Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

73F, 71%.  7:30 AP.  Sadly, my only run in Hawaii....will explain on Wednesday's entry.

For this run, I just wandered around, tried out King's Trail, which is a trail of volcanic boulders (didn't last long) and generally felt pretty good after 3 days off.

52F.  7:21 AP.  Back in Elgin.  Kept it at a nice moderate clip on a cool morning.

So, remember how I was waiting to catch my daughter's virus?  It happened on the plane ride to Hawaii on Thursday.  So I was completely floored for most of the trip - fever and body aches with a nice sore throat that I still have.  What a waste!  I tried to get out and do some stuff but it was very debilitating...have not been that sick in awhile.  The wedding was a success at least.  Anyway, I ran on our last day (Monday) and we left Monday night around 7pm.  When did we get back?  Tuesday night at 7pm.  Ouch.  Thanks, American Airlines.  So, a little jet-lagged today but we made it back.

There is a HM this weekend I am still planning on doing, but I feel like it's going to suck now.  The good news is my legs kind of got a nice taper with all those days off, but the rest of my body is not as happy.  Still feel loopy and out of shape.  So my plan is to not do anything difficult until Sunday, then try to get back into marathon training after the race.

62F, 7:40 AP.  More aerobic running, trying to shake the rust off, while keeping the effort low, while getting back in shape, while running a decent mileage, while resting for the HM on Sunday, while recovering from illness.

54F, NNE 16 mph.  7:20 AP.  More aerobic miles, but with a HMP mile toward the end.

For the race (which we still need to go sign up for today), my goal is just to PR.  My HM PR is the strongest one I have, so if I could improve on it after going through last week, it would definitely be a good sign.  Good news is it should be about 40 degrees with the front coming through, my favorite running temperature

46F, NE 13 mph.  8:19 AP.  And, here comes the cold front!  Short, easy run today and a HM race tomorrow.  Still can't quite shake this sore throat/headache combo, but large doses of tylenol seem to keep it mostly at bay.

The abysmal 10K I just ran suggests I won't be anywhere near PR territory but I have a weird feeling I might be close.

Looking forward to seeing some St. George results today....go Neil!

43F, NNE 10 mph.  6:43 AP.

Wasted a good $75 on this one.  The second half of the race was really bad and had to slow it to a jog for the last couple miles.  My legs tightened up worse than they ever have at the end of a full marathon.  It was kind of embarrassing getting passed by so many people at the end.  I hope that this has more to do with getting over an illness and less to do with me being in terrible shape.

6:20, 6:17, 6:28, 6:32, 6:38, 6:31, 6:32, 6:46, 6:42, 6:45, 6:51, 7:27, 7:24, 1:16 for 0.18 (7:12).

*left out a mile split...now updated

Decided no run today, going for some overall recovery.  Still have a lingering sore throat but it's almost gone.  I think I probably had some kind of infection, looking back, since it took 11+ days to go away.

But now what to do?  4 weeks of training, then 2 weeks of taper until the full (maybe 1 taper week is all I will need now?)  Do I pile up the miles real quick?  Do I take it easy for a week, then do a bunch of speed work and tempos?  Seriously, I'm asking...

49F, SSE 10 mph.  8.04 miles in an 8:04 AP.  This....means.....something....

Legs felt cranky and a little sore today.  More recovery is probably needed.

55F, NNE 15 mph.  8:09 AP.  Still feel like a dead man running.  I don't think I've ever been crushed this bad by a half marathon.  Guess this is a recovery week.

61F, 85%.  7:59 AP.  Finally broke the 8-minute guy.  Still not feeling too spry though.

70F, 93%.  8:13 AP.  I couldn't even do my 8 easy miles today, turned around early.  I think trying to run that race, with strep throat or whatever, broke me down.  I can almost pinpoint when it happened in the race.  Just feel exhausted at any pace ever since then, and I should be recovered by now.

61F, 8:25 AP. Did a short, easy run before church. Can't tell too much from a recovery pace, except on the uphills I think I felt better. Probably will do about the same thing tomorrow and then start testing the waters a little more.

**put this on the wrong day - Sunday is correct

54F, 8:14 AP.  Felt pretty good the last mile or two.  I'll add a couple miles for tomorrow.

57F, 7:38 AP.  Ok, better.  Felt a little breathy, if that makes sense, but no more broken-down feeling.  The out-of-breath feeling should go away in a few days as I get back in shape.  I'll probably do a couple more easy aerobic runs, then maybe some MP on Friday if that all goes ok.  whew.

63F, 88%, SSW 13-17 mph.  7:50 AP.  Two steps back today, felt really sluggish.  Worked my way down to 7:40 pace or so and could not even hold it.  Finished up with an 8:20 mile and a side stitch (from going so fast I guess).  Hmm, I don't know.  Feels like this cycle (and sub-3) is slipping away from me.  I'm supposed to be running 26.2 miles at 6:50 pace in 1 month.  Other than not being able to run, everything feels fine -- I'm not getting any less sleep than usual, eating is normal, no high-stress stuff at work, etc.

