The first Thanksgiving where Turkey Trot's began...
A quick note to the undoubtedly plentiful “would be assassins” waiting for an opportune moment to take me out: You missed me! I changed it up this year.
Not really, but it would be cool if there were many dark assassins out to get me, as opposed to the robots that really are, but that’s another post entirely.
It’s Thanksgiving Day today and usually to get in a workout mostly as means to remove some guilt from the countless calories I will consume in one sitting I would, in years past, be running the Naperville Noon Lions Turkey Trot. However this year in an attempt to change things up this year I ran a small unofficial race/run… trot. Still in Naperville but with a lot less people, a good cause and better surface and scenery; The Turkey Club 5K. This was an impromptu alternative fun run put on by local pro triathlete Jenny Garrison at the Springbrook Trail Forest Preserve as a way to escape the huddled masses of the Noon Lions race (run.. fun run… trot… I never know what to call these things, am I racing? Or just running… or has it devolved into a trot? Trot may rhyme but it sounds pathetic.) Regardless it was inexpensive, and the toy you donated went to a good cause, The Aurora Holiday Gift Mart for which I can at least know what I sponsoring. I don’t even know what a “Noon Lion” is, do you?
As the title of this post suggests this was the first extended run I have done since the marathon back in October, 47 days to be exact, my first real attempt to “kick the tires.” If you have been reading you will know that recently I’ve been resting this bum knee, while all manner of poking, prodding and atomic scanning was preformed to determine the root cause of the pain I felt. As it turns out, the obvious prescription of rest, ice, and stretching my hamstring, was all it took to get me up and “running” again (pardon the pun). Of course that prescription as any (I use this term loosely) “athlete” knows stopping training, (READ: loosing hard earned fitness) is the toughest pill to swallow, but I took a spoonful of sugar and let medicine go down. And after this short run I have to say it was the right move. In the past three days I have completed the triumvirate, I rode on Tuesday, swam on Wednesday, and ran on Thursday. This was a good thing.
The run was a good wake up call and a great test on a few levels.
1. I needed to see how my knee would hold up under load.
2. I needed to see how much my run fitness had dropped off.
3. I needed to see how my new cold weather run gear would perform on a chilly day.
4. I needed to see if my knee would suffer any lingering.
I would have to say the results looked promising. Not surprisingly most important on this list was the stress on my knee, 3.1 miles was plenty.
RACE REPORT:
In what I felt was both figuratively and literally appropriate, the Start Line was an ironic “line drawn in the sand” no chip mat here, and a mass start. I positioned myself near the front, why I don’t know but it was done with ease, no shoving needed. It was a small race. BAM! I we were off and like and idiot who didn’t know his pace I of course went out entirely too fast, not in the lead but in 3rd place. Feeling good at the start I glanced at my watch as I ran the first half mile, 6:20/mile pace, wow was I on fire? I didn’t think I would be able to even hit that speed? As it turns out that was way too fast a pace for me to keep with as many intangibles as I had, and around the 3/4 mark I felt that familiar feeling again… Darn it all if that knee pain didn’t come right back to where it was last month. Looking at the Garmin I can see the jump in heart rate as the thought of more down time came racing through my mind. But the pain plateaued and just at the bottom of a small rolling hill I realized that my form had fallen off, weak legs had caused me to heal crash as opposed to running with a more forward running style. With the pain at it peak I stopped briefly to rub out and issue and see if the pain would subside, it did, and with diminished pain I set out again this time mindful of my running position. I forgot to mention, at this point I was sucking wind too and now in fifth or sixth place.
Not caring about placement anymore I carried on and tried hard to focus on running properly, and what do you know, like a light switch the pain went away. Keeping myself in the proper form was difficult at first, I could tell both my run fitness and leg strength needed work but there wasn’t any pain, so I was happy. I was sweating bullets at this point, over dressed as usual, so there was no worry about the run gear, so all I needed to know now was how well my fitness would hold up under stress. To that end I can’t complain, while I was sucking wind throughout, I went out too fast remember, according to my Garmin, I ran the first mile fast, the second mile a little slower, but regained first mile pace on the last mile. I can be satisfied with that, and lends credence to my thought about proper running form both being better for my knee and as it turns out faster. That’s the report, my officially unofficial time has yet to be posted but the truly unofficial time off my Garmin was 22:17. While this is well off a result I would call acceptable, it was good test, with what seems like no lingering effects, a great place to start.
On a side note in an effort to promote a more forward, (READ: less heal strike) running form I think I am going buy a pair or Newton Running shoes, it was something I was thinking about before this trot race but furhter resolved on the third leg this morning.
Finally I would like to thank the Jenny Garrison, and her Mom for putting on a fine race, and a nice alternative to the hordes we are all accustomed to, it was much appreciated. And should you want more promotion next year let me know.
Now it’s time for turkey. (READ: Now it’s time for pecan pie and somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 calories per plate of food followed by a mild myocardial infarction, that I will hope the tryptophan can allow me to sleep through)
