10.31.08

Forgot I was supposed to do an extra mile today, but remembered a little bit into the run. Things started off really well. I waited until the sun was up to go out. I figured there was no use putting on a ton of clothing only to take it back off in a few minutes. So I dressed more conservative, shorts, longsleeve and a technical cut-off under that. I had gloves on too, but ended up getting rid of those around 6 miles. As I said, the run started really well. My legs felt great, lungs felt good. I made it around about a half mile and the pugs were out. GRRRReat. So I just figured ah, what the heck, and ran a little harder which turned out to be an acceleration. It wore me out pretty good since I had barely gotten outside, but at the same time running slow felt a lot easier.

So the run went on, I made my loop out, then back past the house, and the up the incline to the far point of the subdivision, back past the house to start loop number 2. Things were going well, but I didn't feel another sprint, so I just ran by the cul-de-sac with the pugs to conserve on energy. Same thing, just kept a nice easy pace. Legs cooperated today, and breathing was great. Back past the house for loop 3. Got close to the pugs house and then finally saw them. The chase was on. I took off to the end of the road where it turns left, and the black pug was actually right on my heels. This time I veered really quick and jumped a bush. he caught up with me, but then stopped. I was feeling good at this point as I estimated it was the final time I'd pass by there.

Loop 4 - So this is the first time I've ended up with 4 loops, but that's okay I was feeling perfectly fine for this "easy" run. Back past the house and toward Pug-row. I made it halfway down and they knew I was coming so I turned around really quick and they were on a mission this time since I had a head start. They caught up pretty fast. I did the same veer move, but the black pug got keen and was right on my heels. I said nice job puggy, then I blew him away and did a quick 50 meter burst. Legs were pretty worn after that, but after easing back into normal pace they went from lead to light and I finished out the run. On the way back i saw the black pug and he looked like he wanted to chase me as he was at the intersection, but he just watched me run by as I didn't have to go down his road. I figured I might as well make it an even 4 accelerations, so I did one more on the strip next to my house and called it a day.

Legs felt really good today, but pug-chase accelerations get more adrenaline pumping. There's something very raw and instinctive about out-running something chasing you. I will probably do a 4-5 mile easy pace later on tonight, as the legs feel great and easy miles don't seem to be affecting me. In a few weeks I'll have my race and plan a cut-back week, so I'm sort of adding in miles when I can until then.

9:57 am. home. 46 degrees.
1:13:47, bf 675

10.30.08

Kind of had the same thing going as yesterday. Much harder to run in the cold morning air. Stopped at 2 miles to take off my turtleneck - it wasn't THAT cold. Then I stopped for a second around 8 miles to get a little water, a tiny bite of luna bar (which was frozen) and got rid of my sweatpants, gloves, and headband. I was rolling after that. The legs were still very tired on the hills, but I felt a lot better after shedding the majority of clothing. Uphills were tough, downhills evened it all out. Wish I had a flatter course to test on - I do at home but even that has hills on the "flat" so I dunno. Either way it was a good workout and I'm sure doing this runs in the morning is really going to improve my oxygen uptake.

8:45 am. soccer complex. 32 to 40 degrees.
1:36:20, gm 492

10.29.08

Wow October is almost gone. Seems to have flown by. Last night I saw that it was going to be cold and decided to throw in the warm weather towel. For now on there will really be no waiting for "warmer" weather - or so I thought. Well things went according to plan, although I wish I would got a little more sleep last night. Either way April left at 8, and I was going to run after she left. It took me a while to get ready....technical under shirt, t-shirt, turtleneck, gray fleece hoody, black gloves, black headband, shorts, undershorts, and gray sweatpants. So it was like 40 minutes getting ready - lol j/k.

I was definitely warm. Getting out the door was easy enough and I was already getting into the run. I probably looked like Rocky out there.

This run was definitely not Rocky-esque though. I was breathing hard the whole time. Lungs felt worse than they have in a long time. I was just trying to get a breath and couldn't. As far as the legs go they were a little tired, but mostly just from carrying around all the extra weight. I was also started to get hot as the sun popped out and I was already warm before that. You can sort of see where all this is going.

But I kept on going. I figured I could stop by the house and at least lose my t-shirt and that would help matters, but I was dying when I made it back around the third time and just figured, what the heck I'm going to finish this thing. I made back around to the house again and shed my fleece hoody. It was like a huge weight had been lifted. I was already sweating pretty good and the cold air felt pretty nice. I started up the final hill and still felt pretty sucky breathing wise. The legs were a bit tired, but mostly from not breathing well. It felt great to end this one.

So what was the deal? Well there are a few things - for one I wasn't used to the cold air yet. It was like running in hot weather - you die early. Actually this felt just as bad as some of those first runs I did during the summer when it was 90. Secondly it was a morning run, and I haven't done that for a long while. And last I had a ton of clothes on and that weighed me down pretty good. So I'm sure after a few weeks of running in the morning I'll be back up to snuff. It was nice having the run done for the day though - I think I will do it more often. The only thing is I know I will die again so I'll just stick to the shorter easier runs in the morning for now on.


8:30 Am. home. 32 degrees low wind.
1:04:30, gf 294

Felt too good so I had to go out and run some more later on tonight. That's the thing with doing morning runs, the afternoon just feels so empty. Took it relatively easy on this one, probably could have went a little slower, but I was feeling pretty good, especially after the "hard" run this morning. None of the same symptoms occurred tonight, so I'm sure all the theories I came up with are probably correct. 55 degrees seems like a warm spring day compared to this morning. Although looking back it wasn't all that cold, I mean I was sweating pretty good. I decided to run again in the morning tomorrow. I figured it would be a better run if I had to work hard, and tomorrow is supposed to slightly harder, well not necessarily harder, but faster if I'm feeling good. Sometimes they go hand in hand, other times it's almost harder to go slow. Anyway not much else to say about the run, felt pretty good. Legs were just a bit tired on a few of the hilly parts, but lungs/breathing were easy/acceptable.

6pm. home. 53 degrees.
40:23, gf 299
core exercises, form drills

10.28.08

Kinda felt a little tired today. It might just be the cold weather, although it felt warmer today- more sun I think. The run went pretty good. I went counter-clock for the first 3 laps and it was difficult getting up the hill those 3 times. I could already feel the quads getting tired. So I switched directions and did 5 or 6 the opposite way. I wore different shoes tonight so that made the run feel a little different. I was really getting used to the free's, but after the run was over I noticed that my shoes felt light again. The run was going fine and it was time to turn it around for the hills. So I did the first one and it felt pretty good and I figured that would be it for today. I realized that I would have to go up the big hill again now that I was turned around counter-clock, but it turned out I was just short of it when I finally made it around. Like I said I wasn't feeling it on this run, for the weather or whatever reason, but I made a deal with myself. I would skip the strides if I ran on up and did one more strong/fast hill run. So I did it.

Not real sure why no motivation today. The miles might be getting to me, or the fact that I've run the same courses a billion times. Either way I have nothing to complain about really. Looking forward to an easy day tomorrow and I think I'll bring along the heart monitor for a ride. Thursday it might be warmed back up slightly, either way I think it's time to head to the track for my 800/400 heart rate test. I never did get around to doing that, and I'll have two days to recover before my long run. The long run should be real easy this weekend (if a long run can be) since I just did that distance last weekend.

4:07pm. soccer complex
1:38:00, gm 480

10.27.08

Good recovery run tonight. I need to start getting up earlier. I have been meaning to do that, but have been slacking. it's also been a while since I've done any of my core drills. Those things always seem to slide first. I can always work on things like that. Made 3 trips around the neighborhood tonight for 64 minutes. It was COLD today. Well compared to yesterday's 65, today was like an arctic freeze. I wore a tshirt, longsleeve and gloves and felt comfortable. It was also windy today. I'll post the weather at the bottom and try to do that every now and then.

I've been reading on runner's world forum lately. There is a huge thread that I'm working my way through, made up of people trying to go sub 2:45. I think it's the fastest thread on there as I haven't seen any sub 2:30 threads - (and no one bothers putting inbetween increments just to keep it honest). Anyway there is some really good info there if you're goal is in that range. I'm far behind the people there in my training, but what I lack in experience I make up for with being insane and not afraid to push my limits. Granted I have been more cautious lately, but there's a certain point in running where I think you have to take a little risk to get the reward you want.

So I have plenty to work on. The first thing I'm trying to do is get my mileage up. The 19 miles (ok it was 2 minutes short of 19) this weekend was killer. So I revised my long runs and will just repeat that same run this weekend or as many times as necessary until it becomes easy. Pretty amazing to be running that long already, but I'm having fun and it's actually not as boring as I had remembered. Secondly I'll be doing more tempo-ish pace to end my runs, trying to dip down into 5k range (6:00/mile). But only runs on thursday, with tuesday being ok if the long run isn't affecting it. Like tomorrow I'll take it easier because my legs felt like they needed 2 days to recover. Today the legs were better, and for the first few miles they were awesome, but still I felt like another day of rest would be beneficial. I already mentioned being more consistent and get my core/drill work in, and that was pretty much it.

