I only run on days that end in a "y."

Taking a recovery week this week to allow the legs to repair themselves a bit.  I will drop mileage to around 50 and reducing intensity a tad.  It's perfect timing as I have a 5k on Sunday that I want to be relatively fresh for.  

A bit chilly this morning - I actually had to wear a short sleeve shirt.   8 miles in 7:50's.  

Chilly morning - 48 degrees and windy - I upgraded to a long sleeve base shirt this morning.  I ran the Lost Horizon hilly route - I don't think I have run this since I used it for Austin Marathon training.  

I ran pretty easy this morning and my aerobic system never felt taxed - must be the cool weather.  7:50's - 8:00's for the majority of the run.

Gorgeous day - 78 degrees with a nice breeze. I ran close to 9 miles in the 7:50's with an errant mile @ 7:34.

My alarm went off at 4:50 but I was out of it.  I woke up again at 5:15.  Plan A of meeting a couple runners early at 5:30 went out the window, but I could still make the larger group at 5:45. I arrived at 5:40 and had enough time to squeak in .75 miles before the group let.  Today was a progression run but we ended up making it a tempo run.  Even though this week will be less miles overall I am feeling a bit sluggish.  I figured I would feel fresh on all my runs.  I guess it does not work that way.  

Anyway, we started picking up the pace with 4 miles to go and held it in the 6:20's.  I glanced at my watch a few times and at points we were running sub 6:00.  I decided that it probably was not super smart with a 5k on Saturday so I backed off a bit to tempo pace and kept it there.  One of the runners that was pushing the pace fell off with 1 mile to go so that left the leader and me, and he was too far ahead for me to think of catching him.  I might have tried if the race was not 2 days a way.  With about 1/4 left I heard footsteps so I picked it up - I wasn't going to let anyone pass me at that point.  Afterward we ran 2 miles cool down @ 7:50 pace.

Total of 10 miles for the day.  8:39, 7:58, 7:52, 7:38, [6:35, 6:20, 6:25, 6:20], 7:50, 7:52.

6 super easy miles this morning.  9:00 pace.

I gotta to go pick up my son so full report later.  Let's just say it was an awesome race - I almost PR'd by a full minute and beat my stretch goal of 18:30!

Report:  I met up with a running buddy, Kevin, at a Big Lot's close to where we live and we carpooled down to the race.  We got there plenty early and I picked up my bib.  I was number 12 - I registered a couple months back when I got the post card in the mail.   I guess was the twelth person to sign up.

Alex, another running buddy who has been running and training with me at the group workouts found us immediately.  There were 2 other runners that we hooked up with and we all did a 2 mile warm-up.  It was nice and relaxing. Alex talked about how he thought we could go sub 18 with the repeats we had been doing.  I thought he was dreaming but he planted a seed.  Kevin said I had a shot, too, but still, that would be way faster than I had thought possible.  I think much of this running thing has to do with what we believe we can do just as much as what we are physically capable of.  I then had to go my car to drop off my singlet - it was 66 degrees so I knew the shirt had to go.  I then ran a bit more to the start for another 3/4s mile.  I found Alex at the start and the plan was to stick together.  Right out of the gate I was running a 5:35 pace and slowed a bit down to 5:50's.  After the first half mile the course turns and it is probably close to a mile of gradual uphill.  I slowed a tad here on the second mile.  The course turns again and it is very flat to a slight decline - very fast here.  I glanced at my watch a few times but did not keep track of my mile splits or overall time.  I was trying to catch a guy I knew from the group and he finally began to fade with a mile left.  At this point I felt pretty strong and actually picked it up and ran my fastest mile here.  I lost Alex right around 2 - 2.5 miles according to him.  We finally turned a corner into a big parking lot where there is a Costco.  At first I cound not see the finish but a couple hundred feet brought it into view.  I saw the 3 mile marked and made a push.  Normally I sprint but I did not feel like killing myself for a few seconds.  I finally saw the finish line with the time at 18:07 or something like that - I pushed pretty hard at this point but still did not go over the edge.  If the clock would have been at 17:50 I would have run as fast I could have but I was very happy with the time I had and cruised in. 

It was not easy by any means but I did not run as hard as I think I am capable.  Could I break 18 at this point?  I think it is possible - for sure it is in the cards with continued training.  I have always thought of the 17:00s as glorified territory and out of my reach.  Now it is very close and I have the belief that I will do it.  The age group winner ran a 17:54 so that will be my goal for next year.  That time would place me in the top 10 as well.

I did not have time to run cool down miles because Kevin had to get back home.  I dropped him off and got home in time to help my wife get my son out the door for piano lessons and then she took my daughter to a BD party.  I had an hour before I had to pick up my son so I went out for 4.25 miles.  Legs felt pretty good. 

Anyway, I hope this translates into a good marathon time.  Of course, my marathon prediction time keeps dropping with every new PR.  I am just making it harder on myself.  :)

Splits:  5:56, 6:00, 5:52, .12 @ 5:03.

70 degrees and high humidity @ 5:30 am.  7.25 AB miles - overall pace 7:48 that included pretty slow first mile.  Also did 6 x 100m or so strides during the last mile.

Went out lunchtime.  It was already pushing 90 degrees and full sun.  I ran the soft trail loop near the office.  7:42 average pace for 5.25 miles.  When I finished I felt like a heat stroke candidate.  When I took a shower at the office I did not bother to turn the hot water on.  I think I may need to start going to the indoor track at the gym.

Low 70's and humid at 5:00 am.  I ran 6 miles - 1 mile warm up @ 9:20 and then 7:40's.  Circled back home and met up with Kevin, a running buddy who moved close by recently.  We will get together on occasion and run together if we are not going downtown for a group run.  He drove over to my house.  I had to slow my pace back down for a mile or so to let him get warmed up and then we picked it up again.  I took him on my favorite hill route.  I am not sure he wants to run with me again any time soon - hehe.  It is a killer and I looped it so that we got hills going and coming back.  We ran 8 miles and I dropped him off and finished out one more mile close to 7:00 pace for a total of 15 miles.  We hit some good paces.  Overall average was 7:50's and that was with with the slower warm-up miles and the hills.

5:30 am and already 75 degrees and humid.  Ran 7 recovery paced miles @ 8:55.  I see a lot more runners out - seems to me summer is Texas is the time to hibernate.  Maybe people are getting out to start fall marathon training.

The plan is to run 5 more during lunch.   Tomorrow is one of my favorites - 400's.

5 @ lunchtime - hot and humid - clouds for the most part - nice strong breeze.  8:50's.

Yowza - it was warm this morning.  75 degrees at 5:20 am with 100% humidity.  Gross is a good description.  

I parked at Barton Springs pool and ran 2.5 miles to meet up with the group and then we ran 1.5 miles to Austin High track.  There was as small group as the rest of the running group ran fartleks on the trail.

We started with 5 and ended up with 2 of us at the end - the heat and humidity took their toll on the others who either faded or stopped running repeats somewhere along the line. 

The plan was to run 3 sets of 5 400's but we just ran 15 with 60 seconds rest in between and no additional recovery in between sets.  We kept the pace very consistent.  It was a tough workout.  I pushed the last 25m on the last one.  I had to take a break on the bench for a couple minutes before heading back to the car. 

2 miles easy back to the springs.  I had enough time to jump and cool off.  A crawfish bit my heel after I jumped in and was walking back to the stairs.  At first I thought it was a fish, and then a crab because I could feel something that felt like claws.  Another runner who was already out was like "hey, did that crawfish get you, too?"  I guess we were stepping on his house - lol. 

400 splits: 1:24, 1:19, 1:20, 1:20, 1:21, 1:20, 1:19, 1:21, 1:20, 1:20, 1:21, 1:21, 1:20, 1:21, 1:17. (5:21 to 5:09 pace)

I found a great little trail loop near the house.  It consists mostly of hard packed dirt with some sections of soft mulch from the trees as well as some portions of crushed granite.  Perfect for a recovery run and one full loop is one mile.  It was 84 degrees and sunny but there is lots of shady parts and the cool north wind has blown out the humidity.  9:00 pace.

Absolutely gorgeous morning.  60 degrees and no humidity - nice north breeze.  Met up with the group today - lots of runners.  Some of the Boston people are back to running now as well as picking up some new runners getting ready to start fall marathon training.

I started behind the crowds somehow and had to catch up to the faster group which today was the lead group.   I think I caught them by about mile 1.  From the get go I could tell today's run would be fast paced and that is exactly what I wanted.  I was shooting for 12 @ MGP but got in a few more than that.  I figured I would take advantage of the weather while I could.  We ran the 14 mile loop on the town lake trail with a bit of out and back that started around mile 3.  This was great as I could run with the group until mile 12 when I had to break off and run what we call the triangle which adds almost 4 miles with some really nice hills.  Thus I had to run 6 miles alone as everyone else was doing 14 miles.  At about mile 11 Liz just took off - probably around 6:00 pace and dropped everyone else.  2 other guys tried to hang but couldn't and I fell back to keep my pace @ 6:50.  I still have 7 miles to go and was not going to kill myself at this point.

I wanted to stay around 7:00 mile and, as the charts tell me, hit what should be my MGP of around 6:50 pace.  I managed this for quite a few miles and it was not too bad.  I felt pretty relaxed.  I am not sure if this is possible for 26 miles but I am starting to believe. 

All in all a great run.  One disclaimer though is that we stopped briefly every 4 miles or so for water/gatorade.

Splits:  8:42, 7:35, 7:18, 7:25, 7:06, 7:04, 7:24, 7:11, 7:09, 7:04, 6:43, 6:57, 6:59, 6:54, 6:49, 6:57, 7:02, 7:08.

Nice morning - ran 8 easy.  First mile slow and then seven miles around 8:00 pace.  Legs are still be bit sore from Saturday's run.  

6 miles on the soft trail at lunchtime.  First mile slow and then 5 @ 7:50's.  Nice breeze and low humidity. 

Sublime morning - low 60's and no humidity - nice and cool.  Started out with the full moon and ran through the sunrise to a beautiful sunny morning. 

I took the hilly route out and then looped back on the flat route though still overall net climb.  Then I veered off on a new course with a 2 mile out and then back - mostly flat with a gentle roller here and there.  Then brought it home with a 2 mile tempo.  I was cutting it close time wise as I need to be back in time time to take my son to school.  I wanted to finish with a 3 mile tempo but misjudged the mileage left to the house - mostly due to the new route - I was not sure what I had left.  I thought for sure I had at least 2.5 miles.  In the end I had enough time to eek out another .5 but it would have been pushing it.

Really a good run and other then the first warm up mile @ 9:00 and mile 5 with the big hill @ 8:02, I kept the pace  between 7:25 and 7:40's  with the last 2 tempo miles at 6:34 and 6:22.  Legs felt remarkably fresh and strong this morning.

Ah, the humidity has returned.  Still not too bad but it is only a matter of time.  6 recovery miles  this morning.  First mile was 10:00 - must have been choclate chip cookie bindge that I went on yesterday evening.  Legs are a bit sore from the gym workout yesterday, too.  The other miles were 8:40's - 8:50's. 

6 on the trail at lunch - overall pace 8:10.  I have problems running slow like I should be doing today.

OK - I am a wimp, at least I feel like a wimp after this morning.  Of course, I tend to be pretty hard on myself when things do not go as great as I think they should.

The plan today was to run a couple easy and then 5 @ tempo pace with the group and finish at the annex and then a 1.5 easy back to Barton Springs. 

I started at the Springs and ran 1.5 miles to the annex and met up with the group as they were leaving.  It was 75 degrees already at 5:30 am and even with my slow paced miles my heart rate was up more than normal.  I knew it would be somewhat of a tough run.  Additionally, I have been fighting a cold or something.  I tend to get this light dizziness feeling so that did not help either.  But I digress.

