M'kay

LM warmup (10 reps), 9.8 miles in 1:14:44, 7:37/mi, HR 153, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, Ladder intervals (1-2-3-2-1-2-3) w/ equal hard and recovery @ 1.5K-5K effort, 3 mile cooldown.  1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/SU/Leg Abduction ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Feeling good.  Nice and easy warmup where we went from sun to showers to sun to showers to sun to.....etc.  Quick bathroom break after the strides/drills, and I hit the ladder repeats with a vengeance.  It's been a while since I've (intentionally) run faster repeats, but I'm not wanting to overdo it 5 days post-marathon, so the 1-2-3-2-1-2-3 ladder workout seemed ideal, since it's relatively short.  The intervals were hard and I felt like retching a couple of times, but my body felt like it wanted to push hard on all of them so I went for it.  Nice and tired to jog thru the cooldown.  Pretty happy that it went this well today.  Tomorrow easy then Saturday I'm thinking of a hilly long run.

LM warmup (10 reps), 6 miles in 49:22, 8:13/mi, HR 147, & stretching.

Took advantage of a break in the nasty storm passing thru.  Legs definitely didn't want to go fast at all.  Ran about 2 miles worth on some logging roads & then what I'll call technical trail, which slowed me down considerably.  Left shin & ankle felt tired, sore and weak, especially on the trail, so I was glad to return to the road.  Icing now.

LM warmup (10 reps), 17.63 mile trail run in 2:25:13, 8:14/mi, HR 150, PU/SU/Leg Abduction ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Ran up into the Kapowsin & Elbe Hills forest on a hilly loop route.  The peak of the route was 1400' higher than the start, but plenty of ups and downs throughout....no idea what the total gain/loss was but it wore my legs out.  Now this was less than 18 miles....how in the world does one run 50 miles where the total elevation gain is over 8700' (White River 50m)?  Guess I need to do this and similar runs quite a bit more if there's even the slightest chance I'm going to think about doing that race this July.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:02:40, 7:50/mi, HR 145, & stretching.

Legs felt pretty tired today and took a while to loosen up.  Very breezy to downright windy at times, so I was glad this was an easy effort run and just went with the flow (or slowed down against the flow). 

Besides just not feeling it today, my left knee, shin, and ankle were all complaining.  Add a heaping scoop of "not enough sleep" and I decided to bag today's run in favor of recovery.  After all, I've got my first ultra coming up on Sunday.

LM warmup (10 reps), 11.32 miles in 1:27:25, 7:43/mi, HR 154, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 20 x 1 min on/1 min off, 3.14 mile cooldown.  PU/SU/Leg Abduction ladder (7/7/4), negative calf raises (15), chair (90 sec) & stretching.

Decided to take the advice I offered Tom the other day and to run the 20 x 1/1 workout.  Repeats are short enough that the hurt isn't sustained, but the gotcha is the short 1 minute recovery.  Plus, I run this on my normal course which isn't flat, so the first 17 of these were either rolling or uphill, with the final 3 fast downhill ones.  Aside from (another) garmin glitch where it decided to reboot in the middle, good tiring workout.  And by tiring, I mean my legs and lungs were both pretty fried by the time the cooldown came around, so I was very appreciative that it was all downhill for that part.  Best of all, all the aches and pains of yesterday evaporated by the time the warmup was complete.  Even the Strides & Drills were spot on today, so I'll call this a banner day.  Now to stay awake for the rest of it.

Now for my Garmin rant.  My 405 has been headed downhill....spontaneous reboots, freezing, inability to use bezel...once again just after the 1 year mark.  I've exchanged the last 2 at REI at about the same point, around the 1 year and 1-3 month mark, and here I am again.  I'm not hard on the thing, unless you count running nearly daily, but the pampering it gets afterwards should more than compensate.  I'm not going to own another 405, that's for sure.  The question is what do I do with this one?  I'm almost feeling guilty about returning it to REI since between all 3, I've gotten about 3.5 years of use out of them, but then again, this is EXACTLY the situation the lady at REI advertised when she sold me a membership (well, okay, the situation was having one breaking once, she didn't really address the 2nd or 3rd reoccurrence).  What to do......

Update:  Just checked my receipt (latest receipt).  Actually got this one in late July, so it's only been 9 months.  Way too soon.  Back it goes for good this time. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:03:19, 7:54/mi, HR 145, w/ 10 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, & stretching.

First day in a while where the forecast showed some sun, so of course it rained the entire time.  Tried out a new pair of headphones today, so listening to music distracted me enough that I didn't run too fast.  Decent hill sprints, with typical tough #1 & 2, better 3 - 10.  Wet. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 6 miles in 43:31, 7:14/mi, HR 158 w/ last 3 miles progression in 6:34 (down), 6:52 (up), 6:24 (rolling).  PU/SU/Leg Abduction ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Caught a break in today's nasty weather, so aside from some stiff gusty winds, pleasant conditions.  But I was tired to start and not wanting to put myself info a hole I couldn't dig out of, decided during the warmup to punt on the 3 x 10 min HM/10K repeats and to instead go with 6 miles total, the last 3 progressing from MP to 10K effort, whatever that turned out to be.  Between the ever-changing winds and the anything-but-flat course, no way to eval the paces, but the efforts were there.  Afterwards, it felt good to have done that faster running, but I was glad I decided to save the legs for Sunday.  A couple more short easy runs to go and then the 50. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 6 miles in 46:23, 7:44/mi, HR 146, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Nice and easy today.  Turned into a really nice day outside. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 4 miles in 30:58, 7:44/mi, HR 153, & stretching.

Another beautiful day outside.  Almost doesn't seem worth it to only run 4 miles....wonder why my HR was so high on such a short run today?  Finally shook the headache I've had for 36+ hours... 

We're sorry.  Dale can't come to the computer right now.  He's utterly exhausted.  Please try again later.  Like maybe tomorrow...

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Wow, what an experience.  My first race (heck, my first run) beyond the marathon distance, two weeks after a pretty hard marathon run at Yakima, and I tried to go into this race with fairly minimal expectations.  First, I wanted to finish.  Second, I figured a sub-9 hour finish was completely doable and a sub-8 hour finish was possible.  Third (and maybe most importantly), I wanted to see what this ultra stuff was all about, whether I'd enjoy it, and whether I'd be any good at it.  Last, if I did enjoy this, I've been considering signing up for the White River 50, another 50 miler but much hillier (heck, mountainous) and competitive.

So the Saturday I spent trying to setup 2 drop bags.  Aside from additional GUs I figured I'd need since I could only carry about 6 or so at a time, drop bag packing was a crap shoot.  I wound up putting anything and everything I thought I might need, none of which it turns out I used.  That night despite trying to get some sleep (to bed by 9), I tossed and turned and really didn't get much sleep.  Too nervous (excited?).  Up at 3am to eat some oatmeal, make some coffee, and hit the road for the 1.5 hour trip up to Snoqualmie, WA.  Got there just in time for the early start, which quite nearly confused me at that hour and sucked me into starting with them.  Consciousness reigned and I figured out what was going on and set about to prepping myself for the real start.

So at 6 am the start arrived and we were off.  My game plan was to start running at a comfortable pace, make sure it wasn't stupid fast, and just settle in.  I was going to just walk the aid stations and run the rest until I couldn't run anymore, then shift to a run/walk scheme.  I settled into a nice easy run pace and headed off.  

The Mt Si course is pretty forgiving.  Only 1400' of total elevation gain/loss is advertised, the steepest being a 400' 5 mile climb from North Bend to Rattlesnake Lake, as advertised on the race website.  Okay, that's not entirely true. The roads we ran on in Snoqualmie had a couple of very short but steep uphill sections before dropping us down a staircase onto the Snoqualmie Valley Trail headed towards Fall City and Carnation.  Having beaten my legs into submission on 20 mile hilly training runs, I took these small hills (up and down) extremely easily.

Once on the trail, I was in 5th place and just enjoying the early morning run.  Still pretty cool and the day was just beginning, so it really just felt like a nice enjoyable trail run.  I did have people in front and just behind me, but we were all running alone for the most part.  Hit the first aid station at 5.9 in 46 minutes and I stopped to refill my water bottle, letting the 6 & 7th place runners pass me as they didn't stop.  Headed off within about 15 seconds to continue down the trail, made a brief pit-stop part-way and hit the first turnaround in 1:18, refilling the water bottle again.  

