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

AM: jog over to meet carpool to Indy - 4 miles - about 35 min.  WU with some jogging and strides - we got there way early, so alot of WU - about 2 miles.  Race: 5k where the Quaff guys and I were expecting a lot of faster dudes since it has been in the past.  There wren't too many sub 17 guys and faster, turned out.  Danny and Tim went out in 1/2 positions and held those positions for the race duration.  I was about 5 seconds back from Danny most of the race.  I wound up in 3rd at the end only through a real hard kick at the end to stay ahead of Jason? (Was that you, Jason?)   I was so gassed afterward that I did not have the mental faculties to carry on any sort of converastion... :) sry.

5:41, 5:47, 5:58, 0:30

5k race - 17:55

PM: 8 miles moderate on the TM at the gym - 59:55

PM: TM at gym - WU, 4mi. MP - 25:48 (9.3mph @ 1% incline).  So many people in the gym tonight, that my shirt became soaked and saturated within about the first 15 minutes.  After completing the 4MP, I went to the bathroom to wring out my shirt, got a drink of water and continued with rest of planned sauna running fun - 3x1mi. 104%MP w/ 0.25mi. jog rec. - 6:18, 6:18, 6:15.  CD up to 5 mi. for second portion of workout.

11mi. total - 1:15:00

Amazingly, even with taking 2 days off this week, my weight is down...

PM: treadmill intervals at the gym:

10x0.25mi. @ 10.8 mph (roughly 1:23's) / 1% incline with 0.15mi. rec./floats @ 8mph.  Feeling pretty good with this effort. Again, likely due to lower mileage week.  

8.5mi. total - 60:00 

AM: easy 7 miles on the treadmill at the gym - 58:35.  The heater broken in the gym, so it was about 45 degrees.  Still, much warmer than outside!  It was below zero outside this morning.  Another winter storm coming in with the cold weather - the 10k in Seymour tomorrow morning was postphoned. 

PM: slow/easy 4mi. on TM at home - 36:06.

Decided to reactivate a bunch of the older shoes that are still sitting out in the garage.  Gonna see if a can squeeze some more miles out of some of them.  Those Gylcerin 10s are over 600 miles, but still feel fine.

AM long run in BC State Park - 12 degrees, light wind, and light snow the whole time. 

20 mi. - 2:34:48

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/442183787

PM treadmill at the gym: 10mi. easy - 1:20:00.  Its cold and icy around here still.  Been a tough winter for the Midwest (and everywhere else it looks like, too).  With all the planned mileage coming up and an overabundance of treadmill running, I decided to bust out the plethera of old Brooks trainer-type shoes sitting out in the garage and save some of the newer shoes for the warmer road running days to come.

Needed the am off to recover freom yesterday.  Pretty sore up through about lunch time today.

PM: TM at gym - varied speed and inlcine to break monotany and repetative motion and added 7 x strides at the end - 8mi. in 60:50

PM Treadmill at the gym: WU 1.5mi. w/ strides, 8x1mi. LT - 10.1mph (5:56/mi.) with 0.25 mile slow jog recovery.  I had some serious GI problems after about rep 5 - my apologies to the guy on the TM next to me.  I finished the workout just in time. 

Pretty pleased w/ completing this - 8 mile repeats is a PR on the number of reps.  The last couple got alittle labored for the last half mile of each, but I think that was due to the GI thing.  This pace felt like it could be manageable for 10mi.-half, which is what I think the idea was.  This is the first workout of a very structured specific marathon training plan - my first!  I'm excited about having a sudo-coach/trainer! :) 

Pm - easy 8mi. treadmill at the gym - 61:50.  Watch the beginning of the Pitt-Syracuse game.  Wow, what a finish!  Love me some college basketball

Today's PM workout went well on TM at gym - 3x3mi. 90-95% MP with moderate 0.5mi. recoveries.  Felt comfortable after 1mi.  WU at 9mph(6:40s) for the first 3mi. rep. and 7.8mph for 0.5mi. rec. and then repeated same paces.  Felt pretty even effort through the all. (The first one actually felt the hardest...)

11mi. total - 1:16:10

5AM - easy 4mi. on TM at the gym - 31:20.  The easy runs on this very structured schedule are to range from 7:06-7:44, and typically range from 8-12 miles, divided into 2 runs on Fridays .

AM: group long run in Columbus on mostly clear paved trail - essentially an out and back from the gym.  Nathan, Danny, and Cole for the whole way, Chasity, her sis for a bit, and Kirk, Erin and Sarah for about 10miles.  The guys ran 10x3:00 MP w/ 2:00 rec. in the second half of the run.  on the slush and with the intersections corssing our path, the splits were pretty uneven: about 6:25/mi. avg. pace, though.  A few Quaff beers afterward - Busted Knuckle on tap at The Garage, now!

19.52 mi. total - 2:28:12

AM: easy 8 mi. on the TM at the gym w/ 6xstrides - 12-12.5mph.  59:30 total.  Building that aerobic house by keeping recovery days between 7:10-7:45/mi.

PM: easy 5.25 miles outside - loops around the neighborhood - 38:43.  Again, no problem staying within this prescribed pace range the first week of this "specific phase" of marathon training.  We'll see if I can keep that up! :)

Its about 20 degrees and windy.  New record for snowfall in central Indiana this winter. 51.6"

AM : easy 6 TM at gym - 46:40

PM: easy 5.25 TM at gym - 39:00

Still in that range and feeling fine - good

PM: Met up with Tim and Danny at Mill Race for some outdoor running.  It was over 40 degrees yesterday - at one point, think it actually got up to the 50s.  Nice evening run, though the very soggy roads got a little slick near the end of the run when it was getting dark.

