Heading to the Track

I haven't even looked at a track all year long. I've done a few interval sessions, but these were all done on the lakefront path and they were really just kind of thrown together at the last minute. Maybe due to the lack of races that I've done lately, I've been itching to get out on the track and do something fast and measured to see where I'm at. My staple track workout has always been 5X1 Mile with a quarter mile jog recovery. It's the only track workout that I have some historical data to compare against. So I decided that would be my inaugural track workout this year.

When I got outside this morning, the humidity that has been in the air the past week or so was gone. It was sunny but cool, with a nice breeze…really perfect conditions for running fast. I did the mile jog out to the track and then did some strides on the infield. Things seemed to be feeling pretty good. When I headed out on the first mile, my legs felt really stiff for the first quarter mile or so. It's was weird. For every single mile that I did, it seemed like the burden was on my legs for the first quarter mile, I cruised for the next half mile, and then the burden was on my lungs for last quarter mile. I guess going from a 10 min/mile recovery jog down to a 5 min/mile can stress the legs a little.

Anway, the repeats went fine. The splits were 5:18, 5:15, 5:17, 5:17, & 5:18. For the most part, I was pretty close to fully recovered after each of the quarter mile jogs between each mile. I've never done this workout and been able to run all the repeats under 5:20 so this was a nice surprise. Perhaps the nicest thing was that I really wasn't killing myself to hit the times, although I don't think I could have done them much faster. It was the right pace for the workout I think.

The legs have definitely realized that something different happened this morning. They were screaming a little bit early on in the afternoon run, but once they loosened up, I made it through 7 mostly uneventful miles. The quads are a little more sore than usual, but it's a good sore. A sore that only comes with the knowledge that you worked hard this morning.

A Good Start

Things have been off to a little bit better of a start this week. Monday started with the standard longer tempo run. I extended this one out to 8 miles and was able to maintain the 5:53 pace that I've been trying to hone in on during these runs. While I was entirely pleased at the amount of effort that it took to maintain that 5:53 pace near the end of the run, at some point, I guess you just have to take the results and not analyze them too much.

Yesterday was a 15 mile run and my main goal for this one was pretty simple: Finish feeling good. After last weeks bad 17 miler, I really wanted to back up yesterday's tough effort with a solid longish run. I think I met my goal as I averaged a 6:39 pace for the 15 miles and felt pretty good at the end. I've been feeling pretty beat up lately, so I took the day off of work(mental health day), and didn’t actually get outside until about 12:30 when the temps were supposedly in the 90's. It really didn't feel that hot though, as there was a decent wind and there wasn't a ton of humidity.

This morning was a pretty tough recovery 9 miler. Not so much that the run was tough, as I took it extremely slow (7:15 pace). I was just hot, tired, and sore. We had another one of those dreaded 9:30 softball games last night, and I didn't get to bed until almost midnight. We didn't turn the air conditioning in the house last night, which turned out to be a mistake, as I never slept for more than an hour at a time without waking up. I hate sleeping in hot weather. Since I was running into work, I got to sleep until 6AM, but it still felt way too early. The afternoon run of 7 miles felt much better and hopefully with a good nights sleep tonight(The air is already on), I'll be rested and ready to give my first track workout of the year a shot tomorrow morning. I haven't decided exactly what it's going to consist of, but I am kind of looking forward to the break in the routine.

Surviving

The miles will either build you up or tear you down. I don't know were I saw this little phrase, but for some reason it stuck with me. Two weeks ago, the miles were really building me up. I felt like I was getting stronger as the week wore on. Then this past week, something happened, and it seemed the miles were tearing me down. The week wasn't really bad now that I look back on it, but something was just off for most of my runs.

On Saturday I had a full day of bachelor party activities for my cousin who is getting married in a few weeks. That meant that I had to wake up extra early to fit in my 20 miler that I had planned. I had a rough time falling asleep and when I rolled over and saw 4:30 on the alarm clock, I really didn't feel like getting out of bed. Looking out the window into complete darkness and hearing the splashes of another steady rainfall certainly didn't do much for motivation either.

