A Giant's Foray

Basic lake run again, 5.75 in 46:55. Big thing about this one was how great it felt. Took about 3 miles, but once the cobwebs were off, I felt so awesome running out there. Think I fixed my ankle mechanics with my stride. No nagging pains other than that, so I think I'm going to add up to 6 runs this week, up from 5. I'm totally digging this gradual thing.

Basic lake run again, with a couple small strides tossed in. Love the feel of those. Legs were toast because of spinning earlier, and today (Wed.), quads are a little tight from all the action. Oh well, time to hydrate, etc.! Ankles are getting better as my stride improves, which is fantastic, though I need to stop having stimulants (read: coffee) before I run... screws up the heart rate examination (though I'm getting a good feel for what aerobic is on my own). Everything is still on track for six runs this week, and another mileage up next week.

 Think I'm going to throw a couple miles at goal-half-marathon pace for the Mercer Island half on the 21st; of course, with my goal only being sub-1:34:20 (breaking a soft PR),  it shouldn't be too hard of a task.

 All's good in running and life! Let's hope it continues! 

Threw a couple tempo miles into the normal lake run. Supposedly was going to go tempo, but went 6:51 (about what I was aiming for) and 6:19 (way too fast). Shockingly, I felt less tired after this run then the others I've done, which is a good sign that I've been working the aerobic zone as I ought to. Can't believe I'm two weeks from a half-marathon, should be fun! 

Another basic lake run. Felt really good aerobically. 46:33, looking forward to keeping it up! Went at night, definitely got a little chillier, though the weather looks like its turning for the better. Can't wait for the weekend! Stupid memo will be done for legal writing, too!

Did the 1.2 miles each way to and from the lake at steady aerobic/recovery pace, and did a little test-drive around the lake itself, going a steady tempo pace without breaking out any huge bursts or huge sustained sprinting. Definitely a little exhausted, but did the roughly  3.22 miles around in under 22 minutes, and was easily able to make it back to the apt. without losing pace, and felt fully recovered within a twenty minutes/thirty minutes of finishing.

An amazing, amazing sign for the half in two weeks, I was thinking about aiming lower than 1:35, but I'd like to aim for it still. Now just to make sure I keep on doing aerobic miles, and don't fall into a speed trap!

 Now, to give this legal memo the spit polish and shine I'm known for! 

Another basic lake run in 46:33. Was thankfully able to control myself. Felt really good despite the hard effort yesterday, and for my 7th day in a row, I have no really ill effects. 41 miles for the week, and I'm going to increase a little next week while cutting back to six days; probably going up to 44ish (7.5-8 on Monday, and 11.5 on Saturday). Week of the race, I'll probably just do M-W, F, and light couple miles on Saturday. Looking forward!

Ahhh, this was a perfect run. 8:02 split the whole time, and I felt like I could race a marathon after I finished. Tremendous, tremendous step in adding mileage... just need to remind myself to keep mileage gains gradual.

Basic lake run.

Another long run. Went well, though I got a little sore towards the end. I'm going to cut back on the spin classes... they kill my legs on runs. Ankle feeling better though. Total aerobic piece, maybe went a little fast, but pretty good. 

Did 50 minutes on the dreadmill; going to try running more there until my ankle sets itself a little better. Said 6.4 when I finished, but I didn't do any incline, indoor adjustment, so I'll subtract a little. Gotten leaps and bounds better alright, and I was in great spirits at the end of the run, which is shocking considering I hate the treadmill. Definitely need to take in more fluid though, I lost an extra 2.5 pounds of water, despite having two water bottles with me (normally don't drink on shorter than 8.5). 

 Think I'm going to do basic lake 5.75 tomorrow, and a 9 on Saturday, depending on how everything feels. Shocking to me that the foot inserts I got work... so far.  

Ankle knack is apparently tendonitis... not major, but it was nagging and not getting any better. Figured I probably should rest it for a couple of days well in advance of the half marathon. Did spin and erging and lifting instead... solid couple hours of workout. Watched the UW Huskies in the PM at Teddy's, great game against Stanford!

Felt pretty terrible on the ankle. Going to go for a new shoe fit, these 2150s are killing my outside ankle. Going to go  on Thursday, and maybe Saturday for a shakedown before the race on Sunday.

Felt much, much, much better running on these shoes; it didn't hurt to walk around later in the day. I think I'm going to do a 3 mile shakedown on Saturday, with a couple minor tempo miles. I'd train through this race (its not a priority), but my foot is still sore from the damage caused by the 2150s.

