Piles of cicadas

It appears the onslaught of cicadas is starting to taper off. They've been so thick in places, that the piles were deeper than most of the snow falls we get around here. Least it seemed that way from the one's blown up against the interstate dividing walls. One of our dogs likes to eat them and the others are scared of them. They were attracted to the noise of my saw this weekend when I was cutting up some wood. Pretty freaky when they would swarm around me while the saw was buzzing.

Week 3 in waiting for my collar bone to heal. I've been walking so I don't go completely crazy from not running. It's not the same, but it's better than nothing. Stopped bringing the dogs because they're to slow. I did find out the other day, how much movement is enough to aggravate my shoulder. Didn't realize how much motion is in the arm swing when walking. Running would add even more directions of movement. Crap.

Haven't really gained much weight, only about 5 pounds. The walks help some, but mostly I've cut back on portions. The appetite just isn't as great, as when I'm running. Did start back drinking coffee during the day at work since my injury. Once, I get back to running I'll cut that out and just go back to the one cup in the morning.

10 days out

Yesterday's workout was 10 days out from the next sub 3:00 marathon attempt at the Greenway Marathon on March 27th. Did a progression run. That was the intent anyway. Plus, I wanted to give my marathon shoes one more try. Did a little surgery to try and loosen up the toebox. Not the first time I've tried to get a pair of shoes that didn't quite fit right, to work. One of the main reasons for buying these shoes was because they weren't as wide in the toebox as the Mizuno's I've been wearing for the last couple of years. Surprised that it's almost a quarter of an inch narrower, at a minimum.

Never again will I buy Nike's. It's been 10 years since I last wore any and that was a free pair that I got as a "Nike tester" or some sort of program. (it was a pair with the shock heel) Complete sillyness for a runner like me whose heel never touches the ground. Prior to that I'd sworn off Nike's because they discontinued the model I'd been wearing, the Pegasus. (it's back now I believe) That's the one thing that drives me nuts about shoe companies, changing the model every year. At least with the Asics, it was mainly just a color change. The shoes remained the same.

The progression run started out well enough. I wanted a couple of miles of warmup and then 3 miles at 7:10 pace, followed by 3 miles of marathon pace, 6:49 and then finish with 3 miles at 6:30 pace. The new shoes felt great in the early miles, the "running on clouds" kind of cushy feeling that stays around for the first few runs in a new pair of shoes. This would be the 4th or maybe even 5th run in these shoes in total but first since the DNF at Snickers. The three miles at 7:10 miles were easy, and the marathon pace was as well. Started to notice how tight the toebox was with the marathon pace miles. This time the rubbing was on the outer pad of the forefoot. It didn't affect my pace, but was noticeable with each foot strike. I bailed on the 3rd marathon pace mile, about 2/3rds of the way into that mile. I was afraid to kick it up to 6:30 pace for 3 more miles with my foot rubbing. Slogged it back home.

Ten miles on the day, with a few miles of marathon pace. More importantly, determined the shoes were indeed the reason for the blister at the Snickers Marathon. Question now, which shoes to wear for the marathon? Probably back to the tried and true Mizuno's.

Slog

Back to the training, well at least running anyway. After the DNF last Saturday, I skipped Sundays run. Did start back again on Monday. Lots of slow miles, until Friday's 45 minute marathon pace run with the Wich brothers which went pretty well. After deciding to make another sub 3:00 attempt at the Greenway Marathon on March 27th, its right back into training mode.

This mornings workout should have been a 18 mile run with 8 miles of fast finish. Half the guys wanted to start at 7 am, I wanted to start at 6 am. Surprisingly, the fast master was willing to go at 6 am as well. Hard to believe he's actually out running 14 miles a week out from running a fast marathon. He raced with compression socks and believes like I do that they tremendously aid in recovery, post long run and speed workouts. (have mine on as I'm typing) I started a little early to get 4 miles, but only able to get 3.5 done before 6 am.

Fastest mile this morning was the race back to the car to meet the fast master during my warmup. Kinda nice that he was willing to slog along with me this morning. He had ridden the bike the day before so that may have been part of it. Plus, still only a week out from a hard marathon effort the legs still have to have a little fatigue. Pretty darn cold out this morning for what I thought we'd have. When I checked the weather, I saw 48 degrees. After sunup, I was thinking mid 50's. Well, with the time change, we didn't get to 50 degrees until maybe the last 2 miles home. It was a cool 42 degrees to start, I even wore my gloves. So ready for the cold to be gone.

