Just Run, Dammit

Astros 5K Race Recap

2010-06-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

I went into the Astros 5K this past weekend shooting for sub 19 minutes and expecting measurable improvement over the 5K I did in Tomball in early April. Yeah Tomball was cooler and a flatter course but still, when I've done a 5K in the mid to high 19s it's always been on the way down to faster times. But this past weekend showed that I've made no improvement at all. Either that or I had a bad day, which I don't usually have on race days.

I hit the first mile in 6:13 and knew I was in trouble at that point. That's not an auspicious beginning to a sub 19. It wasn't likely that I was going to get faster in mile two and three so I just held on the best I could. Miles two and three were probably around 6:25. I finished in 19:46, ten seconds slower than my 5K in Tomball. But I must admit that my training hadn't been going very well leading into the race. I've had a rough few weeks, with many training runs cut short due to fatigue, lack of will, breathing issues, etc. I haven't done enough consistent speedwork either so I shouldn't have expected much.

I did manage to win my age group though, which is really just a statement about all the fast 45-49 year old guys who didn't show up (thank God). That was good for four field box seats to an Astros game of my choice, and a pair of Asics from Academy. But as with most runners, it was small consolation. I know I didn't have a good race, so while I'm grateful for the awards, I'm not proud of my effort.

This week though I've had a good couple of runs to go along with two easy run days. On Tuesday night I did 10.37 at an overall pace of 7:25, but the first five miles were at a 7:11 pace, and I also did about .75 miles somewhere around mile seven at about a 6:10 pace. I walked a bit to recover from that which impacted the overall pace number. And tonight I did 9.50 at an overall pace of 7:30. Most of that was with Anthony, one of the new guys I met two weeks ago. He's going to make a nice addition to the (invitation only) Brian, Steve and Lance Sugar Land running club. I'll try to get in some miles in the morning before work then a long run of 16 on Saturday morning with Brian.

No more 5Ks until July. I'd better be under 19 by then or I quit!

A Couple of Nice Training Runs So Far This Week

2010-05-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-09T19:42:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

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.

Angleton 10K

2010-01-30T14:59:00.000-08:00

I did the Spectacle Spectacular 10K down in Angleton this morning. Not because I'm in race shape but because I've done this race every year since 2003, making it my longest streak going, and it's a good little race down there. I've finally been able to start training again the past four weeks, though not all-out. The leg still bothers me but is better and running doesn't seem to make it much worse. But most of my training runs have been at an 8 minute pace - not enough fitness to go much faster, plus I'm just trying to lay down some base milage.

So my expectations this morning were non-existent. I just wanted to treat it as a training run while still seeing what kind of fitness I've re-established. It was nice and cold, but also windy, especially going out. But I ran relatively relaxed and the cold was invigorating. With the wind in my face I hit two miles in 14:53, about the pace I expected. Shortly after the two mile mark we turned, which took the edge off the wind. I hit three miles in 22:11, meaning a 7:18 mile. After three miles we turned 90 degrees again, putting the wind to my back. There's a 2 mile straight away from the end of mile three through the end of mile five so I felt myself running a little faster, and began targeting the guy up in front of me, the only person I'd have a real shot at catching. At four miles the guy calling splits told me I was 20 seconds back, which probably represented a five second improvement over where I was at mile three. By the time we got to the end of mile five I had closed it to about 6 or 7 seconds, but when we made the turn the guy noticed me over his shoulder and that would be about as close as I got. That was too bad because he appeared to be in the 40-49 age group.

I kept the hammer down in case I got an opening, but it never appeared and I finished nine seconds behind him, at about 44:17. I still managed 2nd in the 40-49 age group and I was pleasantly surprised at the 7:08 pace I managed. I was even more surprised when I did the math and determined that I had run the final 3.2 in sub seven pace. Now I know that type of pace is slower than what's expected of Lance Collins, but given the injury, and no training for four months, I was pleased that I was actually able to "race" this morning. Looking forward to getting back in shape, if the leg continues to not interfere.

Hamstring?

2009-11-21T20:26:00.001-08:00

True to form, if I'm not blogging it's usually because I'm not running, and therefore have nothing to blog about. I've run once in the past six weeks - t he 1/2 marathon four weeks ago. Following that race my right leg was fairly sore but so were my calf muscles so I took a couple of days off. The tenderness in my calf muscles went away but not the tightness along the hamstring of my right leg and across the gluteus. So I took a week off, then another. Then finally last week it was much better and I thought I might be able to run soon. Then I tripped over my feet and stretched the darned thing out, putting me right back where I'd started from. I've given up on trying to hang on to the fitness I had and have resigned myself to starting over when this thing has finally run it's course. Which sucks.

Maybe a few more days and I'll be running again. My 1/2 in January though won't be anything to write home about.

Where I'm At

2009-10-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

Today's Koala/Lukes Locker/Houston Striders 1/2 Marathon was an excellent opportunity for me to take stock of not only where my fitness is but also whether the two injuries I've been dealing with were behind me. This past week I didn't run at all due to continued discomfort in my right hamstring. I ran four days the week before last, for a total of 30 miles, culminating in an 11 mile run last Saturday morning. But none of those runs were tempo or speedwork and the 7:27 pace I held for the 11 mile run was an effort. So I knew I was nowhere near the fitness level I had attained over the 800 miles of training I did from May through August, but I didn't know exactly how much things had regressed. Now I do.

My pre-race estimate of where I'd end up turned out to be slow by five minutes so obviously I was in the dark. I really didn't plan to race today, just run, and therefore thought I might come in around 1:38 (a 7:29 pace). I honestly didn't think I had any sub seven miles in me, but miles one and two were both around 6:50 and didn't feel too fast. I had another one deep in the race, maybe mile nine or ten, right after a 7:04 effort. In fact, I sorta caught my second wind somewhere late in the 2nd loop, which was a pleasant surprise. Upon finishing I initially thought I had run a negative split on the back half but after reviewing the stopwatch (no Garmin today) I realized that I was just a bit slower in the 2nd half, though not by much.

Even though today's chip time of 1:33:05 (I think - I glanced at my watch at the finish but forgot to stop it) is nearly ten minutes off my PR, it was still five minutes better than my pre-race guess, and even better, my right leg wasn't an issue. Slightly uncomfortable and a little tight this afternoon, but at no point did it compromise what I wanted to do. Since this injury wasn't related to running I might have been able to run on it the whole time - who knew? I plan to begin training again this week in earnest, though my wife is out of town for a few days later in the week, meaning I'll have daddy duty for my two little cavemen and won't be able to train much Wednesday through Friday.

The only downside this morning was for the competitor in me to see all those guys well in front of me that I should be beating, knowing that if I was 100% I'd be giving them a run for their money. The interesting thing though is that I'm signed up for the Houston 1/2 in Jan., 12 weeks from today. Peel one week of for taper and I have 11 weeks to see how much I can bring that 1:33 down, provided my right leg truly is going to be okay to run on.

Slip Sliding Away

2009-10-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

That's what my fitness level has been doing, slip sliding away. As I stated in my last post, if I don't have anything good to report I tend not to post.

The last six weeks have sucked for running. First I couldn't run for four weeks because of the pulled muscle/cracked rib in my side from the work I did out at Rice U. Then a couple of weeks ago my right hamstring and the muscle going across my glute were really tight. Not sore or painful just really tight, like I needed to do about two hours of stretching. I'm sure it was from all the work I did replacing the tile in our entryway and kitchen. Then this past Sunday I caught a cold and felt like crap the last couple of days.

The cold was better today and my leg wasn't too tight, and the pain in my side is virtually gone, so I laced 'em up and headed out around 7:45 PM for some miles. It's amazing how much fitness I've lost in just six weeks. I tried to keep a good steady pace and did manage to run negative splits. But I did 7.19 miles at a disappointing 7:27 pace. I've got some work to do. I'm signed up for the 1/2 marathon a week from this Sunday but don't know if I can even equal my underwhelming 1:28 last year. Probably not if tonight is any indication. I've got like, what, 10 days to get in shape? Sure.

What a shame. I was on a roll. But if there's any bright side, I was about at this point a year ago and still managed a 1:23 1/2 at Chevron Houston. But I don't see going to Dallas in December and trying to lower my marathon PR. Like I said, what a shame.

Sometimes You're The Windshield, Sometimes You're The Bug!

2009-09-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

I don't blog much if I don't have anything positive to say and the last three weeks have not been good as far as running. The sore muscle or pulled muscle or whatever it is has continued to bother me and limited my training tremendously since running seems to worsen it. I've also been involved in replacing the ceramic tile in our kitchen and entryway. Lastly, my two boys are playing soccer now and the oldest is in Cub Scouts so my plate is more than full.

As I often say, you get out of running what you put into it and the last three weeks have not seen me able put much into it, which is unfortunate because I was doing well. The dramatically reduced training was exposed yesterday at the Tornados Cross-Country relay. I ran the third leg for the Striders Mens Masters team and I was passed by two teams we were beating. In the long-run (no pun intended), we weren't going to win anyway, since both those teams beat us by 2 minutes and I know I didn't give up that much to the two, but I still felt like I let the guys down when they saw me take off ahead of those two teams but have them come in before me.

I'm leaving town Wednesday morning for a four day fishing trip and will have no opportunity to run other than getting something in Wednesday morning before I leave and maybe late Saturday night when I get back. Given that schedule and the shape I'm in now I may have to bag the 10 miler in Clear Lake in 2 weeks. I won't race if I'm possibly going to lay an egg.

Ouch!

2009-09-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

I did the BENeezy 10K in Alvin this morning and the "ouch" refers to a couple of things - one being how I felt and two being how I did. Naturally the two are related.

My week leading up to this race went well except for a couple of things. I backed off the training so that I wouldn't be overtrained, had a strong week last week, hit my strength-training pretty hard, especially legs, and was well-rested. The two things that I couldn't check off though, were my weight this morning, which was 2.5 lbs. more than I like to race at, and the second area where I missed the mark was what I did yesterday, the day before the race. Professionally I'm in sales for a free-weight company (the fitness industry - I love it!) and yesterday I had almost 8000 lbs. of dumbbells being delivered to the new Rice University Student Rec Center. My sales manager and I went out there for the install and we realized early on that we bit off more than we wanted to chew. It was back-breaking manual labor for six hours and I managed to pull a muscle on my right side - probably the 135 lb. dumbbells we were having to throw around. I got almost eight hours of sleep last night but this morning the legs were dead and I was sore all over. To make matters worse it hurt every time I took a deep breath.

I knew at the starting line that the cards were stacked against me but figured I'd make the best of it and see how things went. I hit mile one in 6:05, which didn't feel bad, but I realized in mile two that the pain in my side and the dead legs were going to prevent me from any sort of competitive 10K this morning. This race allows 10K runners to opt out and just do the 5K, even during the race, but I was determined to, if nothing else, get in a good 10K tempo run. So that's what I i did. I hit the 5K mark at about 19:30 and was okay with that. I was already hurting enough due to the pulled muscle without trying to run red-line. I even had something left for the final mile and finished in 40:26 Not bad considering it was basically a training run other than mile one and mile six.

Remainder of This Week

2009-08-29T18:38:00.001-07:00

This was a good week of training. On Tuesday I did 8.94 miles after work with Assynt Macleod at a comfortable 7:35 pace. Then Wednesday I did another round of speedwork, but this time with Brian King only, who is at the top of his game these days and who reset his 5K PR earlier this summer at 17:51. We also changed things up a bit and went back to the .7 mile loop around the lake here in New Territory. We did five repeats, with times of 4:02, 3:58, 4:02, 4:02 and 4:02. That was the best five rep set I've done on that course and it's August. On Thursday I got in a 3.50 mile run before work then 7.87 miles that night. Then last night I met Brian King over in Greatwood for a slow 16.2 mile long-run. Today, to close the week, I headed out for a five mile easy run but the body was too sore and the legs dead so I headed back with a 60 mile week complete.

Monday Speedwork - 08/24/09

2009-08-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

With some races on the calendar and my schedule weekend after this one I want to fine tune my speed and overall fitness these next two weeks. With that in mind I plan two speedwork sessions this week as well as 60+ miles.

Tonight I went over to the .4 mile oval for some interval work. It's been awhile since I've done these (a couple of months) and since they were the first speedwork I ever did I have a long history with this oval, which makes it an ideal gauge for my fitness. My best lap on the oval is a 2:04 a couple of years ago, and when I did this workout regularly I got to where I could get most if not all six of the laps down to 2:10 or better. But given that I haven't done these in some time I wasn't expecting anything like that. But I did do better than I expected.

When I got to the oval there was a sprinkler on in someone's yard that would have drenched me each time I went around so instead of doing a 4 mile cool-down I decided to do a 4 mile warmup. By the time I got back I was warmed up plenty and the sprinkler was off. Time to rev the engine. Here are the six fast .4s that I did, with a .2 jogging interval in between:

2:13
2:09
2:13
2:12
2:12
2:05

I left it all out there on that last one. Everything felt great tonight and I was pleased that I was able to find the energy at 8:30 PM to get these done. Easy miles tomorrow followed by more speedwork on Wednesday or Thursday.

18 Miler This Morning

2009-08-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

I met Assynt Macleod and Brian King at the end of my driveway this morning at 5:30 AM for what was to be an 18 mile long-run.

We never discussed pace but all settled into a groove that felt relatively brisk for a long-run but not something I thought would be difficult to maintain. At 5.43 miles we passed up our first opportunity for water or a bathroom break since no one needed either. At seven miles we passed up our 2nd chance at water because again, no one needed any. This is an out-and-back course and there's no water between mile seven and the turnaround at mile nine, which meant we wouldn't have another shot at hydration until we got back to the seven mile mark, which would be 11 miles into the run. That stop is an elementary school with two cold water fountains. I had also gone last night and planted nearly frozen Gatorade by the school.

So when we got to the school, eleven miles into the run, we were thirsty. Assynt and I took a GU and we all drank our fill. The break lasted three minutes exactly and we were off to finish the final seven miles. With 5.43 miles to go we passed the park with water fountains and bathrooms but none of us felt like we needed it so we crossed over into the point of no return (or point of no more water until the finish, unless you count my son's elementary school one mile from the finish and you'd have to be desperate to stop there with only a mile to go).

Up until the three minute water stop we were holding a 7:29 pace and I was hoping that in the final seven miles we might chip away at that three minute penalty we had on the clock, since I don't shut the watch off for breaks. With Brian leading the charge we made a pretty good stab at it. A final mile of 6:50 helped considerably but just about emptied my tank. The total time was 2:15:44, a 7:32 overall pace. Here are the mile splits:

8:00
7:37
7:23
7:27
7:18
7:18
7:30
7:24
7:27
7:29
10:31
7:30
7:23
7:14
7:05
7:12
7:07
6:50

These are my kind of long-runs - all business, not a lot of unnecessary stopping, a decent pace, and negative splits. If we can do this in mid-August I can only imagine what we'll do on those November 22 milers.