My shoes have been demoted, but I wore them today and they were fine for the most part, just a few times I felt the ball sort of "touching" the asphalt so to speak, but it wasn't painful. Tomorrow is a longer day so I'll try and go back to my Moire's. I've been hearing good things about the Luna Racers, but unfortunately they are $100 bucks. But they are like 4.6 ounces or something insane like that! That's practically less than my waffle racers. Anyway I was thinking of also getting Nike Free everyday trainers. The nice thing about them is that they are more designed for everyday running, as opposed to the free's I have which are more for easy/low mile running. I only have money for necessities at this point, but I still need to make sure my feet are taken care of, and I'd at least like to be racing in a shoe that's going to give me an honest or fast time.

ah i almost forgot. Last night my knees and hams were so trashed I instinctively ran a cold bath and was in that thing before I even realized it. My body just knew what to do. It was great, and I think that's why i felt so good at the beginning of today's run.

wow, that was way longer than I wanted. Anyway hope you had a good day.


4:15pm. home.
1:04:30, bf 667

10.26.08

Today went pretty well. I made it out to Ball Camp Park just after 4 which was nice. I was planning a 2 hour 30 minute run for today (if i could manage it) so that would still leave me with some time before the sun set completely. The run started off okay. The legs were still not recovered from the Thurs/Fri runs and so there wasn't that fresh feeling that I usually get at the beginning of a run. All the same I was kind of trying to figure out where I was going to run as I moved along the traffic. I ran my normal hilly middlebrook, with the big uphill right at the first mile. Then I turned down Cedar bluff and into the hilly subdivision. Actually there are just hills everywhere for these long runs. But today I sort of messed it up even worse for myself.

After I made it through the subdivision I turned back for water/food. I brought a snack along with me and that worked really well. Although there was hardly enough room for my snack and my car unlocker in the keypocket in my shorts. I took some laraba bar, not the whole thing, but I cut a portion of it off and wrapped it in clear wrap. It worked no problem. So I ate that before I got back to the car for my gatorade. I'm getting used to eating now and although I had to make a lap around the little track I had it pretty much gone. So I made another lap with my bottle. I wouldn't say I've been to particular about drinking a certain way because I don't know how race day will unfold. But for now I'll just stick to gatorade and my cup with a lid that has a little opening you can pop open. It works nice because theres really no chance of spilling any on yourself. Ideally I'd want April to hand my one on race day, but I think that's a bit much. Probably better to just take powerade even though I think it's gross and has an aftertaste.

So at that point I was just over halfway 1 hour and 15 minutes. The legs were still dragging a little and that worried me. Otherwise I was feeling pretty good. So I decided to start back on middlebrook - you guessed it - the big hill right from the start pretty much put me over the edge. So already I had about an hour and half left and my legs are starting to really wear down. This time I went straight across the crazy road and headed toward the wiegels at the end of the road. I felt good going down and it was fun to watch my shadow running along with me. This part of the course is rolling hills, but there is a pretty good 150-200 meter downhill just before the Weigels. So running back up that wasn't much fun at all. The good thing was I was closing on two hours and that kept me going.

Slowly, but with every step I started to feel my legs grow more fatigued. They were just getting beat up from the huge hills I was going up. Breathing wise I was doing pretty good. At Aubreys there is only 5-10 minutes left until the park. But the bad part is that there is also another long incline. It's funny because it's the other side of the first hill you go up on this course. So you go up a steep incline, the down the otherside on a steep decline. So I was now going up this thing for the second time, fourth if you count going up the other side. Bah you just can't get away from it. It was here that I S L O W E D down. I was just hoping to finish the run at this point. Legs were burning, but mostly the hams. They felt like they got hit 20 times each with a baseball bat.

So I struggled along but still maintained somehow. I was going slower than I wanted, but I was still moving along well. The lungs were finally starting to work hard, and I focused on breathing deep. Soon enough I was back across the road and into the park for a final lap to the back of the baseball fields and then home to my car. I was happy to get some water as I was dehydrated. I forgot to drink extra water this morning so it was just bad planning on my part for that.

At a few miles in I had a side stitch. It was hurting pretty good just under my rib cage. Eventually it went away, but when you're running it feels like forever. The other thing was that the ball of my left foot is callused. My shoes are pretty worn down --see mileage-- and so that part of my shoe is pretty much paper thin. My reasoning for wearing them is that what better to run barefoot than to slowly let your shoes disentegrate. Its really working and there are callus forming and hardening. But unfortunately the side effect is that the calluses are painful. They get squashed between the bone and the pavement, kind of like having a rock under the ball of your foot - yeah not exactly the best feeling ever. All the same I think I will just wear these shoes on easy days and alternate with my more cushioned moire or my other grey free's for longer days as it only hurt from time to time. And in the end I want as many calluses as I can get, because otherwise there would be a blister there.

So yeah today was just a big long fat friggin hill workout if you ask me. But I was thinking about the marathon course I'll be running and it's no walk in the park either so I guess it's appropriate when you take that into consideration. Other than the beating to my legs I think the run went well. Next time I'll stick more to the back soccerfields though - flat and soft.

Ah. I almost freakin' forgot. As I was trucking down the other side of Aubrey Hill with just 15 minutes left in my long run a truck comes out of the fancy apartments there. It pulls up to the sidewalk and stops. I had seen it coming and by the time it was to the sidewalk (attached to the road) I was in front of the truck running by. The freaking guy almost pulls out and hits me!!! WHAT THE CRAP? THEN, to my surprise he peels out and honks his horn like I was the one who didn't look both ways.

Now, I'm a relatively calm person. A nice person most might say, but I couldn't help it and yelled YOU'RE THE DRIVER. LOOK BOTH WAYS IDIOT! and then I gave him the no look bird as I ran away from the scene. I can't say I've given many people the bird in my entire life, but it was a simple gut reflex action that I didn't even think about, so the guy must have deserved it. So what do you think? My fault, or his? I dunno maybe it was me, but considering I was RIGHT IN FRONT HIM, you think he might have seen me, plus I'd been running for 2hrs 15 minutes, when you're that close to the end of a long, the last thing you want to do is slam on the brakes (possibly injuring yourself at the pace I was going) stop for a truck, and then wave and say "have a nice day" and then gradually get your pace back up to speed. okay, end rant.

4:05pm. ball camp to pilot+ball camp to weigels. 65 degrees decent wind.
2:30:30, bf 658

10.25.08

Took it very easy today. The first few miles were tough. The legs were pretty worn out from yesterday's....well I guess I would call it a mini-tempo run. All the same by about half an hour I was feeling good and the legs loosened up for me. Took it very, very easy for this run. Didn't want to stress anything lung or muscle wise. Seemed to work pretty well, I still had a good sweat worked up by the end of it. Not much else got done today. It was boring at home. I watched a movie and then some tv poker.

Ah, i forgot to publish this one till later. Ah well :)

5pm. home. 60 degrees slight wind.
58:31, gf 286

10.24.08

It rained all day today. Well I think it stopped this morning sometime, but when I went to go out it started pouring again so I held off. Later on it was still raining so I decided to get the treadmill going. I made it a mile before scratching that idea and going outside. It didn't take but a few minutes to throw on a t-shirt. What'dya know it had subsided and wasn't even sprinkling. Sweet. It felt great to run on the pavement after the mill. The legs felt a hundred times better. That always seems to happen. It's amazing how much a treadmill (or at least my cheap one) affects the stride.

So right away I was feeling great as I already had a mile warmup in and now my legs were free. I felt really light on my feet today, just floating along. So nice. It started raining about halfway through and was cold - close to 50 degrees. My arms were frozen, but everything else was fine. It was fun to splash around in the water on the pavement. At two loops I realized I still had a good 18-20 minutes left. I was just cruising along. It started raining even harder, but that just motivated me more. I like running in the rain. It just puts a stamp out there saying I won't be defeated and I won't back down for anything.

At one point it was hard to see for the rain, but it wasn't like a downpour or anything. I still felt light all throughout this run and the legs were responsive and not a bit sore. By the end though the pace caught up with me a little and I was feeling a little tired. I nearly got three loops in, definitely more than 2.5 which is normal for the amount of time out there for a short recovery run. So I finished up. It was awesome to see all this dirt on the back of my legs that had splashed up while running. You wouldn't think pavement is that dirty, but I guess I was wrong on that.

Went out to eat pretty much as soon as we got home. We went to El Charro and had dinner with April's family. It was fun and they have the best Mexican food in Knoxville.

5pm. tread 1 mile, home. 50 degrees rainy and a bit of wind.
1:08:10, bf 640

10.23.08

Nothing special today. It was cloudy. I made it to the soccer complex a little after 5. The first few miles pretty much flew by, 3 loops one way, then I did 3 the opposite direction. At 1 hour I stopped to refuel (kept jogging) with some gatorade and a piece of laraba bar. When I went to click my ipod to resume, it just decided to end the workout. So I had to do a "second" run ipod wise which sucks. I mean in the big scheme of things it's fine, but I hate that it does that. It obviously says click to resume, maybe I'm just hitting the middle button instead of play or something, but it really sucks having the run broken up like that. I can't accurately measure how many runs I've done because it'll show 2 instead of 1. But like I said, really it's not big deal, just a nuisance.

