Races, races on my mind :)

Time flies!

It is almost mid of March and I cannot believe that I haven’t post anything about my races I participated in during last 3 months! Oh, okay, I put blame on busy time during New York Fashion Week, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, my school, vlogging and blogging…
So let me tell you now a little bit about it 🙂 As I run 3 races!

Ted Corbitt 10k, New York, December 9, 2017

I raced it with Roberto (my great friend and NYRR coach) who was pacing me. The goal was to run it better than in 2016 when I finished it with 1h5m28s

It felt strong and solid during whole run. Just at around 10′ km I was asking myself ‘what am I running for? Damn.. there is still 2/3 loop of Central Park to run before I finish. Ok, come on, you can do it’ Roberto was running along me, motivating and shouting to me ‘Go, Go! Ola! You are doing great!’ I trusted him and followed/ The last 2 kms were the most difficult on the course. Running as fast as I can my last 400… 300… 200… 100m I finally crossed the finished line!
Yes I made it! Final time 1:02:47 could not be any better!

That was a race! I was so happy as also my friends Ann and Barbara from my NYRR GT (who finished it few seconds faster than me) were racing it and later on regardless the nasty weather we were celebrating our final race of the season 🙂

Actually, no I am wrong. It was not a final race of the season, in NY yes, but week later I came back home for my Christmas break, nestling myself and warming with my family during Holidays. It was peaceful time and I needed to have few days off not only because my body needed that after whole year of running but also I needed to remove my wisdom teeth.
Few days of laziness felt good, but after not even one week I really needed to go for run and jog as my leg were pulling me out of home. Slowly and carefully I was jogging around my neighborhood where I grew up.

So Christmas time I treated as my recovery. However, few days later I made my last minute decision and finally signed up for the race I had been following for last 2 years – local New Year’s Eve race – 10km Łódzki Bieg Sylwestrowy – that was supposed to be my first ever cross race.
I did not want to race it but just to enjoy and experience it.

Łódzki Bieg Sylwestrowy, Łódź, December 31, 2017

That they weather and conditions were very poor. Actually not, weather was not that bad but day before it had been snowing and raining all day so all runners needed to run in deep mud, on slippery, leafy paths in forest. That was not easy!
But I was super happy to finish 2017 in such a way, racing my very first cross 10k with final result 44:19. I was happy considering that was a difficult course 🙂

I think everyone makes Neew Year’s Resolution, the same I did. My wish was (and still is) for this year to have 365 days without injuries, many kilometers run freely and cheerfully with gradual progression. To keep it always as a positive and ‘my way’ to shout out to world and feel free and strong.

I started 2018 with will of running at least SAME GOOD as 2017.
Beginning of the year I was travelling between Portugal, NYC, Paris. I was running without any specific plan, 3-4 times per week,  intervals while I was in NY, long runs and easy runs. Still learning and discovering myself as a runner. I did also my very first tempo run with Roberto and my GT friend Jess and companied her during her last long-run before Tokyo Marathon that she crushed! Congrats, girl!

After running like crazy between castings, runway and fittings during NY Fashion Week I booked my ticket to Paris where I was heading to for 2 weeks for work. Than my friend told me ‘Ola! There is HalfMarathon in Paris in March’.

Fitbit Semi de Paris, Paris, March 4, 2018

My first thought was ‘That is great! I wanna make it’ And indeed, I signed like 10 days before the actual race…
I went to Paris a bit anxious, ‘ohlala, this is really going to happen soon. I should get ready.’ So yes, I was thinking about that race almost everyday. Asking about ‘stupid’ things such as ‘what should I wear in case of the rain? (As it was primarly forecasted)’ I learnt that garbage bag works perfectly, thank you folks!
Actually the worst part of it was waiting and thinking about it, I wanted to speed up the time to limit waiting in corrals and all this preparations.

Overall my prep for SemiMarathon looked like this:
(After plenty messages, phone calls with Robert. Oh boy, thank you for this! :D) :

• Sunday, February 25th – I went to Chateau de Vincennes to explore area and the course. 16,21 km | 1h16m52s | 04:45 min/km
• Monday, February 26th – gym – mobility + upper body + streching
• Tuesday, February 27th – easy run 10,88km | 48m28s | 04:27 min/km
• Wednesday, February 28th – gym – lower body + streching
• Thursday, March 1st – run workout 2km warm up + 4×1 kms HM pace (4:18, 4:11, 4:19, 4:01) + 3km jog back home
• Friday, March 2nd – gym – mobility + streching + roller
• Saturday, March 3rd – easy, short run – 7,49km | 32m20s | 04:20 min/km + roller
• Sunday , March 4th – RACE DAY!

I was ready for that day, subconsciously I had inner voice saying me I will hit the finish line with 1h28mins..
Now everything was in my hand, whether I make it or not. But having support of Roberto and his words ‘You will be flying!’ Kept me strong and convinced that I really may beat my goal – sub 90mins.

The weather was not that bad as predicted, cloudy, 4-5 oC at 8 am when I got to the area of race. I left my bag in drop-box around 8:15 AM, did 15-20mins warm up,  some drills, dynamic streches, little jog and at 8:40 AM I was already in my corral waiting for the start.

As soon as we started at 9AM (I was n the 2nd wave) it started to rain a little bit, but it was kinda nice and refreshening, later on it started pour for real but while you are at 15-16kms of your race, you really do not care 😉

I was surprised when I saw my watch after my 1st km, showing me me pace. I started really fast, faster than I planned. But I felt good and wanted to keep it and try if can I maintain for the over 20kms left.

Eventualy I made it, yes! Even hills on the way did not feel that bad, I had in my mind picture of Cat Hills from Central Park, that I made them and these one in Paris are piece of cake’ comparing to New York!

Till 15-16km I felt really good and on fire. But then I got to the point that there are still over 6kms to go ahead of me. I was a little bit tired, however not physcially but mentally. Luckily these state did not last for long and after passing 18 kms, I looked at my watch and I was almost sure that I would reach my goal and hit the finish line under 90 mins!

From 18km I became impatient, I wanted to cross these line as soon as possibile to proof finally I really made it. I was running gradually faster, moving towards 21,197m of my course and finally… YES! YES! i MADE IT!

1 hour 28min 12 sec !!!

 My Personal Best on this distance! Over 3 minutes better then my Shape Half Marathon I races in April 2017!
Such a great feeling!

I was so, so happy, forgot about the tiredness and soaked clothes from rain. Surrounded at finish line by my family who came to cheer me up at finish line 🙂 As soon as I run, my friends and coach texted me ‘You made it!’ ‘You did it!’ , as they were following me on online tracker during my race.

On top of this, my result is a Women’s Record at this distance of my NYRR Group Training!
Wow! That is exciting! And thrilling, cannot wait to push the limits and go and run even better.

But the most important thing, as Roberto says is ‘Enjoy the journey!’.
Oh yes I will, so many exciting things are coming and I hope that my sub 90mins in Half Marathon will motivate me and keep on going not only in my running.

And you? What is your goal ;)?
Have you run today already?

Do not wait, give yourself a try and do it! 🙂

Time to end this post, I am getting ready for my casting now and heading for my GT Interval Training tonight at 6PM in Central Park, are we seeing there ;)?