I’ve signed up for the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio, and I’ve moved around the runs in the Pfitz 18/55 plan. This is the first week of 18 on the plan.
Monday (New Year’s Eve): 8 miles + 10x100m strides. It was raining the entire time, somewhere between steady and pouring. It was a quality run in the park, though. Overall, 9.19 miles in 1:17:17 (8:24 min/mile pace).
Tuesday (New Year’s Day): Recovery 3 miles. This is on the plan as a rest day, but I think I’d feel better about the later stages of the plan if I ran a little, so I ran 3 miles in a drizzle. Kept it in the neighborhood. Overall, 3.32 miles in 29:43 (8:57 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: Medium Distance 10 Miles. So clearly this is a harder plan than the last one, because it waited several weeks to make me think my legs were going to fall off. Ran this one in East Fork to get some topography and found a new part of the bike path. I was hoping to make it to Batavia, but the path seemed to end on a country road. I decided the waist water pack was too much bouncing, and had to make a pitstop. Overall, 10.01 miles in 1:31:04 (9:06 min/mile pace).
Thursday: Recovery 5 Miles. Ran 5 miles in the park. It wasn’t the fastest five miles… which might have something to do with Wednesday’s 10 mile run and the thought of Friday’s run, but I got it done. 5.19 miles in 46:08 (8:58 min/mile pace).
Friday: 13 miles with 8 miles at M pace. This was harsh. It wasn’t warm out (30F), but it may have been too warm for the pullover on top of the long sleeve shirt. My paces have been down this week, mostly because I’ve been burning the candle from both ends (I’ve been building an office on the weekends… fortunately, I extinguished the flame in the middle of the candle, which was repairing my wife’s car). Kept it in the park and the subdivision next to it (it looked too muddy in the dark to go over to the other subdivision). And I ran an extra 0.1 miles because I could. The first 3 miles were 26:49 (8:56 min/mi pace), the 8 miles at M pace were in 1:06:01 (8:15 min/mile pace, right on the high edge of the target), and the last two were in 18:12 (9:06 min/mi pace). Overall, 13.1 in 1:51:52 (8:32 min/mile pace). That was my half marathon time a few years ago. Progress!
Overall, 40.81 miles. This was a high week, and much higher than the initial runup to the marathon last year.
I figured I’d write another year-ending blog post to get lost in everyone’s RSS and Twitter feeds.
Overall, I ran 1,650 miles in 2018 in 233 hours, 58 minutes, and 41 seconds (that’s an average of 8:31 min/mile pace).
I’ve divided this post up into four parts – short distances (5k and shorter), medium distances (>5k to half marathon), long distances (the marathon), and some discussion about all the running that was not racing (which represented 95.5% of my running).
Credit: By Kalle K kallek – https://unsplash.com/photos/HnWoAM0bMec, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61792052
Short Distances
My racing calendar traditionally has two 5ks, three 3.2ks, and one 1 mile. Since 2013, one of the 5ks has been the Bockfest 5k. This year was not a PR(23:13; my prior PR was 23:04). This was a course PR on a difficult course, though. In 2017 and 2018, the other 5k has been the Batavia Bulldog Blast 5k. This is an easy 5k on a fast pancake-flat course, and I made another PR there of 21:46. Even better, I won my age group and was 7th overall!
Another short distance I race is a 3.2k (ish) cross-country series. This is a series of three off-road races operated by the NKU XC team, and the third of the series, the Brian Rohne XC Championship, is named in honor of my brother. He ran for NKU prior to his death in 1993. Out of the three races, two of them were PRs – the first and the third. The second happened to be 3 days after the Bulldog Blast 5k. Apparently, I won my age group in one of those, too!
The only other short distance I run is the Little Kings Mile. I ran the one mile course in 6:39 this year, a nice improvement over last year’s 6:55 on a similar course.
Medium Distances
I had three medium distance races on the calendar this year, the Hudepohl 14k in September, the Honor Run Half Marathon in November, and the Hungry Turkey Half in November.
The Hudepohl was a breakout race. For years, my long races have been slower than an 8:00 minute/mile pace. This time was different. All my paces were sub-8:00 minute/mile, and the overall pace was 7:28! This was my first race as a 40-year-old, and I was 13th in my age group, about 10 minutes behind the AG winner. I looked at the M34-39 results, I would have also been 13th, but I would have been just under 20 minutes behind the leader.
