We join our hero at the end of the longest run of a week that was mostly cool until he started on that long run.
Monday: 6 miles. Same six miles in the same park and subdivision. 6.09 miles in 52:12 (8:34/mile pace).
Tuesday: 12 x 400. Ran entirely in the park, sometimes going the incorrect direction. Splits were 1:41, 1:38, 1:44, 1:41, 1:43, 1:40, 1:45, 1:45, 1:45, 1:40, 1:40, 1:41; the goal range was 1:46-1:49, so all were a little fast. Overall, 7.75 miles in 1:03:29 (8:11/mile pace).
Wednesday: 5 mile recovery. Ran in the same park and subdivision. 5.1 in 44:10 (8:40/mile pace).
Thursday: 4.5 mile tempo run. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. The morning weather was perfect… My tempo portion was 33:53 (7:32/mile pace), and my overall was 6.5 in 51:11 (7:52/mile pace), which is the fastest workout I’ve had since probably 2018.
Friday: Fieldwork, so I didn’t run. At least I made it home before my watch decided I made my calorie goal (last week, my watch decided I hit that goal while driving through Dayton, Ohio).
Saturday: 13 miles…
Ran in the park and subdivision… a few laps. This was a hot one, and I took both a water bottle and a bottle of Gatorade and mostly alternated starting with Gatorade at 2 miles. I slept through miles 7 and 9 (suddenly I was 8 and 10 miles in without recalling the signal for the miles in between). Overall, 13.33 miles in 1:55:44 (8:41/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. Just under 39 miles, and at a pretty good pace. I’m shy of 45% though the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee and almost 43% in the Race Across Ohio (There and Back Again).
This is one of those times where the end of the month actually aligns with the calendar. Unfortunately, it also aligned with a push to finish a project. I spent the last week of May working all-out to finish a project, and then the first week of June working on projects that were displaced by the prior week.
Monday 5/25: 6 miles. Felt tired because of staying up late to watch the end of the Coca Cola 600. Ran in the park and subdivision, which felt better than expected. Unlike last Friday, everyone was following the One Way signs… except me. 6.41 in 55:28 (8:39/mile pace).
Tuesday 5/26: I was preparing for a morning conference call and ran in the afternoon after work. This meant two things: one is that I didn’t do hill repeats and the other means that I ran in 85F weather. Too fast and too hot, I stopped after 4 miles. 4.15 in 35:32 (8:34/mile pace).
Wednesday 5/27: I had originally scheduled a 5 mile run, but I ran 6, partly to make up for a shorter distance the prior day. Through the park and subdivision next to it. 6.06 miles in 52:40 (8:41/mile pace).
Thursday 5/28: Did a 4.5 mile tempo run in the park and subdivision. The tempo portion was 35:33 (7:54/mile pace), which was pretty good. Overall, 6.5 miles in 53:34 (8:14/mile pace).
Friday 5/29: 14 miles in the park and subdivision. Apparently my legs felt like lead or something because it took 2:06:19 (9:01/mile pace).
The month of May ended with 164 miles run.
Monday 6/1: Ran 6 miles in the park and subdivision next to it. 6.13 in 52:28 (8:34/mile pace).
Tuesday 6/2: 8 x 800. Yasso 800s are some of the most difficult workouts to me. However, I nailed them, despite having difficulty with my watch. Kept these almost entirely in the park, but as it got too busy I ran part in the subdivision next to it. 9.52 miles in 1:17:16 (8:07/mile pace).
Wednesday 6/3: 5 miles. Park and subdivision. Overall, 5.14 in 45:33 (8:52/mile pace).
Thursday 6/4: 4.5 mile tempo. Ran in the park and subdivision, and I was dealing with some heat. The tempo portion was in 36:16 (8:04/mile pace), overall 6.51 in 54:43 (8:24/mile pace).
