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

9.30.08

Recovery run and man did I ever need it. Hams are extremely tight. But what am I writing here for, I still haven't updated yesterday's blog.

Ok so yeah hams were trashed today. I tried stretching them, but not much luck. Took it real easy on the run and just kept recovery in mind. Some kids, well not really kids but like 15-16 year olds with toy guns ran behind me and pretended to shoot me after I ran by. Kind of scary to be honest, but I just completely ignored them. I always run by them and they act weird. i know they talk about doing stuff to me, and I've had things thrown at me on a few occasions, but once I turned around and ran back at them -- But it would seem intimidation only works for so long. I figured the best thing was to let them be idiots and if it gets any worse tell their mommies about it.

But it was a really nice night other than that. It wasn't supposed to rain but it did around 5, a real downpour. Then the sun came out and it was beautiful. This created a real nice cool humidity in the air that made the run quite pleasant. Good day to be running.

6:15 pm, home, 75 degrees, wet and cool.
49:00, gf 181

9.29.08

I am so tired right now, so sorry if none of this makes any sense.

Long run was moved to today. Went over to the Ball Camp Park as I think that will my venue for long runs pretty much until I find somewhere better. Got there a little late because I had to wait for April to get home since she had my car. So It was a quarter till 6 when I started my run. Man I think I'm too tired to do this tonight. The run really wore me out. I'll update tomorrow.

Ok well this run took place at the park, well at least it started there. Went up Kingston Pike like last week. It was actually a pretty easy run out to walmart. I went farther than last week past the gas station and took a right towards walmart then turned after going through the tunnel that goes under the road. I always like going through that tunnel, it's just different. I thought of what Ryan Hall said too, that everytime he runs through a tunnel he imagined himself going into the stadium at the olympics. What an awesome thought to associate with your average tunnel. I think it kind of shows the mindset you have to have to be great.

So things were going real well. I made it through the intersection two times, made it over the hills, and was now making my way up the incline back toward the park. It was about 1:11 minutes into the run. I still hadn't had any water. The reason for that was the run was much shadier than I had anticipated and so I wasn't sweating as much as I thought I would. So I was cool and using less energy. All the same about that time my mouth was pretty dry and I was looking forward to the getting the next mile and half over so I could get my ice-cold water. So I finally made it and took my water around the soccer fields for a lap on the cracked pavement.

After returning my water bottle I headed out toward the "back" fields, but they were having soccer matches out there too so I just stuck to my normal loop. The normal loop is running around the cracked pavement, then between the tennis courts and baseball diamond, and out towards the other soccer fields, then turning around. I did that for the next 25 minutes. This was no easy task. My forefoot was hurting just from the pounding it had taken and my legs were sore. REALLY sore and tight in the hamstrings. It started tightening on that last incline, but now it was asking for some rest. But I was almost done and I wasn't doing any crazy pace so I knew I would make the whole run, especially after that refreshing water stop. Still it wasn't the easiest of runs. I really regretted that 800 yesterday.

The muscles weren't sore from overuse, but I think it was just muscle tissue that had expanded (i.e. grown) and needed rest. I really wish I could have taken a day off for recovery, but I didn't think I had worked THAT hard. In my mind the long run is more important anyway, and the longer I waited to do it, the worse that would have been in terms of building on my fitness. I really feel if you loose that long run, you lose a large portion of your endurance. When I got back home I went out with April. I really didn't feel like it, but it's just one of things where sometimes your spouse leaves you no choice. So I slept in the car while she went in to walmart.

By the time I got home around 10 at that point, I was purely exhausted and just wanted to pass out anywhere. So I got some gooood sleep last night.

5 pm, Ball Camp Park, 79-76 degrees and a lot of shade.
1:52:52, gf 175

man I must have not woken up

I just checked what I was SUPPOSED to do for my HR test and I did it completely wrong and backwards.

What can I say- it was a long day.

So anyway I was supposed to an 800 first, then 2 minutes rest and a 400 after that.

