Beautiful Morning

OBJECTIVE
12 - 13 mi. Easy

ACHIEVED
12.43 mi.@ 8:20/mi. (Garmin went a bit haywire for about 10 minutes while we were downtown. Probably caused time and distance to be off ~5-8%.)

6:09 AM 59° 85% 3 mph

It was a really nice morning. As is usually the case, it was good to get back together with the group. This morning's version consisted of: Laurie, Stephanie, Stuart, Josh, Randy, Jonathan and me.

The course took us from Memorial Park along the bayou to the George R. Brown Convention Center then back along the opposite side of the bayou before taking a loop around the park. It was still dark going out along the bayou and there was still hurricane/flooding debris around so that was a bit treacherous. Thankfully, everyone made it through without incident.

I was sluggish. I ate way too much, way too late last night as I was entertaining a consultant who was in town for a couple Continental events. Fortunately, a couple coworkers joined me. The food was good and the conversation okay. But it took me off my game a bit for today's run ... I think.

I also think we're generally running our recovery runs too fast. Just like last Saturday our pace was a bit faster than necessary. But the weather is good and everyone seems to be feeling okay. Although it's overtly acknowledged that we're all still "recovering".

The though occurred to me that this is about the time my ITB first gave me a problem last year. I need to be cautious right now as I suspect I'm ripe for an injury.

PRE RUN
water, GrapeNuts w/1% milk

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water & RockitFuel w/cinnamon sugar & 1% milk

Coming Out of Hibernation

OBJECTIVE
4 mi. Slow

ACHIEVED
4.03 mi. @ 9:03/mi.

4:19 AM 73° 94% 6 mph

I have not run since Saturday. That's a long stretch from what I'm used to. My legs have been feeling a bit tweaked so I figured now is a good time to give them a break. Saturday's run with the group was probably a bit too fast coming off the marathon the previous weekend. This is also the time that I injured myself last year. Looking back, I think it was my exuberance from the marathon result and over-eagerness to start training for another. I'm feeling much the same this year as last. I need to be careful here. I'm worried about losing fitness but at the same time know my body needs an opportunity to recover.

I'm now trying to sort out my next running objectives. All I need is to do is to shave 7 minutes off my marathon time and I'm going to Boston. I figure I'm roughly 500 focused training miles and a good race day from accomplishing it.

So, I can look for an April/May marathon (NOT Ogden - unfavorable course) and mess around with some shorter distances for a couple months before the training cycle begins .... Or, I can get geared up to make a go of it in January. Pros and cons attach to either approach. Houston is closed in January but Phoenix is on the same day with a good course and predictable weather. That would be my January marathon. Training through the holidays would be tough but I'm confident I can do it. However, I'm not sure this approach gives my body enough rest. The bigger hurdle is Cameron. It's his junior year and I'm his off-season baseball training partner. His training cycle starts in November. I've got to be there for him so this becomes my number one priority. I had thought this was the deal breaker for a January marathon. But I'm thinking there could be some training overlap and that it might work. I'm still sorting all of this out but hope to have it resolved by the end of next week. I really need an objective to motivate my training.

Today's run was slow. My legs felt a little sluggish but I felt fine once it was over.

PRE RUN
weight = 154
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
water, multivitamin, & Kashi GoLean cereal w/1% milk