Houston Marathon Dilemma

2009-07-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

No, not my dilemma. I'm registered for the 1/2 and am targeting Dallas for a full. But when 22,000 spots are gone in two days, IN JULY for crying out loud, we have a problem. I don't think the answer is to continue to try to open up more and more spots. Another 3000 spots would have meant what? It sold out on Monday instead of Sunday? And do I really want the Chevron Houston Marathon to become a 35,000 entrant monstrosity? And starting half the field 30 minutes later can be a bummer if it's one of those warm January mornings. And who wants to race only 1/2 the field? Don't you want to be on the course at the same time with everyone who is running it?

I think the answer is a 2nd Houston Marathon. Many large cities have two marathons. When I lived in Phoenix years ago they had two. Toronto has two and I think Chicago does as well. Now, I know there's a marathon in Kingwood on Jan. 1 and Lucky Trails in March. But both are at best, suburban races, not truly "Houston" events. And neither is capable of scaling up to a 10 or 15,000 entrant event. Maybe that USA Fit marathon can grow - I don't know anything about it, other than it was born of necessity, which is essentially what I'm talking about here. But I'm envisioning another full-scale major marathon here in Houston, maybe in December, maybe in February, whatever. Maybe the Rock and Roll people step in and put on their own event. I would certainly think there's another 15,000 runners, many of them from out-of-town, who would like to run a marathon in Houston this winter but can't. I'm a capitalist so if there's a demand that's not being met then Adam Smith's invisible hand principle should guide the market to offer a 2nd marathon to satisfy that demand.

This post isn't in any way a complaint abut the Chevron Houston Marathon. I think they're doing all they can to accommodate demand. But the city needs another option. And short of another major marathon the only thing I can think of is to have the 1/2 marathon the day before. But that presents all sorts of problems too, not the least of which is two straight days of road closures.

Another Solid Week Of Training - Is It Fall Yet?

2009-07-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

I had another strong week of training, though I didn't manage to get in any speedwork. Outside of that though it was a good week which began with 14 miles Sunday evening at 6 PM with Steve Schroeder in Greatwood. Monday I did 8.56 miles right after work in the heat and managed to hold a 7:19 pace, with the first three miles done at about 6:40 pace. Tuesday I was wiped out tired and went to bed early. Wednesday night I went out for 9.6 miles and was able to make it a tempo run - 7:01 pace. Thursday I did 7.31 at a modest 7:48 pace and last night I took my two boys out in the jogging stroller for an easy 5-miler.

This morning I was joined by Assynt McCleod and Brian King at 5:30 AM for a 17 miler. We stopped twice, briefly, and finished with a 7:47 pace overall, including the two stops. I'm somewhere around 61-62 miles for the week, which ends today.

Hard Work Pays

2009-07-19T19:19:00.001-07:00

Most of you who read my blog or know me know that my philosophy about running is that generally if you pay your dues you'll be rewarded. Lord knows there are exceptions and head-scratching race performances, and I've had plenty. But overall if I've worked hard and got my ducks in a row, good things usually happen on race day. These past few weeks are a good example.

Last week I detailed my week and mentioned that I did 60 miles of training, with two speed work sessions, runs in the heat, a long-run, etc. This past week I did 6.5 miles on Monday (it hit 99 on Monday) at 5:15 PM. Then on Tuesday night at 8:45 PM I went out and did mile repeats when the temps weren't so bad. I did four, with a .4 mile jogging recovery after each, and they were all good quality, with no drop off in the pace from the first to the last. The times were (in order): 5:52, 5:51, 5:54, 5:51. Wednesday we did our 400 repeats at the track but took it easy on the pace, posting mostly 1:22s and 1:23s. I also did three sets of squats Wednesday night, which gave my legs two and a half days to recover. Thursday I took the day off since I was planning to race the Lunar Rendezvous Saturday morning. But I did go out Friday morning before work and got in 3.5 miles and wore a long-sleeve cotton shirt just to make sure I didn't get too comfortable.

Saturday morning I set out for the 5K with all systems go. Even my weight was right where I wanted it to be. And it all paid off. I posted my third best 5K ever and picked up 2nd in the 45-49 age group. My time was an 18:16, which averages to just about what I averaged when I did the mile repeats.

I plan to have another big milage week this week (60+) and will take advantage of the cooler temps that are forecast to try to get in some quality tempo work. I'm also going to do the mile repeats again.

Rest of the Week

2009-07-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday evening Assynt and I went out for nine miles in the heat at 6 PM. It was rough but we survived.

On Thursday we did our 400s again at the track though we dialed them back to 1:20-1:23.

I wasn't able to get in any milage on Friday but Saturday morning I did 15 miles with Brian King and Assynt McCleod. We started at 5 AM which turned out to be a great idea. We were nearly finished before the sun came up and I was able to hammer a sub-7 pace for the final five miles. Then I picked up 3.3 easy miles at my mom's house last night to hit 60 miles for the week. I actually did the 3.3 with my wife, which was alot of fun. With two little ones it's nearly impossible for us to get to run together but the boys stayed with my mom while we were gone.

Sorry

2009-07-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been one month today since I last posted. By no means have I not been training. I've been hitting it pretty good, and all outside in the heat. I don't particularly like running in the mornings so most of my runs have been from 5:15 PM to as late as 8:30 PM. In fact, there have been many nights that I intended to blog but just ran out of time once I finished my run and showered.

Not sure whether to recap in detail the past month or just hit the high spots. Or not blog about the past four weeks at all. I guess I'll just summarize each week.

Week of 6/07 (which started the day after I ran an 18:31 5K at the Heights 5K Fun Run) - Did 73.01 miles which included a 7.1 hard tempo with Brian King, 12 x 400 meter repeats at the track, and a 16 mile long-run.

Week of 6/14 - after a big milage week I rolled it back quite a bit and ran only 28.71 miles. My daughter was in town visiting all week so it was a good time to have a light week. But I did have a speedwork session (5 x .7 mile repeats) and another 16 mile long-run.

Week of 6/21 - back in the groove this week and posted 67.64 miles, including two speedwork sessions (5 x .7 mile repeats and 6 x .4 mile intervals), and a 14.20 mile long-run.

Week of 6/28 - another light week that followed a big week. I wanted to take it easy this week and have a good 5K race on Saturday (Freedom 5K in Sugar Land). Total milage was only 26.44 but I managed a nice 18:38 at the race.

Week of 7/05 so far - Did a 12.65 mile long-run on Sunday, 6.05 yesterday which included 3.82 miles at 6:31 pace, then speedwork today at Memorial Park. The speedwork was 6 x 800 meter repeats. Splits were: 2:46, 2:50, 2:48, 2:47, 2:49, 2:46. I can't remember the last time I did 800s but these really weren't very difficult for me. The sub-6 pace felt just mildly uncomfortable, and that was only the last couple hundred meters.

Heights 5K

2009-06-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Not alot to blog about on this one. I showed up loaded for bear, ready to put down a good number but faded in the 2nd half of the race for a disappointing 18:31. I went with the stopwatch instead of the Garmin by choice, because I didn't want to be too obsessed with the data and figured I'd adjust at mile one and at mile two, if necessary. Only problem was, there were no mile markers. And 5Ks are just too short to run by feel.

Anyway, gonna hit the training hard over the next few weeks and try to do something better at the Deer Park Independence 5K at the end of June.

More 400 Repeats Today

2009-06-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

I met Steve and Brian at the track again this evening at 6 PM for another session of 12x400s. I felt great early on and we were smokin' 'em but the heat and too-fast pace began to take it's toll toward the end though I did soldier through and get all 12 done. It was a very tough workout. Here are the splits:

1:16, 1:14, 1:15, 1:14, 1:16, 1:14, 1:15, 1:16, 1:19, 1:18, 1:19, 1:15

The Last Few Days

2009-05-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning I did a 16 mile long-run with Assynt McCleod and Steve Schroeder out here in Sugar Land on our out-and-back course. It went pretty smooth - 7:52 pace, even including two stops, though Assynt and I had to drop some 7 flat and sub sevens in the final four miles to get to that number. It was good to get out and go long again. I could tell that I had already fallen out of long-run shape as I was fairly wiped out the rest of the day. My wife and I went down to Galveston that afternoon for our anniversary (15 years) and I managed to pick up a few easy miles with her on the Seawall. That got me to 57 miles total for the week, which is the highest number I've hit this year.

I took Sunday off due to a busy schedule but did get in a nice strength workout at the hotel gym Sunday morning. On Monday I went for 7.31 miles beginning in the heat of 10:30 AM.

Yesterday I only managed about 4.5 but the upside was that I was well rested for speedwork today at the track with Steve. He was running late so I did six of the 400s alone, then six more with him. It was very difficult - a hard pace and warm and muggy conditions. But the times weren't bad:

1:20, 1:18, 1:17, 1:16, 1:16, 1:17, 1:18, 1:17, 1:17, 1:17, 1:19, 1:15

I'm pretty whipped from this workout and am going to turn in early, maybe get in 3.5 tomorrow before work.

Maybe Some Relief Finally

2009-05-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

My health/fatigue/iron issue has been on the backburner ever since my doctor told me she didn't think my iron levels were low enough to be causing the fatigue and sub-par performances. I do suffer shortness of breath and had asthma as a child so she headed down that route and offered to prescribe an as-needed inhaler and some other sort twice-daily inhaler. Finally took her up on the offer last week, though I didn't get the prescription filled until yesterday.

It seems to have helped already. I went for three loops (10.65 miles total) in Greatwood tonight and was able to keep my foot on the gas and hang with Brian and it's been awhile since I've been able to do that. But then again maybe I just had a good day. We'll see.

Beach To Bay Marathon Relay - 05/16

2009-05-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

I headed down to Corpus Christi on Friday to run on a mens masters team in the Beach To Bay Marathon Relay Saturday morning. My teammates, in the order that we ran, were:

Doug Schroeder
Assynt McCleod
me
Tommy King
Peja Bojovic
Thorleif Egeli

Call us the all European team. We had the nation of Germany represented, Scotland, Ireland (me), Serbia, and Norway. I don't know where Tommy's ancestry is from so not sure about him but I'm pretty sure he's not African, Australian, South American, or Asian. Anyway, we had a great team, composed entirely of Houston Striders, and finished 12th overall, and 2nd in the mens masters division. Our finishing time was 2:44:03, exactly three minutes behind the Tornados team. I'm pretty sure everyone on the team left it all out there and I'm proud of every guy I ran with and to run with them all. A great time was had at the post-race party (the best of any race I've ever done) and I made a couple of new friends from The Striders, the two guys I roomed with - Bob Schamus and Bill Blancett. Bill's team, composed of three Striders and three non-Striders, finished 2nd overall. And Bob's mixed masters team finished 2nd in their category too.

My leg went well enough, though I had positive splits and officially was the guy who gave up our lead to the Tornados when I got passed by John Ackerman. Oh well, I did what I could. My overall pace for the 4.31 was 6:19.

Sorry For Not Posting Lately

2009-05-04T20:04:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted much since Boston. For the first time since I started marathonin I kinda had a post-marathon let down. I wasn't motivated to run and of course by not running I started to convince myself that I had already lost some fitness, what with a 2 week taper then more than a week off afterward. But I got in some decent speedwork last Thursday (always a good snapshot of where I am), and raced the Bayou Bash Relay this past Saturday. I was busy non-stop yesterday but managed to get out tonight for 7.87 miles in 55:53, a 7:07 pace.

It was great seeing so many of you at the HARRA picnic Saturday. We have a great group of people here in Houston who happen to be runners. There's worse groups of folks I could hang out with.

Boston '09

2009-04-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

I went to Boston with the discouraging realization that despite the miles of training and five long-runs of over 21 miles in the previous 10 weeks, I wasn't 100% but was hoping to be close. Although I dreamed of targeting sub-3 I knew that was unrealistic on this course with me at less than 100%. So my best estimate of what a good day would mean was 3:05.

My bib number, based on my qualifying time, was 2683, good enough for the 2nd row of the first wave. I lined up with buddies Wayne Cohen, Stephen Mayor, and Garrett Rychlik. The weather was partly sunny and mid 40s, though it felt warmer. We were all talking about staying below a seven minute pace early on and my goal was really just to run seven and sub-seven for as long as I could. I never even considered trying to run negative splits, not on this course, but hoped to run a fairly flat effort. That meant that the last five miles wouldn't be any more difficult than the first five. I'm not sure I pulled it off but I came close.

We hit the starting mat about 55 seconds after the gun and shuffled with the crowd through the first mile in 7:05. Things broke up after that and we hit the downhills. We smoked miles two and three with a 6:35, which I know sounds fast, but again, I wanted to work relatively hard throughout. We wisely reined things in ever so slowly after that and mile four was a 6:49. By this time Wayne Cohen was pulling away a bit but there was no way I was going to go with him. I stationed myself right behind Garrett and Stephen.

Mile five was a 6:57 for a five mile total of 34:03. Mile six was a 6:50. With the downhills behind us that pace felt just a tiny bit faster than I needed to go so I let Stephen and Garrett drift away from me. It didn't bother me because I knew I could run exactly what felt right and would be surrounded by runners at an identical pace, no matter how fast or slow I went. Miles 7, 8, and 9 were just a few seconds under 7 flat and felt just about right. Mile 10 was a seven flat, giving me a 10 mile time of 1:08:42. I took one gel somewhere around mile eight or nine, and one of the highlights of the race occurred just after the water stop at mile eight in Natick. One of my customers at work, Precision Fitness Equipment, has a store at mile eight, right on the course. Of course they can't open that day so they set up lawn chairs, a grill, and an ice chest of beer and sodas, and watch the race. They knew I was coming and as soon as they saw me ran and grabbed a cold bottle of water with a sport top for easy delivery. They handed it to me as I went by and shouted words of encouragement. Great guys, just like all the folks in Boston on race day.

But after I passed them, and with my three buddies gone, it was time to just dig in manage my race. Mile 11 was a 6:58, mile 12 was a 7:05, and mile 13 was 7:12. I don't remember exactly why I started to creep over seven but I do know that I was taking full advantage of every water stop, even stopping for a few seconds on occasion to make sure I got the majority of the liquid in me instead of on me. Mile 14 was a 6:59 and mile 15 was a 7:03 for a 15 mile total of 1:44:00 (6:56 pace). It was also during mile 14 or 15 that I must have passed one of my buddies from earlier, though I never saw him.

Mile 16 was a nice downhill that I hammered for a 6:43 but the hills started coming in mile 17 and I posted a 7:25, and another 7:25 in mile 18. Mile 19 was a little better for me and the split was 7:09. Mile 20 was a 7:32 for a 20 mile time of 2:20:15 (7:01 pace).

Mile 21 contains the infamous Heartbreak Hill and let me tell ya, with the wind picking up and my energy winding down, I was pretty sick of hills halfway up the damned thing. Of course I slowed down but I measured how I was doing by looking at the rest of the field. A few were moving faster than me, some were at about my speed, but more runners were moving slower than me than faster so that was encouraging.

