This morning's plan was 6x800m at 3:00 each. I did this for the first time about two weeks ago. I came pretty close then with splits of 3:01, 3:01, 3:05, 3:04, 3:08, and 3:05. Again, I did not go to a track. I'm using my Garmin for distance measurement on a fairly flat greenway / recreation path.

I debated even getting out of bed to do these this morning. In fact, when my wife left at about 4am to take my 8-year-old son to the ER, I was pretty sure I would need to stay at home with my two daughters. My son has been fighting an ear infection and the first round of antibiotics had bad side effects. He started a different one last night and woke up at 3am with stomach cramps. We decided he should go in. They returned at about 6am and went back to bed. Some nausea medicine seemed to help. Having been up from about 3 to 4:30am myself, I was still pretty tired, but knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep.

The rec path is about half a mile from home. I did a slow warm-up to get there and then started my first 800 meter run. Running a 6:00 pace for a half mile is tough for me. Even tougher when I'm not fully awake. By number three I was not feeling it and slowed down for a part of it. I debated giving up and jogging back home, but somehow convinced myself to at least finish them all, even if it is off target. I picked it back up to finish that one out. I walked a little between sets to help my recovery. Number four was better, but I had to slow it again on number five. Here are the final times, with the obvious slow downs on three and five: 3:03, 2:55, 3:23, 3:03, 3:32, 3:09. I don't know where that 2:55 came from. My Garmin was actually telling me to slow down.

I'm glad I got the workout in. I guess it didn't turn out as bad as I felt it was going to while I was doing it. Hopefully I can get better at doing the splits more consistently. And maybe I'll try a track one of these times to see if that helps.

My running partner and I hooked up last weekend for a 10 miler that zapped us pretty good due to heat and lack of replenishing. Yesterday we scheduled another ten miles, but started half an hour earlier and picked a route with more tree lined streets and therefore more shade. When I left the house it was 70 degrees; much better than last week's 77. We started off a bit slower too and even had a plan for getting water part way through (a friend's garden hose). I also decided I would actually eat the Gu that I carried last week and never ate.

Although the route was probably a bit hillier, we both felt much better. Just before stopping for water I ate my Gu - lemon sublime, not bad. After drinking and dousing my head with the hose I felt pretty good. The sweat was still rolling pretty strong, but that is to be expected. It worked out nicely that my Garmin beeped for mile 10 a few doors down from a Starbucks.

I decided some water would be nice for my recovery walk home. As the lady filled a cup with ice and water, she asked how far I had run and how fast. Very nice folks in there. Walking home with that ice water made for a most excellent way to cool down.

Mondays have worked out well to be a rest day. Rest days are the best day for me to do a short workout with some weights. I do about 30 minutes of various exercises, usually in a circuit style so the majority of the time is spent doing something. Tomorrow it is back to some speed work. 800s anyone?

I definitely was not a morning person growing up. I remember summers as a teen I would stay up and watch Letterman and sleep the next day until 10 or so. In college that changed. A new fitness facility opened next to my dorm on campus. I quickly learned that afternoons were way too crowded and I preferred to study or hang with friends in the evening. So I started a morning routine: gym, shower, and breakfast all before my 8am accounting class.

Now, almost 20 years later, I wake up without an alarm clock between 5:30 and 6:00. I tend to sleep a little later in the winter, with it being dark until 7. I have come to love the stillness, the low angle of the sun filtering through the trees, the cooler temperatures, and the empty streets. Running in the morning seems to fit better with my family too. My wife and kids are either still asleep or just waking up when I get back and I have my evenings free to be with them.

And so it was this morning. I woke up a little before six and got moving. The temp was nice and there was a light breeze. With needing to do a quick grocery essentials (ack! no milk!) trip before work, I was shorter on time than usual. I managed a 1 mile warm-up, followed by 2 tempo miles, and ended with a 1 mile cool-down. Nothing too crazy, but enough to feel like I got a decent workout.

I noticed a bit of a scratchy throat on Friday night. I knew what was coming because my daughter had a cold for a few days already. Saturday morning's run wasn't bad as I did an easy pace with the local meet up. I hung with New Guy so he wouldn't get lost and because he was going a comfortable pace for me, especially after Friday's tempo run.

