A Couple of Nice Training Runs So Far This Week

A busy day Sunday limited me to just over four miles but they were quality miles. On Monday my wife and I both needed to run after work, so, me being the gentleman, I let her go first. She came back after about 40 minutes and said if I had any hope of getting in even four miles before the rain hit I'd better go. I headed out the door so fast I forgot to get the watch or Garmin. But there was a spring in the legs that I hadn't been feeling lately so when I got to the loop it was decision time. I initially turned to the right to try to get in one big loop loop (4 miles) before the rain came. But then I decided that I couldn't waste the way I was feeling on routine milage. So I turned around and headed for the .7 mile loop around the lake for some speedwork. I didn't have the watch so I had to run on feel but I hammered five repeats and left it all out there. The lightening was fading away and still no rain so I finished the workout with about 2.5 miles of easy cool down running for a total of about 8.6 miles.

Yesterday I couldn't get out because I had to go to Fort Worth for work and got home after 9 PM. But tonight I headed out for 8 miles. A mile into my first big loop around the neighborhood a guy came onto the path from my right, and going about my pace, maybe even a little faster. It was perfect timing. Turns out he lives in the neighborhood and is training for an Ironman in Nov. We nailed the next three miles at about a 7:15 -7:20 pace and I got his e-mail for future runs, especially since his Ironman training should coincide with my fall marathon plans (Columbus, October 17). He had to turn off after three miles but there had been a guy jump on the loop up ahead of us about 40 feet who was running even with us, if not even a little faster. It was a good night I tell ya. Usually I'm just dodging walkers. Anyway, once the first guy got off the course I picked it up a bit and caught up to the guy who had been in front of us. He was young, 24, but is training for 5Ks this summer and targeting sub 20 minutes at one in early June. We did about three miles together in the low 7s and I also got his e-mail. Overall I covered 7.87 miles in the heat at a 7:15 pace. Good run.

Bayou Bash Relay, Saturday, May 8

Did the Bayou Bash relay yesterday. I was on a male masters team composed entirely of Houston Strider members. We finished 2nd in the division, losing only to a hand-picked team of master runners from several clubs (including Tommy King from the Striders, sigh). Our team time for the 4 x 1.9 miles was 46:03, a 6:04 pace. I ran my leg in 11:41, which is about ten seconds faster than last year.

Next up is the Astros Race For The Pennant on May 29.

Okay, I'm Back

Sorry I've taken a few months off from blogging. I just struggle to find the time. Still running and training though and will try to get back into the swing of it.

Tonight Steve S. came over for a great workout that contained both quantity and quality. There's a 3.19 mile 1/2 loop in my neighborhood that is part of a larger, 3.82 mile loop. We did the smaller loop first as a warmup, plus the little bit of distance that has to be covered to get from my house to the loop. Once we had completed the small loop we then did the larger loop but turned it into irregular intervals. We'd hammer the path until we'd completed that block, however long it was (anywhere from about .2 to about .4), then jog a recovery on the next block. We did this until we'd finished the big loop, which equated to six fast sections. It was great because some fast blocks were short, some were long, some recovery was long and some was painfully short.

Once the intervals were over we did the small loop again, then back to the house. Total milage 10.46.

Next race is the Bayou Bash relay this Saturday at out Rice U.