Random Inspirational Quote

AM 5k run across town.  Course is a slow course every year - lots of sharp turns, a couple sneaky hilly sections and a 180 turn around.  WU by running most of the course (and almost missed the start - my strides at the end got me to the start line at the middle Natl Anthem!) Pace was very even, but the effort level was much different throughout.  Also, there are usually about 7 or 8 faster guys (and girls) that show up for this race.  Also, a faster Quaff Team member made this race the third of 3x5k race.  Even with that, he still was only about 10 seconds back.  Lead from start to finish.  The last mile and finish is a difficult little upgrade:

5:42, 5:45, 5:46, 0:49 for 0.14mi. - 18:02 for 5k

CD running most of the course again.

PM: 56 degrees outside!  Meant to do this this morning after race: WU 2 miles with the dog, 2x3mi. MP -  19:53, 19:29 w/ 0.5mi. mod. rec., CD jog.  8.64 mi. total - 1:01:22

PM - treadmill long run.  This cursed 10k that was supposed to happen on Feb. 8th and was already postponed for today because of weather, had to be cancelled due to weather - there is about a quarter inch sheet of ice on everything from last night and 3-5 inches of snow is supposed to be coming on this evening.  The workout was going to be an integrated long run with that race somewhere in the beginning to middle of the run.  That turned into a 2 hour TM run at the house :( 

Set it on 7.8 mph and increased up to 8mph for 8miles, and into the 10x3:00MP (minus5-10sec) w/ 2:00 jog.  Did first 5 at the goal pace - 9.5mph, and cut back to 9.3mph for last 5 to finish the workout within appropriate effort level.  Just started having to labor by number 6.  Probably from racing/workout yesterday, but the idea was to get this run in today to allow 2 days recovery before this last hard week of the first cycle.  16mi. total - 1:59:19   

easy 4 mi. on the TM at home - 32:00

PM: recovery miles - house down SR 11 in the snowy / slushy shoulder, to the people trails, jogged and chatted with the Quaff guys out doing some sort of repeats before their trip to FLorida this weekend, and back down Carr Hill in the dark.  A little scary on that road, but saw two deer go gallopping across the road about 20 feet in front of me before it turned pitch black out.

9.28 mi. total - 1:17:44

PM: easy 2mi. TM - scraped the big hill workout - moved to tomorrow.  This left hip flexor/groin nagging thing is annoying.

PM: Hill workout on a nearby hill.  Carr Hill Rd. is 0.8 mi up a 2% avg. grade.  It rolls a little bit and flattens in a couple spots, but makes up for that with some steeper sections near the top.  This was na adaptation of a Boston Mar. specific Hill workout intended for TM I think (2mi. 2-4% up, rec., 4mi. with 0.5mi.up/0.5mi.down continuous, rec. jog, and then 2mi. 2-4% downhill to finish)

I did the best I could:

WU, and then up and down Carr Hill one time: 1.6mi.-10:15.  Easy 3min. jog on flat, and then

up/down/up/down/up for 4mi. - 26:00 (6:26,6:14,6:40,6:40) - I was def. hurting on that last up!!

jog 3:00 rec., and then down/up/down to finish for 2.4 mi.-18:50 (6:07down, 6:43 up, and then 6:00pace back down), CD jog back home.

13.34 mi. total - 1:34:37

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/456303255

AM: easy 6 mi. around the neighborhood a couple times - 46:30.  Feeling good with this pace after a diffcult workout last night.  It was close 50 degrees and sunny by the end of the run at 11am.  Yaah - Spring (ish) weather!!

PM: easy 6 mi. around the neighborhood - 45:55.  First 2 with the dog.  A bit sore near the end - didn't like that.  Shorts and tshirt for a wonderful 58 degrees and sunny.  Actually walked a lap around the block after.  Awesome day!!

AM - easy 8 miles - terrace lake and back - 64:55.  A little sluggish on the hills this morning even for a recovery run. 

PM - easy 4 mi. around the neighborhodd with 6xstrides - 31:15.  Stupid old Red Ghost 4 shoes gave me a blood blister on my left fore foot.