Week 2 of program - WU, right into 5x2mi. ~HMP w/ 3:00 jog rec. -- 12:03, 12:05, 12:06, 12:07, 12:09

Recovery jogs super slow, and last half of last 2 reps were a tough. 

12.77mi. total - 1:26:19

PM - easy 6 miles outside - 45:52.  Over 50 again today - in the 60s tomorrow!  The dog made it 2 miles tonight.  Poor guy hasn't been for a run in months.

PM: loops around fairgrounds - 5.52 miles - 46:19.  Hurting today - recovery day again. 

PM treadmill At gym- WU, 4mi. at 9.1mph (6:35min./mi.), 0.5mi. rec. at 8mph, 3mi. at 9.3mph (6:27/mi.), 0.5mi. rec. at 8mph, 2mi. at 9.5mph (6:18/mi.), CD

11.5 mi. total in 1:17:45

Mission accomplished - the legs didn't feel good at the begininning of this workout.  The treadmill was actually a great benefit - I would not have hit these paces on my own outside.  IT was pretty windy tonight as well.

AM: 7 miles recovery around the neighborhood - 57:34.  "Recovery" pace has not been within that desired range (7-7:45).  Pretty sore this morning after another solid effort last night on the treadmill.  The workout on Tuesday put a hurtin on me! 

PM: easy jog around the hood - 2.52mi. - 22:30.  Ouch! Foam rolling and icing time

PM Long Run w/ 4x2mi. MP: 4mi. WU from house to Terrace Lake - to SR 46 People Trail -  Trail through town - over to track for a little bit of relief with the soft(er) surface track.  2 reps on the track, 2 reps on the road.

2mi. intervals w/ 1mi. mod. recoveries were: 6:28, 6:31  // 6:28, 6:27 // 6:22, 6:21 // 6:28, 6:25

Had to push a bit going into a strong headwind to get that last one.  

18.02mi. total - 2:08:16

OFF - Feeling it from these past 2 weeks - probably the highest volume of higher intensity mileage I have ever done.

jogged a mile outside and hated it :)

AM treadmill at the gym:  LT - extending speed - 1mi-5:49, 2mi.-12:00, and then I started struggling

2mi-12:37, 1mi.-6:27, 0.25 mi. recoveries, 1mi. WU and a short CD

8mi. total - 55:40

PM: TM @ gym: recovery run - 6mi.-44:48.  Back within range on recovery runs.  The 2 days off did me right.

AM: TM @ the gym: recovery run - 7mi.-54:05

PM: TM @ gym: recovery run w/ 5 x strides - 7mi.-52:45. watched my wildcats lose to Arkansas at home on their TVs whilst running

AM: recovery run outside.  Had the day off work today.  The weather was decent, but more bad stuff coming for the weekend.  From house over to papa johns across town to pick up my car.  Didn't even think about it until I got over to the people trail, but ran the last half of tomorrow's 5k course en route.  Only had one honk today - I wore some short shorts and the bright yellow 2013 Boston shirt today.

6.53 mi. - 50:30

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. 

Double day today - Plan is to do 2 of the same workout continuous 5mi.mod +5mi. MP-10sec

9 AM: moderate 3mi. followed by 5mi. @ slower end of threshold - about HMP+10sec. and cooldwon w/ 2mi.  Perfect weather this morning, and looks like all week.  55 degrees and sunny.  Loops around the fairgrounds.

7:09, 6:45, 6:49, 6:19, 6:11, 6:13, 6:10, 6:15, 7:16, 7:25

10 mi. total - 66:33.  Felt strong - we'll see about tonight's

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/471576391

PM: started at 5:30pm - 70 degrees!!  moderate 4mi. was already hurting I started off depleted on this run drained going in to the 5mi.  Did loops around Mill Race Park for the hard part - alot of people out on the nice day, so that kind of kept me going: 7:37, 7:24, 7:12, 7:37, 6:31, 6:16, 6:16, 6:13, 6:20, at this point I'm praying the water fountains are turned on at the park (nope) - I was done.  I seriously had to walk half the way home on the "cooldown", 8:11, 8:58, 9:57.

12.28 mi. total - 1:31:07

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/471936909

Off after yesterday - 2nd workout left me depleted to say the least.  Left leg injuries not too bad today.  10 miles on the bike trainer moderate effort - 30 minutes.  Broke a sweat and stayed off the feet.  2 easy days of running Thurs. and Fri. and a hilly half on Saturday in Bloomington coming up.

PM: 2 x 4mi. easy pace around the neighborhood - 31:10, and 29:30.  Left leg doind alright.  About 80%.  Stormy and 60 degrees today.   

Off - again, with the left leg pain - started out for an easy day and still feeling it.  8 mi. bike trainer - 26min.

Hoosier Half Marathon this morning in Bloomington.  upper 30s and overcast with a slight chilly wind.  Quaff race with a big group in attendnce today.  Our Half group stuck together for the first half of the race and started breaking up throughout the rest of it.  We also 2 of our top guys run the 5k and go 1-2 in 14:59, and 15:2x.  Our group was a little slower :).  We started with hanging back a little bit in the begninng, but it wound up being slow up hill and even it out on the downhill.  Target was around 6:10 average, but was all over the palce.  This was the hilliest half marathon I have ever run, by far. 

