Christmas Run

Wasn't sure what to expect this morning. I've had two calf injuries in the last 5 weeks which have really stifled my training. I ran once this week (Thursday) , a slow 4 miles just to make sure that I could run without limping. Since I hadn't signed up and wasn't sure that I'd even be able to run, I decided that I was goint to "bandit" the race.
Now, normally I don't advocate banditing races, but when I do, it's just a fitness test for me, I don't cross the finish line, and I don't take any of the post race food or drink or anything like that. I just use it as an opportunity to run hard against some other folks.

After warming up for about a mile and opting for racing flats instead of spikes as the roads were pretty bare, I took off with a pack of 3 or 4 other guys. I felt like I was working pretty hard, so when we got to the mile marker and it read 5:38 for me I thought, "Holy schnikes, this shouldn't feel this hard". A couple of more guys passed me and I settled into 6th and was just trying to focus on my form and not falling completely apart. With about a half mile to go I could sense the guys in front of me slowing and I worked my way up to 5th, which is where I ended up.

I ran 14:37, a 5:50 per mile average for the 2.5 miles. That might be easy to handle for a lot of people, but when you've run 5:33 pace for a half marathon and 5:59 pace for a full marathon, I could definitely tell that my fitness was lacking. I do think that the race actually helped stretch out my calf, because it does feel quite a bit better. Monica dug into it last night and worked out all of the knots and that helped too. Thanks, Monica ! On a brighter note, I did notice that my time was only 6 seconds off of last year's winning time, I got to burn some competitive juices, and I think that my calf will allow me to start training normally again.

Next race up should be the New Year's Day 5K, where I'll at least shoot for 17:30 (5:37 pace), and go from there. One step at a time.

Thanks to everyone for putting up with me while I was injured and grouchy ( ;

Dave

the comeback trail

After nursing my calf injury for the last three weeks, but making it through my 2 X 2 mile legs in the Rubber Chicken Relay without incident I decided that it was time to test out my calf by working on some speed. We were slated to do 10 X 2 dots (two tenths of a mile or 322 meters each) with one dot (one tenth of a mile) recovery. Since I had Eric to run with (or chase,depending on how you look at it) the workout went pretty well. I wanted to run all of these in 60 seconds each (5:00 mile pace).
I went 61.36, 58.96, 60.38, 59.29, 58.92, 60.51, 60.67, 61.14, 61.53, 58.62, so I averaged 60.13. I definitely was going lactic by about the 7th one and just trying to keep my form. Eric was maintaining a bit better and when we decided to 'blow out the pipes" on the last one I think that he must have ran about a :55. Not bad for a couple of 41 year old guys ! At any rate, it was a solid workout and I had no problems with my calf.
Am really looking forward to the 5K in Memphis on Saturday. I hope to run under 17:00 (5:28 pace), so we'll see how things go. Just happy to be healthy and headed in the right direction !!

frustration reigns supreme

After doing a pretty solid fartlek workout on November 11th I was warming down and felt a major twinge in my right calf. I thought that it was odd that it happened at the end of my workout and as I was warming down, but who knows how these things happen. The next day I couldn't even walk without limping. I tried to get out Friday night and run a bit, but again, I couldn't run without limping. After some fairly aggressive massage therapy by Monica on Saturday and a couple of more days of rest I was able to do some easy running on Tuesday the 18th.

I guess jumping right into it after an injury by running 7 miles might not have been the best idea. Running last night (Thursday the 20th) felt OK through about 3.5 miles and then my calf started to gradually tighten up again until I was almost limping again by the end of the run. After icing it last night, more ibuprofen and massaging the heck out of it, it feels pretty normal again, but I'm afraid that will be short lived.

As of right now I'll have Monica dig into it tonight with some aggressive massage to loosen it up and then give things a go at the Turkey Trot tomorrow. If I can get through that and hopefully a decent 20 miler on Sunday, I'll at least be confident that I can get through the marathon that I'm supposed to run 15 days from now...

Funny how being injured can affect your psyche. Sometimes running's like a drug. If you don't get your fix it sure leaves you craving it.

Weekend workout/tempo

I got to Richland Saturday afternoon, still sleep deprived and after a 5 hour drive. I decided to get out for 4 miles to shake the cobwebs off of my legs and threw in some pickups on that run. It didn't feel horrible, but wasn't great either.
I really didn't want to get out of bed on Sunday morning, but I forced myself to do it and I knew that if I was going to get in a decent workout that I'd have to have someone to run with. I ate a piece of toast with butter and jam, a couple of swigs of Vitamin water and about half of a can of flat Pepsi from the night before.
I ran an easy one mile warm up and stretched out and felt surprisingly OK. My original plan was to run the first 20 miles of the race (Tri Cities Marathon) and then bag it. My head cold that I'd caught earlier in the week and the lack of a ride back to my car made me revise my plan.
It was a clear cool morning, perfect for running. When the gun went off I assessed the situation and found the guy who was leading the marathon (there was one marathon relay team ahead of us) and started talking to him. His name was Dan, he was from Portland and his goal was to run 'fast enough to win'. We talked a bit for the next few miles and we were clicking off miles at 6:07 to 6:08 (about 2:41 pace)with remarkable consistency. I decided at about the 5 mile marker that I would go to 7 miles and then jog back to the car, giving me a 15 mile day. Dan and I hit 7 miles in 42:55 (6:08 pace) and I ran back to the car at between 6:40-7:00 pace. My half marathon split according to the Garmin was 1:25:33 and I felt pretty decent about that.
I didn't have any problems with my breathing or anything else because of the head cold, and that surprised me a bit. I am still waking up stuffed up every day and am coughing up nasty gunk, but am feeling better than it was.
I am planning on running an easy 6 miles before the Zeitgeist race and then running the course as a tempo run, hopefully around 6:15 pace. Only 5 1/2 weeks to Memphis !

