Wesley Hunt

16 Miles at 6:58 on Little Rock side of the River Trail, which loops through Little Rock and North Little Rock along the Arkansas River; finished strong with a 6:34 mile on a great afternoon for running (43 degrees).  

Wesley 

2 Miles Easy followed by 6 Miles at 7:13 on treadmill for 8 miles total; worked harder than I should have to get through some easy, mid-week miles, but felt pretty good after and did a brief strenth training/abb workout.     

Wesley

4 Miles Easy on treadmill incorporting 4X200m striders into final mile. 

Wesley

I had a good training run today, which included 10 Miles at Marathon Pace and an impromptu tempo run on treadmill.    

8 Miles at 7:13

1 Mile at 6:40

1 Mile at 6:31

2 Miles at 7:13

Tomorrow is a scheduled day off, and I am considering taking Saturday off as well to give my right knee an opportunity to recover before an 18 miler on Sunday.  Snow is moving into Central Arkansas Sunday morning, so I may be looking at my first legitimate snow run of the season.  I'm crossing my fingers! (Doing anything moderately strenuous in snowy conditions makes me feel like Rocky in part IV when he's training in the former Soviet Union; particularly manly activities, such as chopping wood or even hauling in firewood for my mother, are even better).  

 Wesley 

18.2 Miles in 2:05:50 (6:55 pace) on a cold morning of 25 degrees in Little Rock.  With snow in the forecast all afternoon and into Monday morning, I hit the road early for what turned out to be a very solid, disciplined run.  Garmin 3-Mile pace splits included the following:  

Miles 1-3:  6:52/mile

Miles 4-6:  6:48/mile

Miles 7-9:  6:53/mile

Miles 10-12:  7:00/mile

Miles 13-15:  6:58/mile

Miles 16-18:  6:59/mile

Final 0.2:  80 seconds

I felt pretty good for most of the run, taking a gel (with 10 second water break) after completing Mile 9 and Mile 13; right knee held up well until beginning of Mile 16 when going down a short hill, and at that point, the remainder of the run was pretty tough.  

Looking forward to a scheduled day off tomorrow.  Hopefully, I'll be off work and playing with the kids in the snow!

Wesley 

2 Miles Easy followed by 6 Miles at 6:58 on treadmill.  

Wesley 

4 Miles at 7:13, including 6X100m striders during Mile 4, on treadmill.

Wesley 

I had a good Marathon Pace/Tempo run today on the treadmill.  The workout included: 

1 Mile at 8:00;  

3 Miles at 7:13;

4X800m Repeats at 3:09 (6:18) with 2:00 minute joggin recovery between repeats;

3 Miles at 6:40;

1 Mile at 7:13; and

0.8 Miles at 8:00.

11.8 Miles Total on a blistering, cold day in Little Rock.  There are still a few patches of ice on the ground from the weekend's winter blast, and aside from being busy at work, I really saw no reason to risk aggravating my knee or injuring myelf by forcing the issue and running outside.  I will have plenty of one-on-one time with the pavement when I do the first 20 miler on my training schedule this Sunday. 

Wesley

20.5 Miles in 2:25:23 (7:06 pace) on a cool, overcast morning of 35 degrees in Little Rock. Garmin 4-Mile pace splits included the following:  

Miles 1-4:  7:00/mile

Miles 5-8:  6:56/mile

Miles 9-12:  7:07/mile

Miles 13-16:  7:05/mile

Miles 17-20:  7:15/mile

Final 0.5 Miles:  3:51  

I felt descent today despite stomach problems/indigestion (probably need to eat breakfast earlier; ate around 5:00am and started run at 6:15am) during the first half of the run.  In fact, stomach issues forced me to cut out one of the two gels that I had intended to take during the run, and I forced down the other with a few swigs of water at Mile 8 and Mile 12.  

During the final 4-Mile loop through my neighborhood, I incorporated two brutal hills into the run to see how my knee would react (well) and to really force the concept of learning to run hard and tough while tired (successful).  Because I miscalculated how far I was from my house, I went ahead and ran another half mile, but I was spent following the hills as reflected by an unacceptable drop in pace during the last half mile (7:42).  That said, having run it twice previously, I can state factually that Mile 26 of the Little Rock Marathon does not end with a steep incline (though Mile 25 does actually have a pretty touch one).  

