This is week 9 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY on November 11, 2018 – 3 weeks left! I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter).
Monday: Intervals. Well, my watch is messed up again, I probably went to sync the workout to correct the same problem two weeks ago, but something happened and it was never corrected (by “something happened”, I mean that someone interrupted me from syncing my watch). So after a solid minute of running, it tried to get me to start the intervals. I dealt with it the same way – run a free mile and then restart the workout on the watch. Through the parks and around the Bengals’ practice field twice. After running straight up to the building (I had to make a full pitstop), 6.79 miles in 53:56 (7:57 min/mile pace). Interval splits were 7:31, 7:15, 7:26, and 7:28. The goal was 7:28 – 7:42, so two were fast and two were on target.
Tuesday: Recovery Run – 3 miles + 7 strides. Ran easy and kept it easy across the Purple People Bridge and then the Suspension Bridge. Even kept it easy after another runner passed me leading up to the Suspension Bridge. Finished with 7 strides. 4.11 miles in 35:01 (8:31 min/mile pace).
Selfie with Lucius Cincinnatus
Wednesday: Tempo Run – 55 minutes. It was COLD, and I found a cold area on the SE area of the park’s path. My mother-in-law passed away on Sunday and her funeral was today, so got out running early, before the rest of the house (and township, for that matter) were awake. I ran the tempo portion with only enough effort to keep in the pace range because the latter half of this week is loaded. Tempo portion was 6.94 miles, for a pace of 7:56 min/mile (the goal range is 7:41 – 7:59 min/mile). Overall including the warm-up and cool-down was 8.44 miles in 1:08:00 (8:03 min/mile).
The video is kinda funny because I was looping around to switch directions
Thursday: HM Pace Run – 5 miles. I kinda expected this run to go off the rails a little. It was cold again. The pace wasn’t really that bad, but I was slower than my target pace. Ran out around the Bengal’s practice field (and after that Chiefs game, they probably should have been practicing) and back in and into Friendship Park and around. HM pace portion was 39:38, a pace of 7:56 min/mile (I was targeting 7:28 – 7:48 min/mile, not yesterday’s pace!). Overall, 6.5 miles in 52:55 (8:08 min/mile pace).
Friday: 2:00 3/1 Run. It was a little rainy (not too bad) and warmer. I ran everywhere (seriously, see the Relive video, I don’t even want to try to describe it!). I did miss a turn in Covington, which added an extra block to the route (not a problem). I ran the first 90 minutes at an 8:50 min/mile pace, an easy effort for me. I ran the remaining 30 minutes at an 8:01 min/mile pace. Fueled with Gatorade Endurance Gel (vanilla flavor, which is very much like birthday cake) and hydrated with Gatorade Endurance Lemon-Lime. Overall 13.94 miles in 2 hours (8:36 min/mile).
I was everywhere. And since relive thinks it’s a half marathon (they’re not wrong), they gave me music!
Saturday: Recovery Run – 3 miles. Ran ~3 miles in the early morning by the few streetlights in the neighborhood and my RunLites. 3.13 miles in 27:29 (8:47 min/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. 43 miles this week, which is the most since I was in the late stages of marathon training. When you get to the advanced training plans they’re all difficult no matter what the distance is that you’re training for.
This is week 9 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY on November 11, 2018 – 3 weeks left! I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter).
This is an easier week because it’s a “race” week, which is really more of a mock race – all the intensity of a race with none of the crowd, support, finish line, medal, or beer.
Monday: Intervals – 5 x 0.5 miles at 10k pace. Ran in the park and all… Wore my heart rate monitor this time, which really doesn’t tell me much because I don’t use it. The interval times were 3:45, 3:44, 3:45, 3:41, and 3:31 (that last one was where I was trying to get to my max heart rate). It seemed like it would be rainy and I was prepared for it, but it didn’t really rain on me while running (just during the commute in). Overall, 6 miles in 48:58 (8:10 pace).
Tuesday: Recovery Run – 3 miles + 7 strides. IT WAS COLD! The temperature was around 40 in the morning. Ran across the Purple People Bridge and back across the Suspension Bridge, ending with 7 strides as I ran into the park. 4.1 miles in 34:29 (8:25 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: Tempo Run – 30 minutes. Ran the normal Friendship park through the parks and past the Bengal’s Practice Field and back. Covered 3.93 in the tempo portion for a pace of 7:38 min/mile, and I didn’t feel drained at the end. Overall, 5.43 miles in 42:47 (7:53 min/mile pace).
Thursday: “Rest” Day. So I’m supposed to rest. But I have this thing…
Fucking Step Counter.
While I hate the thing, it is easiest for me to take a little jog in the park in the morning to get my intensity goal in (3,000 steps in 30 minutes), and that also puts me in a good position for my tenacity goal (10,000 steps in the day) and knocks of one of the frequency goals (6 x 500 steps in 7 minutes). Honestly, I think this entire thing is bullshit and the insurance plan it’s matched up to (United “All Savers”) sucks horribly. Anyway, it was COLD, like 34F cold (that’s like 1C for the rest of the world), but I ran an easy 3.13 miles in 26:24 (8:26 min/mile pace).
Also on Today, I resigned from my job. I was supposed to have tacos for dinner, and while getting some tortilla chips and salsa and forgetting to buy boneless chicken breasts for another meal, I found two bottles of Founders CBS. It was a good day.
Friday: 15k Mock Race. Ran 9.32 miles starting in the park and out around the Bengal’s Practice Field. Then up the hill around Paul Brown Stadium, across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, through Covington where I yelled at someone for not using a leash, and then back across the Purple People Bridge. 9.32 miles in 1:11:40 (7:41 min/mile pace).
Saturday: Recovery Run. Ran just over 3 miles in the neighborhood. Weather was a bit warmer than the past few days. 3.03 miles in 25:25 (8:23 min/mile pace).
Overall, that’s 31 miles for the week. It’s a pull-back from the prior week, but next week will be back up to major miles.
This is week 8 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY on November 11, 2018. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!).
Monday: Speed Work – 3 x 1 mile Intervals at HM Pace. I started a little early because of a morning meeting that required me to print something over the weekend. The printer jammed, so I unjammed the thing (or so I thought) and went on to go running. Went to do my form drills and there was tables, chairs, and a storage container (one of those big truck containers) in the way, so skipped and started. Then, my watch starts beeping at me ONE MINUTE after I start to signal warm-up to first interval. I wasn’t really warmed up, so I stopped it and checked it out – workout was incorrectly setup (to a 1:00 warm up instead of a 1.0 mile warm up). Ran a mile and then restarted the workout. All of this on a very humid and dark morning. Splits were 7:29, 7:34, 7:28. Total workout was 5.63 miles in 45:31 (8:05 min/mile pace). Oh, and the printer didn’t work even after I cleaned up and tried multiple times.
Tuesday: Recovery Run – 3 mi + 7 strides. Ran across the Suspension Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge. Nothing much to report except humidity and that it’s the last day of normal. 4 miles in 34:04 (8:30 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: Tempo Run – 50 minutes. It was a bit humid, although not overly hot. Ran from the Sawyer Point entrance through Friendship Park, back through the parks and around the Bengal’s Practice Field and the rest of the West Pete Rose Way loop back through the parks and through Friendship Park again. Tempo portion was 6.28 miles in 50 minutes for a 7:58 minute per mile pace, within the goal of 7:41 to 7:59 min/mile. Altogether, 7.78 miles in 1:03:14 (8:08 min/mile pace). After my run on Wednesday, I was called home for a family emergency and the rest of the week went kinda sideways a little. My mother-in-law was found to have a brain tumor last Wednesday, and today the tumor hemorrhaged. This is seriously bad news and later that day my MIL was sent home and under hospice care. The day ended with some much needed good news, although I’m not at liberty to discuss it… yet.
Post run sunrise
Thursday: 5 Mile Half Marathon Pace. It was a little less humid, which was nice. Ran the miles in the local park EARLY. Like 5:45 AM early. My goal pace for this is 7:28 to 7:48, but since I was after a long tempo run on Wednesday, it was all I could do to keep the HM portion under 8 minutes a mile. Ran the HM portion in 39:21, which is 7:52 min/mile pace. The entire run was 6.5 miles in 52:36 (8:06 min/mile pace).
Spooky!
