Friday, October 31st – 0! Travel day to Indianapolis right after work,
and didn’t get in until almost 10 p.m.
Yoch was passed out by the time I got to the hotel, and needed to get up
early for the race since we started pretty early. Halloween celebrations in downtown Indy, so
saw a lot of interesting characters when I was checking into the hotel. 157 miles in October, 1921.5 miles in 2014.
Saturday, November 1st - ~12 miles (4 up,
INDIANAPOLIS MONUMENTAL MARATHON 5K – 18:43, 10/1344 overall, 1/60 35-39 age
group, 5 down). Woke up bright and early
on a cold and windy morning. Ate a quick
breakfast, then jogged with Yoch and warmed up before he separated to get ready
for the marathon. Got to see Crystal
before she started, and made our way to watch the start before I got ready for
the 5K. Quick warmup and some strides,
and I was ready to roll. I typically run
better in colder conditions, so thought this could be a good day if I didn’t
run stupidly. Was freezing my @ss off,
and got out of the gate quickly but in control.
I was more or less running by myself for the majority of the race, but
had a small group of runners that were about 10-15 seconds in front of me, so
kept them in my sight. The wind was
annoying, but not terrible, and had to breathe out of the side of my
mouth. The effort felt great otherwise,
and was shocked but happy to see a sub 6 minute 2nd mile split – at this
point, I didn’t feel I was working hard at all, and visions of 18:30’s flashed
by. On the third mile, we ran under a
bridge and up a ramp then headed back to downtown – the hill took a little bit
out of me, and was passed by a runner at this point. Once we crested out, the wind hit us square
in the face, and took me a minute or so to get adjusted. Once I did, worked to get my cadence back,
and passed the guy who passed me before setting my sights on the runners I had
been working behind. Realized that we
were almost done, and we were getting routed to the finish so summoned what
little time I had to kick, and motored through the finish with my season’s best! Cooled down, then ran to meet up with Brooke
so we try to catch everyone else. Saw
Crystal finish (strong race at 1:21), then we cooled down and ran Pat and Clint
in for Clint’s PR! Yoch ended up running a monster PR (2:46!),
and we partied like it was 1999! Crystal
and I both won age group prizes, which was a nice added bonus. My splits were: 5:58, 5:56, 6:11
 |
| Indy Start |
 |
| 1:49 guys |
 |
| Bling, bling! |
 |
| Group photo |
Sunday, November 2nd – 0! Road trip back from Indy, and had a symphony
date to watch Gladiator! Pi Pizza for
dinner, which spelled the end of any hopes of any mileage. Still riding on a high from some good runs,
recently! 32 miles this week, 12 miles
in November, 1933.5 miles in 2014.
 |
| Another stunning performance by the SLSO |
 |
| Awesome |
Monday, November 3rd – 5 miles. Group run with Craig, Justin, and Tim. Did 1 mile solo before doing the infamous
Justin 4 mile loop. Nice and easy, felt
pretty good and had great company! High
8’s/low 9’s average, overall.
Tuesday, November 4th – 6 miles. I don’t remember this – just the mileage.
Wednesday, November 5th – 7 miles. Tempo run with Harry and Justin on a perfect
night at Village Circle. Last second
additions for my workout, and worked out very well. The plan was to hit 6:45 for the first mile,
then work my way down a little for 4-5 miles at half marathon pace (aiming for
~6:30 pace). Justin set the pace for us,
and Harry and I worked together and did Village Circles loops. We got a little fast, but felt pretty
comfortable. The last mile was a little
tricky, but mainly from picking it up at the end. All in all, very, very pleased with the
effort, and the help was great too.
Splits were: 6:37, 6:25, 6:19, 6:22, 6:17.
 |
| Fastest tempo in awhile |
Thursday, November 6th – ~6 miles. Forest Park run with Joe and Brian Holdmeyer. Late night loop, and ran into Brian as we
were running the reverse loop (up Skinker) so he joined us. Both Joe and I were pretty dead from our
respective workouts, so we kept it relatively under control on a brisk, cool
night. 46:08 overall.
Friday, November 7th – 6 miles. Run with Colby after work on the trails in
Collinsville. Started from his gym, then
did an out and back. Uphill going out,
downhill coming in – very nice. Perfect
temps, and we barely beat the sun before finishing out. Legs felt pretty good, and was on cruise
control for most of the run. ~7:20 pace
overall.
Saturday, November 8th – 10 miles. Run with Crystal, Colby, Yoch, and
Hatcher. We did the Mud Mountain XC
Course before looping around SIUE on the bike trails. Birthday run for the belated bday celebration
for Crystal! She wanted a piece of Mud
Mountain, and we ran a 5K loop of the course before jumping on the trails. This was a little unfamiliar to me, as I hadn’t
run much on these sections but was nice to run through campus and hit up some
different scenery. The wind was brutal
on the way back, and I was struggling a lot on parts later on – was very happy
to have this run over with! 1:16:38
total.
Sunday, November 9th – 6 miles. Run with Crystal and Yoch on the trails. We looped around the Maryville area, and hit
up the newer Fred Winters Memorial Park and some neighborhoods back there,
before coming back. Legs felt
considerably better than the day before, and we were more or less on cruise
control coming in. 46:31 overall. 46 miles this week, 58 miles in November,
1979.5 miles in 2014. Busy day with engagement photos in the morning, then a birthday party later that afternoon/evening!
 |
| Grayson's 1st Birthday! |
 |
| Engagement photos |
Monday, November 10th – 6 miles. I think I ran with Yoch, but I can’t
remember. Wait, I do remember now – we did
Village Circle Loop, then 270 loop, later at night. Nice, easy pace, and went by very quickly –
50:38 total.
Tuesday, November 11th – ~5 miles. Art Hill repeats with Joe after work. Very windy and cold night, but had the wind
at our backs going up Art Hill. We did 6
repeats this time, and it didn’t suck.
Legs felt roughly the same on every repeat – not the burning lactic acid
or extreme tiredness I felt from last time.
So some progress is being made…
Wednesday, November 12th – 6 miles. Run with Yoch on the Maryville streets. I’ve run on this path plenty of times, but
for some reason I must have forgotten how hilly it was. Cold and windy night, and I was dragging but
felt better coming in. Ran faster than
the effort felt, which is always nice. 47:10
total.
Thursday, November 13th – 5 miles. Run with Crystal in her neighborhood. I did a little over 2 miles solo, before she
met up and I did a few miles with her.
Felt great out there, and had my first snow run of the season! Look
at these splits – Can you guess where I met up with Crystal? 7:52, 7:53, 7:30, 7:15, 7:18. Happy 2000th mile to me!
 |
| Let it snow! |
Friday, November 14th – 7 miles. Late night track workout at the middle school
track. 25 degrees and no wind, so
actually a nice night to get in some hard work.
Coach Kyle sent me a fun, but different workout which focused on
turnover: 4x100, 3x200, 2x300, 1x400,
2x300, 3x200, 4x100, equal distance jog.
The goal was between 1-2 mile effort with getting faster as the ladder
went on, but explicit instruction not to overly push it. So a rust buster turnover workout. Ran in the dark, so went purely by effort and
only looked at 200m splits, but was very consistent and stayed pretty close to
where I needed to be. Splits were: 4x100
(17,19,17,18), 3x200 (mixed up my 200’s and 300’s) (40,38), 2x300 (62,61,62),
1x400 (77), 2x300 (61,60,59), 3x200 (37,36), 4x100 (17,17,16,16). Enjoyed this workout, and happy with the
effort. More glad to get this in, as I
was more or less ready for bed but literally made myself start at 9:30 p.m.!
Saturday, November 15th – 0! Day trip to Champaign watch the Fighting
Illini get stomped by the lowly Iowa Hawkeyes.
It was an absolutely brutal game, and we got outplayed. Spent most of the day crammed into the back
of a small jeep, so I was trying to bend myself back into regular position and
ended up opting out of run.
Sunday, November 16th – 12 miles. Easy long run with Mike in the morning. We looped around Home Depot and went down the
Meridian Hill and up Old Faithful and back home to get this in. Felt like poo, and we kept it pretty
slow. It was overcast and cold, but not
much wind which was nice. And it snowed,
which is always a plus. ~8:15 pace,
overall. 41 miles this week, 99 miles in
November, 2020.5 miles in 2014. In the afternoon, did a fun photoshoot with my friend for his project with New Balance. I thought the pictures came out great!
Posts
