Fall update

Going to try to start this up again and be consistent for once.  It’s been a mostly forgettable summer/fall with me just not doing my job, but London is rapidly approaching and need to get my head out of my @ss and running again.  I have some notes from the summer that I have included below – very choppy like my running, so bear with me.  I started with the intent of running a good half marathon, which would segway into marathon training.  Well, my half marathon plan was choppy at best, and ended up pulling the plug when I couldn’t successfully hit a 6 mile pace run, which is a good indicator race workout.  My goal pace was 6:45 (not very aggressive seeing how far I have plummeted), and I ended up hitting the workout overall with Crystal’s help and a long rest break.  But I clearly wasn’t ready and after some quick soul searching, I pulled the plug.  Probably for the better, with aggressive work travel and the Chicago Cubs World Series run taking away some much needed training time. 

Some highlights from the last few months (not much):

-          A win at the Super Hero’s 5K.  Ran 19:03 on a windy day to keep my win/year streak alive.

-          16 mile long run, partly with Tara on a hot, humid summer day

-          3 mile tempo run at ~6:30 pace

Batman!

Podium winners

Monday, August 29^th – 4 miles.  Dragged Crystal out late for 4 glorious miles.  Out and back on the trail towards Home Depot, and we turned around at one of the overpasses because it was getting quite dark and no one likes a dark tunnel to run through.  Considered looping around Village Circle, but it sounded like dogs were getting tortured out there so proceeded onwards.  The run was supposed to be recovery and started out as such, but we closed in 7:30 to call it a day.  Very humid and sticky outside, gotta love this summer.  32:12 total. 

Tuesday, August 30^th.  ~3.5 miles.  Early and before work on a very foggy and sticky morning.  Out and back on the trail, and looped around the neighborhood to close it out.  Felt like poop and was sleepwalking through the majority of the run.  30 minutes total.

Saturday, September 24^th – 17 miles (A.M. 15 miles (HILLS AND HOLLOWS HALF MARATHON 1:44:55 – 11^th place overall, 1^st 35-39), P.M. 2 miles (GLOBAL BREW OKTOBERFEST PUB RUN 13:55 – 3^rd place overall).  Hot and humid morning to be running – the idea was to run a cutdown tempo on this day, but it wasn’t meant to be as the wheels came off quickly after 2 miles.  So just relegated myself to running my long run, without dying.  Legs were tired, and really had some trouble later in the race when the course finishes with a straight uphill over the last couple miles.  Ugly day to run.  In the afternoon, ran the Global Brew pub run.  Wanted to run at half marathon pace (~6:45), and made it through ok.  Hot afternoon, but got locked in and this was basically a simulation of the last few miles of a hard race.  Happy for a podium finish, and a good workout.

Legs were mush from the 3 mile climb to finish this race

Spoils of war

Chug before the race

Podium winners

Sunday, September 25^th – 4 miles.  Ran with Crystal, out and back on Old Faithful.  Hot and humid, and my legs were complete jello.  34 minutes total

Monday, September 26^th – 0!  Well deserved off day.

Tuesday, September 27^th – 5 miles.  Fall is finally here!  Gorgeous evening, and ran out and back towards Home Depot, then looped around the neighborhood with Megan to finish it out.  Felt sluggish and my legs were still hurting from the weekend, but loosened up quite a bit and finished strong.  Felt nice not to be soaking in wet from the humidity, when completed.  ~31:35 for the miles I ran solo (splits were 8:10, 8:07, 7:48, 7:29)

Thursday, November 10^th – 5 miles.  Out and back on the trail, before leaving for Boston to see my nephew.  Warm afternoon, and lots of bugs.  I just feel like crap, and it’s hell starting over again.  41 minutes or so, overall.  Flight to Boston in the evening to see my new nephew!

Friday, November 11^th - ~5 miles.  So running in a different area of Boston.  My sister moved further south for a bigger place, in a small suburb called Roslindale.  Roughly a quarter mile away is the Harvard Arboretum, which will serve as my future training grounds when I am in town.  So took a stroll to check out the park, and basically got my @ss handed to me because of the hills.  Gorgeous fall conditions and a ton of trees, which made the scenery absolutely gorgeous!  It’s going to take a few runs to feel comfortable running in this park, but thank God there is a map at pretty much every intersection J  8:07 average pace, pretty happy considering I have no strength and felt like I was climbing the entire time.

