dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran 11 miles this morning with Anita in the running stroller.  She did awesome, as it was hot outside, and I had not run with her in a few months, yet she did not whine or fuss at all during the run.  I think that she actually really enjoyed being out with me, as she was looking around and babbling quite a bit, and she drank almost all of the water from her water bottle.  Total time for the run was 1:27:10.

PM: 4 miles in 30:16.  My legs have been feeling kind of dead all week, but felt surprisingly good this evening.

I was dreading this run all week long, as the temperatures are starting to get hotter, and the hotter it gets, the easier it is to overheat while out on a long run.  I was originally planning on running at 5:00am and was hoping that I could get in a good chunk of my daily mileage before the sun really started beating down on me.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) I slept horribly last night, waking up nearly every 30 minutes while having trouble falling asleep as well (you would think with the mileage I have been running lately that sleep would not be a problem).  Due to the sleep issues I decided to sleep in a bit and go to plan B, which was to drive to UNLV and run on the treadmill indoors where I would not have to deal with the heat or the sun.

I got to UNLV and it was 79 degrees inside, a temperature at which I actually find it quite comfortable to run.  However, due to the workout I had planned I turned on the a/c to cool the place down to 70 degrees (I don't know how long it took, but the thermometer was reading 70 by the time I finished my run).  I then started my run, with the plan to run an 8 mile warm-up, followed by a 2 x 5 mile tempo with a 2 mile recovery between repeats.

The workout started according to plan, as I made it through the first 7.5 miles in 53:40.  I then paused my workout so that I could grab some water before starting the first 5 mile tempo at the 8 mile mark of the run.  I also turned on a fan, which I placed directly in front of me to provide some wind to make up for the lack of air resistance that exists when running in place on a treadmill.  The goal for the first tempo was to average 5:30 pace, which would give me 27:30 for 5 miles.  The goal for the second repeat was to average 5:20 pace, for a time of 26:40.  I sped up slowly at the beginning of the first repeat, going through 1 mile in 5:34, followed by a 5:30.  At 2.5 miles I decided that I felt good and wanted to speed up a little, so I sped up to finish the third mile in 5:29, followed by a 5:24 and a 5:22 to finish with a time of 27:19 for 5 miles.  This was followed by 2 miles at 7:30 pace (plus I stopped briefly to get some more water) before starting the final 5 mile tempo at the 15 mile mark of the run.

When I started this repeat I decided to shoot for the OTQ pace of 5:18 instead of 5:20, which would give me a 26:30 if I did it (vs. 26:40).  I started out right on pace this time (no warming into the pace at all) and it felt harder than I thought it would.  I think that the first 5 mile tempo had taken more out of me than I realized.  I was not sure if I would be able to hold pace for the entire tempo, so I just focused on relaxing at that pace.  I also decided that if I could hang on for 4 miles and if I still had anything left in the tank I would make an attempt at speeding up the final mile.  The pace never really started to feel easier than it did at the beginning of this tempo, but luckily it never started to feel harder either, and I made it through 4 miles right at 5:18 pace (21:12).  I then sped up progressively over the final mile, finishing with a final mile split of 4:56 for a total time of 26:08 for 5 miles.

After I finished the final tempo I felt like I should run one final mile to cool down a bit.  The final mile kind of hurt, but I think it was good for me since I had to drive home right after finishing.  I finished the final tempo to make it through 20 miles with a total time of 2:05:52, and 2:13:48 for 21 miles.  This finishes off my second consecutive 100 mile week.  I think that I am going to back off just a bit next week, plus once the baby comes I am going to take a fairly easy week as well (which may end up being next week anyways).

Easy run today.  I finished 10 miles in 1:16:xx.  I am still sore from Saturday, which makes me think that I may have pushed it a little too much at the end of a long week.  As it is, I was planning on making this week easy, so things should be fine.

10 miles this morning in 1:14:38.  I kept the pace easy, but the soreness is still kind of there.  I feel more stiff than anything.

PM: 5 more miles in the evening in 37:48. 

10 miles this morning in 1:16:25.  It has been humid lately, and it is interesting comparing the humidity to the hot dry weather we usually have.  It seems to me that humidity makes it feel about 10 degrees hotter than it really is.  It also makes it feel hotter than normal in the morning, but the heat is more manageable in the afternoon than it normally is.

