May 2008 Training:

Apr 28th - May 4th:

• Monday - 0 mi
• Tuesday - 2 mi w/ Nathan @ Parkway North track.  Worked 10-6 and then met him around 7:30ish, ran 8 laps on the track and felt surprisingly good.  Starting to wonder if perhaps running on the path at Creve Coeur is one reason my knee is sore at times - either way, we maintained an 8:20 pace so that felt good.  I plan on making it a common trend to get more shorter stuff in and see how the knee holds up...
• Wednesday - 1.3 mi @ work in Chesterfield.  Decided to go out for a run during my lunch break (fig only 10-15min run in the 30min that I get...) plus it felt soooo nice out I couldn't pass this opportunity up.  I ran a little loop around the back of the store in just under 11min, no garmin but went back later to map it out online.  8:18avg pace.  Felt decent - pavement hurt a little more than the track did the day before, but hey - this is the first time I ran back to back days in a LONG time!  The best thing is the knee doesn't hurt so bad afterwards, always a good sign.  Felt good to just get away too for a little while, I may make this more common in the future on some days - especially once I am healthy I should be able to get 2 laps in maybe in 15-20min.
• Thursday - 1.45 mi, ran at a park down near Fenton.  Short, half-mile out paved path along the river.  Great perhaps for some short repeats or something to get off the track later on down the road, but today is was sufficient for me as I ran just shy of 12min and I figured I was running roughly the same pace as yesterday.
• Friday - 0 mi, wear test shoes
• Saturday - 6.2 mi w/ Serena @ MHS - met Serena at school to run warm-up with her (3.2mi) and then she did her drills and strides.  After that I joined her on another easy 3 miler out and back along Kehrs Mill towards Clayton.  For the most part it wasn't too bad, but I was hurtin' towards the end with the knee and had to watch it a little on the downhill back to school.  We only averaged around 7min mile pace - that kicked my butt!  Serena was in town as she had to fly out to CA for a 10K track race tomorrow.  Later tonight though my knee was really hurting and it bugged me while driving which was not a good sign...begin my days off from running...
• Sunday - 0 mi - Mario Kart Wii party later that night with co-workers.  Serena ran a 32:47 and took first in her heat of the 10K!  That should qualify her for the Olympic Trials in the 10K this summer - awesome! 
  • Weekly Total - 10.95 miles

May 5th - May 11th:

• Monday - 0 mi
• Tuesday - 0 mi
• Wednesday - 0 mi
• Thursday - 0 mi
• Friday - 0 mi, more wear test shoes
• Saturday - 0 mi, bought the new garmin 405!  :)
• Sunday - 0 mi, Mother's Day
  • Weekly Total - 0 mi - feels nice

May 12th - May 18th:

