Windy and Rainy

5 miles in wind and a little rain in 48:50. Legs a little tired at first and then felt much better. I was trying to run at my desired marathon pace (11 min/mile). It seemed no matter how slow i was trying to go, i couldn't keep at a slow enough pace. Got the run done though.

Upset at the Turkey Trot

i had 4 miles scheduled yesterday. i went into our southside clinic to change clothes and there was a client waiting there for the on call vet. i told her to come inside and i would take care of her. i called the vet to tell him i was taking care of this emergency and he told me there was another, very critical emergency on the way and he was working on a horse out at a farm. the other emergency came in and i started working on them both when he got to the clinic. we worked on the cases until 10:45pm. i did not run. didn't bother me much because i did not have a run on the schedule for today, but emily had signed us up for a 5k.

we ran the 5k in mt. juliet. i was hoping to get a pr and finish under 27 minutes. i thought that was pretty reasonable with my recent times, but i did not know what the course was like. it was slightly hilly, not a great course for a pr for a 5k. it was timed on gun time and i started a little ways back in the pack. from the time i crossed the start line, mile 1 was 8.31 and i was feeling pretty good but figured i better slow down just a little. mile 2 was 8.53, that put me at 17.24. i knew i could finish the rest of the race in 9.30, no problem. i did not have my gps so i was gauging speed by the pack i was running with and by my exerted effort. i did not push really hard since i was passing people and i knew i could run 1.1 miles in the needed time. with about .2 miles to go i looked at my watch and saw i only had 1.30 to finish under 27 minutes. i was really mad at myself for not paying more attention, not that i really had much to go by, i guess my pack had slowed down as well. my self timed last 1.1 miles was 10.03 for a total of 27.27 (official gun time was 27.37). so i did finish at under a 9 min/mile pace and set a pr, but i know i could have finished under 27 min.

the email the race sent out said there were over 1000 runners. however, after adding up all the published times i only got 733 runners. i finished 13/35 in my male age group, 99/317 males and 137/733 total runners. not too bad. the overall winner was in my age group and finished in 16.45, ouch...one day...one day.

emily did well and finished in front of around 13 other runners in her age group. she said she finished this race 5 minutes faster than her last 5k, which was the houston county 5k, that is a pretty flat course. if she ever starts running with me regularly, i might really be the slowest person in our family of runners.

thought of the day: if you have a goal stay observant or you might screw yourself out of reaching your goal.

Oops Again

i was thinking all day that i was scheduled for a 5 mile run today. i got off a little earlier than usual, came home, changed clothes and drove to my starting point. it was pretty cold, about 33 degrees when i parked and 28 degrees when i finished. i started out and my legs felt so tired. i thought, probably because i had ran 8 miles pretty fast for me, last night. at about 1.5 miles i thought to myself, i am not supposed to run tonight, i am supposed to run friday and saturday. when i realized that, i was too far to turn around so i just kept on running. figured it would just give me an extra day of rest before my long run.

i finished the run in 50.23, not my best pace but pretty good for as tired as i felt.

thought of the day: don't just think you know your schedule, make sure before you just go out and run. however, this is one of few times i have ever gotten a run in before i was supposed to. and once again, i do not regret doing this run, even if it was tough and a day early, i am very glad it is finished.

8?

after an extensive talk with todd today i decided to run 8 miles tonight, 5 tomorrow, 5 on saturday and one more long run next monday. around mile 1 tonight i decided it might not have been a great idea to run 8 tonight since my legs were still a little sore from monday. however, tonight i decided i would do something i did a lot of last year but have done this year, run through my discomfort. so i kept on. then, at mile 2 my gps lost signal. i decided i would just run 5 since i knew where the 2.5 mile marker was, but nothing past that. just as i headed back to the truck my gps got signal again. as i got close to the truck, i decided to turn back around at the 5 mile mark and run 1.5 miles and then back to the truck. i am not sure of the exact distance since the gps lost signal but it was very close to 8 miles, +/-. i finished at a 9.10min/mile pace, didn't seem like i ran that fast but i guess i did. right around 5 my left calf was really tight, all of a sudden i decided i was tensing my legs too much and tried to run more relaxed and my calf never hurt again. there was a strong wind tonight, it was really bad at a couple of points but i managed. at the end of the run i felt really good. maybe i just need to run night long runs and marathons.

thought of the day: when i have time, i run, when i don't, i don't. maybe i will be ready for the marathon, maybe i won't.