Ate poorly today - family in town

10AM: Part 1 of double.  Workout is 10-12mi. w/ 5 mi. moderate and 5mi. MP -5to10sec.  Ran over to fairgrounds/school track and did laps.  About 35 degrees and sunny with a slight wind this morning.

Splits: Moderate -- 7:36, :05, :02, :07, 6:44,  MP-5to10 -- 6:17, :18, :15, :19, :15, CD jog back home

11.18 total - 1:16:36 

3PM: Part 2 of of double.  Workout is 10-12 mi. w/ 6x1k LT w/ 3min. mod. jog between.  Same course - ran over to school track and ran loops around fairgrounds and the track,  It was about 45 and sunny - very nice!  The moderate miles were okay, but the k's were tough - It was tough to get the legs moving after this morning's run (I think that was the point)  1k reps were supoosed to be in the 10k pace range: 

3:43, 3:34, 3:37, 3:38, 3:38, 3:35 - looks like that's about a 5:36/mi. pace avg.  Close enough I guess - they were pretty hard, but sustainable at a fairly level effort level. 

10.4 mi. total - 1:12:36

PM1: easy 4 miles around the hood before dinner - 33:18

PM2: easy 6 miles out Terrace Lake and back - 50:38

Pretty dead from yesterday, but it was a beautiful 65 degrees today.

AM: 3.5 mile jog over to work carpool - about 30 minutes.  Headed up to Purdue Campus with a carload of engineers for an annual conference - called Road School.

PM: 19.3 Long Run on Purdue's Campus about mid day - 60 degrees, sunny and windy.  There was a ton of people on campus out and running on the awesome series of paved trails that go all over West Lafayette it seems like.  I started in to the workout not really knowing where I would run 20ish miles (guess I shoulda go ahold of Jason Dodge! :)  )  Workout was 3-4x4mi. @ MP.  I had originally intended for this workout to be on Wednesday, allowing 2 days recovery after the double on Sunday, but took a look at the forecast and decided differently.  Ended up with about a 2 mile WU and got in to 3x4mi. MP w/ 5-10min rec. jogs. 

First rep I still didn't know where I was going and wound up on some muddy trail by the middle of mile 2 and had to turn around - 6:34, 7:03, 6:33, 6:37, jogged a half mile, and then rep 2 was much better - 6:26, 6:24, 6:27, 6:36.  Jog a mile at about 8min. pace and then the last rep felt good and under control until that last couple miles in to the headwind - 6:17, 6:16, 6:24, 6:37.  Pretty dead after that, and jogged back to the Union.

19.32 miles total - 2:15:07

End of the first 4-week block, with the last week spread out over 9 days. 

easy 3.44mi. jog home from the Columbus carpool unit after a long day of the second of the Purdue Conference and Indy traffic.  Pretty hurt from yesterday and very poor dietary choices the last 2 days :)

PM: easy 5.91mi. out and back from the house - 48:12.  About 35 degreees and windy.  Sore left groin and hip flexor, still.  College Basketball time!!

PM: easy to moderate pace in the wind this afternoon - 65 degrees, though.  10mi. out and back from house to People trail on SR 46.  hard efforts up the hills on the way back, totalling about half a mile in LTish efforts - 1:15:23 total

AM: easy 4mi. recovery - about 33:50.  Nice day today, but left groin/hip flexor still nagging.

PM1: easy 6 miles recovery pace - 47:42.  Ditto an earlier statement

PM2: easy 3.56 mi. over to Score's sports bar to watch the Cats play in SEC tourney against Georgia - 26:09.  Actually feeling better on this run than earlier.

PM3: had a few beers (4) during the game, chatted with some nice folks having a good time on St. Patty's Day and jogged home.  3.49 miles - 27:39

AM: easy 3 miles treadmill - about 9 min. pace

Congrats to Nathan on his BQ this morning!!! 3:07:52!!!

easy 4 - neighborhood - recovery days before starting last big cycle

easy 6 - out and back, no watch - last recovery day before start of last BAA block.

One more day easy/off - the left leg is still hurt - 1.25mi. easy jog to get outside... briefly

PM: left work a little early to get out in the nice weather and catch the basketball games. 

