March 2009 Training
 

February 23rd - March 1st:

• Mon - 0 mi, took the day off working 10-8
• Tue - 14.39 mi | 9.37mi w/ Serena's FARTLEK, then 5.02mi @ SC Social Run
  • 7:22, 7:01, 6:07, 5:39, 6:20, 6:12, 6:07, 7:05, 7:18, 2:44(7:30pace) splits - Joined Serena for her workout which consisted of 15min warm-up / 10 x 2 min on with 1 min rest / 15min cool down.  We ran from her place, and due to traffic went 17min for the warm-up before starting, and I just left the garmin going on mile splits and not actual splits of our workout.  The first two she took them pretty fast which I definitely could feel it, but then we finally established a pace for each one after.  When we finished the last surge we split 7.26mi overall, and going back over the splits on my computer with the garmin we were covering anywhere between .31mi to .37mi for each 2min segment, and around .12mi to .17mi for each 1min, then we just continued easy running back to her place along Manchester road.  Decent weather, but dropped 10 degrees in the time it took me to drive from 141 to her place!   Was 55 but then was 45-47 degrees during the run. 
  • 7:14, 6:57, 6:40, 6:22, 6:28, 0:09(6:38pace) splits - Decided to go ahead and run at the social run in Saint Charles that evening, and started off with AJ, Josh and Jeff for the first half mile till Jeff took off so I went with him and then it was just the two of us the rest of the run talking.  Felt good.  Got drinks later
• Wed - 5.08 mi @ Metro Link to Francis Park loop
  • 7:08, 6:34, 6:25, 6:28, 6:19, 0:24(6:11pace) splits - very easy run before work, basically a shakeout.  Felt a little sluggish which I figured was more from yesterday's two runs than anything else.  Ran up to Metro Link station via the paved path and back down the other side on the gravel one before heading over to Francis Park for 2 loops in the grass and then back to the apt the basic way.  Relaxing run overall and great weather!  Warming up...
• Thu - 15.15 mi | 8.29mi w/ Serena TEMPO, followed by 1.86mi trail run, then Social Run
  • Serena had a 45min tempo run where we ran out along the paved and gravel paths by Glencoe Mini Train Station.  We took the first 5min as a warm-up before starting the 45min.  I had her talking the whole time till perhaps the final 2 miles or so when it was just me talking, but overall I felt great - pretty much like a normal run which is good.  Serena ran very well and kept things nice and even so she is getting stronger each week now - our 6:12 split should have probably been more closer to 6:00 but that involved a brief slow down with our turn around to head back, otherwise the rest felt smooth.  Weather was awesome as it got sunny towards the end and in the 60s!  Only got 1:14 in for a cool down as she was pressed for time, so after she left I chose to run this dirt trail nearby that said it was 2 miles (garmin had it short)
        5:01(7:10pace) warm-up @ .70 mi
        6:15, 5:58, 5:54, 6:12, 5:54, 6:02, 5:57, 2:44(6:03pace) tempo @ 7.45 mi
        1:14(9:12pace) cool down @ .14 mi
  • 8:36, 5:44(6:42pace) splits - Ran the Turkey Ridge Trail from the parking lot as my cool down.  Nice trail - first .5mi is all up hill and lots of zig-zags, then you get .25mi downhill which is great footing, then another .25mi uphill.  From the mile mark back to the start is basically all downhill but thankfully very little to no zig-zagging.  Weather was perfect on this as clear skies and sunny, made for a very cool trail run!  Posted sign says it is 2 miles but garmin had it 1.86 miles.
  • Planning on running the Social Run again tonight with Serena for an easy 5 miler...
• Fri - 5.16 mi @ MHS Library loop
  • 8:29, 8:00, 7:11, 7:11, 7:13, 1:10(7:13pace) splits - easy run w/ Nick, Scott and Jake from school - Jake ran with us for first 2 miles before splitting off then Nick, Scott and I continued on.  Worked 10-2 then 6-8 so ran between work.  Also ran .5mi before plus drills.
• Sat - 5 mi @ Fenton Social Run
  • 7:10, 6:13, 6:14, 5:58, 5:45 splits - Ran loop in reverse, liked this route better.  Wore the iPod on this and just cruised along, felt good.
• Sun - 12 mi @ Creve Coeur Lake w/ Billy and Jeff
  • 7:15, 6:48, 6:39, 6:46, 6:37, 6:34, 6:22, 6:16, 6:13, 6:17, 6:21, 6:16 splits - ran before work, 2 loops around the park.  Billy ran 1 loop with us, then it was just Jeff and I the second loop.  Felt good, very windy on the final 2-3 miles of each loop.
  • Weekly Total - 56.77 miles

