We started taking my son to a new daycare place and we've been getting up early to get him ready the last few days. Ironically, he has been sleeping through the night the last few nights and Kim and I are both more tired than usual.
I ran a ladder workout on the Glenwood High School track Monday night because the Middle School track was locked up. I have only run a workout on the high school track twice before because they keep it locked up tighter than Fort Knox. This irritates me because I live right across the street from the high school track and I pay about $4,000 a year in property taxes and I can't run on the track that I am funding because it is locked up.
Anyway, I ran my ladder workout that consisted of 2x200, 400, 2x800, 400, and 2x200. Each workbout was follwed by a recovery jog the distance of the repeat. I ran a two mile warm-up in 15:50, which was too fast. It was 82 with winds 14mph out of the south and 18% humidity. Heat Index was 80. My times were as follows: 44.62 (1:10), 44.00 (1:11), 1:27.43 (2:36), 2:56.69 (6:08 changed into flats), 2:54.86 (5:00), 1:26.14 (2:46), 42.05 (1:30), 41.58 (1:26). I jogged a mile cool down in 8:53 and went home.
Tonight I ran an easy four miles in 84 degrees, SSE 20 gusting to 27mph, and 27% humidity. I ran splits of 8:42, 8:31, 8:27 and 8:25 for a total time of 34:05. I followed the run with some easy stretching and only one rep of my circuit training routine. I didn't feel up to it today.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to run 10 miles before work but I think getting up at 0400 is going to kill me. I may run seven and then do three more in the afternoon.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Weekly Report
I finished up my week with some nice easy workouts, a bit of sleep, a lot of coffee, some weight lifting and some quality time with my wife and son.
Friday morning I got up early and ran 4 miles around town in 34:33. I had splits of 8:58, 8:28, 8:33 and 8:34. It was a cool morning and I wore a jacket for the first time in about a month. The Weather Channel said is was 39, calm, with 87% humidity. I felt pretty good except for a big knot in my right butt cheek from my circuit training routine. I do squats, lunges, hamstring presses and hip bridges and my rear end isn't used to it. It got better during the day and using "The Stick" on it helped out alot. If you don't have a "Stick" I recommend it because it is pretty cool. Here's the website: http://www.thestick.com/.
I had a leadership class at the hospital Friday morning and then worked on the floor in x-ray the rest of the day. I'm getting my x-ray skills back now that my students are on break. I don't get much chance to actually take a radiograph of a patient when they're around because they are all over the work when it comes in. I had a pretty good group of students to start off with but they are all rotating out in July and I'm getting a new group. I'm sure the next group will be good too but I'll be sad to see this group depart.
Friday night my mother-in-law watched Nathan and Kim and I went to dinner and a movie. We ate at some sports bar on the west side of Springfield and it was decent for the money. After I ate my cheeseburger, good runner fuel, we went to see Spider-man 3. We both loved it. If you haven't seen it and like the other two you'll probably dig the latest installment.
Saturday morning I ran a 10 milers on the Interurban Trail. I start at my driveway and run towards Springfield and when I hit the I-72 overpass it is exactly 5 miles from my house. I generally turn around there, although when I was training for my marathon I did run all the way to Old Navy a few times during my 18 and 20 mile runs. I like the trail because I don't have to worry about cars and if I hit the trail early enough I generally don't have to worry about bikers, walkers or other runners. I have run up on deer, raccoon and opossum a few times and the birds are usually pretty. I see geese by the lake, an occasional heron and other assorted song birds which I detail to Nathan when I get home. Last summer when Nathan was born I would go on my long runs and count things so that when I got home I could tell him that I saw 3 walkers, 5 runners, 4 dogs, 2 cats, 7 trucks, 8 SUVs, 9 cars, 5 bicyclists, a motorcycle and a choo-choo train. He seemed interested but my wife made fun of me for being able to remember all that stuff. "Is that all you do on your runs? Count things? Running sounds real exciting!"
