Random Inspirational Quote

Happy New Year, everybody!  Today's my birthday, also.  Normally, I would be fairly hungover right now, but the family (Tiff and Jude) are sick so we didn't make it to the planned festivities down in Lexington.  Didn't even see the ball drop last night - asleep by 10:30.

Today was supposed to be a decent 10-12 miler before the snow, but called it off after a very painful 1 mile.

Oh well, its my birthday :)

Off running again - yesterday was kind of a wake up call - I'm still having some pain in my left hip just walking around.  Did get the new bike trainer set up with a little computer so I put in some miles on that.

12 miles on bike trainer in 37:41 w/ some pickups.  Also did about 15 minutes of leg and core strength stuff.  This was nice - the weather outside is getting frightful.

PM - easy 4 mi. on the treadmill at home - 34:20

AM:  easy 30 minutes on the bike trainer - 7.25 mi.,

easy hour on the treadmill - 7mi.,

15 minutes of core stength training. 

Its 30 degrees right now, but its supposed to snow about 8 inches tonight and drop in to the negative degrees over the next couple days.  My left leg is still pretty sore/weak. 

1pm treadmill run at home.  Its raining, but only because its barely above freezing outside.  Colder (much colder) temps are on the way.  I've been kind of battling what seems like the beginning of what my wife and kid have... hope I don't get it! 

12 miles starting off pretty slow (under 7mph). plodded along for an hour around 7.5 to 8 mph and tried to bump it up for an AT effort for about 20 minutes.  On my TM 9 mph was feeling labored today :(  I made it 10 minutes / 1.5 miles.  It took me 1:36:30 for 12 miles and I was drenched in sweat. 

AM treadmill run - yep, its -7 degrees here in Indiana, with a windchill factor of -33 degrees!  Its so cold, the govenor called off work for all non-essential government employees. :)

10 miles easy - 80:00  Varied the speed between 7mph and 8mph.  Played an enjoyable Playstation game while running to break up the boredom

PM treadmill run:  -9 degrees w/ -33 deg. windchill  -- yeah, it got colder throughout the day... :)

easy 30 minutes on TM - 3.5mi. 

PM treadmill at home: It warmed up to 10 degrees today outside, but it is forecasted to be 45 degrees for Tecumseh on Saturday... (? :) )

8 x 1:30 LT - this was 10mph @1% today.  Fitness is improving as the mileage goes back up, and I am miraculously surviving my attempt to cut out coffee intake! 

6mi. total - 44:35

PM: Easy hour on treadmill at home - watched Rocky 1 and felt like actually finishing the entire planned hour on the dreadmill - 7 miles.

PM: snowy trail run at the nature preserve out by Harrison Lake.  1 lap = 1.25 miles.  slow going on the slick/soggy trails - 5miles in 46:05 - yeah, that's over 9 min. miles...

Been carb loading for tomorrow, so my weight is up.  Looks like I'll be in the 4 hour range (if the trail tomorrow is in the same condition as the preserve).

10 am trail marathon in Yellowood State Forest near Nashville, IN - Tecumseh Marathon.  Temps were in the 40s to start and dropped to 30s by the end - go figure :)  The recent snow melt and rain made for the muddiest, most treachurous race I have run.  If it wasn't icy, it was muddy or  shin deep water.  The course was changed due to the usual course being in even worse shape - their solution was a 4 mile run out to a loop that was repeated 3 time and then back to start line to finish.  Pace and effort level was all over the place and the last 4 miles were a death march for my legs.  Unfortunately, that last four miles included the shin deep ice water that actually had chunks of ice floating from everybody breaking through on the way out.  A nasty climb bagan each loop and by the second time around the mud was ankle deep.  Completing and attempting ot compete in this race was the biggest effort, both mentally and physically, that I ever experienced in running.  On the second loop, where there is a steep decline with some huge mounds of muddy muddiness, I stuck a foot in that mud and took a huge fall and even rolled a couple times.  The left hamstring cramped up while it was folded under my body, and I though I was done.  Fortunately, I stood up brushed off, cussed alot, and the hammy loosened up when I restraightened.  No permenant injuries fortunately.

On a side note, between this race and the Huff 50k a week and a half ago, I have learned the exquisite art of peeing on the run (first step is making sure your all alone) ! :)

Check out this crazy splits:

7:19, 10:20, 9:57 , 9:57, 8:13, 7:31, 8:49, 9:01, 8:01, 9:22, 7:42, 7:25, 8:42, 8:46, 7:52, 9:57, 7:54, 8:01, 9:39, 10:20, 8:05, 11:14, 12:14, 9:14, 9:50

24.19 mi. GPS - 3:36:59 on the watch - my official time was 3:37:18.  Talk about losing the signal !

I feel pretty good about the effort now that it is complete.  A 2:25 marathoner won it in 3:13:xx

OFF- ouch! Saturday still hurting

AM: easy 30 minutes around the neighborhood - 3.36 miles.  Very slow and easy.  Weather has gotten decent around here - about 50 degrees today.

PM: easy 2mi. w/ dog, dropped him off, and then 7.75 mi. more - still very slow - about 9 minute pace.  (9.75 miles total - 1:28:39) Legs are pretty beat up still. 

About 50 degrees, similar to this morning. 

PM: run on TM at house and made it 0.3 mi. and decided it was time for a night run outside. 

2 mi. LT - 11:46, 0.5mi rec. jog,

1mi. LT - 5:40, 0.5mi. rec.,

0.5mi. LT - 2:43

Feeling good after warming up, considering the serious lack of quality training recently.  The diet is awful, as well.  Next week is going to hurt.

