Jenn-ay!

Jenny Simpson, Ryan Hall, Yohan Blake continues his mastery, U.S. strives for 30 medals in London, How money came into running, and the state of the marathon. Carbo loading rules, Bolt wins again, NYC Marathon field starting to shape up with Martin Lel and Emmanuel Mutai throwing their names in the hat, and Boston registration continues (as does the controversy).

Friday, September 9th - 10 miles (3 up, 6x1 mile tempo, 1 down). Planned workout with Crystal, and the rain made scheduling a little tricky. Wanted a 1 mile loop (as opposed to running circles all night), so settled on my trail 1 miler, since it was flat and no turns. Jogged down with Crystal from my place, and did an extended warmup thinking it would be better for later (it was - Good call C!). Planned workout was 7x1 mile at tempo pace (6:25-6:30) with 1 minute rest. Felt really good on the first few, but started to struggle afterwards. 5th rep - crashed pretty hard and had an awful split, and died a horrible death on the 6th mile. Stopped at the halfway point, ran it in with Crystal on her 7th rep at a pretty blazing pace. Legs were done, yuckity yuck. Not the best workout, but got as much out of it as I possibly could. Definitely still feeling the after-effects of Shane's wedding week(end), and it was a shock to my system to be running like this. Mile splits were: 6:23, 6:24, 6:23, 6:29, 6:34 (ouch!), 6:15 (3:20, 2:55).

Saturday, September 10th - 6 miles + drills. Late morning run with Crystal, legs were absolutely demolished. Drills felt awful. Very difficult run, amazingly done in 51 minutes or so but it was definitely rough. Sun was brutal coming in, but made it ok. Wedding over in Chesterfield - one of the coolest receptions I have ever been to at Kemp Auto Museum. Not a big car buff, but very classy and saw some awesome vintage automobiles and had a great evening.

Sunday, September 11th - 14 miles. Devin was home for the weekend, so we did an out and back on Old Faithful at 9 a.m. Legs were still mush, so made it a point to keep it slow. Weather was a little bit of a factor, as the heat moved back in. I knew this was going to be a struggle, as I still felt like crap 2 miles in. Kept a decent pace, and made it through ok but was definitely tired at the end. Kept thinking of 9/11 and the events of 10 years ago, and wasn't going to quit for one second. My watch strap broke with 1.5 miles to go, so was pretty pissed about that. Don't remember total time, but kept 8:40 min/mile pace. Spent the rest of the day welcoming back the NFL on my couch and enjoying every single second of the NFL Sunday Ticket! 47 miles this week - will definitely take it, considering travel week!

Monday, September 11th - 6 miles + drills. Delayed this one as long as possible because of the weather and crazy U.S. Open men's final (Djoko is ridic!), but eventually made it out with Crystal for our customary 6 mile run and drills. Not much to say - felt ok, a little better than the weekend for sure. 51:34 total time.

Tuesday, September 12th - 6 miles. Woke up to some painful I.T. band issues in both legs. Tried stretching, but definitely felt crippled throughout the day. Finally at 9 p.m., dragged my lazy carcass outside for some mileage. First mile was rough, but eventually settled in as I did my 4 mile Glen Carbon road loop for the flatter ground. Got chased by a dog, and ran into a dead skunk. Got home, did a very slow 2 miles (out and back to the trail) since I still felt like crap. Glad to get this in, long stretch session afterwards. 31:59 for the 4 miles - shut off the watch and jogged the final 2 miles at a really slow pace.

Legs are a mess today, and so is the rain. Planned track work is probably getting shifted back a day, as I recover from these nasty I.T. issues.