...I woke up this morning and I felt exhausted. I really had nothing in me, but I went out for a run and knew that this would be a run where I just ran through it. I kept the pace slow and while the mileage was in the double digits, it wasn't that bad. I was able to pick up my pace as the run went on, and I was able to keep my stride in the same shape throughout the run.
Throughout the day I studied for a Praxis test and took a nap.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Friday, May 31, 2013
May 31st
...it's the end of May and it's the end of the work week. I have one more month of school left, leaving with twelve school days remaining.
I ended up doubling the runs today. I woke up at 5 to get a run in. My legs were tired from the workout from yesterday, but I was able to get the pace lowered throughout the run. I averaged 7:15 for eight miles.
Then during the day I went on a field trip to the Air and Space Museum. I had remarked that I haven't been in the museum in nearly 17 years. With the time of year that we are in now, it's overly crowded, and it was packed. Maybe it's because of my liberal arts degree, but I enjoyed the aspects of the museum of natural history more than this museum. The sciency sorts of things just aren't that interesting.
We did end up taking the metro to the museum, which meant that we were walking to and from the metro stations. That probably added my walking mileage to somewhere around three to four miles. Needless to say when I got home I was exhausted. I was tempted to take a nap when I got home, but I knew if I did that then I would be tired after waking up and not really be motivated to make something for dinner. I would call out for pizza. I ended up going for a run in the somewhat ninety degree weather. It wasn't that bad. I averaged 7:07 pace for four miles, and finished it off with four strides.
My mileage for May was the highest this year with 327.35. I'm still working things out and hope to improve over the summer.
I ended up doubling the runs today. I woke up at 5 to get a run in. My legs were tired from the workout from yesterday, but I was able to get the pace lowered throughout the run. I averaged 7:15 for eight miles.
Then during the day I went on a field trip to the Air and Space Museum. I had remarked that I haven't been in the museum in nearly 17 years. With the time of year that we are in now, it's overly crowded, and it was packed. Maybe it's because of my liberal arts degree, but I enjoyed the aspects of the museum of natural history more than this museum. The sciency sorts of things just aren't that interesting.
We did end up taking the metro to the museum, which meant that we were walking to and from the metro stations. That probably added my walking mileage to somewhere around three to four miles. Needless to say when I got home I was exhausted. I was tempted to take a nap when I got home, but I knew if I did that then I would be tired after waking up and not really be motivated to make something for dinner. I would call out for pizza. I ended up going for a run in the somewhat ninety degree weather. It wasn't that bad. I averaged 7:07 pace for four miles, and finished it off with four strides.
My mileage for May was the highest this year with 327.35. I'm still working things out and hope to improve over the summer.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
May 30th
...running at five o'clock today, and it was an ozone alert orange day. Not particularly inspiring to do a workout in. There was already one factor against me. When I started my repeats there would be two more factors when I did the odd number repeats. The first quarter was on a gradual uphill and into the wind. With those three factoring in, I knew that the times I wanted to hit wouldn't really happen.
I was a bit disappointed not to run faster, but with the temperatures in the low nineties and the humidity present, but not on any level that I found awful. I ended up taking ninety seconds of rest in between each set. I ran six 800s and then did 2.75 of a cool down. I ran to a water fountain that extended the cool down. Then I did four strides in the alley.
My splits:
2:36- I was checking my splits after I got to the crest of the hill and it was about 5:23 pace at that point
2:33
2:37
2:34
2:41- this was the one where my goose was cooked. My legs were fried. Of course when I started the interval, there was a persistent wind howling in my face for the majority of the interval. I hung tough. I was about 5:33 at the quarter.
2:38
Overall not that bad considering the temperatures and my second workout in two weeks.
Tomorrow I get to go to the Air and Space Museum for a field trip. Fun time!
I was a bit disappointed not to run faster, but with the temperatures in the low nineties and the humidity present, but not on any level that I found awful. I ended up taking ninety seconds of rest in between each set. I ran six 800s and then did 2.75 of a cool down. I ran to a water fountain that extended the cool down. Then I did four strides in the alley.
