I'm feeling fat and sassy

First run since hurting my back Sunday.  Finally felt good enough to try running. Ran 6 total doing the doggie hand off (3 each with Ralphie and Sadie). Did some pick-ups to test it out It was kind of stiff and tender but definitely not going to slow me down at my race tomorrow. 

Old First Ward Shamrock Run 8k, or, Batten Down the Hatches

This race, held in the “Irish District of Buffalo” is the second largest race of the year after the 10k+ finisher Turkey Trot.  This year it hit the cap of 5500 registrants, it’s getting pretty big.  The course is held in an older industrial part of the city and the course is mainly flat with the old hills coming from some pretty big overpasses.

The main goal of this race was to see what kind of fitness I was in after the wacky winter we’ve been having.  I was hoping to be under 32 and ideally closer to 31.  If I hit that mark, I made it through the winter in ok shape.  To make matters worse, I tweaked by lower back last Sunday so I ended up not running at all during the week except for Friday. Kind of messed up my week and motivation. It was probably 80% back to normal. Not fully healed but good enough to not slow me down.

The morning of the race a STRONG cold front moved through putting the whole area under a high wind warning.  When I got to the race the wind was a sustained wind from the southwest at 40mph with gusts hitting 60mph, not the ideal for a fast time.  In addition, the wind knocked down a power pole on the course about at the 4.5 mile mark causing a last minute course change (shortening it to 4.5 miles instead of 5m).  In any other city, the race would be postponed but we are too hardcore in Buffalo and the Race Director and scoring team did a great job dealing with the weather.  This includes laying on the timing mats to keep them from blowing away!!

Mile 1 (6:06): After an easy mile warm-up, I line up and we are off.   With the wind, it felt like an easy job despite pushing under the 6 min mark.  The steady wind was ok but the gusts were pushing us into each other, the curbs, etc.  Felt great and settled in

Mile 2 (6:17): We are still with the wind and moving fast and easy at 6ish pace.  At about the 1.75 mile comes what we were dreading, turning back into the wind.  Paces plummet and runners weep.

Mile 3 (6:56): Fully into the head wind it was brutal.  It was a struggle to keep forward momentum with the gusts.  We move into packs drafting off each other trying to hide from the wind.

Mile 4 (6:55): Suffering and ready to be done.  Going over a large exposed overpass our pace rose to over 8:00 briefly. A lot of passing back and forth as people go out into the wind to try to push.

Last 0.5 (6:15 pace): Now we turn back with the wind and kick it home.  Let it push us the pace dropped back to race speed.  Dropped the last 0.15 miles to 5:30 pace to outkick a group of 4 trying to get me.

Overall: 29:27 (6:33 pace). 74^th of 3850 overall and 12 of 386 in my age (25-29).  I was beat, it was the worst conditions I or anyone I talked to have ever raced in.  Some called it dangerous. Kind of disappointed with my time and place but the conditions made it very tough to judge my shape.  A bunch of people that finished near me ran 1:04 to 1:06 at a 10mile race in poor conditions (snow, slop, and wind) 2 weeks ago. If I’m in that kind of shape, I’d be pretty excited.  Also got to finally race in my new racing flats (Mizuno Musha), I like them a lot and had no issues with them. Excited to try them out some more.  I’m looking for a 5k to run in the near future in hopefully better conditions.

7 easy miles at 7:58 pace.  

AM: 4.5 easy run (8:20) in the morning to make up for a missed run

 PM: Long run home from work. Average pace 7:50. Felt pretty beat at the end

Ran with Sadie and Ralphie before work.  Sadie was being a complete handful for no reason.  Felt dead overall.  Tried to run it easy at 8:11 pace.

Right shin is acting up again, I need to get back on my ice/stretch/strengthen cycle before it gets bad.

Doing my duty and gave blood at lunch today.  Totally nice out.  Got to wear shorts and a long sleeve-T to run.  Took ralphie out for an easy 6 miles.  Tried to stick to the old railroad grade to give my legs a break.  Average pace was 8:08.  Felt ok despite giving a pint

Lazed around too long and was forced on the treadmill.  Ran an easy 4.5 miles in about 8:10.  The food pod for my garmin is always way off on the treadmill!  I trust the mill's counter more than the footpod which makes me a little sad

Long run!.  Ran down to meet my friend.  First 7 held a pace of  7:43.  Felt kinda lazy during the first handful of miles.  Ran the next 5 with my friend (8-12) at a easy pace of 8:30 and picked up the last 3.5 home with 7:26 miles.  The last mile I pushed it down to 7:00 to see how it felt.  So my run started kinda of lazy but ended on a good note

am:  5 easy on the treadmill (8:28) to make up for missing Tuesdays Run

pm: 7 miles at the park.  Average pace was 8:00.  feeling pretty eh.

