Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

Goal for today: 2 ez, 2 @ 7:30, 1 @ 7:00, 2ez.  Splits: 8:19, 8:17, 7:24, 7:25, 6:59.76, 9:11, 8:40.  Average was 8:02 for the whole run.

Got that 7:00 goal mile by the skin of my teeth.  The first 0.3 or so was right into the 20mph wind and kicked my butt to the point where I kind of mentally gave up for a bit during the next 0.3, which was crosswind.  But, I found a finishing kick for the last 0.4 with the tailwind.  I brought the mile pace from 7:33 to 6:59 in the last 0.4 miles.  I thought the graph of that mile was cool, but I'm apparently too dumb to figure out how to paste it in, sorry.  Ctrl-c and ctrl-v no worky.  Anyway, I actually had to walk for a good 10-15 seconds afterward before I could started slowly shuffling home.

I actually started feeling some decent fatigue in my legs today.  I've been hitting it pretty hard lately so I'll take that as a good thing, but for next Thusday before the 10K I'll dial it back a bit to give myself a shot at a good time.

8:39 pace.  Weather actually looks perfect for my long run tomorrow.  What is going on here?!

Absolutely perfect weather - 40 degrees at the start, warmed up to 50 by the end, and less than 5 mph wind!  My new long-run strategy: start slow and get faster.  I played a little game trying to improve each mile a few seconds from the previous one.  By the end I was getting pretty good at it by just staying close to what I wanted for most of the mile, then fine-tuning the last 0.1 or so.  Garmins are fun.

Splits were 8:45, 8:43, 8:40, 8:37, 9:02, 8:33, 8:31, 8:29, 8:27, 8:21, 8:06, 7:52, 6:48, 0:55 (7:47 pace for 0.12).  Overall pace 8:22.  1:49:53 total.

I got basically the same overall pace as last week but this run was fun and I felt great the whole time.  Last week I felt like crap for the last 6 miles.  In mile 5, I dropped my cell phone trying to grab a Gu so that's the reason for the 9:02.  It broke into about 3 pieces and I had to fumble around forever trying to get everything back in its pouch - stupid fuel belt.  I was pretty annoyed that it ruined my little game.  In the last mile I was just trying to go a smooth tempo pace but I kept noticing the pace drop - it really felt great so I decided to murder the last third of a mile or so and got a great 1-mile split (6:48) for me, especially given that it was mile 13.  Then jogged in the stub to make it about a HM.

This run was pure enjoyment -  I know I'll probably never get weather like that again but I'm hoping that I can have that much fun in windier conditions as long as I take it easy at first like I did today.  In other words hopefully the strategy, not the conditions, made it fun.  By the way, thanks for the advice last week, everyone.  I also feel 100% better physically after today's run versus last week where I limped around all day.  Ok, enough words.

WM - 44.1

6 recovery miles @ 8:33 pace.  Happy Easter to all!

I woke up to howling wind again, this time supposedly 20-30 mph from the south.  It definitely felt every bit of that.  I decided against the tempo since I didn't feel like running a third of it against the wind.  I went with a plan to do 6 x 800s at 3:30 pace thinking it would be do-able and I'd only have to fight the wind 100m at a time (the track runs north/south).  I planned an easy 400 between each.

Did 2 miles warmup to the track in about 8:40 pace.  Then started my first 800.  I noted the first tailwind 200 was about a 48, and felt easy since the wind was practically carrying me.  The next 200 into the wall of wind was a 57 and I barely arrived at the 400 on pace (1:45).  So that's how it was gonna be...  I increased my effort a bit and finished the first one in 3:24.  From there it got worse.  Next was a 3:27, then a 3:31 after which I felt like I needed to walk, and did so for about 5 seconds.  I shuffled my easy 400 and jogged right out of the field!  I was done, and figured I'd just do an easy loop around the university instead.  I saw the girls track team as I left (they were noticeably absent from the track for the first time this morning).  They were doing their intervals on the east/west path that goes around the school.  That made me feel a little better, that they didn't feel like dealing with that headwind either.  But I still regretted not slogging through the last 3 800s, even if I had to do them at 3:40 or 3:50.

On the way home I decided to do a HMGP mile for mile 7 and got a huge side cramp halfway...come on.  I almost never get those, but this one was especially debilitating.  Fought through it and managed to eke out a 7:52 after which my legs were heavy and full of acid.  Come on, really?  Managed a 9:15 mile to close it out.  What a day.  8 miserable miles in 1:07.  I guess some days you just don't have it...

5 @ 8:18 pace.  I picked it up to HM pace for the last mile or so.

