed down from it. Saturday's weather--mainly during the race time--was torrential rain again, even though the weather report that morning from the race site was for "clearing skies but windy." It wasn't even raining then but 5 minutes before the race was to start, I looked out the window, just about ready to start my own run, and it was pouring! My friend Jan had gone ahead and signed up and she said it was worse than the year she did Boston in the Nor'easter. So yeah, it was bad. Not sorry I had to miss out on that.
So I waited around for an hour, busying myself with straightening up around the house, laundry (which never is done), and making a shopping list for later. Surely it would clear up by then. But the rain continued, and not just showery type rain but a hard, steady rain. The wind hadn't really even started yet, but I couldn't quite bring myself to go out in that.
I decided then to do a trainer ride and a short run, figuring if I absolutely had to I could hop on the treadmill. So I cranked out 20 miles, using my training DVD, and as luck would have it, the rain had stopped by the time I got done so had no excuses not to go out and run.
I took my time, however, since I needed to do a full change of clothing to dry outdoor gear, layering because by now the temperature had also dropped AND the wind was making its appearance. But the sun was sort of out. My hair was still soaking wet from sweat, but I just stuck a hat on and headed out.
I expected my legs to be dead, but surprisingly, I made it almost the entire 3 miles without stopping, except to wait for traffic and once when the HR monitor went about 10 beats over my max, just long enough to get it down. I have really been practicing keeping a steady, if slow, running pace to keep the HR from getting out of control and I'm seeing some real improvement.
Now if only I could have a 20 minute transition for every race! I really think it would even itself out--short transition, walk more; long transition, walk less. Hmm, what do you think?
The long run still had to be done, and much as I didn't want to do it on Mother's Day, I got myself out the door and managed to run a slow and not so easy 7 miles. I was feeling the fatigue from the day before I guess, and at one point I wanted to be done in the worst way, but I did push through that and only ended up doing one extra minute of walking on a really long hill near the end.
And I expected this so had turned my phone off--calls from the kids. Couldn't they have called the night before to make plans? I'm not complaining, just saying....
It was a nice Mother's Day. Saw all the kids except one who lives out of state; had to go to the cemetery for my mom; saw my sister; got to see all the moms I needed to and wanted to spend the day with.
Time to now sign up for a couple of more races! Will it be raining? Will it be windy? Will it be cold?

11 comments:

Unknown said...

You always do well with your Plan B days.

And it's nice that you saw kids and the moms you needed to on Mother's day. :-)

IronWaddler said...

Do you think we will ever have a good weekend?

ONEHOURIRONMAN said...

Move on down here to sunny Florida. We complain about the heat and having to knock our rides out by 11 or we burn up.

Rain..? Is that the wet stuff? Haven't seen any in quite a while. (bad drought down here)

A Plain Observer said...

I hate wind, absolutely despise it. I ran a race like the one you skipped, the skies opened up as we were lined up ugghhh but I rather take rain than wind. I hate wind, did I say that?

Calyx Meredith said...

I need to work on getting my Plan B's to be as good as yours! Surely y'all are due for some gorgeous weekends sometime soon. Have a great week!

ShirleyPerly said...

Yes, good job on your Plan B!!

I have to wonder too about those long transitions possibly making up for time lost getting into the run. With 10 min ones I seem to do a lot better.

Glad you had a nice Mother's Day!

Marlene said...

We had the same weather on Saturday - our entire street was flooded. I was certainly glad to be racing Sunday and not Saturday.

Glad to hear you got out there and made it through.

Happy Belated Mother's Day, too!

Lily on the Road said...

Sounds like Plan B worked out really well.

Say hi to Jan for me and let me know what races you signed up for !!

Bill Carter said...

I saw the weather was going to bad for the river bank and was glad I decided not to make this year my first.

Take care and best of luck with the training.

Anne said...

Just saw your FB profile and comment about American Idol. I don't watch the show, but apparently one of the frontrunners is not only from San Diego, but from my neighborhood. I hope he wins.

I Run for Fun said...

Rain again! Glad you were able to get your run in and meet your family on Mothers' Day.