6:21, 08, 19, 17, 5:55, 08, 02, 03, 18, 30, 24, 29, 29, and 26 seconds for the last ? I have a GPSed distance of 13.07...

So it looks like  was good through about 9 miles.  Good prep for Boston, I guess.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/473999253 

AM: easy 5.1 miles around the neighborhood - recovery from yesterday.  The encouragein take away from yesterday's tough half is that I am not nearly as beat up after it as I was after PJ 10miler.  The half was hillier, the pace much moe sporadic.  I def. think its the couple of Quaff beers me and the guys had after! :)

Some more mileage planned for this afternoon - its supposed to warm up to 60 today.

Oh, yeah, and Go Cats!!!!!

PM: about 3.5 miles easy around the neighborhood.  About 60 degrees with lots of people out.  A nice spring day.  My left groin pain sounds like its an athletic hernia from the limited research I've done... :(

PM - easy 4mi. in a slight drizzle and 50 degrees around the neighborhood, no watch - it was about 30 minutes and actually feeling good in the painful spots. Ice and recovery goes along way (when you actually do it)

PM1: easy 5 miles around the hood - 39:10

PM2: Tuesday Track workout with a bunch of people out there today.  WU a couple of miles,

7.5 reps x 0.5 mi. @ 5k pace - 2:43avg (2:43, 37, 42, 42, 42, 42, 44) 400m in 80

7.65mi. total - 50:30

easy 6 mi. - neighborhood - 50:30.  60 degrees and sunny outside - wonderful!  Goodbye winter!!

So, I can't make it to Boston again this year :( 

Change in plans - Carmel Marathon on Saturday instead.  I've run this one the last 3 years, so I am very familiar with the course.  Also, it looks like the last 2 weeks have been a taper anyway.  Probably not as much recovery time from that hilly half last weekend and the hard workout on Tuesday as I would of liked, but, I feel pretty good.

PM: easy 3 miles easy around the neighborhood - 26 min.  Icing and rolling afterward.

Went and rented the new Hobbit movie - awful, just awful

Tough day in Carmel... again. :)  Terrible side stitches after nearly yaking up the gel I had just eaten at mile ten.  My stomach decided to flat out reject anything going in from that point... stopped my watch at 16.3 miles, and restarted after about a 0.5 mile of walking/heaving.

Think the final time was about 3:10-3:11.

First part:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/478448945

Second part:

http://connect.garmin.com/course/6223350 

OFF - making sure I'm recovered from this "race" - pretending like it was my final workout for the Louisville Marathon on April 19!  Looking at the splits and assessing the condition of legs and fatigue, I feel like I just ran a MP workout for 10 miles and then jogged for 16 miles in Carmel... oh wait, that's what I did :)

Louisville Marathon on April 19 it is!

Lemons??  I'm gonna make lemonade! :)

One more day off and really hitting the recovery hard - 45 minutes of foam roliing and stretching.  Icing off and off all day.

PM: easy 2 mi. jog right after work around the neighborhood.

Test of the legs today with a high intensity but low volume track workout with the QuaffON! guys.

PM2: Tuesday track workout:

4x200, 2x400, 800, 2x400, 4x200 - full recoveries, and all at 5k pace: 40-42 on the 200s, 82-84 on the 400s, 2:44 on the 800

CD jog afterward - all systems go - feeling good!!

Easy 3 miles after work - no watch.  Feeling good (the 3 days off actually recovered some cummulative pains and they're gone!) - yeah!!  Tapering for real this week :)

PM: easy 3.2 - 25:30

AM: easy 2.38mi. with a pickup - 17:52

PM: easy 3 mi. 4xstr. - 24:30

Carb load and ready to go tomorrow - no whole box of brown rice this time.  Sticking to the basics.  Scetti and nanas

My Spring Marathon curse continues.  I kind of got lucky and got an actual race bib (for Free) from someone who had to back out of the half marathon at the last minute - thank you facebook and all the random run clubs' groups on there, and especially the person who gave it to me!!  So I was Samantha Steele and I was wearing a half marathon bib.  I only got yelled out 3 or 4 times by race volunteers at the half/full splits... :)  I'm just glad the bomb squad didn't tackle me at some point!

Caught up with Tim Proctor and a couple random strangers prior to getting in the corral.  Tim was going for sub -1:18 in the half!  I warmed up a bit by jog-weaving in and out of the crowd in the corral about 15 minutes before the start.  I made a conscious effort to go out at a pace that felt comfortable, whatever that might be.  Fortunately, it was about 6:30's.  This course is pretty neat - it goes through (around the infield) of Churchill downs, and through mostly nice shaded neighborhoods in downtown Louisville.  I found a group of guys to latch on to at about 6:30's, but had to leave them when we started hitting a couple of 6:38-40's.  Which was wierd, because they came back later on at sub 6:30 in a hilly portion of the course.  Yes - the dreaded Iroquois park is a part of this course.  Fortunately, it was in reverse of the difficult lap direction.  So, you climb from 8.5 to 10.4, and then a huge climb from 11.5 to 12.25, and then rolling hills (mostly down) through the next 3.25 miles.  Unfortunately the second place female was right in front of me a decent size group of guys.  She happened to be wearing a tutu!!  Well, this really threw me, and several other guys off apparently and we decided that we were'nt going to get left in the dust by a girl in a tutu !! :)

6:29, 28, 31, 38, 31, 28, 34, 13, 23, 31, 26, 53, 36, 43, 31, 25, 39, 54, Girl in tut has crushed my spirits !!