The Honor Run was a freezing cold race, and I had some GI issues. It was a PR with a 1:42:33, was 10th in my age group (of 57 people in my age grou) and 61 overall (of 859 total runners).
Late in the season, thanks to targeted advertising on Facebook, I ran the Hungry Turkey Half a day shy of two weeks after the Honor Run. I had some of the makings of a bad race – some stomache issues at the beginning – but the race itself went well. I PRed again with a 1:39:35, won my age group (of 19 people), and was 27th overall (of 461 people).
Long Distances
The only race longer than a half marathon that I’ve run is the marathon. I ran the Flying Pig Marathon in early May. I set out with the primary goal to finish the entire race running, with secondary goals of sub-4:00 and sub-3:45. I was unsure of the time-based goals because I used several online calculators to help predict my time to pace the race correctly, and they ranged from about 3:40 to 4:09. I also saw another runner who ran his 20 mile long runs in about the same time as me – 2:57. He ran his marathon in just over 4 hours. So I was pretty happy to cross that finish line in 3:45:14 after fighting through the last 7 or so miles under yellow-flag conditions (and you know, first wall).
Training
The year kicked off with marathon training – I used Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 1 Marathon Plan. It’s a good plan, and it feels like it’s designed to break you down and rebuild you better, faster, and stronger.
The summer training was a little less focused, partly because I went between plans, until I started the Hal Higdon Advanced Half Marathon in the late summer.
Throughout all the training, I kept with a mostly-regular (twice weekly) set of form drills that are outlined in Meb for Mortals. I also added squats on the same day after my run, and these tended to align with my two harder days of the week (not to be confused with my longer days).
I learned a lot about training in general from my marathon training. After a particularly rough training run that just kicked my ass, I started to do these things with a little more intelligence: high-carbohydrate meal on the night before, Gatorade Endurance during the run with an appropriate amount of gels (I started with Gu, but ended the year with Gatorade Endurace Gel, which I think taste better). I also learned more about recovery and bought some compression socks. After that same ass-kicking training run, I could barely stretch and my calves looked like I had something crawling under the skin.
I can haz compression socks!
What’s Next?
Not one, but two marathons! I’m signed up for the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio on April 28, 2019. The second will be a fall marathon. I was originally thinking of the Air Force Marathon, but the past few years of weather has me reconsidering – the race was Black-Flagged this past year. Perhaps the Columbus (Ohio) Marathon in late October (the weather is usually pretty good around that time of year). The summer will be filled in as usual with the Bulldog Blast 5k and NKU XC Series. I’ll probably run in the beer series again (I was reconsidering, but they truly are fun races).
So I’ve signed up for the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio, and I’ve moved around the runs in the Pfitz 18/55 plan. This is leading up to the first week of 18 on the plan.
Monday: 8 miles with 4 @ HM Pace: It was cold in the morning, and I woke up with enough time to start work by 6:00 AM. I figured that by 11:30, I could have 5.5 hours in and I expected (and told my boss) that I’d be taking some PTO. The backstory there is that I changed jobs, starting my new one on December 3, and because of that, I had 18 hours of PTO to use for holidays and other days. Christmas is a definite no-go, so that’s around 8 to use, leaving 10 for days like Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve (and the Cincinnati Bearcats play on Christmas Eve, I’m an alum and adjunct faculty, so I *want* to watch them). To make a long story short (too late!), I decided to run at lunch when I might be able to wear shorts instead of pants.
Tuesday: Rest. Christmas Day. I like my wife married to me, so I didn’t even think about running. I ran today’s easy 3 miles on the Sunday before, and it was partly to test some new shoes.
Wednesday: 9 miles. This plan certainly drops the gloves quickly. Nice little big run in the middle of the week. Unfortunately, I was suffering from a cold on Christmas and was completely run down when I woke up. I skipped the run, probably for the better.
Thursday: 4 miles. Recovery Miles. Felt worlds better that yesterday and ran 4 miles around the park. 4 miles in 35:33 (8:53 min/mile pace).
Friday: 12 miles. It was harsh. Decided to go up to East Fork. It was dark and rainy, but not cold. I didn’t feel ‘with it’, and my pace showed it. Worse, I needed to relieve myself and there was no good place until mile 9/10 where one of the campground loops had an open bathroom (after checking at a park around mile 4 and the loop prior to the one I was running in). After that pitstop, I was able to throw down some speedier miles. 12.01 miles in 1:57:43 (9:48 min/mile).
Hopefully next week I can cobble together one solid week of training. This week topped out around 25 miles. I clearly need to make it to East Fork a little more often because it is hillier than the park around the corner.
I’m building up to the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan for a spring marathon.
Monday: 8 miles. Ran 8 miles in the park and the neighborhood next to it. I tried to cross over to the other neighborhood, but after slipping on mud and realizing the mud would be too deep crossing over, I stayed in that subdivision and in the park. Late in the run, my podcast (the BibRave Podcast) ended, and I attempted to use my AfterShokz to tell the Google Assistant to play my Epic Running Playlist, and it failed. Later that day, after configuring the Google Assistant, I think I have it fixed. Between the AfterShokz and the new phone (I got a Google Pixel 3 a few weeks ago), it’s nice! 8.02 miles in 1:08:18 (8:31 min/mile pace).
I got this. I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard any of these except the first one. None of these are particularly good for running.
This is what I wanted. Better music to run to.
Tuesday: 3 miles + 7 strides. I had a dentist appointment in the morning, so I slept in and ran at lunch. The temperature had started the day around the upper 20s, but by lunchtime it was around 40. I kept in the subdivision, and ran way too fast. 4 miles overall in 30:51 (7:42 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: 8 miles. The morning was cold, and I kinda wussed out and ran after a lunch meeting and after-lunch seminar. Ran 8 fast miles around the park and the neighboring two subdivisions. Christmas is in the air, the dog walkers were all courteous, and the only walkers without dogs moved aside before I said anything. It was NICE! I started my run with gloves on, but after 2 miles ran to my truck and stuck them under a windshield wiper. 8.05 in 1:06:35 (8:16 min/mile pace).
Look, ma, no gloves!
Thursday: 4 miles + 7 strides. It was supposed to be rainy all day except the morning, so I was already going to get out in the morning. It was raining anyway, and my quads were sore from two days of too-fast running. Stayed in the park for this one. 5.14 miles in 46:06 (8:58 min/mile pace… thanks to the strides, it was 9:11 min/mile before them!)
Friday: 11 miles. I had intended to run 11 miles, but also needed to put in a lot of hours for work, and thought I’d move this to Saturday and skip Sunday. Then, my wife got sick (so sick that I slept on the couch) and overslept (by HOURS) and had to watch the kids. The run never happened. On the bright side, Amazon came with some new shoes!
Sunday: 3 miles + 7 strides. Ran Tuesday’s miles today since Tuesday is Christmas. Ran some laps around the subdivision (and my wife is feeling better, THANK GOD!).
They feel as nice as they look!
25 miles this week, and 24 last week. I think I’m rested enough to kick things up a notch. That being said…
This shouldn’t be a shock, I’ve talked about doing this and decided to finally give them my check card number and register. Flat, fast, and hopefully NO YELLOW FLAGS! 🙂
I’m still building up miles for the Pfitz 18/55 plan and targeting a spring marathon. This was more of a return to my normal training.
Monday: 7 miles. Ran in the park and only in the park in a cold 18 degree morning. I did start with my form and mobility drills, and ended with my normal stretches and squats. 7.13 in 1:01:05 (8:34 min/mile).
I was trying to keep warm. Part of me thinks I should buy a Buff and use it instead of my Head Gator. Maybe then my face wouldn’t look quite so blocky.
Tuesday: 3 miles + 7 strides. Since it was 17 degrees in the morning, my attitude was every bit of “fuck this”, and I ran over lunch when it was (per my phone) 33 at the start of the run and 37 at the end. MUCH NICER! Evidently, my happiness over the weather bled into my running, because I ran 4.09 miles in 32:17 for a pace of 7:54 min/mile.
Wednesday: 8 miles. Ran 8 miles around the township park and the neighboring subdivisions. The weather was a little better. 8.11 miles in 1:11:06 (8:46 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 4 miles + 7 strides. Ran laps around the park. 5.07 miles in 43:35 (8:36 min/mile pace).
Friday and Saturday: I was supposed to run 10 miles, but having to work on my wife’s car took precedence. I would have rather went running!
The engine
The engine below the intake plenum.
Oil should not look like this. This is bad.
Inside of the valve covers – again, oil shouldn’t look like this.
