No Mo becomes Go Go then turns to Uh Oh

I had NO MOtivation to go out for my long run today. I got a late start due to a late night and I knew I'd be running alone. There is a 25K race tomorrow as part of the Houston Marathon prep series that is the perfect distance for me right now and I'm sure I'd run better under race conditions but I decided against the Sunday morning race.

I was scheduled for 15 miles at an 8:28 pace. I pulled up all of the 15-mile routes that we ran as a group during the summer. I found one that looked good and downloaded it to my Garmin. I think it was one of Randy's scenic routes that had a leg through the exclusive River Oaks neighborhood. Before setting out, I also analyzed last Saturday's 13 miler. I broke the run into mile segments and threw out the fastest and slowest miles. I then took the range of my slowest and fastest remaining miles. Then I overlaid the range onto my target pace of 8:28. From there, I broke the range into 15 segments and designated each segment as the targeted split for each mile of today's run. My goal was to run negative splits for the entire 15 miles. WARNING: This methodology has no basis in anything that I've read or heard of. The approach is just something I came up with myself that I thought might help me start slower and finish faster.

After driving to Memorial Park, I got started a little before 7:30 am (late for me on a Saturday). I had to keep slowing myself down at first reminding myself of the negative splits and that I'd need everything I had to finish as planned. I was feeling good and the 73 degree temperature was great. About 2 miles in, I felt a tightness in my right knee but this issue has been with me now for about 10 days so I ignored it and pressed on focused on my negative splits. I stopped a few times for water at the usual locations and thought I was on pace for the splits. The back half of the run became more difficult but somehow I managed each mile to step it up and hit the goal time or better. The further I made it the better I felt about actually finishing it off. Long story; short - I had one of the best 13-mile runs I've ever had. Here are my splits:

9:06
8:56
8:51
8:49
8:42
8:38
8:34
8:31
8:23
8:21
8:14
8:10
8:12

So with the exception of the last mile (by 2 seconds), I had done it! Of course, this was "gamed" a little bit by starting so slowly but I was on pace for the 8:28/mile pace that the training program required, it wasn't going to be easy but seemed attainable.

I'm not sure how to describe what happened next other than to say after stopping for a light on the Waugh Street Bridge, it felt like someone had jammed a knife into the side of my right knee! I tried walking it out for a bit, determined to loosen it up and finish this good run I was having. When I started running again, it just wasn't happening. My run was reduced to a jog then a walk. I alternated walking and jogging but the knee just felt worse. In this manner, the last 1.60 miles were finished at an 11:00/mile pace.

Needless to say this was very frustrating.

My right knee has had a few "flare ups" over the past 10 days but I really couldn't attribute it to anything specific. After researching the Internet later in the day, I'm convinced I'm suffering from iliotibial band syndrome (see also ITBS). I probably shouldn't continue running until I get this situation under control but I doubt I'll take that advice ... for now. I'm going to try to find a strap that's supposed to help. There's another one here.

There are also some exercises that are supposed to help build muscular strength that takes some pressure off the IT band while running.

I've been flippant about running injury free up to this point. It's frustrating but it looks like this is something I'm going to have to work with. Hopefully it's easily dealt with and doesn't become chronic.

800 Intervals

I thought I hit all my target times this morning but the trusty (???)
Garmin indicates otherwise.

I was surprised to wake up at 4:15 this morning after travelling back
from Vegas yesterday and going to bed around 10:30. But I was awake
and began running at 4:30. It was cool this morning ... not too cool
but close. I need to look into getting some tights for the upcoming
change in season. I think I'll need them in Utah for the Thanksgiving
5-miler too.

The schedule called for:

1 mile warm up
4 x 800 @ 3:07 (with 2 minute rest interval)
10 minute cool down

I ended up with:

1.5 mile warm up (I took Louetta straight to the high school track since there was very little traffic. I would never try this at any other time of day!)

3:13
3:03
3:05
3:07

2.0 mile cool down

I'm surprised the Garmin has 3:13 for the time of the first 800. When running intervals, I've adapted an approach wherein I wear my Garmin to track the workout. On my right wrist, I wear my Ironman. I set it for a repeating timer with an alarm for desired split times. This allows me to know how I'm doing while running the interval. This morning I set the alarm for 1:33 which is what I wanted each 400 of the 800 to be. I would know by where I was on the track when the alarm sounded if I was ahead of or behind "schedule". By the Ironman, I thought I hit the first interval right on. The Garmin obviously disagrees with me on that point.

I did focus on not starting out too fast. With last week's intervals, I hit my target time for the first one but didn't get down to it again ... every one was slower. Today I wanted the first 800 to be a little slow or right on 3:07 at the fastest. I was hoping to conserve energy for the later 800's. This approach seemed to work well for me today as evidenced by my subsequent times. It's no secret that I get too giddy at the beginning of my runs and waste a bunch of energy going too fast, too early. I'm going to work on getting away from that approach since I think it's counterproductive.

I also decided that I'm going to count Monday's run in Las Vegas as my tempo run this week. I know the time wasn't as fast as the tempo run was supposed to be and the distance was further. But that run was in the neighborhood of what I was supposed to run and I don't think I'll have a chance to "catch up" and still get the proper between-workout rest.

I've got 15 on the schedule for Saturday.

6 Miles in the City of Broken Dreams

I'm in Las Vegas for an industry tax conference. I don't really enjoy these events nor do I like enjoy Vegas .... So as a diversion/excuse to "get away", I brought my running shoes and gear. I looked up running routes on the web and was able to find a 12 mile loop just off the Strip. Since my "body clock" is still on Central Daylight Time (the change from daylight to standard time was early AM yesterday) and Las Vegas is now Pacific Standard Time, I woke up early this morning. I laced 'em up, strapped on my Garmin, and was ready to run from Bally's where I'm staying.

It turned out to be an interesting run. I had no goal for pace or distance. The only reason I even wore the Garmin is out of habit and so I could upload the run when I get back home. I did think that if everything worked out okay that I'd try to go for about an hour.

I was directionally disoriented at the start and went a few blocks before figuring that out. But I got turned around and back to the Strip, in front of Bellagio, and on my way to crossing the freeway overpass. I was surprised that I saw several runners out this morning. The air was cool and dry. It was refreshing weather in what I view as a depressing city. The run was stop-and-go at times as I dodged traffic, checked my map, and tried to figure out where to go when the sidewalk ended. But since I wasn't running for a pace or time, none of this mattered today. I was just happy to get out. The dry air was absolutely awesome! I wonder if it feels this good to others who run in these conditions? I ended up running a huge square. It got a little dicey coming back under a freeway overpass with no sidewalk or right-of-way. Fortunately the morning traffic wasn't too heavy at the time. I also went up a couple flights of stairs to get over a skywalk then back down again.

Overall, the run was a nice start to what I expect to be a long day sitting on a conference room.

The result ... not that it matters ....

6.35 miles @ 8:23/mile

Training Schedule: Nov 5 - 11

This week is going to be tricky since I'm traveling to Las Vegas for a seminar but I'm determined to get it in! I may mix up the order depending on the opportunities.

#1: 1M WU; 4x800(3:07) 2 min. RI; 10 min. CD
#2: 1M easy; 5M @ 7:43; 1M easy
#3: 15M @ 8:28