Where has the time gone?

Again I've slacked off in my blogging, but not so in my running. Nearing the end of the best stretch of training in my adult life, I feel ready to go for October 7. Two weeks ago, I completed a 71 mile week. Last week, I topped out @ 64 miles, with a half marathon race on Saturday. The tired legs excuse didn't wash, as I ran 1:21:21 for 3rd place. Some people said they thought the course was short, and I didn't wear a watch. But the effort was there, and I never felt like I was overextending myself. Exactly the way I wanted to complete this race - fast but not so much that it killed me. If I run nothing faster than 7:00 pace the rest of the way, I'll still be ready to go.

However, later in the week and now I'm feeling a bit tired, with sore legs and ready to taper. My program doesn't call for a long taper (only 10 days), so I have another 4-5 dyas of active training before the taper begins. One more long run on Sunday and a marathon pace workout next Tues or Wed and then I can relax...

Now the only real mystery left out there is what sort of pace should I shoot for? My pace runs have been 6:35-6:45 range, and my half race suggests that I should be able to handle 6:40s with no problem whatsoever. My rough goal is sub 2:55, and the hills in the last 5 miles indicate I need to be under 2:13 for 20 miles so I have a bit of a cushion for the last 10k. So 6:35-6:40 seems to be the target. The TCM course should pose no real problem with that type of pace, and I should have plenty of people to run with (2:55 is usually around 100th place).

I've decided not to run the Cross Country race next Saturday. Too close to the marathon, I don't want to worry about any injury I might suffer running over rough terrain. If it was a road race, then no problem. Besides, I can focus on watching and cheering for my daughter, who continues to improve and run really solid times for tough courses. Her 17:24 for 4k on the hardest course I've ever seen is right at 7:00 pace, and I think she could drop another minute before the end of the season. Her places have been really good too. 16th out of 80, 16th out of 42, 14th out of 70, and 6th out of 55 thus far, and 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, and 2nd for her team in the four races. She's got an excellent chance of getting in the top 10 this weekend in the Frosh/Soph race here in Janesville. This meet is on the same course where I ran my H.S. Cross PR of 15:58 for 3 miles. Can't wait!

Where did the time go...

Well, it's been 2 weeks since I've posted, and even though I've meant to write more often, it just kept being put aside. At least my running hasn't been put aside, and the last 15 days have been great! When I've needed to run long, I've done it (11, 18, 12, 11, 13, and 10 milers in the books). Hard workouts have been accomplished (2 MP workouts, a hard 10 miler, a 5K Cross Country race in 18:40, and this morning's 3x2 mile workout in 13:36, 12:24 and 12:08), and I've also been real good @ easy recovery runs. 177 miles in the last 19 days tells me I'm able to handle the high (for me) volume. So where am I at?

In the 3 remaining weeks of training I have left before my taper, I'd like to run a couple of 16 mile workouts, and also do a half marathon race. The half is 22 days before Twin Cities, and I'm planning to run hard but not all-out. My PR is so soft that if I run my planned MP for the 1/2, I'll best my existing PR by over a minute. Still keeping a watchful eye on my body, making sure the minor aches and pains don't turn major.

As for the non-personal stuff, my daughter has had two cross country races, and she continues to do well. She placed 16th out of 80 runners in her 1st race, run in 92 degree temps, and helped her school win the team title @ the invitational. This past Saturday she had another invitational, and the team got 3rd out of 7 teams, and she ran 10 seconds faster and got 16th out of 49 runners. She's currently the 2nd scoring runner on her team, and I'm getting such a kick out of watching her run. She also started high school classes yesterday. I feel so old!

My son's soccer team is also doing pretty well. They're currently undefeated, and beat their main conference rival last night 4-2. Mike is the first player off the bench, and usually gets 30-50 minutes of play time a game (games last 80 minutes). They have a home tournament this weekend, so they'll play 3-4 games. No conflicts w/ cross country, thankfully.