OH WELL. April said she was going to help me do it one day, and you're supposed to have someone there to time you while you count your pulse for 6 seconds just as you cross the finish line of the last one. So I'll be able to do it right next time.

But that little test might be good to try in a few months, just to see.

alrighty then, I'm out.

9.28.08

An unexpected day. I need to eat now, but I'll update soon

Okay well we were having everyone over from church today to our house for lunch around 1. I was planning on running maybe at 5 ish so I'd be done by 7. Well we got to church and everything went fine, then we got ready to go and April's car wouldn't start. It turned over but wouldn't start, so yes all you smart people out there, we tried jumping it, but the same result. Wouldn't start. I even pumped the gas while turning it over (and it had 3/4 tank). I thought maybe it was because April had parked on this incline. Other cars were on it too, but I just thought maybe it was the reason. So we put er in neutral and turned it sideways so it would be level. Still nothing. So we conceded and just had some church peeps help us park it - which wasn't hard to steer because no power steering.

Anyway luckily we saw a couple who was going to our house and hitched a ride home with them. We still had to put food in the oven and all the host things y'know so it was kind of stressful. The day went well and it was actually funny because after eating and everything we had deep discussions about economy, technology, and all this stuff. Two of the guys were computer engineers, so y'know how that goes - i.e. they were pretty darn smart, but I got a few words in of my own accord.

So anyway after all that it was like 3:45-4 and I was just too tired. Set the alarm for 5 and took a nap. Of course I overslept till 6:45. I don't know if I turned off the alarm, or just didn't set it right because I was tired. either way it was already done. So April had taken a nap too and I woke up because she woke up. She wanted to check on her car, I wanted to run. I had told her she could drive my car to work tomorrow and we would go try to get the other car tomorrow night since no Auto places are open on Sunday anyway. Apparently she didn't care about that and decided to get her dad and go look at it. All this time I wanted to run and just deal with the whole thing tomorrow.

I'm not sure if that is right, but I didn't see the point of going out there for no reason, possibly having to have it towed anyway, and then having it sit outside an Auto shop until tomorrow. So by the time I was done running it was 8:30 and they were getting back. The car started apparently, but I don't know if it was BEFORE or after they put gas in it. Apparently it just needed to level out, but still the incline had a million other cars, so obviously something was wrong. Her dad thinks it's the fuel pump. How much does that cost you say? $800-1000 for our car. How much does the car cost you say? $2000-2200. You do the math on that.

So I don't know if it we will get it fixed for half what the entire car cost, or just sell it and cut our losses and buy another used car that will need $1000 part in two years.

Okay so that was a GREAT day. But what about running. Well Since I didn't have time for a long run I decided to just go ahead and do the HR test today, then long run tomorrow. Seemed like a good enough plan. Since April had my car I couldn't go to the track so I just had to guesstimate a 200meter stretch, and an 800 meter stretch. I had one planned out right by our house, but there was a 4-way stop halfway, which usually there are no cars stopped at.

So I do my warm up and jog and get my muscles ready for abuse. Take my time and do my form drills, or at least what I would call form drills, I still need to perfect the drills themselves. So after about 10 minutes I was ready and set my HR monitor and my ipod and took off down the straightaway. About halfway down I see a car stop at the stop sign. It's fine I'm not even close to it and they'll be gone by the time I get up there. BUT they don't move. They just sit there. NOW I don't know if they are going or stopping, so I can't run through the intersection - It's a neighborhood intersection with 15 mph speed limit by the way, not a real road --. So at the last second I veer off to the right and head down the next road, which is slightly uphill. So I'm chucking up this incline at near top speed, pretty mad at the zombie mode car and I'm feeling like I'm working hard. (breathing hard, legs burning, gasping for air, etc.) I check my HR monitor and it says 178 top. ?? ok. I figure it was a fluke no way it could be that low.

