Easy 4 Miles

OBJECTIVE
4 miles @ 8:25

ACHIEVED
4.00 miles @ 8:28 (33:53)

Went for an easy 4 miler this morning. My legs felt good. The upcoming week should be interesting. I'm back into my training schedule after last week's "pull back". I'm scheduled for 7 miles Monday, a tough tempo run on Wednesday, and a 16-miler on Saturday. I suspect I'll get the weekday runs in the morning before work and I'm planning on trying Will's Hills with Jonathan Wednesday morning.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast & Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

Run The Woodlands 5K #197

OBJECTIVE
5K : challenge January's 20:37 PR

ACHIEVED
5K : 20:12 (unofficial)

8:00 AM 52° 97% 0 mph

I wasn't planning on racing today but my 15-year old son mentioned last night that he wanted to run The Woodlands 5K this morning. He's been running the two-mile event this track season (when it doesn't conflict with baseball) so I fully expected him to beat me today. But I wasn't going to go down without a fight! I didn't sleep well last night and didn't feel too good this morning before the race.

Amazingly, I felt great for the first half of the race. I forgot to bring my Garmin so I didn't know my pace. I was just running with my Timex Ironman. I think Cameron must have misjudged the distance because I passed him between 1 and 1.5 miles into the race. It felt like I was pushing the pace just about right. An amazingly efficient female runner passed me around 2 miles. Her stride was short but her turnover was very fast. She rolled past me. I tried to hang with her for a while but she methodically stretched the gap as I started breaking down. I think she was the same person who passed around the same point when I ran this race back in January.

I checked my watch and figured that I was going to have a chance of breaking 20:00 if I pushed it. So I did. But, in the end it wasn't enough. I didn't hear my time called out at the finish but had 20:12 on my watch. They usually post the results so I'll watch for the official time later.

My finish was good enough for 6th place overall. Cameron was about 20 - 25 seconds behind me in 9th place.

I was supposed to run 7 miles today so I'll either get 4 more miles later today or first thing in the morning.

PRE RUN
water & GrapeNuts w/skim milk

POST RUN
water & SlimFast

Run Home from the Office

OBJECTIVE
8 mi. @ 8:25/mi.

ACHIEVED
9.77 mi. @ 8:28/mi.

6:45 PM 66° 31% 14 mph

Okay, I've been wanting to try this run for a long time. Ironically, I live a little over 26 miles from the office where I work. There happens to be a Park and Ride for bus commuters a little over half way from my house. For a little less than a year now, I've thought I'd like to park my car at the bus stop, ride the bus to work in the morning then run back to the bus stop after work. I've plotted several different routes to accomplish this. Now that daylight savings time is here and my fitness allows for it, I figured I'd give it a try today.

I was a bit eager at the outset as I wound my way out of downtown. I decided to just let my watch run continuously rather than mess around with stopping and starting it at every traffic light along the way (there ended up being many!). It was a very nice evening and I felt pretty good. A few people that I had talked to about attempting this run in the past didn't think it was a good idea since I'd be running alone and if anything happened there wouldn't be an easy or obvious contingency plan. This is a big part of the reason I hadn't tried this run before now.

The first 5 miles went well. The route was new so I was wide-eyed. The evening was beautiful as the sun was setting. The last 3 miles were tough. It was one long stretch along a "feeder road" (something I didn't know about until moving to Houston 8 1/2 years ago). The shoulder was 4" to nonexistent in some places. The traffic - while only one-way - was moving close to freeway speed. While I didn't ever feel in imminent danger, there were times that the sidewalk did seem the safest of places - especially as a began to get darker.

The smells from ethnic restaurants along the way were great! I also saw and heard a woman playing her guitar and singing on her porch. It was fun.

The shortcomings of the run were the traffic and running on sidewalks. I think I'll try this again but will probably look for alternate routing to keep me on some quieter streets along some sections of the run.