Once the group took off I was with the front group and our easy warm-up mile pace was 7:25 - already too fast.  After about 1.5 miles we come across the interstate bridge and hit the other side of the trail.  From here it's a 5 mile loop.  Russ and I picked it up immediately; the others fell back as they were going to do 3 miles or so at tempo.  After mile 2 I could tell it was going to be a tough run.  My mental weakness started to show up here.  It seemed a lot harder this morning that the tempo we did 2 weeks ago.  Maybe the mileage from the last 3 days took its toll as well.  At about mile 3.5 Russ started to pull away a bit and I struggled to maintain pace.  At the 4 mile marker there is a bridge to take with one mile left after that to the annex or continue straight to the springs.  At this point I was hurting so much that I kept going straight to the springs where I had parked.  I got the the springs and kept going to the end of the parking lot to get a full 1/2 mile in.  I had to sit down on the curb for a few minutes - my heart rate must have been maxed and I felt really, really bad.  I could not even muster the strength to run any cool down miles.  I went and jumped in the 68 degree water of the springs for a nice cool down.  When I got home I took my son to school and then had to lay down for 15 minutes.  Anyway, tough workout and I felt really disappointed in myself at the end.

Tempo miles: 6:45, 6:32, 6:34, 6:31, .5 @ 6:25.   (Slow end of tempo pace, too.)

Not feeling all that great today.  I managed 7 easy @ 8:40's pace.  My legs have some soreness, the miles from this week are taking their toll.  Not sure about tomorrow's run - go by feel I guess.

68 degrees at the start - which felt cool compared to the 78 degrees over the past couple of days.  Still the humidity was terrible - had to be close to 100%.  At points during the run the pace felt manageable and then my HR would climb - towards the end of the run it took everything just to hang on.  I had to slow down quite a bit just to finish.  I am feeling a bit in the edge of burnout lately, I think I need to take a couple days off and recharge and repair.  Legs felt heavy around mile 15.  If someone I knew would have drove by I would gladly have stopped the run and got inside the car for a nice ride back.  

The course was hard - hills on the front end.  I split from the group at mile 5 - they were doing a 14 mile route to the top of Mt. Bonnell and back.  Since I wanted to try to get some MGP in I was not going to run the big hills.  So I ran most of the run alone.  Tough going and did not get as many MGP miles in as I wanted and no sub-7:00's - but given the weather and my tired legs I am OK with that. I am actually surprised by the last 4 miles, I felt like I was crawling while running those miles.

Splits:  9:02, 8:32, 8:03, 7:41, 7:27, 7:12, 7:29, 7:23, 7:21, 7:19, 7:13, 7:10,7:06, 7:11, 7:18, 7:24, 7:29, 7:29, 7:29, 7:39, 7:16. 

sleep, sweet sleep.  If that is not a song it should be.  After a nap on Saturday and a solid 8 plus hours Saturday night and another solid 8 hours Sunday night I felt pretty good.  I went out for 6 recovery on the soft train in the heat at lunchtime.  8:40's.

5:30 am - close to 80 degrees and high humidity.  Ran 2.5 miles or so to the Talleyrand Park and met Kevin.  We did 7 miles through his neighborhood and then I ran 3 back to the house.   Legs still do not feel 100%.  Picked up the pace on the 3 back to sub 7:00.  I hit a really long and steep hill somewhere between the last bit of mile 2 and into mile 3.  Still managed 7:30 pace up the hill but I did have to take a quick breather at the top.  My heart does not appreciate this warm weather!  Continued the long way home.  Most miles in 7:40's - 7:50s; with last 3 @ 6:50's not counting the time to catch my breath.

Ran at lunchtime - 98 degrees - sunny, hot, humid - a scorcher - so I went to the indoor track at the gym instead! Felt great - nice controlled temps. I started on the treadmill and that lasted about 2 minutes. Man, I despise the treadmill. So I jumped off and hit the indoor track loop. Much better - 7 miles @ 7:50s or so.

Wow - a cold front - 73 degrees and lower humidity this morning - it actually felt cool.  I decided to run with the training goup this morning.  I arrived early so I could get in 1.5 easy before the group left.  The scheduled workout was a 7 mile loop around Town Lake with 2 sets of 5,4,3,2,1 minutes fast with 1 minute easy inbetween each "fast" part.  The problem was that there was no way we could get the full workout in on the 7 mile loop.  I talked some runners into adding a mile along the trail by going up north 1/2 mile and then turning and starting the workout at that point. The thought was with the added distance we would be able to get both sets in.  It worked out well though we still missed the last fast 1 minute.  We had to cut our last recovery to 30 seconds to squeeze in the last 2 minutes, though.

