Playing Catchup

Quick Q/A with Meb, and an interesting piece from the Wall Street Journal about compulsive running. They compare compulsive running to any other obsession like drinking or doing drugs - unreal! A picture from Sarah Palin's Runners World shoot made the cover of Newsweek in controversial fashion might I add - we will be hearing a TON about this, I'm sure. And finally, the Boston Marathon registration is closed in record time!!!

Weekend running went pretty well, but ended up on a crappy note. Friday, went for a quick, easy run after work. Legs felt good, and the weather was cool and breezy. Basically tried to not push it at all, but surged on a few points because of oncoming traffic and hills. Never got out of control, was a little shocked to see the time of the run which was a few minutes faster than I thought it would be. Legs are getting stronger. Total mileage: ~4 miles - total time running was 30:41. Surprise birthday party for a friend that night, had a TON of fun hanging out with a good group of buddies and certainly ate/drank more than I would have liked.

Saturday, weather got HOT all of a sudden. Ran some errands, decided to go for a run in the early afternoon. Because it is November and has been cool, wore a long sleeved shirt but within 20 steps called an audible and changed into a short sleeved shirt. Sun was BRIGHT, and there was a small breeze but really not much. Temp was in the 70's, so felt like a spring day. Did the Troy route, wanted to make it a not so hard effort with the long run looming on Sunday, so started out moderately slow. Hit the trail, started hitting faster splits which wasn't planned but hardly felt any effort so kept plodding along. For some reason, started to get really fatigued around the 3rd mile, but still felt like I was slow jogging even though my splits were good. Was running into the wind and into the sun, so maybe that took a lot out of me? At the turnaround, decided I wanted this run over with since I was just felt like garbage, so exorcised any evil thoughts of stopping and just headed back. Coming home was more of the same - felt like I was running on fumes, but really the run was easy. Pretty much my body was failing me, was the weirdest feeling. Happy with the run though, even though I struggled a ton. Total mileage: 8 miles - splits were: 7:49, 7:26, 7:27, 7:22, 7:13, 7:15, 7:12, 7:07 (avg. 7:22).

Stretched a ton, took nap, then headed over to Pat and Crystal's for game night (Stacy joined in too!). Fun times as usual, slept in forever on Sunday and headed to see the St. Louis Rams game with Pat and some other friends. Wanted to get in an early run, but it didn't happen. When we got home, the weather had turned completely the opposite - cold, windy, and rainy! Since I wasn't feeling too hot, completely missed a run which was a shame because I had a great running week going - ended up with 32 miles with some decent workouts in there.

Monday, 0 miles!!! Started raining, and didn't stop (and actually hasn't stopped in 3 days!). It wasn't sprinkling either, which made it impossible to run outside. Spent the majority of the evening car shopping, so pretty much ran out of time. Yesterday, got home a little later, had scheduled track work which quite frankly wasn't going to happen with this type of weather. Finally got a slow pocket of weather where it was just slightly raining, so got in a really quick short distance run. Ran to the trail and back, which is hilly. Wanted to run fast, but controlled, which I thought would be around half marathon pace. First mile felt pretty decent, and didn't push too hard. Coming back was fine too - started to get a little tired from the hills, but didn't feel too much harder than a tempo run which I didn't want to push past that effort. Rain was not ideal, but glad to get in something small and quick. Very pleased with my splits. Total mileage: 2 miles - splits were 6:10, 6:06.

So here I am, pretty much on a weird running schedule but getting my legs back. As long as the weather cooperates, plan on getting in a monster long run this weekend which I desperately need right now!!!