HARRA Cross Country Relay

Skipped the 5-mile morning run. Missed the 1-mile pre-race warm up. Otherwise, the day went as planned. :-)

Ran along Memorial/Buffalo Bayou. Registered our four-man team under "Open Male". Each member ran an identical 2-mile leg. Started my leg too fast. At 0.35 miles, the garmin read: 6:34 pace. YIKES! I immediately slowed down, but the pace had already taken its toll. I was VERY NERVOUS from 0.25 to 1.25 mile, because I was experiencing left sided chest pain. Not side stiches and much different that I have felt before. Had this NOT been a relay, I would have stopped. The pain never progressed, nor did I have any other cardiac-like symptoms. Once the pain subsided no other issues arouse.

Race hosted by the Tornados. Job well done, Tornados!

Team Name: Four Synergistic Striders
Synergistic: The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

Leg 1:
Juan Arrieta-- 16:59 -- 8:30 pace

Leg 2:
Ryan Stepler -- 16:24 -- 8:12 pace

Leg 3:
Bill Cox -- 17:42 -- 8:51 pace

Leg 4:
Jeff Urban -- 13:11 -- 6:36 pace

Unofficial team time: 1:04:19

Thursday Hill Workout

The schedule: 2.25-mile warm up, 4 x: 1 long hill/3 half hill/up the hill/recover over the top of the levee and back down, and finally 2.25-mile cool down.

Pushed too hard yesterday. Decided it was smarter to run at 80% due to residue soreness from yesterdays run. Tried to maintain a consistent pace without any stop/walk recoveries. Stayed true to the plan. Each time I looked at my garmin I saw the same pace within ten-or-so seconds.

I need one of those small LED lights. Sections of the run were very dark.

Activity: Hill Run
Mileage: 8.14 miles
Time: 1:20:36 -- 9:54 pace
2.29 mile warm up: 23:02 -- 10:03 pace
Hill workout splits -- 9:47 pace:
9:31, 9:48, 9:57, 7:26 (0.75 mile)
2.10 cool down: 20:52 -- 9:56 pace
Location: Terry Hershey Park
How I Felt: 9

I stopped and started the warm up/cool down at different locations. That's the reason for the difference in mileage between the two.

Wednesday Recovery

Not so easy recovery day.

The schedule: 5 easy miles
I'm at work today. Sean enjoyed the park, so I negotiated with the crews for another park run. Sean helps me push my pace. Lots of conversation during the run. This may be a good sign, because I'm usually short winded when running sub-9:00 pace.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 5.21 miles
Time: 44:05 -- 8:27 pace
Splits:
8:37, 8:29, 8:53, 8:30, 8:17, 1:21 (0.22 mile)
Location: Humble City Park
How I Felt: 10

More Stress, just what I need!

You'll probably read less on this blog. It's starting to get under my skin. It's a long story and not worth posting. I will say this: If you don't know me, don't judge me.

Ok, I'm done.

My legs are still sore from the weekend mileage. Did not hammer the workout tonight. It was a "B-" effort at best. Splits were all over the place.

The schedule: 2-mile warm up, 5 x 3 minutes hard-3 minutes recovery, and 2-mile cool down. The splits below include both the "hard" and "recovery". I averaged 8:20-9:00 pace on the hard and 11:30+ on the recovery.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 6.9 miles
Time: 1:09:05 -- 10:01 pace
Splits:
9:20, 9:16, 9:11, 10:11, 10:05, 11:12, 9:49 (0.90 mile)
Location: Terry Hershey Park
How I Felt: 8.5

Splits from yesterdays 10-miler

I didn't post the splits yesterday. I was tired and hungry after the long run. For those of you wondering, here they are:

9:43, 9:31, 9:41, 9:47, 9:42,
9:55, 9:55, 9:52, 9:31, 8:40

Weekend Mileage

Polished off the weekend with a SOLID 10-miler.