Friday 6/5: I set out to do a 15 mile long run in some very warm (low 70s) and extremely sticky conditions. One bottle of Gatorade Endurance was not enough. After 12 miles I was really feeling spent and ended walking after 13 miles and some change and deciding to call it there. Went to the park’s water fountain, which was off (🤬 virus). Made it to 13.25 in 2:04:05 (9:22/mile pace).
Sunday 6/7: Wednesday 6/3 was Global Running Day and there was an Aftershokz Strava-group run that was supposed to be on that day. When the Black Lives Matter protests began, they moved it to Sunday. So I went ahead and ran it, partly because of cutting my long run short. 3.38 miles in exactly 30 minutes (8:53/mile pace).
Monday 6/8: Another six miles in the park and subdivison. 6.11 miles in 52:33 (8:36/mile pace).
Tuesday 6/9: 8 x hill. Went up to East Fork to run these in the newly-opened campground area. My splits were all pretty well grouped with 2:00, 2:01, 1:58, 1:59, 2:01, 2:01, 1:58, 1:59. Overall, 6.64 miles in 59:51 (9:01/mile pace).
Wednesday 6/10: 5 miles in the park and subdivision. Overall, 5.19 in 44:18 (8:32/mile pace).
Thursday 6/11: 30 minute tempo. I did this one by time (for once), basically adding 30 minutes to my first mile split time (hey, it’s easy math!). Ran the 3.91 miles in the 30 minutes, for a pace of 7:40/mile. Overall, 6 miles in 48:32 (8:05/mile pace).
Saturday 6/13. Due to fieldwork, I ran my long run on Saturday, and while I considered going somewhere else, I stayed in the park and subdivision. It was a chilly morning and I was pulling back (this is a pull-back week, although you wouldn’t know). Ran pretty fast, the 12.22 miles went by in 1:43:07 (8:26/mile pace).
That’s it for the three weeks. 37, 40.5, and 39.5 in those weeks. I’m up to 385km (of 1,000km, so 38.5%) in the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee and 156 miles across Ohio in 22:29:26 (8:40/mile pace, and that’s 34.3% across the state).
Our hero started out the week in the inferno. The weather report to start the week had rain on Monday morning, and instead it was steamy, humid heat.
Monday: 6 miles. Ran in the park and subdivision again. As the intro stated, it was like running in a sauna. 6.02 in 54:16 (9:01/mile pace).
Tuesday: 12 x 0.25 intervals. Ran these entirely in the park and following the direction of the path. It was raining most of Monday (starting in the late morning), and for all of my run. The path was flooding in places, and one part was deeper than my shoes – so running through that meant getting any potential dry spots on me pretty well soaked (NARRATOR: “There were no dry spots anyway”). Splits were 1:44, 1:43, 1:45, 1:47, 1:46, 1:45, 1:47, 1:47, 1:50, 1:47, 1:46, 1:42 (goal was 1:46 – 1:49, so 5 faster and 1 slower). Overall, 7.72 in 1:04:22 (8:20/mile pace).
This is what a drowned runner looks like…
Wednesday: 5 miles. Ran in the park and neighboring subdivision. It was wet, but didn’t start raining until I was doing my post-run stretches. 5.2 miles in 44:46 (8:37/mile pace).
Thursday: 4.5 mile tempo run. Ran this in the park and subdivision again. The tempo portion was 35:37 (7:55/mile pace). Overall, 6.52 in 53:37 (8:13/mile pace).
Friday: 13 mile long run. Ran in the park and subdivision – I was originally going to try to go out somewhere else where I was going to do fieldwork, but the logistics made it difficult. My legs felt like lead. Two laps around the subdivision and park, where on the final lap everyone was going the wrong direction except me. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurace, no fuel. 13.15 in 1:56:26 (8:51/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. 38.6 miles. 20% complete in the GVRAT.
I also signed up for the great run across Ohio virtual race. This is operated by the same people that do the Hungry Turkey Half (among other events). So far, I’m around 8.5% complete.
