Saturday, February 28, 2009

Back to Running

I did get back to running on the Thursday night run on the 19th. I took it really easy - 4 miles in just under an hour - and my leg felt great. For some reason, though, I felt really tired at the end of the run. I got home and all of a sudden felt chilled. Turns out I had chills and fever through the night. I was sick. So, I missed the Saturday run.

I finally started feeling okay on Monday and got back to some serious running. Here is what I did this week:

Monday: 4 miles, Fartlek with a bunch of 10 second all out sprints, avg pace 8:15
Tuesday: 4 miles, easy, avg pace 10:00 - ran with Carlos
Wednesday: 4 miles, Fartlek, with 1 mile at 7 min pace, a bunch of short hill sprints, and a fair amount of walking, avg pace about 9:00
Thursday noon: 6 miles, easy, avg pace 9:20
Thursday evening: 7 miles, avg pace 8:40 - couldn't keep up with Larry and Chad
Friday: rest
Saturday: 16.5 miles, avg pace 9:00, 4 miles at 8:30 pace or better, the rest at easy pace

Total for week: 41+

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Finally an Update

It's been two weeks since my last post. Life has been busy with not much time to read or write blogs. In my last blog entry I was anticipating running with Lauren in Little Rock. We did manage to get in a couple of good runs together. On Tuesday (2/3/09) we ran a little over 7 miles together at about a nine minute pace - two laps of a 3.55 mile course. It was a very hilly route not far from where Lauren lives.

On Wednesday she was busy, but I ran a slightly different route at a pretty hard effort; 8 miles at an 8:15 pace. It felt much faster, but those hills sure slow you down. Just to put the hills in perspective, the "hilly" 9 mile route that our group ran from RunnersWorld past Swan Lake and back had just over 200 feet of ascent and 200 feet of descent. The 8 miles I ran in Little Rock had nearly 450 feet of ascent and 450 feet of descent. That's over twice as hilly. I don't want to hear any more complaints about hills! :)

Thursday Lauren and I ran the four mile hilly route. This time we took it at a pretty easy pace - about 9:45 per mile. At the end of the first loop Lauren's hamstrings were a bit tight, so we decided to stop. I really needed to stop too. I had a pain low on my right shin that started hurting after my Wednesday night run, and I probably shouldn't have run on Thursday, but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. Anyway, I had an absolutely fabulous time running with Lauren, and I'm glad I ran with her on both days. She is a very good runner, and with a little more of that hill training, she will be leaving us all in the dust soon.

On Saturday (2/7/09) I ran 19 miles, seven of them with the whole group, and the rest with Larry, Bill, Kathy, Patty and maybe a couple of others. My shin hurt every step of the way, but otherwise it was a good long easy run. The next few days I didn't run because the shin pain had worsened. Finally on Thursday (2/12/2009) I decided to give it another try. At noon I ran 4 miles and felt miserable. So, I decided it was time to take a break from running. Thursday evening instead of running I just manned the water station. That was fun because I got to chat with some runners that I hadn't had an occasion to talk with before.

On Saturday I showed up for all the group runs - at 6:00, 6:30, 6:45, 7:00, 7:30, and 8:00, but I didn't run, myself. I really had a good time starting all the groups on their routes and seeing them complete their long runs. I did run just a little bit - some with Joye and some racing the poker runners to try to set up to take pictures. I must have run a total of maybe a mile, but it was way too much. I was limping by the end of the morning. I did 22 miles today, but that was on a stationary bike.

I'm thinking that within a week I should be able to resume running, but we will see. In the meantime I will enjoy cross training and manning the water stations!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

An Icy Week

Monday started out as a pretty nice day. At noon, shortly after I started my run, freezing rain began to fall. It didn't give me too much trouble until about 3.5 miles into the run. I ended the run totally coated with ice, and the roads I was running on were also totally coated. That last quarter mile or so was more like skating. Distance = 3.8 miles at about 9 minute pace.

They let us off work early on Monday and called off work entirely on Tuesday. I managed to get 8 miles in on a stationary bike before my wife had me busy on other stuff around the house.

Thursday I ran 3.9 miles at noon averaging about an 8:30 pace. It was sort of a Fartlek run, because I ran fast on the dry pavement and took it more slowly on the slush and ice. Thursday evening I ran with the group behind the store, and then to Utica Square & back. First 6.5 miles were just over an 8:30 pace. Then I ran another 2.5 miles with Paula at a much slower pace because the roads were really starting to get slick. Average pace for the 9 miles was a little over 9 minutes/mile.

Thursday's runs left me with with sore glutes, so I took a day off from running on Friday. Saturday I started a little early and got in about 4 miles. Then I did another 12 or so with the marathon training group. Pace for most of the run was 8:30ish, and a little slower as we ran up the icy hill toward Harvard and a little beyond. I didn't record my splits exept for the last few half miles, which were 4:08, 3:59, and 3:37. Fred was really pushing me for those last couple of miles, so after that 3:37, I let him go on, and I coasted for the last half mile or so. Total distance = 16.2 miles at an average pace of around 8:40 per mile. I felt pretty good during and after the run. Good enough, in fact, to go roller skating Saturday night.

Weekly distance = 32.9 miles running & 8.1 miles on stationary bike.

I am spending most of the next week in Little Rock. Hopefully I will get to run with Lauren some.