Emma Coburn, Shalane is joining me in Berlin, Meb running NYC.
Fell behind (again), but I have remembered most of the details. It's been a rough few weeks, but got in some really good work in July!
Friday, July 4th – 5 miles. I don’t remember details at all. Happy Birthday, 'Murica!
Saturday, July 5th – 16 miles. Long run bright and early with Mike and
Crystal with Coach Kyle biking. Team
Sullentrup Reunion! Crystal and I did the
first 5 miles or so on the trail towards Marine, before catching Mike at the
trail entrance. For old time’s sake, we
did the Old Faithful/Home Depot loop with a water break at Township Park. Legs were getting really tired towards the
end, and Mike and I were getting strung out by Crystal’s pace pushing before
she finally broke us and scampered away down the stretch. But in all seriousness, I had a blast and it
was hard work but a solid run for me. 2:06:59
total, 7:56 average pace.
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| Grill time during holiday weekend |
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| 311/Urge Concert with my homeboys |
Sunday, July 6th – 3 miles shakeout run late at
night. Legs were dead, and body was beat
up from the awesome 4th of July weekend with Coach Kyle and
Schlegel. 270 loop and some change,
25:05 total. 49 miles this week, 44 miles in July, 1149.5 miles in 2014.
Monday, July 7th – 5 miles. Easy run with Crystal before work. Out and back towards Home Depot on the trail,
I believe. I don’t remember this much,
but looks like we were feeling decent.
38:48 total (8:02, 7:38, 7:51, 7:48, 7:24).
Tuesday, July 8th – 5 miles. Too hot to do track work, pushed back a day.
Wednesday, July 9th – 11 miles (2 up, 20x400, 1
down). Procrastination, as I waited till
the last possible second to do this workout.
Workout was 20x400, with 200 m jog in between. Start at 10K pace (6:15 min/mile – 1:34 per
rep), then cut back 2 seconds after each set (4 sets of 5) and a 400 m jog in
between sets. Warm evening, but cooled
down once I got started and soon it was pretty dark outside and all the
riff-raff cleared from the track. Tough
getting locked into a pace, and started out way too hard but eventually got in
a better rhythm. Last set was pretty
tough, and had to suck it up a lot to get it done. Long workout, but helps to break down the
number of reps per set and concentrate on those, rather than the collective
whole. Splits were: (1:29, 1:31, 1:30, 1:32, 1:35), (1;32, 1:31, 1:32, 1:31,
1:32), (1:28, 1:29, 1:31, 1:28, 1:29), (1:27, 1:27, 1:27, 1:24, 1:18).
Thursday, July 10th – 6 miles. Easy run with Yoch. Legs were pooped, that’s all I remember. It was pretty warm outside, and we did trail
loop by his place. A warm day, and glad I had someone to push me through this slow, recovery run. 49:31 total. Happy Birthday to my little baby Franklin!
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| Playing with his new birthday presents |
Friday, July 11th – 0! I don’t have any miles logged, so guessing I
skipped L Actually, I do remember – was feeling beat
down, and just straight up missed my scheduled fartlek. Crap
Saturday, July 12th – 5 miles. Death run on trails. Punishment for skipping on Friday. Waited to last possible second to do run, and
did Troy/Old Faithful route on the trail at probably the peak hot time of the
day. 90’s, sunny, and super humid, and
it was as evil as you could possibly imagine.
Watch died halfway through, but was right at 8 min pace. Probably slower overall, as I was seriously
getting a little light headed at the end and chugged a gallon of water when I
got back.
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| 2 miles into my run - doesn't this look fun??? |
Sunday, July 13th – 18 miles. Death on the trails. Set it up where I’d have the last 12 with Yoch, so started at 5 a.m. and did out and back towards Glen Carbon (turnaround at Covered Bridge). It was nasty and sticky as soon as I stepped foot outside, and knew this would be a tough day since I was working really hard just to hit 8 minute miles. Turned around and was soaking wet from the conditions (80 degrees and 84% humidity at my 5 a.m. start, so was getting progressively worse as I went along). Stopped at mile 4, and texted Jon that I wasn’t sure if I could do this and gave him the green light to bail if he wanted out. He talked me into staying with it, and met up with him at home where I chugged a bottle of Gatorade. We set it up where we would split our 12 and come back to hydrate and use the bathroom. Did 270 loop and Old Faithful, and hit up 8 miles before headed back for hydration. Note there were a few rest breaks in there, as I was absolutely dead from the conditions and so was Jon since he doubled (races, that is) the day before and was feeling it. Last 4 were on the trails to Troy and back, and Jon did an additional mile where I took a much needed standing rest break. Absolutely brutal run, and I was really down on myself for the crappy effort out there. Just never felt right from the first step. 2:39:55 total, 8:53 average pace, and was lucky to get under 9 min quite frankly. 50 miles this week, 94 miles in July, 1199.5 miles in 2014.
