still here

Hey peoples. I am still here. Just wanted to update that I am taking this week off/easy. I'll start running again once I get recharged. I'm planning on starting Lydiard's schedules with a little mixture of my own stuff. Mostly I'll be focusing on the small things instead of mileage, although I'll be running plenty of those. The little things like speed drills, stretching, hill jumps, just everything I need to improve legspeed. My goal is to get faster while maintaining a large load of miles. It's going to be tricky. That is why I'm taking this week off. I need to regroup and replan what my goals are and how I'm going to achieve them.

guess I forgot

Normally I'm pretty good about posting what I've done, this post is for Monday.

Did two 10ks at 41/42 pace or so. Not really 10k pace for sure, but I was certainly running these faster than my steady state. Felt good to go fast and these two "trials" gave me a good idea of what's possible on Saturday. Did the first one pretty fast, took a rest, then wanted to try another one. On the second I focused on turnover only and that seemed to keep me going- even had enough for a strong last mile finish. Not sure what the times are for these, as i just did them and was done. Didn't post them because these runs were later and it was time to eat/sleep when I got home.

6.25 GM 434
6.25 GM 428

5 miles on the treadmill at the gym. YES THE GYM!!!

we are officially members now. I'm excited though- this summer I can actually reclaim a tenth of the muscle I used to own. Wanted to run more today, didn't happen. Nearly bought a new computer- they messed up my order so I just cancelled the whole deal. Planning to build my own now. Shouldn't be too hard- I have a good book to guide me through it. It'll be a nice project this summer inbetween runs.

GM 422

working hard, feeling good

This morning's run went well. 7 miles around the hood with 4 hill sprints. Definitely worked the anaerobic system out well. Maybe could have done one more, but I was still feeling that mile a little bit from yesterday. There's always time for more fast stuff, so I thought I'd wait. The muscles are already pretty tight.

Normal run at the soccer complex later. Nothing to note other than it felt relaxed and exhaustive, but in a good way. "Rest" day tomorrow with normal steady running, then back at it Mon and Tues before I leave for the State Meet.

7(8)miles.60 degrees. BF 236
8(9)miles @6:59. 70 degrees 42% humidity. BF 244

ok

Got my entry form turned in for the race, I was going to mail it, but had forgotten so I dropped it off. Since i had to go home first to get the check I ended up going back by the school to drop it off and decided to run on the track. I had thought about it today at school- and got excited at the thought of a fast mile. So that is what I did- a mile warmup, some dynamic stretches, then just went for it.

I ran the first two laps with my stopwatch in hand- knowing full well I needed to be around 75-80 for my goal pace of 5:10-5:20, which seemed reasonable enough. At 200 I was already at 37 which mean't I was on pace, but started slowing even after a lap. Unfortunately it was a little windy out- but I was running pretty hard anyway and didn't really notice it. Lap 2 was 2:40, I thrust my stopwatch down because I knew it would take all I had to match those first two laps again. Lap three I was breathing hard and although I wasn't out of breath I was certainly having troubles. The last lap was pretty bad too. I couldn't go much faster if at all and was breathing way too hard. But all the same I sped up for the last hundred. Since the stopwatch was on the ground it's hard to tell what the time was exactly, but I read 5:33 just after crossing the line.

This mile is actually quite revealing. Although it is pretty much the same as my last mile two thing were different- the wind and no spikes. These things may have made me able to go faster. The second thing I noticed was my legs were tired and they normally aren't. This has to do with the surface of the track and that "sinking" that I'm not used to since I'm on roads. The previous mile I ran was slightly slower- but I was in the same situation as now with very little speed training. This is the last and most important thing -- I've yet to really push that anaerobic capacity that Lydiard talks about in his book. He says it's "not important" and is the easiest thing to increase, obviously with the necessary painful excruciating work. Mine needs lots of increasing. He states that training two days then one off for four weeks or something along those lines will maximize it. I'll have to read that passage again, but I think that is very possible for me. The main philosophy is that I've maxed out my aerobic system (oxygen transfer) and now it's time for anaerobic system (oxygen capacity). Again that is a much abbreviated and generalized statement, but you get the drift.

