Random Inspirational Quote

Nice hilly race - CR Series 5k, another 4th place finish - First mile too fast - 5:30.  

5:30, 6:00ish, 6:15ish :(  When the race timer tells you before not to be expecting a PR on this course, you know you're in for a treat! :)

It was also about 80-90% sauna like conditions with the 70 degree temp. 

easy bike today to get the blood flowing and give the legs a rest (hammies and knee)  LAst big tempo run tomorrow!

AM Tempo Run:

8am this morning - it was 70 degrees and muggy.  Final tempo run - taper for Fox Valley Marathon on Sept. 16th begins this week.  Garmin Connect inaccessible for me since our CP crashed and no access - can't upload... anyway - started off run at 6:30-6:35s and started falling off at mile 10.  Hmm, maybe due to the heavy mileage over the last month (300 mi. is about a 20% increase in monthly mileage for me).  I hope so...

Total 15.1mi. - 1:43:22 (6:50 avg.), 0.5 mi. WU and 0.5 mi CD.

Weight is looking okay, but I would have liked a better result today.

PM: easy bike-jog-bike over to Mill Race Park and back.  6 mi. bike, 2 mi. jog -19:00, 6 mi.

Its hard to know how to act or what to do when I'm not running 1.5-2 hours a day.

PM: Easy 5k w/ strides around neighborhood - really letting the recovery sink in - my legs are feeling strong!  :)  10k tempo tomorrow 

PM: Taper day tempo - hot and humid - feels like about 90 deg. and thick here in Indiana.

1.2 WU - 9:35 with the dog.  Indy likes to just stop and sit down at about 0.5 mi. now :(

3 MP (or what felt like MP effort :( )  This was not feeling good today :(  Hopefully, my body is still recovering from August 300 and Monday's long tempo?? 20:27 (6:45s-6:50s)

4 x 0.13 strides at about 5k pace,

1.68 CD - not really, since I was drenched with sweat :) 

PM: easy 4.06 mi. w/ strides: 4x0.12 mi.(44,41,44,40) - 34:12 

AM: Melonfest 5k race in Brownstown, IN - 8a, 55-60 degrees, a hilly and soggy course after last night's rain.  PArt of the course was through some mud and puddles on a grassy path.  First mile was downhill, some good rolling hills over the rest of the course, including a nasty one to finish the race... 

5:29, 6:08, 6:02, :44

3rd overall, and a nice door prize - a watermelon :)

Feel good after an easy week.  I'd say another week like this one and I'll be feeling amazing!  Watch out, St Charles.

PM: 3.43 mi. buildup - 24:48 (7:46, 7:08, 6:35) -- the legs were a little stiff from this morning, but the effort level was very low on the last mile!  Very encouraging.

PM: easy 8 mi. - Terrace Lake and  back - 1:04:15, first 4 were over 8:00, last 4 were under 8:00... moderate effort level on the climbs.  1 week until Fox Valley :)  I was shocked to see that I hadn't put on 5-8 lbs.  I feel bloated and didn't eat as well as I should've this weekend :(

easy 3.61 in the PM after work - 30:46.  Nice and easy during week of Marathon.

Easy/Off/XT - 1 mi. jog, 5 mi. bike - about 30 minutes of super easy cardio to get the blood flowing

PM: Run around the neighborhood - 2 MP, 0.5 mi. of short strides.  5mi. total - 36:33

The temps up near Chicago seem to be cooling down for Sunday morning... awesome - 55 degrees for the low.

PM - easy intervals - again, to get the blood flowing and take it real easy

5 mi. with 4 x 0.25 mi. at about 5k pace over at the local track -- total of about 38:00.  

encouraging that I am "jogging" at pace that was feeling moderate/hard a week ago - behold the power of the taper!  

Off / super easy today, 3-4 w/ strides on Saturday up in St. Charles, Marathon Sunday.

walking and easy biking today - 5.2 mi. biking - 22:32

5 hour drive to St Charles today - 4 toll booths... :( 

Race expo was pretty weak for this race - no shoes and about 3 vendors.  Picked up the packet and bought a new singlet and some gu gels and headed to the hotel.  Apparently, the whole city of St. Charles is under construction... to be continued in the race report... :(

Got to the hotel, via a construction zone, at around 1pm.  Got all checked in to the Motel 8, and jogged a couple miles with strides around the nice adjoining neighborhood.

The town of St. Charles is actually very nice with a ton of parks and interconnected trails, but the amount of construction going on ruined it.  Its all centered around the St. Charles River and its eccletic downtown area, which again is awful because of the construction.

Start off with saying that I am pleased with this result.  Dissappointed with not hitting anywhere near the expected time, but, I have nailed down the reasons - mostly due to lack of proper training.  Looking back at my 3-4 months of training a couple weeks ago, I realized that I lacked the quantity of true long runs and longer tempo runs needed to endure those final miles at pace.  The volume of mileage was great during those 3-4 months (300 for August) time, but, I didn't have the quantity of individual 2-3 hr runs needed.   

Also, the course played its part: The race that claims it is a top 30 qualifier for Boston... hmm.  It is flat enough, but I'm not so sure that the they ran the same course this year as the first 2 years?  There were about 5 or 6 construction areas, and or fenced off areas through parking lots that the course ran through.  It may sound like whining (it is :)), but that number of hairpin turns and having to negotiate the 90-180 degree turns and very short, but very steep grades on gravel 10-12 times wears on the legs and momentum.  In the later miles its mentally taxing, also...