I ran my 10 miler in 1:22:18, which is faster than the 8:32 pace I'm supposed to run on my easy days. It was 50, with SW winds at 6mph and 56% humidity and it was a pleasant day. I ran to my turnaround point in 42:22 and ran the last 5 miles in 39:55. I ran 2-3 two-minute surges miles 6-7 and got into such a nice rhythm the last few miles that I just went with it and made sure I was running comfortably without too much strain. It felt nice.
The rest of Saturday involved going to the mall so Kim could do some shopping and getting some stuff at Sam's. We ate steak and wine for dinner and sat on the patio with the rest of the wine and our little fire pit going and went to bed about 2300 hours.
Nathan and I woke up around 0630, we ate breakfast, he had oatmeal and I had coffee. When his mommy woke up I did a 25 minute Core Secrets workout and then swept and mopped the hardwood in the kitchen, dining room, sun room and foyer. I just realized that I am a very boring man.
I covered 30 miles this week and brought my yearly total up to 523.25 miles which is 105.75 miles ahead of last year at this time. Week 20 of last year I covered 33.5 miles with my key workouts being a 4 mile tempo run that I completed in 30:43 with splits of 7:49, 7:44, 7:31 and 7:37. What a difference a year makes, I ran my 4 mile tempo run almost 3 minutes faster this week. I also did 8x400 in an average of 1:29.4 with 200m. recovery jogs between instead of the 400m. jogs I did this week. I also did a nice ten miler in 1:26:13 where I ran 44:01 on the way out and 42:12 on the way back in.
Next week calls for a ladder type workout on the track tomorrow where I will run 2x200, a 400, an 800, a 400 and 2x200. The times I expect to hit are: 200=43, 400=1:27 and 800=2:55. Tuesday calls for an easy 4, Wednesday is 2x2400 in 10:16 with a 2 minute break between them. Thursday is an off day, Friday an easy 4 and Saturday 10. I may shuffle the order this week because I have to work in CT over the weekend and I don't relish the though of getting up at 0330 Saturday morning to complete my long run before work. I'll cover another 30 miles this week in preparation for a 10k I'm going to run in Jacksonville on June 2nd.
Before I close, my friend, Jordan Patterson qualified for the State Track Meet in the 3200 by taking another seven seconds off his time and running a 10:02. He won by over thirty seconds and came back with a 4:44 mile to just miss qualifying for the 1600 as well. A 10:02/4:44 double is pretty darn awesome. I think he has an outside shot of making all-state next weekend, the competition is pretty stiff but if Jordan keeps running smart he could drop another 10 or 15 seconds and sneak into the top-nine. I think 9:45 will get it.
Friday morning I got up early and ran 4 miles around town in 34:33. I had splits of 8:58, 8:28, 8:33 and 8:34. It was a cool morning and I wore a jacket for the first time in about a month. The Weather Channel said is was 39, calm, with 87% humidity. I felt pretty good except for a big knot in my right butt cheek from my circuit training routine. I do squats, lunges, hamstring presses and hip bridges and my rear end isn't used to it. It got better during the day and using "The Stick" on it helped out alot. If you don't have a "Stick" I recommend it because it is pretty cool. Here's the website: http://www.thestick.com/.
I had a leadership class at the hospital Friday morning and then worked on the floor in x-ray the rest of the day. I'm getting my x-ray skills back now that my students are on break. I don't get much chance to actually take a radiograph of a patient when they're around because they are all over the work when it comes in. I had a pretty good group of students to start off with but they are all rotating out in July and I'm getting a new group. I'm sure the next group will be good too but I'll be sad to see this group depart.
Friday night my mother-in-law watched Nathan and Kim and I went to dinner and a movie. We ate at some sports bar on the west side of Springfield and it was decent for the money. After I ate my cheeseburger, good runner fuel, we went to see Spider-man 3. We both loved it. If you haven't seen it and like the other two you'll probably dig the latest installment.