• Monday - 0 mi
• Tuesday - 0 mi, 10 days in a row!
• Wednesday - 2.1 mi @ Castlewood - Feder in the morning which felt great, and then stopped by my parents place and debated with going for a little jaunt at Castlewood before work.  Ran for a mile on the trails, then walked .25mi, and ran the last 1.1 back to the car.  Ran the short loop down by the beach.  Trail wasn't in the best condition with all the storms and rain we have had as trees were down and it was fairly muddy in several spots.  Overall though the knee felt great!  Afterwards I did some drills in the grass to see how that felt and everything was good except for doing the fire hydrants, my left leg could not do those for the life of me!  After work I stopped by MHS to use the ice bath and sat in that up to the stomach to get the hips submerged, this helped a lot!
• Thursday - 0 mi, knee felt much better this morning then in past days after I had run, good sign.
• Friday - 2.6 mi @ Katy Trail after work - from Frontier Park I ran north for 1.3mi (once I hit a road crossing I stopped running).  I continued north walking till I hit marker 038 then turned back and walked back to the road.  Resumed running back 1.3mi this time though picking it up just a little to feel a quicker pace.  Overall on the run I felt great!  Weather was awesome which was a plus, warm and sunny.  I did drills again in the grass at the park which went much better than Wednesday and the left leg could do the fire hydrants much easier - still not as fast as my right leg, but more than Wednesday.  I then decided to try some strides on the trail to see how the knee felt while running at a faster leg turnover - to my surprise it actually felt better than the normal run!  And it felt great to go fast again.  I only did 3 strides though and then stretched afterwards.  I decided to go and drive all the way back out to MHS for another ice bath which I sat in to make sure things were good for tomorrow.
• Saturday - 5.1 mi @ Arnold Park - ran a 5K race for "fun".  Awoke this morning to see how the knee felt, and if it was bad I would scrap this idea of mine.  Again, it felt great upon waking and didn't hurt like it normally would after a run like yesterday.  I got there and did my warm-up around the park - just some easy running for about a mile or so, then walked a little bit, and then ran some more.  I debated between running the race in my trainers or wear racing flats...the racing flats won out.  Once I slipped those on, it was game time.  I also decided to run with my iPod - I have never run a race wearing something like that so I figured this would help keep my mind at ease and just run relaxed and not try and go all out.  My goal for today was to maybe run in the 19 minutes, 18 minutes if it was a good day, so by no means was I looking to run in the 15's or 16's.  When the race started I stayed back and just easily ran into it while a good group took it out fast.  I figured most would drop back as there wasn't really any super fast guys that I knew of other than one, and he was the leader who took it out a little quick.  By about a half mile though I found myself in 2nd and debated on running down the leader - then thought better and figured I would just run for 2nd and maintain my pace, which felt very comfortable and relaxed.  I had my tunes going so I just ran along listening to those.  Another guy was sitting behind me for awhile and then moved ahead just before the mile mark so I fell in behind him for awhile as we moved through some wind patches.  We had to cross some train tracks which included the only hill of the course, so I took it easy on the downhill and then along the next straight away I moved past him and regained 2nd.  It would stay that way the rest of the race.  Our first out and back turn made me question how the knee would hold as it was a sharp left and my left knee was the issue - I decided to slow to a walk basically as I took that turn and then ran again afterwards, of which showed me that I had built a small gap on the 3rd place guy now.  I repeated this for the next hair-pin turn and saw the gap grew a little more.  The leader by this point was further ahead and no way was I going to risk injury in trying to run him down, besides I was at my limit cardio wise.  After about halfway I think I began to feel the burn, and was glad the race was only 5K!  My fitness for this distance was definitely lacking with the minimal training I have had.  As I approached the finish the clock read 16min something....wow!  I was surprised, I knew that it would be 17min something by the time I crossed, but I wasn't thinking I would be under 18min, let along 19min for a 5K at this point!  I was pumped.  I finished it in 17:44 - by no means a fast or good time for me, and over a minute slower than last year at this race - but all 3 mile splits were under 6min pace, something I had not done since the marathon!  The knee didn't bother me at all in the race either which was a welcome.  I did the same thing as my warm-up for my cool-down and then hung around for awards before taking off to watch a HS track meet.  Good day all around, and the knee held up find the rest of the day!  :)  This by far was a good mental run for me if anything.
• Sunday - 0 mi, knee felt really good though through out the day...just some minor stiffness in the calves which was to be expected, but I decided against running anyway.
  • Weekly Total - 9.8 miles, caught the running bug again!

May 19th - May 25th:

• Monday - 0 mi
• Tuesday - 3.6 mi @ Katy Trail w/ AJ - ran with AJ on the trail after work, so it was dark.  Took it nice and easy as we ran from Frontier towards the Arena for 1.8mi, then walked .35mi and ran the final 1.8mi back - negative split the run but it was nice and slow.  Knee felt pretty decent the whole way, and I did drills afterwards.
• Wednesday - 0 mi, ice bath at MHS after work though which felt nice
• Thursday - 0 mi, off day and enjoyed it!  :)
• Friday - 2.53 mi @ Katy Trail before work - ran north from Frontier Park till the first road crossing and headed back (roughly 1.26mi).  This was the first run I have done without stopping to walk, if you exclude that 5K last Saturday of course.  Legs felt great too, and first road run again under 7min avg!
          7:29, 6:44, 3:28 (6:31pace) = 6:59 avg
• Saturday - 4.9 mi @ Katy Trail w/ AJ after work - ran same loop as Friday (north from Frontier Park) but this time went out about 2.45mi to the end of the gravel path and turned back, attempting to see how the longer run felt.  Went pretty good, started rough but that was just from working all day and going straight to running...needed a little shake out mile or two.  Drills afterwards before heading home for dinner and some Rockstar with AJ.  Good weather too -
          7:50, 7:17, 6:55, 6:43, 5:55 (6:35pace) = 7:04 avg
• Sunday - 5.5 mi @ Creve Coeur Lake after work, great day!  Started off crazy with storms and lots of rain, but by 5pm it was nice and sunny out so I opted to try a loop at Creve Coeur and see how the legs hold up.  Ran counter-clockwise from Sailboat Cove and just let the legs go and feel their way - worked out well this time.  Negative split the run again as I have the last several runs I've done since taking the time off.  The fatigue kind of kicked in a little towards the end, but nothing terrible - just haven't done many long stuff like this lately, but I plan on taking Monday and maybe Tuesday off to let the body rest up some and then start back with some shorter stuff again.  Drills after the run.  Finally another run under 7min avg (6:32 for the entire run) -
          7:07, 6:41, 6:36, 6:17, 6:10, 3:07 = 6:32 avg
  • Weekly Total - 16.53 miles - legs feeling good again!  Still just running for fun right now though, nothing serious.....