Even though I could see an overall pace of sub 7 slipping away I didn't let it get to me. I knew I was still in good shape to come in at my 3:05 goal or better and hoped to make up some ground over the next five miles where the course gives something back for all the climbs. Mile 21, containing Heartbreak, was a 7:55 but I knew that was 100% due to the hill and increasing wind so I didn't panic. It was great to be at this point in the race, with the worst over, and that feeling of unavoidable slowing nowhere to be found. In fact, mile 22 was a 7 flat, though mile 23, with the course more open to the wind, yielded a disappointing 7:19. Mile 24 was a nice 6:59 and I passed another one of my buddies from early on who was off to the side working out a cramp. Mile 25 was a 7:20, with a 25 mile time of 2:56:50.

I had been calculating the likelyhood of coming in under 3:05 ever since I finished mile 21 but with 1.2 to go and the watch showing 2:56:50 I knew it wasn't in the cards. In fact, I knew that unless I found a skateboard I wasn't going to come in under 3:05, and unless I slowed dramatically I would still come in under 3:06. So the final 1.2 was without drama, just steady as she goes. I sure was happy to make that final turn and head down the straightaway. I must have managed to stand out in the crowd because even though there were dozens of runners in the final stretch the guy on the loud speaker announced my name and hometown, which was very cool.

The finishing time was 3:05:42 and I felt reasonably good after the race - able to walk, no major soreness in the thighs or calves, and not completely spent, like, "just let me sit on the curb for awhile" tired. In fact, after the post-race shower, I hopped in the car and drove to Salem, NH to visit a customer who couldn't see me over the weekend. I'm gonna loose a couple of toenails due not to tight shoes but my toes slamming into the toebox repeatedly on all those downhills. And the lady who stepped on the worst toe last night on the plane, with her boot heel, didn't help matters. But all in all I'm in pretty good shape and may go for a few easy miles tomorrow night. I placed 2017 overall, but 100 and something in my age-group, which is just sick. It's my 4th best time of my seven marathons, but easily my best on a hilly course.

Leaving For Boston Tomorrow

2009-04-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well, the hay is in the barn, as they say. Training is done, tapering is in full swing, and I'm leaving tomorrow for Boston. Since late Jan. I've done five long-runs of 21 miles or more, raced a solid half marathon in Jan., did a 20 miler in Dec., did the 14 miles at 6:45 pace, and had a 16 miler mixed in there too. I've felt more like my old self again lately, especially this week.

I don't think I'll seriously target sub-three but will try to stay close to that pace so that if I'm having a spectacular day I can go for it and if it's about what I expect I'll shoot for low threes. We'll see. Weather is looking good so far.

Since Tuesday

2009-04-05T20:31:00.001-07:00

In the two days following my hard 14 miler last Tuesday I was pretty whipped so I ran only 5 on Wednesday at an easy pace, and only 4.05 on Thursday, similar pace. I had registered a few weeks ago for the Bellaire Trolly Run 5K Saturday morning, but since I haven't been racing well, and thought a long-run would do me more good for Boston than a 5K, I opted for a long-run on Friday night. Having gone only 21 on my last one I wanted to go farther, just to prepare my body for the three hours of pounding it will have to endure.

So feeling pretty good on Friday I set out at about 7:30 PM for a 23 miler. Since the farthest I can go on my out-and-back is 10.5 I had to do a mile before I got started. I stopped once on the way out for a short bathroom break and hit the turnaround at 1:29:26, about a 7:47 pace. I stopped twice on the way back - once at about 12.5 miles to eat some sport gummy bears I packed along, and the second time at the elementary school water fountain. But my pace was quicker on the return, which was the plan. But I must admit, when I got to the end of the out-and-back, having already run 22 miles, it was very difficult to talk myself into that last mile to get to 23, especially since my house was within a block. But I figured the suffering I'd endure that last mile was just a precursor for Boston so I got it done. Did the 11.5 mile second half in 1:26:33, a 7:31 pace.

I didn't run at all yesterday but tonight met Brian King over at the Greatwood loop (3.55 miles) for a couple of aggressive laps around it. We ran the first one in 24:55, about a 7:01 pace, but smoked the second one in 23:17, a 6:33 pace, and a final mile of 6:15. Felt like my old self again.

Oh Yeah, Now I Remember What Normal Feels Like

2009-03-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

Today, for the first time in at least two weeks, I felt good. No, I haven't been sick. I just haven't been myself. I've been tired everyday and can't seem to get past it. I have no energy and just can't wait to go to bed each night. My running has been uninspired to say the least and my racing has been worse. A week ago yesterday I went out for a hard tempo and struggled to hold a 6:30 pace for a few miles. So, thinking I might need a break, I took it easy last week and went into the Law Week 8K with about 9.5 miles under my belt for the entire week. But I couldn't stay on pace in the race and performed terribly. My pace for 8K was slower than it was for the 1/2 marathon just two months ago.

So I saw the doc this morning to have blood work done and check for that old anemia nemesis, or thyroid issues. My pulse at the doctor registered 80! Geez, I'm a runner - it should be around 50.

But on the bright side, I felt great today. I felt like I used to most days - full of energy and actually wanting to come home and hammer out a hard run. I hit the weights too, when I first got home. Then tonight I went out for what I hoped would be a solid training run at long last. And that's what I got.

I did a 14 mile progression hard-tempo run. Average pace was 6:45 but my final mile was around 6:34 and the final four miles were around a 6:40 average. It felt great and even when I went just a little too fast I was able to ease off the accelerator and get right back in a groove, something I found impossible to do on Saturday at the race.

I'm signed up for the Bellaire Trolley Run on Saturday but am not sure whether I'm going to do it. If I feel great on Friday like I did today I may do one more long-run, at an easy pace. And if I'm not feeling good I don't know why I'd want to go out and lay an egg again.

Week Ending 3/21 Summary

2009-03-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to get in the type nor quantity of workouts this week, but I still pretty much hit my milage goal and had two key workouts that went well. So a mixed bag.

I was only able to run four days this week due to being too tired and too busy two days, and the wife going to dinner with a friend the third day that I missed. But I totaled nearly 50 miles the other four days, including a great speedwork session Wednesday night, a 9.8 mile run Monday that included 3.2 miles of tempo, and a great 21 mile long-run Friday night at a 7:08 pace.

Gonna focus on shorter, more aggressive runs this next week heading into the 8K on Saturday.

Week of 3/8 Summary

2009-03-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

I was a little sluggish, okay alot sluggish, last Sunday after the 21 miler on Saturday morning. All I had the time or energy for was a measly 4.05 miles.

On Monday I went over to where I used to live and did repeats on the .4 mile oval. I felt better than Sunday and gave 100% but my times weren't what they used to be.

On Tuesday I put in nearly 12 miles here in New Territory but wasn't worried about pace. In fact, I left the watch home.

On Wednesday Steve and I did speedwork again around the .7 mile lake path, and this time we were joined by Assynt McCleod, another Strider runner. Assynt has been running well lately and I wanted to help him take it to the next level by mixing in some speedwork. I was worried about throwing too much at him but he held up like a pro, even volunteering to lead the last repeat. After speedwork we did our customary cool-down three miles.

On Thursday I got in 7.35 miles, but again, at a comfortable pace.

On Friday I wanted to get in a few miles before the Bayou City 10K the next day but the rain prevented that. I also realized on Friday that the one element that has been missing from my training might impact what kind of race I had on Saturday. I haven't been doing any tempo runs lately and it showed on Saturday morning. I did a 38:57 but should have been faster. I will mix a few of the hardcore tempos that I'm known for and should be ready to go for the 8K in two weeks.

Finished the week with around 53 miles, second week in a row of a total like that.

Brutal

2009-03-07T17:15:00.001-08:00

I don't think I'm ready for old man winter to go away for at least another month. This mornings long-run was one of those runs where you say to yourself, "why do I do this?" I went 21.13 miles alone, at a 7:33 pace, but it was very difficult going in the high humidity and temps in the low 70s. I started off fine, hitting the first six miles at about a 7:15 pace, but dropped into the 7:20+ range after that. All the fun was gone by mile 12 and I really struggled the final three or four miles. My final mile was an 8:12, yikes!

Post Marathon Recap

2009-03-03T20:40:00.001-08:00

Since the marathon a little more than two weeks ago I haven't been able to get in the training that I had planned but then I didn't really plan much in the way of recovery and I'm lucky I didn't end up paying for that decision.

After the marathon I took the following Monday and Tuesday off but went nearly 8 miles that Wednesday with Steve, though at a comfortable pace. On Thursday we did speedwork and the calfs were sore. On Saturday I went out to see what I could dredge up for the Park to Park 5 Miler. I got slower each mile and obviously wasn't fully recovered from the marathon. And the calfs were still very sore. I took Sunday off then tried to run on Monday, 8 days after the marathon, but the calfs were still tender so I headed home after a mile or two. I took the next day off and tried to do speedwork Wednesday night of last week but wasn't able to complete the workout because my calfs still hurt. Given the injury I suffered last summer that sidelined me for 3 months, I was very nervous about whether it was just soreness or the onset of an injury.

So I took Thursday and Friday off and was able to run 8 miles on Saturday without pain. Sunday I went 10 miles, again with no pain. But then my wife went to Boston for work so I wasn't able to do anything last night but play Mr. Mom with my two little buddies. Tonight, after they went to bed, I hooked up the old baby monitor that we haven't used in two years, put it on the porch, turned it up to max volume, then ran laps around the .24 mile loop I live on. It was boring but I got in six miles and mixed in some speedwork.

I should be able to get a workout in tomorrow night and go long this coming Saturday morning. Anyone up for joining me for 22 or so, 7:30 pace or better out here in Sugar Land? Chris R.?

Pensacola Marathon - 2/15/09

2009-02-15T17:52:00.000-08:00

We pulled into the parking lot of Running Wild- the event host - yesterday about 3:45 PM to pick up our race packet. I asked the lady giving out the stuff, "is this course pretty flat?" She looked up at me and matter-of-factly said, "no". Ugh oh. Hell, we could have done Austin if we wanted hilly. So when we left the very nice running store with very friendly folks and free-sandwiches and beer for runners, we drove the course. No, it was not flat. The full marathon course consists of doing the 1/2 course twice so any hill we encountered we'd have to run twice. There was a monster hill at about mile 7, which meant we'd hit it again at about mile 21. It was every bit as tall as Heartbreak Hill and steeper, and no descent at the top. Actually another gradual incline into the neighborhood. There was also a shorter hill just after mile one that we didn't encounter on our drive and a more gradual mile long incline between three and four that we didn't notice in the car but did on the course. But it wasn't all bad. There were some nice descents deep into the loop where you needed them. So we grabbed dinner, hit a Wal-Mart for some things we forgot then hit the hay the earliest I've ever been able to go to sleep the night before a race - 8:15!

We got up at 4:30 and checked the weather. 55 degrees and light rain. It drizzled all the way until just before the start then miraculously stopped for the entire duration of our race, though it began to drizzle again just after we finished. The temperature stayed at 60 or below for the full race so it was not a factor, nor was there enough wind to be an issue.

We blasted the first couple of miles at sub 7 just out of adrenaline, not knowing the course, a small field, etc. But then settled into a nice 7:10ish pace. Yeah, we hit 10 miles in 1:10:18, a 7:02 pace, but almost all of that was due to the first two fast miles. Mile 3-10 was a 7:07 average. We hit the 1/2 at 1:32:43, which was a little faster than plan, but again, if you take out the first two miles we were doing a 7:09 pace for 3-13.1. We maintained this relatively flat pace through 20 miles, even though the course itself was not flat. That was the thing I realized yesterday when driving it. My plan of running even splits throughout was out the window because of the varied elevation. We had to make hay where we could.

Even though we hit 20 miles at 2:23:18, our mile 20 had been a 7:18 and I could tell Brian was about to run out of gas, and we still had the monster hill to climb. I don't remember if the hill was at the end of mile 21 or early in mile 22 but both miles were around 8 minutes flat and I was becoming concerned. I still had no idea though how bad Brian was about to drop off. I began having to stop and turn around to encourage him on but there was no fire on his face, only exhaustion and defeat. Mile 23 was awful. I got to the mile marker and simply stopped to wait for Brian to come through with a 9:47. I was so disappointed in knowing that the 3:10 was lost that I snapped, "nice nine minute mile Brian!". I shouldn't have said it but I was just trying to appeal to his pride if nothing else. This was a Brian I didn't know - I've seen him run lots of miles of 6 something, even ran the final two miles of an 18 mile run in about a 6:15 pace, but never a nine something pace. Mile 24 was an 8:31, so better, but I was really having to talk to him and encourage him where I could. We crossed over a fairly steep overpass and I was very proud of Brian that he jogged the entire way up, never walking. But he just didn't have anything left and even though I was telling him things like, "just two miles to go, if we can do that in 16 minutes we'll have a finishing time of X", it didn't matter. Here I was feeling great and having to watch one of my best buddies suffer, with me powerless to do anything about it. I even told him to get on my back at one point.

I rode him pretty hard those last few miles, coming right to the edge of going too far, but I just wanted it so bad for him and didn't know what else to do. At one point he felt cramps and wanted to stop and stretch but I told him to lengthen his stride and see if he could get a stretch while running. That worked and kepted him from stopping. At another point, just past 23, he told me he thought he was going to throw up and I told him to be my guest and that maybe that would help. But he didn't. Late in the race he told me something that made me feel appreciated - "just don't leave me Lance". I vowed that I wouldn't, though I never planned to from the beginning.

With a mile or so to go a guy passed us who looked to be near my age and Brian told me to go get him and not potentially lose a spot in my age group. I could have dropped the guy like 3rd period calculus with what I had left in the tank but what would that have accomplished? That guy was battling his own demons I'm sure and didn't deserve for me to jump in and take him down, nor did Brian need to try to finish the final mile alone. We also got passed by the 2nd overall female with about 3/4 of a mile to go but she was running strong and I could tell she was in her happy place. I shouted words of encouragement to her as well as the guy who passed us, relishing my coaching role.

At mile 26 we were still at 3:16 so I told Brian that if we could just kick some for the final .2 we could come in under 3:18, but again, his tank was empty. We finished together with a 3:18:15. Not our goal, not by a long-shot but there are several positives to take away:

-Though we had a big positive split, it was not nearly as big as the one Brian had at Houston this year. We held it together well through 20 miles and if it wouldn't have been for that damned hill could have probably gotten another couple of 7:30s - who knows?
-Brian used gel for the first time and realized that it helps.
-Brian took a couple of Tylenol at about mile 14 (at my instruction) and realized that a little something like that can take the edge off the leg pain late in the race, even if it's partially psychological.
-Brian shaved a huge amount off of his PR, which was near 3:31.
-Brian knows that getting the number you want requires enduring pain and refusing to give in. That course was not going to allow us to get the 3:10 today so Brian doesn't regret that part of it, but he does regret allowing himself to turn 9+minute miles at 23, 25, and 26. I drove the point home a few times on the way home, that you just cannot allow yourself to fall apart like that. 8 minute miles? Maybe a couple. 9:40 miles, no. Can't allow it. You give back in one mile what it took you ten miles to accumulate. You can bleed a little but you can't hemmorage.

I'm proud of the work we put in this morning and glad that I could help Brian get a big PR. Brian, it was more you than you realize. You left it all out there and I'm proud of you. Good job. We'll get 'em next time.

