Man! That Was Tough!

They say what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. This evening at the track we all came very close to accomplishing both. The temps were up and the humidity was awful at 6 PM. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do right?

I met Brian King and Steve Schroeder for 12x400 repeats at the track this evening. By the time I made my way through traffic and arrived they were about to start their second one. I did one warm-up lap then joined them for repeat 3-12 for them, then two of my own. Steve did an extra one so I wouldn't have to do #11 alone, then he and Brian each ran about half of #12 with me just to keep me honest. Those guys are great.

I kept hitting a number early on that I knew was too fast but I just couldn't allow myself to back off enough. And of course Jr. (what we affectionately call Brian) is a terror on the track these days so he was pulling me or pushing me on most every repeat. Each time I did one I thought I had dialed it back a bit but all the repeats were solid. In fact, every one was 1:17 or better, making this easily my best session at the track ever. Damn near killed me though! Easy miles tomorrow, if any.

Here are my splits:

1:15, 1:15, 1:14, 1:15, 1:15, 1:16, 1:17, 1:17, 1:17, 1:15, 1:17, 1:14

Long Run Tonight With Assynt

I met up with Assynt Macleod tonight for some miles on the Greatwood loop. I planned to do four loops and Assynt was only obligated to run as long as he wanted to tag along.

We started about 8:15 PM under mild temps. We did the first two loops in 27 minutes each, took a two minute water break, then did another. Assynt headed home after the third loop and I got in one more alone. The final loop was sub 24 minutes as I just wanted to get finished and get home. I was pretty parched but otherwise felt fine. Here are the details:

14.15 miles, 1:46:09 (including the stop), 7:30 pace. Loop splits: 27:00, 27:00, 26:20, 23:49, average loop, 26:32.

Managed to get in 52 miles this week. Wish I had time to do that every week.

Beach To Bay Marathon Relay

I participated in the Beach To Bay Marathon Relay down in Corpus that past weekend. I was team captain of a team of mens masters, all but one of us from the Houston Striders. We had some quality runners on our team, let me tell you. Here was our line-up, in order of leg run:

Assynt Macleod, new to this country and new to The Striders, from Scotland
me
John Hill
Gene Mitchell
Predrag Bojovic, our other international runner, all the way from Serbia
Doug Schroeder

We finished in 2:41:15, good enough for 2nd in the mens masters division and 20th overall I think. We also managed to hold off another strong team from Houston that featured Sim Cuevas, Matt Nicol, Mike Crowley, Kevin Regis, Jose Reyes, and Jack McClintic.

I guess you could say Gene Mitchell was our ringer (in addition to Mr. 2:40 at Houston - John Hill), but that wasn't necessarily my intent. I asked him to be on the team because I just couldn't find anyone else who could do it and I never dreamed he'd agree. Gene has a 2:20 marathon PR and set the masters course record at the Park to Park 5 miler in February. He turned out to be a nice guy too and wants to do the race again next year.

New Post - 400 Repeats

I met Brian at the track yesterday for 400 repeats. I haven't been able to make this workout in awhile and I felt like I was losing a step because of it. So even though I can't leave work until sometime after 5 PM and we normally get started in Sugar Land at 5:45, I was bound and determined to make the workout.

I got stuck in traffic getting across town and by the time I got there (6:10 PM) Brian had already completed seven fast ones. I jumped in and did five with him to complete his 12, then did the last seven alone. Here are the better-than-expected splits:

1:17, 1:19, 1:17, 1:18, 1:16, 1:17, 1:17, 1:18, 1:18, 1:18, 1:18, 1:13

I'll take it easy today (Thursday) and tomorrow due to the Beach To Bay Relay I'm running in Saturday down in Corpus. I'm on a kick-ass masters team so wish us luck. Gonna try to bring home some Houston Strider glory.

Catching Up

I know it's been awhile since I blogged and I'm sorry about that. I've been training, though not as much as I'd like, but just haven't found the time for a daily, blow-by-blow account of said training. I'm continuing to get in most of the bare essentials (speedwork and long-runs) but am not able to do the milage I was doing previously and I'm missing more of my hard tempo runs. A recent highlight though was an 18 mile long-run that I did this past Saturday night with Steve Schroeder and Brian King. And I did manage to get in 50 miles last week.

Hopefully I can get back to consistent blogging and more training. I would really like to continue to hit that weekly 50 mile mark through the summer.

Haven't Lost Much

It's been almost three weeks since I last did speedwork. And my milage is down now with the new job so I've been concerned about losing a step. I know I won't be able to hit 65-70 miles a week, unless I settle into a very disciplined (i.e. getting up at 5 AM and getting by on less sleep) routine. I haven't done anything of quality since the tempo run a week ago yesterday. So, heading into mile repeats tonight I was concerned that I might have lost a a bit of fitness. Not really. At least not yet.

I wasn't able to get them done tonight until 9 PM. Here are my times:

5:49, 5:47, 5:48, 5:45

I couldn't remember the line that we use to start the mile on. I need to get Brian to meet me over there and show me again, or maybe it'll come back to me in the daylight. I played around with it, starting later on the first two and earlier on the second two. I'm still not sure which is right. If the earlier line is right you can probably add 2 or 3 seconds to the first two, but if the second line is the right mark then you can subtract 2 or 3 seconds from the third and fourth miles. Either way, decent times, especially having not done these, or any speedwork, in three weeks.

So Long 65 Mile Weeks For Awhile

With the new job and a much longer commute it's going to be tough to get in my milage. Those 65 mile weeks are a thing of the past for awhile. I did manage to find a park near the office on Friday and went there after work instead of sitting in traffic. Got in some speedwork. Got in five miles Saturday night then a long run this morning of one hour and fifty five minutes. It was probably about 16 miles, not sure of the exact distance.

10 AM Run

I start a new job tomorrow so I was off today. In between my honey-do project (new tile in our bathroom) and having lunch with my buddy Andy, I managed to get in 6.65 miles here in New Territory this morning at about 10 AM. It was still pretty cool outside, and with no shirt on things felt great. The pace came in around seven flat, maybe just a hair under, but I never felt like I was pushing it.

Routine Monday Tempo Run

I met Steve and Assynt yesterday evening at about 5:45 for our normal Monday tempo run. It was the first time Assynt has joined us for a tempo run. He's getting back to his peak shape and runs like these are probably what the doctor ordered, though we could have cut him a little more slack! We did two Greatwood loops (7.1 miles) in 49:42, a seven minute pace, with the customary negative split and kick at the end. Assynt's tank was empty but he took our best shot and hung with us. He's just about passed his initiation for the team!