Saturday, November 12^th - ~6 miles.  Same loop as yesterday, but added on a little more.  Quads are feeling every step, and tried to keep it easy but maintained roughly the same pace overall.  Cold, and windy, but got done.  ~8:07 pace overall.

Sunday, November 13^th – 0!  Travel day, too much food, legs need a small break from the hills!  Will be back in Boston in early Dec to give those hills another go!

Monday, November 14^th – 5 miles.  Out and back on the trails.  With the time change, I’m pretty much running in the dark every night, so time to dust off my headlamp.  Legs felt like mush, but kept a decent pace for the most part.  I usually run with my phone to listen to podcasts/music, but it’s definitely creepy to hear animals running around in the woods while I’m running.  39:24 total, ~7:53 pace.  Pretty good for me these days.

Tuesday, November 15^th – 6 miles.  Ran with Rich after work.  Both of us were pretty tired, so tried to go easy on my trail loop towards Home Depot.  Dropped an impressive 8:57 mile for our second mile, and realized we needed to pick it up so ended up cruising by the end.  49 minutes and some change, felt good to be moving.

Wednesday, November 16^th – 0!  Travel day to Indiana all day, and legs were just pooped from being on my feet.  I need to take 1-2 days off on this new block as I’m working back, so this will be it.

Thursday, November 17^th - ~6.5 miles.  Fun workout that Crystal sent over – (1 up, 2x800, 2x400, 2x800, 2x400, 6x200, 1 down).  Tried to get over to one of the local university tracks but between heavy traffic and the clock, ended up doing this workout on the flat trail portion of Forest Park on Lindell.  It’s been awhile since I had done a workout, so kept expectations low and wanted to hit around 6:15-6:20 pace (3:07-3:10) for the 800’s, and closer to 90 for the quarters.  Started on the soft trails, but switched over to the bike path for better grip and saw a noticeable difference.  Windy night, but the trees in FOPA helped to keep it manageable.  Felt pretty strong overall, got tired quickly but had enough to maintain.  Did 30 second strides to finish workout.  Splits were: 3:06/3:03/1:27/1:24/3:02/3:00/1:26/1:21

Friday, November 18^th – 4 miles.  Nice and easy out and back on the trail.  Super windy and starting to get cold!  Legs felt like mush, so kept it as a nice jog.  No idea of time, but it was definitely recovery effort.

Saturday, November 19^th - ~10.5 miles.  Clayton Loop/Forest Park with Craig and Dickson.  Been awhile since I’ve seen those guys, so we had a fun time running on a super windy day in the Lou.  Took a small detour on the Clayton loop to see homes, but came back and finished out the Forest Park trail loop.  Easy pace, good company, glad to get in a good long run for the first time in a long time.  ~90 minutes overall.

Sunday, November 20^th – 4 miles.  Nice and easy in the evening on the trail.  The wind died down, but starting to get chilly out there.  36 miles this week with a good workout and long run.  Don’t call it a comeback. 

Monday, November 21^st - ~8 miles (5 up, 6x1 min fartlek, 1 mile down).  Evening workout with Crystal.  She has a turkey trot 5K on Thursday (I am not running a turkey trot this year because of travel plans), so a race week workout that was manageable for me to join.  We knocked it out in her neighborhood on a chilly, breezy evening.  Fartlek goal pace was 6:26, but we definitely dipped below that and I was 1-2 steps behind her pretty much during all of the fartlek.  What was hurting me more was the recovery jog, which I think I do too slow (or Crystal does too fast J ).  Felt good to get some turnover, and the warmup/cooldown pace felt pretty good.  39 minutes for the warmup, 5:54-6:10 pace for the fartlek, 7:52 pace cooldown.

Tuesday, November 22^nd – 5 miles.  Out and back with Rich on the trails.  Windy day, and my legs feel like jello, so we kept it very easy pace.  42 minutes total.

Legs still pretty beat up today, so easy run after work.  Workout scheduled for tomorrow, before taking off to Peoria for a day trip for Thanksgiving!