The wind was down today so I had to take advantage.  Plan was 2 warmup, 3 @ 10KGP (7:30), 1 cooldown.  I won't have the Garmin at the 10K on Sunday (my wife is using it) so I practiced trying to hit 7:30 by feel, only looking at my watch after each mile.  I assume they will have mile markers at the race (it's a big one).  Splits were 8:20, 8:32, 7:18, 7:07, 7:20, 8:15.  Average 7:48.

Pretty happy with it.  It was a relief to see that first 7:18 - I was dreading that it would say 8:00 when I finally looked.  The 7:07 was on a downhill mile that usually goes 10 seconds faster and the 7:20 was on a slight uphill.  My honest assessment is that I could've definitely done another 1.5 or so at that effort but 3.2 more would be iffy.  The good news is I can easily hit my goal of 47 with 7:30/mile so if I can stay controlled in the first couple of miles on Sunday I should be fine.  Hopefully this race-day magic I've been hearing about will take care of the rest.

5 @ 8:22 pace.

Weather for the 10K on Sunday - 60 degrees and 4 mph wind.  I didn't even know it was possible to have wind that low!  I need to move to Austin.

I was going to do a slow 30-minute jog today but we gotta get going - daughter's soccer game, then drive to Austin, pick up race packets, eat with grandparents, go to hotel, etc...with the two little girls in tow.  I'll write about the race tomorrow night.

Pretty good weather for this one - 60 degrees, almost no wind and overcast.  It was pretty humid and drizzling a bit but no impact to my race.

I lined up in the middle of my designated colored group - they did a good job keeping everyone with their own bib colors.  There were about 8,000 in the timed division, and the announcer said 20,000 runners/walkers overall which seemed unreal but maybe so.  My wife used the Garmin and I don't have a memory on my watch but the splits were mostly all easy to remember.

Mile 1 - 7:15.  The first 2.5 miles were very hilly, and generally uphill.  Bigger hills than I'm used to.  I thought I was taking it easy here but thought that was a pretty realistic pace.

Mile 2 - 6:45.  Whoops.  Another uphill mile and I was wondering why I was gassed already.  I couldn't believe I had 4 more miles based on the pain.  Then I saw the mile 2 marker and I was at 14:00 exactly - now it makes sense.  Garmin would've helped there, but I'm obviously WAY too dependent on it for pacing

Mile 3 - 7:45.  My worst mile, and the first part of it had a horrific uphill climb.  It barely felt like I was moving and people were passing me like crazy.  At this point I thought I had porked the whole race again and even thought of how I'd word this failure on the blog.  Still, when I hit the mile 3 marker at 21:45, I knew I was near the highest point on the course and was still on a great pace so I got kind of a second wind.

Mile 4 - 7:15.  Mostly a gentle downhill.  Started feeling good again, and hit the mile 4 marker at 29:00 exactly - see, easy to remember splits.

Mile 5 - 7:23.  Started to push too early because I knew I had a shot at 45.  Nope, not today.  I started really dying aerobically in the middle of this mile.

Mile 6 - 7:30-ish.  Making weird noises now.  It felt like when I was on the 7th grade swim team and it was Water Polo Friday and the 8th graders spent the whole game trying to dunk/drown us instead of scoring goals.  I was gasping for air just like that.  My brain was scrambled enough that I thought I just ran an 8:30 mile instead of 7:30.

Last bit - 1:30-ish.  I really really tried to sprint here but I felt like an old lady in the fast lane as people were whizzing by me on both sides.  My limbs were flailing, probably in a hilarous way to everyone but me.

Anyway, 45:25 is a great time for me.  Could I have run smarter?  Yeah, but I really can't argue with the results.  I'm really looking forward to this half marathon where we won't have the kids.  I love 'em but it'll be nice to be able to relax and get some good sleep and enjoy the time with my wife.  She was reduced to walking for a bit this time, after that big hill in mile 3 so no PR for her today but she's still in good spirits about the half.  It'll be the first for both of us - guaranteed PRs!

Yet another day off.  I know I had a race but not running on 2 of the last 3 days actually makes me uncomfortable now...weird.

Question - I want to get in another long run before the 25th; is it ok to do it this weekend (1 week before the race) or should I try to squeeze it in this week?

My legs are still a bit sore from the race.  I'm almost certain it's due to the hills from the race - I'm just not used to them.  I really should do hill training one day.  I decided to forego Tempo Tuesday and did 3 middle miles at HMGP instead.  They ended up being in the high 7:40s and the warmup and cooldown ended up being in the 8:10s.  The average for the run was 8:01.  So the fact that the "easy" miles are starting to come down closer to 8:00 pace is a good sign, I think.  This run was done later in the morning though, so that could be the difference too.

