dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran to school this morning in 1:05:41.  I ran 4 sprints during the run of about 15 seconds each in order to get my legs moving, and to remind my legs that they still need to be able to pick it up if needed.  Total of 8.6 miles.

PM:  I ran home for a total of 8.6 miles in 1:01:11.  During the run I ran 1 mile fast, with a focus on staying relaxed at a marathon effort.  Time was 5:19 for 1 mile.  I was lucky to not get stopped at the stop light on Green Valley Pkwy during this mile (the markers on the road cross this light, so I have to get lucky if I run hard through this stretch).

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:18:06.  I kept things easy, and my average HR for the run was only 127.

PM:  5 miles in 40:30.  My legs felt more tired than I expected them to.

I ran another treadmill long run today.  This is the third time that I have done this over the last 3 months, because it allows me to run fast in temperatures under 80 degrees, whereas when I run outside I often have to deal with temperatures in the 90's, even when I run early in the morning.  I set the treadmill to a 1% grade during the tempo to simulate air resistance, and I turned a fan on me to simulate a little air movement just like last time.

I started with a warm-up of 9 miles, starting off slow, then slowly speeding up, and running the last mile at 9.6mph before starting the tempo (57:48 for the first 8.5 miles, for an average of 6:48/mile).

I ran the tempo in a similar manner to how I ran it the last time, starting at 11.3mph (5:18 pace) for the first 5 miles.  However, this time I did not increase the pace to 11.4 mph after 5 miles, waiting to speed up until I hit the 7 mile mark.  At 7 miles I sped up to 11.4 mph, and at 8 miles I increased the pace to 11.5 mph.  After 9 miles I slowly increased the pace over the last mile, finishing at 12.6 mph, with a closing mile of 4:56-4:58 (didn't see the exact time, but it was somewhere in that range).  5 mile splits were 26:32 and 26:02 (52:34 for 10 miles).  I was much happier with this 10 mile tempo than I was the last time I did this.  Last time I struggled to maintain pace, whereas this time I felt smooth, relaxed and controlled.  To be honest, 5:18 pace felt easy.  I was also happy with my HR, because I have felt lately like my cardiovascular fitness has been improving, and my HR stayed around 169-171 for most of the time I was running at 5:18 pace (in the past it has been just a little higher than that at that pace).

So, this workout was by and large a validation for me that my fitness is where I want it to be (at least it is trending in the right direction).  Seeing that I did this at the end of a 100+ mile week feels good too.  I still felt strong at the end of this workout, and I even ran my 1 mile cool down at 6:40 pace because I wanted to get the run over with, and my legs did not feel hammered.  Total time for 20 miles was 2:00:20 (6:01 pace).  At the end of the workout it was 72 degrees with 52% humidity in the lab.

I was originally planning to run a 2 x 3 mile workout for this morning, but my legs were still a little sore after Saturday's workout so I scrapped that plan.  I still ran 15 miles as planned, and instead of running the tempo I just kept the pace a little faster than I normally run (I was running 6:40-7:20 pace for most of the run after I hit 2 miles in 17:46).  I also ran a 1 mile pick up in 5:09 from about 10.5-11.5 miles during the run.  Total time for 15 miles was 1:48:01.

Easy run this morning.  10 miles in 1:17:34.  No more soreness from Saturday's workout, and my legs felt good (my legs felt super tired last night, so I wasn't sure how I would feel come daylight).

I ran to school this morning, running a 5 mile tempo on the way.  I had to stop a few times during the tempo because of stop lights (just after my approximate 2, 3, and 3.5 mile markers), stopping for about a minute after 2 miles, and for 10-15 seconds the other two times I stopped.  There was a mild headwind for most of the run, which slowed me down a little, and I also struggled to push the pace and relax at the same time (when I would relax my HR would drop to about 150, and when I ran a marathon pace effort my quads felt like they were going to fall off).  Total time for the 5 mile tempo was 27:18.  I probably have not recovered completely after the hard workout I did last Saturday even though my legs feel fine.  I imagine that I may still be experiencing some neural fatigue, or my quads may not have recovered completely despite feeling fine at slow speeds.  Total time was 55:23 for 8.6 miles.  Temperature was 81 degrees when I finished the run.

PM:  I ran home, running a total of 8.6 miles in 1:01:45.

