Saturday, April 5, 2008

Blew Up!

OBJECTIVE
20 mi. @ 8:20

ACHIEVED
18.95 mi. @ 8:53

9:48 AM 60° 80% 8 mph

Ran a new route from Memorial Park along the Bayou into Downtown then looped the Bayou a couple times on the way back to the Park.

I started slowly because I really wanted to get the miles. Everything went well through 15 miles then the wheels fell off. I covered Mile 15 in 7:56 which was my fastest mile then stopped at the fountain at the Sabine Bridge. When I started again, it just wasn't happening! My left ITB hadn't bothered me until this point and my left ankle was becoming a problem too. I gutted out another 3 miles back along the Bayou and was committed to finishing this run. But it wasn't to be. With only a couple miles to go, I started alternating running and walking then finally decided that I might be hurting myself too much to keep running. I walked it back and wasn't happy about it. This run had started so well and ended so poorly.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

DURING
2 GU packets and 20 oz. Accelerade

POST RUN
SlimFast & water

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Will's Hills

OBJECTIVE
8 mi. total including 4x1600@6:34 w/800 recovery

ACHIEVED
WU .64 mi.
.95 mi.(6:11) [.60 mi.(5:32)] .96 mi.(6:37)
5 "W"'s : 1.43 mi@9:19 (HILLS!)
CD .80 mi.

5:35 AM 71° 86% 4 mph

Jonathan introduced me to the Will's Hills group and routine this morning. This ended up being a really good workout for me but I wasn't very optimistic to start out. After a warm up jog, we ran 2 one-mile intervals. It was still quite dark in some areas along the trail which caused me to be a bit tentative. I also found myself holding back since I was uncertain about the energy requirements of the 5 "W"'s. In the simplest terms, a "W" consisted of starting at the top of the hill at Shepherd and Memorial. From the top, it was down then back up 3 times while moving diagonally across the face of the hill. It was a tough workout! I found myself somewhere in the middle of the pack of about 14 runners with the group with morning. The hills brought out a little "burn" in my legs.

After finishing the "W"'s, we cooled down over the 3/4 mile back to the parking lot. Some of the group hung around for conditioning and stretching exercises. Jonathan and I joined the group. This was really good for me even though my form on some of the movements was pitiful!

From there, we followed Jonathan by car to his new house. After cleaning up for work, he grabbed a quick breakfast and he shared a very good smoothie concoction with me.

This was a really good workout for me and I felt great about it throughout the morning. I think the guy running Will's Hills is running the Boston Marathon and won't be with the group for a while but informal sessions will continue so I think I'll make Wednesday mornings my day with them (they meet M, W, and F). I really appreciate Jonathan putting me on to this group and making his facilities available.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast & Accelerade
Later, oatmeal w/brn. sugar & milk; smoothie

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Tour de Bayou, Part I

I didn't know what to expect going into the first leg of today's Tour de Bayou. Throughout the day, I really didn't feel like running it tonight. But finally decided to at least go check it out.

The Tour de Bayou is a 5-leg series of cross country races with distances ranging from 5K to 8K. The races are held Tuesdays at 6 pm at various locations around Houston.

Tonight's leg ended up being 2.77 miles at Spotts Park. The course was an "out-and-back out-and-back", went up and down 5 hills, and was all on grass. The recent rains created a heavy bog in one area and I noticed people losing their shoes in it on my first pass.

Not knowing exactly what to expect and "not feeling it", I started slow. I decided to just run this one on "feel". I didn't have my Garmin and I wasn't up to "racing" so it was just going to be a cruise around the course.

I ended up with 22:43 (self-timed) and 20th place. Jonathan Bennett, who I met up with before the race, ran well and finished in 10th.

I suppose the plan is to catch the next 4 legs of this event. Cumulative standings are kept so maybe I can move up before it's all over.

Monday, March 31, 2008

4 Easy Miles

OBJECTIVE
4 mi. @ 8:20/mi.

ACHIEVED
4 mi. @ 8:18/mi.

Garmin was out of commission again this morning. My legs were a little tight this morning and I wasn't sure my left IT band was going to cooperate. The IT band was painful for the first mile but evolved to a dull ache. It was misty/lightly raining this morning. My cardio feels okay. It's just the "muscle fitness" (certainly an unscientific term!) that seems to be a problem.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
Slim Fast, multivitamin, Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Easy (theoretically!) 6 Miles

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. : no pace

ACHIEVED
6.48 mi. @ 9:19/mi.

This was a tough run. I kept pulling the pace back so as not to aggravate my left IT band. I was happy to get this one in. Mileage-wise, it looks like I'm heading for a problem with my marathon preparations.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast & water