Tuesday and Wednesday Runs

Went out with an aggressive attitude today and told myself I wanted to do 3 of the 5 below MP. Went pretty well. Besides for feeling insanely tired, the body isn't doing bad. Nursed the Garmin through the run, but it crapped out on me as soon as I turned off the GPS. Garmin is going to mail me a refurbished one in the next few days, so that is good. They charged me $80 which I believe is quite fair. On an interesting side note, there is a guy from the UK that wants to pace with me for NYC. Not sure anything will come of it but it reminds me about how cool the running community is. 


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/53713222


Well the Garmin is still not working. This is a guess. I know I did at least 8. I tried the reset and it didn't work. Just tried the hard factory reset. I hope that works. This point in the cycle I really need it to make sure I am hitting my splits. Didn't have a good sense of pace throughout. Quite chilly!

5 Mile Monday

The run yesterday was difficult. I am really hitting the point where I need more sleep and I am just not getting it. The weather was cool but not too bad. I headed down Pershing...then up Lincolnway and finally to Holliday Park. I was happy that I didn't have to run through any sprinklers that were on. My focus is now to keep my intensity up while lowering my mileage during taper. I hit the last two miles hard and it felt hard, but good to get through.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/53478018

63 Miles Total this week....BOOYAH!

Sunday - Went down to do support for my friend Ria who came out to do the Denver Rock and Roll Marathon. It was so inspiring to see all those out there giving their all. Made me a little envious that I was not out running. But it feels really good to have people seem to genuinely enjoy your support. I clapped like a mad man for about an hour at the 14.5 mark and then some good time clapping at two other spot along the route. My Garmin freaked as soon as I started, but I am guessing I ran 4 miles today. That makes 63 for the week....6....3.....I am shocked I have put up this much mileage. My legs are sore...but really pretty dang good overall. Let the taper begin!


Saturday - All the miles piled up this week took its toll today. I am thankful that the pace is somewhat slower than all the other runs, because quite frankly...I didn't have much in the tank at the end. I did manage to meet up with the running group (notice the sub 8:55 mile in the middle, I saw Devana and she was hitting a faster pace to meet up by 7:00 so I matched her). I was very happy to have them for 8 miles and then Devana ran with me until 19.5. Kept me going. Legs are very sore and tired. I did manage to nail a sub 8:55 on the last brutal mile so I finished strong.


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/53172155


Friday - Hal put a rest day in between the track workout and the pace run today. Taking out that day was one of the changes I made to his plan. I wished I had that day off in between this week ;-) Started off just feeling tired. As the legs started going and I worked pass my first threshold, run started feeling decent. There were woman out walking and running everywhere. Not sure if it was part of a program or what but there were easily 8 times as many people out as I have ever seen at the park. Made me keep focus a little better to avoid getting my lamp light in their eyes or coming up behind them. Started really cooking about mile 5 and just kept roaring from there. Was still feeling strong at mile 7 so I kept pushing a little. Last two miles were kind of tough, but not overly so. Feel like a nailed this run. Tomorrow's 20 will be the ultimate test of how much fitness I have gained in this cycle. I did go back and read las year's blog to see the progress and it did make me feel good. 


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/53047741

Track Workout

One of the things I have missed since I moved to Cheyenne are the track workouts. I really like the running group in Laramie, and I always enjoyed getting together for track sessions over the summer. I hadn't done one on like two months. I was a little nervous about how it would go. I woke up at 5:00 and after I got ready headed  out the door and slowly ran towards the track. I wanted to get my legs warm, but not really work them before I got there. When I got on the track I was instantly struck by how dark it was. There was a light on the side of the bleachers that was on...but for 3/4 track it was pitch black with the exception of the stars above. Guessing it was a new moon because I couldn't see that either. I decided to take off the headlamp and just run in that darkness. I have never tried it before and it was an awesome experience. My eyes quickly keyed in on the white lines against the black track. Just kept my legs churning and occasionally just looked up and marveled. What a great way to start a workout.

