That Familiar Dead Leg Feeling

So today, as expected, my legs were out of any go go go.....Yesterdays workout was so good, that I was pretty much depleted. But, I still managed to get out of the door for my early morning run, although, the late start dictated that I cut it shorter then usual. Either way, I still managed to get in just over 30 mins of quality running in, and even though my legs didn't feel like they were moving properly, I still managed to end up with a 8:45 pace. Take the 'little' victories when you can, and I can use that term incredibly loosely.

My route planned was the original 5.5 mile loop that I run with Paul. And since his wife was re-scheduled to have their baby this morning, he wasn't going to be able to make it. Go figya! So, out the door I headed at 5:15ish and headed on the same route. I did manage to still see Dave and Todd out for their run as they both get ready for the California International marathon coming up this December. They are at that final stage where the LONG LONG LONG runs come in. I think they still have a couple more 22 milers in store for their legs, and I know they've been regularly doing 100+ mile weeks. That's actually where I would love to be someday. It's just going to take time and a nice slow progression to get there. My upcoming weeks are looking something like this starting with this week:

10/27: 31
11/3: 38 ( 3 back from the high point)
11/10: 45
11/17: 50
11/24: 40 ( 2 plus my start of the last period)
12/1: 45
12/8: 50
12/15: 55
12/22: 45 (Drop)
12/29: 50
1/5: 60
Taper
Marathon Day: 1/18

I think this scedule is VERY doable. In fact, I think that the mileage may be a little low in some cases, as my long runs are going to be getting up to the 22 mile point as well. Heck, I may even add in some two-a-days in there.

So, until after tomorrows workout of 1/2/3s, train hard and LIVESTRONG!!

Mile Repeats...

Today was an unscheduled group workout that involved some mile repeats. It's funny, every time we do mile repeats I can't help but think of the movie groundhog day....I have NO idea why, but I about 3/4 of the way through the first mile, I get that scene in my head when Bill Murray is driving the car with Phil and they're in the quarry...You know, the part where he tells him that he drives pretty good for a quadruped....and "Don't drive angry!". Then the next thing they show, is the truck going off the cliff and bursting into flames into a HUGENORMOUS fireball......and then BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP......His alarm goes off and it's ANOTHER groundhog day.....For me....The BEEP BEEP BEEP was us finishing the first set....

And what a great workout it was. 3x1mile and 4x400 back to the start. First off, I really need to check my watch. Because this is the second time in a row, where i thought I left with AMPLE time to get there, but they were starting the last group as I came up....It was Butch, Michele and I, but Mamma Michele was doing her own 30/30 workout. Butch and I ran the 1st mile together. That's kinda strange for me, because I'm used to being quite a bit behind him. Running with him is a new and exciting adventure. The first mile was at a nice 7:15. My legs felt GREAT! even better, we even caught up to the other groups that started in front of us. :) Set two, not as fast, but it is was the back of the first mile and slightly uphill. Came in a bit behind Butch at 7:30. I'm a little upset with myself on that one, because I allowed myself to lose focus somewheres areund the 3/4 mark. When I crossed the split I noticed the terrible quarter, got re-focused and then came back strong. That's definitely somethign I need to work on...FOCUS.

So the third set, I set that as my goal...FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS. And I kept it nice and even through each split and ran a 7:18. Very consistent with my first split, only 3 seconds slower. I'm very happy with that result. That led into the quarters. Those are a more up tempo pace, more like your 5K grind 'em out, with a much smller rest in between (45 seconds). And grind them out consistent I did: 1:44, 1:43, 1:43, and 1:43. BAM BAM BAM BAM! That put a huge victory stamp of approval on theworkout. To be able to run a consistent sub 7 pace was GREAT!

Whats even better is that I had several members of the group tell me that they had to do a double take to see who that "skinny" guy was running with Butch! YEAH BABY!!!! Just 12 short weeks ago, I was running with the group, not on a consistent basis, and I weighed in at a miserable 206 pounds. Today, I've been able to take over 25 pounds off that number. I credit that with a LOT of will power, and a major change in eating habits....And a nice bout of dedication to running and staying fit. Meeting my goal and breaking through 40 miles last week was a HUGE accomplishment. This week, may be considered a rest week, but it's not really a rest from running, it's just allowing for my body some extra recovery time while I change my focus from miles to speed. 3 of my 5 workouts are dedicated to SPEED. Todays, Thursday, and Saturday. Tomorrow I will get in a 6.5 miler and Sunday I'm planning on doing 9-10. On paper that's about 30-32 miles. We'll see how it shakes out. I'm feeling great and running strong, aand I have to hold back the urge to run long this week. It's ALL about performance. My progress report comes on Saturday with the 30 minute tempo run. That's where I get to see the real progress!

So, untill tomorrows post I'll reminisce a little bit about my trip to NYC last year. This weekend last year, I was getting ready to make the long trip to Manhattan. Talk about a great time....I had a blast....I'm really kinda bummed i'm not running it this year, but I will say...that was one expensive TRIP! Until tomorrow....LIVESTRONG and Train HARD!

41!

And who said 40 was a barrier?!?!?!?!?! If anything it was all mental, because this week I CRUSHED through that wall with an explosion! Saturday I set out on a session that was a 1 mile warm up, 3 sets of 5mins 10K pace, 5 mins HM pace and finished with a nice easy 1 mile cool down jog. Before the run, I had setup "goal" paces in my Garmin 305, and hoped to keep up the pace. I set up 7:30-7:45 for the 10K pace, and 7:45-8:15 for the HM pace. Needless to day, I BLEW those right out of the water. That added into the annoyance factor of the Garmin. If your going to fast, it incessantly beeps at you to tell you to slow down.....But my body was having none of that. And I knew it was going to be a fast day. I did my warm up jog at an 8:30 pace. But I felt good, and I wanted to get a QUALITY speed work session in, because I knew my group was running hard in the Oracle 10K, and the thought of them getting one on me, made me push even harder, especially towards the end of the run when it became more difficult to push that final pace. But the key was, I DID IT! And I did it so much, that by the end of my 1 mile cool down run, I was at the turnaround point of what I like to call "extra" credit time on the morning run with Paul. Adding in that little extra credit session allowed me to have a nice half mile jog back home afterwords. And the nice thing, another 6.5 miles in the book. That took me to 29.5 by the end of Saturday!

So starting Sunday, I was ready to run. I woke up BEFORE my alarm clock for the first time in a very long time. I was really looking forward to the solitude of a Sunday outing. I am becoming addicted to my Sunday runs. Knowing that 40 was well in reach, I decided to modify my long run from last week a bit, and add in a little challenge of going to the TOP of Wade road, instead of turning 1/4 of the way, and heading through Continental Reserve. Going to the top meant heading up one of the toughest hills in the area. It's STEEP! It looks like a wall as you approach it, but I have run up it many times before, and to put it mildly, we know each other pretty well. Once I got to the top, I could see that stop sign which has always signified the downhill is here! But I decided to modify the route a bit more, and take the HARD way out. Instead of making the usual left had turn, I turned right, and took the roller coaster adventure. Straight down, the straight back up. So much so, that you can see the marks on the road where cars bottom out as they scrape the pavement. Once the rollers are over, it's a nice easy downhill that ends up at a usual point and I'm back in Continental Reserve. In all, it added an nice and challenging two miles to the journey. 2 miles where I easily maintained a 9:15 pace. I continued on and continued clipping off the miles: 6, 7, then 8! In my head I kept doing a little mental countdown. I get to 11, I've got 40 in the books! And so my mental focused turned to Pat Tillman. The great number 40 that played for the Arizona Cardinals, and left his lucrative NFL contract to go fight for his country in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was accidentally killed by friendly fire in an amazingly tragic accident of miscommunication. I kept saying to myself, what would Pat do! And from there, I kept increasing the pace.....9:00, 8:55, and then finally 8:40....And the miles kept clicking off at 9, 10, and finally I was on that home stretch towards 11. I made the right turn through the retirement community of Sunflower, and I was headed for home, and my legs just kept getting stronger and stronger. When finally my watch went off to signify the end of mile 11.

At this point I stopped and took a little break. I wasn't home, but I knew that I had completed something that I figured mentally would have broken me. But my mind stayed strong, and I only got stronger as I finished! I took the moment to enjoy the victory, polish off that last bit of water I had, and get back running and jog it back in, nice and easy, with a HUGE smile on my face. That was the best half mile I think I've ever run. I was pumped for the entire DAY. Even a Cardinals loss in Carolina couldn't take that grin off my face! I was so pumped up!

Needless to say, my legs earned their rest week. Today was a complete day of rest. No running. I got to sleep in until 6am, and give the motor the day off. I plan on cutting back the miles to about 30 this week. 2 FULL days off, today and Friday. But the workouts are going to target speed. Short, but fast! I'll get in at least 2 six and a half milers with Paul, a group workout....And then Saturday is a TIME TRIAL! It's that 30 minute tempo that I use to gauge my success. 3.9 miles is the distance to beat. I want to go out and absolutely CRUSH it!

Until tomorrow, LIVESTRONG and Train Hard!

The Ever Elusive Negative Split

So today's run was a little hard to get going on. My mind played that little you're tired change the alarm to sleep in trick. I battled back and forth between snooze hits to dig deep into the bowls of every bit of energy I had left in me to roll myself out of bed. Thankfully my morning buddy (my 13 year old Beagle Bailey) was there to provide a little NUDGE. We have a morning routine, that starts with my alarm clock. by the time the snooze has been hit a couple of times, he's awake enough to want his treat, and go outside. Finally, by 4:30 I was alert enough to get out of the bed, gather my running gear, and get the process rolling.

I started out today's run, very very slow....We're talking 10 minute mile range. My legs were feeling the effects of yesterdays 5:51 and 6:30 madness. There, turning over, but just not that ooomph that make you feel like a track star. Every night I use the Active Recovery feature of my Compex EMS, and that usually works out all the lactic acid but you still have those low energy days. The good thing was there was no soreness whatsoever. Anyways, I made it out the door and headed for the corner where I usually meet Paul....This morning, he wasn't there...I was wondering a couple of things...1) His wife went into Labor. 2) He felt like I did, but didn't conquer the morning deamons. :) Turns out neither happened, he just got a little bit of a later start on the warmup jog he does before hand. And so, we set off on our 5.7 mile trek through Continental Ranch. The further we got, the better my legs started feeling, and the faster Paul kept upping the tempo. He had a goal that he wanted to averge less then 8:59 for the whole run. The next thing I know, we had the pace cranked down to 8:30s....then 8:20s....In fact, our fastest mile was 5-6 (we did the extra credit) at 8:23! Did I mention there's a pretty nice hill on that segment.

So, even after all the morning arguments with myself, I STILL managed to get in a great workout, and EXCORSIZED those deamons yet again. So far on the workout Dockett, I've got 23 miles in the books. That's about 6 more then I had last week at this time, so I'm well ahead of schedule. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to limit myself to 5-7 miles. Last week I did almost 9, but I've got 3 straight in the books, and will have 5 by the end of Sunday. The great thing about this weekends runs is that the temperatures are cooperating so munch that not only can I get some extra sleep in, I can run at 8ish and not get blown away by the heat. That's going to be a HUGE PLUS.

Well, the tomorrows going to be onstep closer to 40, and my present to my legs for getting me there will be the drop back in mileage next week!!! HUA! Until then and probably a blog about the weekend, LIVESTRONG and train hard!

400s and 200s GALORE!

Today was a very interesting day. For most of our running group, it was a day off to rest the legs for difficult 10K this Saturday. For us 'Non racers' (all three of us), it was a up tempo workout of 4x400 (60 sec), 4x200 (45sec), 4x400 (60 sec), 4x200 (45sec). Needless to say, when I got there, Paul and Michele had already started. I actually thought I was on time, since i had left the house earlier then normal... :) But the red blinky light markers were out and flashing so I knew they were somewhere on the maked course, and would be back shortly. And I was right, typically we do an out and back on the 400s, so I was only 2 back and joined in at the start of #3 during the first set.

Since I wasn't fully wamred up, and it was actually pretty cool, I took the first two 400s pretty slow.....So I thought! My first registered at a 1:37. 1:37??? Are you kidding me?? That's exactly what I thought to myself. Even more bizaar, Paul finished about 3 seconds AHEAD of me. Normally my target times for the 400s has been 1:45ish. That's a HUGE improvement over several weeks. The way back was a tad bit slower due to the headwind at 1:41. Still fast though.

This is where my workout got really weird. So.....to stay on cycle with them, I went into the 200s, and would make up the two missed 400s at the end. No biggie really. So, after the 1 min rest, we set out ont he 200s. And by set out, I mean I ran the first two at what turned out to be a 5:51 pace. HUH??? Let meput this in a little perspective. The last time I ran a 5:anything pace the year was 1993, roughly 15 years ago, and I was a mere 21 years old going through 6 weeks of baic training in AFROTC. So shocked was an understatement when I was going over my splits this morning. And mind you, there wasn't just 1, there was 3 of them! The rest were all in the 6min mile range, with the slowest fo the 8 being 6:09. I never thought I could be anywhere near that level of fitness again, let alone have the capability to run a mile and a half in 8:55 ever again. Who knows, I may have to give that a shot sometime during training to see if it's possible.

The 400s were at a slower pace, but still.....for me.....anything but pedestrian. All 8 were under a 7 minute pace, with the large majority at 6:30. In fact, I think my slowest splits were the frist 2 at 1:41. I can really feel the changes in my runnin gstride. With all this weight I've lost over the past couple of months, my legs are restricted by all those fat deposits, and I'm developing a little bit of a "kick", and it just plain feel GREAT! Sure I have the 'off' days where my legs are tired, that's to be expected. But right now, they're CRAVING my morning workouts. I'm actually waking uup a few minutes BEFORE my alarm, and I feel like I've slayed goliath having completed a workout. It's almost a feeling of invincibility. I'm actually haveing a GREAT TIME!

And as for weekly miles, I'm right no track to hit 38.5. Right now, 16.5 are in the books, with 3 running days left. Tomorrow, I plan on another extra credit morning by getting in 6.5. That should put me at a nice even 23 with Saturday and Sunday workouts to go. If I got with a 5 mile tempo, plus warmup and cool down, that will put me at about 7 for that day. Leaving me in striking distance of 40. It all depends on how I feel Sunday am, but that's the plan so far!

So, until tomorrow, TRAIN HARD, and LIVESTRONG!

Yesterday a No-Go...Today a Go-Go!

So yesterday was called due to work getting in the way. It was a group session run, but my normal 6am telecon got trumped and was replaced with a 5.5 hour version that started at 5:30am. See that's the joy of outsourcing! I manage a team member who's in Bangalore India. Along with that comes a 12.5 hour time difference. So, to make it easier on each of us, we've adjusted our schedules accordingly. I actually don't mind the early meetings. It just mean my day ends sooner....Well.....accept for yesterday, but that's a different story. :) By the time we were done, it was almost midnight for him, so I figure, I had it easy. As I was still able to finish up with my last meeting by 4pm. What's a 10 hour day when you enjoy what your doing? It's all cream cheese.

So, seeing as yesterday got washed out, I was antsy to get out there this morning and really let my legs go. And did they ever! It was the normal meet Paul at 5am Wednesday. We are both really making great strides by running together. As I've said before, having a training partner with similar goals really does a body good. And, it turns out he took yesterday off too. his legs were tired, and he needed a day off. No need in getting injured. That's just bad joo joo. Anyways, we met up at the normal location and headed off on our 5.7 mile course. The first mile was pretty pedestrian as we worked our way into stride. But by the time mile 2 came around, I could tell we were clipping along at a nice pace. We were at that point where you could converse, but just needed to suck air every now and then. A little faster then conversational, but not sprinting by any means. As we ran, the mile alarm beeped, and I hit the lap to try and record mile splits.....About mile 4 I decided to see where we were, and BAM...just as I thought, we ran a 8:40....Then mile 5.....BAM...another 8:40.....consistency, consistency, consistency.....We came around by my house, and I was feeling GREAT....So I made the command decision that I wanted a little extra credit and added an extra mile onto my normal run. And whats funny, was Paul was going to "cut it short", but he too was feeling good, so he did the extra credit as well.

I'm really enjoying my running life right now. My goal of 38.5 miles this week is ABSOLUTELY attainable. I've got 12.2 in the books, and already have Thurs, Friday, and Saturday workouts planned. From there, I will see how many I need on Sunday, and just go out for a nice stroll through the neighborhood. This is when the schedule gets fun! I love the ramping up of the miles. I'm doing everything the body needs. Getting quality hours of sleep in, not running beyond my abilities, and I have a training partner that's a huge part of keeping my focus. This is a BIG week, and hitting my goal will be a HUGE accomplishment. Next week is the planned "rest" week. Basically it's a cut back to about 30 miles. Part of my philosophy is taking strides forward, but taking a step backwards to allow the body to recover. The thing that's crucial about next week. SPEED SPEED SPEED. Sure, I wont run as many miles. But they are going to be at a higher then normal tempo so that the engine room inside your body gets a boost!

So, for all those out there keeping track of this blog: TRAIN HARD, KEEP FOCUSED, and LIVESTRONG!

The Trek to 40 Continues!