I realized at this point that I was in trouble.  I had put too much effort in through these hills trying to keep up with the group and tutu.  I try force down a horrible chocolate Clif Gel or two.  I won't use these again - even with water, they are very hard to get down.  The strawberry and mocha caffeine clif gels were awesome however, and really went down easily and propelled me on to fight through later in the race. 

It got ugly after that, but I was really giving a good fighting effort:  7:02, 7:23, 7:31, 7:35, 7:31, 7:04, 7:19, 7:13, and 2:27 for the final 0.35 miles.  2:58:56 for 26.35 miles

Take aways: Struggled in the second half. 1:25:40 first half, 1:33:16 for second half -- Apparently, still learning about what works for me nutritionally, and where my current fitness level is (compared to where I want it to be, or where it was when I PRed).

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/482921846

Good luck to everybody in Boston tomorrow - I am jealous!!

OFF - Yeah, I'm hurting.  Went for an easy bike ride - about 14 mph for about an hour

easy jog today - 2.2 miles at about 10 minute pace

Met up for the Quaff Tues track workout at Central Middle Track only to discover ta lacrosse game going on infield.  We jogged over to the people trail about a mile and started the wave workout there - 3-5 miles with 0.5mi. at 10k pace, 0.5mi. at moderate.  I made through 1.5 of these (half way through the second 10k pace) and shut it down.  I still clearly need to recover from the previous couple weeks.

It wound up being about 4.5miles in 40 minutes.  It was mostly slow jogging, and was what I should've been doing the whole time.  Post workout beer at Joe Willy's with the guys was fun.  One Busted Knuckle in record time and on home.

PM: easy 6 mile jog down Terrace Lake and back - 48:20.  Taking a much needed recovery week.

easy 2miles easy - recovery week for real.

OFF - recovery week wrapping up. 

easy am jog aorund the neighborhood - 2.1 miles in 17 min.  Beautiful day developing this morning.

AM: easy 7 miles out and back to CR 400 - 54:36. 60 degrees and sunny

PM: easy 10.5 miles from house over to Mill Race Park and then loops - 1:27:54.  Met up with the wife and baby for some quality swing time at the playground.  75 degrees and sunny.  Chipotle and choc milk on the way home.  Good day. :)

PM1: easy 4 miles slow-  starting to rain a bit.  More after dinner if the weather holds

PM2: moderate 4 miles - 29:50.  Yes, 7:30s feel moderate... I am def. still recovering

Took off work half a day for Jude's first birthday!  Happy birthday big guy :)

Got home and he and mommy were napping, so I went for my run.

PM: moderate 11mi. hilly run in the grass and ditches in the trail shoes about 90 minutes - practicing for the 50 miler coming up in a week and a half.  Hopefully, the marathon training and back to back marathons will be adequate training for the 8 - 9 hours of run/hiking that will be required to complete this race May 10th...

PM: easy 6 mi. w/ a pickup in the last mile. Cut it down to about 6:00 pace and felt okay.

OFF - still reverse tapering / recovering

PM: shake out run - 4x400m at about HMP and 4x100m bursts.  5.25mi. -  40:36.

Half marathon in Seymour, IN - great weather and flat course.  This is a smaller race, and coincides with the big one in Indy, so I'm usually running near the front.  Its a nice course with lots of turns through the town of Seymour and a brief out and back past the local vineyard. 

Similar story this year - from the start of the race, I could tell I'd be solo in third all race.  I ran close to what my PR was from last fall, but started to struggle after 10 miles.  The course was short by about 0.1 by my GPS:

6:02, 17, 06, 08, 11, 08, 12, 18, 20, 12, 15, 24, 05

Had a solid finishing mile but really lost time from mile 8 through 12.  Cummulative fatigue probably the culprit - 2 marathons and 2 half marathons in last 30 days. 

12.97 miles - 1:20:31

PM: Brown County State Park trail run of some of the scary parts of the upcoming 50 miler.  Trails are riddled with bushwacking, briars, and treacherously steep climbs for probably 40-50% of the course.  Tentative goal for next Saturday - 8 hours... if today was any indication, my first objective will be to not get lost, second is to got out at a very relxed effort for the first part of the epic journey.  today was 7.2 miles in 1:20 :)   

easy 6 mi - 51min.

PM1: 2 easy

PM2: Tuesday track workout with Quaff guys and lots of other folks.  These things have become fun with a lot of people showing up every week.  We did the short workout today - 4x200, 2x400, 800, 2x400, 4x200 at target 5k pace - so we were 80sec / 400m range for all. The big DWD Gnaw Bone races are this weekend.  I'm running the 50 miler, and the other guys are doing the 100k relay.  The course looks fun... :)

http://dwd.runningfitsites.com/images/GnawBone/all-profiles.pdf

Off - taper and cummulative soreness from spring races is still lingering a bit.

easy 2.44 miles - 20:15.  Tapering and getting scared for this Saturday.  Carb loading

Carb loading.  preparing for pain

6:15a start in Brown County at Mike's Dance Barn (really an open field next to Brown County State Park).  Fueling plan: Carried a fuel belt with 10 gels and dropped my 3 prepared SAG station care packages for myself - a bottle of light gatorade mixed with water with 2 gels taped to them.  Lessons learned on this to come when I update this with full entry with GPS data.