Friday: 1:45 Long Run. Ran a few laps around the local park, then into the neighboring subdivision and across a dirt construction path into the soon-to-be adjoining subdivision. Fueled with Gatorade Apple-Pear gel and hydrated with Gatorade Endurance. The temperature fell, and it was quite cold – I had been used to the upper-50s at the lowest, this was low-40s, so gloves (and my RunLites on them, whose battery died during the run) and a long sleeve shirt were in order. 11.85 miles in 1:45:00 (8:52 min/mile pace).
Saturday: Recovery Run – 3 miles. The day started with me going into downtown to assist with communications for the Queen Bee Half Marathon. After being released from duty a half hour early, I went for a run in the park. First off, I saw a barge heading upstream… and I’m a sucker for racing barges (and trains, too). Then, after crushing the barge, I received a call from my wife – which was freaky because I thought it was news of her mom passing. Instead, she was calling to tell me that my niece ran in the Queen Bee Half – her first half. Somehow, even with slowing during the call, I ran a progressive 3 “recovery” (*cough*) miles at 7:55, 7:41, and 7:37. Total of 3.03 miles in a way-too-fast 23:26 (7:44 min/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. About 39 mostly-fast miles. Heading for a fast half marathon next month.
This is week 7 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!).
Monday: 4 x 0.5 mile @ 10k pace. Ran through Friendship park and back to and around the Bengal’s Practice field. This is an area I know well (if you’ve read this blog, you’d recognize this!). However, something seemed up with the watch this morning – usually 1 mile is at the turnaround, this time it was way after. Then my watch kept telling me paces that seemed very slow for how hard I was running. Well, I wasn’t crazy, it was off. The half mile splits were kinda all over the place – 3:40, 3:26, 3:47, 3:29. There was a lot of fog out and I had a lot of difficulty keeping my glasses clear enough to see through. In fact, interval #3 had a slow patch because I was running a road on the opposite side of normal where there’s no sidewalk, and I couldn’t see the edge (I thought I was going towards the middle 😲). Overall, 5.26 miles in 43:34 (8:17 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: Recovery Run – 3 miles + 7 strides. The humidity kicked up today, but ran the Purple People Bridge and back across the suspension bridge, finishing my 7 strides in Sawyer Point. 4 miles in 33:56 (8:29 min/mi).
I couldn’t resist stopping to take this picture. Cincinnati skyline from Newport.
Wednesday: Tempo Run – 45 min. Kept it along the river because it’s mostly flat. Humid weather again. The tempo portion was 5.65 miles at a 7:58 min/mile pace, overall was 7.15 in 58:11 (8:08 min/mile pace). Unfortunately during my shower, my wife contacted me because of a family emergency – her mother is in the hospital.
Thursday: 4 HM Pace. Despite my multiple checks, my wife sent me to work. Weather was humid and legs were a little tired after yesterday’s tempo run. The HM portion was 4 miles in 32 minutes, a pace of 8:01 minutes per mile (a few seconds slower than my goal range). Overall, 5.5 miles in 45:21 (8:15 min/mile pace).
Friday: 1:45 3/1. The weather laid off the humidity a little and the temperature was lower, which was nice, but at this point my legs were more than a little tired. The first 3/4 was out along Eastern Avenue and covered 8.87 miles in 1:18:45 (8:52 min/mile pace), and the last quarter – which was supposed to be at HM pace – was 3.17 miles in 26:15 (8:16 min/mile pace). Overall, 12.05 miles in 1:45:00 (8:43 min/mile pace).
Saturday: Recovery Run – 3 miles. Ran a few late loops in the neighborhood. The weather was a tad warm, but a little less humid than earlier in the week. It was tough, my quads are a little sore from the week. 3.07 miles in 26:14 (8:33 min/mile pace).
That’s the end of a tough week. 37 mostly tough miles to start October. Next week isn’t any easier, it’s similar to this one with speedwork, tempo, and an HM pace run. The only differences are the specific intervals and the long run isn’t a 3/1 run.
This is week 6 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced programfor this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!).
This week seemed tough. In fact, I was making jokes about my legs falling off on Reddit because of the race last Saturday, Speedwork on Monday, Tempo Run on Wednesday, HM Pace Run on Thursday, and a long run on Friday.
Monday: Speedwork, 8 x 0.25 mi Intervals. It was a rainy morning and I didn’t go all out for these, partly because of coming off the race on Saturday. My splits were 1:48, 1:43, 1:41, 1:43, 1:48, 1:36, 1:43, 1:42, which were all much better than expected. Overall, 5.25 miles in 41:49 (7:58 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: Recovery. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides across the Purple People Bridge and back across the Suspension Bridge… Had to finish the workout as close to the office door as possible due to needing a full pitstop. 4 miles in 34:45 (8:39 min/mile).
Wednesday: 45 Minute Tempo Run. It was rainy and humid and it felt HARD. I felt like I was struggling to keep my watch from beeping throughout the entire tempo portion of the run. Ran through the park to and around the Bengals Practice Field twice, and then back through the park to the far end of Friendship Park. Tempo portion was 5.64 miles in 45 minutes, a pace of 7:35 min/mile. Overall, 7.14 miles 58:22 (8:10 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 3 Miles HM Pace. Kept it in the park again. The temperature broke yesterday and it was 15 F cooler than yesterday. And there was no rain. I ran the HM portion in 22:46, a pace of 7:35 min/mile. Overall, ran 4.5 miles in 36:12 (8:03 min/mi pace).
Friday: 90 Minute Long Run. Weather was foggy and chilly – I wore gloves and a long sleeve shirt for the first time this season. Ran out Friendship Park and back to warm up, and then ran across the Purple People Bridge, across into Covington and along the Riverfront Trail to the end and turned around and ultimately crossed the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. Then went back to Kentucky across the Suspension Bridge and back to Ohio across the Taylor Southgate Bridge. 1 river, 5 bridges (I never mention the Veteran’s bridge, because it’s a short one). Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance and fueled with a pack of Vanilla Gatorade Gel. 10.38 miles in 1:30:00 (8:40 min/mile pace).
Saturday: Recovery Run. Got up late because my wife and one of my kids and I were out late at King’s Island’s Halloween Haunt. Ran 3 miles in the subdivision. 3.04 miles in 26:23, a pace of 8:41 min/mile, which was much better than anticipated.
That’s it for the week. 34 miles. There’s another tough week coming up, although the focus changes a little as I see that hill repeats are out and I’ll be sticking to intervals on Mondays. Cheers!
This is weeks 4 and 5 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced programfor this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!).
Additionally, the second week of this is a race week.
Last week, our hero had a down week with a shorter tempo run and a mock race on Friday, let’s see how he holds up to a week with 10 more miles on it. However, our hero also ran into some issues related to time, and as such never posted anything and then tried to write most of this post via the WordPress iOS app while on a plane with no Wi-fi, and that failed miserably. However, our hero rose up and decided to actually type something here when he’s supposed to be typing something for work!
Monday Sept 10: Speedwork – 8 x 0.25 mile intervals. Ran in the park and out and around the Bengal’s practice field. The temperature was lower, and it felt easier. Splits of 1:50, 1:50, 1:47, 1:48, 1:52, 1:43, 1:48, and 1:40. I didn’t even feel like I was gassed or anything. Entire workout was 5.5 miles in 45:18 (8:14 min/mile pace).
Tuesday Sept 11: Recovery Run. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides across the bridges, first the Suspension Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge. 4 miles in 34:36 (8:38 min/mile pace).
Wednesday Sept 12: 40 Minute Tempo Run. Ran in the parks and around the Bengal’s Practice Field… again. Total workout was 6.56 miles in 53:18 (8:08 min/mile pace); tempo portion was 5.06 miles in 40 minutes (7:54 pace).
Thursday Sept 13: Recovery Run. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides across the bridges, first the Purple People Bridge and back across the Suspension Bridge. 4 miles in 34:19 (8:34 min/mile pace). There’s been a lot of rain in the area leading up to this because of the remnants of Hurricane Florence moving through the area.
Friday Sept 14: 3/1 Long Run. In the wake of Hurricane Florence, the humidity returned with a vengeance. Ran the first part mostly slowly, although I felt faster than my time claims. Had to turn back on one path due to foodwaters and another part I had to run off the path due to mud. The /1 was faster, but only a little. Overall, 9.94 miles in 1:30 (9:03 min/mile pace), the first part was 7.33 miles in 1:07:30 (9:13 min/mile pace), the second was 2.61 miles in 22:30 (8:37 min/mile pace).