The inner intake area, I replaced a gasket here that hopefully fixes the problem.
First week at the new job! I spent last Sunday driving from Cincinnati to Evansville, Indiana in preparation for a few days there. After dinner on Sunday evening and finding out that I’d have to switch hotels due to an error in my reservation, I sat in the hotel bar drinking a mediocre IPA, finishing up Advanced Marathoning, and figuring out a training plan for a spring marathon.
Monday: 6 miles. Ran down the street from Hotel #1 to the Ohio Riverfront and along the riverfront. The temperature was still warm-ish and the route is fairly flat. 6 miles in 52:22 (8:42 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: 3 miles + 7 strides. Despite being forced to switch hotels, I drove back to the riverfront to run again. 4 miles in 33:17 (8:18 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: 7 miles. Ran along the riverfront and went exploring a little and ended up going past a bakery (that was nice) and running to the end of the sidewalk forcing me to turn around a half mile early. So on my way back, I ran a different way and found the route I SHOULD have been running on. 7.1 miles in 51:45 (8:25 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 3 miles + 7 strides. Back at home, ran in the township park. 4.07 miles in 34:19 (8:26 min/mile pace).
Friday: 10 miles long run. Ran in the park and the nearby subdivision on a cold morning. Didn’t go fast. 10.01 miles in 1:28:55 (8:53 min/mile pace).
Yeah, another icy mustache.
That’s it for another week and a week that started me building up to the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan. 31.2 miles over the week.
For the first time in a very long time, I don’t have a race on the calendar in ink. I do have a few in pencil, though.
This week began with some back pain. It’s mild, but irritating enough. Also, I’m past the two half marathons, so I took it easy.
Monday: Ran 3.28 miles in the cold. It was supposed to be rainy, but fortunately not. I did cut back some of my Monday and Wednesday pre-run form drills and post-run squats due to the back pain. Stayed in Friendship Park for this one. Time of 29:16, pace 8:55 min/mile.
Tuesday: Ran 3.2 miles in the very cold. Back felt better. Because of the cold and some precipitation Monday evening, I stayed on the Cincinnati side and ran down to Paul Brown Stadium and back. Time of 27:43, pace 8:40 min/mile.
Wednesday: Ran 4 miles in the very cold, across the Purple People Bridge and back across the semi-icy Suspension Bridge. Time of 35:25, pace 8:49 min/mile (mostly caused by a slow mile around and across that semi-icy bridge).
Thursday: Ran 6 miles in the very cold, including the last 1/4 mile in ice rain. Kept it in the park – Friendship and through Sawyer Point, Yeatman’s Cove, and Smale Park and around the Bengal’s Practice Field and then up the Purple People Bridge because I wanted to try my new phone at night (but it wasn’t dark enough).
Friday: ran 8-ish miles across all four Ohio River bridges – the Clay Wade Bailey, Suspension, Taylor Southgate, and Purple People Bridge all in that order. I did miss the Veteran’s Bridge (between Newport and Covington), but that bridge is meh anyway. Ran it faster than I intended, probably because the weather broke and it was in the mid-40s in the morning. 8.26 miles in 1:10:38 for an 8:33 min/mile pace.
Last pic from Downtown Cincinnati for a while. That’s the Purple People Bridge in the background.
Overall, that’s 136 miles for the month. Not as much as October, but with two taper weeks, it felt good… and two PRs – 1:42:33 in the Honor Run Half and then turning around 13 days later and laying down a 1:39:35 in the Hungry Turkey Half was NICE!
Ch, ch, ch, changes…
Downtown Cincy is a great spot for running. The parks are 2.5 miles long, so it’s easy to fit 5 miles of running in the park. If you want to add to it, the bridges are all about a quarter of a mile long and can easily open up 7-8 mile routes (and they’re scenic, too!). And they become the foundation for some longer runs, like out Eastern Avenue (part of the Flying Pig Marathon course), Eden Park (part of the Flying Pig Half and Full Marathon course), 8th Street Viaduct, KY-8 towards Ludlow, KY-1120 towards Highland Heights (if you’re into pain, it’s all hill but it has a great view of the east side of the Ohio River Valley if you make it to the freakily-high overpass over I-275).
From here through the foreseeable future, I’ll be working from my home in Batavia, Ohio. My running opportunities have some limits as well as some opportunities.
