| Location: Spring,TX,USA Member Since: Nov 17, 2007 Gender: Male Goal Type: Boston Qualifier Running Accomplishments: After a 24-year hiatus from running, I started back again at age 40 in March 2007.
PERSONAL RECORDS
5K - 20:13 (3/22/08 Run The Woodlands #197)
10K - 44:58 (3/15/08 Lookin' Good Shamrock Strut)
HLF - 1:46:09 (5/19/07 Ogden Half Marathon)
MAR - 3:40:18 (10/6/07 St. George Marathon) Short-Term Running Goals: 2008 Ogden Marathon - 3:30 (Blew up big time! IT band = 4:24 finish!)
2008 St. George Marathon - 3:20 (*BQ) Might need to revise based on injury but I'm not giving it up quite yet.
2009 Spend Patriots Day on course in Boston. Personal: http://todayirun.blogspot.com
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 153.80 | 13.65 | 2.77 | 0.00 | 16.47 | 186.69 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | |
| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 17.16 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.16 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 5.13 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.13 |
| OBJECTIVE
who knows?
ACHIEVED
5.13 mi. @ 9:20/mi.
5:17 AM 77° 89% 4 mph
In 1976-7, I was a fifth grader at Central Elementary in St. Anthony, Idaho. During that year my occasional friend, Alan Edlefson (sp?) and I wrote a few supposedly humorous skits for some sort of school talent show. We chose what we thought were the best ones and “acted” (I use that term loosely in this instance.) them out as part of the show.
At a climatic point in one of skits I ad lib’d: “This thing sucks!” I thought nothing of it but later in the day received a fairly serious scolding from my mom (serious enough that I remember it 30+ years later!), who was present in the audience. In short, she told me that “suck” was a bad word and that I shouldn’t say it.
So with apologies to my mother I say, “I suck!”
Saturday’s run was hard. I followed that up with a lot of time in the sun over the weekend. The temperatures were +95° with high humidity – typical August days in Southeast Texas. The baseball team I was coaching ended up making a run to the championship before losing. This meant 5 games … all played during the day. I was smart enough to use sun screen but the conditions really zapped me.
Using that as an excuse, I slept in Monday. On Tuesday morning, it was Hurricane Edouard (ended up being not much more than a rain storm with some wind). Over the days my legs were achy and I still felt fatigued.
Upon waking up this morning, I gave myself permission to run at ANY pace in exchange for just getting out and putting one foot in front of the other.
I took myself up on the deal and made it out the door. I slogged through an extremely slow 5 miles. I didn’t feel particularly bad and certainly wasn’t good … just getting back to training. Today I operated under the theory that there’s no such thing as “junk miles”.
Last week I tried adopting the “rest 3 days a week” training approach. I didn’t feel like it worked for me so I’m planning to flip back to running 6 days per week. I know this isn’t what my doctor or physical therapist have recommended but I felt better running this way over the 6 weeks I followed this approach. It’s not a good time to be messing around with my training schedule.
I need focus and I need to stop sucking. There’s only 58 days until the marathon.
Postscript: The skit Alan and I performed was pretty funny. I’m probably the only person who remembers it now. The skit was in the form of a television commercial for a shaving product we called “Triple Trac” – a razor with three blades. For context, please remember that the most advanced razors at the time only had two blades. Ironically, I shaved this morning with a four-bladed razor. Not only were we funny but we were well ahead of our time!
PRE RUN
nothing
POST RUN
Accelerade, multivitamin, water, oatmeal w/flax, brown sugar, cinnamon & skim milk |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 4.03 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.03 |
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OBJECTIVE4 mi. Slow (+8:54/mi.)
ACHIEVED
4.03 mi.@ 9:06/mi.
5:51 AM 74F 95% 0 mph
Got out and got a few miles this morning .... I'll call it Day 2 of getting back on track. It was quite humid.
I'm considering going to Utah for the weekend to run a 10K. The course is hilly, at altitude, and I wouldn't mind a "fitness check". Stephanie is out of town this weekend and Stacey is running with KatyFit. The usual Saturday group is fragmented at best. This seems to make it a better time for me to go. I was planning on 18 miles Saturday. I figure I can run to the race start, finish the race then go add a few more miles.
