Summer Days

I'm starting to feel pretty good about myself.  Crushed 3 weeks of 40+ mile weeks, and my body seems to be holding up well.  The slower runs, and easy dreadmill runs are definitely helping ease myself back into the grind.  I may start incorporating some smaller workouts into my schedule, before fully transitioning speed work back into the schedule.

Thursday, July 5th - 4 miles (31:38).  This was going to be a day off, but honestly my legs are feeling fine, and for some masochistic reason felt up to the challenge of running 4 miles with Crystal during 102+ heat indexes.  Because it was so sunny, we started right on the trail and ran towards Troy and back.  Crystal was doubling, so we kept the pace honest, but overall felt decent.  On the way back, something weird happened - it got very cloudy and overcast, and a very strong cool head wind hit us for the last mile.  It felt absolutely glorious, and my interpretation was the Running Gods were blessing us for sucking it up during some crappy conditions.  I'll take it!

Friday, July 6th - 7 miles (3 miles (24:30), 4 miles (34:00)).  Got up nice and early, and decided to knock out a few miles.  Looped out on Glen Crossing Road to the trail, went out towards Troy, then headed back for an out and back.  Legs are still feeling ok, and negative split pretty easily.  Very nice to have some mileage in the bank, so early!  In the afternoon, knocked out another 4 miles, in the comfort of my hot garage and dreadmill.  Running still doesn't feel the best, but the really easy runs are starting to feel ok.

No daddy, that's mine!

Saturday, July 7th - 8 miles (1:07).  Woke up relatively early, on an absolutely gorgeous morning, and strapped in the kid for some stroller miles.  Ran towards Village Circle, and caught Crystal and Krista on the tail end of their workout (they CRUSHED it!), and we cooled down for a couple of miles on the trail.  Amazing how much easier it is to run when the temps are 30 degrees cooler!  Isaac crashed out towards the end of my run, so tacked on another neighborhood mile, and walked for another 30 minutes with him to hit a personal best for us (8 miles!).  

Some much needed back up help for my solo parenting weekend

Future Griller

Need to take advantage, so tacked on one more mile

Sunday, July 8th - 2 miles.  Suffered through 2 stroller miles around the neighborhood to get to my 40.  Don't feel sorry for me because of my self-induced state, but it's a good reminder that I am not 25 anymore, and I will feel every beer past 10 p.m.  To make matters worse, I had a complete relapse on my "diet", and ate a Big Mac and fries for lunch, and pizza for dinner, and consequently feel like complete poop today.  But I did ultimately survive my solo parenting weekend!  40 miles this week, 52 miles in July.

Back to the grind, this week.  Easy mileage tonight, then the plan is to do an easy fartlek tomorrow for some much needed turnover work!

Happy 4th of July! (Long run)

Happy 4th of July!  Hope everyone had a chance to enjoy some holiday time with family, and watch some amazing fireworks!

Wednesday, July 4th - 11 miles (4 miles (33:55), 6 miles (52:59), 1 mile (8:52)).  Woke up bright and early, and knocked my long run, in parts.  Started out with an out and back on the trail towards Home Depot, and saw Crystal/Colby/Krista warming up for their Village Circle workout before heading back.  The initial plan was to get in 6 miles then meet up with Mike for 6 more, but I was already suffering from exhaustion, and the heat/humidity was already beating me down.  Got home, drank 4 very cold glasses of water, cooled off for a few minutes, then met up with Mike at 6:30 a.m.  Out and back towards Troy on the trail, and it was quite miserable to say the least.  The humidity did back off a little on this second run, but my legs were just jello.  Many bikers/runners on the trail for the 4th, so happy to have some company, but a rough morning to run for this guy.  Got back and knocked out 1 whopping dreadmill mile, but was completely done afterwards.

May take a well deserved day off today, although thinking dreadmill for a few easy miles to shake out my legs.  They don't feel sore, nor tired for that matter, but really want to watch out for over-training.  The weather breaks this weekend, so will have some opportunity to knock out some stroller runs with Isaac in cooler weather!

Soaking up the rays for the 4th!