Little shakedown. Mile warmup, mile race pace, half mile jog, mile race pace, stretch. Felt great. Feeling confident about tommorrow.

Warning: Incredibly long, will add picture(s) as it/they come.  

Woke up at around 6 to get myself some food and a shower. Got about 5:30 in sleep, pretty much a record before a race. Managed to get a nice bowl of oatmeal and a slice of cheese in. Got a ride from my buddy Brent and his girlfriend in, met a ton of his triathlon buddies from TN Multisports, good people all. 

In planning for this race, I wasn't expecting a whole lot, and put aboslutely no pressure on myself to do anything in particular, as I've not been able to consistently  run since early January. Despite this, I'm in tremendous cardio shape from an enormous amount of cross-training (mostly swimming and rowing), and I've felt great when I've had a chance to run. I was looking to beat my PR from the Seattle Half in November.

Lined myself up maybe 200 people back from the start, as I didn't want to get run over by an early hero moves. There's a downhill to begin, and I didn't want to kill myself; after the downill of a quarter mile, some winding uphills, and I kept myself controlled, which was a motto. Continued to control my speed and heart rate through the second mile, which was pretty flat, and then the downhills began.

 The course is very deceptive, as it is up and downhill pretty much the entire time, but the uphills definitely feel like false flats, and didn't feel like they were taking much out of me. 3 finished in 6:11, and was definitely short, which was confirmed by the 8:01 of the following mile. Tried running tangents, but only one lane of the road was reserved for running, and too many people were around to effectively do this in the first half of the race. Probably 20-30 people passed me in the first 4 miles, and some kids were calling out positions there, apparently I was in 152nd. I took a gel shortly after and felt great. 

At about six miles I was still feeling tremendous, and caught up to a guy named Samesh, who initially looked like he was struggling. I chatted with him for awhile, and we decided we were going to try get top 100.  Took a gel when we hit the water stop at 6.5, where they were handing them out. Why the heck did they have chocolate brownie GUs? Uck. Mile 7 had a minor hill and the time reflects, though at the beginning of mile 8, we decided to try pick it up. Samesh actually put in some really good moves and we caught a couple dozen people.

There was a bit of a hill in 10 that didn't feel too bad, but as soon as we got to the top, we went back down, and I was feeling great cardio-wise, but my calves started really cramping; I clearly wasn't hydrated enough, which was confirmed by my salting limbs after the race. Samesh started to break away, and I resigned myself to controlling myself so as to not blow up.

The next mile and a half were unfortunately uneventful. There was a downhill I tried pressing on, but couldn't get below 7:00, which made me angry. Knowing a major PR was in store, I didn't dare blow myself up. When I saw the highway overpass, I knew there was about a third of a mile, and decided to go for it as hard as I could.  Garmin tells me my average split for the last third was about a 5:40, which included the second biggest hill on the course, so I know I had something left in me.

For a race where I was expecting nothing, and didn't know whether or not I was going to participate just  two weeks ago, I'm thrilled with the result. 1:31:12 is a 3:08 PR, and knowing that that is still pretty soft (bad hydration, a couple rough hills ruining my legs, and just not being able to train) is incredibly motivating.

My original goal, before any of the non-running injuries that have derailed my training occurred, was to break 1:30:00. To have closely evenly split this race and put myself into a position to get that time despite some bad factors makes me excited for what I can accomplish after putting real work in. 

Did a new route today, from the apartment to the Burke Gilman trailer, and a little bit of an out-and-back. Heel hurt after the run, though probably because my legs are still tight from the half, and I ended the run going straight up, to the tune of 200+ feet in the span of a half mile. OUCH. Might run tomorrow if the heel is alright, otherwise I'm good to go. Only a couple months until the marathon... YIKES.

Ran on the Burke, 7:50 average, nice and aerobic, though the hill at the end killed me. Slight tendonitis on the inside of the heel, going to be something to monitor. Going to run Friday and Saturday, and then hopefully next week get back to 6 days. 

Burke out-and-back, 6.04 at 7:47 pace.

Really wet trek a little further down the Burke than I've been. Really enjoyed it, felt great and unpressed the entire time, though the legs got a little bit tired towards the end. 10.08 at 8:08 pace (though that included ~40 seconds of waiting for a stoplight to change and me forgetting to pause). Absolutely no foot or hip pain as of yet, looking to bump the mileage up to ~40 this week, and then a true build-up to the marathon. 

Tendonitis has got me down now. What else can go wrong? Taking a week off, hopefully its better sooner rather than later. Going to limit myself to dreadmill, long runs excepted, after that.