Winning Back What I Lost

530AM: Easy Medium Long Run. A rather crisp but beautiful morning on the first day of May. Put a long sleeve shirt & gloves on but stuck w/ the shorts.  My legs weren't tired, my body was. Fortunately, my legs are getting conditioned to the point where they don't get that low-volume achiness during these mid-week and weekend longer runs. I was a little worried at the halfway point that my hammie would cramp up. I could feel just beginning to ball up. I somehow willed it to pipe down and get in line w/ the other muscles.  It complied and therefore I didn't have to 'turn the car around and go home.'

615AM: 6.1M Easy Recovery Run to and from the IAC. 3 sets x 12 (Single Leg Lifts + Single Leg Press + Calf Raises).

Noon: Another easy recovery run on the GB during lunch. Lots of water flooding the GB at nearly every tunnel. Gonna be costly to repair once the water recedes and it will be interesting to see what kind of course adjustment they'll be forced to make for the Great Potato Marathon in 2 1/2 weeks.

545AM:  Easy Medium Long Run. Easy pace (MP + 60 sec/mi) now fails to get my HR above 130-135 bpm. Aerobically speaking, I've probably never been in better shape. We'll see how much of a marginal improvement I can make in a little over a month. That's why I think body weight is going to be dispositive. Incremental increase in base mileage inevitably leads to improvement in running economy over time but I think the return on the loss of just 1 lb of body fat is equal to or greater than averaging 5 more miles per week over a single training cycle. 

615AM: Short, easy recovery run. Saving the legs for tomorrow's long marathon pace run.

930PM: Easy 50 min run. Super busy Saturday. T-Ball + Track Meet + B-Day party = no long run. Will try tomorrow. It's a key MP workout so no way I can blow it off. FWIW, felt really good tonight. Could have gone much harder but held back to save it for tomorrow.

130PM: Marathon Pace Run- 1M warm; 14M @ 7:28/mi avg pace; cool. This qualifies as a BFD! Been looking forward to this test run for a couple of weeks. Nice to know that I was able to complete this workout w/o redlining. I think my average HR was around 155, although it started to drift into the low 160's toward the end. This is encouraging because I often race at near 170 bpm. That sounds high but its fairly common for me. Ran an out and back on the Boise River Greenbelt. High water has flooded sections of the GB, especially in the tunnels. Knew this would be a challenge when I had to run through ankle deep water less than a mile in. All told, I had 4 "creek crossings" on the way out and 4 on the way back. This kept my feet nice and wet the entire run. Thought it would be a problem but the Balega socks I purchased really helped. Definitely one of the better running specific purchases I've made in quite a while. Highly recommend. Finally, I saw a hawk swoop down and grab a snake out of the grass near Ann Morrisson Park which was totally awesome!

615AM: Easy recovery run. My left piriformis muscle was extremely tight so I couldn't push off.  I'll monitor it and try some rehab and strengthening. Feel good otherwise. Very cool this morning. Temps are supposed to warm up this week but it felt like late fall this morning. 

530AM: Easy Medium Long Run.  Still a little sore from Sunday's workout but better. Picked up some healing rub called Blue Emu Oil w/ Glucosamine.  Seems to be really effective. Pain in my heel is gone and the piriformis pain is noticeably better after just one application. Even if its a placebo, I'll take it. 

615AM: Easy 6M to/from the gym + weight training (3 x single leg press & single leg lift). 

Noon: Beautiful day, temp in low 70s w/ light breeze. Jogged over to Fort Boise trails for some hill sprints. 10 x 15 sec hill sprints. This on the heels of this morning's weight session might leave my legs trashed for a couple of days.

615AM: Very windy outside so I headed to the gym for some easy TM running. Mixed in 7 x 100m strides. 

Headed to my oldest son's track meet tonight. He qualified for districts in the 400m. He's not expecting to move on to state.  He's only a sophmore, so the experience of running against good competition will hopefully push him to a big PR. 

615AM: Very cool this morning, mid 30's. Easy progression run, starting at slower than LR pace and finishing at current MP. 

My son ran the 400M at districts last night. He didn't run as well as he would like, much slower than he did last week, due to some windy conditions and a nagging hamstring issue. Still, he's only a sophmore and the experience will only serve him well when he returns next year.

1230PM: Last 20 miler of this cycle I think. Running a half next Saturday and don't want to run a 20 miler too close to my goal marathon 4 weeks from today. Weather was nice and sunny. Got a little warm, low to mid 70s. Ran a pretty even pace of goal MP + 60 secs/mi. Highest mileage week of my running career because I pushed last weeks long run to Sunday of this week due to time conflicts. Now it's off to get some late Mothers Day gifts with the kids.

9PM: Easy recovery run.

