Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Chocolate Turkey 3 Miler and Pere Marquette Trail Race Recap


2014 Year in Review, and Arthur the stray dog finds a home.

Monday, November 17th –~ 4 miles.  Holy freezing!  Wind chill of 2 degrees, and eventually forced myself out the door – mask and all.  Did 270 loop and some change, and ended up wiping out on the sidewalks on 159 because of ice.  No damage, but enough of a scare that I cut my run short.  Dark and icy sidewalks are not a good combination.  30-35 minutes (no watch), and two almost frozen eyeballs.

Tuesday, November 18th – 6 miles.  Easy run with Yoch after work in the Maryville roads.  We switched workout with easy run, because of the crappy temps – another cold night (high teens), and I was concerned with doing a tempo run on hilly, icy sidewalks, so flip-flopped my schedule.  Easy out and back, and we were cruising the entire time.  Cold as balls, but we warmed up a bit coming back.  Sad when 18 degrees can feel “warm” in parts.  47 minutes total.

Wednesday, November 19th – 8 miles (1 up, 6 mile cutdown, 1 down).  Yoch and I ventured out to Village Circle, per plan.  A much warmer 28 degrees, and could actually feel my appendages.  Goal was 6-8 miles cutdown tempo, starting from a little over marathon pace, and cut down 10 seconds every mile.  Given the cooler conditions and my lack of patience, decided to do the shorter 6 miles but cut down from marathon pace.  So we got started, and tried to get settled into a comfortable pace as the first few miles should have felt nice and controlled.  Well, we immediately started with a sub 7 minute mile, and tried to hold pace for the second mile so we weren’t getting too aggressive.  After the too fast third mile, finally got in control and worked out way down with good results and good effort.  Yoch is great for my workouts – he just sits with me and very easy to work with.  Last mile, didn’t even look at the watch and just grinded.  On the last quarter mile, kind of gave into the pain and my form went to hell but we finished out strong despite all that.  Very pleased with this workout and results, and things are really starting to round out.  Splits were: 6:56, 6:57, 6:35, 6:28, 6:18, 6:04.  Warmup/cooldown right at 8 min/pace.  

Thursday, November 20th – 6 miles.  Forest Park group run with Craig, Joe, Timmy, Matty D, Andrea, and two others I don’t know that well.  Cold evening, but we warmed up and did reverse loop nice and easy.  Great company, and the run went by very quickly.  Didn’t see hardly anyone out on the trails – obviously, the colder weather really weeds out the true runners from the wannabes (JK!) J.  50 minutes overall.

Friday, November 21st – 0!  Late night at work, and dinner plans equals no time.  Scheduled fartlek, so not happy to miss a workout.  Gonna have to make it up at some point…

Saturday, November 22nd – 12 miles.  Out and back loop with Mike on a windy/rainy day.  We were going to do out and back on the trails, but opted for Old Faithful since the wind/rain combo was starting to get uncomfortable.  I made the tactical mistake of eating a big breakfast (sausage and scrambled eggs, if you were wondering), and felt like I was carrying a massive brick the entire time.  About 9 miles into it, final started to feel better and the remnants of my breakfast was starting to digest.  Cruised in, and literally finished exactly the same time to the second as our 12 miler from last weekend.  Kind of crazy, seeing we did a different route – may have to see if we can three peat next weekend!

Sunday, November 23rd - ~8 miles.  St. Louis Track Club Marathon Relay on a rainy, cooler morning.  I got dragged into doing this by some buddies, and dragged my carcass out of bed to convene with my team in Forest Park during an annoying rainfall.  This was actually a race I have been wanting to do, and it worked out well in my schedule.  Spent most of the hour before the race trying to put up a tent (how many runners does it take to put up a tent?  The answer is 3), and got in a pretty pathetic 5 minute warmup – it was determined that I would lead the team, and I was pretty adamant of not running fast given my long run the day before and just general tiredness from the early morning.  Ran into a couple local runners and my friend Larry, and got swept up in the moment  and ran out with Larry, who is faster than I am.  We looped back through the start area, before running around the Muny and headed towards the Visitor’s Center and Skinker.  Looked at our pace, and saw we had split sub 6 minute pace through a little over the half, so backed off a ton and let Larry go and tried to get locked into a good tempo pace.  Ran out, and looped around a huge roundabout close to Art Hill before heading back towards the Muny.  Felt pretty comfortable, and saw Larry pass a couple people a bit ahead so focused on the two girls in front of me.  Picked off one of them with a little less than a mile to go, then was closing ground on the other before I finished my leg.  At this point, I think we were in 9th or 10th place, and there were some pretty fast runners ahead of me.  Good effort, and got in the tent to dry off and wait an hour or so before my next leg.  Legs were a bit tired, and didn’t expect much from my second run and intentionally started out easy.  Since everyone was running the same 3+ mile loop, there were a ton of people to pick off as I worked my way through the loop.  Felt surprisingly good, and maintained a good hard effort through this leg.   Dried off and cooled down, and socialized with some of the other teams as there were a lot of familiar faces out there.  Waited for the rest of my team to circulate, then started my next loop with some tired legs.  Clicked off a 6:13 first mile without too much discomfort, and just kept the effort up and powered through with a faster split than the first, to my surprise.  Everyone else finished up, and we ended up 4th overall!  Fun times with a good group of guys and a great workout as well.  6:19 average pace for first leg (6:11/6:30/6:19), 6:17 for second leg (6:13/6:28/6:17).  44 miles this week, 143 miles in November, 2067.5 miles in 2014. 
 
