Wednesday, September 30, 2009

What a Day

Last run in the ATX this AM before Portland -- I met Kamran and we came up with an ingenious 8.1 mile loop route. The run went well; I believe we ran about a 745 avgpace, but that doesn't really matter. Does it? I can report that traffic was pretty light today on teh Gilbert Mile. Also, it was still completely dark when we finished, which still seems kinda crazy.

I had planned to write some additional stuff about my thoughts/plans for the race, but life outside of running unexpectedly got in the way. Maybe tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Last uptempo day before the race: 9 miles w/ 5 of them at steady state pace -- 6:32 avg. The temp was in low 60s, so the conditions were much better than yesterday. Likewise, I felt like a different runner today (I.E., much improved). I was beginning to wonder, what with the last few runs feeling so average. Only one more training run to go in Austin...

Monday, September 28, 2009

Easy (not so easy) 5 from the pad. Ran s. through St. Eds campus to Oltorf, westbound to S. 1st, then headed south for the sweet 1.25 uphill climb to Ben White (which sucked), and then down the feeder back to SoCo. 4 miles. Concluded w/ a half mile out and back to end up w/ five. Terrible free run route. thankfully it was short.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Week 20

60 miles for the week. I have not felt especially sharp the last two days, but as I recall the last two marathon races I've run: I have thought to myself (the weekend before), "I sure am glad I didn't have to race this weekend." Each of those races went very well the following week, and I have no reason to believe this one won't be the same way. Seems I'm right where I need to be. Time to get the mind right. There is work to be done next Sunday.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Easy 16 today at at avg pace of 744. I did not feel that great at the beginning and end, when we ran slower. I did feel good in the middle and during the latter half of the run when we picked up the pace. Mission accomplished on this run because I was not tired or worn out afterward. The taper is going well. I am just' a itching to race.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

In & Out Mile Repeats

This was basically the same workout we did on August 25th. The only difference was this time we alternated the pace (every 400 m) -- 400m at 10k, 400m at hmgp, 400m at 10k, 400m at hmgp. My how things have changed. I remember this workout was a little tough just a month ago. Today, it was a piece of cake. 10k felt relaxed, and i had to focus on not going too fast. HMGP felt like recovery laps, especially the last 3 repeats. I'm pretty sure this is a good thing.

Officially a little nervous and very excited, I can't wait to run this race!


Mile -- Quarter Splits
613 -- 130, 136, 131, 135

605 -- 129, 134, 128, 133

605 -- 127, 132, 129, 135

604 -- 127, 134, 128, 133

603 -- 126, 134, 127, 134

601 -- 126, 133, 127, 133

9 miles total for the day

Wednesday, September 23, 2009


YTD Mileage

April was Boston marathon recovery and July was the injury month. Decent output otherwise.
Easy 10 from the Springs w/ Mike, Bruce, and Dan. The weather was outstanding today; I wore a shirt for the first time since...who knows when. The shirt was the latest/greatest Team Rogue racing shirt. I felt it was pretty comfortable, but will need lots of body glide on teh chest. If the temperature on race day is above 55, though, I may end up painting Team Rogue on my chest...or getting Dustin to design me a special trash bag.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

2x2 at HMGP

A northern front hit Austin around 2am and brought w/ it some pretty heavy rain this morning. I woke up at 4:30am, and it was still coming down pretty good. After looking outside several times and mulling it over, I decided I wasn't going to run on the track in those conditions. Running easy might not have been too bad on the roads, but running 10k pace and hmgp was going to be a chore on the track. Especially when lanes 1-3 are flooded as they have been in the past with these conditions. So, I texted Coach, let him know I would run later, and then got a couple more hours of sleep.

When I awoke the second time, I found out that the workout was canceled. Sweet, now I didn't feel like I missed anything. Moreover, i noticed that we would do today's track workout on Thursday instead, so I decided to swap the workouts, and do what we would have done on Thursday: 2x 2 miles at hmgp.

Three mile warmup from RE (Waller, I35 bridge, Riverside, trail to I35). Set #1: 6:11, 6:12. Oopsie. That was not hmgp. Rested for 1:30 and took off w/ the intention of being 6:20-6:30 on the second set. Saw I was at 6:40 at .25 and decided to run off effort the rest of the way: 6:15, 6:08. Oh well, close enough. One mile cool down back to RE.

Right hammie was little tight on/off during the sets. Felt that old pull from the glut. No pain, just what I call a "reminder" that I need to stretch those suckers a little more diligently.

Eight miles total for the day.