But I've only got two minutes recovery, so I ignore it and move on. 800 coming up next. I have no CLUE how long that is, but again I can guesstimate. So I figure I'll use my ipod and just do .5 miles and use that as a guide. This is all fine and well until you actually have to look at your ipod, while running at top speed, and while holding your ipod and trying to make out tiny little numbers while your bouncing around on pavement. So needless to say the 800 consisted of 2 full 360 turnarounds (because of the cul-de-sacs) and I really didn't feel like it was incredibly my fastest speed. Although my legs were really shot from the 200... Max HR was 183 for that, so I was working maybe a little harder, but the first part was back down the slight incline, and there were two turnarounds, so who knows.

BAh. . . But it was good just to try it I suppose.I still haven't analzyed what a 183 max HR is. If that's good or bad I have no clue. I think I want to redo the test is what I think! And that I will, but not till next week. For now I've moved everything up a day so I can still get a long run in before it's too late. I really think that the long run is an integral part of my training, and pushing it back or skipping just isnt an option. So Monday -long, Wed/Fri- slightly harder days, and then my schedule will be back to normal with Saturday as a rest day. Should be fine I just wont' have two rest days before my long run.

OKay WHAT A DAY, but it's in the books, and SORRY for the book I wrote. I also went for about 5-6 miles after my "test". Talk to you all tomorrow.

Form Drills
max HR test 1 - at home. Side street past house up incline. Then down incline normal loop ending past house.
200-178
800-183

7:17pm, home, 78?? degrees.
50:40, bf 538

9.27.08

Last night I read some info on running that was posted in a letsrun forum a while back. Apparently the info had been deleted (server upgrade or something) but someone had managed to copy all the data before that. So I was reading up on it last night, and a lot of things coincided with what I've read elsewhere. The awesome part was that it actually showed HOW to implement these processes, and WHY you should do them the way they said. Those are two big things right there. So firstly the why had scientific data, plus actually test data the guy who wrote this "Hadd" had taken. Apparently he was a coach of some sorts. The specific example he used was a man who was once training for a 2:25 marathon, and had stopped running for five years. He was previously coached by Hadd, and now wanted to get back into it.

So the story goes on, but the interesting part was how much Hadd implemented heart rate. He had a test at the beginning of the 12 week cycle, then once a month after that to see improvement. Basically you run a mile at 140, 150, 160, 170, 180 and time it. Each month this guy improved his times at those heart rates. The cool thing was how the heart rate was used on a daily basis. The theory was that if you worked TOO hard, you would be running above your optimum heart rate, and thus not improving at a gradual incline. In a sense you are running before you can crawl, and miss important changes that your body needs inbetween those stages.

Pretty awesome stuff, and a lot of it I knew, but there were also schedules an actual data I could look at to see the process for myself so I was excited. April got me a heart rate monitor for Christmas and I hadn't used it much. But this stuff made me really want to get it out, and so I'm going to be trying to use it as often as I can. I'll post more on the theories and stuff tomorrow.

Ok well I had some time and remembered tomorrow is my long run. Well after looking through the heart rate stuff, I realize that taking it easy is fine on easy days, but since I haven't done the test yet, it's kind of a guess to just follow what the other guy did. So Tuesday I'm going to head to the track and do the test. But I also need to find my max heart rate, so that might be in the books after my long run is finished tomorrow. Ok that's all. 1 hr 50 minutes, looking forward to it (but not the 80 degrees, ouch!).

4:25 pm, 75 degrees, cloudy and a few sprinkles
40:30, bf 532
avHR 144, pkHR 155

9.26.08

Just going to keep this short. A real easy recovery run. It's funny but I actually tried to go a little slower than usual on this kind of run, and it turns out that made the run a little more difficult somehow. I was really focusing on the aerobic aspect so maybe I was just paying more attention to my breathing. So that was that, I didn't do accelerations tonight because of the slightest twinge still in my calf. I'm waiting until there are no more twinges before I give it a go.

core exercises, calf raises.

5:40pm, home, 70 degrees cloudy cool
49:00, bf 527

9.25.08

Pretty nice run tonight. Girls were playing soccer tonight so at least there was some action. I couldn't help but think what people thought of me, running circles around them all night. So I started off slow as usual getting my first lap in, but of course that didn't last too long and I was ready to start running. Everything went really well. My shincalf wasn't hurting at all tonight. I think if I keep doing what I'm doing and getting rest + doing my calf raises and such that it will be fine, maybe even stronger than before. So the legs turned over really well.