Stay tuned to see how this one plays out ....
PRE RUN
Accelerade
POST RUN
Accelerade, multivitamin, oatmeal w/flax, brown sugar, cinnamon & skim milk
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
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OBJECTIVE
6 - 8 mi. Easy (8:24-54/mi.)
ACHIEVED
~8.00 mi.@ 8:54/mi.
~6:30 AM 77° 93% 0 mph
My trusty Garmin has worked so well lately .... Apparently today was time for it to pull the "Low Battery" routine on me. Very frustrating. I know it was fully charged after yesterday's run and I'm relatively certain the sequence I followed when disengaging from my desktop at home was the same as usual .... That left me with my IronMan. This wasn't too big of a problem since I was running from the YMCA for 8 miles. I generally know where the mile intervals along the way are.
I was slow to get going. My legs felt a tight but loosened up shortly after I was underway. I got a late start because I slept in until 5:40 AM. I usually don't bother with an alarm during the week figuring that's the best way to get the rest my body needs. After the past couple weeks of inconsistent morning starting times I've been waking up at different times. Prior to that I was pretty much waking up at 5 every morning.
It was humid again today. By the time I was finished, my shoes were sloshing with sweat. Jonathan has come up with the concept of "rain gutters" for runners' feet to keep the sweat from filling up their shoes. I could have used them today!
Overall I felt fine today. My cardio seems solid and with the exception of a few niggling issues my body is okay too.
I've decided not to go to Utah for tomorrow's 10K. This is a disappointment because I wanted to defend my age group title from last year. I also really wanted a race to assess my fitness. I haven't raced in a long time now. But I was going to have to go on a 9:30 PM flight and get in very late then turn around for a 7 AM race start in the morning. It just didn't make sense. I've also got some work issues that most likely will require my attention over the weekend. So I'm going to miss the race. GOOD LUCK TO THE BIGFOOT FARMS RACING TEAM TOMORROW!
As for me, I'll be heading out for a long one in the morning. Stephanie is in town and has put together a 17-mile route from Memorial Park around Rice University and back to the Park. I hope to hold up better than I did last week and add a bit of a pickup at the end.
PRE RUN
GrapeNuts w/skim milk
POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water, multivitamin, oatmeal w/brown sugar & skim milk |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 16.72 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.72 |
| OBJECTIVE 18 mi. EZ w/last 3 mi. pickup @ 7:55/mi ACHIEVED 16.72 mi.@ 8:49/mi. w/last 2.72 mi.@ 8:13/mi. 5:39 AM 78° 86% 0 mph It was a good long run today. It wasn't easy but I had good company. Today was Miranda's last run with us before moving to Fort Lauderdale. Others along for the run were Stephanie, Stuart, Randy, Josh, William and me. We went started at Memorial Park and went to Rice University for a loop around the campus. From there we went north and west until we got to Stephanie's house for a water break. There was about 4 miles left at that point. My legs felt okay throughout the run. This was good given yesterday's 8 miler. My cardio felt good intermittently. It was warm and humid. The soft surface on the trail around Rice was helpful. I was debating the pickup as we worked our way back to Memorial Park. The group gradually picked up with about 3 miles to go. I think we must have cut the planned route short because we should have had 2 miles left when we hit the park. But I knew it was less than that. I broke from the group at Memorial Drive. I think I pushed too hard right away instead of working up to the faster pace. I was gassed over the final half mile. The run was a bit shorter than I scheduled and I didn't hit the 7:55/mi. pickup pace. But the heat index was pretty high so I think it was still okay. I missed the Rich Bouchard 10K in Utah this morning. Sorry that I did .... PRE RUN water, oatmeal w/brown sugar & skim milk; FRS POST RUN 2 SlimFast, water Later, homemade berry smoothie |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 4.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.02 |
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OBJECTIVE3 - 4 mi. SLOW
ACHIEVED
4.02 mi.@ 9:37/mi.
5:13 AM 79F 84% 9 mph (???!!?)
