A Duel for the Ages

Rock 'n Roll Philly, Great North Run recap, and more about one of the greatest duels this year.  And the new Garmin 620/220 which is coming out later this fall.

Thursday, September 12th - 4 miles.  Ran after work with Crystal on Old Faithful on a sunny and warm evening.  Started out pretty slow, but picked it up at the end to the point where we made ourselves slow down.  Let me add that running only 4 miles is very, very nice.  31:50 or so total.

Friday, September 13th - 11 miles.  I moved back my marathon pace run to Friday, because of the amazing weather that was scheduled.  Crystal and I coordinated our workouts to do in the morning (she had 5 mile tempo) so we would see each other.  Well, I woke up with some of the worst joint/IT pain in the world, and hobbled outside to try to jog it out.  It was apparent it wasn't getting better, so opted to pace Crystal on bike for her workout to try to loosen up for later.  So rode down to Village Circle on a very brisk morning, and knocked out about 8 miles on bike with her.  It was so brisk that I wore a long sleeve shirt for the first time since March.  Crystal KILLED her workout, as her goal pace was 6:00 min/mile, and she hit 29:46 total on the trails.  And that included a repeat of her Last Chance for Marathon finish, but that can be blamed from some antibiotics that she had been taking.  Stretched all day, then made it out in the evening to knock out this workout.  10 mile marathon pace run at 6:45-6:55 pace with 2 mile cutdown at the end.  I had this workout (minus the cutdown) in an earlier block, so I knew I could hit it which is always good mentally going into a workout like this.  So because of the fading sunlight, I did the world's fastest 2 minute warm up and started for the trails from my place.  Very cool evening, and my strategy to postpone this workout was justified.  Crystal met me at about 1.5 miles (she had agreed to pace me on bike and hand over fluids if needed), and she set pace for me as we took off for Troy out and back.  Made the turn around at Drost Park, and I was feeling very smooth and could maintain conversation fairly easily.  Had a small stop at a cross walk for a car and at then turnaround, but felt fine and very controlled.  When we crossed back past the bridge headed for the trail entrance, I felt like I was starting to work a little.  The last 2 miles, we picked it up slowly and headed towards Crystal's neighborhood which was much more open and flat/fast, and she led me towards a fast finish.  Very pleased with this workout, but not pleased to find out my crappy math subtracted a mile so I actually only did 9 miles instead of 10.  I don't have my watch handy, but between Crystal's and I's garmin we had 6:48-6:50 avg. pace with last 2 miles at 6:42, 6:32.  Easy cooldown around the neighborhood to finish it out.

Saturday, September 14th - 7 miles.  Early run with Crystal on Old Faithful out and back.  Another gorgeous morning to run, with a ton of company on the trails.  It's quite amazing how many people come out to exercise when it's absolutely perfect weather.  Legs felt like jello starting out, but loosened up and we were cruising at the end.  7:52 avg. pace with a pretty slow first mile.  Supposed to be recovery, but fortunately felt fine at the end.  Hop in the City Schlafly Beer Festival in the afternoon!

Sunday, September 15th - 16 miles.  Not surprisingly, was feeling quite sluggish when I woke up.  Headed over to Crystal's, and did out and back on Old Faithful.  Crystal was in for 14 miles, and my legs felt like garbage.  It was pretty nice when we started, but it was getting noticeably warmer and very sunny.  After the second mile, felt a lot better and loosened up, and we cruised up the Meridian Hill before the turnaround and the wonderful downhill.  Started to really cramp up, and we stopped for water at Miner Park, but the water fountains were turned off.  Proceeded onwards, then had some stomach issues which warranted another impromptu stop, then gutted it out to finish.  Ran 2 miles solo at home to round out the day.  ~7:45 average overall, and very pleased with this run.  51 miles this week, 123 miles in September, 1754.5 miles in 2013.

Tonight, easy mileage at group run, which I haven't attended in awhile.  20 more days till race day!