Saturday 18 - Great Day, Lots of People

I only have time for a quick post today. Saturday featured the best running weather I've seen this year: mostly cloudy, cool, and slightly breezy. It also featured a million runners on the AR Parkway. We saw hordes of SacFit runners, my mom's crew (the Golden Girls), Austin (AKA Wheels), and everything in between. 

Rob and I got in 18 at about 8 mins/mi (yes, I forgot my watch again) and it was high quality...for the most part. I guess actually ran two separate runs: 17 3/4 miles and a 1/4 mile cool down. Sadly, with a 1/4 mile to go, I felt the urgent need to inspect the conditions of the men's restroom at the Campus Commons Golf Course...everything was in working order. 

Next up: another "speed" workout at the CK McClatchy track tomorrow morning.

Five Plus Strides

I got in five this morning and it felt good. I thought I'd still feel the effects of my inaugural speed workout but, much to my surprise, my legs felt fresh and ready to go. 

My pace was much faster than my anticipated marathon pace of 7:37 and, for the first time since I started training for the CIM, the pace felt easy. Of course, feeling easy for five and feeling easy for 26.2 are WORLDS apart, but I'll take the small victory. 

In addition to "speed" workouts, I've added strides to the end of my runs (again, in an effort to draw out every last morsel of speed). I finished the run and tacked on a paltry four sprints. My goal was not to yard sale in the middle of the street in front of my neighbors. Mission accomplished.

Planning on another 18 this weekend and then Four Bridges next weekend.

"Speed" Workout

Okay, I've been remiss in posting my runs. Here's a quick catch-up: fanned my run last Thursday...bad hamster; ran a high quality 18 on Saturday...good hamster.

And now to today's workout. My recipe for a "decent" marathon in December calls for long runs (check), training for more than the six weeks leading up to the CIM (check), a "fast" Cowtown half (check), a faster 4 Bridges half (pending), and...gulp...speed workouts. So I bit the bullet and ran five x 800 today with a 200 recovery. My 800 times varied from a pedestrian 3:03 to a glacial 3:09. It's apparent that I needed to introduce speed workouts earlier in the training regimine. It's been so, so, so long since I've pushed my pace with a speed workout that I swear my legs forgot how to do it. The first three 800s felt awkard at best. The final two felt better, though far from good. I plan to keep up the Teusday 800s; I definately need them.

Observations

• It was downright chilly this morning. My guess is the temp started with a 4 today. My covers had a strangle hold on me but, once I broke free and got into the morning air, it felt great.
  
• The 405 gets an "F" for track workouts! The "Lap" button beeped, but failed to register the lap. So I did what anyone would do; I pressed the button again <beep> and again <beep> and again <beep>. Screw it! After more failed attempts than I care to admit, I resorted to checking my time at the beginning and end of each 800 and doing the math.
  

Back to work...

Land Park 4

I woke up this morning with tight calves and too much on my mind, so I decided to slip out for a quick pre-dawn 4 to ease both. At least the calves loosened up.

Cowtown Half Marathon 2008

The Hamster lined up this morning unsure of the performance to unfold over the next 13.1 miles. In order to understand fully my uncertainty, we have to get into the "way back" machine and travel to yesterday morning. Hammy went to the Big Crush in the Amador foothills. Basically, you purchase a ticket for $30 and get a wine glass you can use at almost any winery in Amador. I was the DD, so I dumped a whole heck of a lotta wine. Luckily for me, most of it was marginal at best. I was really disappointed by the quality of the wine I was tasting. The best part of the afternoon was at the last winery "R", they had the best wine, vegetarian soup, and a component aroma test. They added herbs/flavors to 26 glasses of wine and you had to see how many you could guess correctly: soy sauce, olive, dill, cherry, strawberry, etc. I got 19 of 25. Not good, not bad. So, after wine, I enjoyed an alfredo pasta dinner and a little too much dessert: apple crisp and smore brownies.  Yummm! I woke this AM with my tummy talking to me. Why is it that tummies never have anything nice to say? Groan.

Okay, now you know what I did yesterday and why I was nervous about the run. I wanted 1:35 (7:15/mi) as a finish time and got out of the gates at about 7:10 per mile and, sure enough, visited a potty at about mile 4. That tends to kill one's average pace because the clock doesn't stop just because you're in the potty, wouldn't that be nice? Nuts. I got out and caught back up with the 3:10 pace group and, after a 9 minute mile got back to 7:05/mi pace. The tummy still was not 100% but I wasn't about to get off the course again. Short story long, I came in at 1:33:30 (or about there), 7:08/mi pace. I'm pleased.

Notes and observations:

• The porto potty at mile 4 was very well kept. :-)
• The Cowtown half is very, very well supported: the water stops are plentiful and easily accessed, traffic control is great, and the organizers (Rich Hanna) are very organized. I give this run high marks!!!!
• Way to go Carlos! I almost saw Carlos' backside as he galloped away from me at the start and, other than the turn-around in Miller Park, I never saw him again. I think he came in at 1:30 or less. Nice wheels.
• Thanks to Abby for watching my Team Chaos so I could run. And also for herding them to the finish.
• Thanks to my girls for getting up early and getting ready quickly.
• Thanks to my parents for cheering me on.
• Thanks to the Fox and Goose for some GREAT post-run food! (we were going to go to Tower, but the line was insane and they don't do anything fast).
• Thanks to Greg for running in with me.

I'll post some actual times after Cowtown posts them.

The Older I Get...

...The faster I was. :-) I set out to piece together my running history tonight. My initial desire was to see how my performances from Cowtown and Four Bridges served as indicators for my CIM performance. In for a penny...I figured I'd try to piece together a complete history of races run over the last 11 years. Groan! What a pain!!!! I couldn't find a lot of my runs: Race for the Cure, Run to Feed the Hungry, the Tower to Tower Half, etc. Then I stumbled across this site. Holy COW! I found a nearly complete listing of all local runs. It was a stroll down memory lane. One I encourage anyone who's run a race in the Sacramento area to take. The only gaps were my Cowtown times (which I had already) and the Crater Lake Rim Marathon.

See you at Cowtown this Sunday...hopefully dry.

Land Park 5

The morning was again unseasonably warm (67 degrees) and humid too. I ran without a watch today because I felt like I needed a day away from the GPS taskmaster. Today was not about keeping up with a "virtual partner" or tempo, it was about clearing the mind: which didn't happen. 

The weekend is the Cowtown half marathon for me. I like using it and the Four Bridges half as litmus tests for the CIM. I always hope my time at Four Bridges improves on the mark established at Cowtown (even though Four Bridges is a more difficult run). If I have a chance at sub 3:20 for the CIM, I'll need to go sub 1:35:00 (7:15 mins/mi) at one, if not both, of these runs. We'll see.

Eric's links

• Pace Calculator: I'm always trying to figure out pace and distance for the runs I have planned. I like the Cool Runnings Pace Calculator and have spent WAY too much time on the site figuring out the impact of subtle changes of pace on the overall marathon time.
• What's Your VDOT?: I'm going to use the Cowtown and Four Bridges to establish my VDOT and shape my training plan for the final month before CIM. Don't know what I'm talking about? Check out the article on Runners World (48 would be nice).

Now get back to work!