Our hero gets a slight rest this week as he lowers his mileage a little to let the legs rest. The state is coming out of it’s Covid-induced coma, and the weather is supposed to be getting warmer.
Narrator: The weather would get warmer… after it gets colder.
Fortunately, there was no rain.
Monday: 6 miles. Ran this in the park and the subdivision next to it **yawn**. 6.08 miles in 52:04 (8:34/mile pace).
Tuesday: 6 x 800. Ran this in the park entirely, following the one-way signs. Splits were 3:45, 3:34, 3:36, 3:32, 3:35, 3:32 (goal range 3:31-3:37, so all but the first were in the range). Overall 7.46 miles (or maybe 7.5 miles) in 1:01:36 (8:15/mile pace… or maybe 8:13/mile).
Wednesday: 5 miles. Also in the park and the subdivision next to it, but at least I saw a few other runners out. 5.05 in 43:47 (8:40/mile pace).
Thursday: 30 minute (ish) tempo. Ran in… you guess it, the park and the subdivision next to it. 1 mile warm up and cool down, and four miles of tempo running in between. That four miles was in 31:49, for a 7:57/mile pace. Overall, 6 miles in 49:28 (8:15/mile pace).
One way on the path starting this week.
We wish… I think the ball fields are closed off.
Friday: 12 miles. My legs felt like lead most of Thursday for some reason, and they still felt that way on Friday. Ran in the **yawn** park and subdivision, making a pitstop halfway through. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance. 12.03 miles in 1:46:10 (8:50/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. 36.6 miles at a faster pace than last week. Almost 14% across Tennessee. 🍻
Our hero looks like a drowned rat this week. There was a few days of rain, and he ran out of contacts… This is a bad time to run out of contacts since Ohio is still closed (for the most part).
Monday: 6 miles. Ran this in the park and the subdivision next to it. I tried to keep it easy. 6.09 miles in 52:33 (8:38/mile pace).
Tuesday: 8 x Hills. Ran up a hill in the rain, having to find a new place to park in the dark., but made it to the hill I used before the last time, which is a little easier. This hill, with the Coros, is 50 feet up (870 to 920 MSL… Garmin had 760 to 810, so still 50 feet). Overall, 6.03 miles in 53:38 (8:54/mile pace). Splits were 1:57, 2:00, 2:00, 1:59, 2:01, 2:01, 2:02, and 2:05.
Wednesday: 5 miles. Chilly but not rainy today. Ran this in the park and the subdivision next to it again. 5.56 in 48:48 (8:47/mile pace).
Thursday: 4.5 mile tempo run. Ran this in the park and subdivision, and it fortunately was not raining. I ran kinda hard, but it wasn’t as hard as usual, so I was surprised when my tempo pace was at 7:52/mile for the 4.5 miles of tempo running. Overall, 6.51 miles in 53:00 (8:08/mile pace).
Friday: 14 mile run. Ran in the rain, which started as soon as I parked my car at the park. Ran around the park once, in the subdivison where I had to make a few shorter laps because of a construction material delivery while I was coming back from the first lap. Ran 14.23 in honor of Ahmaud, who was killed last February in what appears to be cold-blooded murder. Ran all that in 2:04:31 (8:45/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. 38.42 miles. In the #GVRAT, I’m at 51.73 miles.
We join our hero at the end of a long run. This is not how this week was supposed to go, nor was this how the month was supposed to go. Our hero was supposed to be victoriously crossing the finish line of the Flying Pig Marathon to cap off a Sunday after crossing a finish line for the 50 West Mile on the prior Friday. Summer races are getting precariously close to the chopping block, and the odds are even money on fall races happening.
Monday: 6 miles. Coming off a refreshing break from the park and subdivision next to it, this was back into it. The morning was chilly only to break to a nice 65 in the afternoon, and this was expected to be a nice day before a few days of rain. 6.31 miles in 54:53 (8:42/mile pace).