testing my resolve

Sunday's 18 miler left me feeling a little beat up, so I opted not to run on Monday. Tuesday's workout was slated to be 6 X 1/2 mile with two dot (two tenths of a mile) recovery.Although I felt really sluggish warming up, once I got going I felt OK. I ran 2:39, 2:38, 2:36, 2:36, 2:36, and 2:34. My goal was to average 2:37 (5:14 mile pace) on these and I did, and I also got faster on each one. That was the most solid tempo workout that I've done in a while.

After dinner that night I started to get a dull headache and felt achy. I did get up to run Hulls Gulch (8- miles) on Wednesday with Derek and Monica, but by that afternoon things had progressed to a full blown head cold. I am currently feeling weak and achy and am coughing up neon green gunk. Good times. I guess that this will teach me to take better care of myself and to start getting some rest. It will only be easy running for the next couple of days and hopefully I'll be OK by Sunday.On the bright side, I'm glad that I got sick now as opposed to the week of the marathon !

Barber to Boise weekend

Let me preface this blog by saying that I didn't get nearly enough sleep this week. Between celebrating my divorce being final on Tuesday, Monica's Birthday #1 on Thursday and Monica's Birthday #2 on Friday, I was running on fumes.

Beautiful day for Barber to Boise. Ran into Jon Hancock before the race and warmmed up with him, which I enjoyed immensely. We always have some good laughs and crack each other up. My legs felt decent enough and after my 1 AM snack of blueberry Pop Tarts and Powerade, I only had a mocha for breakfast before the race.

I knew that it was going to be a fast race as there were a contingent of young guys there and the Greater Boise guys as well. The gun went off and I found myself feeling decent, but only in about 15th place a half mile into the race. At that point I started racing and picking off some guys. I hit the mile in 5:24 (slower than I thought that it would be) and was probably in 12th or so. I continued to feel decent and picked off a couple more guys and hit the two mile mark in 10:59. At that point I was starting to feel some fatigue in my quads and the lack of sleep and the mental effort of racing escaped me. I was just putting one foot in front of the other at that point. I held my position though and no one caught me, so I ended up 10th overall and was the first runner over the age of 40 (actually would have won the 35-39 age group as well) in 17:14.9 (5:33 per mile average).Liz had come to watch the finish, so after the awards we ran back to her car, so all together I got in an 8mile day. I wisely went home Saturday and crashed by 11 and slept like the dead.

Sunday morning dawned clear and cool and I met Derek at his place in Garden City and we were quickly on the green belt.He ran the first 13 miles with me where we averaged about 6:45 pace. I dropped the pace after he quit, running 6:16, 6:22, and 6:30 pace. The Garmin measured the distance at 18.54 miles, but I'm going to call it 18.0 miles in 2:00:59. if that's the case I averaged 6:43 pace which bodes well. I felt decent and finished strong.My quads feel a little beat up this afternoon, but that's normal.

Planning on doing the first 20 miles of the Tri Cities Marathon next Sunday. That will be a good indicator of my fitness.

Thanks to everyone for all of your support.

Dave

The last few days

It's been a pretty decent last few days. I ran an easy 13 with Murali on Saturday morning before hopping in the Garden City 5K and ended up pacing a gal through the first 2 miles at about 6:00 pace before she had to back off. Ended up calling that a 16 mile day, although it was probably a bit more than that. Sunday I set out to do 10 miles and my first mile was about 6:20, which felt pretty comfortable, my next couple of miles got faster, down to the 6:14-6:15 range and I held that through about 4 miles until I happened upon the Derkacs brothers, Derek and David, and ran about 4 miles with them at maybe 6:45 to 7:00 pace, I then dropped the pace back down to about 6:10-6:15 for the next couple of miles and added a 1/2 mile cool down to make an 11 mile day.
Tuesday I set out to do 10 X 3 dots with 1 dot recovery. I wanted them to be all at about 5:00 mile pace (1:30 each). I went 1:29, 1;31, 1:32, 1:34, 1:32 and 1:34 before I decided to cut it short. I did another 2 dot section in :55 (about 4:40 pace) to make 2 miles worth of repeats and a solid warm down of 3 + miles. I need to work more on my lactate threshhold as I was going lactic way too early in those shorter intervals. I realized the mental strain of trying to run that fast on my own and it's just taxing. If I had someone to chase or run with it certainly would have been more bearable.
This morning Monica, Derek and I did Hulls Gulch with the big uphill add on at the end. My quads were SCREAMING at me as I was climbing. I could definitely feel the lactic acid from yesterday's workout. Hopefully my legs will 'freshen up' over the next couple of days and I'll be ready to rip on Saturday for the race.