Although the last three miles were particularly tough, I felt great after stretching and driving the rest of the way home. Chalk one up for reducing my carbon footprint today (he said, tongue-somewhat-in-cheek).

PRE RUN
granola bar & water

During the run, I ate 1/2 Clif bar and drank about 16 oz. H2O

POST RUN
SlimFast

On Tired Legs

OBJECTIVE
8 mi. @ 8:25/mi.

ACHIEVED
8.00 mi. @ 8:17/mi. (1:06:26)

7:06 AM 70° 81% 15 mph

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, oatmeal 2/skm mlk & brn. sugar; multivitamin; water

Easy Miles

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. : easy pace

ACHIEVED
5.53 mi. @ 9:09/mi. (50:40)

6:05 AM 55° 72% 6 mph

Just looking to stretch it out and get a few easy miles this morning. I was experiencing some soreness from yesterday's effort. I also must have been sleepwalking (sleeprunning?) because I turned too early on my six-mile route and inadvertently cut it 1/2 too short.


PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast

Late Entry

OBJECTIVE
10K race : 45 - 46 min.

ACHIEVED
10K @ 7:15/mi. (44:58)

At the last minute I decided to enter the Houston Eye Associates Lookin' Good 10K this morning. I found myself more apprehensive about this race than most others I've been in (except maiden voyages at new distances). I think it's because I was using this race as a "fitness check". Would my knee hold up? Where does my conditioning stand at the moment? ... just a bunch of questions like these were churning through my head.

I targeted 46:09 as my goal time. Why such a specific time? Well, the "equivalent" calculators equate a 3:30:00 marathon (my goal for Ogden) as a 46:09 10K. (Side note: these calculators haven't always been very reliable in my case.)

Of course, I ran the equivalent 10K time for a 3:20:00 marathon (my Boston qualifying time)... 43:36.

So, I set 45:00 - 46:00 as a solid range to work toward. I thought I should be able to "cruise" to a 46. I also figured I'd run negative splits in an effort to put less stress on my body.

Okay ... so with that background off I went.

As usual, I went out too fast. It didn't help that the 10K course was a double-loop of the 5K course and the 5K and 10K started together. I tried to reign it in but really couldn't. I knew this would cause a problem later.

I wasn't feeling particularly good or bad. Just running. I decided that I like this course. I ran it last year as a 5K. It was the second race after I started running last year. I ran it with my son, Cameron. I remember discovering the benefit of even splits in that race. I was ultimately thrilled to clock a 24:32 last year. Interestingly, today's first 5K was 22:34; the second 5K was 22:35.

I tried to settle in was I made the return trip of the second loop. I gave myself a thorough session of self-talk about how I couldn't get sucked into kicking with those who were running the final stretch of the 5K. Fortunately, I didn't end up around any crazy, strong kickers. After making the turn, the field really thinned out. There were a couple of guys ahead of me who had picked up water. I passed both of them but the second guy wasn't going to let me leave him. We passed a couple others going out the 4.5 mile (approx.) turn around. Shortly thereafter, he came up to pass me. We ran side by side for 300-400 meters. There always comes a decision time in every race. This was it for me. I was questioning whether I had much left. I was feeling somewhat fatigued. So the easy choice was to let this guy go. The more difficult option was to stay with him. I thought I was clever in taking a hedge. I've never done this before but have read about the elites and some of the "super" bloggers at www.fastrunningblog.com who run at the front and finish in the money will oftentimes "work together". I decided to propose it to the guy I was running with. I said, "I'm going to fall in behind you if you don't mind." He said, "Not a problem. You've been helping me." I said, "If it's becomes a problem just let me know." He said, "No problem." I said, "Maybe if we work together we can go pick off a couple others ahead of us."

So I fell in just off his shoulder. This was a tremendous help. I don't know the degree of the physical benefit but the psychological advantage was huge. My new friend was running strong and picked up the pace. I doubt I would have had the resolve to the this on my own but since I was "in the trailer he was pulling", I just went for the ride. It was great. I looked at my watch. We had covered a about a mile together and increased the pace. We were reeling in a couple of runners in front of us. I decided to kick with 1/2 mile left. I figured if I could pass the closest runner, he might make the mistake of trying to go with me. I thought I might have a huge drop off but maybe I could hold him off and soften him up for my partner. I told my new friend that I was going early but I was sure that I wouldn't have enough to sustain it. He said, "Go for it!" So with about .45 left, I broke. I reeled in the guy ahead quickly. He didn't try to stay with me. My partner didn't let the gap between us get too wide. There was now one more runner ahead that we had a chance to beat. I'd spent too much with my burst and just before the 6 mile marker, my buddy passed me and said, "Come on. We have to pass her!" He was strong, went hard and made the pass. She picked it up and tried to hold him off. If decided I could recover later and that there was no use saving anything. With one last burst, I went hard. I passed the female runner that we'd reeled in together. I think he softened her up by kicking past her and she tried to stay with him. Now the thought crossed my mind that I could catch and pass my buddy. I went for it but he was strong and held me off as I run out of room to get him. I consoled myself that this wasn't bad for not doing any speed work for several weeks ... maybe it's been months now!

My splits:

7:08/7:15/7:27/7:22/7:23/6:55 (1:36 for .25 mile)

My knee was fine. No problems. My fitness was a little lacking but I now feel like I'm on track for 3:30 in Ogden. I've got 2 months ... if I work hard and get quality workouts, I could have the chance for something faster.

PRE RUN
Earlier, GrapeNuts w/skim milk; water
Clif bar and water

POST RUN
ham & cheese kolache & water; SlimFast

Rollin'

OBJECTIVE
3 mi. : no pace

ACHIEVED
3.06 mi.@8:15 (25:13)

4:57 AM 43° 93% 0 mph

It was cool this morning. I felt pretty good. I know I'm not really doing high volume doubles and I'm just barely into it but it seems there's something to this approach. They say it's easier to get miles and it seems to be true in my extremely limited experience so far. It also seems less stressful on the body.

PRE RUN
water & Panda licorice

POST RUN
SlimFast & multivitamin
Later, GrapeNuts w/skm mlk

Second Run for the Day

OBJECTIVE
3 mi. : no pace

ACHIEVED
2.9 mi. @ ???/mi. [no watch ... estimated pace 8:15-20]

7:30 pm

Stopped at Memorial Park for a loop on my way home. I'm very happy about the time change to Daylight Savings Time. The extra hour of daylight is great. The park was busy. It's been quite awhile since I've been down there. I saw Joe Oviedo going the opposite direction and yelled out a "hello" as he passed.

I felt pretty good.

PRE RUN
nothing

POST RUN
chocolate milk & 2 small hamburgers

Another Good Run

OBJECTIVE
3 mi : no pace

ACHIEVED
3.01 mi @ 8:03/mi. (24:15)

5:04 AM 52° 89% 1 mph

Everything felt good today. My legs were feeling "heavy" yesterday after but it was the "good" heavy. Don't know how to explain it other than it feels like my fitness is returning.

I picked up a book by Lance Armstrong's trainer - Chris Carmichael. It's called Food for Fitness: Eat Right to Train Right. I'm looking forward to getting into this one. It's 414 pages and seems very detailed. The overall concept appears to be based on periodization which follows an endurance athlete's training cycle periodization.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast & multivitamin
Later, cracked wheat w/ brown sugar & skim milk

Knock On Wood

OBJECTIVE
3 mi. : no pace

ACHIEVED
3.03 mi. @ 8:00 min./mi. (24:13)

5:12 AM 56° 88% 4 mph

Started out slow today. Felt fine. In fact, I'm a bit paranoid to say that I felt good because it's been so long since I've felt this way and I suppose I'm superstitious ... just don't want something bad to happen. I just need to keep the momentum now that everything seems to be moving in the right direction.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
multivitamin & water
Later, Kashi GoLean cereal & skim milk

Just Tryin' to Get Miles

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. : no pace

ACHIEVED
6.06 mi. @ 8:25 (51:04)

7:53 PM 62° 70% 15 mph

All I wanted to do was get a few miles. The wind was blowing in my face pretty hard on the return trip. This run seemed harder than it should have been.