The other thing to note was my cooldown/warmup miles were run at 7:20 pace. This would lead me to believe the ipod pace is quite close (but faster as I had previously observed). I liked having that precise information available- it's just more affirmative than adjusting and guesstimating like I normally do. In other words I expect much more track work in the near future.

5 miles w 1mile @5:32. 60 degrees windy. BF 229

thunderstorms

Wet and rainy tonight. Didn't get to run. Planning on doubling it up tomorrow.

not backing down

yesterday was a big fat DNR. I honestly needed it though. I had a major headache building since lunchtime at school and it just got worse. That's probably the one thing I hate most about a special needs classroom. The screaming (literally) grunting, wailing, and mooing. The sound created is unbelievable. And it doesn't stop- ALL day long. One of our students screams uncontrollably. I'm not talking about an AAh and it's over. Nope, it's more like ......aaaaaAAAAAAAA then ten octaves up AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. You listen to that for half an hour and tell me your head doesn't hurt. At least school is almost over and I won't be hearing anything like that again for a long time hopefully.

So it wasn't until after dinner at 8:30 that my headache finally went away. It was still throbbing but didn't hurt.

Today was a faceslap to yesterdays laziness. Started off running as soon as I got home. I headed out to the soccer complex and took off. It had been raining off and on and was still cloudy so I hoped to at least get some miles in. At 3 miles I was ready to call it a day. I had a large lunch and it wasn't quite digested yet, so my stomach was really uneasy- to the point where it was hard to take deep breaths. My legs were burning and I already felt like I was done- plus it was starting to rain a little harder as there were already some light rain. But I said to myself, unless it's a downpour I'm not leaving. So on I went and within a mile I was feeling tons better and the rain let up and the sun came out. I wasn't really happy about the sun because it made it hot, but all the same at least I could get some more running in.

There were a few people to hunt down, but mostly I was just passing people going the opposite way a hundred times. Ended up with 10 miles and felt pretty good about it. When I got home I decided to take a little break since I had to go to the bathroom anyways. I got hydrated and then decided to got out for a "jog". My legs felt way better than I thought they would and I ended up cooking some more miles. The only problem with running two runs right in a row is that it still has the same pounding on the legs. It creates an achiness that feels like broken down muscle tissue. A lingering fatigue of the leg absorbing thousands of pounds of repeated shock. Other than that it felt really good. I like doing back to backs, but again the aches that come with it aren't so fun.

10(11)miles. 68 degrees 52% humidity 10mph. BF 220
4(5)miles. 70 degrees 53% humidity 9mph. BF 224

enjoyable

Best run in a while. Did a mile at the track while the kids going to state did their workouts. The track really made my calves and everything feel it- even after just a mile. I will have to start doing more work there.

The other 9 miles was at home- started off backwards so I would only have to do the hill twice. This worked quite well as I had a few miles before tackling it. This run felt very relaxed and smooth, but at the same time relatively fast. It probably felt that way because of the first two things. Either way it was nice and I haven't had a run where I felt good the whole way in a while.

10(11)miles @7:07.67 degrees 40% humidity NW9mph. GM 417

lacking something

I'm not really sure what the deal is lately. I just seem not to be running as smoothly or something. My left ham is sore today- notably from the tempo miles yesterday - I had felt my left foot just not landing right. It seemed to be smashing into the ground instead of smoothly hitting and rolling. Today's run was actually quite hard for an easy run. I guess going up the HH and the strong wind really slowed me down. I didn't want to run the HH, but I also didnt' want to cut off that nearly half a mile it adds to my loop.