Sean's ankle is better, allowing him to run. I moved the crews around, which enabled us to go to the park for our long run. No plan when we took off, except a minimum of 6 miles. Sean allowed me to dictate the pace. Even more helpful was his awareness when the pace changed by more than 10-seconds. We added 5-6 x 30 second strides during the final miles. Also included a manly finish.

Did one thing different on today's run, we ran continuously. Made for one-tough-run! Water was on the course, but I allowed myself to get entirely too thirsty. Otherwise, a great run. Proud to log 22 miles in two days. Even more proud of the average pace over the distance.

Activity: Long Run
Mileage: 10 miles
Time: 1:36:17 -- 9:37 pace
Splits:
9:43, 9:31, 9:41, 9:47, 9:42,
9:55, 9:55, 9:52, 9:31, 8:40
Location: Humble City Park
How I Felt: 9

Running to my own Beat

Missed the scheduled SMART, T-L-T run. Slept through the alarm clock this morning. I don't mean I woke up and hit the snooze for a little extra sleep. I literally slept through the alarm clock. It was still going off at 9:00 am when I woke up. Two-hours sleep in 48-hours will take its toll with or without an alarm clock. I felt under the weather this morning, but it subsided after the first run.

Several correspondences with Coach today in search of a reasonable running plan for the weekend. I asked about two medium distance runs today and possibly two more tomorrow. He discouraged four runs in two days. He's always right, so it will be. I work tomorrow, which makes it difficult to do serious mileage. Now I need a distance for tomorrow. I think he suggested 6-8 miles.

Today was a huge surprise. I decided to follow TX runner girl and log both mileage and catch up on some quality TV time via the treadmill. It went a lot better than I had expected. I planned to run 2 x 4-miles. I ended up running 2 x 6 miles. I suspect my treadmill needs to be calibrated, because I was running at an effort level of 7. I cranked the treadmill up to 6 mph and it seemed tough. That is only a 10:00 minute pace and I know I'm better than that.

My legs are still thanking me for the forgiving surface. As Coach said, "Concrete will rattle your bones". My knees and feet feel great. I could have went longer on both runs, but choose to keep it at 12-miles. The runs were separated by 5 hours.

Activity: Easy run x 2
Mileage: 12.08 miles
Time: 2:17:00 -- 11:20 pace
Location: Home Treadmill
How I Felt: 9

Sleepy Tour de Art post

I'm so sleep deprived I cannot fall asleep. Only slept 2-hours last night at work. So-Very-Tired.

Today I volunteered and ran the Tour de Art. The run was part of the RRCA's Run at Work Campaign, and hosted by the Houston Striders. The event was a huge success! Many more people than I expected. Lots of online bloggers in attendance, which included Sarah, Vic, Steeve, June, and Me. I can't wait to see the pictures taken by Sarah and the post(s) to come from the others.

Vic ran the entire tour and said it was a little more than 4 miles. I logged 2.07 miles, due to Strider related duties. I'm not complaining, because I was glad to help out!

I'm changing format style.... I'm fading fast:

• Another great tour lead by Nboka
• Nice cool breeze
• Large crowd
• Vic has a cool new running toy (I'm sure he'll be posting soon)
• VERY inspired by Yong Collins running resume
• Special thanks to Steeve, Lee, Roger, and Barry
• Mmmm salty snacks and Pepsi for all
• Super Fun!

Gotta go. Running long in less than 9 hours.

Activity: Novelty Run
Mileage: 2.07 miles
Time: 23:50 -- 11:31 pace
Location: Downtown Houston
How I Felt: 10

Work, stress, and seven miles

It's been really busy at work today. Plus, there's a ton of stress from the general BULLSHIT around here (work). I need to learn how to let this little stuff roll of my back. Urg!

It was hard to find the time to run. Nearly postponed the run for another day. I'm glad I didn't.

