Doing What I Can

unscheduled rest day today, my groin is very sore. decided it was best to rest it.

6 miles in the cold rain, broke out the old shoes today to save some newer ones.

8 easy paced tonight. consciously slowed down the last 2 to conserve some energy. splits:

1- 6:47

2- 6:51

3- 6:55

4- 7:04

5- 6:47

6- 6:57

7- 7:02

8- 7:07  uphill

55:33, 6:57 pace, felt good, low 50s, overall a nice day to run

ran a planned slower pace today to allow for ample recovery. 7:07, 7:01, 7:09, 7:06, 7:22 hill for a total of 35:47, 7:09 pace

3.2 early and easy in 22:52, 7:08 avg pace. 5k tomorrow afternoon

broke out the old racing shoes today for a 1 o clock start time, a very odd race start, but a welcome one given this time of year. weather was great today, 60 degrees, although it was a bit windy. I knew this course had a monster hill during the 2nd mile so i knew id ha e to be on top of my game today. My buddy Andrew won this one last year and he was there again this year so i met up with him for a warmup. felt pretty good, but was a little shakey from lack of food (not only from the late race start but the fact that it felt an hour later since daylight savings time was last night. I shrugged it off and got to the line and they fired the gun. I got out well and blazed the first mile in 5:24, i led after about 400 meters and could hear Andrew behind me til about 1.5. Hauled up the hill and was happy at the minimal drop off in effort, felt quite strong. Even with the downhill, the 2nd mile was still a 5:53 ish, hill was just too much. I let it all go the last mile cuz i felt wonderful, my legs were very fresh and my pace was smooth, hit the last mile in about 5:18-5:20 as my last 1.1 was 5:53. crossed the line 30 seconds ahead of Andrew who was 2nd in the field of about 300. 

Overall, i felt great. On a flat course today, I would have set a PR, no doubt about it. Given my splits, i gave about 30 seconds back on that hill which is understnadable given its size and duration. that being said a 17:09 on this course in the wind today is a very good time, and i am kind of bummed there was no flat races around--story could have been a lot different. had enough left at the end to run through the line and then had a nice cool down where I could have gone 5-10 miles but ended up going 2.5 to make it back in time for awards. I won free iowa state fair passes next year, a parking pass, and 2 front row tickets to any grandstand concert of my choice (pretty good value as they get pretty good bands!). Gonna keep riding this peak as the rash of mileage ive put up lately is definitely helping me. that marathon was a springboard for faster 5ks, the distance feels very short now. 

10 miles this afternoon, pretty nice fall weather, 60 degrees with cloudy skies and no wind. felt pretty decent. splits:

1- 6:54.6

2- 6:45.0

3- 6:58.4

4- 7:08.7

5- 6:55.3 big uphill, really attacked it (34:42, 6:56.5 pace)

6- 6:23.1 downhill

7- 7:06.9

8- 6:59.8

9- 6:59.6

10- 7:18.4 uphill, no attack

TOTAL-- 1:09:29, 6:57 avg pace

strides and ice bath afterwards

terrible evening for running. got off work and headed out, it was already getting dark at 5. to make matters worse, it is 40 degrees with steady north winds and driving rain, didnt turn to snow during the run, but it will later...was still plenty miserable. splits were pretty even:

1- 7:03.0

2- 7:07.0

3- 7:14.9

4- 7:04.3

5 & 6-- 14:10, 7:05 pace

7- 6:59.4

last .3-- 1:51

total-- 51:31, 7:03 avg pace

7 hard miles tonight after work, it was completely dark by then (6:15 pm), colder and windy tonight but at least no rain or snow. first snow of the year last night, got a few inches. ran pretty steady, only felt like i was pushing it a few times. splits: 

1- 6:55.6

2- 6:52.9

3- 6:59.8

4- 6:26.5

5- 6:48.8 (finally found this mile marker)

6- 6:37.2

7- 6:52.3

TOTAL-- 47:33, 6:47.5 avg pace

5 easy all pretty similarly paced, pretty cold and windy this morning but it was sunny at least. 36:06, 7:13 avg pace.

7 a little harder paced tonight, pretty good weather, 43 with light winds. splits:

1- 6:48.8

2- 6:38.1

3- 6:45.9

4- 5:53.0

5- 6:45.7

6- 6:39.5

7- 1:25-1:30ish paced 400ish followed by an easier rest of the mile total time, 6:45.5

TOTAL-- 46:16, 6:37 avg pace

6 easy this am, 44:23, 7:24 pace

5 in 35:19, 7:04 pace, ended with a migraine.. boo 

threw down today with some speedwork, cept it was in the continuous progressive type runs that ive been doing lately where i run a mile easy then hard then easy then hard. great weather, 60 degrees with a little wind. splits:

1- 6:41.9

2- 5:19.0

took a moments rest, then started jogging again immediately

3- 6:58.5

4- 5:12.3

took another brief rest then started running again, last couple miles were easy paced but i did throw 2 very hard 1/4 mile spurts in there to simulate a kick, probably 70-74 second pace. 45:01 avg pace for the entire run, 6:26 pace.

overall, a very good workout and im happy with the splits, the last hard mile (the 5:12) i checked my 800 splits and i was at 2:39 first half then 2:33 second half, so nice speed to finish with. ice bath after

much needed day off yesterday, went out for 5 easy tonight after work, it was dark and cold. splits:

