Of Mice and Marathons

Campus loop - 16 miles, averaged 7:36.

Pace was decent given that my first two miles were slow (~9 minutes) because I ran to meet the guys. I was working early and thinking throughout "Why do I run mileage when I get the tar kicked out of me on speed and I am sucking air now?" Well, even coming off a marathon and having to hit the John pretty bad I can still endure longer than anyone I run with (most of the time) because I was still able to keep running when everyone else was gassed. About mile 9-10 I was just getting warmed up. Cold for this time of year. 37 to start.

Day off. One of my longest, just-returning-from-marathon streaks. Got my mileage up a bit sooner than planned, but that's pretty typical.

Dynamite Loop (reverse direction) - 11.5 miles, no watch

Ran in a pair of Altras. They were perfect sockless and I barely noticed I was running in new shoes. I needed something that is a little wider a few days a week to make sure my Morton's Neuroma doesn't flair up. I've been wearing Altra's as a casual shoe for about 20 months, but didn't see anything that I liked for running. Tried the Torin's and those were way too stiff. The One is the one! No hot spots and lots of ground contact area for toes to splay.

AM: Purdue Track Workout - 12 miles total

Just Brandon, Julian, and I this morning. Did about a mile and a half, picked up Julian and ran to the tack to meet Brandon who assumed we were meeting there as is typical for them. 3.4 up.

Alden came up with 4 x 400 of 60 seconds, 3 minutes, 2 mile tempo pace, 2 minutes 4 x 400 60 seconds rest, 2 minutes rest, 1 mile tempo pace. Brandon comfirmed my thinking that a two mile tempo would be better on the end. We ended up with a strong final mile, which was fine with me given that I ran the 4s pretty hard. I think we took a bit more rest in between the blocks of the sets, but that was okay I think. We were working pretty good. To put it in perspective the 400s are at equivalent mile pace for me. Pleased I was able to stay on the boys for the 4s. The tempos were a different story. Julian ran ~5:20-5:30 I think.

73.7, 73.2, 75.4, 76.1 (74.6 average)

3 minutes

6:01, 6:09

3 minutes

77.7, 76.3, 75.9, 76.4 (76.6 average)

3:40 rest

5:45

3.6 home, Brandon ran back to his car, I dropped Julian off and headed up the hill.

PM: North side - 4.25 miles, averaged 8:08

AM: Vinton Woods - 9 miles, no watch

PM: North side - 4.25 miles, no watch

Wal-Mart/Bike Trail out and back - 13.25 miles, averaged 7:38. Ran with Julian and Brandon.

Planned on about 13 total today, so I guess I get the afternoon off. Running about a mile and a half to meet up really helps for total mileage plus warmup (first mile downhill in 9:19!). I need to get those two on my diet; they have aristocratic stomachs (but they know where all the good pit stops are).

Oh, my non-running extra bit for the day is The Sopranos is finally streaming so I can become cultural literate in that moment of television. Watched the pilot last night.

North side - 6 miles very easy, averaged 8:20. Did some strides. Followed up with some light drills and stretching + 6 hill blasts.

Rather than run the blasts by time (they are about 12-15 seconds) I run until my breathing spikes and hold for another few seconds, maintaining good form of course. Seems to work well.