goin' racin'

since my last post, I have only raced once: The Rock N Run 5k back in the latter part of August. (actually referring to the last post, I did race the 5k at McAlpine in May...19:33). I managed to stay under 20 mins (19:47), but it wasn't very pretty. However, I have not really been doing much this summer running wise - so it's not a surprise.

The last couple months though I have started to pick up my frequency (3 runs a week-ish), but have turned towards the Track for a good portion of those runs. Once or twice a week I have found myself doing some light to medium workouts at shorter distances around the oval. I'ts been fun to rebuild some speed, and change things up.

I always enjoyed running track more than the next runner, and I plan on keeping it up ever how long I desire. I think it started when I wanted to resume activity coupled with some of my summer readings about the great track teams of Oregon during the Bowerman years. I definitly would recommend his biography written my Kenny Moore.

Anyway, I'll be racing at the 1st annual Showmars 5k this Saturday, and we'll see how some of those speed workouts translate into a 3.1 mile race. 

800s with a cold, in the warm night

too many cookies yesterday afternoon. Didn't get home until after 6, and didn't get started on this run until almost a quarter till 7.
warm up - 12 mins (to Marion Diehl track):
Started the first interval without knowing what I wanted to do. After about 500 meters I think I decided on an 800. Hit the first interval kinda slow, but my legs were not feeling real great yet. Also, my head felt stuffy/runny, and I was a little malnourished. rested 2 mins (as I would btw them all, except the middle) then set off on another. Into that second one, I decided I would stick to 800s for this "workout."
After the third one, I decided I would make it 6 800's, but would rest a little more at this 'half way' mark. ( about 3 mins).
The last 3 were quicker, and the very last one I really went after it with about as much as I had. Maybe would have been faster, but I went pretty good on the 5th one, too.

311, 257, 254, 254, 243, 232

cooled down about 8 mins back to my house.

miles for day: 5.5

Two for the road

Tuesday, Feb. 14th:  EASY RUN. I made love to this run. No. But it was understood I was going to get a run in after work before date night with wifey. This one was smooth as silk. Ran with music and it helped pass the time. I kept the pace easy, slow, and smooth. The hills behind my neighborhood still are no walk in the park.

Miles: 6.3
Time: 49:48
Pace: 7.54

Thursday, Feb. 16th: TRACK WORKOUT. First time since last fall. Craving some speed and turnover. The weather was humid, 50's, foggy, steamy, and perfect. Ran with Jason Blackwood at Marion Diehl track after work.
Workout: 6x600m with 2 min rest. Goal: 2:05 (5:35 pace) and faster, without feeling like im gunning the whole time. Not too tall an order.
    2:04, 2:05, 2:03, 2:02, 1:58, 1:45
Only the last one did I really go hard. And that's about as hard as I can go right now (4:40 pace). It felt fun and something fresh. I'd like to visit the track again soon to keep working on my speed.
  With warm up and cool down for the day got in...
Miles: 7

track workout - 1 repeat

cool, but not cold....windy, and wet track. Would be doing this workout solo.

Warmed up about 3 miles and then put on my new race shoes.

Didn't have a specific time to shoot for, but for some reason within the first half of my first repeat, i decided to change it up. I was planning on doing 3x3200, but the first mile just felt too stiff, and i didn't want to stop twice and regroup and all that, and then feel like I had to go faster. So what did I do? I just ran 24 laps on the track and tried to hold pace without digging too much, and called it a workout.

I definitly felt better towards the end. Holding the pace was not a problem. I let off the brakes the last mile so my legs could breath and get some turn over. It felt good to do that.

Again, it was pretty windy on the back stretch of the track, and I was just out there running alone. I'm happy with it. It was solid workout, without feeling like I worked too hard for the result.

6:20, 6:16, 6:23, 6:26, 6:15, 5:44   =614 pace

cool down 2 miles

Miles for day: 11

recap: last couple weeks up to today's race.

Monday 8/15
6 miles, time 44.26. Felt pretty good here, just a regular run. pace 7.24 i think.

Wednesday 8/17 - workout
6.8mi total for the day, 8x600m + 400m jog btw: Target was 2.05 which is 537 pace. Kinda warm, and met David at Marion Diehl track after work. I took the first one, he took the second and so on, until the last few when I felt pretty good and started dropping the time. 7.01 w/u,204,(209 rest),205,(212),205,(215),206,(215),206,(216),203,(220),202,(224),153, 1026 cd

Thursday 8/18 - wilmington, nc
4.2, 32.45, checked into the hotel and just had enough for over 4 miles in humid downtown wilmington.