Saturday Sept 15: Recovery Run. Quick-ish 3 mile run in my neighborhood (which is about 3.5 laps around the ‘Y’ street pattern. 3.09 miles in 25:56 (8:23 min/mile pace) .
Sunday is always a rest day for me, sometimes I’ll get a walk on the dreadmill watching YouTube videos or TV, sometimes I’ll mow the lawn.
Monday Sept 17: Hill Repeats (8 x 0.2 miles uphill). I was off on vacation this entire week, so my location to run was the headwaters of the East Fork of the Little Miami River on a rainy and humid morning. I took a few pics because the water levels were still high, so because of that, my warm-up was slow. Hill repeat splits of 1:34, 1:35, 1:34, 1:37, 1:34, 1:36, 1:38, 1:34. The grouping is pretty nice! Overall, 5.23 miles in 47:36 (9:06 min/mile pace).
Tuesday Sept 18: Recovery Run. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides in the township park. I may have had watch issues on this, there’s two places where the pace dipped to 12+ min/mile, and I tend not to go that slow (especially around this flat-as-a-pancake park). I went a little long because I didn’t want to turn around and pass a pair of dog walkers for the 6th time (not that they were a problem – they weren’t, but I passed them 5 times already!). Overall 4.3 miles in 36:09 (8:24 min/mile pace).
Wednesday Sept 19: 30 Minute Tempo Run. I was out of town and put two new states on my Garmin Connect account (I was near the border of two, location being kept private for now). Weather in the location I was visiting was nice, it was in the mid-60s. Tempo portion was 3.87 miles in 30 minutes for a pace of 7:45 min/mile, overall 5.63 miles in 45:27 (8:05 minute per mile pace).
Thursday Sept 20: Recovery Run. Ran a 4 mile out-and-back in the place I was visiting in the form of 3 miles and 7 strides. The temperature was in the mid-50s (!!!) and low humidity. Despite not pushing, ran fast – even saw a 5:50 pace on the watch as I was going down a hill. Total of 4 miles in 33:35 (8:23 min/mile pace). Flew home today, too.
Friday Sept 21: was supposed to be a rest day, but since the idiotic step counter wanted steps, I ran 3 miles around the neighborhood on a very warm and humid morning. 3 miles in 25:56 (8:36 min/mile pace).
Saturday Sept 22: RACE DAY! Ran in the Hudepohl 14k. The race report will be posted later (probably tomorrow), but the long-and-short of it was that the weather broke and I had a GREAT race.
Weekly totals: 33.11 and 30.85. 3 PRs and one birthday.
This is week #3 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!)
Monday: 7 Hill Repeats. I was off work for Labor Day, so I went to East Fork Park. The humidity was brutal, and this hill that I found near the headwaters seemed worse than the Gilbert Avenue hill I’m used to. However, the first 6 repeats the hill was only around three feet more elevation. However, for the 7th repeat I used a different hill that was moving closer to where I parked. It was about 3 times as tall, so I was entirely gassed by the end. I skipped form and mobility drills before my run, but started adding a third set of squats after my Monday and Wednesday runs. In terms of weather, it was hot and humid and everything that is wrong with September in Cincinnati.
Sunrise over the lake before running.
This was the hill for the first 6 repeats. It was harder than it looks.
This was the hill for the last repeat. It was probably a little too steep for what I was doing.
Tuesday: Fitness Run – 3 miles + 7 strides. I was back in the park for this one, which was largely cleaned up after the past weekend’s festivities. Did the form drills I skipped on Monday and ran across the Purple People Bridge and back across the suspension bridge. It was still humid, and so much… well… I think one of our local meteorologists hit the nail on the head with this one.
Wednesday: 30 minute tempo run. Again, it was as humid as a steamroom outside. I’m glad this was a 30 minute tempo run. It seemed like I was going slow (and my watch was constantly beeping at me, trying to keep me between a 7:41 and 7:59 pace. Somehow, my tempo pace was 7:58 by the end. Overall, 5.27 miles in 43:32 (8:16 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 2 mile recovery run. This week is supposed to be a 5k race, I’ll run a mock race. So today was supposed to be rest, but I felt like getting a run in and I want to get steps in for the stupid fitness tracker anyway. I kept it easy, 2 miles in 17:07 (8:31 min/mile pace).
