Pavement is the place for me

Long run. Up middlebrook pike and back. Through various subdivisions, out by walmart, under the tunnel and then did the whole thing again on the way back. Felt good till 20, then knees starting feeling it and shortly after all hell broke loose. Still recovered and finished strong the last two miles, running a mile from my car, then turning around to finish up. Was planning for 24, but figured I'd just go the distance to see if I could. This long run was much better as there are less hills than on my last long run, but had a headwind both ways somehow. I would have liked to fuel a little more during the run as I only stopped by the car once, but I did the best I could on that matter.

Definitely felt awful afterward. The legs were just completely tired and almost felt the tightness similar to if they were cramping, but it was just exhaustion. Didn't eat anything afterward. Normally when I do that I can't keep it down. That's the last thing I wanted, so only liquids and it worked well. Ice bath for 15 minutes and a short nap before going out to eat. Pigged out at Olive Garden and felt a whole lot better, then we went to smoothie king and I felt even better than before, almost crazy enough to do it again sometime. Definitely a tough run, but as it now less than a month before my half, I'm feeling very confident that I will do well.

Good day today.

6 miles this morning.

Afternoon basketball. I warmed up after church while April was in a meeting- so when I came for the game I was already on fire. We won!! finally! I led the team in scoring, I think I had 30 points or so (they ran out of room in the scoring column).

6 miles later at the soccer complex.

Beautiful 70 degree day, just a little windy. Track guys went on a 7 miler as tomorrow was going to be their workout, but it is supposed to rain. That normally doesn't stop us from working out, but since Wednesday and Friday will likely be beautiful we opted to push the workout back. Next week is our first meet, a practice meet. Already~! We had the honor of having the old track coach who is now the principal of the school work with our hurdlers tonight. She coached back in the day when our school was winning state championships in track, so yeah she knows a lot more than me....for now. Anyway she was excellent. I took one of the sprinter groups and worked them out.

 Stopped by the soccer complex on the way home. I always wear running gear to practice, just in case, so I was ready to go. It was already late since we had the old coach there and took extra time, so I knew I would have to get my run in now before the sun set. It started off pretty bad. I'm still pretty fatigued from the 26 Saturday and the 12 plus basketball Sunday. But all the same by 5 miles I was in the groove and the legs flowed forth a nice comfortable pace. I was well within my limits and it was a good easy day for me. This was especially so once the sun did go down as I got cooled off, probably half the reason the last part of the run felt great.

6 on the sweatmill. Track workout planned tomorrow, will try to get 6 more in the morning.

Ran with the girls, well I started with them at least. That saved some time after practice. Both girls and guys were doing 1200's. My workout was 800's. This was perfect because the guys time themselves (one has a nice watch). I don't wear a watch, but I do use a nice timer. So when the girls started their 1200, I did my 800 and was able to see my time and still have over a lap before they finished, perfect.

I stayed conservative, although I did my bring my cross country waffles to run in. I'm glad I did, I used a lot of muscle that seems to be just sitting around. It turns out running 50 miles or more a week is pretty much geared at one thing- aerobic capacity. I was breathing on the 800's for sure, but recovery was less than half the time it took to run them. I still took the full time because these weren't supposed to be anaerobic. Only 6, although I think my original plan 4 months ago of 10 was a bit much. But on the other hand I missed 2 crucial weeks of hill training, so I guess it wasn't out of reach. The legs just weren't used to the spikes and the speed. Within the next few weeks I'll adjust by doing 1 hard workout, then a medium workout later in the week in my spikes.

1 mile warmup and cooldown, then 6 steady-state around the neighborhood with 2 trips up HH.

5 miles with the guys. Pretty slow, I stayed back because I was sore from the workout yesterday. Another 5 on the way home. Nothing else to note other than the tightness/soreness in calves and hams. That's to be expected after wearing spikes for the first time in nearly a decade.

6 on the sweatmill. Was the only coach at track practice today. I had 4 different workouts going between the distance and the sprinters. Not really the ideal situation, but I saw some pretty good work going on. We should do okay at our practice meet on Tuesday. That will be a good indicator of future workouts for our team.

Wanted to run later so I could help April cook tonight. Hopefully I'll finally get a morning run in tomorrow, but it will be tough as it is supposed to be cold and snowy. I have been waking up an hour early, but then I fall back asleep. I guess its a step in the right direction.

didn't get a run in today unfortunately.

