4:44 pace for 26.2 miles

swiped from this thread on the Striders board, thanks Trent:)

New world record for the marathon. Holy crap. Started calc'ing that pace for 200 meters while I was doing my speed workout this morning. 71 seconds per 400 meters or 35.5 for 200 meters. I was able to run 1, 35 second 200 meters. The last one, almost completely all out. "The bending over I'm going to barf, all out effort". Freakin' amazing someone can keep that going for a marathon. No one even runs that kind of pace for a 5k around here, or even a mile.

Geb pulled out of the Olympic marathon because of concerns about the pollution in Beijing. He won the gold medal for the 10,000 meters. Actually, sixth. The winning time for the Olympic marathon of 2:06 with temperatures in the 80's equates to a 2:01:36 at temperatures below 60 degrees. Damn.

Pretty tired this morning. Didn't get in bed until 11:30. 3:30 am came to quick. Didn't seem to sleep very well last night. Probably because Monday was a off day and the 2 extra cups of coffee at work didn't help any. Really tempted to skip the speed workout this morning. Went ahead and knocked out the 12 x 200 meters. 8 miles of total running. Need to get all of my workouts in this week because, I may not be able to get them done on the ship while we're on vacation. One week break from running isn't going to set me back to far. Just makes that 20 miler I need to do on the 12th tougher.

20 miler number 3

20 miler number 3 is in the books. The Monkey is 8 weeks from tomorrow. This run was about a 9. Planned on a early start of around 5:30 am, but poked around and didn't get started until 6 am. Worked out well. Needed 2 miles before the 18 mile St. John's loop. Gave me time to clean the pipes and allow the sun to rise. Sun was never a factor until around mile 10. From that point home it still wasn't to warm, the sun was on my bare back, and a slight breeze. Temperature was around 61 to start and about 70ish when I finished after 2:49 total running. Lots of small climbs and felt really good all the way through 15 miles. One last stop, but it was alittle to long. Slogged up Spain hill and even slogged down the other side. Thought to myself that it was going to be a slog on home for the final 3 miles, but the caffeine in my powergel finally kicked in and I was able to cruise home comfortably at "monkey marathon pace" average. (8:00 minute miles) Splits for the final 3 miles were 8:16, 7:52 and 7:43. Good to have some gas in the tank for the way home. Trimmed 7 minutes off the time from 4 weeks ago and felt good. Little stiff and tired between miles 15 and 17, shouldn't have stopped for so long. 61 miles for the week.

Paula and Dylan are headed up to the farm for the day and I'm headed into work.

tempo

Some times the stuff on the Strider board just doesn't make sense. Talk the other day lead to a suggestion for a tempo run at marathon pace. Huh? According to Jack, these are two vary different paces. One poster said anything quicker than easy is tempo. That's pretty vague. For me marathon pace would be 7:20-7:30. Tempo pace right now is 6:45-7:00. I've heard it described as comfortably hard pace. Not 5k or 10k pace, but around half marathon pace or slower. Found a cool calculator for pace, base on Daniels tables when I googled, Jack Daniels Running Formula.

Wednesday was a recovery day, 5 easy miles. Last night EB and I did a tempo run of 6 miles. Really more of a progression run. Started at the high end of the tempo range and picked it up each mile, finishing the last mile really strong. Actually closer to 10k pace for the final mile. Cooler temps were a tremendous help. But the shorter days, and the target race being two weeks out will be the end of these tempo runs. Back to the morning tempos, hopefully Speedy or FM2 can pull me through.



Cruise is approaching fast. We'll be gone the week of Oct 6-11. That's why I'll be missing the Murfreesboro Half this year. Great race last year for the inaugural, except for the heat. They've reversed the course this year and doubled the entrants to 2,000, but I don't think its sold out yet. Next race for me will be the Monkey Marathon, then either the Bolt, maybe Rocket City?

Only downside to taking a vacation is the pile of work when you return. Also, this year the pre-work before we leave to town is all coming due at the same time. End of the month, so accelerated close, payroll, and firt pass of the 2009 budgets. Busy, busy, busy right up until we leave.