Broke rule #1 of running.....never try something in a race you haven't tried in training.  Well, okay, I didn't just break it, I stomped it into the ground.  I bought some S! caps and really had only used them once before to make sure my body didn't violently reject them, so I started popping 1 at every hour mark, to keep the electrolyte levels up.  I was also pushing back a GU about every 45 minutes.  But the biggest violation of the rule was the food I was grazing on at the aid stations.  Cookies, boiled potatoes, whatever looked good when I arrived, I did NOT want to wind up at 30 miles not having eaten enough, knowing that a nutritional deficit would be difficult to overcome.  Fortunately, I pretty much got away with it and so got to enjoy an excuse to eat cookies while racing.

Hit the 14 mile aid station in 1:52 and wound up stopping here for 2 minutes.  Issue #1.....my drop bags were pretty tightly packed and digging out my GU and stuffing my long-sleeve top into the bag proved problematic.  Finally got things sorted out and continued on.  Still feeling very good, catching early start runners periodically which helped break up the mental tedium.  I was carrying my phone for listening to some tunes, but had decided early on to postpone listening as long as possible, figuring I'd need the mental boost late in the race.  Also started seeing some of the relay runners headed out on their 157 mile relay by this point.  It was nice to watch them straining at their fast paces, while basically just out for a nice jog :).  Back up over the staircase, down the road, hit the porta-potty for a quick stop, and wound up gaining ground on both the 5th and 6th place runners.

Hit the 20.4 mile aid station in 2:45.  By now, I was very conscious of the fact that I was well on my way to a sub-7 pace, but since I was only 20 miles into a 50 mile race, still leaving a longer distance than I'd ever run continuously, I was trying to make my competitive brain focus on just enjoying the run and continuing on at a decent clip.  We'd also merged in with the 50K runners who'd started at 8:30 and headed up the north part of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail towards North Bend and Rattlesnake lake.   24.3 aid station in 3:18 which is also about where the trail starts the gentle slope upwards towards Rattlesnake lake.  I caught and ran with the 6th place runner here, and discovered we were both running our first 50 miler.  He said that he runs marathon's primarily but he's run some 50Ks in the past.  A nice distraction for a while, but I left after I saw a really slow mile and realized I was bleeding time and effort on the uphill with the chatting.  

Hit the 28.9 mile aid station and bag drop #2 in 3:57, and spent a minute here rooting around in my bag for some more GUs.  The sun was finally starting to come out and things were starting to warm up a bit, so I was putting away the water a bit quicker now.  This helped, because lugging the hand-held water bottle was really quite tiring....my shoulders were beginning to complain.  By this point, my legs were tired with the effort, but I wasn't crashing and didn't feel too badly.  Amazing what a focus on nutrition and electrolytes can do.  In most training runs past 20 miles, I'd be fried and crashing by this point.  

The stretch from Rattlesnake lake to the turn around started getting rough.  Mentally, I was really ready to turn around and start the home-stretch.  Heading uphill was getting old too.  Not knowing exactly where the turnaround was didn't help either.  I'd made up a card with the aid station mileages on them, had waterproofed it, and had forgotten it in the car....Oops.  Saw the eventual winner hauling down the trail (he went on to finish well under 6 hours...amazing).  Up and up and up.......until the trail sign pointed to a left fork that headed down a rocky gravel spur....steeply.  Now that's just mean.  Headed down the road at a....don't know how to describe it.  Faster than a walk, slower than a run, more like a drunken marionette, trying to appease hamstrings that were screaming, trying not to get depressed that I was going to have to run back up this stupid thing.  Hit the 34.4 mile aid station/turn around in 4:46.  Had to dig a rock out of my shoe in addition to the water refill and food grazing, so this was a 1-2 minute pit stop.

I'd like to say I power-hiked back up the hill, but when two women chatting non-stop pass you like you were standing still, it's not really power hiking, is it?  Okay, time for some tunes....Thankfully the painful stretch was short and I got back into a nice rhythm on the gentle downhill grade, now enjoying some distracting tunes.  Unfortunately, by this point, I was also being distracted by some mild nausea and the knowledge that I would need a bathroom break that might take a minute.  Despite running in the wilds on the trails, there really wasn't any place to hide for a potty break, so I just kept moving to try to make the next aid station where I remembered seeing a port-a-john.  This officially commenced the hard part of the run.

