Freethinker ~ Freerunner

MLR - 15.  73 94%.  Kevin and Keith ran the first three and half miles with me.

I'm so glad I got a recovery week this week.  Being home by 15 after 7:00 on a Sunday morning is very nice.  Now I have a long weekend to relax. 

Tempo of 10 miles with 5 at tempo pace.  64 with 95% humidity. 

I'm feeling much better about myself after this tempo as compared to the last one I did. 

AP for full ten miles was 7:37.

AP for the tempo miles was 6:44.  Since my goal was to run 6:39 on those tempo miles, I'm feeling good about where I'm at.  The cooler temperature helped.   

MLR - 14.  66 degrees, 83%.  I ran about 4 with Shane.  8:19 AP. 

My legs felt pretty flat after the tempo yesterday.  After I got past the first few miles I felt better. 

Recovery - 5.  8:36 AP. 

MLR - 11.  66, 83%. 8:09 AP. 

I got an early start this moring at 4:43.  I was home by 6:14.  It's going to be a long day at work with a merchant meeting before we open. 
 

Recovery run.  7 miles with 10x100's. 

Long run - 21.  The temperature started out at 80 and finished somewhere around 72.  I started at 4:30 because I knew this was going to take me close to three hours.  I finished in 2:54:14 with an AP of 8:18. 

I really felt like I was dragging on the first half.  There are some pretty tough hills at miles 13, 14, and 19.   I was not sure I was going to be able to negative split as I was traversing those, but somehow I pulled it off.  I ran the first half in 87:25 and the second half in 86:39.

I compared this to my the 21 mile run I did on September 2nd, 2012, and was not so pleased to see that my time then was a bit faster.  I broke it down by first 11 miles and last 10 miles.  It may have been a little bit warmer according to the temperature log, so I'm gong to say that played the biggest role.     

                         Sept. 2012              Sept. 2013

AP                            8:10                  8:17

first 11 AP                8:20                  8:19

last 10 AP                 7:56                 8:15

Temperature             70                      75

Elevation Gain          860                   537

I'm not sure that I trust this elevation data.  I ran a different portion of the Creek trail system that feels so much hillier than the portion I ran last year.  I'm probably over analyzing this considering it is just a simple long run and not a tempo or pace run. 

6:17 AM.  Recovery - 6.  8:08 AP.  68 degrees.

This was the first of a doubler.  I will run another 4 miles the evening. 

4:03 PM.  Recovery - 4. 8:11 AP.  95 degrees.

My legs felts about 65% on this second part.  I think I'm still recovering from the 21 miler on Sunday.  I also could have done without the 95 degrees.  Tomorrow I plan on taking it real easy on my 14 MLR.  I need to be 100% for my tempo on Friday.  I really need to hit my goal splits going into this phase in the cycle. 

MLR - 12.  I was supposed to run 14, but I injured my right ankle somehow so I ended up cutting it two miles short.  I didn't injur it on this run.  I think something happened on the long run on Sunday, and it wasn't totally healed by the time had the double workout yesterday.  

6:00 AM - My first run back since last Wednesday.  I took a full five day break from the pain I felt in my right ankle half way through my long run on Wednesday.  I was a little worried the first day, but when I realized it was healing up nicely by day three I knew I would be back this week.  I didn't feel a thing this morning, but of-course I took it real easy at an 8:40 pace. 

I'll see how I feel thoughout the day.  If I feel good I will run my 4 mile second part this afternoon. 

5:17 PM - 4 nice and easy recovery miles.  This run felt nice except for the 88 degree temperature.  I should be good to go for my MLR tomorrow morning.  My ankel feels 100%. 

Recovery - 6.  I think my ankle is still taking some time to heal.  I thought it was fully healed two days ago, but after my runs on Tuesday I noticed it felt a little tender that night and the next morning.  So I skipped my MLR on Wednesday.  Hopefully it will be healed enough to run 13 tomorrow morning. 

13 miles this morning in 1:36:15 for an average pace of 7:24. I'm feeling good.

7 recovery with 6x100's.  The 100's felt nice on sore legs. 
 

Marathon Pace Run.  54 degrees.  Beautiful weather.

While technically I accomplished my goal of run 4 miles to warm up followed by 12 at marathon pace, I'm not sure how I feel about this workout.  I averaged 7:02 for the final 12 miles, which puts me exactly 1 second under my 7:03 absolute slowest time needed for the marathon.  The reason I don't feel awesome is because I compared this to the last time I ran this workout on the previous cycle and I averaged 6:54 on those last 12 miles. 

Should I be worried?  I'm not quite sure.  I missed my last tempo run one week ago Friday because my ankle was injured.  I eased back into running after 5 days off and ran a pretty fast MLR on Friday, which was quite a bit faster than the same workout on the last cycle.  Maybe that had an effect on my energy levels for the pace run this morning.   

I think that if I can nail my next pace run and my remaining tempo runs, and then run a sub 60 minute Tulsa Run I will be in position to shoot for a 3:05 in November. 

General aerobi run - 9 miles.  My legs still felt a little sore from the pace run on Sunday, but overall I felt good.  I averaged 8:08 on this run.  It was a cool 57 degrees. 

VO2 Max: 8.5 miles with 6x800's. 

3 miles warmup. 

6x800's:  3:04, 3:08, 3:16, 3:02, 3:06, 3:16

2.5 miles cool down. 

My goal pace for the 800's was 3:05.  I didn't quite make that, but it is worth noting that the third and sixth repeats were on hills. 

Recovery run - 6 miles.

11 - MLR.  64 degrees.  7:36 AP. 

I'm starting to feel the speed come back a little bit.  My last couple of MLR's have been averaged in the mid to low 7:00 minute pace as opposed to the low 8:00 minute pace.  I'm going to focus on quality tempo runs and try to keep my MLR's in the 7:00 minute range.  If I'm feeling good I will occassionally dip below 7:00 on the last mile or two of my LR's and MLR's as I finish out these last 8 weeks until the marathon. 

General aerobic run with 11x100's.  7:57 AP.

I felt reasonably strong this morning.  I thought I was going to have to call it off when I stepped outside and my right ankle started hurting just walking down the driveway.  I decided to start anyway and as soon as I started running the feeling went away. 

My lower back felt a little stiff from when I put Alisha's bike back up on the wall mount last night.  This was the first time I gotten it down sice we moved in the new house in February.  The wall mount is very high and the first time I hoisted the bike up I lost my balance and it came crashing down over me forcing me into a back bend position.  Hopefully the sore spot in my back heals up before the long run tomorrow. 

On the 100's I felt pretty good.  I averaged about 20 seconds on each one and I averaged about 30 seconds of jogging rest between them.  I'm finishing the week at 58 miles. 

MLR - 15.  7:39 AP.  55 degrees.  100% Humidity. 

There was a really heavy fog like I've never seen in my area this morning.  When I got to my turn around at 7.5 miles I looked up and noticed the the fog was completely gone and I could see the moon again.  At first I thought that the fog had lifted, but after I had gone about 2 miles back towards the East I was completely ensconced in it again.  For some reason I found it amusing that I had acutally run out of and then back into the fog.   

My last six splits: 7:28, 7:26, 7:14, 7:18, 7:11, 6:36