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

70 degrees, calm at 4pm. Did a 5.1 mile run to get the legs loose for tomorrow with 1 of those miles near race pace (6:40). Running time was 38:39 (7:34s). If I take out the pick up mile I had 7:48s for 4.1 miles. Tomorrow is the half marathon, so I'm off for some pasta.

Pegasus - 83.25

Well, it was certainly a beautiful day for a race, but the temps were almost too warm by the finish. Temps at the start were about 55-60 degrees and 70+ by the finish, with virtually no wind. Got a 15 minute warm-up in before the race and felt terrible right away. Felt like I had a high stomach cramp, right in my sternum. I ended up fighting this through the first 6-7 miles of the race. But I pushed through it and came out the other side ok. The course itself contained about 1.5-2 miles of downhill through mile 3, then a couple miles of flat followed by a few slight hills, another mile of flat followed by a downhill/flat/uphill combo where the hills were about 250 yards and considerable steepness. After that it was a double back over the first 6 miles of the course in reverse. I was shooting for 6:30s, but had concerns given the way my body was feeling. All in all it worked out ok though. I settled right into my pace and basically ran a bit under and a bit over throughout depending on terrain. Was thinking at mile 11 that I was good to just shut down and coast in, but I dug deep and came up with a little extra for a solid finish. Splits as follows:

1 - 6:24

2 - 6:35 (1st mile was mostly flat, with this mile downhill. As a result I was a bit concerned about slowing too much, but came back to pace with mile 3)

3 - 6:25

4 - 6:12 (First mile in the park where it is flat as a pancake. Good mile that didn't really feel like I was pushing it too much -- stopped looking at the watch at this point and switched over to running by feel)

5 - 6:23 (some uphill in this mile, but nothing major)

6 - 6:39 (working through a stitch here, cramp above the stomach threatening to take me down)

7 - 6:23 (good downhill section to help me breath my way through the cramp and re-establish some confidence)

8 - 6:36 (actually pleased with this split as the 250 yard, fairly steep hill was in this section)

9 - 6:24 (trying to pick up the pace and increase through the finish - down in the flat so its not too taxing to do this)

10 - 6:31 (starting to get tired and starting to entertain notions of just coasting through to the finish for 6:30s)

11 - 6:46 (going uphill now and getting quite tired, not sure if I can dig down for anything more)

12 - 6:42 (still some rolling uphills, and I'm almost shot)

13 - 6:19 (digging deep for something left down inside, still uphill, but I just passed a dude I've been working towards for over 3 miles)

13.1 - :35 (all I've got left through to the finish here)

Total Time 1:24:55 (I've done it, exceeded my goal of 6:30s averaging around 6:29s?)

Very happy about this and very tired. Quality race run feeling terrible the first half. Time for some rest before work.

Pegasus - 86.25

Gel Speedstar - 90.25

5pm and 68 degrees. Great night. 11.8 miles in 1:29:03 (7:33s). Pace was comfortable and light, but I grew tired towards the end. To be expected only 2 days after a race.

Cumulus - 136.3

68 degrees and quite windy. Did a 8.65 mile run that had 2 x 1 mile vo2max runs (done at 5:30 pace) at miles 2 and 5, plus a 1.5 mile m-pace at mile 7. With a 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down at base I pace with recovery miles in the middle. Total run time was 1:04:36 (Ave. ppm 7:28s).

Pegasus - 94.9

5pm and 60 degrees, windy. 6.6 mile easy run tonight, 3.1 of which was over the course for Saturday's 5k race (51:51 -- 7:51s). My muscles are a bit sore from this week, and that is probably expectable as it was a hard week. This might translate to a slower than optimal race Saturday, but this isn't a target race, more of simply a speed/tempo workout as I'm gearing up for my final race of the season, a 6 miler on Thanksgiving Day.