50.03 mi. GPSed - 9:33:43 for a 5th (or 6th) place finish.  I was delirious from about mile 42 through 50, so I think I got passed in the last 0.25 mi. by the first place female... more to come.

DWD 50 Miler

The course goes out about 5miles from the start line to a loop that's about 20 miles around Brown County State Park.  A lot of mud, water and up and down, though its mostly covered beautiful forest, so not much exposure.  There was a steady downpour during the first half of the race that felt amazing!!  I wouldn't say it got hot, but it was enough to need to stay on top of hydration.

I had to  switch watches with one of the Quaff guys since my 410 does not have enough battery life.  See link above - there's a lot of data! :)  I did not dip under 11 minute pace after mile 28.  After mile 38, I was walking about 0.5 of every mile.

6666 feet of climbing.  Looks like I dipped into the 14 minute range after 38 miles.  I remember this point of the day - I was in desperate need of fluids with the next aid station 2 more miles away.  Once I had downed a bunch of fluids and calories there, I felt like I could continue.  So, with the amount of calories that you HAVE TO take in throughout the day, it also becomes a struggle to not get the side stitches.  This became the story of the rest of the day - make it to the next aid station and work through the side/gut stitches that come with eating solid food while trying to run.  It was like a car running on fumes in to the next gas station.  Refuel, run okay for a couple of miles and then back down to low point or deep breathing trying to get rid of side stitches.

At this point, I am def. going to say this is my first and last "effort" of this distance!  Very hard.  My hat is off to the people that do these things (and longer) on a regular basis - it is a different level of toughness!!

I'm not really sure how long this will take to completely recover from... 

Off - barely making it around  today.  Stairs are very difficult and painful.

easy bike - feels good to get my legs moving and blood flowing.  11.5 miles in 50:30.  Still tough to walk up and down stairs.  Did some light core stuff - abs only.

easy 8 miles on the bike - 30 minutes.  Sloooooowly recovering.

Wow - painful shuffle - 10 minute pace feels pretty excrutiating.

a little easier today - not quite as excrutiating.  1 mi. in about 10 minutes.

moderate PM run - went out and legs actually felt wonderful (compared to how they have felt recently).  Decided to push it a little bit.  4mi. mod. - 28:40.  Weight is a bit high, but that's to be expected with little running and eating (alot). Good to be back out running, though!

AM easy run: beautiful morning and my legs are finally back (enough) from saturday to be able to run.

5mi. - 43:40. 

PM1: intervals on the bike trainer - 10x0.5mi. hard efforts.  Started at around 27mph, and finished at about 32 mph.  9 mi. total - 23:00

PM2: The wife and had the parents come up and watch the kid, so my wife could get a long and well deserved night out.  We used the free night's stay at a local fancy hotel from a race prize from last year.  Since we were literally staying in a hotel about 5 minutes away from our house, the wife went home briefly to put the kid to bed.  Don't think he would've cooperated with her parents for this task... anyway, I got in an easy 4 loops around MillRace Park while she did that.  No watch, nice weather, legs feeling a little tired from actually doing stuff this morning and cummulative from previous month.  Slow jog, about 4.5 miles.

Fun evening out turned in to sour stomach and general tiredness near the end of the run today.  PM - easy longish run. 65 degrees and sunny.  Very nice day.  12mi. - 1:31:55.  Back to work this week.  

PM: wow - really tired today.  3.2 miles - pretty slow.  Nice day out - 75 and sunny.

Tues Track w/ group: 8 x [400 @ 5k /  200 @ 1 mi. w/ 200m jog recoveries]

My garmin's autopause makes these workouts impossible - forgot to turn it off.  We kept the 400s at about 80 (most were under), and the 200s @ less than 37.  I went hard on the last one and came up with a 28.  Hot days are here - it was about 80 deg., humid and sunny.  Great to do some non-marathon training for fisrt time in a while.  Jogged a couple more while waiting on pizza after leaving.

7.51 mi. total - 54:42

early PM: off half a day for Tiff's minor surgery.  easy 6 mi. - 51:15.  Its hot!!  Almost 90

Went out for a light bit of mile pace work today during what I have deemed to be another recovery week.  6x200m at mile pace and I am feeling why this should've been a recovery week all along.  They hurt... every one except the last two reps.  Average at about 4:55/mile pace, and my legs did not feel well.

5.27 miles total - 40:48 

PM easy miles chatting with Jeff and trying to find the trails surrounding Grandview Lake (unsucessfully).

5.31 miles - 52:08

Triple header today in CR Series.  3 races, 3 cities, one day.  AM weather was about 55 degrees and nice and cool in the woods.  by noon, it got a little warm and definitely sunny.

First race at 8am in Brown County - 4 mile trail race.  Pretty technical and lots of steep up and down.  some of the climbs were walking hills, and then some of downs were a controlled falling.  2 water crossings and lots of roots and loose stuff.  Fun and a solid effort for an 8th place finish.  3.98 mi. GPSed in 30:51

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/506098108

Race number 2 at noon in Seymour, IN on flat concrete course.  sun is out, with no cover anywhere- it got hot for this one.  An out and back course with a few turns.  I struggled with my normal pace after 1 mile.  Pretty indicative of some still fatigued legs requiring more recovery.  The trail race earlier in the day didn't help either.  5:41 first mile, and then fell apart.  Really hurt at 6:05 and then 6:15 pace for nect 2 miles.  Think I was about 8th place again in 18:45.  A fellow Quaff runner did however run a huge PR - 16:43 for Mr. Tim Proctor.  This guy is in his mid 40's and I used to be competitive with this guy!  :)  Stuck around to wait for the $100 door prizes they were giving away and got a massive sunburn.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/506098152   

Race number 3 was a 1 miler around a city park in Columbus at 5pm - shaded with several hairpin turns, some slowing gravel and twists in the path and, well, only a mile.  I did the only real smart thing I had done all day after the 5k, and put some ice on my legs for about 20 minutes.  Stuck it out through the pain that is mile pace and finished strong (at least).  about 8th place in 5:18.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/506245681

Solid day, and very fun, on some still recovering legs. 

Spent the day doing some long overdue work around the house - pathcing holes, digging the weeds, etc... nursing this sunburn from yesterday too.

Today, my legs felt like I had run 3 faster races yesterday, 2 weeks after a 50 miler preceded by a hard racing month.  6.16 miles shuffling at 8:30 pace.  Core and leg strength stuff for anbout 10 minutes.  Been eating alot.  I have 10 pounds to lose over the summer.

Happy Memorial Day.  Special thanks to all who have sacrificed and continue to do so. 

Off work today - AM long run.  One of my favorites - the Grandview course.  House to Grandview Lake, 7 mile loop around the lake, and back home.  kept it nice and controlled on a sore left groin/hip/quad.  Felt decent and even the whole way except for a little bit of pain on the downhills.  Made sure to not make the same mistake as last couple runs of this route - took a gel and a water bottle with me.  Started off at about 60 degrees and was probably 70 and sunny when I got done.  20 miles - 2:37:17. 
 

Feeling a little under the weather since yesterday's long run when I thought I might have had some allergy problems.  The usually itchy eyes and runny nose, but maybe acold to boot?  I don't know - either way, I could barely keep up with today's workout.  Called it quits after 2 reps of 400m @ 5k, 800m at MP.  Pretty hot, and a lot of people out there today.  I even sounded a lilttle congested when talking.

Jogged around the track the rest of the workout. 

5.22 miles - 39:25 total

run home from work - Seymour to Columbus.  Took half a day off to burn some accrued personal time that will turn into dreaded sick time PTO.  pretty warm - about 80 degrees.  I was feeling pretty good at the begininng of the run and throughout the day after feeling pretty crappy yesterday.  Kept it around 8min./mile most of the way. struggled at the end when I ran out of water (carrying a water bottle) and my watch died on me.  Nice enjoyable run until that point. 

Now, I think I started over on recovering from this stupid cold/allergy stuff... 

19.3 mi. - 2:38

AM - long run back in to work from the house - left the house shortly before 5 am hoping to get to work at 7:30a.  Enjoyable run, since it was about 20 degrees cooler than yesterdays run home.  First 1.5 hours in the dark and it was little foggy.  Had the headlamp (uncomfortably) on over my manky old hat.  It was a relief totake that off.  Carried a water bottle and a couple of gels, which I was extremely thankful for near the end of the run.  I was rewarded this morning with a beautiful morning, weather wise and very little traffic for most of the run.  I did have to make a #2 pit stop (under a local steel grated bridge) :).  No attacking dogs or mean vehicles today, surprisingly.

Again, kept it around 8 min / mile.  Feeling pretty decent compared to yesterday and considering that my volume is getting up there in a hurry with these runs.

AM: easy 3 miles before work - about 8:45/mile.

pm easy 30 mi utes- hot and sunny at 4pm

Quaff is doing a 24 hour relay to try and raise money for cancer.  Each group of 5-6 people is to run 3 x 2 hour sessions spread out over 24 hours. Our goal for the 24 hours is to run 240 miles total.  At 6min./mile average, we all keep a close watch on the capabilities of each of our groups and run intervals accordingly.

Our first session: 6AM-8AM: wonderful weather - the sunrising to start our session was awesome.  About 55 degrees and nice and low humidity.

This first one essentially a track session with full recoveries.  Our group of 5 people wound up doing 3x1mi. and 2x800m each within our first 2 hour window.  We have 2 more 2 hour sessions of somehting like this today - one at 2pm and one at 10pm.  We turned in to pretty solid efforts.  Its hard to resist going a little faster with alot of people around watching, too :)

3x1mi. - 5:30, 5:21, 5:17 with full recoveries (we're talking like 20 minute recoveries, while 4 other people run 1 mile), and then we decided to finish up the 2 hours with 800s:

2x800m - 2:25, 2:26

A little harder effort to maintain pace on the 800s than I would've liked, but, hey there were alot of people out there watching...

8.91 mi. total (between mini WUs and cooldowns) - 57:55

more to come at 2pm

Second Set: 2pm-4pm.  85 degrees and sunny - much more difficult in the heat and on somewhat tired legs.  Group decided on 800s this time.  Started off hitting the first couple hard - somebody offered some racing flats that were super light and my size for free, so had to try to run fast wearing them.  First 2 x 800s were 2:26, 2:28... paid the price - the rest hurt - 6x800s: 2:54, 47, 45, 45, 47, 47.  And then somebody got the bright idea of finishing up with a 400m.  Little kids walking around the track (a bunch of people there for other Relay for Life events- walking and kids' stuff)  liked to try and race us (for about 100m)  They actually helped along - 64 for last 400m.  That hurt. 

7.59 miles total - about 53 min.

