Gerrymandering for LSD

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

Regular 6

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.

Too Fast for Recovery

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

Ragged Intervals

OBJECTIVE
8 mi. w/ 9x2 min.@ 6:40/mi. & 2 min. jog

ACHIEVED
8.21 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 RUN
FRS & 1/2 Clif bar

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water, multivitamin, oatmeal w/flax, brown sugar & skim milk

A Really Good Run

OBJECTIVE
4 - 6 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 octanes 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 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

Mixed Review

OBJECTIVE
3 - 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

Training Schedule: Aug 17 - 23

Sun. Rest
Mon. 3 - 4 mi. Easy
Tue. 6 - 8 mi. Slow
Wed. 8 mi. incl. 9 x 2 min.@ 6:40 w/2 min. jog
Thu. 3 - 4 Easy
Fri. 6 - 8 mi. Slow
Sat. 18 mi. pickup last 4 mi.