November Preview

Not too long ago, November was going to be an easy month to close out the race season.  I had scheduled a Veteran's Day 11K and a 12K trail race with about two weeks between the two and planned on targeting them for decent times at shorter distances than I have raced most of the year.  Then I suddenly got free entries to several events.

Here is the complete list for the month:

Nov 1st - PHAST 5K fun run
Nov 8th - Ride 2 Recovery Honor Ride (100K)
Nov 9th - National Veteran's Day 11K
Nov 15th - REVEL Canyon City Marathon
Nov 22nd - Trails of Glory 12K

The 5K is an untimed fun run that is held in conjuction with my wife's final triathlon of the season.  My oldest son and I are going to run it while she races.

The ride should be interesting.  I have never ridden that far on a bike but endurance shouldn't be an issue.  Saddle-soreness, that is another story.  My wife will be riding this one with me and may be pulling me along through any potential rough spots.

I really don't know how the 11K will go.  Besides the probable saddle-soreness, I expect to have some thigh aches from the ride and really don't know how much speed I will be able to coax out of my legs for it.  I will have to wait and see how that one goes.  My wife is also running it and we may both feel good and run it competitively or we may both feel rough and shuffle along together way back in the pack.

The marathon should also be interesting since I haven't specifically trained for it.  With the base of training I had for St George and a handful of long runs that started this week (broke in the new Hokas) and will continue over the next two weeks, it should be fine.  It also has a lot of downhill and I like downhill racing.  I do expect to take it a little easier than normal the week between the ride and the marathon to ensure I have fresh legs.

The 12K should be a fun race.  With my first two marathons, I felt pretty good a week later and this race is on decent trails in Cottonwood Canyon on the SW side of Vegas.

Overall, it is a busy month and unless something crazy happens, I am realistically taking a couple of months off from racing to rest the legs up a bit and rebuild my base once the final November race is done.