Note
Clark XC Race: Mt. Holyoke
Trail Run warm up/down (Warm-Up) 20:04 [1]
slept:7.0 shoes: Adidas a3 Prowl
Warmup for XC Meet at Mt. Holyoke College. Feeling pretty decent.
Trail Run race (XC Race) 17:58 [5] 3.0 mi (5:59 / mi)
shoes: Adidas a3 Prowl
Felt great for the first mile, going through at 5:36, a little bit faster than the planned 5:45, but not too bad. Started to get a cramp in my side about half-way through the second mile and started to slow down a bit near the second mile mark. I managed to make it through the 2-mile mark at 11:30 right on target although the mile spllit was a little slower than I would have hoped for.
It was all downhill from there though. I knew I had to pick it up a bit at the 2-mile mark to keep the pace, but the cramp kept getting worse and I actually slowed down even more. By the time I reached the 3-mile mark it was pretty painful to run. I started walking a after the 3-mile mark and trying to stretch it out. After about a minute I started jogging again but it hurt too much so I tried walking some more. After about 2 minutes of walking I decided to just drop out because the 4th and 5th place guys on our team had passed me, so it didn't really matter any more.
I find it really surprising that I got cramps in both XC races I have run in this year and other than that I have not had a cramp in years. The first thing my coach asked me was if I had eaten any apples or drunk any Gatorade before the race, and interestingly enough that was my exact breakfast (plus a bagel). I haven't eaten an apple in a long time either, so perhaps that is a good explanation for the cramp, but I don't know what the cause was on the previous cramp.
It's pretty frustrating to have to drop out of a race because of something so silly. I have never had a cramp before that was so serious I couldn't just run it off, but this one was pretty painful.
Trail Run warm up/down (Cool-Down) 10:23 [1]
shoes: Adidas a3 Prowl
After everyone finished we all went for an easy cool-down run. I could still feel a tightness in my side but I was able to run at the easy pace. For some reason my legs felt really tired though. I don't know what that is all about. Maybe they had just stiffened up a bit.
Trail Run 17:30 [3]
shoes: Adidas a3 Prowl
After watching the girls race, T-Mac and I decided to go for another run just to get in a little extra mileage. I felt much better on this run. We came across a police radar sign that displays how fast you are driving, and discovered that it picked us up as we ran by it on the sidewalk. We of course picked up the pace to a full out sprint to test it out and got it up to 16 mph. I wonder how accurate that is...