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Butte to Butte 10K

July 4, 2014 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: high 50s -> mid 60s, perfect

Comments:
Woke up pretty damn tired today. The finish of the Butte to Butte - Eugene's oldest (and 2nd largest? Behind the marathon) - road race - is on the other side of Skinner Butte by my house, so I ran the four miles from my place to the start.

Felt SUPER heavy, but this isn't unusual for a morning. But damn, I feel pretty heavy from the long week+.

Ran easy-ish to the start, just past LB's old house on 42nd/Donald. Got there just in time to find my #, pee, and do some strides. Saw Kimber and an OTC girl and thought, "FUCK, I'm gonna get CHICKED today!". Just knew it.

TONS of competition at this race: virtually every guys who's remotely fit (or not) runs B2B, and they were all there. There were also a bunch of South HS kids as well.

Did some strides, then took my place in the field, about 3-4 rows back, amongst the women :-).

Just past 8, then gun shot and off we went.

Everyone got out HARD ("Why's everyone in a hurry?"). Felt HEAVY. I was immediately in like 35th place, and that's about where I'd stay. Even Kimber was out "hard", and I watched, over the course of the next 4 miles, her pull farther and farther away.

The climb felt sluggish, especially when it climbed steeply near the end. Yet another woman went powering past me (but looked to be working too hard), as well as a SEHS runner, Eli - one of my favorite guys - running in a dress! Sheesh.

Finally summitted the one mile (6:30ish?), then went up and over. I let my downhill stride go and got past the 3rd woman and Eli, then just tried to get the HR down, which had spiked well over 180. Still didn't feel too fast, and I could feel the shitty Nike socks I was wearing start to "heat up" in my shoes.

Hit then entirely downhill 2nd mile in 5:17. Wow, that SUCKS! DOWN-fucking-hill?? My 10K PR was like 5:0x/mile on the flat!! Ugh. Again, just felt stiff and worn, making even downhill running tough.

Finally bottomed out at Amazon, then tried to get a good stride going. Felt...OK - energy was good - but again, the legs really heavy. I found myself alone, which didn't help, but I did roll up on one master-looking guy, but I rolled past him.

Lots of friends on the course: saw Emily at mile 1, then Tommy at 2.5, then lMFt at 3.5mi, then Dan-o at 4.5 or so, so that helped. But damn...I just couldn't move.

The course rolls past Amazon park, then gets on high street for a straight shot to Skinner Park. Eli rolled past me again around 4.5 and I worked to stay in contact with him.

HEAVY form focus:

- hinge/forward
- lumbar arch
- "flick & pull"
- quick elbows

But it was tough. And, once again, I found myself STRUGGLING to keep the stride rate up. It helped to have some folks around me, but otherwise it was a total grind.

Found a bit of a 2nd wind in the last 2-2.5K and staved off the 6-min miles, but didn't have much of a kick - just enough of a push to not get triple-chicked. Hit the finish in 36:20 or so, good for "F3".

Chatted with a few folks but not for long. Slugged home a water, then jogged 3mi easy.

Body report: quads not too worked, but the CALVES were rocked. Equal parts overstride and "push off compensation". I really think my gluts/hammies have gotten horribly deconditioned, running slow and running shitty the past year. Lots of work to do. VERY little back pain, which is good (like, a TEENY amount of soreness), and a fair amount of glut/hammy soreness, which is a positive.

Overall, I'm not too disappointed. At worst, these runs are fitness gut-checks, and at best, a nice dose of speed. Clearly, I need to do more long-interval work, but it's going to be tough, fitting it in in the next 6 weeks.

Splits:
6:37
5:17
5:40
(5k split: 18:16 or so)
5:51
5:57
5:49 (35:50 for 6 miles)
1:26 (1/4mi)
--- 36:21

Nice to have a negative split, I guess!

Rest of the day: did a bunch of rlogging, and a fair amount of other errands before Tommy texted me to grab a beer at "Tap & Growler", which is 3 blocks from my apt.

Met him down there, and met a VERY cute, attractive young woman working who's "teammates with Kimber" on the (JV elite) "Team Run Eugene"!. Dang. TONS of "I.O.I.s" from her, too. Ugh. Good timing, huh?

Had a couple beers with Tommy (+Carrie) and Dan-o, who showed up later, then pushed home. Went to bed relatively early but had some difficulty sleeping...