Limits
It’s going to be more difficult to figure out my near-exact 24 foot spacing for the form and mobility drills I do on Monday and Wednesday pre-runs. I’ll have to convert these to parking spots or something.
The trees are evenly spaced by 24 feet
I are an engineer – yes, I measured it with a wheel
Another limit is that the closest two places to run are my neighborhood and Batavia Township Park. If you’ve followed me on Strava (you likely don’t, but feel free to) and you see a run with just a distance, it was probably in my neighborhood (I don’t willingly show where I live to random strangers on the Internet). There’s a little topography to it, although Garmin claims only 12 feet over 3 miles… there’s a little bit more, but not much more.
Opportunities
So the big opportunity is above. I’ve done some of my running at East Fork Lake, including some of my hill repeats in the last half marathon training cycle and my 18 mile training run for my first marathon was run here. There’s also trails that I haven’t explored.
18 miles. No loop was run twice! It was difficult to run past Old Firehouse Brewery and not stop for some hydration, though, especially since this was in the afternoon.
Another opportunity is that my new job will require more travel. So I’m going to be adding to the number of states I’ve run in. Currently, I think I’m up to 9: Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, Maryland (both Baltimore and DC), Vermont, New Hampshire, Oregon, Colorado, and Florida. Only 41 left to go!
Race Week! I ran the Hungry Turkey Half Marathon on November 24. Now begins the off-season.
Monday: Not really having a plan for the between-the-halves, I ran 6 miles across the Clay Wade Bailey bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge. In the rain. And the wind. At least it was in the low-40s and not below freezing. 6.02 miles in 52:18 (8:41 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: Recovery-ish or something like that. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides across the Suspension Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge. It was a little warmer than Monday, but also a little gusty. 4 miles in 33:26 (8:20 min/mile).
Wednesday: Ran 3 miles in Yeatman’s Cove and Smale park. The first mile felt sluggish, but my watch beeped at 8:22, so it was faster than it felt. It was quite cold (30 or so) and windy. 3 miles in 25:16 (8:24 min/mile pace).
Thursday: Ran around 3 miles in the neighborhood on a very cold and frosty morning. It was Thanksgiving and I was set to go to my in-laws for the day. Ran 3.02 miles in 25:57 (8:36 min/mile pace).
Frosty!
Friday: Ran 2 miles around the subdivision. This was an optional run, but I did it anyway because I got up before everyone else. 2.16 miles in 19:01 (8:48 min/mile pace).
Saturday: RACE DAY! There will be a full race report and BibRave Review coming, but spoiler alert: it went well!
31 miles on the week. Not too bad for a week with a holiday. Cheers!
The Cincinnati Turkey Day 10k is the oldest race in the region at 109 (and counting). I’ve never run it. At a bar for a running party, I joked with another runner that I was going to run it someday. His reply was a dead-pan “no you wont.” I was taken back by the statement (and he had done that intentionally) until he said “you can’t run it, it’s a 6 mile parade.” Since then (and even before then), I’ve run the Honor Run Half Marathon and let the season end there and ran 10k on Thanksgiving Day as a lame sign of support for my brothers and sisters in running shoes dealing with the clustefuck that is the Cincinnati Turkey Day 10k. But being the largest road race day in the country, I kinda felt left out.
Enter Facebook Targeted Advertisements. The images below aren’t the ads I could find when I decided to type this out, but the guy was on one, and going to the website, you see the pic of the cinnamon roll below (images from Ohio Runs / Cincinnati Hungry Turkey Half & 5k).
Post-race pastries are second only to alcoholic beverages when crossing the finish line.
I hope they comped this guy’s registration.
Since half marathons are now a ‘just for fun’ thing’ (WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK HAPPENED TO ME??? :-D), I got permission from she who must be obeyed and signed up. For a cinnamon roll. The pullover looks nice too, and the medal is nice (but it’s another medal).
Recent Past
Fast forward to the evening of November 20, 4 days prior to race day, and an email goes out claiming the start/finish has been moved from Armleder Park to the Lunken Playfield…
More History…
Prior to 1945, THE airport in Cincinnati was Lunken Airport. However, in 1937, it was inundated with floodwaters, getting it the nickname “Sunken Lunken” and paving the path for the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport to start development as a commercial airport in 1945 (originally established as a military training facility in 1942). Since then, a multi-use path has been constructed around the airport, and some years after, a connection was made with Armleder Park, which is north of the airport. The connection is made below a bridge over the Little Miami River. I know this area can flood. Moreover, I know the Ohio River is high because I run next to it all the time, and it’s been high.
So I expected the reason was because the race was going to become a clusterfuck and have to stay to one side or the other of the Levee due to flooding.
It appears I was incorrect (not a complaint!). We’ll still cross through the flood-able area between miles 4 and 5 and back between miles 8 and 9.
Course Overview and Plan
It’s been a long time since I’ve run around the airport, and the last time I bicycled around it was October 12, 2015 (thanks Endomondo!). The path is not incredibly wide anywhere, but I’m also not really going for a PR. Of course, the last time I said that, I had a break-out 5k that became a PR that stood for a year or two. Most of the path is boring with occasional views of the airport, but I expect there to be little activity given that the airport primarily serves corporate jets.
The first mile is mostly flat with a little hill towards the end around the Lunken Terminal when the path goes from street level to floodwall level.
Mile 2 to 4.5 is mostly flat. And boring. This is where there’s occasional views of the airport.
Mile 4.5 to 5.4 goes down 40-50 feet and back up, down will be steeper than up.
Mile 5.4 to 7.7 is mostly flat. It’s in a park with few tall trees or shade, although that won’t be a major concern.
Mile 7.7 to 8.6 goes down 45-50 feet and back up, but this time up will be steeper than down. This will be the hardest part of the race.
Mile 8.6 to 12 is mostly flat. And boring. This is where there’s occasional views of the airport.
Mile 12 to 13.1 starts with a little downhill around the Lunken Terminal when the path goes from floodwall level to street level. Fortunately, that little hill is in the right spot to tee up a nice finishing surge.
My main concern is course congestion on the return trip, but it’s only a mild concern. I think that most of the pack will be on the 5.4 – 7.7 loop while I’m on the return track, so I think most of the second half will be single direction with the exception of a few walkers.
Hungry Turkey Half finishers in 2017. The blue line is my last half marathon time.
There’s water stops throughout (at 1, 2.5, 5.4, 7.7, 10.6, and 12.1… I expect I’ll skip 1 and 12.1). Fueling will be via Gatorade Endurance Gels using the same schedule as the Honor Run. And I’ll be wearing my AfterShokz, since I expect that there will be next to no crowd support outside of the start/finish area. The weather looks like it might cooperate. Or be rainy, one or the other, but much warmer than 22 degrees!
This is a week between the races. I just ran the Honor Run Half Marathon, and next week is the Hungry Turkey Half on November 24, 2018, use this link to sign up for that race (affiliate link).
Monday: Rest! I rested from the Honor Run Half and worked on finishing an office in my basement.
Tuesday: Recovery. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides across the Suspension Bridge and the Purple People Bridge. It was supposed to be snowy, and it kinda was, but mostly just wet. It wasn’t as cold as last Sunday, either. Overall 4 miles in 34:16 (8:33 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: Long-ish Run. Since I’m between two half marathons and nothing I do now would change the outcome of the next one, I decided to just run 5 miles. In the very cold. Ran across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge, stopping to take the image below from Covington. 5.26 miles in 45:55 (8:45 min/mile pace).
Thursday: Recovery. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides in the park. It was icy out, so I wanted to stay off the bridges. 4 miles in 33:46 (8:25 min/mile pace).
Friday: Long Slow Distance. Ran 90 minutes in Friendship Park, across the Purple People Bridge, all the way across Covington’s Riverfront Path to the end and then backtracking to the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. After crossing back to Cincinnati, I went out past the Bengal’s Practice Field and back into Smale Park and Yeatman’s Cove… since I wasn’t done, I continued into Friendship Park to do the loop near the Boathouse and back. It was cold, windy at times. Fueled with a Gatorade Endurance Gel at 45 minutes and drank Lemon-Lime Gatorade Endurance throughout. Negative-splitted 10.43 miles, for a pace of 8:39 min/mile.
Saturday: Recovery Run. Ran the neighborhood loop almost four times (three and cut off across the street from my house). 3.13 miles in 27:18 (8:44 min/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. The rest of the weekend was spent working in my basement wishing I was brewing beer instead of installing insulation and studs and electrical boxes. Total for the week was 40 miles, including the half marathon last Sunday. Cheers!
