Ice Ice Baby

  Here we are.  Another glorious week of running.  We're about a month out from the FRC Half Marathon.  I'm getting a little tired. So I took yesterday off.  I'm going to try and dial back a bit after the race and do a little recovery time.  I've been on a rigid program for 31 weeks. Yes, I said try.  You probably know by now that I'm an all or nothing guy.  So I'll probably run the same amount & just try to dial back the intensity.  Keep your fingers crossed for me...

TUESDAY

It was beautiful day.  Mid-60s again  This time of year is perfect for lunch runs. Plus I can sleep in a bit too!  My plan for today was to run my little 3-mile loop.  I was planning to go a little faster than easy, but not go all out.  I settled into a nice 9:30ish pace.  It's nice to run & enjoy it.  That's why I was talking about dialing back.  I love running & I want to continue loving it.  If I go hard all the time I start to not enjoy it & eventually dread it.  I've seen a lot of people fire off out of the gate, running hard & fast every run.  It's almost impossible to maintain that kind of intensity.  So my advice to you, slow down & enjoy some of your runs.

I read this in a post by Run4PRs Coaching.  It talked about easy running. Here's a snippet.

"Bottom line: running slow gives you the ability to recover for your harder effort running days.  If you don't run slow enough, you body can't properly recover to be ready for hard running. If you never stress your body with harder running day, you will never be able to run faster.  Easy running should be 80% of your weekly mileage.  Easy running is 2-3 min per mile SLOWER than 5k pace."

I don't know how you feel about that, but I agree.  It also lines up with the VDOT paces for me.  Additionally, I think it ties in to the enjoying running that I mentioned.  You're not getting mentally drained & if you're running easy you're definitely having a good time! 

WEDNESDAY

It's long run Wednesday again!  It was 60 degrees at 4am on December 23rd.  Welcome to Texas!  Being this warm it doesn't feel like Christmastime to me. I'll realize later this week that making that statement was a total jinx (*).  While it sounds like pretty good weather for dark morning running, Mother Nature decided raised the difficulty level... 16mph winds.

On the plan for today intervals!  Intervals are short intense efforts followed by a recovery time.  The workout is written like this: 5E, 6(.6T, 1min rest) 1.5E.  Can you decipher it?

5 easy miles followed by intervals of 0.6 miles at threshold pace coupled with a 1min rest and wrapping it up with 1.5 easy miles.  The 1min rest can be whatever you want.  It can be stopping, walking, or running slower.  We choose to walk most times.

We started out the 5 easy with the wind to our backs targeting a 10min/mile.  We held that pretty good except for mile 2 we averaged 9:39.  As the first interval began I was thinking let's target 9min/mile.  I was feeling very smooth in my stride at the quicker pace.  So smooth that the 2nd & 3rd rounds were 8:41 & 8:29.  By number 5 I was gassed.  As is my custom, out too fast.  

During the 5th round we started to separate a bit from our formation.  That's not uncommon as we are close in pace, but not an exact match & like I mentioned I was getting gassed.  So, Leonardo & Donatello got ahead of us, but still in sight.  At the same time I was ahead of Michelangelo. (I should mention also that Michelangelo ran 26.2 miles on Saturday) Anyway, we were on a new part of the trail for me.  At the end of #5 we exited the trail to turn back towards the FRC store.  A few seconds passed and no Michelangelo...  We walked back down to the trail, but no sign of him.  Leo was familiar with the trail.  We decided that Mike must have not seen us exit & kept going. Back on the trail we went. After about maybe a mile we spotted him!  Whew!  I was getting nervous.

In the commotion we ended up skipping the 6th round of intervals & just headed back to the store.  I was completely out of breath & struggling to keep up.  They made a turn which looked like was going to be another block around.  I kept on chugging to the store.  A few minutes later they made it back as well.

After recalculating my workout, it was actually 5E, 5(.6T, 1min rest) 1.79E

CHRISTMAS 

6hrs of driving to see our families in Arkansas on Thursday, Christmas Eve. Dinner with my family that night followed by some time with my wife’s family on Christmas Day. 

Also, I remembered that I had signed up for a Strava challenge that required 4 days of activity for 4 consecutive weeks. This week was the last, only scheduled for 3, so I suited up for a quick out and back mile. Temps were in the 20s & the sun was shining. 