The crap we are dealing with, these days

Reading his new favorite book, post run

2019 Tokyo Marathon

Awoken.  I re-start my blogging here, because this is a very tangible, vivid moment for me, where I realized enough was enough (Monday, June 18th).  I'm on a group text with some amazing runners, all of whom are running at a very high level, and there are incessant updates (daily) about running performances.  Meanwhile, since London (April 2016), I'm plodding along with a very inconsistent 15-20 miles/week (whatever I feel, when I'm not particularly lazy), and virtually nothing to talk about.  All my fitness from the Berlin block (2014/15) has been stripped away, and I am eating terribly and drinking too much beer.  Tokyo 2019 might actually be happening, and I'm less than 9 months out, possibly in the worst shape (and highest weight) that I have been since 2005.

At some point a couple of weeks ago, I internally snapped, and am sick of hearing about my friends crushing workout after workout, with upcoming races to train for, and just the fun that comes with being fit and seeing results.  I used to be that guy - what happened to me??  I'm going to try to re-boot my running life, trying to be mindful of running safely and slowly working my way back, knowing there are some physical limitations.

So where do we begin?  Let's try for a few consecutive days of running (slow), and see how my body works out.  Those few days turn into a 40 mile week, followed by a 46 mile week, and a much better mind set for myself.  This week is not going to be a 40 mile week, as my body is feeling the grind already, but on a good path again and developing good habits again.

The plan is simple - get through a month of basic mileage build up (who cares about pace?) and sweat off some unnecessary lbs. and start grinding.  Incorporate some workouts along the way, and get through the summer.  I signed up for the St. Jude Half Marathon in December (bucket list race) with Jonny, so I want to run that race at or below marathon pace.  Then really get into my possible marathon block for 3/3/19 and hope I've developed enough fitness to properly train, the way I want to.

Then this happened, yesterday:

I'm officially in!  I've run through quite a bit of emotions, as this news has settled in, but a few points really stick out to me:

- Crap, I am running another marathon!
- This is the last of the World Marathon Majors for me, and almost the end of a long journey/pipe dream that began in 2005
- My last marathon (2017 London) was more or less a bust, but a painful reminder of what happens when you don't train properly
- I am starting from almost ground 0
- This is the first marathon that Isaac will get to "experience" his dad training for - I need to set a good example for my son, my wife, my family, and everyone who knows me

Let's get to work...

Monday, 6/18 - 4 miles (35:47).  Out and back on the trail towards Troy with Mike.  Truly disgusting conditions, and we did a fat positive split on almost every mile.

Tuesday, 6/19 - 7 miles (57:10).  Solo loop around town, late at night.  I wanted to get in 5-6, but felt pretty good and just kept going, and got lost on my sports podcast.  Hills on 159 slowed me down (last 2 miles), and ended up more or less jogging it in so I didn't suffer too much.  Overall pace wasn't bad, but need to start honing in on some strength and hill training sometime soon.

Wednesday, 6/20 - 4.5 miles (38:14).  Dreadmill, ugh

Thursday, 6/21 - 6.5 miles (54:00).  Dreadmill.  Ugh

Friday, 6/22 - 5 miles (40:16).  Out and back, on the trails, to Drost Park.  A little rain and cooler weather always helps pace, and felt pretty decent, all in all.  Splits were: 8:13, 8:17, 8:19, 7:59, 7:25.

Saturday, 6/23 - 8 miles (1:05).  Dreadmill run, nice and early.  World Cup time, and my buddy Ryan came down for an impromptu visit!  He got in late Friday night, so stayed up late catching up, but was able to pop onto the dread mill for some easy miles before the games started.  Late morning, we headed over to Amsterdam Tavern in St. Louis to meet up with my old running buddy (and Mexican) Gabe, to watch the Korea/Mexico World Cup game, and the Germany Sweden game afterwards.  A sad ending for the Koreans, but we walked out of Amsterdam feeling happy for Ryan's late game Germany heroics, and celebrated the night away!

Sunday, 6/24 - 5 miles (44:36).  Stroller run with Mike and Isaac.  Dropped Ryan off at the train station, then immediately got Isaac ready for our run.  Hot and humid, and my legs felt like poop.  This run was a big struggle for me, and really felt it from the second mile on.  Lack of sleep, drinking, eating poorly all weekend didn't contribute much to my performance, but a 40 mile week is a 40 mile week!  That afternoon, we had a fun get together at a friend's house with a ton of running friends - always great to hang out with good friends who have similar running goals/motivations.  40 miles this week

Monday, 6/25 - 4 miles (35:10).  Out and back on the trail at night with Mike, towards Home Depot.  Nothing special to note - legs holding up surprisingly well so far.