The other issue is that of the long run. My heart rate (breathing) seemed to just not be there either. I think this is from a lack of a nice long run in a while. So I may do something next week to the tune of - long run/hills/tempo with rest inbetween instead of trying to get the long runs in on the weekend. It gets dark later now and I think I can at least get 2 hours in maybe 2.5 which is plenty far enough for 10k.

looks to be windy again tomorrow though- 22mph may have to put off the long run as that will certainly add up.

7(8)miles @7:07. 62 degrees 12 mph wind 70% humidity. GM 407

all i can do

No runs the past two days- Friday was the track meet all day long and Thursday it rained and I didn't want to run on the treadmill because our house was 100 degrees. That's a lame excuse, but all the same rest is good sometimes too. I've been getting plenty lately.

Nice morning, but didn't get to run in it. Yesterday's all day meet took a lot more than I thought out of me, plus I got to sleep late. So I got up and just didn't have much energy to run, went back to sleep after reading for a little bit.

This afternoon I got a run in at the soccer complex. Things didn't exactly go as planned, partially to the heat and the other part to bad pacing. I started off to what seemed slow, but it was faster than I needed to be- I had planned on warming up for a few miles then running a tempo. The warm up mile turned out to be a tempo itself as I had not run for a few days and just felt too good to go slow. So I just turned the first part into a tempo. This was a hard 3.5 and I was half dead after that little bit. Legs and lungs were hurting already. I figured I could go farther but it just wasn't worth it. I took some water- which I brought along with ice luckily and then got back into my cooldown miles. These were just as hard as the tempo and I had to take another water stop halfway through before finishing up with a little acceleration.

This one was definitely up there on the toughness scale, but I attribute it to the afternoon heat with low humidity. It was just stifling compared to my normal. I guess it's good though and I'll start getting used to it the more I get out in the heat of the day.

Afterwards I helped April move half our front yard to the back yard. It took just about all I had just to stand up and my breathing was heavy whenever I had to shovel even a small amount. I felt sort of light headed too and it wasn't till after dinner a few hours later that I started feeling normal again. I suppose that means I put in good effort, but it made me feel weak and I'm not too excited about that feeling.

3.5(4)miles @6:30. 77 degrees 40% humidity. BF 210
4.5(5)miles @7:19

better than nothing

Cat woke me up again this morning at 4. I really didn't feel like getting up an hour later to go run, so I just slept and kept hitting snooze on the alarm all the way till 7. That sucked and pretty much ruined the day. Wanted to run when I got home, but was too tired and only had a few small pieces of pizza for lunch so I was hungry too. Decided to eat and run later- which almost didn't happen. Luckily I got my feet out the door and ended up with 7 for today.

Tired, need rest.

7(8.2)miles @7:08. 74 degrees cloudy. GF 149

hydrate, hydrate again, and hydrate some more

A nice run tonight. I finally felt good enough to work in some hill running! I was worried about the toe, but after a test run at about 60% effort the toe didn't hurt at all. I ran a few more miles and then did an 85% effort and followed it with close to a mile break then a 90% effort. After another three miles I was starting to feel tired and figured I had put in enough work.

The story of the day was thirst. I have drank more liquids in the past few days than I have in my whole life. And the worst part is I'm still thristy. Even now after 40 oz. of and water and fresh strawberries my mouth is begging for a drink. So I guess it's the heat and I'll have to be careful not to slow down on the intake. It was 80 degrees today, and I know from last year that's about what it is in the mornings during the summer. So I've been slowly getting out into the sun more to run and by the time it really gets hot I should be pretty well acclimated.

10(11.2)miles @6:58. 75 degrees. GF 142

the track slows you down?

Two miles at the track. These were just kind of filler miles and didn't feel very nice at all. The track seems to just suck the step out me. I guess it's because it's made out of fibers the foot sinks in. There's just no bounce. I ran in lane 7, then just went to the outside of the track where there was pavement. That felt a lot better. I'm sure the track is good for fast times, but I'm not so sure the one we have would be good for longer races. I'll have to test this out more, but the only way to really compare is to measure out something on the pavement then run the same distance on the track. I'm sure there would be a great difference in feel and time- but which one would win in both I can't predict. Thinking back I have heard my kids say "this track feels harder than ours". I didn't give it any credit before, but I guess I should rethink it now.

