Running Aimlessly Around the Countryside

This week had the last scheduled long runs before the Geist Half. I got back into my regular routine, with 7 on Monday, 7 on Wednesday, 5 on Thursday, and xx on Saturday. Monday was just a good pace run at a 7:45 pace. The weather was nice, but still very windy. Wednesday finally brought a break in the wind. I did a tempo session with 1 mile warm-up/1 mile cool down and 5 miles at 7 min pace. The funny thing is that the pace was only 15 sec average less than the 5k last weekend, but I was comfortably tired, not hurting like in the race. What that tells me is I probably took the race out too fast. Thursday's recovery run was AWESOME! Ever since my first real run in the rain in June of 1984, I have loved running in the rain. There is something cleansing about being one with the weather and not caring. Not caring about how wet you are, not caring if you step in a puddle, just not caring. I think I have written this before, but to me it really is just like being a little kid in my ye...

Track season for Anna is now in full swim. After the team got nipped in the first meet, the coach decided he need Anna to run the 2400, where they got 0 pts. To make matters worse, no one has scored for the team in the 2400 for 3 yrs! In order to run the 2400, Anna had to drop the 1600. That didn't make her very happy, which is ironic since she wanted to run the 2400 last year and didn't get to because of how the meet schedule developed. The first meet for the 2400 was this week. Anna was nervous, partly from the pressure to score and also from not having run the event before. Luckily the meet was against a team with runners she knows and gained some confidence running against them earlier in the meet. The wind was really strong (still!) so she planned to just go out and sit behind them and for the first 2100 and make a move then if she could. She followed the instructions and stayed on the rail right behind the leaders. The lead group past through the mile in 6:23, Anna stil...

The ZMS Z-Run 5k has been the most consistent race on the family schedule. This will make our third consecutive year, although Anna missed last year for a swim camp. The weather forecast was mixed with temps at 9 am in the 60s, but with a strong southerly wind (in our faces for the last half of the course). And they were right. It was a race time decision as to how I would run; for me or as a rabbit for Will. If I was going to run for myself, my goal was to go sub-20. I checked as we left for the race and he knew what he wanted to do so he told me to go on my own. I positioned myself near the front and started at a nice pace. For some reason I had been pretty nervous, and for the first mile my legs felt rubbery. Definitely wasn't sure I would be able maintain the pace. I passed the first mile in 6:30. We then turned into a southwesterly breeze and a few of us lined up to take advantage of what little draft we could. I skipped the one water stop on the course but was starting to l...

The Boston Marathon was this week. No, I didn't do Boston. I watched the coverage of the race and all of the post-race coverage. It was really exciting to see a Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher running up front and challenging for the race. I think that I wish I could do Boston. Don't know if I'm caught up in the buzz from reading "Duel in the Sun" and of the race, or if my personal goal juices are starting to flow again.  I'm not sure if I would want to do it because of the history and status of the race or for the badge of honor. Regardless, my plans don't include trying to BQ this year. I need to get my time down closer to the standard before I can even think about trying to BQ, and since I'm only planning 1 marathon this year, that pretty much puts me out of next year. Depending on where my times go, my honest target may be 2012 (with the benefit of a 10 minute increase in the qualifying standard). Regardless of all that, there is nothing better than...

The toe remained pretty sore and ugly through Tuesday and Wednesday, but started to feel better on Wednesday night. Thursday I was able to enjoy a wonderful 6 mile lunch time run in the sun, and the toe didn't bother me at all! But into the evening my left knee started to hurt more than it did in the morning. I'm guessing that it is a combination of sleeping with the foot elevated and no support for my knee and changing my walking gate for a few days to compensate for the toe. On Saturday, the knee felt okay, and the weather was so gorgeous that I couldn't resist heading out. It was a bit warm. I'm just not used to mid-60's yet. I was pretty tired from 8-11, but found a groove to finish the final 1.5. And although I was just trying to run comfortable. Based on the pace, I was probably pushing a bit harder than I should have. Jil's group continued on their plan. Each member of the group misses a day here and there, but they are sticking to their plan and not ...

The Good....This week I started something new; lunch time runs. I felt I needed to do this because of evening schedules and feeling guilty leaving everyone at home while I did my thing. Monday was my first outing as was great. A little cool and rainy, but what do you expect, it is April. My legs felt great while I was out, but had to rush back to the office for a meeting. My legs were tight during the afternoon, but as the evening came, they really felt good. Obviously one day isn't enough to tell, but these lunch time runs may help me in my recovery (as well as save me a few bucks by forcing me to brown bag 3 days a week). The Bad...Tuesday morning brought the bad. While getting ready for work, I was walking around the bedroom and kicked the corner of a door frame with the little toe on my left foot. I figured it to be one of those things. You bump the toe and within a while just walk it off. With that in mind, I wore my normal shoes and headed of for work. When the pain didn...

With the Boston Marathon approaching on April 20th, I thought it was high time to read a running themed book again. After reviewing some archived episodes of the Phedippedations Podcast I found one about the 1982 men's race, that has been dubbed the "Duel in the Sun". Being new to distance running in 1982, I remember seeing the news highlights of Alberto Salazar collapsing after the finish, but not much else about the race. The podcast did a nice job of presenting the race using narrative and archived TV audio, but since the 'book is always better', I sought out a copy at my local library to get a more complete background. I almost always have a book going, mostly to read at lunch time, but a lot of times at home the book gets moved from room to room without being opened. Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America's Greatest Marathon by John Brant was not one of those books. I had it open every chance I got. The backdrop to the book is ...

Sunday this week, started out just like 'Windsday' from Winnie the Pooh, with wind and rain. But unlike in Pooh, the rain left, but the wind stayed. Sooner or later the winter layers will be put away, but it obviously isn't sooner. Despite the weather, Monday brought the joy of solo running. I tried to settle into a nice comfortable pace, but once I caught the 22 mph tailwind, I totally lost control. I probably paid for it a little in my calves on Tuesday, but not too badly. On Wednesday, I went ahead and ran a fartlek session. I felt tired afterward, but didn't get very sore. Fingers crossed for turning the corner on some speed training. A short 3 miler on Thursday helped to loosen my legs up. On Saturday, my goal was to tackle the Hunt Club Rd hills that cramped me up a few weeks ago. I took the run at a easy pace and got through the hills injury free and finished the 14 miles strong in 1:55. My left knee ended up tired and sore, and my legs were a little stale on Sun...

Spring break came this year and turned everyone's schedules topsy turvy. Jil's running group was out of town for the whole week and we went to St Louis for 2 days. In practicing what I have been preaching, I convinced Jil that life happened and we weren't going to make up the runs scheduled for when we were out of town. Then she asked if I wanted to run with her for the week. That worked out fine for me since I'm on a rest week. In the end it worked out even better, because I just came across a case of the doldrums and if it hadn't been for needing keep my running date, I would have been parked on the 'couch of doom'. Originally we were scheduled to go out together on Friday, but because of the weather and an opportunity for Jil to run some of the less populated roads that have too much traffic during the week, we switched the plan to Saturday morning. I toyed with going Friday as well, but the wind and a long week at work kept me from getting out. We did go...