Breathing wise I only had trouble towards the end going up the inclines, other than that it was wide open. So I stayed steady, pushing here and there when i felt like it. I really worked getting a soft landing and running smooth. I'm not really sure but I think the shin thing was from landing slightly too hard or something. Either way it seemed to help. The last mile and half I pushed the pace really good, felt like maybe 90% effort or more certainly somewhere below 6 minute pace I think. I really wanted to push because I wasn't breathing hard enough. My legs were a little tight, but I really felt like there was a lot of effort to spend. I might have to start doing a hill workout on Thursday's, Tuesday is too close to the long run. Well that's all the thoughts I have for today.

6:30, soccer complex, 76 degrees shady and cool
1:23:10, bf 521

2 weeks 3 days

Okay I know it's just a tad early but I've been churning it over in my mind for a while. The big question is what pace should I try to go for at the race. Well firstly I plan on being in the front. That right there puts 6:00 first mile into my head just to keep up with those around me and not be trampled. So I think I will already be dead, haha.

My goal is the same as my 5k in November last year, to beat 20 minutes. I really believe I can do that this time around. For one, I'm feeling great and have a lot of energy in the tank on my runs. For two, last year I was really just getting started. Now although this summer was a wash due to injury, I've been able to continue my progress to some extent, and that is a huge improvement in comparison to last year. For third I am feeling really confident in my training and I think I've actually put in a lot more quality days than last year. I really think that's what is going to get me a good time - the quality days twice a week. Heck I could even say I have fourth thing and that's my long run is a ton farther than I ever expected it to be at this point. The 13 was hard, but that was mostly the course, breathing wise I was doing great.

So I'm going to go ahead and say my Gold goal 19:30, Silver 19:59, and Bronze would be beat last year's 20:45. So I really am going to try and hit that Gold time, it's a 6:16 pace. Just for perspective, my half marathon pace was like 6:54 and my last 10k was like 6:25, so this is totally doable in my humble opinion. So I think maybe next week it'll be time to visit the old track on Tuesday for a speed session of maybe 3 mile repeats with short rest at 6:00 pace???? yeah I think so.

9.24.08

Felt really good today on my run. My shincalf was acting up a little but not bad. A nice easy run a little earlier at home. It wasn't too hot, and there was a pretty good wind so it actually felt kind of cool. Also there was a lot of shade so that helped too. I didn't do any accelerations tonight because I did that fast mile last night. I don't think there was a great need for them anyway.

We got a new washer from a person April knows tonight, so that's why I had to work out earlier. We got our old one from 70's loaded up and the other one is all hooked up and ready. I ended up getting a pretty good cut on my palm. It was bleeding, but didn't hurt until afterward when I washed it out. It was kind of deep, but I'll manage.

So tonight it's core work which includes sittups, and I might do just one set of calf raises. I also am starting to stretch again. I stopped before because I didn't think it was doing anything for me. In fact there are entire arguments that stretching does nothing for you, and that they could even slow you down. All I know is I like being flexible and if that hurts my running somehow so be it. I mean not being able to touch your toes is pretty sad. I also read a blog a while back and the person had actually seen Ryan Hall and the other elites at the pre-race massage tables or something. Anyway he said that they were all really flexible, so I'm kind of leaning toward that.

4:15pm, home, 80 degrees??? little windy
49:00, bf 511

9.23.08

My calves were sore today, I only did like two sets of 15 yesterday. So that wasn't the best thing in the world. But it was a good run today. I fell asleep around 5 when April got home, she decided to pass out too, and I got up a little after 6:30. Man I thought for a few seconds about skipping the run, but my smarter side took over. I've been doing well and so decided to continue the tradition.