However, I also knew that if I didn't get out there, right now, there would be no running today. With 18 holes of golf starting at 9:30 and no break after that, this was my time to run. So I dragged myself out of bed and forced myself out the door. This was definitely a run of isolation. It was raining pretty good when I got out there and there was nobody out on the roads. While I felt a little sluggish for the first half of the run, something seemed to click in to place once I hit that halfway mark, and I finished the run feeling the best I've felt all week, which really isn't saying much. I didn't bring the Garmin with me again, because of the rain, but looking at the time when I left and finished I think I ran it somewhere in the 6:40-6:50 range. The one thing I kept thinking as I was running in the steady rainfall, is that at least golf will probably be cancelled. There's no way we can play in this mess (I'm not a big golfer really). Of course right as I got to my doorstep, the rain stopped and the sun started to peak through the clouds. Grrr...

I've never thought of golf as a physical activity. I always kind of chuckled when I would hear people talk about their 18 holes of "exercise" that they got in this morning. However, by about hole #13, I was spent. As I mentioned earlier, I'm not a very good golfer. Breaking 100 for 18 holes is quite an accomplishment for me. However, today I was ready to be done after 9 holes and those last few holes were just plain ugly. Well all 18 holes were pretty ugly, but those ones were REALLY ugly. Fatigue definitely was playing a part.

I somehow survived the full day of activities and got to bed very late on Saturday night (ok, Sunday morning). I was just too exhausted to do much of anything for most of the day, but finally got out for a slow 10 miler around 5PM with Ryan in the jogging stroller. This was the first time I've taken Ryan out for a solo run(he's been in the double stroller a few times), and he seemed to enjoy it. The bad news is that my favorite trail that I run on is pretty much washed out in several section which means that my tempo run loop is no longer available until it dries up. I need to find a new route.

So I survived the week, hit 100 miles again and actually just looking at the numbers, it doesn't look that bad. It sure didn't feel good though.

Mon: 10 miles w/7 @5:52 pace
Tues: 17 Miles @ 6:50 pace
WedAM: 10 Miles
WedPM: 7 Miles
ThursAM: 9 Miles 6:51 Pace
ThursPM: 6 Miles
FriAM: 9 Miles w 5 @ 5:45 Pace
FriPM: 7 Miles
Sat: 20 Miles
Sun: 10 Miles

Total: 105 Miles

It's a Struggle

It's been a pretty rough week so far. Following Tuesday's sub-par run, I woke up feeling pretty fresh on Wednesday. While this was a good sign, I kind of blew it because I wound up running my recovery run too fast. I ran twice on Wednesday, both without a watch, but the morning run was way too fast. The afternoon was at a more relaxed pace, but I was still feeling tired by the end of the day. To top things off, I had a 9:30 softball game on Wednesday that turned into a marathon due to the wind suddenly whipping up at gametime and blowing straight out. 45 runs later (26-19 final score), my legs hurt.

I woke up Thursday morning in no mood for a tempo run, so I ran a proper recovery run this time, clocking in at an average of 6:50 for the morning run and 7:00 minutes per mile for the 6 mile afternoon run. This was more of what I should have done on Wednesday. That left me with the option of doing a 5 mile tempo run this morning. I decided to kind of just get out there and see how I felt. When I saw the first mile pass in an effortless 6:40, I knew it was game on. I wound up averaging 5:45 for the tempo portion of the run and 6:01 total for the entire 9 miles. It was a nice lift to what has been a pretty bad week of running.

Part of it was probably caused by residual fatigue from last week, but I really don't think that was the major factor. I just really think that I don't get a long with humidity. The temps haven't been too bad the past two days, but the dewpoints are still climbing over 70 every day, turning every run into a steam bath. So for now, I'll just continue to push through the fatigue and deal with a bad run here or there. Hopefully I'll come out the other side a stronger runner.

Meltdown

Yesterday's 10 mile with 7 at marathon pace went fine with the average of the run clocking in at 5:52 pace. I think I'm starting to hone in on a goal pace for Chicago and I think it's name is 5:52. I need to start extending this Monday run in the next few weeks as I build towards Chicago.

After being somewhat encouraged by yesterday's showing, it all came crashing back to earth during my planned 17 miler today. For whatever reason, I just didn't have it today. I wasn't feeling especially good even as early as mile 2, and perhaps I let some of those negative creep into my psyche and ruin this run for me. Last week I wined and complained about the rain that came during this run. Today there wasn't any rain, but you couldn't tell it by looking at me. It looks like the humidity is back in Chicago. I was a mess. The shoes were squishy by about mile 10 and everything was squishy well before that.

At the halfway point, I finally got the courage to look at my pace and found it be 6:50. At that point, if it was at all possible, I probably would have bailed on the rest of the run because I was feeling horrible. One of the pluses (or minuses) of a point to point run like my runs into work, is that there is no option to bail on a run. Once that trains drops you off, you're on your own. So with that knowledge I pressed on and somehow, I really have no idea how, maintained that 6:50 the rest of the run. I say that because it felt like I was absolutely crawling for the last 5 miles of this run.

So while I don't exactly what caused today's problems, I am not completely discouraged by it. It is somewhat encouraging that despite being off today, I was still able to maintain what ultimately was a sub 3 hour marathon pace for 17 miles. A few years ago, I would have killed for a good run like this. Now, all I can say, is that they all aren't going to pretty, and hopefully, they won't often be this ugly either.

The Week that Was

This week was probably my best training week of the year, and not coincidentally, it happened when I recommitted myself to the early morning routine. Thursday was a solid tempo run followed by a short recovery run in the afternoon. On Wednesday Ryan mentioned that he thought my recovery pace was a little too fast, and kind of defeating the purpose of what a recovery run should be. I completely agreed with him and in case I needed further proof, I just had to look at Thursday 5 mile tempo, where I was really struggling to keep the pace down and wound up averaging 5:44 for the entire run. This workout should really be done at or below 5:40, so I think if I take my recovery Wednesday a little more serious, the times will take care of itself.

On Friday I did a 9 miler, with a real focus on keeping the pace over 7 min/miles. I was going fine until about mile 7 when something must have clicked and I wound up taking the pace down to a 6:58 for the run. Close but no cigar. I will admit though that I felt absolutely great following the run, so I think that slower pace did help. I did do another run in the afternoon and felt so good I through in some strides at the end just to keep the legs sharp.

Saturday was a 23 miler scheduled with Dave, an occasional commenter of this blog. It isn't often that I get to do long runs with someone so when I get the chance I usually will jump at it. Also, since 23 miles is the longest I have run since April of this year, having someone there to fight the boredom, and keep my pace in check was definitely a big plus. The temps plummeted on Friday and Saturday morning there was almost a chill in the year. I think it was probably around 60 when we started and never got over 70 the entire run. It was definitely a nice break from the summer heat.

Regardless the first 5 miles or so things were just off. My breathing was labored despite the pace being around 7 min/miles, and I could hardly even carry on a conversation. Thankfully, that passed after about mile 6 and things finally started to click. The run was going so good that I was getting a little nervous as we approached the turnaround point at 11.5 miles. Often when running on the lake, your aided by a tailwind without even knowing it and then are in for a rude awakening when you turn around. Not today though. While there was a slight wind in our face heading home, it was nothing that would slow us down and actually probably helped to keep things cooled off. The only real challenge on the return trip was the air and water show spectator traffic, which was all over the north end of the running path. We clocked the entire run at a 6:38 pace, and other than those first 5 miles or so, I felt great the entire time. It was definitely a nice confidence booster.

Sunday was just a general aerobic 10 miler in the pouring rain. I left the garmin at home because I didn't want to risk taking it out in the rain.

It looks like rain is going to be all over the place for the next several days so it will be challenge to motivate myself to crawl out of bed in the morning. Here is the week that was:

Mon: 10 miles with 7 at 5:50 pace
Tues: 17 miles @ 6:28 Pace
WedAM: 9 miles @ 6:40 Pace
WedPM: 7 Miles Untimed
ThursAM: 10 Miles with 5 @ 5:44 Pace
ThursPM: 6 Miles Slow
FriAM: 9 Miles @ 6:58 Pace
FriPM: 6 Miles slow with strides at the end
Sat: 23 miles @ 6:38 Pace
Sun: 10 Miles

Total: 107 Miles in 10 Runs

So while this was a nice week, the real challenge is to start stacking these weeks on top of each other. I have 5 more training weeks until taper for Chicago. I hope to make them all top quality.