I ran to school this morning.  I tried out the new racing flats that I just got last Saturday.  They felt pretty comfy, but I will need to change how I lace them before I race in them.  I ran a total of 8.6 miles in 1:01:31.

PM:  I ran home this evening.  Total time of 1:07:03 for 8.6 miles.

I ran 10 miles easy this morning.  My left calf has been bothering me off and on for a few weeks now, so I kept the effort super easy to try and give the calf a rest.  Total time of 1:19:46 for 10 miles.

I ran a 9-11 memorial race this morning.  I picked this race for 2 reasons:

1.  It is one of the only road races in Vegas that is longer than 5k.

2.  I thought that a race benefiting the families of the people who died in the terrorist attacks would be a good race to support.  I guess that I am a fan of the whole patriotism thing.

The race itself was billed as a 9.11 kilometer race, and I assumed coming in that it would not actually be 9.11k.  I got to the course at 5:00am, and decided to check things out as part of my warm-up.  What I saw helped me realize how beneficial it can be to have the complete support of local police, fire departments, and city officials.  The entire course was marked exceptionally well, as cones blocked off every single side street along the race course, with additional cones marking every single turn.  I feel like it was literally impossible to go the wrong way, and it made the pace car completely unnecessary.  It was also kind of cool to race in a situation where streets were shut down so completely.  In many big races I have been in we only get a lane or two on the road, whereas here we were in the center of downtown Las Vegas, and we had entire streets shut down.  On the negative side, there was not a single mile marker during the race (the race director, who is not a runner, did tell me he would fix that for next year), and the end result was that the course was short.

The race started at 6:10am, with temperatures at 80 degrees at the start.  There was some wind during portions of the race, but I doubt that the wind had much of an effect on times, maybe 5-10 seconds tops.  There were a ton of turns during the race, and that slowed me down some, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be prior to the start.  It is hard to know how much the turns cost me.  The course was as flat as you will find here in Vegas.  There was a mild elevation drop throughout the race, which you gained back in the last half mile, but even that didn't really seem like a true hill as I barely even noticed I was running uphill.  Overall I liked the course.  It was a great course for spectators who are willing to run a little themselves in order to see the runners.

After the horn went off starting the race I shot to the front, with two other guys attempting to come with me.  I had not expected any competition, so I was a little surprised by this.  Unfortunately it didn't last long as the first guy dropped off after a half mile, and the second guy fell back after about 6:00 (it ends up that he ran collegiately at Florida, but is out of shape now).  From here on out I was running alone.  I decided that since there were no mile markers I would just hold my heart rate steady at about 179-180 bpm for the rest of the race to try and keep the effort honest.  that worked fairly well, but as the race progressed I felt like the heart rate was even, but the effort was getting easier.  This may mean that I was getting into a good rhythm and I could have sped up some, or it may mean that my HR was climbing as a result of the heat, and I was slowing down in order to keep my HR steady.  Overall the race felt very relaxed, so I was quite happy with how things turned out.  I always felt like there was another gear if needed, and I felt like I could have held the effort I was running at for a fair amount longer than I did.

I finished with a total time of 27:21 (the official results are way off).  Second place was about 2:40 behind me, and third place was about 2:50 back.  I only beat the third place finisher by 1:20 at the 5k I ran in August, so considering that this race was only about 2.2 miles longer I think I did better comparatively.  I measured the course with the blog's course tool and it measured out to about 5.3 miles.  Who knows how accurate that is, but it at least gives me a reference point to base my performance on.

I ran a three mile cool-down before picking up my trophy and driving home, putting me at 13 miles total counting my warm-up and the race.  The trophy was actually pretty cool, as it was a solid glass replica of the twin towers, with a logo of some sort and "overall winner" etc, etc etched into the side of the glass.  The trophy itself is pretty heavy.  I will need to weight it one of these days.

After I got home I went out and ran 8 miles to get myself up to 21 miles on the day.  I ran the last 8 miles in 56:57 (26:56 for the last 4 miles). 

I ran 10 miles this afternoon with Anita in the running stroller.  After running the race on Saturday I decided to give my body a little bit more of a break than I have given myself recently, so I only ran once today.

During my run I ran 8 hill sprints (one was actually downhill, while seven were uphill) of about 100m each.  Running hill sprints while pushing a stroller took a lot more out of me than I thought it would, so my legs felt drained at the end of the workout.  Total time of 1:19:05 for 10 miles.