I think I will still try an MP run on Friday.  Just 6 miles, I think.  If I can't do 6 @ MP, I kinda need to know that.  Then we'll see what to do.  I paid for the marathon already, so I'm going, even if I have to run 3:30.

47F, 8:36 AP.  Nice and cool outside.  Will try 6 @ MP tomorrow.

48F, 7:18 AP.  I ran the last 6 at MP: 6:49, 6:48, 6:44, 6:43, 6:50, 6:47.  6:47 AP overall.  Good news/bad news kind of day.

The good news is that I accomplished my goal of going under GMP every mile split.

The bad news is it felt terrible.  Pretty uncomfortable the last 2 miles.

The good news is my AP was a good 5 seconds under what I need for sub-3.

The bad news is that it was for less than a quarter of a marathon.

The good news is that I have not even attempted sub-7 in a couple weeks, so there is bound to be some rust.

The bad news is that a month or two ago, I ran this same 6-mile stretch in 6:30 AP and it felt about the same effort.

So in conclusion, the bad news is that I am still not where I need to be but the good news is that I have 4 weeks to get there.

53F, 8:08 AP.  Slept in a little and hopefully caught up on some sleep.  I actually ran during daylight hours - it was weird being able to see where I was going.  I liked it.

64F, 97%.  7:44 AP.  A little warm/humid, but I took it pretty easy anyway.  A nice shirtless run - probably won't have too many more of those.  Felt pretty decent; good enough to finish it off with a few strides.

So this finishes a 65 mile week.  I plan on just keeping the mileage there as opposed to going too crazy, and maybe that will be enough to snap me out of this slump in the next few weeks.

71F, 83%.  Forgot to look at AP, maybe 8:50's today, little slower than usual since I wasn't running long enough to get going.

Possible 5K this weekend....

68F, 98%.  7:54 AP.  Soupy morning slog.  Should have a couple more warm mornings, then it'll cool off for good.

It's almost time to retire my first pair of kinvaras (that I wore today).  At almost 700 miles, the upper is starting to pull away a lot, to where I can feel it while running.  Shame though, because the sole is still good.  Maybe I can tape it or something.  Maybe I'm being too cheap.

66F, 96%.  7:48 AP.  Early morning slog - took a long time to get going, as it usually does when I start at 4am, but the last 7 or 8 miles went smoothly.  Just the fact that I have finished a 14 and 15 miler with some energy to spare in the past few days means I've made some gains from where I was a couple weeks ago.  Whether or not I can run fast remains to be seen.  I'm about to sign up for a 5k, so maybe that will give some indication.  Probably not much, since I haven't sniffed 5k pace in quite some time.

67F, 85%, 8:26 AP.

39F, N 17 mph.  7:55 AP.  Yeah, I guess the cold front made it.  That wind had a nice little bite to it.  Just ran easy with some bouts at 5K pace.  Should still be nice and cool for the race tomorrow, which isn't until 10:30am.

40F, 6:11 AP.  Well, I thought maybe if I could at least break 19, I might be starting to return to normal, but....not so much.

5:51, 6:19, 6:23, :52 for 0.14 (6:00 pace).

First mile was net downhill, then slightly uphill for #2.  3 was level.  A few hills.  Once again, the pace felt right to start with, but then I died as usual.  It almost feels like I'm just out of shape.  Am I overtrained or undertrained?  This is confusing.

After this marathon (I've all but completely let go of any thoughts of sub-3), I think it's time for a break.  Maybe a few weeks off will help reset everything.  I'll just get nice and fat over Thanksgiving and take it easy.  Then I will figure out how to train for Boston.  I can't tell if maybe I just need to just start running a huge number of miles, or maybe just scale back and go to the track more.  I never did approach the mileage I ran this spring when I was at my fastest.  Anyway, something needs to change, I'm too young (in running years) to be on the decline already!

32F, 7:31 AP.  Nice long run in the morning before 8:30 church.  Only one mass time in our small town, so had to get out the door by 5am to make sure I made it back in time.  Kinda chilly....I need new gloves.

I ran comfortably the whole way with the usual negative split (1:24, 1:21), and eveything seemed fine.  One of these days I will do an ultra.  Sometimes I wonder if that is the way to go for me.  Having never run until the age of 30, I missed the window for developing any kind of speed, but at a more moderate pace it feels like I could run forever.

Anyway, that was the last long run before Tulsa.  I do love a nice Sunday morning run.  I'm still training in earnest, and will do what I can to PR.  I'll do the last MP workout Friday or Sunday this coming week.  That should be pretty telling as to how I should run the race.  My gut tells me to expect 3:05 - 3:08 but I guess you never know.

61F, 8:22 AP.  Short PM run today, I decided to get max sleep last night, which was awesome.  Taking it easy this week, then probably some MP work on Friday.  Usually, I actually look forward to those runs.  Usually....

41F, 7:57 AP.  The full moon was actually a big help today.  I could see the potholes right before I stepped in them, instead of not at all.  It is almost 8am by the time the sun rises now.  Ridiculous.

50F, NNW 10 mph.  7:46 AP.  Easy with some strides in the last couple miles.  The strides felt pretty good, I don't know why I don't do more of them.