1 more 2 hour session tonight from 10pm to midnight to finish out the 24 hours.  Wow - I pulled out all the tricks to try and convince my legs that they could move fast enough for some 1mi./800 intervals again.  Could barely hobble around the track once during a WU jog.  We called in some alternates and I enjoyed the conclusion of the 24 hours of running with pizza, coffee, and snacks.  Hats off to my group and about 10 other guys who filled in randomly on top of their group assignments.  268.5 miles total for the 24 hours!! 

The real story was that of all the cancer survivors and families of cancer victims.  One of the girls in my group recently lost her mom to cancer - the relay happened to fall on the day of her mother's birthday also.  On her last lap of her last rep, the DJ (guy running the loud speaker) sent out the dedication song to her mother... and, as she was coming down the home stretch and passed off the baton to the next runner, she broke down in tears.  As her husband consoled her and they held each other by the fence outside of lane 8, the emotion of the moment and the event really hit home with me. 

PM: really sore and tired from yesterday.  A CR Series 5k in Mill Race Park at 3pm was the only way I was going to get in the miles I wanted today.  So, at 2pm, off I went in the heat and on some very sore legs.  3.8 miles to the park at about 9:30 pace - its 90 degrees.  Hung around a bit and then signed up and lined up with the 300+ Girls on the Run and Thouroughbreds (8-12 year olds) that sometimes double their events with the CR Series.  The starts are funny to say the least :)  I was in 50th place after 200m... Anyway, this was going to be a jog if my legs didn't loosen up at some point anyway.  It was until about 1mile in to the race.  Loosened up and got down in to the 5:30 range by the last quarter mile or so.  Doused myself with water and grabbed a banana, chatted with some guys, and then shuffled home the long way to get the rest of the miles - 6 miles at like 9:30-10:00 pace.

12.8 miles total - should give me the first 100 mile week (Mon. - Sun.) of the year.

PM: 3mi. recovery run - and by recovery run I mean 10minute miles in the grass

Tuesday Track workout.  85 degrees and sunny.  Alot of people there again today.  Makes it fun.  Workout was 5x400(40sec), 4min., 4x400(40sec), 4min., 3x400(40sec) with 400 at goal 5k pace.  Danny and I did these in about 80 for the first 9 and then 75, 75, 74 for last 3.  I think we did it about right - last 2 reps were tough, but manageable and controlled. 

5.31 mi. total - 42min.

PM - 4mi. easy x 2.  Sore, but not as tired legs.  Think these Adrenalines are about done.  Feeling more road than usual.  Interesting weather - 80 degrees for 4pm jog, and then 65 degrees for 8:30pm run.  Storm blowing in looked like.

8mi. total - 66 min.

PM1: easy 4 mi. - 36min.  Good weather, sore legs.

PM2: easy 3.75 mi. - ditto to earlier comment.

OFF - I was very sore and fatigued and yesterday.  Ended yesterday's easy run in a very bad mood.

The day off yesterday did me some good.  AM Crossroads series 5k.  Mill Race Park is about 4 miles from the house, so I jogged over at a relaxed pace from the house.  Did some strides and pickups at the park and ran the race, not expecting much, since I have notorioulsy run bad at this race at this time of year.  Kept it about 6:00 pace - which was difficult effort in the last mile.  I think I'm much improved overlast year, yet realize that I'm still in between that phase where I'm in recovery from spring races, and the switching gears to shorter/faster phase that usually happens to me this time of year.  Splits for 5k were 6:02, 5:59, 6:05, and 0:28 for a GPSed 3.07 mi.  Lots of twists and turns and one fairly steep climb for about 0.1mi.  Pleased with this time on this course - I ran about 19:00 last year.  About 7 mi. total for the morning.

PM: easy hour out and back from house down CR 300.  7.15 mi. - 59:33

AM: 12 mi. at easy pace - good misty weather at 10a - about 65 degrees and a little chilly without a shirt.  And out back to Tipton Lakes.  11.99 mi. - 1:34:29

PM: sore and tired run over to Family Video to return previous True Blood, and get last disk.  The wife and I dig the show, and don't do the whole cable TV for $100 thing, so its a rare treat to get a show we like with a new season on DVD.  Anyway, 11.55 mi. total really slow, but not feeling easy - 1:40:55.  Pretty tired and sore legs.

Off - Got out the door and down the street and called it.  Too much pain going on in the groin/hip area of left leg... again

PM1: Tuesday Track workout: 70 degress and drizzling this evening.  WU 0.75 mi. jog, 3x(600/400/600) @ 5k goal pace w/ 40 sec. standing and 4 minutes in between sets, CD - 0.75 mi. easy

We hit our paces and under for these - right around 2:00 for 600 and 80 for 400.  I actually forgot my watch today, but one of the guys will send the splits later.  Pretty curious as to how the 5:20/mi. 5k workouts amd higher mileage turn in to 18:00 5ks still... A fellow quaffer sent me the splits:

2:02, 1:22, 2:01, rec., 2:01, 1:20, 2:02, rec., 2:00, 1:18, 2:05

4mi. total - about 30 minutes

PM2: Track workout 2 - 4x800 @ 5k goal pace - didn't feel too good about fading (Had to use the bathroom very suddenly) on the last rep of the first workout, and the legs are feeling good and loose.  Cut these down - 3:00, 2:53, 2:53, 2:48

6mi. total - 44:30

PM1: right after work - drizzling and a little cooler - 4.57 miles around the neighborhood- 37:03.  Feeling a little stronger on this recovery run (than I have been recently).