I certainly did my part to make this a SLOW run! I suppose this was a recovery run in the truest sense. I was still pretty achy ... from Saturday's run I suppose. I felt like I loosened up slightly after a mile but my pace didn't get any faster. I knew I was slow and thought about pushing but decided that clearly wasn't today's objective. So I just let the slow miles roll up. Hopefully clearing my legs and body for better runs later this week.
Almost forgot to mention, I very surprised the wind was 9 mph. The air certainly wasn't moving where I was running! The weather station that my run data is sync'd to is at a small airport about three miles north of where I actually run.
PRE RUN
water
POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin, oatmeal w/flax, cinnamon, brown sugar & 1% milk
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 6.23 | 2.11 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.34 |
| OBJECTIVE
6 mi. w/7x2 min.@ 6:40/mi. & 2 min. jog
ACHIEVED
8.34 mi. w/7x2 min. & 2 min. jog
6:24 AM 77° 90% 1 mph
Inconsistent pretty much sums up my effort today and over the past couple weeks. Deadlines at work are once again conspiring against my running. I’m also enjoying watching the late Olympic sessions but that shortchanges my sleep and makes it tougher for me to get an early run before going to work.
My stomach was sloshing with every stride today. This caused very slight discomfort but was incredibly annoying. I only drank 10 ounces of water before going out this morning so I’m not sure what the deal is. I experienced the same thing to a lesser degree during last Saturday’s long run. I can’t identify anything different about these runs compared to others.
Here are my erratic splits:
Warm-up – 2.41 mi.@ 9:29/mi.
2:00 min.@ 6:42/mi.
2:00 min. jog
2:00 min.@ 6:30/mi.
2:00 min. jog
2:00 min.@ 6:26/mi.
2:00 min. jog
2:00 min.@ 6:36/mi.
2:00 min. jog
2:00 min.@ 6:48/mi.
2:00 min. jog
2:00 min.@ 6:36/mi.
2:00 min. jog
2:00 min.@ 6:45/mi.
2:00 min. jog
Cool down – 2.55 mi.@ 9:16/mi.
My preference of course would be for a tighter grouping of the speed intervals. I also would prefer the warm-up and cool down to be about 30 seconds per mile faster. However, I'm falling back on the heat and humidity excuse for the slower times. I know that’s “chicken” because if you can hit the prescribed times in heat and humidity, you should be even better in ideal conditions.
PRE RUN
water
POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water & oatmeal w/flax, brown sugar & skim milk |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 4.03 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.03 |
| OBJECTIVE 6 - 8 mi. Easy ACHIEVED 4.03 mi.@ 8:24/mi. 8:03 AM 80° 87% 2 mph Got a really late start. Observed that I seem much faster at this hour than earlier; the same has happened a couple other times too. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.47 | 16.47 |
| OBJECTIVE 18 mi. w/last 3 mi. pickup ACHIEVED 16.47 mi.@ 8:37/mi. (slight pickup over final 1.5 mi.) 5:27 AM 74° 94% 1 mph This was a fun run although I didn't fully appreciate it until after the fact. I rather large group ended up meeting in Conroe on League Line Road for this one. I'm sure I'll omit some but the group included: Stephanie, Laurie, Stacey, Randy, Josh, Jonathan, Cindy, LaErica, Shellie, Leno, Sim (sp?), Ann, Christina, and another Tornado who came late whose name I didn't catch. Manny answered the early wake up call to drive SAG for us. This was an incredibly generous act on his part since those in Houston had to meet at 4:15 AM to make it to Conroe in time to start. Manny was great driving all around the course as the group got strung out. We started at "the church" and ran to the marina. This is a hilly section but it was very dark and we always say "it doesn't count if it's still dark." This is oddly true. Those earliest miles somehow melt it a haze and mentally vanish as the sun comes up. (However, I oftentimes still feel them physically.) On our way out, we heard something howling in the dark. It sounded a long ways off but it was a bit unnerving. My first guess is that is was coyotes. If not then I'm thinking it must have been dogs. It did sound wild and threatening. From the marina, we turned back over the hills toward the church. Before getting to the church, we turned and went back to the marina. This section has some good up and down hills. We wanted to cover it twice but due to weekend traffic increasing didn't want to wait until the way back so that led to the double out-and-back. Before getting back to the church, we turned into the Teaswood neighborhood. At this point, it was just our usual Saturday group: Laurie, Stacey, Steph, Josh, Randy, and me. We were joined by Christina who I think usually runs with the Tornados on