Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Ten for Texas 2009

Last Saturday was the Ten for Texas race in The Woodlands (Texas, obviously!). It is my favorite 10 mile event---OK, it's the only 10 mile event I've ever done, but it's still a great race!

This year I am coming off a slight, but still nagging thigh/hamstring injury and am also cutting back to prepare for a Half-Ironman Triathlon in 2 weeks. Therefore, I am trying to put out a good effort, but I am also not pushing to 100% for the race. I open up with a 5 minute run-1 minute walk for the first 5 miles to make sure my heart rate doesn't go too high. At the 5 mile mark, I am a bit slower than I would like by about 2 minutes, but I am feeling good and my heart rate is where I want it. Since I was not feeling any issues with the thigh or hamstring, my plan was to increase to 7-1 for the walk-run ratio (and I also experiment with pushing my pace a bit faster, too). I cross the finish line with a 5 minute negative split break my 2 year old PR as well, but best of all I am feeling good and did not harm the earlier injuries.

I just love this event and it has a great post-race party as well. Below are photos of me from this year and 2 years ago (I did not run the Ten for Texas last year as it was rescheduled to the same week as the San Antonio Marathon due to the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.)

Photobucket
Here I am at the 2007 Ten for Texas cresting the hill just after mile 9.


Photobucket
Here I am at the 2009 Ten for Texas coming up to the Mile 9 aid station.


Now it's time to start resting and preparing for the Longhorn Triathlon on October 25th!

5 comments:

Mistyfied said...

It was great to see you on Saturday. You have a great race next week and have fun.

Amanda said...

Those pictures are amazing. Are you just so proud of where you've been and where you are now? You should be!!! Congrats on setting a new PR for the race - that's super exciting!

Adrienne Langelier, MA said...

Wow, Richard! Keep up the good work and having fun doing it!

Rae! said...

So how much did you loose??

Richard said...

Rae, that's about 45 lbs between photos, I am glad to say it's like 55lbs now.
:)