A good run with my brother up in Brooklyn

After sleeping in until 10am Sunday morning at my brothers townhome in Brooklyn, I woke my brother Philip up, and we then ate a little bowl of cereal to prepare for our run. I was excited to get out and run yes, but moreso, to get out and see the city of which he now lives. Also, a run with my brother is always special.

We started off down from his residence, at a slow comfortable pace and headed south-west toward the water. After half a mile of so of passing smaller brownstone houses, we suddenly passed, what my brother called, the mafia houses. Yes, stand alone houses in over the top decor, out of nowhere. After climbing down some stairs to the next street, we were almost at the water. We turned left and started running down from a peir with a beautiful view of Lower Manhattan which would now be at our backs. We were on a bike and walking designated path, with benches lined down the road for as far as we went. After curing around south and east along the water, we saw the Verrazona Bridge and ran towards it. Once we were under it, we turned around and headed back, this time with the cool breeze in our face, and the sun at our back - and the City view in front of us. A very pretty run. Before we got to the turn around spot, Philip tried to peel off and say he wasn't going to run as far, but I was able to easily talk him into it. When we made our turn it was exactly 26 mins into the run. We kept the pace going back steady, but picked it up the last mile. Philip was able to hang no problem. Not bad for him, as his runs have just been every now and then, and really no longer than 2 miles. Guy is good!

When we reached the pier, we decied to rest, as I wanted to take in the view. We cooled down back to his place and called it 6.5+ miles in around 53 mins.

definitly didn't want to run

after a nice night out in Florence Alabama, I woke up and really didn't want to get my run in, yet this was the only time of the day I could. I set out and managed to get in 27 mins of running. Felt like a chore and my legs and body didn't like the consumption of beer from the night before, which was evidence of a nice night out on the town while being away from home.

time: 27+
miles: 3.5
pace:750-8

.."runnin' in memphis"...

Set out around 11am, a hot part of the day, and noticed it was 93 degrees...and it felt very humid. Was able to get in a nice out and back on the neighborhood streets of East Memphis.

Felt like I was close to 8 min pace going out, and turned around at 16.19, but came back in 15.28(approx)

Miles: 4+
Time: 31.47
Pace: 7.45-50

slime on your body after

started off in the low 720's and dropped it down to sub 7 the last couple miles. Managed a nice clip, and averaged 7.13 PacePerMile(PPM). Enjoyed the company of Mitchell and David.

Legs were able to do it without much trouble, but it wasn't a total easy run.

Weather wasn't as hot as its been, and by that i mean it was like low 90s and not high 90s.

Miles: 6
Time: 43.20
Pace: 7.13

pushing through

Saturday was an awesome day. Golf and pool party, and of course, beer. Sunday I was recovering, got to sleep in a little bit (8:45am), and layed low. I did go sit out by the pool in the afternoon, which was a suana. So after all that, I got back home from being at my in-laws, around 6:30pm. I was ready to attempt my long run. I decided on 9 miles, because I have done a few 8 milers recently, and just wanted to barely 1 up it.

The pace was slow from the beginning. Immediatly I felt fatigued. I tried to stay smooth and relaxed and just find a groove mentally where I could knock this out. I started off going up through Starmount, then came across the bridge to Huntingtown Farms, and down Park Rd to Park Rd. South where I got back on Old Reid Rd., and headed back towards Archdale. The last mile in Montclair to my house was measured at 8 min pace, and here I wanted to pull the plug, as I was 7 miles in and not feeling it. However I kept going and actually opened up a little bit on my stride. I kidn of got a second wind the last couple miles, and finished at about 9.3 miles for the night.

All said and done I was proud of myself for getting through it in the heat and after a weekend of fun.

Miles: 9.3
Time: 1.13.20
Pace: 7.53

For the week that put me at 31 miles and some change. Not bad for me, actually the most in a handful of weeks. 5 days of running and a workout and a long run. Sounds like legit training for once. We'll see how next week goes with a lot of travel across the country.

