High-Octane

17 miles easy recovery bike ride @ 17 mph after the long run on Saturday. My HR was 120. Two months ago my HR was averaging 135 for the same ride. This was actually a very easy ride.

10/23/2011 (Morning Ride)
Miles	Time	Speed	HR	HR %	Rode to 3353 then Old Zorn and Back
8.5		16.7	118	56%
8.5		17.4	122	59%
17	Total	17.05	120	57%
Miles		Speed		70Âş
This was an easy recovery ride after a 15 mile run the day before.

Track Workout Today: 

20 min. warm-up, 6 x 400 (400RI), 10 min. cool-down.

I'm still struggling with the correct paces in this new Run Less Run Faster program so on this workout my paces were probably faster than they were supposed to be. My recovery time got much longer after about the third 400. I've never really tried to run my fastest 1/4 but after this work-out I'm thinking I should do that. 70 seconds on the last one so I know I could beat that by quite a bit on the first if I'd gone for it :-)

10/24/2011
Mile	Time
2	Warm-Up	Track Work-Out (400m then 400m Recovery)
0.25	1:17
0.25	Recovery
0.25	1:16
0.25	Recovery
0.25	1:14
0.25	Recovery
0.25	1:17
0.25	Recovery
0.25	1:15
0.25	Recovery
0.25	1:10
1	Cool-Down
Total	5.75 miles
Pace Avg.	1:14:50

"You can't ignore your running partners when they're all in your head."

Elisha Cooper (From the August 2010 issue of Runner's World)

Ha ha...I went to ride with the Big Boys in Gruene today and found out, when I got there that they had already left. They usually leave at 6:00 but I guess with the days getting shorter they are now leaving at 5 or 5:30. I decided to go ahead and ride solo. I passed them about half 12 miles out, they were already headed back. On all my other rides in Gruene I have started out with the Big Boys so I was able to draft off them for the first 6 or 7 miles. My best speed, with their help, has been 19.2 avg. speed. Today it was 19.5 by myself so I'm happy with that. I didn't start out very strong either today as I was trying to decide if I was going to push or just cruise.

10/25/2011 (Gruene Ride)
Miles	Time	Speed	HR	HR %	River Road to Fisher Store
5		19.2	132	65%
5		19.8	143	73%
5		19.2	143	73%
5		20.1	141	72%
5		19.1	147	76%
4		19.9	145	74%
29	Total	19.55	141	72%
Miles		Speed	83 Degrees

I'm almost to that 30 mile @ 20 mph goal.

(I did have one stop once to turn on my lights on this ride since I rode past dark.)

Matthew 5:16
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

So I look back at where I was a year and a half ago and realize that I couldn't run a mile without thinking I was going to die. Today I ran a very easy 4 miles at 8:45 pace. I know that's not that fast but as I was running I was thinking how easy this pace feels now. I haven't run many really easy miles lately so it was kinda nice to just relax and run! It was very foggy and humid so I was sweating but my legs and breathing were both relaxed and consistant. I think I'm as ready as I'm going to get for the race on Saturday. I'm not expecting to set a new PR but just run a decent training run. The temperature is supposed to be about 45 which is cold for me. I'll have to wear some extra clothes to try and keep warm and I'm thinking about running in my Brooks Racers and not carry any water (just drink at the aid stations) to take some weight off. The race route is the same route that I've ridden my bike several times, it goes along the Guadalupe river crossing it ocassionally. It's a very nice run or ride.

Here's the simple details of this morning's run:

10/27/2011
Mile	Time	HR	HR %	2 Miles Out and Back
1	8:40:00	129	63%
2	8:50:00	141	72%
3	8:40:00	140	71%
4	8:46:00	142	72%
Total	34:56:00	138	69%
Pace	8:44:00	62 Deg.

Psalm 23:1-3

 ¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
 ² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
 ³ he refreshes my soul.

So today is a rest day before my Half Marathon tomorrow. I may go out this evening and run 2 miles just to keep loose.

I started looking more closely at the RLRF program and counted the miles per week the program recommends. It starts out with 23 and increases to about 35 max. (Looks like I won't be on the milage board for a while!) I then went back and looked at my running for the last 11 weeks (starting after the hip layoff) and reviewed my running and biking miles. Below is the chart:

	Week of 8/14		Week of 8/21		Week of 8/28		Week of 8/35		Week of 8/42		Week of 8/49		Week of 8/56		Week of 8/63		Week of 8/70		Week of 8/77		Week of 8/84
Sunday	2	18		25		46		19	2				7		5.5		7.5			30		17
Monday		25.25	2		2				2	12.5	5		5			25.25			6.75		5.75
Tuesday		10		34		45.3		45			2	29.5		16.75	6.5		7					29
Wednesday	2	32.11		23		44	2	14	2	28.5		28	7	28.35		45.5		20	7
Thursday		12		40		12		31		33	5				7.6		14.5			22	4
Friday	2	22		22		26.5		20	4	run	2	34	5		9			20			2
Saturday		55				50		80		81		24		47					14.5		13.1
Miles per Week	6	174.36	2	144	2	223.8	2	209	10	155	14	115.5	24	92.1	28.6	70.75	29	40	28.25	52	24.85	46
	Run	Bike	Run	Bike	Run	Bike	Run	Bike	Run	Bike	Run	Bike	Run	Bike	Run	Bike	Run	Bike	Run	Bike	Run	Bike

I know this is probably information overload....sorry! Looking at the training and this history report, I believe I need to up my biking to about 80-100 miles per week for my cross training. I believe my body can easily handle 35 miles of running each week. my only concern in the program is holding the paces and finding time to ride 100 miles a week (it's hard to find the time to bike).

Proverbs 21:31
Do your best, prepare for the worst— then trust God to bring victory.

Total time: 1:35:55

New PR by 21 seconds

Pace: 7:19

1st Place in Age Division

When I signed up for this race I planned to run it for fun and not worry about my time, but as usual the closer the race got the more my competitive nature kicked in and I started setting goals in my head but all along I was really unsure about I could do. Since my hip problem, 10 weeks ago, I have only had four good weeks of  running training (between 24 and 30 miles of running) but my biking miles for the ten weeks has been about 150 miles per week. This week I ran pretty hard Monday and biked really hard on Tuesday. I was very sore after that but as I tapered and rested for the rest of the week I began to feel really good and by this morning felt great!

Still not knowing what to expect I decided to try and run the first three miles at about a 7:30 pace (the first three miles of the race is uphill) and see how I felt after that and determine what to do next.

It was 42 degrees this morning when I got the race so I stayed in my car until they played the national anthem. At that point I jumped out of my car and jogged to the starting chute to find myself at the back of about 1,500 people. As usual I found myself ducking, dodging and pushing people for the first mile to try and keep up my 7:30 pace. After the first mile things cleared out and I had no problem keeping stride. The first mile ended up being 7:24 (good). For some reason I picked up the pace on mile 2…I think it had a little more flat and I ended up running a 7:16. The third mile was fairly steep and I slowed back to 7:24 giving me a little faster average on the first three miles than I had planned. At this point, as I was feeling pretty good I decided to go ahead and pick up the pace for a while. Miles 4 thru 6 were the flattest part of the course and I just cruised to the turn-around point with times of 7:18, 7:16 and 7:18. Mile 7 thru 9 were a little faster at 7:12, 7:11 and 7:12. I was still feeling pretty good at this point and my HR had leveled off for the most part. Then came the dreaded mile 10…! Mile 10 going back was all up hill and for some reason I really lost focus at this point. I ended up running a 7:55 on this mile and beginning to think I had burned myself out. At the end of this mile I began to pray for God to give me the strength to competed to the best of my ability and to give me strength to finish strong…. What do you know I ran a 7:02 on mile 11! Mile 12 was slightly downhill and I kept a good pace at 7:17. I ran mile 13 about the same pace as mile 12 except for at the half mile mark I began to kick to finish that mile at 6:48, my fastest mile of the whole race. When I got to the finish line I forgot to press my stop button on my garmin so my .1 time was wrong. I did the math and calculated I ran it in 1:22. That time doesn’t seem right but for my total time to add up to the official time that’s what it says it should be. There were two sharp 90 degree turns right at the end of the race that may have slowed me down some too.

I now believe I can run a 7:00-7:10 pace in my next Half Marathon. Overall I am very happy with my performance because it give me confidence to achieve this goal.

2 Corinthians 5:7

 ^6-8That's why we live with such good cheer. You won't see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don't get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.