Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Recovery run with 6 100's at the end.  40 degrees.  

8:15 AP.

Recovery run.  46 degrees. 8:28 AP. 

My calves are still throbbing from the race and two pretty intense longer runs this week.  I may decide to take it easy tomorrow instead of getting in a good workout.    

10 miles at 7:06 AP.  Beautiful 52 degrees.

Since I was not able to run a tune-up race this morning I decided to get in a good workout.  I ran 2 miles to warmup at 7:47 and 7:26 followed by 8 miles at a 6:58 AP.

I'm feeling pretty good about my condition right now.  My calves were still stinging a little bit from this week, and I really feel that my quads are going to be sore soon.  I have my last long run tomorrow of 17 miles.  

Last long run before the Marathon in 2 weeks.  7:25 AP, 40 degrees. 

I never know exactly how to dress for 40 degrees.  There was no wind so went shorts, short sleeves, with arm sleeves, and gloves.  I wasn't sure if the gloves were a good idea a after my first mile, but I ended up being very comfortable all the way through.  I think because there was more wind than the weather app suggested. 

My calves are still pretty sore, but I've learned this cycle that I can still clock PR runs even on sore muscles.  They should recover quite nicely since I'll only be putting about 47 miles on this week which is down from 59 last week.

First 5 miles 7:44 AP, last 12 miles 7:15 AP.  

General aerobic run.   8:09 AP.  35 degrees.  8x100's at the end. 

My calves are still feeling sore.  I looking ahead on my schedule loving all the easy recovery runs coming up.  It should allow my legs to freshen up nicely.  

It's election day and the polling place I passed by the highway had a line of about 15 people waiting outside.   

This libertarian is voting for Romney today.  No doubts.  No regrets.   

Recovery run w/ AP 8:09.  36 degrees.  Calves are finally starting to feel less sore.  

V02 Max run of 8 miles with 3x1600's at 5k pace.  

Temperature 45, wind chill 40. 

Overall AP 7:20

2.63 warmup miles at 7:48, 7:55, 7:55 (.63 AP)

1600's: 6:03, 6:09, 6:04

1.35 cool down miles

Recovery.  8:01 AP.  58 degrees.  Almost  felt hot!  What the heck is going on?

I'm at 40 miles this week.  After hitting 70 once or twice this cycle and all these Wednesday morning MLR's it really feels more like I'm only at 20 miles this week.

Recovery.  7:56 AP.  64 degrees. 

8x100 striders during the last mile.  I ran the last mile in 6:59.  

Last MLR before the marathon which is one week from today.  7:34 AP.  About 58 degrees starting out, with winds over 18 miles per hour or perhaps worse.  

I ran the first two miles into the South into the wind.  Most of the run was with the wind at my side which was nice.  The rain really started to down poor very hard at my halfway mark, but the temperature was still pretty warm.  Then after about 10 minutes of that the rain pretty much slowed to a drizzle.  Then about 10 minutes later the wind changed direction and started blasting from the north.  It felt like the temperature dropped 20 degrees and the rain started pouring real heavy again only this time it was icy cold.  I've run in the rain many times, but this morning I experienced some of the strangest conditions I think I've ever run in.

Besides the weather I has a slight stomach cramp on the final few miles.  Needless to say with the cramp, wind, rain, and wet shoes, which felt like running with 10 pound weights on my ankles, I did not clock a PR this morning.  But I did average a pretty good pace all things considered.  

Recovery run.  30 degrees.  8:17 AP.  

I have a slight twinge in the back of my right quad.  I felt it a little yesterday towards the end of the day at work and on the run a little this morning.  I'm not sure if it is the same thing I felt a couple of weeks ago when I picked up my Tulsa run packet the night before the Tulsa Run. 

7 miles with 2 at marathon pace.  Pfitz calls this a dress rehearsal.  7:27 AP.  28 degrees.

I ran 3 to warm up and 2 to cool down.  I ran the 2 at marathon pace on the hilliest part of the run.  Actually I ran them faster than my marathon pace because I wasn't sure the hills were going to affect me.  So I ran down the hills faster in case I could not sustain the speed going back up.  My splits were 6:46 and 6:51.  The effort felt a little too hard considering I will need to run 26.2 miles at a pace close to this.  I'm blaming it on the elevation and faster pace. 

I got home and discovered my sock was blood stained where I cut my skin near my achilles yesterday.  The stupid ankle zippers sometimes rub against my skin and I don't feel the sensations while I running.  Probably because distance running numbs pain sensors in the body.  Yesterday I got home and the skin was just a little bit raw, but not bleeding.  This morning I made sure to roll the ankles up so the zipper could not touch the skin.  I guess my sock and maybe my shoe just touching the already sensitive skin made it bleed.  I think I'll go with Neosporin and bandaids for the next few days.  This is not something I like to see just 4 days before the race. 

