Thursday, June 18, 2009

If I keep my head into my running the way I envision it I’ll have a good day. Get outside and boy is it humid. We run from Kristin’s to Melissa’s and the decision is made that we are going to run through Johnson’s today (which means some hills). I quickly fall behind the girls but they are faster so I let them go. I’m doing relatively well at focusing on a nice even pace.

We get out of the park and my wife decides that with the race only days away and the IT band still not 100% she is going to head back and see us there.

I keep moving following the other two girls but I’m still losing ground. I walk for a small portion of Sandy Lane only to catch my breath…that hill gets me every time! I power on and see that the girls have turned into the neighborhood at about 4.4 miles…I’d like to get in 5 so as I approach the turn I do not see them (they were about 2-3 blocks ahead of me!) but I decide that I’ll get the 5 in and that they will most likely try to find me at the ‘normal’ meeting spot. I get there and no one is there…maybe they are gabbing. I get back to the car and no one is there…they must be looking for me. I see Kristin and my wife making their way back to the house and they inform me that Melissa headed back down the route to see if I was alright!

I feel bad that Melissa ran the extra mileage, I feel insulted that they thought I’d be THAT FAR behind them, and I feel good knowing that I have a group of running companions that care that much for me. Melissa declined a ride home and she estimates she ended her day with 7-7.5 miles.

For me I ended the day with 5.25 miles in about a 9:15 pace. The day was 64 degrees, light NE wind (5 mph), and overcast.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

With the wife’s IT band acting up I had told her that she wasn’t to run today so she opted to stay in bed when I got up this morning – I thought that Kristin was going to have her ride a bike but maybe I was mistaken. :\

So I met Kristin and find out that Melissa isn’t going to make it either so Kristin and I set out…I had a rough mile and a half. I could not breathe and my legs were burning! Kristin was trying to keep her normal pace and I was trying to hang in there for a while. After a short time I bailed on her and let her go ahead. She did it twice…both times coming back to get me. We finished up the run with 4.25 miles for me in about 41 min. It was 58, no wind, and slightly overcast.

Monday, June 15, 2009

No running today, just the personal trainer. She did a great job moving us through a number of upper body exercises that just kicked my ass! 60 min workout with a warm up and cool down.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

I still do not know why I mentioned that I want to do intervals to Kristin, Melissa, and Jodie. I now have to do it!!

So here is what we did…1 mile warm up (9:22 pace)…4 x 1/2 mile speed work with ¼ mile rests (pace 7:46, 7:41, 7:41, 7:19)…1 mile cool down (9:23 pace)

Total mileage for the day 5 miles at 9:17 pace.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The mileage for the say is 15. It is rainy, humid, and about 51 degrees at 5 AM when I meet Kristin and Rick. We start out at a decent 9:08 pace and I was able to maintain it for about 2 miles. At this point my legs felt like they were getting shorter! So I stretched and tried to catch up. I met up with them again at Kristin’s house (4.5 miles in) and then we headed back out, the long way, to meet the rest of the group. I had 10.5 miles in once I got to the group. My wife and I headed for Case’s track to put in a few laps (in honor of those we know with cancer and to remember the founding of our running group 7 years ago) but I realize shortly after getting there that I need a bathroom break. Once relieved I finish my laps and head back to the trail. A lot more walking that I should…just a bad day! 15 miles at a 10:39 pace

Friday, June 12, 2009

So if you’ve looked at the schedule to the right of these posts you probably noted that it is different than what I have been doing for the past 4 years. The NY Marathon site offered a number of training programs and seeing that this one had a few more 20 milers and a 22 I thought this would be a much better program to follow.

All that being said I have been short of my weekly mileage for the past 2 weeks and it looks like this week I will be to but I didn’t want to be 6-8 miles short just 1-2. So when my wife got up to exercise I decided that it would be best if I got out and did a few miles.

Simple out and back for a total of 4 miles at about a 9:20 pace. Sunny and cool (48) hint of a breeze 3 mph NE

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Really did not want to be up this morning. What was just as bad was that my wife didn’t either! But we were good got out of bed and drove over to Kristin’s. Found out that Jodie wasn’t going to be there so we went straight away to Melissa’s. My wife has been complaining about a bad knee so has been resting it but Kristin convinced her (very easily I might add) to run to Melissa’s. Now I always end up behind them so this was no surprise what was interesting was that they were losing me and I was at an 8:45-8:50 pace!! I thought she was having knee issues. ;^)

Once at Melissa’s we got caught up on the daily events in our lives and ended up walking a bit farther than normal before we set out running. I started my watch toward the end of the walk just to record the mileage but even that is off by about ¼.

My pace was strong for a morning I didn’t want to be out here: 9:20. When I got near Kristin’s I realized that I would be short so a little out and back and I ended the day with just over 4.5 miles. Factoring in the walking I was about at a 10 min pace…ignoring it closer to 9:15. Overcast cool (52) slight wind out of the NE 8-10 mph

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

I think that I overdid dinner last night.  I was up at 3 am not feeling well.  Sweating, nauseous, and cramping…not the thing you want to wake up to. 

Up at 4:15 got ready but still was not feeling well.  The wife and I met Kristin and Jodie.  Steph and Jodie walked…Steph is nursing a knee injury so she walked with Jodie.

I started out okay and it got worse.  The grocery store was not open so I had to hold it a while longer.  There was some pressure that after a short time passed and I was able to run again.  Even with all of that I finished the 4.1 miles in 44 min…not great but could have been much worse.  Beautiful morning…overcast, 58, with a light East wind.

Monday, June 8, 2009

It has been a few weeks but we are back on schedule with the personal trainer…for a week or two!  Anna worked us hard but it was good.  I’m glad to see that I didn’t lose too much strength while I’m away.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

In the continuing adventures to work on my speed and endurance we opted for a hill/stair workout for today.  We met Melissa and Kristin at 7:30 am in the Gateway parking lot.  The rain had not started so we might get lucky…not so much!

The plan was to charge the hill recover on the down and head for the stairs…charge the stairs…I love hills so I was off to the races!

By the time I hit the 4^th hill charge the lungs were burning and I was ready to quit.  Got a drink of water after the 4^th circuit and did another 2.  

When you add all the hills/stairs…1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down we got in 4.5 miles.  The weather was cool (52) and rainy…wind (NNE 5mph)

Saturday, June 6, 2009

My wife is looking to build her mileage so that the Lighthouse Run and the Maui Half are a little easier for her to handle.  In that vein she convinced me to forgo my 10 miler this week and do 12.  We met Melissa at 5:30 am in the Panera parking lot and started our run.  I was only able to squeak 8 miles in before meeting the group at 7 so I thought I’d be a little short but Melissa knew where to turn so that we would have just the right mileage for the day.  

My body shut down at 9 miles – I just did not want to run any more but I slogged through it with a little walking and I was able to finish the 12 miles in a 9:45 pace.  The weather for the day was cool (49) and windy (ENE 5mph)

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Again...I did not want to get up this morning but I did.  The wife and I headed to Kristin's and we waited for Jodi.  Once we had Jodi we started our run and picked up Melissa.  I felt good once I was running so when I had 4.3 miles in I knew that I needed to complete the 5 miles that I had planned to do today.

5 miles at a 9:11 pace...felt good...weather was nice, cold (43), but nice.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Did not want to get up and my watch obviously agreed since it stopped working after it went off the first time.  Wife was up and getting ready so there was no way I was getting out of it today.

Met Kristen and headed out to pick up Melissa.  Everyone was complaining about their legs feeling like lead due to the intervals on Sunday but they all left me in the dust today.

Got 4.25 miles in at a 9:10 pace.