Saturday morning I ran a 10 milers on the Interurban Trail. I start at my driveway and run towards Springfield and when I hit the I-72 overpass it is exactly 5 miles from my house. I generally turn around there, although when I was training for my marathon I did run all the way to Old Navy a few times during my 18 and 20 mile runs. I like the trail because I don't have to worry about cars and if I hit the trail early enough I generally don't have to worry about bikers, walkers or other runners. I have run up on deer, raccoon and opossum a few times and the birds are usually pretty. I see geese by the lake, an occasional heron and other assorted song birds which I detail to Nathan when I get home. Last summer when Nathan was born I would go on my long runs and count things so that when I got home I could tell him that I saw 3 walkers, 5 runners, 4 dogs, 2 cats, 7 trucks, 8 SUVs, 9 cars, 5 bicyclists, a motorcycle and a choo-choo train. He seemed interested but my wife made fun of me for being able to remember all that stuff. "Is that all you do on your runs? Count things? Running sounds real exciting!"
I ran my 10 miler in 1:22:18, which is faster than the 8:32 pace I'm supposed to run on my easy days. It was 50, with SW winds at 6mph and 56% humidity and it was a pleasant day. I ran to my turnaround point in 42:22 and ran the last 5 miles in 39:55. I ran 2-3 two-minute surges miles 6-7 and got into such a nice rhythm the last few miles that I just went with it and made sure I was running comfortably without too much strain. It felt nice.
The rest of Saturday involved going to the mall so Kim could do some shopping and getting some stuff at Sam's. We ate steak and wine for dinner and sat on the patio with the rest of the wine and our little fire pit going and went to bed about 2300 hours.
Nathan and I woke up around 0630, we ate breakfast, he had oatmeal and I had coffee. When his mommy woke up I did a 25 minute Core Secrets workout and then swept and mopped the hardwood in the kitchen, dining room, sun room and foyer. I just realized that I am a very boring man.
I covered 30 miles this week and brought my yearly total up to 523.25 miles which is 105.75 miles ahead of last year at this time. Week 20 of last year I covered 33.5 miles with my key workouts being a 4 mile tempo run that I completed in 30:43 with splits of 7:49, 7:44, 7:31 and 7:37. What a difference a year makes, I ran my 4 mile tempo run almost 3 minutes faster this week. I also did 8x400 in an average of 1:29.4 with 200m. recovery jogs between instead of the 400m. jogs I did this week. I also did a nice ten miler in 1:26:13 where I ran 44:01 on the way out and 42:12 on the way back in.
Next week calls for a ladder type workout on the track tomorrow where I will run 2x200, a 400, an 800, a 400 and 2x200. The times I expect to hit are: 200=43, 400=1:27 and 800=2:55. Tuesday calls for an easy 4, Wednesday is 2x2400 in 10:16 with a 2 minute break between them. Thursday is an off day, Friday an easy 4 and Saturday 10. I may shuffle the order this week because I have to work in CT over the weekend and I don't relish the though of getting up at 0330 Saturday morning to complete my long run before work. I'll cover another 30 miles this week in preparation for a 10k I'm going to run in Jacksonville on June 2nd.
Before I close, my friend, Jordan Patterson qualified for the State Track Meet in the 3200 by taking another seven seconds off his time and running a 10:02. He won by over thirty seconds and came back with a 4:44 mile to just miss qualifying for the 1600 as well. A 10:02/4:44 double is pretty darn awesome. I think he has an outside shot of making all-state next weekend, the competition is pretty stiff but if Jordan keeps running smart he could drop another 10 or 15 seconds and sneak into the top-nine. I think 9:45 will get it.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Windy Tempo
I ran my 4 mile tempo this afternoon because I couldn't drag my butt out of bed this morning. It was 69 with winds 9mph out of the WNW and 29% humidity. I warmed up with a mile in 8:20 and after some stretching started my run. I ran into the wind for the first 1200 of my tempo and it felt a little stronger than 9 mph. I also got chased by a dog. I hit mile one in 6:57.06 which felt okay despite already being parched from the wind drying my mouth out. I got chased by two more dogs and actually had to stop twice to slap the little ankle-biters and get them to leave me alone. Instead of easing back into my pace I surged hard for a block or two out of anger until I made myself slow down. I hit mile two in 6:54.02 (13:51.08). Mile three was thankfully mostly with the wind or in a cross wind and I crossed three in 6:55.98 (20:47.06). Mile 4 was with the wind for the first 800 or so and then I turned west again and ran the last 800 into the teeth of the wind. I started to strain a little there and finished up in 7:00.92 (27:47.98). I ran into the house to check weather.com and discovered that the wind had actually picked up to 13mph with 17mph gusts. That explained why it felt hard the last half mile. I cooled down with an easy mile in 8:24, stretched out and ate turkey tacos for dinner. Turkey tacos are good.