At Least Some Things are Better

last week i went over 400 miles for the year. last year i ran 454.9 total. with mondays 16 mile run i am at about 35 miles less than my total last year, including the marathon. i should surpass that before the marathon. that is the good news. for this run i was determined to do 20 miles. i was going to do a 5 mile out and back 4 times. this is where i do my normal running, so it didn't seem that bad, in my head anyway. i started out and the weather was nice, 71 degrees and very cloudy. the bad thing was that the first 2.5 miles, which is slightly uphill, was also into a 20-30 mph wind. at times i felt like i wasn't even moving and the wind was so strong i couldn't even hear the songs on my ipod through the earphones. however, at mile 2.5 i turned around and headed back. sometimes it was like the wind was nearly picking me up and carrying me. that caused me to go a little faster than i wanted. however, my plan was to run this long run a little faster than the others because i felt like going so slow was actually hurting my feet and calves. i also planned to slow to a walk every 5 miles and take in some energy and water and when i got to an 11 min/mile pace i would start back up to a run. after the first 5 miles i felt really good and had a little extra time to walk since i had ran a few of the first 5 miles a little too fast. i also had to call emily back because i forgot to call her before i started the run. i did all that and started back to a run a little before i reached the 11min/mile pace. everything was going great. then at mile 8 i walked a little more, the wind and hills got to me a little. after that short walk i felt great again. then, just before mile 10 i needed to walk again. after that i could only muster out running another 1/2 mile and ended up walking the rest of the 16 miles. in my mind i had told myself nothing less than 18 on this run. but by mile 16 i felt really bad. i felt like i had overheated, like i couldn't get cooled of, even though i was only walking. i felt like i was breathing fire (it had warmed to 78 degrees by the end of the run and it was very sunny). after the run, i felt horrible all day. i got home, drank all the sweat tea in the house (something i had been craving since mile 11) then i drank a warm capri sun and put one in the freezer to cool off. when i woke up 2 hours later the caapri sun was frozen and i was still feeling horrible. i feel like a loser. it seems like only a short time ago i did much better in the clarksville 1/2 marathon than i thought i would and now i can't even finish 12 miles at a much slower pace. i finished the total 16 miles in 3:25.45. i think that is nearly 30 minutes slower than jeff ran 20 miles 2 days before. at this pace, last years marathon is going to continue to be my pr.

i don't understand how i can run 6 miles of hills or a 7 mile tempo run and still feel really good afterward. the only differences (excuses) i can come up with are these:
1) nearly all of my other runs lately have been at night, when it is much cooler.
2) i was wearing nearly 4 pounds of gatorade and water on my hip belt, along with ipod and snacks in both pockets.
3) i am psyching myself out so bad about this being so much longer in distance, even though i felt like this was going to be very doable.

if anyone has any extra motivational advice feel free to share. last year the 16 mile runs seemed pretty easy, this year they seem unreachable.

thought of the day: the only thing that keeps me from completing these runs is myself.

Better Than Imagined

i had a tempo run planned tonight- to run 1 mile easy, 5 miles at an 8.23 pace and 1 more mile at an easy pace. the first mile worked out, 10.09. the next few miles i really pushed and then my legs felt like rubber for a while and then like i had weights on my ankles for a while. the last mile was within range of easy too. i never looked at my watch i, during the tempo part i just kept trying to push as hard as my body would let me. i can usually tell i am pushing pretty hard by my breathing, especially on flatter areas. so the 5 miles of tempo were at just under a 9.06 pace, i was very surprised. i felt like i could have done better if i had ran easier last night. a few of the tempo miles were very surprising, and i am pretty sure the gps was fairly accurate too. here are the tempo splits:

mile 1= 8.26
mile 2= 9.30
mile 3= 9.41
mile 4= 8.40
mile 5= 9.04

any mile under 9 minutes is very fast for me and i had 2 of those on this run. unfortunately, i had 2 miles well over 9 minutes too. i can remember not long ago struggling to get a mile under 10 minutes. i guess i am getting a little faster, i am sure the cooler weather doesn't hurt either. i wish my distance training was going as good as my speed training (not that my speed is great or anything). i do think i might run a little faster during the day (especially if it was overcast). i don't like running at night, even with a light, i can't see the tops of the hills and i find myself looking around for deer, and the light shaking around as i run can be hypnotizing/nauseating. anyway, it is what it is.