PRE RUN
nothing

POST RUN
Clif bar & water
Later, Grape Nuts cereal w/skim milk

Knee is Okay Today

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. : no pace

ACHIEVED
6.2 mi.@8:07 (50:19)

6:55 AM 34° 79% 0 mph

This morning was uneventful ... which was nice for a change. My knee wasn't 100% but it was okay. My overall fitness seems lacking which isn't a surprise at this point. The temperature was unseasonably cool but actually felt refreshing.

Looking forward to the next run and hopeful that this is the start of a good, strong run of training.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water


POST RUN
Kashi GoLean cereal with skim milk

Stretching Out ... My Leg; Not the Distance!

OBJECTIVE
3 mi. : no pace

ACHIEVED
3.01 mi. @ 8:10 min./mi. (24:37)

4:53 AM 51° 91% 0 mph

Frustratingly, my left knee is still having a problem. My training schedule called for a track workout of mile repeats yesterday but given the way my knee was feeling I knew that wouldn't be prudent. So I didn't run in the morning and planned on an evening run. I figured I'd just go out and get an easy 3 - 5 miles but, like the past few days, the knee seems to get worse throughout the day while I'm sitting at my desk. I've tried getting up frequently and walking but that hasn't seemed to help. By the time I got home from work I scrapped the idea of a run. And, I've essentially scrapped my training program ... for the time being. I've got to figure out a way to get my knee feeling better. I believe the problem stems from inconsistent training during the weeks I was extremely busy at work. I think I lost the benefit of what little base I had built up. I'm not quite back to "square one" but it feels like it! This isn't a nice place to be with 72 days remaining before the Ogden marathon and my attempt at 3:30.

So I've concocted a training plan that I hope gets me back on track. Since I broke down around 7-8 miles during my last two long runs of 10 and 16 miles, I not going to go long this weekend and probably next. Instead I'm going to get my miles by attempting doubles. I'm going to start real easy ... 3 miles in the morning and 3 at night with no set pace. I'll see how my body responds. I'll take Friday and Sunday off for recovery. I'm not sure about Saturday but I'm toying with 6 miles in the AM and 6 in the PM. If my body (and mind) can hold up, I'll be getting around 40 miles per week. After a couple weeks, I'm hopefully back on track. Hopefully this isn't one of those approaches that end up being much better in theory than practice!

Today's 3 miles were uneventful. The knee has not happy at the start but started loosening up after about 1/2 mile. I started pretty slow and never really pushed the pace. Over the last mile, I tried something I read yesterday about leaning forward. The suggestion was made to lean "from the ankles". This seemed like a good idea and it felt pretty good too. I just can't sustain it for very long. I think this approach is better than mine of trying to keep my shoulders over the balls of my feet. This seemed to have me bending at the waist.

As usual, I stretched before and after hoping that will somehow help. It's now been 3 hours since running and my knee actually feels okay. My car is in the shop (about 4 miles away) so at the end of the day, if everything works out, I'll just run over for the office to pick it up.

PRE RUN
Nothing

POST RUN
SlimFast

... How Does it Feel Today ... ?

OBJECTIVE
Easy Run 2 mi. @ 8:25

ACHIEVED
2.03 mi. @ 8:07 min./mi. (16:30)

5:13 AM 72° 78% 12 mph

Thankfully my schedule was only for 2 miles today. After Saturday's debacle, I probably should have taken another day off but I'm fearful of falling further behind schedule. So this morning turned out to be a test for my left knee. In summary, it bothered me from the beginning and made it seem is if I wasn't going to be able to continue. But I kept the pace slow until the soreness/pain dissipated around 3/4 mile in. From that point, everything was good but I was still cautious. I've got a good 48 hours now until Wednesday's track workout. Hopefully the knee recovers fully in time for that effort!