On my short jaunt I realized I was passing the Pleasant Plains population sign.  I thought that would be a good picture I could take on my way back by.  As I came back by the sign I realized that I didn't have my fuel belt since it was a short run.  That meant I didn't have my phone.  When I finished up the run I got my phone & walked the tenth of a mile back to the sign for my photo.  Hi, my name is E & I have issues... 😂

Merry Christmas to you & yours!  

SATURDAY

*weather jinx realized* 

It was cold in AR this morning. We met up at 6am and it was 22 degrees. It was cold & dark. Off we went. The plan was to run 14-15 miles.  Starting out on Harrison Street we ran most of the 10th & 11th mile of the Hope for the Holiday Half Marathon course in reverse.  People in Batesville have been running this out & back route for years.  From Batesville to Sulphur Rock and beyond.  Which also contained the Boring as Crap Half Marathon course from several years ago.  The shoulder runs out at one point so we always swing through Quail Valley to avoid that section.  At about mile 4 I took a drink of my water & it had ice crystals in it. It was an out & back plan so we decided to turn back at mile 5. The elevation in the next half mile jumps about 100ft.  Which meant a nice cruise back down.  As we turned back into Quail Valley at mile 7 I tried to take another drink of my water & it was frozen. The nozzle was blocked, but there was a little water still in it. 

This is where I tell you that my 2 year old fuel belt bottles are both cracked. So when I squeezed & the nozzle was blocked it squirted out all over my hand. Being a genius, I tried the other one.  Same result.  By the time we reached the cars my hands were hurting from being wet & in nearly frozen gloves. 

It was brutal & probably a little dumb, but we got in 10 miles and some great conversation on my coldest run of the year... so far.

SUNDAY

Time to head back home to Texas, but first I decided to make the loop around the Hwy167 by-pass and right through the heart of Pleasant Plains.  I had never ran that loop before & was curious what the mileage would be.  I was guessing about 5 miles.

Going north from the in-laws I hopped on the by-pass.  It's a wide 5 lane highway with a generous shoulder.  Rolling downhills until I hit the 2 mile mark.  Then its a pretty healthy uphill to 2.5 until you make the right turn onto Main Street.  The return back through town is nearly a mirror image on the elevation map.  So, a half mile down hill & the rest was rolling uphills.  I passed by my old high school, the road my wife lived on, and a lot of memories. Some people still live in the same place since I was in high school.  Sometimes it's hard to fathom.  Especially since we have lived in 4 states in the last 5 years.  It could be nice though.  I bet their mortgage is paid off.

Anyway, I reach the only 4-way stop in Pleasant Plains signifying the middle of town. From a previous discussion with my father-in-law we determined that this was a mile from the house.  If that was correct, I would be short of  my 5 mile estimate.  I guess we'll find out soon enough.  Passing the population sign from my photo on Friday I finished up the last tenth of a mile.  Official distance of the Pleasant Plains Metro bypass... 4.62 miles.

Luckily I ran today because in the 4x running challenge that I mentioned earlier, each of the activity times had to be 30mins or more  So the mile that I did to save the challenge didn’t count. 😂

With that being said, it was a pretty eventful week of running!  Thanks for tagging along!

Nothing like a little Jack Daniels

MONDAY

It was a beautiful day in Texas today!  Sunny & 44 degrees at noon!  Perfect running weather! I'm liking the new loop that has opened up.  

TUESDAY

The weather was little different today.  It was 40 and overcast.  The wind chill was 33 at noon. I had a real solid run.  I wasn't planning to push the pace.  It just happened.  

About a half mile in I looked at my watch and I was running an 8:20/mile pace.  My stride felt smooth so I went for it.  At this point I decided not to look at my watch anymore.  I didn't want my mind to tell me I was going too fast.  As I finished mile 2 I felt like I was slowing down, but I kept pushing trying to maintain as best as I could.  2.5, I was really sucking wind now, but I was telling myself not to quit. As I made the last turn on the block I told my self if I was under 27mins I was going the extra 0.1 for a 5k. (my fastest this year 26:35)  I hadn't ran a VDOT since September. I was curious where I was being as the speedwork had been over for a few months.  Beep! 3 miles.  I looked down secretly hoping I was over 27mins... 25 and some change!  Go! Go! Go! The 0.1 from hell! Done!  Final time 26:33!

