Slows As a Tortoise

I just finished running my first speed workout.  It should go without saying, I am whipped and out of shape, but it won't.  I admit it, today's workout kicked my ass.  According to my training schedule I was planning to do 4 x 800's.  After giving it more thought, I had planned to do 6 x 400's as I've always preferred them over the 800's.  However, when I got to the track, the little voice in my head said "It's too hot to be running 400's, why not do 200's and walk the other 200's in between."  Well, that little voice was quite convincing so I ended up running 6 x 200's and walked the in betweens.  The running it's self was rough.  The first few nearly killed me.  Taking a full 2+ minutes just to catch my breath between runs. I know I ran the too fast, more like the 100 yard dash than intervals.

Next week, I have to not let that voice talk me into something less than intended. my training schedule has me at 5 x 800's but since I prefer the shorter sprints, I'm going to change it to 8 x 400's.  I've still let to catch up on everyone's blogs.  We've been cleaning the house like a bunch of mad freaks trying to get the place in order.  Tomorrow I'm off.  I'll try to catch up on everyone. 

Proof is in the Pudding

I have continually been amazed by the administration of the 10K I ran on Saturday.  Not only was it an awesome course and very well executed, but to top it off they had many different people taking pictures and apparently even an unmanned aerial vehicle taking photographs and video from the sky!  The aerial stuff isn’t posted yet but I’ve looked through literally a few thousand photos of the event……… and all of them are posted for free!  How awesome is that? 

As I mentioned in the post race report, it was a tough course and even had a river to cross, well guess what?  They got a few pics of me crossing it.  So here’s the proof this was not your ordinary 10K.

 

Tomorrow I have my first speed workout.  4 X 800.  The weather is supposed to be in the 80’s making a decent day for sprints.  I plan to run them at the track at work, probably around 3:00.  Wish me luck!  I foresee some sore legs on Friday!

Army 10 Miler Training Schedule

Today starts my training program for the Army 10 Miler.  I developed my own routine based mostly on a cross between the novice and intermediate versions of Hal Higdon’s 15K program.  I’m posting it here as a way to keep myself in check and stick with it.  I may alter my speed work to do 400s instead of 800s though, We’ll see after the first set. 

A Great Race and a Challenge for Next Year.

First off, HAPPY 100th POSTING!!  I started this blog in the hopes that it would help me stick with running.  It’s been a long and struggling haul to get to the pivotal 100th post but I made it!  Now on to push for the 1 year mark.

Today’s run was great!  The course takes you winding through hill country up and down rocky trails and along several river banks.  The scenery was amazing.  Apparently it is considered the 5th best 10K trail run in the country.  That being said, I also heard it was the 4th toughest!  Yeah, I was totally not prepared for this race.  A lack of running for the last month, no hill workouts, and not knowing it was really a trail run, I’m just glad I finished the race!

It was such an amazing race though, I’ve already told Jen that this will be one of next years challenges.  So now what everyone is waiting for…… THE RACE REPORT!

To begin with, I have to start of with yesterday.  It was a full travel day home from Phoenix.  a 4 hour flight, 20 minute lay over, then a 1:15 flight.  Getting me back to Baltimore at 9:15.  I finally made it home around 10:30.  Then I couldn’t sleep because of the time difference and anxious about the race.  I didn’t fall asleep until after 1:00.

Then we were up at 6:00.  I knew I needed a pick me up so we stopped at Dunkin Donuts and got our coffee/sugar fix then on to the race.  It took place at this cool ranch in up state Maryland settled in some rolling hills.  There was a western theme to the area.  We grabbed the registration packet and got ready to go.  Here are my splits:

1 Mile - 11:03 - Feeling pretty good, started with the 4/1 intervals but the first big hill I had to walk more, It was an extremely steep incline that lasted about 1/4 mile. I was very winded and had a stitch in my side (which I rarely ever get).

2 Mile - 14:20 - Lots of hills, the beginning of the rough terrain, but with rolling elevations.  Still struggling with being winded.

3 Mile - 14:19 - Finally got to some plateaus, mostly exhausted from the climbs.  Dropped my interval down to a 2/1.

4 Mile - 15:08 - The beginning had rocky inclines and declines from hell, actually had to use my hands to help get up.  This leg of the race was PURE EVIL!!!!  I wasn’t as exhausted/winded but the trails made for extremely slow moving with lose rocks and steep inclines.

5 Mile - 14:20 - Along the river, two river crossings, the first one was a narrow bridge, the second had two options, narrow bridge or a cut across the river.  I took the river and it was about 20 feet across with water over my calves.  It felt great but now my socks and shoes were soaked and I still had about 1.5 miles left.

6 Mile - 12:22 - Finally some flat areas!   I was able to catch my second wind and kept it steady with intermingled walking (gave up on the interval timing a few miles back). About midway through this, the kids 1 mile race started and as we merged I thought it would be awesome to run with Paige. I slowed and actually backtracked about 50 feet to meet up with her.  She was thrilled! 

6.2 Mile - 2:33 – We made the last turn and it was a straight away through the frontier town with a finish coming across a covered bridge.  We ran it in hand in hand.  A great way to finish a race!!!

Even with the lack of sleep/running, I felt great at the end, better than some of my previous 5K’s.  I was totally exhausted but not in any pain.  My feet are feeling good, but I took some ibuprofen just in case.  Now it’s nap time then off to do something with the family.

I’m glad to finally be home after two long work trips!!!!

Here are a couple of pictures of the race.

Gout, Tai Chi, and a Treadmill

My conference is going well.  Phoenix is a great town with beautiful scenery and a much slower pace than the Baltimore-Washington area.  My feet were still fairly sore when I got here, so I wasn't sure what my plan was for this week, running-wise. 

On Monday afternoon I attended a 4 hour workshop on Tai Chi, where we learned some basic moves and did a lot of practice.  Right before the workshop started, I was hobbling over to the room, at the end, the pain was nearly gone, and has been gone since then.  When I get back I'm going to have to research it more and maybe find some classes.  From what I understand it is great for blood flow and inflammation.

I've been busy with the conference and visiting with my sister, but last night I hopped on the treadmill and got in 45 minutes.  A SLOW pace, but didn't want to push anything since I haven't run much the last month.  It felt great, but I was sweating like a pig and as read as a tomato when done.  Afterwards I felt awesome!

I plan to get another run in tomorrow morning, then a long day of travel back home.  I get in late and have the River Valley 10K saturday morning.  I hope I can get enough sleep.  It's going to be hard as hell trying to get up early on Saturday after being 3 hours behind. 

My next post will be my 100th!!   Wish me luck on Saturday so I can have a great race report for it!