March 2nd - March 8th: Track season starts Monday

• Mon - 0 mi, rest
• Tue - 7.01 mi @ SC Social Run
  • 6:45, 6:28 splits - 2mi warm-up run and drills before social run.  Ran the first mile out and back along course
  • 6:31, 6:31, 6:05, 5:59, 5:45 splits - Social run with Jeff, felt good as we talked whole time.  Nice weather, windy
• Wed - 8 mi @ Chubb - MUDDY!!!
  • 7:29, 6:59, 7:08, 8:06, 7:21, 7:46, 7:47, 7:30 splits - easy recovery run basically on the trails.  Hoped they'd be dry and looked that way but once you put the foot down it was muddy as hell, so not a very good recovery run, plus not to mention I hadn't really eaten much since before track practice the day before I was running on empty and it showed...miserable run the final 30 minutes.  Ran this before work, sunny and nice out at least
• Thu - 14.37 mi | 9.12mi w/ Serena @ Al Foster TEMPO, then 5.25mi @ social run in evening w/ Serena and Billy
  • 50min tempo run w/ Serena again on the trails, out and back.  Great weather as it was 68 or so, but very windy.  Ran this early afternoon before track practice.  First 5min we ran as a warm-up then got into the workout, and got about 1:44 for cool down before we hit the cars.  Tried to take this one a little slower pace wise than the previous week, didn't really happen, but she ran this one much better I thought and had a better finish
    • 5:01(7:11pace) warm-up @ .70mi
    • 6:16, 6:09, 6:09, 6:11, 6:07, 5:57, 5:55, 5:53, 1:17(5:54pace) @ 8.22mi
    • 1:44(8:44pace) cool down @ .20mi
  • 7:06, 6:33, 6:34, 6:32, 6:35, 1:39(6:34pace) splits - easy recovery run w/ Billy and Serena at the social run, finished the 5mi around 33:40 or so but Serena wanted to get in 35min so I continued with her.  Felt good.
• Fri - 2.5 mi @ MHS
  • 7:00, 6:35, 3:09(6:19pace) splits - easy run before practice plus drills.  Originally planned on taking day off but couldn't pass up 86 degree weather!  Felt hot out for once, practice though was cooler as cloud cover moved in.
• Sat - 5 mi @ FE Social Run
  • 7:01, 6:07, 6:10, 5:55, 5:53 splits - ran this reverse again, a little faster than previous week but felt slower which is good.  Ran with the iPod again and we had a bunch of new faces out which was great!  Amazing what 70 degrees at 7am can do!
• Sun - 15.63 mi @ Creve Coeur w/ Serena, PROGRESSIVE RUN
  • Serena had 100min progressive run this week so joined her again with the garmin to help pace her.  Weather was awesome, very windy in some spots so tried to avoid that if possible, but from mile 12 to 13 was directly into the wind which slowed us greatly, other than that the rest of it was good.  We had to make two pit stops along the way, she at mile 5 and myself at 12.75, but good other than that.  This one I could feel the need for some sort of gel or something since we went 1:40:00, was dragging towards the end despite the legs moving along.  The final 2 miles we took turns leading and pushing the pace which was helpful.  Once we finished all hell broke loose with the storms and it poured like crazy, with a little bit of hail and crazy winds....then in a few minutes it was sunny and clear skies.  Weird.
    • 7:42, 7:13, 6:58, 6:41, 6:34, 6:39, 6:37, 6:24, 6:18, 6:08, 5:52, 5:48, 6:01, 5:55, 5:32, 3:33(5:38pace) splits
      • 5 mile splits were perfect:  35:08, 32:06, 29:08
  • Weekly Total - 52.51 miles

March 9th - March 15th: 

• Mon - 5.24 mi @ apt
  • 7:20, 6:54, 6:39, 6:27, 6:31, 1:36(6:35pace) splits - easy shake-out run after working 10-8 and watching Hero's till 9, so ran around 10pm from the apt, very easy run to loosen the legs from today and yesterday.
• Tue - 6.4 mi @ MHS w/ Serena after practice
  • 7:39, 7:15, 7:14, 7:09, 6:55, 6:52, 2:39(6:33pace) splits - ran a modified YMCA loop as she only needed about 40-45min easy run, we took this relatively relaxed.  On the way back with about 2mi left or so was when the storm hit and it just down poured like crazy and the temps really dropped - we were entirely drenched at this point for the rest of the run.
• Wed - 0 mi - rest day
• Thu - 15.77 mi | 10.07mi AM w/ Serena on TEMPO run, 5.7mi PM w/ Serena easy from MHS
  • Serena had a 55min tempo run this week so we ran the usual - did a short warmup and then eased our way into the tempo - paces were a bit slower than previous ones, but on the whole this one actually went much better I thought for her, she was able to continue carrying on a conversation with me for the most part.
    • 5:01(7:19pace) warm-up @ .69mi
    • 6:28, 6:19, 6:18, 6:13, 6:11, 6:04, 5:55, 5:52, 5:34(5:49pace) tempo @ 8.96mi
    • 3:13(7:38pace) cool down @ .42mi
  • After track practice ran a Highcroft loop from school w/ Serena.  Legs felt a bit weird at the start, mainly from my demos in practice but loosened up as we went.  After we finished I did 4x150m strides on the track.
    • 7:23, 7:03, 6:56, 6:54, 6:55, 4:47(6:50pace)
• Fri - 8.14 mi @ Queeny
  • 7:05, 6:23, 6:10, 6:16, 6:22, 6:17, 6:15, 6:17, 0:51(6:13pace) splits - easy run twice around the perimeter of the park before work - great weather!  Pre-race run basically just cruising along, legs felt good.
• Sat - 9 mi | ST. PAT's 5M RACE = 25:51, 12th overall / 9th age group
  • 5:02, 5:08, 5:13, 5:27, 4:55 splits - finished 1 second off my PR from last fall, so really happy that I got under 26min again which was mainly what I had hoped to run.  Not sure where the speed came from in that final mile but something clicked.  Went out with the leaders for the first mile just to see really how long I could hold but as this was my first race back from the marathon I definitely felt a bit rusty, or the cobwebs in the legs, so as one can see in the splits I faded.  Thankfully there was a tight pack of us all together so I tried to stick with as many of those guys as possible and keep pushing.  Overall not a bad race, especially since I ran this back in 2007 for 10th and was 26:23 or so...this year was a lot more loaded with 13 guys under 26min, 2 under 25min.  Got in about 3mi warm-up and then roughly a mile cool down, hung around a little bit before taking off to work 12-5 in Fenton that afternoon. 
• Sun - 15 mi @ Creve Coeur Lake to Katy Trail w/ Serena
  • 7:38, 7:10, 7:01, 7:05, 7:08, 6:57, 6:58, 6:57, 6:53, 6:56, 7:06, 6:57, 6:51, 6:44, 633 splits - Serena had a long run of 1hr 45min and no progressive run today, which was good.  Neither one of us was in the mood for one of those, as I was using this as a post-race recovery run...so we took it easy and not press the pace really.  Started at the soccer fields and then headed out to the Katy Trail and went West towards Greens Bottoms before we turned around and headed back.  Weather was awesome and we chatted the whole way.  I took my water bottle with me just in case since it was to be a longer run and the last progressive run I did with her for 1hr 40min I was really feeling it not having anything with me.  Good day
  • Weekly Total - 59.55 miles