My splits:
2:36- I was checking my splits after I got to the crest of the hill and it was about 5:23 pace at that point
2:33
2:37
2:34
2:41- this was the one where my goose was cooked. My legs were fried. Of course when I started the interval, there was a persistent wind howling in my face for the majority of the interval. I hung tough. I was about 5:33 at the quarter.
2:38
Overall not that bad considering the temperatures and my second workout in two weeks.
Tomorrow I get to go to the Air and Space Museum for a field trip. Fun time!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
May 29th
...I went running close to six o'clock today. I had a meeting at work at five and didn't get home to about a quarter to six. I went out and ran, the weather wasn't oppressive, but it is starting to get warm. The humidity wasn't that bad (or maybe I'm just use to it being omnipresent). There wasn't much of a breeze to talk about, but I was pretty exhausted after the run. I was more dehydrated than anything. It was one of those feelings where I could taste the salt coming off my skin.
I ended up with the pace for ten miles under seven minutes. I'm not sure of the exact time, since the garmin was acting screwy on the way back. I ended up doing four strides in the alley after the run. I'm planning on doing 800s tomorrow, when the weather should be hotter. I'm hoping for low 2:30s and some 2:20s when I'm doing them. I'm not sure of the rest. I'm enjoying running once a day in the afternoon. I think my body is getting use to it. My legs no longer feel like jelly at the beginning of the run.
I ended up with the pace for ten miles under seven minutes. I'm not sure of the exact time, since the garmin was acting screwy on the way back. I ended up doing four strides in the alley after the run. I'm planning on doing 800s tomorrow, when the weather should be hotter. I'm hoping for low 2:30s and some 2:20s when I'm doing them. I'm not sure of the rest. I'm enjoying running once a day in the afternoon. I think my body is getting use to it. My legs no longer feel like jelly at the beginning of the run.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
May 28th
...I woke up this morning and the pain that I had been suffering on the top of my left foot had persisted, so I opted to run after I got home from work in the late afternoon/early evening. I also was hoping that I could start to get better accumulated to the heat. I've been running with my shirt on whenever it's been hot, but the last couple days the weather has actually dipped down into the forties and low fifties. Today it wasn't unbearable to go out and run. The temperatures were probably in the eighties, but there was hardly any humidity. Which coming from Charlotte, I'm glad that May is a month that is not considered summer. I know that in about a month I'm not going to be able to run with the weather not being so oppressive.
I wanted to actually run in the later afternoon, instead of doing my runs in the morning. I was planning on doing it next week, but with the pain in my foot coming up, I'll do it right now. It's not so bad. My goal for this week is to get close to eighty miles.
During the day, my left foot was giving me a slight pain and I was debating whether or not to actually run. I decided to run a quarter after five and there really wasn't any pain at all. I ended up running at seven minutes and five second pace for eight miles. I ended with four strides in the alley. I'm glad that I finished my run, because I could see ominous clouds overhead. They had been there for most of the run, but held off right till I got done with the last stride.
At school today, my co-teacher was out for the day, and honestly it's a testimony to my students, but there really wasn't a slip at all from them. It's really about the system and routine that has been put in place. I have fifteen days left my friends and it's going to be sad to see most of them leave. Actually after I get done writing this post, I'm going to write the last day of school's lesson plan.
I wanted to actually run in the later afternoon, instead of doing my runs in the morning. I was planning on doing it next week, but with the pain in my foot coming up, I'll do it right now. It's not so bad. My goal for this week is to get close to eighty miles.
During the day, my left foot was giving me a slight pain and I was debating whether or not to actually run. I decided to run a quarter after five and there really wasn't any pain at all. I ended up running at seven minutes and five second pace for eight miles. I ended with four strides in the alley. I'm glad that I finished my run, because I could see ominous clouds overhead. They had been there for most of the run, but held off right till I got done with the last stride.
