Saturday, February 28, 2009

Long Run - 17 with a break

I ran 17 today at a slow pace. I thought I would do some 16 with the first 10 or so up tempo near 1/2 marathon pace. I thought wrong.. My legs were dead, I knew 2 blocks into my long run that it would be one of those runs where I would have to just grind it out at whatever pace I could muster until I got through it.

I ran over to CC Dam from home using the trails, I could see the Chilly Cheek bike riders on the road and wanted to stay clear. Turns out I got on the path for the run but backwards but I was off of it before any runners came. I wanted to see Alicia finish the duathlon since I was in the area and she was competing. So I ran around on the other side of the dam a bit, went over that bridge that goes to the light rail and ran around back there a bit, then ran down to the road by the Marina where the Chilly Cheek finish was. They have wave starts, and people were finishing so I ran down the road looking at the runners on the path and then ran back and just waited.

Alicia finished strong, she was in wave W which is why she was so far back. She's not sure if she won her division because her rival was in another wave and looked strong. Anyway I talked to Alicia and Chuck (her husband) for about 15 minutes. Chuck used to go to the Y and run with us some, he was a good runner and a tri-athlete too, I hadn't seen him since he left the 7, probably a couple of years. They are both editors at the Post. Chucks says he is doing Aquathalons now (swimming and running), he says he wants to qualify for worlds to compete in Australia when Alicia is there for the triathalon worlds.

Alicia ended up getting 2nd in her division for that race and 1st in her division for the series (I will post it on prostates blog later)

After I talked to them for about 15 minutes, I ran home along the bike path and back through piney creek the way I came. When I got home I was tanked, I ran out of fueld (did not eat enough before and ran out of gu and sports beans). Anyway, not a strong run, but more miles than I had planned 17.

Not sure if I'm going to do the DAM run,5k I don't think I will be that sore because I did not go hard today, but running a race takes fresh legs to do well and god forbid not get hurt.

Garmin Watch Data with HRM for the run

February 172 Miles (a good month)
292.5 Miles for the Year

Friday, February 27, 2009

Easy Duck Pond - 5 Miles

Recovery run day, doing our traditional duck pond 5 miler to city park. Craig M, Jay and myself. It got cold again, around 40 with some snow around town, but downtown was dry but cloudy. Ran in shorts with long sleeves and gloves.

So we had an easy run and walked the duck pond although those of us running today were not even born when this tradition was created. :)

We chatted about Pikes Peak and Mount Evans a lot and yesterday's middle 3.

There was supposed to be a 10 mile group running today, but never got the email if there was and none of them were at the Y that we saw. Just as well, I might have been tempted to join them.

5 Miles 40 minutes give or take.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Middle 3

Ran the middle 3 today. We had a good group, most of the regular middle 3ers when the middle 3 is regular. Spring must be coming... It was a nice day, temps in the 50's with the sun, but the wind was gusting in the 20's.

In order of Finish (as I recall)
Craig M
Dennis
Jeff
Jay
Tom
Craig C
Pete C (DNF) - Knee problems
Scott ran an up-tempo 7 with a late start and caught the group on the way back.

I did 18:37, 4 seconds slower than two weeks ago. I felt good, a bit tight in the upper legs from the track and race, but ran smoothly. No calf problems (Yes!)

Congratulations to Craig M, who beat me by 11 seconds. Impressive considering it's his first middle 3 in 6 months and he spent a lot of lunch hours recently eating lunch instead of running. For that he gets his picture on my blog to the left. He did have to earn it though, he worked hard. Perhaps this will inspire competition in the middle 3 for others to win and have their picture posted here (as if it's not already there).

Craig C took a minute off of his last time and it was Jeff's first middle 3 in a while.
Tom and Jay did good.
I took it up a notch the last mile headed back to the Y from Colfax in. 6:22




7 Miles 50:37, 18:37 on the Middle 3


Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Rest Day

Rest day from running after 4 days in a row with a race and interval work yesterday, so I needed it.

Went to the Y at lunch. Did some stretching (calf's especially), weights and abs). Another nice day out 60's with sun. Feeling like spring.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Track Intervals - 2X400, 6X800

After some e-mail coordination, most of the group went to the Manual High School (MHS) track for intervals today. Some people wanted to go to Cheesman and some to the Track. I think Chris tipped the scales and everyone who wanted to do intervals went to the track. It takes coordinating because we want to get there at 12:30 when the kids go back to class so we leave the Y at 12:10 instead of 12.

Chris, Pete C, Matt, Tom, Scott and myself. Jay ran us out to the track and left. Tom said he "baited him".

Everyone kinda did something different. Chris did this 2 minute workout where you run a 400 lap every 2 minutes, so if you do it in 90 seconds you get a 30 second rest and then go again. Pete and Matt joined him.

I did 2X400's @ 79 and 6X800 2:49 - 2:57.

Wore my Garmin on the track with my HRM for the first time. I need to practice with the laps better and get the screens set up right for intervals, but it was ok, I was a little "confused" a couple of times. I was suprised my heart rate didn't get any higher than for the 10 mile race, stayed around 170 and peaked at 175 near the end of the interval. Kinda funny/cool seeing the Garmin Player doing loops around the track fast and slow.

Garmin Interval Data

Later after the other guys left and I still had 3 800's to go, I had to share the track with a PE class, that was kinda interesting, they were doing 200's and walking a lot. But the coach was nice and told the kids to stay off the inside lane when they weren't running.

Made for a long workout, but the weather was nice 60's with sun and I wanted a break from work anyway.

8.5 Miles with 3.5 speed work. 1:10:00

Monday, February 23, 2009

Cherry Creek Bike Path 6

65 and partly Sunny today with no wind. Feels like spring running out there.

Good group today 8 of us started out at the Y but we soon broke up into a 4 mile Cheesman group, a 5 mile CC Path shortcut group and a CC Path normal route group. Just about everyone did some sort of weekend training run or event to be recovering from. Not many "fresh legs" today.

Tom, Craig M and myself did the 6 mile CC Bike path route, at an average pace. I wanted to go to Wash park - 7 but nobody wanted to join me so I compromised on the 6 mile route. I feel good after the race and the easy day yesterday. When we finished at the Y we saw Mark, he had run the same route a few minutes after us, sorry we didn't see you Mark.

Lots of discussion today about races and marathons. Jay signed up for Chicago and Jeff is about to sign up for Chicago. Matt is already in. This has really made me lean strongly toward Chicago for my fall marathon. It would be fun to run and train it with the group. Plus it is a "fast flat course", compared to NYC so it would be more likely to qualify for Boston, which is my actual goal. Another benefit is I could register now and know that I'm in and plan accordingly.

http://www.chicagomarathon.com/cms400min/chicago_marathon/

Looks like I would be in corral B with my marathon or half marathon times, Coral A looks out of reach. $125 to register.

Looking at doing some intervals tomorrow, Cheesman 1/2 miles or 800's at the track, not sure which. Work may dictate one or the other, I'll probably send an email to see if there is any track interest.

6 Miles 47:21

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Easy 5 MIle Run with the Dogs

I did an easy 5 mile run with my dogs today at the Cherry Creek dog park. I went around 1:30, it was about 55 degrees with some sun. I drove the dogs down to the old library and ran from there so we could spend more time running in the park. I took it easy after the race and just tried to clear my mind and run for fun. It was fun. Tons of people at the dog park and lots of dogs of course.

My dogs did good, especially Lucy the Brittany Spaniel pup (8 months now). She seems to love running and can't get enough. She runs right by me most of the time and sticks her head up and jumps a bit to look at me every once in a while, if she leaves my side she circles around quick. Other dog owners look at us and smile like they are thinking, that looks like fun. A couple of other people were running but most were walking. My other dog Levi is getting a bit stubborn now that he's 4 years old, he runs a bit slower than us and stops to sniff or play a bit too much, but I let him since it's his playground.

Once you get in the dog park area you can let them off leash and there is water in the creek and a couple of ponds. It's about 3/4 a mile from the parking lot to the dog run area. Once in the dog run, we went from one end to the other on the road along the creek, about a mile and a half. Then came back on trail around the ponds and then went up by the horse coral and over by the parking lot and back along the creek a bit and then back to the old library where we parked. 5 Miles total, but took about an hour with all the stops and playing. Very relaxing, which I needed because I was at home working on taxes and financial aid stuff (FASFA) for Brittany's college.

Again no pictures to post of my dogs, but I should take some, some day.

Supposed to be a nice week, less than 4 weeks to Moab so I need to get some quality training in if I'm going to get my pace down under 7:00.

31.5 Miles for the Week - 5 Days Running
249 Miles for the Year

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Snowman Stampede - 10 Mile Race

Did the Snowman Stampede Race at Chattfield Reservoir today. 1:10:32. 7:03 pace. About 28 Seconds faster on the same course than the Frosty Frozen a month ago. That's not a lot of improvement for a month and I really wanted to go under 1:10:00. Jill ran it also and went under 1:20:00 taking about 7 minutes off her last time (which was a bad day for her).

Very good conditions, 40's with Sun and No Wind this time (yes). It snowed last night (after a heavy wind storm blew through). Probably got about 3 inches at my house, but not a lot stuck to the road due to the high temperatures. Anyway the road was a little wet and a few slick spots at the start but pretty good after the first 2 miles and dry at the end (until the last 100 meters and then it was really slick at the finish). At one point last night with the wind and then the heavy snow with the temps falling fast, I thought I'd bag the race and stay in bed till it warmed up and do an easy run in the snow. But it melted fast with the sun being out and temps rising quick in the morning. I picked up Jill and we drove over to check it out and make sure there wasn't a foot of snow on the course on the west side of town. If the roads/course were bad we were going to do a waterton canyon run or something on the other side of town. It was about 20 degrees. We got there and the course looked good and there were lots of people and sunshine and we just jumped in and registered. Jill wasn't feeling good the day before so she was on the fence yesterday, but didn't hesitate today, she said "if all these people are doing it, we gotta do it too", so we did.

I felt good most of the race, I did have a couple of stomach cramps around mile 7 and 8 that slowed me a bit. Not sure how or why that happened, but I felt it worse after the race. Dehydration maybe? I had several splits under 7 including the last one. I won't read off all my splits to you like some runners do.... :) But you can read them in my Garmin link below...

Garmin Watch Data for the Race

Didn't see as many people there at this one that I knew, no Steves (F or C). Jay S was there and I saw Bob from the golders team. Tom Z said he was thinking seriously about doing it, but didn't see him. The field was a bit more competitive and more people overall than the one last month. I was 39th overall with a faster time than a month ago where I was 30th.

After the race Jill and I hung out a bit at the race and then went to lunch at the Morrison Inn (kinda neat place) and then walked around Morrison a bit, she did some shopping at hippie stores (where it is better to use the bathroom outside than inside according to the staff). I talked to the cat lady who has clutter issues and opened an antique shop with steep prices on the clutter. She told me of the old days when people made pictures of their ancestors out of their hair they collected off their brushes.

It was fun, thanks for doing the race with me Jill.

Overall a great day even if I didn't go under 1:10:00.

Posted Results:
http://www.winterdistanceseries.com/Snowman/Results_2009.html

Friday, February 20, 2009

Rest for Race Day

I usually take the day off before a race, the longer the distance, the more the taper, but usually at least 1 day off even for fun races like tomorrow. I don't know if fun is the right word, it's more of a measuring stick I guess, but it is fun. I used to only do a handfull of races a year, but last year really got into it. Motivated by others mainly and seeing improvement in races really helps to motivate also. Craig C. Says you have to be "race tough" before you can do an important race and I agree with that for myself, but it does seem like some people can just show up and run a good race. Am I rambling?

Went to the Y did some stretching, weights and abs. Would have been a nice day to run.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Easy 5 - Out and back

Ran 5 easy from the Y to the first 1/2 mile of the middle 3 and looped back on 3rd and Mario to Humboldt then back through Cheesman to the Y. I had a 1:00 meeting and so did the judge, Pete C. Craig C and Tom did the middle 3, low turn out for a nice Thursday. We didn't have time to wait for the exciting finish, but it looked like Tom had a pretty good pace going when we peeled away from Craig. We ran with Craig through the first half mile and then took it easy going back. I was a little tight from the intervals but not too bad. I actually miss doing the middle 3 these days. I wanted to take it easy for Saturday's race anyway. I did pick it up a notch on the last half mile because I thought a girl might pass us and we can't have that! :)

It was nice, around 50, sunny with NO WIND!

On the way back I almost tripped over a fat little Chihuahua a lady let off leash along 16th. It darted between my legs and behind Pete. It shocked me, I was so pissed I yelled at the lady "Nice Lady, why don't you control your dog". She yelled something back but I couldn't make it out. It might have been "Sorry" or it might have been something not so nice. I felt a little bad but I've seen that little rat do that before and it almost tripped me this time. I think the owner is crazy she wears a cowboy hat and mumbles to herself, she is probably married to the guy that argues with trees. 16th Street East of the Y, you will eventually see it all.

Note to dog owners, if you cannot control your dog off leash with voice commands then do NOT let them off leash in public places, especially around runners. Dog parks are the exception, if a runner goes through a dog park, they should expect to be interrupted and dodge dogs (not to be bitten, that should never occur).

