April 28th through May 4th...In Pursuit

This week's theme is "in pursuit."  So what am I pursuit off?  Hot babes down by the beach?  Naw, those pursuits take place in July and August.  Achieving my running goals?  Hey, I'm just happy to be out there. The State Police Foot Pursuit 5k?  Well.  This week I'm in pursuit of my running health.  It may not happen over a week's time, but I'd like to get to the point where I don't have to worry about pain/tightness from preventing me from doing what I want to do.  I'll continue to mix it up with the running, biking, and swimming.  I'll even go to the chiropractor on a regular basis.  My big goal is to feel really good by mid-June.  I'm going to keep my head up and will continue to press on.

Sunday-RI State Police Foot Pursuit 5k, 1st, 16:55
GYM Team Competition: WTAC 1st
Results

The Foot Pursuit stands out as one of my favorite races.  The atmosphere and post race party make this race a "must do" every year.  Once again, I contemplated not even racing today due to my on-going IT Band/leg issues.  The thought of an awesome 5k and running all of the WTAC cats just made me want to do it even more.  So my attitude going into the race was, "just have fun and don't get hurt."  After a nice warmup with the guys, it was game time.  I lined up with Gazelle towards the front and sized up my competition. Hmm...looks like there could be some stiff competition today..and I saw a fit looking guy in a BAA Uniform.  Well, here goes...

The gun went off and I made a clean start.  Some young set a fast pace right off the bat and I wanted to be right in striking distance.  After an early turn, we started a short uphill climb and I took the lead.  At this point, I decided to just go for it.  I immediately wondered if I made a mistake.  It's better to be the hunter than the hunted, right?  Whatever, run hard.  I cruised through the mile in 516, was completely by myself, and felt pretty strong.  The second mile was a beast.  The small gradual hills and slight wind were kicking my butt.  As I progressed through the two mile mark I didn't look at my watch, I just wanted to race and hold the lead.  I felt winded, but also felt like I moving fast.  Once we turned a long the sea wall, I felt like my turnover improved.  The little kid in the passenger seat of the lead car kept fist pumping out the window at me. Along with this little guy's encouragement, there were some people cheering me on.  The encouragement really helped and I wanted to push through the finish.  As I crossed the line, I briefly noticed my time was 16:55.  I was ecstatic to win this race (you guys know how much I love 5ks).  My leg didn't act up too much and my time was okay considering my training as of late.

I connected up with the rest of my teammates as they crossed the finish line and knew we had the team competition locked up.  I played with my space watch and found out that I ran my second mile in a weak 5:34.  GPS showed my final mile as being a 511.   Warmed down with a light jog with the guys prior to heading over to the post race festivities.

Props to:
Justin and Mike B. on their comeback races (17:34 and 21:09)
Gazelle on a very solid 17:54 and holding off competition very late in the race.
Crutch for showing up after tackling the TARC Monster the previous day (23:39)
Matthew on his new PR.
John Hammett Sr. on winning the 70+ Division in 24:16 (can I set this time as my goal when I hit 70 someday).

Monday-1000yd swim at 5 am at the Y with Gazelle.
Variety of drills and activities...the hardest activity of the morning was the 4X50yd repeats we did on minutes.  Very good and challenging workout that was complete by 5:40 am.

Tuesday-4 miles with Lulu at a fast pace (average of 6:24/mile)
(632, 615, 630, 617).  I was especially impressed with the final mile since it was mostly uphill.  With the warmer weather coming, I need to make sure I'm not always hammering the pace with Lu.  Followed this up with a 4X400 at H Field. (73, 72, 71, 70). It wasn't on purpose, but pulled some nice negative splits.  I was tightening up a lot at the workout portion progressed.  Finished with 15 minutes of stretching.

Tight schedule in the days ahead..ugh
Wednesday-5+miles running..first few solo and then picked up Lulu and ran over to my parents.  Not only feeling the IT Band but also an annoying dull pain in the back of my heal.

Thursday-5 am swim..1100 yards of varying drills and distances.

Friday- 3 mile barefoot run on the beach with Lulu.  It's funny how barefoot running bothers me less than running in sneakers.  After the run, I went to the chiropractor.  He did a few adjustments, mentioned I definitely have IT Band problems, and that I was very tender.  Ended up getting some ultrasound and they put me on this full body vibration machine for 10 minutes.

After this, I quickly headed to chaperone a middle school dance...awesome.

Saturday-1100 yd swim..500 yd warmup, 400 yds in drills, 4X50 yd minute drills, and 150 yd warmdown before I got kicked out of the pool for a swim class.  Can't I stay??  Help.
Busy day ahead and have no plans on running today with knee pain.




Totals:
Miles: 18
Lulu's miles: 10
Swim: 3X
Bike:0
Weights/Core/Stretch: 0
Chiro Visits: 1