Doug's Running Thingy

Nothing yesterday and summer track meet this evening, so I got out early and did a couple easy miles.

At the track meet I decided to do all of the events except the 5K.  Worked the 100 meter as hard as I could since it was the Grand Prix event this week - ran 13.42 and got 4th or 5th.  Haven't felt strong for a while now - pretty sure its weight and diet related - gonna work on that for the rest of the summer.  Toed the line at 165 lbs - up 7 since racing Indoor Nationals in March - bleh.  Planned on cruising about 70 for the 400 meter, and felt much better than expected - ran 64 real easily - who knew!?  The mile went off immediately after my heat of the 400, so I used the first two laps as recovery and then pressed the last 800 - ran 6:39 finishing fairly strong (42 for last 200).  'Twas good to be back out there for the first time in 3 years.

Decided at last minute to run this race because a rainstorm blew through and dropped the temp from mid-90s to upper 70's for the 6PM start time.  Its billed as approximately 4 miles on rolling trails - mostly grass or clay double-track.  Its also a prediction run with no marked miles, no split timers and no watches allowed - the only clue they provide is that the water station is at approximately the half-way point.

Haven't raced since October, and haven't run more than 5 miles since then, so I really had no clue what to predict for "approximately 4 miles" - went with 28:34.  Felt really good and comfortable through the water station, then the course trended uphill for the next mile or so - ugh.  Nobody passed me after the water station, and I went by 5 or 6 runners between there and the end.  Finished in 35th by clock time at 28:52, and 25th by prediction time at +18.

Miles one, two and four felt pretty good - the uphill third mile was considerably more difficult than it should have been - definitely looking forward to dropping 6-8 pounds before the Midnight Run on July 4. 

14 miles on the mountain bike today.  Rode up to the trail course that I raced yesterday.  The "approximately 4 miles" turned out to be 4.1 per the cycloputer and 4.13 per Garmin - cool.  Looking at the gps track, the third mile wasn't actually as consistently uphill as it seemed - interesting - was only from about 2.0-2.25 that was uphill.  I guess that section just wiped me out mentally.  Was a good ride today for a little cross training.

Finally got out to the track for a morning workout today.  Cooler, fewer folks on the track, and more pep in my step than evening workouts.  Ran 2 and a quarter miles warm-up at about 7:15 pace, then did three 200s and three 300s, alternating between the distances.  Pretty much full recovery - about 3 minutes.  Did the 200s in 34, 32, 31, and the 300s in 54, 52, 49.  Finished up with two barefoot laps around the infield.  Paying close attention to food intake, and doing more consistently intense workouts - already down 2 lbs since Thurs - 'bout 6-8 more to go.

Hill work this morning in the neighborhood.  Bit of a rainstorm last night made things coolish but muggy this morning - could be worse.  Ran 2.2 miles warm-up and then 4X200 meter hills (45, 43, 42, 38 - yep, felt pretty feisty on the last one) with about 500 meters recovery jog in between.  Finished up with a half mile around the neighborhood.  Lower abs soreness never really abated today like it usually does after a mile or so.  Will take tomorrow off before racing the 200 meter on Thurs evening.

Real easy run on the trails to loosen up the legs and lower abs - mostly worked.  Ran between 8:15-8:30 per mile in the 90 degree, 90% humidity evening - ahhhhh.

Might have to admit that the self-diagnosed sportsman's hernia is affecting me more than I thought.  Wholly unsatisfying effort at the track meet this evening.  Did a 2.2 mile jog and felt I was warmed up enough for the 200, but never really got into a strong sprint - weird.  Ran 27.42 when I fully expected low 26 - hmph.  Jumped right back on the track after that and cruised through a 2:32 800 and then immediately into a 14:04 2-mile after the 800.  So, if nothing else, it was a pretty good workout at least.  Gonna drop my Doc an email this evening and just pick his brain on the self-diagnosis - he's a runner and we discussed it a bit last year about this time when it flared up - he's not a big believer in the whole sportsman's hernia phenomenon in general.  

Nothing but dumbbell workout yesterday, and no running today either.  Did 15 miles on the mountain bike - right at 80 minutes - good workout with no strain on the lower abs.  Probably do 20 miles on the road bike tomorrow and some light stretching/yoga.  Feels quite a bit better today, so maybe by Monday I can test it out with a little 4-miler or something.  Will baby it through Thursday so I can try to race the 400, then I will totally back off the track work and just go with base mileage for the rest of the summer and set my sights on a couple little 5 Ks in the fall.  I'll finish out the summer track series... 800, mile, 2-mile, 5K, but no more sprinting for a while - thus is life.

Jumped on the road bike a bit too late in the morning - planned on three loops around a 6-miler on neighborhood roads that I used extensively in the past for marathon training, but just wasnt feeling it after the second loop.  One mile to and from the loop, so finished up with 14 miles at just under 17 mph.  Shoulders and hands a bit sore after mountain biking yesterday - first time in 7-8 months that I've been on a bike two days in a row.

Pleasantly surprised this morning that 3 days off weight-bearing exercise seems to have worked nicely for the lower abs.  Back to the regular twinge for the first mile, then pretty much pain free for the remainder.  Will try some minute on minute off tomorrow, or maybe 8Xquarter mile on the trails.

Couldn't roll out of bed for a morning track workout, so I hit the trails at about 7:30PM, after a small dinner.  Planned to do 400s on the track, so I did 8Xquarter mile with two minutes rest (one minute walk and one minute jog).  Trails were pretty sandy and it was steamy, so the times were a bit slower than on neighborhood roads (88 to 95 seconds) - felt pretty good though.

