Getting back to Boston

First venture onto the track at the neighborhood fitness club, 12 laps to the mile. I think I ran 72 laps, but not sure; losing count was a real issue. Also not sure how long it took. Had to constantly look out for kids wandering across the track oblivious/wired into their iPods. So boredom wasn't an issue. Then I did a little crosstraining -- upperbody weights, some work on the glutes -- got in the whirlpool, showered and walked one block home. Nice workout overall. Now if I can just get the family over there to join me.

Still a little stiff after last night's 6-miler/crosstraining session, but the schedule said LT, so LT it was. LT on the TM, of course; that bane of Mid-South winter weather, the ice storm, is in full display tonight. I darn near busted arse on the sidewalk going over to the fitness room. Once I got there, I warmed up with 3, then cranked the TM to about 7:20 pace. I could only do 2 miles at that pace, so I jogged another mile at about 9:15 pace, then cranked it back to 7:20 for another two miles. So I got my prescribed 4 miles at LT, even it it took two tries.

Schedule says 12 tomorrow. Not sure that's going to happen. May have to shuffle Wednesday's 6-mile recovery run up a day and run 12 on Wednesday, but we'll see. Maybe cruising 12 won't be that bad.

Talked an old high school mate who is getting started in running into coming out Saturday to join the Crackheads. She's planning to run the half in Little Rock in six weeks. I figured a good dose of Crackhead at Oucho's would be just the ticket for her. Surprisingly, she agreed.

Tried out the TMs tonight at the athletic club. The TMs were fine. The lack of ventilation around them wasn't. There was one fan in front of one TM (occupied, as was the one next to it). I was at the other end, sweating like a cochon, until the ventilated TM came open. That was five miles into my run. So I moved down for the final two miles. I had already determined the legs were too sore for the originally planned 12 miler. So I just kept a steady pace, on both TMs, until I completed the 7 in about 62 minutes.

Probably now will run 10, maybe 11, tomorrow night on the old familiar TM at the fitness room.

 Also took the spousal unit over for her first workout  at the club. She did 7 minutes on the bike (about all her post-surgical knee could handle after months of inactivity since she finished PT), then we went downstairs and did mostly lower-body strength stuff on the machines -- leg curl, leg extension, abductors, adductors. Then she went home and I went to find a treadmill. 

Torture time on the dreadmill tonight. Fartlek/progression run, ramping up to GMP + 10% for the last four miles plus surges, and about 1.5 miles of GMP surges. Averaged 8:30 for the entire run. As hard as it was, this is the kind of run that's going to get me to Boston. So, I did it.

Back on the dreadmill tonight for another running/basketball watching session. Really took me about five miles to get warmed up where the thighs quit hurting. Gradual progression tonight; ended up averaging about 9:05 for the 10 miles. Really need to do an ice bath tonight -- after the basketball game ends :) Hogs might even win this one!

Back to Oucho's for another torture session. Oucho's is our name for a run through the Himalayas of West Little Rock, starting at what used to be Gaucho's Restaurant, hence the name. You need ropes, crampons and a Sherpa to run Oucho's -- particularly today when I was dodging patches of black ice; those crampons would have come in handy. It was about 28 and clear this morning, but there was still frozen runoff from the rain earlier in the week. I'd say Oucho's is like running up and down a ski slope, for 16 miles. But it was a good run. I pushed  on through when the quads were screaming at me, felt better once I picked up the pace, and finished at less than a 10-minute average. I thought that was decent for my first 15-plus run in two months, especially with all those hills.

So I've completed week one of the 18-week plan for Newport with 60 miles. I'll get up over 80 a time or two in the program, but this is a good start. This is building the base that I need to have to get that 3:30:xx with time to spare. Newport doesn't have hills like this, but a few Oucho's runs will help me get the quad strength I need to carry a sub-8 pace.