Doug's Running Thingy

A little hill work in the neighborhood this morning.  Two miles warmup and then 4x 200 meter hills at 47, 45, 46, 43 seconds.  With the end of the summer track series, it seems the local track club is firing up a Thurs evening XC series.  Will be run on the trails of a preseason race that the team always does - 3K, 5K and 8K distances for the race.  The race is Aug 25, so there will be four evenings on the course before the race - could be fun.

Mile warmup, 2.5 miles worth of 8x two minutes on/one min off and then a half mile cool down.  Kept the "on" pace around 6:45 on this ridiculously muggy evening - bleh.

Once again didnt get to the trails nearly early enough this morning to beat the heat - ah well.  Decent 5 miles on and around the 5K course that I didn't make it out to for the weekly Thursday evening training - maybe next week.

2.5 warmup on way to the track then 6x200 at 39-41 with a 200 jog rest.  Finished up with 4 barefoot strides on the infield and then .75 back to the jeep.  

Neighborhood run this morning.  Easy mile, then a 5Kish pace mile (6:33), then 4x200 meter hills at 45, 45, 43, 41 with 600 meter jog around the rest of the block between reps.  Decent little workout for me.

Nearly lovely out this evening after massive thunderstorm.  A billion percent humidity, but only about 75 degrees and a bit of a breeze.  Ran my hilly 5-miler in the neighborhood and kept all miles under 8 min pace without much difficulty - gettin there.  Will see how the 5K training goes tomorrow evening on the trails with the running club.

Arrived at the trail about two minutes before they were going to start.  Not a real big deal since I decided to just run easy with the dog.  Of course, when the gun went off, Cassidy really wanted to fly after Travis and the speedsters.  I held him back to about a 7:20 first mile and took a little break with him for some water and to water the trees.  With most of the quick runners in the distance now, we did the next mile a bit over 8 min pace - stopped again a little after two miles for a couple minutes and then eased on through the last mile for a Cassidy PR of 26:05.  He was a pooped pup afterward, so I left him with Trav and I did another mile-ish easy.

Travis ran a fairly hard 8 miler this morning, so after two miles hard this evening he shut it down.  The guy he was pacing continued on for a PR 17:25 - good deal.

Decided to run a local 5K in support of a high school XC team, Lincoln High.  I ran the same race last year, but the storms of last couple days knocked some trees down on the course and rutted out other parts, so they had to re-route and change it up quite a bit.  Most significantly, they sent us up over a pedestrian overpass to cross a 4-lane section of roadway - kinda interesting.  I figured I was in about 22 minute shape so set a goal of 21:34.  Finished in 21:28 - that'll work for now.  Went 6:48, 7:04 and 7:12 before the finishing 200 meters on the school track.  Nice little run.

Travis came out to help tend to the racers and run the trails after the race - brought Cassidy out, so I ran a bit and walked a bit with him while waiting for Trav to do his 80 minutes. 

Did my hilly neighborhood five-miler this morning in humid but not steamy conditions - nice.  Later in the week sees me hitting the 5K trail training on Thurs eve without the dog this time, and then Saturday morning is the Breakfast on the Track one mile - always a highlight of the year and the unofficial kickoff to high school XC - lazy goal of sub 5:30.

Little track workout this evening at the school.  Three miles easy warmup and then some block starts.  After the starts, did 4x200 at 40, 39, 40, 40, and then 1x400 at 82.  Everything was right in the range of goal mile pace for Saturday's race - 5:28 here I come.

Steamy neighborhood run of 2.5 miles with the doggie (last half mile at 7:20 pace) and then another 2.3 without, just under 8 min pace.  Gonna run the trail 5k training deal tomorrow eve without the dog to see if I can crush his PR.

Got about a half mile warmup before the 5K trail run this evening.  On the run, I went through the first mile at 7 flat, then mile two at 7:12 and third mile at 7:28 to finish up at 22:03.  Ok compared with last Saturday's 21:28, since this is a much tougher course.  Did another mile and a bit following the training.

Nothing like racing the mile to earn a plateful of pancakes.  The pancakes were quite tasty - two plain and one blueberry in a nice stack with butter and syrup.  The mile was ok as well.  If nothing else, I'm pretty good at gauging my fitness these days (or maybe self-fulfilling prophecizing) - figured I could hit 5:30, and ran a 5:29.79.  I did have to throw down 200 splits of 39, 40 and 38 in the final 600 to get there though - whew.  Nobody wanted to lead the heat I was in (projected times of 5:26-5:50), so it was pretty lazy through 800.  I finally broke out and nearly ran down the one guy that indeed had gone out fairly hard.  Third in my age group and 28th overall of the 211 runners in 10 heats - big fun.

Travis took the overall title in 4:40, hitting his goal of 2:15 at the half and then easing off.

After all the mile heats, I toed the line again for the Hamstring Hundred to determine the Gulf Winds Track Club fastest man and woman... I was neither.  I was however the oldest man in the field by ten years, and only missed 5th by one tenth of a second.  Yes, its a six-lane track, you do the math.  Ran a 13.52 to close off another hugely fun summer track season. 

Coolish damp neighborhood hilly 5-miler this evening - not too bad.

Way too much of a struggle on the trails this evening.  A bit warmer than last few runs, but just had no energy at all.  Better sleep surely would help.  First week back to school for Travis has me up early to work out and fix his breakfast, then up late messing with XC website etc - ah well, wouldn't have it any other way... big senior year for him.

Not racing on this course Saturday morning (just gonna run around and shoot pics), so this last Thurs training run was my race on this tough trail 5K course.  Unfortunately, nobody showed up that I could work off.  Ran more balanced than last week and cruised under 22 minutes, so thats some progress.  Miles of 7:03, 7:08 and 7:12, then finished up with 21:48.  Garmin reported it as 3.06, but its nearly all under heavy tree cover, so thats pretty close.  Time to ramp things up now for my goal fall 5K on Oct 20.

Late evening run on the trails with temps in the low 80s - not too bad.  Was a much better run than the other night.  Kept right at 8 min pace and actually felt almost like a runner.

Pre-season XC race in the morning - Trav is pretty stoked.  Shooting for sub 17 on a fairly tough course with incredibly poor footing - we shall see. 

Logging it just because I did it - was photo interval work this morning while Travis and the gang raced.  Planned to run more this evening, but failed miserably.  Will get in 5-6 tomorrow.

Trav had a great run, right up until GI distress stopped him in his tracks.  Rare for him to have issues on morning runs - really frustrating.  Felt great at first mile in 5:15, still awesome at two miles in 10:25, then slammed a bit after that and actually had to walk a few seconds before struggling in at 17:02.  He was cruising easily with the eventual winner who set the course record at 16:31.  Upside is that he knows he would have gone real close to his 16:20 PR if he had no issues - positive mental attitude! 

Lovely morning at the Apalachee Regional Park running trail.  I ran a bit before helping out at the workday to get the course ready for the XC season.  The State Meet will be there at the end of the season, as well as 2 or 3 other races.  Did three hours of cross training with a rake, loppers and an ax - big fun.

Six in the neighborhood on this breezy warm hurricaneless evening.  Got a whopping half inch of rain so far, but possibly considerably more tomorrow - we'll see.  First time I've run six in several weeks - was ok right at 8 minute pace.

Had to do a quick workout on the trails before senior parent meeting at the school.  Did a mile warmup and then 8x two minutes on, 1 min off.  I hit them all at a little under 7 minute mile pace, so about my current 5K race pace - good workout.

Neighborhood hilly five this morning.  Comfortable 8 min pace for most of it - worked the uphills.  Morning runs going much better than evening... discipline, discipline!