Every Run is a Great Run!

Went to gym at work a bit early to spend some time on the elliptical (around 5 miles worth), before meeting up with Paul, Nate and Bill for a 5+ run out Lakeview direction. Wasn't sure how the legs would feel running after spending a bunch of time on the elliptical. I can tell running uses different muscles, when I first started the run I felt like my feet weighed about 25 lbs. And I had a hard time getting into rhythm for the run and the stupid pain behind my big toe bothered me some. But at least my left foot wasn't flapping on the ground like it does sometimes. Legs feel OK after the Saturday but some soreness in the shins/ankles from the downhill running. It was great to have some good company and conversation on this run. Paul, Nate and Bill are all running great and should have great races at STG.

Ave pace 8:33.

Plan for this week is to taper about 25% on mileage, 50% next week, then around 75% leading up to the race. So looking at 50-60 for the week but that will include some cross-training if the legs keep feeling dead. I hope to get some marathon pace miles in somewhere but I'll have to play that by feel and  plan on pushing the pace ONLY if I my body really, truly feels like it wants to. I've just got to get feeling closer to normal come race day.

Also need to mention the really annoying song that has been in my head since the long run Saturday and also while on the elliptical today - "Blister in the Sun". Hope is that by blogging about it perhaps it might be purged from my head and possibly transferred to some innocent, unsuspecting fellow blogger who happens to read this :-))

Looking forward to a great anniversary weekend this week with Kim down in STG (22 years, WOW!!!).

AM: Ran 8 miles solo around river bottoms. Huge full moon this morning to light the way. Kim has been fighting a sore throat and decided to try and get a good night's sleep and then try going for a run in the sun later. I'm feeling a little better today than yesterday but I'm very wary of pushing anything until I've felt really good for a 2 or 3 days straight. I still have the annoying Blister in the Sun lame song in my head :(

Ave pace 8:43.

Late AM: 11 minutes on bike then core workout.

Happy Birthday today to my 4th child and oldest daughter Tani - 11 yrs old!

Kim and I slept in a bit again and went out later in the day. Lately we are just enjoying that little bit extra sleep a whole lot and fortunately our schedules allow us to be flexible. And it makes my work buddies from India happy when I get to work at 7am. But the downside is we aren't getting to run together as much. But it's been a great year running with Kim, I'm pretty sure we dominate the mileage board this year as far as "Hubbie-Wife Miles" go. :)

Ran at work around 9am. Was hoping to get some MP or HMP miles in and tested the waters at around 2.5 miles by doing some striders to see what the body had to say about the running faster idea. It pretty much said something along the lines of..."Nay, Thomas, the time is not yet that ye should runneth fast, but you should first go back to the gym and taketh out thy frustrations on the elliptical machine for the equivalent of around 4 miles....if thou doest this and listeneth diligently to thy body, ye may receive a small reward come race day....".

So I listened and obeyed the voice and had a delightful tempo-ish workout on the elliptical. Heart was mostly in the 175-185 range but touched 190 during the last mile or so. According the machine I was doing about 6:00-6:10 pace equivalent and finished what it said was 4 miles in 24:25. But I wasn't sure how elliptical miles really compare to running miles so I went for 30 minutes and will count it as 4 miles. But I think based on heart rate that the pace is probably not far off. So although my legs can't handle doing this type of workout on the roads at present, hopefully this will help me stay mentally/physically sharp, help me heal up quicker, and give me some confidence going into SGM. The funny thing is that even when my HR was hitting 190, I was starting to huff-and-puff pretty good but it still didn't feel anything like the exhaustion I feel at the end of race. I'm really not quite sure what to make of it, but I'm quite happy with the workout and the way I am feeling afterward. Almost a bit of a runner's high (or would that be an "ellipticaler's high"?).

Ave pace of running miles: 8:22.

AM: Nice, easy relaxing run around the river bottoms with Kim. Legs are feeling a little better each day so it's nice to know I can do a hard crosstrain/eliptical workout and still be in healing mode for running. Earlier in the week I was thinking on Saturday when we run down the SGM course I would do some marathon paced miles but I think I'll hold off on that and just do eliptical if I get feeling like I just have to do something a bit more strenuous.

Ave pace around 9:35.

PM: Some bike and core workout.

Recovery cross-train workout on the elliptical at work. Kim is being very cautious with her IT band and decided take a rest day. Smart on her part I think and we'll be super cautious tomorrow as well when we attempt a run down the last part of the SGM course. Nate the Great massage dude worked us over again last night and I feel absolutely super today, best I've felt for ages but I'll still refrain from any fast running until next week some time and then only a few miles at marathon pace.

Well I finally broke down and bought a new toy - Garmin 305. It wasn't much use today on the elliptical but I did try out the HR monitor. Since I was feeling so good I decided to do a simulated marathon pace 10-mile tempo "run" on the elliptical. I just kind of went by feel what felt like marathon pace should feel like. I may have been closer to 1/2 marathon effort for some of the workout, I think I averaged what would probably equate to a 6:40-7:00 min running pace.

Interesting to look at the HR graph that I get when I upload the garmin data to the PC. My HR jumped up above 150 within the first minute then gradually worked up to 170 within the first 10 minutes. I stayed pretty much between 170-180 after than, right around 175 most of the time. Just for fun the last mile I tried really cranking away to simulate more of a sprint or "kick" and my HR gradually climbed from 180 reaching a max of 190 at the end. It will be interesting to get some running HR data to get some idea what my heart does during various types of workouts.

It's clear to me that the basic formulas for estimating max HR are pretty bogus at least in my case. Most formula put my max HR around 175-180 for a 43 yr old guy but obviously mine is higher than that.

So Kim and I are now off to SG for some R&R and to celebrate 22 yrs together. It's been a wild, fun, crazy ride and I'm looking forward to our next 22 years and beyond!

Down in SG to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary. We had a great time which happened to include a nice relaxed run down the last 14+ miles of the SGM course in the morning. Kim and I were able to work so we could hitch a ride up with some of the great Dixie runners including Marcie, Mike, Bull, Dustin, James and a couple other runners not on the blog. What a great bunch of runners and overall great people. They were all doing a smokin' fast run down the mountain so we didn't try to stay with them since we're both nursing injuries and I had done a hard workout (on the elliptical) Friday.

Good news that we survived the run without apparently aggravating any of the injuries. We didn't push much and slowed down toward the end as Kim was starting to get some signals from her knee/IT-band. Later we stopped by the running store and got a taste of the exceptional service being provided by Steve Hooper and his sidekick on this day - Logan. We picked up some new shoes for Kim that should hopefully work better for her and the type of runner she is and if we're lucky perhaps even get rid of the IT band troubles. After seeing what a great job Steve and Logan did taking care of their customers compared to any other running store I've been to, I can see that we'll be sending our running gear $ down south from now on. Also the  blogger discount is pretty sweet as well.

Have to give a big humongous thanks to Tyler and Kellie S for letting us stay at their 2nd home down in SG. It was perfect for us and we look forward to hopefully getting a chance to visit again!

Ave pace: 8:43

Ave HR: 132