Getting back to Boston

Took the job offer last night, so that load is off my mind. Now to the run. Met the Crackheads at the Arts Center this morning. It was relatively cool, but humid, and rain was in the forecast by about 9. I hoped it wouldn't take that long, and sure enough, it started raining around 7, at which time I was about to turn around on Kavanaugh up near Cantrell. Put the hammer down on the downhill; all of the last 6 mile splits were under 9, mostly in the 8:30s and 8:20s. ended up basically running a 20K in 1:51:41, averaging sub-9 for the whole run. And the rain felt REALLY good. Good way to jump off into the Hudson plan, which I now have to figure when when I'm going to start it.

Anyway, job won't start until maybe October, so I have two months to work out details, find a place to live, etc.

The official start of training for Memphis today, unless you want to call yesterday the start. Hudson called for a recovery run with two hill sprints at the end, and that's what I did. Six miles, two 8-second sprints. Paced off the sprints afterward and got about 45 yards on each. Not gonna make the NFL with those times (my all-time best 40 was 5.0 with a rolling start in high school), but hopefully I can bring them down a little, and more importantly, get a little stronger.

These next 18 weeks are going to be a real challenge. Not only am I trying to finally get the elusive BQ, but I'm going to relocate, pack and unpack, plus get my son established as a college student. Will be interesting to be sure.

Easy 6 tonight. Resisted the temptation to pick up the pace. Legs felt good, but no need to risk overdoing it this early in the training cycle. Just plugged along and finished in 58:40. Easy again tomorrow, then some hills on Wednesday. Just trying to get easy miles in and get used to going more than 40 miles in a week again.

Another 6 on the DM tonight. Goal, other than just putting in the miles, was to work on keeping my stride low and quick, not the bounding I tend to do on slow runs, TM or otherwise. I think I succeeded; the cadence/HR monitor showed in the mid-170s, not around 160 as I do when I'm bounding (if you're not holding the HR monitor on the TM and it shows a reading, it's counting your cadence, not your HR). Six days in a row now for the first time in a LONG time. Not quite up to the 40-plus days I had at one point in the spring, but not bad, and legs are handling it pretty well so far.

A not-so-easy easy run tonight. Legs did not want to work. Thought frequently about cutting it off at 5 miles, but kept going anyway until I got to 6. Then I jogged over from the AC to the hill on Commercial St. to run my hill sprints. Didn't count on the Wednesday night church crowd leaving at that time, but managed to get my three sprints in without getting run over, then jogged back to Casa SP. Strangely, the sprints felt better, maybe felt a little faster than they did Monday night.

If I haven't mentioned it to this point, I'm trying Hudson for the Memphis training cycle, sort of a mix between his Plan 2 and Plan 3. Probably will top out at around 80, although I might push it to the full 87 if things go well. It will be interesting trying to do this with all that will be going on in my life between now and December; a real test of my focus/dedication/obsession/insanity/all of the above.

Somebody slap me. Please. Knock some sense into me. I took Hudson Level 3 and tweaked down the first week because my mileage hasn't been that high this summer. Eight-milers became 6 milers, including tonight's progression run. Then what do I do? Run eight anyway. Yep, I need some sense slapped into me before I hurt myself. Anyway, no injury yet, and then run went pretty well. Ran the last 5 minutes at GMP. It was a Beat the Cop run tonight anyway; try to finish before I get tossed off the treadmill at 10 p.m. I made it. The couple on the other treadmill and the elliptical, I'd venture, got tossed; they'd barely arrived when I left at 9:58.

Wasn't sure I was going to run today. Legs felt every bit of last night's tough 8, and today was another typical Friday pummeling at the office. But rested for a while, then decided to go put in my easy 4, which I did without any trouble. Finished my first week of Hudson Level 3 with 48 miles -- not his recommended mileage, but satisfactory for my purposes. Start week 2 tomorrow with 14 from the boathouse.

Not sure what was going on this morning. Felt like I hadn't eaten in a month (I had), or hadn't slept in a week (closer to the truth), or my legs were necrotic (they are). Had no energy at all. Heat and humidity didn't help, but a little bit of breeze was no help. I got through 14 miles, but it took a looooong time.

Interesting run tonight. Planned to do it on the TM, but couldn't get into the fitness room for some reason. So got my Garmin and went out on the streets. Humidity quickly started kicking my fanny. After almost four miles, looped back by the fitness room and decided to try again, and this time the door opened. So I ran two miles on the TM inside, then went back out to do my hill sprints X 4 on Commercial Drive. Not a fun run, but got it done.

Fartlek run tonight, so I'm guessing at the total distance of the surges -- which were 8 X 45 seconds at paces ranging from 7:24 to 6:15. Went pretty well; legs felt much better once I picked up the pace. I just have a hard time running 10 minute miles in training. I have to expend energy holding myself back, I think.

Back to the old midweek 8-milers. Was supposed to be easy, but I decided to make it a progession run -- which probably made it easier than it would have been if I'd just loafed at 9:40 pace for an hour-plus. Got up to 9:00 pace and would have gone faster, except the control panel on the DM locked up (which it does sometimes when I'm sweating a lot) and I couldn't turn it up or adjust the incline or do anything else, even stop it at the end; I had to pull the safety string to stop it when I finished. Wound up at 74:30 for eight.

Slow 6 on the TM tonight, then over to Commercial to run hills X 5. The hills are gettingg easier, I think; the slow 6-milers aren't. Legs took about five miles to wake up.

Pam and I met a group of people who turned out to be mostly from Arkadelphia (my hometown) tonight at a pub. Then I left early to go run. Not sure the two are connected, but it was not a good run. Might be because I started at almost 9 p.m. and hadn't eaten since noon (and had some GI distress after that). Legs felt really weak, and I was really hungry, so I cut off the planned 8-miler at 6 miles then went to go find some food.

Up early this morning to run, in part because last night's run didn't go so well. Did better this time, a routine 4-miler at the AC. Weather was really nice, around 68 and not very humid, but I'm still glad I ran on the TM, because there were some mid-run issues I needed to deal with that would have been more problematic on an outdoor run. May do a short run tonight, may not. Then 14 tomorrow.

Pretty good run this morning. Got a break on the weather; it was 68 degrees at 6 a.m., and it doesn't get any better than that in August in Arkansas. Could have used a touch more breeze, but otherwise very nice. Legs felt a little sluggish early, but as I picked up the pace a bit they warmed up. Definitely a better 14 miler than I ran last Saturday. Heart rate was about where I wanted it; averaged  135 for the run. Last quarter-mile some lean 25-year-old pulled up beside me and I decided he was NOT going to beat me, so I put the hammer down. I didn't pull ahead of him, but he didn't pass me either, so I consider that a victory for the old guy. And he congraulated me afterward on the late surge. Garmin said I was running 5:36 pace at the end.

Just didn't feel like running Sunday, so got up at 5:30 today to do 7 moderate miles at the AC. Run went OK, conisdering. Have to leave for Springdale right after work. Might run when I get there, but I doubt it. And tomorrow is going to be a very stressful day, emotionally. Maybe I can get in an early run before we go look at houses or go to campus.

Pretty good run tonight in spite of two straight nights of poor sleep and the emotional stress of sending Tyler to college, trying to get him situated and get his books bought, etc., and signing to rent a new house. Very nice one, in a good area for running, I think. There's a park next door with a trail, plus rolling hills in the neighborhood. I've already mapped out a 4.5 mile loop in the area. Anyway, in spite of dragging through work today, guilt got me after missing two of the last three days, and I went to do a fartlek run on the dreadmill. Warmed up for 2 at 9:15 pace, then started running one-minute surges, with the first one at just about 7:00 pace and the 10th one at 6:15, with three minutes in between at increasingly faster "recovery" speeds, then finished the 8 miler at GMP for the last mile and change. Finished in exactly 66:00, or 8:15 average, but at least a third of the run was at GMP or faster, and the last six miles averaged GMP.

Hudson-style rpogression run tonight -- six miles semi-easy, three miles moderate, one mile at GMP. Took the legs about five miles to really loosen up after the hard fartlek last night. Felt better during the moderate phase, almost oo good during the GMP. Took 89:59. And, in spite of missing two nights, I'm still on track for a 45-mile week. I'll just look at this as my recovery week and press on next week.

Hopefully all the drama is over for a while and I can concentrate on running. Did a recovery run tonight on the DM; planned to go 5 originally but legs felt good so stretched it to 6. Getting up in the morning to do 15, so that will be 21 in about 12 hours. I'll just make this my recovery week and beef up next week's slate accordingly, possibly to near 60.

Another unbelievably nice morning to run in central Arkansas. It just doesn't stay this cool this long in August around here; something weird is going on. Today at 5:30: 64 degrees, reasonable humidity, hint of a breeze, not a cloud in the sky. And things didn't change much between then and 8:20, when I finished my 15 miler -- except the sun came up.

My legs were kinda sore to start with, thanks to last night's 6 that finished around 9 p.m., and the 10 miles Thursday night, and... I figured this would be a good exercise in running with tired legs, as Hal Higdon recommends. Started out at sub-9 pace, which was too fast, but I really didn't slow down much. I did mile 11 in 9:48 with a bit of a walk break, but that was the slowest mile, and the average for 15.05 was 9:06. Hard to imagine I could have run too much faster with the legs in the shape they were, even if the weather were, say, in the 40s instead of the 60s (but I can't wait to find out in October or so). I think this pattern of doing long runs on only 9-10 hours' rest may help me develop some strength that I've lacked in the last 10K at Memphis and Newport -- and maybe help me avoid the dreaded cramp monster as well, along with better hydration and electrolyte management.

Oh yeah, AHR was 138, about 70% of my heart rate reserve using the Karvonen method. Pretty good, IMO, considering it's still warm/humid. I wish my leg muscles were in as good condition as my heart seems to be. If they were, BQ would be a breeze. Cardiac capacity is not my limiting factor here.

"Cross-training" this morning, a recovery run this evening. XT consisted of unloading the storage unit, two full SUV-loads of rather heavy boxes and crates. I think a couple of those crates weighed more than I do. Managed not to throw my back out, which is nice. Then a 7-mile easy run tonight, followed by hill sprints X 6 on Commercial. Legs hurt more than my back now, which I guess is good. Over 1700 miles tonight, or is it 1800? Anyway, a whole bunch of miles.

Another fartlek run tonight. Took the surge part a little easier -- still 10 X 1:00, but slower pace. Srarted out four minutes between surges, then cut that to three. Consequently, was nearly three minutes slower for the full 8 miles than last week. No matter. That's what I felt like running tonight, so I did. Main worry now is getting the kid through a major bout of homesickness until he can get settled in. Right now he's miserable, which makes me miserable.

Hard 10 miles tonight. Not in terms of pace, but of difficulty. Started with stomach cramps that necessitated a short break, then legs refused to loosen for about 7 miles. Finally started feeling better after I accelerated at the midway point to 8:20 pace, then finished with the last .5 at GMP. Left foot didn't feel very good, either, which is a little worrisome; any twinge makes be start thinking stress fracture. Hopefully its just another twinge that will be gone in the morning.

Recovery run tonight. Stretched 6 into 7. No big deal, just felt like it. Needed some tension released with the turmoil at work and with T's travails on campus, basically.

Decided to skip last night due to a flareup of ITBS (hurting down the thigh, which has not happened to me before) and overall dead legs. Then thought about getting up to run this morning, but decided another 90 minutes of sleep was worth more than an 8-miler. So I got 5 done right after work at the AC, before my access to the AC goes away next week. Went all right. no ITB problems. A llittle tizanidine before bedtime last night seemed to help. Probably will do 16 tomorrow, but who knows. We'll see how I feel and what the weather is doing; chance of rain, which would be OK with me. Tyler's survived his first week at school and some -- SOME -- of the early anxiety seems to be subsiding. Now if he can just figure out how to form some bonds with his classmates.

Rather interesting run this morning. Crackheads met at Pinnacle Mountain Visitors Center, not my favorite place to run, but doable hills, or so I thought. Got there late but found a copy of the 16-mile route, which is what I wanted, so I grabbed it and took off. Brief perusal found a couple of roads I wasn't familiar with, but anyway.

First 8-9 miles were all over familiar territory, then I turned onto Highway 300, first time out there. It was OK, a little busy but adequate shoulders. Then I turned onto Roland Heights Road and immediately discovered how it got that name. I was looking up a ski slope. Made my way to the top, ran back down the other side, then turned onto Barrett Road. Barrett was OK, boring but OK. Then I turned onto Twin Bluff Loop -- another ski slope. Got up, back down the other side, back on to Barrett for an out-and-back. More routine boring country road stuff except for the two loose dogs that had me a little nervous for 200 yards or so, but all bark and no bite.

Got back to 300 and crossed over to re-enter the park at the East entrance. I see the words "Base Trail" on the route sheet, so I find a park map and locate the entrance to Base Trail about 100 yards down the drive. Turn on to Base Trail and I find ... rocks and roots. Lots of rocks and roots. And I'm wearing lightweight trainers, certainly nothing designed for trail running. Pick my way through the rocks and roots, take a couple of wrong turns, double back to find the trail again and make my way around the base of the mountain, a mile and a half or so to Pinnacle Valley Drive, then back to the visitors center (which is straight uphill for the last .75).

Garmin cut out somewhere on Base Trail; I was surprised it lasted that long because I had neglected to fully charge. So I don't know the exact mileage or the exact time, but with the doublebacks and the fact Tom's courses tend to be long anyway, I'm estimating 16.5. Might have been more. I think it took just about 3 hours, but picking my way through the rocks and roots slowed me down a bunch, not to mention those ski slopes. Good run, good weather, no sprained ankles or face plants, and I finished before they sent out the cavalry to look for me. There were raindrops on my windshield when I got back to the car, but not a one of them hit me in the whole three hours.

Good news on the college boy front. He went to a Japanese cultural festival last night, being the Nipponphile he is, and was pleased to find a kid named Grant that he had met at Orientation. He also met with his peer counselor Friday evening, so he had two things going last night, thus no sitting around the dorm moping. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he's finally starting to settle in and this overwhelming anxiety will be a thing of the past. Meanwhile, Pam and her mom are going to Memphis this afternoon to see her brother's son play in a national kid baseball tournament, but I'm staying here to work on hospital privilege applications.

Also found out that one of my new co-workers in NWA is married to a girl who lived on my street in Arkadelphia. Talk about a small freaking world. Unbelievable.

Easy 8 tonight afer Pam got back from Memphis, followed by hill sprints. Glutes were already sore from yesterday's mountain climbing, so they got a little extra stress tonight. Run itself was pretty routine; nice cool evening helped. It was even cooler in the fitness room. Then went outside for the sprints, deciding to get them over ASAP with minimal standing around. Jogged to the bottom, turned around and sprinted right back up. Decided I will run the 5K Saturday, now just have to register.

Another exciting episode of Beat the Cop tonight -- finish my run before the policeman kicked me out of the fitness room. Got a mile of it done early, trotting home from work due to being carless and Pam running late. Then ran 7 after Shan's birthday dinner, with fartlek 10 X 1:00 and closing with 1.4 at GMP. Finished before the cop arrived, but by how much can't say.