At school today, my co-teacher was out for the day, and honestly it's a testimony to my students, but there really wasn't a slip at all from them. It's really about the system and routine that has been put in place. I have fifteen days left my friends and it's going to be sad to see most of them leave. Actually after I get done writing this post, I'm going to write the last day of school's lesson plan.
Monday, May 27, 2013
One year ago
A year ago I ran the Vermont City Marathon. I also wrote about here on the blog. Neither of them were very good. I was off 10 minutes on my goal time. And I wrote most of the blog post dying from eating some tainted beef from Chiptole. Looking back on my training log it should have been pretty obvious that I wasn't going to be running the time that I expected to.
Anyway it's time to start back this blog again. I may not have the readers as I did on the first version of Dinner's for Suckers.
After a week of easy running and taking my mileage down, it was time to get the mileage back up. I wanted to do a three mile tempo, to give myself a baseline of where I was. This was going to give me an idea of where my fitness was. One goal that I had in mind was to not dip into the well. Whatever my time was, that was what it was going to be. So if it was six minute pace, then it was six minute pace.
The weather was really nice and it was great to be out there when it was somewhat cool outside. I hit my miles in 5:35, 5:40, and 5:28. The second mile, running it in Rock Creek, is always a tad slow. I have to run on a little sidewalk over a bridge, where there is a quick turn, then run up some hills, and then cross a street. Other than that I felt fine. I didn't panic when my pace was 5:51 for mile two. Mile three was smooth. I know I could have really pushed it ten to fifteen seconds faster, but that was not part of the plan.
I ended up running ten miles. Time for the tempo was 16:43. Not a bad place to start off. I finished with four strides.
Anyway it's time to start back this blog again. I may not have the readers as I did on the first version of Dinner's for Suckers.
After a week of easy running and taking my mileage down, it was time to get the mileage back up. I wanted to do a three mile tempo, to give myself a baseline of where I was. This was going to give me an idea of where my fitness was. One goal that I had in mind was to not dip into the well. Whatever my time was, that was what it was going to be. So if it was six minute pace, then it was six minute pace.
The weather was really nice and it was great to be out there when it was somewhat cool outside. I hit my miles in 5:35, 5:40, and 5:28. The second mile, running it in Rock Creek, is always a tad slow. I have to run on a little sidewalk over a bridge, where there is a quick turn, then run up some hills, and then cross a street. Other than that I felt fine. I didn't panic when my pace was 5:51 for mile two. Mile three was smooth. I know I could have really pushed it ten to fifteen seconds faster, but that was not part of the plan.
I ended up running ten miles. Time for the tempo was 16:43. Not a bad place to start off. I finished with four strides.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Pike's Peek 10K race recap: Welcome back sweet prince!
...I guess I have to start somewhere. Let's go to December 21st of 2012. I was riding in the car back to Charlotte. I had the flu. I was in the car for almost 10 hours. It was not fun. There was a thought of checking into the hospital that day. The next day I was loaded up on flu medication. I watched the Panthers play the Raiders. It was a pretty bad game. But on the medicine it was A GREAT GAME.
I tried to run on Christmas and got about a quarter mile into the run and realized I made a big mistake. A half mile into the run I stopped to cough for about three minutes. I tell everyone that it was 5 minutes, but it was three. But five minutes sound so EPIC.
It took me until the beginning of the year to get over the flu. I then did a run with Matt on the first Saturday of January. It was around mile 9 or 10 when he said something like, "this is probably where getting over the flu is going to make your legs heavy". I really wanted to tell him I've felt like crap since mile 3. He went off to do his workout at mile 11 and a couple miles later for probably the first time in my running life, I had to stop and walk during the run. After that my IT Band flared up and it took me about three weeks to run again. After that it was another month to where I was close to being back.