Tuesday: 12 x 1/4 mile intervals. I’m learning with the new watch, and this was the first time I’ve done intervals. There’s goods, bads, and uglies. The good: it works. The bads: I have to define my warm-up and cool-down on the fly. The ugly: having to scroll the wheel on my watch to unlock it to end warm up and begin the first interval. I need to figure a few things out with this watch. Anyway, kept these in the park. Splits were 1:46, 1:45, 1:38, 1:44, 1:43, 1:44, 1:45, 1:44, 1:43, 1:43, 1:44. The stamina pace goal is 1:46-1:49 (one was at 1:46). The speed pace goal is 1:33 – 1:38 (one was at 1:38). I’m squarely in-between those pace ranges. Overall, 7.73 in 1:04:21 (8:19/mile pace).
Because of social distancing and narrow paths, there was mud.
Also on Tuesday, I decided to enter the 1000k Virtual Race Across Tennessee.
Wednesday: 5 miles recovery. Ran this around most of the subdivision, cutting off a small portion to keep it down to five miles. 5.24 miles in 45:37 (8:42/mile pace).
Thursday: 35 minute tempo run. Ran in the park and subdivision, and this was similar to last week with one notable exception – I actually used the lap button! The tempo portion was 4.5 miles in 35:50 (7:58/mile pace). Overall, 6.51 miles in 53:55 (8:17/mile pace).
Friday: 13 miles. I went downtown for this one to run a course that is similar to the Flying Pig Half. When I started up Gilbert, my legs were feeling spent. I pressed on up the hill and back down. 13.31 miles in 2:01:17 (9:07/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. 39.1 miles for the week, 156.4 miles in April. 13.31 miles (2.1%) in the Virtual Race across Tennessee.
Next week is more of the same, and I’ll be doing some more macro-level planning to ensure I make it through all 634.84 miles of the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee. While 1000k = 621.37 miles, the route shown on their website is listed as 634.84 miles so I’m using that. 🍻
Our hero’s frustration with Garmin took a turn for the better this week when he used his ‘Rona cash to replace his aging Garmin Forerunner 220 with a Coros Apex. This was not the only change this week…
Monday: 6 miles. This started out interestingly… First run with Knuckle Lights and as soon as I turned the first corner in the park I saw a deer in the soccer field. Then, after I turned another corner I saw a green flash in the sky – it was a meteorite from the Lyrid Meteor Shower. Unfortuntely, all good things must end as I entered asshat acres and was ignored (despite very bright lights) by an asshat behind the wheel. Fortunately, the rest of the run was without incident. 6.03 miles in 52:48 (8:45/mile pace).
Tuesday: 8 x 800 intervals. Ran these entirely in the park, where I was on my warm up before I realized that it’s nearly 10 miles of running. Splits were 3:40, 3:36, 3:32, 3:34, 3:35, 3:35, 3:32, 3:36; the goal range was 3:31 – 3:37, so one – the first – was slow. Overall 9.5 miles in 1:19:08 (8:20/mile pace).
In addition to the new watch, I decided to change up my afternoon snack. For a while, I was eating pretzel nuggets, and I’ve changed it to carrot sticks with humus.
Wednesday: 5 miles recovery. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. I’m not sure what happened to the weather here, I was in short sleeves on Tuesday, and a pullover over a long-sleeve shirt today. This was my first use of my new Coros watch, which has some advantages (aside from a lightning-fast GPS lock). 5.03 miles in 44:17 (8:48/mile pace).
Thursday: 35 minute tempo. The better weather was back, but my new-watch-blues are that I can’t set this watch the same way I did my Garmin. So I ran 4.5 miles at a hopefully-tempo pace after a one mile warm up and did a one mile cool down after. Ran in the park and neighboring subdivision again. It does appear that I was in the 4.5 mile tempo portion for 36:50 for an average of 8:11/mile pace, which is a little slower than normal. Overall, 6.53 miles in 55:03 (8:26/mile pace).
Friday: 12 miles. It seems like it’s been a while since I’ve gotten away from the park and neighboring subdivision, so I decided to go downtown. I made my way to the Airport trail head and ran into downtown and through most of Friendship Park and all of Sawyer Point, Yeatman’s Cove, and Smale Park and turned around to return. I did pause for a few pictures and my turnaround was late. 12.67 miles in 1:51:56 (8:50/mile pace). My new watch is telling me that it’s going to take me 2.5 days to recover from this run. 🤷♂️.
That’s it for the week. Just under 40 miles with two speedwork days and one long day. On to the next. 🍻
We see our hero running through wild weather in many forms. The week started warm, windy, and rainy Then the days went very cold. This is a pull-back week to give our hero’s muscles time to rest and recover.
Monday: 5 miles. Ran through the park and neighboring subdivision in the rain. It was warm-ish… warm enough to wear short sleeves despite the rain coming down. Nothing really to see or show. 5.09 in 45:29 (856/mile pace).
Tuesday: 10x400m intervals. Ran entirely in the park, keeping the pace red hot. Splits were 1:49, 1:44, 1:42, 1:50, 1:37, 1:42, 1:44, 1:46, 1:43, 1:41; the goal was 1:46 – 1:49, so one was slow and seven were fast… and two were in the pace range. Overall, 6.75 miles in 56:20 (8:21/mile pace).
Wednesday: 4 mile recovery. Woke up to 28F weather. While Monday was short sleeves and shorts, if I ran in the morning I would have been wearing pants, long sleeves, and a pullover. Quite the juxtaposition from Monday. I decided I’d let the sun come up and warm up everything and run after a second meeting in the afternoon. Kept this in the neighborhood since I had a meeting after lunch. 4.2 miles in 35:11 (8:23/mile pace… and I wasn’t exerting myself!)
Thursday: 30 minute tempo run. Woke up again to 28F weather. Unlike yesterday, I couldn’t wait until the afternoon because I had a service call to fix my Internet between noon and 4, and I had two conference calls in the afternoon (all three cancelled – Internet came back up on it’s own because the problem was not at my house, and the other two calls had reasons). So I put on everything and ran in the morning. The tempo portion was 3.87 miles (7:45/mile pace, goal was 7:17 – 7:33). Overall including warm up and cool down, 5.87 in 47:59 (8:10/mile pace).
Friday: 10 mile long run. Woke up to temps in the low 40s (better than 28!!!). Ran 10 around the park and neighboring subdivision after waiting for my 🤬 watch. Hydrated with water, since I didn’t want or need the extra calories from Gatorade. 10.24 miles in 1:29:17 (8:43/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. Our hero ran 32 miles in this pull-back week. Next week he’ll be back at it with some feeling. 🍻
Our hero looks over the park, happy with the run and staying a minimum of six feet away from everyone. This week had some major temperature swings, threats of weather, and beer.
Monday: 6 miles. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. Kept it easy. 6.12 miles in 53:31 (8:45/mile pace).
Tuesday: 7 x 800. Ran entirely in the park, really pushing the intervals. Splits: 3:39 (7:18), 3:36 (7:13), 3:34 (7:07), 3:37 (7:14), 3:39 (7:17), 3:37 (7:14), 3:34 (7:08); the goal was 3:31 – 3:37 for stamina paces, 2 were slow. Overall, 8.5 miles in 1:11:34 (8:25/mile pace).
Wednesday: 5 mile easy. Ran this one in the park and the subdivision next to it, cutting off a portion. This was a very warm morning, nearly 70 in the morning. 5.08 miles in 46:04 (9:04/mile pace).