Oh, the pain

I was feeling pretty beat up this morning and really was glad to be done with the 9 mile recovery run I had planned (6:40 pace). It was another humid morning, which makes these recovery runs a little less pleasant than they normally would be. Right now I'm dealing with a pretty painful right hip. It seems to respond to IT Band stretching, so that is what I've been focusing on…and by respond, I mean it really hurts when I do those stretches, so it must be working. I have problems with my IT Band in the past, although the pain has always been in my knee and not in my hip. I know that the ligament does run all the way up to the hip though so I'm hoping it's just that.

This afternoon I was able to sneak out for a quick 7 miler as well and things felt surprisingly good. I left the watch at home and just ran relaxed. The hip felt fine for the most part, but my right foot decided to act up. It was actually a little strange. There wasn't any pain really, it just felt weak. It's never happened before, so I'm not going to make a big deal out of it yet. Isn't that just a typical recovery day for you? Everything hurts. Good to get that out of the way on an easy day.

A Wet One

Woke up this morning and looked outside and thought…hmm. 5:30 and it still pitch black out. That seems a little odd, but you know, I'm still getting reacquainted with the early morning runs, so maybe this is normal for mid-August around here. Got up and got ready for the run, and remembered that I left my shoes outside after yesterday's run. Luckily they were under a big table umbrella, so they didn't get all dewey or anything. As I headed back inside, I felt a drop of rain on my face. Great. I hate running in the rain. But maybe, just maybe it will hold off until I'm finished. No such luck. By the time I was ready to head out the door, that drop of rain had progressed into a full-bore storm with thunder and lightning and everything. I'll admit the thought crossed my mind to bag the whole thing, but Tuesday's are usually my swing day for the week. If I have a good run on Tuesday, things usually go good for the rest of the week. If I screw it up, it usually spells doom for that week.

With that stuck in my head, I headed out the door to jump on the train which drops me off exactly 17 miles from work. When I arrived at my drop point, the rain had turned into a downpour but what could I do? After about 10 minutes of slogging through the puddles, I put the garmin away in my plastic baggie with the rest of my valuables (train pass, gym ID, work ID, money), because I just don't trust the Garmin definition of water proof. Once the initial shock of being rained on wore off, the run was kind of fun. After a while, I just stopped trying to avoid puddles and just ran right through them. It's not like I could get any wetter. Also, the neighborhood that I have to run the first half of this run through is not very good. With the rain coming down in buckets, it pretty much emptied the streets and sidewalks, so I was left alone the entire run. That very rarely happens on this route. Usually the comments are good natured enough, but it still makes me feel uneasy.

Finally after about 13 miles, the rain sudsided and things started to brighten up. At that point, I was on the lakefront path nd with a slight breeze at my back,I was able to enjoy things for a bit. I finally pulled the Garmin out of the valuable repository (my baggie), and saw that I was averaging a 6:34 pace for the run. Now with no rain and wind atmy back, I could tell that the pace had quickened, and I just let it go. If Mike can run back to back tough workouts I can follow up a hard effort with a moderately paced longish run. By the time I made it to the gym I was at a 6:28 pace, and feeling pretty good. Well feeling good from a running standpoint. I'll admit that the rain did cause one problem. Chafing. Yikes.

Marathon Pace (I Hope)

So this past weekend was the Chicago Distance Classic in, as the name hints at, Chicago! Last year, I feel like this race was the pinnacle of my training for the year. I trained all summer putting in lots of hundred mile weeks, but didn't really race anything over a 5K until this race. At this race, I ran a 1:14:41, which was a PR by about 3 minutes. A few weeks prior to this race, my mom was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer (it still hurts to write that), which pretty much sent my training into the crapper, and I feel like every race after this one was done on just pure residual effect from the great training I was able to do up to this point. But for this one race last year, I was in top form.

This year, things are different. While I wouldn't call my summer exactly stellar, it hasn't been bad. Even with last weeks meager totals, I'm still averaging 70 miles per week for the year (70.2 actually, but who's counting), while last year I think I was closer to 80 miles per week. There is probably a little more quality to the miles I'm doing this year as well, which definitely counts for something. I also think that since this is the second year of running higher mileage, the cumulative effect of all those miles is still paying dividends for me. So I still think I have a great opportunity to run a great race in the marathon this year. What I need to do to make that happen is to focus on these next 8 weeks to make sure that I put myself in the best position to succeed. Switching back to morning runs is one step in that process.

This morning was my longer tempo run where I try and run around marathon pace. This is the third week that I've been incorporating this run into my schedule and I think I'm starting to get some idea of what a 5:50-5:55 pace should feel like. I still hesitate to say that is what my marathon pace is going to be (it sounds a little intimidating at this point), but I guess at some point you need to pick a time and go with it. The way this run works is I do about a 2 mile warm-up and then I start with about a half mile of winding trails that lead me to a two mile loop that I do 3 times and then head back on the half mile trail. The run is done exclusively on a gravel path, so while I do save a little pounding on the legs, I really don't like running fast on gravel. It gets in my shoes and I just don’t feel fast on it. There. My daily wine is out of the way.

The run went good today. I try not to check my watch too often during my runs so I can get some sort of self-pacing going on. For the first loop of this run, I was really just focusing on staying comfortable. I seemed to hit this goal and still came through the 2.5 mile mark at a 5:55 overall pace. My breathing became a little more labored as I went to work on the second loop. I wasn't sure if this was because I was subconsciencly upping the pace, or if the 5:55 was getting to me. However, when I came to the end of loop 2, I had worked the pace down to 5:50, which confirmed that the increase in effort did coincide with an increase in pace as well. The last lap I kept that overall pace at 5:50, and that's also where I wound up at the end of the 7 miles. The last half mile was tough, probably more because mentally, I was thinking of the run as 3 loops, so when I completed the 3rd loop, I wanted to be done! I finished the run with a slow mile back to my house for 10 miles total for the day.

I was hoping to get out for a slow 7 miler at lunch today, but the boss had other plans, so I'll probably just bag it. With 17 on tap for tomorrow morning, I don't want to jeopardize the quality of that run for a recovery run.

At Least It's Over

Well, I'm glad that's over. Last week just turned into a total waste of a week running wise. I totaled 47 miles and none of them were anything to write home about. I wish I could say I was nursing an injury or tapering for a race, but I have nothing really to blame it on except for my own laziness. I got into a bad rhythm to start the week and never really got the ship righted. I'm almost embarrassed to put my week down, but here it is:

Mon: 8 Miles 6:20 pace
Tues: Off
Wed: 12 miles
Thur: 7 miles w/ 20 min @ 5:45 pace
Fri: 10 miles easy
Sat: Off
Sun: 10 miles easy
47 miles total

I've developed a bad habit over the past few months where I have been relying on getting in the bulk of my mileage during my lunch break at work. While this has been working out OK for the most part, it definitely is not without problems.

First of all, when you factor in changing and showering time, most of my runs don't really fit into the generally accepted hour lunch. However, for the most part, my work is pretty flexible with things so I come in a little earlier than everyone and everyone seems to just look the other way if I take an extra 15-20 minutes during lunch (OK, maybe a little more than that on some occasions). The second problem, is that stuff comes up. I wrote about this last year, but I'll just reiterate it one more time. For me, the only time I can guarantee to get a run in is if I do it first thing in the morning. If I count on running at lunch, things came come up that will cause me to miss it. If I count on running when I get home from work, I have to wait until the kids are in bed, which usually is around 8:30 and that's just a lot of time to talk myself out of running. So the morning's are the time to do it. Finally, it gets hot at noon during the summer in Chicago. Not only does this make the run unpleasant, it also makes it much harder to accomplish what you're trying to do for the day. It's much harder to go sustain LT pace when the temps are in the 90's as opposed to the 60's and 70's that you deal with in the morning.