Got home and went with April to the soccer complex. She and her mom have been running a lot lately. I guess I inspired them to get in shape. I am glad they are working on it. This run was nice, but I thought I clicked my ipod and I apparently didn't, so the first mile wasn't counted towards that hence no change needed below. The run felt nice other than the same old wooden toe feeling. Got a little harder towards the end, but it was hotter than when I usually run.

2(2)miles @7:16. 74 degrees. GM 402
9(9)miles @7:09. 74 degrees. GM 411

sun

Got some good running in today. Pace was nice and relaxed and I had plenty left at the end. middle toe on the right still is a little bothersome, but not painful at all. It just feels like theres something under the joint where the toe meets the foot.

AM- 7(8)miles @6:57. 60 degrees. GF 120
PM- 12(13)miles @7:05. 72 degrees. GF 132

update

Since my trip to Ohio things have just went crazy. Lets start from the beginning.


Friday- got in an early run before heading off to Ohio, this was good otherwise my streak would have been even longer. We went out to eat Friday night and thus no run. Note to self: when meal times are not in your control just prepare to run whenever possible instead of waiting for usual times.

Saturday- Part of the reason for going to Ohio was to have my dad check out my car. It turns out the axle was messed up and he wanted to replace the whole thing- which we found out Friday night. So Saturday was spent driving around finding parts and fixing the car. Then we fixed my great aunts tractor which involved changing the oil, then the blades on the mower attached. The blades are about 2 feet long and attached with a huge bolt that took about 15-20 minutes to loosen off (with me and my dad both taking turns ratcheting). So after that we were going to fill my uncle's tires up on his lawnmower. Normally you have to put the clutch in to shift. Apparently his doesn't need to do that and so the belt came loose. So yet another job for us to do. This was the worst one because of the crappy design of the 1911 lawnmower. Another 30 minutes of ratcheting later and we finally got the belt back on. So literally all I did Saturday was work. Well when we finally got done April wanted to go ballroom dancing. Apparently Britney found out about this place by their church and so we all decided to get dressed up and go- hence another day of not running. But it was fun and I'm glad we did it.

Sunday was spent driving. The weekend caught up with me and the rest of the night was spent napping and guess what- filling out transfer questionnaires. This took 3.5 hours since there were 14 questions and I wanted to make sure I had the answers right, then I had to format them correctly so they would print. That involved converting the files to pdf's and then flash driving them to my other computer with the printer.

Monday was just another day of madness- although I can't recall what happened exactly

Tuesday- Bearden meet. I was in charge of this one down to the entries for the meet. This was good, but Coach J was a little upset for multiple reasons and thus it was kind of a brush off on me. Got out as soon as possible and ran when I got home.

Wed/Thurs- Got runs in these two days, although mornings have went down the drain.

Friday- another track meet that lasted till 9 and Aprils Birthday. No morning run- just been to tired to get up.

Saturday- April's birthday. It was rainy in the morning and I just slept in. Had a nice breakfast at Ihop, came home and took a nap till we had to go out to eat. We went to Olive Garden with April's family, it was delicious. Got home and was too full to run.

Today seems to be a better day. Slept in again, but got out to the soccer complex for a 7 miler. Feeling much better today and things seem to be getting back in order (house cleaned, papers turned in, etc.). I hope to get another run in tonight and should be able to. I'm not excited about the past week, but it has given time for things to heal and get replenished. The right toe is ever so slightly painful, and I've got some kind of inner bruise on my right rib. The hip stuff only hurts when I sneeze, lol, and isn't really a factor otherwise. So I'm sort of holding off on hill climbing until the toe is 100%. I really don't want it getting worse again.

So much for my hope of a relaxing weekend and following week huh.

Friday - GF 89
Tuesday - GF 95
Wednesday - GF 101
Thursday - GF 113