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5-mile Race in Howard County - extended cooldown

January 24, 2010 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 40s and dry

Comments:
2.5 mile warm-up, full set of sprint drills and leg swings (calves felt surprisingly heavy for the first time all week in spite of 3 light ways preceding this - due to biking perhaps?). Started off race way too fast a step behind the leader, thinking there would no one else nearly as fast as me. Felt good, but definitely breathing harder than I remember the first mile of an 8k being. At mile 1 looked down at my watch at saw 5:15 - "oh boy, this can't be a good sign" I though to myself. I tried to slow down over the course of then next mile but by the turn-around point my strength was flagging. My time was just under 15 minutes and I was already having doubts about my ability to keep it up. Eventually managed to pick it up for the last mile (5:53 uphill with a pretty good kick at the end), finishing 4th in 30:46. My shin muscles hurt throughout the race, as I definitely was not used to running hard on pavement. Left ankle was making weird noises too. Still, not a bad finish considering how much my legs hurt, and the hills involved. Went for a long 9 mile cooldown getting lost around Centennial Park. Felt pretty tired on the cool-down, both in terms of legs and energy, though the pain in my shins did not return. Great pick-up the final mile back to my car.