Texas Run

The last time I ran in Texas was 26 years ago in Air Force basic training! This run was in slightly better circumstances...I think. I didn't have anyone screaming at me, I didn't have to worry about staying in formation, I didn't have to run in fatigue pants, cotton t-shirt, and who knows what kind of tennis shoes.

On the other hand, I don't remember the weather being this HOT! and HUMID! Holy wet t-shirt contest, Batman! I actually wrung out my shirt afterwords, and I swear a half cup of liquid hit the ground. No kidding! I was soaked.

Another plus for this run was the trail. I drove about two miles to a trail that goes for a couple of miles here in western Houston. I only had to cross two streets (and then cross them again on the way back), and the area seemed pretty nice with most of the trail covered in shade.

I'm planning on hitting it again on Wed and Fri; I probably started this run about 6:30 am, which may have been a tad too late. I think I'll try to get up at 5:30 so I can run between 6 and 7.

Can you believe that? I'm getting up at 5:30 AM on my vacation just to run! I may need an intervention...

Hair of the dog, man, hair of the dog!

Less than 12 hours after I finished 8 miles, I did this! I had my doubts as to whether or not I would be able to complete this week's schedule due to travel and time constraints, so I am really happy to get this run in AND...

...see that last mile?

Huh?? Huh?? Yeah!!!! Smoked it! Mr. Kent's three week training schedule is done and done! Now for a week of light running before the brutal part II.

Treadmill, IN SUMMER???

Yeah, I didn't want to get lost...I'm in Evansville, IN and figured the easiest way to get in 8 miles without getting lost was to never leave the hotel!

Anyways, I switched today and tomorrow's workouts due to a couple of things, the foremost being time. I only have time for 5 miles tomorrow, and I had time for 8 today. Also, I did kettlebells last night and just couldn't drag my sorry butt out of bed in time to run this morning before we had to hit the road.

In other news, I just wanted to pass on some congrats to my father-in-law and coach, Michael Kent. Last week, he won the Senior Grand Masters championship 5K for the state of Montana. Results are here. That's right, I'm being trained by a championship runner! /preen.

Faster Fartleks!

One of my goals for fartleks is to make each 30 seconds cover more than .0758 miles or 400 ft. Yes, it is a bit arbitrary, but it is also a pretty speedy pace. 400 ft (1 mile/5280 ft)/(30 sec(1 min/60 sec)(1 hr/60 min) ~~ 9 mph average. That's for the whole 30 seconds!

For this run, my top speed was 11.5 mph! Now, I did have to grab some water at the 3 mile mark, a minute after the 5th fartlek, so I got a bit of a rest before the last 5 intervals. And, this whole run was about 2.5 minutes faster than last Wed's run; I'm going to credit the cooler weather and a bit of conditioning. 8~P

Good effort

No running with Nick today, so I decided to put some good effort into my run. I haven't been slacking or anything, but I have been taking my 8 mile runs at an easy pace. Today, I would say that the pace was moderate to hard. I pushed it.

This is the last week of my first three week training block; next week, I'm on vacation and will cut back the miles for a rest week. Then, the week of the 4th, I ramp it back up again to the second three week block, which is:

Day 1: 8-10 miles easy to moderate pace

Day 2: 5 miles with 10X1 minute hard. I'll warm up for 2 miles and do the fartleks during the rest of the run and jog out the rest.

Day 3: 5 miles moderate to fast (last mile sub 9:00)

Day 4: 9-11 miles easy to moderate.

This will give me an excellent base of running to build a marathon on, and just so you know, I'm eying one in Oct or Nov...

Run in the rain

The first 1.25 miles were with my friend Nick; he's making great progress as we ran the whole thing! After Nick left, I ran 3 miles, then stopped for water and a CLIF Shot (and a little rest.)

I guess I picked it up a little after that; I wasn't quite recovered from yesterday's run. I think I'll take a nap today.

Almost a PR for the mile

My PR for the mile is 8:28, I believe, so, almost!

