running

Back on Track – Week 12 Review [brief]

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With no new illness or injury Week 12 wasn’t too bad, and “wasn’t too bad” is good enough for me right now. I’ve been a bit discouraged, demoralized, and dissatisfied with all the unwanted breaks in training. Thankfully Week 12 was good to me. My paces

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were unimpressive if not a little slow, but at least there were paces. “Running” and “slow running” are both better than “not running” at this point. I finished the week off pretty well and hope to leverage that going into Week 13. After that it’s just taper for two weeks and then the race! it’s coming up quick…

Distance Time Pace Heart Rate
Wednesday 9.15 Miles 1:18:06 8:32 min/mi 146 bpm
Thursday 8.00 Miles 1:05:56 8:15 min/mi 147 bpm
Friday 1.03 Miles 09:30 9:14 min/mi — bpm
Saturday 17.10 Miles 2:22:54 8:21 min/mi 158 bpm
Total 35.27 Miles 4:56:26 8:24 min/mi 152 bpm

Road to Recovery. Not. – Week 11 Review [brief]

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After returning from Vegas and getting over my sickness, Week 11 was positioned to be something of a comeback week.  Still a high volume week totaling 52 miles, I decided to skip one midweek medium long run of 12 miles to avoid doing too much too soon.  After a great interval 9 miler on Thursday I was really looking forward to a tough 18 mile marathon pace.  Well, Friday after an easy recovery  a non-running injury (more to come in another post) left me sidelined for an unknown amount of time.  Things aren’t looking good so all we can do is keep our fingers crossed.  A trip to the doctor might be in order if things to get resolved soon.  The Chicago Marathon is coming up in less than 4 weeks…

Distance Time Pace Heart Rate
Monday 12.00 Miles — — min/mi — bpm
Tuesday 8.27 Miles 1:09:03 8:21 min/mi 144 bpm
Thursday 9.00 Miles 1:09:37 7:43 min/mi 154 bpm
Friday 5.00 Miles 44:22 8:52 min/mi 140 bpm
Saturday 18.00 Miles — — min/mi — bpm
Total 22.27 Miles 3:03:03 8:13 min/mi 147 bpm

Bleh – Week 10 Review

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bleh.

That’s how I felt during Week 10 of training.  What should have been titled something awesome like “Run the Tables! – Week 10 Review” or “Runs in Vegas Stay in Vegas – Week 10 Review” ended up anticlimactic when I came down with some sickness that essentially incapacitated me for over a week.  Week 10 was supposed to be the training week of this whole training plan with a total of 55 miles and some intense efforts.  Instead I ended up with under 20 miles and nothing but slow but not easy miles.

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Ravenna – Week 9 Review [brief]

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Week 9 had a similarly quirky schedule to Week 8.  The first three runs of the week were each set for 8 miles, though the last went a little long when I ran to work.  Tuesday’s 8-miler was a great interval workout with five 800 meter repeats and I nailed all my splits.  Huzzah!  I’ll attribute it to my new Brooks Ravenna 2 shoes (which I forgot haven’t gotten around to mention) which are a little lighter and more responsive.  Saturday I wore the same Ravenna 2’s for the group long run to see how they’d do for a moderately long distance and felt great the whole time.  I’m getting close to declaring them my race shoes over my old standby Adrenalines.

Distance Time Pace Heart Rate
Monday 8.20 Miles 1:08:55 8:24 min/mi 144 bpm
Tuesday 8.12 Miles 1:02:58 7:45 min/mi 152 bpm
Wednesday 8.87 Miles 1:13:53 8:19 min/mi 148 bpm
Friday 5.04 Miles 45:57 9:07 min/mi 137 bpm
Saturday 14.56 Miles 1:57:26 8:03 min/mi 151 bpm
Total 44.78 Miles 6:09:12 8:14 min/mi 148 bpm

Six and Long – Week 8 Review

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Eight weeks down, seven to go. Training in week 8 was a bit unique with three 6-mile recovery runs, a 14-mile midweek run, and a 16-mile long run. The recoveries each went well enough if not uneventful.

It was kind of nice to have several easy runs all lined up. Tuesday’s 14 miler was faster than expected, mainly because I knew Colin was also going to be running 14 miles (in Connecticut) and I wanted to put up a good showing. Well that jerk a) “got lost” and ran 15 miles; and b) was tired so probably going to be a little slower. He ended up still being faster, even with the longer distance and being “tired”.

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Skyscraper – Week 7 Review

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After a great weekend in Seattle it was back to the Austin grindstone for Week 7 of training. Things started off a bit shaky with a red-eye that netted me about 3 hours of sleep taking me straight from the airport to the office. To make up for the lost morning I laid down 7 easy miles in 102* heat after work.

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The heart rate was higher than a normal recovery, but I’m ok with that. My goal was to simply survive. Tuesday was even less fun, feeling nauseous during and after the run. I think my body was still out of whack from the travel and weird sleep schedule, but I got through it.

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Climbing the Skyscraper

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About a month ago I set forth the challenge to myself to tackle the Coolhaus Ice Cream Sandwich Skyscraper — 5 scoops of ice cream sandwiched between 6 cookies.  Anyone can participate, giving Coolhaus a few days notice, so I chose August 13th as the challenge day– first because I’d be running 20 miles and second because it coincided with the 5th Annual Austin Ice Cream Festival.  What better way for Coolhaus to showcase their amazing ice cream sandwiches than with an eating challenge at an ice cream festival!

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Team VW Swag

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Just a quick update on the Team VW front.  I’ve been putting in the miles and sticking to the plan (as you know from my interesting and informative weekly updates).  Well Team VW sent over some swag out of the blue.  Sitting on my front door when I got home from work was a bubble-wrapped envelope busting at the seams with some pretty sweet gear.  Inside was a t-shirt, water bottle, one of those string backpacks, and Dean Karnazes’ book Run!: 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss.  Definitely a nice surprise to keep the motivation up now that I’m getting into the heart of my training.  Thanks Team VW!

Weather You Like It or Not

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I talk about the weather here a lot.  I think it’s because it’s so universal.  I mean, everyone has to deal with some form of Mother Nature’s wrath at some point.  For us Texans it comes in the form of heat.  Relentless, punishing, uncompromising heat.  Just this past week we had three days in a row with a high temperature of 107*.  We’re not talking heat index either.  And say what you will about “oh it’s a dry heat”  False.  80% humidity in the mornings which makes even the low of 79* at 6am a beast to deal with.  What’s a runner to do?  It’s inescapable (especially with my self-imposed “No treadmills.  Ever.  Again.” policy).

Austin's 10-day Forecast

Well, there is one way to escape the heat., and that is to escape Texas altogether.  The little lady and I are currently (as I type this) on a plane to Seattle for a long weekend that should be high on fun and low on responsibility.  Part of that fun is going to rest solely in being able to be outside without melting.  In planning for Saturday’s 18 mile long run I felt it worthwhile to see what kind of conditions I’d be dealing with.  The only word that comes to mind is “perfect”.  Here’s the 10-day forecast for Seattle.  Just compare that to Austin’s 10-day (which has really been the 50-day forecast).  I mean, it’s not even fair.

Seattle's 10-day Forecast

I’m more excited that you can imagine to go for a run and not think about the weather.  Maybe I’ll even spare you any mention of the weather in the next blog post, but I wouldn’t count on it.