PM: easy 4.32 miles on TM and outside - 36:10.  Long hours at work and low mileage recovery week make daddy very cranky :)

Wow - 3 days off this week.  I need to get my arse in gear next week.  Frosty 5mile trail race tomorrow gonna be terrible.

AM trail race in Brown County State Park.  Snowy and cold!  Started off leading for 0.5 miles - and I don't know why.  The pace felt manageable.  Turns out it was, but, 7 dudes behind me felt that it was too easy after about mile 1.

I felt like trash after about 3 miles and can really feel the bad way I've been eating and not training lately. 

GPSed a distance of 4.8x... the race course is supposedly 5.22 miles.  I'll go with that - I ran 6:50/mile and felt like puking.

AM: Long run - made it a trip to family video to return a movie.  Its cold and snowy - about 25 degrees and snowy/slushy on the sidewlaks and people trails, requiring moderate effort on the slick hills just to stay upright nd moving forward.

Anyway, it was slow, but a bit of an effort.  17mi. - 2:20, which is about 8:12 miles. 

AM: easy 11mi. in 1:32:11.  still slick and slushy on the sidewalks and trails (paved) - warmer, though - 35 degrees.  Taking advantage of the day off work (yaah, paid state holidays!!)  Did some light core work and stretching.

PM: mod. 7 miles - 53:15.  Pushed it a little harder this evening than this morning.  Feeling good to get this first official week of Boston training rolling with some quality volume.  It was actually 40 degrees this evening.  Its supposed to get cold again tomorrow, though.

PM: treadmill at the gym.  Its 11 degrees and very windy/icy.  I'm actually going to pay for a month membership... :(

At least they have cable - I watched some of IU vs. Michigan St. 

Workout is a MPish type workout - 104% x MP for intervals:

TM @ 1%: WU, 2mi. - 12:36(9.5mph), rec. jog @8.5mph, 1mi. - 6:20 (9.45mph), rec. jog 0.5 mi., 1mi. - 6:22 (9.4mph), rec., 0.5mi.-3:05 (9.7mph) , CD

Something wierd was happening in my right knee during second interval - felt... not good, my leg started "collapsing" and felt like it was not going to support my weight while running ! :(  I backed it off, recovered, and fortunately it did not reoccur at the same pace during 3rd interval.  What the hell?!?

8 mi. total - 57:12

PM Treadmill at gym - it was 10 degrees again today.  

8mi. w/ 2mi. MP (9.3mph), 4x strides.  59:20 total

PM - TM at the gym - easy hour - 7mi.  Ran next to D. Fish and watched him do the second part of his 23 mile TM day w/ 8 x 1k... Yeah, inspiring

PM: treadmill @ the gym - 7mi. moderate with about 1 mi. at MP (9.3 mph) near the end. - 53:00 total.

AM long run in BC State Park w/ the QuaffON! team - about 7 of us m,ade it out this morning.  Me and D Fish went about 15mi. while everybody else was in for about 10 on the snowy roads.  Not to cold ( about 25 deg,) until the wind blew.  14.95 mi. - worked the pace down to about 7min./mi. near the end - 1:54:33 total.  Busted Knuckle in the warm car afterward was nice.

AM: jog over to gym - 3.35mi., 8.5 mi. on TM @ 1% w/   6 mi. AT/MP - 9mph (6:39s), jog back home from gym (shorter route) - 3.3mi.  Pretty cold / windy and icy outside.  slightly slower than MP miles on the TM are not feeling all that easy... 15.14mi. - 1:52:50 total

PM: a heat wave! Its above 40 deg.!  5 mi. easy round the hood - 39:05

pm treadmill at home - 3mi.- 24:45

PM: treadmill at house - 5.5mi., 3x1mi. laps around the hood outside, back inside to TM.  It was 10 degrees and dropping by the time I made it out the door - miserable, it has just been miserable cold weather for a while around here.  what was planned 4x1mi. LT, turned into 1mi. WU at MP and then 2 very cold hard fought slower end LT 1 milers.  

10 mi. total - about 80 minutes 

AM: treadmill at the gym before work - 0.5% incline - WU, 10.4mph for 4x0.5mi. w/ 0.25mi. rec. jog, 4x0.25mi. (11mph, 10.6mph,10.4mph,10.4mph), CD

6.5 mi. total - 47:05

PM: treadmill at gym (its still about 10 degrees) 

WU w/ strides build up to 11mph.  10x0.1mi. 11mph w/ 0.1 mi. @ 8mph rec. jog. 

finished up with 3 sprints 12.5mph up to 14mph.  felt like 14 got a bit out of hand.  

followed up with some strength stuff - ( planks, lunges, burpees, squats ) x 2

5.5 mi. total - 43:00

AM: easy 7 miles on the treadmill at the gym before work - 57:30, or 1.5 x Sportscenter.

PM: started out on a what was meant to be easy 8 outside - turned in to a 1.2 mile jog around the block.  Thought itwas gonna be alot warmer today, but also, really feeling tender in the left hamstring/groin areas.Called it a day and split a Papa Johns Pizza with the wife.

AM treadmill at the gym.  Hill intervals program on treadmill.  Varied from 3% up to 9% for 40 second intervals.  Made the last 4 or 5 of them into 20 second sprints for part of the inclined 40 seconds. 

6mi. total - 47:45

PM - outside - its above freezing!  easy 4 miles around the neighborhood - 32:12