In that time my running was been a big pile of disappointment. I did an 8k on a hilly course. Myself and a bunch of other runners took a wrong turn and made it almost a 10k. The pace was 5:50. I then ran an 10k two weeks later. And it was another fail. The wind hampered me for the first half and I finished in 35:22. A couple weeks later I ran the St. Patrick's Day 8k and couldn't get over the feeling that my legs were heavy and ran a 27:14. Then I ran the Van Metre 5 miler and ran 27:30. Another disappointing race. It seemed that the story of my running life for the last year or so was one of disappointment. It started with the Vermont City Marathon, where I thought I was in good shape and then all holy hell of flukes made it a bust.
The marathon took my legs out of me, and the summer was a bust. I picked things up in September. But after that kinda lost the fire and didn't end the year well. I was frustrated that I had all this good training, miles, and workouts, but nothing really showing it. Whether it was a course with half of it into a 20 mph plus wind, or just something flukey.
And then it leads us to this week. Two Friday's ago (not this Friday because that was last Friday, but the Friday before that) I was feeling a bit under the weather at the beginning of school. My voice felt off and I had a general sense of being off. I found out that one of my students was home, due to flu like symptoms. Well that explained it. I tried to get a run in the next day. Ran the first mile in 7:21, it felt like I had been strained and I went back home. I took some medicine and felt better the rest of the weekend.
Then last week I did a workout on Tuesday. I had the day off from school and it was just a total frustrating feeling that I was working way to hard and feeling labored and the first two miles of a tempo were at 5:39. Chalk it up to my illness or whatever. On Thursday I was planning on doing three miles at 10k pace with 2 minutes rest. I did the first one in 5:16 and then the second one in 5:20. I do the repeats around the zoo in Rock Creek. On the second one there was a Girls on the run group that took up the trail. I wasn't really in the mood to say anything and they were meandering. So I kinda just went my own path. Nearly ran over two girls and messed up my stride. Oh well. I started the third one and immediately a huge gust of wind hit and I was running uphill. After the uphill I was a quarter mile in and running 5:43 pace. F THAT. I pulled the plug and was done. I really wasn't sure what to expect on Sunday.
I was in the porta-john before the race and I heard a sound that I never really have heard before at a race. It was the sound of a dog barking. There were dogs out there sniffing for bombs. Why give jobs to dogs, when people could sniff them out? THANKS A LOT OBAMA! I didn't really worry that much about that or really cross my mind about anything vile. I just went about my business. It's just the way things are going to be.
I then did my warm up and I wasn't feeling that great. My legs didn't feel that great. I then did two half ass strides before the start. Apparently the field was stacked (and looking at the results it was). We went off and I settled in to a nice pace. I knew I was going fast and adjusted accordingly. One thing that I will not understand is why do the elite African women go out like 15 year HS boys? They go out so hard and then get dropped so soon. You shouldn't sound like your laboring after a mile into the race.
Now onto the course. You run about 300 Meters and then turn left. That's the only turn in the course. The course is mostly flat. But there are some hills. Nothing major, but enough to give your legs a work. They appear at the end of the course. And of course there was the wind. It wouldn't be a race in this area without some sort of wind. Nothing to bad, but enough for you to know that it was there.
My splits were:
5:14
5:13
5:17
5:18
5:25
5:23
1:00
To be honest I really didn't have a plan going into the race. I was just going with what I knew I had and hoping that I could hang on. I started to feel it on mile five. Mile six was all about getting to the finish.
I was really aware of making sure that I was running straight, shoulders up, breathing controlled, and opening up my stride. That was an effort that lasted through the entire race. And here is the thing, during the race with what I was hitting at each mile, the momentum carried on. The whole effect just snowballed into something bigger. I got to the third mile marker and it was 15:44 and I knew that I was going to be close to a 5k PR (I checked it and it was in the 16:17 neighborhood). I knew that there was a good chance of running a 10k in the 32s.
