More of the Same

So for the week, I have three themes.  The first is using the conditioning vest.  I ran with it almost every run this past week, excluding the two long Sunday runs.  The second was higher mileage.  This weeks total was 43.6 miles.  This is an increase from 37 and some change the week before.  The third thing I increased this week was speed.  It helps that the first 10 miler on Sunday was on the road, but I also sped up on the trails as well.

So my totals for the week of 8-15-11 to 8-21-11

Count:7 Activities

Distance:43.61 mi

Time:07:08:42 h:m:s

Avg Time:01:01:14 h:m:s

Avg Distance:6.23 mi

Max Time:01:34:31 h:m:s

Max Distance:10.01mi

Good Week!

Had a great previous week of training.  The weather was MUCH cooler, which made for a way more pleasurable week of training.  I also havent had a single beer since a week ago Saturday, so that always helps with better hydration.  I decided that if I want to do the Flat Rock 50 in my goal time of under 6:30:00 and top 15 finishers overall that I needed to really get into gear and start training right... including winding down the summer drinking season, and adding more long runs (preferably on trails).  So far I have done both and even mixed in a little running with the weight vest and 20 continuous miles on the Wilderness Park trails on Saturday morning.  So far so good. 

Saturday morning I got up about 7 and hit the trail by 8 am with my car stocked with a nice supply of water and gatorade that had been in the fridge since the night before.  Nice and cold... 3 bottles, a 1.5 liter water bladder, and a 64 ounce thermos with a pour spout.  So, needless to say, I wasn't going to let hydration be the issue that gave me problems on the trail.  I was also equipped with 8 electrolyte tablets... one for about every 30 minutes or so.   Sent Jerime a text and left a VM about 7:30 to join me on the trails.  I found Jerime at about 10 miles in and we ran the next 7 or so miles together.  The first part, and the last part of my run I spent listening to the new George R.R. Martin novel, A Dance With Dragons.  The latest release in the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' epic series.  Awesome reading (or listening) for the fantasy aficionado.  I finished 20 miles in just over 3 hours and 50 minutes and felt great at the finish.  Very little soreness the next day.  Here are my totals for the previous week:

Count: 6 Activities 

Distance: 37.57 mi

Time: 06:37:33 h:m:s

Avg Time: 01:06:15 h:m:s

Avg Distance: 6.26 mi

Max Time: 03:50:49 h:m:s

Max Distance: 20.10 mi

2009 KC Marathon Race Report

Ok, so I am almost 2 years late writing this race report, but better late than never... I hope more of the details come back to me as I write this up, but if not, I guess a spotty recollection now is better than I could do in another two years.  If I remember correctly, I had only registered for, planned on, and trained for the half marathon. Generally I don't train as hard through the summer due to the heat and other recreational opportunities (bbq and beer mostly), but when I went to the packet pickup, they offered a $10 upgrade to go to the full distance.  Being a sucker for a good deal, I upgraded although I hadn't run longer than a 10 mile in 3 months or so. 

Anywho, I remember it was misting and chilly that morning, October 17th, 2009.  There were lots and lots and lots and lots of people there.  5k, half and full all started at the same time, so the first 2 or 3 miles was a clusterfuck, but it was a cool clusterfuck - starting at Crown Plaza in downtown.  Weaving all around big buildings as stuff was pretty neat, especially surrounded by 20,000 people (or however many were there).  We went through Westport, where there were bands playing, and though an expensive looking residential neighborhood with expensive looking cars in the driveways and people cheering us on in their yards.  Very cool.  It remained cool and overcast and the miles were flying by.  I kept my pace under 8:30 for the first 19 miles, when the lack of longer runs in the previous months reared its ugly head.  I started to bonk hard, and crashed hard between 22-25 a very very long and painful 3 miles.  I gut-checked the last 1.2 miles and finished strong, with an overall finish of 3:50:04 (official). 

Strangely enough, this is my PR time...  I did however pay a price for not correctly training for this race.  I was soooooooooo sore that I could barely walk for a week.  Sitting hurt, walking hurt, sleeping hurt.  It was three weeks before I could really run pain free again.  So, the lesson from this race:  A gut check, dig deep, tough it out approach can get the job done can get you through, but it is much smarter to properly train for the race you are running. 

Training Update

So it has been so ridiculously hot that training for the Flat Rock 50 has not been going that great.  I have not done very well at getting up early to beat the heat...  It is a bit demotivating when you get up at 5:30 to try and get out before it gets too hot and it is already 89 or some ridiculous number.

Basically, I have been substituting the weight vest for time, making my runs more difficult by adding weight rather than adding time.  I figure the carrying the extra weight should help get me ready for the hills on the FlatRock.  I need to get in a long run this Saturday, 20 miles or more.  I haven't done longer than 10 for a while, mostly due to the heat. Hopefully the temps will stay a little cooler.  This morning was sooooo nice.  Upper 60s and a bit of fog.  Even with the vest it was the most comfortable run I have had in a while.


Last night I hit wilderness park trails with Jerime and we did a nice easy 5 miles.  It was raining some at first and had rained quite a bit through the day so the trails were pretty wet and muddy.  Slipping and sliding around was a lot of fun but didn't do much for my our time. 


Here are my totals since last post:

Count:	7 Activities
Distance:	32.04 mi
Time:	05:22:33 h:m:s
Avg Time:	00:46:04 h:m:s
Avg Distance:	4.58 mi
Max Time:	01:47:26 h:m:s
Max Distance:	10.03 mi

I can tell from this that I need to start adding in longer runs.