I ran to school this morning.  I felt better at the start than I was expecting, so I decided to run a fast mile about halfway through the run in order to practice running relaxed at a marathon effort.  I was dealing with a headwind, so I did not expect the time to be fast.  I started out a little too hard, but after a couple minutes I was able to relax more and get into a nice rhythm.  I was surprised to finish the mile in 5:12, as I thought the wind would slow me down to about 5:20 even with the harder effort at the beginning.

From the beginning of the run there was a light rain coming down on me (light enough that I wasn't getting wet).  About 6.5 miles into the run the rain started coming down on me a little harder, and it got progressively worse from that point of the run until I got to UNLV.  By the time I got into the lab I was soaked, and I could feel the water swishing around between my toes (the roads near the school were all partially flooded, so I had to run through a fair amount of water).  I sped up some during the last mile so that I could get indoors a little quicker.  Total time for 8.6 miles was 59:10.

PM: I ran home, 8.6 miles in 1:04:01.  I had to stay late at school today, which was not fun.  The only good thing that came out of it was that my clothes had dried off by the time I was leaving school to run home.  Overall, coming home late sucks, as I left the house before the little ones were awake this morning and I got home after they were in bed.

I ran to school this morning.  There was a little rain near the end of the run, but nothing like what I got hit with yesterday.  I ran 2 x 1 mile repeats during the run, followed by 2 x 1/2 mile repeats.  All distances were approximate, based on measurements I made while driving.  The two half mile repeats are probably the least accurate for distance, while the 1 mile repeats are more accurate as the city street layout has major intersections at 1 mile increments.  Anyhow, splits were 5:23, 4:58, 2:40 (maybe long?), 2:40 (just matched the time/effort for the previous repeat without regard to distance).  Total time for 8.6 miles was 59:38.

 PM: I ran home from school, running 8.6 miles in 1:03:38.  My legs felt a little tired, but nothing that a good night of sleep wont fix. 

I ran to school this morning with a time of 1:03:10 for 8.6 miles.  I ran 1 mile in the middle of the run that was not quite a "fast" mile, but was faster than usual, running it in 6:00.

PM: I ran home from school with a total time of 1:04:40 for 8.6 miles.

I ran an easy 10 miles this morning.  My calf felt a little tight, but not too bad.  I finished in about 1:14.

PM:  I scratched my second run for the day (5 miles).  I was just super tired, and my calf wasn't feeling happy either.  I may just need to keep the mileage in the low 90's now that school is in full swing rather than try and get into the 100's some more.  I have been more tired this week than I thought. 

I slept in this morning to help with the fatigue I was feeling yesterday.  That seemed to help a lot.  Unfortunately it did not seem to help with the sore calf, so I spent the morning massaging the calf, rubbing wintercrest on the calf, taking ibuprofen, and icing, all in an effort to get my leg feeling good enough to run a full 20 miles.

By the time I got out the door it was about 90 degrees outside, which is honestly not that bad considering that I have done many runs at 100+ degrees this summer.  Unfortunately my calf was still bugging me when I started running, and withing the first half mile of the run I was already wondering if I would need to shorten the run to 15 miles (or less).  Fortunately, the calf slowly started to loosen up (starting at about 1 mile), and by the time I was 2 miles into the run I didn't feel any discomfort at all, and I knew that running the full 20 miles wouldn't be a problem any more.  I was also glad that today's run was a planned "easy 20", meaning that I would only run a 4 mile tempo near the end, and also meaning that I would not need to change workout plans to avoid injury.

I started out running the first mile between 7:25 and 7:40 (not sure of the exact time because I didn't start my watch at first), and then sped up to 7:05 for the second mile.  After that I was hitting miles fairly consistently in the low 7:00 range or faster for the rest of the workout.  I hit 5 miles in 35:32 (based on the estimate of 7:40 for the first mile), made it to 10 miles in 1:10:05 (34:33 5 mile split).  I started my 4 mile tempo at about 14.75 miles, and hit the 15 mile mark in 1:43:52 (33:47 for 5 miles).  Splits for the 4 mile tempo were: 11:02 for the first 2 miles (missed the first mile marker, but the first mile was maybe a couple seconds faster than the second), followed by a 5:34 for mile 3 (lots of turn, tunnels, etc in this mile), and a final mile of 5:16 (total of 21:52 for 4 miles).  I ran the last 5 miles in 29:26 to finish with a total time of 2:13:18 (again, estimating the first mile at 7:40, which was a conservative estimate to begin with).