Now I was hoping for a run in the 33:30s range. That's kinda what I figured. I thought best case was low 33s. But now here I was running and the idea of running that time was real. I was dreading now running a 33:03 or something like that and being disappointed. The fourth mile was just a hair over 21 minutes and then I realized damn I am moving. That was a 4 mile PR and I feel good. Mile 5 was where I started to hurt. I fought through it and when I got to the 5 mile marker, the guy calling out the splits was off so I wasn't sure where I was. He called out 25:59, but that didn't sound right. It was probably 26:27. I was calculating what I needed to run to get under 32 minutes. I was in a battle with two guys. One with headphones and another guy. We were all trading spots. At mile 6 all I saw was the first number and it was 31 and damn it was go time. I wasn't going to risk it. Of course the two guys passed me, but as I was finishing I knew that it was going to be under 33 and I was going to have room to spare. The final time was 32:54, my watch had 32:53.
After the race I was all smiles. Can't say that has happened at all in races that I've run or even coached. I even gave some half hearted fist pump. The time that I ran, honestly, I didn't think I could run now and probably not even at the end of the year. But I took advantage of the situation and that's all that I could say. One of my goals was to not give up in races or workouts, fight through them when it gets tough, and I got that today.
I ended up finishing 42nd overall, just to give you and idea of how tough it was the winner ran an average pace of 4:34. Two elite women beat me. But looking at my average pace of 5:18, that's close to my 5k PR pace. It's still one of those things that I still can't believe.
The race starts at the Shady Grove metro station and ends at the White Flint station. I decided to just job back to my car. At times it did not seem like a great idea. But it was nice to do a solitary run and just have thoughts to myself. Nothing really went through my head.
Part 2 tomorrow
I tried to run on Christmas and got about a quarter mile into the run and realized I made a big mistake. A half mile into the run I stopped to cough for about three minutes. I tell everyone that it was 5 minutes, but it was three. But five minutes sound so EPIC.
It took me until the beginning of the year to get over the flu. I then did a run with Matt on the first Saturday of January. It was around mile 9 or 10 when he said something like, "this is probably where getting over the flu is going to make your legs heavy". I really wanted to tell him I've felt like crap since mile 3. He went off to do his workout at mile 11 and a couple miles later for probably the first time in my running life, I had to stop and walk during the run. After that my IT Band flared up and it took me about three weeks to run again. After that it was another month to where I was close to being back.
In that time my running was been a big pile of disappointment. I did an 8k on a hilly course. Myself and a bunch of other runners took a wrong turn and made it almost a 10k. The pace was 5:50. I then ran an 10k two weeks later. And it was another fail. The wind hampered me for the first half and I finished in 35:22. A couple weeks later I ran the St. Patrick's Day 8k and couldn't get over the feeling that my legs were heavy and ran a 27:14. Then I ran the Van Metre 5 miler and ran 27:30. Another disappointing race. It seemed that the story of my running life for the last year or so was one of disappointment. It started with the Vermont City Marathon, where I thought I was in good shape and then all holy hell of flukes made it a bust.
The marathon took my legs out of me, and the summer was a bust. I picked things up in September. But after that kinda lost the fire and didn't end the year well. I was frustrated that I had all this good training, miles, and workouts, but nothing really showing it. Whether it was a course with half of it into a 20 mph plus wind, or just something flukey.
And then it leads us to this week. Two Friday's ago (not this Friday because that was last Friday, but the Friday before that) I was feeling a bit under the weather at the beginning of school. My voice felt off and I had a general sense of being off. I found out that one of my students was home, due to flu like symptoms. Well that explained it. I tried to get a run in the next day. Ran the first mile in 7:21, it felt like I had been strained and I went back home. I took some medicine and felt better the rest of the weekend.
