End of the Week Recap 8/29/10

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Week 5 of marathon training is in the books, and slightly better than last week.  I did 31.67 miles at an average pace of 8:28/mi.  I did almost no cross-training except for ugly 2 hrs of golf.  My easy runs have been a bit faster than easy pace, which has tended to build a lot of false confidence.  My speed work and long runs have actually been more telling.  During a tempo run, I can hit my paces, but I can't hold onto it for more than a mile or two.  My long run this showed that I started to lose it after mile 13.  My splits before mile 13 were under 8:45, but after 13, they were 9:05, 9:05, 9:19, and 10:38 respectively through 16.  Not good.  Mile 16 is especially troubling, seeing as how that was where I got dead-legged in the Country Music Marathon.  I think that I need to get serious about real cross-training and weight-lifting to further my endurance.  Hopefully a new outlook on my workouts will translate into more confidence at the end of my runs also, as I'm sure that my stupid head is getting in the way as much as any physical weaknesses.

And before I close this week down, I'm gonna do that proud parent/coach thing that usually drives me nuts to read.  After all, no one else cares about our kids like we do, right?  Well, I'm no different.  Today was the first cross country meet for the Parochial school league, of which I assistant coach my kid's school's team.  I wish that I could take credit, but damn if those kids haven't gotten faster since last year.  It is inspiring to me to see those kids gutting out that last quarter mile, just because their wildly hysterical screaming assistant coach is screaming at them to dig deep and bring it home.  Oh yes.  I was that guy.  Holla!  As for my kid, you may look up "awesome" in the dictionary and you will see his smiling, sweaty face right there.  He clobbered 2 MINUTES off his time from last year, and I couldn't be more proud!  Thas my boy! Dayum!

All right, I better cut out, before I embarrass my boy any further. Later kids!

End of the Week Recap 8/22/10

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Week 4 of marathon training is down and out.  This week was a recovery week, but it was also the start of cross country practice.  So as I've whined said before, it was hard for me to get any actual recovery in, because I was running nearly every day (though no run was longer than 6 miles).  So after sneaking a run in (through the storm) yesterday, I decided to make today a recovery day, drop a run, and sit on my ass and watch TV do some quick cross-training.  This week I did 19.28 miles (not 22 as scheduled) at an average pace of 8:43/mi.  I only did 12 minutes of cross-training, but my weight came in at a solid 163.4 lbs.  It seems like a lot of my miles were run in the rain this week, and if I were a superstitious man (and I am), I would say that this is a bad omen for my marathon (and look, I said it.  Jinx!).  As for my dropped run, I say short, slow miles are better than no miles, and no miles are better than getting hurt as long as you go back out the day after.  I'm taking that one to heart, resting my gimpy ass tired legs and gearing up for week 5 of marathon training.  Yeehaw!  

The Cross Country Addendum

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  The school year has started and with it:  cross-country!  My son's elementary school (which is awesome by the way.  I will totally pimp for SBA, since I think that has been a great learning environment for my kids) participates in a parochial league, and I help coach some of the kids.  Why don't I head up the whole thing, you ask?  One, I'm so over-committed between work, other school activities and marathon training that I'm lucky that I have time to fart, much less run a K-8 cross country program.  Second, our cross country program is a very laid back, come-one-come-all, have fun and run affair.  If I were in charge, it would not be.  Rumor has it that when it comes to racing, I tend to be a bit...just a bit, mind you...over-competitive.  Thankfully, I have other parents, and my lovely  wife, to remind me that they are just kids, and we want them to have fun.  Don't get me wrong, we would also like to win, and we have quite a few fast kids.  But if I were in charge, everyone would hate me because it would be windsprints and long runs every day.  Kids would be too tired to do homework.  Test scores would drop.  The Y would be full of delinquent ne'er-do-wells.  Riots would ensue.  Like I said, it's good that I'm not in charge.

As it stands, I'm running with the 5th and 6th graders for now.  I run them a mile out and back, trying to work on form, breathing and strategy for those who are interested before the meets start.  My only problem is that practice is falling on my training days, so I'm having to re-adjust my training schedule to get my miles in.  This week was supposed to be a rest week, so I've been able to play with my schedule to figure out how it will work.  I have determined that I will have to keep myself in check when I run with the kids.  No macho posturing for me by trying to keep up with the kids (durn whipper-snappers are fast!), or I will likely hurt myself before November.  Yesterday, I had to cut my 5 mile easy run short, because my legs were dead, and I skipped this morning's make-up run to get some rest.  This is a rest week, so rest/recovery are more important to me today than the miles.  I'll worry about making up the miles later, but I don't want to overdo it (Wimp!!).  Later kids!