So since I had a pretty good break and the last one-third of my run was separate I decided to run a little faster. I did three uphills at 70% or so. I was breathing a little harder at the top, but it certainly wasn't a huge effort. The rest of run went really well and I was finished in no time. My arms along the outside of my forearm got pretty cold. It was supposedly 63 degrees or so. It just feels colder than that for some reason - maybe because there was no sun out? But it's probably that I'm just not used to the cold weather yet. Time change is coming soon. That means morning runs and 40 degrees. I'm not looking forward to it. But not for the reason you think - it's for the clothing issue. I love running in shorts and a t-shirt. Now I'll have to start wearing pants that are stuffy and all these layers of longsleeves and gloves. It's really restricting, but I'm still excited because my training is going well and I know it'll be a hundred times better training through the winter.

5:13pm. soccer complex. cloudy 63 degrees.
1:28:12, bf 632

10.22.08

A pretty unproductive day. Tomorrow should be better. It was nice out today and since i was home I got to run in the full daylight. It was definitely warmer. Even that small change affected my breathing and I could tell it was heavier than yesterday. The legs felt really great throughout the run until the end. After about 5 or 6 they started getting pretty heavy and I could feel some lingering soreness that was still in there. I took it really easy today and practically felt like I was jogging.

The pugs were out today. Since it was easy day I decided to stop and pet them. Ahh gosh they are the worst animals ever. I'm never owning one, nor do I ever want to be associated with them. They are just frolicky and bitey and barky fat little things. They were nice for a minute and just stood still, but then I decided to start walking and they went bark crazy and nipped at me and jumped up on my leg. Good lord I was thinking. So I just starting jogging off and they were darting in and out of my feet. Do you know how hard it is to run with a fat pudgy dog running UNDER your friggin' feet. It's hard. Finally I made it around and they became so tired they quit chasing and barking and turned back. The funny part was when I came back around a second time the owners still hadn't put them away or whatever it is they do with them. So they chased me yet again. I just went slow and this time they made it even less far before quitting. I just laughed to myself thinking about how many people in the subdivision were staring out their windows at what probably to them was entertainment.

Did 2.5 loops tonight. Closing in on that 3 loops for a short run. It's really hard to believe, but very soon I'll be over an hour for my short runs. It just seems so contradictory. But that won't happen till November. I'm basically taking it one month at a time. Right now I do 7-11-7-11-7-(6-7)-long(17) which is 66-67 miles. Next month I'll be into the 70's, and December I will hopefully be healthy and be able move up to 80's.

Running more is great, but I've finally learned you can't just make huge jumps. I mean I could run 20 miles a day right now. I could. I could do that and in a month I would be so hurt from the pounding that my legs would shatter. The thing is the more you run, the better shape you get, and so it's intuitive to want to run more. But the other fact is your legs/body can only take so much of it before it breaks down, and it WILL break down. So I'm happy to slowly build up. This allows for the legs, heart, running form, mind, and overall body to slowly adapt to the increase instead of being crushed by it.

So the plan for November is increase my medium distance first - maybe 7-12-7-12-7-7-(19-20) for 71-72. and increase short runs as needed through the month maybe one a week to end at 8-12-8-12-8-7(21-23) 76-78. In December I plan on 8-13-8-13-8-7-(23-26) to start touching 80. That is a tough month due to Christmas and the cold weather so hopefully things will work out. Obviously the plan is to hold near 80 as long as possible (alap) while infusing hill-training and speedwork into the mix. Repeat miles are ahead of me well below my goal pace - around 5:30-5:40 I'd say. That will be fun though I'm looking forward to the track. There is like two months of that! But when you're a crazy guy like me you do what you gotta do.

5:08pm. home. 65 degrees perfect.
59:16, bf 621

10.21.08

Well we finished the 50,000 piece job today. Actually the wires, which I think I told you about before, are all full and still have to be loaded onto the truck. NOT going to be taking part in that if my life depended on it. Those things are freakin' heavy and I'm not killing myself for minimum wage. Anyway it looks like the job search is back on and I'm really looking forward to finishing my postcard and getting my ads out there. I'm also looking into getting a factory job or something like that. I guess stuffing envelopes for 8 days was easy enough, so I could probably do something equally as mindless as a job.

The run was good tonight. Since I got to leave work about 15 minutes early I was able to get home with just enough time to complete my run which is just shy of an hour and a half. So it was 5:30 by the time I made it out to the soccer complex. There were some soccer games going on and plenty of people jogging and walking that I got to run by 10 times. Surprisingly most of the people when I arrived were there when I left. That usually doesn't happen, but I did see a few people. Maybe they got there later and I just assumed they had been there the whole time though. It's funny you really get to see who is consistent and who isn't. There is always an older woman who runs there. She is more of a fastwalker or jogger than runner as her feet hardly leave the ground. She floats. Which is fine, but because of her speed I would definitely put her into the runner category. I've wanted to say something as she's been there consistently since I started running in September, but she doesn't seem very sociable and we are both just trucking along.

Then there are the dogwalkers, and older couple who have two dogs. They take up the entire pavement which is big enough for four people. The leashes are 50 feet long and their dogs swerve from side to side, and they themselves swerve along with dogs. I've gotten used to running through the jumbled bumpy grass along the side of the path when I pass them. Then there are the walkers, three deep shoulder to shoulder. They leave just a smidgen of room to run, and I'm always sure to blow by, letting them know that if they were to step just a little closer they would be clotheslined. As a runner it almost means I have the right-of-way. They aren't out there training everyday, that course is mine. They aren't the one's busting balls everyday out there, that's me. I mean it's like moving for a faster car, it's just common courtesy. I don't take it too far though, many times I run in the grass, although I always feel like I'm going to sprain and ankle doing that.

Okay well I got a rant in, a complaint, what was good about today? Well the run was really good. I had a good time running, the lungs felt great. My legs are still a little achy from the long run, so I decided to test them further and did my accelerations up the hill during the last third of my run. The last five minutes I worked up to 5k pace or better and held it the whole way. It felt great to go fast. My legs are now pretty shot though and I'm looking forward to a super easy 7 miles tomorrow. Used my thin t-shirt today which was fine, but still kind of chilly once the sun set.

5:30 pm. soccer complex. 60 degrees slight wind.
1:28:30, bf 614

10.20.08

I was back at April's work again. It was okay, but we are almost done with the job. I thought they would have it finished, and it's almost there. Probably will just have to work tomorrow and that should be it. I'm looking forward to it being over so I can have time to look for a better job. Even if I have to work in a factory or something like that I think I would be happy. At least I wouldn't have to deal with a lot of crap and my job would be easy. I don't know we'll see how that works out.

The legs weren't too bad from yesterday's long run. I actually didn't notice any tightness until I went for my recovery run tonight. Mileage is increasing now, but I'm still feeling really good about it. As far as health goes all I've had are some minor aches and pains, nothing serious. Yesterday my toes had some blisters, the pinky toes particularly which is kind of weird because I never get them there. I definitely wasn't 100% today, so maybe tomorrow I'll just go by how I feel. Hopefully I can leave work early to have plenty of time to run as I was already cutting into daylight on today's short run. The weather was tricky today. It got close to 70 degrees, but as I ran it got colder because the sun was going down. It was pretty chilly by the end. I'll have to start transitioning to t-shirts instead of cut-offs.

6 pm. home. 65 degrees, got chilly .
56:48, bf 603

10.19.08

Long run today after a 7 hour drive home! Will update when I'm more settled in.

Well I went out to ball camp park about as soon as I could when I got home. I knew I would need a good 2 hours and I got there with just a little time to spare. The run started off really well. My legs felt great and after a few minutes in the park I headed on my middlebrook route. It was nice I went up the nice long hill making sure to take it pretty easy. I saw a little side route that goes down cedar bluff, so I took that. It was pretty good. It ends up eventually branching off into a hilly subdivision and by the time I was finished with my little excursion I added a good 20-30 minutes to my run. I was feeling really great at 1 hour. I did have to stop to use the bathroom though, and luckily there was a pilot right at the end of this loop so I stopped for a quick minute and got a sip of water too. I don't know if it was the short break or what, but after that the run seemed to be super easy.

I decided not to go back to the park. I was just going to go on ahead to walmart. So I did. I got out there still feeling pretty good and I took another tiny route past walmart up a pretty long hill. At this point I decided to turn back. I can't remember exactly what time I was at, but it had to be closing on 1.5 hours. So it was back up middlebrook. I started to feel the first signs of wear here as I knew there were two more pretty good sized hills left. I made it up the first one and realized I'd have only 20 minutes left when I got to the park. That's great, but also kind of bad because I hadn't refueled for but a sip of water. I think the cool air had a lot do with my fuel though because the sun was starting to set and it was definitely getting close to the upper 50's, especially with the wind.