Then last week I did a workout on Tuesday. I had the day off from school and it was just a total frustrating feeling that I was working way to hard and feeling labored and the first two miles of a tempo were at 5:39. Chalk it up to my illness or whatever. On Thursday I was planning on doing three miles at 10k pace with 2 minutes rest. I did the first one in 5:16 and then the second one in 5:20. I do the repeats around the zoo in Rock Creek. On the second one there was a Girls on the run group that took up the trail. I wasn't really in the mood to say anything and they were meandering. So I kinda just went my own path. Nearly ran over two girls and messed up my stride. Oh well. I started the third one and immediately a huge gust of wind hit and I was running uphill. After the uphill I was a quarter mile in and running 5:43 pace. F THAT. I pulled the plug and was done. I really wasn't sure what to expect on Sunday.
I was in the porta-john before the race and I heard a sound that I never really have heard before at a race. It was the sound of a dog barking. There were dogs out there sniffing for bombs. Why give jobs to dogs, when people could sniff them out? THANKS A LOT OBAMA! I didn't really worry that much about that or really cross my mind about anything vile. I just went about my business. It's just the way things are going to be.
I then did my warm up and I wasn't feeling that great. My legs didn't feel that great. I then did two half ass strides before the start. Apparently the field was stacked (and looking at the results it was). We went off and I settled in to a nice pace. I knew I was going fast and adjusted accordingly. One thing that I will not understand is why do the elite African women go out like 15 year HS boys? They go out so hard and then get dropped so soon. You shouldn't sound like your laboring after a mile into the race.
Now onto the course. You run about 300 Meters and then turn left. That's the only turn in the course. The course is mostly flat. But there are some hills. Nothing major, but enough to give your legs a work. They appear at the end of the course. And of course there was the wind. It wouldn't be a race in this area without some sort of wind. Nothing to bad, but enough for you to know that it was there.
My splits were:
5:14
5:13
5:17
5:18
5:25
5:23
1:00
To be honest I really didn't have a plan going into the race. I was just going with what I knew I had and hoping that I could hang on. I started to feel it on mile five. Mile six was all about getting to the finish.
I was really aware of making sure that I was running straight, shoulders up, breathing controlled, and opening up my stride. That was an effort that lasted through the entire race. And here is the thing, during the race with what I was hitting at each mile, the momentum carried on. The whole effect just snowballed into something bigger. I got to the third mile marker and it was 15:44 and I knew that I was going to be close to a 5k PR (I checked it and it was in the 16:17 neighborhood). I knew that there was a good chance of running a 10k in the 32s.
Now I was hoping for a run in the 33:30s range. That's kinda what I figured. I thought best case was low 33s. But now here I was running and the idea of running that time was real. I was dreading now running a 33:03 or something like that and being disappointed. The fourth mile was just a hair over 21 minutes and then I realized damn I am moving. That was a 4 mile PR and I feel good. Mile 5 was where I started to hurt. I fought through it and when I got to the 5 mile marker, the guy calling out the splits was off so I wasn't sure where I was. He called out 25:59, but that didn't sound right. It was probably 26:27. I was calculating what I needed to run to get under 32 minutes. I was in a battle with two guys. One with headphones and another guy. We were all trading spots. At mile 6 all I saw was the first number and it was 31 and damn it was go time. I wasn't going to risk it. Of course the two guys passed me, but as I was finishing I knew that it was going to be under 33 and I was going to have room to spare. The final time was 32:54, my watch had 32:53.
After the race I was all smiles. Can't say that has happened at all in races that I've run or even coached. I even gave some half hearted fist pump. The time that I ran, honestly, I didn't think I could run now and probably not even at the end of the year. But I took advantage of the situation and that's all that I could say. One of my goals was to not give up in races or workouts, fight through them when it gets tough, and I got that today.
I ended up finishing 42nd overall, just to give you and idea of how tough it was the winner ran an average pace of 4:34. Two elite women beat me. But looking at my average pace of 5:18, that's close to my 5k PR pace. It's still one of those things that I still can't believe.
The race starts at the Shady Grove metro station and ends at the White Flint station. I decided to just job back to my car. At times it did not seem like a great idea. But it was nice to do a solitary run and just have thoughts to myself. Nothing really went through my head.
Part 2 tomorrow
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)