Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

low 60s, windy.  We had a "fun run" today at work so I did an easy 5k or so before I left, thinking they would probably be a little skimpy on the distance.  They were...about 1.6 on the fun run.  Just a recovery day anyway, so altogether that about did the trick.

mid 50s, 8mph wind.  Did 8 at an AP of 7:58.  Tomorrow I'm doing 16 on what will be the hottest day of the year so far; should be a good opportunity to do a long run under adverse conditions.

70F, south wind 21-34 mph.  Basically a preview of June temperatures today (with typical April winds).  Should get into the mid 90s this afternoon.

For the run, I started in the 8:20s and worked my way down to 7:20s.  AP was 7:53.  I was pretty happy with how I felt the whole time, given the temperature and the often ridiculous wind.  I don't think I could've broken 3:20 today but at least it wasn't as painful as I imagined.

Well, after 3 solid months with no injury concerns, I finally have another one -- left achilles area.  I had some weird twinges while running yesterday but nothing that would even make me think about stopping.  I iced it, took nsaids yesterday, and this morning it's bothering me quite a bit more while walking.  I didn't plan on running today anyway, but this feels like something that will stick around for awhile, we'll see...

Upper 30s, low wind (perfect for the long tempo I had planned).  But, I got this achilles thing.  I wanted to see if it got worse or better while running.  It mostly stayed the same, and if anything, got a little better -- just a dull ache.  I just took short strides and kept it easy, 8:16 AP.  Of course, I also had an obscene amount of anti-inflammatories in my system.  The main body of the tendon is not sore at all, any soreness I can actually touch is at the bottom of the calf.  Reason for hope?

This week will be more runs just like this (relative rest) and hopefully I can return to some better training next week since I'm supposed to be in peak training for OKC right now....

62F, winds SSW 27-45 mph.  yeah.  Obviously I'm still running easy this week, although my stride feels funny fighting that much wind.  I would say my achilles is better than yesterday, and with only a single human-size dose of mobic today.  The slight discomfort seemed to get slightly better as I ran again today, but it was still present.  Moving in the right direction though, I think.  Huge improvement from a couple days ago -- as I was limping around at work it felt like a season-ender on Monday but I am cautiously optimistic right now.  8:16 AP.

66F, wind S 12 mph.  More of the same but 8 miles today, 8:11 AP.  Achilles felt about the same, dull ache.  I'm trying to figure out if a day off is in order to speed things along.  I'd really like to get another solid week or two of really beating up my legs plus another 20+ miler before OKC.

67F, wind S 12 mph.  I decided to keep running on it since it felt like it improved overnight.  Once I started running there wasn't much of a difference though, maybe a little better but definitely not worse.  Either that, or I'm not paying as much attention to it anymore.

The run was 8:10 AP, and I felt out of shape, awkward and sluggish.  I hope I can get in a good week of training next week before I need to taper a bit.  If there is still some discomfort while running tomorrow, I might can the long run this weekend and hope to get in a 20-miler the next weekend which will still be 2 weeks out.

70F, wind S 22 mph.  Mini heat wave this weekend; the high today is 99!

8:17 AP felt tough again, really sluggish.  I can still feel a little tugging in the achilles area, but I think it's almost healed.  So my new plan is to do a really short, slow run tomorrow to hopefully finish the healing, and go long on Monday since I'll be on local leave.  My secret reason for doing the long run on Monday is that it's going to be 20+ degrees cooler.

Meh...gonna end up with no run today.  Desire to rest the achilles before my long run, and laziness share the blame.

I tried some calf drops (eccentric calf raises?) on the bad side and it seemed to aggravate it just a little.  Guess it is still a little too early to strengthen things down there.  Still planning to do this long run tomorrow.

Start 58F, wind NW 12 mph.  Finish 58F, wind N 20-25 mph.  Didn't quite get the low temperatures forecasted but still pretty nice.  Going out I ran north, so there was a small quartering headwind on the way out, but by the time I turned around I had a big direct tailwind.  So kind of an aided course overall; guess I gamed it nicely today.