8:27 pace.  Early-morning runs mean back to reality I guess - yesterday's easy 8:10s felt like today's easy 8:30s.  Might try for a long run tomorrow if the forecast still looks like crap this weekend.

This morning looked ok, so I went for my last long run before the race.  Temperature in the low 60s and really humid.  It reminded me of a Houston morning (sorry Flatlander).  Winds were only 5-10 mph from the east.  I actually looked forward to the headwind parts for some cooling breeze.

I took the advice y'all gave me and my goal was 10 easy miles, then 3 @ HMGP (sub-8) followed by one at 10K pace (sub-7:20).

10 easy miles: 8:35 average.  Then 7:50, 7:46, 7:41, 7:13.  I passed the HM point in 1:49-something again and finished the run with an 8:18 average.

I know I won't have that kind of energy at the end of the actual race but it sure felt nice today.  No hint of a bonk or running out of fuel, so I think those couple of long runs that I had where I ran out of gas taught my body to make up for it.  As long as I take a few Gu's and drink gatorade there shouldn't be any issues there.  Just gotta survive aerobically now, which means NOT STARTING TOO FAST.

5 recovery miles - 8:35 pace.  It was raining today but it was still more enjoyable than the TM would've been so I put on some old shoes and hit the road.  The only annoying part was the 18-wheelers coming down the highway and the 60 mph blast of water and dirt they threw at me; I could never quite avoid it, even at the extreme end of the shoulder.  I almost crossed to run with traffic but I figured getting hit by a car from behind would've been a little worse than that.

My left hip flexor has been weird this week - when I sit down for awhile and then get up, it has weird twinges until I walk around for a minute.  When I start running it's completely fine after 30 seconds - 1 minute of jogging but very awkward until then.  Anyway, because of that I decided to go easy today and just do a couple at goal pace.

But it was one of those days where you just keep noticing the pace drop, feeling great, and don't want to slow down.  Oh well - here's what ended up happening: 8:42, 8:11, 8:02, 7:50, 7:37, 7:33, 7:28, 6:47.  Average mile - 7:46.  I really only sped up purposefully on the last half mile to get the sub-7, the rest is just what the legs wanted to do.  My breathing was nice and easy, too ('til the last 0.5), which I'll take as a promising sign.  Hip isn't any worse either, probably just something to keep an eye on.

If I end up running the race next weekend without the Garmin again, I really gotta watch out for this tendency and reel it back if I see anything below 7:40 or so early on.

WM - 45.7

6 @ 7:57 pace.  Legs and lungs felt like it was 8:20s.  Promising...

Less-than-promising is my stupid hip.  It stops hurting when I run or sit down.  Walking around, it acts weird.  I have no idea, even with all my Googling, what it is.  Anything from hip flexor strain, to IT band, to snapping hip (it only snaps in the morning a couple times).  Anyway, whatever it is, it feels better after a minute of walking or jogging.  Also found out it goes away with ibuprofen.  So I won't worry about it for the race - probably just paranoia at this point.

Rest day today.

Weather is looking pretty decent for OKC.  Maybe a 10-12 mph wind but nice temperature, and it's looking like it may even be a crosswind for most of the course.  If my hip will just continue to do ok once I get it moving, that 1:45 should be mine...

8:04 average pace, most of it begrudgingly.  The last 4 or so were HMP but it took a lot more effort today in the early-morning hours.  Finally felt like running around mile 5.

With the race at 6:30 on Sunday morning, I've decided I'll wake up early, at 4:30 or so, to trick my body into thinking it's 8:30 at racetime.  Might even do that Saturday morning too so I'm nice and tired Saturday evening.  Faster paces seem to come so much easier after I've been up a couple hours and my rhythms are more in sync.

No real change in my hip.  Almost thinking it's my upper thigh now but I can't find any good info either way.  Oh well, like I said - no pain once it gets warmed up.  Will figure it out after the race.

Wind forecast for OKC keeps increasing.  Pretty sure it'll be in the teens now but still WNW means mostly crosswind for the course.

3 warmup miles, then 1 @ 5K pace, 1@ HMP, 1 cooldown.  Just trying to feel a little pain for the last time before my HM, and get a little stress under that HMP mile.  The 5K mile ended up being 6:32, then followed it up with a 7:52 HM mile (7:57 avg pace for the entire run).  I'm pretty sure I oversped the 5K pace but it felt really smooth and relaxed - it also dropped in elevation 40 ft or so, but hey I'm trying to build my confidence here.  By the end of the fast mile I knew it probably wan't 5K pace, more like 2-mile pace but whatever, still felt really great.  Takin' it easy the rest of the week.

