Misty Moonlight

OBJECTIVE
4 mi. Slow (>8:38/mi)

ACHIEVED
4.06 mi.@ 8:37/mi.

5:32 AM 60F 100% 3 mph fog

It was really foggy this morning. The weather has been strange over the past few days. It looks like a cold and gray, wintery day as I remember them in Utah but there's no snow and the temperatures are too warm.

Aaron joined me again this morning. I was feeling pretty good, given yesterday's intervals. My legs were a little sore but it was ever-so-slight. Our pace was perfect for a recovery run. We'll go for 6 miles tomorrow and then a long 18-20 on Saturday. That will give us 46-48 miles for the week.

PRE RUN
weight = 162#
GrapeNuts w/1% milk

POST RUN
water, multivitamin, lowfat granola w/1% milk

Accompanied on Big Workout

OBJECTIVE
8 mi. w/8x2 min.@ 6:26/mi. & 2 min. recovery

ACHIEVED
8.39 mi.@ 8:39/mi. including:
2.39 mi.@ 8:28/mi.
6:17/6:27/6:17/6:35/6:23/6:29/6:27/6:36 (mile pace for 2 minutes)
2.00 mi.@ 9:04/mi.

5:19 AM 44F 100% 1 mph mist

As usual, this workout became more ominous as it approached. Aaron joined me. This was the first time I've had a partner for the Big Workout. I picked him up at 5 then drove to the Y for my traditional start.

The humidity was so heavy it was like a very light rain. I started out hammering the intervals pretty hard. I'm sure Aaron's presence spurred me a bit. I was surprised as we progressed through the intervals that I was stretching my lead on him even though it seemed the pace of each interval was slowing. In the end, all turned out fine as I was close to the targeted pace. I was disappointed with our pace back after finishing the last interval. It needed to be about 30 seconds faster.

PRE RUN
weight = 161.5
FRS liquid concentrate

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water, multivitamin & 5-grain hot cereal w/1% milk

Unique Way to Cross the Line

I posted links of some ridiculous race photos of myself recently. However, as evidenced by this photo, I'm not the only runner who has done something "crazy" in the heat of competition. This photo is from last weekend's Foot Locker Cross Country Championship in California. The top 15 runners in the event are declared All-Americans. The two runners in the photo are the 15th and 16th to cross the line. Obviously, the "diver" knew that it was between himself and the other runner for All-American status. One would get it while; the other would not. He thought diving would get him across the line faster. Who does it look like got the coveted 15th spot to you? A day after the race, the final results were posted after several reviews of photos and video, a tie for 15th place was declared and both named as All-American's.

I can't see myself ever going "Superman" at the end of a race. But I'll never say never, strange things happen in the oxygen-depleted state near the end of a race!

Crisp, Cool Morning Run

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. Easy (8:08-38/mi.)

ACHIEVED
6.17 mi.@ 8:24/mi.

5:32 AM 36F 96% 6 mph mist

Ran Wimbledon Forest Loop with Aaron. It was cool. Felt okay.

PRE RUN
water, corn flakes w/1% milk

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

Wow! It's Warm

OBJECTIVE
4 mi. Slow (>8:38/mi.)

ACHIEVED
4.03 mi.@ 8:32/mi.

5:25 AM 61F 100% 4 mph mist

It was really warm and humid this morning. I ran sleeveless. After a week, I finally ran with Aaron again.

PRE RUN
weight = 162
water

POST RUN
water, multivitamin, & GrapeNuts w/1% milk

Chasing the Pack

OBJECTIVE
15 mi. Easy w/last 3 mi.@ marathon pace

ACHIEVED
13.76 mi.@ 8:21/mi : no pickup

6:18 AM 55° 88% 5 mph

I am very disappointed that I didn't make it out to California for today's Rose Bowl half marathon. Alex and I had loosely planned to run it (he still is) but I was a last minute scratch due to my lousy cold and the lack of good flight options.

This ended up being a weird run. Stephanie is recovery from her 50K age-group victory last Saturday so it was a recovery run for her. A few other group regulars were out for various reasons. Steph routed an 11-miler. I wanted to try a bit more since I was scheduled for 15. My plan was to run a loop at Memorial Park before the group started at 6:30 AM. However, I stayed up late last night and didn't get to the park ready to run until about 6:10 AM. The loop is 3 miles so off I went after sending them a text message not to wait for me. I figured if I was feeling good, I'd catch up. The feeling good part was questionable based on my the lingering impact of the sickness I've been dragging around with me for the past 3-4 days.

