Cold, Lonely, and Awesome

Distance: 20 mi.
Time: 2:35:51 - 7:48 ppm.

For today's long run, I made a point to prepare a little bit better, or at least come close to resembling pre-race preparation. I will not be working til after 11p.m. the night before Thunder Road, as I did last night, but I did take in a good bit of food yesterday and get to sleep at a decent hour. Yesterday afternoon I made a trip to Run For Your Life to pick up some more gel and purchase some new shorts. I needed a longer pair of shorts with a pocket in order to combat the cooler weather and have some room for the gel. Done and done.

I had been invited to join the group of Billy, Kahn, Carolyn, and Megan, but I declined, choosing instead to get an extra hour of sleep and run at my own pace. For the most part I prefer running with a group, as it will always be faster, but sometimes a solo long run can do wonders for the mind and spirit.

I parked at Old Bell just before 7, stretched out a bit, and stuffed some gel into my shorts. I would be taking two decaffeinated packets at miles six and twelve and one caffeinated gel at mile 18. For the race I will probably do another caffeinated dose at mile 24. I only needed one for now as I had planned to return to the car after 12 on the roads. I ran up Sardis in shorts, a tech tee, and a v-neck dry-fit long-sleeve, plus a toboggan. I was cold and it was a bit shocking compared to what I've gotten used to. I made a point not to worry about my pace, and it showed, as it was a good bit into this one before I was able to turn any decent splits. I felt like I was running faster but again, the change in temperature was a bit startling at first. I ran through Lansdowne and up Providence, then went up Alexander Road. This road is always so pretty in the early mornings when it's cold outside. There's one section with a couple small fields on either side and a blind curve that make it look like a mountain lane. It was here that I took the first gel, inadvisably without water.

I ran to the right on Sardis and turned into the Sardis Forest neighborhood, where I proceeded to get lost...story of my life. This could explain several 8:00-plus miles as I never really stopped the watch while I was walking around in the road trying to gather my bearings. Oh well, I made it out and back towards the car, where I caught a glimpse of Compton running by and took another gel - this time with water and Gatorade.

My watch read 7:56 average pace, which was a bit disturbing despite the slow miles in Sardis Forest. I ditched my hat and set off down the greenway, determined to turn some faster miles. I accomplished said goal, with my fastest split being a 7:16 on mile 17. I took the caffeinated gel with water after 18 miles, and it was here that I finally began to slow down, albeit only by a little bit, after successfully getting my average pace under 7:50. The legs were tired but the breathing and energy level had been fine all day, likely a combination of the cooler temps and the three gels.

After struggling to make it through an 18-mile run last weekend I was happy to get this one down in solid fashion. The pace was slower than I would have liked but despite being tired at the end I felt like I could have gone further. I will do one more 20-miler and a 22-mile run before I taper.

This was a good morning on the roads and trails.

Slow, Fast, Slow: A Leg-Mover.

Distance: 9.15 mi.
Time: 1:06:58.39 - 7:19 ppm.
Workout: 2.5 miles medium pace, 5 miles tempo pace, 2.5 miles cooldown.
Splits: 7:30, 7:29, 7:05, 6:57, 6:56, 6:52, 7:14, 7:48, 7:51, 1:13.

Ah, a workout. It's been two weeks - how have you been? The goal today was to steal a page from David Brinkley's training plan and do 10 miles total with 5 miles at tempo pace. Normally, that would mean about 6:40 per mile, but I knew not to expect that today. Really, I just wanted to get the legs moving again, and I accomplished that goal. I'm pleased with the proceedings of the day.

McAlpine had been rendered a mud-wrecked, rip-roaring rapids adventure center by a week's worth of rain in Charlotte, so I made a poor choice in venue today, but my heel enjoyed the soft surface. More importantly, my heel didn't hurt at all after 3 miles. I applied some cold therapy after the workout, but then I had to go work a valet shift at one of my clients' restaurants, so as I write this it feels stiff. But I'm encouraged that it's only a minor setback and that it will go away soon. I will practice my due diligence this time, though - unlike last year.

