Run: 6.0 miles - Pace: 9:40/mi - Week: 16.0 miles - Year: 101.0 miles - Total: 861.56 miles
My splits were remarkably consistent for this run: 9:44, 9:41, 9:45 (29:10 - first half), 9:38, 9:35, 9:42 (28:55 - second half, all with 9 seconds of each other). Good news was that my left held up remarkably well. I didn't notice nearly the pain that I had yesterday. The only thing that was a bit off was my left foot. I noticed a little pain on the front end of the ball of that foot (just before the toes). It was an odd pain, but not bad. Still, since it was rather new I'll have to pay attention to it. Also, I don't know why I keep running these long runs a bit faster than even some of the weekday runs.
Run: 5.0 miles - Pace: 9:15/mi - Week: 14.0 miles - Year: 85.0 miles - Total: 846.56 miles
Um, that was fast. Much better than last week, which was a 10:11/mi pace. Got started too quickly, really. Excited about a variety of things. Splits were 9:27, 8:55, 9:16, 9:15, 9:25. All things considered, it was a good, solid run. No pain in the ankles, though calves tender as always. What felt great was that after the second mile (8:55 on a long run?!), I slowed up to a more comfortable pace, which was still pretty brisk. I'm faster than last year (I think). I've got 5 weeks until a 10K I'm considering, so we'll see then.
Run: 5.0 miles - Pace: 10:11/mi - Week: 12.0 miles - Year: 71.0 miles - total 832.56 miles
Not a bad run this morning. Temps were low around 70 with matching humidity. Not great, but much better than 86 with 76% humidity. The start of the run was awful. I felt like my calves (more on the left leg) were pretty sore and my right knee as well. Worse, though, was the nausea I had for the first 1.5 miles. I only had a glass of OJ before the run, so I'm guessing that's it.
After those first 1.5 miles, though, everything went well. In fact, my splits were 10:57, 10:37, 10:12, 9:51, and 9:15. I felt like could have run another mile or two and a fast pace, which is good considering how poorly the run started. Same basic mileage for next week, save I'll get that 2-mile Tues run added in.
Run: 4.0 miles - Pace: 9:48/mi - Week: 12.0 miles - Year: 59.0 miles - Total: 820.56 miles
Hot run this morning in Collinsville, IL. Scott showed me some nice trails that were just about a mile away. Trails were nice, but the roads getting there were a little narrow and hilly for my taste. Splits were 10:01, 9:51, 9:24, 9:57. I felt like I was really hitting my stride in the third mile, but then realized how downhill that first mile was (i.e. that last mile had some difficult hills). There were some intense bikers out there. Made me want to get into biking a bit more.
Run: 4.0 miles - Pace: 9:58/mi - Week: 12.0 miles - Year: 47.0 miles - Total: 808.56 miles
Good run today. Splits were 10:24, 10:02, 9:56, and 9:32, so I still managed a negative splits. Left calf was the only thing that wasn't entirely comfortable. Pacing felt good, and I look forward to the exact distances again next week. I like the gradual pacing of this program.
On another note, I'm thinking about doing the Pilgrim Pacer 1/2 on the 14th of Nov. Small, cheaper race that is 4 weeks after the big KC half, which would give me more time to get built up to more decent mileage beforehand.
Run: 10.0 miles - Pace: 10:35/mi - Week: 10.0 miles - Total: 761.69 miles
Had to move my long run to today because I was quite sore yesterday from all that faster running. First off, the splits.
Mile 1 - 10:10
Mile 2 - 10:30
Mile 3 - 10:31
Mile 4 - 10:41
Mile 5 - 10:45 -- First Half - 52:37
Mile 6 - 10:26
Mile 7 - 10:07
Mile 8 - 10:45
Mile 9 - 11:06
Mile 10 - 10:49 -- Second Half - 53:13
The heat really got to me in those last couple of miles. This 75 degree weather really sucked after running in low 50's or upper 40's. I really just wanted to stop those last two miles. My legs felt like there were going to give out.
This course really isn't as easy as I had hoped. The four miles that are on the concrete sidewalk along the four line roads sucked. Of course, they were also quite hilly, but they just sucked in general. Coming back down in mile 7 was fun, but after that I was basically done. I wasn't ready for this run and it rightly kicked my butt. With 3 weeks to the race, I'll have to try for 13 miles next week, and maybe 9-10 the following week. I'm gonna keep running on the course, and hopefully I'll get ready for that concrete. Ugh.
