Puttin' Money In The Bank (L.A.D.)

Next stop on the Michigan family vacation is my sister-in-laws house in Dundee Michigan. I've found some potential races to do in the area on Friday the 4th. A 10k at Whitmore Lake and a 5k in Ann Arbor. I probably will do the 10k, but the 5k would probably be a good speed workout.

So I ran an 8.5 mile progressive run today. The conditions were perfect. 60 degrees at 8:30 and not a cloud in the sky. After the run my wife made me take her sister's dog for a jog. That is one unfit dog. He made it about 7 minutes at my slowest possible pace before he made me walk the last 3 minutes. I'd say this added a mile to the run bringing the total to 9.5.

Splits on the run broke down as follows.

1st 2.25 in 18:20 (8:08s)

2nd 2.25 in 17:30 (7:45s)

Then 2 in 15:00 (7:30s)

Last 2 in 14:00 (7:00s)

Total 8.5 ave. pace was 7:38

Nike Elite 85.25

A nice morning run getting outside the 'village' of Dundee, Michigan this morning. Total run distance was about 7.85, however, based on my last 3rd pace I'm thinking that maybe it was a bit more like 7.8. The temp was about 73 degrees and a slight breeze. I broke my run into 3 sections for pace checks. The first 3rd of the run was 2.25 miles with an average pace of 7:56. The 2nd 3rd of the run was 2.3 miles with an average pace of 7:52. I was very pleased with my ability to keep the run light and easy as well as consistent through 2/3s of the run. My last 3rd was 3.2 miles with an average pace of 7:13s. I knew the pace was picking up, but once again did not realize I had picked up this much. Total run time was 59:05 at an average pace of 7:34.

Then I took the UFD (Unfit Dog) out for his morning jog. We got 6:45 down the line with me jogging at a very slight pace when he just sat down on the grass and refused to move. I reached down to grab his collar and get him moving and he yanked back out of the collar and ran home! LOL!

Nike Vomero 79.1

Ugh! Was going to run the Whitmore Lake Larry Steebs 10k tomorrow, but the foot hurt so much when I went for my morning run that I turned around 300 yards into the run and basically hung up tomorrows race. Maybe if the foot feels ok tomorrow evening I'll go for a very easy light run.

After carboloading for a race that I didn't run, and then feasting on BBQ all day long and drinking a couple beers (and way too many brownies over the last 3 days) my gut was ready to explode and my body was freaking out. I HAD to hit the road. I had iced my foot twice already today and then iced it after the run as well. The run was a serious, but necessary struggle and took about 55 minutes (7:51s)

Nike Vomero 86.1

After 3 foot icings, including 2 warm water baths with Epsom Salt, my foot felt incredible today so I took the opportunity to get a good quality run in. My first 5 miles hit in 36:18 (7:15s) and then really took it home concentrating on my breathing over the last 3.2 (6:32s) for a total run of 8.2 miles in 57:15 (6:59s). Then I took the UFD for a 1 mile walk after which I iced my foot. This was a great confidence building run going into the 15k Cherry Festival Race next Saturday. I hope to get some hill repeats in mid-week and the rest of the week will be relatively easy miles with maybe 1 more moderate paced short tempo run.

Nike Vomero 95.3

East out and back today from my parents cottage (we're now in Traverse City, Michigan) on Lake George to "The Shoe Tree" (A huge tree where people tie their shoes together and toss them into the tree. There must be at least 75 pairs in the tree -- including 3 pairs of ours thrown in last summer). Temp was in the 80s, but a dry dusty kind of hot with a moderate breeze. The run was considerable rolling hills. A change from Dundee and Hudsonville where all my runs were on flat terrain. The pace was consistent throughout the run with a 29:50  (8:03s) out and a 29:03 (7:51s) back for a total run of 58:53 over 7.4 miles.(7:57s)

Nike Elite - 92.65

Tough little easy run today. A nice comfortable pace over the 7.8 miles but hit all hills around 5k pace. I would guess this put my recovery pace and easy pace in the 8:15 range. Man there's a lot of rollers here around Lake George and the temps and humidity were equivalent to St Louis. Very humid and fairly warm in the mid 80s. Tomorrow will be another easy run, maybe in the 7 mile range and then some hill repeats on Wednesday followed by another easy 7 miler or so on Thursday, off Friday and the 15k Race on Saturday. Todays total run time was 60:13.

Nike Vomero - 103.1

6.6 mile run today over those rolling hills again that I hit yesterday. Mostly the same course with some alterations to make it shorter. No pace increases up hills, just a steady pace with some mild build ups to cruising speed and then backing down to a slower pace and building back up again. Total run time was 48:34 (7:21s) which was actually a pretty solid run given the hills. Instead of doing some hill repeats I may do some 1.25 mile repeats around the lake which will bring in 3 small but effective hills into the mix and should give me a good build up going into Saturday.

Nike Elite 99.25

Did some AT speedwork around Lake George today. Man those hills are killer. All told the run was 7.2 miles with about 3 of it being AT work and 4 of it being warm up/cool down and recovery. AT work was in 4 bouts. The first was 1.2 miles, then .3 miles, then 1.0 miles, then .6 miles. Tomorrow and Friday will be 1 day off and 1 day of about 4 miles easy -- I just haven't decided what I will do what day yet.

Nike Elite 106.45

Rest and recovery day today to get ready for the 15k Cherry Festival Race on Saturday.

2.8 mile out (7:56s) and back (7:23s) to get the legs loosened up for tomorrow's race.

Nike Vomero - 108.7

Ok, so here's the updated info on this race. Temps were fairly comfortable at race start in the mid 70s, but it had rained all night and the humidity went through the roof as the temps rose to near 80 by 30 minutes in. I dumped my singlet at the top of Mt. McKinley with my parents who were there waiting for me and grabbed it back from them with about .3 to go because my bib # was on it.

I ran this race with my brother-in-law whom I raced with 2 weeks ago. He again got out to a 15 or so second head start by mile 1, but I caught him by mile 2, we ran together through mile 4 where we hit Mt. McKinley (aptly named, this beast was a full mile up with the first 400-500 yards at a significantly steep climb. About 25% of the runners in my view as I turned up it were walking halfway up this first section of the hill.) I hit the hill strong and passed probably 10 runners on it. My brother-in-laws IT band has been bothering him and by the top he was about a minute back of me. By the time I got to the top my singlet was soaked, weighing me down, and restricting my movement. I used the backside of the hill to recovery before attacking the back half of the course. This route was out one side of a penninsula, over the top and down to the other side and back in. Outside of McKinley it was a completely flat course.

Overall I was very pleased with my time. I did not achieve my short-term goal of sub 63:00, but only missed it by 36 seconds. Considering that I set this goal a while back and then missed 5 weeks of running and was only able to get in about 4 and a half weeks of running in the last 11 weeks I should consider this race smartly run and a great jump forward in getting back to form. 5th in my age group in a race of over 2500 runners is nothing to shake a stick at either. Well, enough of the overview and on to my splits.

No mile marker until mile 3 (Ugh!) 20:38 (6:53s)

Mile 4 - 6:46

Mile 5 - 7:22 (All uphill, very steep -- pleased with this time up the hill, I passed a good 15 racers going up.)

Mile 6 & 7 - 13:29 (6:45s)

Mile 8 - 6:34

Mile 9 & 9.3 8:40 (6:40s)

Got in a 2 mile warm-up and the race in my Asics Gel Speedstars 54.3

Got in a 1.5 mile cool down afterwards in my Nike Elites 108

Travel/rest day today. Heading back home to St Louis and its heat/humidity!

8pm and 83 degrees. Ran around the block (.3) miles with my middle son Ivan (5 years) in 5:45. We ran the long sections and walked the short. Then did an easy 8.2 (4.1 out and back to MQP) that was anything but easy. Note to self, wait more than 30 minutes after eating steak to do your run. Out in 32:08 (7:50s) and back in 31:59 (7:48s). The good news about this run was the consistancy. On the way back there were a couple times that I checked myself and intentionally slowed down because the pace felt like it was possibly increasing. This wasn't really based so much on how I felt (because I wasn't feeling good the whole way) as much as how my sense of my external environment was moving by. I just had a sense that despite the fact that I felt no differently, I was still increasing pace. So I was pleased with that. Its something I've been trying to work on, especially on slower runs.

