Running on Beer

We rejoin our hero as he begins his fifth week of training for the Flying Pig Marathon.

Monday: 7 miles. The morning was cold, so I ran in the afternoon. It wasn’t overly warm (and the skies were grey, but no precipitation). I ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. Since it was the afternoon, I tried to keep my pace down and didn’t push it, but still went too fast. 7.02 miles in 59:03 (8:25/mile pace).

Tuesday: 35 minute Tempo. The morning was cold, but not as cold as yesterday so I went out to run. My legs felt tough from yesterday and I struggled to keep my paces even close to the top end of the goal range of 7:17 – 7:33. Kept it in the park, although maybe I should have used the hills in the neighboring subdivision. Tempo portion was 4.45 miles in 35 minutes for a 7:51/mile pace. Overall, 6.45 miles in 53:11 (8:15/mile pace).

Wednesday: 3 mile recovery. Kept this in my subdivision where there was a pair of walkers out at 6 AM (I’m impressed!). 3.32 miles in 29:12 (8:48/mile pace).

Thursday: 7 miles. I initially thought it’d be 28-29F this morning, but it was 32 (warm enough for shorts!). Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it, starting with form drills and doing some strengthening after. 7.16 in 1:03:53 (8:55/mile pace). I started a tad late (6:09 AM) and got to see that the sun is starting to come up sooner.

Friday: 14 miles. The weather forecast called for snow, which didn’t happen until 10 miles in and it was pretty light. Not like this…

I didn’t push this at all. My legs felt a little slow, I was kinda tired, and it wasn’t a speed day. The week didn’t go by without having to yell at a dog, either (because some average stupid suburbanites think their dog can be out without any sort of control to keep it in their yard 😡). 14.04 miles in 2:07:50 (9:06/mile pace).

Saturday: 3 mile recovery. I set my alarm for a late 6:45 AM. I turned it off and thought I’d sleep for a few more minutes. Famous last thoughts. Got up just before 8. Still got my run in around the subdivision.

January ended with me running 168 miles for the month. Back on the build!

The next race on the calendar is the Bockfest 5k. This is traditionally a race that I have not PRed in. Out of 7 consecutive Bockfest 5ks, ONE has been a PR. Granted it’s up against the Bulldog Blast 5k, which my GPS says is short and that course is much flatter. I’m not even sure this will be the year for a PR, but my training is setup for it.

Next week’s training will include a pull-back on the long run, but it will include intervals (5 x 800) and a 7 mile M pace run, so despite pulling back on Friday, Tuesday and Thursday will be tough. Additionally, Mondays went from 6 miles to 7 miles this week, and will soon be 8 miles.

Looking ahead to the rest of February, I will be building back up to a 17 mile long run while also maintaining intense workouts on Tuesdays. The intensity on Thursday will be cut back in favor of long runs and a race to finish the month. 🍻

This week started with some arctic chill and ended with rain.

Monday: 6 miles. Ran in the park in the afternoon, when it was warm. Kept it in the park, which was really trying to let some dumbass with an unleashed dog get home… I failed there, I should have left for the subdivision. 6.1 miles in 49:16 (8:05/mile pace).

Tuesday: 4 x hills. Went to East Fork for the hills. This one was in the afternoon also, trying to get some warmth instead of freezing. Ran up the hill four times (paces of 7:29, 7:54, 7:57, and 8:01). Including the run from and to the car, 4.39 miles in 38:17 (8:43/mile pace).

Wednesday: Recovery 3 miles. Kept this in my neighborhood and in the afternoon again. And I tried to keep it slow, but I failed there. 3.16 in 25:36 (8:06/mile pace).

Thursday: 6 @ M Pace. Ran this in the park and the subdivision next to it. Finally ran in the morning. My watch beeped at me a lot to speed up, and that’s because my goal range was 7:33 – 7:53 and I did the 6 miles at a 7:57 pace. I’m probably paying for yesterday’s “recovery”. Overall, 8 miles in 1:05:36 (8:12/mile pace).

Friday: 13 miles. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. In the rain. There was a fair bit of mud around some areas, and lots of puddles. I came back feeling like a drowned rat. My pace suffered due to the morning and four days of fast. 13.21 in 1:58:53 (9:00/mile pace).

Saturday: 3 miles. Ran around the neighborhood on wet pavement. It wasn’t raining, just wet. 3.25 miles in 29:05 (8:57/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. 38 miles for the week with some good paces early in the week (later in the week… not so much). 🍻

This week went off the rails in an odd way. This is a partial pull-back week, with most of the tough workouts but with a shorter long run. I was in Washington DC for work this week as part of the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, and this is a week with consistent late nights and meetings and plenty of walking.

