The Long Run

Passed the test this morning.

The test was to find out if I had run Saturday's run too hard, if I had run that too hard then I would have a hard time running today.  Fortunately I did not.

 Went to the YMCA, bike warm up, core work, and then 4.17 miles on the treadmill about a 7:55 pace average.

Headed outside where it was reasonably cool.  I know I said I would stop talking about the weather, but yesterday morning was really nice out, unfortunately I wasn't running but fortunately for Jenny, she was running and had a great 11 mile run.

Did another 6.07 miles outside.  Tried not to look at my watch much until the 5th mile when I felt I was going faster, then I looked at my watch and decided to hold that pace for the rest of the mile, before returning back to an easier pace.

Average pace outside: 7:24

Ran from home this morning.  Plan was to stick close to home until Jenny got back.  As I was getting ready to leave, Jenny was already coming back from her early morning run in the hilly neighborhood.  We passed each other briefly saying hi as I headed out.  Legs were a little bit dead this morning at first but eventually woke up.  Weather was once again pretty good for a June morning in Florida.

Headed over to the Trinity Oaks neighborhood and did a big loop through there before heading back home.  Increased the pace gradually. 

By the time I got back to my house I had done about 8.5 miles so I ran a bit past it before turning back to make it 9 miles.  I picked up the pace for the final mile to just under a 7 minute pace.

Average pace: 7:54

Going to try for a tempo run tomorrow morning if everything goes well.

Later in the day yesterday, I was contemplating not doing a tempo run today.  I had picked up a couple minor aches and pains and didn't want to make them worse.  So, last night I took a quick soak in an epsom salt bath which did the trick (along with a good night's sleep).  This morning I decided to go ahead with the tempo.  Plan was to do the same route and distance as last week.

Ran from my house to Starkey blvd at an easy pace for 2 miles, then started the tempo run.  First mile felt difficult as it often does for the first mile of a tempo run.  Second mile was better.  When I finished the second mile I didn't feel like quitting like I did last week, I had my sights set on finishing the 3rd mile so I could turn around.

Second half went pretty well.  For the last mile a song came on my ipod which I had just recently put there and I didn't know how well it would work out for a tempo run song.  The song was by a band named Cake, and was a remake of a song made famous by the Muppet Show, "Mahna Mahna".   Before I knew it the last mile was almost over and I was on pace for 6:28.

Splits: 7:00, 6:50, 6:48, 6:52, 6:50, 6:28

Two more miles to get home.   Last mile I sped up a bit but it felt easy at 7:10 - I'd love it if 7:10 always felt easy!

Average pace: 7:31

I ran with Jenny this morning.  She wanted to get in some faster miles so I was going to pace her for 4 miles and try and keep the pace between 7:45 and 8:00.  It was a bit warmer and humid then it had been the last few days - more back to normal for around here.

We warmed up for one mile, then bumped up the pace.  I had some trouble keeping the pace steady since my garmin pace seemed to be jumping around.  First mile seemed ok and the start of the second mile was pretty good but just after finishing the second mile things were not going so well.  Jenny was starting to lag a bit, I said let's just finish up the third mile.  She was able to hang on and then kept on going after 3 miles.  I thought she might finish the 4th mile, too, but instead said let's get to 3.5 miles.   The last 0.5 was at a faster pace, about 7:30ish.

So, I wasn't able to give her the boost I had hoped for, but it was still a pretty good run.  In cooler weather, I don't think this pace/distance would have been a problem.  I'll have to work on my pacing ability also, knowing when to say encouraging things without being annoying, I was a bit too quiet while we were running.

After running 6.25 miles together, Jenny called it a run, and I continued on a little bit longer and ended up with 8.6 miles total.

Average pace: 8:19

No running today.  Went to Disney Magic Kingdom to use last day of 4 day pass before it expired.   Lots of fun even though Space Mountain was closed for renovation.  Went to downtown Disney afterward, had dinner there and spent some time in the Lego store.

One more longish run before next weekend's marathon.  Went to Starkey park this morning, arriving right at 6:00.  Keith and Dixie and a few others were there.  I had told Raj about 6:00 arrival and start at 6:15.  The other guys took off at 6:10.  I said I'd wait a few more minutes.  Waited almost until 6:15 before deciding he wasn't going to show up this morning (he hadn't said definitely that he would or wouldn't show up).