Sundays. We wound our way through the slight ups-and-downs toward the freeway. Before the freeway, we turned back into another neighborhood for a big loop that I think was around 1 - 1.5 miles. We exited the loop and headed toward the freeway. We all needed water but Manny was nowhere to be found. I walked back up the freeway off ramp looking for him. After a minute or two, I looked back and the group was moving again. Everyone needed hydration. I figured they formed a plan while I was away. But as the group run away from me, I saw Christina coming back toward me. She asked if I was cutting it short for 17 instead of 21. I said yes since my schedule was for 18 and I didn't think 21 in the hills was a good idea at this point. She said that would be her long run too and that the others were going for 21. I was surprised because I thought only Laurie and Stacey were going for 21. Anyway, Christina and I headed back. Thankfully before making the loop through the side neighborhood, Manny found us. We told him the others really needed him. We saw Cindy, LaErica, and Shellie on the loop. We then worked our way back through Teaswood. Since I had never run with Christina before, I wasn't sure of her ability but she seemed very strong. I was progressively slowing and told her to go ahead if she wanted but she stayed with me. At around 14.5 miles on my Garmin, she asked if I wanted to pick it up. We pushed the pace and saw a couple of the faster Tornados coming into the neighborhood, adding on miles to their already completed run. The finish at the church came early - at 16.5 on my Garmin. It had been mapped for 17. I think we must have cut it a bit short on the turnaround point of our out-and-back to the marina. We clocked 8:15/mi. over the last mile and 7:47/mi. pace over the final half. I'm not exactly sure what the previous splits were but they weren't nearly that fast. I was very spent after this one. While waiting for the others, I had plenty of time to thoroughly stretch and hydrate. Once everyone made it back, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel down the road for breakfast and conversation. Overall, a good run. I think we're going back to the hills one more time before the marathon. I want to give the 21-mile course a shot. PRE RUN FRS & oatmeal w/brown sugar & skim milk POST RUN 2 SlimFast & water Later, blueberry pancakes w/blueberry syrup, water & grapefruit juice |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 4.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.02 |
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OBJECTIVE3 - 4 mi. Slow
ACHIEVED
4.02 mi.@ 8:49/
5:00 AM 73F 92% 0 mph
I'm not exactly sure how I could feel good and sore during the same run but that's how it worked out today. The soreness is from Saturday's hills. I was really feeling it on my rest day yesterday. That was a bit of a surprise since I've felt pretty good after the other times I've been out to League Line Road to run the hills.
Some of soreness may also be from the 7 PT exercises Dani gave me to do last week. I'm supposed to do them twice a week but I've adopted every other for now. I've noticed they leave me a little sore in odd places.
After a half mile, I decided I didn't want the run to get sloppy and slow so I picked it up. I thought it was just a slight pace increase since I still felt comfortable. After Mile 2, I checked again and was surprised how fast I was going. I pulled it back slightly; reminding myself that this was a slow, recovery run and that I need to save the effort for Wednesday.
It's nice to have a good run. Planning on 6 miles tomorrow.
The thought just occurred to me that maybe I felt good because the temperature was slightly cooler this morning ....
PRE RUN
bran muffin & water
POST RUN
Accelerade, water, multivitamin, oatmeal w/flax, brown sugar & skim milk
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 6.16 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.16 |
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OBJECTIVE4 - 8 mi. Easy
ACHIEVED
6.16 mi.@ 8:31/mi.
4:56 AM 73F 89% 4 mph
This was a really good run.
I'm not sure what happened to set me up for this. As always, there are too many variables at play. Here are the factors I believe may have contributed:
Rest - I've gone to bed earlier (before 10) the past couple nights.
Physical therapy - After last week's session with Danni, I've diligently completed my 7 exercise routine every other day.
Temperature - It's been cooler the past couple days. The difference isn't huge on the thermometer - maybe 7 or 8 degrees - but it's noticeable right from the start when running even when the humidity is around 90%. I didn't realize a storm was moving in. I just enjoyed today's run. About 30 minutes after finishing, it started raining.
