Getting back to Boston

Easy 7 tonight on the dreadmill, starting my mini-taper for the Hogeye Half on Sunday. Pretty comfortable run at just over 9:00 pace. Otherwise, not much to it. I think this comes at a good spot on the schedule; take it easy for a few days will recharge the batteries, not only for the half but for a big training week next week, including a 24-miler on the 11th.

One last dose of speedwork before the half-marathon on Sunday. Hit the dreadmill at the club for a good hard 8, and ran the last 2 at GMP. Overall average 8:20, and I felt like I could have gone faster; GMP was not any kind of strain. Gives me more confidence going to Fayetteville. Probably 6 tomorrow, and 4 Saturday morning with the Crackheads before we go northwest.

Also went over 800 miles for the year tonight. There have been probably three of the five decades of my life that I haven't run 800 miles TOTAL. In March alone, I ran equivalent to the distance from North Little Rock to Arlington, Texas.  

Easy 4 tonight to work out some kinks. Didn't start until after 9 p.m. and just ran around the flattish areas of my neighborhood (which are not very extensive) over and over until I got in four miles.

Looking ahead to the half on Sunday, if I can hit my goal time I might be able to win my AG and finish top 20 overall. Basically I'm going to start out at 7:15 pace through the opening hills, see how I feel when I get down to the flats and maybe put the hammer down after we split from the marathoners at mile 8 or so.

I feel like such a slacker -- only 8 miles the last two days, and only 60 this week. Only 60. Yikes.

Four miles from Murray Park over BDB this morning. Last dose of hill training before Hogeye, I guess, courtesy of Hobbit. Ran it faster than I probably should; well under 9:00 pace. But legs felt good, and as usual I picked up the pace going uphill and never backed off.

Going back, I think, to the same strategy I used at Soaring Wings -- lay down as many miles at my desired pace as I can, and see what I have left for the last three miles. In this case, that will be 7:15, which would get me a 1:35 if I maintain it. If I can pick ip up through the last three miles, even better, but I have to be aware of how I feel through the earlier miles. If a 7:15 feels too easy, push it.

Somehow managed to turn a half-marathon into a 13-mile MP run. Not that there's anything wrong with an MP run, but I hoped for better. Legs didn't loosen up properly, but I didn't push through it. And I'm not happy with it.

The Hogeye course is an out-and-back, at least the half marathon is. First half is net downhill, second half, therefore, is net uphill by the same amount. And it's a significant amount; high point to low point is nearly 300 feet, and the start/finish is just about at the high point. And for all intents and purposes, I ran even splits -- meaning I ran the 300-foot uphill as fast as I ran the 300-foot downhill. That STINKS. I'm reasonably happy with my effort in the second half, but not with my first half.

I thought I might have a chance for age-group honors on this course, and if I'd run about a 1:35, which is what I wanted, that would have been the #2 time in 45-49. As it was, I finished fourth, my best age group finish. A decent first half certainly would have gotten me into the top three.

Splits:

1 -- 7:46. Lot of traffic, net downhill. Still should have been faster, even with the glutes not wanting to loosen up.

2 -- 8:15. Big uphills and downhills. Lousy effort. Probably gave away 30 seconds here.

3 -- 7:23. More like it. A lot of downhill here.

4 -- 7:43. Pretty flat section.

5 -- 7:58. Flat to downhill and I still didn't take advantage. Gave away more time here.

6 -- 8:04. Slight uphill, but not much. Bad effort. As my high school coach would have told me, I didn't compete; I was jogging.

6.55 -- Halfway point. 4:22 for the 0.55, slightly under 8:00 pace. Slight uphill. I'm starting to get upset with myself, with reason. 

7.55 --7:40. Better.

8.55 -- 7:49. Pretty good uphill in this mile past Razorback Park Golf Course, so this was a better effort. And I'm starting to catch and pass some people.

9.55 --  7:48. Fairly flat mile, still reeling some people in.

10.55 -- 7:49. Consistent. Biggest uphill of the entire course, so that was good effort to maintain pace. And I'm still catching people. This is pretty much the high point of the course.

11.55 --  8:24. Big downhill followed by an even bigger uphill.