I got moving at a slow pace to get warmed up.  After almost a mile, I heard someone behind me.  It was Raj.  He had shown up at about 6:15 on the dot and must have run about a 7:00 pace to catch up to me.  So, we ran together, stopped briefly at 4 miles, kept on going.  Saw Dixie coming back from a 5 mile turn around, next up was Jorge and Victoria a little later, then finally Keith and his friend David from his church. 

We turned around .4 miles later after doing about 6 miles.  Had one more brief stop where I kept the clock running then started picking up speed.  Held onto a good pace for the last 5 miles, averaging a little bit under 7:00 pace.

Average pace: 7:52

There were even more people this morning at social hour.  Lots of new faces, younger people and older people, all sorts of abilities.  David (the original David) has done a great job getting more people to show up.

I woke up a little bit earlier this morning but it wasn't quite early enough to do everything I wanted.  I needed to be back by 8:00 so Jenny could meet her friend at the Y for weights.  

I went to the Y, warmed up on the bike, did some ball crunches, got onto the treadmill for 2.5 miles, got off briefly, and instead of heading outside just got back onto the treadmill.  At this point it looked like I could just squeeze in 3.5 miles.  I went a little bit faster and also incorporated a few small hills (4%) for some variety.  Felt realy good at the end.  Had just enough time for 3 sets of leg extensions.  Got home by 8:01.

Would have liked to run just a bit further but 6 is not too bad since this is somewhat of a taper week.

I did a little bit better on the miles today.  Actually, right where I wanted to be.  The weather was doable, and after feeling a little bit uncomfortable the first few miles, I loosened up and enjoyed the run.  Ran the last 3 miles a bit faster, but nothing crazy.  I ran from home, to the old road, then to Trinity Blvd and a loop through Trinity Oaks neighborhood and back home.

Average pace: 7:49

I might try for a shorter tempo run inside of about another 8 mile run.

I ran from home this morning, to 54 and up Starkey Blvd. and then back.  The morning started out warm and humid but in a weird way it felt kind of good at first.  Went easy the first two miles then started the tempo.

First mile went ok.  Halfway through the second mile I saw Eudair running in the opposite direction on the other side of the road, bounding through the grass and off the road and side walk.  I cut my music, waved, said hi, briefly stopping, then started back up again.   I never know where Eudair is going to show up.  I can go months without seeing her anywhere, then she can show up on any road at any time.  She's one of my original running mentors who really taught me how to push when it is hard.  Finished the second mile and then turned around.   The heat was less enjoyable now but I was holding the pace and picked it up by a few seconds for the second half of the tempo.

Splits: 6:52, 6:54, 6:47, 6:45

Realized that it was very hot at this point, temp was 80 with about 90 % humidity.  Glad I didn't push too hard but did a good solid effort for the conditions, maybe worth a 6:30 average on a nice cool and dry morning?

Stopped running and walked for about a minute, started back slowly until getting back into an easy pace.  Ended up picking up the pace and doing the last mile in 7:15.

Average pace: 7:31

I ran with Jenny this morning.  The weather was a little bit nicer than yesterday and it was great having someone to run with.  We ran along one of her favorite t-shaped routes, referred to as "trouts".  There are water fountains along the way so you don't have to carry anything extra.  We ran a little bit onto the golf course path because it looked nice from a distance, but turned out to be not so great.  We'll stick to the road and sidewalks from now on.

Overall, the run was very nice, the pace felt nice and easy but not too slow.

This was the hardest run I have ever done.  This race is advertised as the highest fully paved marathon in the world.  The highest I had ever run was Moab at 4,000 feet back in March.

I knew it was going to be hard based on the course descriptions and what other people had written, but I didn't know exactly what "hard" meant.  I had looked on a pace calculator, which said 3:17 at sea level was equal to 3:33 at 7,500 feet.  Add some time for hills, but how much time?  How much time for unknowns.  I would find that out.

We arrived in Denver yesterday and drove to Granby, to meet Jenny's parents at the condo they were renting.  Their condo was at 8,400 feet, and I could definitely feel it as I was unloading the car and walking up the steps.   I drank lots of water to help with the adjustment and we found a nice local restaurant and had some pasta.   Jenny, her mom, and sister were going to run the 10K.

We woke up at 3:30, left just after 4:00, and arrived in Estes Park at 6:00, but it felt later, since I was still on Florida time.   The drive across Trail Ridge road was spectacular.  Saw tons (literally) of Elk and a few deer.  Climbed up over the tree line and back down.  We lucked out on the weather because the park ranger told us that last week they had to close down the road a few of the nights for snow.   But, the drive went perfect, so far so good.

