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August 2008

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Location:

New Palestine,IN,USA

Member Since:

Oct 23, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

5k - 18:59 (3/09)
4M - 25:06 (9/09)
10k - 41:01 (11/07)

Half - 1:25:58 (11/09)

Marathon - 3:06:33 (12/09)

Short-Term Running Goals:

1:25 for the half marathon
Sub 39:00 for the 10k.
3:07 marathon
18:30 5k

Upcoming Races



Long-Term Running Goals:

Break 3:00 for the marathon.

Personal:

Married, two daughters (18 and 15).  Masters runner trying to get competitive in my age group.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Saucony Ride 5 (Red) Lifetime Miles: 372.70
ASICS Excel 33 Lifetime Miles: 152.00
Saucony Ride 7 Lifetime Miles: 249.00
ASICS DS Trainer Lifetime Miles: 212.20
Asics Cumulus 16 Lifetime Miles: 241.30
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
236.9024.0017.007.50285.40
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.000.004.000.008.00

Warm and humid this morning (74, 85%).  Or should I say very sticky?  I planned a tempo run today to get more focus on running faster.  I felt ok starting out today.  At least I didn't have that crazy side stitch I had the last few days.  After a couple of miles I started feeling much better.  I wanted to run my tempo miles in 7:00.  After last week's race and with the heat/humidity I didn't want to set my goals to high. 

I felt good starting the tempo and the first mile went pretty easy in 6:51.  The second mile I didn't feel quite as good and I let the pace slip a little to 7:00 but that was still ok.  The 3rd mile was probably my roughest and I consider shutting it down after the this mile in 7:05 but kept going and I'm glad that I did because I was able to pick up the pace on the last mile and finish in 6:52. 

I did feel better today running the tempo than I did in the race on Sat and the pace was about the same so hope that is a good sign.  Also, after looking back over my log I found out that July was my highest mileage month ever at 237 miles.  If all stays on schedule should go higher in Aug.

61:30

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
20.000.000.000.0020.00

No break in the weather today.  Not sure what the temp was when I started but it was 75, 83% humidity when I finished.  It was pretty sticky from the start but I felt pretty good.  Knowing it was going to be a warm morning, I started off pretty slow and just took it easy for the first half.  At the turn around I was feeling ok so gradually picked up the pace on the way back.  Nothing drastic but it was nice to be able to run the second half faster than the first.  Around 15 miles I felt like I was running out of fuel.  I didn't really have enough to drink with me and I probably could have used a Gu at this point.  I was still able to maintain my pace and actually picked it up a little more the last 3 miles.  All in all a pretty good run in this weather.  Looking forward to doing a long run when it is about 50.

2:47:22 (8:22 avg)

Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Got a little break in the weather today as it was 68 and lower humidity. I felt good this morning and was just a little stiff from the long run over the weekend. Took it easy the first mile and then got into a comfortable pace for the rest of the run.

63:30

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.006.000.000.0013.00

We had some big thunderstorms rip through this morning but I was lucky and caught a window long enough to get my run in without getting soaked or struck by lightning. Today I wanted to do a medium long run with 6 miles at MP toward the end. I felt good starting out but had some soreness and tightness in my right hip. That seemed to work out after 3 or 4 miles. I did 6 miles easy and then started the MP miles. The plan was to run these at 7:20 pace. Here is the breakdown:

1st - 7:18 (into the wind)

2nd - 7:11 (felt pretty good at this point)

3rd - 7:22 (still felt good just trying to stay on pace)

4th - 7:01 (pushed this one a little too much)

5th - 7:27 (still felt ok but slowed too much after previous mile)

6th - 7:18 (legs started to fell it on this one but ok)

7:16 avg

I was pretty happy with the run considering it was very humid (87%, 75 degrees) and not the best conditions for running. I certainly felt stronger today than I did a couple of weeks ago so I am starting to feel like I am turning the corner. Hopefully the body is getting used to the higher mileage.

1:41:08

Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

In Washington DC today. Didn't sleep very good last night. It was one of those nights where you wake up every hour looking at the clock thinking it should be morning. My legs were tired this morning from yesterday's longer MP run. I just took it easy and ran at a real comfortable pace. It was warm and humid up here as well but supposed to get better later in the week.