Thursday: Planned 35 minute tempo. I didn’t run Thursday morning. Wednesday evening, my area went under tornado warnings and we lost power just before 11:00 PM. There was a tree down nearby across the road and the power was not restored by Thursday morning… in fact, it wasn’t restored until nearly 10 PM Thursday night. The area I grew up in was hit pretty hard by non-tornado winds (the winds were stronger than the four tornadoes the NWS determined on that evening).
Friday: 14 mile run. I considered bumping everything by a day until I remembered I was attending a class on Saturday, so ultimately the tempo run was scrubbed. Legs felt good for the long run, though. It was a bit colder than Wednesday. 14.16 miles in 2:04:44 (8:49/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. The goal was 40 miles, I made it to 34 miles courtesy of some tornadoes. On to the next. 🍻
We join our hero as he finally sees that two of the wicks on the candle that’s been burned from both ends and the middle have been extinguished and it’s back down to one. In the past two weeks, our hero has revised his entire training plan and approach. This new approach is built for speed and built on the foundation of the Hal Higdon Advanced Half Marathon plan.
Week 1 – Ending 3/29/20
Monday: 6 miles. Ran in the subdivision next to the park, almost running into a dog walker thanks to the fucking rain and wearing glasses. Got it done, though. 6.11 in 54:25 (8:54/mile pace).
Tuesday: 7 x hill. I drove to my normal campground hill, but there was an area closed. I probably could have driven around the closure, but I decided I wouldn’t since I really don’t know why it’s closed. So I used a different hill that was far taller – about 80 more feet of rise over the quarter mile. That being said, my splits started at 2:13 and went to 2:29 by the end (the other hill was 1:50 to 2:00 per split). Overall, 5.6 miles in 54:28 (9:44/mile pace… yeah, that hill was a killer!).
Wednesday: 5 mile recovery. Ran this entirely in the park because I got up late and didn’t want to ‘battle’ with the last few people in the subdivision that are essential. Instead I battled with my watch deciding to update with nothing to update. This was also the first time I’ve been in the park since the governor closed playgrounds. 5.16 miles in 45:55 (8:54/mile pace).
Thursday: 6.5 miles with 4.5 miles fast. I had really wanted to change this to a 35 minute tempo run, but forgot. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. That portion was 4.51 miles in 36:18 (8:01/mile pace). Overall, 6.52 miles in 55:24 (8:30/mile pace).
Friday: 12 miles. I was off work that day, so I should have gone downtown instead of the park and subdivision, but I didn’t think about that until after I ran. 12.03 miles in 1:48:53 (9:03/mile pace).
Week 2 – Ending 4/5/2020
Monday: 6 miles. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it, not at all dissimilar in route from the prior Monday. 6.11 miles in 54:00 (8:50/mile pace).
Tuesday: 10 x 400. Ran these entirely in the park, and it’s the first time I’ve done 400s in a while. My splits were 1:42, 1:39, 1:45, 1:48, 1:37, 1:44, 1:48, 1:46, 1:43, and 1:42; the goal was 1:46 – 1:49, so seven were faster than the goal pace and none were slower than the goal pace. Overall, 6.75 miles in 56:29 (8:22/mile pace).
Wednesday: 5 miles recovery. Ran most of one lap around the park+subdivision and kept it easy. 5.13 miles in 44:11 (8:37/mile pace).
Thursday: 35 minute tempo run. Ran around the park and subdivision… again. 1 mile warm-up, 35 minute tempo at a goal pace of 7:17-7:33, which I did not make – my tempo pace was 7:42/mile. I blame my watch. Overall, 6.55 miles in 52:51 (8:04/mile pace).
Friday: 13 mile run.
Ran two full laps around the park and subdivision next to it. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance, no fuel. The sun came out at the end. 13.14 miles in 1:55:48 (8:49/mile pace).
Week 1 was 35.4 miles, and week 2 was 37.7 miles. March ended during week 2, and it’s total mileage was 194 miles.