PRE RUN
Nothing

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, GrapeNuts w/skim milk

Unmitigated Disaster

OBJECTIVE
Long Run 16 mi. @ 8:25 min./mi.

ACHIEVED
15.64 mi. @ 10:23 min./mi. (2:42:35)

8:24 AM 67° 87% 2 mph

To say this run didn't go well would be a gross understatement! I wasn't feeling particularly motivated this morning but finally made it out. I drove to Memorial Park to use a 16-mile route that the group ran back in July. I was vaguely familiar with the route but had it programmed into my Garmin so I knew where to go.

I didn't feel too good right out of the gate. But after the first mile started feeling better, got into a good rhythm, and picked up the pace. Things were fine through 6 miles. It was a beautiful morning and even my negative thoughts had dissipated. Then my left knee started bothering me. I find it interesting that this is about the exact same distance that it started giving me a problem last Saturday. I just figured I'd "tough it out". After all I only had about 10 miles left (stupid idea!). Somewhere during the seventh mile, I stopped for a quick drink and a good stretch. When I started back up, everything felt fine. I figured I was good to go. But a short time later the knee was giving me trouble again. After arguing with my ego during the eighth mile, I decided I had better shift to the Galloway method of alternately walking and running ... maybe that would help. Soon thereafter I degenerated into mostly walking and when I did run I was reduced to a slow jog due to my throbbing knee. To add insult to injury, I was running alone and wasn't familiar with the area. So although I knew a direct line back to the park and my car would be much shorter, I couldn't risk getting lost in an unfamiliar area so the second half of my planned 16-miler now turned into a hike rather than a run. Fortunately, the knee wasn't much trouble when walking.

This led me to ponder the following question:

Is

A Bad Run > No Run

a true statement?

I decided that a bad run is better than no run if only because it allows me to savor the good days!

Here's the breakdown of my run in by halves:

8.00 mi. @ 8:38
7.36 mi. @ 11:58

This is disappointing and I think it's attributable to the gap in my training when I was working too much during late-January and February. I'll keep working at it. Hopefully the knee is able to recover during my active training.


PRE RUN
Water & oatmeal w/skim milk
ClifBar

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water & slice of cold, cheese pizza

Un-Tempo Run

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. w/ 4 mi. Tempo Run @ 7:05

ACHIEVED
WU 1 mi.; 4 mi. @ 7:17 (29:07); CD 1.13 mi.

4:57 AM 41° 76% 0 mph

I was apprehensive about this run for a couple days. It was my first effort at speed since my latest attempt at a return to fitness.

The warm up went fine. My legs felt okay and my left ITB was only hinting of any issue. The first mile of my tempo effort went fine too. I hit my time but could already feel that making it 3 more miles while holding the pace probably wasn't going to be in the cards. I thought about cutting a mile off the run but convinced myself otherwise. If I didn't hit my times at least I'd get my planned mileage for the day.

I was surprised that I held up through the second mile. The run was going better than expected and really better than I was feeling. From there, I really lost the pace. I was running in an unfamiliar area and the streets were windy-er (is that a word?) than I anticipated. I'd tried this route one time before and ended up inadvertently cutting the run short. As I floundered around - both for directions and for pace - I finally emerged from the neighborhood onto a familiar street. I'd given up on looking at my watch and just tried to press it to the end of the fourth mile. It wasn't a surprise that my overall conditioning just wasn't there but it was still disappointing. I made a good push to the end and took some consolation that I didn't cut the run short like I had considered earlier.