10 miles this morning at school on the treadmill.  I ran 3 miles in about 17:30 in the middle of the run to get a feel for how my left calf is doing.  It is still feeling pretty tight.

 PM: 5 miles in 39:07. 

Nice easy run this morning.  I ran 10 miles, finishing in 1:17:xx.  I massaged my left calf out for a couple minutes this morning, and it felt much better than it has felt previously.

PM: No more running for me today, as I am now the proud daddy of a little boy!  Shayon Ray McClellan was born at 7:43pm, weighing 7 lb 2 oz, and 20 inches in length.  Kimia and the little one are both doing great!

I was at the hospital from last night until around 8:30pm tonight helping Kimia, and helping take care of the baby.  By the time we got situated at home it was after 10:30pm, so I just ended up not running today.  Not what I had planned, but this was an easy week anyhow, and there are some things that take priority over running.

I just ran easy today.  Nothing special happened.  I did a few pick-ups during the run as well just to shake out my legs a bit.

I was going to run a free 800m race next Tuesday, but I realized that I have a Stake training meeting that I need to be at that same night.  Instead I decided to run a solo 800m time trial today.  I went out to the track to run the time trial, and when I got there I found out that the track had been torn up as a new one is being installed soon.

So, luck was obviously not on my side, but I figured that I could run a half mile time trial out on the Pittman wash instead.  I ended up running the time trial just over 5 miles into the run, running a few strides before starting.  Luck was still not on my side, as I had a solid headwind that I had to deal with for the entire half mile.  It evened things out a bit seeing that there was a net downhill during this section of the trail, but I still think that the wind had a net slowing effect on the performance vs what I would have run on the track.  I was also running a half mile on a trail vs. 800m on the track.  800m is actually about 5m shorter than a half mile and is measured 8 inches from the inside rail, meaning that if you run right on the rail the distance is actually shorter than 800m (at least for the inside leg).

Anyhow, I started the time trial and struggled with the fact that I was not getting consistent pace feedback.  I tried to keep the effort hard to make up for the lack of pace feedback, but the wind was making things difficult for me.  I finished somewhere in the high 2:09 to mid 2:10 range.  So, obviously not what I would have liked to run, but conditions were not the best.

Total time for the run was 1:16:24 

I ran an easy 10 miles this morning in 1:16:27.  During the middle of the run I ran a hard 300m in a section where a start, 200m and 300m marks are randomly painted on the trail I run on.  I just wanted to get a better feel for the effort that it will take for me to run a 45 second 300m because I will be running 300m repeats tomorrow.

PM:  I ran 5 miles this evening in 37:24.  I felt pretty good considering that it was the second run of the day for me.  I guess that is to be expected since I only ran 60 miles last week, and haven't run any doubles yet this week until today. 

I went to UNLV and ran a track workout this morning since the track by my house is torn up.  The goal was to run 4-6 x 300m repeats in about 45 seconds with 300m recovery.  I ran a 3 mile warm-up at a fairly brisk pace (20:23 for 3 miles), and then changed into my track flats, ran an extra half mile with some strides, and started the workout.  

There was a good amount of wind this morning, so I decided to cut out the homestretch when the wind would be the worst.  The wind still slowed me down on the corners, but it sped me up on the backstretch so I think it ended up being about even.  The first repeat was a 45.1 and it felt easy.  I even took my foot off the gas a little during the last few meters so as not to run too fast.  However, things got progressively harder from there, as the next three repeats were 46.1, 46.3, and 45.4.  I should note that it is hard to hit the stop button on my watch, so I probably cost myself a few tenths of a second on each repeat in slowing and trying to hit the stop button.  After the fourth repeat I decided to keep going and try to run 6 repeats, but I gave myself and extra minute or so to rest.  I ran the fifth repeat in 46.6 and I felt spent.  I think that some of the slow-down was psychological, but I did not feel good so I decided to shut it down after this repeat.  I ran a cool-down on the track, and while running I decided that I didn't want to end my workout on a bad note.  So, after running just under 1.75 miles for recovery I ran one last 300m repeat, finishing in 44.9.  This repeat also felt easy, similar to the first.  It was interesting to compare the effort it took to run fast when fatigued, yet be able to run as fast or faster just a few minutes later after resting a bit.

