recap

Saturday:

 

The prescription

 

 

Haha

 

It was later in the day but…  pouring down rain and 55 degrees.  I took Jimmy for the first 7 miles

 

 

Us during a brief break in the storm.

 

Most of the time I felt like Forrest Gump in Vietnam

 

 

 

I tried to avoid the puddles for a while…  after a couple of hours there was standing water pretty much everywhere. 

 

Although my training log reflects the fact that I nailed the prescribed pace and distance with a nice even sub MAF heartrate…  I must confess, however, that this run suckethed…  I love running in the rain… I mean more than like…  well a lot… my legs hurt from step one to step last… and for the slow pace…  and *only* 20 miles it should have been easy but…  I spent more character building HTFU points than I would have thought possible.

 

Finished at 7PM…

 

Just time enough to shower and eat… and lay down to sleep…

 

Didn't sleep well… 

 

Sunday Run #1:

 

I had to leave the house at ~5AM to fit it in before church…  and got up (I was already awake) at 0415 so I could move around some and do some foam roller & lacrosse ball work

 

It was  overcast but muggy…  tired and slow but consistent and not too terribly taxing and relatively pain free…  felt better at the finish.

 

Sunday Run #2:

 

Exact same route as the morning run and pretty much the same pace…  the difference being that I felt better at the start and worse at the finish…  the heat cooked me good.  It was in the low 80s with high humidity to boot.

 

Started with 100 oz of water…  stopped ~14 miles in…  out of water.  Hunted around a business that was closed until I found a hose to refill my bladder…

 

Lessons learned etc:

 

Loosen up with the ball or roller before running…

 

 

One thing that I see definite improvement at…  in the past I would run myself into the ground..  and if I started walking it was O-V-E-R  I have learned to take a walk break..  pull myself together and get back on track.

 

Hydration is good…  but… I Should have planned for a water stop Sunday afternoon

 

Nutrition is going pretty well too…

 

I like these

 

And these

 

 

 

 

I can't drive 55

 

Cue the Red Rocker Sammy Hagar!

  

 

But…  this past weekend over Saturday and Sunday I did run 55…  miles

 

It started Saturday morning… 

 

The training schedule called for the following:

 

Run #1 10 miles

5 @ 10 mpm and 5 @ 9:30mpm

Stairmill 7 miles

Run #2 9 miles @ 9:30 mpm

 

Now let me tell ya…  I am good at the maths

 

And I did a few quick calculations…

 

Assuming that the stairmill was at a 10mpm exertion level…  I was basically setting out to do a 4:15 marathon…  for training…  NBD

 

Riiight.

 

To say that I have been running slow would be a bit of an understatement.  At this point 9:30s = speedwork = flying

 

I went so far as to go back into my training plan and count the number of 9:30 miles (there have been no sub 9:30s planned in 2013)

 

Here's the tale (all other runs were slowerer pace):

 

2 x 6  mi on March 2^nd (a Saturday as part of a 19 mile run)

 

5 on 2/27 ( a Wednesday)

 

12 scheduled on 2/9 (a Saturday)

 

So…  I had butterflies…

 

Here's a selfie I took before I donned my pack and took off

 

 

Now I have known about Jeff Galloway…  and heard folks swear by the method…  even ran a successful first 50 miler once

 

http://allaboutpace.blogspot.com/2010/02/ironhorse-race-report-like-sidecar.html

 

a couple of weeks ago I was "coaching" a couple of my friends who are looking to do some longer stuff this year..  basically encouraging them to employ this method on their long runs…  later that day I began to wonder why I had never really tried my own advice.  Last Sunday I tried the walk run… and I liked it…  more importantly my legs liked it.  So…  I'd been doing it all week…  and now on Saturday I decided to try and do it for speed

 

I'll leave out the deets on run 1 and how I missed hooking up with Judi (c'mon not like that…  we are both married) and how all heck broke loose at work and I had to talk to my boss on the phone for 5 minutes in the middle of my run…  let's just suffice it to say that I hit run 1 on pace.  J

 

Here's a quick shot I IM'ed to illustrate to my lovely wife my location….

 

 

On to the stairmill…

 

Not much to report here… another work related call…. Oh, almost forgot…  never eat these:

 

 

I must have masticated for a half hour on the stairmill…

 

Well..  the energy blast experiment and the stairmill time came to an end and the real test began…

 

To run the 9 miles home all at a 9:30 pace…  I did the walk run thing and one mile at a time I knocked that run out…  in the heat of the day no less…

 

 

On Sunday two 3 hour runs were on the agenda…  the first was slow, abbreviated (2:45), included some time with our dog Jimmy, and ugly (the run was ugly not Jimmy)…  but…  I actually felt better when I got home than I did when I left.

 

Neat trick.

 

The second run included 6 @ 9:30 pace during the middle hour…  although I didn't really think this out too well my "speedwork" ran through the Jax Beach St Paddy's Day party…  more drunks on bikes and skateboards than you could shake a stick at….  Although I didn't nail the 9:30s I was able to run a decent pace

 

So…  added all together that's 55 baby!

 

 

The weekend would not be complete until the day of suffering or "Monday" is over…  for me that means two  6 mile runs… (oh, and the aforementioned employment situation)

 

The first of which was only 5.8 miles because I got dropped by the running group at work and cut the course in order to finish when they did…

 

Lovely

 

For the last run of the weekend… I ran home from my daughter's place of employment..  I did so mainly because I was too tired and lazy to drive and pick her up from work at 8PM…

 

It looked like this:

 

 

I felt a little better… and actually enjoyed it…  although I didn't enjoy dodging 5 PM traffic on a busy thoroughfare.

 

Well that's it…  I need a nap

 

 

 

texts with friends

(semi) Wordless Wednesday