Icing my knee and enjoying a snowy playoff game between Chicago and Seattle.   Incidentally, I love (watching) games played in the snow, especially in HD!

Wesley 

60 Minute Swim.  I should definitely get credit for a few miles because I was spent.  Regardless, I am making an effort to give the knee a little extra recovery this week I am approaching crunch time. 

Little Rock Marathon on March 6.   

Wesley

Solid Tempo Run on treadmill:  1 Mile warm-up followed by 2X4 Mile Repeats at 6:40 with quarter mile jog between repeats; 0.75 easy and 0.5 at 6:58 to cool down and recover.

Wesley 

9 Miles in 59:53 (6:39) with light snow/sleet mix during first half of run; 35 degrees.  4-Mile loop (twice) along Woodlands Trail, Meadows Edge and turn-a-round at Brodie Creek entrance; pushed hard on final mile (6:17) down Woodlands Trail, cutting though neighborhood park back to house.  Felt better, and ran stronger, than expected following moderately difficult tempo run last night on treadmill.  

Wesley 

2 Miles Easy followed by 4 Miles at 7:13 on treadmill; finished up a good week of training with an easy day, followed by a short strength/core workout.   

I had a long night with my beautiful, baby girl last night...my one year old, Sophie, is congested and achy (as is her Mama), and she had trouble sleeping last night.  As such, her softie Daddy couldn't resist rocking her for most of the night.   

Whatever makes my babies happy!

Wesley   

11 Miles in 1:14:37 (6:47 pace), one and a half hour break for Sunday School Class Community Service Project, and 11 Miles in 1:21:17 (7:24 pace); 22 Miles Total.  

It was a perfect day for running in Little Rock, so I headed downtown from my house in West Little Rock around noon, returning around 4:00pm after two nice runs and a short break to participate in a worthy cause known as "Stone Soup", which provides Little Rock's homeless community with a hot meal every Sunday afternoon.

Pace slid on the return run, and I felt pretty tight starting around Mile 7 of the back 11. Regardless, the cumulative training runs were a good way to start the week.  

Wesley 

6 Miles at 6:58 with 6X30 sec striders incorporated into Mile 6; treadmill set to 1.0 incline.  

Wesley 

12 Miles at 7:13 on treadmill set to 1.0 incline; run included 4X2:30min uphill accelerations at 6:58 and a 4.0 incline at end of Miles 9, 10, 11 and 12 (10:00min total uphill time).  

Uphill accelerations were pretty tough, but I needed them; finished strong and felt good.    

Wesley 

Great interval/tempo run on one of the local high school tracks today.  The weather was perfect, 45 degrees with very little wind.  The workout included the following:  

3 Miles at 7:00/mile;

6X800m repeats at 3:10:  Actual splits included 3:06, 3:08, 3:04, 3:04, 3:07, and 3:04 with quarter mile easy jog between repeats.  

3 Miles at 6:29/mile; and

0.5 Miles easy to cool down.  

I didn't force the issue on the 800m repeats, and I was very comfortable running at this pace (6:20/mile).  I also finished strong on the 3 Mile tempo run, knocking out the last 800m in 3 minutes.  

Wesley 

20.2 Miles in 2:24:11 (7:08) on a unseasonably warm morning.  Visiting the family on their land near Hot Springs, Arkansas, I ran a along a very flat Hwy. 171 between Malvern and Hot Springs, Arkansas, including a short stretch into Lake Catherine State Park.  

It was an interesting training run.  Getting up at 4:00am, I quickly realized I had forgotten to pack my knee brace, so I improvised with some pre-wrap and duck tape (took me back to my old high school football days).  Also, it was eerily dark, with the white line on the highway barely visible for the first few miles.  Normally, on clear evenings, the sky is beautiful on my family's land and the surrounding area.  But this was serious darkness, and I'm glad my Dad (who left a few minutes after me and ran a 20 miler on a similar route) had an extra wrist band reflector. 

As to the run, it essentially turned into a 20 Mile Progressive Run, with the first 4 Miles at 8:00/mile, including a lengthy but necessary bio brake, and the next 16 Miles hovering right at 7:00/mile depending on the grade (there are several false flats and gentle downhills).  I am a little more sore than I would have liked, and more sore than I was following the 20 miles at a similar pace two weeks ago, but my mileage was up a little this week, and I'm hoping that it is nothing more than general (and normal) fatigue. 

Wesley