Touring Matthews

Distance: 14.00 mi
Time: 01:44:44 - 7:28 ppm
Running Buddy

I woke up at 5:30 this morning, unsure if I wanted to try a workout or join the CRC group of Paul and a few others for a long run...and it's this lack of organization that beckons a structured training plan in my life. I've been working on it through Athleticore, and researching some more ideas for workouts, but for right now I just need to get the discipline I'm displaying on weekends to carry over to the week.

I knew I'd end up joining the group after going back to sleep for a while, and I made it to the Sardis lot just before 7 a.m. Soon, I was joined by Ben Hovis, Paul, Jay Holder, Billy Shue, Mike Kahn - whom I met for the first time - and two other guys. I was wearing the Saucony trail shoes, so I was a little surprised when Hovis led the group up Sardis Road, away from the greenway. Billy and Paul later told me we'd be running through Matthews for a bit as a break from the park. Fair enough, but I had a feeling I'd be buying a second new pair of shoes after this run (and I was right).

Hovis looped us through downtown Matthews and eventually to a greenway just off Trade Street, where we all promptly got lost. The pace stayed conversational, though it did dip down below 7:10 for at least one mile after starting off easy. Our group wandered down the greenway and ended up right near the Matthews exit of I-485 - a little off the beaten path, for sure - before heading back into the town. I started to feel a bit rough about 10 miles into this. This pace is quicker than I used to do for long runs, sure, but it didn't bother me at all last week or the week before. I attribute it to poor nutrition for most of this week.

I stopped to re-lace my shoes as they were most definitely bothering me, being on the roads and all, but I caught back up to the group when they stopped to find water at a church. I led the way down Fullwood and back to 51 before slowing down for good. I was nearing that "barrier point" where I was about to reach recently-uncharted territory as far as distance is concerned. I definitely hit a major wall before mile 12, but I was pleasantly surprised to look at the watch afterward and find that I still kept those last 2 miles under 8-minute pace, despite the pain.

I was soon joined at the park by Jay and Kahn, and we sang Happy Birthday to Kahn's son rather enthusiastically. I have to say this run hurt but as I write this I have since done yard work, chased my niece around the yard a good bit, gone out and bought some new shoes, and grilled steaks and chicken for the whole family (sis goes back home tomorrow). So clearly, I recovered just fine. Hopefully I'll finally do what I've been saying I need to do for weeks - starting eating clean again. Either way, it's nice to once again up the distance barrier by a few miles. I'm really hoping the recent long runs will do wonders for me, especially since I've taken a two-week break from any kind of speed work.

It all gets going again this week. 

Improvement

Warmup: 1.92 mi in 14:39/7:37 ppm
Workout: 4xMile with 2-min rest between sets. 6:09, 6:06, 6:00, 5:59.
Cooldown: 2.05 mi in 18:42/9:06 ppm
Goal: improve times from the first mile repeats workout and learn how to push through pain better.

Great success! I ran these by myself at McAlpine and blew away my splits from this same workout with Brinkley at McMullen about a month ago. The conditions today were ideal, so that helped. I ran into Mike Mitchell and then John Compton on the greenway warming up, and I think seeing each of them got me fired up. I reset the watch at the park and programmed it for four one-mile sets with two minute rest in between. I ran the first one from the starting line of the 5k course to Margaret Wallace in 6:09, and it was characterized by surges. I started off hard, then slowed down, then kept an eye on things and just cruised home. I crossed MW and headed into the thick woods towards Harris Boulevard. I was heading for home and suddenly realized I was running out of trail. It was either make a sharp turn up some steps and onto the sidewalk or continue running through tall - and possibly snake-infested - weeds. I chose the weeds and came through in 6:06.

Starting in the weeds, I ran my next one back down the asphalt greenway towards Margaret Wallace and was able to keep the pace brisk. I hit 6-flat and then prepared to run my last mile. I dodged a woman and her kids on the greenway and tried to throw the hammer down with just under half a mile to go. Nothing... Well, I still can't find that speed... Wait. I looked at the watch, saw I had a chance to break 6, and then went for it. There it is...the speed, the drive, the want-to.  I finished in just under 6 minutes, and then bent down to grab my shorts in an effort to find air.

