November Running Milestones

Most miles in a month: 137.8
Most miles in a week: 41.1, week ending November 22.

1,000 Miles

At 6:45 this morning, I passed the 1,000 mile mark for 2009 running. 

Logically, 1,000 is just another number.  However, psychologically, it feels like a major event.  I wonder why our minds make distinctions like this.  A numerical boundary is just an arbitrary mental construct; the values immediately on each side of the line are virtually the same.  Somehow, we see 1,000 as significant compared to 999, but 1,001 as insignificant compared to 1,000.

I won't further wonder why; I guess it's just human nature.  Yesterday, I noticed that my total was 996.2 miles.  I ran 3.5 miles on each of the previous two days.  Mentally, I couldn't accept the concept of finishing today's run at 999.7 miles, so I added an extra half-mile to my route.

It was a pleasant run, easy pace, 4.0 miles, 43:06, 10.77 minutes/mile. The weather continues to be perfect, 52° as I started out.

October Running Milestones

Most miles in a month: 137.6
Most miles in a week: 32.3, week ending October 11.
Longest run to date: 18.4 miles, October 24.

A Poignant Last Long Run in a Wonderful Park? (And a New Distance Milestone: 18.2 Miles)

I had mixed emotions while running my weekly Long Run in the park.  It was another great run, on a perfect morning for running, crisp and cool, 49° at 6:30 AM. I'm moving to Beaumont, TX next week, 60 miles away, so this is probably my last Long Run in this park.  I like Beaumont, and there are some nice parks there, but running today in this park brought back so many memories.  In this park, I was born as a runner.  Here, I evolved from a walker/hiker to an occasional runner, to a dedicated runner.  In this park, I ran my first continuous 2 miles in 2005.  I remembered how good I felt completing my first 6 mile run here on July 2, 2008.  I run the streets in my neighborhood on weekday mornings before work, and run in the park on weekend mornings.  However, the weekday runs are mostly for routine base mileage, while my distance runs, my milestone runs, my long, sweltering summer runs, and my great, inspiring runs have been in this park.  My original schedule was to repeat at 16 miles a third week today before increasing again, but decided to try for 18 miles today to leave this park on a new distance milestone.

I ran with these thoughts through about 9 miles, and as I lapped the start of the trail, Mike was just starting his run.  I've run with Mike occasionally, when we happen to get on the same part of the trail at the same time.  Mike's a strong runner and a quick runner (compared to me); he's an experienced multi-marathoner and races at or under 8 minute pace.  He's currently building his mileage back up to run the Houston Marathon again in January.  I told Mike I was trying to finish up at 18, and he paced me the rest of the way.  That was really nice, because he wasn't going to run that far today; he's been doing his long runs on Sundays.  We talked as we ran, and Mike always has a lot of good training tips.  Having someone to pace against helped me stay in a good rythmn for the rest of the run, and amazingly, I didn't struggle too much in the latter miles.  The only negative:  I got a little side stitch in the last half mile that really slowed me down.  I don't know where that came from;  I never get a stitch!

A good run, a new personal distance milestone, 18.2 miles, 3:14:28, 10.68 pace. Hollaway Park, I will miss you.

Weekly Training - October 5-11: 16.4 Mile Run Saturday, A New Distance Milestone!

Sunday - Nice Recovery Run, 3.5 miles, 40:14, at 11.50 pace, right in the middle of my recovery range per the McMillan Running Calculator.  I was a little tentative because of pain in the left knee that was more than I'm used to.  My knees don't usually hurt, but I've been getting a little knee pain following my weekly Long Run since I've been stretching the distance.  However, it usually goes away in a day or two, so I haven't been overly concerned.  Today, it got  a little better after a couple of miles, and was much less by evening.