Saturday 8/20 (hanging tree+trout lake lap)Boone, NC
9,108.32 (up in 31 min) Nice run with Mike Oelz at Hanging Tree (Rich Mtn). Hit it harder the last 2/3 up the mtn. Awesome to be up in the mountains and reliving my old college running days. Pace: 7.30-35 pace

Sunday 8/21
13, 1.36.29
Morning McAlpine run with Mitchell. First five miles were through Old Bell, then Up sardis, and through the Boyce Rd trails. Needless to say given the hills and technical trails where the GPS report is a little on the slow side the pace wasn't that quick. First five miles: 8.10,7.33,7.36,7.55,7.49. Once we hit the greenway we started hitting some solid paces. Here we ran towards Harris, did the course and came back. Last 8 miles: 7.19,7.19,7.12,7.03,7.19,7.01,7.09,6.58 (last 8 miles pace:7.10)

Monday 8/22
4.5, 32.44 - nothing big here, just a light run with David round the hood after work with some 720's last couple miles

Wednesday 8/24 - venice beach, CA
5.2, 40.20 ,7.45 pace - basically an out and back with some beach running thrown in. Legs felt okay.

TRACK WORK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORM!!

Lightning crashed and thunder clapped as I hit the door and took to the streets. The rain had just started, but as soon as I stepped outside, the rain started coming down in sheets. I ran from my house up to Marion Diehl track and as I left my neighborhood, I just tried to see where I was going through the intense rain.

I made it to the track a little fast, with the adrenaline pumping from the storm, and when I got there my shoes were already water-logged. But, as soon as I hit the track my next step was into my first interval. I had planned to start with 2xMile, but with the conditions, I wanted to knock it out with a 2 mile interval. I made up my mind for this about 3 laps in.

The rain was coming down so intense, the drops pelted my skin, and I was swaying down the home stretch as the wind blew, and it was a struggle to see. Still, I hit 606 for the first mile, and dropped a 551 immediately after for a 11.58. I was pretty happy about this as I was running. It was crazy being out there in the height of the storm, but it really got me going, and will be a memory I have for a long time - that perhaps can serve me well as I dig deep in upcoming races.

I wanted to keep the workout going and not stop at any point, so I decided I would go straight into a 400m jog after each interval.

This would give me 26 laps total on the track, continuous, and with warm up and cool down, gave me a good distance for the daily total.

The storm started to dissipate, and the second half of the run was just in rain.

Given my shoes weighed 18 lbs, I am happy with my times. I was spent the rest of the night, and really could feel the deep muscle ache from a hard fought workout.

Splits: (400m jog btwn each interval at 2.05-10)
Warm up: 4.52
3200m: 11.58 (6.06, 5.51)
800m x 2: 2.57, 2.51
400m x 6: 1.21, 1.17, 1.18, 1.22, 1.24, 1.16
Cool down: 5.56

Miles: 7.9

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

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.

texas+heat+track

from my hampton inn off the highway, I chose to run south and catch the next road that would take me somewhere away from the busy freeway I was near for the first .75miles of the run. I turned east, and about a mile and a half in, i saw a school. I turned in and found some athletic fields and started to look for a track, when i then saw the football goalposts. aha! I made my way onto the track, and once I stepped on I noticed i was almost 2 miles into the run, so i did a lap then paused my iphone once i was at 2 miles. after a 10 second rest, where i looked at my split and noticed i averaged 6.45 pace for those miles, i decided to get on with the run and do something quick on the track....i went out and clicked off a mile - thinking that would be it, in 6.15, and decided on that 4th lap that I would rather try and hold that for another mile than rest and start up for another interval. I was able to stay focused and clicked another 6.15. i paused for 1 min to get some water, and then jogged back to the hotel. Since my first 4 miles were pretty quick, even though i was slower, overall my pace stayed pretty solid for the 6 miles.

MIles: 6
(2 at 645, 2 at 615, 2 slower)
time: 39:51
Pace: 6.39

track workout: Speed Ladder

warm up: 1.7 miles easy

Workout: 400m, 300m, 200m x 3. Minute rest between intervals, minute and a half between sets.
Splits: 1.21 (58), 1.01 (1.00), 37. (1.28) 116 (59), 1.01 (1.00) 36. (130) 119 (1.00), 1.02 (1.10), 32.

cool down: 1.3 miles easy

Met Jason and set off at 6:15am. I got 5 hours of sleep last night, but it went fine. Not too hard of a workout, which is okay since I'm racing Saturday. Just felt good to get the legs turning over. Also, wasn't bothered by this being my second run in 12 hours. No problems. Weather was good.

Speedwork: 400s

Easy jog warm up from home out through the trails at Marion Diehl and onto the track.