Turning The Corner Finally

2009-02-11T20:33:00.000-08:00

After the aggressive approach the doctor took to my chest cold I thought things would be clearing by Sunday or Monday but I was still hacking pretty good on Tuesday, though things were slightly better. I met Steve Schroeder and Avi Moss at Memorial Park on Tuesday for a couple of loops before the Houston Striders meeting at 7 PM. That training run helped clear up my lungs and things were much, much better today.

I decided to go out and try to get in something of quality tonight. I wouldn't want to do anything aggressive any closer to Sunday than today so it was now or never time. Instead of a 7 or 8 mile tempo, I settled on speedwork instead but my breathing was still a little compromised. I really noticed it holding me back at top end speed, when I tried to reach for something extra. I did the .7 mile lake path again, which I just love. The repeat times were: 4:02, 4:04, 4:06, 4:04, which all work out to around 5:50-5:55 pace. I'll take it, considering a little congestion still. I suspect it'll all be gone by Friday at the latest, and I won't have to reach for sub 6 pace at any point on Sunday so I'm not worried. At least I've turned the corner with this bear of a cold.

Week of 1/31

2009-02-07T05:57:00.000-08:00

Not much to report. Did a speedwork session on Monday but developed some crap in my lungs that compromised what I was able to do. Had it all week. Skipped Tuesday and Wednesday but did manage to hack my way through an excellent 7.3 miles on Thursday night. The lungs actually cleared somewhat once I started running and I was able to hold about a 6:20-6:30 pace. Felt great. Finally went to the doctor yesterday. The guy turned out to be a runner with five marathons under his belt, including Boston. Told him my dilemma and the urgency of getting this cleared up with a marathon next weekend. He took an aggressive approach (which is what I was hoping for) and gave me a shot and a prescription.

Headed to Dallas today for a wedding and may try to run tomorrow night. Lungs seem better already.

So Why Did I Do A 21.53 Mile Long-Run Last Weekend?

2009-01-31T20:15:00.000-08:00

Since I'm a big fan of politics I thought I'd do something that politicians do all the time - answer a question that wasn't asked. But it must seem odd to the four or five people who read my blog that just a week after a 1/2 marathon, and marathon season essentially over locally, why would I be doing a 21.53 long-run last weekend, and at an aggressive pace?

Let me answer that in a roundabout way. My buddy Brian King is as good a runner as I've ever been or will be. His 5K PR is an 18:09 and his 10K PR is an awesome 37:48. I've seen him turn a 60 on the track. He willingly runs any training run I throw at him, never crying uncle, and trains like a mother on his own to boot. We've had training runs where I'm throwing my A-game at him yet watched helplessly as he pulled away from me. But every year something goes wrong for him in the marathon. He needs a 3:10 for Boston but his PR is around 3:30 or 3:31. Heck, we've done numerous 20+ mile training runs faster than that. But in marathons he runs into one problem after another - going out too fast, cramps, stomach issues, and two weeks ago a burning pain in his hip at mile 22! Steve Schroeder and I concluded that we somehow need to trick his brain into thinking that the marathon is just another long-training run with Lance. So that's what I'm going to do.

We're headed to Pensacola, FL on Saturday, Feb. 14, to run the next morning in the Pensacola Marathon. I'm going to lock in a 7:10 to 7:15 pace, Brian is going to put his brain on auto-pilot, follow me, and we're hopefully going to get 'er done. It's too late for Brian to go to Boston this year but the qualification will be good for next year.

So I wanted to get in one long-run over 20 miles at an aggressive pace before we do it. Wish us luck.

Spectacle Spectacular 10K Race Report

2009-01-31T19:31:00.000-08:00

This morning my buddy Assynt and I headed down to Angleton to do a race I've done for 6 years now, the Spectacle Spectacular 5K/10K. I like this race. They do a good job with it, have people at every mile marker calling out splits, the course is accurate, not too many turns, and they have plenty of real food at the end (breakfast tacos, sausage biscuits, donuts, hot coffee, etc.). I never managed to run a phenomenal time down there but have lowered my time from the previous year ever since 2005 and intended to do it again (I was 39 and low change last year).

The conditions this morning were ideal for a race - temps in the low 40s at the start but warming rapidly, little wind, and beautiful sunshine. Luis Armenteros was there and another apparently fast guy I've never notice before and those two took off and quickly pulled away from the rest of the pack. Kevin Regis and I settled into a nice 6:10ish pace for the first couple of miles. As we turned into the neighborhood that weaves runners over to another long straightaway, Kevin dropped off the pace just a tad. Eventually I came out on the other side of the neighborhood, having passed the halfway point just prior to doing so.

As I headed down the long straightaway I recalled that it seemed like in years past that we turned just after the 5 mile mark. I hit the five mile mark, looked to my right, and there was a street that looked like the one we turned on but I went on another 20 feet before finally deciding, if I'm going to misjudge which street to turn on, I'd rather turn too early than too late. Shortly after I turned, Kevin came by and yelled something down to me. I couldn't make it out but the fact that he didn't turn told me all I needed to know. I knew I was running parallel to the street I was supposed to be on so I just needed to make a cut. I finally got over to the other street and turned right but I still saw no orange cones. Assynt and I had done our warmup on the finishing street so I knew I should be seeing the orange cones. Time to start looking left again to see if I needed to go over one more street. Finally a 5K runner doing a cool-down came by me and said something about turning early (if he only knew!) so I had to start looking for another road to take over to the next street. I did so finally and got back on course. It certainly was no shortcut I'd taken. If anything, I had to make four turns that other runners did not. My biggest fear now though, as I approached the correct street at last, was that competition might have been able to capitalize on my confusion and dead reckoning and maybe made up some ground. But the road was clear and I had maybe a third of a mile to go to finish.

I hit the finish in 38:36, just ten seconds from my all-time PR. My splits were reasonably flat and I finished third overall and first master. Here are my mile splits:

6:04
6:15
6:08
6:10
6:17
6:18
5:40 pace for the final .2

Miles 3-6 were only 10 seconds slower than miles 1-3 so I'm pleased with that.

Back To The Track

2009-01-27T20:29:00.001-08:00

With a 10K on the docket this weekend I needed to remind my legs and lungs what it's like to run fast (well, fast for me at least) so I headed over to the .7 mile lake path for some more of the repeats I was having so much success with before the 1/2 marathon.

It was cold and windy and I had eaten a little something for dinner so I didn't expect to be quite as fast as I was a few weeks ago. I also wanted to do five repeats instead of four so I took a cautious approach to the first one and posted a 4:17 (6:12 pace). The remaining four were:

4:10 (5:59 pace)
4:08 (5:56 pace)
4:05 (5:52 pace)
4:01 (5:46 pace)

I then went on and completed the New Territory loop for a total workout of 8.55 miles.

Long Cold Solo Run

2009-01-24T18:46:00.000-08:00

With Steve Schroeder injured and going skiing anyway, and Brian King one week removed from the marathon, both of my usual running partners were not available for a long-run this morning. I called Scott Grischow, who was up for some milage but not 20+. I thought about going down to Memorial Park and hooking up with a group that I know runs long down there every Saturday morning, but passed on that idea for a variety of reasons.

So I headed out solo at about 7:30, once my wife got up and could take over with the kiddos. My plan was to go out on our out-and-back course as far as it would take me then come back. I realized a couple of miles into the run that I was under-dressed. I had on a long-sleeve tech fabric shirt, shorts, gloves, and a cap. The wind was steady and cold out of the north but at my back going out the first five miles or so. At 5.4 miles the course turns and I had a cross-wind to deal with for the next nearly five miles. I got all the way to Highway 6 (10.25 miles out) and actually could have turned south and kept going, but decided that if I needed any extra milage I'd better do it closer to home. Before I even got to the turnaround my hands were like ice even though I had on gloves and had pulled my sleeves over my hands.

I hit the park for water and to get out of the wind for a sec then headed back into it. Once I got back to where I'd normally turn off, and with my hands numb from the cold, I went ahead and did 1/2 a mile down to the intersection then headed back. This allowed me to cover a total of 21.53 cold, miserable miles at a 7:26 pace, including two stops, one short one and about two minutes long.

Runnin' And Visiting With Leno

2009-01-21T20:18:00.000-08:00

After five easy miles last night just to make sure everything was in working order, I headed over to Memorial Park today after work to get in something of better quality. I was hoping to hook up with someone who could help me push.

I headed clockwise and soon saw Leno Rios going the other direction. I hammered this first loop all the way through, just because it felt good and I wanted to shake any rust off the legs. Did the 2.9 mile loop in 18:37, then took a cool-down breather and started jogging another one. I saw Leno again and asked him if he wouldn't mind some company. He waved me over to join him so I turned around and we had a good 20+ minutes to catch up on things. It's probably the most I've ever continuously talked with Leno and it was a real pleasure. He's a great runner, a great guy, and gives back way more to the running community than he receives from it.

After the second loop (and first with Leno) he told me he wanted to open it up and hit low six on the next mile or so. I hung with Leno for about 3/4 of a mile before I backed off of the 6:04 pace he was pushing. That first loop had not left enough in the tank to keep it up longer than what I did. I eventually hooked back up with Leno for the final mile or so of the loop and we visited more, and were still talking when the loop was over and I needed to head home.

It was a good workout of 9+ miles today.

Aramco 1/2 Marathon - 1:23:40

2009-01-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

I went into the weekend thinking I was about as ready as I could get given the time I had to train, but only after cramming the last couple of weeks before my taper last week. I'm not sure I could have gotten in significantly better shape with another month or two to train but still felt that my 1:23:29 PR was out of reach. My goal was to go sub 1:25 and going into the weekend I felt like I should be able to do that, though not by much.

But then I had a rehearsal dinner Friday night for my sister-in-law and buddy's wedding, which included Mexican food and too many margaritas. A headache yesterday morning and that sluggish feeling all day planted major seeds of doubt. Then last night I probably ate too much, as I know I did Friday night, and didn't get home from the reception until 11:15. I probably fell asleep sometime between 11:45 and midnight, then got up this morning at 4:35. I stepped on the scale and became even more skeptical when it showed me to be about 4 lbs. heavier than I was Friday morning. Ugh. But at least I felt good and wasn't tired. The legs felt great and I did some runs of close to a quarter mile before the start at a very brisk pace and never got winded. And the weather felt okay to me, at least without a shirt on.

I met up with Matt Nicol and Tuan Nguyen at the start and decided to hang with them as long as I could and as long as it felt right. Tuan wanted 6:20s and Matt was planning to run that pace for awhile, though he didn't expect to hold it to the end. The first mile was a 6:24 but mile two was a 6:10 and I knew before I saw the number that it was too fast. Mile three backed down a bit to a 6:16 but it was at this point that I let Tuan and Matt pull away a little. They stayed well ahead of me as I hit mile four in 6:21. By the completion of mile four I had already banked nearly 50 seconds against the 6:30 pace I was looking to stay just under so I decided to settle down and start hitting some even splits at a little closer to my target pace of 6:29. Miles five through ten were:

6:25
6:19
6:25
6:24
6:27
6:31

I passed Matt somewhere around mile seven or eight but of course knew I was not likely to catch Tuan. I was at ten miles in 1:03:41, a new PR for me, and now had more than a minute cushion over that 1:25 mark I was looking to dip just under. And I still felt fine so nothing to do but keep on keepin' on. Mile eleven was a 6:16. Mile 12 was a 6:30 but I was getting into downtown now and the Garmin picked up a 6:11 mile 13, so I'm not sure both of those miles are accurate. At mile ten I realized that barring a catastrophe sub 1:25 was in the bag and by mile eleven and twelve I started to think I might go sub 1:24 and have an outside shot at my PR. I'd like to think that 6:11 in mile thirteen was accurate - I know I was pushin'.

My Garmin has me at 1:22:38 for 13 miles but I couldn't hear it beep and wasn't paying attention anyway. I know I hammered the last couple of miles as best as I could and enjoyed the fact that Autumn Ray came up beside me in full game-face mode. I did my damnedest to hang with her but she ran strong through to the finish and I came in 4 seconds behind her. My official chip time was 1:23:40, just eleven seconds off my PR, but that means that somehow it took me almost a minute to cover the final .1, which is impossible. I guess maybe I had built up some extra distance over the course of the run and probably ran 13.18 or 13.19. I'll never know because I forgot to click as I crossed the finish line.

I attribute my much-better-than-expected time today to the no pain no gain runs I did over the last month of training, such as the 18 miler where Brian and I did the final mile in around 6:30, or the 9.1 mile run we did last weekend where my final mile was 6:07, or the 10 mile run I did New Year's Eve at a 6:34 pace. If you're unfamiliar with extended periods of running beyond your comfort level you'll back off when you get to that pace. But if you're no stranger too it it's old hat. Today was old hat. I really didn't suffer much at all and wonder if I might have gone faster. At any rate I'm looking forward to a good spring season, and maybe a 10K PR. Mine is over three years old and needs to come down.

Revving The Engine

2009-01-14T19:29:00.000-08:00

I went out for something short but fast tonight. I did the big New Territory loop, which is 3.82 miles, plus the .11 to get to the loop as a warm-up, and the .11 to get home as a cool down.

I covered the 3.82 in 23:44 seconds, a 6:13 pace on a rolling, meandering course. I'll take it. That's the last hard run before Sunday but I'll do an easy 3.2 either tomorrow, Friday, or Saturday.

Final Hard Tempo

2009-01-11T19:00:00.001-08:00

I met Brian King last night over on the Greatwood loop for our last hard tempo run before the race next weekend. Our plan was to do the Greatwood loop twice then a mile out and back for a total of 9.1 miles, at about a 6:45 pace. That's what we did and it felt great, though it was a little chilly.

We started off fairly slow and I could tell that I probably wasn't 100% due to the speedwork from Thursday. But after a first mile of 7:12 we quickly got things down under 7 minute pace. Mile two was 7:01 but mile three was 6:52. We covered the first loop in 24:36 (6:56 pace), and continued to crank the pace down in the second loop. Mile four was a 6:46 and five was a 6:49. Mile six was a 6:46 again but we brought mile seven down to a 6:32. We completed the second loop in 23:35 (6:39 pace) and were ready to hit the out and back. We maintained that 6:32 pace going out and I mentioned to Brian that on the way back he was free to open things up if he wanted. He said he had no intention of doing that, so I called him a name that starts with a p and can be used to refer to a cat, and told that if he wasn't going to then I was. We hit the turnaround and both picked it up to a pretty furious pace. About half way back Brian, to his credit, said, "Come on Lance, let's go". I was already doing about the best I could so all I could do was watch him pull ahead a bit and finish that final mile about 9 seconds before me. Brian posted a 5:58 and I came in with a 6:07. It was great to finish that fast and I felt terrific. We did about a mile cool-down and are ready for next weekend. Now it's time to taper, maybe get in one more abbreviated speedwork session this week and a 3-4 brisk run later in the week then bring it on Sunday.

