Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Ka-Chow!  That's what I say when I'm excited.  I finished this run feeling good, but totally beaten down and devastated by the vicious 20 mph winds out of the north west.  I felt devastated because I thought there was no way I made my pace goal. 

I should start at the beginning.  The goal of this workout was to warm up for 4 miles, and then to run 14 at marathon goal pace.  The weather turned sour in a real bad way last night.  The forecast called for a 90% chance of precip. by 5:00 AM, my usual start time, and 20 mph winds throughout the morning and into the day.

I stepped out into the street and took off feeling like the winds were not as bad as the forecast suggested.  And fortunately there was absolutely now rain or snow.  Once I headed into the north for the first time I received blast of 'kick in the butt' old man winter's wrath.  I thought this was Spring.  What happened?  

Miles 1-4:  7:42, 7:44, 7:38, 7:16.  The first mile was run mostly against the west wind.  The second, third and fourth were run with the north wind at my back.  The scary thing about this wind was that I could actually feel it whipping around and pushing me onward.  This was scary because usually you are not aware of the wind when it is at your back.  You only become aware of it once you turn around and are now running into it.  I knew a majority of the back end of this run would be heading back into the northwest, which worried me. 

Miles 5-9:  6:54, 6:50, 6:53, 6:54, 6:46.  These were all run with the wind.  Thus my pace was working nicely.  I knew that after mile 9 I would be running into the wind, which was why I ran a faster pace so that I would have some time in the bank for the return trip.

Miles 10-15: 7:01, 7:05, 7:12, 7:01, 7:26, 7:21. These sucked royally!  This whole way I was running directly into the wind as I was running either west, north, or northwest.  The wind gusts were really beating me into submission.  I felt exhausted after a couple of these miles.  I forgot to mention that the rolling hills out in this area are enough to kill your energy, with wind not needed.  There were however a few glimmering moments when I hit certain remote areas that either trees or land blocked the wind just enough that I could tell I still had enough gas in the tank continue running at my goal pace.  I went through several areas where I was able to recover before suffering a wind set back again and again.  This was a real growing moment for me as a runner.  I know now that I possess the ability to overcome adversity on a long tough run and finish strong.

Miles 16-18: 7:17, 7:04, 6:58.  Miles 16 and 17 were run into the north.  The wind was either coming right at me, or occasionally it would change to the west and I would get a small break.  This area is also a slow and steady uphill for both miles.   The last mile I finally got the wind at my back and I was able to really crank the pace back to where I would have run for this entire workout had I not had the wind.  

Conclusion:  I felt good about the strong finish, but I thought there was no way that I made my goal pace.  And maybe I thought this because I've been shooting for just a few seconds below 7:00 on my pace workouts.  When I got home and analyzed the data it turned out that I averaged exactly 7:03 on the 14 miles I set out to run at marathon goal pace!  I am really happy because I know now that I'm capable of averaging this pace even on a wicked 20 mph windy day like today.  This happened even running a majority of the workout (about 8 miles) directly into the wind.     

V02 Max run.  9 miles with 6x600's.  25 degrees.  

It was a nice cold morning to work up a good sweat. 

The first three miles were a warm up.  7:30, 7:28, 7:19.

I ran the 600's with 1 minute jogs between repeats. 

600's:  2:14, 2:13, 2:10, 2:10, 2:15, 2:12. 

The last three miles to cool down went like this:  7:58, 7:38, 7:18.

Other than the fact that I did not get up to make my customary 5:00 AM start time, I'm feeling really good about this workout.  Also, my shoe came untied during the second repeat.  So technically it doesn't really count since I had to stop and stop my watch to tie it back.  Because of that I made myself run a sixth repeat.  Coach Pfitz only wanted me to five this morning.  For anyone other than Joe reading this entry, coach Pfitz refers to Pete Pfitzinger and his book Advanced Marathoning from which my training schedules come.     

MLR - 15.  32 feels like 26.  7:23 AP.  

This run did not exactly go as planned and was thus a little unconventional.  I planned on meeting up with Shane about 4.5 miles in.  I got to the meeting point a little bit late, and he had turned around rather than keep heading my direction.  I eventually caught up with him, but I had to 7:10, 7:21, and 7:14 to do it rather than my planned 7:45 pace.  After I caught him we slowed down 7:21, but then we followed those with a 7:13 and 7:07.  I was obviously not able to sustain that for throughout the rest of the run.  My ideal MLR starts out a little bit slower and then builds to a fast finish just about 10% or less slower than marathon pace.

I still had a good finish time overall, but I think I could have set a new PR if I'd run this one a little smarter and had been more organized. 

Recovery run with 10x100's with Channing.  It felt good to take it easy this morning after the past two days.   

MLR - 12.  7:36 AP.  56 feels like 56.  

I basically started out in the 7:40's and finished in 7:20's with my last mile at 7:09.  I did not take any GU or liquids of any kind on this run.  I've been toying with the idea that training with less carbs will build the body's endurance so that during the race when you take carbs you will receive a true extra boost of energy.  I'm not cutting it completely because I also know you should practice training how you are going to race so that there are no surprises in your digestive tract on race day. 

Recovery run at a nice and easy 8:02 pace.  55 degrees with 94% humidity.  Yuck.  

My legs are a little too sore for this point in the week.  I probably could have run my two MLR's this week a little slower.  

I will try to run smart this week since I have the half marathon tune-up race one week from today.  I'm looking forward to setting a new PR in the half.