I have improved a good bit, and even ran negative splits - I can't ask for more than that right now. Let's just hope it's there on Saturday.

Details

Longest Run of the Cycle

And so it has come to this...I ran 20 miles last weekend, did a brutal 3x5k workout on Wednesday, and now I had to do a 22-mile long run.  I wasn't kidding when I said things were starting to get tough.  At least I know my head is in the right place; I went out for dinner and then to the Bobcats game yet still got to bed early.  I had plans for lunch at Brio Sunday so I would have to be out the door early.

I communicate in movie quotes and the phrase "22 miles" brought to mind the scene from Tommy Boy where David Spade argues with the clerk over directions to a nearby town.

"How far is it to Davenport?"
"22 miles."
"That's funny because I don't see it on this map...."
"Well, get yourself a new map!"

At 42 degrees this wouldn't quite be my coldest run but in addition to the longest this was also the earliest,  as I was out the door before 6:30, armed with three gel packets.  I mapped a 16-mile loop from my apartment that would go right down Sardis, where I would add another 6 miles on the greenway.  Wearing a long-sleeved dry-fit shirt and some longer running shorts - but no hat or gloves - I wasn't warm but felt comfortable as I briefly headed towards town and ran through Eastover before hopping onto Providence Road.  I had a long, mostly uphill stretch of  pavement ahead of me.  I became annoyed at how many times I had to cross the street because I ran out of sidewalk, but I did enjoy being able to run down the middle of the road at some sections.  This peaceful run reminded me why I loved getting out there so early.

One gel packet and nearly 8 miles later, I finally turned off Providence Road.  I had run from Myers Park all the way to south Charlotte, all on the same road, and I wasn't even halfway through my run.  At this point I was repeating the early part of my run with David the week before and I began to take inventory of all the aches and pains.  My left shin and ankle were noticeable but weren't really in pain.  My back was stiff and every pounding of my right foot brought some sharp pain from what felt like the toe next to the big guy.  I knew I didn't have any blisters so I wasn't sure what this latest ailment was.  When I got to the Sardis lot I recognized Billy Shue waiting to run with a group of other CRC runners, and we exchanged greetings.  He called out, "Good luck, Jason! - 22 miler today, right?"  Yup, I guess he saw my Facebook post.

"...You say it's 22 miles to Davenport, and you seem like a pretty smart guy but..."
"I'm picking up the sarcasm."
"Good, because I'm laying it on pretty thick."

Now on the greenway, I dropped the pace down to better than 7:20 per mile and kept it there for the six miles I was out on the dirt.  I stopped for the first time after 18 miles to stretch my legs just for a bit, and since I didn't want to hurt myself, I slowed down some.  By this time I had taken all three gels and while the legs were very sore, my energy level was in a good place.  I stopped for the second and final time at Providence Day to drink some water and head home.

"This is a map of Illinois - which we're in.  Davenport...is in Iowa...22 miiiiiiiiiles away.  You're in the wrong state.  Get yourself a new map."
"Oh.  Well that wasn't so hard, was it?"

About three miles from home, I noticed my right foot felt a bit wet.  I looked down and, surely enough, the top of my shoe was stained red.  I didn't feel any pain but I suppose the sight of that much blood is always a slight cause for concern.  I pressed on but I couldn't have kicked to the finish if I tried.  After 2 hours, 49 minutes, and 17 seconds on the road and trails, I was done.  I averaged 7:42 per mile, which seemed slow to me, and there's a chance I measured the route a bit short.  My training log site has been acting wonky lately but it's hard to complain about such a good resource that costs nothing.

I have now made quite a few deposits into the Bank of Endurance and Stamina.  I have done a 12, three 14s, a 16, an 18, a 19, two 20s, and a 22-mile long run, with the 19 being the fast one.  I also completed today's run on the heels of my hardest workout and while being in more pain than I have at any point in the cycle - easily.  Again, I'm just trying to get through the meat grinder and then I can taper!  I'm off to Savannah for Thanksgiving so I'll be doing my last hard workout in unfamiliar territory!

Oh, and it turns out I had a thin laceration on my toe - no idea how that happened but oh well.