After finishing, I ran barefoot on the grass for a little while, and I wanted to get some water so I ended up running over to the lab and finishing on the treadmill after getting a drink.  Total of 15 miles.

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:09:xx.  I kept the pace a little quicker than normal because I wanted to hurry and get to work.  I felt relaxed, so that was good.

PM:  I ran a half mile over to the baseball fields and then ran barefoot on the grass.  While I was running some sprinklers turned on, soaking my shoes, so I just ran home barefoot as well.  Total time of 38:15, which I will call 5 miles. 

The workout I did not Thursday was pretty tough, and I didn't feel like getting up early this morning, so I decided on Friday to just run a solid pace for 20 miles without doing any speed work.  I ran out 10 miles on the Pittman wash, and up St. Rose Pkwy in 1:10:24 (5 mile splits of 35:45, 34:40).  I then turned around and ran 10 miles back home to finish with a total time of 2:18:05 for 20 miles (5 mile splits of 33:45, 33:55 during the second half).

I ran 10 miles easy this morning in 1:12:39

PM:  6 miles easy in 46:38 

I ran 15 miles this morning at the Galleria Mall.  During the run I ran 4 x 1 mile repeats with 0.75 miles for recovery between each repeat (recovery time of: 5:58, 5:41, 5:51).  I wanted to do repeats of some sort that were longer than what I have been doing recently, but I still wanted to get something in that was reasonably fast.  So, I ended up deciding to run the first 0.75 of each repeat at a reasonable pace that felt fast, but still comfortable.  I would then speed up gradually over the last 0.25 to finish off each repeat fast.  Goal accomplished as far as the workout was concerned, and I felt good doing it too, which is a plus (especially considering that the temps were in the mid to upper 80's during my run).  As my mall loop has a fair amount of elevation change, individual quarter splits don't mean a whole lot, but I will post them anyhow.

Mile repeats were finished in:

5:07 - 79, 82, 76, 70 - Fist half mostly uphill, second half mostly downhill, with net elevation change near zero (probably a net decrease, but not much)

5:10 - 76, 79, 82, 73 - First half mostly downhill, second half rolling a fair amount, with a net downhill

5:08 - 78.5, 79, 80, 70.5 - Fist half rolling, third quarter uphill, final quarter downhill, net elevation change near zero (probably a minimal net increase)

5:07 - 79, 76, 79, 73 - First quarter uphill, second quarter downhill, last half rolling, with a net uphill

I finished by cooling down for about 5.5 miles and ended at my apartment with a total time of 1:45:20 for 15 miles. 

I ran 11 miles this morning in 1:22:55 out on the Pittman wash.

PM:  6 more miles, mostly barefoot on the baseball fields in 46:14.  I felt very fluid while running.  I like it when I feel that way. 

I ran out on the Pittman wash this morning.  My legs felt very stiff as I started the run, which is normal for me, as they seem to feel this way just about every morning.  After a couple miles my legs seemed to wake up, and the rest of the run was good.

I didn't want to run hard today, but I didn't want to go completely without speedwork until Saturday, when I am running a hard tempo/time trial of sorts, so I ran a moderate paced 200 (slight uphill and into a mild headwind) in 44 seconds about 4 miles into the run, and during the second half of the run I ran 4 x 200 (distance estimated for the first 2 repeats) in 30s, 30s, 32s (high), and 32s.  The first 2 repeats had a mild downhill and tailwind, so I do not doubt that I ran a full 200m.  The last 2 repeats were both into a headwind as I had changed directions slightly, with the wind affecting me less during the last repeat.  The third repeat was also on a mild downhill, but the fourth repeat had a mild uphill grade.  Recovery was 1:50, and 1:53 after the first 2 repeats, and about 2:30ish after the third.  Later on as I got closer to home I realized that I had run a total of 5 x 200 for the day (counting the moderate 200 early on) and I wanted to even the distance up, so I ran a sixth 200 (distance estimated) in 31s.

I finished with a total of 13 miles in about 1:37:00 (not sure on the time, because I stopped for a second and accidentally didn't restart my watch just a couple minutes before I got home).