Nike Vomero - 117.2

9:30am and 85 degrees, humid. 1.55 mile warm up to the YMCA in 12:21 (7:58s). Was hoping to run into Nancy but I found out that one of her kids was sick so she wouldn't be there. Julie was there, but she's doing a half-ironman in Sonoma on Sunday, so she was in full taper mode. I made the decision to go with the ladies anyway and just hang at whatever pace they chose. To be honest, I'm quite glad I did. It was hot and I think I'm still a bit tired from the race on Saturday. We did a 2.5 out and back. I forgot to set my watch on the way out, but I assume it was pretty close to the pace we ran on the way back which was 21:41. So I'm just going to double this and call it a day. I think the total run was probably closer to 5.1 in 43:22 (8:30s). I was tired and my shirt was drenched by this point, so I took about a 5 minute break before heading the 1.55 back home in 11:36 (7:29s).

Nike Elite - 116.2

8am run, 83 degrees and humid. Very easy jog today, not much sleep last night and still feeling tired from the race. Of course, it could simply be that my body is trying to re-adjust to the St Louis summer environment. Out and back to the Webster YMCA. Out in 24:09 (8:03s) and back in 23:47 (7:56s). Pretty good consistancy. Lately these 'easy runs' have been kicking my butt though since I've gotten back to St Louis. I may try a night run and see how my body responds to that.

Nike Vomero - 124.2

An interesting run tonight. Lets start with the preliminaries. 7pm, 85 degrees, humid as usual, no wind. I tried to take some splits on this run based on what I thought were markers and then compare it to google maps when I got home. According to googlemaps the entire run was a 3.6 out and back for a total of 7.2 plus a 1.2 mile cool down for a total of 8.4. The first mile I know was an accurate split at 7:42. My second mile mark was a guess that I took and marked it at 7:36. From there I estimated that I was running approximately 7:30s so I decided to go another 11:15 thinking this would give me a 3.5 out and back. So at 11:10 I turned around for a total out time of 26:28 (which gave me 7:21s). My thought is that the 2nd mile was faster than 7:35 and that I hit the mark later that what was actually 2 miles. On the way back I tried to pick it up just a touch, nothing that felt excessive, but moderate. Concentrate on my breathing and work a moderate pace. I marked off at the same spot on the way back 2 miles out and hit that in 10:43 (6:42s -- of course, if my mark for mile 2 was off, this actually would be a slower pace) for the 1.6 miles which was 27 seconds faster than I hit the 1.6 on the way out (6:58s -- again this would also be a touch slower). Then I took a split from what I thought was mile mark 2 back to 1 and hit a 7:05, but if the mark was long it would be a bit quicker. Based on my last mark I suspect this is true. My last mile I concentrated on my breathing considerably and tried to stay quick without actually going into a 'hard' mode. I would say I stayed just the slightest notch below 'technically hard'. I hit this mile in 6:30 (which I know to be an accurate mark). The short of this long is that my ave. ppm on the way back was 6:45s without feeling considerably taxed. It was a good solid workout and I'm pleased with it. Ave pace for the entire 7.2 was 7:03s followed by a 1.2 mile cool down at 8:21 pace.

I'm pleased with this workout in relation to how I've felt all week during the day. It was an evening run, but temps and humidity were probably consistent with what I've run into M-W. The difference to this run was that I did not run with a shirt on.

Nike Elite - 124.4

Was actually off today, but am showing Sunday's workout here so it is counted as part of this week's and will show Sunday as an off day so as to not interfere mileage for next week. 

Wow. Very hot today. Much hotter than I thought and the only time I had to run was 11am. 93 degrees and humid. Based on weather I decided to just do 4 today. Had planned on going 7. I'll just add in a few more during the week. Splits were 8:10, 7:40, 7:15, 7:45.

