Getting back to Boston

Somehow managed to turn a half-marathon into a 13-mile MP run. Not that there's anything wrong with an MP run, but I hoped for better. Legs didn't loosen up properly, but I didn't push through it. And I'm not happy with it.

The Hogeye course is an out-and-back, at least the half marathon is. First half is net downhill, second half, therefore, is net uphill by the same amount. And it's a significant amount; high point to low point is nearly 300 feet, and the start/finish is just about at the high point. And for all intents and purposes, I ran even splits -- meaning I ran the 300-foot uphill as fast as I ran the 300-foot downhill. That STINKS. I'm reasonably happy with my effort in the second half, but not with my first half.

I thought I might have a chance for age-group honors on this course, and if I'd run about a 1:35, which is what I wanted, that would have been the #2 time in 45-49. As it was, I finished fourth, my best age group finish. A decent first half certainly would have gotten me into the top three.

Splits:

1 -- 7:46. Lot of traffic, net downhill. Still should have been faster, even with the glutes not wanting to loosen up.

2 -- 8:15. Big uphills and downhills. Lousy effort. Probably gave away 30 seconds here.

3 -- 7:23. More like it. A lot of downhill here.

4 -- 7:43. Pretty flat section.

5 -- 7:58. Flat to downhill and I still didn't take advantage. Gave away more time here.

6 -- 8:04. Slight uphill, but not much. Bad effort. As my high school coach would have told me, I didn't compete; I was jogging.

6.55 -- Halfway point. 4:22 for the 0.55, slightly under 8:00 pace. Slight uphill. I'm starting to get upset with myself, with reason. 

7.55 --7:40. Better.

8.55 -- 7:49. Pretty good uphill in this mile past Razorback Park Golf Course, so this was a better effort. And I'm starting to catch and pass some people.

9.55 --  7:48. Fairly flat mile, still reeling some people in.

10.55 -- 7:49. Consistent. Biggest uphill of the entire course, so that was good effort to maintain pace. And I'm still catching people. This is pretty much the high point of the course.

11.55 --  8:24. Big downhill followed by an even bigger uphill.

12.55 -- 7:36. This one had better be pretty fast, because it's mostly downhill.

13.11 -- Not sure of my exact split here, because I forgot to stop the watch at the finish (and because this was not a chip race, so my official time includes six or seven seconds before I got to the starting line). I estimate about 4:30 for the 0.56 miles.

The good news is that this is easily the hilliest course I've ever run a race on, and I have not trained much on hills because, well, Newport only has one, and I do most of my training on RT which is similar to the Newport course. And that even with my sucky effort and the hills, I ran a half fast enough that the pace would get me a BQ. The bad news is that hills or no hills, I left a LOT of time out there on the course by just failing to compete. I have to compete for 26 miles to get my BQ. And it could have been a lot worse -- the big winds moved into Fayetteville about 20 minutes after I finished, and slapped my car around on the freeway for three hours going home.

Also, the Oxysox were great -- no calf issues, no blisters. The 5-mile warmdown run was badly needed, getting the kinks out after a half and a three-hour car ride.

At noon today I was pretty sure my consecutive days-run string was not going to hit 30. My back had been very stiff all day, I had a miserable morning at work, and I was ready to bag today's run. But the back loosened up, thanks in part to a noontime trip to the hot tub at the athletic club and a big load of Celebrex, and by 8 p.m., after my son's honor banquet, I was ready to go run. So I hit the DM at the fitness room for 7 at about 9:20 pace. The quads were still a little sore from yesterday's mountaineering, but the back was not an issue at all and the run went pretty well.

I've decided the sore quads were evidence that I didn't dog Hogeye as much as I thought I did. One-43 isn't a bad half, it's just not what I had hoped for. And as Leah pointed out to me after the race, that is not a PR course. I ran tough the last seven miles, passed people on the uphills, and came in at my GMP. If all it was was a workout that I got a medal and a tech shirt for, it was a good workout, one that should pay some benefits in Newport in seven weeks on a considerably flatter course.

Back out to the RT tonight for my usual 15 on the Campbell Lake loop, with a detour through the soccer fields. Pushing the pace was not a problem. The last 13 miles were below 9:00 pace, excepting mile 6 when I stopped for about 30 seconds to get a drink of water, and the last mile and a half was below 8:00. Considering I ran a half-marathon less than 60 hours before, I thought this was a pretty good run. Once again, the last half-mile was an exercises in visualization: "OK, a mile and a half to go and you have 12 minutes to get there to get your BQ." And I did.

