Freethinker ~ Freerunner

PR run again today even if only by 12 seconds.  I am chalking this one down as a great run for me because I had a heck of a time with my allergies this week.  I lost my voice for three days and had a lot of chest congestion causing me to miss my Thursday training run.  This morning I was not feeling completely 100 percent with my stuffy nose and sore throat, but I sucked it up and pulled off a PR in spite of my condition. 

Kevin and and I had a productive discussion about the war on drugs.  I told him that I am a libertarian and that I think adults should be free to put into their bodies whatever they wish.  We also discussed the tremendous waste of government resources fighting the losing war on drugs.  He is not quite ready to argue for repeal as I have for some 10 years now. 

Splits:

7:33

7:39

7:32

7:31

7:33

7:34

7:43

7:37

7:48

7:50

7:24

7:29

7:50

7:45

7:46

8:06

7:46

8:12

8:04

7:49

I squeezed a speed run in between my son's second well doctor visit and my own doctor visit.  It turns out that my last tetanus shot did not also contain an element for pertussis.  Since my one month old son can not get his pertussis vaccination for several more months, it is recommended that the parents be up to date on their own vaccinations as not to risk passing on viral diseases such as deadly whooping cough to their children. 

I know that there is still somewhat of a controversy over vaccinating children in some circles, but there should not be.  Without going in to the whole debate here, Dr. Wakefield's original study on a vaccine-autism link, which is the catalyst for the current anti-vaccine movement, has been completely debunked, discredited, and furthermore retracted from the England Journal of medicine.  It had way to many flaws for it to be considered real science and is no longer taken as a serious study.  But because his ideas caught on in Europe and America, record numbers of parents are now declining to vaccinate their children.  And because of this trend deadly whooping cough, once thought eradicated, is now back and has killed a hand full of California children.  No one yet understands exactly what causes autism, but the fact that it occurs more frequently in boys than in girls suggests genetic factors are at play rather than external factors.     

Now I shall get back to the business of reporting on my run. After I got back home from Ty's doctor I only had about an hour and 15 minute window to get my 10 mile run in before I had to be back to shower and leave for my doctor.  This small window forced me to run a little harder and faster than I might have otherwise.  I am glad that it worked out this way because I achieved a new PR today for ten miles at 1:11:50.  

Pace: 7:11

Splits:

7:11

7:15

7:02

7:08

7:12

7:02

7:11

7:22

7:23

6:58

I should have taken it a little easier this morning since I need to be fresh for speed training tomorrow.  I just could not make myself slow down though.  Lack of sleep last night caused me to over sleep this morning by a couple of hours.  I forced myself to run fast instead of slow and easy in order to get back home in time to start my day.  As a consequence of the fast running when I should have been recovering I ended up straining my right calf muscle somehow.  It now feels a little sore.  I'm going to ice it tonight so that hopefully tomorrow morning it is well recovered for some much needed speed training as I enter the heart of monster month in my marathon training.  

Splits:

8:00

7:41

7:39

7:42

1.54 (.27 miles @ 7:12 average pace)

I spent the first hour of my workout on the track today.  I completed six 800's.  I averaged 3:15, which was a bit slower than my goal time.  My slowness can be attributed to my right calf muscle which seems to have been strained at some point this week.   

800 Splits: 

3:17

3:12

3:15

3:11

3:16

3:22

I left the track and came home to the neighborhood for my final six miles.  I ran two 3 mile repeats with the second set a little faster than the first set.  By the time I finished my left calf muscle was really feeling over strained and I iced it before I left for work.  I will be icing it and taking it really easy until Saturday morning for my next easy run.   

Splits: 

First 3 mile set:  Average 7:17

7:15

7:20

7:15

Second 3 mile set:  Average 7:01

6:49

7:04

7:11

Nice and easy 8:20 miles this morning for one hour.  My legs feel much better after this week of pretty hard running.  I though I had pulled a muscle in my left calf, but that seems to have healed up.  I'm ready for my long 22 mile run tomorrow that I'm basically going to consider my mock marathon.  

The temperature was a really warm 72 this morning.  I was looking back in my training log and I had to go back to September 23 to find a 71 degree day.  Since then it has been in the mid to low fifties during most of my runs.  

Splits:

8:13

8:17

8:20

8:13

8:42

8:20

8:26