CPCC Skyline 5k

I'm uninspired to really talk about this race, but I know I would value at least a few comments on how I felt and my splits, when I look back.

18.37 (1 second slower than Cupid Cup 5k in mid Feb.)
Splits: 5.49, 6.00, 6.11, .35

Reflections: Mile 1 started off fine. Not too fast like Cupid Cup, and not too slow. Just right. First mile was uphill, but I didn't feel too bad. Second mile I seemed to fall off, and people started to pass me. I thought, let them go, save it for the end. I also got a stich in my side. When people were passing me I didn't put up a fight. Third mile I wasn't able to turn it on, and just trying to hold pace became tough. Despite the downhill mile, I never was able to quicken the pace. Last 200m I had a nice kick, and felt like I was pretty fresh.

Overall, I would say that I just was not tough on this. I wasn't prepared for the race mentally, and physically it was just a bad day. I felt like I had so much left at the end because my legs were not tired and I was fine. I know I didn't race it like a 5k. I let my foot off the gas on the first mile, and you just can't do that. Obviously it's disapointing because I have put in consistant work since Feb. What I am taking away from this is that I need to keep on my training, not get hung up on just a bad day, and to approach a 5k with a more aggressive "over-before you know it" type attitude. Can't sit and wait.

trail running

ran from home back to Marion Diehl to explore the trails. it was fun. they are single track trails, and very windey, so you have to pay attention. You cant go fast, but it's such a nice change from the daily grind of road miles.

Miles: 4+
Time: 33.37

moring workout at marion diehl

12.34 min warm up around the trails of Marion Diehl
Workout: 6x800's. Goal: 2.45 and faster
12 min cool down around the track

Started the workout around 830am. Didn't eat before, and while I can get away with that early in the morning I perhaps was a little low on nourishment.

This was the first time at Marion Diehl's track. It's asphalt, and in a big field, so it feels bigger compared to Smith Language Acedemy, where I worked out last time.

The wind was blowing hard at times, and my legs didn't feel great. Also, it was humid. I didn't hit the splits I set out to do, but I kept myself on track with shorter rest, and was able to get a couple good repeats in.

Splits: 2.52 (1.40), 2.45 (1.59), 2.51 (2.12), 2.55 (2.03), 2.46 (1.51), 2.41

run in the rain

miles: 4
time: 32 mins

the rain was heavy at times, shoes got water-logged. legs were kind of heavy, feeling better by the last mile.

Easter Sunrise Long Run

Despite having gone out for beers and a big ole bowl of Mac and Cheese with Chili and Bacon for dinner, I found myself at the Sardis Lot of McAlpine Sunday morning with Jason at 6.20am ready for a long run. I was a little late, but when my revised alarm went off at 6am sharp, I was thinking it was back to bed - but alas I had a bbm from him saying Get Over here! So having someone count on me got me verticle and out the door.

I'm glad I made it. I really was excited about running on the trails, seeing the sunrise on this special day of the Resurrection.

I have to tell you. My legs felt awesome. I didn't have anything to eat or drink, but I had pleanty of energy. The only thing negative about the run was I got real thirsty (cant imagine why!) during the 7th mile, and I felt a little nautios during parts! haha..

Here is the link with the vitals for the run. Little slow during the last couple as we were weaving our way through the woods navigating through a couple wrong turns. ( I think the forest no doubt affects the garmin's satilite signal, ering on the slow side).


Miles: 10

Recovery run

Time: 42.11
Miles: 5.5
Pace: 7.33

Legs felt alright. Splits: 7.49, 7.29, 11.30 (1.5), 7.30, 7.15

Went out down towards Seneca and Park through Madison Park, and down around the west side of Montford Drive for a little bit, and then back the same way.

workout on the track: 5x1000

W/U: 13.03
5x1000m (rest): 3.37 (1.47), 3.37 (2.20), 3.31 (2.19), 3.27 (2.32), 3.19
C/D: 13.19

Weather was perfect, but my body was not. Stayed up too late partied Wednesday night in San Antonio, and Thursday was a solid day of casual drinking at this Lodge in the country south of San Antonio. Through in a 7am flight this morning, and I was pretty cooked. I slept on the plane, but was still so tired I came home and immediatly took another 2 hour nap.

Not as quick as I'd a liked all around, but I'm happy with the progression. Not quite as pleased either with having to take more rest than I had anticipated, but I'm glad I did so I could actually get some speedier intervals in.

Miles: 7

better than yesterday

changed it up for some mental releif by taking off towards Starmount, and running along towards the bridge into H-Town park. Made it there in 18.32, then 9 and some change up to the top of Colchester Hill for 2 more miles until I called it a run. Finished in 7.29 and 7.22.

