What ever it takes!

5:45am, 6 Mile slow recovery run with Nelle around the neighborhood trails.  6 Miles in about 50 minutes.  ~8:00/mile avg.   Very nice cool morning with a nice breeze to keep things cool. 

5:00am. General Aerobic 10 Miler day I decided to repeat last Mondays treadmill workout with my 5 minute ladders.  I start at a 7:00/mile pace and then bump it up about 10 sec/mile every 5 minutes.  I did this for 8 miles in 52 minutes.  (actually did an easy last mile to cool down for 10x100's)  6:32/mile avg pace.

I then did my modified treadmill version of 10x100m repeats.  Basically just to keep track of which number I'm on I start at 13.1 miles/hour for the first one 4:35/mil pace 13.2 for the second, 13.3...... up to 14 miles/hour for my last one.  I run for 0.1 of a mile each and jog for 0.1 mile in between, I figure the time it takes the treadmill to get up to speed I'm pretty close to doing 100's at ~full speed.  It's not really about the time, just getting the speed work in.

11:45am. Recovery run 6 Miles.  Kind of a strange workout, went to the gym decided to be lazy and just do the treadmill as opposed to the river trail in the wind.  Started out very slow and just felt "weird" not sore, not tired, just kind of almost dizzy.  At 3 miles I really needed to go to the bathroom so I stopped, got a drink and went down to my locker and grabbed a left over gel pack from Saturday, shot the gel got a drink and then went back to the treadmill for another 3.  Felt much better the second half.

6 Miles in 48 minutes.  avg pace 8:00/mile.

5:00 am, Ran to work today, we went to the Bee's game last night so I had my wife follow me to the gym and I dropped my car off there so I could run in today. 

The Bee's game was fun but the late night plus all the ice cream and candy I ate was a very bad thing the night before a long run.  I really wanted to try and maintain a 6:45/mile pace, with the tail wind and downhill start I thought it would be easier, but between my ice cream belly, dodging cars, and stopping at stop lights I just couldn't keep a steady pace going.  Plus at mile 3 I twisted my ankle trying to get off the shoulder of the road as a big truck wizzed by me which slowed down what should have been my fastest section.  Anyway, no complaints I got it done, I'm over 1/2 way through my race schedule from hell and I think with the exception of the week I decided to throw in an improptu marathon, this is my longest mileage week of the schedule.

15 Miles in 1:44:00  6:55/mile avg.

What a crazy day, 21 miles in the middle of the week?  Anyway,

12:00pm went to the gym and hit the treadmill for a 6 mile recovery run, started out a little bit stiff but worked it out.  Ryan showed up about 10 minutes into it so it was nice to have someone to talk to.  Decided to do a little something crazy at the end which I think I'm going to incorporate into all my treadmill recovery runs from now on as just kind of a personal challenge.  After my 6 miles I put the treadmill on 15 miles/hr just to see how long I could go.  It takes about .05 miles just to ramp up to full speed so I didn't run the whole thing at 4:00/mile pace but I made it 0.2 miles.  I'll try for .25 next time.

6.2 in 46:50.  7:33/mile avg.

Ahhh!  Much needed recovery day.  5:15 am, ran 6 miles on an absolutely perfect morning on the river trail, got back to the gym and went and did 400m in the lap pool.  Sat in the hot tub for about 15 minutes and stretched.  Feeling very refreshed now, I was pretty trashed after the last few days since Saturdays race.

6 miles in 47:30 7:55/mile avg.

11:30 am.  6 miles on the treadmill, I listened to my music extra loud today just cause it was fun.  I don't necessarily agree with people that say people that need music to run must not like running.  I just happen to like both, and sometimes I like my music loud and my pace fast.  :)

6.18 Miles in ~46:00 7:25/mile avg.

Did my experimental 15 mile/hour thing at the end of my run,  only made it .18 miles today, you'd think at that speed it would be easy to go a little extra further, but my legs couldn't take it.