Nike Elites - 128.4

3 mile out to the YMCA in 23:08 (7:42s) and back in 22:23 (7:28s) plus a 1.2 mile cool down in 10:01 (8:21s). Good run today at 12pm, 87 degrees and humid. Felt good despite the heat and humidity.

Nike Vomero - 131.2

Actually did run today and logged it under last friday so the miles would be counted towards last week and not be counted towards this week, which is how I want it. Usually Sunday is my off day, but until the kids get back in school my workout schedule is a bit altered.

Ran after work tonight. 9pm and 89 degrees. Still hot and humid as can be, but at least there was no sun to deal with. Did a 3 mile warm up in 22:15 (7:25s) and then hit the track for some tempo intervals. My goal was to hit 3 x 1.5 miles at sub 6:30/mile pace. That was a solid goal and I could have done it, had I not gone so sub 6:30 on the first one. First one was 9:17 (6:11s), second one was 9:32 (6:21s), and on the third one I was falling off the pace so I decided that it was better to maintain the goal pace then the goal distance so after 3/4s of a mile I hit the last quarter firm and  finished with a 6:30 mile. I did a quarter mile slow jogging rest between intervals and then headed home. The run home was about 2.75 miles in 22:02 (8:00s). Overall I'm pleased with these interval splits. They're not quite what I was running in May, but then, I'm back down to 45ish mpw right now. So given heat, current training duration, mpw, and a nagging foot I need to consider this a small victory.

Nike Elite - 138.65

Ran out at Lake St Louis today. 85 degrees and considerably humid after last nights storms. 3:30pm. 8.2 mile easy loop in 1:04:35 (7:52s)

Nike Vomero - 139.4

4.1 mile out and back to MQP at 9pm tonight. A cool and relatively non-humid 77 degree night. Did a 3 mile pick up from a cold start with a first mile in 7:25 and a 3 mile total of 21:37s (7:12s). Then did a 2.2 mile easy pace recovery in 17:33 (7:58s). Towards the middle to beginning of the last 3rd of this recovery my shoulder began to cramp up. Maybe I'm running low on salt or am a bit dehydrated. By the time I came to the end of the 2.2 miles though it was fairly gone so I gave it another go at the same 3 miles in reverse back to the house. I felt pretty winded a little over a mile in so I decided to just go 2.1. I'm having trouble picking up my mile markers in the middle of this course, but I know that I hit a mile mark at the end of the run that gave me a 6:30 split down the flat. I thought my first mile was in 7:25 and this is probably right because my overall split was 14:31 (6:55s). The first mile of this 2.1 was hilly and the 2nd mile was flat. Finished the run off with a .9 mile cool down in 7:35 (8:25s).

 Nike Vomero - 147.6

5pm: Ran to work tonight. 2.7 miles in 20:39 (7:39s). 72 degrees and light rain.

After helping out running the grill at the concession stand for the conference swim meet I ran home the long way. Its hard to understand one's body sometimes. Some nights you're body is just in the groove. I had planned on this just being a brisk easy run. 7:20-7:30 range.  Everything felt comfortable, but I could just tell I was moving along. First 3 miles in 20:35 (6:52). Next .6 in 4:01 (6:42s). Next mile in 6:38 and the finishing mile in 6:27 for a 5.6 time of 37:41 (6:43s) and then a 1 mile cool down in 7:54. This was a good run for me. Moderate stress, I'm having a tough time with this template. I don't really know what to call miles run at 6:45 pace, for lack of a better category they're going under M-pace for now.

Nike Elite 147.95

Schedule didn't allow for much room to run today, so I had to run to work at 5pm and run home at midnight. 3.6 miles each way and tacked on an extra 1.2 cool down on the after work section. Temps and humidity were pretty high today, more so humidity than the temps. The way to work was in the mid 80s and the way home was in the high 70s, very humid.