Finally hit the 39.9 aid station in 5:33 and of course, there was the port-a-john line.  Got my water and food needs taken care of, and was able to dig into my drop bag again (beat the 12:30 cutoff before they disappeared) for a couple more GUs, so I didn't have to wait long for the potty, but the aid station did take about 3 minutes before I finally got back underway.  The sun was starting to take a toll here, and I increased my S! cap consumption to every 45 minutes and upped my water consumption.  It was probably here that I started math gymnastics, really feeling like I could finish under 7 hours if I focused and the wheels didn't come completely off.  Spend the next 10 miles computing, recomputing, dicing and slicing my time and mileage left, trying to figure out how fast I needed to be going to make that goal.  My pace had slipped a bit, but I did manage a couple of sub-8 miles on this downhill stretch.

Hit an extra water stop at 44.5 in 6:13, just in time.  The official water stop had closed and packed up, but I was out of water and fortunately they'd kindly left a full water jug behind, so I half filled up (trying to think of the poor souls suffering in the heat of the day behind me) and continued on.   Approaching a crowded relay checkpoint in the distance, I spotted a wild man running toward me.  David!  45 miles into a 50 mile race, it's amazing what a boost a friendly face will give you!  A high five, me spouting something about trying to sneak under 7 hours, some encouragement from Dave, and the moment was past.  Still, can't quite say what a boost that was....thanks Dave!

Then there was the relay exchange a short while later.  It was pretty crowded with people milling about, and about halfway through, one of the volunteers said something about 50 miler coming through, and next thing I knew, everyone started clapping and cheering.  Wow, again, what a boost right when I needed one.  Throughout the race, the volunteers were simply amazing.  I can't tell you how many times I heard my name being called, usually by a volunteer with a clipboard looking at my bib number, providing encouragement along the way.  I tried to return the favor by thanking all the volunteers at each aid station I ran through along the way, although I'll admit that late in the race I began to forget.  But they all deserved our thanks, what a great crew.  Hit the water point at the far end of this aid station at 46.7 miles in 6:32 for a final refill.  

The final 3+ miles was a slog.  I knew if I could just maintain my pace in the low 8s, I should make it, but I was a bit worried that the course might be a smidgen longer than 50 miles and I couldn't afford much extra, so it was all about keeping my legs turning when they wanted to just quit and walk for a bit.  I think if I hadn't been on the sub-7 pace, I probably would've whimped out and taken a walk break.  Hit the stairs descending from the bridge on the upper Snoqualmie Valley Trail, did something resembling walking down them using the handrails liberally started pushing on the final road segment to the finish.  My final full mile was in 8:03 and the last 0.15 was at a 6:33 pace as I gave it everything I had not wanting to get caught a few seconds short.  It's only happened a couple of times in races, but I'll admit I started feeling pretty emotional on that final stretch but managed to keep it together and finally saw the clock up ahead clicking thru the 6:59:30s and realized I was going to make it, in more ways than one.  6:59:41, fifth place overall, 3rd in the Open (under 40) category, and my first 50 miler.  What an experience.  

Post race, I ate and drank and hobbled for a while until I realized I needed to head home so I'd make it before completely crashing.  Aside from a blood blister on my right foot big toe, my feet weren't too bad.  During the run, I did have some of that reoccuring outside/bottom left foot pain (early on, which was worrisome, but it disappeared after the 14 mile aid station which took a couple of minutes....not sure why).  Later on the drive home, I had to slip out of my shoes (which I hadn't changed) when my feet really started hurting...I realized that the shoes I'd raced in were regular width (a pair I've had a while and only wear occasionally, my only pair of "trail" shoes) and I'd switched to wide shoes a while ago.  Once released from the confines, they felt much better, so note to self:  get wide trail shoes!  Made it home via Quiznos (a sub which I only half ate as some nausea hit again) and wound up eating only salty foods the rest of the day, so evidently the sun and heat took it's toll.  Made it to 9pm before crashing for the night.

So a successful outing at the 50 miler distance.  I'm still pretty amazed that I had such a good race.  It was a lot of fun and actually pretty pleasant through about 30 miles or so, when it finally started getting hard.  I feel much better than I thought I would the next morning (Monday).  Now I really, seriously, absolutely must take some down time over the next couple of weeks to let my body recover and heal from the fairly continuous training its undergone the past several months.  And yes, I'm now seriously considering the White River 50 in late July! 

