11...

Ugh...hate Tuesdays.

See, the other half teaches an 8 am class on Tuesdays which means a 5:45ish a.m. wake-up.  It seems like here lately I haven't been getting home from work on Monday's until around 8:00 p.m. so by the time I eat, unwind from the day it's 9-9:30 which means I don't have a lot of time to prep for the class I teach on Tuesday morning if I want to get a decent amount of sleep.  So I end up doing the prep in the morning, which makes it hard to get my scheduled run in, etc, etc, etc.

Plus I just finished grading the first exam from said Tuesday class, and I'm not sure I'm reaching everyone in the class.

So, thanks to me being a lazy-ass and not getting prepared over the weekend I have to shift my running schedule around again this week.

At least I have firm housing arrangements for the marathon weekend.

12...

Busy week at work, especially this weekend since it's Homecoming but thankfully things are easing up in the training plan.

Starting to take care of some of the logistics for Chicago, verifying that the offer to stay with friends is still valid being at the top of that list.  Plus the week after Chicago is the Grand Rapids Marathon weekend and some friends are coming to stay with us so we kind of need to get the house in order.

Oh, and I'm hoping the fall like weather we're starting to experience sticks around...my favorite time of the year.

Recap

So I'm sitting here with 13 days until Chicago...

last week's running looked like this:

Monday - off

Tuesday - 8 miles with 5x600m at 5k pace (8.1 miles in 1:19:37)

Wednesday - 2.6 miles in 31:02 with T at the end of a busy day

Thursday - off

Friday - 4.3 miles in 44:44

Saturday - 8-15k race/time trial (5.5 miles in 48:18)

Sunday - ran 8 miles with T.  Was supposed to do 16, and I planned on doing the first 12 with her and then finishing up on my own, but she developed a blister at 8.2 that prevented her from running so ended up walking the 4 miles we had left home.

For the week that is 29 miles.  Plan had called for 39 so I was a bit off but at this point I'm going to Chicago with the training that is already in the bank.

The upcoming week has a workout in it that really has me scared: 3x1600 m at 5k pace.  That's 3 mile repeats (okay so a mile is 1609 meters but that is just splitting freakin' hairs dude) with 2 minutes recovery.  That is going to kick my ass.  But the saving grace is this - that's the last hard workout before race day, so I just need to suck it up and get it done.  Wednesday morning.  I'll let you know how it goes.

A Trend Maybe?

Every time I turn around this same workout is on my training plan (Damn you Pfitzinger!!!!): 8 miles with 5 x 600 m at 5k pace. Today was the fourth time I've completed this workout, so here are my paces for the 5x600 for each of those, keep in mind that my goal pace is between 7:40-7:50:

8/13
7:38, 7:38, 7:46, 7:48, 7:44

8/26
7:43, 7:33, 7:40, 7:46, 7:55

9/10
7:33, 7:48, 7:42, 7:46, 7:56

9/23
7:48, 7:48, 7:44, 7:50, 7:41

Much more consistent effort/paces today. Maybe this training thing is paying off?

Oh, and to all of you out there (although probably not reading this) that added to my level of frustration yesterday? Thanks. 'Cause I think it fueled today's run, but next time I'd appreciate it if you'd stay the hell away from me. Okay?

Simple Things

It took maybe 5-10 minutes but going through my contacts and cleaning out the ones I don't need anymore (e.g. people previous jobs, people I haven't talked to in awhile, don't need to talk to anymore or more importantly want to talk to anymore, old email addresses that have been updated) really did make a difference.

101,376

101, 376.  That is a big number.  What is it you ask?  How many feet I ran yesterday.

19.2 miles x 5,280 feet/mile gives ya 101,376.  Sounds impressive, right?

Last 20 miler...okay so I stopped short yesterday, extenuating circumstances!...before Chicago, and now I have some what of an idea for a goal time/pace for that race.  But first, yesterday's run:

I got started a bit later than I wanted to, but the delay was worth it because I got to run the first 5 miles with T.  