End of the Week Recap 8/15/10

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  The 3rd week of marathon training is in the books.  I ran 29.85 miles at an average pace of 8:26/mi.  I did 2:12 hrs of cross-training thanks to a brief visit to the weight room at the Y and a quick 9 holes of golf on Friday the 13th.  My weight is still hanging around 164-165 lbs.  Because of my race this week, I had to tweak my runs this week to get them all in and still save my legs for the 5K.  I did throw in an extra 3 mile easy run, but ended up balancing it out by cutting my long run short this morning.  I really, REALLY wanted to sleep in this morning, but somehow I managed to roll my monkey butt out of bed this morning to Shelby Bottoms and knock out 13 miles.  I probably could have gutted out the last mile on my training schedule, but I was starting to have some problems by the end of my run.  From the race to the heat to my lack of overall fitness, I was sore as all get out, tired as heck, and developing some fun blisters on my left foot.  So by the time I passed my car at mile 13, I called the ball and brought my ass on home.  Despite all this, it was a good week, and I'm looking forward to my rest week coming up (all easy runs, no longer than 6 miles.  Aaaahhh).  Later kids!

Fenton Payne and Fred 5K Race Report 2010

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Yesterday was the 7th Annual Fenton Payne and Fred 5K in Murfreesboro, TN.  I signed up for this race, because it's a flat course that lends itself to some fast times.  My buddy Matt was also running it, so these were my excuses for running this one at the start of marathon training.  This year they changed the course so that there were fewer turns thereby making a PR a strong possibility.  Knowing my race schedule for the rest of the year, this is probably the last 5K that I will run to get my annual goal of 21:10, 6:50/mi.  My marathon training to this point led me to believe that I could probably get a fast time and possibly a PR, but I wasn't sure that I could maintain a 6:50/mi pace.  In hindsight, I probably should have kept my damn mouth shut.

The race is big for a local race, almost 900 finishers, so I tried to scoot up to the front to avoid the crowding in the back.  The pace started out fast, and when I realized how fast (5:50/mi), I backed off to save my legs.  I did mile 1 in 6:37.  Mile 2, I was following a runner in front of me, and then I realized that she was slowing down.  I surged past her, but I think by that point the damage was done.  I did mile 2 in 6:57.  Mile 3 was an exercise in holding on.  I tried drafting another runner, but I could never close the gap.  Mile 3 was done in 6:48.  The last .1 mile I emptied the tank and finished in 1 minute even.  

Here's a picture of me near the finish line.  Like I said, it was clearly an exercise in holding on (Why are race photo's always horrible?)

I ended up finishing 3rd in my age group with a PR of 21:22, 6:54/mi.  Of course in my head, it's still a mixed bag, since I didn't get my annual goal.  My wife tells me that this is because I'm mentally deficient.  Later kids!

End of the Week Recap 8/8/10

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Week 2 of marathon training is in the books.  Overall a decent week of mileage, but my speed run was lackluster at best.  Although I've been performing at or over my training specs for my easy/long runs, I haven't found my groove with my speed work.  It could be a result of trying to do speed work on the dreadmill, but in any case, I clearly need to get more bang for my buck there.  This week I did 29.49 miles at an average pace of 8:24/mi.  I only did 30 minutes of weights this week.  I really should go back to swimming to help with my endurance, but I've really been under the crunch with time lately.  My weight is right around 163.  Overall, I'm feeling okay, but sluggish.  No major injuries but my shin splints are starting to creep back up.  I'm wearing my compression leg sleeves to help, but I need to do more stretching post-workout.  I could probably also use a good sports massage to help me recover.  Ok, on to week 3!  Later kids!

End of the Week Recap 8/1/10

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  For those who've been following this blog, clearly my blogging is starting to follow my blogging, i.e. nonexistent.  However this week, I started my marathon training, and though I did get in the miles, they were less than stellar.  Due to the heat, I've tweaked my outside runs (read here...less miles, slower times) to allow myself some recovery.  I've also thrown in the towel and have started doing longer runs on the dreadmill.  For those runs, I've upped the speed and mileage to compensate for the fact that I can cheat while I hamster.  For last week, I ran 31.52 miles at an average pace of 8:11/mi.  I did 1.7 miles of walking for additional cardio/cooldown and 2 hours of golf.  My weight fell in around 164.5.  On the plus side, I've been playing the best golf I've played in ages!  Back to the ground pounding next week.  Later kids!