Miles: 5.5
Time: 42.31
Pace: 7.43

mentally stale

two days off really did help the legs, but I have to admit I wasn't really thrilled about the run. Felt kind of like a chore. Anyway, I ended up doing 4.5 miles. I kind of left a plan off the table for this run, kind of explaining my non-chalance for the activity itself. So I settled at 4.5 miles. I want to hit 30 miles this week, but I am going to be in San Antonio Wed-Fri so we'll see. Definitly want to get 10 miles in this weekend, and some sort of workout. Track maybe?

Miles: 4.5
Time: 35.19
Pace: 7.51

Morning Shake - Out

Another AM run, as I would be off to the beach for the weekend on a guys golf trip! Squeezed in 3.5 miles to finish my week, and give me 6 straight days of running for the first time in maybe years. I'm looking forward to the rest for my legs on Saturday and Sunday. Also, that puts me at 23.5 for the week in miles and no long run.

Miles: 3.5
Time: ?
Pace: easy

out of the ordinary

What is happening? Running 5 days in a row last week, running during my lunch, running before work?!

I am not a morning person, so I really had to psych myself up to do this. When the clock went off this morning I didn't allow myself to think and got up and out the door to knock out this workout. Once I was out, I realized how nice the weather was and how it was kind of peaceful as opposed to 5pm and stress weighing you down from the day.

I went into a 10 min jog to wake the legs up, then it was go time.

The workout: 5x4 min hard ( I don't have a gps watch so I was going on old fashioned feel. Hopefully it was at 6 min pace or faster, as that was my target) / 2 min jog rest between sets.

The first few sets went by great. The last two I had to dig a little bit, but I really felt great. I didn't feel empty, and my stomach/energy level was perfect.

Cooled down with a 7 min jog, for 45 mins on the morning.

Miles: 6.5+

Lunch Run

First time I have ever run on my lunch break. Today I was supposed to do a workout, but I have to help out with Avery tonight, so it had to be scratched. Since I wouldn't have time to run after work, I decided to knock out a quick 4 miler during my mid day break. My legs felt great! We had Chick Fil A biscuits delivered here this morning to the office around 9:45 so that sustained me perfectly with energy. Nice what a solid breakfast can do, as opposed to oatmeal and a yougurt every day. I felt like I could have kept going, but time wasn't on my side. Looking to do the workout tomorrow morning. We'll see.

Miles: 4
Time: 30.29
Pace: 7.45

I swallowed a bug

Miles: 4
Time: 30:01
Pace: 7.40

I think the route is a little short for my typical neighborhood 4 miler. Anyway, I felt slow and heavy again, but decided to push it a little and keep the pace from a crawl. I did swallow a bug, and the second half of the run I felt depleted. Two things. I need to eat more, and I need to stop the mid to late afternoon snacking of sweet candy from the office candy jar.

another recovery run

so...what's this business about the legs taking a week to recover from races, and then feeling good for a day to get through a semi-quick long run, and then feeling poor again the very next day? I guess that's called running, and training. Despite the difficulty it lends, I stayed deligent and put in 5.5 miles of easy recovery running. I was just happy my overall pace was a few ticks under 8 min pace. Either taking tomorrow off, or something easy and short again. I'm leaning towards the latter as this weekend looks like my running may be shot (guys beach golf trip!).

Here is the garmin link, via running buddy David Brinkley.

welcome back legs

I waited patiently all week for my legs to recover. Sunday, they responded, and what a very nice run! As I mentioned before, I just wanted to log some easy miles and not do anything quick with having raced the last 3 weekends in a row. You can see below that the runs this week were definitly slow, so once I set off for my long run, I could immediatly tell it was going to be a good day.

With a light lunch down, and the Master's coming on TV soon, I opted to just run from home and knock it out. I ran through Madison Park to Seneca, behind Montford, to the Greenway, up Tranquil, down Selwyn to Park Rd, up Park, then through Huntingtown Farms and back home through Montclair. Of course that route has some hills, and I counted 7 major climbs for the run. My pace started out around 7:40, to 7:30, then on down to the low 20's high teens.

Miles: 10
Time: 1.14.15
Pace: 7.24

So, in recap - I hit 5 days running this week, my first double digit LR of the year, and reached my goal of over 30 miles for the week!

and another one...

dear blog,

today i ran 4.5 slow miles. my legs still are not fresh, but that's okay because they aren't injured. I also did a couple strides at the end to try and wake them up a little bit. nothing else much to report.

time: 35.04
pace: 7.47

still getting the trash outta my legs

another one of those slow plodding runs. Went out 3 miles and turned around. Weather
was real warm, and I listened to my body and kept the pace easy.

Miles: 6
Time: 47:46
pace: 7.58

5 days in a row!

Miles: 3
Time: 23:33
Pace: 7:50

First time I have run 5 days in a row since Oct 23-27, 2010. WOW! I'm focused on breaking 30 miles this week, and keeping my sights set on really getting better.

This was just an easy shake out run. My streak probably will end today, as I'm planning on going to the Bobcats game tomorrow night after work...and I'm happy with a 5 day streak with where I'm at.

Attempting a long run

David and I had made our mind up to try for 10...but the weather was 86 degrees, so I knew it wouldn't be easy.

Not so much the weather, but just a general drain from my legs, and feeling thirsty and weak on the run made me cut it short. David was nice enough to give me some gum during the middle when I contemplated walking, and that helped get me through.

Here is the Garmin stats

Miles: 8.5

motivated?

Of course once Katie and I woke up Saturday, we were quickly on our way home as we both missed our little daughter, Avery a great deal! After spending some time with her, I decided to get in 7 miles since the weather was absolutly gorgeous. Kept it at a slow pace, which wasn't hard as my legs were pretty banged up from the race - and my lack of any sort of cool down after it.

Anyway - went out and up to Huntingtown Farms, down the big Colchester Hill and out the greenway trail. Once I got to the end of the trail I decided to turn around. The clock showed 27 mins approx, and at that point I was pretty tired. Not a great run as I had to use the bathroom, felt dehydrated, and my legs were just pretty beat up.

Distance: 6.8
Time: 55 mins
Pace: 8+

Cooper River Bridge Run 10k

I heard about this race since Highschool, but with track meet conflicts during the season and in college, I never got around to it until I was back in Charlotte after graduation, in 2007. That year, I was not in great shape and managed 44 minutes. In 2008 I was so far back from the starting line, and not being in shape, I ran north of 50 minutes. 2009 I was out of town, and last year I was injured. Needless to say, I was expecting a big PR.

Perhaps my goal was a little optomistic, but having just ran under 18 mins for a 5k, I was hoping I would be able to run something near 37 mins or faster.

I was successfull in getting in the top Corral - the seeded zone, by way of registering as a sub 40 min 10k runner...despite not turning in any verification. David assured me I would get in, and sure enough he was right. Once the gun went off, I was basically out there free to run at my own desires...something very nice from the previous CR runs I've done. David and I quickly settled on going out at 6 minute pace, and when I noticed that I was well slower the first mile - (6.18 even though David says we were at 6.05), I decided to go. I passed David, and tried to bring the pace down and stay comfortable before climbing the bridge. I guess the bridge starts about a mile and a half into the race, and once we hit it - the wind was really whipping around. The third mile marker split my watch with a 5.25, and that was all climb...so I know that is not right.

Going up the bridge, I didn't really loose ground to people, so I think I stayed on pace. I never really was able to tuck in behind a throng of people. After seeing the 5.25 3rd mile at the time I was very pumped, and I think I had a nice surge down the bridge - despite the strong head wind. I was brough back to reality and also the notion that the markers were indeed off, as my 4th mile (almost all downhill) split 6.45. However my total running time at that point was right at 25 mins. I quickly realized that I was way off pace to run 37 mins. But I knew I could get under 40 easily and wanted to make sure I finished strong. I didn't feel like I was out of gas.

As we got off the bridge, I felt my legs tighten up, and my turnover begin to slow. I was battling fatigue and the effort from the bridge. I was also mentally getting drained as people started to pass, and I knew my pace wasn't where I wanted it to be. As we started to pass more people and music though, I was able to find surges. I also was able to change gears when I felt my form was slacking. It was a constant intentional battle to fight poor form, and to think to lean forward, stay on my toes, and quickin my pace...but when I did it, it helped. My 5th mile split was approx 6.15, and I felt like that was pretty right on. The last mile seemed to go by pretty quickly, and also the crowds thickened and I was able to dig deep telling my self it was only a matter of minutes until I would be finished.

I hit 37.09 for the 6th mile mark, and my watch said 5.53. At that point I realized I wasn't going to break 37, but I was pumped that I just had my fastest mile. I threw all I had into my final .2 and passed probably a dozen people or so with a very nice kick. I ran 1.09 for the final .2, hitting the finish in 38.18.

Not exactly what I thought I should do, but I raced well and finished well. Looking back on my training - 10 weeks with nothing higher than 27 miles, and just a few workouts, I can't be too disappointed. Also, I raced the last 2 weekends before this with the Shamrock and the 5k on the track, so I'll take it.

After the race, I am very pumped to take this as a building block to grow and up the training and get faster. I'm already looking forward to getting over 30 miles next week, and starting some speed work after a week "rest" of recovery runs and a couple long runs.

Easy 3 before leaving town

Having not run Wednesday and Thursday, I was hoping that my legs would have enough under them to get me over the Cooper River Bridge in decent enough fashion. That said, I needed to at least grab a 3 mile shake out run to keep things familiar. First mile was quick (715), but that was just a sign of being fresh. Got it back down to close to 8 min pace for the last couple miles.

miles: 3
Time: 22.56