Positive Running

On a whim, I decided on Friday night to run the Labor Day Arkansas 5k Classic with Kevin, Mark and Jacob.  My last 5k race was the St. Patrick's Day Westport-Kansas City 5k which I completed in just under 22 minutes.  Now, 21 years later I decided to run a 5k as a form of speed training.  Kevin finished first in his age group, Mark finished second in his age group, Jacob finished second in his age group, and I finished third in my age group.  I started my Garmin just as I reached the start line (I started about a third of the way from the front of the pack) because it took about 13 seconds to reach the starting line.  I ran the 5k officially in 21.51 or 7:03 per mile, which includes the 13 seconds waiting to reach the starting line.  My Garmin said 21.37 or 6:58 per mile when I crossed the finish line.  Not bad for a warm (81 degrees with a heat index of 86) and muggy morning (humidity at 90%) in Arkansas.   

Ran 7 miles with Mark at Two Rivers Park averaging 8:00 per mile for the run.  Mark is a very strong medium-long distance runner, but we are both recovering from our 5k yesterday and planning to run tomorrow.  Mark and I are fairly even in our running abilities, with Mark faster (about 20 seconds per mile in a HM) than me and my long-run endurance is stronger than Mark's.  We also saw James T, and talked about his growing up in the northern suburbs of Detroit, the great Arab restaurants in those suburbs, and his commuting between Little Rock and Wilmington, DE.  Overall, a good recovery run at a marathon pace.

Met some ultra running friends at 5:00 a.m., drove about 1.5 hours to the base of Smith Mountain.  Met up with at least 40 other runners and ran the second leg of Heart of the Traveller -- a 24 mile combination dirt road and trail run from the base of Smith Mtn to the near the top with approximately 2,000 vertical feet of uphill running.  Ran the 24 miles in 4 hours 20 minutes, and finished 5th among the all the runners.  Saw a lot of great people involved in the AT 100 who I don't visit with enough.  It was warm in the morning and hot in the mid-morning, but I kept hydrated and felt good after the run.  I very much enjoyed the run and am looking forward to pacing George P for the last 33 miles of the AT 100.

Rest day.  My back is sore due to carrying the hydration pack yesterday.  I need to look into changing the way I wear my Camelbak.

Another rest day.  My back feels much better but I'm still a little stiff.

Ran 8 miles in The Woodlands with Mike and Pam.  It was a warm and muggy morning.  I ran miles 3, 4 and 5 at an average pace of 7:23 per mile.  Overall, Mike ran the 8 miles in 64 minutes and I finished about 30 seconds behind him.  This was my last hard run before the Philly Rock 'n Roll HM, so the rest of my runs for the next week will be easy.

Rest day.  Beginning mini-taper for the Philly HM. 

On a cool 68 degree morning (coolest morning in over a month), ran with Joe C, Josh B and SuperDave (our blind running buddy) around the Two Rivers loop and over the Big Dam Bridge and back.  It was a nice slow recovery run with the first 6 miles at about 9:10 per mile and the second 6 miles (including the bridge/hill) at 8:35 per mile.  Hence, from Joe's perspective, we ran a solid negative split.  Josh and I ran a 2 min fartlek at a 6:20 pace to stretch some muscles after the first 6 miles, and I ran another 1 minute fartlek after 11 miles at a 6:50 pace to stretch some more.  

Ran 13.7 miles with Kevin on a beautiful cool morning south of the Arkansas River and at Two Rivers Park.  Started slow because it took me a while to warm up and my left knee continues to heal from the Smith Mountain run.  Ran mile 2 through 7 at 8:11 to 7:57 per mile. By the end of 7 miles, I felt warmed up.  Ran each mile from 8 through 13.7 in under 8:00 per mile, with mile 12 at 7:29, mile 13 at 7:20 and the last 0.7 miles at 7:28 per mile.  I had quite a bit left, but didn't want to push too hard with the HM next Sunday.  After I finished, Kevin ran the 1.5 miles to the BDB at approx. a 7:00 per mile pace -- AWESOME running strength!

Overall, it was a good last hard run before the Philly Rock n Roll HM next Sunday.  It's going to be easy runs for the rest of this week as part of my mini-taper.  I am looking forward to Sunday morning speed workouts based on Brad Hudson's book Run Faster, starting on 9/23/12.    

No run, just a long work day. Early morning - woke up at 3:45 to catch a 6:20 a.m. flight.  Traveled to Rhode Island for work. Provided training at a power plant until 6:30 p.m.