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| Outsider App says don't run! |
Monday, July 14th – 5 miles and strides. Group run with Timmy. Shakeout mile with Crystal and Craig to start
it out, then we did our 4 mile loop and strides at DuBourgh. I’ll tell you what – doing an intentionally
slow shakeout really loosened me up, as I felt pretty good afterwards – may need
to do that more, especially after high mileage weeks. 42:52 total (9:52, 8:16, 8:27, 8:22, 8:19). Felt a lot better after talking to people
about their weekend running – apparently, everyone died out and the conditions
were that bad. Hopefully next week’s
long run feels better.
Tuesday, July 15th – 5 miles. Solo after work. Legs were tired and back was really, really
tight, but made it out on a nice evening.
Out and back on the trail towards Troy, with a small detour towards
Marine, and picked it up a bit coming back in.
Felt awesome out there! Dr. Clint
gets credit for running a few hundred yards with me when I ran into him on the trail. 38:46 total (7:54, 7:49, 7:52, 7:40, 7:27). At night, was putting away dishes and
sneezed, and my back literally exploded.
Took about 10 minutes before I could get myself in an upright position,
and hobbled to bed and prayed that this was just a tweak and that’s it.
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| Marine Route on Troy - gorgeous night |
Wednesday, July 16 – 15 miles (2 up, 6 x 1.5 at marathon
pace (0.5 mile in between), 1.5 down).
Was in agony all morning with my messed up back, and Dr. Clint did some
emergency work to get me fixed up. It
was a bit scary the amount of pain I was feeling – sharp, knife-like stabs
around my lower back, and my back was clenched up so not comfortable at
all. Progressively got better through
the day post-therapy, and realized that sitting or bending over was the most
painful act for me and standing around and walking felt ok. It was a nice day, and went out that evening with Megan
and Alisha to supervise their mile repeats.
Jogged around and realized that there wasn’t any pain when I ran so decided to hop in and do some
easy pace duty for the girls. We did a couple
miles out and back with no issues, and made the split second executive decision
to give the workout a go under the condition that at the sign of any
discomfort, I would stop immediately. It
was so nice outside, and I was feeling pretty loose. Goal workout was 6 x 1.5 miles at marathon pace
(10:30-10:45 splits which are 7:00-7:10 min/mile pace) with half a mile jog in between. Did a couple reps in Village Circle, and felt
relatively ok and tried to get locked into pace. Made my way onto the trail, and did out and
back to Drost Park before finishing up in Village Circle. Felt pretty good when I was done, and slow
jog for a cooldown. LOTS of stretching
when I got back, and took my time laying down.
Splits were: 7:52, 8:31 (mile repeats), 10:30, 10:26, 10:28, 10:27, 10:28,
10:20, slow cooldown.
Thursday, July 17th – 5 miles. Solo after work. Legs were tired and back was creaky, but made
it out on a nice evening. Out and back
on the trail towards Troy, and picked it up a bit coming back in. Felt very smooth, which is a good thing
coming of a tough workout and a creaky body.
40:08 total (8:26, 8:09, 8:02,
7:58, 7:29).
Friday, July 18th – 0! Supposed to switch workout to easy run, but
ended up taking a rest day. Back was
pretty sore, and was on my feet all day.
With an early morning run looming, it was better to get my rest in since
I basically would be doubling up.
Saturday, July 19th – 18 miles. Perfect morning for a long run. Met up with Joe at 4:45 a.m. (ugh), and we
ran to Crystal’s house and did out and back on the trail towards Marine to get
me halfway through my run. Felt pretty
sluggish starting out, but the pace picked up and got in a good comfort
zone. Dropped Crystal off at her house
(she only had 60 minutes), and we picked up Colby who did the last 9 miles with
us. Out and back on Old Faithful, and
took a small water break at the Glen Carbon fire station. Last mile, I could feel myself picking it up,
and felt incredibly smooth. 6:56 last mile, and
felt very easy. Just one of those days,
but having 60 degree weather helped tremendously! Complete opposite of last week’s meltdown,
and felt very strong. 2:21:40 total
(~7:50 average pace overall). Over 18
minutes faster than last week! Amazing
what 25 degrees and 40% less humidity will do!
Sunday, July 20th – 6 miles. 54 miles this week, 148 miles in July, 1253.5 miles in 2014.
Monday, July 21st – 4 miles + strides. Death march on a nasty day with Timmy at
Group run. Felt like crap, and the track
at DuBourgh felt like a furnace. Didn’t
make it to group run on time because of an accident on the interstate, and was scrambling to get the mileage in once I got there. Because it was so humid outside, we quit when
we got back and didn’t finish out the mileage I was supposed to (one mile stort).
8:48 average pace.
Tuesday, July 22nd – 5 miles. Change in plans for the week. Because of the nasty weather, we shifted the
workout back a day, eliminated the Thursday workout, now am going to race the
Big Ten 10K hard, and cut my long run down to 12 miles. This actually makes sense on every level, as
I have been building up my long run up the last 5-6 weeks, and can now come
back down for a week as I should anyways.
Goal is to hit 10K in 40:25 – shouldn’t be too bad, but hoping the
weather in Chi behaves for the weekend.
