Running on Beer

We see our hero running through wild weather in many forms. The week started warm, windy, and rainy Then the days went very cold. This is a pull-back week to give our hero’s muscles time to rest and recover.

Monday: 5 miles. Ran through the park and neighboring subdivision in the rain. It was warm-ish… warm enough to wear short sleeves despite the rain coming down. Nothing really to see or show. 5.09 in 45:29 (856/mile pace).

Tuesday: 10x400m intervals. Ran entirely in the park, keeping the pace red hot. Splits were 1:49, 1:44, 1:42, 1:50, 1:37, 1:42, 1:44, 1:46, 1:43, 1:41; the goal was 1:46 – 1:49, so one was slow and seven were fast… and two were in the pace range. Overall, 6.75 miles in 56:20 (8:21/mile pace).

Wednesday: 4 mile recovery. Woke up to 28F weather. While Monday was short sleeves and shorts, if I ran in the morning I would have been wearing pants, long sleeves, and a pullover. Quite the juxtaposition from Monday. I decided I’d let the sun come up and warm up everything and run after a second meeting in the afternoon. Kept this in the neighborhood since I had a meeting after lunch. 4.2 miles in 35:11 (8:23/mile pace… and I wasn’t exerting myself!)

Thursday: 30 minute tempo run. Woke up again to 28F weather. Unlike yesterday, I couldn’t wait until the afternoon because I had a service call to fix my Internet between noon and 4, and I had two conference calls in the afternoon (all three cancelled – Internet came back up on it’s own because the problem was not at my house, and the other two calls had reasons). So I put on everything and ran in the morning. The tempo portion was 3.87 miles (7:45/mile pace, goal was 7:17 – 7:33). Overall including warm up and cool down, 5.87 in 47:59 (8:10/mile pace).

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Friday: 10 mile long run. Woke up to temps in the low 40s (better than 28!!!). Ran 10 around the park and neighboring subdivision after waiting for my 🤬 watch. Hydrated with water, since I didn’t want or need the extra calories from Gatorade. 10.24 miles in 1:29:17 (8:43/mile pace).

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That’s it for the week. Our hero ran 32 miles in this pull-back week. Next week he’ll be back at it with some feeling. 🍻

Our hero looks over the park, happy with the run and staying a minimum of six feet away from everyone. This week had some major temperature swings, threats of weather, and beer.

Monday: 6 miles. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. Kept it easy. 6.12 miles in 53:31 (8:45/mile pace).

Tuesday: 7 x 800. Ran entirely in the park, really pushing the intervals. Splits: 3:39 (7:18), 3:36 (7:13), 3:34 (7:07), 3:37 (7:14), 3:39 (7:17), 3:37 (7:14), 3:34 (7:08); the goal was 3:31 – 3:37 for stamina paces, 2 were slow. Overall, 8.5 miles in 1:11:34 (8:25/mile pace).

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Wednesday: 5 mile easy. Ran this one in the park and the subdivision next to it, cutting off a portion. This was a very warm morning, nearly 70 in the morning. 5.08 miles in 46:04 (9:04/mile pace).

Thursday: Planned 35 minute tempo. I didn’t run Thursday morning. Wednesday evening, my area went under tornado warnings and we lost power just before 11:00 PM. There was a tree down nearby across the road and the power was not restored by Thursday morning… in fact, it wasn’t restored until nearly 10 PM Thursday night. The area I grew up in was hit pretty hard by non-tornado winds (the winds were stronger than the four tornadoes the NWS determined on that evening).

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Friday: 14 mile run. I considered bumping everything by a day until I remembered I was attending a class on Saturday, so ultimately the tempo run was scrubbed. Legs felt good for the long run, though. It was a bit colder than Wednesday. 14.16 miles in 2:04:44 (8:49/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. The goal was 40 miles, I made it to 34 miles courtesy of some tornadoes. On to the next. 🍻

We join our hero as he finally sees that two of the wicks on the candle that’s been burned from both ends and the middle have been extinguished and it’s back down to one. In the past two weeks, our hero has revised his entire training plan and approach. This new approach is built for speed and built on the foundation of the Hal Higdon Advanced Half Marathon plan.

Week 1 – Ending 3/29/20

Monday: 6 miles. Ran in the subdivision next to the park, almost running into a dog walker thanks to the fucking rain and wearing glasses. Got it done, though. 6.11 in 54:25 (8:54/mile pace).

Tuesday: 7 x hill. I drove to my normal campground hill, but there was an area closed. I probably could have driven around the closure, but I decided I wouldn’t since I really don’t know why it’s closed. So I used a different hill that was far taller – about 80 more feet of rise over the quarter mile. That being said, my splits started at 2:13 and went to 2:29 by the end (the other hill was 1:50 to 2:00 per split). Overall, 5.6 miles in 54:28 (9:44/mile pace… yeah, that hill was a killer!).

Wednesday: 5 mile recovery. Ran this entirely in the park because I got up late and didn’t want to ‘battle’ with the last few people in the subdivision that are essential. Instead I battled with my watch deciding to update with nothing to update. This was also the first time I’ve been in the park since the governor closed playgrounds. 5.16 miles in 45:55 (8:54/mile pace).

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Thursday: 6.5 miles with 4.5 miles fast. I had really wanted to change this to a 35 minute tempo run, but forgot. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. That portion was 4.51 miles in 36:18 (8:01/mile pace). Overall, 6.52 miles in 55:24 (8:30/mile pace).

Friday: 12 miles. I was off work that day, so I should have gone downtown instead of the park and subdivision, but I didn’t think about that until after I ran. 12.03 miles in 1:48:53 (9:03/mile pace).

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Week 2 – Ending 4/5/2020

Monday: 6 miles. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it, not at all dissimilar in route from the prior Monday. 6.11 miles in 54:00 (8:50/mile pace).

Tuesday: 10 x 400. Ran these entirely in the park, and it’s the first time I’ve done 400s in a while. My splits were 1:42, 1:39, 1:45, 1:48, 1:37, 1:44, 1:48, 1:46, 1:43, and 1:42; the goal was 1:46 – 1:49, so seven were faster than the goal pace and none were slower than the goal pace. Overall, 6.75 miles in 56:29 (8:22/mile pace).

Wednesday: 5 miles recovery. Ran most of one lap around the park+subdivision and kept it easy. 5.13 miles in 44:11 (8:37/mile pace).

Thursday: 35 minute tempo run. Ran around the park and subdivision… again. 1 mile warm-up, 35 minute tempo at a goal pace of 7:17-7:33, which I did not make – my tempo pace was 7:42/mile. I blame my watch. Overall, 6.55 miles in 52:51 (8:04/mile pace).

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Friday: 13 mile run.

Ran two full laps around the park and subdivision next to it. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance, no fuel. The sun came out at the end. 13.14 miles in 1:55:48 (8:49/mile pace).

Week 1 was 35.4 miles, and week 2 was 37.7 miles. March ended during week 2, and it’s total mileage was 194 miles.

We join our hero in the desolate Ohio wasteland. Planes flying overhead went from full to nearly-empty to fewer in number. Bars, restaurants, and breweries have closed. Medical offices have cancelled all routine appointments. Sports are cancelled or postponed. Schools are closed until at least April. Where there was once jokes about traffic congestion, there is no traffic.

At the end of last week’s report we were on DEFCON 1. It’s Wednesday as I’m typing this, and we’ve gone to DEFCON 4. Most of Ohio is closed – all restaurants, bars, and breweries, many medical offices (although not specifically required, they’ve elected to go emergencies-only), malls, and even the Ohio Primary was rescheduled.

The Flying Pig made the decision to postpone their races until October 9-11. This coincides with the Queen Bee Half Marathon. Those of us registered for the Flying Pig have a few options:

1. Virtual Race
2. Postpone and run in October
3. Defer to 2021
4. Lose the registration fee and take a 25% discount on a future event

So #4 is out, that makes no sense to me (maybe it does for others, but not me).

I’m leaning towards deferring my marathon entry to 2021 and registering for the 2020 half marathon. This is for a few reasons – one is the training season and the other is how it fits in the calendar and my mental plan for the year. My experience training for the Columbus marathon last year was brutal. Several days were just too hot to perform, and I routinely felt overtrained, dehydrated, and tired. My mental schedule for this year included doing some shorter distances over the summer and fall – I routinely race a 5k and a few 3.2k races during the summer months, and up until last year I would race the Hudy 14k and a half marathon or two in the fall. I still want to do that, since I think part of my success in the Glass City Marathon is because of the fall training before it – and I think that fall training set me up for several PRs. I finished 2018 feeling good and fast. And I have stats to show it – many of my weekly average paces during the in 2018 were below 8:30/mile. Granted, I was doing fewer miles – by 10-20 miles at times, but that speed does translate in all directions. I want to do that again.

The Plan

As of the time this publishes, I’ve suspended my marathon training program. I kept with this final week only because it was a pull-back week. I’m going to be using the Hal Higdon Advanced 5k plan for the runup to the 5k. This plan is an eight-week intensive plan that includes a lot of short intervals, tempo runs, and a “fast” day in addition to the long run and some recovery miles. Since it’s looking like that will be starting in June, I’ll have to fill in. I’ll probably stick with a similar theme to this week – decent run on Monday, recovery on Wednesday and Saturday, intervals on Tuesday, tempo on Thursday, long on Friday.

The Week

Monday: 6 miles. I ran this in the park and the subdivision next to it. I felt faster than the time indicates, but didn’t really run hard. 6.07 in 55:51 (9:12/mile pace).

Tuesday: 7 x 0.5 mile intervals. Ran these entirely in the park. I really wanted these to be between 3:15 and 3:25, and the first was at 3:25. The rest were at 3:33, 3:40, 3:49, 3:34, 3:34, and 3:32. Overall, 8.5 miles in 1:12:00 (8:28/mile pace).

Wednesday: Quick five mile stroll around the park. There were other people up there (it looks like they were doing a group fitness workout prior to a few laps around the path. 5.02 miles in 43:47 (8:43/mile pace).

Thursday: 6 miles at M pace. Another M pace run that I didn’t make it to the goal. Ran the M pace portion in 58:49 (8:15/mile pace, the goal is 7:33 – 7:53). Overall run was 8 miles in 1:08:15 (8:32/mile pace).

Friday: 12 miles. Ran in the afternoon because of storm threats in the morning (Weatherbug claimed lightning in the area, I saw none). The park was BUSY so I mostly stayed in the neighboring subdivision. 12.06 miles in 1:43:45 (8:36/mile pace).

Weekend: I was scheduled to do 4 miles, but Saturday was spent going up and down stairs as I modified two desks… I didn’t track it, but I think I made it 4 miles up and down the stairs.

That’s it for the week. Just under 40 miles.

Our hero overlooks the landscape. The weeks have been getting warmer and the miles have been getting longer. In the past is the first triple-double week in the plan. In the distance is a race. A race that hopefully will not be cancelled was postponed due to the Coronavirus.

This week was originally going to have Friday and Saturday flipped due to a trip to Columbus, but that was cancelled due to the Coronavirus.

Monday: 10 miles. Ran this in the park and neighborhood next to it. It was a warm-ish morning with a nice sunrise. 10.02 miles in 1:29:43 (8:57/mile pace).

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Tuesday: 45 minute Tempo Run. Again, ran in the park and the neighborhood next to it. It was a rainy morning and my legs were a little tired and had some issues keeping in the pace range – I wanted to be between 7:17 and 7:33, I ended up at 7:51/mile. Overall, 7.73 miles in 1:03:52 (8:16/mile pace). Finished with strength exercises, although I skipped form drills because of the pouring rain.

Wednesday: 5 miles. Ran this entirely in the park since I started a little later than normal. Around and around and turn around and around and around and turn around… 5.14 miles in 45:50 (8:55/mile pace).

Thursday: 10 miles. Ran this in East Fork to get a change of scenery. This has historically been a difficult (read: slow) route. Had to make a pitstop around 8 miles in due to GI issues (fortunately in a bathroom with soap and running water!). 10.01 miles in 1:33:18 (9:19/mile pace). Skipped both form drills and strengthening because I was running a little late (and strengthening partly because of my 20 mile run tomorrow).

Friday: 20 miles. Got up a little late and ran in the park and the subdivision next to it as the sun came up. It started out at a comfortable temperature that quickly turned windy and chilly. It got so windy at one point that I had to pause the podcast I was listening to. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance, fueled with Gatorade Endurance Gel. I generally felt better in the second half of this except for the final mile and a half or so, and my splits indicate a minute faster (1:32 and 1:31). Overall, 20.02 in 3:03:05 (9:09/mile pace).

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Saturday: 4 miles. At around 6:30 AM, my phone’s alarm said “Get the fuck up!”. My body replied with “shut the everloving fuck up!”. I had to repair a few things on the house – most notably my dryer vent that was starting to be inhabited by birds… which I repaired in ice rain. Because of the toilet paper shortage, I got ahead of the curve with a few bidet attachments that needed installing. Then my car broke down with a dead battery – the resulting trip to the auto parts store was made into two trips because they gave me the incorrect battery the first time. Then I found a screw in my other vehicle’s tire. All-in-all, I never had the chance to run.

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Sunday: Rest. Ran 4 miles. After a cooked breakfast and a trip to the grocery store, I decided to get my 4 miles in around the subdivision. 4.07 easy miles in the afternoon in 34:42 (8:32/mile pace).

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Overall, 57 miles this week – one of my highest weeks ever.

Coronavirus

A lot of things happened this week related to the virus. I had something typed here, but the situation has been changing so fast that it is difficult to keep track. My goal race, the Flying Pig Marathon, is so far still on. However, they may end up cancelled or was postponed – I’ve said before on Reddit that their choices are likely ‘run afoul of runners’ vs. ‘run afoul of several government agencies and jeopardize the race for several years in the future’.

Next Week

Next week is an easier week thanks to Coach Higdon’s training approach – I have one double-digit run next week (12 miles). I will have some 800m intervals and an M pace run prior to a 12 mile long run.

The late addition to this post is the strikethroughs and this paragraph. I haven’t decided what I’m doing – it sounds like a group may still run the Pig on the actual day… I’m not opposed to that, but I don’t know if I want to do that and then race it again in a few months or what. This week will have a lot of thinking.

See you at the finish line, hopefully virus-free.

We see our hero having left the drinking festivities of Bockfest and continuing to the battles of March.

Monday: 9 miles. March started with warm weather that soon turned to rain. I got out in the park and put 9 miles down in the park and the subdivision next to it, making a pitstop after 3 miles. 😬. Kept it mostly easy and only dealt with a drizzle during the final mile or so and my post-run stretching. 9.25 in 1:21:32 (8:49/mile pace).

Tuesday: 6 x Hill Repeats. Because of potential storms in the morning, I ran these in the afternoon up at East Fork. My watch was messed up, so I had to track manually. 😡. The hill repeats were at paces of 7:20, 7:44, 7:53, 8:05, 7:53, 8:03… might work on trying to make those a little more consistent. OVerall, 5.68 miles in 49:01 (8:38/mile pace).

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Wednesday: 4 miles Recovery. Ran these in the park entirely, since it’s just three laps. 4.07 miles in 35:09 (8:38/mile pace).

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Thursday: 9 miles @ M pace. This is where the toughness of the week starts. It was chilly (I was wearing short sleeves on Monday and Tuesday) and I was on the tired side. I couldn’t keep the M pace portion in the goal range, I had it at 8:05/mile, the goal is 7:33 – 7:53/mile. I did hydrate with Gatorade Endurance. Overall, 11 miles including the warm-up and cool-down in 1:30:58 (8:16/mile pace).

Friday: 19 miles. This put the slow in long-slow-distance. I was out late the night before and got up early for this run. Ran around the park and subdivision a few times taking Gatorade Energy Gels at 6 and 12 miles and taking swigs of Gatorade Endurance every few miles. It was a windy morning with temps that felt a lot colder than the thermometer says, and I was being pelted by rain and snow and occasional ice throughout. 19.01 miles in 2:53:43 (9:08/mile pace).

Saturday: planned 4 miles, ran 0. I was up early to judge beer at a competition, and really didn’t have the time to run.

That ended the week with 49 miles. Not bad, although the 19 mile run was a bit of a killer. On to the next battle…

Our hero casually leans on a table in a beer tent looking onward with a glass of doppelbock in his hand. He surveys the near-empty beer tent and wonders why the fuck everyone isn’t here where the good beer is. He can barely hear the band outside the hall, which is a shame because they’re pretty awesome. Nonetheless, he enjoys this victorious battle of the road still knowing the war is yet to be won and the battles of March will be some of the toughest yet to come.

Monday: 9 miles. After having legs of lead for the past two days, ran this one quite fast. Had some GI issues but didn’t need to stop. Ran in the park and surrounding subdivision before the rains came. 9.06 miles in 1:18:08 (8:37/mile pace).

Tuesday: 6 x 800m intervals. Ran in the park and in the rain. Since it’s race week and I had a morning Internet install appointment, I skipped strengthening. Ran the intervals in 3:29, 3:30, 3:37, 3:36, 3:43 (after a pitstop), and 3:26. The goal is 3:15 – 3:25 (incidentally, the goal pace is 6:32 – 6:53, the last one was within the goal pace but not the goal split). These are based on the McMillan Running Calculator, and I used the Speed Intervals (the calculator gives both Speed Intervals and Stamina Intervals… I am using Speed Intervals. I don’t know if those are the right ones to use, but I certainly have had some difficulty doing them). Overall, 7.5 miles in 1:03:58 (8:32/mile pace).

Wednesday: 4 miles. Ran this in the park and part of the subdivision next to it. It was foggy and misting out, and I wore my glasses. Kept it easy. 4.32 in 37:42 (8:44/mile pace).

Thursday: 5 miles. I was supposed to do five miles, but I had spent the morning at a hospital where my dad was being operated on (he’s doing well), and got home with a headache. I skipped.

Friday: 3 miles shakeout. Got out to the park after sleeping in and woke up to some snow and what I ultimately found was a path that was mostly frozen. I did most of a loop (the back part of the path was run-able, the front was not and I ran along the path). I then got out of the park and into the subdivision where I could run. Kept it slow because of the race tomorrow. 3.42 miles in 31:44 (9:17/mile refreshing pace).

Saturday: 5k RACE. Race morning was 21F… COLD. I got to the race location early to pick up my race packet, and had over an hour to just hang around, using the bathroom twice prior to the race. Warmed up by running around the block a few times at 9:30. At 10:00, the race was off.

My watch didn’t start when I pushed the button, but it started beeping at me around a tenth of a mile in. The first mile is a tough one – down McMicken and onto Liberty to go up Liberty Street Hill. Crest the hill and back down to turn left on Reading and then onto Elsinore, then after crossing over I-71, right onto Gilbert, which proceeds downhill and right past the mile 1 marker. Mile 1 in 7:20 (calculated based on splits).

The second mile continues down Gilbert to Court and then to Reedy and Eggleston, where it turns just north of the building I used to work in. The course crosses over Third Street and then heads north up (and uphill) Culvert and past the Mile 2 marker. Mile 2 in 6:50.

The final mile is a long uphill stretch up Culvert to Eggleston, across Central and then snaking up through Over The Rhine on Reading, Sycamore, 12th, and Main, which crosses over Liberty and becomes McMicken and passes the final mile marker indicating the shootout to the finish. Mile 3 in 7:21. The kick was 51 seconds.

I crossed the finish in 22:22 (official time, not my watch). I was 8th overall in my age group. 12 seconds faster would have put me 4th in my age group (and 3:40 behind the winner of my age group).

This week was an easier week in terms of distance, 27 miles (compared to 47 the week before). Next week is a 50+ mile week that will include 17 miles of “normal running”, 6 hill repeats, a 9 mile M pace run, and a 19 mile long run.

Our hero surveys the damage of the week. Mother Nature has proven again to be a formidable opponent and monkey wrench thrower. Similar to last week, this week had rain, warmth, and cold.

Monday: 8 miles. Ran this in the afternoon because of the temperature in the morning. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it, having to stop once because of an inattentive driver. Overall 8.1 miles in 1:07:15 (8:18/mile pace).

Tuesday: 40 minute Tempo Run. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it in some morning rain. It was a warm one, 50F (short sleeve weather!) in the morning, but it got cold overnight. The tempo pace goal was 7:17 – 7:33, unfortunately I missed the goal by 20 seconds per mile. Maybe I should blame it on the second inattentive driver from the same subdivision. Including the warm-up and cool-down, 7.07 miles in 58:16 (8:14/mile pace).

Wednesday: 4 miles recovery. After some frustrations at work, I ran off some steam going too fast on a recovery day. Part of the path was blocked due to work on a baseball scoreboard, so I ran in the subdivision again. 4.02 miles in 33:03 (8:13/mile pace).

Thursday: 8 miles.I expected very cold temps in the morning, but the temp was 30, so I ran in it. In the subdivision (again), but for once I wasn’t interrupted by someone backing out of their driveway not paying a damn lick of attention to the sidewalk. 8.03 miles in 1:10:34 (8:47/mile pace). It is getting lighter earlier.

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Friday 17 miles. Friday came with some frigid morning temps but nice afternoon temps, so I started work early and finished up around 2 to go running. I was trying to slow myself down, and not paying attention to my watch, so it was likely unsuccessful. About 12 miles in, I was making a loop around the township park (after making a full loop around the subdivision) and saw my old boss out running. We ran and talked for a few miles as he finished up his run… that did slow me down a bit, but I then sped back up for the last two miles, finishing the last with an 8:35 split 😳. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance, fueled with Gatorade Endurance Gels at 6 and 12 miles. Standing in the shower after that run was tough for a few because of my calves. 17.15 miles in 2:29:39 (8:44/mile pace).

Saturday: 3 miles. Woke up to another frigid morning and legs that felt like lead. Ran 3 miles around the subdivision (cutting the last lap short to get me to 3.0-ish miles instead of 3.25-ish miles. 3.03 in 28:11 (9:18/mile pace… I’m shocked it was that fast, to be honest).

That’s it for the week. 47.4 miles. Next week includes less volume as it is a pull-back week, and it’s also a race week. I’m ending the month with an explanation point with the Bockfest 5k on 2/29.

We rejoin our hero as he shivers in the cold of this week. Mother Nature followed up last week’s snow with some warmth that quickly went cold as the week went on. It also got rainy. Very rainy. To top it off, evening events, meetings, and new shoes happened… and some were undone, and Strava segment records were attempted and failed.

Monday: 8 miles. The weather wasn’t too bad – it was up to nearly 50 when I started running, although it went down over the day. Ran 8 miles in the park and the subdivision next to it. I ran easy – in fact, if I had run 7, I would have ended with a 9:02/mile pace, but the last mile was an 8:05 lap that came out of nowhere, which pulled my pace down to 8:54. Maybe it was because the rain started on me. The last 0.04 miles being at a claimed 6:43 pace helped there too. 8.04 in 1:11:30 (8:54/mile pace).

Tuesday: 5 x Hill. The morning weather was rainy with a warning of mixed precipitation. I elected to run in the afternoon, and when I was getting my second cup of coffee I realized I made the right decision – I heard ice pellets hitting the door of my house. The hill paces were 7:05, 7:28, 7:54, 7:51, and 8:08. I continued the last one up the hill to attempt to get a CR for the hill in Strava, but it was to no avail – not only did I not get a segment PR, but I’d have to get A LOT faster to beat four others that I happened to see while I was out there… and those four others have the top spots on that segment. Regardless, it was great to see other runners out there… even if they were running 1.5 min/mile faster than me!

This was my first and last try with New Balance 1080 v9s. The heel cup is made out of a slippery material and after the low five miles, I had a hot spot on both heels. Pity, since the rest of the shoes feel great. These are getting returned to Amazon and I’ll visit Fleet Feet in Oakley to see about getting something that feels just as good without the idiocy in the heel cup… which might be the 1080 v10s, which I wasn’t aware were out until I heard it on The Morning Shakeout Podcast. Overall, 5.14 in 43:23 (8:26/mile pace).

Wednesday: 4 mile recovery. I didn’t push this at all. I went to run in the park, and after finding a few ice spots from puddles leftover from the past days of rain, I decided to go into the subdivision. There were fortunately no ice patches on the sidewalks. 4.31 miles in 38:16 (8:53/mile pace).