66:48

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.400.000.004.009.40

Today I wanted to do a workout to develop strength for staying on pace in races or longer tempos. For me the best thing is mile repeats so today I wanted to do 4 x 1 mile at 6:40 pace with a couple minutes recovery. I am still in DC and lucky to have a pretty nice track close by. I did a 3 mile warmup and then did the repeats in:

1st - 6:35 (This one was a struggle as I was trying get the legs awake)

2nd - 6:36 (Felt better on this one)

3rd - 6:34 (Felt ok but feeling it the last lap)

4th - 6:29 (Not bad and wanted to finish strong)

I was pretty happy with the workout and think it turned out good. I am hoping that this will help me stay on pace for some longer tempo workouts to come.

1:14:16

Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

Back home from DC and was treated to a beautiful morning for running (60, low humidity). I just did an easy recovery run this morning. This has been a pretty heavy week for me so for and I want to do another 20 miler tomorrow so just took it real easy today. With the weather being so nice I wanted to keep going but stayed with the plan. Also, I took off the day from work today and taking the kids to the water park so had to get back for that.

49:09

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
21.000.000.000.0021.00

It was an unbelievably beautiful morning for August in Indiana (52, no wind, low humidity). What more could you ask for in the weather? I felt good this morning and give the good weather I wanted to run a little faster pace than normal for my long run. I started off real easy the first mile (8:48) but then picked it up and tried to settle in around 8:00 pace. I went through the half way point at around 8:08 avg pace. I was still feeling good so decided to pick it up over the last half. I ran the second half of the run almost 3 minutes faster than the first which is a good feeling. I noticed some pain in my right knee around 17 miles but it didn't stay with me. Every little ache and pain is a worry because I don't want to breakdown when I feel like I am finally getting used to the higher mileage. I finished feeling good and ran the last two miles about 7:30 pace. This was a real good run for me and gives me a lot of confidence for the marathon since I still have over two months to go.

2:46:21 (7:55 avg)

By the way, watched the Olympic opening last night and it was really impressive. Don't know how London will top that.

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Very nice morning to run. I had some pain in my left knee over the weekend so today I wanted to take it easy and stay off the road so I ran on the high school xc course. Just took it real easy and my knee felt good so hopefully this will not turn into a problem. I am going to continue to take it easy on it until it feels normal. Don't want any setbacks at this point.

66:56

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.000.000.000.005.00

Beautiful morning today for running. I still have this weird thing going on with my knee it is not really that painful but just enough to notice it while running. After a couple of miles I just decided to turnaround and rest it to see if I can get it taken care of before it turns into something worse. On the way back I was running along and looked up and saw a skunk on the other side of the road. Too close for comfort for me! After I got back I iced the knee and took some ibprofen. I am not sure if I should run tomorrow or not. I am going to see how it goes today then make a decision.

33:15

PM

Ran a mile with my daughter who is getting ready for xc. My knee was feeling better.

Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.000.004.000.008.00

We have had some unbelievable weather the last week. This is not normal for Aug in Inidana. It is usually hot and humid this time of year.

Well after icing and stretching my knee yesterday it felt much better today. As I started out there was still some tightness in the knee but no pain. I stopped a couple of times in the first two miles to stretch it out and that helped. After 3 miles I thought I would pick up the pace and see how it felt running faster on it. Suprisingly, it felt better when I was running faster. I just kept up the pace and decided I would try a tempo run and see how long I could go. If the knee caused any problems I would shut it down. I continued to feel good so made it through 4 miles at tempo pace. Here are the splits (7:01, 7:03, 7:09, 6:54). I didn't really push it hard since I was being careful with the knee. I did a 1 mile cooldown and again my knee felt tighter running slower than when I was doing the tempo. Still not really sure what is going on but hopefully another day of ice/stretching will do the trick.

I am thinking about doing some doubles this week since I figured two shorter runs would be easier on the body than one longer run.

61:01

Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.0013.00

Another nice day this morning. My knee felt much better this morning so I decided to go back to my normal schedule. Starting off I felt really good and didn't really have any problems with the knee. There were a few times during the run when the knee acted up but for the most part everything was normal. I felt really good during the run but held back since I did some tempo work yesterday. If everything goes well with the knee I am planning a long MP run on the weekend. I will keep with the ice and stretching plus try to do most of my running off road to see if I can get the knee back to 100%.