Monday: 6 miles. I set out from my hotel at the corner of 10th and H and proceeded southbound to the National Mall. I felt like I was keeping a decent pace, and after passing the Washington Monument and crossing a street, I found a lovely place to run along the reflecting pool. All things must end, and this ended as I passed the Lincoln Memorial and crossed the bridge over the Potomac. Being on the bridge sucked. It was loud- so loud I paused my podcast. There’s not much protection from the drivers through there, either. I follow another runner onto a path heading south along the Potomac. I was far enough from the busy street that I could unpause my podcast, but this path was several feet below road level and was looking straight into headlights. As I continued with the miles clicking away, I saw a bridge in the distance and wondered if I could make it within the next mile… and also wondered if there was a path along the bridge. The path then turned to my right and went under the road I was running along. I came to the conclusion that this was not going to get me to the right place and turned around. I made my way back to the bridge as my watch clicked 6 miles. I continued running back to my hotel as my watch clicked mile 8 after a particularly long delay waiting for a walk light. 8.08 miles in 1:11:10 (8:48 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: 4 x 800 intervals. I woke up with some soreness in my quads from yesterday’s run combined with lots of walking at the conference with a backpack that I voluntarily made heavier with a hardback book that was being given to all conference attendees that wanted it. I wasn’t sure if I wanted it, but I didn’t want to find out after the opportunity passed. Additionally, I had a 7:00 AM meeting followed by one at 8:00 and another at 10:30. So I ran a recovery 3 miles. 3.52 in 32:03 (9:06 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: 3 miles. I was not feeling as rough as I expected for being out late drinking, and was going to a poster session that morning. I also had one pair of non-white socks left to wear with a suit: my purple compression socks. Not wanting to miss a good speedwork session or waste the chance to really need the socks, I set out to the Mall to bust through the intervals I didn’t do yesterday. The goal pace range is 6:32 – 6:53, I ran them in 6:59, 7:02, 7:16, and 7:05… so never in the pace range I wanted to be in. Overall, 5.5 miles in 32:03 (8:24 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 6 at M Pace. I wasn’t going to do two speed days in a row, it seems like that would ensure that the second was less than stellar. So I ran Monday’s 6 mile run workout after making my way home from DC. On the plane, I finished What I Talk About When I Talk About Running after seeing my bag loaded on the plane. After getting home and jumping onto a conference call, I went to the park and the subdivision next to it. Ran 6.02 miles in 50:53 (8:27 min/mile pace).

Friday: 8 miles. For the first time this week, the number of miles I ran and the number of miles I planned to run lined up. However, instead of doing an 8 mile long run, I did a 6 mile tempo run (which had a one mile warm-up and one mile cool-down). Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. The M pace portion was at 7:49 min/mile, comfortably within the 7:33 – 7:53 goal range. Overall, 8 miles in 1:04:39 (8:05 min/mile pace).

Saturday: 3 miles. Ran 3 recovery miles around the neighborhood. I didn’t feel particularly fast, but my watch said otherwise. 3.32 in 28:39 (8:38 min/mile). In fact, even my first mile (which is normally on the slow side) was below 9:00… by 0.9 seconds!

That’s the week. I did everything I set out to do, although not in the order at which I expected to do them. 34 miles, just under 5 hours spent running, and the average pace is faster this week, which could be a fluke brought on by the pull-back week or because I’m starting to unlock some of the training gains from the last two marathon cycles (one can dream!). 🍻

We join our hero as he laces up his running shoes in preparation to start on the fourth marathon training cycle. The goal, which he can’t even see right now, is sub-3:30 in the Flying Pig Marathon.

Monday: 5 miles. Ran five miles on a chilly morning in the park and the neighborhood next to it. I got a late start, so I got to see all the people that let their stupid flag fly. 5.07 in 44:59 (8:52 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: 30 minute tempo run. Did my form drills and started on a slow warm-up in the park and then into the neighborhood next to it. Got an earlier start than yesterday. I felt like I wasn’t keeping my pace in the range, and the tempo pace ended up at 7:32 min/mile – close to the top end of the goal range of 7:17 – 7:33. When I saved my workout on my watch, I saw the distance… 5.98 miles. 😬🤬. Tempo portion was 3.98 miles at 7:32 min/mile pace, overall was 5.98 miles in 47:59 (8:01 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: 3 mile run. Ran 3 miles in the park. I was running a little late, and kept it restful because of the prior day’s tempo run. 3.21 in 0:29:15 (9:07 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 5 mile run. It was 27 in the morning, so I worked through the morning and ran at lunch, which was unseasonably warm. The park was really busy with dog walkers, workers (installing something on the shelter’s roof), and pickle ball players. I started with most of a loop and then got into the neighboring subdivision until I was close to the end. I kept it mostly easy, although I strayed into moderate more than once. 5.0 miles in 41:42 (8:20 min/mile).

Friday: 11 mile run. Ran in the park and subdivision next to it) on a semi-rainy morning in what became a warm day (in fact, even in the morning I was running in short sleeves). I did get dumped on once, but otherwise it was an easy run. Hydrated with Gatorade. 11.04 in 1:40:11 (9:05 min/mile pace)

Saturday: 3 mile run. Ran in my neighborhood in nearly 60F weather (!!). Nothing special, but it was warm. 3.35 miles in 29:44 (8:53 min/mile pace).

I finally looked at Strava’s Year In Review, and a few things stood out to me. My shortest run was a mile (I knew that was coming), and my longest was Columbus Marathon (which is my second-longest run to date). The single hilliest day was in March where I froze my water bottle and glasses running in -2F temps in Hanover, NH.

That’s it for the week. Just under 34 miles of hard and easy training.🍻

We join our hero as he laces up his running shoes in preparation to start on the fourth marathon training cycle. The goal, which he can’t even see right now, is sub-3:30 in the Flying Pig Marathon.

Monday: 5 miles. Woke up to a wind warning, and apparently it was windy all night. Drove over to the park and started running around it and the subdivision next to it, which didn’t seem too bad until I made a right turn in the back area of the subdivision and the wind was so bad I paused my podcast because I couldn’t hear over the wind noise. After unpausing and making my way back into the park, I ended up pausing it again in the back of the park due to the same problem. 5.18 miles in 44:30 (8:35 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: 3 x Hill. Went up to East Fork for this, since the hill coming up from the lake is pretty substantial. It was windy and flurrying. Started with form drills and then ran just under 1.5 miles as a warm up and to place me at the bottom of the hill. Pushed the lap button and up the hill three times, somehow making average paces of 7:22, 7:41, and 7:54. Ran my cool down and a little more to 4.11 miles in 37:24 (9:06 min/mile pace). Finished with stretches, squats, and single-leg deadlifts in the park and seven pull-ups at home.

Wednesday: 3 miles. Woke up way late because of a Netflix Binge to ring in the new year. We went to bed after 1:00 AM, it was interesting to see the run-up to Central Time’s New Year “ball drop” from New Orleans. So I didn’t go running until around the midday. Ran in the subdivision. 3.32 miles in 26:55 (8:25 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 5 Miles @ M Pace. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. It was a chilly morning and I didn’t feel overly fast. The wind kicked up, but it waited until I had 0.2 miles left in the M pace portion of the workout, so it was a non-issue. However, I was able to keep the 5 miles to a 7:52 min/mile pace, which is within my goal range (7:33 – 7:53). Overall, 7 miles in 57:30 (8:13 min/mile pace).

Friday: 10 miles. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. Rainy morning, but not cold – it was about 50F, which is normally short-sleeve shirt weather. I wore a long-sleeve shirt because of the rain. I tried to keep the pace decent, but it seems I was slipping through a large part of the run until the last three miles where I tried to get 10 miles in under 90 minutes… I missed by 3 seconds. Overall, 10.13 in 1:31:04 (8:59 min/mile pace).

Saturday: 3 miles. Woke up and ran 3 miles in the mist… which I couldn’t even see until it collected on my glasses. Four laps around the subdivision. 3.32 in 30:13 (9:06 min/mile pace).

That’s it for a successful week 1. 33 miles this week.

We rejoin our hero as he continues on his quest for a Boston Qualifying Marathon time. As the year closes out, the next training cycle begins. The weather started cold (low 30s) and ended warm (low 50s).

Monday: 7 mile run. Started out the week with a 7 mile morning run. Ran it in the park and the subdivision next to it. 7.16 miles in 1:03:08 (8:49 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: 6 x 0.25 mile intervals. Ran this in the park. This was TOUGH. It was made worse by the fog and frost that froze my glasses. Paces were 6:32, 6:17, 6:41, 6:56, 6:49, 6:37; goal pace range was 6:16 – 6:34, so two of six were in the range… getting better! Overall, 4.75 in 40:44 (8:35 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: Christmas. I didn’t run because I like my wife married to me 😉.

Thursday: 5 miles + 6 x 100m strides. Ran in the park and the subdivision next. Had some GI issues, which slowed me down about 4 miles in. 6.23 miles in 55:28 (8:54 min/mile pace).

Friday: 13 miles. First off…

Second off, I decided to run in downtown. The weather was nice, but it was mostly slow. Part of it might be due to what I did the prior afternoon – I hung a bunch of drywall and moved some around. Part of it might have been due to having some GI issues. At one point, I stopped into a port-o-let expecting the worst and was pleasantly surprised…

I had intentions of getting the last two pics for the #runChatHunt, which I did…

Anyway, I started at Friendship Park and ran through Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove and made the loop at Longworth’s Pavilion. Then on the way back, went up past Paul Brown Stadium and across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge to the riverside path. The west side had a locked gate (no big deal, I usually turn around just past where the gate is at), and the east side was closed near a hotel. 😠.

