AZ Run Dad

6 easy + 4 strides. A little stiff and sore to start but loosened up nicely and felt good by the end.

AM: 8 miles: No stiffness or soreness this morning but legs probably a day away from fresh. Just one workout this week and a race on Sunday. Nice cool air this morning. 7:03 avg.

PM: 4.25 miles: 4 miles in 29 min then 8 x a 10 second steep hill sprint.  Last time I did these my heart rate was so high and it took about 7 or 8 minutes to feel recovered after.  After the 1st one today I had the same feeling.  I figured out that I wasn't taking quick enough breaths and it was like I was holding my breath.  After I figured that out things went much better.  I'm not used to breathing like that when running.  Now I know why the 100m sprinters are so out of breath during their post race interviews. 

10 miles: Last workout before race this weekend. I was excited for this one because I haven't done a lot of half marathon pace stuff and I wanted to see how the pace felt. I've done a lot of faster (5k pace) and marathon pace stuff lately. Anyway workout was 6 x 1200 w/400 jogs. Splits were 4:05,4:06,4:10,4:10,4:09,4:09. Kept jogs to two minutes. First two were too fast then I settled in to the correct pace. This was harder than I wanted it to be. Maybe I was just expecting too much. Good workout. Just need good weather this weekend.

8 miles easy

6 easy miles + strides. Felt very good this morning. I'm ready to race tomorrow and after feeling a little flat early in the week I feel good now. My goal is to start with a couple of 5:40 miles and hope that feels easy. After that I plan on picking it up a notch to the 5:35 range. If all goes well my goal is 1:12:30-1:13:30. We'll see. Right now people are about an hour into the St. George Marathon. Can't wait to hear how everyone did.

Ok. So we got back home and the results are finally up. 1:13:53 and 7th place. Here is my novel I wrote on the plane:
Sun: 18 miles w/Long Beach Half Marathon
2 miles warmup w/ Allison then the typical drills and only time for a couple of strides. I felt really good going in. My goal was to start off with two miles around 5:40 then pick it up after that and hope for a strong finish. I ended up executing the plan very well. The weather wasn't bad but it wasn't close to ideal either. It was 65 w/ 90% humidity and sunny. I never thought "damn this is hot" but it definitely was a little warm and not PR weather. At one mile a guy came along side me and asked what I was going for. I told him sub 1:13:30 and he said he would try to stay with me. He quickly fell back right after that. The first two miles were 5:41 and 5:40 just as I had planned. I wouldn't say these were easy but they were very comfortable. After that I picked it up and would say that I was running hard the rest of the way. That guy who came along side at mile 1 showed back up at mile 5 and we ran the rest of the race together literally till the last step. There were a bunch of miles in the 5:34-5:40 range and I was pretty much running just slower than lactate threshold which was perfect. My thoughts were pretty positive but it was tough and I knew I was working hard. The course goes along a bike path with the ocean right there from miles 6.5 -9.5 which sounds awesome but that was probably the toughest part of the course for me because it was a long straight and not many spectators. I was using the turn around at 10 miles as a landmark because we would be heading towards the finish at that point and the crowds would be better. There is a small gradual hill from 10.25-11.25 and I managed that pretty well. Although I was tired I knew I was setting up for a decent finish as the last 1.5 miles had a nice gradual down hill. My PR is 1:13:30 (5:37 pace) and I was right on that with a mile to go. I started pushing as hard I could and that guy and I ran stride for stride. It was nice to have somebody right there to help push me. At the final turn to the finish I sprinted (relative) and started to pull away from my running partner. When I saw the clock for the first time I was shocked that it already said 1:13:30. I thought that I had a PR. I had a nice finish but my running partner came back on me and beat me to the line in the last couple of steps. All certified courses are long but this one was an extra .12 and that cost me a lot of time. On my watch I was 5:35 pace but I can't claim this as a PR. I was really happy with my effort today running a large portion of the race right on the edge and still having a strong finish.
Splits:
5:41
5:40
5:34
5:36
5:36
5:33
5:39
5:39
5:37
5:34
5:39
5:36
5:29
.22 1:02:44 (4:48 pace)

My wife won the women's race in a low 1:19 which was cool. We got to go into the VIP tent and she did all the media stuff. I was very proud! I'm really happy with my effort today and I don't think I could have run any better. I think I can shave at least a minute off my next one with cool dry weather and another few weeks of training.

6 slow miles. Felt stiff and old. Not really sore just creaky.

8 miles easy + strides. Felt way better today. I'm pleasantly surprised with my recovery from the race. I should be ready for a light workout tomorrow. Strides always make me feel nice and loose.

10.1 miles: Warmed up a few miles with the normal drills, strides, skips then I did 16 x 400 w/45 -50 second jogs. I probably averaged 79 seconds. This was a good workout to get back into it after the race with a challenging but not grueling effort. I cooled down a couple of miles after. I watched the new ESPN documentary 9.79 about Ben Johnson/Carl Lewis. I thought it was really good. Check it out if you get a chance. Basically and not surprisingly, everyone was on something and wearing braces.

AM: 12 miles: Felt great this morning and ran an up tempo 12 at a decent pace and threw in a two mile tempo (11:34) during miles 8,9.  Legs felt fresh and I feel completely recovered from the half marathon.

Race Recaps from Long Beach and lots of pictures on our blog

18 miles: Mostly easy miles with 10 x 1 min on/off at 5:20-5:30 pace thrown in at 14 miles.  6:45 avg. for the run.  Perfect weather this morning (low 50s and dry).  I don't even feel like I ran today.  What a difference from a month ago.