Basketball today was fun. We lost due to the other team shooting 100% from beyond the arch for nearly the whole game. I mean that literally, they missed one out of 15. Regardless we played hard till the end, but couldn't close the gap (even though we were up by 5 at the half).

injuries today- hip slammed, nice bruise to match the other hip.

knee bruise? this is what sucks the most, because I don't know how I obtained this pain.

Took a nap after bball and when I woke up there a was a pain in my knee. It must have got hit sometime during the game, but I didn't feel anything. It made tonights run painful, especially at the beginning. I pushed through and it felt a little better, but it is still nagging me even now. Hopefully tomorrow it'll feel better and I can do my workout on the track.
 

Knee hurt ALL day long. I couldn't walk stairs and could barely walk normally the whole day. Took a motrin after school and a half hour later the pain was miraculously gone. Got home 3 hours later and still no pain. Went for a 10 mile run, no pain... Still no pain. My ankles were sore from yesterday and the hams and calves weren't too happy either. I wore my free's yesterday and they can have that effect, especially when I pushed the first 5k of yesterday's run. Looks like the knee is okay since I was having pain in other places and not there. Still, I didn't run my workout tonight at the track like I had wanted to. It would have been nice, but it just wasn't worth it - even though the knee was feeling good I wanted to make sure.

Track meet tonight, no running. Had some decent performances, but were just not in good enough shape yet. 4:46/48/58 milers and a long jumper who went 19.10" from a foot or two behind the line on his first jump come to mind. Actually the meet went pretty smooth, we just didn't get to eat anything so I was starving when I got home and didn't feel like running after I just ate, plus it was 9:00 and I needed to get some sleep.

Workout at the track since I didn't get to do it Monday. Pretty good, about the same as last week though. 1200,800,800,400,800,800. Was breathing pretty good. I wish I could have gotten more climbing work done last month, it's really set me back in my sprint capabilities. Darn sickness. Feeling good but I'm still not positive if I will be able to get to my gold goal for the race yet. I'll know by my last fast workout the week before. The good news is I'll be able to keep my speedwork another month for a 10k I ran last year. It will be fun to compare times.
 

Pushed a little harder than I should have on this one, but it felt good. Extremely sore from yesterday's workout, must have been some serious bootylock yesterday. Calves and hams weren't too refreshed either. Luckily I know that sore muscles and rest equals improved speed.

nice run around the hood. Pugs chased me for 50m, so I got a nice acceleration in before they died. I had hoped they would go a little farther, but they died. Oh well, hams are tight but everything else is good to go for tomorrows long run of 15-17. Last one before the half and I'll be running the course itself for this one. Should work out well.

ran with the marathon group on their long run on the first half of the course this morning. Felt really easy compared to my normal long, as this was much shorter and a little slower, but still got some good work in. Tough course overall, lots of hills that I remembered are pretty tough. It was nice to talk with a few people as I ran, one woman happened to have won the marathon two years ago. We had a group of four or five that just kind of stuck together, with me and her out front leading. I was glad to have the others there as I had no clue where I was going and there was nobody in front of us. It was a beautiful morning with some sun, although the forecast was for thunderstorms. It ended up raining, but not until everyone was gone.

Half marathoners were supposed to do 10 today. That is way to low for me, so when we got back to the start at 13 the marathoners slowed down like they were done. I kept going and then they kind of questioned if they should go 15 like the run was going to be. I was just like, this is my last long run, I'm going the extra- and they all went too. No major problems, hams are still kind of sore/tight, but everything else was good.

5 miles in the morning. Legs a little sore from yesterday.

7 miles at the soccer complex. Somehow this was a fast run even though legs weren't feeling good, last mile was fastest and felt effortless. This was very close to goal pace. Can't wait for rested legs.
 

Took it easy today at the soccer complex. Legs are really worn out, but I still want to do a workout tomorrow. Hopefully a good stretch and some massaging will at least get them part of the way there. I don't think I'm going to do any speedwork. I have plenty of speed, it's strength that I need, so probably a hill workout.

nice run tonight in some strong wind. Good overall pace. Didn't get the hill work in that I had planned on because legs still weren't fully recovered. They felt really good though and I should be able to get the workout in tomorrow morning.