12.55 -- 7:36. This one had better be pretty fast, because it's mostly downhill.

13.11 -- Not sure of my exact split here, because I forgot to stop the watch at the finish (and because this was not a chip race, so my official time includes six or seven seconds before I got to the starting line). I estimate about 4:30 for the 0.56 miles.

The good news is that this is easily the hilliest course I've ever run a race on, and I have not trained much on hills because, well, Newport only has one, and I do most of my training on RT which is similar to the Newport course. And that even with my sucky effort and the hills, I ran a half fast enough that the pace would get me a BQ. The bad news is that hills or no hills, I left a LOT of time out there on the course by just failing to compete. I have to compete for 26 miles to get my BQ. And it could have been a lot worse -- the big winds moved into Fayetteville about 20 minutes after I finished, and slapped my car around on the freeway for three hours going home.

Also, the Oxysox were great -- no calf issues, no blisters. The 5-mile warmdown run was badly needed, getting the kinks out after a half and a three-hour car ride.

At noon today I was pretty sure my consecutive days-run string was not going to hit 30. My back had been very stiff all day, I had a miserable morning at work, and I was ready to bag today's run. But the back loosened up, thanks in part to a noontime trip to the hot tub at the athletic club and a big load of Celebrex, and by 8 p.m., after my son's honor banquet, I was ready to go run. So I hit the DM at the fitness room for 7 at about 9:20 pace. The quads were still a little sore from yesterday's mountaineering, but the back was not an issue at all and the run went pretty well.

I've decided the sore quads were evidence that I didn't dog Hogeye as much as I thought I did. One-43 isn't a bad half, it's just not what I had hoped for. And as Leah pointed out to me after the race, that is not a PR course. I ran tough the last seven miles, passed people on the uphills, and came in at my GMP. If all it was was a workout that I got a medal and a tech shirt for, it was a good workout, one that should pay some benefits in Newport in seven weeks on a considerably flatter course.

Back out to the RT tonight for my usual 15 on the Campbell Lake loop, with a detour through the soccer fields. Pushing the pace was not a problem. The last 13 miles were below 9:00 pace, excepting mile 6 when I stopped for about 30 seconds to get a drink of water, and the last mile and a half was below 8:00. Considering I ran a half-marathon less than 60 hours before, I thought this was a pretty good run. Once again, the last half-mile was an exercises in visualization: "OK, a mile and a half to go and you have 12 minutes to get there to get your BQ." And I did.

Easy 9 on the moonlit RT tonight. Some interesting things going on; the Travs were playing an exhibition game, I think, at the ballpark and I could hear the organist playing and see the video board from the trail. And they're still draining water from the sunken restaurant-barge parked next to the submarine. The run itself was no muss, no fuss, just a routine tun at about 9:25 pace.

Another exercise in reprogramming my central governor, if you believe Tim Noakes, or improving my lactate threshold, if you listen to Jack Daniels (I'm more inclined to go with Noakes, for reasons I've cited on this blog in the past). Twelve miles on the RT with 5 at tempo pace. This is actually the first tempo run I've ever done that I didn't have the dreadmill forcing me to run at the proper pace, so I was interested to see how I'd handle it.

Started at 6 p.m., earlier than usual for evening runs, so I'd finish before dark. Unfortunately, even that start was delayed by a few minutes by traffic on the freeway getting to the RT. From what I could tell, the cause of that tie-up was a fatal accident; as I drove by the overturned vehicle, the police had a sheet there to hide what was happening behind it, which is a pretty good indication that there was a fatality. Really a downer for me, and my prayers are with the family and friends of the victim or victims.

Now, back to the inconsequential stuff. Started out slow and gradually picked it up. I thought I'd calculated it so that my five-mile tempo run would start at the top of a hill on the outgoing half and end at the base of the same hill incoming. Uh, no. I ended up starting and finishing at just about the same place -- the top of that hill. Plus the incoming half was right into a pretty stiff wind as more rain blows into central Arkansas tonight.

