Fri, Aug 30 - 4.4 miles

HOT! And HUMID! Ingleside to City Park. An old go to route. 8:28 pace. Took off yesterday although I had wanted to run 3 yesterday and 3 today. Luke and Jake had soccer and I decided to watch The Newsroom with Nat. The old me would have been depressed and angry that I got behind in the plan for the week. The new me isn't much different but at least when I take days off now, I am usually making a conscious decision and I don't let it bother me. Anyway, a good run to get some of yesterday's missed mileage back. Now to get in a couple of good, long runs this weekend.

Wed, Aug 28 - 4.8 miles

Met up with Herbert today to run Regional Park. 90 degrees at the start. We went out with the goal of beating our best 2 lap pace of 10:38 (which we set just Sunday) and to have a negative split. I knew early on we were running pretty well and at the top of the hill (slowest point in each lap) we were still under 10:00 pace. I eased up as much as I could finishing up the lap as I knew the heat would end up taking its toll eventually. Went through lap one at 9:53 pace. Immediately starting the 2nd lap I could tell we had slowed. It was getting hot. We walked a bit more on the hills and Herbert was starting to lag a little. As we topped the hill the second time, I noticed that the negative split was definitely not within reach, but we were only slightly over 10:00, 10:06 I think. I pushed the pace as much as I dared knowing we were so close to the 10:00 pace. Picked it up on the last 2/10 and were able to lower the pace to 10:01. Not a negative split but we took 36 seconds off Herb's best pace and unbeknownst at the time had lowered my two lap best pace by 11".

Tues, Aug 27 - 3.5 miles

Treadmill - my new favorite treadmill workout: run for 3 songs and walk at 10.0 incline for 1 song. spend the next 3 songs trying to get pace back under 10:00 before walking again. goal is to finish under 10:00 pace. today, time restraints only allowed me 1 song after my 2nd walk, so I was unable to get back to 10:00 pace. better start to the week than last week, though.

Mon, Aug 26 - 3.1 miles

Jake had soccer practice so I was able to slip away for 30 minutes to get in 3.1 on the Regional Park Trail. Legs felt a little tired. Odd, I have not run since Sunday A.M. and only 15 miles last week altogether. Maybe just hot. 10:07 pace.

Sun, Aug 25 - 5.1 miles

A.M. Regional Park run with Herbert. 10:38 pace. Second loop faster than first. Easy run.

Sat, Aug 24 - 6.3 miles

A.M. - 5.1 miles at City Park. First 2 at 8:52 pace, next 2 at 8:38 pace, last mile at 8:34. 8:42 pace for the 5.1.

P.M. - 1.2 mile shakeout run on Treadmill.

Mon, Aug 19 - 3.0 miles

New route today. Easy 3 mile run around City Park area that includes one half mile hill. 8:38 pace.

And added the Stump Jump 11 miler to the calender. I did the 50k a few years ago, blog report here, but I'm not near ready for the distance now. Not that I really was then either, mind you. But looking to set goal of breaking 10 minute pace. It is a tough course.

Week Total - 19.0 miles

The week started slow -- 7.1 miles in 3 runs Mon-Fri -- although it did include a new PR on 1 lap at Regional Park. Had it been lighter out where I could actually pushed a little more, that run could have been under 9:00 I think. Then ended with 2 solid runs -- a 2 lap, negative split at Regional on Sat. and a 7.1 mile treadmill run Sun. A good, yet low mileage, week. And lost 2 lbs.

Sun, Aug 18 - 7.1 miles

Rained last night and most of the day so I ran my 'long' run on the Treadmill. Ran for 3 songs on the iPod and upped the incline and walked for 1 song. Then spent the next 3 songs trying to push the pace back under 10 min/mile. Ended up at 7.1 miles in 70:12 (9:53 pace). Good run.

Weighed 194.4 this morning.

Sat, Aug 17 - 4.8 miles

Back out at the Regional Park Sat evening. I am planning on my long run, about 7 miles, Sun, so I took it easy. Ran clockwise, which I never do due to a hill right out of the gate in that direction and I'm not warmed up, plus finishes with an uphill. This direction is always slower. Went thru the first 2.4 mile lap in 26:02 (10:51 pace). I had warmed up and towards the end of the 1st lap was moving pretty good on sections so I left the car with the plan to negative split the 2nd lap. Continued to move well and did some mini intervals along the easier sections. It felt good. Ended up the 2nd lap in 24:12 (10:05 pace). This is the first time this season I have negative split any laps at the park. Also is by far the fastest I have ran any 2nd laps. And didn't push much at all. A good run.

Thurs, Aug 15 - 2.4 miles

I hit the Regional Park trail again today for one loop. Been a pretty uneventful week running. I took off Wednesday because Natalie and I were able to get away while the boys were at AWANA and had a mini date night; dinner at a new Asian restaurant we like. Took off Friday as we had Luke's birthday party. Ten 8-9 year old boys for the evening, FUN!

Tues, Aug 13 - 2.4 miles

A few weeks ago I PR'd on my local 2.4 mile trail in 23 minutes for a 9:35 pace. I went out today to run a solid start and gauge from there. If I felt good, go for a new PR. If not, then let up and enjoy the run. I went thru the 1st 'checkpoint' in PR time so I kept it up. Never pushed, just made sure I ran strong. Still walked the steepest section. I ended up PRing again by 34 seconds in 22:26. The run felt really controlled. I actually had on my shoes I run the road in and the trail was somewhat wet so I wasn't able to run aggressively. The good news (I'm looking at it like good news) is that I am also the heaviest I have ever PR'd. Can't wait 'til I am down to my goal weight, which right now is about 25 pounds lighter.

I did weigh in at 195.4 this morning; the lowest I've been since spring.

Mon, Aug 12 - 2.3 miles

Easy 2.3 miles on the treadmill. Sore from Sat. still.

Still Hollow 10k Race Report

I went into this one with two goals: 1)break last year's time of 1:04:55 (very confident of this one) and 2)break one hour (less so). So as I was sitting in my hotel room on Friday night, I compared last year's race splits to last week's run with Herbert. I then took off some time from each mile and kept whittling away until it was under an hour. I wrote each split on my arm along with the 10:26 pace.

I went out fast as the course runs the road (slightly downhill) for about 0.4/mile, hits the trail and continues for about 0.7 before reaching the first hill. By far the fastest mile of the run. My arm read 8:52. I went through mile one in 7:48!

Miles 2-5 are pretty much up and down before the last 3/4 which gradually brings you back down to the start. The goal for these middle miles was to walk the steeps, run the less so, and blast the downhills (gravity playing a major roll here). I went through mile 2 in 10:18, my arm read 10:52. Feeling good, I clicked off mile three (the 2nd toughest of the course) in 10:39, arm 11:21. At this point I was very confident I could break one hour, but my watch presented me with another goal, break 10:00 pace. Starting mile 4 (the toughest), I was at a 9:35 pace.

With my new goal in hand, I continued pushing as much as I could on the hills. Walking only the steep sections and coming out of my walk as soon as I could. Still blasting the downhills I clocked mile 4 in a 11:06, my arm reading 12:00. Of course at this point what my arm read was not important. The pace window on my Garmin was and it read 9:58! But I started mile five with confidence. My arm said 10:30 for this one and I knew I could reduce the pace in that last 3/4 of the race if need be. But on the first hill of mile 5 my pace reached 10:05. I was able on the next tenth or so to get it back down to 10:01 but then another hill. Back up to 10:08! Downhill, 10:02. Uphill, 10:08. Finished mile five in 10:28 with my pace reading 10:05. Knowing the end was near, I pushed hard to the finish, running the couple of uphills and really letting go on the downhills. Went through the finishing chute in 57:33 for a 9:55 pace.

This ended up being one of the most satisfying races I've ever done. I'm glad that 10:00 barrier was there because with the hour goal in hand, I might have let up more towards the end. My time would have put me in 2nd place in my age group last year. As it was, I finished 7 out of 11 this year and 25th out of 130 for the race.

Sat, Aug 10 - 12.6 miles

AM: Still Hollow 10k. Three-quarters of a mile warmup. Then the race which is really about 5.8 miles. I took about 7 1/2 minutes off of last year's time. You can read my race report here.

PM: Haw Ridge - 6 miles. No warmup as I had no intention of racing this one. Went out quickly though and felt pretty good through about the first 1.5 miles, then the wheels fell off. Struggled through to finish. And finished right behind a guy about my age, maybe younger, who was pleased with his time. So I guess everything is relative.

A good day.

Wed, Aug 7 - 3.0 miles

With school starting this week, it's been tough for my head to wrap itself around running. Got in a easy, slow (full stomach) 3 mile run today. It seemed like forever since I had run. I only missed two days, so it's a good sign that I've gotten used to running every day, almost anyway.

Week Total - 26.6 miles & the coming week

I had my highest run total all year this week. I had some good runs, twice on my new fav trail at Enterprise South, and a few junk treadmill runs. I also lost a few pounds. All in all not a bad week. Hopefully two planned trail races this Sat, 6 mile Still Hollow in the AM and 7 mile Haw Ridge in the PM, will make hitting 30 miles this week a bit easier. My goals for the races are:

Still Hollow:

1. Beat last year's time of 1:04:55

2. Break 1 hour

Haw Ridge:

Have fun. Race in the AM has taken off all pressure!

End of Week goal weight: 192!

Sunday, Aug. 4 - 6.26 miles

Got back down to Enterprise South trail this AM. Ran with Herb which made it a good change from the normal solo run. 6.26 miles with 590 ft of gain at 11:13 pace. Faster pace than I ran this race last year by a few seconds/mile. Miles splits were 10:53, 11:45, 12:30, 12:16, 10:45, 9:52. 8:27 pace for the last 1/4 mile. Good, solid, long run (my longest this summer). Other than a few downhill stretches, nothing was pushed.

Sat., Aug 3 - 4.2 miles

Ran at Enterprise South park this AM. Was running late so I had to cut short my longer run for about 4 miles. Saw 5 deer. I've yet to run there without seeing at least one. Will push the longer run to Sun, maybe even back at Enterprise.

Friday, Aug. 2 - 2.1 miles

Got in a quick run after school today. Taking the boys to see Smurfs 2 tonight, so I knew a longer run would be out. Plus I am on schedule for 28 miles this week. Anything longer and I run the risk of too big of a jump in mileage. Scheduled 6-7 miler tomorrow morning at Enterprise South trail. Racing there next weekend.

Thursday, Aug 1 - 2.5 miles

Treadmill: run/hike 2.5 in 30:31 (@11:00 PM so a victory to have gotten something in)

July Total - 88.2 miles

A good, not great, new beginning running month for me. Ran pretty consistently but failed to up my long run to anything longer than 5-6 miles. Plus week 2 in July was my biggest week so I failed to increase mileage. But I did get in several trail runs and got my 'benchmark' trail route time down to maybe the quickest ever. Now the big negative; I failed to lose any weight. That has to be the focus in August. Maybe it will be a blessing in disguise, carrying 30 extra lbs for a few additional weeks will make me stronger in the long run, right? Let's go with that!