Warmup: 10.03

Track Workout: 400m x 10 (rest): 1.23 (58) 1.22 (58) 1.18 (59) 1.19 (59) 1.21 (59) 1.20 (1.00) 1.20 (1.00) 1.22 (1.01) 1.20 (1.00) 1.15

Average: 1.20

Pace: 5.20

Cooldown: 10.21

Temperature: 90+

Miles: 5

Solid workout. Felt alright.

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

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

A little bit of speed

Probably not the best idea to dive into 800s after only 3 weeks back into running, but with a 5k on Saturday I wanted to get some turnover more than I wanted to be prudent.

David and I met at AG Bell track afterwork, and set off for an approx. 1.5 mile warmup. As we were lining up at the start of the track, I thought I'd like to hit 245 for the first of 4 800s, and see what that felt like. It didn't feel too bad. Wanted to have a break of 1:30-2 mins, jogging 200 meters.

I was able to hit negative splits, and felt pretty good about the workout. It wasn't too grueling, yet still it was rewarding given the short rest, and adjustment to turnover.

When we finished, we cooled down for about a mile and a half again.

Splits: 248, 245, 243, 237
Rest: 154, 151, 154
Total Miles: 5.5

updates from Hilton Garden Inn - Nashville

what's up people?! Just got back to my room and decided to throw the ipod touch on and listen to some jams insted of turn the TV on. I enjoy music when I've had a couple beers, and thought I'd give you an update on the training and life. As I am currently in my hotel room thinking I need to go to bed soon in order to be up at 4am for my 5:30am flight, figured I might as well do a blog post. It's kind of my way of unwinding and I also wanted to get up my solid workout from last night - but keeping with the training log I need to first go in date order of my runs since my last post. So............

Sunday - I should have run, but I was lazy and didn't run. Felt kind of guilty since I only ran 3 days for the week, but whatever.

Monday - Katie and I have been going to the hospital for some child birth classes the last 3 mondays at 630, which I must say have kept me from going to a couple of Bobcats games, but it's a sacrifice worth making in exchange for my soon to be here little Girl. So once I got home from work, I had just enough time to squeez in a 4 mile run. Katie made Chicken and Dumplings, one of my favorite meals, and I had to get back to eat that and be off to class. Did the 4 miles in a nice low 7 min pace. I must say I was surprised my legs felt as good as they did, given this was the first run since the 20 miler.

Tuesday - David and Oelz came over and after work we set out from my house. It was already dark when we started, and we hit up the nice hilly 8 mile route through Montclair and Huntington Farms, and tacked on some more in Montclair to give us 9.5 for the day, in 7.50 pace. Again the legs felt surprisingly good - and it was a nice run all in all.

Wednesday - Track workout. Wanted to revisit the 3x2 mile, but thought we would tack on a little extra distance for good measure. We met at AG Bell at 5:40 and did a 1.6 mile warm up, and then were off on the dark track (they had turned the lights off so we were going to be doing this in the dark, with cool temperatures. Must say it was a cool setting). First set we did 4k (2.5 miles=10 laps). Splits, 6.24, 6.24, 3.03. Felt real comfortable. Took just over 2 mins rest and we were at it again for the second set. 3.6k for the second set (9 laps, 2.25 miles). Splits: 6.04, 5.57, 1.29. This one felt comfortable the first mile and dropped it at a nice pace and held on with ease. Waited a bit and after 2.40 rest was off for the last set. 2 miles (8 laps would be the distance here) splits: 5.45, 5.37. After the long break I felt a little sluggish but was able to push it through the first mile, and finally get in a rythem and drop the hammer for a solid last miles. Maybe a little faster than necessary for marathon training, but as has been typical for the week - my legs felt good and I decided to get after it. I think I went through the last 400m in 65 seconds. Ended with a 2.4 mile cool down.

for the 6.75 miles of the "workout" I averaged 6.00 min pace, so it was a great day on the track. Running on the track always gets me jacked, and im reminded why I enjoyed more success in running in oval circles rather than dirt path courses.

11 miles for the day on this Wednesday.

Anyway, that is the catch up in training. As I'm here in my hotel, I can report that I didnt' run as I was busy with visits, and am hoping I get to get in a run tomorrow, because Saturday I am not going to be running with the APP UF game, since I"ll be in Gainsveille.

Goodnight to my blog readers. Gotta get some sleep and call wifey.

EGGERS

old bell hill workout

(6:00, 6:14, 13:52, 6:21). Goal was 6:10 for .9 mile hill loop, which is 6:50 pace per mile. After the second repeat, I decided to call an audible and run the loop twice on the third one. First repeat I ran a little too hard, and my legs felt burnt from there on. I thought since I was going to struggle to hit my times, I would run the the third one twice to keep my heart rate up and to work on a longer effort which in essence may be better for marathon training. The workout was great. I was pleased with the effort, despite the 90 plus degree temps and doing it solo. I did a 3.5 mile warm up in 29.15, and the work out was 4.5 miles. Between repeats I allowed 3 mins rest. I concluded the run with a mile cool down in 9:17. 9 miles total for the day.