I'll spare you all a picture of the foot itself.

Tough workout in the rain

A little over a month ago, I headed over to Old Bell to do some hills.  I mapped out a 1.4-mile loop over several steep, rolling hills and decided to do it five times consecutively for a total of seven miles, non-stop.  Before this workout I figured 7:15 mile pace would be doable and came very close to hitting that target time through four of the five loops.  With a five month difference in my training and a thirty-five degree difference in temperature, I decided to give this workout another go to see how much faster I could run it.

I slept in til about 8 today and awoke to notice the rain was coming down a bit.  I wasn't so sure I wanted to go flying up and down a bunch of hills on wet pavement in a pair of shoes that weren't exactly brand new.  I was really in the mindset of running the hills but decided that "Plan B" would be a repeat of a 2x3-mile workout I had also done a month earlier. 

I parked at the Sardis/Old Bell lot and headed out for a three-mile warmup on the greenway.  Right after I turned around the skies opened up and gave me a pretty steady rain.  After a minute of thought I decided to forget about Old Bell, and I headed towards McAlpine to do the 2x3 on the 5k course.  I did this workout about a month ago in my parents' neighborhood and bombed.  I wanted another crack at it.  The Lake Park surface was flatter than the 5k course, which features a steep hill in mile two, but it was also 90-plus degrees when I did that workout. 

I have been having some trouble pacing myself in recent workouts; I think that's the last thing that comes back when one has been away from heavy training for awhile.  I decided that solving that problem would take priority over actually running a fast time.  I aimed for 6:30 mile pace and with the rain coming down I headed out in what I estimated to be a pretty slow start, so when I came through the half mile and saw "3:09," I slowed down some.  I hit 6:29 for mile one, 6:36 for the hill mile, and 6:23 for the last mile for a total time of 19:28 - almost exactly 6:30 pace!  I felt pretty fresh as I took three minutes to rest (jogging around and stretching a bit) and headed back to the starting line.  I wanted to go faster on this one so when I reached the half and saw "3:07" I didn't slow down this time.  I hit 6:18 for mile one and held on for a 6:31 on the hill mile and slowly picked up the pace for my final mile.  When I came around the lake I picked it up again and about 300 meters from the finish I really took off.  I finished the second 3-mile set in a time of 18:57 after running 6:09 in the final mile.  I really wish I knew what my last half mile was but I failed to check the watch at that point.  I felt like I could have slogged through a third set after longer rest, but since I had slept in until 8 I really needed to get home and do some work. 

Between the warmup and cooldown I logged just under 10 miles for the day, putting me over 20 for the week after just two days.  I'm planning to do an easy 7 or 8 tomorrow and likely the same on Friday, and then I have a 20-miler this weekend, so this is shaping up to be my highest week of mileage ever.

Shaking Hands and Smiling at Babies

After last week's 16-miler I decided to go back to smarter preparation for some of these long runs.  With that in mind, I went to the local Teeter Friday night in search of a healthy late-night meal because I had nothing in the fridge.  After walking around for about ten minutes in a confused and agitated state, I left for the local watering hole, where I ate six spicy chicken wings and drank about five beers.  Oops.  The next day I rolled out of bed at 5:45 a.m. to meet Mike Oelz and David Brinkley for what would soon be my longest run ever - 18 miles.

We came up with a good plan to take on Gu gel and water during this run.  I parked my car at Trader Joe's next to the greenway and waited for Oelz to pick me up.  We loaded my ride with water and gel and drove over to the Highway 51 entrance to the McMullen Greenway, where Brinkley was waiting.  It was still pretty dark and cold.  I was rocking a dry-fit long-sleeved shirt and a pair of Patrick Mannelly's Duke football shorts over my short running shorts.  We planned to run past my car and pick up about 12 miles before taking the Gu and water and finishing the final six.  The greenway was crowded as usual and Brinkley took it upon himself to shout, "Good Morning!" at every single runner, walker, and baby jogger we passed.  After awhile we noticed people stopped saying it back and Brinkley joked that we had crossed over into the more snooty section of the greenway.  Yes, the property value creeps up a bit as ya get closer to Rea Road. 