So, all in all I think it was a solid workout considering it was 90 degrees outside during the run, and I only stopped for water 3 times (at miles 4.75, 10.5, and 14.25), while only drinking maybe 12 oz of warm water each time I stopped.  I never really felt too pressed during the workout today, which is a good thing because this workout was supposed to be easy.  I was also glad that my calf still felt loose and didn't tighten up after I finished the workout today.  Hopefully that carries over into next week.

My calf was feeling decent today, but not 100%, so to be safe I changed my workout from 2 x 3 miles at marathon effort (15 total miles) to 2 x 2 miles (12 miles total).  I also did the workout in the afternoon so that my calf would not be stiff (mornings do that to me).

After going to the mall with Kimia and the kids I ran home and then did the rest of my run on the Pittman wash.  I ran my first 2 mile interval uphill, and it was slow despite an honest effort (11:56).  I am not sure why it was so slow, because even with the uphill I thought it should have been 30+ seconds faster.  The second 2 mile interval was downhill, and the splits were closer to what I was expecting (5:27, 5:24) as I finished with a time of 10:51.

I ran to school this morning with a time of 1:08:58.  I kept the pace really slow because despite feeling good at the beginning of the run my calf started to complain just a little over a mile in.  No pain during the run, and it was probably good for me to run so slow.

PM: I ran home from school with a time of 1:06:46.  This run was similar to the morning run, just a little bit faster in part because the last few miles were downhill in comparison to the uphill I had on the way to school this morning.

The original plan was to run some short speed work (i.e. anything between 200-800m for repeats).  However, I knew after my calf was still feeling a little weak yesterday that it was unlikely for me to actually run any speed work today.  So, I just ran to school easy with a total time of 1:03:52 for 8.6 miles.

PM:  I ran home with a total time of 1:05:04.

I ran to school this morning with a time of 1:05:28.  My calf is slowly starting to feel better.  The muscle felt tight at the beginning, but about 2 minutes into the run I stopped at a stop light and stretched it out for a few seconds, and had no problems for the rest of my run.

PM:  I ran home from work in 1:05:38.  I left a little later than normal so I didn't have to deal with the sun to the same degree as I normally do. 

I performed a study here in the lab this morning.  I ran about a mile warm-up, followed by running on the treadmill and in the water with electrodes stuck all over my right leg.  I ran on the treadmill at 8.0, 10.0, and 12.0 mph.  I ran a total of about 3.5 miles by the end of the test.  I won't count the water running for mileage, but the effort was pretty hard for the 10 minutes or so that I was in the water.  After finishing the test I ran another 6.5 miles on the treadmill to finish my run for the morning.

I ran another half marathon time trial today on my 2 mile loop that goes past the apartment complex that we live in.  The last time that I ran a time trial here I finished in 1:11:40, so I was shooting to better the time this go around.  The main differences between last time and this time were that I started the time trial later this time (7:20 vs. 5:40), it was not as hot this time (about 75 at the start vs. 80-84), there was more wind this time (but not too bad, and only for about 4 miles from 6-10), and I had to deal with more sun (thus negating any positive effects related to lower temperatures).  The end result was that the course was by my estimation a little faster during the first half than last time, and a little slower during the second half.

I started the time trial at the midpoint of my 2 mile loop, after first running a 3.5 mile warm-up.  I stashed a water bottle on top of a power box so that I could hydrate about half-way through the time trial.  I also put a gel pouch in my shorts so that I could decide if I liked it before running my next marathon.  The first mile has a net downhill but starts uphill, while the second mile has a net uphill but starts flat.  Overall, the loop is very hilly and it does not help that I run this loop 6.5 times with four 90 degree turns every loop.  One of the turns had some dirt spilled on it and I couldn't get good traction, so this slowed me down by a couple seconds per lap as well.  The loop also measures out to 2.01 miles on the course tool, so whatever splits I give will be somewhat inaccurate and probably just a little long.