The morning air was cool but comfortable for running. I made my way around the loop in the dark. The park was busy as I'm sure there are a bunch of runners prepping for next month's Houston marathon. There's almost always an "energy" in the park when I run there and this morning was no different. I was running "easy" but still clipping along at an 8:24 pace (it felt much slower). I figured the group had about a 10-minute head start on me. The chase was on. I tried not to think about them somewhere up ahead but invisible forces were pulling me toward them. My pace was faster than it otherwise would have been. After about 4 miles, I started running some numbers in my head and started wondering if I'd even catch them before they finished. I thought they were probably running 8:30 and I was under 8:20 but with those paces the run didn't seem long enough for me to catch them. I tried to stop thinking about it. If I ran alone today that would be fine. Finally at a water stop somewhere around 7 miles into their run, I caught them.

Today it was only Stephanie, Stuart and Randy. It was good to hear Steph's race report from SunMart. She had a fantastic run finishing 6th overall and 1st in her age group ... all of that after falling ... TWICE! ... and finishing the last 8 miles of the 31 miles run while battling severe cramps. Josh also ran and had a good day finishing 4th in his age group.

I was so happy to have caught the group that I bypassed my scheduled pickup for the last 3 miles of my run. I'd expended some energy in catching them and am still generally fatigued from being sick. The pickup can wait for another day .

PRE RUN
FRS liquid concentrate, oatmeal w/brown sugar & 1% milk

POST RUN
2 SlimFast
Later, water, multivitamin, oatmeal w/almonds, flax, brown sugar & 1% milk

Cool Run under the Full Moon

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. Easy (8:08 – 38/mi.)

ACHIEVED
6.15 mi.@ 8:34/mi.

5:12 AM 28° 97% 0 mph

I had a pretty good run this morning. I focused on keeping it easy since I’m still not 100% back from the cold I’ve been battling. It was good to get back at it and hit a decent time. Fortunately, I didn’t feel like I’d lost much – if anything.

Some time ago I read the idea that there are times when you can “run through a sickness” and times that you can’t. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the parameters. The recommendation is along the lines of feed a fever / starve a cold. But I honestly can’t ever remember if it’s feed a fever or starve a fever …etc. I suppose if I had to deal with illnesses on a more regular basis I’d remember these adages better. No, I don’t want to have reasons to remember them!

I’m still not certain what I’ll be doing tomorrow for a run.

PRE RUN
weight = 159.5#
FRS liquid concentrate

POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin, Life cereal w/1% milk

This Looks Worth Watching

Marathon Love airs Sunday, December 14, at 8 PM (ET/PT), on Discovery Health

Rarities

It snowed here Wednesday afternoon and evening. This is only the second snowfall I've witnessed since being in the Houston area since 1999.

The other rare occurrence is that I missed work due to illness (part of the day Tuesday and again part of Wednesday). I think it's just a cold but it's really been kicking my butt. I've had no strength and felt really worn down. Needless to say this preempted my Big Workout on Wednesday (Paige questioned if I was really just avoiding the run since she knows I dread "the Wednesday run" more than any other during the week.) and my Thursday recovery run.

Getting sick has me wondering about my nutrition again. Ever since the marathon in October, I've been fairly sloppy with my eating. For a few weeks it was anything goes. Over the past 5-6 weeks, I've "thought" about it and been kind of careful but have lacked overall discipline. I've justified it by thinking I can get back to it "when I need to". The other issue making it difficult right now is that we're trying to bulk Cameron up for the upcoming baseball season. He drops so much weight while running cross country. It's better for him to carry more weight for baseball. So there's been a ton of food available at the house - with the primary focus on mass calories rather than overall quality. His weight is coming up so that's good for him. Unfortunately, I think Paige and I are following his lead!

Hope to be feeling better and running again soon. I hate losing the days and having to log "zeros". It makes me feel like the prior training is a loss and wasted if I don't stay on plan.

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. Easy (8:08-38/mi.)

ACHIEVED
6.16 mi.@ 8:31/mi.

