Midday Scorcher

Distance: 5.60 miles.
Time: ????
Running Buddy n/a

My Garmin didn't work today, so I don't have my time, pace, or a map. I ran my Freedom Park route so I'm sure of the mileage, though, and I must admit I felt a bit liberated without a watch (not to mention lighter - the 305 is a huge watch). It surely was hot today, though, and I just wanted to get done so I could drown myself in Gatorade. There isn't much else to report here. 

Sunbather

6.54 mi in 00:52:24 - 8:04 ppm

I ran from home to Freedom Park and back in the middle of the day for the second day in a row. Yes, it was awful; I couldn't even keep the pace below 8 per mile and I stopped for water a total of six times - three water fountains, twice each, on an out-and-back run. These things do not concern me, however. It's not an easy sport, and hey, had I gotten up on time and made it to the Dowd this would not have been an issue. I'm more concerned right now with what appears to be a recurrence of a pinched nerve in my upper back - an old basketball injury that isn't really serious but always puts me on the shelf for a few days when it shows up. We'll keep an eye on it.

Oelz's Big Day

6.84 mi in 00:53:50 - 7:52 ppm

Today was the big day for Mr. Mike Oelz. However, I missed the bachelor's last run this morning on account of lingering stomach issues that, at this point, I'm attributing to some work-related stress. There just isn't a whole lot of food on the stomach right now and obviously that makes running a bit difficult. I should have just taken the day off, but I went to McAlpine in the heat of the day and made things worse. We did have a good time at the wedding, however.

Tempo Fail with Anne Marie

5.81 mi in 00:49:31 - 8:31 ppm

I met Anne Marie at Old Bell at 6 a.m. to "help" with her tempo workout for the day. She was supposed to a 2-mile warmup and cooldown and a 3-mile tempo run, starting at 7:35 pace and dropping. When we got to the park we took off on the course, starting off a bit too quick and then slowing down. She asked me to pace so she wouldn't have to look at her watch, and I don't mind I did a pretty good job getting us slowed down from a quick start to come through the first mile in 7:32. However, I wasn't able to hang around much longer on account of stomach issues once again. Other than cross country base training in high school and college, this is the first time I've really attempted to train hard through the summer months, and it's been a drag. Ah well, fall will be here before we know it, right?

Humid Shakeout

Distance: 6.35 mi
Time: 00:46:15 - 7:16 ppm
Running Buddy

I had meant to get in a quick 3-5 miles early this morning before helping my sister get the girls back to Savannah, but the infant woke up early, thereby changing our schedule. I followed her almost all the way to I-95; including stops, I was on the highway for almost 8 hours. When I got back, I had an urge to use the legs and try out my new shoes.

New Balance has unveiled a new numbering system for its shoes, and I got the 480, which as I understand it is the base version of their high-mileage performance series. If I like this shoe I may consider upgrading to the 880 next time; the 880 is basically New Balance's version of popular shoes such as the Nike Pegasus, the Mizuno Wave Rider, and the Brooks Defyance, the shoe I just discarded. Clearly, I'm in the process of trying to find a brand, or just switching around until I get something I like. I have deemed Nikes too uncomfortable for the foreseeable future so I'll keep shopping around.

Anyway, I felt surprisingly fantastic today. It was over 90 and humid and I was coming off a tough long run, but I felt great and just cruised along. The shoes are very light and made me feel fast. One can never have too many psychological edges, so I'm happy to have another for now.

I also think these fast (for me) long runs are starting to increase my fitness. Not only did this pace feel easy today but the distance also seemed very short. I ran out on the greenway for a bit, turned around, and I was done.

Another Easy One

Distance: 4.89 mi
Time: 00:37:42 - 7:42 ppm
Running Buddy

I didn't intend for things to be so easy these last two weeks, but we'll just let it be my tapering session, as discussed previously. We can't train and race hard all summer; there need to be breaks so I guess this was one of mine. A break hasn't involved any workouts yet but I may do one tomorrow, and I hope to get in another decently quick long run on Sunday.

I've been busy at work this week and I haven't had time to put together a long-term schedule yet, but I have been messing around on Athleticore. It looks to be a good way to compare workouts with others.

Calling an Audible

Distance: 5.61 mi
Time: 00:40:26/7:12 pace

I was supposed to wake up early this morning and do a workout, but I called an audible and decided to rest - sort of. Basically, I've been trying to make a point to listen to the body more this time and not do anything I don't really need to do. I want to avoid the mistakes of last fall. My ankles had been bothering a good bit last night, and were stiff when I awoke. I did my calf raises and everything felt fine after that, but I decided a hard workout could wait another week.

Two o'clock rolled around, I had finished all my work for the day, and it was beautiful outside, so I decided to head to Freedom Park. In lieu of a real workout I decided I'd just do my five-plus loop at a slightly faster pace than normal. Normal was about 7:30 or so, so I was hoping to average around 7 minutes per mile.

I set off around the lake and up one of the Queens roads and hit 7:21 for the first mile. Perfect, not too fast. On a slight incline, then a slight decline and another slight incline, I hit 7:16 for mile number two. After this, I opened it up a bit and started feeling pretty good. I would glance down at the "average current pace" displayed on the Garmin and I swear I kept seeing numbers like "6:42" and "6:38" so I tried to keep it there. I was a little disappointed when I pulled up the stats and saw 6:46 for the third mile and 6:58 for the fourth.

At this point I was on the greenway - and right out in the sun - and I slowed down a good bit for the last two miles. This run confirmed that I wasn't really ready for a workout, but all in all I did pretty well, considering how long it's been since I tried to do anything even remotely heroic.

Stats and Map