Run: 12.4 miles - Pace: 10:46/mi - Week: 23.9 miles - Total: 708.25 miles
Oops, I overran this one a little bit. I've only done this route a couple of times, and I ended up going about 3 blocks too far. This route is also really tough because there are lots of hills. Lots. And Lots. I figured this would be pretty good prep for next week because there are a couple of tough hills, but I don't think nearly this many or this difficult. So next week should be no problem, right? He he.
Not sure what else to say. The first mile was rough, but I felt like I settled into a nice pace in the second mile. Once I got to about mile 7 or so things were getting hard, and the last couple of miles were pretty brutal. It doesn't help that the hardest stretch of hills comes in mile 11. At least the half will be downhill from 10 on. I noticed some trouble in my hamstrings. They felt like they wanted to cramp up every now and then, but they never gave me too much trouble. The right ankle felt a little awkward at times as well, so I won't be playing any Tom Johnson next week. :)
Oh, I didn't have the sport beans, so I had minimal breakfast and no support on the course. I did ok without them, but there were a couple of times where I think they would have helped. Well, less than a week left.
Run: 11.0 miles - Pace: 11:01/mi - Week: 26.73 miles - Total: 684.35
No more Nike+, I'm afraid. The sensor in my shoe seems to have died sometime between yesterday's run and the start of today's. So I just used the stopwatch.
Overall, I felt really good about this run. I was worried, though, at the start. Yesterday's run left me feeling sore by the evening, and I knew I wouldn't even have a full 24 hours to recover before this run. I did some extra stretching last night and tried to keep hydrated as well as I could.
Still, the first 3 miles or so did not feel good. Usually you kind of want those miles to feel painfully slow and easy, instead they were just painful. I found a nice pace after a while, though, and was pleased with how I managed the first big hill coming up from Brush Creek. I walked a minute every 12 minutes, knowing that for these long runs I usually average over 11 minute miles. I ate a pack of sport bean before leaving and took another pack with me for the run. I ate about half of them before I didn't really want them anymore. I think I'll still take them next week, but maybe just eat a couple when I feel like it, rather than trying to eat on some schedule.
The last two miles or so (I can't be exactly sure), went really well. I had to go up a long incline from state line over to Belinder, and then had to ascend a rather steep portion of Belinder. Still, I was able to attack that last steep incline and push all the way to the end. I ended up finishing about 5 minutes faster than I expected to, which is good. Makes me think that with fresh legs I just might be able to break 2 hours. Nothing really to report pain-wise, so we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow.
Run: 10.03 miles - Pace: 11:32/mi - Week: 22.93 miles - Total: 657.61 miles
A pretty good run today. My legs weren't exactly fresh, with 5 hard miles on Thursday and 3.5 quasi-easy miles yesterday, so I took it really slow to start. I also included the hill coming back from the Plaza, and it actually went pretty well. I felt good afterward, so I tried to pick up the pace on the last 3 miles home. Let's see if I did.
Mile 1 - 11:33
Mile 2 - 11:40
Mile 3 - 11:54
Mile 4 - 11:19
Mile 5 - 11:30 -- First Half - 57:56
Mile 6 - 11:34
Mile 7 - 12:11
Mile 8 - 11:13
Mile 9 - 11:29
Mile 10 - 11:05 -- Second Half - 57:32
Ok, well, I did manage to pick it up a little, but not as much as it felt like. Those splits are pretty awesome, especially since that awful hill goes from mile 5.5-6.5 on this run, so I did well to have a negative split.
I just took water with me, though I forgot how much that can wear on my abs to wear that water belt. I may try one package of sport beans and see if that doesn't make my legs feel a bit better after mile 7. It may be only psychological, but every little bit helps. The shoes felt pretty good, and I'm sure that wearing my best socks helped with that. For the most part, the only things that really hurt were in that first mile, afterwards everything felt pretty good. In that last mile, though, I noticed my left hip giving me just a little bit of trouble, so I made sure to do some really good stretching when I was done. I'm gonna ice my calves and shins a bit too this afternoon.
I can't believe I'm going to shoot for doing 3.1 more miles in roughly the same amount of time, but races have a funny way of bringing that out of me. Plus, I'm going to have an actual pacer, which should help tremendously.