Hills/Rest Cycle - Saturday's long run in the hills was challenging. Could I be noticing the training benefit already? Sunday's rest day may have given my body a chance to "reload". Or my mileage pull back over the past couple weeks may be allowing me to be fresher ... ???
Nutrition - My eating has been fairly "clean". I've probably overeaten slightly over the past 5 days as my weight has edged up 4-5 pounds. But I've generally been using high-octane fuels.
After half a mile, I picked it up. One of the things I've allowed is for my pace to just stay in "warm up mode". The past couple days I've tried to avoid letting my body set that as the auto-pilot pace. I found a comfortable pace that still seemed "easy". I was able to hold it and ended up running fairly flat splits. This is similar to yesterday.
From a mental standpoint, I really needed the past couple days. Hopefully the feeling continues!
Tomorrow is a big workout of 8 miles with intervals along the way. Maybe I'll be doing it in the rain.
Olympic footnote: Brian Sell who will be running the marathon for the US has been putting in 160 - 170 miles per week! ... makes my 40 seem rather easy .... His tempo runs are at 5:00/mile pace. It's difficult for me to understand what that really means. It's kind of like the child's ultimate topper to win numerical arguments - "infinity". You have no idea what it means but know that no one else can put up a bigger number. I can't even say that I've got a job to work and Sell doesn't ... that's how he has time for the miles. Wrong! Brian actually works 5-6 hour shifts in the garden section at Home Depot. He's a huge underdog in Beijing but I'm rooting for him. He has commented that he hopes the conditions are absolutely terrible come race day. He believes it could be the equalizer that gives him a shot. Good luck for a great race, Brian.
PRE RUN
1/2 Clif bar & water
POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin, water, oatmeal w/skim milk, flax & brown sugar
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 5.54 | 2.67 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.21 |
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OBJECTIVE8 mi. w/ 9x2 min.@ 6:40/mi. & 2 min. jog ACHIEVED8.21 mi.@ 8:33/mi. incl. 9x2 min. & 2 min. jog 7:29 AM 73° 94% 0 mph Max HR 179 Avg. HR ~155 It was raining very hard when I got up to go out for this one. Once I started running from the Y, I struggled. My back was a problem ... right between my shoulder blades. It was like something was pinched or twisted. I thought it would loosen as I warmed up but it really never did. It has caused a mild headache throughout the day and limited range of motion (turning my neck and shoulders). Anyway I wore my heartrate monitor today. I wanted to see what heart rate did during my 2 minute recovery jogs. I was disappointed to find that I didn't ever fully recover and my heart rate just kept going higher and higher throughtout the portion of the run. During the jogs, the heart rate would come down but wouldn't get lower than when I started the last interval. Of course the rate would take off during the intervals. On a graph, I imagine it as a 2-steps-forward-one step-back pattern. My maximum heart rate hit 179 on my eighth and/or ninth interval. Ironically that is my "textbook" maximum heart rate ... i.e., 220 - age = MHR or 220 - 41 = 179. The heart rate monitoring was disappointing because I was hoping to find that I was recovering better/faster. My intervals paces were all over the board. I was trying to hit 6:40/mile without looking at my watch very much. Here's what that got me: Warmup 2.38 mi.@ 8:53/mi. 2 min.@6:48/ 2 min. jog 2 min.@6:43/ 2 min. jog 2 min.@6:36/ 2 min. jog 2 min.@6:44/ 2 min. jog 2 min.@6:45/ 2 min. jog 2 min.@6:39/ 2 min. jog 2 min.@6:41/ 2 min. jog 2 min.@7:00/ 2 min. jog 2 min.@6:51/ 2 min. jog Cooldown 1.47 mi.@ 8:55/mi. I'm disappointed that I wasn't more consistent and that I missed my times so much. I may have been letting the heart rate situation get into my head a bit (e.g., you're not recovery properly ... there's no way you can sustain the speed ....). Needless to say I'm happy this one is over. Looking to be stronger next week! PRE RUNFRS & 1/2 Clif bar POST RUNSlimFast Later, water, multivitamin, oatmeal w/flax, brown sugar & skim milk
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 4.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.02 |
| OBJECTIVE
3 - 4 mi. Slow
ACHIEVED
4.02 mi.@ 8:18/mi.