I wanted to do 5 sets of 3/4 mile intervals with one lap rest in between. The pace was supposed to be 7:40 per mile. By the end of the second interval I was starting to feel it a little, but felt like I could just keep going. Felt really strong through the next two times around the track and finished with my fastest interval by ten seconds. I could have pretty easily done 3 more sets. I felt sooo good. I did feel some soreness as I headed up the hill back to Pershing. I tried not to push too much, because I had achieved what I wanted and just wanted to finish. Got home and stretched a little. Amazing run....

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52941327

5 Mile Run

Was really dragging when I woke up this morning. I really need to get a good night's sleep. It will be a little easier once the peak mileage week is over. Also going full tilt at work so it feels hard to get caught up. I did the first two miles very slow, and then tried to speed up a little bit. I wanted to do the last two miles at pace...but I had a dog come running at me during mile four and it really wigged me out. I was able to kick the pace up a bit during the last mile. I am doing a track workout tomorrow...it will be my first in awhile and it should be interesting. Thanks for reading!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52827393

5 Mile Monday and 10 Mile Bad Ass Tuesday

The run yesterday was decent. I was trying to just get some more miles on my base and had no real feeling one way or another on pacing. I like to throw in marathon pace miles in most runs because I want to be comfortable running them, especially when I am tired. I didn't pay attention for the first couple of miles, but did after that. I headed to Holliday Park and did the loop a couple of times and then headed home. I pushed pretty good the last couple of miles. I have had a little soreness in both legs, but I have been spending a lot of time stretching so I am keeping positive that it will pay dividends.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52568754

Was really not excited to do this run when I got up and opened the window. It was raining very steadily and was cold. I bundled up and put on my running tights and a vest over my long sleeve shirt. Tucked my Ipod into the vest and headed out. I decided to enjoy the silence for a little while, which is unlike me but was good for a couple of miles. Once I got to the park the airport was pretty loud so I started listening. There was really no one out. It was dark and pretty dreary. The back side of the park loop is trail and was quite muddy. I had to take off my sunglasses to see, even with the headlamp. Slid around a lot. The run required quite a bit of focus to stay on the paths. Mr. Higdon suggested that miles 4-7 should be stretched tempo-wise so I decided that meant MP. After mile 6 I really got into a solid groove. I should have brought the pace back down, but was just really feeling it. I love seeing other runners out and about...but when the weather is crappy and I see no one...makes me feel like a bad ass. Nothing wrong with that from time to time. I am pooped...but that was a fantastic run! Thanks for reading!


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52699967

12 Mile Long run and then 4 Mile Recovery

Was looking forward to an easy Long Run this week. Figured I would take it easy for most of it and then just try to hit Marathon Pace the last four miles. I then decided to meet up with the local running group I ran with last weekend and ended up with a little bit harder effort than I intended.

I did a little over three miles by myself before we met. I took it easy the first 2 miles and just tried to get the legs moving without too much effort. The 3rd mile was a pace mile because I didn't want to be late. When I got to the parking lot they were just about to go. My friend Mark was there and since he was the one that told me about the group I was glad to see him. As usual, he was in a good mood and quite jovial.

We started out just about perfect for a my long run tempo. Right around 9:40 miles...nice and relaxed. The tempo was good until about last three miles with them. I had had mentioned I was going to break off when I hit 8 miles so I could do my last four miles at pace. Mark asked what my goal pace was and I told him 8:55 and he said they could push it a bit. Well....I should have kept my mouth shut...because the pace jumped up considerably on the way back. I had to push a bit to keep where I was at. Truthfully...it was a heck of a lot of fun. I will let you look at the Garmin stats for exact paces...but they were good. After we reached the parking lot I peeled off and did 2.4 more and my 12 was done. I had quite a bit left in the tank when I got home, even if the legs were a little sore. A really enjoyable run...

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52248897

When I woke up this morning (Sunday) I felt pretty worn out and thought I would take the day off. One thing that is a weakness of mine is too much time. I kept thinking about NYC and how I hadn't put in too many miles this week, so I finally went out for 4 miles around 6:00. I did keep it nice and relaxed and used the run to recon how to get into the track per one of the track coaches' instructions. The doors were open but I got the idea which will help on Thursday when I do a track workout. Afterwards I headed home nice and easy. Legs are a little tired but feel pretty good. Next up...PEAK WEEK! Thanks for reading!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52517679