Friday: 5k mock race. Since it was a mock race, I wanted as much path to myself and didn’t want any issues with parked cars across the sidewalk or anything, so I went to the Batavia Township Park. I jogged a little for a warm up and then stopped to ensure my watch was locked. Busted my ass for a 5k, and then ran a cool down after the watch beeped. Apparently, I did good. Unlike most runs, I did not track the warm-up and cool-down, so the 5k was in 22:58 (7:23 minutes per mile).
Since my 21:49 in the Bulldog Blast doesn’t register as a 5k, this will do.
Saturday: Recovery run. Ran in the neighborhood, luckily between rainstorms. I heard a very heavy downpour at around 5:30 and thought ‘I’ll probably be running on the dreadmill, but not now’ and went back to sleep for another hour. Got up, looked out the window and saw that it wasn’t raining, so I went out for a quick easy run. 3.09 miles in 27:24 (8:52 min/mile pace).
Things to Hear and See
I finished Again to Carthage. The end was a little unexpected, but also heartwarming (particularly because of the connection (there’s many, but the last one is the best) with Once A Runner.
This is week #2 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced programfor this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!)
Monday: Intervals. This week was off to a sticky start with some extreme humidity. Ran 7 – 0.25 mi intervals in the park. The splits were 1:42, 1:47, 1:45, 1:43, 1:50, 1:46, 1:50. These were all faster than my range prescribed by the McMillan Run Calculator of 1:51 to 1:55. Overall (and with some additional cool-down because I was way out in Smale Park when the actual workout ended) 5.28 in 44:26 (8:25 min/mile pace).
The title and big green bar says it all.
Tuesday: Fitness run. It was a little less sticky in the morning compared to Monday, and I felt sluggish. I made the mistake around 3 minutes in of glancing at my watch and seeing a pace that started with ‘9’. Like a dumbass, I sped up a little, which became a little too much. First 3 miles at 8:35, 7 strides and rounding put the total up to 4.03 miles in 33:52 (8:25 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: 45 minute tempo run. It was hot and humid out, like running in soup. I try to keep these tempo runs between 7:41 – 7:59 minutes per mile, this one was 8:04. I was hanging on for the first 20 minutes, but the last 25 were bad. Overall, 7.08 miles in 58:44 (8:18 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 3 miles HM Pace. It’s still humid out, the temperature was down a little, though, but that was of little solace. I’m trying to keep these runs in the 7:28 – 7:48 minute/mile pace range, which seems bass-ackwards now that I type this after typing the paragraph above. But this is shorter, so whatever. I’ll look into it eventually. Overall, 4.5 miles in 36:45 (8:10 min/mile pace) with the HM pace portion at 7:48.
Friday: 90 minute long run. The weather was marginally better, but I still felt sluggish. After around 4 miles, my pace and general overall feeling improved. Even better, my pace improved during the last 3+ miles without me really trying… except for the part where I had to run in the road because of fencing along the outside edge of the sidewalk due to a festival this weekend. Used Gatorade Endurance Blackberry this time, it was good, although I prefer the apple-pear flavor. Ran 10.27 miles in 1:30:02 (8:46 min/mile pace).
Saturday: recovery run. Got up way before the rest of the family and put in some laps around the neighborhood, skipping in and out of the road because some neighbors can’t seem to understand that it isn’t very neighborly to block the sidewalk. Ran 3.13 in 26:43 (8:32 min/mile pace). Laps were progressive (8:45, 8:31, 8:22), although it wasn’t the intent.Finished the week with 34 miles with 4:50 spent running. Finished August with 133.5 miles and just under 19 hours spent running.
Things To Read/Hear/See
I’ve continued reading Again To Carthage. I’m probably two-thirds of the way through, and still enjoying it.
There’s more to read/hear/see, but this post is already a few days late. Cheers!
This is week #1 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!)
Monday: Hill Repeats. Ran my normal route up Gilbert from Elsinore (Channel 9 Studios) to Eden Park Drive. It was tough, but I got it done. The splits were 1:36, 1:34, 1:35, 1:32 1:29, 1:32. I don’t have any goal splits for these, but the grouping looks okay from my layman’s point of view.