I was a bit surprised though that New Guy wore headphones during our run. And the music was loud enough I could hear it too, though I couldn't really identify the songs. No worries, if you like music while you run, great. But I'm not sure he realized how loud he was talking. Probably because of the headphones I didn't ask too many questions so neither of us yelled too much.

Saturday afternoon I got this text from another running buddy: "I'm thinking 10 - 12 miles @ 8:30 pace tomorrow morning. You in or are you a wimp?" Well, I couldn't reply to that with an excuse. "Ain't no wimps here. See you at 7:30," I responded. By 10pm that night my nose had started to get plugged and I was quite tired. But I got up Sunday morning, got ready and took some Sudafed.

The temperature said 77, but the intense sun, humidity and lack of wind made it feel hot and muggy. We kept a steady pace and didn't push it. Neither of us carried water, but around mile 6 we found some sprinklers. A quick break to soak our heads and do our best to swallow some was refreshing. We closed the loop at the 10 mile mark and called it good. Average pace turned out to be 8:21.

Monday is a well-timed rest day. Hopefully I am over the worst part. I plan to do some intervals tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. Stay cool out there everybody.

Today I tried the second "Prequalification Workout" from the Run Less, Run Faster book to see if I am anywhere close to beginning its BQ training plan. After a one mile warm-up, the options were 3 miles in 20:15 (6:45 pace), 5 miles in 35:00 (7:00 pace), or 8 miles in 58:00 (7:15 pace). I recently did a 5k in 20:26, so felt comfortable with that distance and chose the 5 miler. I have not done longer distances at that pace, I usually train at about 7:45 - 8:15.

After a day off yesterday I got up at about 5:40 this morning and got ready. Where I live, to get some distance usually means some hills, unless you want to do the same half mile over and over. I did the one mile warmup, stopped to fix a shoe lace, and took off. The first mile was tough to get the pace steady. Glancing at my Garmin I would see 6:39, 6:44, 7:12, 7:22, etc. I was happy though that the mile split reported a 6:59 average. I got into a steadier pace for the next two miles with splits of 6:55 and 6:54.

I delayed hitting the hills until mile 4. That made staying in a rhythm easier, but made that mile tougher. It turned into my slowest mile, but still averaged at 7:01. The last mile included the return trip down those previous climbs, so came a bit easier. It helped that it was the last mile of faster pace too. Final split: 6:58.

The hardest part was maintaining the pace. I usually run this area much more relaxed and either enjoy the sunrise and views or chat with the group I am running with. I had to be more conscious of my pace, especially on any inclines. I think for longer runs I'll set my Garmin to beep at me if my pace falls below the recommended level. I didn't like having to constantly look at it. I would usually look at it when I though I might be slowing down. In which case I was usually right, so I could just not look and pick it up a little at that point.

Here's to looking forward to the weekend and a possible long run...

Matt's Quest for Boston Qualification
I have all but committed to training for a Boston Qualification time at a fall marathon. I picked up the Run Less, Run Faster book and have been looking at it. I'm not yet completely sold on the concept of running only three days a week. However, the book does have a chapter with specific BQ training plans for each age group and gender. This is basically their normal marathon program with the paces calculated out for you based on your BQ time.

Training to Start the Training
Just before each program is a prequalification list of workouts they recommend you be able to do before starting the program. For me, these looked like an interesting running fitness test. It says that if you can do each of these three workouts within one week, you should be ready to start the training. There were distance options within each workout, but one set looks like the following:
Workout 1 - 6 x 800m @ 2:58 mins each; 400m recovery jog
Workout 2 - 1 mile warmup; 5 miles in 35 minutes
Workout 3 - 15 miles @ 7:50/mile average.
Building up to these may just become my training goal before starting the actual program.

Workout 1 - Ouch
This morning I attempted Workout 1. I programmed my Garmin to beep at the half mile (800m) repeats and to stay at a pace between 5:50 and 6:10. It would also beep at me if I was too fast or too slow (different beep tones for each along with an on-screen note: "Speed Up!"). And it would do a beeping countdown when I approached the end of each repeat and each recovery. Although I was able to run at that pace, it was difficult to hold it steady and to hold it for that distance. I did pretty well on the first three, keeping it around 6:00. But the last three seemed to hover closer to 6:20 - 6:30. The recovery jogs were around the 8 minute mark. Hopefully these will get a bit easier and I'll see some improvement over the next few weeks.