7:16 AM 73° 94% 5 mph mist & rain
This one was supposed to be a nice, slow recovery run. Somehow it didn't end up that way. During the first half mile, it seemed that my turnover was a lot faster than usual. I wonder if that's from the speed workout yesterday ... ??? I don't remember this happening the day after intervals before ...?
I knew I was faster than I should be so I reminded myself to just stay comfortable. The result of this is that I just ended up holding pretty much the same pace. This surprised me.
I'm happy to take another good run! We'll see how it impacts tomorrow's 6-miler.
Forgot to mention a funny thing that happened immediately after yesterday's run. I was running from the YMCA as I oftentimes do but I was later than usual. When I got back from the run, I walked past a large group of kids who were in some sort of holding pattern. I assume they were maybe K - third graders participating in the Y's summer program. Any I could hear the kids voices but wasn't close enough to make out what they were saying. Once I was a "safe" distance past them, I heard a kid's voice call out, "Get a shirt on. There are kids around!" I won't argue that I don't look that good with my shirt off ... but I certainly didn't think it was that bad! When I run alone in the summer, I usually run without a shirt. When I run with others, I wear one. I've been laughing about that youthful comment for the past 24 hours.
PRE RUN
Clif bar & water
POST RUN
Water, multivitamin & All Bran cereal w/skim milk |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
| | Add Comment |
| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 6.11 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.11 |
| OBJECTIVE
6 - 8 mi. Easy
ACHIEVED
6.11 mi.@ 8:49/mi.
5:33 AM 74° 94% 0 mph mist
Ran the Wimbledon Forest Loop for 6 miles. Felt good; solid effort resulted in a good pace for an easy run. Feeling very happy with this week's training. However, there's a great deal of uncertainty surrounding tomorrow's long run. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 18.03 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.03 |
| OBJECTIVE 18 mi. w/last 3 @ 7:55/mi. ACHIEVED 18.03 mi.@ 9:03/mi. 6:09 AM 75° 94% 0 mph Ended up on own running from the Y for 18 miles. This area doesn't lend itself to that distance. I took every turn and side road to get the miles and also doubled back on the bayou twice on the way back in. Ended up running the trails around the kids' soccer fields at the Y to get the last few. Lost it a little over 16 miles. Walked to the car and got water, took off my empty hydration belt and shirt then went for the final 2 miles ... slowly. Just gutted it out. The distance was more important than the speed. Tried controlling my hydration by drinking approximately 4 oz. of Accelerade every 30 minutes. Supposedly the body can only absorb 8 oz. per hour. This was a tough run. My Saturday group was all over the place. Steph in the UK. Jonathan running Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon. Stacey and Laurie at Terry Hershey Park with KatyFit. Shellie and Kathleen with Kenyan Way. I think Randy, William, and Josh may have ultimately ended up with Kenyan Way too. I considered all the options and none seemed that appealing so I stayed close to home and ran from the Y by myself. I knew ChampionsFit would be starting sometime so I saw a bunch of runners especially along the bayou trail. From the trail, I went down Eldridge to Louetta then turned back up toward Spring Cypress then back down to the bayou trail. At the end of the trail, I turned back and did it again. I the way back to the Y, I went all the way to the end of the dead end road then turned to the Y and started around the soccer fields. Looking forward to tomorrow's rest and running with the group on next Saturday's long run. PRE RUN FRS liquid concentrate, water, oatmeal w/flax & brown sugar POST RUN 2 SlimFast & water |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
| | Add Comment |
| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 4.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.02 |
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OBJECTIVE3 - 4 mi. Slow
ACHIEVED
4.02 mi.@ 8:56/mi.
4:56 AM 75F 83% 5 mph
Just stretched out over the Stuebner-Airline Loop this morning. Got decent sleep last night. Hopefully that continues with the regularity of school starting today and the Olympics wrapping up.
The men's Olympic marathon was absolutely unbelievable! A group of about 12 blistered the first 10K at under 30 minutes. The conditions weren't right for such an insane pace. But as the group became 10 then 7 then 4, they held the pace. Ultimately a 21-year Kenyan pulled away with a couple miles to go. He looked STRONG and finished strong with an Olympic record.