Didn't plan on running today, but the boy child wanted to double up after the team only did 4 this morning, so I went with him to the trails this evening.  Tallahassee broke the all time record high temp today at 105, but when Travis and I hit the trails after a nice rain shower at 7PM, it was amazingly 73 degrees with a cool breeze!  Very sloppy footing, but really nice easy run with Trav.

Thursday night summer track meet again tonight.  Grand Prix event was the 400 and I was hoping to sneak under 60 - ran 60.8 and was lucky to get that.  Still just not feeling at all strong - ah well.  Jumped right on the track after the 400 and did the mile in 6:37, with each lap a couple seconds faster than the previous.  Flipped the shoes off and jogged a couple laps on the infield to cool down.  Plus the mile and a half warmup before the 400 makes 3.5 for the evening - that'll work.

Travis and I drove about an hour over to Torreya State Park early this morning to scout the trails for long run potential for the team.  They have a figure 8 that makes up a total of about 14 miles.  We ran the hilliest section of one of the loops up and down from the Gregory House which overlooks the Apalachicola River.  Garmin tells me it was down 294 feet and up 302 feet over the 2.5 miles - thats a pretty serious elevation swing for Florida boys.  We then walked quite a bit of the remainder of the trails - definitely runnable, but some really steep sections, and lots of downed trees.  It was a nice workout for the old man, and Travis was polite and said he was feeling it too - even after just the 2.5 miles.

No running today, but got in a good 12 mile ride on the mountain bike while Travis and the guys did their long run.  Back in action tomorrow morning with a 5 miler, and then hit the track Tuesday morning for some 70 second 400s to get ready to try a 2:20 in the 800 on Thursday evening.

Morning trail run - yay.  Did the full figure 8 of overstreet trail/ravine trail for the first time in quite a while - 5.3 miles.  This will be my standard run 3 days/week for the foreseeable future while I try to ramp up to around 30 miles/week.  Ran right at 8 min/mile - need to work that down under 7 by Aug 27 when I will do an 8K trail race.  I ran 37:15 last year on little training, but just under 35 minutes in 2008, so splitting the difference for a 36 flat seems like a good goal.

Brutally hot and humid this evening - perfect for a stab at 800 pacing for Thursday's meet.  Ran a couple miles warmup at 8 minutes and 7:40, then some stretching and flexibility before a 600 at goal 800 pace (2:20) and then a few 200s at goal 800 pace.  I hit the 600 just under 1:46, splitting the 200s at 35.5, 34.8 and 35.5 - pretty ragged finishing up, but pleased with the effort, considering the heat and no competition.  Took one minute rest and managed a 200 in 34 - wonder if they'll let me do that during the race.  Full recovery (about 6 minutes), and then did two more 200s with 90 second rest (36 and 34).  Felt the abs a little bit, but nothing like a couple weeks ago.  It seems backing off block starts and sprints at sub 30 for 200 has helped.  Should be able to finish out the summer track series (800, mile, 2-mile, 5K) with minimal pain.

Short little shake out run this morning of about 2.25 miles, and then raced the 800 this evening.  Only had time for about a half mile warm up before toeing the line, but that was fine.  Planned to go out in 70 seconds and see what I could do the next lap.  I hit the 400 in 72 and started stressing about the last 100 - was sure I was going to totally lock up and finish over 2:30.  At 600, I actually felt pretty good and just pressed on in from there for a 2:25.  I hit my watch at each 200 and, of course, the last 200 turned out to be just fine (35, 37, 37, 35) - go figger.  The 2-mile went off immediately after the 800, so I jumped in there and made it through the mile in just over 7 minutes before backing off and just going 2 more laps.  Another fine evening of summer track - big fun.  Oh - Travis cruised through a 2:15 in trainers after 2 striders as warmup - kids!

Nice workout this morning - mix of easy running and ramped up effort.  Did 1.25 miles easy to start of north loop and then did 2X north loop (0.8 mi) at a bit under 7 min pace with 120 meter walk rest interval.  After the 2nd loop, did just over a mile easy to the start of New Trail.  Picked it back up through New Trail (1.35 mi) and then jogged in the last quarter mile to the parking lot.

Almost bearable this morning as the sun rose on the trails.  Ran the full overstreet trail/ravine trail figure 8 in right at 8 min/mile.  A bit faster than last week.  Thats the plan each week for the next several - we'll see.

This was actually Wednesday's workout...

Really good run this evening - wish I knew why.  Ran overstreet trail to connector and then remainder of ravine trail - all but the uphill connector section in slightly under 8 min pace. 

Oops - this was actually Tuesday's workout...

Popped up to the track after work and after a nice cooling/steaming rain shower.  Did 3 easy miles warmup and then an 800 and 2X400, all at goal mile pace (5:29.9).  I hit the 800 in 2:47 (a little slow, but comfortable), and then 90 seconds rest before and between the 400s, both at 81.  Not looking forward to the pain of racing the mile on Thurs, but after that, we all head down to my folks' place for 4-5 days of chillin in the pool and maybe at the beach.  Oh, and racing the Midnight Run 5K Sunday night - woooo!

Summer track series this week was the mile - actually the 1600 meter.  Had hoped to go 5:30 with all the 200 splits around 41-42.  First few were at 42 and that felt pretty good, so just cruised at that pace.  A couple bounced up to 43, but finished strong with a 40 second last 200.  Add up all the tenths and I finished at 5:38 - I'll take it considering I never really felt too labored.  Travis hit his plan perfectly with a controlled 2:30 at the half and a good negative split to finish 4:56.