First 20 miler done

Against my better judgement, I decided to get my long run in the day after getting home from Costa Rica. It was a phenomenal trip where I ended up running every day but yesterday, so I decided I was rested enough to attempt a 20 miler. I wanted to run with a power gel to see how my body reacted but I couldn't find one, so I pounded a power bar before my run. The power bar worked great, and I didn't bonk at all today. I headed south on Lakeshore Drive and had to run through the Chicago Triathlon (which I slightly regret not racing).

It took me a while to get going today, but after easing into the run for 3 miles, I was suddenly clicking off 6:20's at will. About 6-7 miles in the splits dropped down to 6:10's. The lakeshore trail actually ends 9 miles from apartment so I had to improvise in the south side near the 70's streets. I also made sure to pause for water periodically so my body didn't go into shock. When I flipped and headed home, the splits dropped to around 6:05 for the next several miles. Around mile 17 I caught up with the triathlon run and mooched off some of their gatorade and water, which was key, but actually a good race simulation so I figured I had a good excuse. The last couple miles were relaxed around 6:20, but everything was still feeling good. Total time for the run was 2:06 and change for 20 miles.

Hours later, my body is doing well except my calves are a little tight. Plan is to take it easy the next couple days and do a road tempo mid-week. I also just signed up for the Chicago Half Marathon on September 12 so that should be a good indicator of where my fitness is. Total mileage for the week was 69 in 6 days of running.

Quick Log

No time to blog from Costa Rica but I wanted to get these runs in so I don't forget them.

8/21 - 45 minutes - 7 miles
8/22 - 53 minutes - 8 miles - 65 total for the week

8/23 - 75 minutes - 11 miles
8/24 - 60 minutes - 8 miles
8/25 - 62 minutes - 9 miles
8/26 - 90 minutes - 13 miles

Great times, lots of hills and lots of sweat.

Back in the USA for one blog

I have been in Spain since my last blog and while I'm not going to write a whole blog about Spain, I will report that I ran 63 miles last week and despite some residual discomfort in my right heel from my 70+ mile weeks, I'm still in one piece. Given how busy I've been, the mileage is down a bit and will be next week while I am in Costa Rica.

Today I ran the longest run of my life, 18 miles. I made the mistake of waiting until 11 am to get going despite getting up at 6 am due to jet lag issues. Additionally, I barely ate before my run except for some cheerios sans milk and a few grapes. I was doing fine for about 9 miles, but then dehydration hit and my body didn't have enough fuel to keep going. My pace didn't slow, but I probably could have come home much quicker if my body had some fuel to burn. Total time for the run was 2 hours, 18.15 miles at 6:37 average. The one bonus was that my body felt completely trashed over the last 4-5 miles and I was able to maintain 6:30's without much effort, so I have that going for me.

Tomorrow I'm going to Costa Rica for a week and will run as much as possible, but I expect the week's festivities will once again provide a welcome recovery period. Until then...

Lifestyle Changes

I have been in Chicago for five days and I have gone out every night. This does not make running to productive except that I can sweat out whatever food or drink goes in my body. Last night I went to a tequila bar in Old Town called Adobe, which was excellent. However, I had also planned on doing a 10-mile tempo run this morning, and tequila bars and tempo runs should never mix.

Anyways, I felt pretty good this morning and was out the door by 8. I headed south again on Lakeshore drive, and after a 1.5 mile warm-up, I was off and running. Target pace for the 10 miles was 5:45, but of course I settled into 5:35's right out of the gate. I would pay for this later. The first five miles were awesome, easy, and I could have kept going for a while. At the 5-mile turnaround, I came to a quick stop an reversed my course, but this temporarily stunned my legs and I started having some problems. I made it through 6 easy, but decided I should stop quickly at a water fountain to hydrate. I didn't stop for more than 5 seconds, when my Garmin got too sweaty and started freaking out. I came through 7 miles easy, but was playing with the watch too much and was all out of rhythm so I stopped and reset it. Once I tried to get going my legs wouldn't respond I decided to jog it in at around 6:30 pace. The last two miles of the cool down was miserable. I think it's time to rediscover an appropriate work-life balance.

The "7-mile" tempo run was actually quite good: 5:36, 5:34, 5:34, 5:32, 5:35, 5:32, 5:31. Not bad all things considered. 13 miles total today, legs a little shot, but I'm about to get on a plane bound for Spain!

No case of the Monday's here

Did I mention I haven't been working recently. Well, I have been working at getting ready for this marathon. This morning I ran another 11 miles up Lakeshore Drive (north). I sampled a new route getting down to the jogging path, which wasn't much faster. Once I hit the path I dodged into Navy Pier to use the restrooms, then continued up to Irving Park and reversed my course.

Another easy run. 11 miles at 6:45 pace (1:14). Last 5-6 miles were more in the 5:30 range. Hopefully a long tempo run tomorrow then off to Spain!

75 mile week

I ran 9 easy miles this morning, heading north up Lakeshore Drive. This brought my weekly total to 75 miles. I am very happy to still be able to do this without injury. That is all!

Compartmentalizing Long Runs

Against my better judgement, I decided to move my long run up one day and knock it out early in the weekend. This wouldn't have been such a bad idea had I not parlayed the Booth Happy Hour into a night out. Still, I was mostly functional this morning and was in good enough condition to attempt a long run. 16 miles sucks no matter how you slice it, but since it gets really annoying counting down 16 miles on my Garmin, I decided to compartmentalize the run into four parts/four miles each. My goal was to negative split each block.

Once again I headed south on Lakeshore Drive. I wasn't sure how my body would be feeling after last night, but I settled right into 6:40's and decided that would be a good starting point. I breezed through the first four miles in 26:37 (6:39 average), which felt easy enough to lower my target for the next 4 mile block to 6:20-6:30 range. I ended up running 25:36 over the next four miles (6:24 average) but had a few issues come up. My stomach was hating me from last night so fortunately I found a bathroom. I was also incredibly dehydrated but fortunately there are dozens of water fountains along Lakeshore Drive. Also, around mile 7 I had a little sharp stitch in my left achilles, which I immediately stopped to stretch out for a minute. Fortunately that went away.

At the 8 mile turnaround, I had lost so much water weight I couldn't help but go faster. Heading north back to the city is also encouraging because you can see the target from 8-10 miles out, whereas going south, the path seems to never end. The pace continued to quicken and I actually had to hold myself back over the next four miles so I would have something left to lift the last block. The target for block 3 was 6:10-6:20 pace, and it ended up being 24:45 (or 6:11 average). With four to go I allowed my body to pick up the pace. The little aches I had earlier in the run were no longer bothering me and block 4 flew by in 23:50 (5:57 average) with the last three miles all sub 6 minutes.

I'm feeling pretty good all things considered. I'm not looking forward to 18 next week and building on that, but good start to the longer long runs. Today's total: 1:40, 16 miles.

Welcome to Chicago

I slept on the floor last night because I forgot to put an air mattress in the U-Haul and my mattress isn't arriving until today. It wasn't so bad. I had a carpet floor, comforter, mattress pad, and neck pillow. Still, when I went for my run this morning I was more than relieved to only be slightly sore.

I headed south on Lakeshore drive for an easy 1 hour run. Didn't really care about the mileage today, just wanted to shake out. Still, ended up being roughly 9 miles out-and-back, with my pace quickening as my muscles loosened up. A couple highlights of the run:

1) Lakeshore drive is beautiful and I ran right by Grant Park as they were setting up for Lolla, and then Soldier Field.

2) My legs are feeling much better after a heavy start to the week. The rest/travel day did me some good.

3) I found three bathrooms along the route, approximately 2, 3, and 4 miles from my apt, which is great for future reference. I even "sampled" all three!

I may scrap the 10 mile tempo until next week and do my long run tomorrow depending on this weekend's festivities. I also should have a mattress to sleep on tonight so we'll see how that situation turns up.

Last Run in California

Today is my last day in California before I move to Chicago for business school. I started it off by meeting Kaz and the high school kids at Inspiration Point at 6:30 this morning for a 12 mile run. The kids were dreading 12 miles but got through it quite well. We headed south on P.C.H. towards el Morro and made it about 2 miles into the park before turning around. Headed out at about 7:45 pace and on the way back some of the guys got a little pumped up and brought us down to 7:20's, and then below 7 for the last two miles. Total time for the run was 1:29 - 12 miles.

Afterwards, I was naturally a little sore, since I have now run 41 miles in 3 days. I cooled off, stretched down and foam rolled at home, then headed over to Kaz and Damien's place to use the iCool one last time before I left. Then I showered and headed down to my dad's office to get a chair massage. The massage and ice bath really did the trick because my legs feel much better now, although I'm still tired and will probably end taking a long nap today.

Double Day

17 miles today and feeling great!

10 miles this morning with the high school kids in 75 minutes, which was nice and easy.

Then joined in my last Cal Coast workout for a while - 18 minute tempo. I kept a steady 5:30ish pace despite the hills: 5:30, 5:37, 5:25. Then cooled down for 7 miles this afternoon.

Time Trial with Sea King Running

I ran my body ragged last week, but I'm still healthy and alive to talk about it. Last Friday Coach Sumner told me the high school kids were doing a 3-mile time trial today, so I was bracing for a long tempo. I took yesterday completely off, which helped a lot, but my hips are still really sore from Catalina. Today's plan was a long warm-up, time trial, then another 10-15 minute tempo. Coach changed the workout to just a 2-mile time trial, which was a relief, because I could just double it and go 2 x 2 mile again today--only faster than usual.

After a 3-mile warm-up, we were off and running. Predictably, the kids went out waaaaay too fast and came through the first 800 in 2:25. After that they pretty much slowed down to 5:20 pace. Splits for the first leg were 5:03, 5:20 (10:23). The whole team was together at the 1-mile turnaround, but they were real strung out over the 2nd mile. After taking the leader in, I took a short 5 minute jog and started up on leg two. I wanted to keep this one at 10:40 or below but keep the splits even if possible. Kept it controlled over the first mile and still came through in 5:11, then came home in 5:15 for 10:26. Afterwards, I headed back out towards the shake-shack to meet up with the guys for their 5-mile cool-down.

Today's workout: 3 mile warm-up, 10:23, 10:26, 5 mile cool-down. 12 miles total.