I wanted to keep the run no faster than GMP, but that tailwind on the way back home was just carrying me along and I couldn't let it go to waste.  Still held back some though, I think this will be a fast recovery.

Splits were 8:18, 8:01, 8:13, 8:19, 8:14, 8:08, 8:06, 8:12, 8:00, 7:55, 7:57, 7:51, 7:43, 7:43, 7:43, 7:45, 7:35, 7:25, 7:18, 7:12, 6:59.   AP 7:50.

I didn't even feel my achilles (unless I tried) until mile 9 or 10, then it started tugging on the uphills.  It stayed at a dull ache most of the rest of the way.  I think I must be favoring it a bit when I run because I was having some weird aches and pains on the left (bad) side: hip flexor, groin, glute.  After the run, I made an ice bath -- cold water plus whatever ice we had.  That was an experience.  I think it helped though.

4 recovery miles in the evening.

60F, wind S 13 mph.  7:59 AP.  Feeling pretty good this morning.  I'm not noticing my achilles too much while running, so it's close to healed.  No anti-inflammatories in my system for this one either!

66F, S 15-22 mph.  8:03 AP.  Felt worn out, but managed a few GMP at the end.

53F, 8 mph wind.  8:36 avg pace.  Wasted some great running weather with a recovery run but I think I needed it.  Looks like I'll be working all weekend...$!#%

40F, 2mph wind.  Perfect day for running, but I just did 7 at an 8:13 pace this morning.  Then quickly packed up the kids to watch mommy get another 5K PR at a local race.  Then we ran with the kids in the 1 mile fun run.  I ran with our 4-year-old; she did the first quarter mile in about 2 minutes then a lot of walking after that, finishing just under 15 for the mile.  Then off to work, which ended up being pretty much cancelled for the day.  Still gotta go in tomorrow, but I'll try to get in a longish run beforehand.

61F, wind S 15-22 mph.  Plan was for 7 easy, 10 @ GMP.  Actual was 7 easy, 4 @ GMP, 6 tempo.  I love that I was able to pull this off with a temperature above 60 (barely above 60, but whatever).

7 easy - AP 8:06 -- 8:26, 8:00, 8:10, 8:06, 8:00, 7:55, 8:03

10 hard - AP 7:07 -- 7:23, 7:27, 7:27, 7:20, 7:08, 7:09, 7:01, 6:47, 6:46, 6:42

Overall AP 7:31.

Unlike my last long run, the last 10 here were overall neutral/unaided.  My legs were pretty fresh for this run with a couple easy days prior to today.  I think I have been underestimating how important that is, and instead putting all the importance on temperature.  My taper (which begins....NOW) should take care of that.  No complaints from my achilles either, feeling good!

73F, S 12 mph.  Hot one - we reached 100 in some parts of town yesterday so I guess it couldn't quite cool off from that overnight.

The plan is 20% fewer miles this week.  AP 8:04 today.  I was reading some of the Boston race reports from the blog's elite and it was interesting to me that a couple mentioned the "heat" (temps in the low 50s) being a factor.  Guess it's all relative.  If I get those kind of temperatures at OKC, I will sacrifice a goat on the altar of the god of running weather in appreciation of his mercy.

5 @ 8:23 AP.

Some pictures from the kids' run on Saturday...

Keira (3 yr old) made it half a mile with some assistance from mommy.

Elle (4 yr old) on the homestretch of the 1-mile race, keeping an wary eye on the strange giant blue bear (not pictured) who was cheering people in.

57F, foggy, low wind.  This was my last actual workout before the marathon, and my last run of more than 8 miles.  Plan was 6 easy, 8 @ GMP.  For the 8 GMP miles I averaged 7:26 (7:27, 7:21, 7:24, 7:32, 7:24, 7:29, 7:25, 7:29).  The route I mapped was a little long so I cooled down the last 0.42.  7:45 AP for the run.

I was hoping it would feel nice and easy but I never got into a rhythm with it and never felt completely comfortable.  I still completed the workout but couldn't have completed a marathon today at that pace, even with these nice temperatures.  Fortunately I will have a taper, gu's, crowd support, etc. for the actual race.  I can also afford a bit slower pace for a 3:20; an extra 10 sec/mile could help.  So I'm not panicking.

69F, S 17-25 mph.  5 @ 8:37 pace.  First couple glances at the 10-day forecast show an overnight low of 55 for the race, and ~10 mph winds....that's decent.  Too early to trust it too much, but it would be better than Houston -- at least the first half of the race would be in the upper 50s if the forecast holds.

74F, S 15 mph.  8:18 AP, which felt exhausting in the sun.  I slept in a little today which was worth about a 5-degree penalty.  It's hard to bite the bullet and slow down, but I definitely don't want to be this tired during every run this summer.

69F, S 15-20 mph.  7:49 AP on some nice fresh legs, included a quarter-mile hard up the one significant hill along my route.

Time to share my obsessive research on race day weather for OKC.  Here's the scoop so far.  Pretty much every place I've looked agrees that this coming weekend there will be a hot morning followed by a cold morning.  They disagree on when the cold air will arrive.  4 out of 7 think it will come before the race, including my two most trusted sites, weather.com and wundergound, which put the low at 53 and 49.  Awesome.  The other 3 out of 7 say the cold air doesn't arrive until after the race, including 2 local TV stations that put the low at 58 and 62.  Weather.com thinks the low will be 67 the morning before the front (which right now they say will be the morning before the race - Saturday).  So if it stalls out, it could be a painful day.  Guess I'll just keep checking it 5 times a day until I see what I want.

54F, low wind.  What a nice morning.  8 @ 7:48 AP, last 3 in the 7:20s.  I'm going to take tomorrow off (a chance to really focus on my amateur meteorology) and then a couple more short runs to shake things out on Thursday and Friday.  Travel Saturday, race Sunday.

45F, calm, clear.  May not get another day like this in Abilene for about 6 months.  AP 7:58 - easy miles with 6 or 7 pickups to faster paces for 30-45 sec.  I felt really fresh and springy.

The front may arrive right during the race.  Should be nice temps, low 50s to start but the front will bring a north wind and rain -- hopefully no thunderstorms.  So it looks like I'll probably be running my second marathon in the rain too.  Good news is it'll be 10+ degrees cooler than Houston, bad news is the wind.  Don't think it'll be terribly strong; anyone that runs in this part of the country knows that the north wind is to be respected and the south wind is to be feared.  Sunday will have the north wind.  Looking good!

63F, S 22-30 mph.  8:38 AP, probably my last run before OKC.

Weather predictions for the race:

Temperature - beautiful -- starts at 52 or so, and actually decreases throughout the day (52 is the high) due to the front.

Skies - It'll be overcast (good) but rainy (not ideal, but ok).  Like my first marathon I'll just be hoping for no lightning so they will actually have a race.

Wind - Likely 20 mph from the north.  The front is arriving right before the race and bringing some wind.  It'll probably be a good negative split day with a headwind from (roughly) miles 2-11, and a tailwind from 18-26.

I'm definitely going to hit up Wal Mart today for some throw-away clothes I can wear in the corrals.  The orange shirt must be protected until race time.

Made it to the hotel, got all the gear, etc, and now just relaxing a bit before dinner.  Danielle and I drove about 3/4 of the course - definitely more hilly than I'm used to, but no huge monsters or anything.  Danielle is getting nervous!  She's doing her first full but is dealing with a tendon issue.

Looking at the weather, we might catch a break and not get rained on too horribly.  There's also a good chance of temps in the upper 40s, maybe even the whole race!  Wind will be there, but it is probably the only enemy out there at this point.  Just gotta suck it up the first half and maybe accept some off-pace miles when the wind gets angry. 

I'll get a report up late Sunday night.  In the meantime my bib # is 299 if any anyone wants to look it up beforehand.