545AM: Speedwork on MVHS track- 3M warm; 6 x 1200m @ 6:55/mi w/ 2 min recovery; cool.  Left piriformis was sore and it took a while to get in a groove. Actually, felt worse once I slowed down. I'll keep it easy the rest of the week. Going to attempt a very steep mini taper after Wednesday for Saturday's half. 

615AM: Easy run. Perfect weather. Just cool enough to be great for running and not so cool that I had to go w/ gloves and/or long sleeve.  PF still flaring up on my right heel. I'll stretch it good this morning and hope it feels better by lunch because I'm planning another session of short hill sprints. 

Got my confirmation e-mail that I made it into Saint George Marathon on Oct. 6th. This puts a little more pressure on me to make UVM count because I doubt that I'll be running another marathon before the September Boston registration deadline. 

530AM:  Easy Medium Long Run. Really tired today. My 8 yr old woke me up saying she had a nightmare and never really got back to sleep. Don't think I woke up until around mile 7. Massaged and iced my left heel last night. Felt much better this morning. Thinking about making up the hill repeats I missed out on yesterday due to the PF issue.  We'll see how work goes and how I feel.  If I get enough caffeine in me it could happen. 

1230PM: Sunny and warm (mid 70's).  Felt good enough to try a short 10 x 15 sec hill sprint workout.  Extremely tired at the outset but the sprints actually woke me up and my legs starting feeling better. Could have done 10 or 20 more repeats but had to get back to work. Short, easy runs tomorrow and Friday in order to be as rested as possible for Saturday w/o the weekly mileage taking too much of a hit. 

615AM: Keeping it easy today and tomorrow. Mixed in a few 20 sec strides.  A little more rested this morning. Sleep is kind of important but totally unproductive. 

615AM: Hit the alarm at 545am and my wife says to me, "Don't you want to just sleep in one time?" That pretty much sums it all up. I didn't respond, just staggered to the bathroom to get ready.

Kept it short and easy for the most part: 2M warm; 1M @ goal HM pace (7:00/mi); 2M cool. Very windy and cool this morning. Right now the wind is blowing the wrong direction (WNW) for the race. We need it to turn around and blow from the East for a nice tailwind and according to the forecast its not likely to do that until late Saturday.  Oh well, at least the temps will be nice and cool (high 40's to mid 50's) at race time tomorrow (830am).

Very pleased with this race, especially off of zero taper. I was shooting for 1:29:59 and made a good push for it. I think I might have made it if I didn't put myself in too big of a hole in the middle miles. I actually ended the last 1.5M @ 6:46/mi pace.  I probably waited too long to make that push but then again maybe I would have crashed if I started the push w/ 3 miles left?

Picked up my buddy John at 615am. He lives one street over. We drove to the finish line at Ann Morrison Park, got on the bus and arrived at the starting line at the base of Lucky Peak Dam an hour and a half before the start.  Unlike Utah, they don't have fire barrels to huddle around in Idaho marathons. Next year I'm bringing kindling and kerosene. It was downright cold with people hiding behind every conceivable structure looking to get out of the wind, at least until the sun finally peaked over the top of the rock and earthen dam. Got in a half-mileish of warm-up looking for place to pee w/o lines and trying to get the GI system to evacuate. No dice. 

That said, conditions were near perfect for running early on, w/ a slight tailwind and very cool temps (40's) through the Canyon at Lucky Peak to Barber Park.  At the starting line I told John that I would try to keep him in sight for as long as possible (he ran a 1:24 PR) and we were off.

Paced the first few miles very effectively.  Started at 7:00/mi pace and tried to increase it from there.  Unfortunately, I think all the speedwork and tempo work @ 7:00/mi pace has trained my legs to lock in that pace. I stayed right near there all race, but for a couple of blips navigating the neighborhoods and the slow 10kers near Park Center.  Then, around mile 10.5ish (near the zoo), I realized that I would have to pick it up significantly to get in under 1:30. Shortly thereafter, I was passing a youngster and he started chatting me up asking if I was a half marathoner (at this point there were tons of slow 10kers and really slow marathoners everywhere).  I responded in the affirmative and asked him what his goal time was. He was shooting for 90 mins too. I said, "Giddyup, let's do it."  We picked it up a bit. When we got to the aid station at 12 I told him that there was no reason or time to stop for water/gatorade, just run through it.  I could sense his disappointment and about a half mile later he stopped, stated "I'm going to throw up. Good luck." 

Apparently, I'm not above leaving a man behind and continued my push.  I think I already knew that the math wouldn't work but I pushed forward anyway, leaving it all out there. I ended with my last mile being my quickest (6:46/mi).  Had my usual stomach issues around mile 9-10 but I was able to hold them off until after the race.  All that translated to almost a 4 minute PR off of what I ran in this race last year.

