September 28, 2007

Easy Day

This morning I ran an easy 11 miles, 10 out and back along the parkway and then I added a mile on, mainly because I felt like it and the run was going pretty well. I felt better today than I have the past two days, I'm sure at least partially because I slept better last night. Tomorrow's a very easy day, and then I've got the race Sunday. I'm a little nervous because I've never actually run 20 miles in training, but I figure as long as I don't go out too hard, I should be fine.

September 27, 2007

How It's Been Going

It been a few days since I updated this thing.

The weekend running went well. Saturday was just an easy four miles, nothing special. Sunday I ran a 17 mile long run. I felt pretty tired at the beginning and I was a little worried about how it was going to go. I told myself that short of me collapsing, I was going to be out for at least two hours. As the run progressed, I felt better and better, and even felt good enough to cap off the run with a 7:06 last mile, the fastest of the run.

Monday and Tuesday were recovery days. Normally I'd have a workout scheduled for Tuesday, but this week is set up a little differently because I'm running a 20 mile race on Sunday. Monday I ran eight miles and Tuesday I ran 10.

The workout that I would normally run Tuesday I wanted to move to Wednesday. That didn't work out because J had a Pampered Chef party Tuesday night and I was up late. I slept in Wednesday morning and ran an easy seven miles. Then I was going to run the workout this morning, but I didn't feel too good. My stomach was bothering me, and I bagged the workout and ran eight miles.

I don't plan on racing the 20 miles all out this Sunday. I want to run the first 10 steady and controlled, and try to work down to marathon pace or even a little below over the last 10. We'll see how it goes.

September 21, 2007

Hill Work

This morning I headed out for another Friday morning hill workout. This morning I ran out along the parkway. I warmed up for three miles, ending up just about at the base of the hill. The path along the parkway is marked every kilometer, and the 10k mark is just before the hill and the 11k mark is at the top of the hill. I ran four 1k repeats up the hill. The first two took 4:41 and 4:45. I was a little disappointed the second repeat was slower than the first, so I was cooling back down the hill I got on myslef to really concentrate and work hard on the last two. I wanted to run 4:40 and then 4:30, but ended up running 4:32 and 4:31. I cooled down back to the house, giving me 11 miles for the day.

My reaction after this workout is that this would have been a better workout with less recovery. But to get back to the starting line, of course, I had to run all the way back down the hill. It felt like too much recovery. The recovery is probably one of the reasons hill work is usually included a little earlier in training, but I still feel like I benefit. Plus the longer recoveries make for a less taxing second work out for the week.

Thursday was an easy 10 miles.

September 19, 2007

Nothing Special

Today's run was just an easy 10 miles. I was going to just run out and back along the parkway, but I was a little concerned that if I did I might convince myself to cut the run short, so I went with the 10 mile loop instead.

I've been hungry lately while running. Usually I'd just be a little hungry when I started, but the feeling would go away. Now it hits me toward the middle of the run and I feel hungry the rest of the way. I have increased my mileage the last 10 days, but I've run this mileage before and don't remember being quite so hungry.

September 18, 2007

Disappointing

This morning's workout certainly did not go as planned. The plan was to warm up, run five miles at marathon pace, and cool down. I warmed up with three miles, and when I got to the three mile mark and checked my watch and saw how slow I had been running, I had a bad feeling about the workout. However, I decided to give it a try, figuring I could always cut it short if I needed to. I never got within a minute of marathon pace and ran the five miles in over 40 minutes. If I had checked my watch at anytime other than three-quarters of a mile into the workout, I might have cut it off, but probably not. Oh well, I can't expect every day to go perfectly. With the warm up and cool down, I had ten miles for the day.

September 17, 2007

Weekend Update

Saturday I managed three miles on the treadmill. Once again I wondered how I can feel like I'm running so much faster than the treadmill says.

Sunday I had a good 16 mile long run. I was feeling a little tired after the first ten miles, but then I stopped at the house to pick up my Gu and within a few minutes I felt much better. The last six miles were much more pleasant than the first ten, and over those six miles I picked up the pace slightly and finished strong.

