Hard 8

I put in an 8 mile long run this morning. There were only 3 ChampionsFit members who met this morning at 6:30. I ran with Len for the first half. We averaged 9:19 for the first four miles. I closed the second 4 miles with an 8:52 pace. It was getting very warm by the time we finished. My legs were heavy today.

8 miles 1:12 for 9:00/M pace

Easy Run ... After the Rain

Things sure were quiet at Memorial Park this evening. A strong, late-afternoon storm rolled through today. I had planned an easy loop but talked myself out of it due to the rain. I figured the trail would be under water and I didn't have my "mudders". But as I went to the parking garage to drive home around 7 pm, the storm had broken. After a brief session of waffling, I quickly changed clothes in the car and decided to at least drive over to Memorial to see what it looked like. Very few people were there and there was water on the trail but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.

I took the tour and added a little extra since I was feeling good.

3.4 miles in 32:03 for a 9:26 pace (the Jack Daniels table I'm currently using suggests I should be at 9:27).

Speed with Doug at Lamar High

Thanks to Stephanie, I met Doug Storey tonight at Lamar High School's track for a speed workout. Doug is a coach who works with dozens of Houston-area triathletes and runners. I'm planning to follow his program for 4-5 weeks and possibly incorporate it in with the ChampionsFit workouts once marathon training begins in earnest.

Tonight's workout for "short distance" (I will conquer my 5K PR!) was 4-6 sets of 2 x 400 with 100 jog between and 300 jog between sets.

I arrived a few minutes late and put in a mile warm up then stretched. Everyone was pretty much on their own but some informal groups were working together. Since I started late I run alone (several other runners were on the track though).

My targeted time for the 400 intervals was 1:44. This is based on the Jack Daniels VDOT values (link). Here are my times:

1:28 1:44
1:38 1:37
1:36 1:36
x:xx 1:40
1:37 1:36
1:35 1:34

I will confess that I may have defeated the benefits of the workout somewhat by walking instead of jogging between 400's. I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to maintain the times if I had jogged ... since walking (and talking to Stephanie and Doug) allowed for a longer recovery. There seems to be wisdom in this approach and I'm looking forward to continuing with it. I appreciate Stephanie for introducing me to Doug.

Frustratingly Close!

Cam and I are in Utah for tonight's Jazz-Spurs playoff game.

We found a 5K to run this morning in Syracuse. Cam clocked a PR and said he felt really good. I didn't feel very and came in at 22:00. One second off my PR. Very frustrating! Of course while running I felt like I gave it my all. But after the fact, I'm absolutely convinced I could have found 2 seconds on the course somewhere if I would have known the end result. I'm sure there's a lesson in all of this. The next time I'm in the situation will determine if I learned it.

Earlier in the week I read that a runner has to have courage to 'go for it'. 'It' can be a PR or anything that will push the limits of your current conditioning. I had not thought about it like this before but believe it's absolutely true. Today I didn't show the courage to go for it. Instead I settled for something less than my best.

Mile splits:

6:31
7:25
7:23
0:41