So Little Time So Much To Do....... 4th of July Race Coming Up.

The weeks are just flying by for me right now.  I can't believe the 4th of July is just around the corner.  My workouts are going well - and I'm on pace to log 100 miles this month and I feel pretty good right now.  Tonight I'm planning an easy 3.1 miles with a little cool down - something around 32 mins would be fine - hopefully I can keep my pace that slow so I don't fry myself with a tempo run.

I missed my cycling day this weekend - I didn't get a chance to work on my bike until Saturday - once I get my tire fixed and my bike cleaned up, it was getting too late and I couldn't get out of the house.  My next ride is going to have to be something short because I put on a new tire that I haven't ridden on in about 4 years - it's a softer 'racing' tire and the tread is marginal so I want to stay close to the house to make sure the small cuts aren't going to cause a blowout. 

Running is coming along - I've lost a ton of conditioning and I'm really going to have to pick up my workouts over the next few weeks.  After the 4th I'm going to start picking up long runs every week, I'd like to have an 11-12 mile run under my belt before the half marathon on Sept 11th.  Currently I'm having mental issues going beyond 3 miles at a sub10 min mile, so somehow I'm going to have to work through this - hopefully a breakthrough will happen sometime before July 4th.

My racing plan is to run July 4th at the Ladera Ranch 5k.  I've run this race several times now, and even though the course isn't that difficult I'm not quote sure what to expect.  Currently I'm shooting for a sub 30 (again) but I'm not sure if that is doable because of my lack of preparation.  The starting line is about 2 miles from my house, so I'll use that as a warmup again this year so it makes things easy since I don't have to worry about driving and finding parking, etc....  The run itself is really fun with a good turnout and nice streets to run though.  The final miles is almost all downhill, so it sets itself up for some quick times.

My next race is my half marathon that is scheduled for Sept 11th at Camp Pendleton.  This race I'm really worried about.  My neighbor signed me up for this because I keep talking about running a half but keep chickening out at the last moment.  The course itself looks like it might be painful - run on firebreak roads here in Southern California at our local marine base - the trail is called Heartbreak Ridge......

 With 1280 feet of climbing I'm worried about this.  My long 9.5 mile run that I ran back in January this year only had 983 feet of elevation change.  It's going to be brutal - and I'm guessing a 'Death March' over the final few miles.

Keep Steppin'
Bob