Monday, October 29, 2007

3:01:30- Not bad!

Fri + Sat - off
Sunday-26.2 Miles- 3:01:30- 197th of 22,000

What a great day 50-60 sunny with a stiff cold gusty wind. I must say I hoped I would be able to break 3 hours and I went out with that intent, but it was not to be. I tried to hold that line where I was pressing but not breathing hard for as long as I could. I ran sub 7 minute miles through 20+ miles then slowed gradually despite fighting hard. A little after 22 miles my ventilatory threshold broke and I began breathing really hard, and the hands started to tingle. Too bad the last bit was into the wind and uphill! Well at least that last mile... ugh sucked.


Splits were pretty steady at 34 minutes for miles 1-5, 5-10 (1:08), 10-15 (1:42), and 15-20 (2:16), then slowed to 36minutes for miles 20-25 (2:52)- then the last 1.2 was a tough 9:13.

My half split of 1:29....or about what I raced for 1/2 marathon in Feb.

Lots of ultrarunners around: Alabama Montrail teammate ran 2:55, and VHTRC Friend Keith Knipling ran a PR 3:10. Hats off to VHTRC stud and 17th place finisher Aaron S with his 2:34!! that spanks me by a minute per mile!

A big thanks to my wife and buddy Bryon Powell for great support all weekend

Friday, October 26, 2007

Reality? How Fast Can I Run

Tuesday- off tired legs!
Wednesday- 10.25miles- 1:19- hilly roads
Thursday- 11miles- 1:30- treadmill easy

Well as my opportunity to run a regulation road marathon draws closer I have begun to really wonder what I can do. It looks like the weather will be good, and the course although with a couple hills is more than fair.

Once again the gap between the athlete I once was (and still think I am) and my present shape is glaring at me. Since coming back from Egypt I really have not done the tempo or track workouts and have lost touch with what kind of shape I am in. The marathon distance itself should not be bad as I have done 4 long runs of 5-14 hours in the last 2 months, but all of these were on trails. I did put in a solid 25 miler on the roads 2 weeks ago but the 3:28 it took to run that did not include multiple stops for aid and to wait for the training group.

On Wednesday's run I ran a 6:49 mile on the only measured and flat stretch of the run with an effort I would judge to be something I could hold for 90+ minutes, but man you never know. Looking back I have rarely run a serious road marathon without a dramatic slowdown in the last 10k. The few I managed to run consistently in were negative split efforts. Lets hope I can pull off one of those on Sunday.

So for inspiration and a little bit of the "why the hell am I not faster" factor....check out Amy. This is the type of person I hope to start working with again in the next two weeks when I begin doing Physical therapy (again) and prosthetic (for the first time) work.

So what will I run??? My PR is the 2:54 I ran in 1997 in my debut at the distance (with 1:18 and 2:02 splits for 1/2 and 20 miles en route). My latest marathons were in April of 2006 when I ran 3:34 at the Charlottesville marathon one week after a 9 hour 50 miler and then ran 3:28 at Frederick. two weeks later. These were followed up by a year long deployment where I ran 3,000 miles around a one mile square base in the Sinai desert. So it should be interesting to see where I am now.

I ran a 1:28 half marathon in the beginning of the year which would indicate the capability of a 3:05 marathon according to Jack Daniel's physiological fitness calculator. Then in May I ran an 11:21 2 mile time trial which would equate to a 2:54. June 25th I ran a 10K tempo run on the track in Arlington in 40:49 and August 23rd I ran a 5k tempo in 19:45 which both give you a 3:08, Finally In September I ran a 4 mile cut down run in 26:08 which would indicate a 3:11. So I would guess I would be anywhere between 2:50 and 3:15 shape!

I probably can't break 3 hours which honestly ticks me off!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Puke Eater

Sunday- 8.5 miles with Anne
Monday- 6.5 miles- 1:24 ( ran 5 miles, then walked 40minutes)
Tuesday- likely day off

Okay after running 9 days in a row and putting in 22 hours of running the last 13 it caught up to me yesterday. DEAD hamstrings, dead legs, super tired. I aborted my intended 12 miler and walked back to the car. This is okay though, just need to rest a bit. I used to train like this a lot. Throw down the miles and workouts until I felt like crap.... then took a day off and got back into it. It seems to work pretty well, though I know if I ever scheduled my runs and workouts to a planned program I probably fair better. Whatever, I can't seem to stick to one.

Anyway- an eventful last two days as my poor kitty has been sick and my stupid puppy thinks that stopping what he is doing and running full bore to the sound of the retching cat in order to attempt to eat up the puke is ABSOLUTELY THE THING to do! I don't think so...gross!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Another strong week


My boy is getting bigger...and they are getting along better.
Saturday- 11 miles- last two in 13:02

Strong week of 66 miles after 68 last week. More to follow hopefully!

Looking ahead I was given a seeded number for JFK (12) Something to live up too! :-)


Friday, October 19, 2007

In my eye!