US runners made good solid efforts but never ran with the leaders. Dathan Ritzenheim took 9th, Ryan Hall 10th, and Brian Sell 22nd.
While watching, I realized that broadcasting a marathon must be a logistical nightmare. The cameras rightfully stayed with the lead pack. But that only left me wondering what was going on with the guys further back. I also wondered about the fate of the runners who started with the leaders but faded. Did they finish? Did they need medical attention (as the commentators kept suggesting early on)? So many unanswered questions?
PRE RUN
water & 1 macadamia nut chocolate
POST RUN
water, multivitamin, oatmeal w/flax, cinnamon, brown sugar & skim milk
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
| | Comments(1) |
| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 6.18 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.18 |
| OBJECTIVE
6 - 8 mi. Easy
ACHIEVED
6.18 mi.@ 8:40/mi.
5:07 AM 73F 94% 0 mph
Just my ordinary 6-miler on the Wimbledon Forest loop. ... rather uneventful ....
I haven't committed to a marathon goal time yet. But it seems I've been thinking about it nonstop. I'm convinced a big part of my success in St. George last year was due to picking "the correct" time target (there were other significant factors too: running with Alex, fear of the unknown, weight training, etc.). I also believe part of my failure in Ogden was due to picking a bad time target. I just don't know how to pick the "right" time. I got extremely lucky in STG. Having said all of that gives the foundation of some of my thoughts while running today. In summary, I'm having a difficult time envisioning myself stringing 26.2 sub-8 minute miles together. That's based on how I've felt during recent long runs and even over my shorter runs lately. I know the weather is going to be much more favorable. I'll also have the benefit of a taper. There will be race day excitement. But I won't be running with Alex or Jonathan like my other marathons. I haven't been weight training this cycle. Mentally I still have questions about my IT band. I also have the recent bad experience of walking it in at my last marathon and 30K. This is acknowledgement of weakness and "makes it okay" to shut it down if I'm not having my best day.
I still don't know exactly what my goal time is going to be but expect it to fall somewhere between 3:40 and 3:20. There's less than 3 weeks of hard work remaining before training shifts to the nerve whacking taper. I'll find my goal over that time.
PRE RUN
1/2 Clif bar & water
POST RUN
chocolate milk, multivitamin, water, & GrapeNuts w/skim milk |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 5.71 | 2.67 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.38 |
| OBJECTIVE
8 mi. w/9 x 2 min.@ 6:40/mi. & 2 min. active recovery
ACHIEVED
8.38 mi.@ 8:43/mi.
WU 2.42 mi.@ 9:27/mi.
7:10/ (dodging 4 abreast joggers/walkers in the dark at the top of the trail!)
6:36/
6:30/
6:57/
6:42/
6:46/
6:44/
6:55/
6:32/
CD 1.63 mi.@ 8:42/mi.
5:23 AM 72° 97% 0 mph
I felt wobbly on my feet this morning. A sure reminder I need to continue paying attention to my physical therapy exercises.
I wasn’t mentally into this one until about half way. I didn’t check my watch much at all so I didn’t know how fast or slow the intervals were. I started counting my strides and found that somehow kept me more consistent … so long as I didn’t lose count! Synced up breathing and stride rate by counting 1-2-3-4; 2-2-3-4; 3-2-3-4, …. I would count up 20 reps then start over. Found that I couldn’t ever quite make it through 4 sets before the 2 minutes ended.
After recovering, I felt strong going back to the car at the Y.
PRE RUN
½ Clif bar & water
POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water, multivitamin, granola w/skim milk |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 6.17 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.17 |
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OBJECTIVE3 - 4 mi. Slow
ACHIEVED
6.17 mi.@ 8:41/mi.
