I'm starting to enjoy the recovery run. I only set out to do 3 miles instead of my usual Sunday 6 because yesterday was such a long day, not only because of the run, but also because I spent a good part of the day on my feet afterwards, touring several houses, then doing some shopping.

The first mile was typically brutal. But ever so slowly, the aches melt away and by mile 3, I'm feeling okay. The weather was pretty nice too and it seemed kind of a shame to cut the run short, but it did feel good to get out, and I'm not limping around at all today.

I did realize that the next long run isn't scheduled for 4 weeks. That seems a bit long between long runs and by then we're only 3 weeks out from Chicago. The official Marathonfest schedule is 10, 14, 10, 22-24 over the next few Saturdays. I'm thinking I'll take that to 14, 22, 12, 24. I'm sure I'll be able to talk some of the other idiots into that.

Getting There

4AM comes pretty early in the morning. But if you can get yourself out the door, the running part comes easy. Sort of.

Anyway, as lousy as yesterday's run was, today was pretty good, even if it was long. Instead of dropping to a slower group, I stuck it out with my usual group, aiming between 8:20-8:30/mile. I felt pretty good, though around mile 10, I started regretting my decision. I felt like I was lagging and my mini-group (Vic, Alan, Dave, Kevin) was pulling away. It turns out that was because those guys were hitting closer to 8:10 than 8:20.

For the segment of the run called the "Golf Course Loop", I set the pace because I was the only way that knew the way. I found myself keeping closer to 8:20, even though we were at miles 12-16 for that leg. Vic kept trying to talk me into 22, but I headed back rather than head farther out. With my luck, I'd have cramped in the middle of the Chestnut Loop and would have to walk back even farther than I would otherwise. I'd also remembered I had to be home by 9, and adding the extra 2 would have made me late.

Sure enough, just as we were getting close to Mizell, my calves started that pre-cramp twitching that I've grown so familiar with in my marathons. That was at around 19.5 miles. By the time I got to Cady Way, I already had 20 in the bank, so the rest of the run was a bonus.

All told, my GPS read 20.5 at the end, though the data analysis software called it 21. Whatever it was, the end was tough going, but I sure felt a lot better than I did when I did the 18-miler.

Wet & Wild

Okay, so Fay initially seemed like a bust, but after lingering over Central Florida for three days, it's turning out to be more of a mess than anticipated. She's no Charley, but she sure dumped enough rain on us. Orlando is getting away without much major damage. The east coast had it much worse with the flooding.

For me, it pretty much meant no running. Wednesday evening wasn't too bad, but I felt a little beat and the lack of sun does seem to drain you even more. I decided my only workout would be on the Nintendo Wii.

Thursday, I regretted that decision. That turned out to be the worst day of the storm. Near-constant rain squalls with gusting winds. Definitely should have toughed it out Wednesday, even for just 5 miles. Instead, I sat around the house feeling guilty about not running, wondering if it would affect the long run on Saturday.

So Friday morning, I got up a little extra early and hit the road. It wasn't bad at all with some sprinkles of rain. In fact, it was worse running under trees because if the wind blew, the leaves dropped their moisture and soaked you.

The worst part was actually the run itself. I felt terrible. I wasn't sore; how could I be after two days off? I felt winded the whole way though. I stopped several times and just couldn't get in a rhythm. I stuck close to home and just did three miles total, but it seemed to take forever. I did not want to go into tomorrow's long run on three days' rest, but I'm not sure I did myself any favors this morning. Just a crappy, crappy run.

Cool Running

So it seemed like it was taking forever for Tropical Storm Fay to get here. As I write this, it's finally raining hard and has been on and off for the last 60-90 minutes. Before that though, it wasn't bad at all. Track Shack officially cancelled all of their group training runs, but of course, that doesn't stop the Sandbaggers from showing up.

But what a poor showing. There were only six of us: Nate, Mike, Corey, Sarah, George, and me. And the weather was nearly perfect for running, except perhaps for the occasionally gusting headwind. The rain was steady, but light. We've run in worse than that.

The workout was an oldie but goodie: 800m pairs. The idea is to run the first of the pair at a given pace, recover slightly, then run the second one faster. Repeat 3 or 4 times.

Today it was 800m @ 10K pace, 200m recovery, 800m 4-6 seconds faster, 400m recovery, 4 pairs in total. I chased Sarah around the track. Sarah qualified and ran for Boston last year. Needless to say, she had me finishing 5-10 seconds faster than I intended to run. But since I did that for all 8 runs, I clearly set the bar too low for myself to begin with.