My splits:

7:03 / 7:07 / 7:28 / 7:29

Obviously I've got some work to do but at least I'm not starting from scratch. I finished out the run with an easy cool down mile back to the house. I'll monitor my body - primarily legs - to see how I'm feeling after this effort. There's a long run on the schedule for Saturday but I'm going to let my body "tell" me what the right thing to do is.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin, & Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

Hmmmm ....

OBJECTIVE
Easy run 4 mi. @ 8:25 min./mi.

ACHIEVED
4.00 @ 8:10 min./mi.

4:36 AM 55° 50% 17 mph

I took an extra rest day trying to give my legs and more specifically my left ITB a chance to recover from Saturday's long run.

I used my ITB strap expecting the worst. I was pleasantly surprised that I really didn't have any problem with my ITB. My legs felt very fatigued around one mile in but I'm convinced that's just a lack of conditioning. A little over 1.5 miles it started raining and I expected it to burst open but it only lasted a few minutes then stopped. There was lightning dancing across the early morning sky for the rest of the run. The wind was really blowing and I noticed the return trip was more difficult going into the wind. However, once back at the house analyzing my run, I was surprised at my mile splits ... not the speed but the consistency. I was at

8:14 / 8:14 / 8:14 / 7:59

I'm sure I've never hit splits like that even on a tempo run! It was wholly unintentional as I didn't pay much attention to my watch.

I'll see how my legs feel and plan to go out for an aggressive tempo run Thursday morning. That will be the true test of my loss of conditioning and my ITB.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast & multivitamin
Later, water & GrapeNuts w/ skim milk

Ain't No Way to Train ....

OBJECTIVE
10 mi : no pace

ACHIEVED
10.13 mi @ 8:33 min/mi.

6:48 AM 42° 86% 5 mph

I just wrapped up 33 consecutive days in the office including a couple of back-to-back 17 hour days. This has made it incredibly difficult to stay consistent with my training.

I wanted to see how it felt today so rolled out for 10 miles. The first 6 went okay. In fact, I felt quiet strong and comfortable. Just short of 6 miles my left ITB started bothering me and got progressively worse. The pain moved into my calf and became pretty intense. I pressed on through it which I doubt was the right thing to do but I just wanted to finish a run since it's been so long.

I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to reclaim my training plan yet but I intend to ....

PRE RUN
Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk; water, Clif bar

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water

Trying to Find the Tempo

OBJECTIVE
5 miles - 1 mi. WU; 3 mi. tempo@7:05/mi.; 1 mi. CD

ACHIEVED
1.00 mi. WU @ 9:06
3.05 mi. Tempo @ 7:03/mi. (21:30)
1.05 mi. CD @ 9:56

4:40 AM 39° 70% 5 mph

Just wrote a long description of this run which was lost. Don't have time to rewrite.

7:02/7:04/7:03

Run wasn't as good as it looks on paper. I have a hard time finding and holding the 7:05 pace. Pace was all over the board. At one point I was 6:15 which means I either went all the way up to 7:45 OR drifted well-above the desired 7:05 pace for an extended stretch. Need to focus on keeping pace of tempo runs in a tighter range to reap all the benefits of this type of workout. Probably reset the Garmin to .25 or .50 mile lap intervals rather than 1 mile to see if that keeps me on pace. Right now, it seems I'm either "banking" time by going fast at the beginning of each mile or "playing catch up" over the last .50 or .33 in order to "make" the pace. I don't think this is the way tempo runs are supposed to work.

PRE RUN
water & ginger snaps

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water, multivitamin & oatmeal w/brn sgr & skm mlk

Back in the Saddle

OBJECTIVE
Easy 5 mi. @ 8:30

ACHIEVED
5.12 mi. @ 8:19 (42:36)

5:07 AM 52° 97% Fog

Decent run this morning. Felt Saturday's long run a bit. Also, a slight tightness in my left hamstring. It's just a matter of building my fitness back up.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast & multivitamin
Later, Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk; water