Ran seven miles around the station. Felt like I maintained a constant pace, but the splits tell another story. Nice breeze outside, but the humidity is back. I ran alone tonight. Extremely boring mileage. Both the guys that run with me have small injuries. One of them twisted his ankle this morning on a pre-work run. The other guy has pain on the bottom of his foot. We're unsure if it is a running related injury.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 7.0 miles
Time: 1:08:48 -- 9:49 pace
Splits:
10:29, 10:09, 10:11, 10:28, 9:36, 9:13, 8:45
Location: Humble Fire Department
How I Felt: 8

Exactly what the Doctor ordered

Just when I'm feeling mentally and physically fatigued I have a run like today and get Reeled back in. A couple of bad days was stopped tonight with a near-perfect run. Yesterday you couldn't pay me to run and today I fell in love with the sport all over again.

The schedule: Q-club run, which equals ~6.55 miles at an easy pace with opportunities for manly surges. It took some searching, but I found the numbers from my last Q-club run:
Mileage: 6.76 miles
Time: 1:03:49 -- 9:27 pace
Date: May 31, 2006

If you stayed indoors today, you missed the best one this month.

Back to the run. Met the Houston Striders for their weekly Wednesday night run. Nice crowd, probably 20+ folks. The run couldn't have started better. Once we hit the park loop I said, "Look I ran with the leaders for nearly 10 feet". By then the gazelles (David, Mark, and Chip) were nearly ten-yards ahead. They immediately fell back and said, "We'll run with you for a while". And that's exactly what they did. It was really cool to run with the lead back, even if it was only for five-minutes. That's what being a Strider is all about. Thanks guys, you made my day!

Coach Steeve joined me after the 1.5 mile water stop. We ran the entire distance within ear shot of each other. Lots of informative conversation and oodles of excellent running. I'm sure I forgot to say it, so I'll say it here and now: "Thanks Coach!". Every mile was sub-9:00 minute pace. That's a big accomplishment for me. Before the turn around point I started feeling really good. I'm excited how comfortable I felt at a sub-9:00 minute pace. I had enough left near the end to finish strong. Very good run tonight.

Left Memorial park for a post run gathering at Jax Bar and Grill. I had a superb time visiting with Lee, Steeve, Barb, Mark, Matt, and Tim.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 6.55 miles
Time: 57:01 -- 8:42 pace
Splits:
8:58, 8:51, 8:56, 8:48, 8:59, 8:23, 4:06 (0.55 mile)
Location: Memorial park to Uptown Plaza
How I Felt: 10

Not worth your time reading

I didn't make it far tonight. In fact, the actual mileage was (drum roll please): 0.56 mile.

Simply couldn't push through the first mile . Didn't feel like running all day, but I wanted the mileage. Talked myself out of a SMARTie workout in exchange for easy mileage. When it came time log the miles I gave up before the session got started. Just like that, the run ended with a 5-minute run and a 15-minute walk home.

I felt rather childish tonight. I remember a personal thought that went something like this, "I don't wanna run and you can't make me!".

Oh well. Tomorrows a new day.

More Core

No running today. It's been a busy day at work, but I managed to squeeze in a CORE workout. I'm glad the core positions are getting easier to hold. I'd be better off if I could remember to do the exercises 2-3 times a week.

After talking to some friends, I'm getting very excited about the prospects of a Kingwood home. I've lived in the area all my life, yet never knew it was so nice. Also, never thought I could afford the area.

Four miles on the Greenbelts

Painful four-miles. My legs have been sore all day. When I contract the muscles in my legs they cramp. Almost skipped today's workout. Decided to run anyways and see if an easy run might loosen everything up. My legs are still quite sore. Good thing tomorrow is an off day.

My house has been for sale for more than 5-months. We lowered the asking price 5k and now the house is showing a lot more, so I feel optimistic that something will happen soon. We are considering Kingwood as our next home. Erin, Alison, and I headed to the Greenbelts for my Sunday workout to check things out. Erin rode her bike with Alison (and the dog) in the bike trailer. We picked an HEB Grocery store in the middle of Kingwood and simply took off. The trails are beyond nice! Erin and I both think an area like this could help promote a healthy lifestyle for us and our kid(s?).