Course and training deficiencies are demonstrated through the odd, fluctuating splits and awful splits for the last 5-7 miles on this "flat course". 

6:41, 6:32, 6:43, 6:44, 6:35, 6:39, 6:36, 6:46, 6:44, 6:41, 6:40, 6:34, 6:44, 6:41, 6:33, 6:39, 6:37, 6:40, 6:52, 6:54, 6:59, 7:09, 7:25, 7:44, 8:07, 8:08, 2:16 - 0.29 mi. ?

Picked up an extra 0.1 somewhere...

Don't recommend this race to peers and you fast 2:20-2:30 guys, unfortunately.  Its over $100 for entry, and no prize money for you faster guys.  It is a smaller race (~1000 people total) so running what I thought I was capable of today would've put me in top five.

Chicago will def. be a training run, 1 or 2 halfs in October, and really shoot for the moon at Indy Monumental in November.

On a lighter note, I really did well icing and working on recovery yesterday and my soreness isn't horrible today :)

Got official email - I'm in Boston!!  1 mi. easy jogging... recovery time in the new shoes - orange and black Ravenna 3's - Ravenna 3' are my favorite :)

AM: easy jog - 1.24 mi. -10:46 -- with the dog in the new kicks.  Maybe a little more tonight.

PM: easy 12:15 bike - 2.88 mi.,  easy 1.21 mi. with the dog - 10:42, 10 minutes core work

Icing legs again during the nightly PE class 

Time to get back to the good diet... :)

easy 3.7 - 31:20.  still hurting from marathon.

off\xt today  _ 11.2mi bike - pushed alittle harder than i should about 40 min

2.22mi with some strides. race tomorrow against my better judgement 

This race was a game time decision.  I was being a little wary of running a 15k on some shaky legs.  I almost just ran the 5k option, but decided the night before at the reg. table to go big :)

About a mile for WU, the legs felt fine... Race starts very much similar to most races I run in in this series.  There's a couple guys always in the front and anywhere between 2-5 youngsters who sprint out.  One little guy made it 1.5 mi. before dying :)  

First mile feels a little strained and I already slowed it down at 0.75 (otherwise, it would've been about 5:45 :(  )  Maintain a consistent comfortable 6:25 pace and then start with legs feeling tight /tired after about 10k.  Probably could've managed a little quicker pace on fresh legs?  I was struggling to maintain 6:25's 10k-finish, but had a good finish for last 0.5 mi. or so.  

6:02, 6:18, 6:17, 6:23, 6:28, 6:26, 6:25, 6:26, 6:28, 2:10 for 0.37 (picked up some extra again) 

Final time -- 59:36

Winner was 55:xx, 2nd - 56:xx, 3rd - 58:xx, fourth was about 10 seconds ahead of me.  Fresh legs would've put me in the hunt for 3rd I think.  

No scheduled races for this next weekend, but there are a couple I could run :) 

easy 6 around the neighborhood - 46:32.  Feeling fine.  Think the legs are ready for some work this week. :)

super slow and easy 30 minutes - 3-4 miles aournd the neighborhood

OFF - still recovering from marathon.  Decent fartlek workout tomorrow.  Chicago Marathon in a week and a half... its okay - I'm running it as a training run :)  

PM: Easy intervals - jogged over to track and saw Greg Hertle finishing up 20x400 workout.  I joined him for his last 3x400 (85s I think), then went in to my 600s (actually 0.38 mi/0.12mi. rec)  - did 3x600 in a little over 2 min. each and started feeling the left knee and calf that were bothering me at the end of Marathon last week, so decided to call it quits.  This is still a recovery week as far as I'm concerned.  2x200m comfortably fast and then jogged home.  ~6.5 mi. total

Iced throughout my PE class... These days are a little fuller than I am used to - work by 7a, home by 5:30p, run, eat, PE class until 10:30pm.  

Anybody have any recommendations for a race day plan for the Chicago Marathon next weekend:   

1. How to get to starting line from my buddy's house that is about 15 miles west?  

2. A good long run workout to try (as opposed to making the mistake of getting caught up in the excitement and racing)?   

easy 4 mi. around the neighborhood - 32:47

AM Race:

Very hilly (mostly climbing) race through Clifty Falls State Park in Madison, IN.  Not trail running, but mostly uphill.  About 200 people, but nobody I really knew showed up.  I won by about a minute, so it was probably one of the weakest fields I have seen.  1st place overall, by myself the whole way - about 1 minute ahead of 2nd, I think.  First race win for me, so tht felt good.  The race organizers start the awards and hop right in to age group awards, and I realize as they read my name for first place M30-39, that they actually have no overall awards :( !?!

Yeah - first time winning, and they don't even acknowledge it! :(  I got a non-specific medal with their race name on it.  Oh well - I'll take the moral victory all the same.  We're not running for the glorious $1.50 medals for awards, but it would've at least been nice to be acknowledged as the race winner.  I guess that's why no good guys were at this race.

 WU - 0.88 strides,

Race: 6:00, 6:21, 6:13, 0:20 for 300' ??

CD - 2.17 mi. trail run on trail adjacent to course. - 20:00

PM: 5.48 mi. easy bike around neighborhood

AM Buildup Run:

12mi. - wanted to buildup to MP and keep the pace moderate and ease back down near the end of the run.  My left leg - knee, mostly - started really bothering me with about 4mi. left, so I backed off.

7:30, 7:10, 7:09, 6:50, 6:36, 6:46, 6:53, 6:50, 6:56, 7:01, 7:24, 7:58

Total -- 1:25:10   Icing the rest of the day.