4:45 am.  12 Mile run with 6 mile Tempo, Ouch!!!.  Started from my house went down the flight park road back on the frontage road, up to Cabellas and then out the trail to Bull River road.  (4 mile warm up).  Decided to do my Tempo run in Ryan Hall style and ditched my shirt.  Started out conservative since I knew I had blown up in the past on my Tempo's going out to fast, plus the first 1/2 is slightly uphill with a headwind out of the canyon, ran Bull River road out and around Smith's and then turned around at 3 miles and ran the same reverse route back.  Ran negative splits due to the return being slightly downhill with a tail wind.  Thought the whole no shirt thing would somehow make me run 4:50's like Ryan Hall, I was wrong.  :)

Tempo Run Splits went like this.
Mile 1 - 6:24  Avg HR-154  Max HR-161
Mile 2 - 6:24  Avg HR-161  Max HR-165
Mile 3 - 6:27  Avg HR-164  Max HR-167
Mile 4 - 6:11  Avg HR-165  Max HR-170
Mile 5 - 6:20  Avg HR-165  Max HR-170
Mile 6 - 6:13  Avg HR-165  Max HR-167

Total Tempo - 37:59  Avg HR-162  Max HR-170

2 miles, very slow up the hill back home.

Total 12 Miles 1:23:30  6:55/mile avg.

Very nice morning, saw a ton of shooting stars.  I sure like that the temperatures are going down.  I don't like winter, but love fall.

5:30 am.  Met at Ryan's house this morning, since he is going camping tonight he talked me into doing our long run to work this morning.  This is actually my longest run until TOU, not sure why it's 5 weeks out instead of 3 but it is.   We decided to run without headlamps which made the first 3 miles very slow, dodging construction cones and dirt holes in the dark,  Averaged around 7:30/mile for the first 3,   Went down around Thanksgiving point and headed out on the River Trail pace picked up to closer to 7:00/mile.  Headed out to Redwood road and up and over Camp Williams, that was rough but it was still coolish so not horrible.  Coming down Redwood from Camp Williams was very nice, we made up lots of time there.  Went and found the River Trail again and followed it in the rest of the way to work, there was a point at mile 19 where the trail ended and we had to go back up a huge hill through neighborhoods, very cruel joke. 

Ended up at the gym at 22.1 miles in 2:37:05,  7:05/mile avg pace.  Not to bad considering the slow start and all the uphill.  Very happy to have this run done and under my belt.  I can tell my high mileage is paying off, normally I bonk around 18-20 miles but even though I was definately tired by the end I never did bonk.

6:00 am.  10 Mile General Aerobic.  Went out for my yesterday's run.  Now I know why the long run should come after the medium run, not before.  I felt OK, a little bit drained from yesterdays run, but the perfect running weather helps a lot.  Followed the Bullriver trail out and around Smiths and back.

10 miles in 1:15  7:15/mile avg.

I will try and take the kids to the school for some 8x100's later today just so I can log a full 100 miles this week.  Wouldn't want to be short 1/2 a mile.

OK, I finally made it to the school with my 8 year old, Bradin after a busy day.  We layed out 100M on the pavement.  I had him time me using my iPhone clock which I know is not as accurate as electronic gates but hey, a 8 year old is cheaper than gates.  Ran 8 x 100's with a 100 m jog back to the start each time for a total of 1 mile.  My splits went like this.

15.4, 15.7, 15.0, 15.2. 15.6 15.9, 15.4, 15.3.  I was trying really hard to break the 15 second barrier but just couldn't muster it.  So according to these (very accurate) splits, and Sasha's calculator the fastest marathon my body will ever be capable of is a 2:30:00.

I think I would be OK with that, but I would love to prove him wrong.

Forgot to mention, Bradin's best time was 20.2 seconds.  Which I thought was pretty good for an 8 year old.  I didn't keep track of all his splits since 1/2 of them where on a scooter, and the other 1/2 he was a "rocket ship"  which ironically slowed him down quite a bit.