So it's time to rededicate myself to the morning routine. I started getting into the lunchtime habit, because Ryan, our 9 month old son, was waking up every morning around 5:30 - 6 which is right around the time that I would usually be heading out the door to run. So the choice was either run anyway, and let my wife deal with the baby, or give her an hour break and put off the run until the afternoon. I usually chose the latter. However, now that Ryan is finally sleeping somewhat consistently until about 7AM each morning, I feel a little less guilty about not being around if/when he wakes up.

So with 8 weeks until Chicago, I think it's time to switch things up and go back to what I know works…morning running. Hopefully, this will result in more consistent, quality runs. I'm not going to totally abandon my lunchtime runs, but hopefully these will be only shorter recovery runs. The work will happen in the morning. Things started out OK this morning but I'll leave that for another post. See, I want to bury this week as quickly as possible, and I think the best way to do that is to make this it's own post, and then later today I'll write about today's stuff. Yeah, it's cheap, but it's my blog, my rules.

A Bad Week

Sometimes I just start a week on a down note and it goes downhill from there. This week is just one of those weeks. The mileage is down, the intesity is down, and the motivation is way down. In the past when this strikes, I usually just go with it, let myself take an easy week and vow to come back strong the following week. I guess that's my plan right now. I realize that it's rather convenient that this down week comes during the hottest and most humid week of the year so far in Chicago. Pure coincidence. I swear.

Today I tried to give myself a break and run indoors at the gym. Somehow my body just knows that it disgustingly humid outside though. I tried to do a 5 mile tempo run at 5:45 pace, and while everything felt OK for the run, I just felt horrible for the two poor souls who were stuck running next to me on the treadmills. I was sweating like a pig and was having a very difficult time containing it to my little 4X10 treadmill area. I stopped after 20 minutes of tempo running because I was grossing myself out.

So I'll limp through the rest of this week and start fresh on monday. While this week hasn't been a total wash, it certainly isn't anything to write home about. Doing this for one week will be fine, but it has to stop after this.

Overdoing It

Wednesday was an easy day with two runs of 8 and 7 miles. Somehow the morning run wound up being done at a 6:20 pace, although it didn't feel that fast. I think I had a nice breeze at my back that helped push along the pace a little bit. Also, I was running late for work due to some train gaffes, so I might have been subcounciously pushing things trying to make up time. The 7 miles in the afternoon were done at a very pedestrian pace, and went much better than the last time I did a double.

On Thursday, I was planning on doing my usual Thursday tempo run of 5 miles, but due to a late night softball game on Wednesday I didn't get out in the morning for a run. I was then going to knock it out at lunchtime, but things got really crazy at work so that was shot down as well. Normally, those are my only two real windows for running as the rest of the day is reserved for work and family stuff, but today the family was spending the night in Michigan so I had the night pretty much freed up. So in a last minute decision, I decided to swap out the tempo run for a longrun along the lakefront.

When I headed out at about 5:45PM, the temps were in the high 80's and it was pretty humid. I was seriously questioning the wisdom of attempting to run 20 miles, but I had nothing else to do for the night, so I figured I might as well take advantage of it. I took things very slowly for the first half of the run and things actually weren't too bad. There was a decent breeze blowing by the lake and while I was sweating pretty badly, I felt good for the most of the run. I did the first half at a 6:58 pace and did 6:36 for the second half. Things started to get a little hairy around mile 17 or so and by 19 miles I was at a spot where I could either call it a day or do a little mile loop to make it an even 20. I opted for the easy way out and stopped at 19.

While I tried to drink as much as possible during the run, I was pretty dehydrated by the end and my stomach was a mess. I showered and got some water for the ride home, but was pretty miserable the entire time. By the time I got home, I was in pretty bad shape. I was getting the chills and was feeling nauseous anytime I tried to do anything other than lay down. Finally, I got up to try and get some water, and wound up throwing up all the liquid that I've drank up to that point. I wound up throwing up 3 times during the night and had the chills and cold sweats as well. Finally around 2AM, I woke up and was able to eat something and get some fluids in me. Oopsy. Lesson learned.

Not sure what the plans for today are. I still feel a little weak, and the thought of actually running in hot temps again makes me feel sick all over again. I'll probably do the smart thing and take a day off, although a nice easy 7 miler may tempt me later on. We'll see if I can withstand that urge.