Instagram filter used: Hefe
Yesterday, I ended up missing my first scheduled training run in more than 10 weeks. I woke up yesterday feeling pretty rough with a sore throat, headache, low energy, etc. My schedule called for 40-minutes easy, and I thought that if I just took it easy and drank lots of fluids I might feel better later in the day and be able to get it in. Well, at 7pm I decided that I was feeling worse instead of better and sent my coach (John) a text to let him know it was likely not going to happen…
While I expected a sarcastic response, I thought this was pretty funny. Turns out he was with another friend of ours from the running group who is constantly giving me a hard time about Boston, and was feeding him the quotes to send back. John went on to say that it was a “No Brainer” to take the day off if I wasn’t feeling well, so that’s exactly what happened.
Fast forward to today, and I have been feeling better throughout the day. By the time I needed to leave work and head to the track I was feeling good enough to give it a try. My biggest concern for tonight’s workout was not feeling sick, but the heat. This was what my phone said before I stepped out of the car and onto the track…
I believe this is easily the warmest track night I’ve ever participated in, and I could feel it from the first strides of the warmup. However, other than it being crazy hot, I felt really, really good. My legs continued to feel good, and my energy level did not seem to have been negatively affected by being under the weather the past couple of days.
Because of the heat, John led us through a fairly short workout tonight. Here is the rundown…
- 2.5-Mile Warmup
- 6 x 100m Stride Outs
- 3 x 400m (400m recovery)
- 2 x 400m (400m recovery)
- 1 x 400m (400m recovery)
- .82-Mile Cool Down
He told us to take the 400s very, very easy. We only had a few seconds recovery between each 400m interval within each set, so most of mine were in the 1:30 to 1:35 range. It was hot enough that I could feel my pulse pounding in my face, but otherwise I felt pretty good considering the heat and that I had not been feeling well. In total with warmup and cool down I completed 6-miles with a 7:46 average pace.
Beast Mode….ON!
A few days ago, the RW Daily blog on RunnersWorld.com posted a quiz which contained a mixed list of running shoe and prescription drug names to see if you could distinguish between the two. While I didn’t think this quiz was particularly hard, I did like the graphic that went along with it which is posted above.
This morning’s scheduled workout was new territory for me. It called for a 20-minute warmup at easy pace, followed by 35-minutes with my heart rate between 165 and 175 bpm, and then a 15 to 20-minute cool down at easy pace. To my recollection, this was the first time I’ve ever done a run based on a target heart rate range.
John’s specific instructions were “DO NOT WORRY ABOUT PACE,” so to that end I removed the pace and distance fields from my Garmin, and only left Current Heart Rate, Average Heart Rate for Lap, and Elapsed Time for Lap. I also turned off the “auto-lap” function so that I could manually make each segment its own “lap” for tracking elapsed time and heart rate.
Nathan and I met at the Forrest Home Church parking lot on Old Natchez Trace, and then completed our warmup through the Montpier Farms subdivision. After grabbing some quick fluids, we set out on an out-and-back down Old Natchez and Del Rio Pike for the 35-minute tempo segment. At first I had a really hard time getting my heart rate up above 165, and did not hit that mark until at least 3/4 of the way through the first mile. As a matter of fact, my primary focus for most of the way out was trying to keep my heart rate UP into the target range.
For a while I was thinking that John must have gotten my heart rate target mixed up with someone else he coaches. Even though I didn’t know my specific pace or distance, I knew that we were moving pretty fast. I almost never hear Nathan breathing heavy during our runs, but even he was laboring a little, and there was almost no conversation during this segment. As a side note, even though this part was very hard, my legs felt better than they have in a couple of weeks, and that was VERY encouraging.
Once we turned around at the halfway point my focus turned to keeping my heart rate DOWN into the target range, and I had to progressively drop my pace to keep it from rising too high. Before we started the tempo segment, Nathan told me he had set an alarm on his Garmin if his heart rate went above 187. I figured if he tried to stay with me the whole way he would be pushing that limit. This says nothing about his level of fitness, just that he is almost 10 years younger than me, and has a crazy high maximum heart rate. Sure enough, after about 25 minutes the alarm went off and he decided to back off a bit, though he never fell much behind.
From the moment during mile one that I reached 165 until the time I finished, I never left the target zone. One time I noticed my watch showed 175 on the dot, but it did not go any higher. Once we finished, we again grabbed another quick drink and then did our cool down out-and-back on Old Natchez.
Looking back now after the fact I noted that my average pace for the tempo segment was 6:58, though the first two miles were closer to the 6:30s. My average heart rate for this section was 167, with a maximum of 175. Overall we completed just under 9.75 miles with warmup and cool down at an average pace of 7:50 per mile. As I mentioned earlier, my legs felt fantastic throughout this run, and I’m very pleased to have bounced back from being so tired yesterday.
