Wednesday, October 7, 2009

8.69 Miles Easy

Mile 1 6:59
Mile 2 6:28
Mile 3 6:33
Mile 4 6:34
Mile 5 6:39
Mile 6 6:39
Mile 7 6:44
Mile 8 6:52
Mile 9 6:51
Total Average Pace: 6:42

Another humid mess out there. Even worse than yesterday. I look at the Garmin during the run and I wonder to myself "Is this thing off?". I mean it doesn't feel like I'm running 6:28 pace. It feels like maybe 6:50 something maybe 7 minute pace. Just wondering...

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

8.70 Miles Easy With A Soapy Ending

Mile 1 7:28
Mile 2 6:46
Mile 3 6:39
Mile 4 6:40
Mile 5 6:43
Mile 6 6:29
Mile 7 6:35
Mile 8 6:40
Mile 9 6:43
Total Average Pace 6:45

image Hot humid, yuck. This was probably the worst day of the year as far as humidity is concerned. Anyway I digress, something funny happened to me today. My primary running clothes didn't dry in the dryer so I had to resort to my backup shorts that were in my running bag. The things is...in my running bag I carry all of my toiletries such as soap, etc. When I take a shower at the tennis center in the morning I try to dry my sponge but it doesn't completely dry. I put it in a plastic bag but sometimes a little bit of soapy water gets into the bottom of my bag. It usually dries up, no big deal right? Wrong. I take my backup shorts which seem to be dry at the time and start running in this hellish-like humid weather. After 3 miles something curious starts to happen. My shorts start to foam up and leak soap. So I ended up having quite a bit of soapy foam running down the side of my leg. The longer and sweatier I got, the foamier the shorts got. How embarrassing! While I was running I tried to wipe it away with my hand but it only made it worse. I saw quite a few people I knew around the trail, so they would see me and say hi, but then immediately look down the side of my legs and give me this look (Like what you got going on in there, never mind I don't want to know). Well because of this accident I believe I have invented the world's first self cleaning running shorts. You don't even need to shower afterwards. Soap is included. The sweatier you get, the fresher you smell!

Monday, October 5, 2009

8.72 Miles Easy

Jump Rope

(160 each leg, 8 reps of 20)

Mile 1 7:06
Mile 2 6:36
Mile 3 6:41
Mile 4 6:42
Mile 5 6:45
Mile 6 6:43
Mile 7 6:35
Mile 8 6:39
Mile 9 6:37
Total Average Pace: 6:43

Some of the top local area masters competed in a big 5k competition in New York Sunday morning. Among the notables on the team were Sean Wade, Gerardo Mora, and Tom King. Sean was the top National Masters champion at 14:52. Gerardo got a master's PR at 16:17. Tom King did well with a 16:34 which I believe should be a top time for him. Congratulations to these guys for representing the Houston area well.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Day Off

We had a baby shower last night and we got in late. It's raining and I don't feel like doing a long run. I'm sore and tired. Just skipping it and I don't even feel guilty :)

Saturday, October 3, 2009

2009 Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure 16:03 - 10 Miles Total

Jump Rope

(140 each leg, 7 reps of 20)

3 Mile Warm Up

5k Race 16:03 (Official Time)

Mile 1 5:01
Mile 2 5:00
Mile 3 5:19
Last .14 Mile 5:03
Total Average Pace: 5:07 (16:05 Garmin)

4 Mile Cool Down

I woke up pretty late for the race and had to rush out the door. On my way there I checked the packet for safety pins and there weren't any. So I would have to race without the bib (There goes my pictures). At least I had the D-Tag so I would get an official time.

When I reached the race start I ran into Ryan Smith. Ryan Smith was the guy that ended up out kicking me at the end of last years race so it was good running into him and chatting up a bit.image

We ended up warming up together but realized the race was going to start in 4 minutes so we had to run back to the starting line right before the horn went off. Certainly not the most optimal pre-race preparation. There were a ton of high school kids at the race. One of the kids at the starting line asked me what I expected to run. I said "15 something". He said "15 what?" I replied, "I don't know, 15 something." He whispered something to another kid's ear and and the other kid looked at me. I didn't know what to make of it, maybe I would be getting some competition from them? Well anyway, Adam Davis was there and I knew he would be my main competition, actually the favorite to win. He won last year and his credentials precedes himself.

The horn went off and I relaxed myself getting ready to ease myself into 5 minute pace. But I had no time for that because about 30 kids exploded like bats out of hell at sub 5 minute pace. I had to make a decision early on to sprint out to the front so they wouldn't be in my way. I had to zig zag and weave my way to the front more than I would have liked but I finally made it to a comfortable spot. There were about 3 or 4 guys in front of me and at the very front was Adam. At about a half a mile it was just Adam, a chunky high school kid and then me. The high school kid evidently thought running the course was optional because he was running on the median, on the other side of the road, etc. After mile 1 I passed the kid and was about 10 seconds behind Adam. I hit the first mile at 5:01.

The second mile was pretty nondescript as all that happened was me trailing Adam the whole time. I managed to whittle his lead to under 10 seconds. I was basically playing a waiting game because I knew the real race would start with less than a mile to go. I hit mile 2 at 5:00 minute pace and hit 10:01 for my first 2 miles, a PR. I was feeling pretty good by then and was planning my strategy for the last mile.

The last mile started pretty well. I was still feeling strong and I managed to whittle Adam's lead down to 5 seconds with .7 to go. Then a guy on the side tells me there's a big head wind coming and to take it easy. Not too long after this I feel the big head wind. Then I hit the gradual up hill. I'm still going about 5:06 pace but then all of a sudden the energy in the legs just give way. I had nothing. This happened almost instantaneously. Adam was steady. Once I realized I had nothing left, I mailed it in, trying to minimize the pain that I was sure to feel after the race. I ended up finishing mile 3 at 5:19!!!

The Garmin said the last .10 was actually .14, and it said I did that at 5:03 pace. Somehow some way I probably ran a little longer than I should have, but that probably didn't matter. Adam finished about 20 seconds ahead of me at 15:44. This was my slowest time of the year.

It's pretty amazing that I dropped 20 seconds on the last mile. It used to be that collapsing would mean dropping 5 seconds. Now I'm beginning to drop 10-20 seconds per mile. Not good. I'm definitely needing to get some more miles under my belt. The race really took a lot out of me. I've been comatose all day and I'm sore in a lot of areas. It's actually funny since it was only a 5k. I'm definitely not feeling the 10 miler next week :( I'm also thinking about shutting it down (racing) for the fall racing season. Not just because of this race but also because we our bringing our second child in to the world and that will bring along it's own responsibilities. Not too mention there is no way mentally I'll be focused enough to train hard for these long races.

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Friday, October 2, 2009

Day Off

First one in about a month and a half (since I got injured) so I'm due for 1 or 2 of these.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

8.73 Miles Easy

Jump Rope
(120 each leg, 6 reps of 20)
Mile 17:32
Mile 27:03
Mile 37:09
Mile 47:09
Mile 57:06
Mile 67:04
Mile 77:05
Mile 86:47
Mile 96:47
Total Average Pace:7:06

The goal was to run no faster than 7 minute miles which was a pretty uncomfortable task. I've run at 6:30 pace for a while now, and now it is becoming hard coded into my natural easy pace. 7 minute pace seemed pretty unnatural. I was about to finish off my last 2 miles when Sean jumped in and so the pace quickened a bit.