Freethinker ~ Freerunner

My third run since the marathon.  I only went five miles, but I think I might be fully recovered.

Alisha and I have an offer on a house on Quanah that is currently listed as a short sale.  I decided to run out to the house and back.  I like to check out the neighborhood at different times and on different days.  I did not see anything out of the ordinary.  

Running out to Quanah gives me the opportunity to run across the Elm overpass above the Creek turnpike.  The view of the sun rising from this area is awesome!  

Nice crisp cool morning.  Beautiful sunrise.  32 degrees.  8:00 AP.  

AP 7:47.  52 degrees.  Nice and misty. 

I'm calling this a Strava Segment run.  I ran to the Creek trail where I created a Strava segment some time back.  My goal today was to run the easy two miles up to the two mile segment, and then run the segment as fast as I could.  

I finished the 2.1 mile distance in 13:34 at a 6:26 AP.  I beat my previous time on this segment, and am currently in 2nd place on the leader board.  In reality I'm in first place because somebody named Chuck McAbee uploaded his data from a bike ride and did not categorize his workout as such.  So it looks like he ran the distance in 8:41, when really he rode that distance.       

Nice run with Kevin.  50 degrees.  Brisk winds.  8:07 AP.  

Easy 10.  8:11 AP.  50 degrees. Wind 8 mph.  Heavy mist. 

I realized this morning that I'm still recovering from the marathon.  I feel good, but I can tell that my muscles, ligaments, and other body mechanics are not quite ready for running long and hard.  That's ok because I'm really enjoying this December running easy and relaxed.  

6 miles at recovery pace.  8:20 AP.  18 degrees. 

I am having a hard time typing because my fingers are still numb.  The moon looked awesome.  It was very low over the eastern horizon and the lit portion was only a sliver, but because it was still dark and because of it's position I could still see the whole thing.  There was a large star right next to it.  It looked really cool.  

With regard to marathon recovery, my body is feeling much better after this run.  My left achilles was feeling just a little strained, but that was about it.  

30 degrees. 7:47 AP.  Wish I had more time to blog this morning.  

8 mile aerobic run with striders at the end.  7:49 AP.  51 degrees.  

This was a weird morning on temperature.  I woke up expecting low 40's upper 30's, but all my weather apps and the phone number for time and temp said 51.  The other weird thing was that the wind was blowing at 16 mph, but the wind chill was non-existent.  The feels like temp was also 51.  My weather app has been wrong before and I've had to call time and temp as a backup, but this morning I thought even time and temp was wrong because it was so cold in my house.  

I went ahead and wore shorts with a long sleeve thermal.  Mistake.  It really was 51, and it really was windy but it was not a cold wind.  This time of the year in Oklahoma is so strange.  The morning low temperature was 18 on Tuesday.  Four days later I'm too warm. 

As far as the run is concerned I felt really good.  I think I'm still in pretty good shape from the marathon training.  I average 7:49 with an average heart rate of 155, which is within my recovery heart rate zone.  I only really exceeded the recovery zone on the big hills and during the striders at the end. 

I'm glad it's the weekend.  This was been a long, but also a prosperous week.  I'm ready to get to work today and finish this week so I can get to my long run tomorrow morning and enjoy my Sunday. 

I met up with both Shane and Kevin this morning for an easy ten that turned into an easy 11 since Shane thought we were meeting at Aspen instead of Elm. 

8:19 AP.  43 degrees.  

I'm getting anxious to try some tempo runs, but I know I should probably hold back for a couple more weeks. 

Recovery run of 6 at a 7:56 AP.  32 degrees.  

I'm feeling good this morning, but I really need to get a new pair of shoes.  I think I've pushed my 1260's to the limit.  I'd like to get a little more life out of them, but I think there were just a few too many runs earlier this year that it poured rain on me and soaked them to the core.  

General aerobic run.  7:45 AP. 37 degrees.  Average heart rate 152.  

I'm feeling really good and strong.  I need to look back at my tempo runs over the previous cycle so I can start planning my improved tempo runs for Oklahoma City training.  

General aerobic run this morning, but in reality run at a bit of a faster pace than that.  I couldn't help it because it was so cold.  22 degrees. 7:38 AP.  

My heart rate monitor was not detected by my Garmin, but I did not realize this until I got back so I don't know what my heart rate was. 

Recovery run at 8:06 AP.  26 degrees.

It was a nice cool morning.  I have a hard time running at a slow enough pace to actually stay within true recovery pace when it is this cold.  I just want to start out flying the first few miles to get warmed up.  I have to keep making myself slow down.  

Long run.  7:50 AP.  42 degrees starting 38 degrees finishing. 

I started at 5:15 AM and the temperature felt really nice.  I wore shorts and a turtle neck, but I did not wear gloves.  As I rolled through the hills along the Creek trail there were wild temperature fluctuations.  It was really intense.  I realized on the second half of the run that my hands had gone totally numb and I had a hard time moving my fingers and thumb.  I spent about one or two miles just opening and closing my hands to try to get the blood flowing.  They eventually warmed up, but I wished that I had gone ahead and brought gloves.  

I felt good and kept a pretty solid pace.  As I start off my three day holiday weekend I can tell it is going to be a great day.  

Recovery run this morning.  I should be recovering from a 9 mile run yesterday, but that did not happen.  I've had a sick child at home for the past two nights that has taken away some precious sleep time.  He seems to be feeling better this morning, so hopefully that's over.  

8:05 AP.  19 degrees. 6 mph winds.  I wore my nylon jacket over my turtle neck this morning.  I think I need a more slim fitting jacket that would be ideal for running.  The one I have is alright, but I'm sure there is something better out there.

I went ten miles this morning with 8 100 strides at the end.  7:57 AP.  31 degrees.

It felt pretty nice out for 31 degrees.  There was really no wind at all.  I felt really good and strong on this run.  I realized last night that I only have a few more days left on my "recovery" schedule from Pfitz, and I need to start planning my Oklahoma City marathon schedule.  I will probably do that on New Years Day. 

Recovery run.  7:58 AP.  19 w/ 8 wind chill.  Surprisingly it wasn't as cold out as I thought it would feel.  

I closed this week at only 34 miles.  I missed Christmas day and the day after, which was a combined loss of 15 miles.  I started to feel like a slacker, but I guess I'll give myself a pass for prioritizing holiday time with family over running.  

MLR of 13 miles.  7:49 AP.  18 degrees.  5-6 mph winds.  Very cold.  I wore my light jacket over my turtle neck.  I started at 5:00 AM and got full use of my new LED headlamp.  I love it.  It lights my path and will keep me from being run over, which is good because I prefer not to die. ;-)   

I felt really good this morning except for a slight sore throat and runny nose.  Hopefully I'm not coming down with whatever my wife and son have.  I thought I'd escaped it, and I'm still holding out hope that I have.