The Need For Speed

If there's one thing I've skimped on this training cycle, it's on my speed workouts. (OK, so I haven't done that well with my long runs either...) The Marathon pace runs have come along nicely, but the speed and strength workouts have been a struggle. Why? Well for the 1st half of the summer, the running club inhibited me from getting into a comfort zone, due to the lack of recovery after a double on Monday and Thursday. Still, I thought that since my speed is a strength of mine, I wouldn't worry about it. 2nd, the unbearable humidity and heat this summer have sapped my energy quite a bit more than I'd care to admit. So running hard on a morning when it's 70+ degrees and darn near the same dew point gets a bit ridiculous. So the past couple of days have seen a nice stretch for me in terms of consistency and hard work. On Wednesday I did a nice strong marathon pace workout of 7.2 miles @ 6:39 pace. This was b/c Tuesday was morning thunderstorms. Then after 8 easy miles each on Thurs and Fri, I managed an excellent 10 mile run on Saturday, w/ 8 miles @ 6:15 pace. That's what I'll call my lactate threshold pace, since I know I could probably keep that pace up for another ten minutes (I ran for 50 minutes @ that pace). Then after more rain (!) I ran 13 miles in the rain on Sunday, and anothe ho hum 8 miler on Monday. This morning called for 3x2 miles @ 6:20 pace, and I haven't done one of these workouts since May, so I was a bit apprehensive. The first one was a bit slow (12:58), and my 1st mile of the 2nd repeat (I do this on a measured road course in my neighborhood) was still 6:30 pace. The next three miles (minus the 1/2 mile jog recovery) made up for that... 6:09, 6:14 and 6:07. I still felt smooth, and was able to easily run a two mile recovery cool down afterwards @ 8:00 pace.

So what does this mean? I guess it means that I can go after the upcoming half marathon on 9/15 @ about a 6:20 pace and see for how long I can hold on. That pace would give me a 1:23 finish time, or a 5:30 PR. I'm not too worried about recovery, since it's 22 days before the marathon. So we'll just keep going, for 46 more days (but who's counting?)

Transition time

Today is a time of transition on many fronts. I no longer am coordinating the summer running club, as the Cross Country team started their season today. So no more double runs for me, and likely no more afternoon running (YEAH!). So with 8 weeks left I can now focus on the remainder of my training program, and key in on the substance training. Mileage is fine, w/ an average of 58 miles for the past 11 weeks. Of course, in that time, I only took six days off. I need to make sure that I am balancing my recovery and rest days w/ my substance runs, b/c I want to stay and be healthy. Today was a nice and easy 5.4 miles, the same as Friday. These workouts were sandwiched around some more intense runs on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I ran 11+ miles, with the first 4 @ about 7:10 pace, and then with no rest commenced a 5k hard effort in 19:25, followed by a 4+ mile slower paced run back home. Sunday was a solid 10 miles, and the back to back 10+ milers felt pretty good, but I am tired. But it is a good kind of tired.

So now my schedule for the next few weeks will look like this...

Sun: Either 8-10 easy or 12-16 long, depending on race schedule
Mon: 5-7 recovery easy
Tue: 3x2 mile @ 6:20 pace, w/ 1/2 mile jog recovery
Wed: off or very easy recovery run
Thu: Marathon pace run of 6-10 miles
Fri: 7-9 miles easy
Sat: 12-16 mile long run or race+ w/u and c/d

Still shooting for 60 miles per week, and unless I run the Sunday and Saturday long runs in the same week, no plans to up the average miles significantly. Just want to focus on the substance workouts and long runs. I still want to run the 1/2 marathon on Sept 15, and will shoot for about 6:25-6:30 pace.

Better than before

Yes, I'm thinking and hoping that the pain I experienced last week is a thing of the past. I still experience some pain in my left hip but usually only when I make sudden movements when sitting or lying down. Everything else is fine.

The weather is still oppressive, with really high humidity levels. Even morning runs are a wet sweaty mess, with temps in the 70's and dewpoints virtually the same. Yesterday's marathon pace run caused my MP3 to short out b/c it got so wet w/ sweat. Next time I will leave it at home. Can't wait for cooler temps next month. I actually took Tuesday off, the 1st off day I've had in a month. The thunder, lightning and tornado warnings in my county made that decision quite easy. I responded by doubling up yesterday and will run twice today as well. Even with the off day I should get 60-65 miles in this week.