Another easy 5 miles this morning as a recovery from last nights tempo workout. Only 12 hours since that run. I can see how doubling would help with the high miles. Really helps to loosen the legs up from a tough workout.

skunked

Well, almost anyway. Closest I've ever been to a skunk. Heading out of the neighborhood this morning, I slowed for a car coming down the road. It's lights spotlighted the skunk that was standing 5 feet from me on the corner. YIKES!

Sunday, I finished watching the Titans game and started to watch the Colts. I only was going to watch to see if they could be beat. Decided I didn't give a rats ass about the Colts and went for a bike ride.(even more over all of the Tennessee fans, who watch the Colts because of Peyton, glad to see TN get clobbered by the Gators) I've been wanting to get in a half way long ride before "back to jack" anyway. Headed out towards Lascassas and did the Lascassas loop, plus alittle of Browns Mill where I took a wrong turn. Got up to 35 mph coming down one hill. That's a blast. Ended up with 32 miles in roughly the same time it'd taken me to run 14 miles that morning. 1:47 on the bike and 1:44 on the run.

Bike took more out of me. Quads were sore coming home and even more so over the next 2 days. They were even sore this morning in my 3 point stance during my warmup this morning. Still sore after I finished my speed workout. I almost didn't run the intervals, but WH had the track open. Jeez, if he can be out there running the stairs after racing on Saturday, I could run a few 200's. I just broke up the 200's into sets of 3, only break was after the first 6, but mentally easier to think of it as 3 intervals. First 2 were off, but nailed the rest. A little more work, maybe because of the sore quad?

Speed Queen has trashed her plantar. It was sore after she did the relay. But, instead of resting it, she did some trails over the weekend and can hardly walk. She goes in to the doctor today. Probably end up with a boot. Hopefully she hasn't screwed it up badly enough to need surgery. I can't say much, I tend to push when I should rest. Also, I messed up the date for "back to Jack". It's the weekend I'll be working on Saturday for an accelerated close, because we head out of town at o'dark thirty for Tampa and our cruise. Budget time as well, so this weekend is toast as well. Sheeeeeeeeeeeit.

hills

Saturday was a pretty quiet day. Timed the Rally for Support 5k at the VA. Rained lightly up until gun time and then stopped. I just ran the course twice to get some miles. Rest of the day was laid back. Listened to 3 quarters of the MTSU game and turned it off. Offense couldn't move the ball.

Speedy and FM2 pulled me through 7 miles of a 14 miler this morning. Nice hilly route. At 7 miles they pushed and I maintained. Still got the workout I wanted, roughly marathon pace effort, 7:20-7:30. Actually went negative on the back 7, chasing them. Had hopes of keeping it at 7:00 coming off the last hill at 9 miles, but splits slowed to 7:23,7:07,7:15,7:21 and 7:02.

guitar!

Chuck Berry, #1 with Johnny B. Good

Talked with VT and RW at work the other day about the Rolling Stones list of the top 100 greatest guitar songs. These guys really know their music.(VT and RW) They've turned me on to a lot of stuff I wouldn't even have known about.(plus Billy and even Speedy, both of those guys play guitar.) This list also has some I've never heard. I took the list and pulled together a play list from my I tunes list. I had about 30-40 of the songs from the list. Added another 20 or so, that didn't make the cut. Read some of the comments on the Rolling Stones article and they mention a few other songs, as did VT and RW. One biggie that everyone agrees that was left off, "Smoke on the water". Another comment was the Beatles didn't belong on the list, they were "easy listening". WTF? Go listen to the White Album. I've still got it loaded in my CD changer in the car. Skip over Paul's songs and listen to the guitar on any of George or John's stuff. Had to put one of my favorite Beatles songs on this play list. "I want you" (She's so heavy).

Tempo workout last night with EB. We did 5.5 miles at tempo pace after a 2 mile warmup. It's getting easier. Great thing about the tempo workouts is seeing the improvement over previous workouts. Wore the heart rate monitor this time. My heart rate was almost 5 beats lower for the entire workout versus 2-3 weeks ago. Progress.

Easy 5 miler on the gravel at the MTSU horse arena and weights this morning.

relays and hot tubs

Slept in on Wednesday, but did get up in time to get an easy 5.15 mile recovery run before work. Tuesday night was the first soak of the fall in the hot tub. I prepped it over the weekend, when I heard the temperatures were going to break. Once the temperatures get below 60 degrees at night, it's time to jump in the hot tub. Felt good on my tight calves. Don't know if it was the speed workout on Tuesday or the back to back weekends of 20 milers. Usually when I ramp up the mileage in marathon training the calves start to tighten up. The hot tub really helps to loosen them up.

Speed Queen is back from Reach the Beach. She ran 3 legs for 16 miles. This relay starts in Franconia Notch and ends up 200 miles later in Hampton Beach. She said it was a blast. I've always wanted to do one of these relays. The first one I heard about was Hood to Coast. A couple of the folks I ran with in Texas have run it every year for 10+ years. PN ran the Blue Ridge Relay a couple of years ago. Somewhere there's a write up. Even FM2 has run a relay. He ran one in Ohio. They sound like a lot of fun. One of these days I'd like to run one.

This morning was a 20 mile bike ride. Same route I always do before work. House to Stones River Battlefield via the Stones River Greenway. Started a little later this morning, almost a quarter till 6 am. Easy to see why some many rabbits are road kill. Of the dozen rabbits on the mile and a half section of greenway, half dart right in front of me. Usually they wait until your within 5 feet and then either dart in front of you or to the right. Damn squirrels are more unpredictable. They'll go back and forth, trying to decide which way to run. Little cool to start on the bike, but very comfortable by the time I got home and the sun was up.

full moon

Big full moon this morning for my speed workout. Ended up with 3.5 miles of warmup. Went by Siegel HS, hoping WH had the track open, nope. Ended up out on the road with my marked 1,400 meters. First set of 6 x 200 meters, I couldn't get the pace dialed in, ranged from 41 to goal of 39. Took a 3 minute rest and then 6 more, 200 meter recovery between each. These were better, 37, 37, 36, 39, 39, 39. Mile and a half cool down home, real slow. Nice and cool, around 58 degrees with a little breeze.

Monday was a off day. Didn't sleep in though. Didn't even do any weights or bike.

Pet Peeve. Garbage and litter. You'd think with all of the hype about going green, we'd have less trash and litter. Someone threw 10-20 used diapers on the roadway right in front of the high school. What a scum bucket, least they could have done was swing into the school parking lot and throw it in a dumpster. Reminded me of the old Tennessee Trash commercials from 1976. Also, with the push to make everything cheaper, most products are throw away. Nothing is built to last anymore. Plastic and more plastic, cheap and flimsy products.

more dirt

The 3 main competitors

Dr. Big Time and Juliet Lee getting ready

big ugly bug from Madagascar ?

Dylan and a big pumpkin

High dive show at the TN State Fair

more high dive

Dylan's lego creations

Giant pumpkin at the state fair

Saturday we went to the State Fair in Nashville. They've got nothing on the Wilson County Fair. Watched the high diving show, Dylan got a kick out of that. Mainly we went to watch Dr. Big Time in the Krystal burger eating competition. He made it to a 3 way, 10 burger eat off with Juliet Lee and another big fella. Juliet Lee only managed to get half of her burgers into her mouth, the rest was debris on the table and ground. At one point she dropped a burger behind her. Dr. Big Time or the other fella should have won.

MTSU only played half a game again. They lost to Kentucky. The offense fell asleep in the second half. Titans won convincingly over the Bengals. Terry Collins is a class act. He preformed in the wind and the defense held them to one touchdown. Vince could learn a lot from him. Cutler has more poise and maturity than Vince. Watched the last few minutes of the Denver game. He threw an interception that he should have thrown into the seats. But, instead of pouting like Vince. He comes back and takes the Bronco's to the scoreboard and then hits again for the 2 points, to win the game. We should have taken him over Vince. Didn't realize Vince was such a baby, he's got a lot of growing up to do.