Two-hours before the run it rained hard. The trails are heavily wooded with a canopy similar to Cullen Park. The canopy held the humidity to an unbearable level. Thankfully the run was a mere four miles. The scenery made me forget about the tough conditions briefly. I can honestly say these are the best trails I have ever run on. We had decided on a couple different subdivisions, but after today's run, I'm confident that Kingwood is now in the mix. We'll see. First thing first, we have to sell the current house before we make our next move. Whether we move to Kingwood or not, I'm sure I will frequent the location.

Activity: Easy Run
Mileage: 4 miles
Time: 42:18 -- 10:34 pace
Splits:
10:57, 10:28, 10:52, 10:01
Location: Kingwood - Greenbelts
How I Felt: 9

New Distance PR

The schedule: 2 mile warm up, silly walks, 3 miles at 10k pace, 7 miles, 3 miles at 10k pace, and 2 miles cool down. I talked with coach yesterday about a personal amendment to the run. I PLANNED to run the entire 17-mile distance, but at a "run-forever-pace".

It was hot. It was humid. I ran 15 miles and walked about 1.5 miles.

Spent the first five miles slowing myself down. My legs kept trying to run a 9:40 pace. I felt really good to the 7 mile mark. The heat beat me up once we started Cullen Park. Lots of nausea. The good news is, I think I know what is causing my long run nausea. The issue seems to be rooted around the use of Sport beans. Anyone want to buy a box of really cheap sport beans or trade for GU? Kate helped me along to the 13 mile mark. Thanks Kate, you rock! The last two miles included lots of walk breaks and a few "extended water breaks".

Had the weather been better, I'm confident I could have made the full distance. I know this because I felt fine running in the shade. Whereas, running in the direct sun areas was hideous, leading to the distance shortage.

I'd like to chunk up a duce to my running peeps, who were of immeasurable help today: Kate, Bessie, and Coach. Secondary shout outs to; Steve B., Barb, David, Sam, Jim, Cissy, Jennie, Hillary, Aimee, Kevin, Chris, Carole, Chip, Mark, Santos, Tim, Stacy, and Megan. Hopefully, I didn't miss any other really, really good Strider friends.

Activity: Long run
Mileage: 15 miles
Time: 2:37:20 -- 10:29 pace
Splits:
10:14, 10:01, 9:57, 9:59, 10:03,
10:15, 10:14, 10:30, 10:46, 10:50,
10:58, 10:54, 10:59, 10:27, 11:13
Location: Little Bear Park - Cullen Park
How I felt: 6

Glad today is over

Schedule: 2 mile warm up, silly walks, SMARTie Hop, 3 mile cool down. No meltdown today in preparation of Saturdays 17 miler.

The workout went well. The events surrounding the workout sucked!

Activity: Run
Mileage: 5.37 miles
Time: 49:51 -- 9:30 pace
2-mile warm up: 10:16, 9:33
4 greyhounds (roughly 400 meters total): 1:31 -- 6:06 pace
3-mile cool down: 9:26, 9:21, 9:44
Location: Rice University
How I Felt: 9.5 for the actual workout

I also walked 4 miles today.

Easy run

Great weather again today. Hopefully, the humidity will stay low for Saturdays 17-miler.

Today: Five easy miles. Started slow, yet progressively faster pace. Bessie Boone Style!

Activity: Easy Run
Mileage: 5.0 miles
Time: 47:54 -- 9:35 pace
Splits:
10:16, 9:56, 9:47, 9:17, 8:38
Location: Woodland Pines Subdivision
How I Felt: 9

Vic for President

I knew Vic had a lot of friends, but gees... who knew he has his own line of t-shirts! If your interested in a "Got Vic?" t-shirt you can find it where I did, Ebay. Auction number: 280025635787

In other blogging news. Anyone know why I cannot post a comment on Joe Careys blog? Ever since he changed to Beta, I get an error when I post a comment.