Monday, September 21, 2009

The Taper Begins

Easy 6 today. 6.2 to be precise; 47 minutes. I felt horrible the first mile, so I stopped to stretch some. After that, I was good after another mile passed. I ended the run feeling pretty good. All my past aches and pains seem to be in check.

Regarding the taper, i am planning to knock off about 10 miles this week. Am thinking: 6, 10, 10, 8, 16, and 10. Ha, that worked out to an even 60 w/out even playing w/ the numbers. I love it when a plan comes together so naturally.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Week 19 in the Books

This morning Muz, Jason, Kamran, and I met at WF as we have over the last several weeks. We logged 10 easy ones on the trail. My legs were were pretty whacked at the beginning. After about 4 miles, they gradually started to feel better. Not sure how/why, but someone (not me) put us at about a 730 pace w/ 3 miles to go. Surprisingly, I started to feel good at that point. So I cruised it in right about there the rest of the way. In the end, this turned out to be a good recovery run. I don't believe I'll have any problem recovering from yesterday, especially since I was able to get back in the the groove so easily today.

For the week, I ended just a hair past 70 miles. This week actually did not seem to be that tough. Though, I'm glad it is behind us. What else can I say? Things still seem to be coming together.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Well, today was the last race prep for the Portland training season. It seems like just the other day we were meeting for the first Tuesday workout. Time flies! But I digress...

Today, we were to do 20 miles at MGP + 20 seconds. This seemed like it would be pretty easy on paper; thus, I planed to be a little more aggressive. This morning,however,Coach strongly warned us not to run too fast and blow the race with today's workout. That sorta struck home, and I immediately decided to back off on my plan to pick up the pace the last 10 miles. Haha.

I broke the splits into 5 miles clumps, so without further ado:

Time for 5
  1. 34:40
  2. 34:27
  3. 34:20
  4. 34:23

Garmin Dist
  1. 4.96
  2. 4.94
  3. 4.93
  4. 4.95

Avg Garmin Pace
  1. 7:00
  2. 6:58
  3. 6:58
  4. 6:57

Mile Split Range
  1. 658-702
  2. 654-702
  3. 654-703
  4. 645-704

There you have it. Pretty solid in my opinion. FYI, there was only 1 mile that was faster than 654 (the last one); the smell of the barn was just too strong. Overall, I don't feel that I ever had to press on this run. Now, that is not to say that the three 2-3 mile uphill stretches didn't require me to work a little more. But once we came off those stretches, it was back to feeling pretty comfortable.

For the day, 23.10 miles. Big thanks to Muz for running w/ me and for doing his best to keep me honest throughout. :-) Two weeks until the big day!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Diagonal 200s (x 12) again today. Very short workout, I covered approximately 7.5 miles today w/ a short warm-up. The 200s were to be done no faster than 5k pace; mine were in the 42-45 sec range (most being 43).

Random stuff:

Mileage wise, I'm at 37 for the week, so I should end the week w/ 71. Decent.

Regarding the race prep on Saturday, this morning Steve told us the 20 miles at mgp (+ 15 seconds) should actually be +20 seconds. Hmm. I'm tentatively going to do 6:55-7:00 on the first 10 and 6:50-6:55 for the last 10. At least that's what i'm thinking now.

Could fall be here? I just looked at a 10 day forecast and 70 degrees is the highest "low temp" for that time period. After what we've experienced the last few months, I'll take 70 or less any day of the week. Yessir!

Team Rogue workout attendance has noticeably decreased recently. WTF?

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

100% Better

The above title was not my thought, but the words of the unofficial Team Rogue masseuse after my session today. This was the most enjoyable massage I have gotten in months. The last several have been quite painful at times. Anywho, this is just another sign that I'm peaking right when I should (double knock on wood). Saturday can't get here soon enough.

On the running front, another easy 10 w/ the guys and a gal. Enjoyable run and the temp felt like it had to be sub 70 degrees. The pace was 7:38 according to Garmin.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Tempo run today on our 2 mile loop in the heart of the '02. We did a 4 mile warm up and cooled 'er down for two afterward. My average pace for the four mile tempo portion was 6:07. I guess I'm getting over the illness. Ha!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Results Are In

I made an appointment w/ the doc around 8:30 this morning, because I still felt like dog shit when I woke up. Being the hard headed person that I am, nothing was going to stop me from getting in a decent run in today. The icing was applied to the cake when I consulted the Internets and saw the temp was 70 degrees. Can't pass that up, so I promptly threw on some clothes and moseyed on down to Rogue. Opted for the 9 mile Rogue/TLBL trail route, the run turned out to be a really good one. After about 3.5 miles, my head cleared and the ole legs woke up also. I had to make a point to keep it easy after 4 miles -- guess I got too much rest over the weekend.