Tuesday, 6/26 - 6.5 miles total (4 miles (30:00), 2.5 miles (20:45)).  The Dreaded Dreadmill Double.  Got home and decided to knock out a few dreadmill miles before grabbing Isaac from daycare.  It was warm in the garage, but felt pretty good.  Time to push myself a little - legs felt surprisingly spry, despite 8 consecutive days of running, and gradually increased the pace as I went along.  Dropped a ~6:40 mile to finish it out, before running to daycare, then did ~20 minutes slower to finish out the day.  A huge assist goes to the Game of Thrones Tyrion Lannister Season 2 video clip that I watched on Youtube - "I'm not threatening the king, ser. I'm educating my nephew. Bronn, the next time Ser Meryn speaks, kill him. That was a threat. See the difference?"

Wednesday, 6/27 - 6 miles (50:36).  Village Circle run with Jonny and Rich.  It was a warm, humid evening, but good to do an easy run with the guys.  Jonny was doubling for the day (tough workout earlier), so we kept the pace night and light.  Runs are feeling better for me but overall, still a struggle - I know this is part of a long process, and just need to trust it and keep working hard.

Thursday, 6/28 - ~6.1 miles (50:01).  Neighborhood and trail run with Crystal.  I haven't run with Crystal in what feels like ages, so sucked it up and did an early morning run with her, under the premise that she would behave (Crystal is getting really fit right now).  We did a couple of neighborhood loops for me to warm up, then out and back on the trail.  I felt like poop pretty much the second half of this run, but Crystal did show mercy and not push the pace, and we got done without any casualties.

Friday, 6/29 - 4.5 miles (38:16).  Dreadmill time after work.  In the middle of the heat wave, and needed to knock out some easy mileage in my garage before I convinced myself not to run.  Getting up early in the morning is just so difficult for me, these days :(  It was miserable as one would expect, and got through a couple of Entourage episodes while gulping down as much water as one can, on a treadmill.  At least it was shaded, and felt relatively accomplished for getting this done in 90+ degree temps in the garage.

Saturday, 6/30 - 6 miles (53:00).  Mike and I met up at my house, bright and early.  Ran out and back towards Troy, on the trail, and it was suffocatingly nasty outside - 79 degrees and HUMID.  Within 2 miles, my legs were toast, and I just felt awful.  We stopped at Drost Park for a bathroom break, and it was a painful shuffle back.  I really hate STL summers

Sunday, 7/1 - 13.2 miles (1:57:28).  Arch loop with Huelsy, bright and early in the morning.  We met in Forest Park, at a friend's house that lives within 0.5 mile of the Visitor's Center, and started out towards downtown.  I used to park at the Visitor's Center religiously, but too many recent break-ins, and just not as safe, in my opinion.  Anyways, the weather was already in the high 70's at 5 a.m., and as humid as could be (better than Saturday!).  We worked our way to SLU, on Lindell, then cut through the baseball fields and weaved out way downtown.  Was getting really tired and dehydrated, and borderline desperate for water, and eventually made our way back to the SLU student center for a long water break.  Our pace was pedestrian, at best, and just felt awful most of the way.  We stopped quite a few times (stop lights, water, bathroom, etc.), which didn't help things.  This run was basically a death march for the second half, and I think my longest this year, sadly.  46 miles this week - a new high for the year!

Monday, 7/2 - 4 miles (35:00).  Evening run with Mike on the trails, out and back towards Home Depot.  We kept it intentionally slow for my beat up body, but felt relatively good despite the muggy evening.  They are re-doing Old Troy Road, and supposedly closing the trail portion underneath the interstate, so hoping this direction towards the trail isn't closed too long.  Note to self - eating leftover BBQ, potato salad, and deviled eggs before a run is a BAD idea...