Friday feeling fatigued

Today was supposed to be short and easy, but it was really slow and short. I was aiming to do 4 miles, but settled for probably just under 3.5. Basically I just cut my standard 4 mile loop short. Maybe it was the Beast Ice I had an hour before, but I think it really was being over tired from not enough sleep at night, thanks to the baby. Not a complaint, the baby is worth it!

miles: 3.5
time: 26 min
pace: 7.55

HOT HOT HOT track workout

had to modify it. Original plan: 1000, 1000, 800, 800, 600, 600, 400, 400.
What we did: 1000x2, 800x2, 400x2, 200x2

Jogged over to Marion Diehl track from home and tacked on a little bit to get me about a mile warm up. honestly i didn't care about the warm up. It was 110 heat index and i was dreading just being outside this time of day ( we were doing this right after work at 5:30pm!).

anyway the first 1000 felt okay, then we just took a 200m jog and went right into the next 1000 to knock it out. we needed rest after that, and got through the 800s but we were feeling it bad after the second one. Here we decided, in order to not die, that we would go into the 400s. Anything after a lap at this point was torture. We were able to do that, but on the second 400, we knew we only had 200's left - and that wasn't so bad an idea as we really wanted to work on pure speed anyway.

We finished (David B. and I) and sweated pounds of water. It was wild.

Splits: 3.39, 3.42; 2.53, 2.59; 1.22, 1.28; 35, 30.
because my watch sucks, i don't have the rest splits. apparently it didn't save the whole run, but I remember the intervals as listed above.

Miles for day: 5.5

effort scale

I was thinking about this while on my run. on a scale of 1-10 I can pretty much break down my runs for the week into a few different groups, based on effort with 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest.

Saturday: 4-6 (easy to just middle of the road for something shorter than next days long run)/ Saturday Race: 8-10 (Hopefully I am able to tap out a 10, but getting all the juice out of the lemon doesn't always happen).
Sunday: 4-6 (keeping the same effort, but increase on the miles...long run).
Monday: 3-5 (recovering from the Long Run and or Race)
Tuesday: 4-6 (just an honest effort here, easy but can go over a "5")
Wednesday: 5-7 (I like to keep the pace quicker than the other easy runs and get my legs used to NOT always going easy and recovery-ish)
Thursday: 6-8 (workout of some sort. I don't want to dig too deep into the well on workouts, although you do want it to hurt. Save the 8-10 for races.)
Friday: 3-5 (easy recovery from workout).

Anyway this was the 5-7 deal, and I'd say this run was about a 7 on effort given I had to work hard for this with the heat.

Miles: 5.8
Time: 42.01
Pace: 7.13

MMR Link: map/stats

and still a new neighborhood untapped

even though i've been running from home for 2 years, I haven't discovered all the roads within my reach.

Went down Archdale, cut up to Huntingtown Farms like I do a lot, but kept going down Old Reid Rd and took it across Park Rd, and Park South, all the way to Sharon Rd. Turned up to the Harris YMCA, then cut into Beverly Woods neighborhood and did a loop which connected me back on the road back to H-Town and back towards home.

Tacked on a few more minutes until I got to 8 miles.

Legs felt alright, no complaints. Pace was not too fast, just cruising. My legs actually were not springy, and I could tell they need the recovery from the race last Saturday.

Miles: 8
Time: 1.00.07
Pace: 7.31

MMR Link: map/stats

Recap of RFYL RFYC 4 Miler

Fueled up on Mellow Mushroom pizza and a couple pints of beer at dinner, then while watching a movie in bed - decided to snag one more slice before i went to sleep. This was all done so I could sleep in and not have to eat breakfast!

I purposefully did a shorter warmup (1 mile), as I was thinking that perhaps I could save some energy and be just as warm as I would with going 2 miles (typical). It seemed to work. I got this idea after I felt like I ran better at Great Harvest 5k with no warm up.

Gun went off, and I found a comfortable pace posistioned accordingly amoungst the field. The people who should be in front of me were, and I just settled in. The first mile was uphill, and luckily my internal pace clock was on target as I hit 5.58 (just where I wanted to be). With the effort not feeling too hard, and having the climb out of the way, I made a push to drop the pace. I felt smooth as I ran down East Blvd., and here my racing partner for the day would come along side and really help me stay focused the rest of the race. An older man with a blue tank top, grey hair, and neon yellow shoes came up on me quick, and I just went with him. We both settled in after I decided to go with him, perhaps as he just wanted to do a surge and see if I would drop. I came through in 11.30 for 2 miles (5.32 split), and was pumped as I was running well and feeling well. The next mile sort of rolled along, and David Dye (His name I would later find out) and I ran side by side to bring home the third mile in 17.26 (5.56 split). I noticed that had this only been a 5k, I would have run a seasonal PR. With a mile to go, and my pace faster than expected, I battled with David the next half a mile as we rolled up our last hills. On the uphill I pulled ahead, and on the down hill he caught up and we ran together. He seemed to make a move with about a half mile to go, and I followed suit, opening up my larger stride and passing him back. Here I realized I was closing in on another runner, and tried to make up as much ground as I could. I seemed to have started my kick a little bit early, and the runner in front of me started his kick late....right when I got near, so I couldn't catch him. But I did stay ahead of David Dye. Closed the last mile in 5.53...not really fast, but the last half mile had to be much faster. Happy with my kick.

32 second improvement from the 4 miler back in March, so I'll take it.

18th overall out of 450+
Finishing time: 23.20

8 miles for the day (w/u+c/d)

easy shake out

Miles: 2.5
Time: 20.xx
Pace: 8

legs felt pretty good, as I was thinking about the race and hoping they would be ready to unleash.

cooled off with the hose

so hot, i was led to the front yard garden hose to turn it on and douse myself in cold water.

felt comfortable the first 2.5 miles. last mile slowed, but pace was still good. blister on myleft foot from running with no socks yesterday. bad idea. rest until 8+ min miles/shake out friday.

Miles: 4
Time: 28.09
pace: 7.02

all this fuss

listen, i have lived in charlotte my whole life (except college), and i've been here before. as a runner since highschool, i've been running in the summer since 99 so i've been here before. yea it's tough, but as long as your properly hydrated it's doable to run in this weather. yea, you have to acclimate to it. you don't want to go run for the first time on july 12th. anyway, my legs felt fresh for the first time since Saturday. Sunday and Yesterday they just didn't have that pop. I started off in the high 7's for mile one, but brought it down to the low 7's for the rest of the run without trying hard. Nice having David Brinkley live .75 miles away from my house now - I ran over to his house and he ran with me for a few miles.

Time: 36.49
miles: 5
pace: 7.15

mini workout for the sake of time

the window of time i had to run today (since I didn't get up early) was either 5-545, or after 9pm...which i didn't want to do since I wanted to hang out with my wife. so i chose the former, with the accompanying 73 dew pt, 100 heat index, and 91 temp. here we go:

warm up jog to track (time) 5.50
600m: 2.24
200m jog: .54
600m: 2.15
200m jog: 53
400m: 1.31
200m jog: 56
200m: 40
cool down home: 7.13

total: 22.40

distance: 3.25~

That is all I could do. I could have run maybe 10 more mins or so since I had the time, but the heat told me that was all for the day.

fatigued (sp?)

a little sick, hungover, tired, and you get a

19.49 time duration of a run that was about

2.5 miles in length.

group run through swampy air

Miles: 7.25
Time: 57.01
Pace: 7.51

Felt good, as the pace was easy as dictated by the group of Mitchell, Shue, Oelz, Brinkley, and Lamperski.

Beach run #2

Got up and was out for my run by 830am...drove to the beach access so I could do it all on the sand. The first 40% of the run was against the wind, so my pace was rather slow. The rest was quicker, especially the last 5 mins as I really really picked it up and got some fast running in. Was just moving to the music.

Link to the run

Miles: 5.47
Time: 43.45
Pace: 7.59

Beach Run #1

It was hot, as I went out for my run around 1pm, but the ocean breeze made it tolerable. After going along the coast on the roads, I hit the beach access and did some good miles on the hard packed sand of the beach. The only reason my pace was a little slow was because it was 2 days after the mountain climbs. Generally felt good though.

Link for the run

Miles: 7
Time: 54.05
Pace: 7.43