Cumulus - 142.9

Cold this morning (relatively speaking - about 40 degrees) for a race. Got in about 3.5 for a warm up. Could tell right away that I was tired. It was a tough week and I'm pretty much spent. I'll back down to just some pick ups for the next 2 weeks with almost all the rest of the mileage at Steady State pace to get ready for the Thanksgiving Day race. At any rate, only 2 of us in the race today really. 3rd place went to an 11 year old, so it was really just me and Bruce from Ghisallo Running. To be honest, as tired as I was, I never really stood a chance. He beat me 2 weeks ago at Glendale by about 30 seconds and I had very good race there. At any rate, I pushed the pace too fast the first mile. He probably might have let me back it off a bit, but it was just him and I after the first 300 yards. We ran shoulder to shoulder through a 5:38 first mile. Had I been rested and fresh, I might have been able to keep close to this pace for the remainder, but as we turned into the first small hill I could tell I was done and Bruce pulled away about half-way through mile 2 and never looked back. My second mile was in 6:25 and my finishing 1.1 was in 6:55 (6:25ish/mile) for a 18:59 and 2nd place. I think Bruce finished about 40 seconds ahead of me or so. I'm calling these miles 10k race pace, not 5k. Quite dissappointed in this race today. My finishing 2 miles were about the same pace as my 1/2 marathon last weekend. Undoubtedly I was tired. I wasn't as concerned about not winning when I think I might have been able to as much as I was that my body just wouldn't go.

This brings me to a question I've had for a while. Almost always when I have a bad run, or don't run to what I think my capacity is, its always a question of cardio-capacity, not muscular. My legs felt fine, I just felt I couldn't maintain the pace from an oxygen intake perspective. I need to keep telling myself this will continue to improve as I've only truly been running for about 16 months, but its frustrating when fatigue sets in and results in this sort of breakdown and not muscular. I did do the half marathon 6 days ago and did 2 1 mile pick ups on Wednesday at 5:30 pace so fatigue is a legitimate factor. Oh well, I've got 3 weeks to rest up for the final real race of the season on Thanksgiving.

Pegasus - 100.4

Gel Speedstar - 93.35

40 degrees and 5:30pm tonight. Nice crisp evening run. 9.75 miles in 1:13:13 (7:30s). Tried to keep the pace light and comfortable. I'm fighting the physical urge to call it a season and switch back over to base type running. I've only got 1 more race to go on Thanksgiving, but I'm not all that drawn to 'racing' it. My brother in law will be here and I'd have no problem just running with him. Going to do most of my miles at this 7:30 pace this week and take it easy, see what next Monday brings and make a decision then.

Cumulus - 152.65

AM: Raced Ivan to school this morning (.5 mile) and then did 1 more mile after that. Starting back up training today after 16 days off.

PM: 6.2 Base Miles in 43:13 (6:58s) a bit faster than I wanted to be, but the legs were probably just a bit anxious after over 2 weeks off. Beautiful day at 3:30, around 55 degrees and calm. I'm going to follow Matt Fitzgerald's suggestions in Brain Training for Runners about Proprieceptve Cues and Resistance/Flexibility Training. As such, I did 2 drills after the run today. 1) 100 meter runs (probably around 400 meter speed) with no arms (holding arms in a circle in front of my chest) and 2) 20 seconds hopping as fast as possible on each foot. I did 5 sets of both drills with jogging returns to the start line (drills probaly equivalent to 1 mile running).

Cumulus - 143.5

Had a nice enjoyable chat and jog with my brother-in-law today at the Turkey Day Run. Weather was beautiful, sunny and about 45 degrees or so. We ran and talked training as we did. Although it was officially a race, both of us are just getting back into training after a brief period off between training seasons. Did a 1/2 mile warm up before the race.

Cumulus -150

Crisp, sunny day at 8am, 41 degrees. Ran 6.6 over moderately hilly course, hitting the hills hard. Hit about 8 hills ranging from 100 to 250 yards long. Run time was 47:03 (7:08s).

Following Fitzgerald's plan, doing a week 1 resistance workout.

Cumulus - 156.6

45 degrees and mostly calm at 10am this morning. Did 7.2 miles in 54:42 (7:36s). Did my first 2 miles solo at 7:26 pace, then 4 miles with my brother-in-law Chris (first 2 at 8:25 pace, and 2nd 2 miles at 7:20 pace), finished another 1.2 solo at 6:50 pace.

Cumulus - 163.8

35 degrees and a rain/light snow mix today. 7.6 mile run at moderately fast pace, somewhere around aerobic threshhold pace. First 2.1 in 14:30 (6:54s). Next 4.05 in 27:39 (6:49s). Complete 6.15 in 42:09 (6:51s). Finished with another 1.45 in 10:30 (7:14s). Total Run was 7.6 in 52:39 (6:56s).

Nike Pegasus - 108