Beast Mode…ON!
Today the schedule called for 60 minutes at easy pace, so Nathan and I met at the Edwin Warner Nature Center for an out and back route to the model airplane field via the park roads and the Harpeth River Greenway.
Back when John started coaching me at the first of May, he told me not to worry too much about a target pace on my scheduled easy runs, but to just go with how I felt on that particular day. Well today I felt TIRED, and for the first time in a long time all of my mile splits were over 9 minutes (especially when I wasn’t wearing my Hattoris).
I guess this was to be expected after a full day of travel on Saturday, followed by a 15-mile run at 10:30pm and preaching the next morning for a church that is an hour away. I didn’t feel bad, just felt like I was low on energy. Recently my easy days have turned into progression runs because I continue to feel better throughout the run. Today, however, that didn’t happen.
In total we finished just over 6.5-miles in the 60 minutes with an average pace of 9:15 per mile. Hopefully the energy will be back tomorrow for my scheduled tempo run. This will be my first ever run with a segment based on a target heart rate range. Should be interesting.
Beast Mode…ON!
Since today marks the beginning of the third quarter of 2012, I thought it would be good to review my goals for 2012 and see how things are going:
- Goal #1: Complete 2,000 training miles. My total for 2011 was 1,763, so this will be a pretty big increase. Will take over 166 miles per month to reach this goal. I know it is attainable, but only if I stay healthy and disciplined.
For the first two quarters I have completed 1,178.5-miles which puts me on pace for 2,357 for 2012. This is obviously well ahead of 2,000. Now that I have hired a coach to train for Milwaukee this fall, I’m thinking that 2,500 might be in my future for this year if I stay healthy. Incidentally, this is 438.5-miles ahead of where I was at the same date last year.
- Goal #2: Complete my “Quest for 3:15” in a full marathon. This has been a very public goal for quite a while, and I hope to break through in 2012. I would also like to take this a step further in 2012 and break 3:10 which is my Boston qualifying time. I know this is pushing it, but I’m dreaming big. Really want to run my first Boston Marathon in 2013. To do this I will not only have to be disciplined to my running schedule, but will also have to be committed to quality runs, cross-training, diet, and sleep.
The “Quest for 3:15” was officially completed at the NOLA Marathon on March 4 with a finish time of 3:12:28. I am now only 2:28 from a BQ and have hired a coach to train for Milwaukee this fall. My training target for Milwaukee will be 3:05.
- Goal #3: Finish at least 5 full marathons. I ran my first 2 full marathons in the fall of 2009, and then completed 4 full marathons in both 2010 and 2011. As of now I’m only registered for the Rock N’ Roll New Orleans Marathon in March, but I have also submitted my request to be the 3:45 pacer in the St Jude Country Music Marathon in May and have my eye on a handful of other races. Whether it is as a pacer or participant, I want to do at least one marathon at a slower, conservative pace where I can enjoy it.
I have completed two full marathons in 2012, and am registered for two more. This includes the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon in October and the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon in November. Whether or not I do a fifth marathon will depend completely on how I feel. Even though I really want to run five, I’m not willing to sacrifice 2013 to hit this number. As for running one at a slower, conservative pace…I was the official 4-hour pacer for the St Jude Country Music Marathon back in April and had a blast!
- Goal #4: Officially break 1:30 in a half marathon. I had an unofficial 1:29 finish in the Murfreesboro Middle Half Marathon in 2011 (due to course misrouting), but want to have it in writing in 2012. My best opportunities will most likely come at the 500 Festival Mini Marathon in May or again at the Murfreesboro Middle Half Marathon in October.
I officially broke 1:30 for the first time at the Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg, TN on April 7th with a 1:29:52. I was hoping to take it even lower at the 500 Festival Mini Marathon in May, but the 91% humidity throughout the race was a deal breaker on that front.
Well, so far, so good with regard to 2012 goals….Beast Mode…ON!!
Well, my week (8-days) of crazy runs continued last night with an effort that started at 10:30pm and continued well past midnight. Since we were traveling back home from the beach early Saturday morning, I either had to get in my scheduled 14 to 16-miles last night or early this morning. Early this morning was less attractive, because I needed to be in Lebanon, TN (about an hour away) by 8:45am to preach.
I decided to head out about 10pm to try and avoid the heat as much as possible (It was 104º when we got home late yesterday afternoon). I reached out to Nathan via text, and unbelievably he was also interested in getting in a run. We ended up meeting around 10:25pm at the start of Old Natchez Trace, and planned to run a little over 7.5-miles out-and-back on Old Natchez and Del Rio Pike.
