Random Inspirational Quote

AM semi long run from hospital. 

16 mi. w/ wave run - 1:56:43.  6 mi. easy to track, 4 x [0.5mi.MP/0.5mi. HMP] - 6:30/6:10, 6 mi. easy back to hospital.  These were pretty close to goal pace for each rep.  Its getting hot! 

We're in the hospital with our wonderful new beautiful baby boy.  Tiff is recovering nicely and Jude is beautiful. Little sleep for both of us - especially Tiff :) 

Late AM easy run with strides - 5 mi. w/ 5x30-40sec. up to top speed - 37:17.  Its 75 degrees and sunny here, which is good because:

Today was the first day home with Jude Tucker Bell!  He was born Monday night at 11:02pm. We have been in the hospital since adhering to the 48 hour rule.  Tiffany was amazing and the my son is beautiful and already full of beans! :)  Hospital staff was awesome.  

PM: Terrace Lake Hill Workout - 10 x hills - most are about 0.15mi., the last being about 0.3mi.

AM easy run:  4mi. - 33:45.  I'm pretty stiff this morning. Its wonderful sleeping in my own bed.  That hospital fold out was pretty terrible.

Jude did really well last night.  I think I may have slept for a solid 4 hours str8 in one stretch.  Our first night at home was alot easier than the first few nights in the hospital.  No nurses coming in in the middle of the night :) 

PM easy run with 7 x 15-30 sec. strides:  4mi. - 31:27.  Really starting to feel some ofthat old sprint speed come back with these strides at the end of easy runs. 

AM - Seymour Half Marathon, Seymour, IN:

WU - 1.3mi. W/ strides,

8am start, 60 degrees and overcast with a 8-10mph wind.  Me and another guy were running for 2nd place from the start.  A much faster guy won in with 1:12:xx - Danny Fisher.  Tom and I were running alone the whole way, which wound being a bad thing:

Around 3-4 miles we missed a turn off and added almost a mile to the race.  The course is through downtown Seymour, IN streets and neighborhoods, so there are a lot of twists and turns.  After a cop car directed us back on course, we had added 0.9 miles. 

The effort and rhythm for Tom and I was good until we realized the mistake.  We had to stop, turn around and suck it up and try to play catchup.  

 The effort level was there, but disappointing result:

6:23, 6:12, 6:07, 6:21, 6:10, 6:08, 6:17, 6:19, 6:12, 6:23, 6:19, 6:28, 6:31, and then I hit my lap button at 13.1 -- 0:39 for 0.1 -

1:22:34 for the 13.1

The last 0.9mi. was 6:00 after hitting that mental let down

14 mi. - 1:28:34

CD with the winner and awesome and nice guy - 1mi. easy and stiff at this point.

AM: easy 6mi. around the neighborhood with the dog - 46:23

PM: easy 4.5 mi. on the dreadmill - 38:30, 1 mile outside, no watch - pace felt like about HMP

PM - longish run at whatever pace felt comfortable.  Beautiful 60 degrees and threatening to storm the whole time, though it never did.  The goal today was to be running for 2 hours continuously.  15.02 mi. - 2:00:01

Jude and Tiffany are doing wonderful.  My wife is freaking superwoman!  Thanks for stopping by earlier today to Nathan and kids :)

Back to work tomorrow for me :(

Off - pain in the left knee.  Mowed the yard and played with the crying/pooping/peeing baby boy who has recently taken over our house :)

PM - 12.5 mi. w/ strides -1:41:09.  Strides were 5x 45-60sec. of surges (maybe hit top speed on one of them)  I'm still feeling a little tight and fatigued even after taking a day off yesterday.  The knee pain that was developing was not there any more fortunately.  I think I've gottn better at reading the signs of when I have to take it easy with the recurring left knee pain.  Every now and then it creeps back in to some later mileage workouts...

PM at Brown County State PArk - running one of my legs of the relay that Quaff ON will be racing as a team on Saturday.  Very muddy and slow going on the trail.  6.2mi. ~ 1 hour

PM - easy 4 mi. with 5x20-30 sec strides.  Bought some older series New balance trail shoes today for $50 and breaking them in - the additional tread on them will help tomorrow in the mud, hopefully...