Hatcher coming through his first leg

Mikey and I

Starting my second leg

The 4th place team of "Gibbs smells funky"

Monday, November 24th – 0!  A crazy night in the city of St. Louis, and the Ferguson protests became deadly.  We got home pretty late, then ate a quick dinner.  Had intentions of a quick run, but the press conference of the Grand Jury decision stole my attention, and watched as anarchy ruled the city of Ferguson.  Very scary sights and sounds, and praying for peace and safety for the people.

Tuesday, November 25th – 0! 

Wednesday, November 26th – 0!  Travel day home.  Weather was a mess, as we ended up getting snow and very slick conditions.  Opted to start the drive to Peoria before it got too nasty, and made it despite some horrible conditions north of Springfield.  With the race tomorrow, opted for rest.

Thursday, November 27th - ~7 miles (2 up, INAUGURAL CHOCOLATE TURKEY 3 MILER: 18:13, 11/450, 1st in 35-39 Age Group, 2 down).  Cold morning in Peoria, and made my way to the Peoria Riverfront to run the inaugural Chocolate Turkey 3 Mile race.  Did a 20 minute warmup on the trails, and tried to get some feelings in my hands as it was pretty chilly outside (20’s and windy).  Loop course that went out on the main roads, crossed over to the trails, and back to the finish (same as start).  Pretty flat overall, with a decent hill we went up on the first mile but conversely a downhill on the second mile, with a flat last mile.  Lined up with the fast college kids, and off we went!  Immediately, we were gapped by a group of 6-7 college kids, and worked my way out towards the outskirts of downtown before turning up the only hill on the course.  At that point, I got caught by 3 other runners, and worked with them before they slowly pulled away.  We hit above 6 minutes on the first mile, which was a big warning flag to me because the effort felt a lot stronger to me and was expecting around 5:50.  We turned off the main road onto a side street, which made its way onto a trail that led us back – there was a tight turn which I slipped on (not a bad slip, but enough to slow down and take the turn carefully), but then it was all flat trail for the rest of the race.  One of the guys that passed me fell off the little pack, and saw him looking over his shoulder quite a bit so I knew he was struggling and it was go time for me.  Reeled him in a little past the 2 mile marker, and encouraged him to come with me which he did.  We worked together for the last mile, and worked our way to the Riverfront street with about a third of a mile to go.  On that final stretch, there were 3 stop signs and the finish, and strategized to make my move on the second stop sign.  Well, right as we passed the first one, this little punk summoned some ungodly reserve strength and blasted off like he had a jet propeller on his back.  He turned around and motioned me to come with him, but his move and reserve adrenaline more or less demoralized me and I limped in with my tail between my legs a couple seconds behind.  Beaten, but by a kid half my age, so I don’t feel too horrible about it.  Nonetheless, a fun race, and one that I felt very rusty but what can I expect after my 3 day sabbatical?  Cooled down with the 2 guys that finished ahead of me, then destroyed some chocolate fondue and waited for my candied apple age group prize!  6:02/6:08/6:00 were my splits.
 
Inaugural Chocolate Turkey Race!

Spoils of war

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday, November 28th – 6 miles.  Solo run at Creve Couer Park.  Forgot a watch, and went purely by effort and did the big loop around CC.  Warm day, and felt myself pushing quite a bit.  Did the loop under 45 minutes, which means I went over a minute per mile too fast! 