I had to calculate the times and averages for the tempo section. As I suspected, my paces were inconsistent without the TM to force me into the exact pace, and the wind and the two fairly substantial uphills on the incoming half were no help either (yes, I know I got the benefit of those two downhills outgoing, so quiet already). I ended up averaging a 7:27 for the five miles. I might have actually set my 5K PR tonight without knowing it, because my PR averaged 7:15.5. Probably not, but with my variation in pace, who knows?

A short 4-mile recovery run tomorrow, then 24 on Saturday for my first (and possibly last) 90-mile week. 

A bit of therapy as well as recovery miles tonight on the DM after a brutal day at work. Not brutally hard, but very, very stressful. Needed to run, as well as a little liquid relaxation, to unwind for sure. Just a routine 40-minute run at 9:22 pace, covering 4.26 miles. Tomorrow is 24, my longest training run ever, with Kenny and Robert in lieu of the Crackheads, who are still in post-LRM recovery mode at 6 miles or so (and running in Maumelle -- yuck). That will take me to 90 for the week and 900 for the year.

My first 24-mile training run ever. Did the first 12 on  the RT with Kenny and Robert, both of whom are tapering for races coming up before mine. Finished 12.04 with them in 1:56, then set off on my own for another 12. Decided to get a change of scenery and went across the river to basically run the LRM half-marathon course, with a couple of tweaks. As I had  hoped, the solo portion went a little faster than running the RT with the guys did; I had about a six-minute negative split, despite having to stop several times for traffic as downtown got semi-busy on this beautiful Saturday morning. Lopped a little extra to Main Street, back to the Broadway Bridge, then back down Riverfront to where I was parked at the boathouse, and the mileage was just about perfect -- 24.01.

I have become an absolute believer in Oxysox compression socks in less than two weeks. No blisters and no calf issues in 24 miles with some considerable hills today. Same thing last weekend at Hogeye. I promise you I'll be wearing them at Newport -- and on the plane coming home from Oregon. 

Weather today was just about perfect -- mid-40s at the start, little hint of a breeze to keep the sweat out of my eyes, but not enough that running into it was any kind of chore, clear sky. If it's like this 49 days from today in Oregon, I will be quite pleased.

49 days. Seven weeks. Definitely on the home stretch of my training. People are wowed that I'm going to make a serious BQ attempt. They see BQ as unattainable. I don't know about that. I'm no great athlete, no speedburner. I've just worked my butt, and spare tire, and a few other things off for the past 21 months to get to this point. If I can, with my post-op back and high-stress job, I think many people could that don't think they can. I'm a little more obsessed than most, maybe even too obsessed. You could probably get there without quite my level of OCD.

Back locked up again this morning. Not unusual for a Sunday, I'm sorry to say. But this time, it waited until AFTER I got up to tighten. I felt good when I got up around 8, but by the time I finished my first cup of morning coffee, it was stiff. I remembered a few weeks ago when it took a little run to get the blood flowing and loosen my back, and decided to try that again. But then the thunderstorms moved in. Still went to run, just went to the treadmill at the fitness room. By the time I finished an easy 5, my back felt better, and it was pouring. So I jogged home to get out of the way of any stray lightning.

Legs feel remarkably good after yesterday's 24-miler, and even felt pretty good last night. I must admit that I briefly entertained the thought of adding another 2.2 miles yesterday just to say I'd run 26.2 in training, but I discarded that notion pretty quickly. Another 20 minutes on top of 3:46, when I wasn't in any real distress the way I was going, probably would have been OK, but why risk it?

Went to do my second 5-miler at the AC after the Masters finally ended, then hit the whirlpool for 10 minutes (it was working again), then went to the supermarket. Then finally got to eat dinner at 9 p.m.

Back on the dreadmill for a VO2 max run -- 5 X 600 at 6:35 pace. Almost seemed to get easier as I went through the reps, like the legs were getting used to 9.1 mph running again. The sweat was flying, but otherwise not too bad. With warmup and cooldown, 9 miles in 75:57.

Down to 47 days and counting to Newport. Even more important, 36 days until my son is a high school graduate. Yikes. And 39 days until we leave for Boston (for which Delta keeps changing our itinerary; it's like a game show -- Name Your Flight). 