Easy 9 on the moonlit RT tonight. Some interesting things going on; the Travs were playing an exhibition game, I think, at the ballpark and I could hear the organist playing and see the video board from the trail. And they're still draining water from the sunken restaurant-barge parked next to the submarine. The run itself was no muss, no fuss, just a routine tun at about 9:25 pace.

Another exercise in reprogramming my central governor, if you believe Tim Noakes, or improving my lactate threshold, if you listen to Jack Daniels (I'm more inclined to go with Noakes, for reasons I've cited on this blog in the past). Twelve miles on the RT with 5 at tempo pace. This is actually the first tempo run I've ever done that I didn't have the dreadmill forcing me to run at the proper pace, so I was interested to see how I'd handle it.

Started at 6 p.m., earlier than usual for evening runs, so I'd finish before dark. Unfortunately, even that start was delayed by a few minutes by traffic on the freeway getting to the RT. From what I could tell, the cause of that tie-up was a fatal accident; as I drove by the overturned vehicle, the police had a sheet there to hide what was happening behind it, which is a pretty good indication that there was a fatality. Really a downer for me, and my prayers are with the family and friends of the victim or victims.

Now, back to the inconsequential stuff. Started out slow and gradually picked it up. I thought I'd calculated it so that my five-mile tempo run would start at the top of a hill on the outgoing half and end at the base of the same hill incoming. Uh, no. I ended up starting and finishing at just about the same place -- the top of that hill. Plus the incoming half was right into a pretty stiff wind as more rain blows into central Arkansas tonight.

I had to calculate the times and averages for the tempo section. As I suspected, my paces were inconsistent without the TM to force me into the exact pace, and the wind and the two fairly substantial uphills on the incoming half were no help either (yes, I know I got the benefit of those two downhills outgoing, so quiet already). I ended up averaging a 7:27 for the five miles. I might have actually set my 5K PR tonight without knowing it, because my PR averaged 7:15.5. Probably not, but with my variation in pace, who knows?

A short 4-mile recovery run tomorrow, then 24 on Saturday for my first (and possibly last) 90-mile week. 

A bit of therapy as well as recovery miles tonight on the DM after a brutal day at work. Not brutally hard, but very, very stressful. Needed to run, as well as a little liquid relaxation, to unwind for sure. Just a routine 40-minute run at 9:22 pace, covering 4.26 miles. Tomorrow is 24, my longest training run ever, with Kenny and Robert in lieu of the Crackheads, who are still in post-LRM recovery mode at 6 miles or so (and running in Maumelle -- yuck). That will take me to 90 for the week and 900 for the year.

My first 24-mile training run ever. Did the first 12 on  the RT with Kenny and Robert, both of whom are tapering for races coming up before mine. Finished 12.04 with them in 1:56, then set off on my own for another 12. Decided to get a change of scenery and went across the river to basically run the LRM half-marathon course, with a couple of tweaks. As I had  hoped, the solo portion went a little faster than running the RT with the guys did; I had about a six-minute negative split, despite having to stop several times for traffic as downtown got semi-busy on this beautiful Saturday morning. Lopped a little extra to Main Street, back to the Broadway Bridge, then back down Riverfront to where I was parked at the boathouse, and the mileage was just about perfect -- 24.01.

I have become an absolute believer in Oxysox compression socks in less than two weeks. No blisters and no calf issues in 24 miles with some considerable hills today. Same thing last weekend at Hogeye. I promise you I'll be wearing them at Newport -- and on the plane coming home from Oregon. 

Weather today was just about perfect -- mid-40s at the start, little hint of a breeze to keep the sweat out of my eyes, but not enough that running into it was any kind of chore, clear sky. If it's like this 49 days from today in Oregon, I will be quite pleased.

49 days. Seven weeks. Definitely on the home stretch of my training. People are wowed that I'm going to make a serious BQ attempt. They see BQ as unattainable. I don't know about that. I'm no great athlete, no speedburner. I've just worked my butt, and spare tire, and a few other things off for the past 21 months to get to this point. If I can, with my post-op back and high-stress job, I think many people could that don't think they can. I'm a little more obsessed than most, maybe even too obsessed. You could probably get there without quite my level of OCD.