August 21, 2009 - 10K Trail Race Tomorrow

Race day tomorrow. I wrote the wrong date down and had been planning for Sunday for about two weeks. Good thing I caught it Wednesday night and had time to change my training the last few days.

The day before a competition I generally get a bit nervous. Though I am not a professional athlete, I am still a very competitive person. And while I could care less about what place I finish in or who I beat, I am determined to go as hard as I can for the entire 6.2 miles (10k). I will know at the end of the run whether or not I could have put more into it and regardless of where I finish, I will base my victory or defeat on my personal performance.

In general, I can keep around a 6:45 mile pace for a 10k run. Since I do not know the trail very well and there is no elevation profile on the course website, I am not sure how feasible this pace will be. I know there are a few water crossings, a severe climb at one point, and overall a good amount of change in grade. To further complicate things, the weather might call for rain. I welcome the rain; I love running in a downpour, I feel like I can push myself even harder! A bit of rain might be good for taking the fact that I'm in a race off my mind!

Speaking of nervous, I can only imagine the amount of butterflies in my stomach driving to Bel Air, MD or just moments before takeoff. Before hockey games I generally feel sick until the metal blades of my skates carve the first stride into the ice. I expect that by 100 meters in to the race the nerves will be worked out and I'll just focus on my form and pacing myself to finish hard.

Workouts: Because of the race, I didn't do Crossfit.com yesterday nor will I do it today. I will make up missed workouts this Sunday.

Yesterday's Workout:

4 mile run - 27:30

Today's Workout:
bike warmup
jump rope
1 mile run focus on form
6 x 100 meters focus on stride
core
20 minute stretch cool down
a few laps in the pool

That's it. Less than 24 hours. Time to focus, eat healthy, drink a lot of water, and visualize victory...that is, see myself going hard for 6.2 miles and knowing I gave it my all.