Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Lactate threshold run.  AP 7:43. Elevation gain 245 feet. 

I checked the temperature this morning on my Weather Channel app and swear I saw 88 degrees.  Some time after I got back I saw 83.  I've never seen a drop between 5:30 and 8:00, so I'm not sure if my reading this morning was accurate or not.  Either way it was damn hot out there.  

3 warmup: 8:08 AP

4 at lactate threshold: 7:08 AP

2 cool down:  8:14 AP

Splits:

8:38

7:59

7:48

7:14

7:16

7:00

7:03

8:29

8:14

MLR.  84 degrees.  54% humidity.  AP 7:49.  Felt strong.   

New flash: I saw lightning to the south east somewhere near mile 7.  I then felt light sprinkles followed by a little bit of what I would actually call rain for about one mile this morning!  It was amazing.  I've never been so happy to be rained on during a run.    

I must admit I woke up feeling a bit of soreness in my calves from my lactate threshold run two days ago, but that feeling disappeared as soon as I started prepping to leave the house.  I was reading an article in Runners World last night about forming habits like running daily.  One of the tricks was to do the same thing before everyone run.  This thing, whatever it is, will act as a switch to tell the mind that "it's time to exercise now."  I realized while reading this article that I am super ritualistic about my morning routine between 5:00 and 5:25 before I step out the door.  I have been making use of this mental technique to prime my body and mind for my runs and did not realize it.   

First six miles AP: 8:04

Back six miles AP: 7:37

Recovery run.  8:45 AP.  86 degrees.  I was feeling the aftershocks from the MLR yesterday when I first got going this morning, but by the end I felt pretty strong.  

15 mile MLR.  AP of 8:05.  74 degrees. 83% humidity.  I'll take it. 

I've been comparing equal distances and times over the past couple of years, and I'm pretty close to some of my spring and fall PR times.  I'm looking forward to the payoff this fall when things cool down a bit.  

General aerobic run.  7:57 AP, with 10x100 meter strides at the end.  74 degrees.  61% humidity.  

I think I need about 1 more hour of sleep at night and I will be good.  I felt like I was dragging a little bit this morning.  Fortunately the temperature has dropped to a tolerable level for the time being.

MLR.  81 degrees.  63% humidity.  AP 8:07. 

I felt a little too worn out after this one.  As soon as I got home and finished stretching I began chugging water and stuffing strawberries and blueberries in my mouth as if I'd just finished a race.  Looking forward to the recovery run tomorrow.    

Recovery run.  8:49 AP.  73 degrees. 83% humidity.

Kept the pace nice and easy this morning.  It felt good to work the soreness out of my legs.  I also got great sleep last night.  8 hours!  I can't remember the last time I got 8 hours of sleep.  

MLR.  70 degrees.  75% humidity.  Very nice conditions in the middle of August. 

I was sweating a lot in the beginning of this run, but I actually felt like I cooled down slightly towards the end.  There was a nice wind out of the north.   

I adjusted my MLR and Long run goal pacing to more accurately match the 10 to 20 percent slower than marathon goal pace for these runs.  I was running 10 to 20 percent slower than a 7:00 minute pace because that was the closest pace in the table in Advanced Marathoning.  I figured if I trained at the slightly faster pace I would end up banking a little extra endurance and make sure to hit my goal.  I'm not sure if it is just the heat or if I'm not quite ready for that pace yet, but I've been a little too worn out of MLR's at that pace, and sometime struggling to maintain that pace.  

So my new 10 to 20 percent 'slower than marathon goal  pace' for my 7:15 marathon goal pace is now 8:42 and 7:58 respectively.  I ended up running the final five miles this morning between 7:55 and 7:37.  I'm hoping that by leaving a little extra gas in the tank during the week I will be able to more effectively run my long run on Sunday, and especially make my marathon pace long runs on target. 

Amazing cool temperature. Only 61 degrees.  71% humidity. 

My legs and upper body felt a little sore from the MLR yesterday and the core and strength training on Thursday night.  