Also, the cool weather really makes a difference. We really hustled on the last two 800's and I think I could have done another set. Since Fay appears to be sticking around Central Florida for a while, hopefully that will keep the temps down and I can squeeze in some good runs between the raindrops.

Gut Check

I was feeling good about my run Saturday, but today's run brought me back to earth. I was just going to run easy with the YMCA group, which I did for about 3 miles. Then I tried to pick it up and had a hard time holding a 7:00/mile for even one mile. So I just backed off and cruised another two miles.

Always good though to get knocked down a peg or two before you start thinking you're ready to go when you're not.

With Tropical Storm Fay approaching, it looks like our speed workout is a washout tomorrow. If it's not too treacherous out, it might be decent for another long, easy run.

Recharge

I didn't bother with a recovery run this morning. My alarm went off at 6am. I turned it off and fell back asleep. I needed the rest. As my wife pointed out last night, if I'd just stayed up 4 more hours, I would have gone 24 hours without sleeping. Clearly, I needed the extra sleep more than the run.

I woke up automatically at 7am anyway and decided I should at least show my face at the race. I got a few decent photos of the Sandbaggers and other running pals. Maybe I'll do a recovery tonight.

On A Roll

Good run today. Earlier in the week, I'd planned on just running 10 miles. We had an all-day, outdoor event yesterday at work, and between the heat and being on my feet most of the time, I didn't think I'd have a good run. Instead, I cruised along around 8:00/mile for the entire 14 miles and generally felt pretty good.

I even managed to outpace Vic at the end. Mind you, I think we was saving himself for the race tomorrow, which I'm not running, so I didn't have to contend with the much-feared "Vic Kick".

In hindsight, I didn't run all that much this week which I'm sure kept me fresh for today. This run doubled my total to 28 miles for the week. But these were three of the best workouts I've had in a while. Next week, I'll easily get over 40 since we've got our first 20-miler on Saturday.

What's In A Name?

I was automatically placed into Start Corral C at the Chicago Marathon and I'm not exactly sure why. Today, I re-sent my 2007 OUC Half Marathon result (1:33:45) which qualifies me for Corral B.

I browsed through the registration confirmation page (http://www.active.com/uploads_search.cfm?upm_id=2786) to examine the competition each of the Chicago Marathon Sandbagger would face.

Beau is guaranteed a top 3 finish among Beau's and top 6 among Bock's.

I will be facing off against nearly 60 other Joel's, including 4 that will start in Corral A, so I've got my work cut out for me. On the other hand, I've got the Remigio division locked up.

Heather could beat out the 159 other Heathers because there's only one in Corral A. I think she'll beat out the other 9 Schulzes.

Ryan is going to have the toughest time. There's only 9 Conrad's, but over 200 Ryan's, including one in the Top 100. Plus, Olympian Ryan Hall is expected to participate as part of a fundraising effort. I hate to say it, Ryan, but you're not getting any better than third.

It's amazing what you can learn during a slow day at work.

I'm Melting

Okay, so now I remember why I decided to skip Chicago in favor of a winter marathon. The heat index at the start of tonight's workout was 102, according to my SportTracks software, and had only decreased to 100 by the time we got to our cool down.

It does seem a little crazy for us to be out there, but some of the fears about dehydration are a little overblown. I've been reading the Science of Sport blog a lot of late. They debunk a lot of commonly-held beliefs about athletic performance there, taking particular aim at the claims we're fed by the marketers of sport drinks, authors of running books, and the shoe companies. They do a much better job of explaining this stuff than I, I'll just quickly say that I think that if we're taking decent care of ourselves (hydration, diet, sleep) throughout our training, we're not going to be in real danger.

But I digress, tonight's workout featured mile repeats for everyone. 4x1 mile @ 5K pace for the 5&Dimers; 6x1mile @ half-marathon pace for the marathoners. Having just done mile repeats yesterday, I wasn't thrilled with the lack of variety. On the other hand, mile repeats have always been a decent measure of how I'm progressing. Plus we were running a new route which made it a little more interesting.

I set out for 7:30/mile with Vic who's finally back to the Tuesday/Thursday workouts. We ended up hitting most of them slightly faster than that, around 7:20 for me (faster for Vic) on the first 4, though I clocked in at 7:38 on the 5th one.