PM doggie run.  Took Sadie for 4 miles and Ralphie for 3.  Both dogs were being a complete handful.  easy run pace, 7:53

Wasnt feeling too hot mentally or physically thing week so I orginally cancelled my tempo run for today and was just going to do an easy 8 at the cinder path at the park to give myself and my legs a break. At about two miles in I decided I was feeling ok and went ahead with the tempo run. Ended up doing 3.5 miles at 6:34 pace and felt good. Finished it off with a 2 mile cool down for a total of 8 miles with an average pace of 7:00. Legs were a little sore at the end but I'll ice them back to health.

super easy recovery run (pace 8:30).  Stuck to the dirt paths to give my legs a little break.  A little sore still.  Iced when I got back.  I'll probably keep the intensity down until the are back to 100%.  

15 mile long run.  Met a friend half way for 5 miles.  First 6 miles were at 8:01 pace, middle 5 with Kelly were at 8:29 and then the last 4 home were 7:48.  A little sluggish but got moving ok.  Legs felt pretty good but it was unseasonably hot and humid this morning.  So excited for a rest day tommorrow

Nighttime run through the neighborhood.  7 miles @ 7:35 average.  First and last miles were a bit slower. Felt pretty good

5 mile recovery run because my glutes and things are quite sore.  Not totally sure why, maybe it was a carry-over of my long run on sunday.  8:30 ave pace, watched Happy Endings. Love it!

 had a crappy speed workout tonight. I've been feeling down, tired, and blah in general. Plus I had a long day at work and it was quite hot and humid out (70+ with 70% humidity).  My workout was was...
1.6 mile warm-up
8x 800m with 400m recovery
1.6 mile cool-down

My goal time was to be eat repeat at or under 2:50 but it was obvious that it wasn't going to happen and I ended up letting the intervals drift up to my current 5k pace (6:05ish) instead of keeping it at my H-F pace

Repeats were 2:47, 2:51, 2:54, 2:58, 3:02, 3:04, 3:02, 3:01

AM:  5 easy miles to make up for my unscheduled rest day yesterday.  Average pace was 8 flat, tried to run on the dirt to take it easy on my legs

PM: 6 on the treadmill after work.  Average pace 8:39.  Watched flight of the chonchords. Love it!

18 mile long run.  8:03 average pace.  Ran the first 7 with ralphie at the park (pace: 8:01) then 7 with sadie (8:13s) then the last 4 by myself (7:39)  Started out kinda rough but finished ok

Super easy recovery run. Despite my legs being beat, it wasn't too bad. Pace: 8:21

Regular run with Sadie.  6 miles at about 7:35 pace.  Felt pretty ok.  My legs are starting to get beat up.  The medial portions of my lower legs are kinda sore and I have a right tight hip adductors.  

Had a speed workout planned (2400m repeats) but my lower legs were pretty sore. Scrapped it and did an easy 5 on the treadmill at an easy pace (8:27s)

5 easy on the treadmill.  average pace 827.  Legs feeling a little better

4 easy on the treadmill.  8:27 pace.  legs feeling better

Bengal Run 5k Race Report:

Pre-race:  The race is a fast flat 5 in the City and I was anxious to see how my fitness was doing. Woke up with some chest congestion and I've been dealing with hurt lower legs the last week. It was pretty cold out too!  It was about 33 degrees and a little windy at the start.

The Race:  Once again I manage to have Yahoos jump in front of my right before the gun.  I was worried when they were questioning why only half of their clan had chips and what they did.  Managed to push through them at the start. 

Mile 1 (5:58).  Started a little fast.  Covered the first 0.75 at about 5:45 pace.  Felt pretty of but was coughing due to congestion.

Mile 2 (6:14).  Towards the end of the first mile I was really letting the pace drop to well over 6:00 but a group of 2 passed me and I latched onto them the best I could and helped pull the pace back to something ok.

Mile 3 (6:08). Got settled and felt a lot better than mile 2 but the burn was starting to set in.  Caught a couple people but a couple got away from me.

0.1 finish (36 sec).  Felt strong and kicked it in and then layed on the ground

Finished 25th overall and 5th in the 25-29 age group.

Pretty disappointed and discouraged, I was aiming for closer to 18:36.  But I couldn't hold to pull it out. I was thinking that maybe I should rethink my idea of a fast marathon in the fall and work on getting me short race speed back to where it was.  The marathon and half-marathon workouts are letting my short speed really lack.

The half marathon I'm training for is about 4 weeks away and I think I'm going to go for a stretch and aim for 1:25.  After that, I was looking at the race schedules and thinking of running a 5k in mid-july, a mile race in August, and our 8k Turkey Trot as my A races for the season.  I think I'm going to scrap running my October marathon and then if I get into Boston with my 3:04:40 I'll have that to start training for towards the end of the year.  Until then I'll focus on keeping my weekly mileage around 50+ to build a good base while doing some speedwork for shorter races and see if I can get my 5k to sub 18 and my 8k to sub 30 again.

Coming into the finisher shoot