To work 3.6 in 26:05 (7:15s) and home in 24:49 (6:53s). The splits on the way home were as follows... .6 in 4:30 (7:30), then 1 mile splits at 6:48, 6:32, and a finishing mile in 5:59 (this one had both uphill and down, actually with more up and at a steeper grade. Followed this up by a 1.2 mile cool down in 9:43 (8:06s)

Nike Vomero - 155.8

Ran at work today. Hot and humid, 88 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Did 3 miles easy (estimated pace without a watch) in 22-23 minutes (7:30s). Then did 3 miles on the track with 100 meters spint strides each lap (12x100) with the other 300 meters recovery pace. Total time for this was about 25 minutes.

Nike Vomero - 161.8

Noon, 84 degrees and humid (these weather reports are getting old). Very casual 6.3 miler today just to get out and keep the legs moving. Total time was 50:58 (8:05s).

Nike Elites - 153.25

8:30pm, 80 degrees, and very humid tonight. 11.05 miles -- first double digit continuous run since the injury. Just an easy pace tonight 1:26:21 (7:49s). Felt a bit sluggish, but had a steak dinner about an hour and a half before the run. Not excessive, just a steak with some yellow peppers and onions off the grill, but I think enough to slow me down a bit in the beginning. First 3 miles were at 8:15 pace.

Nike Vomero - 172.85

On a side note, I was very happy with last week. In the infamous words of my late coach Lake Ann Dan Young -- "Hubba, hubba, we put some money in the bank this week."

These evening runs are getting intefered with by my diet. I have to plan for these a bit better. I did ok tonight though, except that I had McDonald's for dinner (fish sandwich and a big and tasty) because it was Ivan's (my middle son) birthday and that was his choice for birthday dinner. Plus cake and ice cream later. Did the run about 3 hours after dinner and an hour after cake and ice cream. Did 2 2-mile pick ups tonight with 2 miles in between and 1.2 at the end for a total of 7.2 miles in 51:31 (7:09s). 9pm, 83 degrees and humid. First 2 mile splits were 7:10 and 6:45 for a 13:55 (6:58s). Then hit a mile at 7:36 followed by a mile at 7:25. My 2nd 2 mile pick up splits were 6:25 and 6:04 for 12:29 (6:15s). Finished with 1.2 miles in 10:03 (8:22s).

Nike Elite - 160.45

Off Today.

9:15pm, 80 degrees and very humid. 1.5 mile warm up in 11:36 (7:44s). 4.75 in 32:38 (6:52s). .65 in 5:42 (8:45s). Then 1.5 in 11:47 (7:51s). Total run 8.4 in 1:01:45 (7:21s). The speedy portion of this run was a bit of work tonight. The humidity and dinner was working on me. I just have to find a better way to combine dinner and running. 2 hours between eating and running doesn't seem to do it. I've always been one who needs to run on a relatively empty stomach.

So, I thought that maybe I was just working too hard to only be doing 6:52s. I took the car out to measure the distance. Ugh. I should have just stuck with what I had. I knew the route I ran was 5.4 miles (4.75 + .65). However, it appears that it was more like 4.65 and . 75. So this makes the speedy portion even slower. New ppm should be 4.65 in 32:38 (7:01s) and .75 in 5:42 (7:36s). This seems more accurate, because I did not think that when I eased off the pace I dropped off nearly 2 minutes/mile. But this is a big downer to some extent. I do need to consider the heat and humidity as factors, but I wouldn't say they were any different from last thursday when I was able to bang out 5.6 miles at an average pace of 6:43. The difference must be two-fold between these two runs. First I was probably better hydrated last Thursday and Second I was running about 4 hours after dinner instead of 2. Night runs are essentially the way to go here in St Louis so I guess I'm either going to have to eat very light and then again after the run, or run later. I also need to consider the possibility that I've done too many quicker miles lately. I've had to break up my runs a bit lately due to time constraints, so when I'm only going 4 miles at a time I have a natural tendency to pick up the pace. I'm curious as to how this plays into the sort of neurological stress that Sasha often talks about. I know that studies indicate that if you take 2 groups of runners and they run the same mileage/day, but 1 group does 2-a-days and the other group just 1 run, the 2-a-day group has a tendency to get a quicker LT/AT pace as a result. I'll post a thread about this on the message board.

Nike Elite - 168.85