The run started off fairly well at the complex. Just took the first two miles kinda slow, then started to work. I was really feeling fine other than my legs (overall) just feeling kind of sore. But they started to warm up and before I knew it I was halfway done. I had a little motivation tonight as there is a guy who runs with his dog. I think it's a cocker-spaniel, but it runs with him without a leash which is cool. It never bothers me when I run by, so all was good. Anyway the guy is pretty fast, but usually only stays for a few miles. So I tried to beat his pace every time around. About two miles to go I really started moving, and the last mile I just went all out.

I haven't checked my ipod so I don't know exactly how fast I was going on it. It wasn't my fastest ever, BUT it was at the end of my run, and I was feeling really good. I did notice a few blisters on my toes though. I haven't really had any lately so that wasn't good, but they weren't too bad either. Anyway I finished pretty strong and it felt good to go fast for an entire mile. Since it was already dark it was nice and cool out and that made the run even easier.

I've just been thinking about my goals lately and on these harder runs I need to just go ahead and work really hard. I need to get a lot faster. Sometimes I feel like I'm not even working, and so I'm going to try to get out of that habit on my Tuesday/Thursday runs and really work to get my legs strong. So that run is out of the way, and 80 minutes has never felt shorter before.

full back routine

7:00pm, soccer complex,slight wind, a very cool 68?? degrees
1:22:30, bf 505

9.22.08

I was really surprised today. My legs weren't sore at all. The shin didn't hurt at all today except at 15 minutes it had a little shooting pain, but that was it. I took it nice and easy today and really made sure not to push. It felt like a brisk jog. It was a little sunny out and warm, but since it was getting dark there was plenty of shade about half the time so it seemed a lot cooler.

I really was surprised. My legs felt so heavy and tight and tired and overworked yesterday that I thought for sure they would be sore. Maybe I'm getting better at cooling down? I was also thinking maybe it's that I've been taking it easier on my recovery runs. I really think that's helped. Instead of pounding after pounding, my legs are getting rest inbetween and don't break down as easily. I know this is common sense, but it's hard to apply it when you're out there trying to get better.

I went all out tonight since the legs felt so good, and no shin stuff. Three accelerations of a good 100 yards right after my run. I kind of used that as my cool down with jogging/walking inbetween. Then I did calf raises, sittups, nearly all my dynamic core strength drills, and some crunches and leglifts too! So yeah it was a good day for doing all the "little" things. I really think it's going to help me stay healthy and run strong.

I think I was more motivated to do those things tonight because I was reading about foot and shin pain and how to prevent it. It turns out a lot of the things I did in high school helped prevent injuries (and I didn't even know it). Things like calf raises- supposedly that helps build muscles that prevent shinsplints. I used to do them religiously every day. So tonight was an attempt to go back to just doing things I "feel" like doing, because in all honesty the only reason I don't do things is because I think it will take away from my running. Like for instance I might overwork my calves or something. It's easy to sit and read this and say Oh that's ridiculous, but I really do think that way a lot. So anyway thats going to change from now on.

6:21 pm. home, mostly shady 78 degrees
48:30, bf 495

9.21.08

Wow wow wow. Lot of action today.

Well it's Sunday and you know what that means.....wake up call by Mercedes!!! yaaay. Arrgh what a horrid way to start yet another Sunday, and I was sleeping sooooooo good. I could feel myself coming out of a deep sleep and I tried to hold on to it, but she just kept going. Ach, makes me so mad.

Somehow I managed to get up for church, and actually I wasn't all that tired - I guess I've gotten used to the 4 hours of sleep Saturday night. Church went fine, but as I said before our group is broken up so it's a little weird. The theme is "live like you're dying" and it's actually really relevant to our let it slide mindsets nowadays. The pastors wife actually had a brain tumor and she talked about the effect it had on her life, and how she was just happy to wake up, be able to brush her hair, the little things we all take for granted. She also said she changed her mindset about how to live, and told us what it was like to start realizing that you could be sitting at the Lord's feet in a week. That's tough stuff to swallow, but it was pretty awesome too.

So church was fine, had some spaghetti for lunch, then watched a movie. It was Prefontaine. I hadn't seen the Jared Leto version. It was good, but I don't think a lot of the attitudes they made Pre have really existed. But other things seemed realistic (just comparing it to the books I've read about Bowerman and Pre). I like without limits better, but this movie is about running, pre, and bowerman, so it's right up there in my book.