6:06 AM 72° 83% 7 mph

Since I started late, I went out-and-back to Wimbledon Forest rather than dropping down onto Cypresswood during morning commuting traffic.

I felt okay and tried to keep it “easy”.

PRE RUN
Ginger snap granola w/1% milk, water & 2 mini powdered donuts

POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin, zinc, 5-grain hot cereal w/1% milk

Dana Point Race Pictures ... Ugggggghhhh!

There has been some discussion recently among my Saturday running group about how horrible or ridiculous some of the race pictures are. I really didn't fully appreciate the discussion - as I thought I looked okay in most of my race pictures. That is until now! Here are links to the Dana Point races. I post these only for your amusement! I look horrible!


Dana Point Turkey Trot 10K (disregard the pics from the kids' race their was a kid with the same bib number is I had in the 10K)

You can only begin to appreciate how hard it was raining from these pics!


Dana Point Turkey Trot 5K

The finishing pictures here are ridiculous! Remember this was the race "I wasn't going to kick to the finish" in. You can see that I passed the guys who were in front of me in the picture from my earlier post

The rain stopped shortly after the 10K finished.

Lesson learned: Don't run two races on the same day!

Straggler for a "Short" Long Run

OBJECTIVE
14 mi.@ 8:08-38/mi.

ACHIEVED
~13.7 mi.@ ~8:12/mi (1:52:16) No Garmin today due to "Low Battery"

~6:05 AM ~42° ~78% ~1 mph

Josh and Stephanie ran the Sunmart 50K so they weren't with us for this morning's run. Congratulations to each of them for very strong finishes in that event! Josh took 4th in his age group and 28th overall while Stephanie won her age group by a large margin and was 6th overall. Yes, I am very fortunate to hang with such accomplished athletes.

Today's group included Randy, Laurie, Stacey, Kevin, and me. We started at a slow-ish pace in the cool morning air. My Garmin performed its occasional "Low Battery" routine with me so I was left with my IronMan and no complete data from today's run.

I was okay for about 6-7 miles then I just started feeling worn out. I think it's the two hard races in the last month and the mileage buildup. It didn't feel like things were going to improve so I just focused on holding on. Laurie and I planned to cut it short at 14-15 miles while the others were going for 19-21 miles. When it came time to separate, everyone ended up going back to the park and the others just added on with a loop (or loops) around the park.

My ab/groin injury seemed slightly improved today. It seems that a slow but sure recovery is occurring. Hopefully that trend continues and I can get back to 100%. I'm also hopeful that I will have my legs back under me soon!

PRE RUN
weight = 162#
FRS liquid concentrate & oatmeal w/brown sugar & 1% milk

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

Falling Down on a Cool Morning

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. Easy (8:08 - 38/mi.)

ACHIEVED
6.21 mi.@ 8:34/mi.

5:35 AM 32° 93% 0 mph

It was a cool, clear morning. I wore a long-sleeved tech shirt over a short-sleeved tech shirt, tights, gloves and knit cap. I felt comfortable once I got going.

I stopped at Randall's but Aaron didn't show up for about 10 minutes so I went on without him.

My cardio condition felt stressed today as did my leg muscles. The ab/groin strain is still a problem and seems to be impacting my stride now. The entire left side of my abdominal down to the inside of my left leg feels weak, strained, and sore. Hopefully it improves some over the next 24 hours.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
weight = 160.5#
SlimFast, brown sugar muffin & multivitamin
Later, water, calcium, Vitamins A & D & oatmeal w/flax, almonds, brown sugar & 1% milk

Dana Point 5K Finish

This was taken near the end of the Thanksgiving 5K. I had already run the 10K and wasn't feeling great during this race. I turned it into the tempo run and kept telling myself there wouldn't be any reason to kick at the end ... just take it in at an even pace. Right! As I got closer to the finish, I naturally picked it up. The two guys in front of me in the picture really started picking it up and were dueling with each other. Of course that just spurred me on. As they were in their final dash, I gave an extra effort and pulled up along side. They didn't even see my coming. Once I edged in front, the guy on the left found a little extra in his tank and really put down the hammer. I'm proud to say that I held him off and finished ahead of both of them ... at the wire.

I love the finish line of races!

Still Trying to Recover

OBJECTIVE
4 mi. Slow (>8:38/mi.)

