Freethinker ~ Freerunner

I ran a 30 minute tempo run this morning.  Since I missed this workout on Wednesday and Thursday was a rest day, I ended up running the tempo today.  Today was actually supposed to be interval training, but I really enjoy tempo runs much more so i opted for that instead.  

 Special Note:  My Garmin was not properly synced the first mile.  I'm not sure what my actual split was, but I know it was faster than what it recorded.   

I ran an easy 4 this morning at a 7:40 pace.  I actually have been able to wear shorts for 3 of 5 days this week.  Unbelievable!  I'm going to run for 90 minutes tomorrow.   

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I had a pretty good run today.  I would feel great if not for the fact that I noticed my throat was getting a little sore last night and was a little worse this morning.  I ran pretty even splits this morning with Kevin.  I had to leave him with about one and half miles to go in order to make my 90 minute finish time and not run a positive split.  

As I look ahead to this coming week I'm not sure if I will run tomorrow morning or not given that Monday is an optional day.  I'm running seven miles on Turkey Mountain on Tuesday.  I have three days of speed training later in the week.  Now that I think about it three sounds like too much, so I will probably take it easy on my tempo run.  I have some 800's to run and a 4 mile pace run on Saturday.   

It was 14 degrees with a wind chill of 8 this morning.  Kevin and I ran five and half miles on Turkey Mountain.  I had not gone running since Sunday due to having come down with bronchitis.  Today was the last day of my anti-biotic, and although I still don't feel 100% I felt good enough to run.  

I had a 1 hour 45 minute run scheduled this morning, but since Kevin and I ran Turkey Mountain yesterday I decided I could afford to shorten this morning to only 8 miles.  As much as I wanted to hold to the schedule, I figured I would be better off lightening it up a bit given the five day break I had to take to recover from bronchitis.  

It was bitterly cold this morning as it was yesterday morning at 16 degrees.  I'm looking forward to a slight warming trend later this week.  

Kevin and I ran Turkey Mountain today.  It was 36 degrees, but the sun came out and we quickly realized we have over dressed.  I could have worn shorts and shorts and maybe even short sleeves.  We got a good workout in at 6.26 miles in almost an hour.  

I almost skipped this mornings run because the rain began falling right at the point I began.  I went ahead and took a chance.  It ended up not being so bad, although it did poor on me a little about half way through.  In the end I was very glad as usual that I pushed myself to make it happen.  

3 1600's today.  1 warmup and about 1 mile to cool down with 30 second jogs between each set.  

Splits

6:28

6:37

6:43

I ran an easy 5 this morning at a 7:59 pace.  I still can't get over how nice our weather has been.  It was 47 degrees this morning.  I have run in shorts in February a handful of times.  Simply amazing.  

Kevin and I ran 1 hour 45 minutes today.  I feel really good considering that I had to take a 2 minute 10 second bathroom break during mile 11.  Even with the break I almost caught up to Kevin before the end.  I convinced I would have caught him if I'd had a little more distance.  If you take out the stop my average moving pace was 7:42 per mile.  For a long run of this distance I feel pretty good about that.  The Post Oak Lodge Trail run is one week from today. 

Kevin and I ran Turkey Mountain today in beautiful sunny 50 degree weather.  The Post Oak Trail run is this Sunday.  I'm looking at a thirty minute tempo run tomorrow and a five minute easy run on  Friday.  

I ran a thirty minute tempo run today.  My calves felt pretty sore from yesterdays trail run and weights workout.  I'm now going to rest tomorrow, run an easy five miles on Friday, and then rest the day before the race.  

Easy five this morning at 36 degrees with a wind chill of 29.  I actually felt I was dressed a little too warm.  This was my last run before the Post Oak Trail run on Sunday morning.  I picked up my race packet yesterday and bought a new pair of Brooks Cascadia trail shoes.  I may be risking it a little in using brand new shoes in a race.  Ideally I would have bought taken them for a spin this morning, but it would have been too inconvenient to drive out to Turkey Mountain at the last minute.  I think I will take them Sunday morning and do some warm up jogs, but I will take my backup pair just in case. 

This is the second time I have done the Post Oak Lodge Trail run.  I am so happy that I did it this year and finished, because in 2010 I recorded a DNF for the first and only time.  I'm still waiting on the results, but according to the runner who finished just ahead of me I placed 7th.  Again I am waiting on the official results, but I am very excited about my place if that runner is correct. (As I finished typing this post the official results came in and I placed 6th overall and second in my age division).   

I have to say that the course was organized so much better this year than in 2010.  I ran the first couple of miles in a small pack of runners.  I eventually moved out ahead of the pack and came up behind two kids that looked to be about 11 or 12 at most.  I later learned that they had doubled this weekend, meaning that they participated in races both days.  After running behind them for about half a mile on a more narrow part of the trails, I eventually passed them as I began to notice our pace slow down from 8:00 minute miles to about 8:30 per mile. 

After I passed them I was alone for probably seven or eight miles.  I came across more people but they were running other races and most of them were walking as I passed them.  It was not until the start of mile eleven that I caught up to at least one of the runners who had been leading me in the half marathon. 

I caught another one on mile twelve and hung in with him for until we got to the bottom of the "Hill From Hell."  They call it that because it is 166 feet of elevation change in about three quarters of a mile.  The local Fleet Feet store had an aid station at the bottom of the hill with water, Gatorade, and beer.  I made a snap decision to take the beer, even though the guy I was trying to hang with at the end skipped the aid station completely.  He ended up finishing about 10 seconds before me.  He had pulled ahead right before the beer stop, and I doubted that I would have caught him even if I hadn't stopped.  This doubt became a little less clear as we chugged up the hill.  He was actually not that far ahead of me most of the way up.  He pulled slightly ahead near the top.  After I got to the top I could see him and I felt I could have caught him if I'd had a little bit more distance, but alas there was the finish.  Had I known that I was in a battle for first in my age division I would have tried harder.  As I have been typing this I checked back online for the results and it turns out that I placed second my age division.  He beat me by only ten seconds. 

I may try for the doubler next year or perhaps one of the 50k.  I'll have to wait and see how the Grasslands goes next month in Texas.  Kevin and Ashley both said my time should be much better since there really aren't any hills at that race.  I will also be at the end of my training program, and hopefully slightly more fit than I am now.  

Alisha and I drove out to 71st and 169 to get on the trail at the Med Center.  I pushed Ty in the jogging stroller as we did two miles together.  Alisha then took the car back home and I ran back.  I ended up getting nine miles in and a fair amount of rain to boot.  I could have dealt with a little less wind.

I'm feeling pretty good considering I raced two days ago and did a thirty minute weights workout at the gym about an hour before we went running.  I guess I didn't run hard enough at the race.  I intend to rectify that at the Grasslands Run next month. 

I ran a fifty two minute tempo run this morning.  I started out at 8:00 minutes per mile dropping down in half minute mile increments peaking at a 6:30 mile.  I usually try to pyramid back up in even increments until I'm finished, but I was a little over spent after that 6:30 mile this morning.  My next split was 7:44.  My last two splits were 7:23 and 7:47 respectively.