So I made it halfway down middlebrook and still felt good, but my knees were starting to hurt. I just kept going and it really didn't take a lot of effort or will power to run. I was having a pretty good time actually and it really didn't feel like a "hard" run at all. So I made it up the last hill and as I coasted down I had 16 minutes left, with a few more minutes till I returned to the park. Once I got there it was 11 and by the time had my way back to the soccer fields at the back of the park I was pretty much done. The grass felt great back there. Next time I'll have to remember to schedule more time on the grass whether it be in the middle or at the end. The end is best because my knees were killing. I felt pretty good after this run. I could have went farther, but it just wasn't necessary. I'm not sure how much I actually got out of this run endurance wise, but physcially I think my legs (knees?) definitely learned a lesson or two.

So it was a great long run. 17 miles according to my time. I added an extra mile due to the race last week. I can really tell a difference though. I think that race almost improved my performance better than a long run? It is probably just from the extra rest I got from not running long and the little anaerobic boost from going fast added together. Soooo I'll be adding more miles in November and I'm looking forward to it. Long runs will be 19-20 or so. Then in December I'll have a 26 mile test and probably a recovery week after that just for good measure. I hope to be close to 80 miles per week soon. But I'm not too worried about the exact mileage, as long as it's increasing at levels I can handle I'll keep doing what I've been doing.

4:40pm. ball camp park-cedar-walmart. 65 degrees, got somewhat chilly.
2:18:08, bf 596

10.18.08

Brits wedding was today. We had to be at the church at 9 for some unknown reason. Should have just went for a quick run, but since it was 8:30 when we finally got up I just decided to take April to McDonald's for breakfast. It was a really good day but LOOOOOONG. The wedding started at 1:30, we didn't eat lunch btw, and finally they started wrapping things up around 11. Or at least that's when we left. I had fun, but it was just three days straight of pandemonium. Britney Wireman is now Britney Brubaker.

-day of rest.

10.17.08

Colder again today especially when the wind was hitting my arms as it was pretty windy again. I started off slow but sort of got faster due to the wind. It was blowing against me for the first half hour, then I turned around and had it to my back. The run was a little more effort than I would have liked, but I also figured that tomorrow would be super easy and it would be okay to push just a little. I definitely kept within myself and just did a little pickup the last two minutes or so.

Legs feel real good right now. I also don't have any kind of pains to note which is spectacular. I think I've really found a groove in my training that allows me to get good quality work in everyweek and counter it with enough recovery to balance the equation. I would like to get get faster. I think about it a lot know and really want to start running faster (overall mile/minute pace) but at the same time I know I should take it slow and wait. It just always seems like I'm running against the clock nowadays. It seems like if I don't start getting fast now that I'll end up not being fast for a long while off. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but I guess it doesn't matter much. I'm just trying to improve the best way I know how and it will take time no matter what I do.

I've kind of decided to do Buddy's Race for the Cure. Mostly because the Turkey Trot website hasn't been updated and I emailed the guy who was in charge of it last year and have heard nothing back. So I assume they aren't having it again. It'll be good though. I'll get to compare my time in a one-month span on the exact same course downtown. The only part I don't like about races is that I miss a long run that weekend. I guess it's okay though because for one it changes things up and for two it is basically like a recovery week. Yes I'm running fast, but it's only for 3 miles. I was recovered from the last race by the next day basically (I didn't really PUSH all-out) and for long runs it's usually a few days before my legs feel 100% again. Also there's the fact that I don't like missing out on long runs. There's something about accomplishing a run that's over 2 hours long that just builds your confidence. Galloway says it's a staple for a runner, and I really believe it's true even if not endurance wise, it is psychologically.

Britney's wedding is tomorrow. Today mom cut her thumb while working on the wedding (two days straight without a break) and she got 15 stitches! Yeah, she had it all wrapped up and fortunately lots of people went to visit her and help her finish decorating the hall. Then we still had to decorate the church and go to the rehearsal. After that we went to Brandon's parents for dinner, whew. What a day. I should be able to get a short run in tomorrow morning while the girls are getting their hair did.

11:30 am. kerr out and back. 52 degrees windy 10 mph
57:57. bf 579

10.16.08

This morning I woke up too early. I nearly got wrangled into setting up for the wedding. I'm glad I got out of it because I would have been there all day. So I got my run in the morning and told mom I would help her out around lunchtime. The run went well, but it was ludicriously windy. I know thats not a word, but it's the only thing that describes it. Fortunately when there is a wind like you have the opposite direction to look forward to. The wind was coming out of the north and it was MUCH colder today about 50 degrees.

Stomach wasn't feeling too great along the way and I thought stopping for a drink would help. About an hour into the run I was back at the house and took a quick minute or less to get a drink and a bite of luna bar. Since it was so cold I didn't notice the taste, but I did feel slightly better. It was probably just from stopping though because after a few more minutes I still didn't feel great. The legs were pretty good today though, definitely had some strength in there. Finally I was about to finish and put in some good fast running the last five minutes and got a sprint in at the end. It was weird because I could feel my quads jiggling as I sprinted. I'm not sure if that was a good thing or not. Either I was going pretty dang fast or I was slow enough that my pounding steps were causing it.

I ended up helping decorate the wedding for the rest of the day. April stayed at my parents and finished all sorts of programs and other things she got put up to. They took forever because they were double-sided and my parents just have a normal old printer. So she had to print one side, then other. About 250 of those, then she also had to print placecards and cut them out. She still isn't done, but was getting started with the cards.

10 am. Big loops. 50 degrees Cold and Windy!
1:28:00, bf 572

10.15.08 just when you think.

It was a rainy day today, but by the afternoon it had cleared up. I took a nap then woke up around 5. I took my time getting out and it was 5:45 when I finally got around to it. Things were kinda crazy today. My parents cat got into some rat poison or some kind of chemical and she isn't doing very good at all. She was bleeding all day today and yesterday. Her nose is completely raw and her fur has blood all over it. We put medicine on her nose, but she rubs and licks it off, making it even worse. I don't know what the vet was thinking. She is a horrible mess. So she was bleeding again today and April was freaking out because when she carried her to her food bowl she just fell over and cried. We didn't want to take her to the vet because it's not our cat and who knows they might have wanted to just put her down or something. So I was looking forward to getting out of the house.

I did paint my mom's pantry today and cleaned it up real nice. The walls were all scuffed up. I literally found some stuff from 2004 - graham crackers and jars of canned blackberry jelly among other various foods from a variety of years. But these specifically said Blackberry Jam 04' on the label. Thankfully someone had labeled it. When i opened it there was mold on the top and it smelled fermented. Gross. The floor was so dirty I had to get a mop and clean it. Apparently something syrupy had dripped on the floor and no one bothered to clean it so I had to scrub that off. Add the who knows how old rotted banana that was on the trashcan lid (hidden under some plastic bags) which had tiny little holes where bugs had crawled out of it or ate it and you got one nasty mess to deal with. So I just threw the trashcan lid into the yard. I had three full double-walmart bags of canned food from early 07, but mostly older than that, a box of nonfat powder milk from 05, and a bag fritos that was so hard it didn't even crunch when I punched it in the side, the thing was like a brick in a bag. So I also filled up two full big black trashbags of old food and emptied out the jars of canned stuff too. Needless to say the pantry looks empty now, but quite nice. CAN you imagine what I will find in the FRIDGE OF DOOM?

So I was reeeeally looking forward to the run and getting away from the house. I started down a quick one mile road, then headed on my normal loop. I made it out to the unpaved rock road (they just put loose rocks down and I guess haven't got around to paving it) along Kerr and decided to turn around as I only had 20 minutes left. I'm doing really good today. The legs feel light as a feather and really responsive. Good news for me. So I'm looking forward to just coasting this one in as I'm taking it pretty easy out there for recovery. This is harder than it seems because when your legs feel good you just want to go, so I was working hard to pull the reigns. Then up ahead I see a car and it's going really slow. I think what the heck are they going to talk to me or something. But as I get closer I see it's my dad, April, and Britney driving her car. They all say "jump in" and I'm like No thanks I'll just run home I'm almost there. I was really getting a to groove so I ran around to the other side of the car to see what the heck was up. Apparently today was the last day they could make changes to our suits for the wedding, so we had to go RIGHT NOW to go get them fitted. Ah man that irked me a little, but I just got in the car, there was no use fighting it. I complained a little, but let it go when I heard we were going to be getting some food. I hadn't eaten lunch yet! Well okay I had a granola bar, but after cleaning that mess I lost my appetite and so I was starving now.

So we get them fitted, then we have to stop by walmart and heck it was after 8 before i finally got to eat anything. At least it was really good. Lee's famous recipe chicken, green beans, coleslaw, and sweet tea. It's the best chicken place I've been to and everything is delicious. When I got home I still had my running shorts on (and obviously was still sweaty and gross) mom said "Are you just now getting back?" I just told her NO, I got kidnapped but I escaped.

