Tuesday, December 16th – 0! I don’t remember running anything, but a rest
day was most likely the result.
Wednesday, December 17th – 7.5 miles. Tempo run with Colby at Village Circle. Was supposed to be steady state at ~6:40
min/mile pace, but we were quick early and didn’t back off too much. Weather was great – mid 30’s with no wind
whatsoever, and the comforts of the Village Circle loop with a trusted
pacer. Felt very strong of the majority
of this, and only started to feel tired by the 4th mile. Very pleased with the results, and all is
going well in terms of getting in some good winter work. 31:39 for 5 miles (~6:20 pace), 6:18, 6:23,
6:21, 6:22, 6:13 were my splits.
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| Franklin creeping on Colby's dinner |
Thursday, December 18th – ~6 miles. Creve Couer Lake run solo during lunch. Legs were a bit beat up from yesterday’s
tempo, and started out at a leisurely pace but must have sped up because my
first 3 miles were sub 8 minute pace. I
had contemplated doing the shorter loop as I was pretty tired, but opted for
the longer and immediately regretted it halfway through. The soft trails through the woods were nice,
but my legs were mush by then and shuffled back to my car. 8 minute pace overall.
Friday, December 19th – 6 miles
Saturday, December 20th – 12 miles. Group run with Pat, Joe, Yoch, Mike, and
Kyle. We did my 4 mile trail/270 loop
and dropped off Pat and Kyle before doing an out and back toward Home
Depot. My legs were pretty much trash
about halfway through, and had to gut it out.
Chilly outside, but felt good once we got moving. Fun times with a great group. Low 8 minute pace, overall.
Sunday, December 21st – 6 miles. Solo out and back, nothing special. On vacation from work, so gonna enjoy some
time off and the holidays! 42.5 miles
this week, 123.5 miles in December, 2301 miles in 2014.
December 22nd – 27th – 15 miles. Not my best effort during my time off. Ate too much, ran too little. Spent a nice holiday with family, and enjoyed
some down time. Lots of easy runs,
including a nice Xmas run solo in Peoria.
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| Run Happy! |
 |
| Good Xmas week |
Sunday, December 28th – 15 miles. Ran long with Jon – did the trail 12 mile
loop (Home Depot to Old Faithful), then out and back towards Troy and a Village
Circle loop to finish it off. Legs were
trashed about 6 miles into it, but struck up some good conversation and gutted
it out. Probably not a good idea to do a
15 miler after a weak running week in general, and had to unholiest of chafes
which I found out during my shower. Any
dog within a 10 mile radius should have heard my painful screams. 8:06 average pace, overall. 153.5 miles in December, 2331 miles in
2014. Rounding out a solid year.
Monday, December 29th – 0! Laziness wins
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| Stay home with me instead of running in the cold! |
Tuesday, December 30th – ~10 miles. Easy run with Yoch through the mean streets
of Collinsville. Was supposed to be 6-8
miles, but we got lost on our route. Ran
through the back roads, then merged into downtown Collinsville an more or less
ran the Italian Fest 5K and Hornet Hustle 5K route. We looped around Willoughby Farms, then came
back and did some house viewing on the other side of 159. On our way back, we got confused on our
streets, and ran a bit extra before finally navigating our way back. Hilly as crap in some of those areas, but got
in some good work. 1:18:53 overall.
One of my favorite yearly blog posts is to do this one – the
year in review. It forces me to
basically go back and reread the entire year to pick candidates/winners for the
respective categories. This year was
pretty special with my reintroduction to the marathon, and good running in
general. So without further adieu, here
we go!
2014 in Review:
Favorite Workout:
So many workouts, so very difficult to pinpoint one favorite
workout. I really enjoyed a tempo run with
Colby a couple weeks ago – everything is clicking pretty well right now for me,
and we hit mid 31’s for 5 miles without too much trouble. Pretty close to my official 8K PR without
doing actual workouts for it. I executed
a tough workout during my Berlin buildup – 3x4 mile at 10-15 seconds faster than marathon pace (27:24/27:28/26:59).
This was a toughy, but hammered it out and felt very good after hitting
this one. The last rep was in Crystal’s
neighborhood, and I always call that the Berlin Marathon mini course since it’s
so flat and fast. But the winner goes to
my 8 mile marathon pace run with Colby on the trails. There was nothing overly special about it,
but I felt so smooth and put me in a great mindset going into the
marathon. Very nice when low 7 minute
pace feels so easy.
Favorite Race:
For many reasons that I don’t need to explain, Meb winning
the Boston Marathon was my #1 race of the year.
But I didn’t actually run that race, so let me pick another one that
works. I really enjoyed a good
performance at Steamboat – a PR is always nice, and this is when my speed
fitness started to really kick in and I started to believe that good things
were possible. The Indy Monumental 5K
was a blast too with a season’s best time in the 5K, and about the best I ever
felt in a 5K. Defending my title at the
Sunshine 10K with Crystal winning the 5K was a lot of fun as well, and our
group killing it at the Bonifest 5K was a major highlight (2 course records, 3
age group winners). But the winner goes
to the Berlin Marathon. 2014 was all
about this race, and it turned around the state of my running, period. I made progress on my goals for the World
Marathon Majors, and had I had a good build up and while I didn’t accomplish
all my goals for this race specifically, I ran a very respectable time and put
myself back on track for better things to come.
Favorite Long Run:
Three long runs immediately came into mind. One was the fast finish 20 miler with Joe and Crystal. We ran with Crystal for 12
miles I think?, before dropping her off (and watching her complete the ALS ice
bucket challenge) and running the rest of the workout. I was in a dark place by the time we got to
the fast finish portion, but Joe got me through the pain and we dropped the
hammer in the rain to finish out a very strong run. My 22 mile day at the McKendree Harvestfest HalfMarathon – a long pace run in between, but felt strong and fun to finish second
behind Yoch, overall. But the winner
goes to the 18 miler with Joe, Crystal, and Colby. Ran with Joe to Crystal’s house, then we ran
with her till we dropped her off and picked up Colby for the last 9 miles. Felt pretty amazing the entire way, and the
change of people in between was actually a great idea and a lot of fun. Some of my favorite people helping me out for
roughly two and a half hours of fun!
2014 PR’s:
6K: 24:01 Stan Musial Bridge Run
4 Mile: 24:48 Steamboat Classic
2015 Goals: Sub 31 minute 8K, Sub 1:25 Half Marathon, sub
18:30 5K, successful buildup for potential 2016 London Marathon
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