Recovery run.  32 degrees.  8:12 AP.  

Recovery with 6 100 meter striders.  7:54 AP.  

Recovery run of 4 miles the day before the marathon. 8:30 AP. 

I ran in shorts, short sleeves, with Nathan sleeves over my arms, gloves, and my hat.  It was 32 degrees. I was a little cold at first but I warmed up by the later half.  This gave me a good idea that shorts and a tech shirt rather than a thermal will be good for the marathon.  It will be closer to 40 degrees and the sun should be up by the 8:00 start time.  

Nothing left now to do but get through work today, get a good night's sleep tonight, and run a hell of a race tomorrow morning.  

Marathon Number Two Completed Today.

A PR time of 3:12:34 besting my previous time by 22:31.  Even though I didn't get my BQ today, I'm feeling much more confident in my game. 

7:20 AP

10k:               43:32       7:01 AP

10 mile:         1:10:26     7:04 AP

Half:              1:32:03     6:58 AP

Second half: 1:40:31     7:40 AP

30k:               2:12:04    7:17 AP

 
UPDATE 11-20-12:  I was comparing my age division rank from this year to my rank in 2010, which was my last marathon.  Amazingly I only improved by 1 spot from 12 to 11 even by improving my time by 22:31.  Of-course I would have improved by 2 spots had I not talked Joe into running this one with me instead of the other race he was considering...LOL.  It turns out that had I run the same time (3:35:05) this year as I did in 2010, I would have dropped 20 slots to place at 31.  It looks like the competition has stiffened as this race has become more popular.         

I ran the first half a bit faster than the second half.  The first half offered some nice down hill sections and one really long 9 mile flat section (Riverside Drive) with the wind at my back.  This part of the course was awesome! 

Things got dicier when I got past mile 18.  All of mile 19 was a pretty wicked hill and into the wind, which had picked up by this point in the day.  My pace dropped from 6:58 on mile 18 to 7:30 on mile 19.  The hill that was mile 19 was followed by a series of smaller hills.  It was an uphill windy battle for several miles past this point. 

The two mile run through the University of Tulsa was really nice.  I would have enjoyed it more had I not been struggling with my pace.  It was at this point (mile 21) that I could no longer ignore my gradually tightening legs.  I could especially feel fatigue in my glutes and tightening in my hamstrings.  I'm not sure if this hit me as hard as it did at this point in the race, which felt too soon, because I ran the first half a little too fast or if it's because I've got more work to do in my training.  I felt like I trained sufficiently for the distance this time on the 50 to 70 mile per week program.  Perhaps I just need to build in more time on my base of running high mileage, and get a few more marathons under my belt.   

Mile 23 was uphill and into the wind through a neighborhood and out to 21st St.  Mile 25 was almost all down hill (21st St).  Mile 26 had some very short but also very steep hills that slowed me to a jog that felt like I was walking, or about break into a walk.

I drank Gatorade a every water stop, which included one stop where I drank Gatorade and water.  I took Gu 15 minutes before the start, 45 minutes into the race, and approximately every 30 minute thereafter (Gu at -15:00, 45:00, 1:15, 1:45, 2:15, 2:45. Time approx.).  I felt like this strategy worked pretty well for me.  I think I might try every 30 minutes next time and net one more Gu during the race.     

A bonus today was finally getting to meet SlowJoe in person.  Joe got his own PR and came within about 8 seconds of running a sub 3.  Way to go Joe!

Garmin Splits:

Turkey day family jog.  11:02 AP.  57 degrees.  My legs feel much better today, although my calves are still a little sore.   

This was my first attempt at running since the marathon on Sunday.  Alisha and I went out for an easy 2 miles while I pushed Ty in the jogging stroller.  I love running on holidays.  By going running on holidays I am able to create an extra memory for my self in addition to the good memories that any special day like Thanksgiving already has.  The other reason I like running on holidays is because they are like bonus Sundays.  Sunday morning is my favorite time to run because the traffic is non-existent and I don't have to worry about going in to work later.  Holidays are pretty much the same scenario.  

Happy Thanksgiving fellow bloggers!

Long run with Kevin.  36 degrees. 8:07 AP.  

My legs are still sore from the marathon.  I thought I was recovered fully, but I realized I was not at about the 6 mile mark and I was glad we turned around when we did.