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Jacksonville, FL, United States
In Life as well as in running the secret is Pace.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

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 2nd (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
 
 
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
 



 
 

3 comments:

Matthew Smith said...

Man, You've been beasting it out there! Way to go! I can't even imagine TWO 3-hour runs in one day. That's incredible! Keep up the good work. Oh yeah, and those Energy Blasts are pretty incredible, right? :)

Kevin said...

Great job nailing all those miles over the weekend.

Robbie said...

Not Bad for a 55 year old man :)

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