PM:  I ran 4 more miles easy in 31:41 

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:14:14.  My right knee is a tiny bit sore this morning, and I think it is due to the 200m repeats I ran yesterday.  I think that the mild downhill I had on some of them put more stress on my knee than I would have expected, so the knee is sore now.  Luckily I don't notice any discomfort at all when running, only when I kneel down and put pressure on the knee.  Probably just an inflamed bursa.

PM:  5 more miles, running a little at work as I was collecting pilot data for my thesis (0.75 miles) and then running the last bit after I got home, running most of that on the grass on the baseball fields (3 miles barefoot, 4.25 total). 

I decided early on in the week that I wanted to run a half marathon time trial today, as I have not raced anything recently (other than a track 3200), and I can't seem to find suitable races to run even when looking in other states.  My main issue is finding the time (and money) to travel somewhere else.  With a new baby, things are even tighter as far as scheduling goes.  I will probably do this again during the month of August, and potentially in September as well.

The main issue that I had previously when running speed work was in finding a place suitable to run fast, in a location where I would have the ability to get fairly constant pace feedback.  I found a good place for this in discovering that the loop around the Galleria Mall is almost exactly 1.25 miles.  I was able to use maps to measure out quarter mile markers on this loop.  The benefit of this is that I can now run speed work of virtually any distance interval, with whatever sort of recovery I want as well.  The drawback is that the distance is not as accurate as I would like, and when you are running a long tempo (or HM time trial such as today) any inaccuracies in distance tend to add up.  I tend to think that the loop is a little long (because it is so slow), but at least it is consistent, so it is a good gauge of progress for me.

In order to beat the heat and run the time trial without needing to worry too much about overheating, I got up at 4:20am and was running by 4:35am.  I ran a warm-up of about 2.75 miles, and after drinking some of the water I brought with me and running some strides, I stashed the water bottle on the curb (so that I could get water half way through), and I started the time trial at 5:05am.  My goal coming in was to run each lap at 7:00 or faster (5:36 pace).  This doesn't seem like it is very fast, but on this loop I struggle to go sub 7:00 for more than a couple consecutive laps (which is why I think it is long, although the hills may have something to do with that too, so I don't know).  An average of 7:00 per lap would give me a finishing time in the 1:13 range, which is a little slow, but fast enough for my purposes today (especially at the end of a 100 mile week).  After the start my lap splits (for each 1.25 mile loop) were as follows:

6:53 - Faster than I was expecting.  I didn't want to start off slow, but I did not feel like I was pressing the pace either.

6:53 - I decided to change my goal, and shoot to average 6:53 for the rest of the time trial, which would put me in the 1:12 range at the finish.

6:54 - Just a little slower than I wanted.  I wondered if my new time goal was too aggressive, but I did not feel like I was pressing and I continued onward.

6:52 - Back on pace, going through 5 miles in 27:32 (just about 5:30 pace).  A mild wind started to pick up during this lap, and the wind helped/hurt me intermittently over the rest of the time trial (although it really was fairly mild to be honest).

6:53 - Hit my "half way" mark in 34:25 (Total distance was 10 laps plus 0.6 miles, so I thought of this as a half way point of sorts).  Really feeling like this is a solid marathon pace, which is good, but I don't feel like I can sustain a pace that is much faster.

6:52 - I got my water at the beginning of this lap, so I was surprised that I had sped up, considering I had to come to an almost complete stop to pick up the water.  I also carried the water for about a minute and a half while I drank it, so that can't have helped me pace-wise.

6:48 - I was not expecting this at all.  I did feel like I picked up the effort a little, but not enough to speed up by 4-5 seconds for one lap.

6:50 - Hit my 10 mile mark in 54:55 (27:23 for the last 5 miles).  Feeling strong.

6:47 - Still surprised that I feel as strong as I do considering how I felt early on, and also considering that the low temperature this morning was forecast at 80 degrees (probably about right).

6:46 -  1:08:28 for 12.5 miles.  I am now 22 seconds under goal pace, and looking at breaking 1:12 (vs the mid 1:13 I was hoping for before the start).

3:10 - Ran the quarters from 12.5 - 13 miles in 1:17, 1:18 (not as fast as it sounds because it is downhill), and then ran 35 seconds more to estimate the time for the last 0.1 miles (uphill, so not as slow as it sounds).  Total time was 1:11:38.  I ran the last 5 miles (from 8-13) in 27:07, so I am glad that I finished strong on a tough course in semi-hot weather.

Overall, I was very happy with how things turned out during the time trial today.  The pace overall was not too strenuous, and I feel like I could hold this effort for the marathon if I just start a tiny bit faster, and then don't hit the middle miles as hard as I finished today.  If I do this on a fast course in better weather, this will bode well for my shot at the OTQ.

Felt just a tiny bit of soreness in my legs this morning, which is good considering the workout I did yesterday.  My knee is still a little tender, so I will probably avoid any short fast sprints until it starts feeling better.

At church I also got the opportunity to teach the Elders quorum lesson, after being asked to teach in the middle of Sunday school.  I was given the wrong lesson, and ended up teaching on the law of chastity instead of Teachings For Our Times.

I ran 11 miles this morning.  I kept the pace easy.  I felt pretty good considering I ran 100 miles last week.  

In the afternoon I bought a wheel and decided that I was going to measure the mall loop that I have been running speed workouts on.  I only made it a half mile before a security guard stopped me and after talking to me told me that I was not only not allowed to continue measuring the road, but that I was not allowed to ever run on the road around the mall again.  Evidently it is a "hazard" to run there because there is no sidewalk.  I find this extremely silly because I run on this particular loop before the mall even opens in the morning, and I find it much safer to run here where the traffic is minimal and drives slowly, in comparison to running on sidewalks where cars are driving 45 mph within feet of where I am running.  I guess that I will have to find a new loop to run speedwork on.

On the plus side, I was able to measure a half mile of the loop, and what I found was that the course tool measurements that I took seemed to be accurate to within a few meters.  It gives me a little more confidence that the course was the right distance. 

PM: I was supposed to run a second run today, but I started not feeling so well in the evening.  I mainly just felt really tired, so I cancelled the second run.

I slept in this morning because I was still just not feeling good.  I did not feel like I was sick, but I just felt tired.  I ended up getting about 10 hours of sleep last night.

I felt good enough to run later on in the afternoon, but Anita came down with something and had an underarm temperature of 102.2 degrees.  Because of this I ended up staying home all day and taking care of her.  By the time I was able to run it was getting late, and considering how I had felt that morning (and the evening before) I decided that it would not be a bad idea to give myself a little rest. 

I slept in again (still just feeling super tired) and was planning on running in the evening after coming home from work.  My aunt called during the day however, to tell Kimia that they were in town, so I ended up running on the treadmill at work, and we went out to dinner with them afterwards.

The only problem with running at work was that I didn't have any running stuff with me.  Because of this, I ended up using a pair of test shoes from the cabinet in the lab, and I ran without socks.  The workout ended up being good, but the shoes I wore hashed up my feet, and I have sores and blisters all over them now.

I ended up running a fartlek workout on the treadmill, running hard for 2, 3, 4, and 5 minutes on the treadmill, with active recovery of 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 minutes at 7.5 mph.  Speed was 12.4, 12.0, 11.6, and 11.2 mph for the the different repeats.  After the 5 minute repeat, I hopped off the treadmill to put a band-aid on my heel as it was already getting a nasty sore on it.  I then got back on the treadmill and ran the same ladder in reverse, running 5, 4, 3, 2, plus 1 minute hard to top off the workout.  Recovery after each repeat was the same as before, but the speed for the repeats was just a little faster, as I ran them at 11.3, 11.7, 12.1, 12.5, and 12.9 mph.  I don't want to figure out exactly how much of the workout was speed-work, and how much was easy, so I will just count 5.5 miles hard.  12 miles total in about 1:15:00 (I think I am remembering that right)

I ran too and from school today, running to school in heat of about 102 degrees, and then running home in the evening.  Time in the afternoon to run 8.6 miles was 1:05:18, and in the evening it took me 1:02:52 to run 8.6 miles home.  My heels hurt quite a bit running both ways because of the blisters and sores on them.  My little toes on both feet also hurt quite a bit by the end of the day because of the blisters on them.

