Doug's Running Thingy

Little interval work around the neighborhood during lunch break.  Did 1 mile warmup, then 4X1 min at approximate 800 pace and 2 minutes walk/jog.  Noticed a little bit of soreness on right upper quad - likely due to trying to sprint in a circle on Sunday - so I bailed on the intended additional 4 reps and just jogged the 1.5 miles back to the house.

Lunchtime run around the ravine trail and north loop - no energy to work the north loop - maybe Friday.  Looking forward to finishing up the remodel this weekend so I can get back to normal evening/sleeptime routine.

Couple relatively quick miles (7:20, 6:51) to warm up, and then 4X 220 meter hills with about 500 meter jog between.  Did the hills in 42, 44, 42, 41 seconds.  Might have to throw this one in the mix once a week - felt good.  Finished with about a mile cool down.

Easy mile (8:15) and a bit quicker mile (6:48) for warmup, before a little track work.  Did 8X block starts at 400 meter start out to 40-50 meters, then 2X block starts all the way through the curve.  Followed that up with 2X 450 meters, working the curves and floating the straights - clocked the last 400 of each, 73 and 68 - last 50 of the second one was pretty rough. Three laps barefoot on the infield to cool down.

Tried the distance interval feature on the Garmin at lunch today in the neighborhood - I have only used the timed interval setting until now.  One mile warm up and then 8X 0.25 mi with 3 minutes rest interval.  Did the first 4 pretty strong between 82 and 78 on varying terrain, then eased off a bit on the next 2 (88, 86), so I could finish strong on the last 2 (80, 77).  Ran the 3/4 mi easy back to the house.  Tight right hamstring early on, but loosened nicely and feels ok now.

Tried a little north loop time trial in the woods today - good mental toughness run.  Start of the north loop is 2 miles into the run and I had planned to work the first quarter mile, cruise the 2nd quarter and work the final stretch of the 0.8 mile section.  Went well right up until about 200 meters to go when I felt pretty rough.  Pretty sure it was Keith Brantly in a presentation at a XC meet where he talked about his coach telling him that if you reach a tough spot in a run, that is the time to throw in a surge... the result will either finish you off, and you will know you weren't ready for that pace or its just not your day, or, you will be reenergized to finish strong.  Well, I tried digging a bit deeper to see if I could work through it and, sure enough, it was a difficult but satisfying run - 4:51 - one second faster than the last time I ran the north loop hard.  Walked about 100 meters after that and then jogged the last mile back to the car.

Quick workout in the neighborhood at lunch.  Two quick miles for warmup (6:50, 6:41) plus a quarter mile, and then 2X long hills (220 meters at 40 and 39 seconds) with 500 meter rest.  Finished up with a bit less than a mile cool down.  Nice weather and rested legs should set up tomorrow's track work nicely... if I can just get out there and do it.

Worked all day laying flooring and building a valance to hide the projector screen, and finally got out to the track after 5 with limited enthusiasm or strength.  Did a mile warm up and then 4 block starts to 50 meters, 2 block starts to 100 and another out to about 150 - the last one felt surprisingly good.  Dungeon remodel is coming along nicely, and I got a bit of training in - its all good.

Two mile warmup on the trails, then a little ladder on the track - 200, 300, 500, all at about 70-72 pace.  Still sore and achey, so didn't push too hard.  Followed up with some barefoot striders and two laps on the infield.

Did the Garmin quarter mile interval workout in the neighborhood again - 8X 0.25 mi with 3 minutes rest interval, mostly walking.  Much better effort than last week, with the only reps over 80 being the first, the last, and the 6th which has a 200 meter gradual incline to start.  Was the heat and the strong penultimate effort (76) that dragged the last one to 83, but thats cool.  68 degrees and sunny - wham!  nearly too warm all of a sudden - yesterday it swung 44 degrees here from 6AM (26) to 4PM (70) - always good to crank up the sickness level in town - ugh.

Planning a good track workout in the morning, so I took it a bit easy this afternoon with just a trail run on the ravine trail and north loop.  Stepped it up considerably (6:22 pace) for the 0.8 mi north loop, and then eased it back to the jeep at 8:00 pace.

Officially a zero for the day, but 10 hours assisting at a track meet surely counts for some good cross training.  Travis ran first leg of the 4X800 and never felt smooth or fast - passed the baton in first place right at 2:10 - needs that to be sub 2:05 late in the season.  Then, six hours later, he ran the 3200 with 2 of his senior teammates.  They hit the mile together at 5:16, and then Travis let them open about 10 meters on him over the next 3 laps.  He actually looked real smooth and strong and he finally woke up on the last lap, running a 70 and finishing 2nd overall with a 10:21 PR, a couple seconds ahead of one teammate, and just under a second behind the other.

Two and a quarter miles warm-up followed by 4X50m block starts, 2X100m block starts and 2X150m block starts - all on the curve, and all full speed.  Stretched and loosened up fully, and then did a 600 with 1:45 as the goal.  First two 200s were close to pace, both at 36, then the last 200 was 38, so 1:50.  Surely could have strained to get closer, but I worked the starts pretty hard and didn't want to press my luck.  Found out today that the kids' track meet next Saturday has a community mile and community 600 - interesting.

Hit the trails for an easy trip around the Overstreet Loop.  Steadily picked it up with miles of 7:43, 7:12 and 7:00.  Dungeon remodel is essentially finished, new windows are installed throughout the house, weather is cooperating... time to get busy on the track. 

Two and a quarter miles easy warm-up, then a bit of track work - 2X300 (52, 51); 1X450 with a clock on the last 400 (71); 2X300 (48, 47) - full recovery.  Finished up with 4 barefoot striders and 2 laps around the infield.  Did each of the last two 300s cruising the first 150 at about 75-80% and working the last 150 at probably 90% effort - felt pretty good.  Easy 4 miles tomorrow then back on the track Wed.

Finally back to morning running - at least until the time changes again in a few weeks and it will be too dark.  Started at the track and ran the ravine trail and north loop with a bit of a workout on the north loop (6:38 pace) - the rest of the run was at 8 flat.  

Chillier this morning than I expected.  Went to the track and did 2.25 miles warmup, followed by 4X50m block starts and 2X100m block starts - was going to do two more starts out to 150, but got a twinge in my left hip halfway through the first one, so just bailed from there.  Jogged a couple laps on the infield and called it a day.  I think it is nothing except the hip complaining that I never really got warmed up properly.  Will try to get a bit more running in at lunch or this evening.

Easy run around the ravine trail and north loop from the track - just to loosen up the legs and test the hip pain.  No problems at all.  Will shoot for 5:20ish for the mile on the track tomorrow.

"Community Mile" on the track in Panama City before the boy-child's allllll day track meet.  Insufficient warm-up and limited cool down, but wasn't really taking this too seriously since I've been in sprinter mode for a couple months now.  The mile itself was all over the place with only one 200 meter interval at goal pace of 40 seconds.  Boatloads of JV-type high schoolers in the race sucked me out a bit too fast, and then weaving around them the rest of the way resulted in lack of focus and a finish time about 12 seconds off my goal - 5:32 and the medal for 1st place old guy was satisfactory.

Speaking of boy-child.  Lower back pain following his race last Friday kept him on the spin cycle a couple days this week, and back still a bit tweaky today, but he dropped a decent 5-second PR in the 1600 to take 5th place at 4:46.   He was hoping to run a leg of the 4X400 as well, but he and coach both decided to hold him out

Wanted to run a couple quality quarters, but light was waning by the time I got home from work - no time to get to the track before dark, so I did them on the lighted neighborhood roads.  Ran a 7:20 mile out to a fairly straight, fairly flat, nearly quarter-mile section. Pretty sure the distance was only about 390 meters, since I was at about 85-90% effort and ran the first one in 63 and the next in 61, after about five minutes recovery.  The last 50 meters of each was pretty tough, which is what I was wanting to feel since I have to race the 400 on Friday - not likely to be any easier in 4 days.  Jogged the mile and a half back to the house and stretched a bit.