Joe, thanks for the kind words in your most recent post. It means a lot coming from you. I SAID; "IT!-MEANS!-A!-LOT!-COMING!-FROM!-YOU!" ;-)

Northside Kenyan Relay

The schedule: 2 mile warm up, silly walks, 20 minutes of Kenyan relay at 5k pace, and 2 mile cool down.

For the second time, I lead fellow co-workers through an unsanctioned SMARTie workout. I'm lucky to have men on my shift who join me for my workouts. It makes the time go by faster and we have a lot of fun.

All of us pushed hard on the Kenyan relay's. I averaged a 6:47 pace for the running part of the relay. No recovery times recorded. The cool down was shorted 0.75 mile, otherwise we did the complete workout, including the silly walks. Yes, skipping included!

Activity: Run
Mileage: 4.29 miles
2-mile warm up: 22:02 -- 11:02 pace
Kenyan Relays (run only): 1.16 mile, 7:52 -- 6:47 pace
1.13 mile cool down: 10:44 -- 9:32 pace
Location: Humble Fire Department
How I Felt: 9

Commitment day!

Went for a long run after I signed up for the Houston Marathon and the HARRA warm up series. I registered for the following races:

• United Space Alliance 10-miler
• K & L Half Marathon
• HMSA Classical 25k
• Methodist Sugarland Hospital 30k
• Chevron Houston Marathon

Ran two, three mile loops around Memorial Park then I joined the Striders for the remaining four miles. It was a painful run. No splits today. I forgot to turn the auto lap on. The schedule called for 10 miles with 6 miles at marathon pace. I'm confident I did not achieve this goal. Mileage I did, speed I did not.

Activity: Long Run
Mileage: 10 miles
Time: 1:42:10 -- 10:13 pace
Location: Memorial Park
How I Felt: 7

Lest We Forget, Brothers

Fir Na Tine - 09.11.01
Fraters Pro Aeternos

Respect, Honor, and Loyalty

Eat till you're sleepy, sleep till you're hungry

After a day full of eating and sleeping, my long run yielded the right of way to failure.

I worked last night and we were busy. After responding to several emergencies I slept a whooping 2.5 hours. Once I got home, the lack of sleep lead to a snowball effect of bad decisions. Meal choices today were both crazy in quality and quantity. Both which are not conducive to a scheduled 10 mile long run.

By mid-day I decided to push the long run to Monday and take the day off. Later in the day I read an article in RW about Dean Karnezes. Dean's super-human mileage motivated me enough to lace'em up and take off in the neighborhood. I had good intentions, but my lack of ability strong-armed my will. A complete day of eating sat atop of my throat and I was burdened with side stiches. I stopped after a single 1.5 mile loop.

I'm moving forward with plan "B". Ten miles tomorrow at Memorial Park. I'll be out there for the HARRA Marathon sign-up party anyways. The Striders are running 4 miles at 7 pm. I'll add extra mileage before and/or after the run. Anyone want to join me? If you're interested I'll be in the area of the Houston Strider tent. If all goes well, I'll start running at 6pm.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 1.5 miles
Time: 15:50 -- 10:33 pace
Location: Woodland Pines Subdivision
How I Felt: 7

4:13 marathon??

I'll start with the bad news. I missed an 800 meter interval. Lost count at the Stratford track and did not realize the shortage till now.

The schedule: "Yasso Workout, demo-version"; 2 mile warm up, 6 x 800 @ 10k pace with 400 meter recovery, and 2 mile cool down.

The weather was awesome. Sure, we'll see more heat in the coming weeks, but it is a nice preview of cool fall weather to come. Coach stated that the Yasso workout is a tied and true marathon predictor. Today we ran six Yasso's, which will lead into the full Yasso workout of 10 x 800 meter intervals. Your average 800 meter time directly correlate's to your total marathon time. My average 800 was 4:13. I would have liked it closer to 4:00, but it is what it is. I refuse to run anything over 4:30 and I dream of a 3:59:59. Only time will tell.

The entire session was uneventful. I worked VERY hard to pace myself. Several runs in the last couple of weeks have been painful due to some energetic kicks in the middle of a long session. I executed my plan perfectly, but I'm worried I took it too easy today. Coach Steeve's music choice (weird Al) kept my mind off the redundancy associated with track workouts. Santos was a huge help on my cool down. Running with Santos helped me pick my pace up. Thanks Dude, you ROCK!

It was amazing to watch fellow Striders Chip and Chris run their Yasso intervals. I seldom mention the "elites" on my blog, but they are always there. Astonishingly talented runners. Chip averaged sub-3:00 minute 800's and Chris wasn't far behind him. Way to go speedsters!

Activity: Run
Mileage: 7.74 miles
Time: 1:11:57 -- 9:18 pace
2 mile warm up: 20:18 -- 10:09 pace
Yasso 800's and 400 recovery
4:03 - 2:33
4:20 - 2:29
4:21 - 2:27
4:12 - 2:33
4:10 - 2:28
2 mile cool down: 18:03 -- 9:02 pace
Location: Stratford High School Track
How I Felt: 9.5

This was a good week of running. Very happy with my progression and lack of aches and pains.

Pictures

Fired up 5k pictures posted. Notice how Coach Steeve looks like he stopped, took a runners pose, and smiled for every picture. Then notice me, whereas it looks like a group of gangsters whooped my ass, dunked me in some water, and then took my picture.

Already received three emails this morning as to who N.S. is.
Ha, ha, ha. "She" knows who she is. We'll see if anyone guesses from the hint.

Hill Workout On The Levee

Too tired for a lengthy post.

Legs sore. Striders. Terry Hershey Park. Thirty-five attendees. Good weather. Ran up and down the levee. Legs still sore. Brothers Pizza. Yummy ham sandwich with chips. Great post dinner talk with "NS". Long drive home. Legs feel a little better.

Activity: Run with Hill workout
Mileage: 7.60 miles
Time: 1:11:38 -- 9:26 pace
Splits:
9:36, 9:07, 8:55, 9:36, 10:25, 9:52, 8:55, 5:12 (0.60 mile)
Location: Terry Hershey Park
How I Felt: 8

Unscheduled Tempo Run

New running partner equals faster pace.

So, there is a new guy at work and he runs! His name is Sean and he is a free-spirited yet modest runner. In fact, he is so modest that he won't tell me any of his prior race times. He'll just tell you that he runs.

The schedule called for six easy miles. Sean joined me for the six-miler at work. Unexpectedly, I ran much faster than my usual easy run pace due to Sean and his effortless pace. The run felt good. We ran an 8:40ish pace for the first four miles and backed off a little for the third mile. We took two water breaks, which we kept under a minute each. Had this been a 10K, I could have scratched off ANOTHER goal on my sidebar.

Great run! I can't wait to introduce Sean to the Striders!

Activity: Tempo Run
Mileage: 6.01 miles
Time: 52:50 -- 8:48 pace
Splits:
8:45, 8:37, 8:44, 8:41, 9:14, 8:45
Location: Humble Fire Department
How I Felt: 10

Tuesday Full of Changes

Planned on taking a co-worker (Sean), to Terry Hershey for Tuesday night SMART training. Sean backed out due to parental duties associated with his one-week old baby at home. Figured I would still go to Terry Hershey and deliver some digital race pictures to Coach.

A traffic accident on I-10 diverted me to Memorial Park for training with Coach Matt. The schedule called for Boot Camp "C". After yesterdays race, I didn't feel much like doing two TOUGH workouts back to back. So, I made some personal adjustments to the training.

I ran the two mile warm up with Bessie, aka "negative split" and crew. I also joined them for Silly Walks. I decided to take a leisure jog around the Memorial loop while they completed the boot camp part of tonight's session.