I decided before even starting this mornings run, that I was not going to attempt the fast finish. Number one this course starts and finishes with pretty long climb. Plus, the course is rolling the entire way. I figured the hills would be enough of a workout without trying to do any kind of pace work. Worked out well, nice to be able to get a long run in without beating myself up with a workout. We met the other guys on the bottom of Wilson hill, they had just come off the hill with 11 more miles to go. We only had 3 miles home, and it looked like the rain was starting to roll in.

30 days

Probably let the current running streak of 30 days go. Not by plan, just the threat of snow this afternoon and evening. Don't really need the miles this week, anyway. Should still hit 60+ miles even with a day off. This is all because of 2 long runs in one week. Only because the Cedars of Lebanon Frostbite Half Marathon is on Saturday. So, next weeks mileage will be short a long run. That'll be just fine, time to start scaling back the miles anyway.

Only 24 days until the marathon as of today. Time now to start worrying about how my training has gone this cycle. Went back and compared my marathon buildup for the Flying Pig to the current training cycle. Long runs are identical to this point at 9 runs of 18 miles or more. I should end up with one more 18 mile effort after Saturday's race. Plus this cycle I've been to Percy Warner Park 4 times. Only doubled twice at PWP, the route backwards and forwards, not 2 runs in one day(not once). Weekly mileage is just about 1 mile per week more this cycle on average than for the Pig, at 73 miles per week. The marathon plan is the exact same. Only regret is maybe not enough miles, but I started this cycle with the thought that bumping up to 80 miles per week wouldn't be a difference maker, but potentially a injury inducer.

We did run the Tom King Half Marathon 6 weeks out from race day at the Pig in 2009. Tied my half marathon PR time at 1:27. (still short of the 1:25 where I need to be) This time, our only race will be Cedars, 3 weeks out. That kinda has me worried. The course is rolling, so not really a PR course like Tom King. Plus, this course has about a mile worth of rough asphalt and then 2 miles of gravel. With my tender feet, I'm not going to wear a light weight trainer, definitely not a racing flat. Guess, I'll just go out at marathon pace effort for the hills, marathon pace on everything else and call it a 13 mile marathon pace run. Add a 5 mile warm up and it's a 18 mile long run.

Set up to fail

Pretty disgusted with my speed workout this morning. Felt good for the first mile. I wanted to go 3 to 5 miles at tempo pace. G is going to race this weekend and only wanted to go a mile with me. Seems like I started to struggle to maintain pace after he peeled off. By the end of the second mile, I stopped to recover. Seemed like way to much work. But looking back at the splits afterwards, I hit the numbers I wanted. Should have toughed out one more mile. Instead, I did a little recovery and attempted another 2 miles of tempo. Stopped after a half mile. I couldn't get up to speed. Blah.

Couple of things come to mind that may have affected my lack of concentration. I decided that I was going to cut back on my coffee consumption. Yesterday was day 2 of only the morning cup of coffee versus the additional cup when I got to the office and then another in the afternoon. The first day I was only kinda grumpy in the afternoon. Day 2, I got a headache in the afternoon. The biggest surprise was lying in bed for over an hour trying to get to sleep instead of just dozing off like I usually do. The thought behind the cut back to only one cup of coffee was so the caffeine powergel would have more kick in the latter stage of the marathon. Plus, reading about carb loading, the diuretic effect of coffee is something to avoid in the carb loading phase.

First thing I noticed this morning when I went to the bathroom was my day glow yellow pee. Uh, oh classic sign of dehydration. Need to make sure I drink some water before heading out for my speed workout this morning. Didn't happen. Actually went out the door without my water bottle. Just a little to rushed this morning because of a spam email that was sent from my email address. I had 98 email messages this morning in response to "my email". But, I didn't send it. It was one of those I get from time to time from someone you know, but it contains a link to some website. I always just delete those.

Bottom line, I caved on mile 2. Guess, I need to race a little bit more to get my edge back. One good thing I noticed was lower my resting heart rate. Last cycle it was 42, this morning it was 38.