OK, that's my Blog Lecture/Soap Box vent.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Cheesman Intervals - 4 - 1/2 Mile Repeats

Ran Cheesman Intervals today with Matt. Dave C. ran to the park with us but opted out of the intervals fo a lap in the wrong direction with Paul then headed back.

Matt and I did 4 1/2 mile intervals. (The long sections of the park north/south) with recovery on the short sections (east/west) 1/4 of a mile.

Here are my 1/2 mile interval splits.
1 - 2:53
2 - 2:51
3 - 2:49
4 - 2:51

Matt was about 5 seconds ahead of me on all but the first one. He was running strong and smooth. I felt like I was struggling a tad on the uphill on the last one, but those are fast splits for me and I didn't want to go too hard due to Saturday's race. 3 days to recover.

I wore my Garmin and my HRM. My heart rate got up to 175 on the uphill part of the intervals,
dropped below 120 for the recovery. Max Rate was 177

Garmin Watch data for Intervals

FYI, I Rebuilt my laptop with a new hard drive and got my Garmin Watch Setup on it finally, almost back to normal. Luckily the web site stores previous workouts so I did not lose my history on my laptop. I'm starting to believe everything should be stored on line. Come on G Drive!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Rest Day

Another work induced rest day. Couldn't get out of the office till after 3 and then the winds were blowing hard and my heart was not into it. I was going to rest tomorrow (or cross train), so I'll switch the two days. Maybe do some intervals tomorrow since I missed out today.

Had a massage tonight, it was so relaxing, but I didn't fall asleep this week. I had a lot of tension from work and other stuff so it felt good to relax for an hour. Tara worked on my neck/shoulders/back quite a bit. She found a few sore spots on my legs that surprised me, I told her I had put in a lot of miles over the last two weeks. She worked on my quads a bit for the first time and that felt really good.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Cherry Creek Bike Path - 6

Ran the Cherry Creek Bike Path today. 6 Miles.
Ran with Craig C and Dave. It's presidents day so the Y was pretty empty. Only 3 runners on a nice Monday. 60 degrees with sun.

We ran an easy pace, Craig says he's starting to "run like a 60 year old". I thought how happy I would be if I could run as good as Craig when I'm 60. It felt good after the tempo run yesterday to run easy and soak in the sun. Craig and Dave talked about lawyer stuff most of the way. The bike path was crowded with bikers and walkers a few runners. Mainly because it's a holiday (for most people) and the weather was so nice.

My hard drive on my laptop (aka my right arm) crashed last night. I was so busy at work trying to do my real job on a spare laptop and recover/rebuild my laptop. Made for a frustrating day, but at least I got away for a run and a sanity check.

6 Miles 49:27.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Uptempo 7 Miles at CC Park

I ran a 7 mile tempo run today through Cherry Creek Park. Wanted to run close to a 7 minute mile. It's been a full week of training already with track work on Tuesday, Middle 3 on Thursday and a long run on friday. This would also make 6 out of 7 days running. Been a while since I had a full week like this.

The theory behind the tempo run was that I am training my legs to respond at tempo when they are fatigued, to try to maintain a challenging pace when all they want to do is kick into easy run mode and coast home. I'd say I had partial success. Started off with a good Pace and faded a bit at mile 5 (the last 2 miles are uphil for the most part). One hill in particular seemed to suck the life out of my legs, the one from CC Park up to Parker and Bellview, probably the steepest hill in the area. I probably ran about half at my goal pace but I felt good, especially coming off 14 miles yesterday. I was a bit frustrated with the Garmin watch. The 1/2 mile splits were off from previous runs on the same course. For whatever reason it was about 1/10 mile off several times, so it was probably a bit closer to 7 1/4 miles. So I think my overall pace was closer to 7:10, similar to the 10 mile run where I had fresher legs. I maintained a heart rate around 160 which I think is a good threshold for a half marathon for me.

I finished the Route at Indian Ridge Elementary school which has a park. Gina met me there at 12:15 with the dogs after she had a long walk with them. We let them loose and they ran around a while. It was nice mid 40's with sun (a little wind made it a bit chilly). The dogs love it when they run free and we love to watch them run and play. Then we walked them home about a 1/2 mile. It made a nice cool down.

I plan to back off tomorrow, do a medium track workout on Tuesday, then taper down a bit for the 10 mile race on Saturday.