Thursday am- 7 miles trail 1:04
PM- 4.5miles roads- fartlick, 10x 30-60sec surges
Friday- 9miles 1:11- hilly roads

Well I completely figured out the riverbank loop in downtown Richmond. Not sure how far it is but running pretty strongly it took me 59minutes. a great loop with mainly single track that constantly is rolling hills alongside the James river. Some concrete as you cross the river on two bridges, but a fun one. This and double loops will become a staple of my running here. It is a 5 mile drive to the trails from our house.

On the loop yesterday I saw two snakes on the trail. One 3 foot long black rat snake and one 10 inch unknown kind....both looking for some sunshine. The worst part was getting a bug in the eye mid run. UGH! First it hurt as it hit me square on when it was flying and I running...then it hurt as it burned in there getting caught up under my eyelid. I don't think the entire bug came out for the rest of the run...maybe not even now??? It still hurts and has been pus-y, crusted gross since. Yuck.

In the afternoon I decided to start toughening up and went out to do some speedy stuff on the local track...denied...football game in progress. So I went and did a simple fartlick in the neighborhood. This made today's 9 miler a bit stiff and achy, but I need to throw it down now for a while. JFK 50 is 4 weeks away!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Deathmarching in town

Wednesday- 2:29- 14 miles???

Today I went exploring the trail system around the James river again. I was trying to find a northern extension..that doesn't exist, but I ran on some nice roads and did some urban adventure scrambling up/dn super steep hill edges along the railroad tracks. Then I ran the trails I know and asked a local runner I met about the trail system and was tipped off to trails on the northside of the river.

Well, after a decision at the 62minute point of my run to try and find all of the trails, I launched into what should have been an easy loop connecting south and north sides of the river with the Robert E Lee and nickle bridges...... Which I eventually did..but I got detoured a bit onto an island in the middle (of sorts) which I had to back track out of. All this time I ran with no water or food and so I bonked pretty intensely and had to walk the uphills the last 30minutes and completely waxed my hipflexors. ugh.

Super tired post run. But hey after watching some video's on the Hanson-Brooks team and Brian Sell I was looking for just this kind of run. I need to toughen up.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Finding the Dirt

Monday- 8 miles rolling hills 61min
Tuesday- trail exploration 1:18 (7 miles??)

I finally found some good dirt here in Richmond. I got onto some single track along the river and managed to tour around Belle Isle (and took time out to read the interpretive historical signs...1000+ Union soldiers died on the island ((an open air prison)) during the civil war). It was a good run and I have already come up with a way to weave this trail system into a long run from my house. Exciting! You see I am lazy... through and through LAZY. I only run loops or set runs that are convenient. When I lived in San Antonio and found a 3 mile loop in my neighborhood. That is all I ran. and 3 miles felt like a long ways. Yet when I lived in Charlottesville I created a 15 mile loop in town connecting two sets of trails, and also worked out a 10 mile loop in a park. So I ran 10 or 15 most days of the week. Is anyone else this silly??

So now maybe I'll start putting in some real miles. a look at the last few weeks shows some consistently good numbers, but not great:
50, 61, 57, 75, 85, 21 (in Chicago), 68

A big congrats goes out to VHTRC stud Keith Knipling on his Virginia slam finish this weekend

Sunday, October 14, 2007

hitting the roads

Friday- 5.5- 45min
Saturday- 25miles on the roads 3:28
Sunday- 5 mile- 44:41 with Anne

I managed to get out for some road miles this weekend getting in with the Richmond Roadrunners Club folks training up for MCM, NYC marathon, MMTR, and JFK. We managed to pound 25miles Saturday at a conservative pace. A fun time with 15 in the group being the most I have run with in a non-race setting in a long time. Today the legs feel great other than a tight calf. Hopefully in 2 weeks we will have just as great of weather! 50-75 and sunny!! :-)

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Finished finally!

Tuesday- 9.5 mile with 3 @6:49 pace
Wednesday- 7 miles easy

Well I got the running log conversion project (from paper into an excel spreadsheet) back out and finished it up completely last night.

The log starts in 1984, with daily entries beginning in 1987 and continuing completely since.

Some stats: 42,002 training miles to date (39, 679 miles running 2,323 miles walking)

545 races competed in....

And counting!

Monday, October 8, 2007

Slacking

Last week- 21miles on 2 runs, some walks
Sunday- 9 miles w/ Anne
Monday- 3.5 mile walk

Yep, I took Last Sunday off to rest up, drive 14 hours on Monday. Spent Tuesday-Friday in Chicago (yes it was warm then too) then drove for 17 hours (with two stops to sleep for 60min) home on Friday afternoon eve. Not much running going on.

I hate that changes in schedule and routine totally mess up my running. It shows I am not too serious about training that I let other things and "being busy" get in the way of getting out the door. I am very "on" or very "off" with my running. Kinda stupid really.

Anyway, time to get back on it. Legs feel great. I weigh 129-130lbs.(back to my ultra-race weight) And I am really looking forward to some bigger races coming up. Must focus now!

Good news is my grad program in prosthetics through Northwestern is underway.