Decided to push the midweek MLR a little harder than usual tonight. Basically after a pit stop at about 3.5 miles, I put the hammer down, and the rest of the way was well under 9:00 pace, even taking into account water stops and attempted water stops (two fountains out of order). And the last mile and change was under MP. Overall average, stops and all, was about 8:32. Which for me is a pretty darn hard push, considering that 8:03 would get me to Boston. I thnk the legs feel a little stronger now; whether that's due to a little better nutrition, a little better quality sleep, or the supercompensation for last week's 90, hard to say. I'd probably credit sleep one,diet two, and there hasn't been enough time for supercompensation yet IMO.

Seven-mile recovery run tonight on the dreadmill with7 X 100 strides at the end. Legs were really rubbery early, came around later and I actually had some good knee lift for the strideouts. It's been a long time since I had that much knee lift for strides or anything else; it actually felt like a sprint. So an encouraging run even for a semi-meaningless RR.

Decided to take a mental health day off from running today. I can only be so placid and so calm when forces beyond my control are kicking me in the gluteus maximus, and that's what Thursday was. I needed to unwind, and 12 miles did not constitute unwinding. So I skipped the run. ending my consecutive days streak at 40.

Back on the horse again for an easy 4 on the dreadmill, just to get the kinks out. Then I sent my only child off to his senior prom, dateless (just like his dad was 31 years before). Oh well, I sort of turned out OK, and he should do the same. He hasn't stressed out about being a loner nearly as much as I did at his age; he kinda seems to prefer it.

Don't know what gave me more trouble -- the hills at Oucho's or the three hours of sleep before the hills. Probably a combination of both. Humidity didn't help either, although the breeze and a bit of mist kept it more tolerable than it could have been with the relative warmth (low 60s, 95% humidity). But the legs had no spring left by about the halfway point, so the last nine miles was pretty much a slog. I was the only Crackhead who ran more than 10 miles this week, so Tom and Hobbit probably had to wait almost an hour for me.

OK, I survived this week and the associated stressors. Hopefully next week, with no prom and hopefully no occupational drama, will be better. Six weeks to Newport -- and three weeks to taper. And I'm over 950 miles -- which took me until August to get last year. My year end total was only 1900.

New week, same old beginning -- wake up with a sore back that gets worse as the morning goes on. Just what I need with six weeks to go -- something to plant doubts in my  mind, like what if I wake up on may 30 and my back feels like this? Anyway, hit the whirlpool at the AC when it opened, plus some stretching in the sauna, and that got it loosened up enough to do 6 on the dreadmill at recovery pace. Back felt pretty good during the run, but now it's trying to stiffen again. Guess I need to stretch some more. Anyway I'll do another 4-5 this evening.

My taper starts 21 days from today. Forty-one days to the race. Yikes. Just cross my fingers that the rest of the preparation goes well, I don't get hurt, and I give myself the best chance I can when I line up in Newport.

Anyway, Pam and I went back to the club tonight. I did my 4-miler, and Pam swam and hit the whirlpool. While she was in the whirlpool and I waited outside, I believe I identified the recurring Sunday morning problem wit my back: Failure to properly stretch after the Saturday LR. I bent over to try to touch my toes and couldn't get within six inches -- and the pulling was in the back, not the hammies. A few more reps got the fingertips down to the tips of my toes, and the back felt much looser. Will do some more stretching tonight before bed, and try to maintain the stretching through the week. I would have to say that my stretching has not been what it should have been during this cycle, but I have enough time to fix that.

It's probably just as well that I was too busy this morning to think much about the fact that this was Patriots Day, and that my office firewall (and my schedule) prevented me from watching the Boston Marathon webcast or following the race online as it unfolded. Because I probably would have been beating myself up, that if I'd just run a little smarter race in Memphis, I would have been there instead of plowing through a Monday morning clinic.

That, by the way, might actually be true, but it's water under the bridge. My task now is to make sure that I'm not doing clinic NEXT Patriots' Day, that I'm in Hopkinton instead. Toward that end, I had what may be my toughest workout of the entire cycle tonight -- 6 X 1200 at VO2 max pace, dropped into a 12-mile run. Had thought about doing it at the track at the nearby high school, but it was just a bit too warm and windy today, so decided to do it inside, where I could at least make sure I maintained the proper pace on the dreadmill. So I ran all six reps at 6:40 pace (9.0 mph). Finished the 12 miles in 1:40, including warmup, 600-meter jogs between reps, and cooldown.