4:49 AM 73F 96% 0 mph
Legs felt fine today. This was a good thing following yesterday's intervals and my lethargy late in the day. The way I was feeling also led me to a self-debate about going a little farther than planned. Over the first mile, I debated the merits of flipping today's scheduled run for tomorrow's. Shortly before reaching the turnaround for 4 miles, I decided I'd go for 6. I was feeling fine and figured my legs might deal with Saturday's 20-miler better if Friday's run was 4 rather than 6 (ultimately probably not a big deal). In addition, Nike's "Human Race" 10K is Sunday which I am considering. Monday is Labor Day which I would like to run some. All of this leads to less rest than I'm used to so I figured front-loading a couple miles wasn't a bad idea.
I was up early ... couldn't sleep. Stressed about work, I suppose.
Last night after work, I planned to catch a "training run" for the Nike race. I had scant details ... only start time and location. Long story short - I missed the group by 2 minutes, found out they were going for 5K, got back in my car and drove home. Ahhhh, the joys of living in the 4th largest city in the US. You never really know exactly how long it will take to get somewhere. However, it wasn't a total loss. I got information about the race.
PRE RUN
weight = 160#
1 chocolate macadamia nut & water
POST RUN
chocolate milk, multivitamin, oatmeal w/flax, brown sugar & skim milk
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
| | Add Comment |
| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 4.01 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.01 |
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OBJECTIVE6 - 8 mi. Easy
ACHIEVED
4.01 mi.@ 8:34/mi.
5:29 AM 73F 94% 0 mph
I flipped yesterday's and today's workout so only had 3 - 4 miles for today. I felt fine and took the old Nike+ gear out to get it calibrated just in case I run the Human Race this weekend.
Has anyone else noticed how horrible Nike's website for this event is or is it just me? I think their concept is excellent but the execution via the website is horrific. (I am not a "Nike guy" but on very rare occasion don their apparel.) For that matter, Nike's whole + system of syncing runs online using Apple's iPod is pretty bad too. I consider myself reasonably savvy when it comes it most technology. So it just seems shocking to me that a world-class name like Nike is so inept with their online offerings.
Stepping off my soapbox now ... To rest up for tomorrow's 20-miler.
PRE RUN
weight = 159#
1/2 Clif bar & water
POST RUN
1/2 Clif bar, chocolate milk, multivitamin, steel cut oats w/brown sugar & skim milk
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
| | Add Comment |
| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 18.00 | 0.00 | 2.77 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.77 |
| |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
| | Add Comment |
| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 0.51 | 6.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.71 |
| OBJECTIVE
Rest
ACHIEVED
WU - 0.51 mi.
10K - 47:59
7:13 AM 79° 79% 5 mph
This "race" really wasn't part of the plan. Nike put on a worldwide 10K race today. There were something like 25 race locations around the world. If you weren't able to make it to a race location, you could use your Nike+ gear to record your race information and upload it. That way anyone, anywhere could run. A third, hybrid option presented itself. Finish Line, a running store, hosted the "race" here in Houston. It ended up being two plus loops at Memorial Park and wasn't time. I took my Nike+ gear so I could upload my time. My legs were pretty heavy given yesterday's long run. Therefore, I was planning to run this one around an 8:50/mile pace just to stretch out and experience the event.
Coincidentally I saw Jonathan right before the race started. He was supposed to be in Louisiana for the LSU football game but didn't go due to the hurricane. I ran with him and a couple of his running acquaintances. It was good to have others to take the tour with. Once we got going, I was surprised at how good my legs felt. We ran a nice even pace and I was very happy with how it turned out. Here are my mile splits:
8:00
7:55
8:00
7:50
7:49
7:16
1:06 (0.18 mi.) = 6:14/mi.
So this effectively turned into a long, slow tempo run ... ???
Disappointingly, the race shirts in my size were gone when I got there. Each runner got a shirt before the race with a unique "race number" printed on the shirts. Everyone wore their shirt for the race. It was pretty cool ... at least a good photo op for Finish Line and Nike. I ended up with a different Human Race shirt of the same bright red color.
More than ever, I believe Nike has an excellent idea with this race but the execution leaves much to be desired.
PRE RUN
weight = 159#
water, GrapeNuts cereal & skim milk
POST RUN
Clif bar & Gatorade |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
| | Add Comment |
| | Easy Miles | Threshold Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Track speed mileage | Hill mileage | Total | | 153.80 | 13.65 | 2.77 | 0.00 | 16.47 | 186.69 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | |
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