100 mile week

Time to reflect on the training in the attempt to go sub 3:00 at the Snickers Marathon, in Albany, Georgia on March 5th. This week I should be racing to see where my fitness lies. Instead, the prior week I ran the most miles ever, 102.5 miles in one week. That number was achieved by a 22 mile double of Percy Warner Park on Sunday, roughly 10 miles per day afterwards and followed by 31 miles on Saturday, January 1, 2011.

Doubling the 11.2 at PWP is something I've used in the past to gauge my fitness level. I would like to make the trek to Nashville for this run, about every 3-4 weeks. This trip was complicated by about a half inch of snow that covered everything. Luckily, no ice under the snow, but slippery enough to be left wondering how we didn't manage to fall even once on that outing. The fast master hung around with me for the first 14 miles or so before I told him to go ahead. I was slowing him down. Found some new soreness afterwards as well because of the slippery road. Note to self: Trail shoes next time in the snow. But, wow PWP is great covered in snow!

In hindsight, going over 100 miles was primarily just a silly stunt. The part that I didn't count on was the recovery needed afterwards. I ended up breaking the little running streak I had going. Only 14 days or so, but that had only been interrupted by a single day off before the 40 other days of streaking. Streaking is another silly stunt. Though I do seem to run better without days off or minimal days off. Probably should have done a taper before the 31 miler. Next time.

My fitness has improved, just wish I could find a race to gauge by how much. Attempted a speed workout on Tuesday. That really showed how much recovery is needed after such a big week. I only needed 5 x 2,000 meters at tempo pace. I started struggling to maintain pace on the 3rd repeat and decided to try the next one at marathon pace. Couldn't even get to marathon pace for the 4th repeat and the 5th was even worse. Very long morning.

It wasn't until Thursday that I finally seemed to have the old spring back into my stride. Friday's workout went extremely well. I think my body has recovered from the previous week. The fun part of this workout was starting out with most of the guys and then chasing after them for the entire workout. I was doing a 20 x a minute on and a minute off at about 5k pace, chasing the Wich's who were doing a steady state run. The fast guys were ahead of us, doing their own workout, after we'd all warmed up together. Never did catch the fast guys, but did get close enough that we thought we'd be able to reel them in. The Wich's and I did the yo-yo thing we'd done before with this workout. I'd reel them in, and then do my recovery as they sped away. Then I'd chase them down and repeat. Fun stuff, breaks up the workout anyway.

Dirk's Fat Ass 50k number 5

These are the only pictures I took during the race. Have to blame the rain for the blurry shots. Really pleased with the turnout this year, 30 starters. We had the biggest number of finishers ever for the 50k at 12 (David, Chris, Greg, Karl, Rick, Wade, Paul, Naresh, Oldman) with Jennifer, Lisa and Joseph going 33 miles to celebrate his birthday.

The rain this year was a welcome change to the cold of the previous years. At least until the end of the second loop when the trail started to flood. About the time the rain stopped. A few braves souls continued on the trail through waist deep water, while the less hardy of us detoured through the weeds, woods and briars. Only 1 finisher to complete the entire "course" before it was completely under water. The rest of us added on miles at the battlefield or on old Nashville highway to get the distance. Naresh's race report.

Naresh, Wade, Karl, Paul and Rick

David Jones and the rest of our finishers, had already left or were still on the course adding additional miles when this finishers picture was taken.

Start time: 8 am, Saturday January 1, 2011.

Location: General Bragg HQ's trailhead,1540 W. College St., Murfreesboro, TN, 37129

This is an unofficial Fat Ass run so there is no entry fee, no awards, and no wimps. There is some aid and some post event refreshments. It's an out and back course so you can do any distance you want.

I'll provide water, gatorade, and some type of warm salty food to share at the aid station (General Bragg HQ). Please bring something to share as well.

The course starts at the General Bragg HQ on the Stones River Greenway and goes out to Stones River Battlefield, around the battlefield and back to the greenway and on to Cannonsburg and then back to General Bragg's HQ for one loop. One mile to the battlefield, a two mile loop and the one mile return to the pavilion at Bragg. From there, a six mile out-and-back to Cannonsburgh. Each loop is around 10 miles and only minor elevation changes, no hills. Bathrooms at the battlefield, the start and at Cannonsburgh. The 50k distance is 3 loops. The pavillion at General Braggs HQ's serves as the starting and ending point, as well as the aid station.

The inaugural run.

Year 2.

Year 3.

Year 4.