3/24/08 - 3/30/08 - A phenomenal week

I'm not sure what to say about this week other than it was phenomenal and totally unexpected. After taking a 29 mile recovery week last week, I was thinking I might still need some more recovery time this week. Originally I was hoping I could run in the 40s the week after Syllamo, but I was feeling like I needed the rest so I took it. The Sedalia Half Marathon last weekend made up for the lack of miles and really had me feeling beat on Sunday. I ended up not running last Sunday since my legs just weren't up to it. I was even considering taking off Monday.

Dan S., my competitive running partner, also didn't run at Rock Bridge trails last Sunday so he asked if I wanted to run on Monday afternoon. My legs were feeling better so we ran 9 miles. I ran the normal Tues/Thur runs and by Thursday afternoon my legs were aching for another run. Friday I took off work and decided to do a trail run in the afternoon.

The mileage really got away from me this week, but nearly half was trail miles. Even though my miles were kind of high this week, I think the trail running made a big difference considering my body probably needed a little more recovery. In the end this turned out to be a good and fun week week of running. I guess it was the "recovery" that my body needed.

I won't be running another week like this for quite awhile since I will be in taper mode in another week for Boston and then will be running the Berryman Trail run in May. Dan and I are considering trying to work up to a peak 100 mile week for the Heart of America marathon. If this week is any indication, I really think we can do it without risking injury.

Date: 3/24/2008 4:50 PM
Type: Trail
Course: Rock Bridge Miscellaneous
Distance: 9 miles
Duration: 1:19:21
Pace: 8:49 / mile
Shoe: Mizuno Wave Ascend 2 (Yellow)
Weight: 155 lb
Misc: Quality: 9/10, Effort: 5/10
Weather: 54° F, Sunny, Windy
Notes: Ran the Deer Run loop with Dan. Trails were fairly dry and shoes stayed cleaner than usual. Quads felt a little sore. This was good recovery run from this weekend.

m1...9:08
m2...9:25
m3...8:47
m4...8:27
m5...8:45
m6...8:43
m7...8:30
m8...8:42
m9...8:52

Date: 3/25/2008 5:30 AM
Type: Tempo
Course: Dave's Devil - A Route
Distance: 8 miles
Duration: 59:57
Pace: 7:30 / mile
Shoe: Mizuno Wave Alchemy 7 (White/Orange #2)
Weight: 153 lb
Misc: Quality: 8/10, Effort: 6/10
Weather: 46° F, Sunny, Windy
Notes: Ran with Dan, Darrin, and Phil. We added a little distance to the A route to run 8 miles. The wind was strong coming out of the south for a few miles. I was cold part of the run and too warm when not in the wind. Ran every mile faster except the last mile.

M1 - 9:01
M2 - 8:20
M3 - 7:40
M4 - 7:30
M5 - 7:12
M6 - 6:47
M7 - 6:36
M8 - 6:50

Date: 3/27/2008 5:30 AM
Type: Tempo
Course: Rain Run - A Route
Distance: 8 miles
Duration: 58:02
Pace: 7:16 / mile
Shoe: Mizuno Wave Alchemy 7 (White/Orange)
Weight: 153 lb
Misc: Quality: 8/10, Effort: 7/10
Weather: 45° F, Rain, Partly Cloudy
Notes: I ran this route with Dan while most others ran the bridge and back on the trail. The first 2.5 miles seemed tough, but once we got on the road it became little easier. Legs felt better today but still holding me back. It rained a couple times and lightning too. Overall a good run and glad I didn't run it too hard so I can be ready for Saturday's long run.

Miles 4 - 6 were all 7:11.98

M1 - 7:57
M2 - 7:26
M3 - 7:30
M4 - 7:12
M5 - 7:12
M6 - 7:12
M7 - 6:54
M8 - 6:38

Date: 3/27/2008 6:30 PM
Type: Easy
Course: Rusty and Bruno's Bear Creek 10K
Distance: 6.2 miles
Duration: 51:55
Pace: 8:23 / mile
Shoe: Mizuno Wave Alchemy 7 (White/Orange)
Weight: 153 lb
Misc: Quality: 8/10, Effort: 3/10
Weather: 41° F, Overcast
Notes: I started eating a 1 lb bag of peanut M&Ms at about 4 pm and couldn't stop. By 5 pm I was aching to run and wanted to run with the dogs. The weather didn't look good but Hugh and I headed to the Bear Creek Trail at 6 pm with Rusty and Bruno. I was going to run rain or not. When we arrived it was no longer raining. We noticed piles of hail on the trail, lots of standing water, and the creeks were moving fast. Rusty and Bruno were ready to run. After a very slow first mile they picked up the pace. They picked it up even more the 2 times we saw deer. There were also thousands of loud birds in the swampy area swarming around us at times. Very enjoyable dog run.

M1 - 9:17
M2 - 8:30
M3 - 8:05
M4 - 7:58
M5 - 8:30
M6 - 7:58
M6.2 - 1:34

Date: 3/27/2008 9:30 PM
Type: Weight Training
Course: Weights, upper bulk #2 (Back/Biceps/Abs), PT, & Wobble
Duration: 41:00
Weight: 153 lb
Misc: Quality: 8/10, Effort: 9/10

Date: 3/28/2008 1:30 PM
Type: Trail
Course: Rock Bridge Miscellaneous
Distance: 15.2 miles
Duration: 2:19:58
Pace: 9:13 / mile
Shoe: Mizuno Wave Ascend 2 (Yellow)
Weight: 153 lb
Misc: Quality: 9/10, Effort: 5/10
Weather: 53° F, Sunny, Windy
Notes: I was off work today and had some time so decided to run at Rock Bridge this afternoon. Trails weren't too muddy , but enough that I had to clean my shoes later. The first 9 miles was the Deer Run loop and time was 1:17:33, 8:37/mi pace. I was surprised it was this fast and my GPS even came out to exactly 9 miles at the car. I wore 2 shirts and ended up getting so warm I took off the shirts when I was in the sun in the grasslands. Once I got out of the sun, I was cold so put one shirt on. By mile 6, I was trying to finish quickly since I really needed a bathroom.

