Training Log - Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Once again, I've been dealing with little nagging injuries, so I've been trying to dial back my training without completely letting myself go. So when Anya got home from work today, I joined her for a treadmill workout at our local university gym. She wanted to do a 30 minute workout just to get the legs moving once more before our half marathon on Saturday.

Training Log - Monday, August 29, 2011

Since I had to skip my long run yesterday after playing a tough competitive soccer match at noon, I knew I had to get my run in today. While I would have preferred an AM run, Rich and I decided to join his brother Mike on a lunch time run. We met up at their office at 11AM and had decided to head towards Rainbow Mountain, running anywhere between 7 and 11 miles.

Race Report - 2011 Running Of The Bulls 5K

Pretty cool awards for top three age group finishers.

Once again, I missed my goal of a sub 20 minute finish in a 5K road race. It wasn't for any external factors. The course was a flat greenway out & back near Hampton Cove Middle School in Owens Cross Roads, AL that was mostly shaded and the temps and humidity levels were much lower than in recent weeks. However, you can't be too disappointed when you come away with a top three age group finish.

Training Log - Friday, August 26, 2011

Rich (in back) and myself (in front) coming up the power line cut.

4AM came early this morning. I crawled out of bed straight to the coffee pot and got to brewing. By the time I had downed the coffee and a bottle of water (for pre-hydration, as I wasn't going to take a bottle on my run) and gotten my running gear on, it was 4:45AM. I headed out the door and drove over to Richard's house to meet up with him and James for what we refer to as a "Drake Run".

Training Log - Wednesday, August 24, 2011

James sent out a call for a run late yesterday, so I ended up with back to back workouts after running last night and meeting up with the crew this morning. Well, it was supposed to be the usual running gang, but the Trice brothers backed out at the last minute;-) That left James and I to try to do mile repeats. I say try, because 2 miles just doesn't count as repeats. I did 2.25 miles as a warm-up running to our meeting spot at Redstone Federal Credit Union and James did the same from his office.

Training Log - Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Today, I decided to go for a quick 6 miler during my son's soccer practice. I took off from Palmer Park around 6:30PM to run a fairly flat 6 mile loop on the nearby roads. Traffic was heavy and I was glad I was wearing one of the almost fluorescent yellow tech shirts I received at a recent running event. Visibility is key when you have to run into traffic on country roads without sidewalks.

Training Log - Monday, August 22, 2011

I met up with Rich and James and Richard's house for a nice and slow 10 miler up and down the Monte Sano mountain trails. Considering that I had just tackled the toughest course to date at the H9 50 miler on Saturday, I actually felt pretty good. The temperatures and humidity weren't too bad and my hotspots and blisters didn't feel too bad. I ended up running in my new Montrail Rogue Racers. I figured it wouldn't hurt to change shoes to change the way my feet struck the ground. With the Rogue Racers, I always make a conscientous effort to strike with my forefoot or midfoot rather than my heel. That also slowed my pace quite a bit. We hadn't done the run up and down Tollgate Trail in a while. Rich's and my legs weren't quite as fresh as James', so we took it easy. It felt like a great recovery run to work out the muscle soreness just a bit.

Race Report - 2011 H9 50 Miler

A map and some waypoints are all that's needed for an adventure

Pre-Race
I arrived in Blairsville, GA at around 7PM local time on Friday evening. I had left work early to pack my gear and to make the three and a half hour drive on Friday night in the hopes of getting some much needed rest prior to the race start at 9AM on Saturday morning. Race director Perry Sebastian wanted to make sure we got to "enjoy" as much sun as possible during our run.

Training Log - Tuesday, August 16, 2011

I initially planned to do a 10 miler up the mountain today, but when I arrived at Rich's house, he told me that he didnt have is proper trail running shoes and that we'd have to go for an easy road run. Since I needed to try to kind of taper anyway in anticipation of a planned 50 mile "training" trail race on Saturday, I wasn't too upset that we'd have to stay on the road. I actually suggested a short loop instead, so we just took off and logged about 4 very slow miles.

Training Log - Monday, August 15, 2011

This morning felt like the first day of fall with temperatures in the low 60s, it was awesome. We finally had more than just two runners out for a run as well. James, Jay, Rich and I met up at their office at 5:30AM for a 10 miler to Rainbow Mountain and back.

Race Report - 2011 Run To Rescue 5K

The coolest shirt design I've seen in a while.

What a surpise when I arrived at the location of the inaugural Run to Rescue 5K at Bob Jones High School in Madison, AL. While I originally signed up for this 5K to take another shot at the illusive sub 20 minute 5K finish, I had to quickly readjust that goal when we were introduced to the course.

Training Log - Friday, August 12, 2011

Well, although I had different plans for today, I ended up running alone, so instead of heading up and down on the Monte Sano mountain trails, I opted to stay close to home and run the usual road loop at UAH. I swapped workouts between today and Saturday, so I needed to run a total of 6 miles.

Training Log - Wednesday, August 10, 2011

On the menu for today was a slow 9 miler. I wouldn't call 8:00-8:30 pace slow, but who am I to disagree with my training schedule. After all, it's geared towards getting me ready for a sub 3:15 marathon. Today, I actually managed to maintain the target pace, but it wasn't easy. I guess training isn't supposed to be easy anyway, so this was definitely a successful session from that perspective.

Training Log - Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Today's workout called for a 1 mile warm-up at 8:30 pace followed by 3x 2 mile pick-ups at 7:00 pace with 400m recovery jogs and a 1 mile cool down at the end. It was brutal. The relatively low heat didn't really make things easier, because the humidity was extremely high as it has been the past few weeks.

Race Report - 2011 Summer Sizzler Super Metric Century Bike Ride

Swag included this cool tech shirt, a water bottle and tools.

When I first though about participating in a Century Bike Ride last year, I figured I'd use my recently "restored" 1972 Schwinn Continental road bike (a 10 speed road racer weighing 40 lbs.) as my training bike and that I'd either purchase or borrow a lighter used bike. Fast forward 12 months or so...I was actively training for my third 100 mile ultra marathon attempt and second finish, when I noticed the "Summer Sizzler Super Metric Century Bike Ride" flyer online while browsing for races to use as motivation during my training. Unfortunately, I hadn't spent any time on my road bike in the last year, nor did I ever ride any distance longer than 10 miles and this event was just two weeks away.

Training Log - Wednesday, August 3, 2011

After doing some cross training yesterday on my vintage 1972 Schwinn Continental road bike in preparation for the Summer Sizzler Super Metric Century Bike Ride on Saturday, it was time again to hit the road for some running. My training schedule called for an easy 5 miler and that's what I did.

Training Log - Monday, August 1, 2011 (Part 2)

Wow, after completing the workout scheduled for yesterday this morning instead, I decided not to wait until tonight to do today's speed workout, but to squeeze it in during my lunch break. I know that's not qise, but I actually did ok, at least I managed to keep the target pace during each leg of my intervall workout.

Training Log - Monday, August 1, 2011 (Part 1)

Since I decidd to skip out on my training yesterday, I neded to make up for it today. I set the alarm for 4:30 AM and took off on my own to run downtown, follow the Cotton Row 10K race course and head back home again for an 11 mile run.