After the warm up and silly walks everything really came together. My jog was perfect. I held a solid, consistent recovery pace. No stops whatsosever. The weather was as good as you can expect for early September. When I made my way back to the track, the other Striders were about to start their final 800 meter interval. I waited for them to finish and joined them for the final two mile cool down.

Looking back, it seems funny that both my warm up and cool down was much faster than the three miles in the middle of my workout. Oh well. Proves that running with Striders makes you faster!

Activity: Easy Run
Miles: 7 miles
Time: 1:08:31 -- 9:47 pace
Splits:
9:43, 9:23, 10:16, 10:17, 10:09, 9:32, 9:11
Location: Memorial Park
How I Felt: 9.5

Join RRCA

It's easy.
You are automatically a member as part of your HARRA membership.
Or you can join them directly.
Lots of cool perks associated with RRCA membership.

The magazine is designed to educate the running community and promote national, regional and state level running events and activities of RRCA members.

If you run, join.
Of course, you can be a slug and take advantages of all that the RRCA does for the running community without any personal contribution.

Link to this months news letter (one of many perks).
September Footnotes

FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE RRCA BY THE MEMBERS.

Fired Up 5k pictures

2006 Fired Up! 5k

Strider Group Photo

Coach Steeve leading the Striders in a post race cool-down

Fellow blogging Striders

Steven "Steve" (21:28) and Vic (40:51)

Strider "Varsity Team"

Strider Hardware Winners

Long Race Report - (REVISED)

Sorry about the improper use of grammar, typeo's, and lack of clarity in the initial post. Maybe this revision "reads" better.

I'm still glowing in the aftermath of today's race. I can't stop smiling because, I-Made-it-Happen. 5k personal record in an astonishing time.

After last Saturdays run, I received an email from Coach who was offering to "pace" me to a 24:48 goal. Naturally, I jumped on the opportunity. I figured if he was willing to pace me, he knew that I had the ability. From that point on, I put my best foot forward. I went to bed earlier, ate healthier, hydrated properly, and had Erin massage my legs. I felt strong all day Sunday and this morning. I Sensed a 5k PR was within my reach. Who knew it would be more than I had planned?

The morning started at 6:30 am with a 1.25 mile warm up. Good, clean pace. Ten minutes before the start we did four strides. Then Coach and I strategically placed ourselves in the starting line with a couple minutes to spare.

Not much talking during the entire race. At the half-mile mark I felt my legs prematurely tiring from the faster pace. Before the one mile marker, I told Coach that I had NOT settled-into a rhythmic pace. Typically, I find a "rhythm" well before one mile. Our first mile split was 7:26. I made the comment' "That's probably why I haven't settled-in yet" and received some positive words from Coach. We made a small adjustment and moved on.

Even less talking on our way to the second mile. I was breathing hard, which was audible to anyone within ten yards of me. I'm not too sure why, but I kept coughing. Felt like something was tickling my throat. The cough did not effect my running.

I had serious doubt I could maintain the current pace between miles 2 and 3. Fortunately, Frank came up from beside us. It was very inspiring to run a 5k with Steeve on one side of me and Frank on the other. Both these men have had a significant role in my running abilities. I guess one could say I wanted to make them proud. Seeing Frank and listening to Coaches encouraging words to other runners distracted my mind from the pain in my legs. I felt like I was falling back during the last mile. My running was pulsing from; running next to Coach, then running ten yards behind him, and then back next to him. The pace felt progressively slower with the same amount of effort.

In the end, I wanted to walk even though the finish line was in sight. That was a first for me. With a quarter-mile to go, Coach asked for a final push to the end. I obliged. It was a weak finish, but I gave all I had. Fortunately, the finish line clock sucked me in. Never in my wildest dreams did I think sub-24:00 would happen. Seeing 23:xx on the clock pushed all the right buttons. The clock stopped at 23:51

The abrupt stop for chip retrieval ended in me hitting the ground (softly). I bent over a bit and the light-headiness took me down. Luckily, I was near the side of the finish shoot. I simply rolled out and laid down on the concrete for a few minutes. It must have been a funny site to see. Oh well, I know that I gave it my all.