thought of the day: marathon getting close, mileage building up, i have to dig in for the next 10 days and then what happens, happens, and i can't do much about it then. after 10 days, the rest of the training should be pretty easy, the race may be another story.

Tired Now

ran 5 miles tonight, it was cold and a little windy. i felt pretty good, pretty relaxed. i never looked at my watch until i finished. i felt like i was at an easy pace for most of the run, there were a few times i had to make myself slow down. i actually ran one 1/2 mile segment in 4.17, way too fast for me on an easy run. now i feel extremely tired. i finished the 5 miles at a 9.14 pace, .02 seconds per mile slower than my fastest 5 miles this year, hope that doesn't affect me on tomorrows run.

thought of the day: after the run i was driving to the store and the saying came to mind "you only regret the runs you don't do." i thought that even as cold as it was and dark and windy for the first half of the run, when it was over i was so glad i had made myself run. when i got to where i was going to start the run, i was on the phone and a big dog came up to the truck and started barking and growling. i thought maybe i should just go home and not deal with him in the dark. before that a car came into the gravel parking lot and spun out then went on and i thought maybe i should just go home so they can't come back while i am running and mess with my truck. despite those 2 objects i ran anyway. afterwards i was glad i did. now i'm tired, time for rest.

Whoa, not what i needed

to start, i never blogged about this past wednesday's run. nothing special. 6 miles of intense hills, 1 minute and 14 seconds faster than last week doing the same run. i had talked to the inspirationalizer on the phone and headed out for the run around 8pm. it was cold and dark. i don't like these cold night runs, it seems like i cough for 2 days after the run from breathing in the cold air. however, i felt pretty good about this run.

i had open house planned for saturday evening so i was planning my long run of the week for sunday. then my cousin said he could help on the house sunday afternoon, need to get a lot of work done, so there went the run. i was planning on doing the run monday afternoon, then my cousin said he could help work on the house monday afternoon and i had to be recovered by 5pm. i headed out for the run at 12pm. it was supposed to be cloudy and 71 degrees (another reason i pushed the run back since sunday was supposed to be sunny and i hate running in the sun). too bad. it was very sunny on monday too, very little clouds, and 73 degrees. i actually got more sun than i have in a long time, my arms show it. i was planning on running 18 miles. i finished a very disappointing 13.5 miles way off the pace of my last half marathon. i am not sure what caused this (probably lack of good conditioning) but i tried a few new things on this run. for one, i had talked to an ultra runner who recommended adding a little salt to my gatorade since i am a heavy sweater. i added just enough to be able to barely taste the salt, when the gatorade was cold. however, the warmer it got as i ran, the more noticeable the salt taste was. it almost started tasting bad. i also had 2 different types of gels i was trying for the first time. i tried the first one at mile 5 and it tasted bad but it was thin enough that i could gulp it down in 1 big gulp and wash it down with water and barely notice the taste. the second gel i tried at mile 10. i put a little in my mouth and nearly threw up. it was bad. my stomach was never the same after that. i kept feeling sick to my stomach and finally decided to keep running wasn't helping me in the least and bad as i was doing. i actually walked a lot of the run after mile 10. also, at mile 5 i had to stop at the truck to put a new battery in my gps.

my total time for the run was 2:36.30. that is an 11.35 min/mile pace. i was trying to finish at an 11min/mile pace (for 18 miles).

this run does not make me feel good about the marathon. i have 2 more long runs before i start tapering, i really want to get a 20 miler in. i also would like to get all my daily runs in as well. the marathon is just around the corner.

thought of the day: failure is the main thing i keep thinking about.