7 Miles at 51:38

Garmin Watch Data for Tempo Run with Heart Rate

Weekly Totals: 47 Miles - 6 Days
Yearly Totals: 217 Miles - 29 Days

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Kennedy Park to CC Mall and Back - 14

I drove over to Kennedy Park (just off Parker and 225 behind the softball fields) and ran from there toward downtown today. I wanted to get in 14 miles at an easy pace. Jill was doing a long training run for Boston (24 miles) and I wanted to meet her on the way back and run back with her at her pace. She left at 8:00 this morning, so we figured if I left at 10:00, I'd meet her about 7 miles into my run near Cherry Creek Mall and that's how it worked out.



It was cold today, 20 degrees at 8:00 and only about 25 at 10:00 with the high predicted for 33. Light snow flurries, but it didn't last long. I started off about an 8:15 pace and sped up under 8 after I warmed up. The Cherry Creek Trail is a neat trail that runs through the city basically along cherry creek, there's only a couple of places you have to cross the street, mostly underpasses, so you can get into a pace and just hold it. I am familiar with it because in the past I have run home from work or ridden by bike to and from work along it. I stopped about 4 miles into it to take a porta potti break near a rec center off Cherry Drive before Monaco. This was the first porta potti I could find (none at the start) and I really had to go bad. TMI? Anyway a slight detour and I was on my way.



I ran up past Colorado and I saw this car wash that Jill always talks about stopping to refill her water bottle. I had not noticed it before but was looking for it and It's huge, how did I miss that? This route is also kinda neat because I drive along the path some on my way to work in the mornings some days and it's nice to see it from a different perspective.



I was almost at CC Mall near where the CC Sneak starts and I saw Jill running towards me. She was about 17 miles into a 24 mile long run and she looked strong. I was about 6.75 on my Garmin, just short of 7 so turning around here would have put me short of 14. We chatted a few seconds and I told her I was going to run to 7 and then turn around and catch up to her when she stopped for water at the car wash. So we passed each other and I sped up a bit to about a 7:30 mile, went just past the bridge on the south side of the mall and turned around. Just as I got to path near the car wash I saw Jill running ahead. I realized I was really hungry and had not taken any GU and I was at about 7 1/2 miles, over an hour. So I stopped and had some GU and took off, finally caught her about 8 miles into my run.



From there we ran her pace and chatted about her run and other stuff going on in our lives, I took out my mp3 earphones but as usual she kept hers in as we chatted. It was nice and had warmed up just a bit with the sun peaking out. Jill was running strong and we were holding about a 9 minute pace. She said she felt really good. When we got to about Illiff she picked up the pace and we were doing about 8:30, she was running really strong 22 miles into her long run. I was suprised how well she was running that deep into a long run. The last mile we backed off a bit and relaxed. The final half mile is tough because there is a huge hill back to the start of the route. I thought about Mountain runing and how Mt. Evans or Pikes Peak or Guanella have miles of uphill relentless and how it takes me a while to get to where I can run those, made me wish late spring/summer was here and I was in the mountains running

14 Miles 2:00:42

Garmin Watch Data for Run



It's Valentines Day and my daughter Brittany (17 Sr. at Smoky Hill High School), got a surprise outside her window this morning from her boyfriend Trevor. He called her early and told her to look out her window at sunrise. Click on the image to make it larger, I took it through the screen with my phone, so not the best quality.


Friday, February 13, 2009

Duck Pond on a Cold Day

We ran the duck pond 5 mile loop through city park today. It was cold 35 degrees but humid so it felt colder. We all wore tights and had gloves and ear warmers or hats, like it was 20 degrees or something. The warm weather makes the cold weather seem colder when it gets cold again. Also no sun, and that makes a big difference. It snowed about an inch last night but footing was good the whole way.

Matt, Tom, Andre and myself. Andre went 7 and Jay met us on the other side of the pond.

We just ran into Larry on our run, he doesn't run with us anymore because he has some health problems but still runs on his own, he's a Moab Regular. He organizes a picnic the afternoon after the race at Arches National Park every year, he said it's on again this year, so that will be fun.

Supposed to be cold this weekend, but I hope to run both days.

5 Miles 40:04, felt good.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Middle 3

Ran the Middle 3 today. Felt good. 18:33 a few seconds faster than last week and I'm happy with that time for this part of the year and no Injuries or pain. Jay, Matt and I did the middle 3. Matt did 18:58 and Jay was around 21. Craig and Pete C. did a middle 2, they did good. Dave and George did Cheesman

On the way back, Jeff and Tom caught us around 8th Avenue. They did a 9.6 up tempo run at a 7:30 pace. When they caught us we picked up the pace and finished the last mile and a half or so together. The last mile was around a 6:45 pace and we sprinted the downhill to the Y, something I haven't felt like doing in a while. It was fun. First time in a while there wasn't much wind.