2 mi. moderate in later PM - 15:30

Dances with Dirt in Gnaw Bone, IN - extreme relay - team Quaff ON! Hare Trigger.  I ran 3 legs of this 55 mile trail race relay.  7:30am start time for leg 1.  My first leg was a loop around Ogle Lake.  Though I didn't know it, this leg would be my easiest of the day.  Every leg of this race is extremely technical, ranging from steep climbs and descent, bushwhacking, mud, creek running up to the waist in spots, and more mud.  Very fun, but very hard.  Check out the hilarious looking mile splits :)

Leg 4 - Ogle Lake Loop:

2.72 miles - 20:54

splits - 7:08, 8:36, 5:10 for 0.72mi.

Leg 8 - Burnt Opry Loop:

3.52 miles - 38:36

Splits - 9:18, 9:56, 13:50!, 5:31 for 0.52 mi.

Anchor Leg:

2.92 mi. - 28:20

Splits - 9:54, 11:16!, 7:09 for 0.92 mi.

I had about an hour between the first 2 legs and then a couple hours before the anchor leg.

WU each time was strides and a little jogging.

Our team was a lonely second pretty much the whole race - 10-20 min. behind 1st, 10-20min. ahead of 3rd.

total time was 7:28

PM easy 1mi. jog and some strides and PUs just playin around with my buddy from Lexington who had come to see the new baby. :)

Wow - my quads are horribly sore today - I could barely manage a 9:00 jog for a couple miles.  The bushwhacking involved with yesterday's race has left me with some shredded legs - there are literally about 20 or 30 slices in my legs below the knees from the thorns/underbrush!  Its difficult to walk down the stairs - that's how tight the quads are! :)

Grandview 15k group run.  It was a beautiful 60 degrees and sunny today.  My legs are hurting from Saturday still - moderate pace for last 10k - 1:06:33

AM: 3 mi. moderate w/ 4xstrides - 22:07

PM: 85 degrees and sunny - Hot!  

WU, 6x0,25mi., @ mile pace to get the turn over up, but not over do it: 73, 71, 70, 73, 69, 72, then a cool down back home from the track - finished with decent pace. -- 7 mi. total - 52:43

Long day at work today and its hot!! Not complaining... but its 85 degrees :)

PM:2 mi. super slow WU with the dog, stopped at the house and did some core and leg stuff to try get the heart rate up and get some decent work in today.

back out in to the heat wave and about 0.5mi. to get up to about MP,

so ~3.5mi. MP in about ~24:00

7:12, 6:43, 6:46, 6:36

finished with some more abs and light leg stuff

PM run around the hood

70 degrees and sunny

easy 6mi. + strides (6x15-20 sec. sprints) - 46:40

PM: mod. 4.25 miles with strides - these weren't sprints today - 30:30

AM 5k race - 75 degrees and very humid.  Had the usual guys for the CR series races show up plus a high school kid.  Danny Fisher was all alone in first, while Tom and I, and the high school kid were battling it out for second.  The high school kid went in about 5:30 for mile and faded throughout.  Tom and I passed at about 1.5.  Tom and I ran together and I kicked it on in to the finish to beat him out by about 3 or 4 seconds.  The heat played havoc with everybody apparently.  The effort felt like an even effort throughout, but the splits did not reflect as such:

5k race - 5:43, 5:57, 5:57, :47 for the 0.15mi.- 18:24

AM: additional speed work - geared toward 5k/10k goals ( I think)

1.21 WU with the dog,

1mi.-5:36 w/ 0.25 mi. rec. // 2x0.5mi. w/ 0.25 mi. rec. - 2:44, 2:42 // 0.25mi. - 70

CD a couple minutes

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/315051730

AM Long Run:  75 degrees and Sunny

In hopes of being able to run Sunburst Marathon on June 1, as well as feeling like I had been taking it too easy lately, I got the itch to attempt a long run today and the 8 mi. +15k group run tomorrow.  A last ditch effort to get some good volume work for June 1 marathon, since I found out recently that it might still be a possibility. 

