Weekly Recap - 8-28-10

Completely random - I found this old picture of my son and I from five years ago.

Now on to the weekly recap (from www.DailyMile.com):

Sunday - Rest Day

Monday - Nice ten mile recovery run mix from my office downtown, over the Cooper River Bridge, out to the end of the Mount Pleasant Water Front Park pier and back. First six miles were at a slow recovery pace (10:00+), last four miles I pushed marathon pace (8:50 -). Storms followed me the whole way...

Tuesday - Hardcore evening track workout (5 miles): 1x800 warm up, drills, 4x200 (:48) - 100 rec, 4x300 (1:12) - 200 rec, 4x400 (1:37) - 300 rec, 1x800 cool down. I hit my splits within +-2 seconds. I was good on my rest intervals until the last two 400's (I rested about 20-30 seconds too long). The pace was around 6:30 so I was really pushing it in the heat. I was wiped out!!!

Wednesday - Eight mile run over the Ashley River Bridge and back from my office.  My pace was steady (9:33).  Special note: I was lucky enough to meet the nastiest gas station attendant in Charleston at the Circle K off Hwy 61.

Thursday - Five mile afternoon tempo run.  Warm up mile and then four tempo miles. I was going out for eight, but it was just too hot!!!

Friday - Easy four mile afternoon run Downtown (10:00).

Saturday - Twelve mile long run out to Sullivan's Island and back to the Old Village. First mile was a slow warm up, then four quick miles at half marathon pace (8:24). Slowed down for five miles coming back (my knee was hurting). Then ran two fast miles (8:30) to end the run.

Total for the week = 44 miles

That's about it for the week.  The heat is still killing me, the track workout was killer, the long run was nice, and I was fortunate enough to meet the nastiest gas station attendant in the entire world.  Not a bad week...

Oh, who else uses Daily Mile?  I love that site! 

Chasing Storms

Beep!  Beep!  Beep!  Just five more minutes... snooze...  Maybe ten more minutes... snooze...  Oh crap!  My alarm didn't go off!!!

Pretty sure that's how it went from 4:00am to 4:50am Saturday morning...


Over sleeping on a morning you are running eighteen miles is not a good thing.  I jumped up, looked at the clock for another minute, thought about what I needed to do before I left the house and realized I was not going to make it to meet the group in ten minutes.  Somehow I remembered that the day's route would go right by my neighborhood.  I got dressed, took my dog out and headed out the door.  As I made it to the entrance to my neighborhood I could see lights coming down the road.  I could not believe how well I timed meeting the group!


I ended up meeting the group at their two mile mark.  Everyone, but me, was running fourteen miles so I was going to have to make up an extra six miles at the end.


As we ran down the road, I could see the outline of clouds and lightning in the distance.  The storm seemed to stay ahead of us as we ran.  It felt like we were chasing the storm.  We made a right turn and then another until we were moving away from the lightning.  I could still hear the thunder behind us.


We ran at a pretty slow pace until we hit the Mount Pleasant Water Front Park.  We picked it up to nearly marathon pace for about three miles.  I ended up slowing down for two miles as I made it back to St. Andrews.  I still had six miles left, but everyone else was done.  I spent a couple of minutes refueling and then headed out on my own.  


I ran to the end of the Pitt Street pier and then back to Ben Sawyer Blvd.  As I ran, I noticed that the storms were still ahead of me.  It was cool to see the huge clouds and hear the thunder in the distance. 

I was feeling pretty strong at this point (my refueling plan had worked fine: gels at 5, 10 and 15 miles; salt pills at 6 and 12 miles).  The biggest problem I had was over heating.  I have not felt that hot in a long time and it really got to me.  I stopped at a gas station and refilled my water bottle and then headed home.  


The run was exactly eighteen miles and I felt every mile.  But it sure was cool chasing storms on a Saturday morning...


Weekly Recap:


Sunday - rest
Monday - 10 mile recovery run over the bridge
Tuesday - track workout (1x800 warm up, drills, 1x400, 1x800, 1x1200, 1x1600 - 400 recovery on each, 1x1200 cool down)
Wednesday - 4 miles steady state run
Thursday - 8 miles on the bridge (some tempo)
Friday - rest
Saturday - 18 mile long run
Total = 45 miles for the week

Pedicures and Ice Baths

There is nothing better than an ice bath and a pedicure after a long run.  Not sure if I would have ever imagined that those words would have come out of my mouth...

After finishing my long runs, I am all about taking care of my feet and legs.  I use ice baths to relieve some of the soreness in my legs and to recover faster.

I fill up my bath tub with ice and water and spend between ten and fifteen minutes soaking.  The initial shock is the worst part (I do wear my running shorts to help with some of the shock of the ice water), but not having to deal with sore legs for the rest of the day is well worth the temporary pain.  

The articles I have read on ice baths are mixed.  Some state the benefits of constricting blood vessels and helping flush waste products (like lactic acid), reducing swelling and tissue breakdown.  Others site research that shows there is no conclusive proof of any benefits.  I have to go with my own experience on this one.  It has proven helpful to me on the day of and the day after long runs.