Sunday's run was on the new trail construction from the Kid's Castle at Old Fort Park towards New Salem Hwy. Ramp towards the river is finished. Nice small crushed gravel for a portion of the route and dirt for the remainder. There was a small portion with boulder sized rocks, real ankle breakers. The Rock said that's what they've been laying down before the fine crushed gravel. Bridge is across the river, but the ramp has not been completed yet. The Rock explored the other side of the river and could only find trails to no where. Construction is coming along nicely. We were able to get 6 miles of the dirt and gravel. Pretty windy and warm with Ike blowing thru. I added a loop on the road up Main street to get 4 more miles for a total of 10 miles.

forward momentum

Check out Christians race report from his first 100 miler. This guy does some great write ups, I've been watching his blog for awhile now. After this mornings long run, I'm really wondering if I want to attempt a 50 miler. Long runs in the heat are not any fun. Two weeks till the next 20 miler, hopefully the temperatures will be a little bit cooler. Saw Mr. Badwater, twice this morning, he always looks fresh and smiling.

Started out for this mornings 20 miler at 5:30 am and it was already 74 degrees. Ran from the house up to Regency by Erma Siegel Elementary. Wanted to get a 4 mile warmup and then do 5 miles at marathon pace. Ended up with 6 miles at marathon pace for a total of 10 miles at that point. Already took my only powergel at 8 miles. Succeeds caps every 4 miles and a packet of caffeine Jelly Belly Sport Beans to get me home. Started eating of few of those every 2 miles from 14 miles. Walked about a quarter mile with KS. He was walking back from Cannonsburg with Plantar Facitis issues. Shade on the greenway was nice, the open patches were plenty warm with the sun already beating down. Last 2 miles home in the sun were a struggle. Sure did want to walk, but resisted the urge and kept slogging it on home. Ended up drinking 3 water bottles worth of water on the entire run. Hand carried just the one bottle this time, filling it up the 2 times I passed General Bragg's HQ on the greenway. Last 3 miles, I was drinking every mile.

This is the second time I've tried the Sport Beans in a long run. Only reason I used them this morning was because I didn't have any more powergels. I would have liked to have had a powergel at 8, 12 and 16 miles. But, only had one left and the sport beans. Never really cramped or crashed, succeeds helped as well. The caffeine in the sport beans probably helped this morning, especially those last few miles. Still aren't very convenient on the run, had a heck of time ripping the packet open.

allergies and recovery

Last night, EB and I did 5 miles of tempo around adjusted tempo pace. This morning was the 2nd recovery run this cycle that wasn't on the golf course or super slow. Did 5.25 miles total, with 2 miles worth of gravel at the MTSU livestock arena and the rest on the road. Slow to start and then ease into about 8:30 pace and gradually pick it up to finish around 7:15 pace. Nose was running the entire way. Don't know what's up with my allergies. The last week, I've had sneezing fits and the nose has been running. Some flower must be blooming, second batch of ragweed or goldenrod, I imagine.

good old boys

Easy bike ride this morning. Out the door at 5:30 am. The darkness really slowed the pace down on the greenway, not so much on the road. Headlight worked 100 times better than the headlamp for running. Checked out the new pathway across from the General Bragg Headquarters trailhead. It's part of the Medical Center construction. Nice, well lit path, little less than a mile loop. The city is building rest room facilities and a pavilion. Benches along the path.

On the second loop of the battlefield, the sun started to rise. Lots of deer, out and about. Does and fawns kept to themselves and the bucks were in one big herd. One buck was ahead of the others about to cross the road with at least 6 more waiting for the all clear.

it's all about the bike

Prepped the bike for tomorrows bike ride. Put a headlamp on the handlebars and the red blinky light on the seatpost. Need to be seen to avoid being clobbered by a car. Still amazes me the attitude of some towards cyclists. I've heard the runners complaints. (and the bikers complaints about runners) Me to. I try to avoid some of those tendencies when I run or bike. But, to actually read what some people think is eye opening. Didn't say so in any of these posts, but on some of the other stories, some believe the cyclist is at fault? Almost to the extent that they deserve to die. That really carries it to a extreme. No compassion whatsoever towards the victim, family or friends. What the hell is the world coming to? I've seen similar comments on other websites in big cities and it is even more pervasive.

Actually did a quick repair job on Darrell's car last night. He called me on the way to work yesterday, to say his radiator hose was leaking. He made it back home and I put on a new upper radiator hose in 5 minutes or less. The generic hose was preformed with almost the right curves to match the old. Only had to cut off about 4 inches to make it fit.

Change in strategy on my recovery runs. Really starting to rethink all of this real slow recovery stuff, I'd been doing on the golf course. 10 weeks out from the Monkey Marathon and I don't want to risk stepping in another hole or twisting my ankle on the golf course. Today's recovery run was a easy 8 miles on the road at around 8:00 average pace for the run.

One Lance Armstrong plug. Time to reread this book, "It' not about the bike". "I WANT TO DIE AT A HUNDRED YEARS OLD WITH an American flag on my back and the star of Texas on my helmet, after screaming down an Alpine descent on a bicycle at 75 miles per hour."

Ah, ha moment

Talked with speedy last night about some of the changes he's making in his training. Bottom line, if you want to run fast, you have to train fast. Doh.

Thought my speed had disappeared this morning. I'd wanted to go to Percy Warner Park and run the 11.2, but didn't want to leave the house at 3:30 and starting after work is to long of a day. Did some 200 meter repeats instead. Struggled to run a 41 for the first couple. Got a couple of 39's, but still a whole lot of work. Just before I finished I was able to run one 37 and then a 36 with half as much rest. Perhaps, I haven't lost all of my speed.

The ah, ha moment came on the way home. As I came out onto to Thompson Lane another runner was behind me. I started home with him behind me. I looked at my Garmin and I was running a 9:00 pace, sheeeeit. Decided to crank it to at least marathon pace, say 7:30 and take it home, only a mile away. Quarter mile in or so, look at my watch and I'm at adjusted tempo pace, 6:40. Damn, felt easy. Cruised on home at that pace and felt like a million bucks. Now I see how those guys can run tempo in the middle of their long runs. It feels good to run fast! Relatively speaking, of course........

Lance is back. Can't wait to watch him race again.

Spam robots.*&^%$#! Looked at the stats for my blog this morning before my first post and no visitor's. Almost immediately after I finished, I get a comment from someone with a picture of a woman and a vague comment about the subject of my post, with a link to a website. The link didn't work, but when I googled it, I could see where the same url was on several other blogs or websites. But, the interesting thing was the amount of unique visitors in a 2 minute or so window. 42 hits in that time frame, had to be a robot. Just hope I didn't get a trojan or some other virus from that link. Deleted the comment.

Monday

Big turnout for the Jim Benson memorial ride. Rode from Siegel HS to the place of the accident and back. Pretty touching to see so many turn out to show their support. I just rode over from the house and back. Ended up with 10 miles for the evening.

Slept in Monday morning. This has become my new off day. Didn't even do any weights.

11 weeks

Cooler weather has arrived. Interesting how much difference just a couple of degrees makes in perceived effort. Sure wasn't cool for the football games over the weekend. MTSU had a huge win Saturday over Maryland. Completely different team showed up for this game versus last weeks opener. Titans managed a win, no thanks to Vince. Terry Collins sealed the deal. But, it was the defense that won the game.

Sunday slept in till 6 am. Didn't make it out the door until 7:30 am. Even then, the fog had still not burned off. Able to get 10 miles at a 7:30 average pace. Endurance is coming around. Just ran from the house to Stones River Battlefield and back. Total of 61.5 miles for the week. Biggest week this year.