So my recovery run was cut a bit short, but I still got 40 minutes in so that's a pretty good run. Should be great tomorrow, although we are now in wedding mode and that means setting up everything. Since my mom is a wedding decorator she is obviously doing Britney's wedding and so we end up having to do all this stuff. That's the only bad part about coming home is that we rarely get a break from it and it's annoying to be the LAST one to leave every wedding we end up going to. I'm going to try to run in the morning, but if I'm awake I might get dragged somewhere to do some job where I'm done in half an hour then have to sit around all day. Maybe I'll just wear my running shorts to sleep and take off when i hear someone ask about me.

5:45 pm. 1/2 kerr + county line. 75 degrees, medium wind.
41:46, bf 561

10.14.08

Hello friends. Well today was a good day. Since I was going to Rachel's meet I got outside early, but not as early as I would have liked, it was around 9:00. The run started off hot. There was a strong wind coming from the west. There were some clouds, but they were moving really fast - probably due to the wind. So at times it was hot and other times it was normal. But when it was hot it was just ridiculous. It is so much more humid here than in TN. I ran an extra road in the time I ran my entire run yesterday, so I was definitely going a little faster which was good.

The legs are still a bit sore here and there, but for the most part they were responding well. After about an hour of running I did a few accels, but they were only about 70-75% so it was more of a just a slight increase in pace than a full accel. I did about two or three of those and by that time I was back home with still about 8 minutes left. So I went on past the house, even though I was a little dehydrated and the stomach wasn't feeling to great during the run. That was mostly due to the no breakfast thing though. I had a luna bar last night so I figured that might help, but it really didn't as far as i know.

So I did a few more accels, but this time up the hills by my parents house. My parents house in on a hill, and for Ohio the hills just surrounding our home are pretty steep and not to be taken lightly. This is about the only area where there are hills, so it's pretty cool to have that. The rest of the run went good, but I was definitely feeling my heartbeat by the end. So it was a good workout and it was nice to finally get some breakfast. Since my parents didn't have a lot of the food we eat me and April went out last night and picked up some stuff. Y'know the improtant stuff, good cereal (healthy but not nasty), gatorade, fruit.

Thats the funny thing about my parents, or at least my mom. She likes to buy stuff that's "healthy", which on her part it is. But it tastes like cardboard or worse. For instance Cracklin Oat Bran'. Sure it's great for you, plenty of fiber, but when you puke it back up after tasting it, the thing is hardly worth the purchase. She also NEVER cleans out her pantry. I do when I visit, the last time was four years ago......well I started again and guess what --- Evaporated milk was evaporated, frosted flakes were frosted, and the graham crackers were grahamed. Some of the stuff we found was from 2004 and even as far back as 12/31/00. So yeah I think if you haven't eaten something for 8 years you might want to discard it. Nobody would actually eat it because there was so much piled on top you couldn't find it anyway - which is why there are five different versions of the same thing.

Haha, I love my mom though, she is just funny that way. And for the most part there was updated food in there. Sorry for that rant. So after that we went to the Cross Country meet. It was sad. There were only two teams in our league that showed up. Us and the host. So automatically everyone got medals. Our two boys took first and second in 18:30 and 18:58. Not bad for a windy day, but then again there is only one week left in their season. Rachel got third place and finished around 25 minutes. She hasn't really taken it seriously this year, as in previous seasons she has ran around 22-23 minutes. She doesn't have the build for a runner really, but y'know I don't really think that matters. There are great runners who have terrible form, and what makes a runner great is their dedication and spirit. Still I think a body improves with training and starts to sort of shape itself to better suit what it's being asked to do.

So the track meet was kind of funny. I did talk to the coach. He has been doing it for a few years now. He said they were going to be putting in a fitness trail and I got really excited about that. I love Tennessee, but there's something about helping out the town you grew up in that I like. I could definitely see myself coaching and teaching here, but y'know I doubt it will ever happen. Anyway the fitness trail sounded sweet. He said it would be at least 2 miles, without the extra part going around the school. I asked if it would be paved and he said it would be mulched. Oh man that got me thinking a lot.

Well that's all for today's entry. Recovery day tomorrow and I might try and run with the guys after school for it. We'll see how the day goes.

9:08 am. kerr out n'back plus county line. 80 degrees, Windy!
1:28:12, bf 556

10.13.08

Quads were sore today. It's that second day rule. You can't get around it. I've not heard it mentioned too often, but I could pretty much put it in a medical book as a fact. The rule is the day after a workout you will be sore, and the day after that you will be twice as sore. I was sore yesterday and it remains, but luckily not too bad. The bugs were horrible. I was running through patches of tiny nats that would cover my shirt. I felt a lot like a windshield wiper. At one point I couldn't even see because the bugs were in my eyes so bad. I was scared because I was swerving all over the road because I couldn't see and was trying to wipe them out of my face and not breath them in. I didn't want to get hit by a car. Fortunately that only lasted about 15 minutes. I think after that the sun started to set a bit more and they stopped flying, because after that I didn't have to run through anymore.

Just a recovery run tonight, although I'm tacking on extra miles to start increasing my total weekly mileage. Normally I would run 48 minutes, but I added an extra 8 for another mile. It was pretty good. Only a few dogs tonight, but they just ran beside me for a few seconds and then got lazy. They were nice dogs and nothing to worry about. Took the same course, but skipped the D shaped extra part. Ended up being almost exactly an hour so it worked out well as just an out and back course. The only bad part was toward the end my right calf and hamstring got kind of tight on me. I had to slow a little and ran in the grass when it wasn't too high. It was pretty much gone though by the time I got back to the house.

So today's run probably could have been a little slower, but oh well. I visited my aunt when I got back from my run. Her grandaughter Rachel lives with her and her mom. She runs cross country and my mom told me they were done with their season. Well they still have a week left. That kind of made me mad because I could have drove up to the school and ran with them. But anyway tomorrow there is a meet and I'm going to go with my aunt to watch Rachel run. It should be fun. I kind of feel bad. I should have really guided her a little better with her running. I tried a few times, but I guess I wasn't persistent enough. She pretty much just runs for fun now, although in past years she was one of the top runners for the school.

So I'm planning on running my 88 minutes in the morning since I'll be going to the meet later on and probably not have a chance to run. Things are going well here at my parents though. I've been running and getting to sleep early. I guess television has kind of gone to the wayside lately, but I think it's just because there are like zero shows I'm interested in. Alright well I hope you all are doing good and running long.

5:45. schooler rd. out and back. 81 degrees, bugs galore.
59:09. bf 545

10.12.08

Official time is

19:01.59 !!! holy moly I didn't realize I was so close to breaking 19. I was second in my age group too! The bad part is the guy who beat me at the finish by one second was in my age group. Man I would have been first...well as far as age groups go. I ended up fifth overall. There were 11,000 runners. Yeah I'm not sure how that happened, but I don't care it's awesome!

So I'm pretty psyched about it. I was thinking about the race and I really wish I could have kicked that final stretch. My quads are sore today, but not bad or anything, a comfortable good sore. I didn't realize HOW close I was to 19. I'll never underestimate myself or count a guy out again. I had a lot of fun though. After the race we got chic-fil-a coupons and snickers marathon bars. I was going to go to work so I could get some overtime, but I decided to instead take the day off and get ready for our trip to Ohio.

We left around 8:30 this morning. It was a nice drive other than dodging a plastic tricycle that was placed directly in the middle of my lane in the center of the innerstate. Yeah, not so fun. Plus other people thought I was a crazy driver since it was so small they probably didn't see what I was dodging. We stopped at wendy's and I was actually surprised by how good their chicken sandwich is. We got in around 3:30 in the afternoon. It was good to see all the leaves changing and get to see my family again. We talked for a while and before I knew it I was totally Craving a run. So I said well it's time for a run. I do believe there was a "you don't HAVE to", to which April (of all people) replied "yes he does". That's my girl!

So then I looked up that I friggin' placed in the top 5 in that race yesterday. Holy cow that amazed me beyond belief. My mom was like out of 11,000! I told her probably all the good runners didn't show. So I went for my run, with sore quads. They weren't too bad though. It was more of a workout than a race yesterday when I think about it. I had another gear left that I saved on that last stretch. But that race is over, time to prepare for the next one.

So I went out today with the goal of exploration. And that I did. I went out away from my usual course and just explored the wide open lonely country roads. Things were going really well. My legs felt great and the soreness wasn't a factor. By a half hour I was feeling really good and the sun was starting to get lower. On the other side of the horizon the moon was hanging low above the houses. I ran by a family who were having a get together in their yard. Then I hear "CLYDE!!!' over Coldplay's tunes on my ipod. I look down and I see him running right behind me. He was a big dog. Brown, fluffy, some sort of golden retriever mix. Big paws. I know this because I immediately stopped. He was friendly, but like a big huge puppy friendly. He jumped all over me. A nice woman came out to get Clydesdale and apologized. I couldn't blame her too much though. I doubt these people see anyone this far out in the country. She was very sweet and said "Sorry for interrupting your run" I graciously accepted it and returned to my enjoyment.