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Thursday: 8 miles at M pace. This was a rainy and chilly morning. Ran in the park and neighboring subdivision after form drills and finishing with some strengthening exercises. I didn’t hit my goal pace during the 8 miles- I wanted to be between 7:33 – 7:53, I was at 8:01. Overall, 10 miles in 1:22:21 (8:14/mile pace).

Friday: 16 miles. VERY cold morning. There were some lazy snowflakes, but dry with a few ice patches. Ran in my new Asics Gel Nimbus shoes, which now have some mud on them from me running off the path to go around ice patches. My water bottle cap froze, so I started walking a few seconds on every other mile to open the bottle and get a drink. Lemon-lime Gatorade Slushy does taste good, but it’s likely more refreshing on a hot day than a cold one! Overall, 16.05 miles in 2:22:08 (8:51/mile pace).

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Saturday: 3 miles. Woke up to 14° temps and promptly went back to bed, knowing that it was going into the 40s later. I ended up running in the afternoon and just stayed in the subdivision. Wore my other pair of new shoes, which were nice. 3.37 miles in 28:03 (8:20/mile pace).

Overall, just under 47 miles this week. Two weeks until my season-opening race, the Bockfest 5k. Next week has more running with an interval workout and an easier Thursday. 🍻

Our hero turns around and gazes over the rugged terrain his quest has taken him through. He’s dealt with rain, snow, heat, and cold… all in the same week. He’s run long, fast, short, slow, and everything in between.

Monday: 7 miles. The week started out with a not-so-bad 43F in the morning. Ran through the park and the subdivision next to it. I felt faster than I was, but still not slow. 7.11 miles in 1:03:47 for a pace of 8:58/mile. I did see a nice sunrise in the process.

Tuesday: 5 x 800 intervals. Ran these entirely in the park, and ran them in short sleeves because it was 61F out! I knew rain was expected and checked the weather on my phone, which said rain was expected at 7 AM. I was starting at 6 AM.

It lied. It started raining shortly after I arrived, which made it difficult to see. I was shooting for 3:15 – 3:25 per interval (6:32 – 6:53/mile pace), and made it to 3:28 (6:56), 3:26 (6:52), 3:27 (6:54), 3:35 (7:10), 3:40 (7:21). Perhaps I shouldn’t be using McMillan’s Speed Paces (the stamina paces are 3:31-3:37 (7:04 – 7:16/mile pace). One of these days, I’ll figure out the right ones. Overall, 6.5 miles in 54:26 (8:22 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: 3 mile recovery. I slept in and ran this at lunch in my neighborhood. I really tried to slow this down, since I have a habit of going too fast when running late in the day. I really tried to slow myself down… to no avail. 3.15 miles in 26:23 (8:23/mile pace).

Thursday: 7 miles @ M Pace. I didn’t sleep in (for once!) and got out to the park on a chilly 33F morning. No rain in the forecast until 10.

It started misting when I was close to the end of my M pace portion, so I only had a little over a mile of total running. My watch did beep at me a fair bit as I was making my way around the subdivision next to the park, and the park as well.

I did keep the M pace portion within my goal range of 7:33 – 7:53 by getting that 7 miles in 55:13 for a pace of … 7:53! Overall, 9 miles in 1:13:37 (8:11/mile pace).

Friday: 10 miles. It snowed. It may not have been too bad, but nothing was plowed when I woke up and conditions were expected to be slick, so I used the dreadmill. Had some knee pain during the early part of my run, but it subsided. 10.01 treadmill miles in 1:38:17 (9:49/mile pace, although I felt like I was going faster).

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Saturday: 3 miles. Friday morning’s snow melted only to be replaced by more. Given the same situation, took to the dreadmill again. 3.06 miles in 28 minutes (9:09/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. I still hate the dreadmill, but it was nice to have given the snow because if there’s one thing worse than the dreadmill, it’s falling on ice! Just under 39 miles this week. Next week has more miles, hill repeats, and a long long run.

I ended the week on Saturday night doing some shopping and bought a pair of New Balance 1080s, which should work better for me for the longer runs. I might buy another pair of shoes soon after my tax return running stimulus program comes in. 🍻