Tuesday: Fitness Run. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides from Sawyer Point to the Roebling Suspension Bridge, across into Covington, across the Veteran’s Bridge into Newport, and across the Purple People Bridge back into Cincinnati. As soon as I crossed under the Purple People Bridge (a minute into my run), the wind hit me and it kept up the entire time. As I crossed the Suspension Bridge, I ran past a fence that was moved somewhat aside indicating the path was closed. I kept looking forward to see if there was a closure (which is difficult, the bridge is like all bridges – it arches). I made it 80% across when I saw some construction equipment blocking the entire path. So I moved out into the street (wrestler-style, between the ‘ropes’, which were steel), and continued my run. 30 seconds later, I lost my hat to a wind gust. No cars the entire time (but there were a few coming up the street when I moved back off onto the sidewalk). Finished my strides going up to Newport On The Levee and across the Purple People Bridge. 4 miles in 34:38 (8:38 min/mile).
Wednesday: Tempo Run. Ran a 40 minute tempo run in the flattest area of the park (Friendship Park to Sawyer Point to Yeatman’s Cove to Smale Park to around the Bengals Practice Field/Longworth Triangle twice. It’s really not that flat (there’s a 151 foot gain), but it’s not that hilly (there’s a 151 foot gain). Overall, 6.58 miles in 52:43 (8:01 min/mi), the tempo portion was 5.08 miles in 40 minutes (7:52 min/mi).
Thursday: Fitness Run. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides on the inverse of Tuesday. The weather was chilly (54F, compared to a normal of around 68F during this time of year). The Suspension Bridge east-side path is still closed, but I didn’t see any equipment over there. Total of 4 miles in 32:48 (8:11 min/mi), and that includes one of my fastest strides ever – a 5:35 split over 30 seconds; normally my splits are between 6:30 and 7:00 over the 30 seconds. Of course the GPS accuracy becomes fairly significant on these because they’re just 30 seconds. But this is a sign of things to come.
Friday: Long Run. This was a 90 minute 3/1 long run, with “3/1” meaning 3/4 at a normal pace and 1/4 at a fast pace. I ran an easy course to the east of downtown through the East End neighborhood and out to the Riverview Elementary School (it’s a school on stilts – it sits in the floodplain so it has to be up about 20 feet). This course is miles 21.5 to 24.75 of the Flying Pig Marathon course, and there’s a hill that just kinda gets to you NO MATTER WHAT along this route (it’s at 24.25 of the marathon course… and about 45 seconds before my watch beeped to signal the ‘/1’ :-)).
Saturday: Recovery Run. Did around 3 miles running in the subdivision after sleeping in a little. 3.14 miles in 27:04 (8:37 min/mile pace) that was accidentally a progressive run (8:44, 8:37, 8:31, and the last 0.14 was at a 8:27 pace but it doesn’t really count).
That’s it for the week. 33.5 miles. It was a good week, the weather cooperated (something it might not do next week). Next week is going to include some intervals, a slightly longer tempo run, and a HM pace run.
Things to Read
I’ve begun reading Again To Carthage, which is a sequel to Once A Runner. I’m eight chapters in (at the time of writing), and it is so far pretty good. It’s also fiction, so it’s a nice escape from learning more about Neural Networks and the coming Transportation Research Board Paper Reviews.
David Rapp has been keeping up the running despite no race on the schedule and has been taking care of himself after taking care of work (and finishing his runs with a beer isn’t too bad either!). Sidenote: I like the pic at the top of the page (which is also his Twitter banner image) – the collage of running shirts, bibs, and medals looks cool.
Bibrave Podcast 104 with Kim Fasetta, CMO of AfterShokz (this is two episodes back). I am an AfterShokz user (perhaps not ironically, I use them to listen to podcasts like The Bibrave Podcast). Kim is training for her first marathon – the Honolulu Marathon (yes, I’m jealous) – and they talk about training and a bit about her.
Running Beer and BS has been crushing it with several of their episodes. Their episodes are are informative but easy to listen to because the hosts are a bit less formal than most other podcasts.
Upcoming
Oktoberfest is coming, which for me really means that the Hudepohl 14k is coming up. This is a fun race. I remember running one year behind some people dressed in prison stripes and names across the back (like on a sports jersey) of “Lohan”, “Peterson”, “Rice” and a fourth I can’t remember. The “Peterson” runner even had a small branch (the switch). Another year, I ran near someone that was talking about pacing marathons and running her first ultra. I’m pretty sure she was not running as hard as I was (that’s an observation, not a criticism!) After the race, we’re dumped out into the Cincinnati Oktoberfest, which is the second-largest to Munich! And the beer lines are SHORT!!!
Everything is going to change.
I’m pretty disappointed this doesn’t include the net part of the scene where Harry puts his hand on Hermione’s shoulder, smiles, and says “yes.”
I’m going to end my 6 year Brew Hog streak (running the Bockfest 5k, Little Kings Mile, and Hudepohl 14k in the same year). It’s not because I’m mad or bored with them, they’re great races operated by a group that knows how to operate a race (they do the Flying Pig 5k/10k/half/full/2m dog/kids mile/Pigabilities races and the Queen Bee Half in addition to the Beer Series). In fact, I’m likely going to sign up to volunteer for the Queen Bee again this year (the email just went out, I have to check for conflicts and with SWMBO). I have a mental diagram of next year, and while the Bockfest 5k and Little Kings Mile might be in it, the Hudepohl 14k conflicts with a race I think I want to do next year. My participation in a Flying Pig event is up in the air too. I’ll probably run something, because after all, it is THE running weekend in Cincinnati, but I’m 99% sure it won’t be the marathon. However, I’ll be back for another run of that sometime in the future.
There is also another change afoot, but it can’t be discussed now. The only traces of what it is are my “vague-book” style updates on Twitter, which have been positive.
Finally, I dropped by the local Half Price Books. While in the “fitness” section, I saw a few old Hal Higdon books that I passed on, and I recommended to another person to read Born to Run (which every runner should read), but I didn’t immediately find anything for myself. After a few minutes of my wife and offspring #1 looking around, I went back to the section and looked at the “General Sports” area and found a few more Hal Higdon books (but not Run Fast, the one I might want), and then I found this (Amazon link)…
So I think that’s next on the reading list. Anyway, I think that’s it for this week. Cheers!
(note: all the links to Amazon are affiliate links)
The week started off wrong. I was mostly laying around over the weekend dealing with some stuffiness and lack of energy from something like a sinus infection. Then I decided that it might be smart to listen to people smarter than me and do a pull-back week. It sounded even smarter when I start into the half marathon training cycle next week.
Monday: 3 miles. Got up late, still lethargic from whatever this is that I have, but did my form drills and ran 3 miles in the park. Kept it mostly flat in Friendship Park and out to the Steamboat Memorial and back. 3 miles in 25:29 (8:28 min/mi pace). I also made a Relive video of the run (I meant to do Tuesday’s run, but all I saw was Monday’s so I figured I might as well).
Tuesday: 3 miles. Ran across the Suspension Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge. Nothing much else to report except that I feel better than yesterday. 3.1 miles in 26:27 (8:31 min/mi pace).
Wednesday: 5.25 miles. Started with my form and mobility drills in the park. Then ran across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, through the Covington Riverfront area, and back across the Purple People Bridge. Finished with a slightly different arrangement of post-run stretches and strengthening – I did my hamstring stretches, quad stretches, and squats in a circuit instead of… of… of whatever the alternative is. 5.25 miles in 44:16 (8:26 min/mi pace).
Thursday: 3 miles. Ran in the drizzling rain, just in the park. Nothing much else to say. 3.03 miles in 25:40 (8:28 min/mi pace).
Friday: 8 miles. It was extremely humid (wring your shirt out humid!), and I felt very sluggish. Part of it was likely due to being mostly under an 8:30 pace this week, part may have been general underfueling. Took some Nuun Lemon-Lime Electrolyte Mix with me, which has a whopping 10 calories. It also didn’t help that it felt like I was running uphill the entire way – first up the Purple People Bridge, then up the Taylor Southgate Bridge, then up to the Paul Brown Stadium plaza level, then up the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, then up to the Suspension Bridge. 8 miles in around 1:12:00 (8:59 min/mi pace).
After that suggish run on Friday, I’m glad the week is over. 22 miles ran, 3:13:50 spent running, which is an overall pace of 8:39 minutes per mile.
