Nailed It

The workout notes said “harder than it looks on paper.'”  It looked pretty damn hard on paper actually – reading it the night before I thought I should just jump in the ice bath now!  The instructions said “run on a course that simulates your race” – I drove 3 miles down the road and ran on the actual race course.

Note: all photos were taken on my post-run recovery spin on the same course.

During warmup I began to wonder if my legs could really hit those paces…good time to change the thinking pattern, instead I reminded myself I had eaten and slept well for this and I could do it.

The run course is all on the paved trails around Lake Almaden and begins with an out and back along the creek that feeds into the lake.

As I returned to the lake, the Garmin beeped and it was time to kick it up – a series of descending pace intervals over various mileages, run through multiple times with no rest in between them.

The lake looks much bigger here than it is – it’s a tight squeeze to fit a 1500m swim in there and involves a lot of zig-zagging.

The very first interval felt hard and doubt crept in about being able to descend the pace, repeatedly.  But when the next beep came, my legs found another gear.

The path runs all the way up to the percolation ponds near my parents’ house.

In the end, I hit my intended paces perfectly and got faster each round through.  I even did the last, fastest one right where the finish line will be next month.

Running on the actual race course gave me even more confidence that it’s going to be a good day for me there!  Fun racing season ahead!