We were logging well under 8-minute pace per mile as we ran past my car and to the end of the greenway, then darted through some of the Piper Glen neighborhoods, down 51, and back up Rea.  In order to hit 12 miles by the time we got back to my car we realized we needed to improvise, so we wound through Piper Glen and eventually found ourselves on the golf course.  The three amigos got in some good, steep, up-and-down hill running and even jogged down a few fairways (Fore!!!!).  We were all feeling good and I was extremely thankful to have David and Mike around after last week's dreadful solo long run.  I made a mental note to not do any more long runs by myself.

We got back to the car and I stripped down to my running shorts as we all took some gel and water, then hopped back on the greenway and proceeded to pick up the pace.  Brinkley, he of the almighty Garmin watch, shouted out that we were running 7:20 pace at one point, which led to some loud grumbling amongst the crowd.  Rabble!  Rabble rabble!  I tried to calm everyone down, saying that it was awesome we didn't realize we were going that fast and everyone agreed it was a good sign.  With a little over three miles to go I got fussed at for picking up the pace, but I was feeling good, and David stayed right with me.  I was waiting for my body to hit a wall but it never happened.  I felt fantastic.  Regardless of what happens from here on out I know I'll look back on today's long run as one of the better moments in my training.  It was a nice confidence booster after having a crappy long run and a blown workout in my recent memory.

I accidentally zeroed my watch at one point but David was kind enough to e-mail me our mile splits, which went as follows:  7 minutes 53 seconds, 748, 747, 750, 743, 743, 742, 738, 800, 817, 755 (these were on the hilly golf course), 741, 744, 739 (I'm getting tired just typing this), 720, 717, 707, and 701.  It's a great feeling to see those negative splits at the end.  A 7:01 mile at the end of an 18-mile run?  I'll take it.  Maybe I should do the beer-and-wings combo the night before the marathon?  In all seriousness I at least made sure to do the right thing after this run by drinking plenty of water, taking exra time to stretch, and devouring a huge breakfast before I took a nap.

Hopefully today's run is a positive sign of things to come.  We shall soon find out!

Re-visiting the tempo run

The idea today was to do an 8-mile tempo run on the McAlpine Greenway from the Sardis lot to Harris Blvd. and back.  Out-and-backs can be boring but this was a good route for a tempo run because all the miles are clearly marked and the terrain is predictable.  I met up with Daniel Eggers, David Brinkley, and Mike Oelz.  This was the first time all four of us had run together since we began our training.  We decided to run the first four miles at 6:45 pace, bump it down to about 6:30 after that, and then just do what we could for the end of the workout. 
This was going to be a very important workout for me.  I've had some time to think about the Komen race and determined that my poor strategy mirrored my recent workouts - I started out great, faded badly in the middle, and finished strong.  I was determined to figure out how to pace myself better and trying to run the same pace for 8 miles would be a great way to do that.

We were right around 6:38-6:40 pace for the first four miles and I was feeling great.  I ran with Eggers and Brinkley for a bit in mile #5 before surging ahead.  I ran about 6:18 for the 5th mile, the one in which I was worried about fading.  That would prove to be my fastest mile.  Eggers took control with about 2.5 miles to go and it quickly became apparent that I would be staring at his back for the rest of the run.  With Brinkley right on my heels, I threw in a little surge to put distance between us with two to go and just tried to maintain pace for the remainder of the workout.  Just when I thought I was about to reel in Dan, he took off again, I slowed down, and that was that.  I ran about the same pace (just under 6:30) for the final two miles but I was speeding up and slowing down rather than running consistently.  I came through in a time of 52:38 for an average mile of 6:35. 

Check back at this workout and you will see the progress that has been made in one month's time.  That was our first real workout, and it feels like forever ago.  The 30-degree difference in temperature doesn't hurt, of course, but myself and all my training buddies have made some excellent progress in that amount of time

Eggers and I agreed after the workout that we could have continued that pace for several more miles but neither of us could have gone much faster.  Endurance, not speed.  We agreed to attempt a shorter, faster workout for next week - maybe some mile repeats - in order to push the pain threshold and pick up some footspeed. 

Stay tuned.