Saturday, November 29th - ~5 miles.  Crystal dragged me out to help on her steady state run.  Goal was 4 miles at 6:10-6:15 pace, which is pretty aggressive for me, and because of the wind we settled on doing an out and back on Old Faithful which was protected with the trees.  Probably should have done it all with her but figured the part I could help the most was at the end, so told her I would do 1-1.5 miles with her, then the finish.  Felt very strong, and made our way through pretty easily until we hit the bridges, which had ice/slush on them.  Slid my way a bit, then had to slow down to prevent a massive spill before surging to catch back up to Crystal.  We hit the first mile at 6:08 (slightly downhill), and maintained pace until I pulled off at 1.5 miles.  Jogged back with Pat past the bridges, and she caught up soon after and we hammered the last mile or so in 6:20 (uphill, into the wind) to hit her workout on the nose.  Warmed up and cooled down for 10 minutes in the neighborhood, and a solid workout for both of us.  I probably should have attempted to do it all with her – would have been tough, but I know I can do it. 

Sunday, November 30th – 11 miles.  Long run with Pat, Colby, Yoch, and Crystal.  Long loop towards Home Depot, down Meridian, and up Old Faithful.  Felt like complete poo from the Thanksgiving weekend celebrations, and summoned enough strength to join the very fast pack.  The weather was very warm and sunny (mid-high 60’s in late November???), and almost tore my shirt off at a few points because I was getting so sweaty.  Ran the first 1.5 miles with Pat before he turned around, and we ventured onwards.  Not surprisingly, picked up the pace going down the Meridian Hill, and I told the others that I was going to slow down a little once we flattened out.  Well, the pace did slow down for a mile, before it picked back up, and we hit our 3 fastest miles going up Old Faithful which was a nice slow ascent.  Didn’t feel any worse than I had on the run, but Crystal started picking it up and just sat on her.  The last mile turned into us pushing it, and Yoch and Colby chasing.  We all turned off into the neighborhood, then the pace dropped to virtually 5K pace and just a good old fashioned throw down.  Those guys gapped me by about 5 seconds, and a mid 6 minute last mile, which was more or less all because of the last 0.4 miles.  Fun, but definitely felt that one!  1:23 total (~7:37 avg.)  29 miles this week (UGH), 170 miles in November, 2096.5 miles in 2015.

Monday, December 1st - ~4 miles.  Solo run late at night.  The cold weather moved its way in last night, and wreaked havoc on the roads and delayed any ideas of a run until later at night.  So eventually forced myself to brave the elements around 9:30 at night, and get in roughly 30 minutes.  It was cold, but barely any wind which made things a lot more comfortable.  Looped to Village Circle, then did a partial 270 loop before bailing because of some ice on the sidewalks.  Nice and easy…

Tuesday, December 2nd - ~7 miles.  (1x800, 3x400, 4x300, 4x200, 4x100, jog the rep distance in between)  Track workout with Colby on a chilly evening.  Put this workout off for a bit, and finally found a good day to get this in.  Goal was to hit the longer reps at mile pace effort, then work a little faster on the shorter distances.  Colby and I traded off the leads on reps, and hit aggressive paces overall.  I hadn’t done much turnover work, and was tough to find the pace.  Having Colby out there helped, and we were definitely moving a bit.  By the 3rd 300 meter rep, my legs were pretty shot and could feel the lactic acid burn.  Pretty happy overall with this workout, and a lot of fun since it was different than the ones I have typically done.  Splits were: 800 – 2:40, 400’s - 76, 75, 74, 300’s – 55, 55, 55, 55, 200’s – 34, 34, 33, 34, 100’s – 17, 17, 17, 17.

Wednesday, December 3rd – 6 miles.  Neighborhood run with Yoch, Pat and Crystal.  As predicted, my legs were absolutely shredded and we started out nice and easy.  Looped around the neighborhood doing every possible combination of turns and loops, and did the entire run rather painlessly.  By the third mile, I had sufficiently loosened up and we picked it up.  Chilly night, but not much wind and felt really good by the time we were done.  Started out in the high 8’s, finished in the low 7’s – 48:08 total.

Thursday, December 4th – 6 miles

Friday, December 5th – ~5 miles.  Fartlek with Crystal in the rain.  20 seconds on, 1 minute off at mile effort, and blasted through this in her neighborhood.  Effort was tough for me, but we made it through despite stepping in 50 puddles and some annoying drizzling rain.  A little puzzled by the stats upon looking at them – thought we were cruising, but a little slower according to Garmin.  Wet conditions and tight turns may have contributed to that, but who knows?

Saturday, December 6th – 6 miles.  Solo out and back towards Troy on the trails.  Dragging but made it through.  Didn’t do the long run I should have – just couldn’t do it, and happy to get in some mileage.  At night, went out to see my first country concert – Garth Brooks!  By no means am I a country music fan, but he was a hell of a performer and glad to see a legend perform on his last tour!

