Break from running

So, while I was on vacation for two weeks I took a break from training.  I missed a total of 17 training days.  I decided to take a break because of some health concerns that needed to get resolved.  It was an issue that didn't prevent me from running but it was just got progressively more annoying and I felt like it might eventually prevent me from running.  So I decided to take some time off now in the middle of the 18 week training program to see if it would heal up before I got into the high mileage weeks and close to race day.  17 days is quite a bit to take off so I hope that I haven't become to fat and out of shape in my time off.  I am toying with the idea of running twice a day for a while to try and make up for some lost time.  We shall see.  So now you know why there is a big gap in my training.

Running Report 8/6/15 and 8/10/15

8/6/15 THURSDAY
Ran three miles untimed.

Week 3 miles
Month 3 miles
Year 630 miles


8/10/15 MONDAY
Ran five miles in a tempo run format going slow at the beginnig, faster in the middle and slwowing back down to the end.  Splits are in half mile intervals.

1. 4.28
2. 4.05
3. 4.11
4. 3.55
5. 3.38
6. 3.20
7. 3.30
8. 3.43
9. 3.51
10. 4.09

Total time 38.56. 

Week 5 miles
Month 8 miles
Year 635 miles

Running Report 7/9/15 -- 7/17/15

7/9/15 THURSDAY
Ran three miles.

1. 3.55
2. 3.43
3. 3.43
4. 3.49
5. 3.46
6. 3.56

Total time of 22.55 average of 7.38 per mile.

Week 24 miles
Month 50 miles
Year 587 miles

7/10/15 FRIDAY
Ran 7 miles in the morning

1. 3.28
2. 3.31
3. 3.20
4. 3.26
5. 3.28
6. 3.24
7. 3.28
8. 3.28
9. 3.27
10. 3.27
11. 3.21
12. 3.21
13. 3.24
14. 3.11

Total time 47.52 approximately 6.50 per mile.

Week 31 miles
Month 57 miles
Year 594 miles


7/11/15 SATURDAY
Ran 10 miles in the morning.

1. 3.39
2. 3.36
3. 3.38
4. 3.40
5. 3.39
6. 3.38
7. 3.39
8. 3.39
9. 3.37
10. 3.39
11. 3.40
12. 3.36
13. 3.39
14. 3.35
15. 3.39
16. 3.36
17. 3.32
18. 3.40
19. 3.34
20. 3.46

Total time 1 hour 12 min. 51 seconds.  Average of 7.17

Week 41 miles
Month 67 miles
Year 604 miles

7/13/15 MONDAY
Did hill repeats today.  I ran up hill between .25 mile and .30 of a mile.  Then I would do a recovery jog and then run down the hill for a total of 4 running up and three runnig down.  Approximately 2 miles total.

Week 2 miles
Month 69 miles
Year 606 miles

7/14/15 TUESDAY
Ran 3 miles today

1. 3.41
2. 3.38
3. 3.45
4. 3.43
5. 3.41
6. 3.49

Total time 22.19 average of 7.26 per mile.

Week 5 miles
Month 72 miles
Year 609 miles

7/15/15 WEDNESDAY
Ran six miles today.

1. 4.13
2. 3.55
3. 3.39
4. 3.34
5. 3.24
6. 3.10
7. 3.22
8. 3.29
9. 3.32
10. 3.39
11. 3.54
12. 3.54

Total time of 43.51 average of 7.19 per mile.  No so focused on the overall average as I was doing one big long process of starting out slow, increasing speed until the middle and then slowing down until the end.  I am happy I was able to accomplish my goal. 

Week 11 miles
Month 78 miles
Year 615 miles

7/16/15 THURSDAY
Ran four miles today as a recovery jog. 

1. 3.50
2. 3.44
3. 3.47
4. 3.47
5. 3.52
6. 3.48
7. 3.51
8. 3.48

Total time of 30.31 average of 7.38 per mile. 

Week 15 miles
Month 82 miles
Year 619 miles

7/17/15 FRIDAY
Ran 8 miles today.

1. 3.31
2. 3.34
3. 3.25
4. 3.33
5. 3.26
6. 3.30
7. 3.30
8. 3.29
9. 3.35
10. 3.35
11. 3.40
12. 3.42
13. 3.34
14. 3.38
15. 3.43
16. 3.37

Total time of 57.10 average of 7.09. 

Week 23 miles
Month 90 miles
Year 627 miles

Running Report 7/6/15 -- 7/8/15

7/6/15 MONDAY
Ran two different times today.
Morning run -- Yasso 800's.  Run half mile and at 3 minutes and slow jog 3 minutes.  Here are the times for the repeats as best as I can remember them:

1. 3.02
2. 2.55
3. 3.01
4. 2.58
5. 2.54

Including jogging in between repeats and a cool down I will tack on another half mile for a total of 3 miles.


THOUGHTS: This was a hard workout!  One that I don't look forward to doing because of the pain involved, one that I am elated to have completed successfully.  The first repeat is always hard because the muscles are cold and tight and the body is complaining about what it is being forced to do.  Repeats 2-4 were difficult.  Repeat 5 was one of those that you store away in your brain for mental ammunition later.  "If I can do that 5th repeat on the Yasso 800's, I can do this....".  The first 200 meters were ok.  The last 200 meters was race pain, going deep into the well.  Opening up what I call a dark room of physical pain.  Letting all the dark pain out, searing into my arms, legs and lungs, and bathing the room with the light of self-mastery.  The next time I visit this room there will be less of the dark pain and more light of residual self-mastery.  At some point I will finally have to move on to the next room because this room is well lit with many lumens of grit and determination. 


Afternoon run -- 3 miles untimed, slow recovery jog.


Day 6 miles
Week 6 miles
Month 32 miles
Year 569 miles


7/7/15 TUESDAY
Ran twice today.
Morning run -- 3 miles

1. 4.03
2. 3.40
3. 3.54
4. 3.44
5. 3.42
6. 3.43

Total time 22.49 average of 7.36 per mile.


Afternoon run -- 3 miles

1. 5.23
2. 4.38
3. 4.49
4. 4.52
5. 4.18
6. 4.37

Total time 28.40 average of 9.36 per mile.


Day 6 miles
Week 12 miles
Month 38 miles
Year 575 miles


7/8/15 WEDNESDAY
Ran twice today.
In the morning 6 miles on the treadmill.
First was a half mile warm up.  Then every quarter mile I would alternate between fast and "recovery" pace.  I am going to try and transition away from saying the word slow.  Here is an approximation of how it went.  I am going to put the "miles per hour" since I can accurately remember that and the minutes per mile pace will be approximations

1. 8.0 mph -- 7.31 min/mile
2. 9.2         -- 6.30
3. 8.0         -- 7.31
4. 9.2         -- 6.30
5. 8.1         -- 7.26
6. 9.3         -- 6.26
7. 8.1         -- 7.26
8. 9.3         -- 6.26
9. 8.2         -- 7.20
10. 9.4         -- 6.20
11. 8.2         -- 7.20
12. 9.4         -- 6.20
13. 8.3         -- 7.13
14. 9.5         -- 6.13
15. 8.8         -- 7.00
16. 10.0       -- 6.00

At this point I did a half mile recovery starting at 7 minutes per mile and slowly backing off the pace ending at like 7.30 at five and a half miles. 


Afternoon run -- 3 miles

1.  4.51
2. 4.47
3. 4.20
4. 4.23
5. 4.23
6. 4.18

Total time 27.05 average of 9.02 minutes per mile. 


Day 9 miles
Week 21 miles
Month 47 miles
Year 584 miles

Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail record attempts and Western States 100 epic finish.

Here is a link to a story about a guy who ran the Pacific Crest Trail.  Very interesting.


Here is another link to Runners World about Scott Jurek attempting to break the fastest known time for hiking the Appalachian Trail. 


Last but not least here is an interview from the website irunfar.com with Gunhild Swanson about her epic finish at the Western States 100 Endurance Run.  She is the first woman over 70 to ever finish the race, and she finished with six seconds to spare on the 30 hour cut off time. 

Running Report 7/3/15 -- 7/4/15

7/3/15 FRIDAY
Ran six miles.  Half mile splitsm except for one mile split:

1. 4.04
2. 3.55
3. 4.01
4. 4.06
5. 4.09
6. 3.55
7. 3.51
8. 7.43
9. 3.51
10. 3.47
11. 3.44

Total time 47.10 average of 7.52 per mile.

Week 21 miles
Month 12 miles
Year 549 miles

7/4/15 SATURDAY
Ran 14 miles.

1. 4.51.
2. 4.18
3. 4.07
4. 4.08
5. 4.14
6. 4.15
7. 4.26
8. 4.21
9. 4.23
10. 4.13
11. 4.18
12. 4.20
13. 4.12
14. 4.11
15. 4.11
16. 4.48
17. 4.16
18. 4.36
19. 4.15
20. 4.14
21. 4.20
22. 4.32
23. 4.22
24. 4.221
25. 4.06
26. 4.04
27. 4.05
28. 4.19

Total time 2 hours on the dot.  Average of about 8.26 per mile.

Week 35 miles
Month 26 miles
Year 563 miles

THOUGHTS:  The pace was much slower than I wanted but at least I was able to do the mileage.  I was very grateful to have cloud cover so I didn't have that direct sunlight hitting me.

Running Report 6/23/15 to 7/2/15

6/23/15 TUESDAY
Ran 3 miles in the morning.  Half mile splits are as follows:

1. 4.00
2. 3.49
3. 3.57
4. 3.59
5. 3.55
6. 3.54

Total time 23.36 average of 7.52 per mile.

Week 6 miles
Month 107 miles
Year 507 miles

6/24/15 WEDNESDAY
Ran approximately 5 miles.  Not all splits were the same distance.  I ran up over a bridge and over it again on the way back again. 

1. 4.26
2. 4.05
3. 2.14
4. 2.53
5. 2.25
6. 2.28
7. 3.25
8. 2.41
9. 4.20
10. 4.57

Week 11 miles
Month 112 miles
Year 512 miles

6/25/15 THURSDAY
Ran three miles in the morning.  Half mile splits are as following:

1. 4.13
2. 3.49
3. 3.47
4. 3.57
5. 3.52
6. 3.52

Total time 23.32 average of 7.51 per mile. 

Week 14 miles
Month 115 miles
Year 515 miles

6/26/15 FRIDAY
Ran 13 miles in the morning.  All splits are half miles except two in the middle are mile splits.

1. 4.07
2. 3.43
3. 3.45
4. 3.47
5. 3.44
6. 3.44
7. 3.47
8. 3.44
9. 3.43
10. 3.42
11. 3.46
12. 7.37
13. 8.08
14. 4.14
15. 4.12
16. 4.10
17. 4.04
18. 4.24
19. 4.35
20. 5.07
21. 4.31
22. 4.35
23. 4.30
24. 4.46

Total 1 hour 46 minutes 34 seconds,  Average of 8 minutes and 12 seconds per mile.

Week 27 miles
Month 128 miles
Year 528 miles

THOUGHTS: This long run turned out to be the run of two halves.  The first half everything was going well.  I was hitting close to a 7.30 pace pretty consistently, and I was even considering going for a 7.20 pace on the way back.  A mile and a half before the turnaround, I the wall for the first time.  Then upon turning around I realized that I had had a tailwind, and things went down from there.  Pretty soon any thought of time went out the window and I just wanted to finish regardless of the time.  I also wanted to finish without going into heat exhaustion or dehydration because I didn't have any fluids with me.  I also was starting to chafe and so that wasn't helping any either.  With about three miles left I go a little crazy and took my shrit off and tucked it in my shorts.  This helped tremendously even though I was hoping that nobody would see my in such a compromising situation.  I totally bombed the second half of the run but at least I was able to finish the mileage. 

6/27/15 SATURDAY

No run.  Between a disapointing run yesterday and no run today, it has been frustrating.  This is the first time I have not run six days a week, sincey probably April, not sure though.  Hopefully this is the only day I miss during my 18 week training cycle for the St. George marathon. 

6/29/15 MONDAY
Ran six miles in the morning.  Half mile splits:

1. 3.31
2. 3.23
3. 3.28
4. 3.32
5. 3.27
6. 3.32
7. 3.33
8. 3.23
9. 3.26
10. 3.27
11. 3.31
12. 3.31

Total time 41.50 average of 6.58 pace.

Week 6 miles
Month 134 miles
Year 534 miles

THOUGHTS: I tried to make up for missing Saturday by doing what I would have done Saturday for today.  I was happy to get the six mile a hair under 7 minute pace.  It was taxing and took self discipline.  However, I did not have to go all out and completely empty the gas tank to finish at that pace so I was very happy about that pace.  This helped me feel a little better that I was not to far off track from missing Saturday's workout.  I will just remember that one workout is not going to make or break a training cycle. 

6/30/15 TUESDAY
Ran three miles in approximately 23.15 which translates to a 7.45 pace.

Week 9 miles
Month 137 miles
Year 537 miles

7/1/15 WEDNESDAY
Ran three miles.

1. 3.48
2. 3.47
3. 3.47
4. 3.39
5. 3.36
6. 3.49

Total time of 22.28 average of 7.29 per mile. 

Week 12 miles
Month 3 miles
Year 540 miles

7/2/15 THURSDAY
Ran three miles this morning.

1. 3.15
2. 3.12
3. 3.17
4. 3.20
5. 3.21
6. 3.11

Total time 19.40 average of 6.33 per mile.

Week 15 miles
Month 6 miles
Year 543 miles

THOUGHTS: Very happy about this pace and time.  Going into it, I thought I would shoot for a 6.40 pace.  After the first split of 3.15 I wasn't sure if I could hold that the whole way but I thought that I would get the 3.15 for the next split.  Usually, after that first half mile I am finally loosed up and moving good and although it felt like I slowed down a little bit, a 3.12 was awesome.  On the next half mile I thought I could slow down a little bit, but it was some a little to slow.  On the turn around I realized I had had a slight tail wind so I would have to work a little extra hard to not drop to many seconds on the next two half miles.  Sure enough I dropped to many seconds, 11 to be exact.  In the last half mile I wanted to maintain the pace and not drop off.  As I got closer to the finish I naturally increased my pace.  I thought I was going to be at a 3.05 or 3.07 so I was surprised to see a 3.11.  Apparently the beginning of that half mile was a little bit slow.  Very happy overall with the time and pace.  I think that has been as fast as I have gone this year.  These runs are very hard and take a lot out of me and I don't look forward to doing them.  However, these runs will make the 7 minute pace seem much more manageable.