Wednesday, July 23rd – 7 miles (1 up, 10 x 800 m,
1 down). Dreadmill day at Pat and
Crystal’s. Bad day outside again, so
decided to try on the dreadmill. In
summary, it was quite awful, and was really working hard the entire time. The
workout was Yasso 800’s, and instead of doing a 400 m jog in between, I took a
standing 1-1:30 minute break which was rough.
Had the dreadmill at 10 mph, which meant I was hitting my repeats right
at 6:00 min/mile pace. The good news was
I had American Ninja Warrior on tv while I was doing the workout – very
motivating and distracting, and I did fly through my run.
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| 10 half mile repeats |
Thursday, July 24th – 6 miles. Recovery run with Crystal. Out and back bright and early on the trails
towards Home Depot. Legs felt rubbery,
but we got faster as we moved along and definitely loosened up. It’s nice to see that my recovery runs aren’t
at the snail’s pace I was doing before, and relatively closer to long run
pace. This isn’t intentional – just going
by feel, but getting stronger. 47:50,
overall.
Friday, July 25th – 0! Travel day to Chi. Because of awful traffic, got in late and scrapped
the run. Drinking on the rooftop and
eating Mexican at night is probably not the best strategy before a race.
Saturday, July 26th – 10 miles (BIG TEN 10K 41:00
168/15,136 OVERALL). Overcast and humid
morning in Chi. Ben and I cabbed down to
Soldier Field, and got settled in for our first Big Ten 10K! A bucket list race for me, and it was a sight
to see people adoring their school colors and the bands blaring the fight
songs. One of the cool things about the race were
the shirts – people could sign up for whatever Big Ten school they wanted, and
you got the race shirt in those colors, so there were a sea of all 14 of the
Big Ten schools traversing around the area – quite the sight to see! The Big Ten had set camp in the parking lots
outside of Soldier Field, and had school tents and this NFL combine area which
was all interactive to the race partipants. People could do a
football toss (NFL QB challenge-like), 40 yard dash, standing vertical jump,
and even try to kick a 30 yard field goal!
There was a concert stage closeby, and all the Big Ten mascots were
running around the area. Very, very cool
set up, and we agreed to check things out once we got the race over with. Did a 15 minute warmup or so, and headed to
my corral.
The route was pretty much the
same as the Soldier Field 10 miler – head south on Lakeshore, turn, then come
on the bike path on the way back. Pretty
flat and fast, and our conditions were a little sticky but tolerable for late
July. Corral A and the elites started
together (staggered start, which I didn’t realize until I saw the telecast
later that night), and we headed under McCormick place where I tried to get
settled in with the group I was running with.
Coach Kyle wanted me to go out in 6:30’s and hold for the first half,
and see how I felt. Well, I stayed to
plan and hit the 5K at 20:18, pretty close to where I needed to be at. It was getting pretty warm out there for me,
and I was dumping water on my head at every water spot. 6:30’s
were definitely a struggle, and I let up a little too much after the turnaround. Hit a couple slower miles, then made our way
back to the finish. The race course
looped back around the parking lot area, which got confusing because I kicked a
little early and realized we had to loop back around. Finished up, cooled down for 20 minutes, then
met up with Ben and we hung out around the finish area and did all the
festivities. Met living legend and OSU
alumni, Archie Griffin (only 2 time Heisman trophy winner), and mingled with
the mascots. Very, very cool event – I will
definitely be back. As for the race, it
was pretty disappointing but I get what I deserve for not taking better care of
myself pre-race. In the grand scheme of
things, it wasn’t shocking to have a slower time with the higher volume I’ve
been doing, but still should have ran better.
Splits were: 6:33, 6:33, 6:34, 6:44, 6:46; 6:33, 1:15.
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| Set up of the post race festivities |
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| Brother and I post race |
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| Me flicking off Brutus |
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| Wide left! |
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| Living Legend, Archie Griffin! |
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| Big 10 Mascots congregate on stage |
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| Brother and Sparty! |
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| Megan and her first Chicago hot dog |
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| Go Cubs go! |
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| Happy (belated) Birthday Barrel! |
Sunday, July 27th – 6.5 miles. Lakeshore run at mid morning. Ran to Navy Pier and back, and met up with
Coach Kyle for some of it. Very hot and
sunny, and was a rough going as the humidity level was a lot higher (70%) Lots of people out and about, but definitely
had a death march feel with the sun reflecting off the Lake – still, would take
this over anything as it’s my home away from home. Could feel it in my quads, and cut through
the park and Lincoln Park Zoo on the way back to get some much needed
shade. Coach Kyle told me to get in my
mileage, then call it a day – with the travel back and the heat at home, it was
unreasonable to push myself to get in junk miles, and rest up for the tough
workouts for next week. Happily agreed to
all this. 8:17 min/mile average
pace. 38.5 miles this week (ugh), 186.5 miles in July, 1292 miles in 2014.
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| Tough day in the office |
More to come. Should be a 200 mile month of July. First 20 miler this weekend!
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