Postscript - I almost forgot.  The strangest thing I think I've seen in a race happened yesterday.  I was headed on the final return, about 8 miles or so from the finish, headed down the gentle grade on the trail, when I looked up ahead to see......horses and a dog.  Yup, about 5 horses trotted out on one of the dirt driveways that periodically crossed the trail and all turned up the trail and just kinda stopped and milled about.  My first thoughts were, oh crap, I'm hallucinating, not good.  Once I was convinced it was real, my next thoughts were, uh oh, how the heck do I get by them?  The dog with them almost looked like it was herding them for a minute, but then it just stopped and stood next to one.

As I got closer, I realized the dog wasn't a dog, but rather a.......goat.  So, here I am faced with 5 horses and a goat blocking my way, 42 miles into a 50 mile race.  As I approached, not breaking pace, I slowly started moving to the left side of the path and sure enough, the horses all moved over to the right side, allowing me to pass without being trampled (or spooking the horses).  I could almost hear my wife in advance of me telling her about this, wondering who's horses they were, etc, and I ever so briefly thought of stopping to alert the owners, but not having any clue where they originated from (there was a gate on the left and a long drive on the right that headed downhill towards some paddocks and whatnot, I selfishly decided to continue my race and hope that they didn't get too far.  So my apologies to the horse (and goat) owners for not rounding them up for you.

Took the dogs for a nice and slow 1.5 mile walk.

2.5 mile brisk walk w/ dogs.

Recovery going very well.  Late yesterday afternoon my left knee suddenly got a bit sore, but I just ignored that as one of those things and it's gone today.  Some residual soreness in hamstrings but otherwise feeling great.  I am getting a touch cranky though....must be missing my endorphin fix.  Tomorrow might be a short and easy run day.  Then again, it might not be.  

It struck me yesterday that I just ran a marathon and an ultra within 16 day of each other (go back an additional 7 days for 23 total and I can add in a 20K).  Unless I'm mistaken, that qualifies me to join the Marathon Maniacs.  Now that's never been a goal, nor can I say that right now I'm particularly interested, but the thought that I met the qualification criteria is a bit.....unsettling.  Not to terribly long ago, I'd have considered the entire notion crazy.  Now it doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

LM warmup (10 reps), 6 miles in 50:02, 8:20/mi, HR 150, 2 mile walk w/ dogs, SLCR (15), PU/SU/LegAb/LegAd/Ham ladder (7/7/4/3/3) & stretching. 

Gorgeous day for a run.  More like a jog today to see how everything felt and responded.  Lower right hamstring started out a bit tight but loosened up.  Then the right ankle started some general complaining for about a mile before fading.  The last 2 back the left hip and adductor were beginning to complain and I'm still a bit gun-shy when they speak up, so I eased up even more.  Afterwards, everything felt pretty decent overall.  Then during the dog walking, the left foot arch started hurting out of the blue again, so I guess I need to keep massaging that bugger.  Running is definitely good for my mental state though.

Interesting that the Garmin 310XT elevation tracks are *much* better than the 405s (or 305s) were.  Quite nearly the quality that the Garmin Connect elevation correction provides.  Good, since I plan to be hurling myself up and down very large and steep hills over the next few months. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 8.21 miles in 1:11:12, 8:40/mi, HR 150, w/ 10 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Ran most of this on trails that varied from gravel logging roads to grass and mud elk tracks.  Legs felt good today, so the slow pace was more to the hills, mud, obstacles (trees & brush) and exploration than anything else.  Decided to tack on the hill sprints at the end up the steep section of trail nearby...first one was slooooow but the rest felt good.  Started tiring on the later ones, so while the legs probably aren't 100%, they're getting close already.  Left knee was a bit troublesome again....possibly just the trail footing and hills, but maybe because my left ITB is tight, so some stretching to loosen that up.

My left foot arch started hurting on the walk.  Seems like running with a mid-foot plant is okay, but walking heel to toe is not. 

Up and down the sidewalk about 3 dozen times trying on running shoes at Fleet Feet.....doesn't count.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8.13 hilly trail miles in 1:04:54, 7:59/mi, HR 154, 2 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/SU/Leg Ab/Ad/Hamstring ladder (7/7/4/4/4), & stretching.