Because of how much my feet were hurting I decided to run barefoot on the grass this morning.  I ran a bit before going over to the baseball fields, and started running there.  However, as I started running on the fields I noticed there were a lot of bees flying around everywhere.  I noted that I should remain cautious so as not to step on any bees.  Despite my caution it was not to be, and I stepped on a bee in the grass after running barefoot for less than a half mile.  My foot hurt quite a bit from the bee sting, and the blisters made running in shoes uncomfortable, so I ended up just running home.  I ran a total of 2.5 miles in about 20 minutes.

PM:  My planned run this evening was only 5 miles, but since my run this morning was cut short due to the bee sting I extended the run a bit so that I would at least get in 10 miles on the day.  I ran 7.5 miles in just under 56 minutes.  My heels were still hurting a lot as well. 

I was up late last night, as I was helping one of the professors perform data collection for a project, so I decided to just run a speed workout on the treadmill at UNLV where I would not have to deal with as much heat.  I waited until the little ones went down for naps before leaving, and when I got to UNLV the lab was 84 degrees inside (so I guess it really wasn't much of a relief from the heat).  I turned the a/c down to cool the lab off, and started my run.  I had bandaged up my feet so that they would not hurt so much, and that worked out pretty well for me.  I started off slow, but sped up progressively over the first few miles until I was running 6:40 pace just 3 miles into the run.  I then continued to speed up until I was running sub 6:20 pace for the mile before I started my tempo run.

I started my speed work after 9 miles, running the first 8.5 miles in 58:01.  The plan was to run 10 miles, with the first 5 miles at 11.3 mph (approximately 5:18 pace) and the last 5 miles at 11.4 mph (approximately 5:15 pace).  In order to account for the lack of wind resistance I put the treadmill on a mild incline (1%), and then put a fan to my side to simulate a cross wind.  Just before I started the tempo I went to the bathroom, got some water and changed my shoes as well.  I also checked the temperature in the lab, and it was still 80 degrees when I started the tempo.  The first 5 miles went according to plan, and I went through 5 miles at 11.3 mph in 26:32.  I did not feel like I could run 5 more miles at 11.4 mph, but I upped the pace anyways after the first 5 miles, and kept running.  7 miles into the tempo I could tell that I was struggling.  I was glad that I was on the treadmill, because if I was not I probably would have just given up and slowed down.  Mentally it is easier to not slow down when you have to do something physically to make it happen (push the slow down button).  I could tell that my body was capable of running the pace, but it was hard enough that I knew if I did not have that extra motivation I would have caved mentally and slowed down.

9 miles into the tempo (last 4 miles in 21:02) I felt like I was pushing the pace too hard, and was not relaxing enough, so I decided to back off the pace for a half mile in order to relax.  I hoped to follow this by running a final mile at 11.4 mph.  The problem was that a half mile was not long enough for me to truly recover, and I was running too fast to recover quickly (finished the half mile in 3:41 for an average pace of 7:22).  The result was that the final mile felt a little easier for about 0.1, and the final 0.9 felt considerably harder than it felt before I slowed down.  That last mile was torture.  It has been a long time since I have hurt that bad while running, but I held the pace.  The total time for the final 5 miles (excluding the half mile "recovery") was 26:18, for a 10 mile split time of 52:50 (again, minus the "recovery").  I then ran an extra half mile to finish 20 miles with a total time of 2:01:42.

I have mixed feelings about this workout.  Conditions were not ideal (77-78 degrees inside when I finished the workout) and the mild incline the treadmill was on plus the fan made conditions difficult as well, so I was not surprised that I struggled some.  I also ran the 10 mile tempo faster today than the 2 x 5 mile tempo I ran on the same treadmill a month or so ago (despite running a faster warm-up).  However, I feel like I should be able to handle this type of pace with almost zero difficulty even when conditions are not ideal if I am going to qualify for the trials this fall.  If I can barely manage OTQ pace for 10 miles in a workout at the end of a low mileage week, how am I supposed to do it for 26 miles?  I may be reacting somewhat harshly, as the workout didn't kill my legs like the last treadmill long run I ran (wasn't sore at all on Sunday), and the temperature difference of about 20 degrees (or more), and the difference of about 2000 ft elevation when running at sea level during my next marathon will certainly make hitting an OTQ easier in November than it would be running on the treadmill here in Vegas.  However, I can't seem to shake the thought that I really need to be able to hit my goal pace even in bad circumstances for at least the half marathon distance if I want to get the qualifier.