The lovely Miss Kara Goucher
That's all I got - too much to catch up. Excuse the condensed format, but going off Garmin and what little I remember over the last month or so...
7/28 - 8/3: 60 miles.
Key Workouts:
- 8x1 mile (1 minute rest) and half marathon pace (~6:45-6:50). Trail workout towards Troy and back on a warm, but nice evening. Splits were: 6:38. 6:46, 6:40, 6:35, 6:37, 6:37, 6:37, 6:30. Huge credit to Jon and Ryan Yoch, who joined me for the fun for the last 4 reps. Felt very pleased with this workout, as I felt tired but managed just fine.
- 10 x (30 sec hard, 1 minute off). Neighborhood run with Crystal. Killed it, as we dipped in the high 4's but pretty consistent at 5 minute pace. We got in roughly 2.2 miles in the deal, which was solid.
- 20 miler. Joe Lyons get huge props for running it all with me, and Crystal as well as she jumped in for all the middle miles (8 I think?). Very tired running bright and early, as we did Marine loop before heading back to pick Crystal up. Did out and back with her, before Joe and I finished up on the trails and on Village Circle. Scheduled fast finish, which I had originally put off, but Joe made me do it and glad we did. I felt like complete garbage at the end, but made it through. These 4:30 a.m. starts are brutal! 2:39:34 total (last 2 miles in 7:36, 6:46), 7:59 average pace overall.
Miles in July: 213 in July, 1318.5 miles in 2014.
 |
| Collinsville track run with Colby and Crystal |
 |
| Craigers and I post run |
8/4 - 8/10: 55 miles.
Key Workouts:
- Crapped out on 3x3 miles. Weather was killer, and never made it out :(
- 12 mile marathon pace. Yoch and Crystal paced me on out and back towards Marine on the trail. Humid, overcast day, and really had issues with this run. Thought I got settled in, but by the second mile I knew it was gonna be a tough one out there. Gutted it through Mile 6, before I had to stop and take a walk break. Caught them on the way back, and did 2 more before suffering a terrible death on the trails. Walked a little more, then did 2 more hard before calling it a day. Crystal was kind enough to jog out and meet me, so we literally walked it in the last mile or so. Rough day in the office, and only got in 10 miles at pace, albeit broken up. Splits were: 7:01, 7:06, 7:07, 7:07, 7:05, 7:11, 7:11, 7:17, 6:59, 6:51
Here was the email I wrote to Coach Kyle - I am more or less copying and pasting, and will put some notes on the side.
8/11-8/17: 50 miles. 20 miler fast finish 3 (7:03, 6:57, 6:45) was the highlight. Executed well with the help of Joe Lyons (and Crystal). Was really hurting at the end, but probably because humidity and lack of hydration. I have literally run every long run with minimal fluid and food intake, which may be a mental/physical bonus in a way. But I will be using gels/hydration here on out for workouts/long runs. 2:35:57 total, 7:48 average pace.
 |
| Baby sitting adorable nephew |
 |
| 20 miler fast finish |
8/18-8/24: 45-50 miles. Bad. Missed both workouts, but hit Stan Nelson on the dreadmill - very tough mentally and physically. The first hour was easy, but was sweating so much and took a quick break every 20-30 minutes to wipe off sweat and hydrate. I sweated so much that the insoles on my shoes got stuck on the bottom of my feet, and kept slipping out of the shoe – had to adjust literally almost 10 times on the last 30 minutes! 15.75 miles – 2 hours. I sent you the picture of the damage. Weather this week was absolutely BRUTAL – heat indexes in the 100-110’s pretty much every day
 |
| Longest dreadmill run ever |
 |
| Suffering from the brutal heat |
 |
| KT-82 Planning Meeting |
8/25-8/31: ~50 miles. Bad. Mile repeats were a complete fail after 6 – stomach issues, and had to stop for bathroom breaks twice. Hit 6:45-6:50 for the first 3, then watch died and guessing about same effort on the next 3 before my second bathroom break and was just mentally fried at that point and quit. Not good. Went into Trail Relay with wanting to do around marathon effort, but got pretty caught up in the swing of things and got more competitive, especially since we had a chance to win.
 |
| Off we go! |
 |
| Prerace with Mikey |
 |
| Mikey setting the pace |
 |
| First handoff to Colby - in the lead! |
Trail 2nd leg – Trail leg. Just rough. First mile was relatively flat, before we turned off for trail/trail section. Jon Carl was volunteering and saw me, and I asked about the upcoming trail and he just pointed up and grimaced. F*ck. Climbed for a long time, and was sweating bullets since we were pretty exposed to the sun for awhile, and it had gotten pretty hot and humid. Caught a few people on the super long hill, and passed the aid station where I snagged a bottle of water which I would use to pour on my head/body every couple minutes. Made my way down some windy, rocky, downwards sloped path and eventually turned into some single track sections which were very tricky in terms of footing. The section went by pretty fast, since I basically had to pay attention to the windy turns and changes in the terrain. Very, very fun, but a few walk breaks up some monster hills and it really tore me up. ~5.97 miles – 7:45 average pace. Was not happy with my overall split, but everyone more or less told me that it’s at least a minute or so per mile difference on the trail so felt better. 9:44 5th mile murdered my average split, but had issues with passing a few people on the single track which contributed to that whopper.