Hill sprints. Whoa today was crazy. I was hoping to get in 8 quality hills sprints, it was more like 3, then died for 5 more. First I started off with 6 miles at steady pace. The largest hill I have to overcome in the half is well, at the half. So I wanted to simulate that run by putting my hills in after running for a while- approximately 6.5 miles. I was already breathing pretty good by the time I got back to the HH after 2 laps around the hood. That usually doesn't matter, because once I start hiking up and up, my body reacts to that and I don't even feel tired anymore.

The first sprint was the fastest, strongest, and toughest. The wind today was not good- 23-25 mph and coming right at my body all the way up. I was just about blown off the road once and probably looked like I was running drunk swerving like I was. Not only that, but it started to rain. So now I got rain pelting me in the face, wind blowing me around, and of course the giant hill I'm wanting to sprint up 8 times consecutively. whew.

So the first 3 were just me against God. I was so hyped up and it just felt like he was trying to break me. I didn't let it happen. Not today. 6 would have been good enough. I was dead after the first 3, I mean I felt like I was crawling up. So I did one more just to say I did more than I thought I could. Tough, tough workout, but I'll be much stronger because of it. Bring on the half marathon in half-decent weather.
 

Easy 5 this morning with 2 hill trudges. Got the heart rate up in the morning, which is pretty much my goal for the next two weeks. Left knee was a little fun, I sort of had a "clicking" thing going on. It felt like the tendon was a step behind. So when I extended it sort of made a twang like it was rolling over another tendon? Not sure how to describe it. I attribute it to the calf raises I did last night. I haven't been doing those like I wanted to, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

6 rather tough miles at the soccer complex tonight. Kind of just grinded them out since the legs were a little tired from yesterdays workout. No soreness though which is good because it leaves Saturday open for some final speedwork.

5 AM miles as per spring break this week. Kind of nice to be able to run in the morning without sacrificing sleep.

6 PM miles. Pretty weak run tonight at the complex. Just didn't have anything in the tank for this one. Breathing was fine, legs were toast. Speedwork tomorrow morning and then rest, rest, rest. Race is at 7 on march 30.
 

workout at the track today. One mile warmup and drills. Then 1 mile with 600 recovery, 800 w 1200 recovery, and a final 800, then a mile cooldown. Felt good on all 3, especially the last one. By good I mean I was hurting. Didn't want to do much as I don't need to mess anything with a week to go till the race.

6 miles at the soccer complex. Started off well enough, the pace felt pedestrian after today's speedwork. Ran the last lap pretty fast because I was feeling good, so add another one on for fast miles today. There was a guy with a knox marathon shirt, we exchanged words as we ran by which was kind of funny since I ran by him 6 times. I say "I" ran by him because I was going a lot faster. It was good though, he's running the half next week as well. I'm feeling very confident. I've been running since October and have put in some good work. I know I'll PR, the only question is by how much. 

Quick mile in the morning. Spent time with April and her family for Easter.

Sweatmill for 5 miles. Weather was kind of bad, snowed most of the day, but that wasn't what kept me inside. It was an inservice day today and it just took everything out of me. Not that it was particularly hard, it was just all over the place with no real schedule. I usually get out of my groove when things like that change. Should be better the rest of this week. Probably do a longer run tomorrow, maybe an easy 10.

around the hood. Tough since last night used different muscles on the treadmill- and I probably worked a little too much. But oh well I still have plenty of time to rest.

hill sprints with the kids. they were doing 12, but I only did 7 since I didn't want to do too much. Felt pretty good though. They finished their workout back at the track, and I finished mine after I got home, Just another 6 miles at comfortably fast pace.

Race in the morning.

Race report to come. Computer tied up with April all day....

So I did some light running out into the course and it felt okay. Not great by any means. I should have warmed up a little more, but I was anxious. I looked around. This was oddly familiar. Dark dreary skies, puddles, I just wait for the downpour of rain. But before I knew it they were saying their words and getting ready for the start. I took a stance, left foot out in front of the right and my knees slightly bent. I looked down, then over at the guy with the gun. When he raised it, I looked out. Bam, and there we go flying up the first hill. Little did I know how much I would regret that first mile.

We are going fast, but I was feeling pretty good. I had no idea what our time was. Up a hill and my legs are turning over, down another hill and then out on a loop down to the river. I'm watching people ahead of me, and I can see Michael Wardian- the guy who ran out in front of the likes of Ryan Hall, Brian Sell, and Ritz for the first miles of the Olympic Trials. I had saw him in warmup and almost talked to him, then I didn't worry about it. Mile one marker ahead- 25,26,27,28......WHAT 28 I thought. It was 6. Ahhhh. For all holiness again with a fast first mile (for me). I wanted to go out in 6:50, then decrease pace. Oh well I thought, everyone else out in front of me will die. But the damage was done. My legs began to turn into burning vessels of pain and before you know it I'm struggling just to run at any pace, let alone comfortably. I can attribute some of this to the hill sprints wednesday- but it was just faster than I had trained. I normally start off slow, then increase; and this was the exact opposite. I truly believe this first mile cost me a minute or possibly more in terms of time.

So I just gutted out the first 5 miles. Up hills just kept on coming, and even at 3 miles, the hills were tough. Little hills, big hills, long hills, you name it and there were hills. At 6 miles I FINally started feeling somewhat under control. The pace had drifted slightly and there were lots of downhills that I could coast on. I always excel here because of the downhills I trained on- I always got faster after them and so it was today. At 6 miles I see the 10k timer and it reads just under 42 minutes. Good- but not anywhere near the 40 I had envinsioned. So I doubled it- I could run next 6 miles just as fast as the first-That puts me at 84 with a mile to go, meaning I would have to kill the last mile to make it. And so right then I knew the race was still on.

Mile 7. Good old mile 7. This is where the dreaded hill of death is. The one I walked last year. I see a curly hair guy I've had my sights on for 2 miles and I track him. Halfway up the first hill I'm within yards, and by the second hill I've passed him at the top. He's breathing hard, I'm not, but my legs are screaming for mercy. I can feel my left quad just pulsing and wanting to rip apart, calves aren't much better but it's the whole leg, from the ankle up. My right foot is numb. The turf toe shows its head again and the thing is lifeless and hurts on impact. Stupid turf toe. I ignore it and think about the next 3 miles. They will have to be fast- this is the flat part of the course. Another hill ahead, two more hills, a steep hill, and then some rolling hills. I'm flying with three guys. They pass me, I pass them. I'm stronger and smoother than them, but my legs are destroyed. 10 miles. 3 more to go.

The next mile I track down 3 guys I see ahead and soon enough pass two of them- the third I would never catch. I follow him up the next series of hills at mile 11- where I believe I walked for a few steps last year. I stayed smooth but I'm pretty much spent- just running on guts at this point. I know there is only two miles left, but I can't go any faster- or at least my legs tell me that. Stupid legs why are you so unprepared! I000 miles and still you don't cooperate. I see the 12 mile mark. Two guys are ahead of me and I go for them, down we go, almost there. I think I can catch them. I prepare to turn right to head towards the stadium- but we don't, we go straight. Right into a huge friggin hill. For pete's sake another friggin hill right at the end. And it's not small, it's long and steep. Little did I know the stadium is right at the top (we didn't run this route two weeks ago as I was with full marathoners). I struggle to catch the two guys, but I can't, I can but my body says no. I get inside the stadium and see 1:30, I book it, but it's too late as I have only 50 yards. I just try to finish with the best time possible.

Sub 1:30 evades me by 27 seconds. I think if I had just started off slower I would have worked my way into a good pace, then been able to really kick the last few miles. But thats what I would have done, and not how it went down. Thats the kind of things you learn. Or least should have learned because it happened last year too. But last year was a beginners mistake, this year I should have known better. I am happy with the race this year. I made huge improvements and the best part is I still felt out of shape, haha. That means theres room for huge improvements again next year. I basically started training in mid-October, so if I continue to be consistent I'm sure I can make it happen.

average 6:54, improved 1:35 from last year
total time 1:30:26, improved 20:27 from last year

 On a side note I played basketball at church after all this. I took a nap afterward, got up and went to play in our tournament. I willed my team almost to victory scoring 35 points with 8 three pointers, 6 rebounds, numerous steals and assists..not a bad day for a 5'8" guy. We lost by 6 points 68-74. It was almost as awesome as this mornings race, considering I did run a hard race right before playing. I hope the guys continue to play as it fun to get together on Sundays.

Two with April, then finished out the rest after she was done.