Doug's Running Thingy

Usual figure 8 five miler on the trails this morning.  Garmin informed me its battery was low at a bit over 2 miles in, so I decided to steadily press it to try to beat the clock... 8:03, 7:56, 7:48, 7:37, 7:18.  Felt really good after the day off yesterday and even with only 5 hours sleep - I chaperoned the graduation night lock-in at Fun-Station (putt-putt, laser tag, go carts and video games kinda place) for Trav and his classmates - big fun.  He's officially out - empty nest here we come!

Easy run on the trails with a bit faster finish.  Bounced around between 8:41 and 9:12 pace for first six miles then pushed a little bit to finish with miles of 8:22, 8:17 and 8:03.  Starting week four of this adventure down 5 pounds - good deal.

5.0 in 40:41 easy around the neighborhood this morning.  First and last miles were 8:20ish and the middle rolling miles were 8 flat.  Sat up too late last night chatting with Trav and one of his running buds that stayed overnight with us.  Just glad to get the run out of the way this morning.

Nice little workout on the trails this morning.  Counterclockwise around Overstreet up to 2-mile loop than backtrack clockwise around Overstreet - exactly 7.0.  Miles were 8:33, 8:22, 8:23, 7:53, 7:33, 7:26, 7:44.  Continued dropping the pace a bit through 6.5 but then backed off for last half mile.  Slight tweak in the right knee on one downhill section – will monitor that.

Easy miles on flat portion of my usual trails.  No knee issues today.  Will take tomorrow off and then back at it Saturday.

Easy four on the flat part of my usual trails.  Still no further knee tweakage.  We'll see how it goes tomorrow for 12 miles.

Made it to the trails by 7 am to get the long run in.  Surprised myself at 4 miles by thinking ONLY 8 to go.  A mere 8 months ago, 8 miles would be the longest I'd run in a couple years!  Took it easy and felt fine the entire way.  Pretty encouraged starting the fifth week of this training schedule.  Couple more weeks and we add a sixth day to the weekly running schedule to ease the milage up through 40 toward a peak of 50ish for a couple weeks.  Hey, thats bigtime for me - quit snickering!

later 

Neighborhood six this morning before work.  Easy miles to just keep on keepin on.

Good workout in the neighborhood this morning.  1.5 mile warmup and then 5x5 min at half marathon pace (7 flat pace on all of them) with 2 min jog in between reps.  A little over a mile back to the house for cooldown.  Ridiculously humid but ONLY 78° - bleh.

The heat and humidity has set in for good...  Time to load up the car with towels and shirts and socks and shoes.  Five easy miles on the trails at 6:30am and was soaked two miles into it - bleh

Easy five on flat part of Lake Jackson Loop this morning.  One gopher tortoise and one bunny - a good start to the day.

Got the fairly long run out of the way early this Fathers' Day morning.  Nice and easy with no issues - can't beat that.

Pretty creaky mile to start things off in the neighborhood, but then eased into comfortable 8 flat pace for the remaining five.  Should have started with a bit of walking, but didn't roll out of bed early enough.  Pleased that 8 min pace is feeling so comfortable... after working out the kinks.  Goal pace for Sept marathon will be 7:45-7:55.

Easy run on the trails this morning.  Overall average of 8:34 with miles 5 and 6 at 8 flat and 7:56.  

Downright chilly this morning - 72°!  Stuck to a flat out and back section of trail from the high school track.  Eased into things with a 8:30 pace first mile and then maintained goal marathon pace (7:45-7:50) fairly easily for the next four.  No running tomorrow and then a 5.5 mile trail race on Saturday morning.  Not gonna hammer it or nuttin, just want to support the club for putting on this first ever trail series of races.  Should be fun.

Although my training schedule had me doing 5-6 easy, I really wanted to do this race.  It is a very technical mountain bike single track trail that I rarely run.  On the start line were mostly triathlete and cross-fit types... lots of Vibrams, fuel belts and Camelbaks - yes, it was only a five miler, but ya never know if you might get lost in the woods for a couple hours.  I didnt want to hammer the legs too bad, but I also didnt want to be stuck behind tammy trail runner with limited room to pass, so I went out fairly strong - hey, 7:40 pace is pretty strong for this trail!  Ran strong through the turn-around and then just held position running 9 minute pace - nobody passed me until the last half mile when a 6'8" high school xc kid went by saying good job down there little fella - ok, he only said good job.  It was fun - we'll see how the 12 miler goes tomorrow with toasted quads and calves.

After the trail race yesterday, I went to the straight flat, asphalt, shady St Marks Trail for my 12 this morning.  Nice temperature, fairly peaceful trail, good ten miler... of course I was running 12!  Last couple miles got pretty rough, but got in the long run for the week.

Slow and steady on the trails this morning.  Right calf a bit sore and stiff to start, but eased off so no concern.  Nice little deer encounter to start the run - cant beat that. 

Progression run around my usual trails going from 8:30 down to 6:45 pace.  Uphill miles at 3 and 5 were pretty tough to maintain pace, and I really wanted to get closer to 6:30 on the last mile, but the hills and the weekend efforts wouldn't quite allow it.  Felt mentally strong and ready, but legs couldn't get there.  Nice workout showing progress - overall average under 8 min pace for first time on a run longer than 5 miles - thats something.

Easy four in the neighborhood this morning - will do a bet more this evening at summer track.  Grand Prix event this week is the 800.  I skipped the 100, 200 and 400, but hope to finish out the series through July (800, 1600, 3200 and 5K).

Two more in the evening, including a slow and steady 2:38 in the 800 meter run. 

Easy five on the trails early before 8 hours cutting logs and splitting firewood from a few trees we had cut down last week - fun fun.  Fourteen tomorrow could be interesting.

Fourteen miles in 2 hrs 6 min - world class if it had been a marathon!  Felt pretty good on this easy long run on the trails.  Sick humid, but the sun didnt break through the gray skies until last mile or so.