Last Saturday, after my sixteen mile long run, I went with my wife to get a pedicure.  I received plenty of grief from my Facebook friends when they heard what I was doing, but I really didn't care.  Not only did I have my nails cut, but I got to soak my feet and get a leg massage!  Oh, I also got to sit in a massage chair for like thirty minutes!  

I do have to admit that I was worried that they would not even want to work on my ugly feet (I have some serious Fred Flinstone feet).  I also had one nail that was close to coming off.  The lady did laugh at me when I almost jumped out of my chair as she scrubbed the bottom of my feet (I am crazy ticklish).  By the time she was done with massaging my calf muscles, I was feeling pretty good.  No, I did not get any color polish on my nails.

Not only did my feet and legs feel great, but I was able to spend some time with my wife after running for hours.  I have decided that this is going to be part of my recovery routine after any run over sixteen miles.  

Bring on the ice.  Bring on the pedicure jokes.  Bring on the long runs!

A Break from the Heat

After a pretty pathetic week of running, I literally ran out the door to get started this morning!

I was running a 16 mile out and back and was hoping for a break in the heat.  What an amazing morning!  Although the humidity was 95%, the temperature was only 79 degrees and it was cloudy all morning - perfect long run weather.

I met my running group at St. Andrews and started running at 5:00am.  It was a smaller group this morning, only eight of us showed up.  Cathy R is traveling in the Outback (not the restaurant, the real place) and Ninja Stuntman must be at home nursing his beat up body.  Marine Nicholson (I will come up with a better nickname later) joined us for the second time.  He is crazy fast and is working on a BQ (Boston Qualifier).  No doubt he will get it soon.

Coach Greg had us running a route that would take us over the Cooper River Bridge (this is one of my favorite routes for a long run).  I ended up running with Annie P and Torre (sp?) for the first 3.5 miles.  Everyone (except me) was running seven today so after that point I was on my own...

After the other runners turned around I kept running over the the bridge to Downtown Charleston.  I stayed on East Bay Street and headed to the Battery.  I ran on the upper wall this morning (have not done that in a long time).  The wind felt great coming off the harbor and the waves were splashing against the wall making loud crashing noises.  It was an amazing experience as I ran in the dark in such a cool place.  There were only a few people out that early and they all seemed in such a good mood (thats what happens when the weather in nice around here).

I followed the road to the Coast Guard Station and waved to the guys as they were heading out on patrol.  I went around to Lockwood Blvd and headed to the Marina.  My plan was to stop there and get a drink for the return trip.  I was a little over my eight mile turn around, but close enough to the store that I kept going.  As I arrived I noticed that the lights were off (the store does not open until 7:00am on Saturdays) - ugh...  I headed back and tried another store, but it too was closed.  I was completely out of water so I headed over to some tennis courts that have a water fountain and restroom.  The water fountain was on, but the water was hot!  I ended up getting water from the restroom sink (a little cooler).

I ran back around the Battery and up East Bay when I saw Coach Greg's red truck coming down the road.  Big shout out to Coach Greg for finishing his run and then heading over to help me out.  I refilled my water bottle and was ready to go.

The trip back over the bridge was great!  Its amazing how much the bridge changes from 5:00am to 7:00am.  It was packed with walkers, runners, and bicyclists.  I even ran by a huge group of cross country kids.

I finished back at St. Andrews feeling really good.  I had stayed hydrated with water, Gatorade and BaNa (I took salt pills at miles five and ten).  I stayed fueled with gels at miles six and twelve.  My hydration plan is really working great.  I am looking forward to testing it on a twenty plus run soon.

The weather made a huge difference on this run.  When ever I start beating myself up over a bad run or doubting that I can ever break four hours on a marathon I have to remind myself that the weather in Indy will be much cooler.

Stay hydrated and keep running everyone, it won't be long before I am back to complaining about the cold...

Training in the Heat

This heat is killing me!  I thought the heat was fine for the first thirty straight days of above 90 degree temps, but now its getting old...

I have been reading a lot about hydration (before, during and after running).  There are a ton of articles out there that have suggestions that range from drinking salt in slurppees to eating frozen fruit after a workout.

- "Take time to hydrate"
- "The truth about Hydration in the heat"
- "What do you mean when you talk about hydrating"

My plan is pretty simple:

- I drink a lot of water before I run
- I drink sports drinks during my run (I add gels and salt pills if the run is more than 6 miles)
- I drink low fat chocolate milk after my run

What ever you do, have a plan.  Don't wait until you are at six mile on a ninety degree day and start thinking about what you need to do to get or stay hydrated.

Training Recap:

Saturday - I ran a 12 mile long run.  First four miles were fast (9:30); next four miles were slower (9:50); and then I pushed the last four up to marathon pace (8:50).
Sunday - Rest day.
Monday - Five mile recovery run (9:45).
Tuesday - Track Workout: 1x800 warm up, drills, 4x200 (:49 - 100 recovery), 4x300 (1:12 - 200 recovery), 4x400 (1:39 - 300 recovery), 1x1200 cool down.
Wednesday - Bridge repeats (ran to the top of the Cooper River Bridge and ran repeats between the spans - 8:40 average)
Thursday - I was supposed to run a seven mile tempo run, but I felt like crap and made it a rest day...

As always, please remember that I am not a certified trainer, doctor, nurse, expert or anybody else qualified to tell you what to do...