This morning I ran a very easy eight miles. My legs felt ok, but I was pretty tired and hungry. I really don't think that I ate enough yesterday to recover as well as I could have.

September 14, 2007

Tired

Even though I had a late night, I still got up and out the door for my run this morning. I figured if it got really bad, I could always just come back home. It turned out that I didn't have to worry.

I had a hill workout on the schedule for today. I warmed up a little less than four miles, and then ran seven hill repeats. I think my tiredness contributed to not running as hard as I could have, but I never wanted to quit the workout. The hill was a little longer than a quarter mile, twisting up and then flattening out at the top. After the last repeat I continued, striding out on the flat part at the top. Then I cooled down for two miles, ending the day with ten miles.

September 13, 2007

Go Back to Sleep

When I get up to run in the morning, before I go downstairs I check on the kids to make sure they're still covered up and not cold and just because they're cute. Mostly they sleep right through it. This morning I checked on b and covered him up, and then I went into j's room. The door squeaked when I opened it, and j sat up and said, "No, daddy, no." I walked over and asked him if he had to go to the bathroom, he said no, and I started to rub his back. He closed his eyes and then whispered, "Daddy, I have to go to the potty." I took him to the bathroom, put him back in bed, and told him I'd see him when I got back from running. He looked at his window, and told me "Daddy, you run in the morning. It's still nighttime." It was only about 4:40 in the morning and still dark. I gave him a stuffed dog named Wiffles to cuddle up with and then he told me, "Daddy, Wiffles loves me." I told him I loved him too and to go back to sleep, which he did.

Today's run was better than yesterday's. I ran a loop that I haven't run for a while, and I still took it fairly easy but faster than yesterday, finishing today's 10 miles about eight minutes faster than yesterday. The weather here the past two days has been great. The cool morning temperatures make it feel like fall is on the way.

September 12, 2007

Slow Slow Slow

I ran a ridiculously slow 10 miles this morning. I knew I was taking it easy, but I was still surprised when I reached seven miles and saw my pace was over nine minutes a mile.

Today is j's first day of school for the year. He has a year's experience under his belt and he's excited to be back in school. b was upset that he couldn't stay at school too, but he has his own class starting Friday.

September 11, 2007

A Good Workout

This morning I headed over to the track to run 3x2 miles at marathon pace. It had rained overnight and was still all wet, but at least it didn't rain this morning while I ran. The rain did make it really humid, though.

I decided that I was going to run the workout by feel rather than checking my watch every lap or so. If that meant that I ran too slow or too fast so be it; I need to know what marathon pace feels like without having to constantly check my watch. The first two miles went by in 14:03. This was a little slow, but at least it was in the ballpark. Goal marathon pace is 6:45-6:50. I jogged a lap to recover and then ran two miles in 13:55. I jogged another lap and ran the last two miles in 13:52.

I'm pleased with the way the workout went. I was able to basically hit marathon pace without checking the watch, and I thought I recovered quickly during the lap between repeats. The warmup and cooldown gave me 10.5 miles for the day.

September 10, 2007

I'm Back

Hilton Head was a lot of fun. The beach, the pool, some golf and running, and some time with the family provided a nice relaxing two weeks. And J and I also got back to Clemson to see them beat Florida St.! But now it's back to the grind.

I ran most days while on vacation. Out of thirteen days, I ran on ten of them. I could have done a little more mileage, but at least I was out there. Hilton Head had bike paths that go all over the island that are good for running. I had one semi-long run, one good out and back workout when I ran out in 25:45 and back in about three minutes less, and one 3x10 minutes at around marathon pace. The rest was just easy miles.

Today I ran eight miles easily along the Parkway. I was able to keep my heart rate in the right zone for the most part, but ended up running fairly slowly. The HRM bugged me a little this morning since it was sliding around and at one point the strap came out and I had to stop and fix it.