We finished the mornings event with a one-mile cool down. I elected to run with Kevin (28:46), since he had drove from Conroe and I hadn't spent any time with him. Near the end Kevin and I caught up with Erin, who was almost done with the 1.5 mile family walk. Erin pulled triple duty as; cheerleader, participant, and photographer. Erin Rocks!

In other news. Ten Striders got additional exercise walking up to the winners podium. My age bracket was SWEPT by the Houston Striders. Lots of PR's. ALL had a good time.

Thank you, Coach. I don't know exactly know what else to say. I know without you, I would have not smashed my old PR of 26:35 by -2:44. Thanks for believing in me!

Activity: Race
Mileage: 3.11 miles
Time: 23:51 -- 7:40 pace
Splits: (per garmin)
7:26, 7:42, 7:49, 0.54 (0.11 mile)
Location: Sugarland Texas
How I felt:
Pre-Run 10
During Run 7
Post-Run 5

Activity: Warm-up, cool-down Run
Mileage: 2.25 miles
Time: 23:12 -- 10:41 pace

Saw lots of people I know. No disrespect meant by the lack of "shout-outs", but this post is already waaaay long.

The good, the bad, and the...

What started good, ended shitty. How many times are people going to tell me to "pace yourself", before I start listening?

Today's schedule: 2 mile warm up, silly walks, 3 x 1200 meter @ 10k pace with ~400 meter recovery, 4 mile long run, followed by 2 x 1200 meter @ 10k pace with 400 meter recovery, and FINALLY a 2 mile cool down.

I have all the splits listed below. I highlighted the miles with intervals in red. Some splits are good, others are normal. The warm up was a tad too fast. The first two intervals were at a nice pace. I pushed hard on the third interval and ran the tank dry. I managed to do ok with the 4 miles, but I had some shoe issues. The shoe insert kept bunching up and starting to rub a blister on the bottom of my foot. I spent a lot of time trying to fix the problem, but in the end I took them out. The shoe insert is very thin. So, I thought this would be no big deal. It's a lot more padding than I had assumed. It felt like I was running barefoot. Yeah, that's an exaggeration, but it was a big difference without the insert.

When I finished the 4 miles, most everyone else was getting ready for the cool down run to their cars. Seemed like the sun was a little higher in the sky than usual. It got hot fast, which beat me up pretty bad. I ran the fourth 1200 easily albeit slower than the first set. I "blew-up" on the final 1200. The last interval was a disaster and resulted with me walking about 50% of the distance.

I took an extended water break before the two mile cool down jog. The final two miles were uneventful, just very, very hot. I'm content with the session, but I wish I would have been able to finish the last interval. True to my new favorite saying, "It is, what it is".

Oh yeah, I saw Pony on the jog back to my truck. It felt like it was 90 degrees outside and she looked as if she hadn't broke a sweat yet! Nice to see ya out there, WTG Pony!

Activity: Track-Long-Track
Mileage: 12.45 miles
Time: 1:59:20 -- 9:35 overall pace
Mile splits (left to right):
9:38, 9:13, 8:36, 8:23, 7:59, 9:41, 10:17,
10:24, 10:16, 9:07, 10:11, 10:46, 4:49 (0.45 miles)
Location: Little Bear Park
How I Felt: 7

Ouch-ouch-ouch!

My legs are CRAZY sore today. That's a good thing, right?

Yesterday I left one thing out concerning the "Coach Bill" discussion. Occasionally I blurt out deep-seated aspirations. Sorry about that. The coach concept is slated for execution as part of my 2008 strategic plan. The post has NOTHING to do with another recent post I read about PIM looking for coaches. Nothing in common whatsoever. Most of you would agree that I'm a long way from helping within a structured program. Need to put a couple programs under my belt and log some respectable miles.

Anyone else notice the recent profile picture changes by ME, Vic, and Speedy Gonzales? We Striders are always trying to keep it new and fresh! :-)