On around the winding roads. I was running by mostly cornfields, and now I smelled a rather unpleasant fume. Someone must have been spreading manure or silage. Either way it was a little hard to breath and certainly not pleasant. So I turn the bend. I was glad because I had never really taken this road and If I had to turn around I would have to go all the way back. But fortunately this road connected back to where I started, sort of making a huge D shape. Then I heard a growl. A white dog who didn't necessarily look too intimidating was sitting by a tree. I didn't see him until i was almost past it. Then his two friends, a boxer and a smaller dog, joined in. They were following me and of course I had already halted to a slow walk as soon I heard the growl. That's the difference with dogs, you have to assess the situation quickly, and react appropriately to avoid bad things. Then they quit growling and starting just barking, still following me. I was nearly past the house. If i made it past I knew they would leave me alone as I would be out of their territory. But they were getting real close, and I didn't want my ankle nipped. So I turned my head and looked at them, and they sort of jumped back a little. I knew at that point they weren't wanting to hurt and were just protecting the territory. I was plenty by the house, looked behind again to make sure they had slowed, which they did, then I started jogging and then running again.

So I just got a nice walk- break, not needed, especially now that the sun was now hidden behind the houses and trees in the horizon, but still pretty light out. I went up to the next house and saw another dog. I think it was some sort of jack russell, but a medium sized dog nonetheless. This one was fast, barking, and running to the road to meet me. I decided I didn't have time for this crap and just outran the thing. He didn't have a chance and I was already past the house before he made it to the road. As with most dogs if you make it out their territory you're good to go, but there are a few who are killers and sometimes even that doesn't work. This wasn't one of them. I think he was too lazy to chase me anyway. I wasn't really sprinting, actually I wasn't even at 5k pace....which is 6:08 right now, haha.

So I finally made it home, but decided to run a little extra. My right toe, well under my right toe started to hurt a bit, so I ran on the grass around my house and the grass along the road. It was nice and the toe quit hurting almost immediately. It was a really good run, especially because I wasn't sure if I'd even get an hour in.

6pm. kerr road loop OH. 80-75 degrees? started warm, ended cool.
1:21:34, gf 279

10.11.08 Race for the Cure

I woke up early in the morning. Apparently I had consumed a bit too much gatorade last night whilst formulating my race strategy. After going back to sleep I awoke to the alarm clock and quickly got into my routine. Bowl of cereal and some skim milk, browse the weather channel on the internet.

I already had everything ready to go out the door this morning, race bib was pinned on, chip timer was attached to my shoe, shorts and ipod good to go. So it didn't take much time for both me and April to head out the door. She wasn't necessarily "racing" so to speak, so details were a little less important for her part. So after watching a clip of Family Guy, where Peter, the dad, goes into a crazy dance everytime he hears Surfin' Bird I was relaxed as I ever was going to be. Laughing also helped me wake up.

So traffic is horrible downtown. We aren't necessarily late, but if we have to continue waiting at every single traffic light, things are going to start looking bad. It's almost 8 and we are still at a red light. Finally I get to turn and we go in search of a parking spot. It was a little farther away than I had wanted, but it was a legal spot (I don't need to mention why that was important). So April is bookin' it to the start line. We are about four to five blocks away. The race starts at 8:15 for the chip timed people. So I use this time to jog and warm up as we make our way there. We made it to the line at 8:07

Plenty of time, and honestly there didn't seem to be that many at the front of this thing. Normally it's packed. So I took my time and did some light stretching. A really short acceleration, then got behind someone at the starting line. Now standing there waiting for a race to start is one of the worst things. You don't want to sit there and expend energy, so you stretch, bob back and forth, do some other stretch, or basically just stand around. So this goes on well after 8:15 and we hear "5 more minutes". Everybody is like AAAwww man. So we wait it out, but at least it was broken up by a prayer, the national anthem, and a few words about the Breast Cancer survivors after the race.

Then, like always, the gun goes off barely before you're even ready. But I was as ready as I'd ever be, maybe not in terms of performance, but mentally. Ready. The first hill is taken easily and right away I see there aren't that many people in front of me. I stick to my plan and take it easy on this hill, but maintain a good pace. One guy is already waay out ahead, but the others are basically in a group. I wouldn't call it a pack as they were spread out, but definitely close together, made up of about 10 runners.

First hill was okay. Nothing special, but I caught one guy on it. Then it started downhill. I paced the tall mohawk kid who was doing sprinter jumps at the start line - You know the ones where you bring your knees up to your chest. Those activate your fast twitch muscles. He took off at the beginning along with the faster (better?) runner and unfortunately his fibers didn't last but half a mile, and he died. I passed him easily on the outside as we turned around a corner. Another guy ahead, I track him down, and he says "go get em" as I run by breathing heavily, but certainly not in bad shape. No mile markers or times at this point.

The turnaround. Well at 2 miles I see some women holding up a sign. I yell "WHATS THE TIME?" they scramble around looking for a non-existent stopwatch and I run by. "Nevermind" I say as nicely as possible without making them feel too bad about it. So the long stretch begins. I am breathing hard at this point and my legs aren't doing too great. That last small hill was tougher than anticipated. So the duel begins. I pass this guy, he catches up, we run side by side. I listen to his breathing. It's worse than mine, but only by a fraction. I try to burn him out and do a slight surge. It works.

I make it to the final hill. Man that thing looks like a mountain and I'm breathing heavily and struggling. Legs are exhausted and muscles dont' have a lot left. I slow on the bridge/hill. I know it and I hear a lot of deep-breaths coming up behind me, trucking up this hill. Still I hold him off, although he's right there. As soon as I reach the top of this hill I see the decline. The finish! I do another small burst, just enough where I can't hear the guy on my back anymore. I truck it down this hill and am pretty much spent. I don't have much left and the legs are burning. I run hard, but not all out. I see the 50 meters that are all that is left just around this bend. 18:58, I'm almost there! I pick up, but at the same time I don't because I see I won't break 19, just not enough time to burst. Then as I cross the line, the heavy breather picks me off the instant we cross the line. He got me.

I just smiled. I ran a hard race and if I had known that guy was so close, I would have been able to hold him or burst. Lesson: always look behind you at the end of a race. I will not forget.

So I'm not sure what my official time was. i think it was 19:05, but as I said it was a crazy finish, so I'm not sure. I felt pretty good afterwards. Exhausted, but good. My legs at this point aren't ready for that kind of punishment, and the course was a lot hillier than I had remembered or even anticipated. If I'm right on the time that was a 6:08 pace. Just awesome improvement considering last year in November I ran a 20:47. I'm a month ahead of that and closing into the 18's. I know that I COULD go faster, but not much, and certainly not for any longer. So I think it was a good time trial so to speak. I really wanted to know where I was and this showed a lot.

So If I could run today's run 8 times in a row, that's a 2:41 marathon. Haha, that's totally not going to happen....now. But I know I can try to come close to that in 6-7 months. I've only been back running for 1 month, so there is a ton of improvement left for me. I still have long runs, hill and speed training that need to be developed. But probably the best part is that I feel better than last year. My muscles are much more used to the strain, and my legs aren't as tight as they were last year (except for this week).

http://ronsrunning.blogspot.com/2008/09/2-weeks-3-days.html
here I listed my goals.
So today I won the GOLD medal. yay I''m an olympian!

Now the next thing is when to race again? Well there is a buddy's race for the cure and the Turkey Trot. They are both in a month or so. I could do Buddy's because it's bigger and there will be more runners in it. It is almost the same course as I ran today. OR I could do the Turkey Trot. i am quite familiar with the course as I ran it last year because it is literally right down the road. It is flat and there are no hills at ALL, but it does steadily rise over the first mile and a half. There are a lot less people who run it. I could also compare last years time to this year's as I really enjoy comparing that kind of thing.

So for right now I really like the Turkey Trot. I know it's flat, less hassle, less runners (although good - around 15 minutes was winning time last year), and I have last years time as comparison. I can't do both as they are usually back-to-back weekends.

Ah before I forget. April did really well. I ran back up the course a little ways to finish with her. She was completely exhausted, panting, and her whole face was blush red. She said she was going to walk and did, but I nudged her (literally) and started giving her encouragement. The finish line was less than a half mile away, and she was almost to the downhill. She kept saying I have to stop, but I told her "you can make it, you're doing fine." then she said she was going to puke, I said "It's all downhill from here". Then I quit encouragement as I think she might have gotten (more) annoyed if I hounded her the whole way. Once she reached the bottom I ran off to the side to see her finish, but there were to many people blocking. The time said 40 minutes, but they started 5 minutes late. Her ipod said 35 something and she beat her co-worker Angie and her friend Jessica. Way to go!

I forgot to click my ipod as I was too focused on the race. I didn't even realize it till just before I saw April as I was walking back up the course.

