Eugene Training - Week 6

Like a kid!

I snuck my run in on Friday by taking a half day vacation. I'm very lucky to have a large vacation balance. I stopped off at the Santa Fe Dam before going home. My intent was to keep the pace up, but not as crazy as Thursday's. I could feel the effect on my legs already from that effort. I was able to put in the 6 miles in 49:13. I took the rest of the afternoon as a chance to get the checkbook updated. Now that's some fun use of vacation time!

Saturday morning I was scheduled to meet the CA Cruiser at Rio Java for a jaunt along the Santa Ana River Bike Path. Our group was me, Dorothy, Renee, Kathleen and two of their friends. Dorothy was fresh from her 3rd place AG finish at the Pacific Shoreline Marathon last weekend. John was missing as he had arthroscopic surgery on a torn meniscus in this knee on Thursday after having also run Pacific Shoreline. He is supposed to be out for 6 to 8 weeks, but being a doctor himself, I'm not sure he'll be the most compliant patient. Pacific Shoreline was his 110th marathon.

After having a couple of hard efforts the last couple of days I decided to enjoy an easy start to Saturday's long run and ran with the "girls" for the first three miles. Our pace was nearing 12:00 per mile. I would have made it 4 with them except for having to stop at the bathroom. The girls turned back at that point.

On my own, I dropped down to around 9:00. I ended up having to stop twice more during this run for bowel related issues. I'm not sure what the exact problem was but I was able to run comfortably after the final stop. My route took me east along the trail for 5 miles and back, then west for 4 miles and back for a total of 18. This is the first loooong run of 5 for Eugene. There are 2-20's and 2-22's yet to come.

During the week I had thought about trying to run the last 4 miles at marathon pace, or 8:00 miles. This is something I was borrowing from Jeff. I completely forgot about doing it when I was out there running until I only had one mile left. I tried to kick up the pace, but soon realized that this was probably not the best mile to do so as there are a couple of little whoopty dos in this mile. I probably let that get to me too much, besides my legs were definitely feeling Thursday and Friday's efforts. My pace had stayed steady for the last 15 miles but there was not speeding up to be had. Mile 18 was faster than 17 but just in line with the rest of the run.

The final time for the run was 2:52:39, an overall pace of 9:35, which is just on the upper limit of my recommended long run pace. The pace for the 15 on my own was 9:12.

And finally the kid part. Sunday's forecast called for rain. My schedule called for 5 miles, so you know where I was headed; B-O-N-E-L-L-I. The rain was going to make it all the more fun. I awoke Sunday morning to the sound of rain. I was a happy camper. I made breakfast for the family as usual and planned my run for immediately after church. It was still raining nicely when we walked into church, but by the time we walked out the sky was clearing. I pulled out the 500 mile shoes I had worn at Tecumseh and Otter Creek. I wasn't ready to christen the newer ones. So although I didn't get wet, I did have plenty of mud to play in on the trails. There's something about running in the mud that brings out the kid in me.

Miles for the week: 47

M: Rest
T: 6 miles, speed with 3x400 and 2x800
W: 6 miles, 57:29 (9:35 pace)
H: 6 miles, 45:32 (7:35 pace)
F: 6 miles, 49:13 (8:12 pace)
S: 18 miles, 2:52:39 (9:35 pace)
S: 5 miles, 50:12 (10:02 pace)

I've got a story about a boy and bike, I'll tell you next time.