X. Cora-run, Szeged

This last Sunday the 10th Cora run was held in our town.
I've entered the 6.6km race (in an insane moment) and decided to run the 3.3km with Peter as a cool-down.

We've arrived quite late, about 20 minutes before the race start so I immediately went to do some warm-up jogging. Weather was perfect for running, about 20C and cloudy. About 5 minute left and I approached the start line and found a comfortable place for myself in the middle of the crowd. I wanted to start a bit slow and then increase the pace in the 2nd lap, but then after the start I was quite amused to find I was running a good tempo at a heart rate of 97-98% - it was better than my expectations.
On the quay we head a light headwind so I went into 'head down and keep on pushing'-mode, taking care of the HR - if it rised to 99-100% I slowed slightly until it dropped to 97-98% again. Then at the end of the quay on the small uphill I caught up with two guys running side-by-side and it was quite relaxing to follow them for the next kilometer or so. At the end of lap 1 they increased the tempo a bit and I let them go - but I was satisfied with my tempo and overall state. I finished lap 1 (3.3km) in 15:14, that's a pace of 4:37.

300m from finishing lap 1

Then I ran alone for the next km and on the quay I managed to slowly overtake at least 4 runners. I kept on keeping my HR at 98% maximum and planned to do a flat-out last km. However when I had about 1.5km to go my side became stiff and painful and it took me a whole km to get rid of that with deeper breathing and easing up a bit. I was lucky though that those whom I've overtook before did not reach up to me. So the last 500m came and I started my so-called flat-out, however it was not a real sprint just a nice tempo :s The 2nd lap was 15:31 (pace 4:43) mainly due to my last 1.5km sufferings.

50 m to go

All in all I was very happy with my finish time of 30:45, it means I can run a 4:40 pace for half an hour \o/. Slow long distance runs show their strength at last. And take into account that I've only done very few interval trainings so far this year so the tempo should increase further later on.

Then there was about 1 hour left before Peter's run so I had quite some time to recover - I've done some cool-down jogging and thorough stretching. We've met some people from Peter's school or Moira's kindergarten, too.

We warmed up again with Peter and he was eager to find himself a good starting position so he went straight into the crowd early. At last when he stopped we were about 6 rows from the start line. We had to wait for 5 more minutes and then the gun went off.

As usual a lot of people started rushing ahead so I kept on telling him to keep a steady calm pace and not to care about the others. By the end of km 1 we started to take over those early birds and all I felt was it was hard to keep up with him. I've checked the time and saw 5:20 and the alarm started ringing in my head: it would be too fast. I told him to slow down a bit but you may guess how successful I was with that... he kept on running this pace and even increased it further. Then came the 2km right at the end of the quay and he told me he felt tired so we slowed down a (very) little bit. However after 200 metres he increased the tempo again. But nothing goes unpunished, he dropped down again at about km 2.7 so it was again time to slow down a bit. Then just before km 3 I told him to look right for a photo and that there is only 300m left to go - so he made a smiling face for Aniko and then produced such a sprint to the finish line I could not keep up with him :)

Peter just before starting his sprint for finish

I finished about 15 meters behind him but stopped the watch when he crossed the line - it stopped at 17:10! That's a pace of 5:13 / km - remember he is not even 8 yet!!! I was amazed with this, however after drinking a cup of water his first sentence was: Daddy I am veeeery hungry! :D:D:D

Then we went and searched for the girls near the stage, luckily Aniko has bought some scones so he had his CH refill soon. Small things that count for real...

Split

I've decided to split my earlier posts into different blogs. See kilo & TORCS for TORCS-related ones and kilo & fam for family-related musings.

The naughty left knee

Last Thursday I've noticed my left kneww was swollen quite a bit. It felt warm, however I did not feel any pain.
I couldn't decide what could have caused this. I've run 8km the eve before but - that is not much at all. Anyway I took some diclofenac before going to work and later, in the evening I've applied some ice to it, raised it during the night and had some more diclofenac.

No sign of getting better Friday, but then I could feel some very mild pain on the outer side of the knee. I've searched the internet for the anatomy and any probable causes and finally decided: I had a lateral collateral ligament injury. What could do that to me? I'm still uncertain & puzzled.
Anyway, I kept on icing and raising it while eating more and more diclofenac. By now it is not swollen anymore, only a very light breeze of pain remains if I push the ligament hard.

Question is: should I enter the upcoming Tour de Tisza-tó? 55 km of skating on the 9th of May. Hmmm hmmm hmmmmmmmm

BTW did you know that European rivers are all polluted with diclofenac? It seems to be the most commonly used drug here nowdays...