For the last one, Vic suckered me into a sub-7. I knew he was picking up the pace and I willfully allowed him to pull away from me because I wanted to stay around 7:30. So much for that. Thanks, Vic.

Water, water, and more water tonight and a decent night's sleep. Looking forward to an off day Friday.

Hot, Too Hot

July really was a cakewalk compared to August. We've not been getting the late afternoon showers, which easier cool things down just by providing cloud cover and hopefully some wind and even with steady rain. It's just flat out hot.

Still, the YMCA group hit the track with 800's for the main group and mile repeats (5) for the marathoners. I managed to hit the first three at exactly 6:55, then brought it down to 6:45, and 6:35. Felt pretty good, despite the heat. Shame we ran out of water too.

5 & Dime

It was kind of a low turnout for the new 5&Dime session. Not a lot of new faces, though a few old ones showed up. Looking around the group during warmups, I realized that I'm almost the oldest one there, in terms of group attendance. I started in January of 2005. That session was the the last one before Nate started coaching in March 2005, which makes him 3rd.

#1? Jonny Jpeg who's been with the group since 2002, he tells me. He didn't make the unofficial summer workouts for idiots this year, but who could blame him? He's living way out near Davenport and has a pool. Much easier to stay home and relax in the water. Still waiting for the Jonny Jpeg Invitation 5K (Clothing Optional).

I hadn't planned on running the time trial, but I was peer pressured into it. I didn't go all out, instead I dragged Jonny around the track to finish at 6:10. I think even if I had been trying, I could have pushed it to sub-6, maybe 5:50.

Instead, I sandbagged my way through the mile time trial and also through the first 3 400's of a 4x400m (90 seconds rest), cruising at around 85 seconds before wasting everyone in my group on the last 400m at 73 seconds. It's not a fair comparison because most of them ran the time trial for real. Felt good though.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Yesterday's run put me at 38 for last week. Not bad, considering that I didn't run at all on Wednesday. And for as awful as I felt yesterday, I felt pretty good this morning, getting in 6 miles at a nice & easy 9:00-9:30/mile before it got hot out.

I don't think I'll quite hit 40 this week, as we're only doing 10-14 next Saturday and I'm just finding it hard to put the time in for a long run during the week.

5 & Dime starts up again on Tuesday. I plan to skip the time trial. I know what group I'm in and I don't see how an all-out mile helps me get ready for Chicago.

Wake Up Call

Today was the longest run of the session: 18 miles. I was up at 4am, out the door at 4:30, and on the road at 5am.

Based on how I ran last week, I opted to stay with the same group. While we were supposed to take an easier pace because of the distance and the heat, this group did not do that. I struggled to keep up and they completely dropped me after 8 miles.

Fortunately, at that point, I ran into the group I first started running with years ago, and they were taking the pace that I should have been running. So I ran another 8 with them and felt better for a little while. At around 15 miles, I started to really feel every step. I left them to get back to Cady Way. It was only about 1.5 miles. I had to run in in three half-mile segments at anywhere from 9:30 to 10:00/mile, with 90 seconds breaks in-between.

As difficult as it was, it's actually a good thing. I think I started feeling a little too good about myself last weekend. Nothing like a hard, long run to keep me humble.

Fooled Again

Off-day yesterday because I got up way early and spent most of the day on my feet for a work event. I expected to have fresh legs and once again, the workout didn't sound terrible: 4x1.5 miles @ half-marathon pace.

Beau noted that a 1:35 half-marathon is a 7:15/mile pace and that sounded reasonable to me. That's what I ran last December at OUC. But I forgot (or chose to ignore) two things:

1. I was in good shape and training at a much faster pace in the month leading up to the OUC.
2. It was way cooler then than it is now.

I managed to get the first two in at 7:06/mile. The third I gutted out to a 7:26/mile, but couldn't find a fourth repeat in me. This is pretty much how I felt during the 2-mile repeats a few weeks back.

Looking at my McMillan chart, a 7:06/mile would be appropriate for running a 4-mile race. It's not even listed anywhere in my training intervals. It's a faster pace than recommended for tempo intervals or for 1-mile speed workouts. My heart rate data also showed that I was spending a lot of time in the tempo and speed workout zones.

I should have been sticking to a steady-state run pace of 7:43 to 7:56/mile. It sounds easy, but it's probably more important for me to stay in line with my marathon training. I need to start bringing this chart to the workouts.