3 loops around the Wynn Golf Course. Felt probably the best I have felt in 2 months.
Tomorrow I start following an actual schedule. I'm just going to follow a regular marathon schedule but instead of increasing speed I'm going to increase mileage.
And we're off!! First day of my schedule and I'll have to say it went quite well. Plan was 9 miles at 7:45 pace but I kept catching myself slipping into the sub 7:00 range and had to tell myself to slowdown. Good sign since I've been in such a slump.
9 miles 1:07:49 7:32 avg pace.
Felt really good, took an ice bath back in the hotel room. The Palazzo has the best ice bath tubs I've ever stayed at.
Woke up early to get a longer run in, put on the only running clothes I brought this trip, shorts and short sleeve running shirt. Went downstairs and outside to find a cold, wet, windy morning. Thought seriously about going with Plan B, then I realized I didn't have a Plan B, so I started running. Wasn't to terrible, I was soaking wet and my hands were cold but I just kept thinking how much better it was than last time I was in Vegas when it was 95 degrees at 4:30 am.
Plan was 5 Golf course loops, on loop #3 I caught up with my co-worker Jeff whom I was very surprised to see out in the rain and cold. He told me he really didn't want to run in the rain but knew I'd be out there so he didn't have an excuse. I'm sure glad I didn't wimp out. I ran 1 mile with him but he was running very slow so I eventually left him to finish my run.
12 miles in 1:32:00 7:40 avg pace. Probably was closer to 7:20 but the 1 mile run with Jeff took the average down quickly.
Paste this formula in your Firefox Google search. I've heard it doesn't work in IE but I wouldn't know.
sqrt(cos(x))*cos(300x)+sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)*(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(6-x^2) -sqrt(6-x^2) from -4.5 to 4.5
I'm going to really try and take full advantage of these easy days on the schedule. I tried to keep my pace right at 8:00 the whole time. Felt really good, chilly this morning but nice.
They had a crane on the sidewalk this morning so I couldn't do my full loop I had to backtrack and start running the other way each time I got to the crane.
6 miles in 47:54 7:59 avg pace
I've never ran a trail race before so maybe I'm just totally missing something here but running a 9:00/mile pace for 50 miles doesn't sound all that hard, and at that pace I'm pretty sure I can keep food down.
Warning!! The following video is entirely inappropriate.
Today was a great indicator of how out of shape I have become, I was out kind of late last night watching the Bare Naked Ladies (the band) which by the way is a great live band. Never really thought much of them before, but they put on a really fun show. So anyway, we decided to start work later today due to the party last night which gave me time to go to the gym this morning instead of running outside. It was a very nice gym but way to warm and stuffy.
Plan was to run a 10 mile progressive run but 3 miles into it I realized I was suckin' air pretty bad for the speed I was going and I wasn't going to be able to progress much more. Settled for just a steady 7:00 pace for the rest of the run. Ended up a bit below 7:00 average for the whole run, and felt like I worked really hard. I guess it's all perspective, I need to forget what I used to be able to do and just be happy I felt like I got a good workout today.
Well that was the furthest I've ran since before Christmas. Met the whole FRB group at Julie C's house this morning, and boy did she have it organized. Maps, painted arrows along the route and pancake breakfast at the finish.
I invited Ryan Jonson to come with me this morning and I'm glad I did, we ran the first 6 miles with the fast guys, Jake, Fritz, Scott, Walter and company but then they started going sub 7:00 pace, I looked at Ryan and said I didn't think I could go 20 at that pace, he agreed to slow down with me and we pretty much ended up running the rest of the way alone. We did catch up with the group at the "eternal fountain" in Alpine but they were rested and ready to go by the time we got there so it was pretty much a hello, goodbye.
I had to stop into McDonalds for a quick stop at mile 17, but overall I felt pretty good, my injured led never did act up, I'm sore just from running that far but overall it went well. Pretty good way to end my first official training week.
Thanks so much to Julie for putting this together, it was a lot of fun.