After a long day spend mowing grass, finally got out on my run with a foul mood to burn off.  Fairly successful, although getting rained on the last 2 miles didn't help with the mood.  Hitting these hills is hard but will get easier the more I do them......I hope. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 8.1 miles in 1:05:56, 8:08/mi, HR 141, & stretching.

Easy run after long flights on a variety of terrain including sidewalks, asphalt roads, grass trails, and farmer's fields.  Unfortunately, it included 2 emergency pit-stops for potty breaks, one at the Emergency room which just happened to be enroute.  Forgot to pause the watch for the second break, so the pace wasn't quite as slow as it seems.

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 miles in 1:14:00, 7:24/mi, HR 159, w/ 8 x 2 min Fartleks @ < 5K pace, PU/SU/Leg Ab/Ad/Ham ladder (7/7/4/4/4) & stretching.

Nice weather....in the mid 60s in VA.  Warmup was tough as legs didn't want to move after a day at the office and the first fartlek was only in the 6:05/mi range, also into the wind.  Once that was done, the rest were good and all in the 5:35-5:45/mi range, very good and better than expected.  The new Adrenalines felt like nice soft pillows....at first.  Then by about 6 miles, the pain on the outside of the left foot started again thru the finish.  Afterwards, realized the overlay is putting pressure on the widest part of my foot, causing the hot spot.  Need to try to stretch that out a bit so it doesn't return.  

LM warmup (10 reps), 14 miles in 1:47:11, 7:39/mi, HR 149 w/ last 4 miles Moderate in 7:06, 6:49, 6:44, 6:46, & stretching.

73F and sunny at the start, so the start was slow.  Just hung in there for the duration and when the final 4 miles came up was just looking forward to getting done.  All the running routes around here are flat and boring.  Not sure why the first moderate mile was slow....turns maybe?  Did seem to get a second wind and things felt better.  Still battling some left knee pain. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:01:35, 7:42/mi, HR 148 & stretching.

Nice and easy miles.  Cooler out today and just kinda felt better.  Which my left PF wasn't still giving me fits. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 9.5 miles in 1:07:56, 7:09/mi, HR 161, w/ 2 mile warmup, 2 x 15 min Tempo Intervals (6:16/mi, 6:03/mi) w/ 5 min rest, & 2+ mile cooldown.  PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Warm and sunny workout after work (mid 70s).  First tempo interval was fast...aiming for HM pace ~ 6:19/mi; started fast and tapered back until I was finally on pace a few minute in.  Recovered completely for #2 but the heat was taxing and mentally wasn't in it.  Took one 20 sec break about halfway thru #2, then another 5 sec break with 5 minutes left.  Was aiming for a pace in the 5:57-6:00 range but just couldn't hang.  Some mental, but also haven't really done tempo work for a while so maybe the 15 min repeats were a bit overambitious.

6.5 miles in 51:31, 7:55/mi, HR 142 & stretching.

Forgot the LM warmup today.  Easy miles in cooler weather.  Kept today easy in prep for tomorrow morning's 5K race.  Drove w/ Jim up to pick up race packet @ Ft. Monroe, so didn't eat until late.  Then wound up driving myself to the ER with some pain that I'd been experiencing the past couple of days that suddenly got worse....long story short, got the good news, some Motrin, & made it back to the hotel by 12:30 for a 6am wakeup.  Not the recommended way to prep for a race.  Plus, after the race, headed to Ft. Eustis to visit with Aunt & parents.  

2 mile warmup in 14:56, 7:28/mi, HR 156, with 0.5 mile @ goal race pace (~ 5:50/mi).  3.1 miles in 18:39, 6:01/mi, HR 178.

Ran this race with some guys from work, 2 locals here and another that traveled in like I did for 2 weeks work here in VA.  Haven't run a 5K since Jan 1, and coming off the longer races with little interval work, wasn't sure what to expect.  The fartleks earlier in the week were a good sign, the tempo intervals just okay, but being tired from travel and last nights ER escapades, tempered any expectations.  Nonetheless, can't get much flatter than this course, and the winds were not too bad coming off the water.  Temps in the low 60s so a bit high, but with the clouds and the breeze, aside from the humidity, things were pretty decent.  Not sure what the competition was going to be being an out-of-towner, but was aiming for a low 18s race and an AG placing.  Splits of 5:54, 5:53, 6:08, and 41 should tell the tale...