I am reasonably pleased with my workout today. I was a little sluggish but not too bad. I ran a fairly even pace for the tempo and didn't deviate too much off pace. The 7:00 mile hurt but was into some pretty stiff winds and the 6:54 was irritation fueled. I think today was a good character building run. I was forced to concentrate on my form, my pace and my motivation. I hit three and was already beginning to dread the last four blocks of my run and I just made myself run from light post to light post to stop sign. I just kept telling myself, 5 minutes to go, 4 minutes to go and by the time I hit the 3 minute mark I felt better.
Tomorrow is an off day. I will probably do my circuit training routine, which may have contributed to some of the sluggishness I felt today, and then I'm going to watch "My Name Is Earl," "The Office," and "Scrubs."
I am reasonably pleased with my workout today. I was a little sluggish but not too bad. I ran a fairly even pace for the tempo and didn't deviate too much off pace. The 7:00 mile hurt but was into some pretty stiff winds and the 6:54 was irritation fueled. I think today was a good character building run. I was forced to concentrate on my form, my pace and my motivation. I hit three and was already beginning to dread the last four blocks of my run and I just made myself run from light post to light post to stop sign. I just kept telling myself, 5 minutes to go, 4 minutes to go and by the time I hit the 3 minute mark I felt better.
Tomorrow is an off day. I will probably do my circuit training routine, which may have contributed to some of the sluggishness I felt today, and then I'm going to watch "My Name Is Earl," "The Office," and "Scrubs."
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Storms
I woke up this morning at 0500 to complete my easy run for the day because of the threat of storms this afternoon. I ran an easy for in 34:16 with mile splits of 8:56, 8:34, 8:19 and 8:27. It was a pretty nice morning with a temp of 69, winds SSW at 8 mph and 56% humidity. I decided to go shirtless and wished I had put one on because the wind was a cool one and prevented me from breaking much of a sweat like I expected it to. I felt nice and loose this morning with no stiffness and very little sluggishness during the first mile.
After my run I stretched out a little, started the coffee pot and read the newspaper while I waited for my coffee to brew. I was mistaked about Jordan McCarty's time and placing at the track meet last night. I said he got 4th in 10:35 and he actually got 5th in 10:39. Either way I am impressed with the time from a freshman. He brings to mind a freshman phenom from my days in high school by the name of Clint Lafary. Clint ran the 3200 in the 10:30 range and the mile in the 4:50s as a frosh but never seemed to improve too much after that. It was unfortunate because most of us thought that he could probably win the state CC title by our senior year. I'm not 100% sure of his PRs but I'm pretty sure he never broke 10:00 for the 3200 even though he ran low 4:30 and 2:01 or 2:02 for the 1600 and 800. He went on to run at Monmouth College and is now coaching at Limestone High School up by Peoria. He scratched from the 1600 at the Peoria Journal Star Honor Roll Meet our senior year enabling me to fill in as an alternate. I made the most of his scratch and earned the 5th place medal as the 12th seed. I ran a 4:41 and helped the single A guys take three of the top five spots in the 1600. Ironically, and impressively, the other three class A runners who medaled at that meet were from my high school conference, the Prairieland, and we finished in the exact order we had in our Conference meet 1600 a week earlier. One of them went on that weekend to place 2nd in the 3200 at the State track meet in 9:31 and the other placed 3rd in the 800 in 1:58. I got 17th in the mile at 4:40.96 and didn't make the final. Oh well, the Honor Roll Meet medals were MUCH bigger than the State medals anyway.
I had intended to do a bit of circuit training tonight after work but haven't mustered up the motivation quite yet. I may head out that way soon because a strong runner is a fast runner. Tomorrow calls for a 4 mile tempo run at 6:56 or 7:00 minute pace. Daniels recommends adjusting the pace of your tempo runs based on the length of time you expect to be out running. For instance: If I am going to be running about 25 minutes I am to add 5 seconds to my tempo pace which is 6:51 + 5 = 6:56. If I am going to be out for 30 minutes add 9 seconds for 7:00. A four mile tempo run will take me anywhere from 27:44 to 28:00. I'm not sure what pace to go for but I think 6:56 will be closer to what I actually run. For all intents and purposes I am actually training at a lower VDOT than I am capable of and I should probably be trying to run the thing at 6:49 to 6:52 pace. Maybe I'll just see how I feel tomorrow.
After my run I stretched out a little, started the coffee pot and read the newspaper while I waited for my coffee to brew. I was mistaked about Jordan McCarty's time and placing at the track meet last night. I said he got 4th in 10:35 and he actually got 5th in 10:39. Either way I am impressed with the time from a freshman. He brings to mind a freshman phenom from my days in high school by the name of Clint Lafary. Clint ran the 3200 in the 10:30 range and the mile in the 4:50s as a frosh but never seemed to improve too much after that. It was unfortunate because most of us thought that he could probably win the state CC title by our senior year. I'm not 100% sure of his PRs but I'm pretty sure he never broke 10:00 for the 3200 even though he ran low 4:30 and 2:01 or 2:02 for the 1600 and 800. He went on to run at Monmouth College and is now coaching at Limestone High School up by Peoria. He scratched from the 1600 at the Peoria Journal Star Honor Roll Meet our senior year enabling me to fill in as an alternate. I made the most of his scratch and earned the 5th place medal as the 12th seed. I ran a 4:41 and helped the single A guys take three of the top five spots in the 1600. Ironically, and impressively, the other three class A runners who medaled at that meet were from my high school conference, the Prairieland, and we finished in the exact order we had in our Conference meet 1600 a week earlier. One of them went on that weekend to place 2nd in the 3200 at the State track meet in 9:31 and the other placed 3rd in the 800 in 1:58. I got 17th in the mile at 4:40.96 and didn't make the final. Oh well, the Honor Roll Meet medals were MUCH bigger than the State medals anyway.
I had intended to do a bit of circuit training tonight after work but haven't mustered up the motivation quite yet. I may head out that way soon because a strong runner is a fast runner. Tomorrow calls for a 4 mile tempo run at 6:56 or 7:00 minute pace. Daniels recommends adjusting the pace of your tempo runs based on the length of time you expect to be out running. For instance: If I am going to be running about 25 minutes I am to add 5 seconds to my tempo pace which is 6:51 + 5 = 6:56. If I am going to be out for 30 minutes add 9 seconds for 7:00. A four mile tempo run will take me anywhere from 27:44 to 28:00. I'm not sure what pace to go for but I think 6:56 will be closer to what I actually run. For all intents and purposes I am actually training at a lower VDOT than I am capable of and I should probably be trying to run the thing at 6:49 to 6:52 pace. Maybe I'll just see how I feel tomorrow.
Monday, May 14, 2007
400s and Capitol Area Classic
It was a little warm and windy when I left work today and I wondered if it was going to be warm enough to run a good practice tonight. I think that soon I am going to have to get up early to get my quality practices instead of doing them after work. When I decided to drive to the middle school track around 1700hrs tonight it was 88 with SSW winds at 19mph gusting to 26. The humidity was only 30% and the dreaded heat index was only 86. I decided to go for it.
I drove to the track, did my customary mile warm-up with a mile of strides in 8:26 and 7:39 (16:06) and stretched for a few minutes. I kept the t-shirt on through my warm-up and into my 400s before I ditched after rep #2. The goal today was to run 6x400 in 1:27 with 400 meter recovery jogs. The HR monitor, despite having a new battery, decided not to work today so I hung the damn thing from my bedroom door and have decided to leave it there from now on. I think it has become a superfluous piece of equipment and I refuse to let it dominate my runs anymore. I was actually not paying attention to it 90% of the time and calling it a "damn thing."