After I started the time trial I felt strong going up the first hill.  That was a good sign.  Going downhill felt harder than normal for some reason, but not too bad.  I went through the "mile" in 5:21 and then hit the uphill "mile" in 5:29 for a first lap time of 10:50 (5 seconds slower than last time).  I kept the effort the same and somehow sped up for the second loop to finish it in 10:45 (5:15, 5:30).  I still felt very strong at this point, but on the third lap my heart rate monitor stopped working correctly and in the confusion of trying to get it to work I ran the 6th mile of the time trial a little too fast, considering it was uphill, and I finished the third lap in 10:47 (5:22, 5:25).  It was at this point that I noticed a wind that had picked up, which would affect me for the next few miles.  I was also starting to feel the effects of the sun that was beating down on me (I should have gotten out earlier this morning).  This, in addition to running mile 6 a little too hard, resulted in a slowdown for the 4th lap and I came through in 11:08 (didn't catch splits).  I ate my gel during this lap, and I drank my water as well.  I can't say that I liked the gel much as it was too thick for my taste, and I was hacking up phlegm for the next couple miles.  The next lap was also finished in 11:08 (5:28, 5:40), and at this point I was 33 seconds ahead of my pace from the last time I ran my time trial here.  I actually wonder if I mentally relaxed too much, as I was way ahead of pace by the time I was 6 miles in.  I picked the pace up for the 6th lap to finish it in 10:58 (5:26, 5:32), and followed this up with a final "mile" of 5:20.  I added a little extra time to make it to the "half marathon" distance, finishing in 1:11:13.

Overall, the time was 27 seconds faster than the last time I ran this time trial.  The first 2 miles were 5 seconds slower, and the last 3 miles were 6 seconds slower, meaning that I ran the middle 8 miles 38 seconds faster.  I imagine that most of the difference came between miles 2-6, but I will need to check that blog entry to be sure.  I am pleased that the finishing time was faster, although I wish that the difference would have been more considerable.  A 27 second difference could be chalked up to nothing more than differences in weather conditions, despite my feeling that conditions were roughly equivalent.  In sum, the workout was a solid workout and nothing more.  I just need to keep building off of training like this so that I can run a solid marathon in November.

I was planning on cutting back the mileage this week, but ran into the problem of not being able to find an easy solution regarding how to do it (running to school adds up mileage quick).  I ended up deciding to take an extra rest day (Kimia's begging helped in making that decision).  I have the feeling that I should have run at least a few miles today, but in the long run I do not think that this will affect me adversely and it may even help me if I am able to feel stronger and more relaxed as a result.  I still feel guilty however.

I ran to school this morning in 1:05:02.  I did not feel like I was working hard, but my HR was in the mid to upper 140's for most of the run, which seemed rather odd.  I am still trying to figure out why it was so high.

PM:  I ran home this evening.  I needed to hurry home so that I could go on visits for the elders quorum, so I ran fairly quick.  I ran part of the run at what I will call a slow marathon pace.  I'm not sure how far I ran at this pace, but I will call it 4 miles.  Total time of 54:51 for 8.6 miles.

I ran to school with a time of 1:05:19 for 8.6 miles.

PM:  I was supposed to run a graded exercise test in the afternoon before running home, but when I got to the Ex Phys lab to perform the test the equipment was having trouble.  I ended up waiting around until after 6:00pm, and then just started running home without performing the test.  Kimia needed to have me watch the kids so that she could go visiting teaching so she picked me up after what I will call 2.4 miles.  If I had known this would happen I would never have skipped Monday's workout. 

I ran to school this morning in a total time of 1:04:06 (I think?).  The HR was higher than it should have been.

PM:  I ran home from school, running 4 x "800m" on the way home.  This consisted of two approximate half mile segments in 2:19, 2:25 that I "measured" based on the cross streets as I was running.  I had about a half mile recovery between the repeats.  Following the second repeat I ran a mile easy, and then ran two more repeats.  Because I didn't have any cross streets to estimate for a half mile I just ran the last two repeats in 2:30 each with approximately half a mile recovery between these repeats as well.  Total time for the run was 1:00:36.

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:16:49.  My legs felt tired because I did a wall sit for 3:00 right before leaving as a test of sorts to see how my legs would feel running after doing this.  I actually do wall sits a fair amount, but I usually do them after I run, so it was a different feeling than usual.