No Run

Rained all day so skipped run.

6 Mile Tempo – 8.64 Miles Total

Warm up

Tempo – 6:12 Pace (Goal 5:35 pace)

Cool down

8.06 Miles Easy

7:50 Pace

Legs felt sore, what else is new? I almost didn’t run and had to stop several times because of torrential rain. Luckily Bear Creek Park stayed dry enough for me get 8 miles out of the way. Unfortunately rain is forecasted for the whole entire week. I can’t remember the last time that happened. What is this Seattle or something?

8.68 Miles Easy

7:22 Pace

I tried to run this as a progressive run but my legs were just too beat up. I ended running 2 miles with Kia, a 14:45 5k guy and then used a few people as rabbits to help me through the run. The legs are sore but I made it through another week of 60+ miles in the heat. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Hopefully one of these days it pays off.

There are a couple of races coming up on the 4th of July. I would like to race one of these but my schedule calls for a long run on Saturday and another 60+ miles for the week. I could just train through it and run it but I’m not sure what good it would do for me. A really slow 5k isn’t going to really do me any good. Its funny, I’m not really getting great results in my workouts but I keep plugging along and staying consistent. What the heck is my motivation?

Long Run - 11.57 Miles

7:07 Pace

I did this long run as a progressive long run. I started at 7:30 pace and worked my way down 5 secs per mile till I got down to 6:40 pace. Ran the last 4 miles with a buddy. Excellent run.

9.66 Miles Easy

7:28 Pace

I did this as a progressive run from 8 minute pace down to 6:35 pace. I’m going to try do more progressive runs. Hopefully this will help my endurance.

3 Mile 30/30 Fartlek – 5.2 Miles Total

• Jump Rope – 9 x 20 Each Leg
• 1.49 Mile Warm Up
• 5 Strides

4:35, 5:36, 5:01, 5:40, 4:49, 6:05, 5:02, 5:48, 4:59, 6:05, 5:20, 5:56, 4:51, 6:07, 5:02, 6:15, 5:08, 6:34, 5:22, 6:12, 5:12, 6:19, 5:23, 6:26, 5:05, 6:21, 4:57, 6:33, 5:16, 6:44, 5:12, 4:57, 4:46

• Time 16:23
• Pace 5:27
• .71 Cool Down cut short by torrential rain

My speed is definitely coming back a lot faster than my endurance. I was able to get down to sub 5 pace 7 times but it was clear my endurance just isn’t where it needs to be, particularly leg strength. These days when I’m doing tempos and speed work, my legs are the first things to break down. Maybe I’ll start out slower next time and then hope to pick it up at the end.

8.66 Miles

7:08 Pace

6 Mile Tempo – 8 Miles Total

• Jump Rope 8 x 20 each leg
• 1 Mile Warm Up
• 5 Strides

6 Mile Tempo

Goal 5:35 Pace

Mile 1	5:38
Mile 2	5:44
Mile 3	5:47
Mile 4	5:55
Mile 5	6:09
Mile 6	5:47
Total Average Pace	5:50

• 1 Mile Cool down

Tough as hell(The humidity was intolerable). Ran with a buddy of mine and he had to quit at mile 4. So I’m not going to be too hard on myself.

8.62 Miles Easy

7:15 Pace

8.6 Miles Easy

7:09 Pace

Topped 60 Miles for the week.

Long Run - 11.52 Miles

7:01 Pace

8.69 Miles Easy

7:29 Pace

Clover Leaf Hills 3 Sets of 4 – 8.6 Miles Total

Decent session. Took a while but was able to pick up some speed at the end. A lot of 4:4x pace hill climbs with some 5:0x pace climbs sprinkled in.

8.01 Miles Easy

7:59 Pace

6 Mile Tempo – 8.42 Miles Total

• Jump Rope 5 sets 20 each leg
• Warm up
• 4 Strides

6 Mile Tempo

Goal 5:35 Pace

Mile 1	5:35
Mile 2	5:38
Mile 3	5:38
Mile 4	5:49
Mile 5	5:41
Mile 6	5:33
Total Average Pace:	5:39

• Cool down

Synopsis  - A great run and I just about needed it. It’s been a long long while since I’ve had any sort of semblance of my former self as far as speed and racing is concerned. While this wasn’t really my greatest tempo run ever for this distance. It does put me in the range of what I used to be able to do (5:30 pace) and gives me some hope moving forward. It was pretty much as hot and humid as all the other days but for some reason my legs were able to hold it together for a lot longer than in previous weeks.

I decided to do some jump rope and I believe this helped warm me up and get me ready. I also decided to cut my warm up from 3 miles to just 1. It’s just way too humid and hot and I sweat too much. I believe this saved me some energy. During the run I remained relaxed, maybe a bit too relaxed for mile 4, but relaxed nonetheless. This run gives me some well needed confidence and hope going forward.

By the way, today is my birthday and I think I gave myself a nice little gift.