Even at 10:30pm it was still almost 85º, though fortunately the humidity was not very bad. However, there was absolutely no breeze stirring at all, which made it feel like running with a blanket wrapped around you. We started out very easy and by mile 6 had worked our pace down to 8:08. I honestly couldn’t believe how good I felt considering the heat and a full day of travel.
However, sometime during the 7th or 8th mile, Nathan asked if we could back off the pace a bit, because he was having trouble keeping his heart rate down. We took a short break at the turn-around spot, and then headed back at about an 8:45 pace. After two more miles, Nathan said that he just didn’t have it tonight and needed to walk. Unfortunately with an out-and-back route there isn’t much opportunity to take a shortcut back. I told him that I would run out the remaining 6 miles and then head back in the car to pick him up.
Even though I was already feeling pretty good, this gave me a little bit of an extra push to pickup the pace so I could get back and pickup Nathan. I was honestly a little worried about him, but knew that he was smart enough not to push himself too hard, and it would be better for me to go grab the car than to stay with him and walk.
For those remaining 6 miles I did two in the low 8:00s, two in the 7:50s, and two in the 7:40s. All of these miles felt very comfortable, and other than being really HOT, I continued to feel really good all the way to the end.
I headed back down the route in my car to pickup Nathan and found him after about 3-miles. He said that his heart rate had come back down, and we both agreed that he was probably dehydrated. I hate that Nathan had a bad evening, but am grateful for his willingness to come out there with me, and that I felt so good on a very warm night.
In total I finished 15.36-miles with an average pace of 8:16 per mile. Since this was the last run of June (and technically the first one of July), this marked the completion of my biggest mileage month ever with just under 213-miles completed.
Beast Mode…ON!
“Recognizing the Power of God” (Isaiah 40:27-31) – Audio recording of my Sunday morning sermon at Maple Hill Church of Christ in Lebanon, TN on July 1, 2012.
Looking at Isaiah’s prophetic instructions regarding the power of God and how we can tap into that power for dealing with day to day life.
Isaiah 40:27–31 (ESV)
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
This Sunday I will be preaching the morning service at Maple Hill Church of Christ in Lebanon, TN. As I’ve said before, being at Maple Hill is always a thrill, because it is my home congregation, and my parents still attend there. Here is a brief overview of my planned lesson…
- Sunday Morning (9:00am) – Recognizing the Power of God (Isaiah 40:27-31) – Looking at Isaiah’s prophetic instructions regarding the power of God and how we can tap into that power for dealing with day to day life.
If you are in the Middle Tennessee area, we would love to have you join us this Sunday for worship!
When John gave me my schedule for this week he told me to feel free to move the days around as needed to accommodate my vacation. This morning I swapped out the scheduled 14 to 16 mile run for the 30 to 40 minute run which was down for Sunday. Our family planned to go out for breakfast today instead of eating in the condo, so I didn’t want to have to either get up super early or make everyone else wait on me to get back. Also, Olivia’s schedule called for a 40-minute run, so it worked out perfect for us to go together again.
We planned to both do a 20-minute out-and-back route along the ocean on Front Beach Road. While it wasn’t as hot in Panama City today as it was back home (new record high of 109 degrees in Nashville!), it again felt pretty toasty with no shade and little breeze. I also think that all this running in concrete sidewalks this week has started to take its toll. I felt terrible on the way out for the first 20 minutes. My legs felt tired and achey, and I just couldn’t find a rhythm.
Once I turned back for the second half my legs started to loosen up and I finally found a good running rhythm. Because of this I ended up getting back to the start a full two minutes before I had completed my planned 40 minutes. Olivia had finished just ahead of me at the condo, so as she waited I ran another minute down Front Beach and then headed back. After 40 minutes I had completed just over 4.7-miles with an average pace of 8:30 per mile.
Even though we technically haven’t been running together I have very much enjoyed starting and finishing with Olivia a couple of times this week. I think that is one of the things that helped with the second half of my run this morning….knowing that if I stopped and took a break she would have to wait on me at the end.
Tomorrow morning we pack up and head home to Tennessee fairly early, so no run on the docket for me. I do still have to get in my 14 to 16 miler sometime either late Saturday or early Sunday before worship. Either way it has to get done.
Beast Mode…ON!
This morning I slept in a bit later than I had the first few days on vacation, and ended up paying for it on my morning run. The schedule called for 45 minutes at easy pace with 6 x 100m stride outs at the end. By the time I started the temps were already well over 80 and there was no breeze to speak of and absolutely no shade.
This made for a very warm run, but my legs still felt pretty good throughout. Also this is the best my right shin has felt in the past two weeks. I didn’t even feel a twinge until I started my stride outs at the end.
In total I finished just over 5.7-miles with strides at an 8:18 average pace per mile.
Beast Mode…ON!