After turning around and heading back to the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge (stopping by the port-o-let on the way), I headed across 4th Street to get the pic of Roebling Point Books and Coffee (#runChatHunt Coffee Shop) and across the Suspension Bridge and back into Smale Park and Yeatman’s Cove before crossing the Purple People Bridge (which was lit up for Christmas… I didn’t get a pic, but the image below is from last year or the year before).

I headed east off the bridge and around a parking lot before getting back into the Newport Levee… where I had more GI issues and made another stop (in an inside bathroom). Ran back across the levee and up onto Veteran’s Bridge and back across the Suspension Bridge (again) and into the parks to get back to the car. Overall, 13.63 miles in 2:05:44 (9:13 min/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. Almost 32 miles. 4 hours 45 minutes spent running.

Next week begins the training for the Flying Pig Marathon – my second running of this marathon (on top of three half marathons and two 10ks in this series). The marathon was 3:45:14 (2018), the halves were 2:17:34 (2014), 2:01:11 (2015), 1:48:53 (2017) and 1:08:37 (2013), 0:51:49 (2016). 🍻

The season has wound down and we find our hero taking stock in the past season and what to do next season.

Monday: 7 miles. Ran 7 miles around the subdivision next to the park on a snow-covered morning, finding at least one person that would act incredibly stupid in their car (par for the course in this subdivision). 7.11 miles in 1:01:56 (8:43 min/mile).

Tuesday: 30 minute tempo run. Ran a mile warm up and then 30 minutes with a goal pace of 7:17 – 7:33, which I missed (my tempo pace was 7:43, and it was a downward slide from 7:34 min/mile and down). I have some speedwork to do. Overall, 5.88 miles in 48 minutes (exactly) (8:10 min/mile).

Wednesday: 4 miles recovery. It was a very cold one, so I ran in the subdivision. 4.22 miles in 36:23 (8:42 min/mile).

Thursday: 5 miles + 6 strides. It was another cold one, so I decided to run in the afternoon instead of the morning, since the afternoon was about 37F. This also meant I ran faster than normal. 6.35 miles in 51:23 (8:06 min/mile pace… faster than Tuesday’s tempo run).

Friday: 12 miles. Did the same thing as yesterday – ran in the afternoon. 12 evening miles, so two laps around the subdivision neighboring the park. Complete with someone baking cookies and they must have had a window open. 12.07 in 1:43:35 (8:35 min/mile).

That’s it for the week. I finished it fast. Almost 36 miles, and just over 5 hours spent running. 🍻

Monday: 7 miles. It was rainy and for whatever reason, I wasn’t very fast. The weekend wasn’t particularly strenuous – I did go to Kings Island’s Winterfest and walked around with the family, and I finished the sanding and primed the basement bathroom. 7.08 miles in 1:04:13 (9:04 min/mile).

Tuesday: 4 x 0.5 mile intervals. The temperature when I woke up was 40, but Google claimed it would drop to 32 within the next 15 minutes. It may have been wrong on the timing, but not on the drop. It was also very gusty. I “fixed” the interval paces in Garmin Connect based on the McMillan Running Calculator for a goal marathon of 3:22. This told me training paces of 6:32 – 6:53 min/mile (splits of 3:15 – 3:25). My paces were 7:02, 7:06, 7:04, and 7:18. Overall, 5.5 miles in 46:48 (8:31 min/mile).

Wednesday: 4 miles recovery. It was COLD. I didn’t want to get out of bed. I stayed in my neighborhood, which was partly because I could do my post-race stretches in the garage (warmer), and partly to get two more RunChatHunt entries. 4 miles in 35:45 (8:56 min/mile).

Thursday: 5 miles + 6 strides. Another very cold morning. Started this off with form drills, and then ran 5 miles in the park and the neighborhood next to it and got into the park just before the watch signaled me to do strides. Rounded off the run to 6 (ish) miles and did some stretches, squats, single-leg deadlifts, and pull-ups after as my car warmed up. 6.24 miles in 55:02 (8:49 min/mile).

Friday: 11 miles. I went to East Fork for this, and my pace shows. I haven’t figured out why this is always slower, except that it is very hilly. Ran out to Williamsburg and back, making two laps in the Williamsburg Community Park before returning back to East Fork. I did get a few more RunChatHunt entries, too. 11.04 in 1:44:35 (9:28 min/mile).

That’s it for the week. Just under 34 miles. Just over 5 hours spent running. 🍻