Running, playing and thinking.

After my last post detailing my long run and 3x1 mile repeats at tempo pace I closed out my week of running with a 6 miler in 48:46; an 8 miler in 1:04:06, where I ran splits of 8:03, 8:03, 8:10, 8:06, 7:59, 7:58, 7:52, and 7:54. This run was fun because I had just downloaded Radiohead's latest offering, "In Rainbows", onto my iPod. It is freaking awesome. A great moment during my run was during mile three when "Bodysnatchers" started playing.

Sunday afternoon I ran an easy four in 32:19 in preparation for Monday's intended 3x1200 at 4:29 each. I warmed up with two miles in 16:07 and hit rep #1 in 4:28.19 and after an 800 in 4:40 I ran rep #2 in 4:27.45. I jogged a 400 in 2:52 and decided that I'd had enough of this particular practice and jogged a little over a mile back home.

Yesterday I ran 5.25 miles in 42:37 and felt pretty good.

Today's run was a three mile tempo run at 6:32 pace. The last time I attempted this particular practice, three weeks ago, it was 75, calm with 34% humidity. The practice turned into a death march that I covered in 19:46.83 with splits of 6:29, 6:37 and 6:40.

The conditions today were a little more mild at 55, NE13 and 46% humidity. I ran two miles in 15:46 to warm-up, mile two had some 40-step pick-ups mixed in, and after that I switched into my race flats.

I took off pretty easy and visualized myself starting the Jingle Bell Run in a nice relaxed pace. I kept my breathing easy and hit the 800 in about 3:18. I didn't consciously make myself speed up but I hit the mile mark in 6:26.84. I cussed in my head, did a self-assessment and decided that I still felt okay and I was going to go with how I felt. I kept my turnover nice and fluid and my breathing unlabored and threw a few surges down as I turned corners until I hit the two mile mark in 12:54.80 with a mile time of 6:27.96.

I started feeling like I was working just a bit when I emerged from the cover of the trees and felt that nice 13 mph wind hit me in the face with about 1200 to go. The wind would be in my face or slightly oblique to my face until I finished and I also had a bit of a rolling hill to contend with from about the 700 mark until the 500 mark. I felt myself slowing in the face of the wind and the hill but I was still able to hit my last mile in 6:31.32 for a total time of 19:26.12.

After a 45 second breather I ran a cool down mile in 8:17, stretched out and ate dinner with my family. Salmon, salad and rolls.

My wife and I ended up not going to North Carolina this weekend for her friend's wedding due to some family problems but we were able to have a good time playing with our son and hanging out together. Kim went grocery shopping Sunday afternoon and left me at home with a restless and bored 15 month old little boy. I put a long sleeve shirt on the little man and we drove out to the covered bridge south of Chatham. I led him to the trail that went to the bridge and let him loose. He promptly took off on his little legs and only stopped long enough to pick up a pebble and a small stick each of which were handed to me with a "tahnk oo" (thank you) from him. He continued his journey by going up, over and down the bridge and continued a few hundred meters down the trail under his own power until I picked him up and carried him a little closer to the bridge and a little farther from the bank of the creek.

By the end of our jaunt we had: thrown walnuts down the trail, dug in the dirt, given him names to everything he pointed at, and acquired a pebble, a stick, half a walnut shell and an acorn. We also saw two deer carcasses in the underbrush and took half a dozen pictures that I will try to post on here soon. I didn't take pictures of the deer carcasses if anyone was wondering.

I like being a father. I hope I end up being a good one.

Long runs and mile repeats

I finished up my week on Saturday with a ten mile long run. It was a pretty morning, a little overcast, 52 degrees with very little wind that I noticed. The humidity was about 80% and rain was predicted in the forecast. We only got a little though.

I did an out-and-back on the bike trail and covered my first five in a very relaxed 41:13. I felt pretty good and decided to pick it up a little bit on the way back in and didn't realize how fast I was going until I hit the 9 mile mark in 1:12:41. I decided to just go with it the last mile and ran a 7:00 mie to bring it home in 1:19:41. I was pretty happy and only a little tired upon returning home.

I skipped my run yesterday because my brother drove up from Texas for leave and spent the night at our place. It was good to have my baby brother here and hanging out with us. Nathan took a shine to him and was hugging and kissing on him up until the minute he left. My brother leaves for Iraq next month and won't be back until until February or March of 2009. I can't wait for him to get out of the Army.

After returning home from work tonight I ran 3 x 1 mile repeats at tempo pace. My tempo pace is supposed to be 6:32. I ran a mile warm-up in 8:03 and hit my first mile rep in 6:30.87, which was a little faster than I wanted but was pretty good. I gave myself 1:00 rest and ran rep #2 in 6:28.71, which was still a little faster than I wanted. For rep #3 I made myself take it out a little easy the first half and then attacked the last half. I attacked a little too hard and ran my final rep in 6:23.00. I knew I was running a little too hard because the last one hurt a bit.

I covered 30.25 miles last week to bring my total for the year to 1,070.25 and my cumulative total since I started running again to 3,005.5.

Jordan Update

Jordan ran the Patriot Invitational today at Detweiller Park in Peoria. He took the lead at the half mile mark and it became a three man race between him, Brian Peterson of Fieldcrest and Dustin Emerick from my alma mater, Elmwood. Peterson and Emerick pulled away toward the two mile mark and he let them go because he thought they would come back to him on mile three. Peterson outkicked Emerick 14:58 to 15:03 (which is third all time on Detweiller for my high school's list) and Jordan took third in 15:22. He hit his first mile in 4:58 and two in 10:04. In the space of about five days Jordan has run 15:17 and 15:22. I think he's got a pretty good shot at going under 15:00 at State if he can work on running stronger during mile three. Good job again, Jordan!

Holy Crap!

My buddy Jordan P. of Williamsville High School won the Carlinville Cross Country Invitational by 37 SECONDS last night with a time of 15:17. If I remember correctly, that is a PR by about 20 seconds or so. I think the Carlinville course runs slightly faster than Detweiller does. Last year he ran 15:36 or so at Carlinville and had a bad race at State where he placed 31st in 15:47.

He has been flying under the radar a bit this season but he is running at the Patriot Invitational this weekend and will probably bust onto the scene as a darkhorse for a high finish at State.

Good job Jordan!!!

I have added a link to Jordan's blog over on the side bar.

2 x 1.5 Cruising

I arose at 0500 today and treated myself to a cruise interval practice. It was a pleasant 65 degrees with 80% humidity and a slight breeze out of the south. I warmed up with two miles in 16:30, stretched out for a minute and took off. I ran my first 1.5 mile interval in 9:49 with a mile split of 6:33 and a half mile split of 3:16. I felt pretty good and was excited to run the next one but didn't take into account that the bike trail was COMPLETELY OBSCURED IN DARKNESS!!! I forgot to grab my headlight when I left and since I rolled my ankle on the bike trail a year or two ago by stepping on a stick I couldn't see I have been paranoid ever since. I hit the first half mile of the second interval in 3:14 but got a little freaked out and slowed my turnover down the next half and was unable to recover any time when I finally got to where I could see anything. I ran my last mile in 6:44 for a total time of 9:58. Dang it!

I cooled down with an 8:29 mile, stretched out, drank some coffee, forgot to eat breakfast and left for work. How did I forget to eat breakfast? I was more interested in coffee, shaving, showering and getting my lunch together. I've gone so far as to get my cereal out of the pantry, then been distracted by my son and after taking care of him have left the house and not realized I was hungry until getting to work.

Having kids makes you pretty stupid.

I always remember to drink my coffee though.

19:??

I was going to get up this morning at 0430 to do my three mile tempo run but my bed felt nice and I had been up at 0130 with Nathan. I rolled out of bed at 0530, ate breakfast, drank my coffee and got my baby ready for daycare before heading off to work.

Last night before I went to bed I was sitting at our breakfast bar eating Oreos and reading as Kim was putting Nathan down. We usually give him a bottle on the couch and then carry him to his room when he gets sleepy. Kim took him back to his room and came back out to talk to me and he started fussing a few minutes later. She went to check on him and I continued eating my cookies until I noticed her walking down the hall holding our son. As they entered the living room and approached the couch, Nathan looked at me, grinned and waved as if to say, "Hello there! How you doing?" It was such a funny scene that I almost snorted cookie out of my nose and Kim about shook herself to death trying to hold her laughter in. My little man definitely has my sense of humor.

After getting home from work I warmed up with a mile in 7:57. I then changed into my flats and did two quick strides to make sure everything was ready to go. The weather wasn't as nice as it was at 0430 this morning with no wind, 75 degree temps and 34% humidity. It felt hotter than 75 and I think I was a little on the dehydrated side.

I started my run and was on pace at 400, 800 and 1200 to run a 6:32 first mile. I must have picked it up a bit the last 400 of mile one because I went through at 6:29.01. It was a little faster than I wanted but I felt fine, if a little parched. I focused on keeping the turnover going and hit the 1.5 mark in about 9:47. As I got onto the bike trail I ran into clouds of gnats and ran through them almost to the 2.5 mark. Running through clouds of gnats sucks.

I hit mile two in 6:37.03 with a total time of 13:06.04. I didn't think I'd slowed down too much and I tried to up the ante a bit to see if I couldn't gut out another mile in the mid 6:30s but the gnats, heat and dehydration took their toll on me and I closed out the tempo with a 6:40.79 mile to finish up in 19:46.83.

I only give myself a B for this practice because my pacing was way off. I like that I ran 19:46 in these conditions but I wish I hadn't slowed down each mile.

I cooled down with a mile in 8:29 and then was rushed into the shower by my wife so that I didn't have to watch our son while covered in gnats as she went and bought him some new shoes.

Slow day

I took an easy day today after my track workout from yesterday. I ran four miles in 32:45 with splits of 8:15, 8:15, 8:05 and 8:10.

Tomorrow's workout will be a 2-3 mile tempo run at 6:32 pace. I'm a little nervous about this workout as I haven't gone under 20:00 for three miles in practice since I was about 21. I tried to do this workout a few days before Shoreline but I went out too hard and called it off after a mile and a half. It was very hot that day and I figured that gutting the practice out wasn't going to help me run fast four days later. I remember being nervous for my first three mile tempo run that called for 6:51 pace back in June. I ended up running that one in 6:48 pace so I think I'll be fine.

Gearing up

I am back in the grind of training again this week after having taken two weeks to chill out, drink beer, hang with my wife and kid and run some easy miles. I ran over to the high school track and did 3x(2x200 + 400). The intent was to run the 200s in 41 and the 400s in 84. My legs aren't used to running quite that fast and it was a shock to the system.

I ran a mile warm-up with 800 worth of strides and covered my first set in: 42.32(1:07), 42.99(1:19), and 1:26.62(2:27). I ran 200 m. recovery jogs after the 200s and a 400 m. jog after the 400s. I also ran them slow.

Set number two: 39.54(1:15), 41.48(1:17), 1:24.97(2:26).

Set number three: 40.64(1:17), 40.98(1:23), 1:24.60(2:12).

I cooled down with an easy mile, stretched out and ate italian beef and washed it down with some water and some peanut butter Oreos with Silk.

Last week I ran 27.75 miles and have covered over 1,000 miles for the year. Barring any illness or injury I am looking at running about 1,300 this year.