March 16th - March 22nd:  HS Spring Break

• Mon - 5.5 mi from St. Joseph Church
  • 7:22, 6:54, 6:41, 6:32, 6:24, 3:07(6:14pace) splits - nice and easy run after working 10-8 back on my old stompin' grounds around Manchester/Ballwin area, felt great.  Weather was nice out as well.
• Tue - 3 mi w/ Serena on cool down - BAD RUN!
  • After dinner last night my stomach acted funny, and waking up today and working I felt nausea and the stomach just didn't feel right.  By track practice I had felt a little better after going to Urgent Care, and went through practice fine.  Serena ran a workout during that time and as we all finished she asked if we would run a cool down with her (20-25min) easy so we joined.  My athlete only went 10min till his dad came to pick him up and then it was just Serena and I, and it became a huge struggle to finish that off as we ran a Dunhill loop.  I really wanted to just walk as I felt entirely drained and dehydrated (despite drinking plenty of water on a daily basis) by the time we finished I was pale and dizzy.  I just sat in the parking lot for almost an hour before I felt comfortable to drive home and once there I just went to bed for 12 hours...a marathon feels 10x better than the way I felt today.  This sucks...guess my body wants some down time.
• Wed - 0 mi - resting, still feeling the same
• Thu - 0 mi - resting...some improvement
• Fri - 0 mi, more rest, feeling better
• Sat - 6.41 mi | 5mi AM @ the Social Run then extra 1.41mi at nearby park exploring paved trail
  • Took it easy on the social run and ran with the group this morning, felt much better than Tuesday's run as I avg 6:49mi pace.  On the drive home a paved trail caught my eye near Gravois so I drove around looking for that park and then ran one loop around the path to see how long it was - roughly a 2K loop if you take out the little out and back section, not bad.  Might be handy for workouts or some tempo runs down the road.  The out and back section goes under Gravois which is nice as that opens it up for some longer road runs from the park back out towards Watson Road. 
• Sun - 10.08 mi @ Grant's Trail before work easy
  • 6:12, 6:01, 6:03, 5:51, 5:51, 5:53, 5:50, 5:56, 5:59, 5:54, 0:25(5:37pace) splits - relaxed easy run just listening to the ipod, felt very good.  I glanced at the watch just before the 5 mile mark and saw what time I was at and what pace that came to be...so I figured why not just keep rolling along and see what happens as it didn't feel that fast, plus I made some games as I used some rollerbladers and slow bikers as pacers which was fun.  Definitely seems that the sickness from Tuesday is gone as no problems there - I think I needed this sort of run more for a mental stand point.  Weather was awesome...still don't like Grant's Trail though, too boring, I like to only run this if I am doing a loop and it is part of it.  Worked 1-5 afterwards.
  • Weekly Total - 24.99 miles

March 23rd - March 29th:

• Mon - 0 mi
• Tue - 8 mi @ MHS - Target loop back via Manchester/Clarkson
  • 6:57, 6:30, 6:10, 5:58, 6:14, 6:02, 5:55, 6:09 splits - felt good, took it easy and enjoyed the weather.  Had rained most of the day but by the time practice was over it was perfect out with the sun shining.  Great time for a run!
• Wed - 5.56 mi @ Chubb Trail before work
  • 8:06, 8:31, 7:17, 6:57, 6:34, 3:39(6:35pace) splits - tried out my new trail shoes, the Paragons and ran the Chubb trail in West Tyson, just did the loop there which came out to be roughly 3.7mi - the rest I added on by running out to Route 66 park and back then off to work.  Easy running
• Thu - 10.37 mi @ Green Rock Trail from Six Flags
  • 9:03, 8:10, 7:34, 7:37, 7:50, 7:31, 8:09, 7:17, 7:30, 7:52, 2:33(6:54pace) splits - easy trail run on Green Rock starting at the south trail head near Six Flags, ran to Greensfelder Park and did a loop in there before heading back.  Trails were great despite the rain Tuesday.  Got a tiny blister from the shoes simply since I hadn't really run long like this yet.  Nice and rolling hills!
• Fri - 0 mi, track meet and work
• Sat - 0 mi, miserable day and wimped out from standing 3 hrs in cold rain and wind
• Sun - 11.23 mi @ CHFF Woodchip Trail loop
  • 7:03, 6:46, 6:37, 6:45, 6:42, 6:43, 6:02, 6:36, 6:24, 5:58, 6:09, 1:25(6:17pace) splits - easy adventure run after working in CH.  Intent was to run my Wildhorse Creek loop to 109 and back for 10 miles, but 2mi in I decided to scrap that and just go explore some of the side streets and see where they lead, good thing too!  The second street I took lead me to find a sweet ass wood chip trail that is roughly 2K in length one way!  Runs right alongside a creek and is set away in a wooded area, it is perfect.  Not entirely flat though as it has some steep but short pop ups followed by downhills so you can still keep momentum to some degree.  I ran along the road some more at the end till I hit 6mi in my run which came after heading up a huge ass hill, then turned back and took the trail back to where it starts and then ran directly back to the store to find out roughly how far it is (I cut out my other adventurous detours so it wouldn't be an exact 12 out and back run) and turns out that it is roughly 3mi from the store.  Good run
  • Weekly Total - 35.16 miles