Ah the run today. Holy smokes this is going to be a long entry, because it was a long run. May have to finish it tomorrow.

Well first I went over to middlebrook, to the OTHER soccer complex. I guess we're big on soccer here. Well it is also a small park with baseball, but behind that is....you guessed it, more soccer fields. Actually I just looked it up, it's ball camp community park. Here is the map. I ran a little around the track to start, then headed all the way down middlebrook and turned around at gallaher. Google says it's 3.9 miles, and that was about what I estimated it at too.
The thing you have to understand is that middlebrook pike is not flat, there is a huge hill on that first part, where the 169 is. It's a gradual incline that just goes on forever, then there are more rolling and graduals as you travel on down. I was doing okay, but the heat was really bearing down on me for most of the run as there is also little shade. Also when you reach that curve just before halfway, the sidewalk goes into a major intersection. I end up having to dodge and weave traffic there. It's the most dangerous part of the run, but there is no way around it because there isn't a sidewalk on the other side! Thanks civic engineers.

Heading back the hills and heat were already slowing me down a bit, but I pressed on as at that point I had only been running just over 45 minutes. My goal was to go out 35 minutes and come back for water. So I'd be hitting my water station at 1:10 minutes and have 34 minutes left to run. I know that's a long time without water, but I would have had to double back up that huge incline again going out to make my run any significant distance, so obviously I wasn't going to do that.

So I'm coming back, and when I get to the incline it's now downhill, so I got myself a breather. I ran to my car and got my water, but I didn't stop running, I kept jogging around the path there with my waterbottle - I never really do that, so this was a good opportunity to simulate getting water in a race. After I tossed my waterbottle I kept going, deciding that I could make loops around the soccerfield for a half hour instead of take that big hill again. And so at
1:11 I started the loop. When I finished I looked at my ipod - ah crap it didn't log that mile.... I had paused when I opened my car door, but when I unpaused running away from it, it just started playing music and never resumed the workout. I was too busy watering and jogging to notice. Crap. So I figured I took 6-8 minutes on that loop.

So feeling a little demoralized for a second I re-did the loop. Meanwhile a new soccer game had started. I'm not sure if the people were sick of me running circles around them, but I didn't care at that point :-) This time at the far end I noticed the soccer fields behind the park and decided to run into them. All I can say is that it was great. There was grass everywhere that was moderately flat. Perfect and huge areas, with an abandoned parking lot (well it was all locked up so no cars). So now my loop had grown quite large with this addition and I was feeling really good.

As you know my shin has been hurting. Many times on this run I would shooting pain that would last 2-3 seconds, then go away. I'd say that happened 6-8 times during my run. The grass was soft and perfect. But I was having a hard time. The hills had destroyed my legs. I could feel them burning with each step. The grass didn't help any. Firstly it's not entirely flat. There are divits and craters and sideways areas. Secondly it's grass, so you have to lift your knees higher, and my knees were NOT wanting to do that. So I struggled along, taking in the pain and just pushing and driving. I did another lap or two of this with dead legs, figuring that If I ended at 1:36 that would definitely be 12 miles, and considering the minutes that weren't counted that I would have reached my goal. So I dug deep and reached it and ran the rest of the way back to the car for the rest of my water.

Aerobically this wasn't a hard workout, there was one time on a hill coming back on middlebrook where I was breathing good, but the rest was really just fighting the tight burning pain in my quads and hams. Honestly I didn't think I would be able to go this far today. I mean really, this was like a hill workout AND a longrun put together in some sick torture training plan. All the same these hills are almost like the ones downtown. If I can do it here in 80 degree heat right now, I know I can do it there in March.

So this run was difficult, but definitely a confidence booster. I iced the shin again, which is becoming tradition, and I plan on getting some corework in tomorrow. I'm too tired to do anything else tonight.

3:45pm, ball camp, sunny 83 degrees 10 mph wind
1:38:22(+6 weren't logged = 1:44:00), bf 489