Tuesday, 7/3 - 4 miles (32:36).  Woke up bright and early, and extremely groggy.  The morning temps are definitely cooler to the skin, but the humidity is almost unbearing.  Staggered out the door, and attempted some easy neighborhood loops.  Considered getting out to the trail, but saw a few of the neighbors running the reverse direction, so opted to see some friendly faces.  Legs were really getting tired towards the end, and opted to stop at 4 to end the morning.  Splits were: 8:30, 7:58, 7:56, 8:01.

Weekend running will be a little rough, as I am on full time baby duty, so the plan is to nail a good long run tomorrow early and front load this week so I can recuperate a bit over the weekend.  All in all, a good start to my Tokyo journey!

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!

Olympic Triumph by the U.S. Women

The Olympics continue, and what a ride it’s been so far!  Michael Phelps concluded his legendary career, and Emma Coburn wins the bronze in an American Record (and PR) effort!  It’s amazing how far the American steeplechase group has gotten, as the U.S. finally medaled from both the men and women (congrats Evan Jager!).  Jenny Simpson ran a gutsy race for bronze, and the marathon women all finished in the top 10 on a nasty, sunny, and humid Brazilian day.  Shalane, Desi, and Amy all gutted out some amazing performances, and have nothing to be ashamed of – what a great accomplishment!    

Wednesday, August 10^th – 6 miles (1 up, 3 mile tempo, 2 down).  Olympic pact of running every day continues, as I barely made it out the door late at night for this one.  Original plan was to go the track, but didn’t want to lose too much time away from the Olympics, so thought a short tempo was the quickest workout to accomplish.  Very humid and sticky outside, but I had the benefit of Megan and her friend sitting outside.  I asked them to hand me water on my second mile (they did, no problem), and I had a good cheer section as did loops around the neighborhood.  Targeted goal half marathon pace (~6:45), and ended up averaging ~6:35 (6:30/6:39/6:35) splits.  Very pleased, as it was super nasty outside and I haven’t done much tempo work other than those 5K’s a month or so ago.  Slow cooldown to end the night, then back to the couch for more Olympics events!

Thursday, August 11^th - ~6 miles.  Recovery, out and back towards Drost, then 1 mile with Megan around the neighborhood.  Nice and easy, legs were a little tired from the tempo from the night before.

Friday, August 12^th - ~4 miles.  Run before work – looped around the neighborhood and on the trails.  Finally, the city decided to mow the grass on the trails, as the weeds had gotten a good 3’-4’ high!  But they decided to do this during my run, which made maneuvering around some trucks on a narrow trail pretty interesting.  10 strides afterwards to call it a day – started to get pretty warm and sunny towards the end of that run.

Saturday, August 13^th - ~5 miles.  I woke up with all intentions to do my long run.  I dressed and stretched and actually got my shoes on, all ready to go.  But Mother Nature had other intentions for me that morning as it poured and poured and poured.  It was that type of rain where you would be soaked within 5 seconds of being outside, so I deferred back to bed and decided to sleep in a little before trying again later.  Well, it did let up eventually, and I got outside late morning with the idea of doing my long run if I felt ok.  Well, the humidity from the nonstop rain made the trails feel like a sauna, so I made a U-turn at Drost Park and called it a day with 5 miles.  ~42 minutes I think, blah.

Sunday, August 14^th – 6 miles.  So much for a long run, as I got a late start with Crystal on the trails.  Watched the Olympic Marathon during the morning, and didn’t do too much later that day.  We ran a couple loops around her neighborhood before going out and back on the trail on Old Faithful.  Stomach was destroying me, and we cut the run short at 6 miles.  49 minutes and some change overall, pretty solid all in all.  At night, watched the Greatest of All Time, Usain Bolt, win his 3^rd consecutive Olympic Gold Medal in the 100m final.  Absolutely stunned to see him come back for the W, and amazing to see this human (not sure he actually is!) continue to dominate his craft.  So blessed to watch the best ever, at the twilight of his career.

Monday, August 15^th – 6 miles.  Out and back with Crystal on the trail towards Marine.  The plan was to go slower, but I’m ran with Crystal so that never goes to plan.  The weather was spitting rain, which felt incredible.  We started out slow (~8:20), but could feel us both picking up the pace.  I haven’t really ran much in the 7 minute range, so it was interesting to revisit that pace.  7:36/7:15 to close out a solid run.  47:12 overall.

Tuesday, August 16^th - ~4 miles.  Nice and slow after work while looping around the trails and neighborhood.  Legs were tired, but made it through ok for the most part.  Humidity has rejoined us, but the slow pace felt great.

Wednesday, August 17^th – 4 miles (1 up, 8x200, 1 down).  Late night track work with Crystal.  The original plan was to do a longer fartlek at tempo, but decided to tweak the plan a little bit since I am fairly certain I am doing Crystal’s steady state later this week.  Nice that I’m already re-writing the plan I’m using lol  Anyways, the evening felt ok temperature wise, but pretty still air.  The idea was to hit the 200’s around 37 seconds, and jog the recovery while we both alternated leads.  I figured this shouldn’t be too bad, as I felt pretty confident I could hit 37’s in my sleep.  Well, I led us off and realized that 37’s are a lot harder when you haven’t been doing much on the track, as I had to push on the last 100 meters to hit the split on the nose.  We alternated through 5 splits (I fell off a little towards the end of that) before I had to take a much needed bathroom break while Crystal kept going (original workout was 10 repeats).  Rejoined and led her through the last 2 reps before doing one more solo to finish the day.  36-38 for the first 5 splits, 35, 36, 36 for the last 3 repeats.  Slow cooldown to finish, and very pleased.

Easy run tonight after work, then 3 mile steady state on Friday.  Long run Saturday, then easy Sunday to conclude my Olympic running.  A few more marquis events to come, but fully expect King Usain to complete the triple, Centro to medal in the 1500, and Eliud Kipchoege to win the gold in the men’s marathon.  More to come!

Happy Olympics!

With the Olympics upon us, it is difficult not to feel motivated and work out.  This has been the best 1 month block for me since my Berlin Marathon block, and I am logging in some good mileage and building a small base to transition into half marathon training.  40 mile weeks are the norm, and I am welcoming the familiar feeling of tired/sore legs, but also trimming my spare tire and bettering my conditioning in the process!  Track and Field starts later this week, and I feel determined and motivated to keep the good running going through the Olympics.  Emma runs on Saturday for her pre-lims, and the Women’s Steeplechase 3000M Finals is next Monday.  Women’s 10K Final is on Friday, and the Men’s 10K Final is on Saturday.  And the Women’s Marathon is on Sunday morning.  Life (and running) is good!

Sunday, July 10^th - ~12 miles.  Ran to Yoch’s house, which is exactly 6 miles from house to house using trail.  The trail was very covered but trapped in all the humidity.  It was absolutely gross outside, and I was soaked within 10 minutes.  I could tell by the third mile that this was going to be rough, so started to intentionally back off on pace to conserve energy and keep my legs from the brutal punishment because I was running pretty flatfooted at this point.  I ran on 159 on the way back, but the damage was done at that point and my legs felt like concrete bricks.  The run back had a nice breeze, but 159 had a few monster hills to deal with. 

Monday, July 11^th - ~3 miles.  Waited late to knock this out, but ran out and back on the trails before coming back in.  Very tired, and was hurting from the long run on Sunday.  Very pedestrian pace, and walked a mile with Megan to call it a night.  Sweated off at least 5 lbs., so there is my silver lining. 

Tuesday, July 12^th – 5 miles.  Nice and muggy evening run with Mike over in his area in Troy.  We started out in his neighborhood, and ran local roads to Troy Park before doing some loops around there.  I hadn’t been in that park since I was a teenager, and it was cool to see that it had developed quite a bit.  The park itself was moderately flat with soft rocks on the main area, but we hit a small trail portion which was hillier.  Notable scenery included the several groups of families playing Pokemon Go, and I still don’t understand what the purpose of this game is other than to get in people’s way.  Roads to and from the park were pretty hilly, and my legs still felt pretty shot.  Nasty humid outside, and running these days is definitely a mental and physical battle.  42:30 total.

Wednesday, July 13^th – Sunday, July 17^th – 13 miles.  Had to take some time off, as I went too hard over the 4^th of July weekend.  Rest and retool.  21 miles this week

Monday, July 18^th – 5 miles

Tuesday, July 19^th – 5 miles

Wednesday, July 20^th - ~7 miles (2 up, 8 x 400 5K pace, 2 down).  Track workout with Yoch at my alma mater, EHS.  Not very good conditions, and we warmed up on the trail towards SIUE.  I jumped in and did quarters while he was doing his 5K workout at tempo pace, so we hit 87-89 on all the quarters.  That dude is a complete machine!  I felt ok after the first couple repeats, but it got very difficult towards the end.  I am not acclimating well to the hot/humid conditions.  Slow cooldown on the trail to finish it out.

Thursday, July 21^st – 5 miles

Friday, July 22^nd – 5 miles

Saturday, July 23^rd – 10 miles.  Very early in the morning – Mike met me at 5:30 a.m., and I ran a couple slow miles around the neighborhood right beforehand.  We ran out on Old Faithful, then looped through a neighborhood to get back.  My legs were pretty much dead, and was hurting bad on the last couple miles.  Ugh

Sunday, July 24^th – 4 miles  41 miles this week

Monday, July 25^th – 4 miles.  Early morning solo – out and back on the trails towards Troy.  Sleepwalked through this one.

Tuesday, July 26^th – 5 miles.  Early morning run with Crystal.  We hadn’t run in ages, so was nice to get some miles with my partner in crime.  Out and back on Old Faithful – so nice to get back to the routine again J

Wednesday, July 27^th - ~7 miles (2 up, 10 x 400 5K pace, 2 down).  Track workout with Yoch at the middle school track.  Nasty outside, and ended up pacing Yoch through his mile repeats with my quarter repeats.  Hit 86-89, and felt pretty controlled.  Should have hit a few more with him, but I was zapped from farting around after the last repeat.  Happy that the effort is feeling better than before.

Thursday, July 28^th – 5 miles.  Early morning run with Crystal.  Poopy mcpoop, my legs were tired!  But Crystal makes me run faster than I like, and we cruised through just fine.

Friday, July 29^th – ~5 miles.  Mile repeats with Crystal and Hilary in Crystal’s neighborhood.  Their workout was 3x1 mile at 6:30 pace, and I was the rabbit/pacer.  I am not an early morning fast runner, and was not looking forward to tempo like effort but it must be done.  But having people to run this with was very tolerable, and was surprised to find the effort wasn’t bad at all.  It also helps that Crystal’s neighborhood loop is lightning fast and despite the turn, it breaks up any monotony.  First mile started out quick, but we gained control quickly.  I had major stomach issues and sat out the second rep, but blasted through the last mile just fine.  Quick cooldown to finish out – pleased with the morning’s activities.  6:22, 6:12 were the mile splits.

Saturday, July 30^th – 11 miles.  Long run early with Mike.  Did 2 miles solo before he came over, and did some very slow laps around the neighborhood since it was pitch black outside.  Had a buddy that was questionable on joining so we circled the neighborhood a couple times waiting for him, before we determined he wasn’t coming.  Ran out and back on the trail towards Troy/Drost Park area.  Finally a morning that wasn’t ridiculously sticky outside, and it felt as nice outside as it’s been all summer.  We kept the pace pretty slow, but felt very good coming in.

Sunday, July 31^st – 0!  My buddy Nick called me up to help him move “a couple quick things”, which turned out to be a marathon 8 hour moving day!  Up and down the stairs, my quads/calves were as tired as they have ever been!  37 miles this week

Monday, August 1^st – 4 miles.  Dragged myself out the door to get in some late miles.  2 loops around the neighborhood, then my 2 mile loop on the trail.  Nice and slow, and super humid.

Tuesday, August 2^nd – 7 miles.  Out and back on the trail towards Drost Park.  So nasty hot outside towards the end.  Was hoping that I could run with the overcast skies, but the sun came roaring out with a vengeance about 2 miles into the run.  Last few miles were absolutely ridiculous and was hating life.  But this might be the run I will remember where things started to come together for me.  Legs were shot and the weather was hot/humid, and I slowly picked it up as I went.  Coming back in, Megan had texted me about getting in a couple miles, so I pushed it slightly coming back home.  I haven’t been pushing myself at all during these runs, but split 18:49 (20 something going out).  Nothing to really write home about, but mid 7 minute pace is a foreign concept for me right now.  2 miles with Megan afterwards to call it a day.

Wednesday, August 3^rd – ~6 miles (2 up, 10 x (30 sec hard, 1 minute easy), 2 down.  Late night start and did this fartlek around the neighborhood.  Sticky, but blasted it out.  Hit 2.13 miles for the fartlek portion (goal is 2 miles), and felt pretty controlled for the most part.  I am starting to feel better on these runs.  5K effort and a little faster for the “hard” part of the fartlek.

Thursday, August 4^th – 5 miles.  Trail out and back towards Troy. 

Friday, August 5^th - ~5 miles.  Happy Olympics Opening Ceremony!  Glad to knock out an early run, as I am determined to run good mileage every day during the Olympics!

Saturday, August 6^th – 10 miles.  Another early morning doozie with Mike.  He met me at 5:30 a.m., and we knocked out a couple miles in the neighborhood before doing out and back towards Marine.  Legs felt good, and we were cruising towards the end.  Overcast skies helped, and I felt good

Sunday, August 7^th – 6 miles.  Late night celebrating Timmy’s birthday, and dragged myself up at 7:30 a.m. for a recovery run.  Out and back on the trails towards Troy, nice and easy.  The sun was out, but not over powering, which was nice.  41 miles this week

Monday, August 8^th – 4 miles.  Tired, and made myself get outside with the Olympics being on.  Did a quick 2 mile loop solo (~16 minutes), then dragged Megan out of retirement for 2 miles (going opposite way).  Always nice to have company when knocking out easy miles!

Tuesday, August 9^th – 5 miles.  Out and back on the trails after work.  Warm, but tolerable, and I think the worst summer days are over (knock on wood).  Legs are starting to feel stronger, and I am pushing myself a little out of the comfort zone as the weather gets better and I get more acclimated to running again.  The first month was just getting the miles regardless of pace.  Now, I am going to start making myself work a little harder on the easier runs.  Felt lethargic starting out, but snapped out of it during my run and picked up the pace.  Helped to have some people on the trail to target, as I sniped a few kills coming in.  Sub 40 minutes, overall. 

Last night, got to watch the legendary Michael Phelps in action.  He avenged his 200M Butterfly loss to Chad de Clos (2012 London), and anchored the Men’s 4x200M Freestyle, both events within an hour.  One of the most impressive doubles I have ever seen.  I am just so amazed and blessed to watch this legend in action, still dominating while in the twilight of his career.  I love the Olympics!!!

Cheering up a Sweat 5K and Mascoutah Meltdown 5K Recap

I don't know about you, but the Olympic Trials have been a lot of fun to watch and very motivating for me to get out and slosh through some nasty miles.  Rio is right around the corner, and everyone is peaking at the right time!  Looking forward to watching the men and women's 1500 and 5K finals this weekend.

Friday, July 1^st – 4 miles.  Legs were tired and nice and easy around the neighborhood for some slow, monotonous laps.  Yoch put the full court press on me and convinced me to do a local 5K with him in the morning.  His reasonings include overcast weather, low 60’s temp, and a course I know very well (trail about 3 miles away).  Not to mention, I’m fat, need speedwork, etc.  So I signed up for it, pretty much making this race the first real speedwork I’ve done in awhile.  My fastest mile post injury has been 6:50.  This might hurt.

Saturday, July 2^nd – 7 miles (2 up, CHEERING UP A SWEAT 5K 19:49, 3^rd overall).  Early morning for me, and got up and outside to check the weather and shake out.  A bit muggy, but cool and ready to see what my old legs have.  Drove over to the Maryville Fire Department, which is less than a 3 mile run for me on the trails.  Warmed up with Yoch, and more or less felt like crap.  Course was changed from years previous, and we looped on the trail through Drost Park on two separate areas before heading back.  Layout was pretty much dead flat with a ton of turns, and as many times as I’ve run through Drost Park I have never looped through it.  Race started out ok, and I was pretty much in second right off the start and trying to maintain a hard but reasonable pace and rhythm.  I had an older guy sitting on me, which was annoying but just tried to pay attention to my cadence and focus on the pain that was coming.  Split 6:10 on my first mile, which I was pleasantly surprised at how good it felt, but just wanted to maintain position and tempo-like effort and not get overly greedy.  Looped around the first loop, before getting back on the trail briefly before turning onto the second loop which went around a baseball field and a lake – the loops were nice just so I could see what was going on behind me, but too many turns meant shifting gears a lot.  I got passed by a younger guy who surged to gap me, but I maintained being within 5 seconds of him the rest of the way.  On the last quarter mile, checked to make sure I had a top 3 finish secure, and coasted in.  Couldn’t convince myself to catch the guy for second, but felt pretty good the rest of the way.  Cooled down with Yoch for an easy 2 miles.  Very pleased to break 20 minutes with 0 speedwork and being overweight.