I had a plan, which was to try and go out at about an 8:00 pace, and see how I felt.  Go slower up the hills if I needed to, and maybe pick up some speed down hill.

Mile 1 - 8:22

Mile 2 - 7:48

The plans quickly changed.   After just 0.11 miles I was in a slight panic mode, feeling like I wasn't getting enough oxygen.  Fortunately, that subsided somewhat, we hit the first down hill and my pace picked up.  After 2 miles, I was close to an 8:00 pace, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.   Just before mile 2, I was running next to a woman, she was running pretty strong and looked like she knew what she was doing.  Another woman on a bike pulled up to her and told her that she was the first place female and so would be following her the entire race, which I thought was a nice touch.

Mile 3 - 8:40 + :18 Garmin adjust

Mile 4 - 9:24

Mile 5 - 9:37+ :20 Garmin adjust

Mile 6 - 9:48

Then came mile 3, my left calf was burning, tight, not good.  In the 4th mile we were starting to climb.  My heart rate was up, almost felt like a tempo run.  I saw a porta potty and stopped to use it.  I didn't really have to go, but figured that this might save me time later, I mainly needed to stop.   Got out and back on the road, heart rate was back down and I trudged up the hill.

This was the big hill.  I had never done anything like this before, 600 feet up in less than 3 miles.  On the way up, I was behind a few guys, I thought I could pass them.  So, I did and lasted about a minute before dropping back and having to walk.  I caught back up to them and fell in behind them for the trip up the hill.  The hill crested at 5.75 miles.  They had some big speakers set up, playing music and announcing runners as they neared the crest.  That really lifted up my spirits.

Mile 7 - 8:13 + :18 garmin adjust

Mile 8 - 7:58

Mile 9 - 7:42 + :11 garmin adjust

Mile 10 - 8:11

Mile 11 - 8:19

Mile 12 - 8:28

Mile 13 - 8:00 + :18 garmin adjust

These miles seemed to all go pretty well.  Miles 7-9 and part of 10 were mostly downhill.  Some of it was pretty steep and I tried to stay in control.  I eventually caught up to 1st place female (whose name was Karen), she seemed to slow a little bit and I passed her.  This worried me somewhat, as I didn't know what I was doing on this race, and thought it might be asking for trouble, setting myself up to crash later on.  Oh, well, just go on and see what happens.

Mile 14 - 9:00

Mile 15 - 8:43

These miles were slower but not terrible, but it was getting a lot warmer.  Early in the morning it was much cooler out, so I had on a long sleeve shirt.  That was the wrong choice.  I took my shirt off and tied it around my waist so the bib would still show in front.  I suddenly felt much, much better.

Mile 16 - 9:29

Mile 17 - 8:18 + 2:16

Mile 18 - 9:56 + :33 Garmin adjust

Mile 19 - 9:03

Mile 20 - 9:51

A lot of uphill running in this stretch.  I really don't remember what happened in mile 16, maybe I took a long water stop break or something, but I had thought it went well, oh well.  Then in mile 17 I was feeling good, like I could really just keep moving.  But then, I got to a water stop, and ended up wasting a lot of time.  My mouth felt very gummy and dry, so I drank gatorade and water until I was almost feeling like I might slosh, but stopped short of that, and took some salt.  I also realized that I was just standing there, I at least could have been walking, not sure how much time that cost me.  When I finally got going again I just hit the lap button so I could concentrate on the next mile.  Mile 18 had another long stop but I didn't try for the start fresh approach.  Just before mile 20, was the crest of the second big hill, another 500 feet up.  After that it was mostly downhill from there.  I was doing a lot of leap frogging with various people.  Passing, getting passed.  Especially with 1st place female.  I chatted a bit with her at one of the aid stations, then she pulled ahead of me.  I wished her good luck thinking that would be the last I saw of her.

Mile 21 - 8:33

The downhill here felt pretty good, but I was quite beat up at this point and the wind started whipping directly into me, at least it made things feel cooler, and at least I was getting the wind on the up hill part.

Mile 22 - 9:41

There was some walking involved in this mile.  It was a mix of down hill, flat and a little bit up up hill, along with the wind still blowing.  Things got better after this.

Mile 23 - 8:43

Better, more consistent, and resisted walk break urge.

Mile 24 - 8:44

A lot like the previous mile.

Mile 25 - 8:28

Better, I was no longer worried about crashing, I could do it, I could still get under 4:00.  I also caught back up with 1st place female.

Mile 26 - 8:20

Shortly after mile 25 marker, I could see Jenny and her parents.  I waved to them and Jenny ran over to me and said she would run me in.  It was great having her to run with for most of this mile, she really came through for me and is easily my number one inspiration.   She warned me that there was one more steep uphill before getting onto the high school track.  I was worried about it, but when I got there I just did it and it wasn't so bad.  I was hurting quite a bit now.  Calves were on fire.

Last 0.11 - :44 (6:26 pace)

My Garmin actually measured a total of 26.3x miles, but with all of the adjustments and that odd adjustment at mile 17, my garmin was a little out of sync with the mile markers at the end.  I gave it all I had as I ran about 3/4 of a lap on the track and headed into the finish chute.  I wanted to be done.  I had no idea what my total time was, just that I had a lot of slow miles.

I was actually pleased with my time since I made it under 4 hours, and beat (slightly) my time for my first marathon.

Karen (first place female), finished slightly after me.  Her husband thanked me for helping to pull her in, which was very nice of him.   Actually, I needed to thank her, as she was often pulling me along, but I didn't get a chance to.  So, thanks for all the help and congrats on 1st place!

I tried to walk of the calf pain.  It wasn't going away.  I looked like I was wandering around in a daze and Jenny was a bit worried about me.  They gave her a big bag of ice which she rubbed up and down my calves which helped quite a lot.  Slowly I returned to normal.  They had the showers available in the high school which I used, and those helped tremendously.

It was a great race, very well organized.   It also had a very casual feeling about it which was nice.  Although there were only 104 finishers, I never felt lonely out on the course, due to all of the leap frogging.

If I had stuck around , I might have gotten an age group award, the overall winner was in my age group so I think that bumped me up to 3rd place, but not every race does that.  The winner ran a 2:47 which is incredible.

We had a great drive back over to Granby across the Rocky Mountain National Park.  The kids got a chance to play in the snow and we saw a bunch more Elk and even a couple of Moose.

Decided to try a short run to get moving again.  One of my goals was to be able to get back into training without a big recovery.  I wasn't going to quite be able to just get back into normal training but this was a good compromise since I usually don't run for 5 or 6 days after a marathon.

I ran with Jenny from the condo.  Elevation 8400 feet.  Run was slow at first.  Felt a little bit better towards the end and was glad I was able to get my first run out of the way.  Jenny ran up the street a little bit farther.  I stopped at a street called Cumulus before heading back and Jenny went up to the next highest street called Cirrus.

Decided to run a little bit farther and maybe go slightly faster.  Ran with Jenny again this morning.  Run wasn't much easier but wasn't any harder than yesterday.  Jenny's Dad stopped by and took this picture of us.

Average pace: 9:15

I did not have a solid running plan for this morning.  I woke up and the clock said 6:xx, I closed my eyes, opened them and it said 7:43.  It was already getting hot outside so I figured I would go and pick up the dogs from the kennel first and then do my run later on the treadmill.

The dogs were happy to see the family and vice versa.

I went to the Y and did 6.1 miles on the treadmill, at just slightly faster than 8:00 pace.  I was hoping I'd feel faster now that I was running at sea level, but I didn't really.  But, then again I was not running this fast at altitude so I guess I was faster, just not faster than when I left.  Anyway, it was a good run and felt good to be back home even though the vacation was great.

Here are some pictures from this past week:

Sunday - Estes Park Marathon

Here is Jenny running in with me for most of the last mile, almost done

Here, I thought I was still racing, notice the pinched cup

Monday - recovery at Winter Park, thought this might help loosen me up

Alpine slide fun!

Tuesday - rafting

I volunteered to take one of the "duckies" with the boys riding in the front, it was a blast!

Wednesday - Rocky Mountain National Park

Until today, I had never heard of, let alone seen a marmot

I think this is my new favorite picture:

Thursday - bike riding

and hanging out at the cool playground in Winter Park

Getting back into a routine today.  It was already 85º this morning at 6:30, humidity wasn't terrible but it was enough so that this was not a "dry heat".  I decided to reverse the order of my split indoor/outdoor run and run outside first.   I went to the Y, warmed up on the bike and did some ball crunches.  Ran outside for 3.57 miles at 8:05 pace, it wasn't so bad.