Now, this last mile comes with a lot of caveats:
1. Mile 4 ended about .25 miles from the track that I ran on. I walked it.
2. I did run on a track. 4 laps and done.
3. Before I ran the mile, I stretched, got a drink, and piddled around to make sure I'd caught my breath.
4. I wasn't sandbagging the first 4 miles, but it sure felt like it. The temp was in the 80's, so I was a bit slow.

There you have it, it was still at the end of my workout regardless, so I'm calling it good! Tomorrow, 8 easy miles!

River Fartleks, or if you prefer, Zoo Fartleks

This run was downtown around the White river and past the Zoo. I had some time to kill after work as my youngest son is in a workshop at IUPUI until 4:30. What better way to kill time than to run!!

If you compare this to my last Wed's run, you'll be impressed with it being a minute faster. Upon closer examination, though, you'll be disappointed that the time I gained was in my warm up and cool down miles. My actual Fartleks were slower; well, I mean, I covered less ground in the allotted time. The key stat is that last .91 miles; last week it was .89.

BUT! I have excuses!! Or an excuse. Last night our workout was...LEGS! We did sitting squats as one of our first exercises, and I maxed out at 4 reps of 320 lbs. /flex! So, I'm not too disappointed that my sprints weren't quite up to speed.

My trainer bet that I couldn't/wouldn't do them...ha!

And it starts all over again

Once again, mile 5 was with my friend Nick. We're getting faster! At Nick's suggestion, we alternated walking a minute then running a minute. This Friday, we are going to up the mileage to around 1.3 miles for him.

As you can see, my miles were a lot better than Saturday. A day of rest and cooler weather will do that for you! I'm hoping to get my Wed and Fri runs in after work instead of in the evening when I've been doing them.

Failure is an option, but not making your schedule is NOT!

I started this run at 8:47 PM. Yes, evening. It was dusk.

I got myself going by promising that I would just get in 2 or 3 miles and call it good. I mean, really, 19 last week to 22 this week is a good increase.

Then at mile 2.5, I thought, "5. Just do 5, that way you only owe coach 3 miles." Ok, I'll do 5. Now remember, I'm running my 2 mile loop then my 1 mile loop, each of which start and end at my house, so I can quit any time. (I started with the 2 mile loop)

So, I run by my house at 3 miles and head out on the 2 mile loop, and about mile 4 or so, I thought, "What's 1 more? Then you only owe K two miles. Yeah, we'll see how I feel..."

Turns out, I felt ok, so...on past my house to the 1 mile loop. As I'm jogging (shambling) along, I get to thinking again. "At the end of this, you only have two more miles and then you won't owe Coach K ANYTHING!" Grumble grumble.

I ran past my house again.

And headed out on the two mile loop.

And scared my wife because she was wondering where in the world I had gotten off to! (Visions of me laying by the side of the road, clutching my chest and all.)

Let me tell you, yes, I feel like I just squeaked by by cramming for a final. There were several things I would have rather done than run this 8 miles (listen to nails on chalkboards...poke needles under my fingernails...get my nose pierced), but in the end, I put my big girl panties on and sucked it up.

This run may get lost in the sea of running; I may forget it as soon as tomorrow. But I've learned something from it. I've learned tenacity. I've learned stick-to-itiveness. I've learned...I've really got to plan my Saturdays better!

Failure IS an option...Just not a good one

Take today's run, for example. That last mile was supposed to be under 9 minutes, and while I am the master at putting numbers in spreadsheets, I'm also honest to a fault. Ergo, I put what I actually ran, as always...sigh.

Now, I know what you're thinking...that I sandbagged the first four miles in order to rip off a nice one in the end. I wish! No, the ugly truth is that it was warm, almost hot, my hip was killing me for most of the run, and I just felt out of sorts.

In fact the only time that I felt somewhat ok is during that last mile when I was concentrating on moving faster. I guess I didn't have time to worry about the aches and pains.

fartleks...

more tomorrow. I'm going to bed.

Back to the slog!

It was hot again today. We (Nick and I) have decided to push back our run 1/2 hour to catch some cooler weather. Once again, I jogged over to Nick's house, ran/walked a mile with him, and slogged home.

I took about a half an hour break after I got done with the first 4 miles in order to cool down and recover. The upside is aside from the great mental and physical training that I got from today's run, I also burned 1300 calories! Burn, baby, burn!