Doug's Running Thingy

Started the year off with a little workout in the neighborhood.  1.5 mi warmup and then six times two minutes on and one minute off.  Mostly in the 6:30-6:45 pace for the "ons" - 1.5 mi cooldown back to the house.  Spent all day cleaning up the yard and taking down decorations - brutal outside today.  Just barely got over 70 degrees and the sun was just soooo bright  :)

Neighborhood hilly fiver - nice and easy.  Take tomorrow off and then six on Fri and seven on Sat for a thirty mile week - woooo!

Neighborhood six miler before dinner.  Actually had to wear a hat and gloves this evening - upper 40s  :)

Another massive 7 miler in the books.  On the trails again, so nothing real speedy.  Will take tomorrow off then 8 on the road on Monday evening - see if I cant hold right at 8 min pace.  Decided to "race" a 15K next Saturday - should be fun.

On the neighborhood roads before sunup for 8 miles easy.  Ran this 8-mile loop many times prepping for my two and only marathons back in '04-'05.  Forgot how hilly it is - bleh.  Managed sub-8 pace for three of the miles and about 8:15 overall average - about what I expected.

Nice easy few miles in the neighborhood this evening to work out the soreness from 8 hilly miles yesterday.  Did two with the dog then another on my own.  A little foam rollerizing afterwards and legs are feeling pretty good.

Decent workout on the neighborhood roads this evening.  Six times two minutes on and one minute off sandwiched by 1.75 warmup and 1.25 cooldown.  Major heat wave going on, so that was less than ideal, but hit all the "ons" between 6:30 and 6:45 - that'll do for now. I'm majorly stressing out over the 15K this Saturday - keep telling myself its just a step up in training on the way to the half in Feb, but nine miles is a long freakin way for me, and to NOT race it just seems unlikely.  Hopefully I can stick to my plan of just going out easy for the first half at 7:50-8:00 pace and then coming back steadily picking it up - we'll see.

Well that worked out nicely - good confidence builder for Saturday - whew.  Did six somewhat hilly miles in the neighborhood. All miles between 7:50 and 7:57 and quite under control.  We'll see how it goes with three more on top of that.  Gonna take tomorrow off.

That was fun.  Awesome canopy road out and back 15K just north of Tallahassee on mostly clay roads.  First and last two miles were paved.  As Travis' coach had warned me, the hills are not brutal but they get your attention.  I had planned to go out in 7:50-8:00 pace to the turnaround - first five miles all were between 7:41 and 7:55, so not too bad.  At the turnaround I felt pretty good so I adjusted my goal from 1:14 to 1:12 and started increasing the effort a bit.  Last four miles were 7:54, 7:46, 7:37 and 7:09 - yah, got excited at the end - actually dropped under 7 pace for final 0.3 miles - pretty fun.  Another three weeks of training now before the half - I think I'll make it.

Travis ran a good strong tempo with his assistant coach.  They went out easy, just a bit ahead of me through 3rd mile.  After that, and especially at the turnaround, they dropped about 15 seconds per mile to finish at about 5:30 pace in 57 minutes - Trav placed 9th overall.

Going to try to start getting my runs in before work.  So far so good.  Thomasville Rd 6-miler this morning.  Little rough (achy lower back of all things) after the race Saturday, but finished up nicely right at 8 flat avg pace.

Fairly miserable no energy run this morning in the neighborhood - chalking it up to insufficient sleep.  Got out there and ran at least.

Three days in a row up and at em early for a run - not too bad.  Much better run this morning than yesterday.  Thomasville Rd loop in reverse.

Wimped out for morning run - 38 degrees too chilly for me.  Got in a neighborhood workout at lunch in a balmy 52 degrees.  Two miles warmup and then six times two minutes on and one minute off, with the ons between 6:30 and 6:40 pace.  Good week so far - planning on 10 tomorrow morning - we'll see.

Planned this run for the half marathon course - flat, straight and boring.  Its a half hour drive out to the course as well.  Opted instead for my regular trail routes and was pleased with it.  Certainly hillier, twistier and slower than I'll be running in a couple weeks, but I averaged 8:19 pace and did the tenth mile at fastest pace in 7:53.  Ran very conservatively and felt I could easily go another three.

Got to bed too late to get up and run this morning, so did my neighborhood 8 this evening before dinner.  Ran it about two minutes faster than last time.  The decent effort last weekend in the 15K finally made me realize its time to ease down from the 8 min pace for most of my mileage - off we go.

Chilly neighborhood six before dinner.  Decent run.

Bailed out of work a bit early to get my run in on the trails before dark - almost made it.  It was a bit touchy finishing up the last mile - made me go fast  :) 

Lunchtime workout on the trails.  Six times 2 on/1 off.  Got them all under 6:40 pace with the last two at 6:28 and 6:07 pace.  A bit warm for running, but gorgeous for late January  :)

Off to Gatorville in the morning to sit in the O-Dome all day long watching age group indoor track meet.  Travis is slated to run 400 and 800 tomorrow and then the mile on Sunday as a college showcase event.  Tweaked his knee yesterday doing hill sprints, but icing and rest should do the trick by tomorrow afternoon. 

Yo, Bret - San felasco in gainesville is now well marked and well maintained! I ran two 5.8 mi loops and didn't take a single wrong turn. It rivaled my best deer per mile runs on tally trails too -big fun.

After breakfast we headed over to the odome for travis' mile race. He did well yesterday running the 400 in 54 and the 800 an hour later in 2:04, winning his heat and feeling very much in control. His plan for the mile today was to go out in 2:15 and he hit it perfect and was mid pack. He worked the fifth and sixth laps hard and moved up to third, before zoning out for the seventh lap fading to sixth. Snapped out of it halfway through the final lap and walked down all the guys he let go by him to finish third in 4:33.

We are now in a complimentary room at hampton inn in jax for an official visit with unf tomorrow - pretty cool.

Lots of walking around (no running) yesterday helped ease the soreness from going 12 on the trails on Saturday.  Averaged 7:42/mi for the six neighborhood miles this morning and felt great.  Actually looking forward to racing the half on Sunday.

Easy four in the neighborhood this evening before the squall line cranked through.