Did have a little time today to think about strategy -- strategy for the Toad Suck 10K, and strategy at Newport. I think I'm just going to try to go out and run steady 7:00 miles at Toad Suck, since I know the course and it has no brutal hills. At Newport, I think I'll start fairly conservatively for the intown four miles, pick up the pace a bit after I clear the hill at mile 4, and try to pick it up even more after the turnaround at mile 15+. If I run the kind of pace I want to run, I'll have a chance to break 3:20 entering the last 10K, and I'll also have some cushion for cramps or whatever. I'd like to break 3:20, but breaking 3:31 is essential, and I want to build in some cushion for that. Then the last six miles, balls to the wall with whatever I have left -- something I really didn't do at Memphis.

The reasonable thing to do tonight would have been to cruise through the 14-miler after a tough interval session last night. Uh, no. Not old OCD here. Ran the first seven in 1:05, then turned it up a couple of notches on the inward half. Last seven in 56 minutes, the last five at GMP. Now is the time to back off a bit before a hard MP run on Saturday. Let's see if I actually back off a bit.

A short blog entry tonight; I really need to make up for that 3.5 hours of sleep last night. Hit the TM starting at 8:30 for a 10-mile cruise/recovery run at a steady 8:57 pace. Left leg felt kinda weird, not hurting, but felt weak, particularly the quads. But that improved after four or five miles, and I maintained the steady pace throughout.

Found out today that my son has a test three days after his graduation -- the morning we're supposed to leave for Boston. It will cost more to revise his ticket than it did to buy it in the first place. Fortunately, buying a new one-way ticket is cheaper than that, so we'll do that, get him to Boston on the night of the 22nd, and Pam and I will fly up as scheduled, then pick him up at the airport after we go to the Sox game. He can still use the return half of the original ticket.

Speaking of Pam, tomorrow is a difficult day for her: the 22nd anniversary of her father's sudden death from a heart attack. She had thought today was the anniversary, was going through all that today, and then her mom told her the date was the 23rd. So now she has to go through two days of that anguish. She was definitely Daddy's girl and April is consequently a very emotional month for her. Hopefully next April she'll have the distraction of another trip to Boston to cheer on her marathoning hubby.

Reminded myself once again why I hate running in hot weather. Waited until 8:00 to let today's record-setting temps go down (a little), set out in 85 degree weather, and it was still 80 when I finished nearly two hours later. It could have been worse (low humidity, a bit of a breeze), but still I got light-headed in the last mile, which obliged me to back off a bit lest I pass out or something. Still finished the run in 1:49, barely over 9:00 pace.

Have some decisions to make. Tomorrow is my niece's wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, both of which I am supposed to attend. But since the rehearsal is at 4 p.m. and there is no way I can leave work before 5, that ain't gonna happen. And both of them are an hour-plus drive from here, so I don't think the dinner at 7 is going to happen either. Not for me, anyway; my wife will have to represent us. But I'll be at the wedding Saturday afternoon. the question there is whether I run 20 before the wedding, or put that off until Sunday morning and do 8 or 10 on Saturday morning. Weather may play a factor there too.

Five-miler on the DM just to work out some kinks, and boy, are there some kinks to work out. Glad next week is a bit of a backoff week. I'm still debating whether to do my MP run tomorrow or postpone it until Sunday. Weather when I get up may be a factor. I'll probably do it tomorrow, then wish I hadn't at the wedding tomorrow afternoon.

Put off the 20-miler until tomorrow, but that doesn't mean I got off easy this morning. Did 10-plus at Murray Park with the Crackheads, and once I got warmed up, I pushed the pace pretty well. Averaged 8:30 for the entire run, at least the last 0.71 was at GMP, and probably more than that, since the Big Dam Bridge downhills were part of miles 9 and 10. Get a nap, go to the wedding, and try to do my big MP run tomorrow morning. It was humid and 60ish this morning, but again a bit of a breeze kept things more tolerable.

I kinda don't believe what I did tonight. See, I'd been having a little crisis of faith, starting to doubt myself in the running sense (the other kind of crisis of faith happened years ago and I stil haven't resolved that one satisfactorily). I wasn't sure I could get my BQ, and I definitely wasn't sure I could complete this weekend's scheduled long run -- a 20-miler with 14 at GMP. I let myself postpone it from Saturday, using the excuse that I had to be in Hot Springs early for Shannon's wedding (which was true but immaterial). Then I let myself go back to bed this morning rather than getting up to do the 20 (I did need the sleep, but I could have taken a nice long nap after the run). Then I almost had myself talked out of it completely this afternoon -- my toe hurt, blah blah. Finally, at 6, I roused myself and went over to the fitness room. If the toe hurt too much to run, I would be right here instead of having to limp miles home from somewhere on the RT.

So I set out on the three-mile warmup. So far, so good; toe's not a major issue. It's pretty warm  in the fitness room, as it was outdoors, but the ceiling fan helped, I had plenty of water and even some HEED, and I soon got rid of my shirt. So at the three-mile mark, I cranked the TM up to GMP -- 7.9 mph, or 7:35 pace, and settled in. Soon became obvious that the legs would be fine at that pace, but the warmth continued to be an issue. Drained my fluid supply quickly and had to stop twice to go get some more, but I maintained 7:35 for about 105 minutes -- which means I ran a half-marathon on the TM about five minutes faster than I did at Hogeye three weeks ago. Then I jogged in the last  three miles. And the toe never was a big issue, although there was some discomfort throughout.

Rest of the week's kind of a backoff, especially after a 14 in Tuesday, and a mini-taper for Toad Suck. After that, four weeks to blastoff. 

Interval time tonight: 5 X 600 at VO2 max pace (about 6:30 for me), dropped into a 9-miler. Handled them pretty well considering the 20-miler with 14 @ GMP last night, I thought. As tired as my legs are, and as ready as I am for this cycle to end, I'm starting to round into racing shape. Surely all this work will get me what I want, especially since I had the good sense to pass on OKC, which would have been a disaster -- 75 degrees, high humidity and 30-mph winds. I'm getting enough work at high temperatures as it is, so if I get a typical Oregon morning in a month, it should feel positively energizing. And if it's a little warmer than that, well, I should be pretty well acclimated.

Last night was a good confidence boost, but if I can rip about five minutes off my 10K PR at Conway on Saturday, that would really send me into the last four weeks of training on an emotional high.

DW and I had a little heart-to-heart over the weekend and I think we understand each other better. She understands that when she gives me crap about running too much and being too skinny, that I tend to view it as sabotage, undermining my work toward my goal. I, in turn, understand better that there hasn't been enough of me available to the family after work and running, and that DW really does support me and wants to see me at the line in Hopkinton next April too.

Postponed the planned 14-miler tonight since I had to wait for the teenager to get home from his class sushi party (?) because I needed to talk to him before I ran. That wasn't until 8 p.m., so too late for 14. Just as well; the legs needed a break after what amounted to three hard days in a row (fast 10, 20 with 14 at MP, VO2 max intervals). Even a slow 8 on the dreadmill was a bit of a struggle. I think I'll take it easy pace-wise tomorrow when I do the 14, which will put me over 300 miles for the month again.

Fourteen tonight in the rain at 9:30 pace. Rain didn't bother me much when it was just drizzling, but as it came down harder, it became an annoyance. I could feet my feet sliding on the wet pavement and there were too many puddles to dodge. I therefore decided to slow down a bit just to try to avoid slipping and falling -- or slipping and injuring myself, even worse. I think I came through it OK.

Now over 300 miles for April. Won't get near 300 in May what with the taper, but that's two consecutive 300-mile months. I'll be over 1100 for the year by week's end.

Capped off the month with 71 minutes on the dreadmill at recovery pace. Ended up with 7.65, which took me to 309 for the month. Thought about going longer (or faster) but decided to take it easy with an eye toward Toad Suck. Tomorrow, 4, maybe even 3, reaaaalllllyyyy sllloooowwww.