Went inside and did another 4.25 miles at about a  7:45 pace, indoors felt really good.  Followed up with 3 sets of leg extenstions.

Hurried home and did one half of a workout from "Inflict", a new workout program Jenny found on the web, it's a circuit type program from Lance Armstrong's trainers.  For a beginner workout it was very tough, which is good.  I think I have been letting some of my overall strength and flexibility slide a little.  This should help get me right.

Another nice and hot morning.  Heat should break by the end of the week, back to high 70's for early morning, I'll take it, for now the day starts out at mid 80's already.

I ran with Jenny, we got going just after 6:00 and did her 6 mile "trout", which turned out to be 6.5 miles.  I ran one more loop around our neighborhood by myself and picked up the pace a bit for the last mile.

Average pace: 8:45

Cooled down in the pool for a few minutes, then stretched a bit.

As I had hoped for yesterday, the heat broke a bit and it was a much more reasonable 76°, it was still humid but it just felt so much cooler than yesterday that it almost felt perfect.  

Went to the Y, warmed up on the bike for 10 minutes, then 2.13 miles on the treadmill at about an 8:10 pace.

Headed outside for another 6.03 miles at 7:41 pace, then back inside again for another 1.2 miles on the treadmill followed by 3 sets of leg extensions.

Headed home then did the Inflict workout, but this time I did the full workout.   It sure was tough and I failed to do all 50 of the second set of bicycle crunches (just made it to 40) but was able to do everything else.

Tomorrow, I'll just do a plain, nothing fancy run outside.

Nice Thursday run with the Striders running group.  Met up near the Longleaf pool.  About 12 of us today.  Group split up at the beginning into two basic groups.  In one group was a bunch of guys, myself, and another new fast girl.  We went out pretty easy to about 2.8 miles.   Then Dixie and I continued on a little farther before turning around and picked it up on the way back.  Fastest mile was 7:13, overall average for the entire run was 7:56.

Enjoyed a brief social hour before I headed back home, cool down in the pool (which isn't that cool right now) and then some stretching.  A little sore from yesterday's Inflict workout.

Ran over in Starkey park this morning.  Arrived right at 6:00 am which was perfect timing since they had just opened up the gate.  It was 5 degrees cooler inside the park than it was in my driveway when I left but I knew it wouldn't last.  I started out with Dixie, Keith, and Jorge.  Dixie and I went out to the Suncoast Pkwy trail before turning around.  Trip out was at a nice and easy pace (avg. 8:31).  Picked things up a bit on the way back.  Sun was higher up now so it was getting hotter, but the really bad heat was holding off.    There were a few flies buzzing us but they weren't bad compared to other days.   Felt good at the end and had picked up the overall average to 8:05.

Enjoyed some time at social hour, several new faces there this morning as well as many of the regulars.  Rain was approaching, so the air cooled down a few more degrees.  Headed home and managed to just miss the rain.  Did a very short swim and some stretching once home.

Mix of indoor and outdoor running.  Heat outside was pretty bad but not as bad as the beginning of last week.  Went over to the Y, warmed up on the bike and did some crunches on the ball.  Hopped onto a treadmill for 2.15 miles with a pace just slightly faster than 8:00 average.

Headed outside.  Fortunately there was at least some cloud cover so it really didn't feel too bad.   Did another 5.5 miles at 7:39 average pace.  Tried not to look at my pace much except towards the end I picked up the pace and did about 0.2 at faster than 6:00 pace.

Then back inside for another 2 miles on the treadmill at 7:38 pace.

Headed home and finished up with some stretching.  I'll try another Inflict workout after tomorrow's run which I plan to do earlier (about 5:30).

One degree warmer this morning and more humid.  It rained last night and must have stopped just before I woke up.  I went to meet Raj at the Y at 5:30 but he wasn't there (later texted me that the rain kept him away).   I decided to go home and run with Jenny.  We ran 7 miles together, stopping a few times for water at the golf course (they don't seem to mind because no one is playing golf at that time).  Despite the heat, Jenny kept up a really good pace.

I added another short out and back to end up with 8.35 miles, average pace 8:36

Got into the pool to cool down, then started the (dreaded) Inflict intermediate workout.  It wasn't too bad, although I did go kind of light on some of the weights.  The two armed row while standing on one leg was pretty hard to balance.  There are a lot of different exercises that I wouldn't normally do, so I'm sure it is good in helping me get out of an exercise rut.