ACHIEVED
4.03 mi.@ 8:46/mi.

5:42 AM 46F 71% 12 mph

I am still feeling beat up from the race last Thursday. My legs are sore but improving. The bigger problem seems to be a lower left abdominal strain that extends down into the groin. I observed this problem last week days before the race. I think it may have resulted from over-aggressive core work while doing a physical therapy session. Racing seems to have aggravated the problem. I suspect kicking the final stretch of the 5K may have been when it occurred. Running two races back-to-back was stupid ... especially after putting done a personal best time in the first race. Note to self: don't do anything like that again! It's now compromising my training.

Aaron is still out of town for the holiday so I ran alone today. He'll be back tomorrow.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
water, multivitamin, brown sugar muffin, 5-grain hot cereal w/brown sugar, flax & 1% milk

Dana Point Turkey Trot

10K
41:56 *** new PR ***
age group: 8 of 189
men: 104 of 1494
overall: 123 of 3179

5K
22:40
age group: no rank due to running in 5K rather than Masters 5K
men: 176 of 1116
overall: 214 of 2334

Met at Alex's house. Drove to Dana Point. Started together in a light rain. I expended a bunch of energy in the first mile weaving through traffic. By Mile 2 it was coming down really hard. I pressed on hoping to be able to hold the pace. Fortune smiled on me and I held up pretty steady to the end. I had a strong kick as I passed several over the last quarter mile.

Another PR in the books and another evidence that a 3:20 marathon is a possibility.

PRE RACE
FRS & Carb-boom

POST RACE
water & Clif bar

Several months ago while eating at a restaurant, the server was surprised by how much water I was drinking. I was none too reluctant to inform him that I had run 20 miles earlier that day. Ever since that day, I haven't been able to live down my eagerness to let him know about my running and particularly my distance for the day.

This video that I saw on a very funny runner's blog reminded me of this incident.

On Heavy Legs

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. easy (8:08-38/mi.)

ACHIEVED
~ 6.17 mi.@ ~8:25/mi. (51:53) Garmin out of commission.

~ 5:30 AM

Ran with Aaron. My legs are still heavy and my lower abs were sore this morning. It was a cool morning; much different than yesterday. We were slow over the distance which is fine with the races coming up on Thursday. Hopefully I'm feeling much better than I did today!


PRE RUN
weight = 158.5#
GrapeNuts w/1% milk

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water, multivitamin & oatmeal w/brown sugar & 1% milk

More Like Houston Weather

OBJECTIVE
4 mi. slow ( > 8:38/mi.)

ACHIEVED
4.01 mi.@ 8:19/mi.

5:32 AM 64° 94% 4 mph

I flipped the schedule from a 6-mile run this morning to a 4-mile run. I'll get the 6-miler tomorrow then a 4-miler on Wednesday. My legs were heavy this morning. I'm still feeling the effects of Saturday's 15.5 miles and I worked through my physical therapy routine last night.

I ran with Aaron again this morning. He seemed to be feeling about the same as me.

Last night I read that the Dana Point race on Thursday is the biggest Thanksgiving Day run in the country. They are expecting 12,000 runners. I think they've staged the starts such that the 10K goes first, followed by the Masters 5K then the 5K. The Southern California section of USA Track & Field has designated this as their 10K championship so I'm absolutely certain their will be slow smokin' fast runners at the front. If I'm not mistaken, the course doubles back on itself three times so I should get to see them at least a couple times. I'm looking forward to that and expect seeing elite-class speed in the same race that I'm in to be inspiring.



This course doesn't look fast because of the U-turns and other turns but I keep reading that it is fast and I doubt they'd make it a championship if it wasn't at least a "fair" course.

The weather is looking good for Thursday. The forecast is for temperatures in the mid-50's.

I'm considering a good ice bath and maybe a massage sometime this week before heading out for the race.

PRE RUN
weight = 161#
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & oatmeal w/almonds, brown sugar & 1% milk

Training Schedule: November 23 - 29

Sun: rest
Mon: 6 mi. Easy
Tue: 4 mi. Easy
Wed: 4 mi. Slow
Thu: Dana Point 10K & Masters 5K
Fri: 6 mi. Slow
Sat: 14 mi. w/last 2 mi.@ MP
(if Saturday run not available, run Sunday)