Moving On...
I hope to give Workout 2 a try later this week, but I will need to build up my mileage a bit more before attempting the 15 miler for Workout 3. Maybe a ten miler this weekend will be on the agenda.

Setting the Scene
Tuesdays and Thursday nights and Saturday mornings I often participate in group runs. Our group actually has two back-to-back times, the first session being for those who want extra mileage at a faster pace. I like to call them the early and late services. The early usually consists of me and 2 to 3 other guys.

Enter the First Timer
A new guy was there when I arrived for the first run last night. In the flash of one second, my first observations are made as I crossed the parking lot, "He is barefoot and has a dog; the normal chit chat won't be so normal tonight." Introductions... idle chat... and we're off, but only after barefoot guy ditches the shirt first.

Hey, Us Regulars Are Open Minded
We asked barefoot guy about his running. He has been running sans shoes for about a year and half and usually runs on some skin friendly trails. He tells us he loves to run every day but he was having many pains - knees, shins, ankles, etc. Once he started running barefoot, the pain went away. As he bounced off the balls of his feet, with his heel not really even touching the ground, he gave us a bit of a sales pitch, but not in a pushy way. Barefoot running lets him run farther with less fatigue, feel more connected with the trail, and run with minimal gear. We talked about the Born to Run book and the Vibram Five Fingers shoes. The dog offered no comment, but seemed pretty comfortable on our 4.5 mile loop.

The Asphalt Is At Fault
We reach the end of our loop and barefoot guy is checking out the loss of skin and blisters on his feet. Because he normally runs on trails, he doesn't have much callous. He was told what the route consisted of before we started. He wasn't too bad off mainly because he was able to stick to the strip of grass between the curb and sidewalk for a lot of the run.

Isn't It Ironic, Don't Ya Think?
On my short run back home I realized it was a bit ironic that the guy pitching the benefits of barefoot running and being injury free was the only one with injuries at the end of the run. It was interesting to watch him run and talk to him. Diversity is a good thing. I actually wouldn't mind trying it sometime, but I'm not sure about doing it on the streets. I've seen too many pieces of broken glass, stray screws and other dangers I'd rather not have embedded in my foot.

Just a couple of pictures from the Birkdale 5k I did back on the 15th.

About one-tenth of a mile after the start.

A few feet after that, cropped and enlarged.

And the finish.

I was in downtown Raliegh for a conference this past weekend. Whenever I am out of town I like to get a run or two in. Running in new places is a nice change and a great way to see the area. Using Garmin Connect, I found some greenways that looked promising. One was close enough to my hotel that I could leave from there.

And so I did on Saturday morning. The picture I had in my mind of where to pick up the Walnut Creek Trail turned out a bit different, but I found it. And less than 100 yards into it there was a bicycle and sleeping bag with a person sleeping on the side of the path. I changed my stride to step as lightly and quietly as possibe, went wide to the opposite side of the path and kept on going. The path was mostly through a forested area with a few street crossings. One crossing was a longish tunnel. Long enough that a good section of it was too dark to see the ground. Looking ahead to the light at the end, I could see a reflection on the ground. That meant water. Luckily, it was not deep, but it was accompanied by a bit of mud. Short, careful steps and I was out safely.

Instead of doing an out and back as originally planned, I turned back toward downtown and felt my way to the downtown hotel (tall buildings are easy to spot). Doing so took me through an area or two that may have not been the safest parts of town. What better motivation to pick up the pace for the last mile or two. After almost 7 miles, the breakfast buffet in the restaurant at the top of the hotel hit the spot.

Sunday morning I opted for a short drive to Lake Johnson that has a trail around it. Half of it was a paved path and half was a mixture of single track and wider unpaved trails. This was a very nice location with the only threat being a goose guarding her young as I ran past. I especially enjoyed the last mile or so which was on the wide, unpaved section. It was a nice soft surface with a beautiful tree branches canopy. I felt good and cruised through that before heading back to the hotel. It was about 4.5 miles all the way around. If I had had more time, a second go around would have been in order.

Happy Running!