20 Felt Better

Today's 20-mile long run felt way better than the previous weeks' runs of 14 and 18. For a couple of reasons, I think. First, it was not humid at all, which killed us last week. And second, maybe this whole training thing is starting to pay off.

After last Saturday's debacle with my iPhone, which continually keep prompting me as if I'd invoked Siri and didn't play  music for the last half of the run, I decided there's no way I'm going to put up with that again. I ordered a Garmin Forerunner 620, which came in Thursday afternoon (it was supposed to get here Wednesday - that's not a two-day delivery from Sunday either, but that's not the point of this story). I charged it and then played with it briefly on Friday, and then hoped it would go the whole 20 miles today without incident. I'm happy to say it worked great. It was nice to have the info on my wrist instead of contorting myself to look at my phone in it's holster on my upper arm. I put it back on the charger and it was only down to 65% after four-plus hours. I got it for a great price on Amazon, and other than the delayed delivery I'm happy with it. More to come on that.

We ran through the Craig Ranch area and then southeast, like we did a few weekends ago. We thought the trail went a lot longer than where we turned around last time, and we were wrong. Fortunately we made it up with a different path on one of the creeks, like we did previously so we didn't have to run the hills in Craig Ranch again. I'm a little stiff now, but that's to be expected after 20 miles.

Every day this past week I used the new foam roller Daughter #2 got me for my birthday last weekend. I rolled my calf muscles, hammies, and hips. None of those bugged me at all during the run. The only thing caused issues were my quads, which I rolled only once last week. Not sure if the rolling made that big a difference, but trust me, I'm going to keep rolling before the race.

As far as long runs go, this was by far the best we've had. Three weeks from tomorrow it's race day. This was a good step toward being ready.

Missed One

Tuesday was just a nasty day. Rain, high winds, and cool temperatures. After a full five seconds of internal debate I decided not to worry about running. So I didn't.

Today was a different story. Temperature in the 50s, sunshine, and just a little breeze from the north. We ran 6 miles. Since this Saturday is our 20-mile day I'm sure missing a day won't hurt too much, and today was a pretty easy run. I'm looking forward to being done with the long run in a couple of days and then the taper to the race. The FVRP said he was looking up some reviews and that it's going to be worse than we thought. Well, I wouldn't expect a race named after the Bataan Death March to be easy.

A Cake Walk

Today the humidity was up, and that spelled doom for our 14-miler. We walked a lot, and hydrated plenty, but it was still a cake walk. (for reference, check the television show Cougar Town for the usage of that phrase in the last sentence). It totally kicked ass. (also a Cougar Town reference)

I tried a new belt with larger bottles and did not like it, other than the fact I had enough to drink to get me to the end. I also wore my new boonie hat, which I will be wearing during the actual race. It was lightweight and breathable, for the most part, but I still took it off a half-mile from the end when we were running into the wind, mainly to cool off.

Not one of my favorite runs ever, but we finished. And that was the goal, after all.

Solo Hills

Today I ran by myself, and it had its moments, both up and down. I went out early to avoid the high winds that are predicted to intensify during the day. I probably went out too quick, and on the turn from Stonebridge onto Virginia I had to walk a couple of minutes after running uphill against the wind. My 9:24 pace for the 6 miles was the fastest for a run since I started using the Nike app, beating a November 3rd run by two whole seconds per mile. Overall I felt pretty good, and the fact that I'm running in shorts in mid-February makes me happy.

Unintentional Speedwork

Today's plan called for speedwork, but after our 18-miler on Tuesday and a crappy night of sleep for the FVRP, we decided to take it easy. Except he didn't. He was pushing and running at a faster pace than I wanted. For the first half I kept trying to rein him in, but he kept pushing. At the halfway point I decided that was enough of that. I started speeding up myself, bit by bit, until we were finally going at a pretty good clip. He mentioned that I was running faster, and I said I know, I'm going to run you into the ground. We finished the 6 miles at a pace just under 10 minutes/mile, and that includes a walk of a couple of minutes. Not bad. Maybe he should have a restless night before every speed workout.

Up to 18

Today's long slow run was an 18-miler, next to the longest we'll run during this plan. We tried out walking every two miles, starting at the two-mile mark. I think it worked okay, but we'll see tomorrow how the recovery feels. By the end of the run it certainly didn't feel much better, but my thought is that 18 miles is going to hurt no matter what. I can say this afternoon that I feel better than the same point in time after last week's 15 miles, but again the true test is when I wake up in the morning.

We ran southeast, along a trail that took us into Allen and almost to Hwy 75. We're thinking it might work for our 20-miler in a couple of weeks since we didn't reach the end of the trail, but that's going to require a little bit of research. My hips, knees, and feet were sore by the end, but again, that's expected. I was doing some looking at the Bataan race site, and let's just say I expect it to be...challenging. Not sure I can get in the kind of training around here that it requires. At least we'll be there four days early to try and get used to the altitude. Unless we go find a desert in this area with some big hills we're out of luck. All we can do is keep training on the local hills and get in the distance.

Perfect Day

The temperature seemed a little warm for our run this morning, but this being mid-February I can't complain that it was about 60 degrees. The sun was shining, the wind was down, and it was just...nice. We ran the 6-mile hill route and it went okay. I felt like we were pushing some, but the FVRP had trouble with the "heat" and had to walk a few times. I didn't mind since that's what we'll be doing in the race. All that aside, I'm just thankful for a gorgeous day.

Change to Easy Run

The weather didn't cooperate for an outing yesterday - I mean, I probably could have gone out for a 4-miler, but the 30-mph winds kept me inside. I decided I needed the extra day off more than a run in those conditions.

Today was supposed to be a marathon-pace run, but I changed it to an easy run since both the FVRP and I still felt banged up from Saturday's long run. I think it was the right choice, and I know I felt better after the 6 miles than I would if I'd tried to get in some speed work. Plus there was very little wind compared to yesterday. Sometimes the wise choice is the easy one.

Painful 15

Today's run started with misty skies and a temperature around 40 degrees. We ran a couple of miles through the neighborhood and then stopped by the house to pick up our fuel belts. Then we ran an out and back route, past Towne Lake and into an older neighborhood. By the time we got to the lake I was in a little bit of pain, and that didn't really abate at all. Right before we hit 12 miles I had to stop and walk because my whole drive chain felt out of kilter. Walking for a couple hundred yards helped, and I made it the rest of the way without incident. The FVRP tweaked his hip as we made our last big turn 3/10ths of a mile from the finish and we had to walk a few minutes there.

I think I felt worse after a shower and short nap, but once I got up and started walking around I felt a little better. I'm a little surprised how bad I felt during and after the run. I'm inclined to run a short 4-miler or so on Monday to stretch out a bit and do something easy. Hopefully my work schedule will allow it.

Hill Run Again

It's nice to be able to break out midday for a run, and due to my schedule today I had to wait until mid-afternoon. The schedule called for hill running, and the FVRP had to run on his own since our schedules didn't sync. I ran the 6 miles in an overall 9:27 pace, which ain't bad. The temperature was about 50 degrees with a stiff breeze out of the NW, but overall it was pretty good for a run. I was able to wear shorts with a long-sleeved technical t-shirt. The sunshine was nice, too. Not a lot to complain about on this run, and it's one of the better outings I've had lately.

Back to Yasso 800s

Today we ran in the wonderful wind and did some modified Yasso 800s. With the lack of a good GPS watch I decided we would run half-mile intervals, which is pretty much the same as 800m, and then a half-mile recovery instead of the 400m that the plan prescribes. It was actually a pretty good reintroduction to speed work, and allowed us to walk a little for recovery. The Craig Ranch neighborhood gate was open and we were able to stay on relatively flat ground. My Nike app reported to me afterword that I set a personal 1k record somewhere in the 5-minute range, and that seems suspect to me. I don't think I was ever moving that fast. I think if I had I would have felt like puking at some point.

Somewhat Painful

Today was a 13-miler and it was a little bit painful. The first five miles was okay, but by the second route around the neighborhood I was tight in the hips, knees, and calfs. It was a gorgeous day, so that wasn't the problem. I think it's mainly a result of extending the distance for the first time in about 18 months or so. This is part of the training process. I've been here before and know that it will get better. At least that's the goal.

Alone on the Hills

Ran by myself today with no walking. I ran the same route as Tuesday, hills on Virginia and Stonebridge, and felt much better. Still not 100%, but close. I was tempted to walk a few times, but not too bad. I picked up the pace the last half-mile and finished with an average time of 9:36. Not too bad, with a pace of 9:01 the last mile.

According to my Nike app, that was my 10th run this month with a total of 72 miles. On Saturday we'll make that run #11 for a grand total of 85.1 miles for January. And that's after missing a couple of runs last week when I was in Austin and didn't feel good. At the moment I feel like I'm on track for the race in March.

Stupid Hills

The FVRP took out some workplace anger on the hills of Stonebridge and Virginia Parkway today. I'm still recovering from last week and could have used a slower pace, but at the finish of our 6 miles I told him that next time I go out like a rabbit and he complains to remember today. The problem for me is that I feel about 80% back to normal but my breathing wasn't quite up to snuff yet. My airway felt a little restricted but I stuck with it. Hoping a few more nights of good sleep will clear up this stuff.

Busted Week

A big missed opportunity this week to run in one of my favorite cities, Austin. I flew into town on Monday and out again on Wednesday, leaving a couple of evenings to run down by the river. On Sunday afternoon I was hit with a big allergy attack, and it continued even worse over the next couple of days in Austin. On Tuesday I got back to the hotel about 6 p.m. and went to bed, sleeping until 7 the next morning. So much for running in a great city this time, but I'll be back.

I haven't run at all since last Saturday, and today called for 11 miles. Fortunately I finally felt close to normal when I woke up this morning, which wasn't the case as late as yesterday. The FVRP and I did two circuits around his neighborhood to get in the mileage. I took a few more walk breaks than usual, but it was needed since I was trying to not push too hard after a lost week. We made it. My left hip felt tight during the run, and this afternoon my right calf has been hurting. Oh, well. All signs that I'm in the midst of ramping up the mileage.

Slog

Today's 10-miler kind of turned out to be a slog. Neither of us were looking forward to it, and a temperature around 40 degrees with a stinging wind out of the north didn't help. We walked a few times but slogged through. Our route took us past the dog park and into the loop south of Virginia Parkway, which turned out to be waterlogged in places. On the way back we skipped the loop.

Although it was cold, for Texas, I kept counting my blessings since the cold here is nowhere near the colder runs from my KC days. At one point I remarked that weather like this felt warm during all those sub-freezing outings in Missouri. There were times I would have killed for this kind of day. No complaints.

Blast

Ran 6 miles on a few hills today even though the plan called for an easy run. In addition I ran the last two-tenths at a sprint, which felt really good. The weather was warm, in the 60s, with a nice stiff breeze from the west. For me it was a good outing, not so much for the FVRP. After a trip to Vegas for work it was good to get out and enjoy a run and not feel like crap.

I looked at the plan for the next few months and it ramps up pretty darn quick. At least I'm not trying to train for this in ice and snow.

Another Cold One

It only made it to the upper 30s today in North Texas, with a stiff wind out of the WNW. We ran our 9 miles and again, it wasn't horrible. The FVRP had to get on a plane to Vegas this afternoon, and I'm doing the same tomorrow. I think it will probably be worse for him since at least I get a night of sleep in between my run and sitting on a plane for 3+ hours. So far our training plan is going well, and we're planning to run in Vegas, but we'll see how that goes. Lots of meetings and several late nights ahead, I'm sure.

More Hills

Today was another hilly run. From what the FVRP has said over the past several years he had trouble finding hills to run around here. Not so. It's probably just the part of the city we live in, but there are some hills that are a real pain in the butt. Not as steep as a few of the worst ones in KC, but still plenty good for training. There was a cold wind out of the south but by the time we were four miles in the sun came out and it started to warm up. I remarked that it was a tough run for planning how to dress. We got our 6 miles in, pre-Vegas, and we're taking our running gear. Whether or not we follow through is another question.

Frigid Run...for Texas

The temperature hiked up to around 40 degrees this afternoon, but there was a nice cool breeze to bring the temperature down. We ran from the FVRP's place, and he was kind enough to lend me a hat since I forgot mine. Our outing was after work and fortunately before the sun went down. We did a 6-miler, out and back, and I felt good. I used to run after work all the time and it was a good de-stresser, and it worked that way today, too. We had an announcement about our VP leaving and there are a lot of unanswered questions, but things will shake out. They always do.