Back after a lengthy vacation, let's just get at it! First, don't know what to think about Sammy Wanjiru and his recent scraps with the law, but seriously how hard is it to stay out of trouble? My Number 1 rule in life is not to threaten to shoot anyone with a gun, nor use the butt of a rifle to try to break into my house to attack my wife. Geesh!!! But apparently, all is well in the Wanjiru household and they are trying to make amends. Next, Haile's "comeback" appears to be doing well.
Monday 12/20: 3-4. Had a work dinner at this fantastic restaurant in Town and Country called Cafe Napoli2. Just amazing food, amazing service, recommend to anybody that wants to eat a very nice, intimate dinner. Ran late when I got back, felt queasy starting out and my stomach wasn't pleased. 2 miles into the run, completely threw up all my dinner and at that point my head was spinning. Run was therefore declared over.
Tuesday 12/21 - 0! Sick. Went to bed after work, slept for a good 12-13 hours straight.
Wednesday 12/22 - 0! See above
Thursday 12/23 - 0! See above
Friday 12/24 - 0! Felt a little better, but it was travel day for me. Snow started in STL in the morning, and continued all the way to Peoria. We got 7 inches, roads were unrunnable, gyms closed, therefore 0.
Saturday 12/25 (Merry Christmas!)- 8 easy. Couldn't stand not running anymore, nor the ridiculous amount of food ingested, made my way out late afternoon and braved the tiny shoulders since the town was dumped upon with snow. Not too bad, but cold and windy. Felt decent, but joints were on fire coming back because of the snow running. Mom was shocked at how far out I went (I asked about some Korean Presbyterian Church I saw on my run on some state route headed towards Kickapoo, IL (small city neighboring Peoria). I was yelled at pretty good about it too - seriously Mom, how else do you expect me to prepare for a marathon??
Sunday 12/26 - 0! Travel day back, decided to save up energy for the aggressive running week, joints were on fire and I truly was feeling like a crippled old man. 11 glorious miles for the week!
Monday 12/27 - 8 easy, drills. Vacation this week, as well as Crystal, so a lot of day runs planned. Ran 5.5 up to the track (3 in her parent's neighborhood), drills on the track which weren't too much fun for my old bones, 2.5 back. Cool part was watching all the steam rise from the track because of the sun/temperature change. 8:20ish pace.
Tuesday 12/28 - 8 total, 4 tempo. 2 up to Crystal's parent's neighborhood, 4 tempo (6:34, 6:46, 6:35, 6:36), 2 down. Felt like garbage, struggled to get through this workout. Wind was a bit of a factor, but this run shouldn't have felt this hard.
Wednesday 12/29 - 9 easy. Because of the rain, did laps around Crystal's neighborhood. Mentally was not there, therefore this run felt like it took a good few hours to finish. Almost quit on 5 separate occasions, most notably at the 6 mile marker when I actually turned off to run home only to hear Crystal yell "Wuss!", and sprinted back to finish it out. Needless to say, the last 3 miles were filled with murderous thoughts, but it got done rain and all. 8:30ish pace
Thursday - 0! No biggie, switch with Friday offday.
Friday 12/31 - 8 total, 2 up, 1X10 5K pace, 2 min off, 2 down. Did this on the trail, legs were tired at this point with the higher mileage. The repeats went by pretty quick, but was a lot harder than it should have been. We hit high 5/low 6 minute pace, leg turnover just wasn't there. I guess lack of speedwork is starting to show. On a weird temperature note, was almost 70 degrees. Last run of the year in shorts!
Saturday 1/1 - 16 easy. Did out and back with Crystal on the G.C. Trails, much colder 30 degrees. Another one of those crappy running days where nothing felt right. On the turn back, could feel my hip flexors just locking in and not firing at all, which killed my leg turnovers. Felt like I was running flat footed because of the lack of range of motion, and as a result struggled on the way in. Wind was brutal in a few parts, but got through ok. Picked it up the last 2 miles, glad to have that over with. 8:24 average pace
Sunday 1/2 - 0! Could barely walk, my knees were both locked up and the IT band/tendons were so sore I could barely walk. Painful to move around the house, let alone run 11 miles. 49 miles this week will have to do.
Today, hopefully get in some good miles. Legs feel better, but still uber sore. I am blaming this on my old age and most likely lack of stretching. Time to bust out the foam roller/stick again!
2010 was pretty much the victory march in my running career, and I hit a couple goals that I had set. Racing was mediocre at best, but the main focus of 2010 was the Boston Marathon.
Here are my highlights of running in 2010:
Best run: training, probably the solo 16 mile solo at marathon pace in February as well that was very fun. Had no business hitting a workout like that, but just clicked for that day and was cruising on the trails, just me and Mother Nature. For race, Boston for nostalgic reasons but the Top of the Hibernian 5K in March was my favorite run. Hit a pretty decent time (18:16), but just battling against Candace with everyone cheering against me was fun. Good tactical race run by me, and it was one of the few times this year (sadly) that I was not going to lose. Felt strong the entire way, ran as good as I did all year. A close second was the St. Pat's Day 5 Miler. Another strong performance, but just ran tactically stupid on the last mile and barely missed out on a PR. That course just beats me up.
Best Out of Town Run: Boulder sweeps all the awards. Ran an XC Race in January in arguably the most scenic race I have ever run (mountains in the background, lake, nature at its finest), and BolderBoulder 10K was a race on my bucket list, and it lived up to all its hype. Now if I only I could do something about that altitude. Runner up is Boston, had some fun runs around town, and obviously that nice 26.2 mile jog on Patriot's Day ;) Denver, D.C. and Chi get honorable mentions, because they are all just awesome.
Favorite run: 15 miler with Shane, Crystal, and Mike this spring. Always good to get out on a long run with Team Sullentrup, and enjoyed getting in a good run on a nice day with some good friends. Close second was the hour off, hour on run with Crystal. Big confidence booster for her for her upcoming marathon, big confidence booster (at the time) for me since my running had been suffering due to bad allergies.
Best fast long run: 1/2 in Philly - PR out of nowhere, my welcome back to running after a frustrating summer/fall. I am pretty sure Shane is my lucky charm, I run good races everytime we run together. Hit PR splits at the 10K and 10 mile, and just cruised in. Pretty much salvaged my racing year up to that point.
Favorite workout: TIE- first, track work right around when I was starting to have some bad breathing problems. Failed at completing the workout (2 miles at pace, 1 mile 10-15 seconds faster), but hit the 2 mile when I had no business doing so and felt great doing it (5:54, 5:58). 2nd was the Dallas Mayor's Race 5K. Billed from the beginning as a workout, but turned into a win for me in a decent sized field. Any victory is always fun :)
Favorite race: TIE - Philly 1/2, was obviously a thrill to PR and was an amazing trip with Marc and Shane. Boston Marathon for personal reasons with Shane, Crystal, and I running together, fulfilling the biggest goal of all, and having friends and family there to watch me run.
New PR's in 10: 1 Mile - 5:17, 1/2 Marathon - 1:25:18
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment