Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Week of 05-21-07
I feel really good about this week of running- the best I have felt in a long time about a full week of running. All fo my runs went well, I finally got in a longer run of 10 miles and followed it up with a good paced 6 mile run that was almost effortless.
I wish I could bottle weeks like this and keep them.

We went to the lake over the long weekend. I put on water skis for the first time in 5 years on Sunday. I wasn't as sore as I thought I would be on Monday but it hit me on Tuesday.

I am reading the Paula Radcliffe biography. It's pretty good but has been repeating itself a little. I spent a good bit of time relaxing in a hammack down at the lake reading while we were there this past weekend- very relaxing!!!

Run Summary:
Mon- no run
Tues- 5 miles
Wed- 5 miles
Thurs- 5 miles
Fri- no run
Sat- 10 miles
Sun- 6 miles

Total- 31 miles

Friday, May 25, 2007

I have been lazy about updating the last couple of weeks. Although I have had some very good runs during this time I am dissapointed that I haven't gotten out for any longer runs- 10 - 12 miles. I really need to start getting my long runs in and building endurance. Right now my only planned races are Suntrust Richmond Marathon on 11-10-07 and the Atlanta Half marathon on 11-22-07, so I have time to build endurance. I am, however, glancing at my list I have printed out from Marathonguide.com to see if there are any marathons in neighboring states that I might decide to go run if I get mileage up and get everything right.

I will be running some 5K and 10K races through out the summer. I have a 10K planned for next weekend- 06/02-07 but haven't signed up for it yet. I have run the race 3 times and have a love/hate relationship with it. The 10K Torture Trail- great race with a lot of history but a killer course and it is always hot/humid. I will decide by Tues if I will for sure run it or not. If I do run it, it will be totally run as a "practice" race. By that I mean practicing starting off slow and finishing well. I have done this in my last 2 races and enjoyed the races- plus, as I get in better shape hopefully I will have learned how to keep things under control and run better races.

Mileage catch up:
Week of 05-07-07:
Mon- No run
Tues- No run
Wed- 5 miles
Thurs- 5 miles
Fri- 5 miles
Sat- 5 miles
Sun- 4 miles

Total- 24 miles

Week of 05-14-07:
Mon- No run
Tues- 5 miles
Wed- 4 miles
Thus- 5 miles
Fri- No run
Sat- 6 miles
Sun- No run

Total- 20 miles

Monday, May 07, 2007

Lake Hartwell Dam Run- 10K
The weather forecast for Saturday called for showers but with the way the weather has been for the past couple of months I didn't expect it to hit. Well I was wrong. I woke up about 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning to hear pouring rain outside. I went back to sleep and woke up 2.5 hrs later to hear the same, just not as hard. I left and went over to the race and the whole way there it started raning harder and harder- and it was pretty chilly- 55* which isn't all that cold, but with the rain it was cold. I didn't pack for this!!! Kathy and Glenn had gone up to the lake house earlier on Friday and the plan was for me to leave work and drive up.

As I got to the race it was just as crowded as ever. I figured the weather would have kept some people but it didn't.

I got signed in and took off for a short warm up and to see how my ham string felt. I had hurt the ham string again on Wednesday while out for a run.

I only did a .5 mile with about 3 short strides thrown in. The ham string was tight but didn't hurt so I decided to go ahead and run the race and just make a determination of what to do as the race went on.

This race is pretty fun as it starts in Georgia, runs across the river in to South Carolina. We turn around at the 5K start line and run across the Lake Hartwell Dam and back in to Georgia. I have walked the last 2 years at different points in this race due to not being in shape and starting out too hard. Plus, after a 1.5 mile slope down we slope up for 1.5 miles to the turn around and that long slope up has gotten the best of me.

We were a few minutes late starting due to the wather and the late busses taking the 5K'ers to their start line. Finally we were off. The rain was still coming down but shortly in to the race is was welcomed as it was helping to stay cool. I felt like I was running a pretty conservative start. I passed the first mile marker at 7:26. That was pretty good. The breathing was in check.
Half way through mile 2 we cross the bridge and start up the other side in to SC. I slowed a bit to try to make sure I didn't burn it out up the hill and convince myself to walk. Passed the mile 2 marker at 7:57 but the steepest part of the hill was coming now. I made it to the top to the turn around without walking and made the turn. This is another thing that gets me every year. I know I had just come up a hill but after turning I feel like I am still going up hill- some kind of optical illusion to me or something. So I just looked down and ran or watched the other runners coming towards me to keep from looking at the grade of the road. We split off of the road and on to the dam. Some how I missed the 3 mile marker and figured it was at the turn around but after looking at my splits that wasn't it. The mile 3 and 4 mile split combined was 16:16. Mile 3 was probably over 8:00 due to the hill. During mile 4 I had passed a couple of people so I figured it was under 8:00. I was feeling strong but my breathing was starting to get labored. I passed a couple more people and then we hit the 5 mile marker at 7:49. I had run here last weekend when we were at the lake house and had a really good run so I concentrated on how good that run had felt, especially 6 mile of the run which is where I was on the course now. However, last week it was beautiful and sunny. This week, the hardest rain of the morning was hitting us now. I no long tried to run around the puddles- we just plodded through them. As I approached the 6 mile marker I heard foot steps stomping through the water coming up on me quickly. I tried to speed up the best I could but a guy pulled beside me right at the 6 mile marker. I hit mile 6 with a 7:37 mile. We turned the corner and someone was right behind us. The guy beside me and I pushed with everything we had. People were cheering on both sides as this had turned in to a pretty good 3 way push to the finish. I was slightly in front but with .1 to go felt like I was going to throw up and actually startd gagging. I tried to push on but with aboout 25 yards to go had to step to the side for a second. Started back up and finished about 7 seconds behind them. Last .2 was run 1.32. I have felt like I was going to get sick after crossing the finish line but have never had to pull to the side before the finish line. I didn't get sick when I stepped to the side but came real close.

I ended up finishing 47th over all and 5th in my age group with a time of 48:41. I am not running my times that I have in the past but am feeling very confident that I am on my way back to getting there. I am feeling stronger and stronger as time goes on. Now, if I can keep my ham string healthy and get my miles back up I will feel good going in to the summer race series.

Mile Split
1 7.26
2 7.57
3 mile 3&4
4 16.16
5 7.49
6 7.37
.2 1.32

Total- 48.41

Week of 04-30-07

I was pretty pleased with this week of running. The week got off to a good start on Monday with a 5 mile run. Unfortunately, Monday afternoon Glenn came down with a virus and was running a very high temp. I took Tuesday off from work and stayed home with him. I thought about going for a run with him in the running stroller if he felt up to it but he didn't so we just stayed at home all day. Kathy stayed home with him on Wed. and I went back to work and got in what started out to be a great run at lunch. I took off on the trails and was feeling great until my right ham string started feeling very tight again. I stopped and stretched and took off again. The stretching didn't do any good. I was hurting pretty bad at 3.5 miles, stopped to stretch again and start making my way back to the truck. Running very slowly and gingerly I finally got back to the truck. Reached for my key in my pocket and it wasn't there. That sudden panick feeling hit. I looked around the truck to see if I had dropped it trying to put it in my pocket- no such luck. Only thing to do is head back out on the trail to look for it. I couldn't walk because I had to hurry and hopefully find it and get back to work. After I stretched for a minute off I went. There were 2 different places I had stopped to stretch. I figured it must have fallen out at one of these 2 places. I got to the Y in the trail and didn't know which way to go as the 2 places I stretched were at the ends of the 2 splits. Chose one and took off. I was heading up a hill to the end of the trail I had chosen and there it was, laying on the side of the hill. I guess when I was stretching I pushed it partially out of my pocket and then running down the hill it jiggled out and I didn't notice it. So I turned around and headed back. All in all it gave me an 8 mile run, but not what I wanted on a hurting ham string.
I stretched, iced, and took ibuprofen Wed. night. Went out for a 4 mile run Thurs that was mostly painful.
I tood Friday off to get ready and hopefully run the 10K Saturday morning.
Saturday morning I went and ran the 10K. It was 55 degrees and raining. I went out and did a little warm up with strides and the ham string was tight but not hurting so I decided to run the race. 6.7 miles with race and warm up.
Sunday I went to run and Glenn wanted to go, so we took his running stroller to the park and started out. Each mile was getting faster and at 3.2 miles he said he wanted to go home. I took him home and waited for Kathy to get home from the grocery store and then went back to finish my run. Ran another 3. I know that isn't the best way to get a run in but I really wanted to get at least 6 miles in for the day.

Monday- 5 miles
Tuesday- No run
Wednesday- 8 miles
Thursday- 4 miles
Friday- No run
Saturday- 6.7 miles
Sunday- 6.2 miles

Total- 29.9 miles

Week of 04-23-07:
An ok week of running. I didn't really have nay runs that stood out to me except for Saturday's run at Lake Hartwell. I usually have trouble finding a place I really want to run up there due to traffic or dogs. I went to the Lake Hartwell Dam and ran out to the dam and back which is 2.8 miles so I got in a good 6 mile run there. The whole run felt strong and fast. That's good because for the 4th or 5th time in the last few years I will be running the Lake Hartwell Dam 10K race next week and I wanted some confidence in running the dam. The last couple of years I have walked a couple of times due to not being in good racing shape and going out too hard.

Another thing I wanted to do this week (before April was over) was get enough miles in to break 400 for the year. We got back from the lake kind of later in the afternoon on Sunday afternoon and I wasn't in the mood to run so I missed that run.

Monday- No run
Tuesday- No run
Wednesday- 5 miles
Thursday- 5 miles
Friday- 3 miles
Saturday- 6 miles
Sunday- No run

Total- 19 miles