Some may ask, Trek for 40?? What's that? Well, it's a little thing that I've got going in my pursuit of marathon training. My first hurdle was reaching 30 miles per week. My second hurdle will be achieving 40 miles per week. It's been a long time since I've run 40 miles per week. And when I say a LONG time, I sure do mean it. I'm guessing that it's been at least a year, but unfortunately my Garmin deleted all of those previous workout logs when my watch stopped communicating with the computer and i was forced to upgrade software versions. I'm guessing I had weeks where I hit 40, it's not completely out of the realm of possibility considering I was doing long runs of 18 to 20 miles on Sundays in preparation for NYC. And it was all being done about this time last year. But last year was very different for me. 1) I was about 10 pounds heavier. You don't think that's much, but when you consider all of the pounding your legs take, it's actually quite a bit. 2) I had the iinterfereance of the coffee house. When an employee got stupid, it was usually me that ended up covering their shift for them. And aroudn this time of the year, it seemed to happen frequently. 3) I didn't have a running partner. So, there was a LOT of time to myself to think and think and think.....

All three of these aspects, are 180 degrees from where I was just a year ago. I'm running at 181.6 pounds as of this morning. at a full 10 pounds less then last year, that's about 20 seconds per mile I'm running faster. And since we closed the coffee house, that stress is gone (although not totally complete yet). And finally, I've got a running partner whose goals are very similar to mine. What that means, total dedication to the sport I love!

Last week, my goal was to se out and run 35 miles. And after the first 3 days, I was right on track. I wanted to do it in 6 days of running, but wouldn't you know it, life happened, and I ended up taking 2 days of rest. Not that it's a bad thing, just made the weekend runs a little longer then previously scheduled. But it actually turned out to be a good thing. Because I changed my focus to a my Saturday run, and turned it into a 6 mile tempo run, with a 2.8 mile cool down. I wanted to go out there and run a little bit faster then my HM pace, but not wquite my 10K pace. And the route I chose was a bit more dificult then our Long Loop Lope which is a 5 mile marked very fast and flat course. This route I chose was my normal long run, but I cut it short and cut through a neighborhood after the 6 mile point for the cool down. Miles 1 and two are very fast and pretty flat. I ran those two in 7:25 and 7:27. Miles 3 and four is where the challenge begins. They are steady uphill segments, that took me into Continental reserve. It's not bad that my pace slowed, because it was pretty much expected with the hills the way they were. They were 8:02 and 8:31. As the hill started to turn the other direction, I ran mile 5 in 8:05 for a 39:30 split at the five mile point. I held that pace for mile 6 and actually ran a 7:55 finishing at 47:25, a time that put a HUGE smile on my face. After a couple of minutes to catch my breath I started off on the recovery part of my run the 2.8 miles home. This was the time I used to reflect on the run that was. When I got home, I was tired, but I was beaming with the accomplishment of a great tempo run where I averaged 7:49 for the whole run, basically EXACTLY where I wanted to be. Faster then the 8 min/mile pace of a HM, but slower then the 7:40 pace of a 10K.

So when I woke up Sunday with tired legs, I wasn't surprised one bit. Sunday was all about getting in the miles. It didn't matter how long it took, its a nice easy run to go clear out the junk from yesterdays run. Basically I ran the same course, but instead of cutting through the retirement community, I ran the entire long loop for a 9.5 mile day. I started out very predestrian at a 9:45 pace to warm up the legs, and it wasn't too long before I was at my normal stide. the nice thing was, as I ran along, my pace kept increasing. In fact, I ran a negative split. By mile 5 I was running at an 9:05 pace. Milres 6, 7, 8, and 9 gradually increased until I was running an 8:45 pace. And it was all good! I got home, made my post run omlette and sat back and watched the Cowboys get spanked. Nothing puts a smile on my face like watching the Cowboys lose. I finished the week with 35.5 miles. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

This week I have a great big target on 38.5 as my goal. I don't like to increase by more then 10% over the previous week. No need to push it and get injured at the beginning of the training when your running so well. So when the alarm went off today, I knew it was a meet paul morning. I had intended to cut the run at 3.5 miles, just for my legs sake, but at the cut point, I was feeling OKAY and ended upt doing the full 5.7. It's kind of a nice feeling, running on tired legs, and accomplishimg more then you mentally had set out to do. The thing about running with Paul is that the time goes by faster then when your by yourself. I still need those day of solitude, but I definitely need the motivation of having to meet someone. If you skip, your letting them down, and they are out there getting stronger while your slacking. Plus, it's nice to see the other runners in your group out there. Every day we run that loop we see Dave and Todd, and somedays in there we'll see Steph joining them. It's good to see them getting ready for California International marathon coming up.

So, with 5.7 on the board this week, we'll keep the trek to 38.5. After that its game on with 40!!

LIVESTRONG, and keep on training HARD!