400's and a Bobcats loss

Miles:3
Workout: 1 mile warm up, 4x400, 1 mile cool down.

Not having run since last Saturday, and not having gone more than 5 miles in 9 days, I decided to get in some 400s on the track near our house. Smith middle school is right on Tyvola near our neighborhood so I ran there and proceeded to get some turn over with some quarters.

Splits on the track were: 75, (1:30 rest); 74 (1:40): 76 (1:30); 66

The weather was very cold, and I am still not 100 percent healthy. It's been over a week where I have had a sore throat and feeling run down. One thing I am trying to do this week is good at least 8 hours of sleep a night, and so far I have. I just want to be feeling great come Sunday morning at the starting line.

This was also the first run outside in 8 days. The others, as you can see by the posts below have been on the treadmill. I have been trying to stay out of the cold weather because I've been sick, and today I can tell that it does make a difference, by me feeling lousy on the run.



Anyway: We went to the Bobcats game last night and they lost to the worst team in the NBA. You can see a post on it on my friend Josh's blog here.

it's starting to come together

warm up: 2 miles
workout: 3x3200m(2miles) with 1:30 rest
cool down: 1 mile

target was 6:30 pace or slighty faster.

Splits: 12:56(6:34,6:22), 12:48(6:24,6:24), 11:41(5:58,5:43)

Obviously this was a little easier than I thought when aiming for my target pace. Completed the first 2 sets comfortably at Alexander Graham Middle School on the paved track. Idea was on the last set to run 6:15-6:00 for the first mile and then under 6:00 for the last mile. This was easier than I thought too. Ran focused on the first mile for the last set, and then tried to negative split (go faster) the last mile. Really had to focus on getting on my toes and try and quicken the turnover. The weather was good: 40's and clear, although there was some wind.

The last two days have been very encouraging. Having back to back great days marks the first time that I've felt this good since training began. No knee problems today either.

mile repeats

Miles: 7.5
Workout: 6 x 1600
Target Pace: 6:30's ('litte' less than marathon pace)

It had been roughly 10 months since I had last run on a track. Last year David, Oelz, and I did some mile repeats - significantly faster - as a tune up for Cooper River Bridge Run. I ended up having a work conflict and couldn't run Cooper that year, so that was pretty much the end of my "training." Obviously training has resumed since, and with the marathon a little over a month away - I hope that this visit to the track doesn't again signal any kind of "end" to this season's training with my knee beginning to flair up the day prior.

(Don't worry folks, I'm generally an optomistic person, but it's also good to give the blog audience some 'drama')

With the left knee beginning to hurt for the first time on Wednesday's run - today was the first time I felt soreness when I wasn't running. I could feel a slight pain in just walking around putting stress on the knee, so I was kind of nervous about the run/workout.

David and I met at Myers Park for some mile repeats. The goal was to do 6 mile repeats a little slower than marathon pace: 6:30ish pace, with about 1:30 rest/jog between each one. This is more than a minute slower pace per mile that I probably will be going in the marathon, but for a workout it seemed about the right kind of target. We warmed up for about a half mile, and the knee immediatly was sore from the get-go. Nothing too painful to stop at this point, so I thought I'd start the workout and give it a good test. 6:30-45 was the target pace - for both of us for the first one; David was planning on running around 6:00 for the rest of his since he is tailoring his approach for his half marathon in early March.

I'll simply say this about the knee. The pain remained throughout. It was bareable, dull, and otherwise constant. It didn't effect my stride or gait, and the discomfort did not increase over time through the running, so I decided I was going to complete the task for the day.

Splits were: 6:35, 6:35, 6:36, 6:28, 6:29, 5:28

The first 5 I was feeling fine, and had to deliberatly hold myself back to stay on pace. David was out in front running his 6:00 pace so I was just cruising along. Obviously, I felt good on the last one, so after going through the first lap in 1:28(just under 6 min pace), I decided to just go after it a little bit. I through a couple surges in, and ran hard. The mile felt really good, and it was fun to feel fast again, especially since it had been about 10 months!

The knee hurt while chillin' out at home during the night, so I iced it and tried to walk gingerly up and down the stairs. Stairs really are not fun right now. If I had to guess what my injury is, I'd say it's probably your typical runner's knee. So with that, Ice, Ibuprofin, and Friday no running and probably Saturday too.

Hope to have a post about a succesfull long run on Sunday!