5 @ 8:16 pace.  Middle mile was a blind race pace mile (not looking at Garmin) at 7:54, so I think I'll be fine without GPS.

Wind forecast looks a little more reasonable now for OKC - maybe 10-12 mph at racetime.  It looks like it might work out to be a headwind on the first half which has some downhill and a tailwind on the second half which has 3 tough uphill miles (9, 10 and 11).  I think that's probably the ideal wind direction.

Easy pace (watch was packed already but maybe 8:30s).

Wind forecast for racetime hours in OKC -- NW @ 14 mph, so a definite headwind on the first half of the race.  We'll see what happens but I'll try not to get bent out of shape over 8:00+ miles into the wind and just try to make it up later.

We hit the road today for my in-law's house (5 hours) then make the 5-hour drive from there to OKC early on Saturday.

We woke up at 4:30 as planned and crept out of my in-law's house and are now relaxing at the hotel.  We did the expo and checked out the OKC Memorial which was cool.  Wind forecast is down to 12 mph and a bit more westerly (more crosswind, less head/tailwind) so good on both counts.  Will post about the race probably tomorrow night or Monday, but my bib is H525 in case anyone feels like looking me up earlier.

I had a near-perfect race today!  The winds were saying 17 gusting to 24 before we left the hotel but they did not feel that tough most of the time.  Temperature was perfect.  I wanted to get in a half-mile warmup for my hip but we didn't have time after waiting in lines for the PoP and gear check.  Figured it was a 13-mile race anyway so I'd get my warmup.  Ran without Garmin but I have a good idea of most splits.

Miles 1-2 - 7:55 pace.  Nice and slow.  I was getting stuck behind people but went with the flow and it helped keep me at warmup pace.  I bumped into the 1:45 pace group in mile 2 and ran with them for a few minutes but it was too comfortable so I sped up.

3,4 - 7:25, 7:45.  Sped up too much, then found a nice pace.  31:00 exactly at the 4 mile mark, so 7:45 pace so far.

5,6 - ~7:30 pace.  Just felt great here, and I was right around 2 minutes ahead of the invisible 8-minute pace runner at the 6-mile mark.  Crossed the 10K at 47:50.  The results say 46-something but they're all off a minute (Danielle's showed a minute fast too).  Anyway I was happy I had banked 2 minutes already.

7,8,9,10 - ~7:45 pace.  We turned around mile 8-ish as the marathon people kept plodding along into the wind.  I was happy to turn.  This is the stretch with the 1% uphill for about 3 miles straight but the headwind turned into a tailwind so it kind of evened it out.  I was at 1:17:00 exactly at the 10 mile mark.  With 5K left, I saw that a 23:00 would really make things interesting so I started pushing, though I knew that was asking a lot at this point.

Last 5K - 23:04 (7:26 pace)!  I don't remember the individual mile splits but they were a lot faster than I had been going.  Of course I'm left wondering if I could've sprinted it out earlier to get those last 5 seconds and the sub-1:40, but right now I'm still happy about the 1:40.

Really pumped that I ran a smart race and I don't think I could've gone any faster or tried any harder (well, maybe 5 seconds...dummy).  A month ago, I thought 1:45 was way out of reach!  Thanks fellow FRB'ers - I actually thought about y'all as I passed the 1:45 pace group at mile 2 so who knows if I would've done that if no one suggested I could go faster.  Just another example of how helpful this blog is, and the people that make it work.

Ok, next HM will be October, most likely so plenty of time to improve.  Then my first marathon in January!  Lots of miles to do until then.

EZ 4 - 8:11 pace.

My legs aren't sore at all, probably because the OKC course was a lot less hilly than my 10K, but my hip is slightly worse - it took a quarter mile of awkward shuffling to warm it up this time (instead of the usual 30 seconds or so).  I think whatever the issue is, the root problem is muscle imbalance/weakness so I'll work on that right away and do my best to go easy on it running-wise but that never seems to happen.

EZ 5 @ 8:28 pace.  Back to the early-morning grind.

My hip is about the same as yesterday.  I'm just waiting to see if it gets worse or better, then I'll take days off if need be.  It was starting to improve a few days before the race with mostly easy runs so hopefully that will be the case again, it just did not like the race.

EZ, windy 6 @ 8:27 pace. Might be forced into a day off tomorrow due to busy work schedule so maybe the hip will improve in the meantime.

Found a window to squeeze in 4 TM miles at the gym at work.  They're pretty fancy treadmills and my hip was happy about the low impact.

1 @ 8:34;  1 @ 8:00;  1 @ 7:30;  0.5 @ 6:58;  0.5 @ 8:34.