Saw this article on the lovely Kara Goucher, thought I would pass along. Also, looks like Ryan Hall is dropping out of New Orleans, but Sammy Wanjiru will be running instead for his London prep. I read earlier this week that he is shooting for the world record in Berlin this fall, and thinks that Geb is done. Pretty interesting to see if Geb runs in Berlin also to face off. He is still the greatest runner ever to run, but I do find it kind of odd that all his marathon victories/records were with pacers and weaker competition instead of a field full of the best runners. The one year he did race with some greats (I think 2002 London?), he completely fizzled out and had to drop out during the race, where later Khalid Khonnouchi ended up setting the world record. I hope he isn't past his prime, and want to see him race with the best before he's done.
On to my running - Wednesday, was feeling a little sore from hill work the night before. Looked at some of the previous work we did in the Chi training block, and figured I went at it a little too hard on my splits, so need to scale back next time. Got home from work, was sleeting a little but wanted to get in my run asap since it was only going to get worse. Got out, did my customary trail loop, a little snow on the trails but nothing bad and wasn't slick. Went slow, caught myself going pretty fast at points so had to slow down. Thought about tacking on a couple extra, but was slipping on the roads so opted to stop. Stretching and corework afterwards. Total mileage: 4 miles - no idea the splits nor time in general since I wasn't paying attention, went sans watch.
Yesterday, felt like garbage all day - back was sore, ankle was tender, and stiff as a board. Maybe old age?! Stretched out all day, I think I slept funny which may explained the soreness of my back. Was thinking about my tempo all day, a little nervous since Sunday's race didn't really indicate my state of speed at this point. Also, I am mixing some speed work recommended by Ben, which is really aggressive so wanted to make sure I was at some sort of level to be doing these challenging workouts. So decided on trying to hit 6:30's and seeing how I feel, since next week's workout will be 4 mile tempo (20 seconds slower than race pace) and it somewhat close to what I wanted.
Weather was a little breezy and cold - low 20's. Still some slick areas on the ground, so had to be careful. Did 1 up to the trail, worked the kinks out and felt pretty good. Looked at the trail which looked ok and had my footprints from yesterday's run. Started out waaaaay too fast (first quarter was sub 1:30), plus feeling a little deadened leg feeling which is never good that early into a run. Scaled back, hit mile 1 pretty fast but felt decent. 2nd mile the same, just coasted through and finally got in a good rhythm. Turned around right into the wind, struggled a little and actually contemplating stopping but sucked it up and kept going. My Garmin was jumping all around, so difficult to know what pace I was running, but forged ahead. On the last mile, started coasting halfway through and tried to relax. Sort of got a second wind - felt pretty good finishing, could have went another mile or 2 at that pace I think. Cooldown, stretching afterwards. Total mileage: 6 miles - splits were: 6:14, 6:14, 6:21, 6:24.
So feeling pretty good about my tempo, happy to hit great splits. And happy to see that the Boulder race was probably a product of the altitude, seeing I ran over 8 minutes faster!!! 5K split was 19:20, so I'm pretty confident I'm getting to where I need to be. Off day today, then long run with Crystal on Sat. Pace run on Sunday, week 1 is going perfectly as planned!
Lastly, here is an interview (Part 1, Part 2) with the Big River Running owners, Ben Rosario and Matt Helbig. Gives great insight on their running backgrounds and what makes the store as awesome as it is! If you are ever in the STL area, please stop in and check it out!
Ben running the Rock n Roll San Antonio 1/2
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