This was a mentally tough workout but not as bad as a straight tempo.  This is actually an excellent way to get in some lactate threshold / tempo work in these warm temps.  We ran our fast portions around 6:10 and easy minutes around high 8:00s.  Anyway, I got in close to 5 miles of LT work.

4 miles easy to start:  9:11, 8:20, 7:37, 7:29 and then the fun part:

Time	Pace	Distance	Recovery Distance
5 mins	6:08	0.82	0.1
4 mins	6:10	0.65	0.1
3 mins	6:08	0.5	0.1
2 mins	6:10	0.32	0.1
1 min	5:59	0.17	0.1
5 mins	6:12	0.81	0.1
4 mins	6:19	0.65	0.1
3 mins	6:20	0.48	0.05
2 mins	5:55	0.32
		4.72	0.75     Lunch - 50 mins  - 13 miles on the bike at the gym at aerobic capacity.  Mark as 4 miles run.

75 degrees and humid at 6:00 am.  Ran with the group this morning.  When I looked at the posted route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4532264  all I could see was the elevation chart - nothing like some good hills on a hot and humid morning.  I felt good with the pace considering the heat and course.  Hopefully it translates into a much faster pace in cooler conditions.  I spoke to my mom in Nebraska (marathon is 120 miles to the north) and they were wearing coats last night.  I hope the weather stays cool up there for 2 more weeks.

Spits:  9:00, 8:33, 7:50, 7:45, 7:36, 7:18, 7:17, 7:20, 7:10, 7:20, 7:14, 7:19, 7:19, 6:47, .5 @ 5:54 (pick-ups) 

Warm and muggy - base run with 8 x 15 second striders during the last 3/4 mile @ 5:30 pace. Other miles 7'40's.

2nd night of over 8 hours of sleep - yesterday morning my wife let me sleep in until 8:30. I can't remember the last time I slept that long but my body needed it.

I always get on my 7 year old son about dilly-dallying in the morning.  It takes him 10 minutes to brush his teeth sometimes.  Why do I mention this?  I think he gets it from me.  I woke up at 5 am and did not get out of the house until 5:30.  I tried to figure out how I fettered away 30 minutes getting ready for a run.  I am still not sure.  So, long story short is I did not get down to the town lake train until 5:45 and was not on the trail until 5:50.  Therefore, I was already behind schedule.  Fortunately school is out and I did not have to be home in order to take my son to school today. 

I ran the 11 mile trail loop and started at Barton Springs pool.  The workout was to run 3 miles warm-up followed by 20 minutes at MGP, 2 minutes easy, 10 minutes at HMGP, 2 minutes easy, 5 minutes @ 10k pace, 2 minutes easy, 5 minutes @ 10k pace, 2 minutes easy, and then 5 x 1 minute @ 5k pace with 1 minute easy between.  This run is always on the group schedule 2 weeks out from a marathon.  I like the workout even though it's hard - it really tests one's stamina.  Today was challenging mostly due to the heat and humidity.  The trail of crushed granite takes a few seconds off pace as well.  I also ran out of trail and time at the end and only managed 4 x 1 minute @ 5k pace.  My pace fell off a bit at the end as I was getting tired and beat up by the heat.  I did squeeze in a quick plunge in the cold waters of the springs, though. 

3.37 miles warm up:  8:38, 8:04, 7:47, .37 @ 7:30.

20 minutes (2.8 miles) @ 7:10 pace

2 minute easy

10 minutes (1.5 miles) @ 6:42 pace

2 minutes easy

5 minutes (.8 miles) @ 6:29 pace

2 minutes easy

5 minutes (.78 miles) 6:35 pace

1 minute easy

1 minute (.17 miles) @ 6:07 pace

1 minute easy

1 minute (.17 miles) @ 6:07 pace

1 minute easy

1 minute (.17 miles) @ 5:55 pace

1 minute easy

1 minute (.17 miles) @ 6:07 pace