As we were stretching at the Y about to leave, a lady stopped and asked about our running group and what time we ran and what pace. She said it sounded perfect. Dave warned her that women don't want to run with us "for whatever reason".

Later Jeff and Tom said they ran into a guy at wash park that wanted to run with us also. So maybe some new members joining the group.

I shouldn't run tomorrow, I should take the day off because I want to run Saturday and Sunday. But I feel good and I feel like running so I probably will do an easy duck pond and get 6 days in this week.

Garmin Watch Data for the Middle 3

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Work Enforced Rest Day

No Workout of any kind today, was going to go to the Y, do some weights and cross train, but work rolled right over that plan. Had to work through lunch trying to solve a problem with the OK County Sheriff, spoke to the Sheriff himself in fact, which is usually not a good thing when there is a problem.

I needed the break from running anyway, but really need to cross train.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Track Day - 4X800, 2X400

Went to the Track today. Manual High School. I met Matt at the Y for the 12:10 start, we were the only ones to go to the track. Another group left at the usual time and did some Cheesman 1/2 mile intervals.

Matt is having a fitness test competition with his friends across the country. 4 events, pushups, situps for 1 minute each, 300 Meter Sprint and 1 1/2 mile run. The actual event is in the fall, but he is going to do it every couple of months to track his progress, today being hte first day. Anyway I was looking for a track day buddy so it worked out.

His goal for the 1 1/2 mile was 9 Minutes (6 minute pace) I told him I'd pace him for the first 800 and the last 800 of 6 laps with a recovery in between. While he was doing situps and pushups and recovering I did an 800 and a 400. He did the 300 meter dash in 48 seconds. I was having no part of that and my hamstrings are thankful.

We did the first 2 laps - 800 in 2:58, I led the pace and started him out a bit to fast (surprised?) but relaxed on the 2nd lap to get close to 3:00. He held the pace pretty good for the next lap but then slowed a bit on Lap 4. When I joined him at lap 5 he was at an uptempo pace around 6:30 mile, so we held that for the final 800. His total time was 9:35. That's still a good time for this early in the season and I have no doubt he will be under 9 in the summer and well under in the fall.

I told him next time he did it, let me know in advance and I'd do the 1 1/2 mile run with him and go for a 9. I will have no part of the 300 meter sprint (or will I?).

BTW 2400 meters = 1.49129086 miles. Not quite a mile and a half. His GPS watch had 1.55 miles.

7 Miles Total from the Y and back
4X800 2:58-3:15
2X400 82,84

Monday, February 9, 2009

Wash Park 7

7 Miles to Wash Park and back with the Y group today. Temperature in the 50's with sun, but very windy.

7 of Us Started Matt and Craig opted for the bike path. That left Andre, Tom, Pete, Jay and Dennis for the 7 mile run. Everyone seems to be doing good, Jay was a bit fatigued from his recent mileage. I felt a twinge (very slight) in my right calf outer, so I held back the last mile or so with Jay to not stress it anymore. We picked up the tempo a bit for the middle 3 miles, to about a 7:30 pace, not much but enough to feel it.

Pete and I discussed the possibilities and ramifications of having two Colorado Relay teams this year, 1 for the masters and 1 for open, with the 10 fastest masters runners going on the Pickled Prostates to field the best masters team possible, everyone else goes to the Open team. Jeff and I discussed this on Friday also. Jeff said he'd be willing to captain both teams.

Funny line of the day, Matt accused 7-Mile Andre of talking "7 Mile Smack".

7 Miles 55:03.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

15 Mile CC Dam Loop

Ran 15 miles around Cherry Creek Dam today. 2:02:53
Encouraged by feeling pretty good most of the way and no injuries or tightness to the Calf muscles or the legs.
A little discouraged by the overally pace (8:11) and the fatigue and reduced pace the last few miles (actually from 10 miles in).

Also a bit discouraged by the mile markers my Garmin showed are off from what I thought (short), the route I thought was 15.5 records 15 on the Garmin.

6 Weeks to Moab, lots of work to do. About 1:50 for the Half marathon, at a long run pace, but still.

Garmin Watch Data for Run

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Saturday - Rest Day

Just a do nothing day? Haven't had one of those in a while.
Rest day for running. Should take the dogs for a walk, do some stuff around the house (chores).
Do some programming (to learn something new and for fun) and start my taxes (not for fun).
Lot's I could be doing but no ambition, at least I caught up on my blog.