Started to taper for the Philly Rock n Roll HM by running 6 miles in the evening around Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island.  Bryant U. has a 2.5 mile cross-country trail around the campus that includes various running conditions such as grass, sand, dirt roads, pavement, hills, and flat sections. My left knee was extremely stiff and weak throughout the run, which was a real slog averaging 9:25 per mile.  Afterwards, I ate a great baked lobster dinner at a local restaurant.  Then, I put my left knee on ice off and on for a couple of hours. 

Ran 6.5 easy mile around Bryant University.  My left knee was a little stiff tonight, but not nearly as bad as last night.  I took a solid two miles to warm up and averaged 8:50 per mile for the run.  But each mile was successively faster up to the 5th mile at a 7:20 pace.  The variety of running surfaces on the trail tend to slow down the pace a lot.  College students and some older people (possibly faculty) were watching me run the trail as if they don't see too many people in their mid-fifties running that trail so fast.  The students were courteous and several made encouraging comments. Afterwards, I went back to Paretti's Restaurant and had their scallop stuffed baked lobster with sweet potato fries and a salad -- the same dinner I ordered the previous night -- it was soo good.

Rest day.  Did not run.  Recovering for the Philly Half Marathon.

Rest day.  Recovering for Philly HM.

Ran 3 miles around the Rutgers University - Camden Campus,  Felt good.  Ran second mile in 7:20 per mile.

Ran about a mile warm up prior to the race, and should have run an extra half mile of warm-up.  Ran the Philadelphia Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in 1:34:47.  Placed 738 out of approx 22,000 runners overall and 20 out of 562 in my age group. It was a beautiful morning around 67 degrees with low humidity.  The course runs along some very nice parts of the city from the Philadelphia Art Museum to downtown near the Convention Center and then goes north along the Schuylkill River.

Started at the 2514 position and passed around 1,000 runners in the first mile, which caused that mile to be about one minute slower than any of the other mile in the run.  Had a strong negative split and ended the race strong, running between 7:05 and 7:10 for each of the last 4 miles.

Rest day, but walked nearly 5 miles around Manhattan in NYC. 

Ran 3.5 miles in Bernards Township, NJ where I lived until I was 13 years old.  Would have run further, but we had a busy day around Liberty Corner and Benardsville, NJ.

Ran 12.25 easy miles in a good recovery run around the Cooper River Park in Collingswood, NJ.  The park has a 3.7 mile running trail and a cinder running track.  Ran most of the miles between 8:05 and 8:25 per mile. 

Rest day.  Walked several miles with Aunt Margaret, including most of the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Rest day.  Walked several miles with Aunt Margaret, including most of the Franklin Institute.

Travel day.  Lot's of walking between trains and in airports.

Ran on a nice afternoon from Two Rivers Park to the Skateboard Park, along the north side of the Arkansas River.  The temperature was about 73 degrees and the dew point was moderate.  Had to avoid a skunk that slowed me down a little.  Overall, averaged pace was 7:50 per mile.

Rest day.

Ran two times around the Metro Bank Building, then met Wes and ran along the north side of the river on a muggy 70 degree morning.  Wes is tapering for the Sleeping Bear Marathon, so my pace was good - on the slow side of Wes' aerobic zone.  We averaged 7:40 per mile, including a slow mile warm-up and a slow mile cool down.  We probably ran most of the miles around 7:30 per mile.  I am still recovering from the Philadelphia HM and the Smith Mtn ultra training run.  Hence, I think my fast switching motor units are getting a work out, which should be good for marathons in the future. 

Ran 8 miles with an average 7:57 pace, with Wes and Kevin north of the river .  Ran 6 of the miles between 7:34 and 7:47 per mile, which is on the high side of Wes' aerobic zone.  Kevin was recovering from a tempo run yesterday in which he ran 4 miles at a 6:30 pace.  Wes and Kevin ran 4 or more striders, but my knees were so tight that I decided to skip the striders for today.  It was great to run in the morning with Kevin, who is beginning to solidify his weekly milage base.

Rest day.

Ran 14.5 miles total.  Ran 14 miles with Wes on the north side of the river at a 7:25 per mile pace.  Ran miles 8 and 9 with Wes at 7:14 abd 7:18 per mile.  Felt tight at first, and still using fast switching motor units from having run Smith Mountain and the Philly HM this month.

Ran 6 times around Black Swan Lake.  The course includes a 1/3 mile hill. So, it was in part like running 6 hill repeats, one for each lap around the lake. 

Ran 7 times around Black Swan Lake, including the 1/3 mile hill that I ran with each lap around the lake.  Also ran (4) 200m striders which stretched out my hamstrings.  On this second day running around Black Swan Lake, my quads are slightly feeling the steep downhill sections. The steep uphill and downhill sections of the course seem like a good warm-up for the AT100 course next week.