Reunited

Distance: 7.03 mi.
Time: 53:53.36.
Pace: 7:40.

Today I was still hurting but nonetheless met up with Mitchell and B-Baum at Old Bell for some miles. Like me, Mike is on a downward cycle after some hard training, only his hasn't lasted 5 weeks. Ha! Brian wanted to make a real long run out of this but the three of us managed to run a few miles together before parting ways.

The Sarcoma Stomp 5k was being held today at McAlpine, and we stopped for awhile to watch the runners compete. For some reason, these McAlpine races always seem to be kept secret. I would think most runners would love a chance to race here after being on the roads all the time, but for whatever reason, I never hear of any of them and they are usually poorly attended. Today was no exception. I believe Cory Tretsky won with a time in the low 17s.

My achilles didn't bother me too much today but I'm still dealing with some tightness elsewhere in the legs. Mitchell opined that my legs were just beat up after months of higher mileage between the full and the half. I contested that I didn't take much recovery time after Thunder Road and I'm now five weeks away from Corporate Cup; however, given the nature of my job - being on my feet all the time - I think it's safe to say the legs could use some rest here and there.

Are we there yet?

Distance: 18 mi.
Time: 2:22:55 - 7:56 ppm.

After being in a rut for the last two weeks, I was prepared for this long run to hurt, and I was not disappointed. Aiding the pain was me getting caught up with a couple things yesterday, not eating enough, and some sneakily bad humidity. Nevertheless, I was determined to hit 18 miles, and I did.

I met Mike Mitchell at 8:00 at Old Bell. Mike prefers the later times; I do not, but figured I could get up before 6 and eat something before meeting, so that's what I did. I am hoping to soon get in a groove with the long runs, doing what I'll do on race day, and so I'm trying to figure out what that groove will be.

The problem with running with Mitchell is he's a good bit faster than me, and so we started off a little quicker than I would have preferred for a long run. Back in the Campbell Creek section of the greenway we started gaining on an older guy who would soon be our running buddy for the next few miles. Matt Rich was wearing a CRC hat and regaled us with Boring Stories of Glory Days - 2:40 marathons, the Heartbreak Hill in Boston, and so on. We passed That Really Fast Older Dude - if you've run McAlpine, you know who I'm talking about: always wearing purple-and-gold shorts, always looking straight ahead and ignoring your greetings, and always running about 6-minute pace. Well, Matt knew him, and they slapped hands, proving that this dude is in fact somewhat human. Matt told us his name is Tom Briggs and that he's in low-15 5k shape but hasn't raced in 20 years. I can't decide if that's weird or awesome. For the record, I can definitely see myself being that guy who's too cool to show up for races in about five  fifteen years, but I suppose it's a lot less "cool" when you're not all that fast.

Anyway, I stopped for a bathroom break at the park, with plans to rendezvous with Mike and Matt later. My pit stop showed me that what I did the night before/morning of wasn't the race week plan. I'll try something else next time. I kept the pace under 7:30 as I headed back down the greenway, where Mike joined me in going back to the car. We took water, Gatorade, and a bit of fuel. It wasn't enough. I/we started slowing down. Matt rejoined us for a bit before taking off in another direction for good. Mike and I were hurting - him because of some Achilles pain and me from a lack of energy. He discussed a strategy to get through a tough long run: think about the run in checkpoints, not miles. We were on the course now and decided the finish line would be the next checkpoint. The second weir would be the next, Boyce Park the next after that, etc. Down the back loop Mike dropped off to stretch his Achilles. I kept going - slowly. He rejoined me for a bit before stopping for good to walk back.

I hit my next two checkpoints, stopping for water at Boyce, and then continuing to stop to walk. I was near the end of my run but determined to get in 18. Ever the glutton for punishment, I decided to finish my run on the Old Bell hills. Why not? I wanted to see how I would handle some rolling hills while feeling like I was dead. I didn't handle it very well today, but I got in the miles.

The good news is I was able to recover pretty well later in the day, and I'm confident fall weather will be upon us any week now...hopefully.

Tough Long Run

13.44 in 01:42:37 - 7:38 ppm

This one was tough. The humidity/dew point/temperature/whatever you want to go by...it's all been hell on us runners lately, and that combined with a still-empty stomach made things interesting for me today.

I persuaded Mitchell into getting up a little earlier and meeting our group at Old Bell at 6:30 a.m., and really, we would have been better suited to start earlier. We did have a huge group, though: myself, Mike, Spada, Paul, Alex, Ben Hovis, Nate Stanford, Kevin Ballantine, Ryan Koziol, Billy...I must be forgetting someone. We were going to take a break from the trails and run a road loop that Paul had mapped out and assured us all would be a downhill finish.

That of course meant an uphill start as we wound our way up Sardis, through Lansdowne, and then out Providence Road. Mitchell was able to glean some information from Spada about the New York City marathon that he's running in the fall. I took a break to urinate behind a tree and then had to run a 6:49 mile in order to catch up because the boys were already setting a quick pace. I blame Alex, who insists on running 7:10 pace or better every step of the way! We went all the way to Rea Road and then past the Olde Providence neighborhood, the site of my Firecracker 5k. Here we stopped to get water as Paul was nice enough to set out about 8 bottles under a tree for us.

We turned down Colony and I suddenly began to feel very weak. I informed Paul and then Kevin that I was going to slow down my pace and look for a shortcut back because I didn't have the energy to stay with them. Alex took a pee break without telling anyone and got way behind - he passed me before I turned off but never caught the group.

I turned down Carmel and made my way to Sharon View and Old Providence Road. I was going to take this route and then go across Providence and down Sardis Lane, which I figured would cut me short by about two miles from the 15 that everyone else was doing. I completely missed the downhill finish, however; my shorter route featured some pretty steep hills. Given how well I know these roads, I was aware of this, and just wanted to be done. I slipped into the high 7s and eventually even ran slower than 8 minutes per mile in this section.

I made it back to Old  Bell after getting in just over 13 for the day. The group showed up not much longer than I did and they were all spent as well. Spada said he was really hurting and we each took our sweet time passing out water and Gatorade and relaxing in the road.

I went home, made some food - which luckily I was able to keep down - and then slept like a baby for about five hours. I'm pleased to report as I write this that the stomach issues appear to have subsided, but man this was a tough day!