1:45:17 (8:06 avg)

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Another great morning for running (60, calm). My knee was feeling fine this morning but still trying to take it easy on it so went to Southeastway Park so I could run on soft surface. I only noticed the knee a couple of times during the run but for the most part everything felt normal. As far as running goes I felt a little sluggish when I got started but once I woke up and got warmed up the run was good. Just took it easy today since I am planning a long MP run tomorrow. It was nice to not have to deal with cars and just enjoy the beautiful morning.

67:40

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.0010.000.000.0016.00

Nice morning today (60, light wind). Today I planned to do a 10 mile MP pace run. I planned to do 5 miles easy then the MP run. My knee is still feeling pretty good. It did bother me a little in the first couple of mile but after that felt fine. I felt good starting out today and wanted to run the MP miles around 7:20 pace. Here are the splits for my MP miles:

1st - 7:27

2nd - 7:00 (ran the first too slow picked it up too much)

3rd - 7:15 (finally settled into right pace)

4th - 7:17

5th - 7:14 (into headwind)

6th - 7:19

7th - 7:16 (started feeling the effort here)

8th - 7:06

9th - 7:20

10th - 7:10 (wanted to finish strong)

Avg - 7:14

I was pretty happy with the MP run. The times were on target but seemed like it required more effort than it should have. I don't really think I could hold this pace for a marathon right now. I was really starting to feel the effort the last 3 or 4 miles and I had to push it to the finish. I am going to do a couple of more of these before the marathon so I will see how it goes and make adjustments on pace as necessary. Still a pretty good workout for me.

2:00:58 (7:34 avg)

Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Beautiful afternoon and went for 28 mile bike ride with a friend. Knee felt pretty good for the ride but still not 100%. However, my legs felt great after the 16 mile run yesterday. If I can just get this knee straight everything else seems to be good.

Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

Left on an early morning flight today to Fort Lauderdale where I was welcomed by Tropical Storm Fay.  My thoughts of running along the beach didn't materialize but was able to squeeze in 7 miles between meetings.  Felt good today and no problems from the knee which is the first time in about a week.  Hopefully, the knee problems are behind me.  The weather here doesn't look too good for in the morning so may be another day on the treadmill.  I may catch a break and all of this will move through during the night and I can get outside in the morning.

55:23

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.000.000.003.008.00

Still heavy rain and wind this morning so back on the treadmill.  In order to shake things up I planned to do 6 x 3:00 at 6:15 pace with 2:00 easy between.  I felt good during the warmup and again the knee seemed to cooperate.  The repeats went good and felt ok for the most part.  I started to feel the effort on the last couple.  It felt good to run fast.  Hopefully, tomorrow I can get outside and enjoy the scenery.

60:40

Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.003.000.000.0014.00

Still in Ft Lauderdale but finally got a nice morning (78, humid, windy).  I wanted to do a med long run today but didn't have the time since I was wore out last night and needed some sleep plus had an early meeting today.  I decided to break it up into two runs. 

AM

Did an easy 8 miles along the ocean and got to see the sunrise over the ocean which is always cool.  I felt pretty good today but had a little soreness in my legs.  I am not sure if this is from the intervals yesterday or from standing up all day yesterday at this conference.  Anyway it got better as I went along.

67:12

PM

Hot, humid and very windy.  Again still had the soreness in the legs but otherwise felt good.  I ran out and back along the ocean.  One way had a strong tailwind which I ran at around MP and then much harder back into the wind.  Glad to get both runs in.

46:37

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

Last day in Ft. Lauderdale and it was warm/humid this morning.  My legs really felt trashed this morning.  I think all the running, standing all day at the trade show and poor sleep is starting to catch up with me.  I was going to try to do something faster this morning but thought it would be better just to take easy and save that for a better day.  Turned out to be an ok run.  Just crusied along and enjoyed the scenery but really glad to be heading home tonight.

57:23

Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.500.000.000.508.00

I didn't get back home until around 12:30 last night then had trouble getting to sleep so got out later than normal today. It was warm and humid (74). When I started off my legs felt kind of sluggish but then felt better as I got going. Added 8 x 100 strides at the end. I didn't want to do to much today since I am going to do a long run tomorrow. Just glad to be back home.

64:14

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.004.000.0016.00

Well my running plans changed big time today. I had planned a 20+ mile long run but forgot that I had promised to take my daughter's to a big football game last night. Our local school got to play in the brand new Colts stadium (amazing what you can build for $720 mil) and we didn't get home last night to around 12:30 and I didn't get to sleep until around 1:30 so no way I was going to be able to get up early enough to get the long run in since my daughter had a soccer game this morning as well. So decided to do a shorter tempo run instead. Its times like these that I am reminded that I am a Dad first.

