Running Through Life

In two weeks I am supposed to be in my "STAMINA" phase of training. I have been doing the "Endurance" phase all this time. I didn't realize that speedwork fell into an endurance area. But 16 400 meter repeats isn't easy. In my stamina phase I will be doing tempo runs from 4 - 10 miles in length. These are runs that I try to maintain the same pace for the entire run.

Back to the Armory for 400 meter repeats. Tried some new PowerBar gel drops. They are gummi bear texture with a small liquid center. These were a cola flavored liquid. They aren't bad. They were tough but I think that is due to them being frozen last week. They were left in the car. Not good with the near zero temperatures.

Schedule said (16) 400 meter repeats in 2:00 - 2:10 pace. I have been aiming for 1:45 pace.
Last week I was awesome and ran around 1:36 average for 11 repeats. I was supposed to do 14 but was gassed out.
I managed all 16 repeats tonite. And I average 1:36, with a fast repeat of 1:29 on #5 and a slow 1:45 on #15. Locked #16 in at 1:36.

Actual sets can be seen here.

yes, Virginia there is a marathon in Illinois and it does not revolve around Chicago. 

Man was it cold on Saturday. Hats off to my runners, members and alumni alike. -14 degrees with the wind chill. But carry on they did. And run they did. man it was cold. A special kudo to all winter time coaches in wintry locales, it is especially good of you to brave the weather when you are not building up your body temperature.

Tomorrow I am filling in to coach the local TNT (Team in Training) chapter. They have a 6/12 mile  run depending on whether they are training for the half or full marathons. Of course for my first time it should be about 10 degrees at 8am with a minus wind chill. 

Thank you to all who have wrote to help me get back on track and bring my mojo back to central Illinois. It worked. I was supposed to do 14 x 400 meters in 2:00 - 2:10. I have been doing my 400s in 1:45 or better. I hope to continue that as well.

It was a work holiday for me though I still spent half the day at the office. oh well.

OK, nothing about my running, bu I am siting here in my Steelers socks and it was enough for them to beat Baltimore for the third time this football season. We (yes, the imperial we) are headed to Tampa Bay to attempt to beat an all-of-a-sudden very good Arizona Cardinal team. Look out Warner here we come.

So, in two weeks I will be grilling and drinking in the man-cave with my un-Steeler fan friends (my apologies to Bears and Cowboys fans). You are all welcome if you are in central Illinois on Sunday. 

Almost sounds like a horror story. But this was a step back week so I only had 6 to run. Again in 1:45 or less (my goal) training say 2:00 - 2:05.

Set 1 - 1:42
Set 2 - 1:36
Set 3 - 1:40
Set 4 - 1:40
Set 5 - 1:45
Set 6 - 1:38

plus a mile warm up and a 400 meter cool down.

Good effort. Legs are hurting. It is a new thing for me. This aching. Wondering if it might be related to no stretching. Something to think about.

Here is the newest member of my extended family. Early consensus has her named Lightning - for how fast she was born. Mama has been good to her. She is about 4 hours old in pictures. We put a little doggie sweater on her. I figure she is about 2 pounds in picture.

With the rain on Friday nite causing ice on Saturday morning I opted to run on Sunday. So around 11:30 I made it to Lake of the Woods for a run. An out and back one mile run in 20 minutes to make it back to the parking lot by noon. I was supposed to meet up with some of the TNT members but none showed. Alums, Randy and Jaymie did.

So the three of us were off running the 5 mile trail out there. It is a nice and somewhat hilly course (about 950 feet of ascent). We ran slowly and I found out what my conversational pace is - about 12min/mile. We walked a little as well.

7 miles in 1:22:35. Not bad, but not good. But it was supposed to be an easy run and for the most part I think it was.

The really nice thing in looking at the calendar is that I have mileage for the last 4 weeks. Something I couldn't say before. I am starting to run more often. Something I have wanted to do but always found a way not to do. It make me happy. It make me tired but as I get in shape I believe the tiredness will lessen.

On a separate note, one of my goats gave to birth to a healthy female kid late Friday afternoon. See is really cute. I'll post a picture or two tomorrow. Mom and baby (Lightning seems to be the unofficial name) are doing fine.

Yea, right. A little rain last night combined with just below freezing temperatures turned my long run into an ice skating rink. So since this is part of a Team in Training run (I mentor this group), the coach and I called off the run. Everyone is going to train on treads, run in town or come out with me tomorrow at noon.

I was hoping too sneak in 13 miles this morning, but now it will be tomorrow. After that, a nice hot shower and then some nachos and beer while I (hopefully) watch the Steelers put the Chargers in their place again.

Have I ever said 9I suppose wrote) how much I love to hate track practice. Speed work sucks.

Its hard. But damn I know it works. Last summer I dropped my mile time from around 9:30 to an all-time best of 6:59. So I do it. After all it is in the training manual.

No one from TNT showed up, but then I didn't really expect anyone. Probably next week. Holidays are starting to settle down and students will be back on the 20th.

Tonite - (12) 400s - run inside at the Armory on the 200 meter track.

1 - 1:42
2 - 1:41
3 - 1:36
4 - 1:40
5 - 1:38
6 - 1:39
7 - 1:41
8 - 1:45
9 - 1:45
10 - 1:41
11 - 1:43
12 - 1:39

Average 1:41

Good job, actually great job.

Tired, legs aching and lungs burning. But I did it.

Alone. No one there.

Read this and though of my dearest friend...

Have you ever noticed that when the friends and neighbors of someone accused of committing a horrible crime are interviewed, they always say the same thing: "I can't believe he did it. He seemed so normal."

I'm quite sure that if anyone had interviewed my friends and neighbors when I first started running, they would have offered much the same response. I'm sure that they couldn't understand why this middle-aged, overweight man was out there running and walking nearly every day. It just wouldn't have seemed normal.

The truth is, it didn't seem normal to me either. Normal was coming home from work, drinking a beer or 12, having a bag of chips and a half pack of cigarettes, and then eating dinner. Normal was being as stationary as possible for as long as possible.

I'm often asked what happened. People want to know how and why a seemingly normal man starts running at middle age. They want there to be some grand design, some elegantly articulated plan to change my life. They want there to be a reason. There wasn't. There isn't. Like an out-of-left-field felon, I think I just came face-to-face with the stranger deep in my psyche. The difference was that my stranger didn't want me to do something bad; it wanted me to do something good. - John Bingham

I want you to do something good.

I also ran 1 mile on Monday.

Well, it is over. 7.1 miles of 35 degree, overcast, humid, hard to sometimes slippery and shoe sucking mud. We trail runners got it all. Wasn't sure how I would do, but hoping for 90 - 105 minute struggle. So I finished in 82.5 minutes. I ran hard and it was hard.

Happy with my time for the amount of uphill and downhill running on this trail. According to Garmin 180 feet of ascent and 1835 feet of descent. That is a lot of climbing and sliding down.

On a side note, my running partner locked the door key in his car. After unsuccessfully trying to open it, we hitched a ride with the Reid brothers of Carlinville. Three guys that really know how to have a good time and really give each other some shit. But the shit they gave my nameless running partner was tremendous. So much shit, but shit he deserved.

Well back to the weekly grind of training.

Of course I couldn't make it an easy run but had to make it a race. Not really a race, but a trail run. It starts at 11 and runs a hilly, single lane course around Lake Mingo. Mingo is a small lake and the course is only 7.1 miles with about 9 water crossings. Two of them have logs to step on to cross the water.

Right now (8:30am) it is 31 degrees and a 15mph easterly breeze. Should make it a little chilly with the wind off the water. And since we haven't had a hard freeze after the days of spring summer last week (67 degrees) it should be a muddy mess after the first 250 speed demons go by.

I'll let you know how it went later tonite. Hopefully, I stay mostly dry.