10 miles: Kind of a short but fast little workout this morning. Warmed up 4.5 miles with skips, high knees, and butt kicks, and strides (the usual for speed days) then did 8 x 400 w/400 jogs. 66,69,67,68,68,69,66,67 were the splits. Felt good today. I'm really happy with how I felt this week after the half. I've got a big training week next week that I'm looking forward to.

8 miles easy with strides in the last mile. Feeling really good lately. Time to be careful and not get greedy.

AM: 11 miles: I was really looking forward to this workout. I knew it would be tough but it's a great indicator of my fitness. The workout was written down as 3 x 2 mile in 10:40 w/4 min jogs. I did my usual warmup of 2.8 w/ drills and strides. Actual splits were 10:34,10:34,10:34. That looks pretty but I started off too fast with a 5:11 and had to slow to a 5:22 for the second mile in order not to blow up. The next two sets were more consistent (5:16,5:17) and 5:18,5:15. I did have to dig on the last mile. Recovery jogs were 8 min pace. Good solid workout today.I'm happy with this one.

PM: 4 miles easy at the park.  Legs were tired from the morning session but it felt good for me to loosen up.  It's much easier for me to get up before 3 am and knock out the tough workouts than it is to stop on the way home for these shakeouts. 

8 easy miles on the canal in Phoenix.

AM: 13 miles: Hills 06:35 pace

Ran from work in the dark and headed up to the canal and did 3 x up and down 32nd st to Lincoln. It's about 100 ft up over a mile. Went up in 6:15,6:01,6:00 and ran down at long run effort. Good solid run today. Hill portion was tough. My daughter turns five today. Wow that was fast! Also, big game for ASU tonight v Oregon. Go Devils!

PM: 4 miles easy on the way home. Well, that game didn't go as hoped.

9 + miles at recovery pace then 6 x 100ish strides.  Legs were tired today but strides felt great.

22 miles avg. 6:09: Today was one of the biggest workouts I will do before the marathon. 5x3 mile at 5:50 pace with 1 mile jogs between each one was the plan. 3 mile portions were 17:27,17:29,17:23,17:21,16:58. The mile jogs were all in the 7-7:10 range. This was a great workout for me and a confidence builder for sure. None of the faster stuff felt easy but I never felt in trouble either. Also, the fact that I was able to close with a 5:31 mile when I was already very tired was encouraging. I did this same workout about 5-6 weeks ago and today was much faster with the same effort. Have a great weekend everyone! I'm already focusing on recovery from this one. I'll need a few days of easy running I'm guessing.

8+ miles very slowly and then did 6 x 100+ strides.  Legs were stiff and tired today.  I didn't feel normal for about 6 miles which is kind of what I expected after yesterday.  The strides felt great to loosen me up.

6 miles easy. Another day to absorb Saturday's stimulus. Easy miles.

AM: 13 miles: 2.8 warmup and a mile or so cool down. Drills and strides in there. Kind of a monster workout this morning. 12 x 1k w/200 jogs. I haven't done any math but I probably averaged 3:22. I ran he first one in 3:19 and the last in 3:16 but other than that I was consistently 3:22-23. The pace felt pretty comfortable but the number of reps and short rest made it a tough workout. I really like this workout as a "strength" workout with about 7.5 miles of running at threshold pace.

PM: 4 miles easy.  Fatigued legs but nice to get loose.

9.6 miles including strides

15 miles: Medium long run today and I threw in a couple of different things to mix it up. I did a two mile pickup during miles 7-8 in 11:27 then I jogged a couple of miles and did 5 x 1 min on/off at 4:55-5:05 pace starting at 10 miles. Kinda of a tough run. My body is tired and I'm ready for a day off tomorrow.

A little bit of turnover 10 mi 01:06 06:37 pace

Warmed up about 4 miles then I did 10 x 200 w/200 jogs averaging about 33. I felt pretty smooth today for that pace. I ran another few miles after that. Legs felt pretty good today after a day off yesterday.

20.19 miles: Didn't think it was going to be a great day because I started off feeling kind of blah. However, I just needed to warm up and then I was fine. I ran the first 15 miles at around 6:45 pace and then the plan was the last 5 starting around 5:55 an lowering 5 seconds each mile and running the last mile all out. After 15 I changed into my Saucony Fastwitch shoes and ran 5:52,5:45,5:41,5:35,5:02 for the last 5 miles. I saw that I was close to breaking 5 min with a half mile to go but I just didn't have enough to do it. I was still really happy with that 5:02 though. I wasn't expecting that. All in all I was pleased with the run.

Last week I had a nice conversation on this blog with Jake and Riley.  This prompted me to write a blog about marathon workouts I like.  Here is the link.

8 recovery miles.  I was feeling pretty tired and stiff yesterday afternoon so I was expecting the worst for this morning's run.  I was stiff and tired but felt much better than I was expecting so I was pleased.  I will take another light day tomorrow and I need it.  I'm feeling the effects of marathon training for sure now.

6 easy + strides. Busy day so just a shorty. Body needs it anyway.

Tempo Repeats: Warmed up 2.85 miles with drills and strides and drills then did 6 x 1 mile with 90 second jogs. Idea was half marathon effort with a goal of 5:30. Splits were 5:19, 5:27,5:24,5:25,5:26,5:24. I was fast but I felt really comfortable with these this morning and I felt like I could do a lot more. Weather was perfect. I cooled down just under two miles after.