did a 2 mile tempo with a 1.5 mile warmup and 1.5 mile cooldown on the track. first mile was 8:32; second mile was 8:31. definitely faster than what i was supposed to do, but i never said i knew how to pace.
won't be able to blog for a while because i'll be on a business trip, so here's the plan for the rest of the week: tomorrow - 5 miles; thursday - 6 miles; saturday - 8 miles.
4/20/06: ran 5 miles before going to jc's for the most amazing meal ever. holy crap. who cares about how the run went?!? the bbq pork ribs, sweet potato with brown sugar butter, green beans and homemade cookies were what really mattered on thursday. taaaaaaaasty.
4/22/06: was in columbus for a wedding on saturday. i was supposed to do 7 miles, but yeah...that didn't so much happen. i only made it 6. first of all, i was severely dehydrated from the night before. oops. secondly, it was hot and humid. third, there are actual hills in ohio. i'm not talking about the little bumps we have in chicago. i'm talking about real ass-kicking hills. and of course, from my buddy's apartment, everything was downhill...which meant the second half was pretty much completely uphill. at least i had some entertainment along the way. it was the annual osu scarlett and gray football game so everybody was out tailgating. got to say hi to the drunkards and somehow got tackled by a little boy who thought he was being attacked by a dog. good times.
today: rest day tomorrow: cross training weekly mileage: 20 miles
first song on my shuffle: "flava in ya ear" craig mack
nothing special about today's run. weather was fantastic - cool and partly sunny. my legs are tired from yesterday, and i have a feeling my whole body is going to hurt by tomorrow. lookin' forward to that. yeah.
did a 400m workout with sb today: 8x400m with 400m recovery laps.
when we first got there, i thought about how nice it was being on a track again...but by the fourth repeat, i remembered how much track workouts hurt. i was supposed to do them at 1:52, but i only hit that time twice. everything else was either above or below. the good thing is, i was slower the first half than i was the second half.
my hammie hurts. my achilles hurts. by tomorrow, everything will hurt.
since i underestimated the mileage for the workout, i think i'm going to take a mile off of tomorrow's run.
thank you, sb, for letting me borrow your runner's world because it's the only way i can get through cross training. i hate riding the stationary bike. it's so freaking boring. i did get through it, and then i lifted upper body.
however, on a happier and more interesting note, ks kicked some serious ass at boston. she said she hurts all over, but her femur didn't break in the middle of the race so that's really all that matters. plus, she freakin pr'd. who pr's at boston? amazing.
tomorrow: i think i'm supposed to do a hill workout...
first song on my shuffle: "let's get down" bow wow
windy. very windy.
felt ok, but i still have residual yuckiness that needs to go away before these runs start to feel good. today was supposed to be a rest day, but i had to adjust the training schedule because of the germs. i didn't hit my mileage for the week, but again...i felt like shit so it just wasn't going to happen. let's hope next week is better.
tomorrow: cross training mileage for the week: 13 miles
first song on my shuffle: "gold digger" kanye west
i can breathe! i can breathe! hallelujah, i can breathe! man, it's a lot easier to run when you can breathe out of your nose. i still don't feel a 100%, but it's definitely an improvement from the past few days. i ran for 40:19 today, which better be 4 miles.
today was supposed to be a long run of 6, but seeing as how this week went to shit anyway because of the germs, i figured i better not make my long run 50% of my weekly mileage. i'll make up the remaining mileage for the week tomorrow.
spent the day in the 'burbs visiting ks before she ventures off to boston. for the next two days, i'll be keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that her femur doesn't break. scary stuff.
first song on my shuffle: "the new workout plan" kanye west
so i decided to make last week my "off season." i did a little bit of cross training and lifting but no running.
of course now that i've started a new training schedule, i think i'm sick. i thought it was allergies, but after feeling like i was going to puke the entire time i was running today, i think the germs have invaded my body.
so what's the new training schedule for, you ask? in my post-shamrock-shuffle euphoria, i made the decision to make my next race longer - 10 miles. the soldier field 10 (may 27) sounded like a lot of fun, what with the finish across the field and the jumbotron. i just hope i haven't gotten myself in over my head. so here goes with the goal...
to finish.
if i accomplish that, i guess the secondary goal would be to do it under 1:40.
it came...it went...and it was fun. i finally ran my first race that was more than a 5k, and i actually beat my goal time!
the race was freaking huge. i couldn't believe how many people were there. i had to do a lot of maneuvering throughout the entire race, but it was still fun. i looked up and saw all of the people ahead of me and thought we'd spread out eventually, but 25,000 runners and only 4.97 miles doesn't really allow much time for the congestion to die down.
that last hill up roosevelt is a dirty, dirty bitch. luckily, there was a guy who was coaching a friend up the hill, and he kept yelling at her to pump her arms and lift her knees. little did he know, he was coaching me too.
the end was fucking sweet. i felt like crap after the hill, but they had signs marking 300m, 200m and 100m. whether it was the sprinter in me or just the adrenalin, thinking about that last stretch as a 300m sprint helped my kick a lot.
at the end, there was this older guy who was so happy to be there. he just kept smiling at everyone and telling them congratulations. i chatted with him a bit, and he said he's getting ready for a 50k next weekend. he's probably 30 years older than i am...fucking bad ass.
my achilles still hurts, and my hammy is tight...but who cares. that was the most fun i've had in a long time.
i am: a sprinter by nature. an average-below average distance runner. hard on myself for being an average-below average runner.
i love: running. but more than that, i love runners. they're the best people in the world.
the truth: while i love running, i tend to get lazy in the winter. that's where this blog comes into play. it'll be the way i hold myself accountable and a way to remember the best, the average and the worst days - nonetheless, all memories i want to have.