I started out and my legs had no energy. I knew this was not going to be a great run so thought I would just try to make the best of it. When I started the tempo I could feel I was off so thought I would run the first mile at what felt like a good hard tempo pace and then try to hold that. I ran the first mile in 7:01 and wanted to try to run the others around 7:00. I managed to run the next three in 7:03, 7:02, 6:54. I never really felt good but I did take some satisfaction from making the best out of a rough day. I have got to get some sleep/rest to get back on track. Three nights in a row with not enough sleep is taking its toll. Might try to do another easy run tonight if I feel better.

1:10:23

PM

Decided to go back out for an easy run tonight. It was very warm today so even at 8:00 it was in the 80's and humid. When I started out I didn't feel very good getting started and thought about calling it quits but after a couple of miles I started feeling much better. By the 3rd mile I actually felt pretty good so started picking up the pace. I felt good the rest of the way and picked it up each mile. The body is both an amazing and complex thing. After feeling so rough this morning I came back tonight and actually felt good even after being outside all day in 90+ degree weather.

56:08

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
22.000.000.000.0022.00

Since I didn't get to do my long run over the weekend I got up early today to get it in. The weather was much better since it was cooler and the humidity was down (62). I started off real easy the first couple of miles then got into a grove. I felt good but did have some aches in the knee but for the most part it was ok. After about 8 miles I started picking up the pace a little and went faster all the way until I finished. Ran the last couple of miles around 7:40. It was a good run and felt pretty good afterward for running 22 miles.

2:56:35 (8:02 avg)

Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Beautiful morning for running (58). I had a little soreness from yesterday's long run but actually felt pretty good compared to how I have felt in the past after a long run. I did have some soreness/tightness in the knee again so not sure if I can get through a long run without having some problems. I will just continue the ice/streching to see if I can keep it from getting worse.

I just took it easy today but felt good later in the run so finished with a couple of faster miles.

65:20

Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.000.000.0011.00

Had to travel to Warner Robins, GA last night and didn't get in until very late due to the FAA mess yesterday.  It was a decent day for running considering this far South (78, humid).  I wanted to do a few extra miles today and found a good route through some neighborhoods.  It was however very hilly which provided a good workout for me.  There was hardly any flat ground and was either going up or down all of the time.  This is not normal for me.  My knee felt better today but still felt it several times during the run.  Running wise I felt good today and feel recovered from the long run on Monday.

1:30:40

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.000.005.000.008.00

I had an early meeting today and since I was in an unfamilar place, couldn't find any good routes without a lot of traffic and didn't want to get out on the roads in the dark I decided I would run on the treadmill today in the hotel.  I wanted to do a 5 mile tempo around 6:50 pace and see how I felt. 

I started off with an easy warmup and the legs felt heavy/sluggish from the start so not a good feeling going into the tempo.  I started the tempo and the first mile didn't feel good but I didn't want to back off.  Second mile was a bit better but not much.  The 3rd, 4th and 5th miles I felt a little better but was pushing more on the 5th mile.  Here are the splits:

1st - 6:56

2nd - 6:52

3rd - 6:51

4th - 6:48

5th - 6:40

The good thing about doing this on the treadmill is that it is easy to control the pace.  I probably could have done the first couple of miles faster but I wanted to make sure that I got the full 5 miles in.  Not a bad run but wish I was further along with these tempos.  It is getting better I think.

1:00:23

Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

Still down in South GA today and out real early so the weather was pretty good.  Just did an easy recovery run today.  I felt pretty good and the knee was not too bad.  Only bothered me a couple of times. Looking forward to getting back home today and hopefully get in a long run tomorrow.

58:12

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.005.000.000.0018.00

I got up a little later than I wanted so it was warmer (72) then I hoped but still a good day. I felt ok today but the legs were a little tired. I ran comfortable and easy for most of the run but ran 5 miles in the middle at MP (between 7:10 - 7:25). The MP didn't feel the best. I felt like I was pushing too hard for MP. I thought I might run longer at MP but decided I should probably just run the rest easy and try it another day. This is the highest mileage week for me ever so guess it is normal for the legs to not have much zip in them.

2:23:36 (7:59 avg)

Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
236.9024.0017.007.50285.40
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