Yoch and I cleaning up

 Sunday, July 3^rd – ~5 miles.  Out and back early on the trail towards Troy.  Nasty humid, and legs were pretty much shot and kept it nice and slow.  Walked 1 mile with Megan around the neighborhood later on.  Legs were too shot for anything more, and will start long runs next week.

Monday, July 4^th – 7 miles (2 up, MASCOUTAH MELTDOWN 5K 20:52, 9^th overall, 2^nd age group).  Woke up early to go watch Colby run a local 5K, and his son run his first ever race!  We got to Mascoutah, which is a good 20-30 minutes from his house, and I warmed up with him.  The weather was humid and sticky, but overcast with spitting rain and still in the low 70’s.  Colby put the full-court press on me to join him in the fun, so I signed up for the race impromptu and targeted a hard tempo to knock out my speedwork for the week.  The course was more or less a huge square around the city of Mascoutah, which started and finished next to their big city park.  A decent showing of people, and we started pretty quickly and I comfortably hit 6:15 for the first miles but was still behind a pretty big group.  Worked my way up over the next 5 minutes, but my legs started to really feel it about a quarter mile into the second mile.  Shifted gears back to tempo effort to preserve what little precious energy I had left, and got caught in no man’s land between two packs but felt relatively comfortable despite working solo.  Hit the last 2 miles in 6:30-6:40 range, and finished out.  The course was a bit long (thinking around 3.2 miles, according to most Garmins we checked), and the cooldown was pretty rough but finished up another couple miles to call it a day.  Colby finished 2^nd for the age group win, and his son unfortunately succumbed to stage fright and DNFed his first race.  But perhaps he was the winner, as the Mascoutah high school cheerleaders showered him with affection and his first ever race medal!

Unhappy rookie racer

Tuesday, July 5^th – ~4 miles.  Recovery out and back on the trails towards Troy.  Nasty humid and sunny, and my legs were just shot.  Ran somewhere in the 35-40 minute range overall – when the weather is this bad, I don’t even run with a watch just so I don’t psych myself out.  Summer humidity is hitting hard with a vengeance!

Wednesday, July 6^th – 0!  Well deserved rest day.  I did walk 1 mile with Megan around the neighborhood, but my back and legs were feeling pretty sore. 

Thursday, July 7^th - ~6 miles.  Late run because the weather decided to be evil again.  The Olympic Trials were on, and that was more than enough motivation to get me out the door.  Ran my Glen Crossing/Old Faithful loop, which has some rolling hills but definitely makes you work a little.  Within the first 5 minutes, I was drenched with sweat, and just did my best to keep my legs moving despite the tiredness and sluggishness I felt.  Ended up racing the sun as it was setting, and looped in one neighborhood loop to get in ~6 miles.  Overall, felt ok and very happy to get this done.  ~50 minutes total.  Finished up the evening by watching Emma Coburn crush the competition to make her 2^nd Olympic Team!

Friday, July 8^th - ~3 miles.  Early morning run for me, but my body wasn’t having it.  Very humid outside, and did out and back on the trails towards Troy before I saw some lightning and a pretty evil black cloud headed my way.  Normally, not an issue for me, but I had my phone and didn’t want it to get messed up in a messy downpour so headed back in.  Looped small around my neighborhood before calling it quits for the day.

Easy weekend mileage awaits, and would like to get in a small fartlek for some turnover work.  All in all, very tired legs, but I have to keep reminding myself that this is early in the process and I have a lot of work to do just to put myself in position to train properly.