I digress. The goal was 1:27 per repeat and I led off with a picture perfect 1:27.17 followed by a 2:30.81 jog around the track. Throughout the workout I was actually making it around the track in about 2:15 on the recovery laps but was taking a few seconds to get a little water in the mouth and to spritz myself with a spray bottle. Spritzing was a good idea that I think I may incorporate into other workouts. I ran rep #2 in 1:27.50 (2:30.92), #3 in 1:27.90 (3:30.37 to change into my new flats and jog my recovery lap), #4 in 1:26.30 (2:37.20 took to long spritzing), #5 in 1:27.55 (2:30.62) and #6 in 1:26.88 (2:19.76). I took a few minutes after the last 400 jog to stretch, change into my P.F. Flyers and spritz and then I ran a cool down mile. The last lap of my cool down I ran barefoot around the infield and ran my c/d in 8:27.
When I got home I walked across the street to the high school track and watched my friend Jordan Patterson run the 3200 at the Capitol Area Classic. Jordan has been struggling with laps 5 and 6 of his race and his mom thought maybe if I was there he would try harder to improve those lap times. Jordan likes to run from the front and tends to go out too fast. I can't say too much because that would be a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.
Jordan took the race out in 1:11.56 and then settled back and let a few other guys take over from there. He hung in 4th or 5th place until the mile mark and ran splits of 1:15.42 (2:26.98), 1:17.80 (3:44.78), 1:19.58 (MILE: 5:04.36), 1:17.18 (6:21.54), 1:19.08 (7:40.62), 1:18.61 (8:59.23) and 1:09.87 (10:09.10, MILE: 5:04.74). He ran 800 meter splits of 2:26.98, 2:37.38, 2:36.26 and 2:28.48. If you take those middle 800s and add them he ran a "middle" mile of 5:13.64. Not shabby, but if he could drop those lap times a second or two from laps 4, 6, and 7 he's looking at closer to 10:00. In fairness to Jordan, he caught the leader on lap 5 and powered away from him the last three laps and won by about 12 seconds. Another Jordan, this one from Auburn and named McCarty, finished in 4th place with a time of 10:35.11. Not bad for a freshman. Actually, not too bad for anyone.
I drove to the track, did my customary mile warm-up with a mile of strides in 8:26 and 7:39 (16:06) and stretched for a few minutes. I kept the t-shirt on through my warm-up and into my 400s before I ditched after rep #2. The goal today was to run 6x400 in 1:27 with 400 meter recovery jogs. The HR monitor, despite having a new battery, decided not to work today so I hung the damn thing from my bedroom door and have decided to leave it there from now on. I think it has become a superfluous piece of equipment and I refuse to let it dominate my runs anymore. I was actually not paying attention to it 90% of the time and calling it a "damn thing."
I digress. The goal was 1:27 per repeat and I led off with a picture perfect 1:27.17 followed by a 2:30.81 jog around the track. Throughout the workout I was actually making it around the track in about 2:15 on the recovery laps but was taking a few seconds to get a little water in the mouth and to spritz myself with a spray bottle. Spritzing was a good idea that I think I may incorporate into other workouts. I ran rep #2 in 1:27.50 (2:30.92), #3 in 1:27.90 (3:30.37 to change into my new flats and jog my recovery lap), #4 in 1:26.30 (2:37.20 took to long spritzing), #5 in 1:27.55 (2:30.62) and #6 in 1:26.88 (2:19.76). I took a few minutes after the last 400 jog to stretch, change into my P.F. Flyers and spritz and then I ran a cool down mile. The last lap of my cool down I ran barefoot around the infield and ran my c/d in 8:27.
When I got home I walked across the street to the high school track and watched my friend Jordan Patterson run the 3200 at the Capitol Area Classic. Jordan has been struggling with laps 5 and 6 of his race and his mom thought maybe if I was there he would try harder to improve those lap times. Jordan likes to run from the front and tends to go out too fast. I can't say too much because that would be a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.
Jordan took the race out in 1:11.56 and then settled back and let a few other guys take over from there. He hung in 4th or 5th place until the mile mark and ran splits of 1:15.42 (2:26.98), 1:17.80 (3:44.78), 1:19.58 (MILE: 5:04.36), 1:17.18 (6:21.54), 1:19.08 (7:40.62), 1:18.61 (8:59.23) and 1:09.87 (10:09.10, MILE: 5:04.74). He ran 800 meter splits of 2:26.98, 2:37.38, 2:36.26 and 2:28.48. If you take those middle 800s and add them he ran a "middle" mile of 5:13.64. Not shabby, but if he could drop those lap times a second or two from laps 4, 6, and 7 he's looking at closer to 10:00. In fairness to Jordan, he caught the leader on lap 5 and powered away from him the last three laps and won by about 12 seconds. Another Jordan, this one from Auburn and named McCarty, finished in 4th place with a time of 10:35.11. Not bad for a freshman. Actually, not too bad for anyone.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Recap and Preview
Since today was Mother's Day I got up at 0530 with my son and took care of him so my wife and mother-in-law could sleep. He got pretty fussy around 0630 and my mother-in-law woke up and took him from me. She took him to the spare room with a bottle and put him back to sleep. I put coffee on and when she came back out we drank coffee and read the paper. Everyone was wide awake an hour later when Nathan let out a blood-curdling scream. I think he woke up in a room he usually doesn't wake up in and was a little disoriented.
After getting ready and making themselves prettier my wife and M.I.L. left Nathan and me asleep on the bed and went out to buy flowers. Four hours and a walk around the sub-division later they came home. I left Nathan with them and went to Shop-Ko to buy my wife a rose tree that she wanted for her anniversary present. Nevermind that I'm about 11 days early, I wanted to make sure I got her what she wanted. I got pictures of me and the boy with a nice frame for her Mother's Day present. I'm hoping that she gets me an iPod Shuffle for me for our anniversary, Father's Day or my birthday because I've been dropping hints for a few days. I want an orange one. Since all three of those days are within four weeks of each other I would be happy just getting the Shuffle as my combo present for all three. Although a "World's Greatest Dad" baseball hat would be cool too.
I covered 29 miles this week and have a total for the year of 493.25 miles. Which is 109.25 miles further than last year at this time. Week 19 of last year I covered 33 miles with 4 mile tempo run (8 miles total) at 85% in 31:12 with splits of 7:47, 7:42, 7:54, and 7:48. Keep in mind I was coming off an injury last year and hadn't revved my engine for awhile. The damn HR monitor was a ball-and-chain too. I also did 5x800 in 3:17.92, 3:17.54, 3:15.84, 3:15.55, and 3:08.83 for an average of 3:14.95. I also had a 10 mile long run in 1:26:25 where I ran the first five in 43:55 and the last five in 42:30. It was frigid last year at this time compared to the present with the hottest day I ran being 60 as opposed to 82. Looking ahead in last years log, when it finally did heat up my training crashed for a week or two as I adjusted to the heat. It was pretty ugly.
This week's outlook calls for 6x400 at 1:27 tomorrow, an easy 4 miles on Tuesday, a 4 mile tempo at 6:51-7:00 pace on Wednesday, a goose egg on Thursday, an easy four on Friday and a nice 10 mile jaunt on the Interurban Trail on Saturday. If all goes well this week I will cover 30 miles and have gotten in some good quality work. I have 20 days until the Passavant/Powerade 10k in Jacksonville and I would like to run MUCH faster than my showing at Abe's Amble. I'm not going to make any predictions but I'm hoping for a considerable time drop.
After getting ready and making themselves prettier my wife and M.I.L. left Nathan and me asleep on the bed and went out to buy flowers. Four hours and a walk around the sub-division later they came home. I left Nathan with them and went to Shop-Ko to buy my wife a rose tree that she wanted for her anniversary present. Nevermind that I'm about 11 days early, I wanted to make sure I got her what she wanted. I got pictures of me and the boy with a nice frame for her Mother's Day present. I'm hoping that she gets me an iPod Shuffle for me for our anniversary, Father's Day or my birthday because I've been dropping hints for a few days. I want an orange one. Since all three of those days are within four weeks of each other I would be happy just getting the Shuffle as my combo present for all three. Although a "World's Greatest Dad" baseball hat would be cool too.