So what's a VDOT?  That's a logical question.  

The real short version: Running coach Jack Daniels used V̇O₂max to calculate running performance.  His calculation took a recent race time and could convert that data into equivalent times at different race distances. VDOT Calculator  I’m using the handy app. There's is a whole training philosophy built around the premise. Which is what the FRC Training Plan is based on.

Using my time from today’s 5k let’s see what data we get back. 

The equivalent tab shows you what the estimated race time will be at different distances. All things being equal of course. 

As for the training part this is what FRC uses for us. So when the program calls for easy pace. I should be running between 10:29 - 11:31 pace and so on & so forth. The pace/effort increases as the distance shortens. 

Anyway. Go check some of that out & see what kind of results you have!

If you’re thinking it sounds like hocus pocus, have a look at how my 5k VDOT times over the 24-week training cycle changed. 

In case your counting I shaved 10mins off of my 5k time. *individual results may vary*  This is also evidence of how important speed work is.  We cut the speed work & added miles.  Alright, enough geeking out...

WEDNESDAY

I woke up this morning at 4am to get ready for the Wednesday long run. Today's plan called for 2E, 2T, 2E, 2T, 2E = 10 miles.  Oh, and it was 33 degrees with a 20-something wind chill.  We started off with the 2 miles around a 9:50 pace, followed by an 8:58 in mile 3 & 9:27 at mile for.  I felt completely gassed.

I guess since it was fresh on my mind from yesterday's journal entry, but I was realizing that our Easy paces were usually 30 - 45 secs per mile too fast according to my VDOT.  We slowed a bit & had a few miles of discussion around to topic.  That led us on a trip down memory lane.  We remembered that just a few months ago we were struggling to run 11-12 min miles.  Look at us now!  Don't forget your progress!  Nonetheless, that didn't help that I was just tired.  Maybe from the hard 5k yesterday?  Maybe from the hard training & long miles.  We were in the 2nd extension of the training program. At this point we have ran 13+ miles at least a dozen times since August.  Not to mention the other double digit mile runs; another dozen of them as well. Or was it from 2 hard Half Marathons in back to back months?  Who knows.

Anyway, 5, 6, & 7 I hung with guys as best as I could.  Mile 8 I decide to just let them go.  After that threshold ended the guys looped back to finish the 2 remaining easy miles by my side.  What can you say about that?  These guys are just top notch!

With all the whining about being tired I still averaged a 9:45 pace for 10 miles. 

SATURDAY

I took a couple of days off & here we are. Long Run Saturday!  Leonardo plotted us a 14 mile route all around Frisco. The first 7 miles had some hills. The back half was pretty flat. The plan was to run easy miles as some of the guys were thinking about adding some extra miles afterward. 

From FRC store we ran through the Rail District. We ran through areas with big houses, old houses, modern houses. We ran through a couple parks and around a couple ponds. Up Fisher hill past the castle, back to the Rail District (photo 1) & the Frisco Square. We looped around the FC Dallas stadium & finally back to the FRC store. 

Once we finished we circled up, traded fist bumps, & took our finishing photo. 

SUNDAY

Finished up the week with an Easy 5-miler. Not a ton to say about the run. It’s was a beautiful mid-60 degree day. I did get another new pair of shoes prior yesterday’s run.  My 3rd pair of Nike Zoom Air Pegasus. I really love these shoes!

I did have a little foot pain after yesterday’s long run. I think I had my left shoe a little too tight. I used the massage gun on it a few times yesterday & today. All seemed well today so I went out for my scheduled run. 

I ran the new neighborhood loop & added a little to get my 5 miles in. I planned to run 10:30/mile, but these days I’m finding it more difficult to run that pace on shorter mile runs.  

There were a lot of people out enjoying the weather. It was nice to just enjoy the run today. 

See you again next week!

The Short Week with a Marathon to Love

WEDNESDAY

After 3 days of rest I got back on the road today. I planned to just take 2 days off, but after being on vacation for over a week Tuesday just didn’t happen. 

So, my calves were SO sore up until yesterday. I’m not accustomed to all the hills & my muscles told me so. When I say sore I mean sore even to the touch. Anyway, wah wah, right. 

Met up with the Turtles at 5am this morning for our typical long run day. It felt good to be back with the boys again. We stepped back in the plan to Week 18. That will land us on Race Day for the January 23rd, FRC Half Marathon in McKinney. 

