10 Mile Tempo Run !?!!!?!!!?!?!

Met with members of ChampionsFit this morning at 5:45 am. The group was scheduled for 12 miles but broke into different groups for shorter distances and varied paces.

I ended up with Bob Bond, an experienced runner and marathon veteran. He was running 10 miles which sounded good to me.

I felt good the first couple miles and we were on a pace around 8:10. The conversation was good and Bob was a smooth and efficient machine. It was great to be with someone who was such good runner.

I was really feeling beat with a couple miles to go. I suggested he drop me if he needed to but he stayed with me for awhile longer offering encouragement. With something around a mile left he slowing pulled away from me.

I finished the 10 miles in 1:22:44 for an 8:16 pace! This was only 10 seconds off last Saturday's race pace for the half ... minus the hills plus high humidity. I am happy with the effort ... now it's over!

I look forward to running with Bob again. I need to put together next week's training schedule.

Fort Bend Fit Trail Run

Clocked a 36:06 run through the trails with Jonathan and Audrey's Fort Bend Fit group. It was a challenging run. They said the route we took was 4 miles.

After the run, Jonathan shared with Kenyan Way post-workout core exercises with me. Nothing like a little ab work to make me feel pathetically weak and generally uncoordinated!

It sounds like Cameron is going to run the Astros 5K on Saturday and I'll go on an early morning long run with ChampionsFit. There's a 5K on Utah early Monday morning that we may do if our travel plans come together to go to the Jazz-Spurs Game 4 on Monday.

Belated Weekly Training Schedule

Okay, I know I'm late with this. I'm also late getting my full race report posted too.

I'm calling this week my "reverse taper". I haven't seen the term used anywhere else (although it seems rather obvious). Hal Higdon does call it "Zero Week". He suggests following the same routine as the week leading into the event - only in reverse. Seems like sound advice so I'm going with it ... with some modification and the name change from Zero Week to Reverse Taper.

Sunday - rest

Monday - rest

Tuesday - easy recovery run; 2-3 miles @ 9:48

Wednesday - rest

Thursday - 4 mile trail run
(Jonathan & I will hook up with Audrey from PIM and Fort Bend Fit on the Ho Chi Mihn Trail. Hopefully I don't sprain an ankle!)

Friday - rest

Saturday - long run with Champions Fit
(the group is going 12M ... not sure I'll stay with them for the full run but I'll get at least 8M.)


I figure this approach will get my feet back under me.

With the half marathon behind me, I've got to refocus myself and put a few goals on the horizon. The St. George marathon in October is obviously the next big event that I'll be training for. However, I want to mix in a couple short-term goals along the way. I'm toying with an intense, 4-week speed focus before undertaking the full marathon program. The speed group Stephanie Burlet runs with meets on Tuesdays. I think I'll try that for awhile. I'd love to knock out 5K and 10K PR's (I know the weather isn't conducive but I don't necessarily have to race in Houston, do I?) before fully dedicating to myself to marathon training. I also still have to figure out which marathon program I'm going to commit to. I don't want to be changing up along the way. The Runners World plan I used for the half worked but I'm wondering if there's something better. I also expect to formally join ChampionsFit for the July session. Although it may not be the perfect fit, it is clearly the most convenient.

Back on my Feet

I still have some soreness throughout my legs but felt significantly better when I woke up this morning compared to the past couple of days!

Put in an easy loop at Memorial. I took it very slow (like a good recovery run should be!).

2.9 miles
28:29