Athens 10 miler

We just keep getting a good turnout for this run. 5:45 AM at the Athens Rec Center every Sunday for 10 miles at your pace. The chances are that someone else there will be running your pace. Today, we had 9 folks, 10 counting Matt who was a little late because he ran 5 miles before meeting up with us. 10 miles at 5:45 AM is long enough and early enough for most folks, but not Matt!

Because of the tough week I had last week with 62 miles and travel all mixed together, I was content to turn in an easy 10 miles this morning. I was mostly going just to see the people in the group. I had no intention of running hard. But Mike Greene was there. He made it clear early that he had no intention of running easy by pushing the pace near to 8:00 on the third mile. After that, we were running 7:30 and 7:20 miles before I knew it.

The good news is that it really wasn't that hard and I had a lot left in the tank at the end of the run. We were even able to pull off a 2 block sprint at the end. My Garmin tells me I hit a 5:42 pace during that stretch. I'm glad I didn't settle for 9:00 miles today. Thanks for the pull, Mike.

Quick Update

I broke 60 miles for only the second time in my running career this week. And it almost didn't happen!

After the early Wednesday morning run on the MHM course, I left to go visit my sister up in the rural hills of eastern Tennessee about an hour south of Knoxville. Just down the road there is a nice hilly neighborhood. There was a 5 mile loop that I ran twice for a 10 miler. It was a very scenic run with some nice views of Smoky foothills and Tellico Lake and a very nice golf course.

Then, on Friday, I did some hill work in that same neighborhood. There was a steep hill that I remembered from Thursday. It gains about 60 feet in about 0.12 miles. I repeated that 8 times.

Saturday is usually my long run day. I planned to get up and visit that same neighborhood for a 10-15 miler. But when the alarm went off I just didn't have the energy. I already had 50 miles in for the week and just didn't want to run, so I didn't.

On the way home, my friend Scott called me and asked if I wanted to run the new section of the rails to trails in Limestone county. Apparently, the grand opening for this section was today. I had never run any of this trail except for the portion on the Elkmont Rails to Trails 10k, so I wanted to go. I was so glad Scott called! It was a nice 12 mile run from Piney Chapel Road up past Elkmont and back. We mixed in a couple of tempo miles, too. There is also some very pretty scenery on this trail. And to think, I was going to waste this day with no running and be satisfied with 50 miles. Thanks, Scott.

What a great resource this trail is! As I work back into 20+ mile runs later this year, I'll definitely remember this trail.

McKay Hollow Madness Course

That's the elevation profile of the McKay Hollow Madness course. There are about 3500 feet of gain and loss. Nice.

This morning I got in a pre-work run on the McKay Hollow Madness Half Marathon course. There's enough light to see at about 6:30 or so these days. I tried to start then, but was a little late. (Those who know me won't be the least bit surprised.)

I really like this course! There are sections that simply are NOT runnable. Other sections are very fast. Other sections are steep (both up and down!) . It is very scenic. There are rocks, dirt, mud, creeks, roads, and hills. If you're a trail runner, RUN THIS RACE!

The winning time on this race will be slow for a 13.1 miler, maybe over 1:50:00. (It's actually a smidge longer than 13.1, but close enough for a trail run.) I have no idea what to aim for myself!

I was going very easy this morning because today is scheduled to be an easy run, and ran it in 2:40-ish. That's a tough course to do an easy run on! On the descent to McKay Hollow, I turned my right ankle over pretty bad. I had to walk the rest of the way down. I was able to run most of the remaining 6.5 miles. I just couldn't speed on the descents because the ankle was too sore an unstable. It's pretty sore and swollen now, but I'm hoping it will be OK.

Speed work

I met Lanier and Matt at the Athens High walking track at 5:00 AM this morning for some speed work. I really needed to run fast. I haven't run fast in a long time. I did a few tempo runs training for Mount Cheaha, but no fast miles or 800's or 400's. Today, the plan was to do 6x800's at 3:15 or faster with 2:00 rest between repeats.

This was Lanier's first time to do speed work. Nice job Lanier! He hung with us and said he'd join us again next week. And Matt, well, let me just say that he had fresh legs today. He absolutely led the way on all the repeats. Nice job, Matt!

1. 3:05
2. 3:16
3. 3:06
4. 3:05
5. 3:10
6. 2:56!!!!!

That last one was my first sub-3:00 half mile ever. Speed work is fun.

Sunday 10 Miler in Athens

Today was a 13.6 miler for me. I ran the 1.8 miles from my house to the meeting place. Then, we ran one of the Athens 10 mile routes. Finally, I ran the 1.8 miles back home.

Today's run was AWESOME! We had 10 people show up, even on a day when we were missing 3 of our regulars! Glen, Mark, and Matt all had good reasons to miss today, too. Especially Glen with his 58 miles at Delano yesterday. AWESOME JOB GLEN!!! And Mark took absolute revenge on the Huff n Puff on the Bluff course yesterday. 1:15? Awesome comeback from last year, Mark!

The run today started with Madelyn pushing us a little faster than I intended to go. But I'm REALLY glad that she did! We kept all our miles except the first one in the low 8:00's. Then, Mike pushed me a bit and we finished strong with 7:46, 7:35, and 7:14 final miles. Those last faster miles were just downright fun.

That capped off a 30+ mile weekend and gave me a good start to a more reasonable weekly mileage this week.

Another low mileage week

Ugh. I can't let this become a pattern. I missed a 10 miler and a 6 or 7 miler this week. That will put a dent in the total weekly mileage! My week's total was about 42. That's not terrible, but I won't set PRs this year at that weekly mileage. I need to be above 50, and closer to 60. At 60, I think I'll stay in good enough shape to run hard for reasonable distance and perform well at some mid-distance races. And, I'd like to stay in good enough shape that I can just say, "I want to run a marathon next month," and be able to do it.

Today, I did my weekly long run, 16.6 miles. I wanted to go to Monte Sano and run the McKay Hollow Madness course, but that didn't work out. I had obligations this morning and I did NOT want be away from my family for as long as that would have taken this afternoon. So I just ran impromptu around Athens until I was tired. And tired happened sooner than I expected. That's what I get for slacking this week.

I hope I can squeeze in another run on the McKay Hollow course before the race.

Dedication test

I missed yesterday's run. There was something about staying up till 1:00 AM working that made a 5:30 AM run near impossible. I slept plum till 7:00 and rushed to leave at 7:30. The other thing that made the decision to sleep in a little easier was the -2 F temperature with a windchill in the -20's. Running on 4 hours sleep I can do. Running a treadmill on 4 hours sleep is more difficult.

Today, the temp was even colder: -4 F. I finished up work by 12:00, so 5:30 was a little more do-able. So, I hopped on the treadmill for a 10 miler. I ran at about an 8:10 pace (7.4 mph) except for the last two miles which I ran at 7:30 (8 mph). My mileage will be low this week anyway, so I couldn't skip today no matter what. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. At 3.5 miles, I thought I was going to go crazy, but I just let my mind wonder and quit thinking about it and endured. It was funny that two other people came in the small hotel fitness center and ran and left during my run. They're probably more sane than me.

U2 seemed to make the time go by a little faster. But I do know now why 4 miles is generally my treadmill limit.