Saturday - A new distance milestone: 16.4 miles!  Less than 10 miles from the goal!  I guess that's an extra benefit to training for a first marathon: as training progresses, there are constant rewards from reaching a series of intermediate goals.  Saturday was a great day for a long run, 59° at 7 AM.  I took the same route through the park; just added one more 2.2 mile lap.  My goals were modest: to complete the distance, and to try to sustain a 11:00 pace or better.  On previous new distances, my first attempt has been SLOW.  The pace turned out OK, had a few ebbs and flows, but kept finding second and third winds.  I didn't really struggle much until about the last half-mile, and finished up at 2:57:07, a 10.80 pace.  I'll take it.  The next one will be better.

Monday through Friday:  Nature played a cruel trick; after a few days of mostly cooler morning temps following the official onset of Fall, night-time lows and humidity crept back up to July-August levels this week.  It has no businees being 81° at 5:30 AM in October!  Started out oppressive Monday; trending up to miserable by Thursday.  My pace suffered.  But enough whining.  A cool front is coming Friday!

Friday - No running - rest for Saturday's Long Run.
Thursday - Easy run, 3.1 miles. 34:04, 10.99 pace, 81°, 98% humidity.
Wednesday - Tempo run, 3.1 miles, 29:37, 9.55 pace, 79°, 95% humidity.
Tuesday - Easy run, 3.1 miles. 32:56, 10.62 pace, 80°, 96% humidity.
Monday - Tempo run, 3.1 miles, 29:42, 9.58 pace, 76°, 94% humidity.

September Running Milestones

Most miles in a month: 120.7
Most miles in a week: 29.8, week ending September 20.
Longest run to date: 14.2 miles, September 19.

September 19, 2009 - New Distance Milestone!

Today’s goal-- stretch the long run a little farther, to 14.2 miles: 1 mile between the house and the trail in the park, out-and-back, plus 6 laps in the park, 2.2 miles each.
Laps 1 and 2: Nice, comfortable running, in the groove, feeling good, endorphins flowing like water. The sun is just now rising, and it’s a beautiful morning in the park. It’s 72 degrees, and feels soooo much better than the 78 to 82 degree morning lows that we’ve had since June.
Lap 3: Concentrating on mechanics. Smooth stride, staying relaxed. Feeling like I can go like this all day. I’m a running machine. I own the trail. The trail is mine.
Lap 4: A little fatigue was setting in around the end of mile 7; a little second wind building in mile 8.
Lap 5: Struggling a little more going into mile 10; my HRM is reading 160 bpm. I don’t need to push too long beyond 95% of max HR. I had thoughts about cutting this one off after 5 laps, and slowed down to a walk. After about 2 minutes, HR was down to 128, and I continued the run at a little slower pace.
Lap 6: The slower pace feels OK, 145 - 150 bpm, and what's one more lap at this point? Just concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, and this approach gets me home, 14.2 miles, 2:39:05, 11.2 min/mi. Another new distance PR. My feet were a little sore, and I soaked them in a bucket of ice water...OH YEAH. Afterwards, after soaking, stretching and showering, I felt pretty good.

Weekly Training, September 1-5: Half-Way There!

Saturday - 13.7 miles, 2:32:16, 11.11 pace. Another new distance record! I had to push a little on the last lap, but not as difficult as I expected. A little sore in the legs afterward, but only a little heel pain. I bought some cushioned arch/heel support inserts for my shoes last week, and they helped a lot. I also iced my feet after the run, and that helped too. Last week's formula worked well, so I'll take my recovery day Sunday. My intermediate goal on the way to the marathon was to run a half-marathon race. Now that I've run the half-marathon distance fairly comfortably on a training run, I may not set a race as a priority, and just train for the marathon. The Houston Marathon has been filled up for months, but I recently learned that Beaumont, Texas will have its first ever marathon race May 1, 2010. I'm sure I can be ready by then.

Tuesday through Friday - Easy 3.1-mile daily runs. Better pace than last week; times in the 27s and 28s. Threw in one 8 x 400 meter wind sprint interval routine on Wednesday.