Even being on the start line, about 30 people bolted ahead of me at the start.  First quarter-mile was on a 5:25 pace....ouch, way too fast, so I pulled back and settled into a more reasonable effort.   Crossed the first mile feeling decent and running hard.  Was in about 12th place or so here.  Worked up into 7th by the turnaround onto the boardwalk and into a bit of headwind, but still managed a good mile 2 at a reasonable pace.  Then there's mile 3.  I'm not exactly sure where the wheels came off, and really don't recall them falling off, but shortly into the 3rd mile, garmin was telling me I had slowed way down.  I tried pushing a little and didn't make up much ground.  I tried pushing a lot and still didn't make up much ground.  It just seemed like I was at max velocity and wasn't going to budge the needle to the right any more.  Funny thing was, my breathing was still under decent control in a 3-2 scheme, not the normal 2-2 pattern I typically hit in 5Ks around the 1-1.5 mile mark.  Guess the top gear wasn't there, or maybe the mental side was lacking.  Was really trying to reel in runners 5 & 6 and came within 3 seconds of catching 6, but just ran out of race.  Managed an okay sprint to the finish from about 1/4 mile out, probably more than I should've been able to do, so I really think I just slacked a bit on mile 3.

Anyway, took 7th, cheered my co-workers (& one of their significant others), got a nice glass for winning my AG, then promptly left before I froze since the temps dropped and the drizzle started.  Guess it's not too bad considering I'd no intention of running the race and had only signed up on Thursday.  Spend the rest of the day walking around Williamsburg visiting and letting the women do some shopping.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:01:52, 7:44/mi, HR 153, & stretching.

80F & sunny, then cloudy and windy.  Still a decent easy run after some good sleep last night.  Need to get my shoe situation sorted out....my left foot was killing me by mile 5. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 9.58 miles in 1:10:40, 7:22/mi, HR 161, w/ 2 miles warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, Interval Ladder (1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1) minutes on @ <5K pace with equal rest, 2 mile cooldown.  PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

The more I think about the 3rd mile in Sat's race, the madder I got at myself for losing 14 seconds in the last mile.  So as punishment I attacked the On segments with gusto.   Paces were 5:11, 5:28, 5:35, 5:43, 5:44, 5:40, 5:35, 5:17 per mile, so I obviously faded but the effort was there.  HR hit 188 on the 2nd 4 minute interval, which is probably the highest its been in a long time, so I know I was working.  Makes me want to try a mile race just for kicks, but not too many of those around.  Think I'll keep working on speed for a while since I actually feel better after these workouts (are over).  Had to run the cooldown a bit fast.....thunderstorm was closing fast on 3 sides and the open side was headed away from the hotel so that was a non-starter.  Then the lightning started in the not too far distance.  Then the really big cold rain drops.  Fortunately, made it back to the hotel before the worst hit.  

LM warmup (10 reps), 14.27 miles in 1:44:30, 7:19/mi, HR 148, w/ last 5.27 miles Moderate, & stretching.

Cool but fortunately post-storm.  Needed to make a couple of pit-stops during the run but otherwise uneventful.  The early part was faster than normal, so the late moderate miles felt a tad harder than normal.  Glad to be able to put these runs away after a hard day. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:01:58, 7:44/mi, HR 142, & stretching.

Sunny and pleasant.  Legs tired and a bit sore in spots.  All this flat land running is really going to make me pay dearly when I return to the hills this weekend. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 miles w/ 3 mile warmup, 4 miles Tempo (6:13, 6:15, 6:12, 6:05), 3.1 miles cooldown.  PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Sunny and warm (77F).  Felt pretty tired and dehydrated to start with.  Tempo quickly got tough and found myself wanting to quit by the 2 mile mark.  Lots of negotiation and self-trickery got me thru all 4 miles.  Pretty surprised the pace was as good as it was.....pretty close to the 5K pace from this past weekend.  Homeward bound early tomorrow morning. 

6.5 miles in 51:16, 7:53/mi, HR 144, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Back home after an early plane flight.  Felt decent keeping things nice and easy and transitioning from pancake flat Suffolk to the rolling hills of Eatonville wasn't too bad....today.  Dogs happy to get back to their daily walks.