Gina's working all day, we plan to go to Lisa and Greg's for Dinner tonight, need to limit the alcohol to a couple of beers and lot of water, I think that is what caused my calf problems, running while dehydrated.

Long run planned for tomorrow where the forecast is Rain/Snow mix with temps in the 40's.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Duck Pond 5 - Windy

It was windy at lunch, all day actually. Cold front moving in this weekend.

5 of us for the Run today. Jeff turned back at East High to save his legs for a 5k Goveners race he's doing on Saturday (Skiing). Matt, Craig. M, Andre and myself. Andre went around the golf course -7, the rest of us did the usual duck pond. Mark caught us from behind at the duck pond and ran back with us.

It was a nice easy run. My legs were pretty good coming off the Middle 3 day and it was warm enough that the wind didn't bug too much. We talked about GPS watches and tracking / plotting on maps and races.

I had a 2:00 meeting with my boss scheduled, so it was good to get out and run and clear my head before that. The meeting ended up going for 2 hours. I was ready for happy hour after that.

5 Miles 38:26

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Middle 3 - 18:38

Ran the Middle 3 today, 18:38 (6:13 pace). I felt good and no injuries, tightness or soreness. I only had 1 traffic stop at Speer on the way back.

It was a really warm day for February, near 70 with sun. As I was dressing at the Y I could not find a muscle shirt for running, thought I packed one for the week. I mumbled something about it and Lamar heard me and loaned me a muscled shirt. What a nice guy. I told him later it allowed me to take 30 seconds off my time.

We had 7 people show up to run (George,Dave,Craig C, Craig M, Pete C, Matt and myself). George and Dave peeled off early. Nobody else wanted to go hard except me, so I guess I won (a win's a win). Eric was supposed to show up today, but wasn't there, would be interesting to see where he is fitness wise. Anyway. Matt, Craig M and Pete were going to go up tempo at a 7 minute pace but not hard.

I started out at my usual fast pace for the first block and then settled into my 5k pace. I hit the half mile at 3:03, didn't get a traffic stop at speer and hit the mile mark at 6:15. I felt myself fade a bit for the middle portion, especially when I didn't get a traffic stop at Alameda. 9:30 at the turn around, so I knew sub 19 was achievable. I was encouraged by the pace and the lack of pain or tightness in my calf's. I was about 2 blocks ahead of the pack when we crossed after the turn around.
I was really hoping for a traffic stop at Alameda but it was clear, I did have to slow down just a bit. I accidentally hit my lap timer which through me off a bit at the 2 mile mark as far as my pace. I was 12:40 with a mile to go, sub 19 would be tight at this pace. I hit the downhill hard and really wanted a long traffic stop at Speer to catch me breath before the home stretch. I got my wish and got a nice breather at Speer. I turned around grabbing my knees and could not see the pack. As the light turned I took another peak and saw Craig and Matt at the top of the hill headed down. I ran across Speer and saw that Craig Carver was about a block ahead of me. He was behind us and had turned around at Speer. He took off fast, like he was daring me to catch him. That gave me a bit of a boost to catch him. Which I did about 2 blocks later just before the 2.5 mile mark. We passed some construction workers who asked what we were doing since we had just run by and I said we were racing. They later gave Matt and Craig a hard time about being behind. Ha. Anyway I hit the 2.5 mark at 15:29 (2:48 half mile split with a downhill, a break and a rabbit to chase, all that helps). Not wanting to get caught from behind after passing Craig, I kept a good pace going and finished the last half with the uphill in 3:09 which is pretty good for me, I didn't really kick the hill either. I didn't want to push the calf's.

Craig and Matt came in a minute or so later, they did sub 21 with a 6:40 last mile. Pete came in later, coasting a bit but a good tempo run for him.

We ran easy back to the Y, I felt pretty good. Matt picked up the pace a bit the last mile, but I was feeling so good I stayed with him.

I'm encouraged, I hope it holds out and I can build on this.

Saw Mark Brown at the Y and asked him how he found my blog since I hadn't told very many people about it. He said he went through the prostates to Jill and then saw a link to mine. The magic of the Internet. If you are still reading Mark, thanks and join us for a middle 3, saw you running the other day and you were looking fast. As you can see from my above description it is exciting, almost like NASCAR. :)

7 Miles total 50:38

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

CC Bike Path - 6

Big Group today for a Wednesday. Jeff, Dave C., Andre, Matt, Tom, Bob B and Me. Weather was nice again 60, sunny a little windy but good running weather.