8.69 Miles Easy

6:56 Pace

No Run

Not necessarily the whole truth. These days I do a 2 mile run with my son in the morning. The sun is out and it is so hot and so humid I wonder if it is affecting my runs in the evenings. Just some food for thought. We ended up going to Schlitterbahn, Galveston and boy did we have a whole lot of fun. We got back late and so I didn’t get a chance to do my run. I wonder if floating in the water in a tube all day counts as cross training?

Long Run 11.65 Miles

7:14 Pace

Legs felt great the first 2 loops then they cratered as usual.

6 Miles Total

? Pace

Legs are so so tired. I have to do a long run in the morning so I decided not to go for 9 or 10 miles today so I could at least get my long run accomplished.

5-4-3-2-1 Workout – 10.3 Miles Total

Warm Up

5-4-3-2-1 4.85 Miles, 6:20 Pace

Cool Down

After consulting with Sean he recommended doing this workout as it is a good workout to do when first transitioning from base work to speed training. It felt ok at the beginning but at the end the legs started to tire quickly as usual.

3 Miles

7:30 Pace

2 400s - 68, 69

I tried to do my run the morning after an evening tempo run(Wife going to class in the evening). Wasn’t going to happen, had to cut it short because the legs were trashed. I was contemplating doing the Rice All Comers Meet, specifically the 400 or 800 but after the 2 quarters I ran I decided to take a rain check. When I first started running at the age of 30, I was able to do a 59 second quarter. Not so today. Just nothing there.

6 Mile Tempo – 9.63 Miles Total

Warm up

6 Mile Tempo

Goal – 5:35 pace

Mile 1	5:40
Mile 2	5:44
Mile 3	5:58
Mile 4	6:11
Mile 5	6:21
Mile 6	6:07
Total Average Pace	6:00

Cool down

Synopsis – The same thing happened to me this week as last week. Maybe worse. Just didn’t have anything in the tank, so I just mailed it in hoping to get SOMETHING out of this exercise.

No Run

Life (Shaking my head).

7.8 Miles Easy

My main goal was just to top the 60 mile mark. My original goal for the week was to top 80. My original original goal before that was to top 90. Needless to say I failed at the previous 2 goals. I now know that I won’t be hitting 100 miles a week anytime soon. It’s just way too hot and my body has been crumbling under the heat. But I reached 60 miles and that is an accomplishment in and of itself. This is the most miles I have accumulated in this current time span. The only thing is that I don’t really have anything tangible to show for it other than the miles. I actually feel about as slow as I have been in a looong time. I have no explosiveness and the ligaments above and around my knees are always tight and start to tighten up really quickly during my runs. I never felt this when it was cooler, its the heat and its kicking my butt.

7:17 Pace

Long Run Fail – 5.8 Miles

In the morning I attended the Heights 5k. I usually race this every year but this year I’m not in the proper form so I decided to get my son in the kid’s 1k. I have to say he did pretty well for his 1st race. Before the race I gave him some tips. The main one was not to start out too hard. He wasn’t hearing that so I told him to just go out and have fun. When the race started he started out quick but actually I think he held back a little. He was still hitting about 7 minute pace though. About a quarter into the race he started to feel it and veer a little bit. I told him he could stop and walk but he wasn’t having any of that. At that point he was at 12 minute pace. Eventually we started nearing the end, and he picked out some older girls to chase after and he ended up finishing the last quarter of the race at 6:20 pace. Needless to say I was proud. He’s hooked. He ran the race at 9 minute pace. Not bad for a 5 year old.

Ryan Smith won the overall male and Katrina Price ended up winning overall female. I had a good time although it was extremely humid.

Long Run – I made an attempt to do this but had to abort. My knees tightened up big time and so I had to abort after the second loop. I ran both loops at 6:55 pace.

9.66 Miles Easy

7:00 pace

6 Mile Tempo – 9.88 Miles Total

Warm up

6 Mile Tempo

Goal – 5:35 pace

Mile 1	5:36
Mile 2	5:43
Mile 3	5:48
Mile 4	6:03
Mile 5	6:17
Mile 6	5:38
Total Average Pace	5:51

Cool down

Synopsis: After feeling great the previous weeks and even feeling that I was in the best shape I’d have ever been in, I put up this big egg. I don’t have any definitive explanations. There are many candidates though:

1. Been doing base work and no speed work
2. It’s hot and humid as hell
3. Legs were fatigued
4. Something physically wrong with my legs
5. I’m old and my time has come and gone

11.67 Miles Easy

7:14 Pace

2.85 Miles Easy

7:44 Pace

Legs are shot from yesterday. I'm skipping tonight's run as well. Will have to go at it again tomorrow. No need to force anything here even though this will cause me to be significantly behind in mileage goals for the week. Not going to add miles on the remaining days. I will attempt to complete my schedule as planned.

I'm in great shape right now. Probably the best I've been in.