NYC 1/2 thoughts, last week (racing), Mo's transition to marathoning, Chicago Marathon lottery opens up, Kara signs with a new company, idiot that interrupted 2004 Olympic Marathon gets kicked out of London lottery (go figure), and an interview with the lovely Miss Kara Goucher,
Monday, March 17th - 4 miles. Monday night group run at South City, which I coordinated with Timmy, Kyle, and Crystal. I tried to get a quick oil change beforehand nearby the store, and ended up getting a new serpentine belt along with it since mine was literally about to snap. What should have been a 15 minute oil change and $40 charge ended up being almost 1.5 hours and ~$300, so ended up having to catch up with a very displeased group of runners. Did a couple loops of Francis with them before hitting up some strides at DuBourgh with Crystal, before running back to my car. Tired legs and still hurting from some NASTY chafing, but to be expected after Sunday's long run.
Tuesday, March 18th - 6 miles. Met Crystal, Kyle, Craig, and Colby at the track. I planned on doing scheduled workout earlier because of terrible weather conditions forecasted on Wed, but I forgot my inhaler. The wind was pretty brutal, so opted to do easy mileage and do the workout tomorrow. Brian Holdmeyer was at the track, so he, me, and Kyle did a loop through SLU and neighboring areas to get in our mileage. Very fun for me to sit on and listen to them recap 2011 St. Pats, when Kyle and Brian finished 1-2 and had quite the duel - both those guys remember every single detail, and I soaked it all in (unfortunately, I remember having some quad issues and having to stop and stretch on Olive and killing my race time). Got into a nice rhythm, and cruised through to finish it out fast despite a nasty headwind coming back. I forgot how hilly the area around SLU is - challenging with the wind, on top of it. 45 minutes and some change, overall.
Wednesday, March 19th - 6 miles. Workout bright and early. Plan was 6 x 1 mile at tempo, with 90 sec in between but it was just straight up ugly. I had no legs and no energy, and tried to battle some strong morning winds but pretty much failed. I ran back on forth on the trails towards Troy, and pretty much struggled every step of the way past the first half mile. Splits were: 6:17, 6:31, 6:28, 6:26, then quit because I was dead.
Thursday, March 20th - 3 miles. Ran with Yoch after work right before heading to Colby's house for the tourney games. We started from his house and did out and back towards the trail. I felt pretty good, as his route is pretty hilly and we picked it up a little coming back. It got HOT on the trails - where did this 70+ degree weather come from, all of a sudden? Splits were: 7:41, 7:38, 7:22.
Friday, March 21st - 6 miles. Did some solo mileage around STL, then warmed up with Hilary and Crystal around SLU's campus before Crystal's first ever track meet at SLU! She was the #1 seed, running with some fast college girls and some of the Runnababez girls, and had a mile cutdown workout for her 5K race. Windy day, and she ended up finishing 3rd in her track debut which was very solid. We cooled down around the area to finish out an easy mileage day for me.
 |
| Crystal blazing by in 5K |
Saturday, March 22nd - 12 miles - 9 miles A.M. (ALTON 5K: 19:38, 4th overall), 3 miles P.M.. Went to go watch Yoch defend his title on a cold, windy morning in Alton, IL. Course started at the ampitheater (right next to the casino), and went on some roads headed back away from Alton, before heading back on the bike trails on the bluff - virtually an out and back. The initial game plan was just to straight up win the race, but that plan got expelled quickly when I found out a couple All-American college runners were running, so I settled for a good, hard effort. Went out with another local runner and virtually had him sit on me the entire race as we headed out towards the turnaround. Wind was technically a tailwind going out but since the road was protected by the bluff, I felt virtually nothing at that point and all the runners were protected from the elements. Everything felt fine until the turnaround, when I hit the headwind and struggled to maintain pace which slowed down. Right before the 2 mile split, the trail forked off and luckily Kyle and Crystal could direct me to where I needed to go since I had a choice to make. Unfortunately, the "correct path" led me up a small, steep hill which started the beginning of the end for me. Last mile was more difficult, as the rolling hills and wind got to me and zapped my energy as I continued to get worked off of (despite trying to get him to share the work, which was denied and never happened). He made a move the last quarter which I couldn't react to, and cruised in for a 4th place finish. While I'm not pleased at all with the time, I split 12:15 at the 2 mile mark with not so hard effort, and excited to be making some progress. On a better day, I'm breaking 19, no problem. Splits were: 6:00, 6:15, 6:40 (yikes). Add in warmup, cooldown, cooldown with Yoch (who defended his half marathon title on a tough day - 1:19:22 PR), and an impromptu 3 mile run at night.
 |
| Finishing the 5K |
 |
| Bar Crawl for the Kids |
 |
| Tough day for Franklin |
Monday, March 24th - 12 miles. Long run with Kyle on Grant's Trail on a windy, snowy afternoon. Because I was working nearby, we opted to do our long run in that area, and started at Grant's Farm before going back and forth to hit our mileage. It was snowing at the start, which was a pain in the @ss because my glasses were fogging up/getting wet but got into a good rhythm after the first few miles. FINALLY, a long run which I felt stronger as we kept going, and the time flew by very quickly which is a great indicator of a good day for me. Literally felt like we were jogging the entire time, and was as comfortable as I have ever been. Grant's Trail has a little bit of incline/decline on the trail than I remember, as the 1-2 mile climb going up with deceptively long but very nice coming back. Kyle stopped at 10.35 miles, and I wanted to get in a couple more miles so opened up my stride a little and pushed to finish. Very pleased with this run, and had a negative split that Crystal would be proud of. 1:30:38 total, splits were: 7:48, 7:54, 8:06, 8:03, 7:53, 7:53, 7:42, 7:26, 7:20, 7:13, 6:50, 6:22.
Tuesday, March 25th - 6 miles. Ran Forest Park loop with Tim, Kyle, Craig, Gibbs, Justin, and Megan. Legs were pretty much garbage after my fast finish long run, and looked to do some easy recovery mileage. Windy, chilly day, but sat on a couple of the guys initially before Tim and I picked it up going up Skinker. Cruised through the loop as my legs slowly felt better (felt like complete garbage initially), and we negative split the last few miles into the wind which is always a good feeling. Craig started a push on the last mile, and got me going so we finished with a good effort. Checked out the new Urban Chestnut afterwards which is in the Grove - HUGE facilities, and great brew as usual. 48 minutes or so total. 3 months ago, this run would have been 9+ min/mile pace - legs are definitely feeling stronger, overall.
Easy mileage tonight with Craig and Crystal, then workout on Thursday which is looking like some tempo-ish, strength building work.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment