Running on Beer

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.

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).

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.

Fellow BibChat and Beer Guy Craig got 5th in the Adam’s County Half!

And that’s it because this post is late. Cheers!

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).

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!

The week started off humid and warm. 

Monday: 6 hill repeats. Ran up the hill 6 times, with my watch crashing and resetting on the fourth. Side note – I occasionally wonder how runners did it before GPS watches, but I’m sure they’ve NEVER said “their watch crashed and reset mid-run”! Overall, 4.6 miles in 40:06 (8:43 min/mi pace, including stops to take pictures).

Tuesday morning: 3 miles + 7 strides. Ran in light rain, but kept the speed down because of the race Tuesday evening. Ran across the Purple People Bridge and back across the Suspension Bridge. And forgot to start the workout on my watch, so there’s an extra little 3 minute workout in Garmin and Strava, but whatever. Overall, 4.29 miles in 37:05 (8:39 min/mi pace).

Tuesday evening: 3.2k XC Race. Late in the day, maybe 3:30 – 4:00, a storm hit, and it was pouring. By the time 6:15 rolled around (I got to the race location early because I was getting a T-shirt that I’d want to walk back to the truck), the storm had moved on, but conditions were wet. I warmed up by running into the woods and checking conditions – they were a little slick. I kicked some larger sticks off the course and ran back for start. The beginning of the race was largely normal, in the woods, I was an arm’s length from a high school runner that went down. Fortunately, she got back up immediately and stayed in it. I kept my position in the woods and into the final hairpin before kicking it into a slightly higher gear. At the end, another adult runner was trying to push (motivate, not literally push!) another runner and he started gaining on me. So I ‘turned the jets on’ and beat them both across the line. 14:16 (unofficial).

Wednesday: 3 mile recovery run. Kept it reasonable and in the flat area of the park. Despite some rain on the way in to the office, there was none when I was out running. 3.12 miles in 26:41 (8:33 min/mi pace).

Thursday: 3 miles + 7 strides. Ran across the Suspension Bridge and the Purple People Bridge, still grumbling over an area where I was running is closed due to construction work. Heck, I thought the 3-foot-diameter concrete pipes that had been laying around in the area was storage because they’ve been there so long. Apparently, there is a short lead time on orders of 3-foot-diameter concrete pipes, but there is a much larger lead time (years) on getting a crew together to install them. 4 miles in 33:05 (8:15 min/mi pace).

Friday: 90 minute 3/1. I set out as a man with little plan on this one. I ran out towards and around the Bengal’s Practice Field, around Paul Brown Stadium, across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, back to the Covington Riverfront Path, across the Veteran’s Bridge (news flash cyclists: this is NOT an acceptable place to ride your bike – it’s too narrow), up to the Purple People Bridge, and as I was crossing the bridge I hit the 1:07:30 mark which shifted me into the ‘/1’ of the ‘3/1’. Finished out the run by running into Friendship Park and back. Total was 10.44 miles in 1:30 (8:37 pace), the first 3/4 was 7.68 miles in 1:07:30 (8:47 pace), the last 1/4 was 2.76 miles in 22:25 (8:10 min/mi pace).

All in all, 28.33 miles for the week. Next week is going to be a cut-back week because I’m writing this on Monday of that next week getting over some sort of sinus infection or something.

This could also be called “OMAHA! OMAHA!” thanks to some retired quarterback.

This week started out rainy and turned out alright.

Monday: 7 * 0.25 mile repeats. Ran in the park, and while rain was threatening, it didn’t really rain on me. I had contacts on and was ready for it, though. Being a few days from a solid 5k, I didn’t overly exert myself, but kept solid paces. Splits were 1:46, 1:51, 1:45, 1:47, 1:39, 1:34, and 1:44, overall 5 miles in 40:49 (8:09 pace).

Tuesday: 3 miles + 7 strides. It was pouring rain during my commute to the office and subsequent run. I ran faster than what I should have, mostly because I wanted to get out of the rain. Ran across the Suspension Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge, which had a long stairwell in the way because work on Riverboat Row and the Floodwall has the path and ramp closed. 4 miles in 32:16 (8:02 pace).

Tuesday Evening: 3.2k XC race. My initial concern with the race would be that it would be too muddy. During my warm-up, I ran into the woods to check on the footing, and it wasn’t bad at all. After a little hiccup on the start and one slight slip on the mud, I came in with a 14:39.

Wednesday: Called an audible. Was supposed to do a tempo run, but after Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday Twice, I decided to stick with a simple 3 mile run in the park. 3.08 in 26:31 (8:36 pace).

Thursday: 3 mile HM pace. This kinda snuck into my watch, so I left it and did it. Ran through the parks where it’s mostly flat. Overall, 4.5 miles in 35:53 (7:58 pace), HM portion was 3 miles in 22:56 (7:39 pace).

Friday: 90 minute long run. Was going to run out through the East End (it’s pretty flat), but called an audible and ran across the 8th Street Viaduct and back along the 6th Street Viaduct, and then across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge and the Roebling Suspension Bridge. It wasn’t a bad run, although my Gatorade Endurance was not mixed too well (my fault) and after getting a chance to try, I prefer the Gatorade Endurance gel to the Gu that I used. Generally felt fast, and the pace for five bridges (plus the uphill by Paul Brown Stadium and the stairs to go over the 6th Street Viaduct) was nicer than I expected. 10.53 miles in 1:30:01 (8:33 pace)

All-in-all, it was a fast week. Still looking forward to the third and final NKU XC Series race, the Hudepohl 14k in mid-September and the Honor Run Half Marathon on Veteran’s Day.

Cheers!

It’s been a busy week. The weather has been a little better in the mornings, which has helped. And my replacement Aftershokz Trekz Air came on Friday (after my run, of course, but I had them for Monday).

Monday: 6 * hill repeats: ran up Gilbert Street several times, and then rounded it off to 5 miles in 43:41 (8:43 pace). All the hill splits were in the upper 7s except one in the low 8s.

Tuesday double day: morning ran 3 miles and 7 strides and rounded it off to 4 miles. Went across the Suspension Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge. 4 miles in 34:12 (8:32 pace).

In the afternoon, raced at the NKU XC series race 1. I wore different shoes for this, I have a pair of New Balance trail runners that I haven’t worn in about a year after suddenly getting bad blisters during every run. I put Band-Aids on my heels and went for it. Before the race, I talked to NKU’s coach (who also coached my brother while he went there) who commented on my weight loss :-). Ran 3.2k in 14:29 (which doesn’t match the results because it’s a low-key not-chip-timed race). Garmin Connect has me at 7:41 pace for 1.89 miles (GPS + hairpins = my watch missed a spot or 40). This is a PR for me – the last PR on a 3.2k XC (at the same location, similar course) is 15:31, so a full minute PR!

Wednesday: normally this is a speed day for me, but since the race last night and (spoiler alert!) Saturday, I ran 3 miles + 7 strides and rounded it to 4 miles.  Kept it in the park, down Friendship park and back, and then into Smale Park and back. 4 miles in 33:00 (8:14 pace).

Thursday: normally an easy day, Kept it in the flat area of the park and around the Bengal’s practice field (now with more homeless thanks to the City closing a homeless camp). Ran early with the RunLites because I had to go to Indianapolis for a meeting. Just ran 3 miles in 25:10 (8:16 pace).

Friday: was supposed to be a rest day, but decided to run since my step tracker wants 3,000 steps in 30 minutes to cover one of the three goals. Ran an EASY 3.2 miles in 27:50 (8:41 pace).

Saturday: Race Day! Ran the Bulldog Blast 5k, which is in a local park. Got there a half hour before start (parking is EASY), got my number (that’s all the SWAG I get, but for <$20 that is NOT a complaint!). Tried to keep up with the leaders, which didn’t really happen, but there was very few in front of me, the only one that wasn’t young was a guy pushing a stroller. That guy must have been at least 9 years younger than me (or a year older, but he didn’t look like 40), because I won my age group! 3.1 miles in 21:46 (7:03 pace). This is another PR (by 90 seconds!), this course is easier than the last 5k course (the Bockfest 5k).

That’s the week in training. 24.25 miles and two PRs!

In other stuff, I finished reading Once a Runner. I initially read the first chapter (or so) via the Kindle App, and wasn’t overly thrilled. Wanting another book that isn’t so ‘mentally heavy’ to read and seeing yet another thread on a running forum where people talked about books, this one is second to Born To Run (which I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed). I finished the book a few weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it (so much so, I’ll probably be ordering Again To Carthage soon).

Then, since I’ve felt like my 5k time wasn’t going down quick enough (which really isn’t a big deal AND it’s not even factually accurate) AND because I might do two marathons next year AND because I want that Boston Unicorn Medal, I decided to start reading Advanced Marathoning.

That’s it for this episode of the Running on Beer Running Blog. Tune in next week for another exciting episode!

Note: due to some bullshit law, I think I have to point out that the links to the books are affiliate links and I get a kickback if you click on them and even more if you buy them. Kickbacks to date are currently so low that Amazon is just keeping track of the handful of pennies they owe me.

The week started out hot and silent. With my After Shokz dead, I don’t have a pair of headphones that I want to use (I do have a pair of Plantronics Backbeat Fit, but they block hearing).

Monday: 7 x 0.25 intervals. Despite the heat (72 per Garmin, it was hot and humid out), these went pretty well. Ran the normal route (parks and around the Bengal’s Practice Field). Interval target is 1:51 – 1:55, ran them in 1:50, 1:45, 1:47, 1:46, 1:47, 1:48, 1:50; total workout of 4.75 miles in 39:09 (8:15 pace).

Tuesday: 3 miles + 7 strides. It was hotter, but less humid, this morning. Ran across the Suspension Bridge into Covington, across the Veteran’s Bridge into Newport, and across the Purple People Bridge into Cincinnati. Total of 4 miles in 33:53 (8:27 pace).

Wednesday: 40 minute tempo. It was cooler outside when I left my house, and it had warmed just a little by the time I got into downtown. I did my normal loop (see Monday’s route), but instead of doing a second loop around the Bengal’s Practice Field, I continued back into the park because of dust from some of the trucks around and finished at the entrance to Friendship Park. 6.7 miles in 52:49 (7:53 pace; tempo portion was 5.2 miles in 40 minutes, for a 7:41 pace), my watch told me I had a 10k PR of 48:31 when I saved the workout. Big bonus to the day, I received an email from AfterShokz that my new Trekz Airs were on the way.

Thursday:  3 miles + 7 strides. It felt cooler out in the morning, and I was just doing a short run. Ran the backwards direction of Tuesday. 4 miles in 32:54 (8:12 pace).

Friday: 90 minutes 3/1. Rainy and stormy as well as hot and steamy. The benefit of the rain and storm is that few walkers are out (I saw only 3 or 4 other people, none of them runners). The disadvantage of the rain and storm is that few others are out (major concern if I get nailed by a bolt of lightning!). Saw a few bright flashes (including one that really lit things up). The first 3/4 of the run was 7.54 in 1:07:30 (8:57 pace), the second half was 2.71 in 22:30 (8:17 pace). Overall, 10.4 in 1:30:00 (8:46 pace).

That’s it for this week. Total of just under 30 miles. Four days until my next race (NKU XC Series #1), the one following is eight days away (Batavia Bulldog Blast 5k).

Cheers!

This is part of the cycle of pre-training-plan weeks where I’m repeating the first two weeks of the next plan, so this week looked like this:

Monday: Hills. I ran up to Gilbert Ave, which is where the hardest part of the Flying Pig Marathon and half marathon is. I didn’t run the hardest I could because of a minor back strain, but kept all of them in the upper 7’s. Total of 5 miles in 43:13 (8:38 pace).

Tuesday: 3 miles + 7 strides. I went up to Columbus to teach a workshop, and didn’t have time to run before I left. So I ran in the afternoon. It was 91F. I expected to run slowly in the park in the hot, hot sun, and I used my bottle belt pack. I didn’t quite run slowly, 4 miles in 32:47 (8:11 pace).

Wednesday: 45 minute tempo run. Ran out to the end of Friendship Park and back through Sawyer Point, Yeatman’s Cove, and Smale Park and all the way out to the end of West Pete Rose Way and two laps around the triangle before going back into the parks. Total of 7.16 miles in 58:18 (8:09 pace), tempo portion was 5.66 miles in 45 minutes (7:57 pace).

Thursday: 3 miles HM Pace. Started out trying to turn on my AfterShokz and they wouldn’t turn on. I went back into my office to see if I could just reset them and while I was in there, I put them on the charger. After 30 seconds or so, I decided to try again, and they responded with “Welcome to Trekz Air. Charge me!”. So I left them on the charger and went to run in silence. Ran out to and around the Bengal’s Practice Field and back into Friendship Park. Total of 4.5 miles in 35:43 (7:56 pace), HM portion was 3 miles in 23:02 (7:41 pace).

Friday: 90 minute long run. Ran across the Purple People Bridge, around in Newport and into Covington, back into Cincinnati, back into Covington, back into Newport, and back into Cincinnati. It was getting tough at the end. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance and fueled with some Gatorade Energy Chews. 10.32 miles in 1:30:07 (8:44 pace). Upon getting onto the elevator, I tried to turn my AfterShokz down and the VOL- button wouldn’t respond. I tried to pause my podcast and the other button wouldn’t respond. So I tried to turn them off, and it turned them up. So they’ll have to go back to AfterShokz :-(.

That’s it for the week. 31 miles for the week, 4:20 spent running. Getting closer to my summer races, the Bulldog Blast 5k and the NKU XC series races.

Cheers!