Sunday, December 7th – 0!  Completely inoperable, and probably needed the off day quite honestly.  My mileage has been sh*t the last couple weeks, so need to step it back up.  I don’t want to fall into too much of a lull, and lose momentum, especially with the long run.  34 miles this week, 34 miles in December, 2130.5 miles in 2015.

Monday, December 8th – 6 miles.  Ran solo late at night on my Glen Carbon loop (to the covered bridge and back).  Late start, so traffic was minimal and the conditions were pretty decent despite the cold air (minimal wind).  Legs felt a little rusty, but was keeping up a decent pace which didn’t feel uncomfortable.  45 minutes and some change, overall – pretty solid.

Tuesday, December 9th – 6 miles.  Maryville loop with Yoch.  What a difference one day makes!  Effort felt harder, and pace was 40 seconds per mile slower.  Long day at work, and was just dragging in general.  What is it about winter days that make you want to only eat and sleep???  Weather was chilly, but made it through ok despite running like a sloth.  48 minutes and some change.

Wednesday, December 10th – 8 miles (2 up, 5 x 1 mile, 1 minute rest, 1 down).  Track work after work with Pat, Crystal, and Yoch.  Warmed up on the streets, then got going.  Coach Kyle had me do this workout with strict instructions to hit 6:40 pace, which I thought was kind of soft.  4-5 mile repeats with 1 minute rest in between, and the weather was cold but pretty tolerable.  Crystal paced me through the first one, and it was clear to me that 6:40’s were going to be tough to hit since we were having to slow down to hit 6:30 and conversing the entire way through.  Did the next few solo (Pat jumped in and helped out on a few laps) and was cruising, but going way too fast then the prescribed pace.  Yoch and I both decided to hit 5 repeats, so made it through the last one (was getting a tired) and we cooled down for a quick mile.  Very pleased overall, and blew this one out of the water but not overly surprised either – workouts have been going good for me, lately.  Splits were: 6:32, 6:28, 6:24, 6:18, 6:07.

Thursday, December 11th – 5 miles.  Early morning run with Crystal.  Neighborhood loop over and over again, and pretty much sleep walked through this one.  Legs were a bit trashed, but made it through ok.  Threw the towel in at 5 miles, as I got a late start in the morning and needed to get ready for work.  Hit the 5 mile split exactly at 40 minutes, and threw in a couple more minutes to run back to my car. 

Friday, December 12th – 0!  Scheduled day off – need to let the legs rest a bit before the crazy running weekend.

Saturday, December 13th - ~8 miles.  Pere Marquette Trail Run!  Fun times on a complete opposite day fromlast year, and ended up running easy with Craig.  Well, easy is still difficult on this course, and definitely struggled on parts but made it through relatively unscathed.  Twisted my ankles a countless amount of times, and almost wiped out but made it through!  This course is so difficult to explain, but stole a ton of pics from my buddy Brent Newman’s photo feed to help try to show the “fun”.  First 3.5 miles are pretty brutal, but gets more tolerable later on.  I will contest that this is the most difficult course in the area!
 
Group photo


















These steps are pure evil

Seriously!

Are your quads aching yet???




Prerace

Finishing the race

Somewhere in Mile 1 - muddy fun

Sunday, December 14th – 14 miles.  Supposed to be the Arch loop, but improvised to catch some of the Hot Chocolate Racers.  Joe and I met by the greenhouses in Forest Park, then looped our way to Lindell and met Yoch roughly 3 miles into our run.  Ran down Grand through SLU, then turned onto Lafayette and made our way towards the Brewery and set camp for a few minutes on Broadway to catch Crystal and O’Connor, which we successfully did.  Backtracked, and dropped Yoch off before finishing out the run.  Last few miles, Joe and I picked it up, and it didn’t feel very good.  My legs were trashed to begin with, and running 14 hilly miles through STL wasn’t the most intelligent idea.  Averaged 7:50’s, mainly from the 7:20’s to finish it out.  Ouch!  47 miles this week, 81 miles in December, 2177.5 miles in 2014.
 
Long Run Selfie!
Go Crystal!
Monday, December 15th – 5 miles.  Got Crystal to run a few miles with me, which somehow turned into 5.  My legs were destroyed, and needed to get in some recovery miles.  Well, some rain and good company makes time fly by, and we knocked it out pretty quickly.  First couple miles were hobbly, but quickly picked up and dropped to decent pace – finished in 39 minutes or so.


May take today off to get in some good rest for my weary bones.  Winding down a solid 2014!

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