Seeing Progress

2009-01-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

I'm not happy with the inadequate base milage I've accumulated over the past couple of months. I don't even want to discuss what my total milage was for the month of December. But realizing that it was time to put the icing on the cake whether the cake had finished baking or not, I started doing speedwork a couple of weeks ago, hoping to do four or five sessions before tapering this next week. Call it crash-speedwork. I headed over to the .7 mile path around the lake here in New Territory last night and found that I've made real progress in just two weeks and four sessions.

My plan was to do what I did last Friday - four repeats, with the .34 mile recovery, then complete the loop that goes around New Territory - about a 3 mile cool-down. I had a cup of coffee on the way home from work so I was pumped and ready.

No easy first one this time, although speedwork can surprise you sometimes, and not in a good way. You'll think you're flying only to click your split and be very disappointed. But not last night. I thought I was moving pretty good on the first one but not all out. I clicked a 4:02, which equates to a 5:46 pace. Feeling emboldened and knowing there was room for more I fired off a 3:52 on the 2nd one, my best ever. That equates to a 5:31 pace. I eased back into the slightly-less-uncomfortable zone on the 3rd and posted a 4:01 (5:44 pace). On the last one I picked things up a bit and came in at 3:56, a 5:37 pace.

Now, if I could only do true mile repeats this fast. Maybe soon.

The Rest Of The Week

2009-01-03T20:48:00.001-08:00

Following on the heels of my 10 mile hard-tempo on New Year's Eve, I did an easy 5.37 at my mom's on Thursday. On Friday I went out for some speedwork and cool-down milage. I headed to the .7 mile path for four uninspired repeats, then continued around the New Territory loop for a total of 7.58 miles. The repeat times were nothing to get too excited about but I did them. They were: 4:20 (6:18 pace), 4:11 (6:04 pace), 4:05 (5:58 pace), 4:08 (6:01 pace). Dang it was hot yesterday afternoon.

This morning I met up with Brian King at 6 AM for some long-run milage. Since he's doing the full marathon in two weeks he wanted 20+ but I didn't want to go that long so he got in around 4.5 miles before I met him on the New Territory loop. We did an abbreviated version of our long-run out and back course because we were concerned that heavy rain had been forecasted. We headed over to the park on the other side of 59 (about 5.35 miles from my house), then headed back. We added some other doglegs once we got back into New Territory and I ended up with exactly 16 miles once I went just past my house and around the corner at the end of my block. Conditions were less than ideal this morning, with the temperature at around 68-70 degrees. We got a drink of water at the park but by the time we passed another watering hole at about mile 17 for Brian, 13 for me, we were parched. We held a strong pace without even trying. Here are my mile splits:

7:51
7:31
7:19
7:32
7:36
7:21
7:22
7:16
7:20
7:15
7:24
7:25
8:10 (water stop)
7:32
7:31
7:26

The average pace of 7:29 was nothing, and given the conditions and the fact that we weren't even worrying about pace, that's very encouraging, especially for Brian.

It Wasn't Fun But It Was What I Needed

2009-01-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

I haven't been overly pleased with my training lately, mostly the inconsistency. Been working alot and alot going on outside of work and there have been days where training had to take a back seat. And yesterday, with a party to go to last night and me not being able to get home from work much earlier than 6 PM in the best of circumstances, I wasn't sure what I'd be able to work in before we went out, if I was able to work in anything at all. But after finding out that the party didn't start until 8 PM and getting the okay from my wife, I planned a 10 mile tempo run for as soon as I got home.

In order to save time I decided to just do the 3.19 New Territory loop here where I live. Including the .11 between my house and the loop I'd still need to tack on a run around the block at the end to get to 10. I grabbed a cup of coffee on the way home from the office just to prevent any motivation issues from popping up. I wouldn't say I was overly eager to hit it hard when I headed out the door, but if there's one upside to not getting in enough miles, when you are finally able to run your legs have a nice spring in them.

I took off and was immediately sub-7 in my pace, which was definitely where I wanted to be. Here are the mile splits:

6:47
6:39
6:35
6:33
6:33
6:35
6:34
6:29
6:31
6:27

Total time 1:05:41, 6:34 pace.

I couldn't have gone much faster and this was a great confidence run for the half marathon on the 18th. The New Territory loop is not pancake flat and last night wasn't a race, so hopefully I can hold a 6:29 pace or better for the 1/2 and get that sub 1:25 I'm targeting.

Monday Speedwork

2008-12-29T19:48:00.000-08:00

I headed over to my new speedwork route here in New Territory this evening. This is the .7 mile path around the lake that I described in the previous post.

Tonight I wanted to get in five repeats so I took it relatively easy on the first one, easing into it. The first one came in at 4:23, a 6:21 pace. Like I said, easing into it. The 2nd one was better at 4:10, a 6:01 pace. On the 3rd one I didn't hit the lap timer right so I didn't get a split, but I'd guess it was around 4:05 or 4:06. The 4th one was 4:04 for a 5:54 pace. I wanted to go sub 4 minutes but didn't think I had any more than that 4:04 but you never know. Time to find out on the final one. I clocked a 3:55, good for a 5:38 pace. I know I don't have much more than THAT in me, at least for now. I'm going to try to do this routine twice this week and twice next week, then maybe once the following week.

Week In Review

2008-12-29T19:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. I've been too busy to do it and you've probably been too busy to read it so we're okay. Since that hard 20 miler with Brian a week ago Saturday I've been very sluggish. I've heard of recovery days but not recovery weeks, but I guess that's what I had. Only got in 27 miles, although they were almost all quality miles, which is good I guess, if you're going to have a recovery week.

The day after the 20 miler (a week ago yesteday) I did an easy 5 mile recovery run during the day. Then Monday night I could only manage to get out for a 3.5 mile run, but I hammered it. Didn't wear the Garmin or the stopwatch so not sure how fast I went but it was red-line material all the way. Felt great. Then Tuesday I was very tired and just didn't feel like running. On Christmas eve I did 5.37 miles in my mom's neighborhood in Spring and again, hammered it good. Miles three, four and five were all 6:25s and my overall pace for the 5.37 was 6:32. But again on Thursday (Christmas Day) I was feeling run down again all day and just couldn't make myself go out for any milage. But on Friday I made my way out for some speedwork here in New Territory. There's a walking/jogging path that goes three quarters of the way around a lake in the center of New Territory. From end to end it's about .7 miles. I've done speedwork on this path once before but discovered something pretty cool about it the other day. At the end of the path, if I just keep going through the neighborhood on the sidewalk I can get back to the beginning and make a complete loop. The distance to get back to the beginning is about .35 so I can take a nice little walking/jogging recovery and do another one, same direction. No more getting to the end, walking around in a circle, then starting back the other way. So that's what I did on Friday - four fast .7s, with the final one working out to a 5:48 pace, though of course it wasn't a full mile.

I wrapped up the week with a quality 8 mile run on Saturday at an overall pace of 6:56. But no real distance in the week. This next week I need to put in a good 10 or 12 mile tempo run and of course more speedwork. That's the element that's been missing from my training and there's precious little time left before the half marathon I'm running here at the Houston Marathon. I don't expect to equal my 1:23:29 from October '07 but would like to be sub 1:25 if possible.

20 Miler With Brian and Steve S.

2008-12-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

The day after the 30K, my wife left for Boston, not returning until late Wednesday night. That worked out well because I couldn't run while she was out of town due to Daddy duty, but needed the recovery time anyway. I got in 11 miles with Steve Schroeder on Thursday evening at about a 7:45 pace then was too busy to run Friday. My wife had some things to do Saturday AM and told me that if I was going to run I needed to be done by 8 AM. Brian King, Steve S. and I had already talked about a 20 miler that morning but having to be home by 8 AM was going to mean an early start. I calculated that if we started from my house at 5:15 and ran a 7:45 pace (including stops), we'd be done by 7:50 AM. So the guys met me at 5:15 and we set out on the great out-and-back course we have here in Sugar Land. We start at my house, run about two miles to get out of New Territory, then another two miles to get through Telfair, then it's under 59 and over to University for about a 1.3 mile run on a huge sidewalk until we get to the park over there. The park has water fountains and a bathroom, and is 5.43 miles from my house. Then it's a left onto Commonwealth and into First Colony, going right by the fire station at the finish of the Fired Up 5K. We can follow Commonwealth for some distance and until Saturday morning had not gotten to the end of it, even though we'd come close when we'd done 18 miles before.

Steve was having issues with some soreness on his foot and there were also some bathroom needs that snuck up on us near the park so we made a pit stop there. There's an elementary school at about 7 miles out that has water fountains. We declined to stop, having gotten a drink at the park. At about 8.5 miles out Steve, dealing with increasing pain in his foot, turned back. Brian and I continued on and actually got to the end of Commonwealth - a dead end into a T. We turned right, then turned to go back when we were 10 miles from the house. Knowing that we were on the way back in, and knowing that cold Gatorade that I had put out in an ice chest the night before was awaiting us at the school, caused us to pick up the pace a bit. We hit the Gatorade, which was really too cold to chug, then put on our game faces for the final 7 miles. As we finished our break and got back on the course, we'd averaged a 7:45 pace for 13 miles, with stops included. I figured we could probably chip away at that. We almost always run negative splits in our training runs and Brian is running well lately so I knew we'd cruise in for the final 7. Over the course of the final 7 miles we never exceeded a 7:16 pace.

In those final miles I had a long discussion with Brian about not giving in to adversity late in a race without realizing that we were on the brink of giving Brian an opportunity to try it. At about 18.25 miles I was coming close to real fatigue and could sense Brian wanting to pull back on the pace. I talked to him about being in the latter stages of a marathon and hitting the wall, getting a cramp, developing a major blister, being totally exhausted, etc. I told him that it's at that point that you have to ask yourself which can are you going to open, the can of quit or the can of whoop ass. Knowing that he was running out of gas I felt like it was a real chance for me to "talk him in", even though I was on fumes too. Mile 19 was a 7:10 and I kept Brian on my shoulder through the final mile as we clocked a 7:12. We were both whipped but it was a good strong finish. We'd averaged a 7:10 pace over the final 7 miles, and brought our overall pace down to 7:33 for the full 20.

It's my hope that Brian had a mini breakthrough. He'll need to draw on this experience if he wants to BQ, which I fully expect him to do in Jan.

Lakes Of Williams Ranch 30K - Sugar Land

2008-12-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

I got up this morning to go run the 30K, which starts about 10 minutes from my house. In fact, our long-run route comes within about 100 yards of the edge of the course.

I wasn't really psyched up to do this race this morning for various reasons. The weather was going to be far from ideal, with temps around 70 at the start, and high humidity. Also my training has been off track for the past couple of weeks. Week before this last one I had to go to San Antonio for a trade show and didn't run at all for three (really four) straight days. I didn't do anything special once I got back unless you count the 8 mile tempo run I did Tuesday when the front blew in. I attempted some speedwork Thursday night but was tired and didn't finish. I knew it was going to be warm so I wanted to train in warm, humid conditions but that wicked cold-front and snow eliminated the chance of that.

But of course I headed over anyway and got my game face on once we started. Three years ago - the only other time I've done this race - I had one of the best races of my life, ran a negative split, picked up hardware, and ran a 6:36 pace. If conditions had been ideal I guess I might have been able to target 6:35-6:40 pace, but they weren't. I hooked up with a runner we met down in Schulenberg a year and a half ago named Sean Dunbar, from Katy. Sean is a solid runner who has posted some excellent times since I started noticing his name. He told me at the start that he was targeting a 6:50 pace but we took off together and hit the first mile in 6:40. The 1st through 12 miles were:

1 - 6:40
2 - 6:40
3 - 6:35
4 - 6:42
5 - 6:43
6 - 6:39
7 - 6:39
8 - 6:41
9 - 6:35
10 - 6:37 (1:06:30 for 10 miles)
11 - 6:36
12 - 6:39

These were the good miles, when I was hammering along with Sean. But I started to realize in mile 11 that I wasn't going to be able to keep dropping the 6:40 pace we had going. Just after mile 12 we hit a water station and I took a bit more time than he did - good time to let him go. I didn't drop off too terribly bad running the next 6.6 alone, especially given the adverse conditions, but drop off I did. Here are the remainder of the splits:

13 - 6:48
14 - 6:47
15 - 7:01
16 - 6:55
17 - 7:00
18 - 7:05
Final .69 - 4:45 (6:54 pace)

I'm sure the course was accurate but those of you with a Garmin know that early on in most races you start beeping miles well before the marker. The splits I've provided were not according to the markers on the course but according to the Garmin. So the final .6 wasn't actually .69 on the course, just according to my Garmin. Here are the numbers:

Total time: 2:06:01, 6:45 pace by the Garmin, 6:47 officially
Splits: 1st half - 1:02:21, 2nd half - 1:03:39
27th overall, 2nd in the 45-49 male age group - I'm just lucky Sim Cuevas, Kevin Regis, or Tuan Nguyen weren't there today.

Reflecting on my performance, it's about what I should have expected and I'm okay with it. I think with cooler weather I probably could have maintained the 6:40 pace. But I still feel like I have about one more step to take to be completely back at my A game level.

Great running with you Sean, if you're a reader.

More Mile Repeats

2008-12-02T21:12:00.000-08:00

Tonight I went and did mile repeats again. As I mentioned last time, these aren't quite a mile. They're actually .92, with about a .45 mile jog recovery. The numbers weren't bad tonight, better overall than when I did these a few weeks ago, though the first one was cautiously slow. Here are the splits:

.91 miles, 5:39 (6:14 pace)
.92 miles, 5:32 (6:02 pace)
.92 miles, 5:26 (5:53 pace)
.92 miles, 5:22 (5:48 pace)

A True Progression Run Today

2008-11-29T12:23:00.000-08:00

I met Brian King at 6 AM this morning for a run. Our plan was four times around the 3.55 mile Greatwood loop, with each loop being faster than the previous, and all of them pretty aggressive. It was warmer and more humid than I would have liked but oh well.

We took off and covered the first loop in 25:10, around a 7:06 pace, and just about where we wanted to be. The second loop was a little tougher, especially since I'm not used to going long as well as fast early in the morning. The second loop was 24:48 and I was not looking forward to another two even faster. The third one was a solid 24:24 and then it was game on for the final 3.55 mile loop. We were ahead of loop three's pace through mile one and also at mile two, and well ahead at the last turn with .8 to go. I had told Brian that we should stay together to the back corner, which is about two miles into the loop, then it was every man for himself. Brian began drifting ahead at that point and by the .8-to-go mark he was about 30 -40 feet in front me. We both hammered down that final stretch but Brian continued to pull away. He finished the final loop about 18 seconds before me, as I came in with a 23:28.

We did exactly what we planned to do this morning, which is gratifying in itself, and in the process set our new all-time best four loop time of 1:37:50 (6:53 pace) for me, and 1:37:32 (6:52 pace) for Brian. And as I've mentioned before, this isn't exactly a straight, flat course. It was a great training run but certainly no fun.

Uptown Turkey Trot 10K - 11/27/08

2008-11-28T09:02:00.000-08:00

I headed out into the soup yesterday morning for the TXU Uptown Turkey Trot 10K. I was looking forward to another chance to test my fitness level and gauge where I am in my comeback from the summer injury. The McMillan calculator predicted a 39:51 based on the 5K I did a week and a half ago but I thought I might be a bit better than that and targeted a 6:20 pace (39:16).

I certainly would have liked things to be a bit cooler than low 70s and sky-high humidity but not much you can do about the weather. So when we started I was cautious not to go too fast, knowing that the conditions weren't favoring a fast day. I hit the first mile in 6:11, a little fast but felt okay. I hit mile two in 6:14 - not too much drift. Mile three was a 6:17 and still not too terribly much drift and about the best I could expect given the warm humid conditions. Mile four was where it started to get challenging and painful but I still managed a 6:22. Mile five was very uncomfortable but only a tiny bit more drift - 6:25. Mile six didn't feel any better but I clocked a 6:21, trying to hold off anyone who might come up from behind me, like either one of the Schroeder brothers! Once again I didn't look back on the course - better to worry about my race and what was in front of me. As we ran down Post Oak Blvd. I would pick off a landmark up ahead and focus on getting to that point. This helped get me through the worst patch and I was soon at the end of six miles. Time to see if I had anything left for the final .2 mile kick. The tank was pretty empty and I went 1:10 for the final stretch.

Finishing time was a better than expected sub thirty-nine - 38:56 (6:16 pace). That was good enough for 2nd place in the 45-49 age group.

Even though I dislike muggy weather as much as the next person I seem to do well against the field when things are that way. Guess I'm just more willing to suffer than the next guy, or more prepared to suffer. Probably just used to it I guess from the hard training runs I do. I'm not stranger to the pain.

Irregular Intervals

2008-11-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

No, they're not the latest cutting-edge training technique, though I guess they could become that. That's simply the best way to describe the speedwork I did this evening.

I live just off a 3.82 mile loop around my neighborhood. There are several blocks that make up this loop, some longer than others, divided by roads that lead into the interior of the loop. I decided to do speedwork on the loop and let the irregular block lengths be my "laps". I covered one block to warm up then took off on the next block, not letting up until the block was over. Then I recovered on the next block, then fast on the one after that, etc. I managed seven fast laps and covered a total of about 4 miles. Here are the lap details:

.38 miles - 2:10 (5:43 pace)
.19 miles - 1:03 (5:40 pace)
.37 miles - 2:04 (5:33 pace)
.18 miles - :60 (5:24 pace)
.25 miles - 1:22 (5:27 pace)
.31 miles - 1:40 (5:26 pace)
.30 miles - 1:41 (5:41 pace)

The recovery blocks were more consistent in distance - all were around .25 to .3 miles at a 9 minute plus pace. This was an interesting and challenging way to do speedwork because even though I run this loop pretty regularly I don't pay much attention to how long most of the blocks are and since the loop curves I was rarely able to see how far I had to go before I could let up. Very challenging. I would like a longer one or two in there though. But I guess I could combine a couple of blocks next time to get one over half a mile in length.

18 Mile Progression Run With Brian King

2008-11-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

Brian King came over to the house this morning at 5:30 for an 18-miler. We didn't really want this to be a slow, ho-hum long-run and it wasn't.

We started off at a decent pace, no just-warming-up first mile of eight minutes or something. We talked about holding an overall pace of 7:30 or better and were on that number through four miles. In anticipation of a cold morning I had laid out everything I would need to stay warm but left some of it behind (tights, extra shirt, extra pair of gloves) because it was well into the 40s when we started. One thing I did wear which I ended up regretting was Toastie Toes inside my shoes. My feet get cold very easily and these things work great but they were bothering me early on and we had to stop at around four miles to take one out, then again at around five miles to take the other one out.

We went nine miles out and nine miles back. Other than the two brief stops mentioned above we stopped only once - for water at about 11 miles. After that stop, and with the wind more at our backs than it had been going out, we started to pick things up versus how we had run the first half.

Here are the splits so you can see what I'm talking about:

1: 7:31
2: 7:24
3: 7:21
4: 7:53 (includes the first stop)
5: 7:10
6: 7:53 (includes the second stop)
7: 7:27
8: 7:21
9: 7:19
10: 7:26
11: 8:18 (includes our water stop at the elementary school that's on the course)
12: 7:07
13: 7:11
14: 7:12
15: 7:13
16: 7:05
17: 7:07
18: 6:28

It was great to have something left in the tank and drop that last mile the way we did. Good job Brian - I was determined to hang on. Let's do it at mile sixteen next time like we did last summer.

A Rare Win

2008-11-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

Early in 2001, when I'd been a runner for all of about 3 months, I came across the results of a local 5K in the Arizona Republic (my wife and I lived in Phoenix at the time). I'd never done a 5K and I think I had to look up how far it was but one look at the results made me quickly realize that I certainly wasn't fast enough to go out and win one. I was trying to hold a seven minute pace in my 3 mile training runs and here someone had done one in a little over 16 minutes! Surely this must be some local phenom I thought. Heck, I had no business even entering a race if times like that were being posted.

What I didn't realize then was that the distribution of 5K race times went according to the typical bell curve. There can be a rather large gap between first and second, a smaller gap between second and third, a still smaller gap between third and fourth and by the time you get to the mean you have runners bunched so closely that 20 runners can be clustered over 20 seconds. And after doing a few races I realized that it was possible to be two or three minutes back of the overall winner and still crack the top 10.

So that became my goal. I wasn't fast enough to win and only once or twice did I ever experience the thrill of even briefly leading a race. But I could still try to move up as close to the overall winner as possible. In 2005 I pulled off a second place finish or two, and at least one third overall. I even trailed one single guy for 9 and a half miles of a ten mile race but a wrong turn by him near the finish allowed me to backdoor my way into an overall win. But that one had an asterisk by it and I certainly didn't feel like I "won" it in the true sense of the word.

Thanks to a heads up by Jon Walk, I had entered a 5K this past weekend that was put on by Spring Baptist Church and which was to be run through my in-laws' subdivision, Bridgestone, off FM 2920. I knew that the race was kind of under the radar so I might have a chance to do some damage, but figured some high school cross-country runner would show up and post a 17 something. But as I surveyed the field of runners I noticed that there was really only one guy who looked to be a real runner, and he looked to be a few years older than me.

We lined up next to each other but didn't speak. After about 100 yards into the race I realized that I had been right. All the 10 year olds who took off with us quickly faded and it was just he and I. We ran very near each other for a quarter mile at the most then I began to pull in front. After another quarter mile I didn't hear anyone behind me but didn't want to look back. I figure that if I see that they're way back I might let up, or if I see that they're right behind me it might temp me to throw in the towel when the going gets rough. I'd rather assume they're still in the hunt and I need to stick with the plan. I must say, it was a rush being the guy following the cop car that was leading the field through the course.

My in-laws live about 1/4 mile from the finish and since my wife was also running the race we had taken our two boys over to grandma and grandpas' that morning. As the cop car, then me approached the finishing stretch I looked up ahead and saw that my wife's parents had the boys all bundled up and standing on the corner to see Daddy and Mommy come by. When my boys realized it was me that was in the lead they began to jump up and down and yell. My five year old came onto the course and wanted to run with me like we do at the end of training runs when he's been stuck in the jogging stroller for five miles. He ran alongside me for just a bit but got mad when he began to slow and I kept going. He wanted me to stop and take a walking recovery with him and didn't understand why I couldn't!

I hammered it in as best as I could and ended up busting through the ribbon they were holding up at the finish. It was a real kick. I'm not really a good enough runner to be winning races and my 19:11 was nothing special, but hey, I can only race against those who show up. After catching my breath I watched the second place guy come in. I asked him if he'd seen the older couple and two little boys standing on the corner and he said he sure did. He said when he went by he heard one of them say with grave concern in his voice, "is that man going to catch Daddy?!

Last thing - hats off to the wife who is really not a runner, at least not like most of us but who managed a PR of 31:29 and actually placed in the goofy 15 year age group they had.

.93 Mile intervals

2008-11-11T20:20:00.000-08:00

To me, mile intervals represent the final frontier of training in that they hurt as much as any workout I've ever done and you can get in trouble real fast if you're not fit and disciplined. I haven't done these since before I got injured so it was with butterflies in my stomach that I ventured over to the course I run these on. We've always known, even before getting Garmins, that this course was just short of mile. Usually we go a little beyond a full loop in order to call it a clean mile but tonight I decided to give myself the mental gift of just doing the loop itself, which is about .93 of a mile, times four. I had enough anxiety over these already so I figured that knowing I didn't have to go a full mile on each one would help me get four done. It did. Here's my splits and my adjusted per mile pace for each .93:

5:39 (6:04)
5:34 (6:02)
5:34 (6:02)
5:31 (5:58)

Not too bad. Better than I thought and I wasn't dying at the end. The break in between is a jog of about half a mile at around a 9:30 pace.

25K Recap

2008-11-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to be overly loquacious in recapping my 25K race from this past Sunday. I did okay, about as expected but not fantastic. I did better than expected through 12 miles but faded some on the last three. I want to get much faster by the time of the 30K in five weeks. Fortunately there's a solution for that - it's the title of this blog.

My finishing time was 1:44:53 (6:46 pace). My Garmin registered 15.63 miles for that 1:44:53, which yields a pace of 6:43, just one second slower than the 1/2 marathon two weeks ago. I was 5th in the 45-49 age group and 36th overall. Here are my mile splits:

1 - 6:31
2 - 6:42
3 - 6:41
4 - 6:39
5 - 6:49
6 - 6:41
7 - 6:37
8 - 6:34
9 - 6:35
10 - 6:59
11 - 6:43
12 - 6:39
13 - 6:53
14 - 6:50
15 - 6:54
6:33 pace for the final .63

It was nice running right behind my training partner Brian King pretty much the entire race. Brian finished 1st in the 25-29 age group - way to go Brian. It was me pushing you, right?! We also ran several miles with another buddy, Garrett Rychlik. And it was also nice to have several people out on the course giving me a shout-out as I went by. Thanks Tuan Nguyen, Lou Thrash, Jon Walk, Wayne Cohen, and anyone else I missed, including a few people I didn't recognize. It makes a difference.

Since The Half Marathon

2008-11-03T18:55:00.001-08:00

Last Monday I wisely took the day off to recover from the half marathon the previous day. The calfs were sore and the last time I ran on a sore calf I was out for 11 weeks.

-I hit the road on Tuesday, 5.5 miles after work along White Oak Bayou in the very cool temps and felt great. 7:10 pace.

-On Wednesday I went out for some speedwork - 4 repeats of about .55 miles each. Pace was around 6:00.

-On Thursday I had too much going on and had to take the day off. But on Friday night I went out for 10 miles (actually 9.96) over in my old neighborhood. It felt good to go long and relatively fast - a 6:58 pace, with a final mile of 6:29. The amazing thing about that run was that here were my first seven mile splits: 7:04, 7:03, 7:05, 7:06, 7:05, 7:08, 7:00. How's that for dialing in?
On Saturday we had a full day again, including me being tied up in a computer class most of the day, then across town for dinner and drinks with friends. Got home at 12:30 AM so no running early the next morning.

-I did get out the door Sunday around 9:30 AM for what I hoped would be an easy 15 or 16 mile long-run. It didn't quite work out that way because I wasn't really prepared for the warm temperatures and bright sunshine. I stopped at the park n the out-and-back course which is at about 5.4 miles for a drink of water. I wisely decided to head back toward the house, figuring if I still had some starch in me I could do a lap around the neighborhood to pick up any milage I still felt like getting. But I called it quits as I approached home. I hit 10.80 miles in a 7:19 pace.

-Tonight I went out for speedwork again, on the .4 mile oval where I used to live. My splits were: 2:22, 2:19, 2:15, 2:16, 2:14, 2:10. It was a nice feeling of accomplishment to get in six repeats, my goal, and at pretty decent times. I just need to shave about five or six seconds off each one of these and I'll be back near peak.

Koala/Luke's Locker 1/2 Marathon Today

2008-10-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

I went into this race today with limited expectations. I'm seven weeks into my comeback from an eleven week layoff and am certainly not yet at the fitness level I was at this time last year when I set my 1/2 PR of 1:23:29. I knew that number was out of reach and knew that placing in my age group was out of the question so there wasn't much to run for other than pride and to get a gauge on where I am in my return. Bottom line - I wanted to at least come in under 1:30, and hopefully hold a pace of 6:45 or 6:50. Long story short, I managed both, thanks in large part to an excellent runner named Chris Robbins. Here are my mile splits:

6:27
6:43
6:50
6:51
6:48
6:43
6:46
6:38
6:46
6:31
6:41
6:44
6:42
Final .18 miles = 1:08, 6:18 pace (my Garmin calculated a total distance covered of 13.18)

I give credit to Chris because we buddied up somewhere into mile three and stayed together through eleven miles, when he had a little more in the tank than me and picked it up. Chris is a machine at finding a pace, locking it in and sticking with it - very disciplined. The pace he was on, 6:40-6:45 was about the fastest I could manage but back just off red-line enough that I was able to maintain it mile after mile. Chris is coming back from an injury as well so today is the last time I'll be running alongside him for a while.

I finished with a time of 1:28:17, equating to a pace of 6:45 (6:42 by the Garmin). A little better than I expected and either a flat split or maybe even a negative split. I know that I was 20 seconds faster in the final six miles than I was in the first six.

Next up is probably the 25K, although I haven't registered yet. I wish that race was three weeks away instead of two.

Long-Run Tonight, Most Of It With Steve

2008-10-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

Until this morning I had been in Chicago working a trade show since Thursday morning. It was a Fitness Club Industry trade show so the environment definitely had me motivated to train. It was also on the chilly side in Chicago so the two times I was able to get out and run were great. I was staying at a hotel that was only about half a mile from Lakeshore Drive so I was able to get down and run along the edge of Lake Michigan twice, 7 miles each time, plus warmup and cool-down milage. Both sessions were at around 7:10 pace with the final mile of the second session (Friday morning) coming in at 6:30 pace. The temperature was mid-40s for both runs, but windy.

I wasn't able to get a run in yesterday so I was ready for some milage tonight. Steve Schroeder came over and joined me for a conversational 8-minute pace and we got in 11.6 miles before Steve called it a night due to his plantar issues and lingering soreness from a hard run he did Thursday night. I put in one more New Territory loop (3.2 miles) alone, then ran a bit more down to my house and just past to get to 15 miles even. A good long-run, nothing silly pace-wise. Should have plenty left in the tank for a hard-effort on Tuesday and maybe some speedwork on Thursday.

1/2 marathon on Sunday but I won't be anywhere near my time from last year. Six weeks into my comeback and I'm coming along nicely, but still a ways to go.

Progress

2008-10-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

On September 27 (the Sunday before last) I took my fitness out for a test drive to see where I was at after having been out 11 weeks but at that point having three weeks of training under my belt. I guess you'd call it a time trial. I did 7.86 miles at an overall pace of 7:24. That was much better than I could have done a week or two earlier, but I hammered it pretty good and 7:24 wasn't very fast. I'll say in hindsight that I might could have gone a tiny bit faster but was really unsure as to how hard I could push it.