11:33

11:23

11:18

11:18

12:50 (bit of a walk break in that mile)

First 5 miles - 11:28 avg (which is exactly what she is shooting for, I think, for the Grand Rapids HM)

She turned around for home and I kept going north on the trail:

10:23

10:38

10:37

10:34

10:22

10:24

10:30

10:40

10:36

10:51

Average pace for those 10 miles:  10:33

Now I started running into some difficulties.  Remember me saying that I started later than I wanted?  Well, as a result with 5 miles to go it was after 12 p.m. and the temp was over 70F and the sun was beating down on me.  Last 5 miles:

13:16 (bit of walking)

10:57 (ran out of water here)

11:04

13:05 (more walking...called the run off shortly after this mile)

Average pace for the last 5 miles:  11:20

All together I ran 19.2 miles in 3:35:07, which is an 11:11 pace.  Now, my goal for the run was to keep my pace between 10-20% slower than my marathon goal pace.  IF my math works out that means I should have been between 10:27 and 11:24.   Yep, met that goal.  So that means yesterday's run, while there were things I should have done better/different (and I will on race day) it was a unqualified success, as was the whole week of running.

You Decide

Read this first.

Just another athlete who can't deal with the passing of time and their career?  Or is it a man trying to draw attention to a scourge that has changed so many lives in a way that only he can?

Almost Afraid To Say It...

A wonderful morning for a run today.  Low 50s when I started and the sun just peeking over the horizon.  Ran the hilliest route I have - South from the house, turn East into downtown...all the way through downtown, past work, turn north until I hit Leonard St. and then due west until I get back to the house.  10 miles total.

Some big uphills, some big downhills.  Managed that 10 miles in 1:41:14 (10:07 pace and a 142 average HR) which is a damn good time/effort considering everything I've been dealing with here lately.

That's three great runs this week.  Almost afraid to talk about because I don't want to jinx myself.

Really?

Big steps today:

1) I ran. In the morning. Second day in a row.

B) I did the workout my training plan called for.

III) The workout felt great.

10 miles. Now I just need to get my ass to work. I have a class to teach in an hour.

Quickly Approaching

26 days...not a lot of time.

This is the last big week of mileage for me and the last 20 miler before Chicago.  I think I finally have a handle on things in real life enough to get into a routine of running, work, home, etc.  Just wished it would have smoothed out about two weeks ago.

I'll use this week as feedback so I can start setting some goals for the race in Chicago.  As soon as I get those figured out I'll be sure to pass 'em along.

Luck

Good luck to a fellow runner and blogger tomorrow. She's running the Maui Marathon and going for a BQ time.

Kick ass Frayed Laces.

About Freakin' Time!!!

Today was the first day I've enjoyed running in about a month...really enjoyed it.  It didn't feel like a struggle to get out the door, I didn't keep finding things to do to delay leaving...

Created a playlist of some of the band from San Francisco and took off.  And it was a quality workout - 5 x 600m and it felt good to run hard, run fast.

Now I just gotta see if I can carry this over to tomorrow.

Four Weeks, Five Days

33 days to Chicago.

Hope to god this one goes better than Grandma's!  And yes, I'm starting to freak out a bit.

Two In A Row

Take that motivation!!!

Wonderful run with T after work tonight.

Fine, I'll Show You

Yet another fun, frustrating day at work on Wednesday, and another day without a run.

So I'm standing at the field waiting for the soccer game to start and I call T to fill her in on my day...while we're talking I decide that for dinner I wanted to go and eat completely unhealthy bar food and drink beer. Then I made the following comment to her:

"You know what, if my motivation and body are going to betray me, I'll just look 'em in the eye tonight and say "Fuck You"...wings and beer it is and I'll get up and run tomorrow."

And I did...nothing like eating 10-15 boneless chicken wings (various sauces) and drinking two large draft Oberon's and getting up and running. I might not have run far or that long (3.5 miles in 37:29) but I ran.

If, no when I run tomorrow that will be two days in a row. Add that to a run on Saturday and I've got a streak going.

Lost, Please Help

Motivation to run.

If found please contact me on this blog.

Thank You.