The running club season is winding down, and we finish up on Saturday with a 5K fun run. I will most likely run the course beforehand, b/c we don't have enough adults to give out splits and finish times. I have to remind myself that I'm not competing against these young men and women, but I'm always curious how I stack up against them time-wise. I joke that I still have a year of high school eligibility left (didn't run my senior year when I was an exchange student), but the state federation most likely frowns upon 43 year olds competing...

But the kids did well this summer. Since they graduated only one boy from last year's varsity team (and no girls), I think they have a real shot at winning their conference and maybe even advancing to state. Both teams have 10-12 runners that can challenge for varsity spots, so that ought to keep them on their toes. If they have a successful season, I'd like to think that I played a small part in helping them get ready for it this summer. But they're the ones that have put in the miles, and need to continue to train and run the races, so all the credit goes to them as individuals and as a team. Can't wait to watch them run. Now, if I could light a fire under my daughter... but I'm just going to sit back and watch (and cheer). If my wife thinks I can be loud and obnoxious @ soccer games, wait til' she sees me @ Cross Country meets. Good thing there's not a referee!

Dog Days?

Well August is here, and I feel like I've hit a wall in my training. Reached 257 miles for the month of July, but I feel sore and beat up. Sore hip, sore Achilles, legs feel dead, and my back is sore too. Am I training for soccer or a marathon? Add to all that is the hot and muggy weather, which saps my strength quite easily. So how do I adjust?

By taking it really easy this week. I may still get 50-55 miles in, but they're going to be slow. I dropped the double workout for today, b/c I want to feel better at the end of the week, not worse. Miles are still my friend - they're not the enemy. So running 8-9 minute pace is fine, don't let anyone tell me any differently.

Ok, I'm really rambling here. Just need to get out of the funk and on with the training. I'm 1/2 way there, so it's downhill from here, right? Oh that sounds soooo cliched, is that a real word?

I'll write more when I feel better....

Don't be stupid

That's the feeling I'm currently having, after nearly breaking my elbow this morning. Bounding up the stairs from the basement, I slammed my right elbow up into the basement ceiling, and had massive pain and a very swollen knot right above the elbow. Ibuprofen and ice have helped, so I don't believe it's any worse than a cuntusion. The moral of the story is, one stupid accident can screw up all I've worked for in the past 15 weeks.

BTW, in the past 15 weeks, I've averaged 54 miles per week. The last 7 weeks I've managed to bump that up to 58/week. Still trying to get 60/week average, which considering I've yet to run more than 13 miles in a day yet this year is pretty amazing. So my consistency has been the key. Only 7 days off in the last 14 weeks. Nine doubles in the last 6 weeks. But running club is due to end in 2 weeks time, and I've got to chart out a weekend schedule that will get me to the line on October 7 fit and ready. Last week I had a nice series of runs Thurday thru Sun, w/ 8.5, 9.6, 10.5 and 9 miles. I like the concept of 30 miles in 3 runs on a 3 day weekend, so that's what I'm going to strive for here on out. If I get 16 in on a Saturday, I need to surround it w/ 14 miles on the other 2 days. If I do 10,10 and 10, that'd be good too. The plan would be to do something like this:

July 27-29 : 8, 15, 7
Aug. 3 - 5 : 9, 10, 11
Aug 10-12 : 9, 10, 12 (5K race Sat)
Aug 17-19 : 8, 15, 8
Aug 24-26 : 8, 17, 8
8/31 - 9/2 : 9, 10, 12 (5K race Sat)
Sept. 7 - 9 : 8, 17, 8
Sep 14-16 : 7, 16, 7 (1/2 marathon Sat)
Sep 21-23 : 9, 11, 10
Sep 28-30: 7, 9, 6 (5K race Sat)
Oct. 5 - 7 : 5, 3, 27

I'm racing more than I have in the past, but I've not done as much speedwork this training cycle, so I want to stay sharp. Plus, the 5Ks are all low key (2 are cross country races), and the 1/2 Marathon won't be done all out. Just have to relax and not do anything too stupid.