So tonight I went out, loaded for bear, ready to tackle the same course and see how much progress I've made. I did 46 miles last week so I'm getting back up there, but this week will be light because my wife was out of town for four days so I had the boys alone and was only able to take them out in the jogging stroller once, for five miles. They're kind of over it. I definitely was well-rested, having run only once since Saturday morning's long-run of 14 miles.

I was a little slow getting started and posted a 7:24 first mile, but things picked up significantly after that. So much so that by the time I was done I had brought the overall pace down to 6:54, a 30 second per mile improvement over what I did just 11 days ago. Still not where I want to be with just a little over two weeks before the half marathon but I didn't figure to have all my fitness back by then. I would like to be able to do a 1:27-1:28 but we'll have to wait to put a pencil to it two weeks from now.

7.55 Miles Tonight

2008-10-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

7.55 miles tonight at an aggressive pace, though I forgot to wear the Garmin. What, you didn't know I was recovered and training again? Well, that's my fault for not updating things here. Sorry, just been more focused on real life versus cyber-life. Been back about 3 and 1/2 weeks now, completely injury free. As a matter of fact, I'll hit close to 50 miles this week. I certainly don't have all my fitness back yet. That'll take at least another six weeks, but I'm making progress.

11 Weeks

2008-09-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

I've never had an injury put me on the sidelines for more than six or seven weeks. What felt like simple muscle soreness has now put me out of the game for 11 weeks and counting. The maddening aspect of this injury and primary reason for it's duration, is that to test the healing I have to go out for a run. And if I've guessed wrong, BAM, the injury re-occurs and I'm back to where I started from. Had I taken four weeks off in the beginning I would surely be back on the roads now. But hindsight is 20/20.

It's now been 23 days since I last ran. Do I chance it tomorrow? What if I'm wrong (again)? Will I need 30 days off next time? I've had a handful of injuries before but there was always a point where I'd turned the corner and even though I wasn't 100% healed, 95% was good enough. Not so now.

Thankfully I haven't gained much weight and have continued to lift weights and try to stay in shape as best I can, though my cardio-respiratory fitness has to be near the couch potato stage at this point. But there's a decent runner buried inside somewhere and the legs and lungs will know what's expected soon.

Still On The Mend

2008-07-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

Still on the mend but getting better, although at a frustratingly slow pace. I was able to run pain-free for 3.5 miles last Sunday, then again on Tuesday. But went out Friday night for 5 miles at a more aggressive pace and the calf started hurting again. Still gonna have to walk softly on this.

Also, R.I.P. Joe Stuhlreyer (1964-2008), a very good friend of mine from my hight school and early college days, who passed away from a heart attack last Wednesday. See you down the mission trail Joe, as you used to say.

Three Days, Three Runs To Report

2008-06-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

On Friday night Steve Schroeder, Brian King and I went out for what's become nearly a weekly long-run of 14+ miles. We intend to keep it up through the summer so that 18 to 20 mile long-runs will be old hat come fall. I read last fall that to target an aggressive marathon pace you need to have 6-8 long-runs of 20 miles or more under your belt before toeing the line. I think few of us can say we've done that - I know I've never managed that many.

Anyway, we went 16.01 miles at a 7:43 pace, including two water stops. It was a piece of cake really.

I took Saturday off, mainly because I was busy all day helping my sister-in-law move. I felt like I had run a marathon at the end of the day so I didn't think I needed anymore milage.

On Sunday afternoon I went out at 1:20 PM to work on my acclimation (and tan!) in the blazing sun. I went 3.43 miles and probably couldn't have made to four miles. But it was a good experience and good for heat resistance. Then the family and I went over to Steve's house for his daughter's birthday party. During the party Steve mentioned that he was going to run later that evening. I mentioned that I was hoping to get in something of quality later. At about 7 PM Steve called me to see if I had gone yet. I told him I hadn't and he was welcomed to join me, but that it would be aggressive. He said no problem and we agreed to meet at our old stomping grounds, the 3.53 mile Greatwood loop, for twice around.

We knocked out a first loop in 24:34, a brisk but not terribly uncomfortable 6:57 pace on a not too fast course. The pace picked up as soon as we got into the second loop and we became less conversational. We were dipping deeper into the sub-seven pool and getting faster each mile. After about 1.5 miles I told him we had two miles of hard-hat running then it would be over and we could look back at a solid workout. There wasn't much talking after that as the pace continued to dip.

I covered the final .8 miles at a 6:06 pace and finished loop two in 23:02, one of the three or four fastest loops I've ever done. The two loop total came in at 47:36. It's a rare day that I've covered two loops in under 48 minutes and it sure felt good (once I was done). Who says you can't run hard in the summer?

Speedwork Yesterday, A Run With The Boys Today

2008-06-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I met Steve Schroeder at the Memorial Park 1/4 mile track for 12 X 400 repeats. They were no fun but we got 'em done. Here are my splits:

1:20, 1:18, 1:17, 1:17, 1:16, 1:18, 1:17, 1:19, 1:20, 1:19, 1:19, 1:12

Then tonight I went for 5 mile run with my two buddies. No, not Steve, or Brian, or Assynt. My 2 and 4 year old buddies - my sons. I hadn't taken them out in the jogging stroller since last fall, or at least this past winter. They enjoyed it and with one being almost five (Aug. 1), and the other being closer to three (Oct) than he is to two, they made for quite a load. But we had fun though. Ran beside the bayou and saw some turtles along with lots of folks walking their dogs.

Hey Minken

2008-06-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

Minken said...
"We Canadians are so nice, aren't we?!!

Lance - I will be in town July 26/27 and Andrew and I have the following run scheduled: 2 mile warmup, 12 miles at 6.45-6:52 (you know this pace well)}+ 2 mile cooldown. Are you and the rest of the Sugar daddies in?"

Dave, I wouldn't miss it for the world. But I'd sure rather do it at 7 PM than 7 AM. We'll talk. We have a new route out here in Sugar Land that has water on the course and is an out-and-back. We've done up to 18 miles on it.

Read my next post to see if I'm up for it.

Raise Your Hand If...

2008-06-17T20:24:00.001-07:00

With daytime highs in the mid 90s (it hit 99 Sunday), morning lows only briefly dipping into the upper 70s, and high humidity around the clock, it's hard to get in good quality runs during Houston summers. Oh, you can run long and slow, or you can run short and fast, but you need that rare window of blessedly cooler air to combine both and run long and fast. Tonight was such a night. Raise your hand if you took advantage of it.

At about 7 PM this evening the rain started coming down in buckets out here in Sugar Land but when it was over 45 minutes later it was noticeably cooler. Even though I had eaten at 6:30 PM I headed over to Riverpark to take advantage of the moderate conditions and run the 10.2 mile route over there at an aggressive pace.

It was tough going for most of the run as it felt like I had a brick in my stomach. My pace was compromised because of that but I hammered as best I could. I felt a little better for the second half of the run. The Garmin wasn't charged so I had just the stopwatch on, and with no benchmarks for this course I knew only that it would be roughly 10.2 miles when I finished, and nothing short of that. In other words I had no way of knowing how fast I was going until it was nearly over.

I had calculated what total number I'd need to hit in order to average 6:30 (1:06:18) so as I got within a mile of the finish I really started moving. I knew it was going to be close. I finished in 1:06:20, a 6:30 average. I'm sure there was at least another five seconds a mile to be had in my pace if I didn't have the digestion issue so I'm pleased with the effort. I've been needing a run like this for a while. Speedwork and long, slow stuff will only get you so far. You sometimes have to combine speed and distance.

Sunday Morning Long-Run With Steve And Assynt

2008-06-17T20:19:00.000-07:00

Steve Schroeder and I really screwed up. With us being dads three times over Sunday morning was the one day of the entire year where we could have legitimately stayed in bed late and had the wife and kids bring us breakfast and the paper. But no, like typical runners we scheduled a long-run for Sunday morning, at 5:50 AM!

Steve and Assynt McCleod met me at my house for a long-run out through New Territory, through Telfair, under 59, over into First Colony by where the Fired Up 5K is held, then back. We covered 14.7 miles (though I can't figure out for the life of me how we went 7 miles out but only 6.7 coming back on virtually the same route) in 1:59:09 for an 8:06 pace. It was miserably warm and sticky. I already can't wait for October.

Response To Another Reader

2008-06-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

"tiny frog said...
Did you pick off all the cheese and paper towel down the slice to make sure every last ounce of grease was out of there??? ;o)"

Actually, yes, I do do that. I'm actually wondering if you know me and have seen me do this?!

Response To A Reader

2008-06-16T19:22:00.001-07:00

Looks like I picked up a new reader from Canada. They write:

"Hi There!
Just found your blog! You're really fast! What distances do you run?
I really like what you said at the top of your blog and the attitude that you take toward running!

>> You can't run better (faster) without training consistently. Running is one of the best examples of getting out of something what you put into it.

And it's so true!:)

Happy trails!
Tiger"

Tiger, I've raced distances from 1 mile through the marathon. No interest in going any longer than that though. But then again, I used to say that I had no interest in every running a marathon so the lesson is never say never I guess. And thanks for your kind words and concurrence with my attitude toward running.
-LC

Friday Moderate Tempo

2008-06-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Went out tonight for whatever pace I could muster after pizza with the wife and kiddos. Despite a stomach full of dough and tomato sauce I managed 8.75 miles at an overall pace of 7:22, with the final .75 miles run at a 6:30 pace. I'll take it. Nearing 40 miles for the week with Saturday and Sunday still to come, and hopefully a long-run on Sunday.

More Speedwork And Some Recovery Milage

2008-06-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

Met Steve Schroeder at Memorial Park yesterday after work for some 400 repeats on the track out there. Needless to say, at 5:30 PM it was hot. Normally we try to do 12 of these, with a short walking recovery in between but yesterday we called it a day after 10. Here are the splits:

1:20, 1:17, 1:17, 1:19, 1:19, 1:17, 1:19, 1:19, 1:20, 1:20

Then this morning I did an easy 3.5 before work. Tonight I went out for six at a fairly brisk pace, though I didn't time it or wear the Garmin.

Week To Date

2008-06-10T20:15:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I'm going to try to do a better job and at least post the bare essentials of my training and racing.

Starting with this past Sunday I did 15.95 miles Sunday evening at around 7:30 PM, 7:52 pace, two short stops for water that are included in the overall pace. Ran this workout with Steve Schroeder. Nice long relaxed run, good conversation.

Monday I did 8.89 miles here in New Territory with Assynt Macleod at around 7:45 PM. Actually I ran half a mile to get to where Assynt was waiting, then half a mile home when we were done so I did 7.89 with him and 1.0 on my own. Overall pace was 7:39 including one stop for hydration.

Tonight I did my mile repeats. I've been pretty demoralized regarding these ever since I got a Garmin a few weeks back and got an accurate measurement that showed my one mile route to be a bit short. We knew originally that the figure eight course we do these on was about .9 miles but we had added some distance to make it a mile. Apparently not enough. In surrender mode I decided to just do the old .9 (actually .91) route four times fast. Here are the times and what they convert into for one mile:

5:27 (5:59)
5:22 (5:54)
5:21 (5:53)
5:27 (5:59)

As far as racing goes, I've done two 5Ks in the past two weekends - The Astros Race For The Pennant 5K and the Heights 5K. I placed first in my age group at the Astros race but that was more of a matter of who showed up and who didn't rather than any special performance by me. In fact, I ran 20 seconds faster this past weekend at Heights and finished 4th in my age group. But I did get a pair of Asics for the age group award for the Astros race so I'll take it.

Man! That Was Tough!

2008-05-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

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!

Bob Beamon R.I.P.

2008-04-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

No, the Olympic gold medalist did not pass away. I blogged early last December about my "Bob Beamon run" and how I had attempted to match it. In brief, in May 2006, while not in peak fitness and without cool temperatures, I did my 4.4 mile route in 26:30, 22 seconds faster than I had ever done before. I wasn't able to get close to that time the rest of that year and that one run stood out as something beyond what I should have been capable of. I called it my Bob Beamon run because of what Bob Beamon was able to do in the long jump in the 1968 Olympics. His is such a fascinating story they should make a movie about it.

I made a serious stab at it in early December, just missing equaling it by six seconds. Last night I put on the game face and went for it. I hit the 2.2 mile turn in 13:16. That was actually an auspicious number because I typically run negative splits in training. I gave it all I had on the return (like I hadn't been giving it all I had going out?), but was facing the wind. I finished the return leg in 13:11 for a total time of 26:27, 6:01 pace.

Naming that May 2006 performance my Bob Beamon run doesn't really do Bob Beamon justice. His record stood for 23 years. Mine lasted less than two and I only seriously attempted to beat it a few times, while every year hundreds of jumpers went after Beamon's record, including Carl Lewis.

It felt good to go fast last night and I was none the worse for the wear today.

Saturday Morning Long-Run

2008-04-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

I met up with the usual cast of characters (Steve Schroeder and Brian King) for a long-run yesterday morning, plus someone new - Assynt Macleod. Assynt is a new Strider, a master runner (41), and fresh off the boat from Scotland. Super guy and a very good runner. We took him for 12.14 with the Sugar Land Boys and he never blinked.

Our pace worked out to just a bit over 8 minutes per mile, but then again we had about a five minute water/bathroom stop in there. We've discovered that if we get out early enough we can run under 59 at University without any traffic to worry about. This puts us in a position to take University until it dead-ends into Commonwealth, which takes us to the Fire Station where they hold the Fired Up 5K in September. From there we can go well into First Colony and beyond. There's a park about five miles into this run, complete with water fountains and bathrooms. It's going to be a great route in the fall. And by then gas ought to be $4 a gallon thus making weekend long-runs close to home just a bit more attractive!

I ran about .65 miles up to where the guys met, then back once we finished, giving me just a bit over 13.4 for the morning. Then last night I went out for three brisk miles at my mom's house in Spring.

Thursday and Friday

2008-04-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I planned to meet up with Brian to do our 400 repeats. All through the day I just didn't have any motivation and wasn't looking forward to the speedwork like I normally do. I actually had some soreness in my thighs, which is unusual, especially since we're out of marathon season. I didn't even have sore thighs when I did 22 miles three weeks ago. But that hammer run I did Tuesday night left me spent in the legs, but hopefully not the lungs.

Given that it rained here yesterday we decided against hitting the track and chose instead to head over to the .4 mile oval. I grabbed an energy drink before heading out, hoping to get a boost. I met Brian at the church near the loop and we jogged on over. We did one full loop to warm up and make sure there were no obstructions on the oval, then we were off.

We hit the first one in 2:10 but I struggled mightily to do it. Brian led the next one and we posted a 2:09, but I was done. I simply wasn't recovered completely from Tuesday night and speedwork was not in the cards. We did my 4.4 mile route over there at an easy pace, just for the milage, then Brian blasted one loop in 1:59, the all-time record for the oval.

I got in approximately 6.5 miles.

Today I went out for two times around the larger New Territory loop at whatever pace felt comfortable. I covered 7.86 miles in 56:31, a 7:11 pace. Felt much better than yesterday. I should be okay for a long-run tomorrow morning.