Once I was home and cleaned up, I noticed the sore throat had lessened some. I'll be damned. "Maybe things will be okay after all."

Stuck w/ the dr's appointment and ended up w/ some antibiotics just in case. Also, the doc made a point to let me know he didn't think i was H1N1 positive. Interesting. Anyways, it's 5:05pm on Monday and I'm pretty sure i'll be ready to roll tomorrow morning. The lesson for the day: the sky is not falling.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Ruh Roh (Week 18 Wrap)

I spent most of Saturday afternoon laying around feeling like shit: most painful sore throat evAr, fever, and stuffy nose. Sunday morning I wasn't much better (even after sleeping 12 hours). Damn. So what did I do around noon? I went for a run of course. Nothing serious, just an easy 5 miles. I know this isn't the best thing to do (medically speaking), but it has helped in the past. This time, the run didn't help too much. I felt crummy the rest of the day. ;-(

For the week, 54 miles. I would have had 5 more if not for being sick, but oh well. I don't think those 5 are going to make or break me. Now, I just need to get over this bug ASAP. Off to the dr tomorrow.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

16 Wet Ones

Easy 16 as per usual when we do a down week -- I damn skipped this one due to the rain. If it would have been cold and raining, I would have skipped it. Reason being, i woke up with a hellafied sore throat and felt on the verge of becoming a sickling. Anyway, after mulling it over, I decided to lace em up. Not much to report on the run, about 7:43 pace -- pretty even except for the last mile, though, it still wasn't any faster than 7 min. Only two Saturday LRs left; we are getting close.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Easy 5 mile shake out. Not much else to report. Wait, I slept 10 hours last night, which was great. I'm going to try to do the same thing tonight.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Easy 10 w/ Mike, Kamran, and Bruce. It has warmed up on us again; Mike said it was 78 this AM. Yuck! Other than that, it was a good run. Though, my legs are ready for the two planned days of little to no running. We shall see if I can force myself to actually take two consecutive days off.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

400s

Today was 400s at 10K pace. We were to do 16 of them; each rep was followed by a 200 meter recovery. I forgot my watch, so I followed somewhat closely behind some guys w/ watches. I'd estimate that my reps were consistently between 1:27 and 1:29. Good enough for me. About 10 miles total for the day.

Monday, September 7, 2009

8.5 miles w/ Kamran and Muz from R.E. We decided to run at 10am so we could sleep in and so the guys could catch the triathlon. It was pretty warm, but not too unbearable. This was a nice easy run.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Week 17 Wrap-up

Easy 10 from Whole Foods w/ Kamran and Muz. The legs felt a little dead the first 3 miles, but were good from there out. Breakfast from WF was excellent: banana, low calorie gatorade substitute, bfast taco burito (egg, sausage, potato, and cheese), and last but not least, a promise land chocolate milk. Delicious!

For the week, I logged 74 miles. This week went very well. And that's all I have to say about that.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Twenty four miles via the ole skool South Austin Ramble route. 7:34 avg. We were pretty slow the first half and a little quicker the last 10. Another good run; I felt strong throughout.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Rollers (part 2)

1.7 mile warmup
5 miles of 2 min on/off in the hills
1 mile recovery
3.6 at steady pace
1.7 mile cool down
13 miles total (er..12.75 according to Larry's garmin)

I went into today unsure how I would do with the recent increase in mileage and intensity over the last several days. I definitely was not fresh, but my legs responded very well. The third time I ran an "on" portion of the fartlek things began to click. We apparently ran a little faster during the fartlek because we made it to the finish in one less rep than before (one less 'off'). The steady portion went well too. My average pace for 3.6 miles was 6:31.

Don't really know exactly why, but I know I'm rapidly getting into racing form. The increased intensity seems to have really brought my legs back to life. And really, it didn't take much to wake them up. Still, I'm going to keep on w/ what I've been doing because the sharpening process is not complete.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Easy 10 w/ Kamran via the Kamran Special. The weather was cool (heard it was 76 via morning radio) and my legs warmed up nicely after a couple of miles. Tomorrow will be a good one, Steve's new r-r-r-rollers. Should have more to report then.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

On the docket today, seven steady state miles, on the trail, were sandwiched between two easy miles. The marching orders were go as you feel, and I was feeling decent, so I ran the run like I would any other steady stater. Only thing, though, it was too dark to look at the Garmin most of the way. So, I just decided to run w/ Larry as long as I could. I was able to hang for the most part, usually ending up about 20-30 yards behind him at each water stop. The run went very well, and I got stronger as it went on. 6:24 avg for the steady portion