1st 20 miler

First 20 miler in this training cycle in the books. But, damned if I'm not already off a week from my schedule to get 6, 20 milers. Guess, I'll have to do 2 on back to back weekends. Planned on starting at 4:30, but actually started at 5:00 am. Drizzly, foggy, gray morning. Little bit of wind, but no sun. 100% humidity. Wore the "Race Ready" long distance shorts with the pockets in the back of the shorts. I didn't use the water carrier, instead I carried a water bottle in each hand. Carried 3 powergels and 3 succeeds in the short pockets, plus my Ipod. Run went really well. I started slow and never really picked up the pace until the last 2 miles. Felt a lot better than the 18 miler 2 weeks ago. Ran the same course as the 18 miler 2 weeks ago, but the opposite direction, plus 2 miles added before the 18 mile loop. Hills were easier? Must have been because it was a little cooler and the sun wasn't beating down. Only 2,194 ft of elevation gain and 2,129 ft of elevation loss. So, not quite as much climbing as the Monkey, but it'll do. (26.2 tough and memorable miles, with a total of 3500 feet of elevation gain and loss.)

pulled along

Gaaawgus sunrise this morning. Didn't even peak until after we had finished running and I stretched out after this mornings run. Last week the sunrise was about 4 miles earlier into our run. Hope that means cooler weather is on the way. Today's run was all about hills. Did the Spain Hill loop, 11 miles with about 4 good hills to climb. Speedy pulled me the entire way and then decided to push 2 of the last 3 miles home. Actually felt pretty good, right about tempo pace. Average pace for the entire run was 7:20 with the average heart rate about where it was for the 8:00 pace for the CMM half marathon pacing effort. (155 bpm)

Carried my water bottle this morning, instead of wearing the usual water carrier. Last few long runs have been a bother with the water carrier. I may try the handheld water bottle for Saturdays 20 miler. Still haven't decided where to go. Somewhere with some hills. Probably be back out either at Spain Hill or the Lascassas loop. This time I'm going to start at 4:30 am, and beat some of the heat. Could always drive into Nashville and go on the Strider training run. Only downside, it kills half the day. At least by starting at 4:30 am and running local, I'm back home at a decent time.

Party at the bosses house last night. Lots of good food, beer and wine. Ate to much, but did manage the beer intake.

Memorial ride

September 8th Siegel High School. Ride in memory of Jim Benson. Local husband and father killed in a bicycle/car accident a few weeks ago. I go by the accident site 2 times a day. I didn't know this man, but I'm going to try and make the ride. Never have ridden with the local club, either. Did ride in the Hot 100, a few years ago. Local story about bikes, be careful out there.

Yesterdays easy run turned into the tempo run that I should have run that evening with EB. Times weren't that great, no EB to pull me along. We were not able to schedule a workout this week. Did an easy 7 miles on the golf course this morning. Glute has started to loosen up and not be quite as sore today.

Busy week, because of the holiday. Close week, plus need to get payroll out today. Glad I resisted outsourcing payroll for so long. ADP sucks. No benefit to me, actually increased the amount of time spent doing payroll. Only benefit would be the filing of 940 and 941 for taxes. Big deal, Quickbooks makes that a simple process.

Labor day weekend

Saturday morning we went up to the farm. Lazy weekend. Set up the badminton net. Put up a couple of swings on the hedgeapple tree. Took a few pictures. But, the shots of the snapping turtle didn't come out very good. Must have moved from the pond to try and find another place to live. Ran once Sunday morning, easy 10 miles.

Come back to Murfreesboro Monday morning. I weed eated the yard, while PJ trimmed the shrubs. Ryan came over and mowed the grass. PJ paid him $25. Our mower died last time I mowed the yard. The rings were shot I believe. It'd been smoking for awhile.

Went into work for a little while on Monday night. But, not before stopping at the stone gates of PWP for a little bike ride. Warmed up on Belle Meade Blvd. Then rode the 11.2 route, plus added the Shell cut through, as an out and back. Ok, I love the park for running, but biking wow. Got up to 33 mph on a couple of the downhills. I didn't even try and push it all the way. I'd like to follow someone who could descend and see how they push the corners. I slowed down to around 18 mph to go around the one 180 degree hairpin turn on the backside of nine mile hill. I've heard of a couple of bikers who have either hit the wall or gone down in that turn.