18 solo tomorrow for my long run.  It should be a nice workout both physically and mentally since I will have no company for any portion of it.  Kevin's duathlon is tomorrow.  I am a little bummed I will miss the Olympic marathon coverage tomorrow.  Hopefully Ryan, Meb, and Abdi will rock out and maybe one of them will score a medal.  

This morning Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate.  Having been a follower and a fan of Paul Ryan's work in Congress for the past couple of years I am very excited by this choice.

BAM!  71 degrees.  60% humidity.  8:03 AP. 

Long run with goal at 20 to 10 percent slower than marathon pace.  I actually ran this slightly faster than my goal pace, and not only that I feel great physically afterword.  It has now been close to two hours since I finished, and I feel very strong and not at all drained or exhausted.  What a difference the cooler temperature makes after having done so many long runs in high heat and high humidity.  

This is not a PR for me for this distance, but it is only 1:15 slower than my PR.  Consider that I was not trying to PR, but rather get in a good solid run without going all out I feel very good about the shape I am in right now.

First 8 miles AP: 8:33

Last 10 miles AP: 7:45

Lactate threshold run.  7:28 AP.  Temperature 67.  Humidity 76%.  

I'm feeling pretty good about myself after this run.  I drank a little less than 8 ounces of Gatorade during the run.  I took a drink about every two miles.  

2 warmup miles AP: 8:16

5 at lactate threshold AP: 6:52

2 cool down AP: 8:13

Splits:

8:30

8:02

7:03

6:55

6:46

6:48

6:51

8:15

8:12

Mid-Week MLR.  8:02 AP.  67 degrees.  87% humidity.

Kevin joined me for ten miles of this, then he slowed up a bit.  

I probably ran this one a little bit too hard considering my lactate threshold run yesterday, but I felt good.  I need to make sure and really not go too hard on Friday so I can hit my marathon pace run on Sunday.  

Recovery run.  9:04 AP.  Temperature 77.  Humidity 76%. 

I'm glad the heat decided to wait until today for my recovery run to return.  Hopefully it cools back off by Sunday morning for my marathon pace run. 

My legs felt very sore starting out, but by the last half of this run they felt nice and relaxed.  

MLR.  8:08 AP.  67 degrees.  60% humidity.  We have been fortunate to have such beautiful, cool mornings this week. 

I am still feeling hung over from my 15 mile MLR on Wednesday that I ran at an 8:01 AP.  I am hopefully that with a really easy recovery run tomorrow I will be in tip top shape for my 18 mile pace run on Sunday.  Fortunately I was able to take off work today, so I just may get some extra R&R.  Maybe even a mid afternoon nap.  

Recovery run.  68 degrees. 90% humidity.  8:51 AP. 

I feel good, but a little fatigued.  This completes my longest week ever at 63 miles.   I'm going to try to get good sleep tonight so I can bust out an 18 mile pace run tomorrow.

Ka-Chow!  18 miles at a 7:38 pace.  61 degrees with 90% humidity.

PR run for this distance.  The plan was to run the last ten miles at my goal marathon pace of 7:15.  I fell a little bit short of that (Actual AP 7:17), which I think was mostly because of a few of the hillier miles that slowed me down a bit.

Kevin ran with me from 2 miles in and fell off at about mile 9 when I started to speed up.

My right gluteal felt a little strained from about 8 miles in and seemed to feel a little worse towards the end.  I noticed that it was worse on the down hill sections towards the end of this run.  I will try to massage it out today, because I can still feel it. 

I jumped in an ice bath after the run.  Hopefully that will ease any on coming soreness. 

First 8 miles: AP 8:05

Last 10 miles: AP 7:17

General aerobic run with 10x100 strides at the end.  63 degrees.  Humidity 40%.  8:34 AP. 

I felt surprisingly better on this run than I thought I would considering the marathon pace run on Sunday took quite a toll on my legs.  I was careful to monitor my pace and slow down on the hills.  I felt strong for the 10x100 strides at the end. 

I started running with a heart rate monitor on Sunday.  My average heart rate was 141, which was right where it should be for this type of workout.

Mid week MLR.  65 degrees.  80% humidity.  8:12 AP.  

I tried to keep it nice and easy this morning on the pace.  I felt a little fatigued on the first 3 miles until I got warmed up.  I'm going to go real easy on my recovery run tomorrow.  

The temperature feels like fall.  It was almost felt cold. 

Recovery run.  63 degrees. 80% humidity.  8:53 AP.  

I feel like I'm still recovering from the marathon pace run on Sunday. 

Alisha and I are running a 5k called the Glow Run this Saturday night.  I plan on skipping my usual 5 mile recovery run Saturday morning, and then taking it easy on my long run Sunday morning.  Over 5,000 people have signed up for this race.  It looks like it should be pretty fun.    

Aerobic run this morning.  Nice and easy at an 8:28 AP.  70 degrees, 56% humidity. 

My knees were bothering me a little bit during the day yesterday.  I felt fine this morning, so hopefully it was just minor aches and pains.  

I'll be skipping out on my recovery run tomorrow morning because we will be racing in the Glow Run 5k tomorrow night.  From looking at the pictures of previous races it looks like a really cool event. 

Not yet official, but I think I achieved a new PR tonight!  I clocked my self at 19:32, which beats my previous record of 19:34.  I will update when they post the results.  I believe that I placed 5th overall, but again I anxiously await the results to be posted which are taking quite a while post. 

This was strange race.  It took place at Mohawk Park after dark.  The theme involved all the runners wearing glow sticks, necklaces, bracelets and anything else that glows in the dark.  The course was adorned with glowing objects was well. 

I know I finished very near the lead pack because I kept the pace car in view up until the last K.  I thought I heard a race coordinator shout out 5 to me as I approached the finish line.

UPDATE:  I just got the official results and I placed 5th overall, 2nd in my age group, and recorded a new PR 19:28.85.  There were 4310 total runners.  Feeling great!  

About 74 degrees.  89% humidity.  Pouring rain for about half this 2 hour and ten minute run.  8:42 AP.  

I planned on running slow this morning.  I ran the Glow Run 5k late last night and was pretty stoked about the events that transpired.  In fact I was so excited that even though we got home a little after 10:00, I was still not able to get to sleep before 12:15.  So I ran my 15 miler this morning at 5:30 in the puddles and rain on slightly less than 5 hours sleep only eight and half hours after racing.  Gotta love it right!  

I would have run this morning a little faster, but Kevin had run 14 miles yesterday and I did not feel like pushing the pace.  I figure my legs will thank me for it over the next couple of days.  

Lactate threshold (tempo) run.  69 degrees. 81% humidity.  This workout was tough, but I hit my goal pace.   

3 warmup miles

5 at lactate threshold pace

2 cool down miles.

Overall AP 7:42

5 at Lactate threshold AP: 7:01

This workout felt harder than I thought it should.  I must still be recovering from the weekends activities (5k race Saturday night and long run Sunday morning on four and half hours sleep).

MLR.  69 degrees. 80% humidity.  8:02 AP.

It felt nice and cool out this morning.  It almost felt a little too cool.  I considered that it won't be long before I'm running in fall gear.  

Recovery run. 9:01 AP. 66 degrees.75% humidity. 

My right calf felt a little bit tight this morning.

MLR.  11 miles at an AP of 7:54.  About 70 degrees and 88% humidity.  Pretty disgusting.  We should be getting some rain later today from tropical storm Isaac.  I got a few sprinkles this morning, but not nearly enough to mitigate the horrible humidity.  

My schedule gets a little tougher this week.  Instead of my usual recovery 5 mile run tomorrow, I'm doing an 8 mile general aerobic run with 10 striders at the end.  Then on Sunday I'm running a monster 21 mile run.  I'm so glad that it just happened to hit on Labor Day weekend.