8:30 a.m. Komen Race for the Cure. 63 degrees cool and sunny.
19:05. 3.1 miles. gf 269

last thoughts

Alright well I thought I should post some pre-race thoughts here tonight just to sort of hone in and focus.

So the weather looks to be perfect for a PR. I mean I don't think I could ask for better.

This is the course satellite map, with the elevation shown at the bottom.
As you can see elevation can account for a lot in someone's strategy.

Here is a breakdown of my strategy. Hopefully it will line up with what actually happens:

1. The huge starting hill. While many will try to "truck" up this thing, I am going to employ the opposite strategy. First I will take it with small quick steps, and be sure not to over-exert myself wasting precious energy and hopefully keeping my heart rate and muscle fatigue low. This leads me to the face that the start itself is nice since I have a racing chip and I get to start at 8:15. Everyone else will start at 8:30. So I'm sure the guys running 15-16's will be up there killing that hill to start off. I hope to be pulled in behind them, but not forced to run up it at a crazy pace.
2. Once I reach the top of the hill I can try to get into a groove. It shouldn't be too hard after running uphill as I'll be looking forward to the downhill
3. increase pace here and use gravity as much as possible- lots of free seconds to be won here.
4. A small incline, but only about 400 meters and I should be going fast enough from the downhill to carry through.
5. A steep, but short downhill, then things are slightly uphill till 6, but now is the time to exert a little extra effort if needed to stay on pace.
6. 1.29 miles- This is a key point as it's not very much downhill, but over this section it will be easier to maintain a faster pace because of the slight gravitational advantage.
7. 1.97 miles -This is the last hill. I'm going to really try to exert effort here if I have to as it's the last major incline. This is the "afterburners" switch. After this last hill and hearing the 2 mile split I'll know how fast the last mile needs to be. I'll also know that it is completely flat and a looong stretch to really get into a rhythm since there are no more turns. I should be close to top speed as I approach 8 (in other words increase pace and hold as fast as possible over this stretch)
8.2.89 miles- At this point the race is over for me. My kick is strong. I know this because I've always had it - and I've been using it in my daily runs every tuesday and sometimes thursday, And this downhill is literally a cake-walk.

If there's anyone within 100 meters of me not sprinting at this point, they might as well get ready to be blown over.

Alright so my strategy is out there, albeit a bit later than I wanted it to be. So time to get some sleep. Hopefully I've looked over this enough to remember a few key points, but mostly #1, #3, and #7.

Good luck to all, run hard, and have fun.

10.10.08

Recovery run. not worth much considering I stood for half the day. I took breaks, and tried to stand, but only made it till 2 o'clock before I said screw it and sat down in the chair. The thing that pissed me off (exuse that) was that the boss lady was telling a new person how to do the job. Now remember we are standing because "People are more efficient when they are standing". Then I hear these words, and I quote, "Oh this is more of a slow turtle job where you can go slow at your own pace".

AAAAAAh WTH! Why in the freaaaakin' world are we all standing up with our hamstrings burning, back breaking, tendons flaming and legs screaming for mercy if this is a slow steady job where it doesn't matter how efficient you are. Oh that just boiled my blood. Here I've been killing my legs all week just to hear that crap.

So the run was NOT great. Still I did my six miles just because this race isn't all that important. Now don't get me wrong, I want to do well. I hate to use my tired legs as an excuse for a horrible time, so let me say now that I am not trying to create some lame excuse. I'm simply stating the facts that my legs are really worn out and tired. Now maybe if I wasn't running at all this week, this job would have been fine. But running AND standing around all day isn't exactly the best medicine when you're training for a race. So yes I could have not run and probably be fresher, so in the end it IS my fault whatever happens. I take full credit for anything that doesn't go right.

Whew. Now that I got that all off my chest I just want to say I am very excited for tomorrow. Not only because of the race, but because I'm getting to go to Ohio to visit my family all next week. So I have a lot to look forward to at this point.

checking the course profile I noticed the first mile- mile.5 is mostly uphill, After that there is a downhill (coming off the inclines) and then it is flat until the end. My plan is to then go out medium-hard, and once I hit 2 miles, just freaking let the floodgates open. The theory being that heartrate drops on downhills, and as far I'm concerned flat ground is pretty much equal to downhill considering the courses I run. Then If I can hold onto it that last mile, there is a very steep downhill section about 400-800 meters from the finish. So I'll be able to coast down. Basically I want to pretend like the finish is there, die, and then coast down the last little beat as dead possible. It'll be fun. I'm going to watch "Without Limits" tonight and get my stuff together so everything is ready to go. Weather looks to be awesome, 60 degrees and clear!

5:50 pm. home. 81 degrees a nice warm.
49:02, gf 266

10.9.08

It's late because I watched a bunch of tv and a movie. The office was finally back on so y'know I couldn't miss that. Then I watched Death Race, which was pretty cool, but would be better as a video game or something. It was way too predictable.

Did a mile less tonight. I ran extra yesterday and the day before, so it's all good. Tomorrow I'll probably do another 6. It's not even really a taper, but it doesn't seem to matter now with the job that I'm working. If I'm standing all day, which I was today, then my legs will be tired. But me and April took a looong lunch break and I took quite a few breaks too. Tomorrow will be the same. i'll try to take as many breaks as I can without looking lazy. I think it's dumb though - there were plenty of chairs and out of the 18 tables we only had 5 people working. I mean come on it's just ridiculous, but nobody wants to tell the boss lady anything because it would cause a whole big deal.

Anyway the run went fine. Legs actually felt pretty good, almost normal, but still there wasn't a lot of snap that I've been able to have like last week with extra fast running. All the same I think I'm physically ready to push myself in the race. I don't know about mentally, and I'm certainly not confident in my speed, but I feel good about going for a personal best. Okay I'm going to get some sleep, one more day of work then I can maybe have some more time to post.

I should also mention that I'm leaving for Ohio next week. I'm looking forward to it. My sister is getting married and I'm in the wedding. I'm not sure how the blogging will go, but other than working on my halloween costume for our haloween party I won't be doing much else. G'night.

6 pm. soccer complex. 73 degrees.
1:13:01, gf 260

10.8.08

Not a half bad day at work today. A shipment was supposed to come in yesterday, but never did, so a lot of people didn't come in. There were only two of us over at the warehouse today. It was nice though because it was raining a lot and it was pretty cool. I wore my jacket about half the time. So that job is finished and it was nice to be able to sit down since there weren't a lot of people there. There are only 3 chairs for the "old" people and the other days I didn't get to sit down at all. It takes a toll on your legs. Kind of like walking around a theme park all day - by the end of the day your legs are just exhausted. We tried to get the lady in charge to get some more chairs, but she said people are less efficient when sitting down..... yeah. I think that people are less efficient when their legs are so tired they go sit down outside somewhere. It just makes sense. Plus the lady in charge isn't helping us do any of this, so what would it matter to her. It's just one of those power things I guess. Whatever. So my legs did get a rest today, and tomorrow I will be taking about a hundred breaks if I don't have a chair.

The run was okay tonight. My legs were still tired from yesterday, but felt okay for the most part. If I take it easy the next two days I might have some chance of doing well at my race, but if I end up standing all day I forsee big problems about halfway through. Tonight's run felt okay so I ran an extra mile at the end. Nothing too brag about so I'll just leave it at that.

5:45pm, home, 66 degrees.
56:39, gf 251

10.7.08

Hello readers

Well tonight was a really good night. It wasn't a half bad day either. Work went fine. Same old story just hot and repetitive. But hey at least it became overcast today around 2. That caused the temp to go down about 10 degrees and made it waaay easier to work in the warehouse. If it were going to be hot tomorrow I was going to bring a cut-off t-shirt, but it's supposed to rain, so it should be nice and cooool. I might even go in early and get some extra time in because it's really not that bad if it's cool in there.

So the legs were trash today. I mean they were just begging to sit down. Definitely tight. I was hoping they wouldn't be, but I was standing from the morning till the afternoon with maybe 1 five minute break, so they were worn out. The rest of the day I sat down because it was just too much. Tomorrow I'll do the same, especially if I go in early.

I really thought this run was going to suck. It was already 6 when I was leaving the house and of course the whole tired legs wasn't exactly thrilling. I was hoping for some rain, and it was plenty overcast for it. The run started off bad. I felt as if I had gone too fast the first mile. This is usually my warmup and it was slow, but by the end I was in the "groove". My legs were still tired though and I had to work to turn them over. NOTHING was easy about this run because in a sense I couldn't relax. Everything felt like work because my legs were already tired. So I did two mile loops up the big hill. Then turned around and did four going down the big hill. I reversed again and did two more and by then it was dark. I got a few sprinkles, but that was all.

But the big surprise tonight was my mindset. Yes the legs were tired, yes it was hard work, but at one point I just said "I'm going to kill this hill everytime around", and I did. Each mile starting from about 7 I got faster, and increased pace on the hill. But I felt I had done this too early. I thought I had just 10 minutes left, but then I heard my ipod guy say 30 minutes! Oh crap, but I didn't care. I was already in the zone. I kept the pace and kept going hard on the hill. I turned my legs over fast even though they didn't really want to. It was great. I wasn't going to fast on the hill, maybe 80-85% if that. It felt great and I got a big kick out of running hard with tired legs.