March 30th - April 5th:

• Mon - 4.22 mi @ APT RD Greenway to Gravois and back
  • 7:16, 6:56, 6:36, 6:15, 1:22(6:13pace) splits - easy run from apt after work.  Crappy run as it was windy as hell going out and my legs just felt like blah.  Even on the way back going with the wind just didn't feel right for some reason...
• Tue - 0 mi, rest day and right ankle feeling weird...
• Wed - 8.45 mi @ Castlewood w/ Billy, made Fig Eight loop
  • 7:35, 6:57, 9:11, 8:02, 7:44, 7:47, 7:24, 7:55, 3:02(6:47pace) splits - easy run as we cruised the trails and made up a new loop since parts of the trail were flooded.  Surprisingly it wasn't really muddy despite the flooding.
• Thu - 8.32 mi @ Castlewood w/ Serena new Fig Eight loop
  • 7:21, 7:01, 8:55, 7:52, 7:55, 7:51, 7:20, 8:03, 2:10(6:48pace) splits - easy run as we did the same loop Billy and I ran only minus the little detours which made it a little shorter distance wise.
• Fri - 3 mi @ MHS before practice
  • 6:52, 6:30, 6:06 splits - ran easy Germann loop before practice plus 2 laps on track to get 3mi, then drills and 5x150m strides.  After work in the evening I came back for an ice bath.
• Sat - 16.11 mi | Meet Me At Meramec 5K = 16:15, 1st overall AM plus 2mi w/u and 1mi c/d, 10mi PM @ Creve COeur Lake
  • 6:50, 6:31 splits - warm up around campus
  • 5:02, 5:18, 5:24, 0:33(4:52pace) splits - 5K race, goal was to try and get after a 16 flat pace so aim around 5:00 or so first mile and see what happens.  Started off good as I quickly seperated myself from everyone but on the 2nd loop of the course (2 loops) I obvsiouly slowed WAY down...not too thrilled with the time but I held on for the win and ended up being a course record actually (old one was 17:36 from 2007!).  For my cool down I basically jogged a mile or so and that was it.
  • 6:49, 6:01, 6:07, 6:08, 5:48, 5:43, 5:49, 6:03, 5:57, 6:04 splits - easy run to my ipod at Creve Coeur Lake in the afternoon to be as a shakeout run.  Weather was awesome save for the freakish wind - basically the first 4 miles was head on into a nasty wind where I literally thought I was going to be blown away, it was ridiculous!  I found some roller bladers that I chased down and had fun with but I don't think I would have run the times I did had it not been for the music to fall back on during those windy segments, that helped get through that moment by keeping my mind on something other than how miserable I felt in the wind.  :)  I ran one outer loop and an inner loop plus some in parking lot to get the 10 miles.  Legs felt perfect as I didn't feel like I was running those times!  Hope this doesn't drain me for tomorrow...
• Sun - 11.04 mi | Renaud Spirit Center 5K = 16:25 @ 3.2mi, 1st overall AM plus 4.84mi w/u and 3mi c/d
  • Warm up consisted of 3.34mi easy, drills and some stretching, then another 1.5mi to get 4.84mi total before the race.  Weather looked good once again!
  • 5:07, 5:06, 5:16, 0:56(4:49pace) splits @ 3.2 miles - race actually ended up being just over a 5K distance which really sucked for my time as going back over my pace, the 5K split would roughly be about 16:00 which was right where I wanted to be at....oh well....another day I guess.  I felt MUCH more relaxed and smooth in this race than yesterday.  Perhaps it was the fact that at the start I let all the little kids line up first and take off and then worked my way around them all...or what I don't know.  The plan was to try and slow that first mile down to around 5:10ish - they had the first half mile marked so I glanced at the time and saw 2:35 (5:10pace), perfect.  I had a stalker till about 3/4 of that first mile before he faded from me and then finished over a minute behind me at the end.  Even though my time was slower in the results, actual pace wise was faster today than yesterdays (5:07 vs 5:13)
  • 7:46, 7:08, 6:57 splits - cool down I did out in CH on the gravel trails to the ipod.  The legs really didn't want to move on this but towards the end I felt better.  I was glad I got something in at least since I didn't do jack after the race, just sat around and drank.  :)
  • Weekly Total - 51.14 miles