20 mi. course - from the house, out to Harrison Lakes, several loops around the lakes up to 14 mi. and then back home for the 20 - around 7:45's the whole way - pretty even pace on a fairly hilly course.  -- 2:34:53

AM: easy 2.7 mi. around the hood with the dawg- 22:45

PM: easy 8 mi. out to group run course around Grandview + 15k group run -- 17.3mi.- 2:14:20, w/ group run in 68min. - solid 2hour run

Its hot!  Struggled on Sawmill hill ~ 16mi. into run... but mission accomplished -2 consecutive 20 mile days.

PM: 75 degrees and overcast - easy to moderate pace throughout - again, really going for volume this week.  Ran from house over to soccer fields and back.  Thought I'd really be feeling the mileage at this point... not yet :)

The run going out to the soccer fields was neg. splits, but didn't quit make it down to MP: 8:23, 7:35, 7:26, 7:26, 7:19, 7:06, 7:00, 6:57

 Trip back was solid mod. pace, fairly consistent, and big confidence builder with the quantity of volume recently: 7:27, 7:23, 7:10, 7:03, 7:12, 7:04, 7:10, 7:10

15.41mi. - 1:52:39

PM: Easy day/XT: 1 mi. jog, about 20 minutes on the bike, and some core/leg work.  Pretty sore left hammie - I think the volume work caught up with me.

PM - 65 degrees and overcast - bike ride/XT 

17 mi. on the bicycle - 1:05 - I put a decent effort forth to go this slow.  Light core and light leg work.  The left hammie is hurting to run on, still.  Hopefully not an issue today with almost 2 full days off running.

PM: Easy run around the neighborhood - hamstring still acting up - 17:00 for 2 miles and this pace hurt...

12 mi. on the bicycle - 42:05 - garmin says that about 640 calories

AM: It is beautiful outside - 70 degrees and sunny.  Easy 6 mile jog in the grass with the dog - 52:06.  The hamstring is almost ready for action again. 

early PM: 18.57 mile bike ride for some good XT - 1:07:14 

30 minutes of foam rolling, stretching, and core and leg strength training. 

AM: 60 degrees - Playing it safe with the hamstring, still, but seems to be better:

2mi. WU with a slow build up to ~5k pace for mile repeats with 0.25 jog recovery

3x1mi. and 4xstrides- 5:44, 5:41, 5:46.  Hesitant to do the strides - so kept them less intense and short: ~15-20sec. at just below mile pace.

7mi. total - 47:49

PM: 6.5miles/25 minutes on the bike with 10 minutes hard pedaling.

AM: easy 4mi. around the hood with the dawg, w/ 6x15-20sec. strides -- 29:30

Hamstring is doing well

PM: 80 degrees and sunny, with allergies in full sing - easy hour mostly on the grassy surfaces around the local courses - 7.5 miles - 60:00

PM track workout - 80 degrees, sunny, and windy:

2mi. WU jog over to track,

4x0.5mi. w/ 0.25mi. rec. jog - 2:47, 2:46, 2:43, 2:40,

4x0.25mi. w/ 0.125mi. rec. jog - 75, 75, 76, 75,

4x0.125mi. w/ 0.125 rec. jog - 35, 35, 36, 35,

CD - jog back home

9.2mi. total - 1:11:11

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/319633063

PM bike-run-bike - 85 degrees and sunny today.

Bike 6 mi. easy effort out to Grandview Lake - 25:15,

1.09mi. WU/loosen up the legs from the bike over, 6 mi. @ AT/MP effort on the hills around Grandview Lake loop. 49:14 for the 7.09mi.

Bike 6 mi. easy effort back to house - 22:29

New shoes - Saucony Kinvara 4 - I've been a big fan of every shoe in this series (hint, hint Saucony product test people) and these are no exception.  

PM easy 5mi. around the neighborhood with 6x15-20 sec. strides - these started off at just below mile pace and then worked their way down to some decent paces.  36:30 run - total - this needed to be an easy day.

Did some core and stretching stuff before and after.  A little bit of time on the foam roller, too.

Random thought - I only need to improve my marathon time 6 minutes per year to make the Olympic qualifying standard B in time for the 2020 Olympic Trial Marathon... :)  I'll be 39 years old

PM - raining and about 75 degrees.  Bike over to bike shop to work out a deal to purchase a new road bike - 4.56mi.-24:53.  Ran home in the rain with e camel pack on - easy 7 mi. - 55:47.

PM2 - easy 2mi. jog with the dog - 16:48