May 26th - June 1st:  Memorial Day Monday

• Monday - 0 mi, rest day for the legs
• Tuesday - 0 mi, another rest day
• Wednesday - 5 mi @ Al Foster trail - Saw Feder this morning 8:30, things went very well and I am done setting up appointments for now...which is great!  Afterwards I headed over to the Al Foster trail at Glencoe and ran the 2.5mi out to Sherman Beach and back.  First time I had been back to this trail after all the flooding we had last month - it wasn't bad, but the first half mile into the run alongside the mini train tracks I would have to say had some pretty crappy footing considering this trail used to be flat and smooth like the Katy Trail, a lot of the gravel had been washed away so now there were a few pot holes here and there.  I felt good overall though and just cruised to the music.  When I was finished I did some drills and 4 strides along the road before heading off.  Good run!
          7:32, 6:53, 6:42, 6:24, 6:09 = 6:44 avg
• Thursday - 5.7 mi @ Forest Park - great day!  Finally had an off day from work where the weather was nice.  Decided to try my luck on the semi-hilly loop around Forest Park this afternoon.  Started at the visitor center and ran clock-wise starting nice and easy.  Felt good overall, but could feel the heat towards the end a little I think, other than that everything was good.  I did drills and then 4 strides in the parking lot afterwards before heading back home.
          7:13, 6:45, 6:25, 6:32, 6:20, 4:28 (6:21pace) = 6:37 avg
• Friday - 0 mi, rest day - hot and humid!
• Saturday - 4.32 mi @ MHS - Speicher loop in the afternoon.  Wanted to use the ice bath for after the run so just ran from school down Country Ridge.  Intention was to just go to Baxter and back for just over 3.5mi, but decided last minute to go ahead and run the loop instead, felt pretty good.  It was rather hot, and to my dismay the section by the pond along Old Clarkson was not as shady - I felt a little exhausted from the heat there, but everything else felt fine.  Back at school I went down on what is left of the track (they are in the process of putting in a new one FINALLY) and did drills and 4 strides.  After that was all done it was time for the ice bath which was a definite welcome out of the heat!  :)
          7:11, 6:38, 6:38, 6:48, 2:03 (6:23pace) = 6:47 avg
• Sunday - 5.16 mi @ Forest Park - Make Tracks for the Zoo 5K race.  Went to go pace AJ for a sub 18min run, and the goal was to start off around 5:40 first mile, which we hit just a few seconds fast - perfect.  After that I tried to get him to throw just a small surge to close a gap on 2 runners ahead who were running our same pace, that worked for a little while but then he started to fade and drop back.  I pulled out to the side to slow up and be closer to him, but the 2nd mile would not be a pretty one.  Runners passed us left and right as we slowed up our overall pace.  At 2 miles, it would be a long shot to get that sub 18min if he didn't start picking it back up - he threw in a nice surge but it was short lived.  After that one, he really dropped back and at this point in the race it was over for the sub 18min with him...so I began to pick up my own pace and started to pick off runners left and right that had passed us earlier, now most of them were exhausted and/or slowing down, I felt great and had lots left.  Not sure what my overall place was (maybe top 10?  Someone thinks it was around 5th maybe or 7th...?) but I did close the gap considerably on the chase pack as I began to spot several people that I remembered from the mile mark, I did finish 2nd in my age group surprisingly with my oh so stellar time of 18 flat (chip time of course).  Wow - I don't think I have run that sort of time since when I began running as a sophomore in high school....so that was kind of sad, but the positives are I felt great and my first and last miles were right on, the slow one was more not wanting to leave AJ.  My heels though bug me a bit afterwards, but the knee feels good.  Mile warm up and cool down, mixed with walking.
          5:34, 6:03, 5:33, 0:50 (5:18pace) = 5:42 avg (3.16mi)
  • Weekly Total - 20.18 miles