The big group turned into 3 little groups as it usually does. The 4 mile group (Cheesman), the 6 mile Group - Cherry Creek Bike Path and the 7 Mile group - Wash Park.

I went with Dave C. down the bike path. Dave's a bit out of shape coming of a Bridge Tournament Tour. For the Month of January he is #1 in his division Nationally. He is supposed to send me a link to the results for posting on the Prostates blog. Anyway I hadn't seen Dave since the New Years Eve - Run/Toast. He hasn't run much and was coming off a hip injury. We slowed the pace down when we broke from the 7 mile group at the Bike Path. I filled him in on my Calf Saga, his advice was more stretching, I told him I was considering doing the Colorado Marathon in Ft. Collins in early May. He had done it about 5 years ago at a 3:15. He filled me in on some of the details, sounds like a good May marathon, but will I have time to ramp up my mileage after Moab. That only gives 8 weeks.

Anyway, I ran the last 1/2 mile after Dave and I split at a pretty decent pace. Lot of people on the 16th street mall because the weather is so nice.

I had a nice massage last night, my legs were a lot more relaxed and Tara was able to work on different muscles since my Calf's are doing better she didn't have to focus on them. I was so tired from not sleeping well the night before I fell asleep a few times briefly. One time I really zonked and snored or something because she thought I was moaning and asked if I was OK. I said yeah, I fell asleep. She said that's a compliment for a masseuse, to either have a client fall asleep or drool. No drool for me yet.

6 Miles 48:59

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Wash Park 7

Another Great day for running in Denver. We did the Wash Park 7 mile route. Matt, Jay, Tom and myself. Started out at the normal pace and picked it up for the middle 3 section to around a 7 minute mile pace. Matt was pushing the pace the whole way. He signed up for Chicago Marathon already and is ready to start running hard. Tom is recovering from a cold but hung with us, he was hurting a bit. We saw Scott going out on our way back. He is looking really strong. Also saw Craig C., not so much.

Decided to skip the track this week due to recent calf problems (which are doing good cross fingers). Legs felt good for the whole 7. I couldn't sleep last night so I was a bit fatigued but a run like that on a nice day pumps you up at least till you get back to work and then crash.

I got to figure out where we are staying in Moab.

Weather looks good all week, goal is for 5 days and 40 miles.

Massage with Tara tonight, yea!

7 Miles 53:27

Monday, February 2, 2009

Monday After Superbowl

We had our annual Super Bowl party last night, it was fun, lots of friends, even a few runners this year. It was a great game, but I really don't like the Steelers (Cowboys fan) and they now have the record for most superbowl wins (6).

As usual for the Superbowl I drank a bit too much, but it could have been worse. I ducked out of a couple of rounds of shots at the bar. I think we had around 40 people at the peak of the party in 4 rooms (upstairs, basement, media room, bar).

I was going to take a rest day today anyway (after running the last 5 days) from running, but I didn't even pack my gym bag so no workout for me today.

Calf's feel good, no knee or heel pain.


This is the link for the pictures from the party
http://picasaweb.google.com/dkmcconnel/SuperBowlParty2009?feat=directlink

This is the link for the winners and the Trivia…

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgk6bzb6_17z26fh7vk

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Super Bowl Sunday - 10 Miler

Got up early to do a 10 Mile run in CC Park. Wanted to do 2 - 6 - 2, with the 6 being up tempo, but not real hard and the 2's being easy. It was colder this morning, but not like it was supposed to be. I probably overdressed a tad, but nice to have tights on my calf's. The first 2 was easy, I was sore from running 5 days in a row probably. Used to be no problem but with the injuries I've had, that's the most days in a row for probably 2 months. Anyway, it took me a while to loosen up. I was very aware of my calf's and told myself I would stop at any sign of tightness.

I wore my Heart Rate Monitor, curious what my heart rate was for the easy part and for the up tempo.

Around 140 for the first 2, then up to 151-160 for the up tempo (7:15 pace = 160 bpm). Then around 130 for the last 2.5 miles. I met Jill at the picnic area next to the dog run at 8:30. I was a bit late and didn't quite get 8 in before I met her. 7.5, but it was 2.5 back to the Library so ended up with 10.

Jill and I talked a bit about races and training and stuff like we usually do. It was nice and relaxing. Then I had to get home and get everything ready for the superbowl party. Expecting around 40 people tonight. Lots to do.

10 Miles 1:23:35

Garmin Watch Data for Run