Restart the engines and get the heartrate up (at least once this week) before the race Saturday.  About 55 degrees and sunny (still really windy - what is it with Indiana wind?)  4 miles over to track from house, and into 3 x 1mi. LT w/ 2min. rec. jog - 5:55 for all 3, and then took the long way home. 

15mi. total - 1:49:XX

AM: easy jog over to a Quaff teammates house to drop his prizes from previous race.

5mi. - about 41minutes

PM - easy jog to pick up our car from the shop - wouldn't start for me, even tried jumping it.  We had it towed from our house over to the place and they started it right up... IDK.  $60 tow fee paid for them to run their checks on it and discover nothing wrong with it.  :(  2.77 mi. - 22:30

AM: 10 mile race in Louisville, KY this morning.  Its a fun one, and well organized.  Its one of the bigger races I run in throughout the year - about 7000 people.  Set my daggone alarm clock for the work (weekday) setting and did not wake up until 6:15 - about the time I wanted to leave to pick up Nathan this morning.  Again - my apologies, Nate.

We barely got there in time for Nathan to register, and us to get to the start line in time.  The weather was great, with the exception of the headwind coming back.  The race for me, was an hour long battle with my quads.  From mile 1, a tightness crept in to both quads that never quit the entire race.   First 2 miles, the splits were about where I wanted to be, but the quad issue troubled me, since I knew that the difficult climbing of Iroquois Park loomed ahead for miles 2.5 through about mile 6.  Coming back, the wind picked a bit, I think and we had a good headwind to slow us down for the miles 7-9.  The course then turned out of the wind for the last mile.  The splits reflect as much.

6:00, 5:56, 6:12, 6:15, 6:17, 6:14, 5:51 (coming down out of Iroquois), 6:09, 6:09, 6:00, and then 0:14 for the additional 0.05.  I managed a good kick at the end to hold off a herd of guys (and gal) that had traded places with me throughout the race. 

2 minute course PR, and a good indicator of about what I should expect my half marathon pace to be (on a flat course) - 1:01:16 for 40th Place

PM: Long run with Nathan in Columbus this afternoon.  Harrison Lake and back from house.  Ran in to Tim Proctor on the way back.  Quads are very sore from yesterday's race.  Worked some of it out, but got back into an uncomfortable state near the end of the run today.  Its in the 30's temperature wise again, which sucks.  Still - Nice run, good company.  14.75 mi. - 1:58:xx

Off - Quads are sore enough to warrant icing and a day off.

PM: track workout with Quaff guys - Change of Pace workout

2x [2k, 400 / 1200,400 / 1k,400] - 7:17, 79 / 4:15,77 / 3:34,77 // 7:12, 80 / 4:19,76 / 3:32, 72

2min. rec./rest between longer interval and 400, and 4:00 rest/rec. between 400 and next long interval.  10k pace for longers, 2mile pace for 400s.  2k's were hardest.  Very windy day on the track.  Why is it 20 degrees at the end of MArch?

10mi. total - 1:15

Left groin pain is past nagging inot injury mode after hard woprkouts, now - I have to take some down time.  Today was 12 miles on the bike trainer - 38 minutes.  No running :(

PM: can't stand it - got out and tried to jog - 3.34 miles slow and painful.  7 miles hard on the bike trainer - at least that doesn't hurt - 18:00 or about 23 mph.

Tried to WU the legs before running to bar for the UK/UL game tonight - went hard for 3x2mi. on the bike trainer - 10 miles total in 28 minutes.  Jogged over to bar - 3.67 miles slow and not as painful.  Plenty of beers to drown my self pity.  UK won though!! Elite 8!!!

Off today - rough night last night after Quaffing my weight in Busted Knuckle Stout beers.

Okay - so, I got a good night's sleep last night and took last week extremely easy.  was still feeling the hangover a bit, but got going after about 6 or 7 slow miles and getting the heart rate up (slowly).  Finally got a planned workout and did... okay.  3x4mi.MP - 27:24, 26:25, 26:31 - I'm happy with anything close to what I what I was supposed to do today.

21.27mi. total - 2:39:10

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/470420368

OFF- really trying to watch it with the aggravated groin/hip on these recoevery days now that Boston and DWD is so close.