Back to it at the Mantua Potato Stomp Race

Last Saturday was my first race since the Canal Corridor 100 debacle. I've been working through tendonitis on my outer left foot and inner right ankle all summer. Fortunately I love cycling and have spent a lot of quality time with my new bikes this season! My running has ranged from 20-40 miles a week, which is much lower than last year but needed to help rest those pesky tendons. I've also been going in for physical therapy with Dr. Tim Pavlak of Physio Performance for the last couple of months for dry needling, graston and ART. I think all of this has helped tremendously.

I wasn't sure how I would perform in a 9 mile, hilly race. I had been doing some shorter speed sessions but nothing really under a 7-min pace as I've been nervous about the feet. The first couple of miles of this race are very fast so I was sub-7 for that and then the hills really start in mile 3 so my pace fluctuated between 7:15-7:50 for most of those miles. Fortunately I did not feel any pain in my feet just the normal exersion pain from racing! I remember fading hard in this same race last year but I felt very strong for this finish and beat my time from last year by about 90 seconds, finishing in 1:07:17 (7:29/avg). My secret goal was to break 7:30 so I am very pleased on such a challenging course. I placed 4th female so won $25 and was first in the 40-49AG. This was also my first race in the new AG!

Steve also raced and had a good time almost breaking an hour so he won the 50-59AG. It was nice to see some of our running friends from NERC and beyond out there.

Now in the aftermath I am having some left foot pain again so I went in for PT Tuesday and will be cross training more this week. I hope this is just a temporary setback and that I will be healthy to race Northern Ohio on October 7. I am debating dropping down to the half but will decide closer to race day based on how my body feels. The real goal now is to be healthy for Boston 2019 since I registered this week!

Prerace trying to stay warm and dry!

Coming in for the finish - happy to get out of that rain!