Runs #16 trhough #19

Hello all,

Well my hope was to blog about each run as they occurred, but life has gotten in the way of that plan at this time. For the grief I have received, I am still running, just not writing fast enough. Here are my latest ventures.

Run #16 - 5 mile run: Per the training program I am following, this was one of those "free" runs where time is not as important as getting the miles in. It was raining Friday morning so I ran on the inside track at the YMCA instead of on the road out front. If you just joined in, the track at the Y is elevated above the gym and you need to run 20 laps to get 1 mile - yup 100 laps. Talk about feeling like a mouse on a wheel. The run went well, turned on the tunes and tuned out the monotony. After 3.5 miles my right ankle began hurting (same ankle I injured before the Flying Pig). I switched directions at mile 4 and that seemed to stop the pain. I was really pleased when I looked at my time and I had averaged an 11:20 mile for the entire run. That may not sound impressive, but I was not really trying and was not winded at the end. Anyhow, I hit the showers and headed off to work.

The cousin reunion weekend: Well we headed to southern Indiana for the weekend to see some of my cousins and hang out with them. I planned on running my "long run" (10 miles) while I was there, but it did not happen. We did do quite a bit of fishing and running around though.

Run #17 - Long Run 10 miles: Well since I did not torture myself over the weekend with a long run, I decided that Monday morning sounded like a good time to do it. I did not have to work so I went to East Fork Lake and did the "Dam Run". I must have been affected by my lack of sleep from the weekend because I did not plan the course well. I ended up only running a VERY SLOW (13:10 mile) 9.5 miles. The biggest reason for the slow average mile time was that I ended up running the last 1.65 miles uphill (at a pretty steep grade - from the bottom of the dam to the parking lot). But I did get my miles logged.

Run #18 - Speed Work: Tuesday morning I got up and headed to the YMCA to do my speed work out. I had to run 2 - 1 mile splits at my 10K pace (10:30 mile) and 6 - 200 splits at my 5K pace (9:30 mile). Mile 1 mile splits I ran outside on the road in front of the YMCA. i have never run well on that route and today was not exception. My 1 mile splits averaged a 11:15 mile. I think one of the problems with this run is that I do not have good markers to pace by and another is that the run is boring (flat, nothing to see, and out and back). However, I made up for the poor performance on my 200's. I ran an average split of 1:04, which equals an 8:32 mile. Also, each split was faster than the previous.

Run #19 - Pace Work: Today was not only the day I had to run what I have deemed my "WSR" ( Weekly Survival Run), but also the third straight day of running. It was raining when I got to the YMCA so I ran inside. The training plan called for a 4 mile run at my 1/2 marathon pace (11:00 mile), 1 mile at my 10K pace, and 6 stride splits (100m build to a 90% of full speed run for 1o seconds). I started out well. My first 2 miles were at a 10:50 mile pace then my friend Barb joined me. Running with someone who runs shorter distances and has fresh legs is always a challenge, but she is great to run with so I have someone to talk to. The next 2 miles were a 10:34 and a 10:17!!! Barb was as surprised as me when I told her what the splits were since we basically talked the entire time we ran. I ended up skipping the 1 mile at my 10K pace since I basically ran the 4 miles at that pace. I finished up with my stride work and it went well as well. I feel like I broke the curse of the WSR, if only for this week. I also came tot he realization that running back to back for 3 days is pretty taxing on the body.

Tomorrow is a "rest" day, but I may go swim if I wake up early enough (that silly cross training thing). I am definitely NOT running tomorrow, even if chased.

My next 2 runs are Friday and Saturday and I am going to try and stay on my schedule from now on. Even though I did run the Flying Pig this spring, over 21 miles of training runs in 3 days is rough.

Blog at you again soon.

In Him,

Romans 8:31