Getting back to Boston

Easy 4 tonight on the DM at the AC. Legs still a little rubbery from two hard runs yesterday; no real surprise there. Just chugged through it with the benefit of an oscillating fan in front of me. Sure do prefer finishing a four-miler not feeling like I'd been working out in a steam room. The muscles get the same benefit and I don't dehydrate. Anyway, probably won't run tomorrow or Friday, although I may put in 2-3 late miles after we get to Springdale tomorrow night before the big 5 a.m. interview on Friday. Then try to bust one Saturday at Firecracker, and that PR firmed up a bit. Not expecting anything huge this soon after a marathon, but my overall conditioning should let me get in under 22, I hope.

Wasn't sure what to make of my fitness for the Firecracker this year. I'm definitely not fully recovered from Newport yet. I've had some good runs since then, and two interval sessions of 200s have gone OK, but the legs have not recovered their snap, for lack of a better term.

Firecracker is a big net downhill course, although there about about two or three small uphills and one fairly major one at about 2.6 miles by the zoo. Last time, the zoo hill got me and I gave in to the walk monster. I decided this year to run conservatively, not blast the big downhill on Van Buren, and try to have something left to attack the uphill by the zoo.

Started out on the downhill on University and probably went a tad too fast, but once I got on Kavanaugh I settled in at just a smidge over 7:00 pace. Second mile, which has another little uphill going to Mount St. Mary's, I was a little slower, maybe 7:10 pace. Get to MSM, turn on to Van Buren, and except for a bump in the middle, it's straight downhill for the next three-fourths of a mile. I extended my stride a little to take advantage of the hill, but I would not say I pushed the downhill. Still, I was hurting pretty good when I crossed Markham into War Memorial Park, and I knew the zoo hill was coming. Just tried to maintain pace at that point. It helped that a bunch of people who went out too fast were slowing or walking, and I was able to pass some of those. Passing people always gives you a boost.

I told myself I absolutely was not going to walk, and I tried to shorten my stride and attack the uphill as best I could given that I was pretty gassed. Again, I was passing people. Then to the top of the hill on Monroe, maybe a quarter-mile left, and I could see the 3-mile marker and the finish beyond it, and I put the hammer down and started passing some more people. The clock read 22:19, I think, when I crossed the line. I had started maybe five seconds after the gun due to the crowd (no chip timing here) and I think the Garmin said 22:14, but my attempt to stop it at the line failed. So I'm gonna have to take the official time for lack of other evidence. But I am pretty sure it will be a PR when the official time is posted. Definitely a victory for running smart over being in shape. I was in much better shape last July but went out too fast and didn't have the discipline to fight up the zoo hill. If I'd run a little smarter last year, with fresh legs, I'd have broken 22 easily. So I'll take a couple more cracks at sub-22 this summer.

Had jogged about 1.2 miles to warm up, and I'd started the jog up the hill to retrieve my car when fellow Crackhead Robert offered me a ride. I took it. I can get in my slow cheap miles later, after I have my Fourth of July allotment of fat, grease and ice cream at Dad's house. 

Double today. Easy 3 this morning at the AC, then harder 5 tonight, also at the AC. Didn't run Sunday because of an afternoon thunderstorm and our celebration of Tyler's IB scores (worth somewhere in the range of 14-17 college hours). So got up early today to get in a short run. I've decided 5Ks are HARD. I still feel those three miles in my hamstrings. Tonight, went to Heber to fill a pump after work, didn't get back until nearly 8 p.m., THEN had dinner. Finally went to run at 9:15 after finally finding my HRM belt hidden under a basket. Ran first four at slow progression, then cranked it to GMP for the last mile. HR was around 140 for the first 4, up in the mid-150s at GMP. GMP sounds about right; that would be about 83% of HRR. The 140 would be about 70% of HRR; I guess that's OK for a run on the slow side of the GA range.

Interval time tonight as part of the "spring training" program focusing on speed work. Decided to run early(er) rather than wait until almost dark, as it wasn't all THAT hot and humid today. Headed over to East Campus at about 6:20 at a slow trot; 1.5 miles to get there. Once there, stretched, jogged another 200 then began the intervals -- 6 X 400 at what I hoped would be about 6:00 pace. Turned out it was more like 6:12 pace on average, with my usual wide variation in pace from 5:56 to 6:30. Wore the HRM, which showed a max rate of 168. Not sure when that happened, but I bet it was during the last 400. Given that the best previous estimate of my HRmax was 173, I'd say I was bustin' it.

In retrospect, it probably would have been better to do this tomorrow and give my legs a chance to recover from yesterday's double, but I still haven't ruled out the BDB 5K Saturday night and wanted to be able to recover if I decide to tackle that. Probably not going to try that, though. Firecracker seems to have taken enough out of me. But given the fairly tired legs, I thought it was a good session. Then trotted home to complete the 6-mile run in just over an hour.

Easy 5 on the DM at the athletic club. Wore the HRM tonight to see what kind of rate I get on a slow run when the weather is not outrageously warm/humid (i.e., running inside with a fan blowing). AHR was 125, and it says I got up to 142 once, but in looking at my watch during the run, I never saw anything over 130, much less 140. However, I do believe the 125 average, as that corresponded with what I saw for most of the run.

This is the week I start to pick up the mileage a bit after five easy post-marathon weeks. Have 19 already, probably 4-5 tomorrow (40-minute tempo run on Higdon's 5K plan), 3 easy on Friday and probably 8 on Saturday, unless I decide to do the BDB 5K. That would put me up to 35 for the week. At some point, I gotta go get Hudson's book and see if I want to do that for Memphis, or try Daniels, or go back to Pfitz. FIRST isn't gonna happen; I don't have the crosstraining flexibility to do that properly.

Tempo run tonight on the dreadmill. Warmed up for 15 minutes, 15 minutes at 7:24 pace (2.07 miles), then cooldown for 15 minutes. Total 5.25 miles. Not a great run, but I got through it, which I guess is what I need to do on a few runs to get myself back in gear.

Another 80/80 morning in central Arkansas. In spite of that, got in my 10 miles with the Crackheads starting from Murrary Park and going over BDB to the wooden bridge.Not sure of the exact mileage, BTW, since the Garmin never even made it out of the car before it died, but mapmyrun says 10.05, so I'll go with that. Not sure of the time either. Tried to run conservatively because of the humidity, but I'm never sure of my pace when I don't have either the Garmin or someone to run with. Probably ran a little faster than I had planned. Up to 34 miles and change this week -- biggest week since the marathon.

Somehow messed up my back yesterday doing laundry, cleaning up, things like that. Back let go as I bent over to pick something up. Pretty miserable for the rest of the day in spite of ibuprofen, Zanaflex, stretching, a whirlpool session (in lukewarm water) and a hot bath. Fortunately, was able to get comfortable enough to sleep, and felt a little better this morning -- emphasis on little. More ibu, more stretching, still no better, and I noticed that sitting down seemed to make things worse. So decided to go for the old therapeutic run at the AC -- 48 laps around the jogging track. That made things better, somewhat. Pain level now a 3 or 4, where it was 7 or 8 last night. I guess I'm going to have to keep moving today rather than sit down and stiffen up. I also wish they'd get the whirlpool fixed at the club. Lukewarm doesn't get the job done.

Thought the back issues were going away when I got up this morning. Felt pretty good this morning, maybe a 1. Seeing 34 patients at work took care of that. Needed a whirlpool session, then a 4-mille rehab run on the DM. Looks like I'll have to deal with this a while longer.

Ran around Branson. Needed ropes and a Sherpa. Place is HILLY. And humid, at least today; kinda sucked the life out of me. Thought it was going to rain on me and cool off; instead it cleared off and warmed up. And the traffic was a major issue, with often no sidewalks or shoulders. Plus there was a bear attack. But got through it. Supposed to cool off overnight.

Hit the treadmill tonight while waiting for Pam and Tyler to arrive for the birthday celebration. Decided to do a tempo run -- 1.5 mile warmup, 2.22 at pace (8.1 mph) until the DM told me to stop, then restarted it for a recovery jog to finish the 5 miles. Was actually cool enough to run outside, but I was on call and concerned about another bear attack... Bear stayed away, anyway, and finished the run nicely, then met Pam and T at Branson Landing for his birthday dinner.

Another Beat the Cop run on Moon Landing Day. Had about 46 minutes to get in five miles before the cop chased me out of the clubhouse, and decided to crank up a five-miler nd get it in before they tossed me out. Started at 9:00 pace, then 8:42, then 8:20, then the last two miles at GMP. Finished in 41:42.

I'm starting to think what I need to do for Memphis is to stay on about a 75-mpw plan, maybe 80, but push the quality runs harder than I have done in the past. Perhaps that combination, along with better sodium loading, will get me over the hump and into the Boston field. But I still want to look at Hudson before I start any plan.

Another progression run. Started at 6.5, ended up at 9.0. Overall average less than 8:45. Legs felt pretty good. I'm starting to toy with the idea on doing Dam Night Run on Saturday; a lot's going to depend on the weather on Saturday. Something less than 95 degrees and 80% humidity, which is what I got last July, would be nice.

Oh yeah, went over 1500 miles for the year tonight. Only did 1900 all last year.

Easy recovery run. Had intended to go 4, but Astros were rallying when I got to that point and I didn't want to step off the DM and miss the end (sure enough, they won in the bottom of the ninth). So just kept going another 10:10 to make it five miles. Figure if I'm only going to be in the AC for another month, might as well make full use of it.

Double-day today, including a race. Went out to Pinnacle Mountain this morning with the Crackheads and got a good 6-miler in over the hills out there. I think I needed a run like that, to break things up. Plus it won't hurt my strength to have run all those hills at a decent pace. Tried to moderate the pace so as not to wear myself out in case I decide to go to Arkadelphia tonight for the Dam Night Run (which, as I suggested, is likely), but still averaged 9:23 miles even with the hills (and mile 6, which is almost all uphill, I ran in 9:06)

Headed for Arkadelphia in late afternoon, still felt good, a little stiff but OK. That changed on the ride up to the start. DNR is a point-to-point race, and to get to the start from the finish, they carry people up the hill on lumber trucks. You're sitting on a bundle of 2X4s, literally. Which is a lawsuit waiting to happen; there's nothing to prevent people from falling off. Anyway, the road is quite rough, there's nothing to hold on to and you're tensing up trying to make sure you don't fall enough. So by the time we got to the top, my back had locked up. Stretching and a warmup run didn't help -- although they definitely warmed me up; sweat was streaming down my back as I stood at the line. It wasn't as hot as it was for this race last year, but it was darn humid. So I'm three miles from the finish, and my car, and I can either run down the hill or bail out and walk down the hill. So I decided to run.

It was obvious early that my back was not going to let me run fast. I just tried to maintain as good a pace as I could. First mile was like 7:20, second mile was 7:50. It actually seemed to loosen up a bit in the third mile and I was able to pick up the pace in the last half-mile, which included a big downhill. By the time I drove halfway back home and had to stop for gas, I was COMPLETELY locked up and limping.

Easy run tonight, except for the fact that the back still hurts. Maintained the pace for an hour, more or less, and the gluteus medius hurt every step of the way. But got through ti. It's about time to start increasing my weekly mileage toward the start of marathon training in a couple of weeks.

Reading Hudson's book now, BTW. We'll see if it makes sense to me, enough to try it.

Hard progression run tonight on the dreadmill. Started at sub-9 pace, then about 8:20, and the last 2.6 miles at GMP. Actually had intended to do 7 miles in about an hour, but extended it another mile and 6.5 minutes. Back felt pretty good tonight, better than the legs felt. I'm gonna need a lot of runs like this in the next four-plus months to get ready for Memphis.

One of those runs where the plan changes in midstream. Had intended an easy 4-miler around the neighborhood (or as easy as the local hills would permit). But I got turned around a bit in the Calico Creek section, took a couple of wrong turns, found myself back on Calico Creek when I didn't want to be, and figured out that this one wasn't going to go according to plan. After a couple more wrong turns, I finally got back where I'd wanted to go from the start, and by this time I'd actually kinda gotten into a groove. So I decided to stretch this run out a bit. Wasn't going to go real long, in part because I started at 8:15 and it was rather humid after two days of rain, but a little longer than 4. Wound up being a smidge over 6 in 57:42. Hills, surprisingly, were not an issue, although the humidity was. Tech shirt was soaked (imagine if I'd worn cotton).

Quick 4 on the TM before work today. May or may not get in a short run tonight. Have a lot of thinking to do -- finally got an offer from NWA last night.