1- 6:57.1

2-7:06.6

3- 7:06.5 (thats some steady pacing)

4- 6:33.1 whoops

5- 6:47.3

total 34:30, 6:54 avg pace, didnt feel like i was pushing at the end, just still felt easy and trying to keep a rythym

supposedly easy paced miles today, everything felt really easy and smooth, almost felt like i was barely even putting effort in.splits:

1- 6:54.6

2- 6:47.4

3- 6:57.2

4- 7:03.1

5- 6:59.6

6- 7:18.5 uphill

total-- 42:00, 7:00 avg pace, very even paced

quatro in 29:39, 7:25 avg pace

was gonna do a time trial 5k today, but i randomly stopped a little after the 2 mile marker. this was a solo effot, and i was completely frozen, it was 30 degrees with wc in the low to mid 20s, i wore just race shorts a race top and arm warmers with glove and hat, definitely underdressed as my lungs were on fire, im not used to the cold yet. kind of bummed i didnt see this through to the 5k mark as i would have challenged sub 17, but the cold was killing my lungs. Other than that, i felt i had a really good pace through 2 miles, hit 5:24, and 5:36 respectively to make the even 11 minutes at the 2 mile, not bad for non-racing conditions and given the cold temps. 

7 easy today, felt pretty average. 43 degrees, hardly any wind, just kind of a there run i guess. splits:

1- 6:52.9

2- 6:48.1

3- 6:45.5

4- 6:51.2

5- 6:59.6

6- 6:59.2

7- 7:18.8 uphill

total-- 48:35, 6:56.5 avg pace,  overall pretty even splits

4 miles in the dark, didnt really push hard. 28:44, 7:11 pace, my first and last miles were both 7:05.2 ...kind a weird nuance of my run tonight.

3 easy, pretty nice morning for late november. 7:27, 7:22, 6:56, 21:47 total, 7:16 avg pace. did strides after 6x50 as per usual

First off, i wanna start off by saying i measured this course online and it appears to be a touch short, maybe closer to 3 miles...regardless, i just show up and run races so if it is billed as a 5k, who am i to question that? that being said, i felt like the pace i ran was accurate to a 5k. got up early and drove to webster city, always try to do this race, they changed up the course a lot this last year, and its definitely for the better, a lot faster. very good weather for thanksgiving in iowa, 40 degrees at racetime with south winds, got up to mid-60s (record highs!) by afternoon. 

gun went off, and within the first 800 meters it was a 3 man race, this other guy and i decided to run down the leader together and we battled, we caught the leader about 2 miles in and all ran together til about 800 to go when the pack blew apart, the leader dropped off and the other guy i was with took off, i had battled and answered several surges all race long, it was a very strategic battle, but i couldnt cover his last move and he put 15 seconds on me to win, i came in second with my 2nd fastest clocking ever--16:43, i was 5 seconds from a PR. no splits on the course so i just have the overall time, but i am obviously very happy with that. felt wonderful running, had a lot of range as far as being able to surge and pace. only downside is the course was maybe a bit short, and i was also so close to PR-ing that it would have been nice to knock off 6 more seconds and set a new personal best, my 5k best has stood for 3 years now..its time for it to fall.

In other news, my 11 year-old brother ran as well and in this his first 5k ever ran 23:40, a very impressive and surprising time given he just woke up and ran. i was very proud of him, he maybe has a future in this sport! 

8 easy ones after work tonight, had to go into work at 6 am to open the store and worked an 11 and a half hour shift, pretty nice night for a run though, 55 degrees. splits were pretty even:

1-  7:15.2

2- 7:12.3

3- 7:12.4

4- 7:02.9

5- 7:03.6

6- 6:59.4

7- 7:09.2

8- 7:07.7

TOTAL-- 57:02, 7:08 avg pace

strides then ice bath

7 pretty good miles after work tonight, very steady and rhythmic pace. very cold and somewhat windy though. splits:

1- 6:56.4

2- 6:59.1

3- 7:03.3

4- 6:52.6

5- 6:52.6 same exact split

6- 6:51.0

7- 6:47.5

total-- 48:22, 6:54.5 pace

some speed today, started out with a 6:46.9 mile to get the legs moving then dropped immediately into a 5:07.3 mile, really thought i was gonna break 5 minutes cuz i felt like i was moving on this one. if it was warmer than 38 degrees today that prolly would have happened, really pushed the pace and laid the hammer down. then did an easy mile then threw down a .3 in 1:30, which is 5:00 pace. ran .7 easy then threw down a 2:30 800 meter split (5:00 pace), cooled down for 1.5, all in all a very good workout, was happy with the speed i was able to show today.

easy run this morning, legs were kinda tired plus it was super cold and windy. splits:

1- 7:11.6

2- 7:08.9

3- 7:14.05

4- 7:14.05 (exact same split down to the hundredths, usually i round up or down, these splits were exactly the same, kind of a neat little coincidence..i guess you could say i was dialed in at that pace haha)

5- 7:12.0

6- 7:28.2 (had nothing for the hill today)

total-- 43:28, 7:15 avg pace

5 in 34:57 today, 6:59 avg pace. pretty nice weather, 50 degrees. i felt pretty crappy though, just kind of sluggish and not really feeling a good pace runnin. prolly just a little fatigue, itll pass.