I thought a lot about my marathon tonight. I am excited and I might explain more in detail tomorrow. But it's kind of hot in the computer room and I'm thirsty so i think I'll just end it here for today. Oh I forgot to mention I went an extra 10 minutes tonight!! (on purpose) whooohooo.

6:15pm. soccer complex. cool 75 degrees with 7-8 wind.
1:31:11, gf 244

10.6.08

Long day at work today. It was pretty hot in the warehouse, but at least I had shorts on so it wasn't as bad as Friday. I stood up for at least 5 or 6 hours today so my legs were exhausted. That's not exactly the best thing the day after a long run. I took it really easy on my recovery run today. I barely made it the whole two loops because of going slower. My legs definitely felt trashed and it were just dead weight for the most part. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little better. I'm going an extra ten minutes so i can cut time off on thursday's run. The whole point of that is to not run as much closer to the race. Sort of a taper, but not really as I don't "care" too much about this one. I just want to do well, but not necessarily make some great achievement.

Very tired tonight, and it'll be this way for the rest of the week. I don't like getting home at 5:45-6 then having to run and it getting dark just after 7. That's only a friggin' hour of daylight. But at least it will be cooler. Okay I'm going to get some sleep and finish watching Life.

6pm, home, warm 80 degrees
49:00, gf 234

10.5.08

Well today was completely lazy until my run. We didn't wake up for church this morning and basically slept in. I won't say it wasn't nice though after working in that heat all day Saturday I was exhausted. I think last night was the quickest I've ever gotten to sleep. So I made some pancakes as is my custom on days where I have the time to. After that we pretty much vegged out. April found this site where you can watch tv shows for free. It's pretty neat but there aren't a lot to choose from. So I caught up on some tv and read my new runner's world magazine. It had some decent stuff in it, but at this point there isn't a whole lot that blows my mind.

So that was pretty much the day. April said she was going to go with me on my long run today. Well not run with me, but she said she would go as far as she could then turn back. I ran my normal loop as I pretty much have it down pat. Out to walmart then turn around. I did see another sidewalk that I might try for my next long run in a few weeks (next week is my race and I've decided to cut miles because of it). So it was business as usual. April said she would meet me at the park to give me water and I brought along a snack this time. It's called a Laraba bar or something like that. I really like them but they are expensive. I had received one as part of my packet last year and totally loved them. I've had that one for a month now and just forgot about it.

So I do my normal run, went as slow as I could because honestly 2 hours is a long way and I didn't want to be dead. So things went really well. I was feeling good for the most part, but my lunch choice wasn't the best. It wasn't that bad, but it felt like my stomach was growling the entire time.Not from being hungry, but definitely something wasn't settled. So anyway things went fine and the legs felt really good until I got back to the park at about 1hr 25 minutes into the run. I was really needing water and April was there in the car ready to hand it to me. Apparently she forgot about the laws of physics and just held her hand out the door with the bottle. I grabbed it and then did a spin move to avoid taking off the door.

She learned quickly though and when I came around for my snack she was ready and sort of jogged beside me. My legs were beginning to get trashed at this point. The nice thing about that park is the back soccer fields. They are cut nice and I'd say it's probably close to a mile around them all as there are at least 3, maybe 4 of them side by side. That soft grass just feels good to run in after all the pavement. So in a way I was rejuvinated, but my legs were definitely beat up and tired from the pounding. Lungs were okay, definitely could have been better. So I really only made 2 huge loops around the fields and back out to the little paved pathway that goes around the main soccer fields and I was done. I finished about 5 feet from my car - good timing.

The run was really good today and there is definitely potential in the area for a nice long course. I still have to duck and doge across pretty heavy traffic in one area, but for the most part it isn't too dangerous. I'm glad the legs held up the entire way. I was worried since this week I had to shorten my days off before the run. I made sure to take it easy yesterday though and that helped a lot. I was also prepared for this run, I had a snack and water that really gave me the extra boost I needed to get through the run without dragging.

My closing thought for the day was:
If 2 hours at laxadaisacal pace is this rough, what is 2 and half hours at marathon pace going to feel like. Then after a nice SHIVER ran down my spine I remembered I have much training left.

4:40pm, ball camp park, warm 80 degrees
2:00:03, gf 228

10.4.08

Well I worked a full day on a SATurday, bah. It actually wasn't that bad except for having to stuff envelopes standing up. These kind are easier to do that way, but there is literally an entire warehouse full of books we have to stuff. There are at least 40 palettes. I got about half of a palette done by myself if that tells you how long it takes. It doesn't but whatever. Other than having to stand this warehouse has no air conditioning so it was 80 degrees. The bad part of that was I had on jeans because it was cold this morning. I make it sound like a horrid day, but other than my legs wanting to fall off and it being hot and stuffing envelopes over and over and over it was a good day. I'll be doing it all next week until that job is done- although I won't be doing saturday because of my RACE!!! woot.

So the run was nice and easy. I almost considered not running this one, but I've been on a pretty good streak and decided to go ahead. I'm glad I did it was a great workout and the legs were actually quite responsive, although I was going slow. A little warmer again, but I don't expect it will last too much longer.

Long run tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. I have to run past walmart this time so I get to go through the tunnel again, whoohooo I love the tunnel.

5:28pm, home, warm 78 degrees.
48:30, gf 213

10.3.08

Went to work today and stuffed envelopes again. Much bigger job this time, took a lot longer because there were more pieces to stuff and one of them was an envelope the same length as the envelope we were stuffing. So yeah, not exactly a smooth insert unfortunately. I'm working again tomorrow, but a full day if it's possible. Next week I'll be doing another job there, so at least I'll have a little money coming in. Unfortunately it doesn't leave much time for working on my own stuff, which is just about ready to hit the streets.

Today it was a little warmer, maybe around 70 and it's supposed to get back up to 80 or so by the end of the week. Still this cold weather just came along pretty fast. I'm trying to get out there as much as I can so I can get used to it. Just when I thought I was getting acclimated to the heat it gets cold.
this is what it was this morning:

tNot exactly the warmest of mornings and to think I was going to go run in that. Nah, not quite there yet. But soon I hope to be running a lot more mornings. An before long I won't have a choice. It's already sunset at the end of my runs, and the time hasn't even changed yet....

So the run went perfectly fine. Legs were a bit tired at first, but once they got warmed up it was business as usual. I actually did some accelerations tonight toward the end of my run. Cool thing is they didn't slow me down afterward. I can't wait till the race next weekend. It's going to be a tough run, but I really have a good feeling about it.

6:15 pm, soccer complex, cool 68 degrees.
1:21:00, gf 207

10.2.08

Just a good old normal day. Really cold this morning, and it stayed cool through the afternoon. Looks like fall might be here to stay for a while. Normal recovery run with absolutely nothing noteworthy. Hams are pretty much back, maybe just the slightest of tightness, but I'd say I'm all caught up as far as that goes.

core routine

6:33pm, home, chilly 63 degrees.
49:00, gf 197

10.1.08

October is here and so is fall. Nice and cool today. I went to just about every fitness center I could this morning. One of them might have some hope, but I'm not real sure. I talked to the girl at the front desk and she said she was cutting back her hours in the morning. That would be a decent job, but all jobs are pretty much the same when you think about it. At least all the ones around here. After that I visited the kids at Farragut which was nice. Then I stopped by a few more places with no luck and went to eat lunch with April. I got my new license plates today so my car is officially Tennessee. And that was about it for the day.

So running tonight was nice. It was a little windy, but nothing too bad. The good part was the COOL weather. The high today was maybe 65-68 degrees so it was definitely colder outside. Perfect running weather really. Just a little colder and it's too cold, but anywhere around 60 is perfect to me. My hams were still just a tad sore/tight so I was thinking this would be an real easy 10. And at first I wasn't feeling too good. The first half hour I couldn't get good turnover and I really felt like I was trudging along. But right after that I felt it. The knees started to lift and instead of shuffling I was turning over. The legs started loosening up too, and although I could tell they weren't 100% I got the o.k. to push a little. So that was nice and I got into a really good groove. Before I knew it I had ran by all the wonderful walkers 8 times and it was time for my final lap. I hesitated to push too hard, but it felt nice and I just stayed controlled and smooth.

So after tomorrows easy run the hams should be fine. Longer run Friday, then a day off Saturday before the 2 hour long run. The only thing I've been thinking about is the race on the 11th. I still have a long run scheduled for the next day..... I might change that although in the back of my head I just want to make it an easy one. But for now I'll leave it because I'm not sure how this 5k will go. I've been running REALLY well for just over a month, and I think this will be a good 5k. We'll see how it goes. I'm just keeping the options open for now.

5:58 pm, soccer complex, 64 degrees wind 7-10 mph
1:20:16, gf 191