PM: Hill Workout - 2 mi. WU over to bottom of Carr Hill Rd., 3 times going Up the 0.8 mi. climb at about LT effort and cruise back down.  Paces for hard interval portions: 6:30, 6:23, 6:19.  Cruising back down equated to about 7 minute pace.  3 hill sprints and 4 pickups/sprints after that on the way home.

9.6 mi. total - 1:09:03

World Cup has started with the NBA finals in full swing.  Let the flops begin! 

pm1: easy 4mi. around the neighborhood after work.  I was pretty tight for about 2 miles.  Yikes! - Its 75 degrees and surprising that I felt that bad during the beginning of an easy 30 min. run and yet still started feeling better.  I suppose the "shaking out" occurred that I should have attempted this morning.  4mi. - 34:48

pm2: easy 4.11mi. around the little loop - 35:04.  Again - similar story from earlier. 

AM: slow longish run - house to people trail down SR 46 and around town.  Great weather this morning, but feeling the Busted Knuckles from last night.  Watch died on me at some point about an hour in.  12.5 miles at about 8:30 pace - 1:45 total time.

PM: easy 6mi. no watch - about 8:22 miles. Beautiful evening.
 

AM: Took the Wife's car to get tire repaired/replaced and air filter to Walmart, so, anticipated a long wait. Slow jog over to Mill Race Park and 3 x 1mi. loops attempting to cut down to goal 5k pace... Yikes - time to pull back the goal pace, apprently.  6:31, 6:35, and then expended way to much effort to get sub 6 (5:55).  Jogged slowly back over to Walamrt and the car was actually ready!  

7.85 mi. total - 59:45

PM easy 7 mi. - 1hour.  Its very hot and humid.  In the 90s all week.

PM: Tues Track group workout: 3x(500m,300m, 200m) w/ 500@5k, 300@2mi., 200@1mi. w/ 1min. rest between and 4min. between sets

It was realy hot - 90 degrees, high humidity.  We were faster than the prescribed pace on all these as usual: 1:41, 1:03, 0:38 / 1:39, 0:56, 0:36 / 1:34, 0:52, 0:34.

5mi. total - 39:36

6am run with Nathan in Seymour: 7 mi. in 63 minutes.  Much cooler than last night and forecast is hot again today.  Forgot my watch, but Nathan had his.  Good discussion topic - What is the cheapest GPS with a 10 hour or greater battery life?

8pm - 7mi. run out and back Terrace Lake/Tipton Lake route - 58 minutes

6am shakeout run before work around the neighborhood - 4mi. in 33 min.

PM: bike ride to Jimmy Johns to pivk up dinner - 10 mi. - 40:17

PM: light intervals - 0.25mi., 0.5mi., 4x0.25mi. @ 10k pace w/ full recoveries. 92, 3:11, 86, 89, 88, 81.  Its pretty hot out, even at 8 pm.  Not feeling too confident about 17:29 on Saturday...

AM: easy 3.3 miles before work - 27:08

PM: moderate effort run around Grandview Lake with Danny Fisher.  90 degrees and very humid still at 6pm.  5.78 miles - 43:31

AM CR Series 5k Race - 18:34.  5:47, 5:57, 6:08, slow finish.  - I suck worse than I usually do right now. 

It was about 75 degrees this morning and very humid.  warmedup with a about 4miles with strides on the adjacent track.  Spent some time up to about 2 miles pulling the first place kid back to me and then really died in the last 1.11.  Its hard to compare this years' races to last years' since my spring race schedule this year was alot different.  In retrospect, 2 marathons, 2 halfs, and ended with the 50 miler within 35 days.  It is about 30 days since the 50 miler, but it hasn't been much of a recovery period.  Throwing in that 100 mile week was premature and probably ill-advised.  I have to say, I have been having fun, though.  At some point this summer, I am still not goign to give up hoping for a non-torturously humid/hot day in which I will run a solid PR for 5k and maybe 10k.

PM: about 40 minutes on bike -12 mi. out and back.  hard effort on the way back.  Kept around 20mph and the heart rate was up.

AM: Brown County State Park - trail running with the group.  moderate effort for the last half.  9.67 miles total in 1:32:33.

AM2: moderate out and back on bike similar to yesterday - harder effort on the way back.  8.18mi. in 23:46.

PM run home from work Seymour to Columbus - started this run at 2pm (exactly).  Every bit of 90 degrees the whole way.  struggled to stay cool after running out out water with 5 miles left.  Thanks to the nice fireman at the fire station that was still 3 miles from the house - the water fountain there was the best drought of wate I have ever experienced.  :)  No watch for this slog, but got in to the house as the clock switch ed over to 5:45.  I figure iwth the pee stop and the water stop, my moving average speed was about 8:15-8:30. 

Call it 19.85 miles - 2:45 total.  Definitely sweat out about 5 pounds.

AM: easy bike in to work.  about 70 degree average during the 4:45am-6:30am ride.  Stopped several times.  The new blinky safety lights were not working too well and the rear actually bouced off the mount once when I hit a hard bump.  The 4-5 mile section of SR 11 that I frequent on these run adn bike trips needs to have a debris cleaning crew come through.  The amount of road kill, tire fragments, and loose rock is ridiculous.  Shocked that I didn't blow a tire.  19.66 miles total - 1:19:22.  Safe to say that the bike ride is a little easier than the run of the route.

PM: easy 7 mi. around the neighborhood after all the crazy rain downpours.  75 degrees around 8 pm, with some still threatening looking skies.  ran pretty slow - about 9 min. pace, and felt pretty sore most of the way.