Recovery Milage With Brian

2008-04-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

I talked to Brian King yesterday morning and he mentioned that he was planning to do a couple of loops here in New Territory yesterday after work so I offered to join him. Brian was targeting a moderate, nearly tempo pace which I thought I could muster. I knew that the 10.65 I did Tuesday night took all the starch out of me but I thought I might get most of it back after a nearly 24 hour recovery.

The loop here in New Territory is 3.19 miles, if you do the small one as opposed to the big loop where you have to cross New Territory Blvd. The plan was to do it twice. With the distance from my house to the loop and back it works out to about 6.7 miles.

We took off from my house and I could tell immediately that I was still spent from the night before. No spring, lungs and heart working hard from the get-go, no energy, etc. Ideal! We hit the loop and I started my watch. We talked about how darned windy it is seemingly everyday these days, and how it's not just 10 to 15 mph winds but more like 15 to 25. I hope it lets up soon. Of course when it does it will be hot and humid and we'll wish for a breeze.

About halfway through the first loop I told Brian we might need to dial it back just a hair. We did but not much. We completed the first loop in 22:39, a 7:06 pace. The second loop came in a bit slower, which was fine with me - 23:07, a 7:15 pace.

I'm not running again until this evening when we hit the track for our 400s.

Take That, Greatwood Loop

2008-04-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

I had wanted to do something of quality on Monday but it didn't pan out. The race Saturday morning and a long-run Sunday evening left my tank empty for anything aggressive on Monday so I had to wait until yesterday. I was tired all day (my 2 year old woke us up an hour early). I waited until about 8 PM, drank a cup of the original energy drink (coffee), and headed over to the Greatwood loop.

By the time I got there the coffee had worked it's magic and I was ready to attack. I intended to do four loops at an aggressive pace (around seven flat or maybe just under). I felt great on the first loop and opted to listen to tunes instead of podcasts on my Ipod. That proved to be a good soundtrack and I clocked the first loop at a faster than goal 23:31 (6:37 pace).

The second loop was equivalent to the first one but came in just a hair faster - 23:27 (6:36 pace). Going into loop three I knew I wouldn't be able to do two more loops at this pace so I settled for burning the last one and tearing up a total of 10.65 miles.

The final loop came in at 23:09 (6:31 pace). My overall time for the 10.65 miles was 1:10:06 (6:35 pace) - easily the fastest three loop time I've ever done. I was thoroughly whipped.

So no, I'm not doing the LP run tonight. I didn't want to have another light week of training due to another race.

Monday Double

2008-04-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to have some gas at some point today to do either a tempo run or maybe even my mile repeats. But I certainly didn't feel up to it when I headed out at lunch, and I didn't feel it this evening when I met Steve Schroeder for some milage over on the Greatwood loop.

At lunch I got in 6 miles and made a conscious effort to take it (relatively) easy. My overall time was 44:06 for a 7:21 pace. But heck, that's more than a minute and a half slower than my pace at the Bellaire Trolly Run so I guess it's slow enough.

This evening I still didn't find any pep in my step so Steve and I ran 7.1 miles in a rather pedestrian 53:13 for a 7:30 pace. Brian, our loop splits were:
26:54
26:19

Sunday Longish Run

2008-04-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

Normally after a morning race, particularly only a 5K, I go out later that afternoon or evening and pick up some more milage. But an evening out at Woodrows to watch Memphis and Kansas win, thereby ensuring first place in my bracket pool ($406, thank you very much), prevented me from getting any additional milage in Saturday. So Steve Schroeder and I hooked up for some easy milage in the heat Sunday afternoon, beginning about 4:45 PM.

We ran over here in New Territory on the 3.19 mile loop. I called Steve Bezner to see if he wanted to get some miles in and promised him we wouldn't go faster than an eight minute pace. We ended up pretty close. We met Steve (hereafter referred to as Bez) out on the loop about a mile and a half into the first loop. We all dropped our bottles and started the left-turn-only shuffle.

After one loop Bez needed a quick rehydration but we didn't stop long. After the second loop we all sucked down some fluids and proceeded to hammer one more. Because Steve Schroeder and I started a mile and a half further back into the loop we were already into our fourth loop when Bez said that three was enough for him and pulled off the trail. Steve and I soldiered on and finished up what turned out to be right at 13 miles in a 7:58 pace, stops included.

I finished the week with about 44 miles but will easily eclipse that this week. And hopefully next.

Take That, Monkey!

2008-04-06T07:33:00.001-07:00

Back in September I wrote about how in most of my races a monkey comes out of nowhere and sits on my back, causing me to underperform. Yesterday I threw him off, though I'm sure he'll reappear at some point down the road.

I decided during the week that I was going to do the Bellaire Trolly Run after all. I had been targeting the Dulles Dash 5K on April 19 for my next 5K but found out a week ago that they had moved it to Lost Creek Park, which is a course I don't care for and isn't conducive to PRs. Also, my wife and I had been planning to have a garage sale next Saturday, the 12th, but had to move it to the 19th because my son has a school function next Saturday morning. That takes care of the 12th and the 19th, and I'm doing the Bayou Bash Relay on the 26th, so now we're into May. On May 3rd I'm volunteering at Pamela's Race out in Orchard, so it became obvious that if I wanted to take a stab at a PR I'd have to do the Bellaire Trolly Run, or at least some 5K somewhere yesterday. Given that I've heard the course is fast, the competition would be strong, and the weather was going to be in the 50s (probably the last time until October), I recognized an aligning of the stars for a good race and a shot at a PR.

Brian King and I took a separate car from our other training buddy, Steve Schroeder, and got there yesterday morning with plenty of time for warming up, stretching, bathroom, etc. Finally 8 AM rolled around and I lined up near the front, ready to go. Looking around I noticed that it was like a Who's Who of Houston running. I can think of only one or two master runners who are faster than me who weren't there. It wasn't looking like a hardware day, but that was secondary to my PR attempt anyway.

The "gun" fired and we were off. I ran alongside Stephen Mayor through mile one and he told me about halfway through that mile that we were on pace for a 5:30. We must have both recognized on our own that that was too fast because we both backed off a bit and came through mile one at 5:43. I was on the edge of red-lining but not over the edge. I knew how important mile two was going to be to a PR effort so I tried to maintain, although I recognized that there would inevitably be a minor drop-off. It certainly helped that we had the breeze to our backs for nearly all of mile two. That got me to mile two with a 5:48 and 11:31 overall. Somewhere shortly before mile two I passed my two training partners but didn't expect them to fade much. They were both holding up strong and the training is there, although Brian is coming back from an injury.

Shortly into mile three I passed Steve's brother Doug whom I've never beaten at any distance other than a marathon. Passing Doug this deep into a 5K was nice but I wasn't sure it would last. Finally we made our way out onto the final straightaway that would take us to the finish. I was getting pretty whipped but did my darndest to hang on to pace. With about a quarter mile to go Doug came blasting by me with authority. That was fine. He had his race to run and I had mine. I knew my 18:11 PR was going down when I hit mile three in 5:47 and 17:18 overall. Time to hammer the final 10th and pray that it would be enough to prevent anyone from passing me in the final 100 feet or so. No one did.

I went through the finish at 17:53 chip time. A new PR was in hand, as was the first sub-18 5K of our training group (Steve/Brian/me). The second sub-18 of our group came through four seconds later, as Steve Schroeder posted an outstanding 17:57. We both had shaved 18 seconds off our PR and both agreed that we'd run about as best as we possibly could. Brian came through just a few seconds off his PR of 18:09, but had turned in a nice number even though he's just a step off his A game.

My mile splits of 5:43, 5:48 and 5:47 were about as flat a pace as I'm ever going to see and I think now that may be the best 5K race strategy, as opposed to blasting the first mile and hanging on. However, if you'd have told me prior to the race that my first mile would be 5:43 I would have assumed that I'd be pursuing the blast the first mile and hang on strategy with a number like that. Who knew I'd be able to hold on to sub 5:50 pace.

I'll need more training and speedwork to improve upon this number, if I ever do. We'll see. That monkey could come back at any time.

Wednesday Speedwork Again

2008-04-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

We've moved our Thursday speedwork session up to Wednesday now so that it won't interfere with weekend races as much, if at all. That gives me the option of either doing mile repeats on Fridays or racing on Saturdays. So this evening I met Steve and Brian for 12 x 400 at the local track.

It's been several weeks since all three of us were able to do this workout together so it was nice to have everybody back. It's great to be able to lead two, let Steve lead two, let Brian lead two, then repeat. We've been running these well lately so tonights numbers aren't too out of the ordinary.

1:18, 1:18, 1:16, 1:18, 1:16, 1:16, 1:19, 1:16, 1:18, 1:18, 1:17, 1:08

The great thing is that I didn't really kill myself out there, despite the solid times. I had something left in the tank on each one, except that final lung-scorcher. But even that one didn't really hurt all that bad. In fact I passed Brian (our 400 speedster) about halfway through and thought I might be able to hold him off. But he had led the last lap so even though he passed me back with about 100 m to go we probably clocked about the same time. I know we probably ran these harder than necessary, at least based on the times, but if perceived effort is what you should go by, it was not as bad as it usually is. If you go by how whipped you are, this wasn't the hardest 12 x 400 we've done, not by a long shot.

Wednesday Lunch Run

2008-04-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

I went out today at lunch for 5.4 miles. I have speedwork with the boys (Steve and Brian) this evening so I didn't want to get out of my comfort zone. Unfortunately for me, my comfort zone has never been 9 minute miles. What feels right is often too fast but oh well.

I did the 2.7 miles out in 17:53 (6:37 pace). I made an effort to go at least a little slower on the way back and succeeded, just barely. The return was 18:05, which equates to a 6:42 pace.

Speedwork results tonight if I get around to it.

Monday & Tuesday Runs

2008-04-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

I ran both days but nothing too exciting.

Monday night I went out for a tempo run of two times around the New Territory loop (6.38 miles total) but for the first time in several weeks, I actually was not able to complete the workout in the way that I intended. I fired off one fast loop and felt great, but was going at it pretty hard and just wasn't up to doing two at that pace. I completed loop one in 20:15 (6:21 pace) but eased into recovery pace for loop two. Tack on the distance from my house to the loop start and back and it works out to about 6.7 miles.

Tuesday I was very tired all day. I had no energy from not getting enough sleep but managed five miles at lunch at a 6:59 pace. I had every intention of getting in more miles last night but decided to throw in the towel and just go to bed early.

Sunday Long-Run With Steve

2008-04-01T06:19:00.000-07:00

I ventured out Sunday afternoon to get in a long-run over on the Greatwood loop. There was still some smoke on the trail left over from Tuan Nguyen and Brian King busting off a mean tempo run on it earlier that morning. The temperature was also pretty warm, low to mid 80s I'd say but good stuff for acclimating to the still warmer stuff to come.

My goal was to do four loops (14.2 miles) with no regard for pace. After about 2.25 miles I saw Steve Schroeder running toward me on the path. I had called him before I headed out but at the time he was doubtful about being able to join me. I was glad for the company. We soldiered through all planned loops but did take a five minute break between three and four to rehydrate. Here are the not-particularly-impressive 3.55 mile loop times:

26:01
27:35 (including a short water break)
27:09
5:01 break
26:36

Total time (including breaks) - 1:52:23, 7:46 pace

Bonus Milage

2008-03-31T11:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday night at about 9 PM I went out for some bonus milage. I was feeling no effects from the 8K that morning and due to my taper I really needed some miles before the week ended.

I did five miles even, at a seven minute pace. Everything felt fine.

Law Week 8K Race Report

2008-03-29T18:28:00.001-07:00

Going into this morning things were coming together for a nice race. I had two weeks of high milage along with quality, and solid progress with the mile repeats. I had a nice taper week this week, my best session ever at the track on Tuesday (as far as average 400 time), and a good race a few weeks ago at the Strider Handicap 5K (that turned out to be 3 miles flat). My weight was a couple of pounds higher yesterday morning than I wanted but even that was gone this morning - 152.4.

But I knew the weather was going to be ugly - warm and humid, unseasonably so for late March. We haven't had much opportunity to train in those conditions, though I tend to do better than most when adverse conditions are present, and I think I benefit from training in the late afternoon and evening, when temperatures are higher. That proved to be the case today (somewhat) though the conditions definitely prevented me from posting the kind of time I anticipated. I'll bet alot of others can say the same.

I hit mile one in 5:52. I certainly didn't expect to hold that pace throughout, especially given the conditions, but it actually wasn't all that uncomfortable. Mile two was a respectable 6:02 for a two mile time of 11:54. We hit the turnaround at Sheperd and I was beginning to feel the effect of the conditions. I was breaking a sweat and longing for that mile three marker. It came soon enough and I had a still respectable 6:05 for a three mile total of 17:59.

But mile four was where I finally gave in to the inevitable slowing that I had been staving off during mile three, especially on the hills. I posted a mile four time of 6:34 (!) but wasn't getting passed by anyone so everyone else was struggling as well I assume.

I'm used to this course as a 5K but those have you finish about where you started, right by Sam Houston park. With this race we had to head into town a couple of blocks and loop around a building then head back to the park. It made it difficult to know how much farther I had to go but finally I could see the finish line. That mile four had certainly kept me from going under 30 minutes but I really didn't know where I was time-wise because the last marker was nearly a mile back. I closed the 10 foot of distance between the nearest guy in front of me (Stephen Mayor) and we ran side-by-side for ten or fifteen seconds. Finally, with about 100 feet to go he reached down for another gear. I answered as best as I could considering how gassed I was but I didn't have it in me to stay with him. On another day maybe. He finished one second ahead of me as I came in with a 30:39, good for a 6:11 overall pace. I'm sure I could have gotten at least one more mile in at around 6 minutes if not for the muggy, warm air.

My time turned out to be good enough for 3rd in the 45-49 age group. It's not gonna age-grade well though, no ones' will.

I'm disappointed with my time, though I understand fully why I wasn't able to hit my target. And hitting three miles in 17:59 bodes well for my next 5K. That's in three weeks. I'm not doing the Bellaire Trolly Run. I'm going to get in two more great training weeks then shoot for a 5K PR on April 19.

Runner Needed

2008-03-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

I need a runner (actually two) for our Beach To Bay Marathon Relay team men's masters team. I have four guys on board, and need six. The four I have are all capable of a 5K under 19:30. I'd be happy with anyone who is a sub 20 5K guy. Must be 40 or older. I think the race costs about $30 a head and is on Saturday, May 17 in Corpus Christi. It's a blast. I did it last year.

If anyone wants to suggest someone else send me their e-mail address and/or phone # in an e-mail to lancec1963@yahoo.com.

10 x 400 Repeats

2008-03-26T08:40:00.001-07:00

I met Brian King at the junior high track yesterday for our 400s speedwork session. We normally do this workout every week, on Thursday, but have missed it the past three weeks (for various reasons) and have also decided to move it up to Wednesdays. I was going to be unavailable to do the workout today so we went ahead and moved it to yesterday. Brian is coming back from his foot injury and I have a race on schedule for this weekend so we did 10 x 400 instead of 12. The workout went fine but it was very windy. Below are the 400 splits:

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