The last 6.2 miles was on Gans Creek and time was 1:02:25, 10:05/mi. I must have picked a tough way to go today since it seemed like lots of hills, rocks, and trees to climb over. It's possible I ran a little farther than the GPS indicated too.

1) 8:28. . . . . .10) 10:04
2) 9:38 . . . . . 11) 10:07
3) 8:41 . . . . . 12) 9:06
4) 8:37 . . . . . 13) 11:36
5) 8:52. . . . . 14) 10:57
6) 8:30. . . . . 15) 8:52
7) 8:12 . . . 15.2) 1:42
8) 8:12
9) 8:20

Date: 3/29/2008 5:30 AM
Type: Long
Course: Tayside 22
Distance: 22 miles
Duration: 2:53:13
Pace: 7:53 / mile
Shoe: Mizuno Wave Alchemy 7 (White/Orange #2)
Weight: 153 lb
Misc: Quality: 7/10, Effort: 7/10
Weather: 37° F, Windy, Partly Cloudy
Notes: Long Run Lunatics run where we were trying to run our 22 miles at our marathon goal time although I knew I would be a little faster. After starting ended up running with Dan, Darrin, and Destiny. Destiny turned off early since she is tapering for St. Louis. Darrin helped keep the pace in check. The wind was a little bit of a factor for a few miles. For the last few miles, legs felt tired, but by the last mile, they just felt numb and I was ready to be done. At 22 miles, I stopped and felt incredibly good overall. Also, I was very hungry after this run.

1) 8:35 . . . . . . 8) 8:01 . . . . . 15) 7:58
2) 7:51 . . . . . . 9) 8:05 . . . . . 16) 7:44
3) 7:26 . . . . . 10) 7:51 . . . . . 17) 7:44
4) 7:44 . . . . . 11) 7:55 . . . . . 18) 7:47
5) 7:47 . . . . . 12) 7:44 . . . . . 19) 7:40
6) 8:14 . . . . . 13) 7:59 . . . . . 20) 7:47
7) 7:58 . . . . . 14) 7:58 . . . . . 21) 7:44
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22) 7:33

Date: 3/30/2008 9:15 AM
Type: Easy
Course: Dog Run
Distance: 4 miles
Duration: 36:58
Pace: 9:15 / mile
Shoe: Mizuno Wave Rider
Weight: 153 lb
Misc: Quality: 7/10, Effort: 2/10
Weather: 46° F, Rain, Humid
Notes: Ran with Rusty, Bruno and Hugh in a very light drizzle.

M1 - 9:12
M2 - 9:24
M3 - 8:55
M4 - 9:26

Date: 3/30/2008 2:00 PM
Type: Trail
Course: Rock Bridge Miscellaneous
Distance: 18 miles
Duration: 2:47:49
Pace: 9:20 / mile
Shoe: Mizuno Wave Ascend 3 (Red)
Weight: 153 lb
Misc: Quality: 8/10, Effort: 7/10
Weather: 55° F, Overcast, Windy, Humid
Notes: This was a good run and a good end to a high mileage week. After I ran 4 miles this morning with the dogs, Dan S. ran 2.2 miles with his dogs which tied us at 72.4 miles for the week. We had talked about running 18 miles on the trail earlier in the week but would wait to see how we felt. Since 18 miles would put us over 90 miles, we really didn't have any choice but to just do it. I'm always up for a crazy challenge so this was fine with me. Also, after yesterday's 22 miler I was feeling decent other than feeling like maybe I shouldn't have eaten all of those jelly beans last night. Also, this morning I was feeling really hot and on the way to the run I was feeling cold and had the heat cranked up even though it was 55F outside.

Dan H. joined us for the first 6.7 miles on the Gans Creek side. Then Dan S. and I ran about 2.3 more miles mostly in the grassland area on that side to complete the first half. Then we ran the 9 mile Deer Run loop at a decent pace considering I think we were both ready for this to be over by the last couple miles.

M1 - 10:21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M10 - 8:53
M2 - 9:37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M11 - 9:23
M3 - 9:08 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M12 - 9:02
M4 - 10:35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M13 - 8:42
M5 - 9:26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M14 - 9:05
M6 - 10:14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M15 - 8:41
M7 - 9:21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M16 - 8:54
M8 - 8:35. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M17 - 8:54
M9 - 9:12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M18 - 8:45
1:26:33 - 9:37/mi avg pace 1:21:16 - 9:01/mi avg pace

After finishing we took a short walk and talked awhile. By the time we left I was shivering and it was 59F. Got in the car and turned the heat as high as it would go. Got out of the car and surprisingly legs felt great, but I think I will skip my 11:58 pm 0.1 mile run with the dogs that I was planning to do later.

Running: 90.4 Mi - 12:47:13

Weights: 41 min (had hoped to get 2 workouts but didn't happen this week)

MTD Running: 316.7

YTD Running: 787.7

April 12-Jay Dix Challenge to Cure 5K
April 21-Boston Marathon
May 17-Berryman 50 Mile Trail Ultramarathon
September 1-Heart of America Marathon
October 5-Twin Cities Marathon