I covered 29 miles this week and have a total for the year of 493.25 miles. Which is 109.25 miles further than last year at this time. Week 19 of last year I covered 33 miles with 4 mile tempo run (8 miles total) at 85% in 31:12 with splits of 7:47, 7:42, 7:54, and 7:48. Keep in mind I was coming off an injury last year and hadn't revved my engine for awhile. The damn HR monitor was a ball-and-chain too. I also did 5x800 in 3:17.92, 3:17.54, 3:15.84, 3:15.55, and 3:08.83 for an average of 3:14.95. I also had a 10 mile long run in 1:26:25 where I ran the first five in 43:55 and the last five in 42:30. It was frigid last year at this time compared to the present with the hottest day I ran being 60 as opposed to 82. Looking ahead in last years log, when it finally did heat up my training crashed for a week or two as I adjusted to the heat. It was pretty ugly.
This week's outlook calls for 6x400 at 1:27 tomorrow, an easy 4 miles on Tuesday, a 4 mile tempo at 6:51-7:00 pace on Wednesday, a goose egg on Thursday, an easy four on Friday and a nice 10 mile jaunt on the Interurban Trail on Saturday. If all goes well this week I will cover 30 miles and have gotten in some good quality work. I have 20 days until the Passavant/Powerade 10k in Jacksonville and I would like to run MUCH faster than my showing at Abe's Amble. I'm not going to make any predictions but I'm hoping for a considerable time drop.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Going Long
I got up this morning at 0600 for a nine mile run. It was a pleasant 56 degrees and I had to wear a shirt for the first time in over a week. I did an out-and-back on the Interurban trail and a three mile loop through town and had a very nice time zoning out.
I ran splits of 8:43, 17:15, 16:57, 8:06, 8:23, 8:23 and 8:17 for a total time of 1:16:04. I was pretty stiff my first two miles, like I usually am when I run in the morning but I loosened up soon after and felt great the rest of the way. I actually had to hold myself back the last three miles because I felt so good.
I drove to Elmwood today and hung out with my sister and my mom. My sister turns 24 today and tomorrow is Mother's Day. My sister made me scrambled eggs and some of the coffee I got her and she put Bailey's Irish Creme in it even though it was only 1130 in the morning. I shrugged and figured that it was 5 o'clock somewhere and drank up. I left about 1400 because my mom and sis had to drive to Macomb for my sister's boyfriend's graduation from WIU.
I drove to Peoria and hung with my dad and step-mom for awhile. They drove me to Running Central and I bought a pair of Adidas racing flats. The employees running the shop today weren't very helpful and I just tried on flats until I got a pair that felt good on my feet. I remember Running Central being a more helpful place when I was in high school. How the times have changed. There is a 95% chance I won't go back, I'll buy my flats online next time.
After my great shopping experience we drove to Joe's Crab Shack and ate shrimp. After that I drove home and hung out with my wife, my son and my mother-in-law. They are in the other room playing with his basketball game. I think I'm going to join them!
I ran splits of 8:43, 17:15, 16:57, 8:06, 8:23, 8:23 and 8:17 for a total time of 1:16:04. I was pretty stiff my first two miles, like I usually am when I run in the morning but I loosened up soon after and felt great the rest of the way. I actually had to hold myself back the last three miles because I felt so good.
I drove to Elmwood today and hung out with my sister and my mom. My sister turns 24 today and tomorrow is Mother's Day. My sister made me scrambled eggs and some of the coffee I got her and she put Bailey's Irish Creme in it even though it was only 1130 in the morning. I shrugged and figured that it was 5 o'clock somewhere and drank up. I left about 1400 because my mom and sis had to drive to Macomb for my sister's boyfriend's graduation from WIU.
I drove to Peoria and hung with my dad and step-mom for awhile. They drove me to Running Central and I bought a pair of Adidas racing flats. The employees running the shop today weren't very helpful and I just tried on flats until I got a pair that felt good on my feet. I remember Running Central being a more helpful place when I was in high school. How the times have changed. There is a 95% chance I won't go back, I'll buy my flats online next time.
After my great shopping experience we drove to Joe's Crab Shack and ate shrimp. After that I drove home and hung out with my wife, my son and my mother-in-law. They are in the other room playing with his basketball game. I think I'm going to join them!
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