Today’s workout was a 2 mile warmup followed by threshold miles. 4 rounds of 1 mile at threshold pace & 2mins of walking to recover. Wrapping up with 2 miles easy to cool down.  It’s written like this: 2E, 4(1T, 2min walk) 2E. 

After the warmup the four of us took turns pacing the  threshold for the group. The target was 8:30-8:45. 

It was a solid training session. My legs we’re still a little tired I think. My right calf is a little sore again after cooling down. 

Leonardo brought us gifts today!  Little action figures of each of us. The Turtles that is...

THURSDAY

XT Day!  For today’s workout I repeated the Week 18 workout since we stepped back in the plan to Week 18 to prepare for the FRC Half. I did add one additional exercise.  20 crunches. I've got to where i print out the workout.  I tend to lose count of where I am.

5 rounds - 20 pushups, 20 squats, 20 mountain climbers, 20 jumping jacks, 20 crunches, 1/4 mile run. 

Strangely it was 77 degrees in Texas on this December afternoon. It made for a warm workout. 

SATURDAY

Looking for a change of scenery, Raphael suggested we go to Tribute Shoreline Trail. It a gravel trail that goes down by the lake. 

It’s a 4 mile loop. The plan called for 12. So we were going to run the loop, run some miles in neighborhood on the opposite side of the trailhead, & then back around the 4 mile loop to finish by the lake in the daylight. 

It was windy & chilly. Starting out an easy pace, we made a wrong time & ended up on the golf course cart path. We made our way around & back to the trail. About 2 miles in, the back of my knee/hamstring felt tight. Not really a pain, but as I described it, a string in my leg felt really tight. It made it hard to run. I thought that it would eventually loosen up, but it did not. After a few more miles I decided once we got back to the trailhead I would stop. 

By the time we got back to the car we had hit 6 miles on the 4 mike loop thanks to the cart path detour. Raphael & Donatello kept going & ended up running 18 miles. 

I took an epsom salt bath, used the impact massage gun, & did some stretches. I didn’t seem to get much relief. Eventually I decided to do some hip flexor stretches. That seemed to be the ticket. It finally started to loosen up. The best I can tell, I just didn’t warm up like I normally do before the run. So hopefully all is well now. 

SUNDAY

The last run of the week was a memorable one!  A couple of guys from the FRC, who we'll call Chef & 911, planned to run their virtual Dallas Marathon today. I volunteered to cheer them on around the course & jump in at Mile 20 to help them finish it out. 

The weather was not optimal. It was 40 degrees and pouring rain for virtually the entire 26.2 miles. It was very impressive to see theses guys running a virtual race in these conditions. Most people would have postponed, but these 2 guys were committed. So a few of us buzzed around and met them at intersections & cheered them on. 

They powered through the out & back course that started & began at Chef's house.  As planned, I jumped in at Mile 20 to run them in. An infectious Orange Theory trainer joined for a few miles & kept everyone's spirits high.  

With about 2.5 miles to go 2 more friends joined us for the final push.  I was truly impressed with these guys. I ran with them for an hour or so & my hands were hurting. I can’t imagine after 26.2 miles. Wow! It was very inspiring to witness!

The icing on the cake was the finish. There was a top secret proposal plan. The Chef had the ring with him and as soon as he crossed the tape he got down on one knee & popped the question. It was an awesome moment to witness!  She said yes!

Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Chef!

A perfect end to another great week of running!

Eight Days a Week w/ race recap

My week usually starts on Monday. Last week I posted my blog on Saturday not realizing that we had a social run planned for Sunday. Which would work out good since my clearance rack shoes came in late on Saturday. They need a test run. 

ASICS GT-1000 USA edition 🇺🇸

SUNDAY 

The run was tied to the $50 challenge that I talked about last week. The idea was that anyone who showed up would run on the trail & inevitability get a picture on the bench. That would enter them into the drawing. Luckily for my shoes the rain from the night before closed the trail. Street run it is!

MONDAY

Hope for the Holiday is this weekend. So today is a REST DAY!  Plus I took vacation all week!

Here’s a quick tip for keeping your feet loose. After every long run I use the Trigger Point massage ball to roll my feet. Starting in the middle, moving back & forth. Roll all areas on the bottom of the foot; heel, toes, instep, etc. Pay special attention to the sore areas. Try to loosen the muscles up. I usually spend about 5 mins per foot. 