Returned home in time to get showered, dressed and coach my son's T-Ball team to another great performance- we're doing coach pitch now and the kids are raking. After that, Quin and I went to DQ. I got a PB Parfait and he got an M&M Blizzard that was way too big for a 6 yr old. I graciously offered to finish what he started. :) A pretty damn good day. 

Splits: 7:00; 6:55; 6:49; 6:56; 7:00; 6:55; 7:02; 6:59; 6:59; 7:05; 7:11; 6:58; 6:46.

830PM: Easy Recovery Run to work out some of the lactate from yesterday's hard effort. Ideally I should have cooled down w/ some post race mileage yesterday but the schedule was too packed. A little sore in the hips & glutes at the beginning. Felt better by the end. One more week until the taper!

615AM: Easy + Speed: 10 x 100m strides. Ran a few miles last night and my old body does not like the back to backs.  Good thing I only do that once a week. Left piriformis muscle still barking at me and beggin for some treatment. It's not an injury, just bothersome.

In other bad news, just found out that Lance Berkman is likely out for the year. Cards have a lot of depth at 1st base (Matt Adams was raking before he was called up from AAA and Allen Craig is an All Star in waiting once he comes off the DL) but he was definitely the leader in the clubhouse.   

545AM: Raining so I headed over to the club for some TM miles. This was supposed to be my Medium Long Run but my left heel was hurting and I can only tolerate the TM for so long.  May get in a couple of miles tonight, maybe not. 

Last T-Ball game tonight. Kids have asked that we go without the tee for the last game.  I guess that means this season has been a success. Gonna be sad to see it end so quickly.

615AM: 5M easy then last two miles just under goal MP (7:25; 7:21).  

Nearly tore an ACL after a careless dog owner let her golden retriever run off leash.  I didn't see or hear (headphones) the thing until it came up from behind me and jumped on the back of my legs. Almost made me eat it hard on the asphalt but my superior old man reflexes saved me. I kept on truckin and the dog's owner comes around the corner totally oblivious.  I tell the lady she might want to put that leash she was holding to good use and she just gives me a blank stare.  Nice.

Noon: Easy + hills: .75M warm; 8 x 15 sec, 2 x 20 sec hill sprints; cool.  Very mild temps and a strong breeze today. The rest of the week is supposed to be like this and then a warm up for next week. Now is when I start looking at the long term forecast for the marathon. So long as we don't get overnight lows in the 60's, it should be pretty cool at 6k feet on June 9th.   

6AM: Easy aerobic run. Did half of this run on the MVHS track. I think I'm still dizzy from running all those ovals. Distance running on a track is one small step up from a treadmill. 

6AM: Easy recovery run. Wasn't raining when I left the house but it was pouring by the time I returned. Sped up the last mile because I was terrified that the rain would soak threw my pocket and damage my iPhone.  

Tomorrow is my last long run (17M) as I'll begin a 2 week taper for UVM.  The Pfitz Plan calls for a 3 week taper but I'll log 65M this week v. the 53-55mpw he recommends. I find that a 2 week taper is more than enough.  Actually, I think a 1 week taper would probably be enough.  

430PM: Easy + fast finish. Progression on last 4+ miles, shaving 10 secs mi on each successive mile. Began @ 8:00ish mi and finished @ goal MP (7:25 mi). My fitness felt great but my legs felt below avg. Good practice for being able to push when the legs feel like anvils the last 10 k of the Mary. I think I'll get a massage next week to work out the calves, PF and hammies.

Last longish run of this cycle. Goal from here on out is to sleep well, eat well and fine tune.

7PM: 3 super easy miles with the girls on their bikes to get some Redbox and back. Left piriformis is starting to flare up again. I've been massaging and icing for two days to no avail. Actually feels better after I warmup but until then it really nags. Someday I'll have a full training cycle with no aches or pains.......nah, probably not.

1130AM: Easy + 10 x 100m strides. Achilles sore. I just keep getting new dings and dents every day. Going fishing tomorrow and Wednesday so maybe some rest will help.

6AM: Easy Recovery Run. Now I'm off for 2 days to chase big brown trout on the Owyhee River!

615AM: Didn't run yesterday for the first time in over a month. Spent 2 days on the Owyhee River w/ my dad. Caught a bunch of fish and, more importantly, rested the mind and legs. Made some memories w/ the old man.  My dad's 70 so I'm not sure how many more of these overnight outings he'll be up for.  

The rest really helped my legs get some life again. Ran an easy 3M warmup over to the MVHS track then 3 x 1600m w/ 400m jogs between (6:38; 6:31; 6:30). Based off of my recent 1/2 mara PR, this is probably close to 10k pace.  Also, new PR for most mile in a month.