Another year comes to a close.

Weekly Recap (4 weeks to Phoenix)

Sunday
5 miler

Saturday
5 miler

Friday
20 miler. Hot muggy. Good run. That makes 80 miles in last 8 days.
Feeling a little worn down.

Thursday
Off

Wednesday
Lemonade out of lemons. Had 11 with 6 x 1000 VOmax. Within 2 minutes my hamstrings were so tight and tender I knew the VOmax was out. By mile five was was feeling heavy and ready to call it a day.

But I had eaten so much junk in the last 24 hours, I felt I should do at least 10 just to burn calories. I decided to spice it up a little. I usually hit my cruising speed about mile seven and hold that pace. I decided to continue to accelerate all the way through, a bump about every mile or so.

By mile 10 I was moving pretty good, and feeling better. I took all the way to 12 really flying the last mile.

Solid run. That makes 60 miles in the last 5 five days (12 mi/day average).

Tuesday
Standard 8.

Monday
15 miler. The only carbs I ate Sunday and Monday was one bowl of cereal. As a result, the 15 miler felt like 30. I don't know why it is, but when a cut back on carbs, I sweat twice as much. The weather was very cold, yet by mile 10, I was soaked through.

Carrbing

After two days of low carbs, I scarfed it down today.

It's just murder to run farther than five, without any carbs. With a hard 11 miler with 6 x 800 VOmax tomorrow, I carbed up (pigged out).

Well so much for the diet. After I do my 20 miler this week, I'll cut back.

American Bank Annual Half Marathon

(me in white . placed 8th out of 110, 2nd in my division
The guy in red was 6th, 1st in my division 1:30:46)

As noted in an early post, I was looking forward to this run about as much as a colonoscopy performed by Barney Frank. I knew at best I might squeak out a PR; but due to the weather, there was no way to run my potential and my 1:30 goal.

The forecast held; at gun the temperature was 65 with 100% humidity and a 10 mile/hr south wind. The roads were quite slick from the fog. Damn the torpedoes, I went out at what I thought was a 1:30 pace.

I didn't wear my gps watch, but a runner next to me did. At mile two he said we were on a 6:50 min/mile pace (right at 1:30). It felt too fast aerobically. I relaxed my leg turnover, but tried to maintain the strength of my strides.

I could bitch about the weather, and there was plenty to bitch about. However, I was actually grateful it wasn't worse. The wind was fairly strong running into it. And the sky was completely overcast. Even a slight bit of sunshine would have doomed me.

I only looked at my own watch once, at the turnaround: 46:17. My second half split was about equal (46:40), which is a good indication that my endurance / strength was good.

Yes I PRed, but I was still quite unhappy. Not because I didn't hit 1:30, but because I couldn't set an true baseline. I just don't know if I can hold the 7:06 min/mile pace for a full if weather conditions are great (i.e. 43 with 40% humidity). I think I can, but without a baseline, I can't benefit from the confidence knowing I can.

The race did confirm one thing, I need to lose 3-5 pound. Three will work, 5 would be great. With only three weeks of training remaining (one of which is a taper), I'll have to double up on cross training to lose the three. If I want to make it five, I'll have to go low carb the last three weeks.

Weekly Recap (5 weeks to Phoenix)

Sunday
12 miler

Saturday
American bank half marathon 1:32:56.

Friday
9 with 5 x 600 VOmax

Thursday
Off

Wednesday
Five miles into a 12 miler, I called it quites.

Tuesday
9 with 8 at LT.

Monday
4 mile recover

In a Bad Bad Mood

Confident I could post a sub 1:30 in this coming Saturday's American Bank half-marathon, I pre-loaded my mileage last week by doing two long runs. I posted a PR for both my 21 miler and 18 miler.

Then on Monday, I saw a Friday night forecasted low of 63. Half my motivation left me. I ran a sloppy four mile recovery counting every minute until is was over. On Tuesday, a cold front came through and picked me up some; I ran a good eight mile LT.

Now as of today, they're forecasting a Friday low of 67 with a 15 mile/hr southwind, and 95% humidity. As a taste, the wind shifted to the south tonight and brought the humidity to 96%. Five miles into a 12 miler (at a easy pace), I was totally dejected and quit.

All I could think of is how I'm going to have to bust it full bore Saturday in these oppressive conditions, and still be lucky to PR a 1:34. More specifically, I was recalling how I almost heat stroked in Chicago after 8 miles in similar conditions.

I could express this more urbanely after six years of college, but the only way to really express it is to say, "THIS SUCKS!!!" And to make it "COMPLETELY SUCK", the forecasted high for Sunday is 57.

Weekly Recap (6 weeks to Phoenix)

Sunday
18 miler. Added some hills, tough run with the muggy conditions.

Saturday
Standard 6 miler.

Friday
Damn. I had 12 scheduled with 7 at LT. After posting a four minute PR on a 21 miler just 48 hours eariler, I thought it would be hard. But to my surprise, that wasn't the problem.

The weather was nice and cool. I didn't even think of using my portable fan that I place on the treadmill for hard runs. By mile 3, I knew that was a mistake. I was sweating pretty good.

By mile six, I was trenched. By mile 7 (with 4 LT done) I couldn't breath, just too much water loss. I called it quits. Initially I was POed, but hell I just creamed my 21 miler two days ago. I don't think it was a conditioning problem.

Thursday
Had 6 scheduled. But a client called about his retirement plan, and I spent three hours working on it and had to miss my run.

Wednesday
Well, I might pay for that one also. After two easy days, and a nice cold front coming through, I decided to PR on my 21 miler.

I bested my previous 21 mile training time by a full four minutes (174 minutes). Aerobically, felt fine. But the extra speed cominbed with the extra five pounds I'm carrying was hard on the body. Overall, solid run.

Tuesday
6 mile recovery

Monday
8 with 5 x 200 meter strides.

Weekly Recap (7 weeks to Phoenix)

Sunday
Had 8 scheduled, but a client called with a rush job. I had to miss workout. Besides burning 1,000 calories, which I need, there was no conditioning loss.

Saturday
16 miler. Ran about 7:00 p.m. Dew point was only 45; it was like running with a oxygen mask. Barely breathing. However, legs still not recovered from Thursday.

Friday
6 mile recovery.

Thursday
Well, I'm going to pay for that.

Had 16 scheduled, with 12 at marathon pace. I wanted to set a PR on the 12 section, so after four good miles, I took it down to about 7:00 min/miles. Felt fine after first 30 minutes, so I took it down another 10 sec / mile. After another 30 minutes, I could feel the lactic acid building up.

I was afraid that I would throw off the rest of my training this week if I went to hard. But I was also afraid that if I broke pace, I would just stop. I hate to miss mileage. So I pushed hard the last 30 minutes.

All in all, a PR and 100% effort. I'm just afraid my 11 miler tomorrow will be very difficult now.

Wednesday -Off

Tuesday
Reality Check. I've been front loading my mileage so I can get in a taper before the American Bank Half Marathon the week after next. I tried to squeeze in 11 with 5 x 1,200 VOmax.

Cruised the first six miles, but after running my first 1,200, which took me to 7 miles, I stopped there as I had a 7 miler scheduled originally. After 15 on Sunday and 8 uphill yesterday, my legs just weren't in it.

I will try to makeup the VOmax Friday, which is when I originally had it scheduled. However, anyway you look at it, 5 consecutive 1,200s at 6 min/mi pace is brutal.

Monday
6 miles a.m. / 4 miles p.m. scheduled. I combined it into a 8 miler with a slight incline all the way through. I don't care much for hills during a race, but it really helps with focusing during training.