TUESDAY

Mostly short easy miles this week, but it’s Track Tuesday. The plan called for a progressive ladder.  As the distance shortened the speed increased. 

It starts out with a 400m warmup.  That’s one lap on the track or a quarter mile. Then the ladder begins. 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m. My plan was to start at 10mins/mile & increase 30s/mile each phase. 

I know all of that sounds great, but I over slept & none of it happened. I was supposed to get up at 4:15a. I woke up at 6:20a. The rest of the guys still put in work without me. 

Even though I missed out this morning I got in the progressive workout on the street. As usual I started out a little fast, but laid down some solid splits. The last quarter I was definitely sucking wind. There was plenty of it too with an 18mph breeze. 

On a related note, I sure hope the ASICS break in. I’m not digging them yet. My feet were, what I call,  clopping the entire run. I couldn’t get in the groove. I felt very awkward running.  I may use them for easy runs until I get some miles on them. 

That is one thing about the Nikes they just glide. They wear out too fast, but they run so good! I need to find a middle ground shoe. I was hoping the ASICS were the ones. We’ll see...

WEDNESDAY

Another 4:15a alarm for some hump day miles. I met Raphael for an easy 3. Work schedules had other plans for Leonardo & Donatello. 

We did a quick out & back on the pi route (3.14). I didn’t go to .14 because Garmin & Strava never match on mileage. I couldn’t name it Pi if they both weren’t 3.14.  I know I’m a weirdo. Any way... chilly run with a slight headwind coming back. After looping back to the store with me Raphael went back out for 3 or 4 more. I went home, showered, & took a nap. Ahhh, glorious vacation...

THURSDAY

One more easy pace run before Hope for the Holiday on Saturday. Everything started out pretty well normal, floating around a 9:45 pace. About a mile in my right shin started flaring up. I haven’t had any shin issues in over 6 months. 

For several years I have had what I call shin flare ups off & on. My soleus muscle will start to swell. It’s like getting a muscle pump when lifting weights. The problem is that it would continue to swell until it was painful to flex my foot at all. Eventually if I didn’t stop my feet would go to sleep. I never have really figured out what causes it. I had decided that it had something to do with my extra weight. Typically when my weight comes back down it would quit. 

So now I’m perplexed again. Since I’m sitting at 180lbs & have been doing XT. (another theory was weak lower leg muscles)

Yet another theory was muscle adhesion. Which was why I bought the Roll Recovery R8. To pull the muscle fascia away from the bone. That’s very painful by the way. I still use the R8 everyday. So yeah... perplexed. 

Anyway back to today. I downed about half my bottle of water during my second mile. That’s one of my crutches. When I’m struggling during a run I drink water. Not sure why. Nonetheless, with about a mile to go my shin relaxed & I went on cruise control. That last mile was so effortless. It felt awesome! So maybe it’s the water. Who knows... 

FRIDAY

Drive to Batesville, AR from Dallas, TX for the 4th annual Hope for the Holiday half marathon & 5k in memory of Garrett Yeager. 

SATURDAY

RACE DAY!  My last race I went out too fast.  So this time I decided to take it easy out of the gate. The first five miles of this course is several rolling hills. If you’re not careful you’ll destroy your race going out too fast. I made sure to slow down on the uphills & speed up on the downhills. It was a good plan for me. 

You got the technical trail section at about 5.5 miles. It was downhill, but required a slower pace. Once through the trail it was a few miles on a nice, peaceful gravel road. I was feeling good after the trail, so I resumed my target pace. The turn back onto the street had a slight uphill followed by a generous down. The course was flat for a bit after that which was nice.  Mile 10 started another uphill climb & then a glorious downhill through 11. 

Seeing the Mile 12 sign only meant one thing... The punishing last mile back up to the top of Eagle Mountain. The first half mile is a gradual climb. The last half mile is virtually straight up. It’s a punishing finish. I made it part of the way up & realized that at this point I could actually walk faster. Once I made the last turn & could see the finish I started some semblance of running again. It’s a tough course, but man it feels awesome to finish it. My official finish time was 2:10:38. Nearly 14 minutes faster than last year. 

Now its time to rest for a few days!

Check out the elevation map at the bottom!