 |
| Gabe handing off for my second leg |
 |
| Serenity now |
 |
| 2nd exchange to Colby |
Trail 3rd leg – Trail leg, but soft trails and like a bike path. Legs were pretty dead at this point. Straight ahead, and felt like an oven in the trees since there was minimal wind out there at that point. Just tried to gut it out, but had nothing in the tank and my stomach was a mess from nonstop fluid intake from the heat. Threw up somewhere past the half, and just kept trying to hold course. ~3.5 miles – 6:58 average pace. Ugh
Super fun time, and we ended up getting the W which was awesome and cool to do in the inaugural year. Everyone was pretty wore out though, because the exchanges were so fast and very little time to rest in between. Relays are fun, but definitely tough and may be a little bit before I do one again.
 |
| Team "Smells Like Team Spirit" |
 |
| Champs |
 |
| Franklin with his new trophy |
Had to cut back mileage a little because my legs were more or less wrecked from the race. Ran yesterday night regular, and feel fully recovered – 7:50avg. for 40 minutes, and more or less had to slow down the entire time. Worried a little bit overall – missed out on a lot of the mileage I prob needed. Balance (in life) is very difficult right now, but managing my best and trying not to get burnt out in life. It helps to have friends there pushing me, for sure. This Sat will be a nice test - I am curious to see how pace feels. I definitely crapped out on the 12 miler, but the conditions will be better and a more race type situation. Gonna get my ipod ready to go ,and don’t foresee too many issues. The cooler weather will help too J
3 weeks to go – need to concentrate on hitting these last few workouts and getting in the mileage. Need to really concentrate on nutrition and food intake. I got down to 181 in weight before the weekend (big ugh), so I would love to ideally be at 170 for Berlin but 175 will be serviceable as well. I’ve cut out juice out of my diet and replaced with a ton of water, and eating as little processed food as possible which has actually helped my energy level a bit. Work has really worn me out, but I have had good energy on my runs and started doing some runners yoga to really strengthen my flexibility and core. Crunch time, but ready for the challenge!
234.5 miles in August, 1553 miles in 2014. Strong month, despite missing a lot of stuff.
 |
| My buddy's new puppy - ADORABLE |
Monday, 9/1 - 6 miles
Tuesday, 9/2 - 5 miles
Wednesday, 9/3 - 16 miles (3x4 miles at 10-15 seconds faster than marathon pace (adjusted goal pace was 7:00 min/mile). Email to Coach Kyle below, but pretty happy overall. This was a tough one.
Very tough. I missed the last couple workouts (these workouts are progression for each other (i.e. building blocks)), so hurts to miss). Didn’t hydrate enough, and the humidity got me at the end. Was going to quit many times, but gutted it out. It was really dark outside by the time I started, so did all over the place.
Anyways, workout was 3x4 miles at 10-15 seconds faster than marathon pace, so wanted to hit right around 7:00 min pace initially so 28:00 splits desired. Splits were:
1 - 27:24 (trails). Not too bad, felt very much in control
2- estimated 27:28 (Village Circle - didn’t start watch correctly, had 6:52 pace for 2.5 miles but did do all 4 miles) Started to feel it the last half
3 - 26:29 (Crystal’s neighborhood). Torture at the end – mentally fried and physically my legs were starting to hurt
Thursday, 9/4 - 5 miles
Friday, 9/5 - 4 miles
Saturday, 9/6 - ~22 miles (MCKENDREE HARVESTFEST 1/2 MARATHON). Yoch talked me into doing with him (defending champion), and got the OK from Coach Kyle since the weather was looking very good (high 60's, overcast/rainy). Did a 15 minute shakeout when I woke up, then drove out to Lebanon to the University, and did a 3 mile warmup with Yoch to get moving a bit. Legs felt like crap, and we ran the last couple miles of the course to get a feel for it - rolling hills, which I'm typically not a big fan of. The race strategy was to do a marathon pace run, since I missed the 16 mile pace run for the KT82 Trail race. So my target was 7:10-7:15, and felt that was doable given the conditions. The 5K started with the half, and we looped through the rolling hills on the back of the university before hitting the country roads. Basically ran by myself the entire way, and was pretty tired before snapping out of my funk and getting locked in. Mile 9 was "Hill Country", and it was a pretty rough stretch of long, steep rolling hills that definitely beat me up a bit. Intentionally held back a bit, but regained pace once we got out of that mess. Split high 1:32 for the half (the course is intentionally 13.25 miles (don't ask)), then more or less jogged in to finish second behind Yoch, who set a new course record! Cooled down for ~4 miles, before calling it a day. Had a blast, and was very happy with the effort. Tough day, but got in some good work. 1:34:38 for the 13.25 miles; 7:08 average pace.
 |
| Yoch and I at beginning of the race |
 |
| Right before the 5K turnoff - was seriously considering taking that turn |
 |
| Finish! |
 |
| Bling, bling |
 |
| 1-2 |
 |
| Franklin's new toys |
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment