A break from work for some Speedwork

I have missed speedwork for about 6 straight weeks due to 12 hour shifts at work always scheduled on Tuesdays but this week with Memorial Day on Monday, Tuesday was the first day of the week and they could hardly tell us to work 12 with no notice, so we worked our 12 today instead. 8 of us showed up for speedwork (Ladd, Marsha, Kyle, Dan H., Connie, Bob P., Frank, and Denise) Marsha and Denise did their thing and Connie and Bob planned our torture. I had to read Dan's blog to get an idea how many 200's we did, he says we did 24 and I'll go with that as I lost count by mid way. We did 1/2 of them and then jogged one lap. We did every 200 somewhere between 47 and 43 second with the last 5 progressively faster by a second or two at least until the last one when Bob says now 42 seconds and I had to let him go ahead of me. The distance and time were not a problem but the "BREAK" in between was, we would finish a 200 and maybe 2-4 seconds later we were off again. It was a tough workout and it would have been easy to drop off earlier except after listening to Connie and Bob say they ran 4 hours Sunday and 4 hours Monday I was not about to stop. I ran maybe 2 hours over the weekend to their 8 not that I'm even in the same category as them but I still wasn't stopping if I could help it.

May 25, 2009 Memorial Day (Our 18th Anniversary)

Marsha and I got up this morning on our 18th anniversary and went for a run with Janet. Last year we went for a 17 mile run on our 17th anniversary but it helped that we were in marathon training. Marsha and Janet were going for a 5 mile run so I parted ways with them around 3 miles and ended up getting to the Memorial day parade just as it was entering the cemetery so I walked from there til after the square as I kept running into people I knew. I ran 8 miles at a 8:30 pace and felt a little better than I did Saturday morning. Hoping to do speed work tomorrow night if all feels well. Spent the rest of the afternoon doing a little yard work and power washing the whole deck til it was time to get cleaned up and have a nice picnic with the family. What a beautiful Memorial Day weekend, sunny and warm every day.

Group Run, May 24, 2009

Almost 1 week since the Cleveland Marathon and only one 3 mile run and a group run scheduled for this morning. 8 or 9 people in attendance and all were there for the 5 mile run except Bill and I, I may have opted to do just the 5 but Bill drove all the way up from Canton and I thought no way would I drive that far for a fun/training run and only run 5 miles so we kept going on the Chippewa route after everyone else turned around. It was a nice morning and almost no air movement so it got a little warm in the direct sun but was nice and cool when there was shade. I felt pretty good til about mile 8 or 9 and then those fatigued muscles started getting that feeling coming on. We finished in 1 hour and 31 minutes for exactly 10 miles and averaged just over 9 minute miles which would normally be slower than I would go but it felt like a work out just to get to 10. Marsha ran back out and found us and ran back in with us and she got in 7 for the day. Looks like I'll run every other day for another week and just keep the miles low til this soreness goes away and stays away.

The Cleveland Marathon

What a weekend, I took off early from work Friday and we went to the Cleveland Expo with Charles and Tara. We went to the Great Laked Brewing company for lunch and guess what I had Dan, the pretzel crusted chicken, how funny, I also tested 3 beers and then ordered a pale ale but I still just like light beer. The expo was ok but smaller than the couple we've been to. We then had to rush home to get to the Road Runners meeting. We had 5 runners before the meeting, me, Dan H., Marsha, Janet and Michele,we did 4 miles then listened to Bart Yasso from Runners World talk about some of his adventures. It was a very interesting meeting and I talked to Bart about facebook and he remembered me and some of my posts, amazing since he has 2000 FB friends.
Saturday we spent the entire day resting,eating and drinking to get ready for Sundays marathon.
Today was the big day, we went to bed a little late but I did get a nap in the middle of the day to help,went to bed at 11:30 and awoke at 2:00 unable to get back to sleep, so we got up and got ready. Dan and Heather drove us and we arrived nice and early and parked in the Galleria parking garage which was about 65 heated degrees while it was 45 outside. A large group of Medina County Road Runners met at the FREE stamp and got our group picture. The weather was pretty nice for a marathon but I didn't really enjoy the course and the wind seemed to be always in our face or at our side, never at our back. It was also smaller than I expected, the 1/2 sold out at 4500 runners and the full had just less than 1300 runners. We went out like normal, just a little fast after the 1st mile and were ahead of Dans bq for quite some time, we crossed the 1/2 marathon line in just over 1:36, then around mile 18 I said goodbye to Dan as I was getting a little slower, then bye mile 20 I was getting my usual calf cramps and was slowing even more.
The last miles were tough but I still thought I could break into the 3:20's but I walked a bit and just couldn't hold a good pace for long. At almost 26 miles Pete Mycek passes me and yells but I could hardly move as the cramps had stopped me entirely right there so close to the finish but I was able to take off one last time and cross the finish line somewhat strong at 3:31:49 but the official time on the Cleveland site was 3:30:45. Dan finished 10 minutes in front of me with a great new PR of 3:21:46. I could go on and on with all that went on and all the people that were there but I'll cut it short, Marsha was unable to run because of the high blood pressure problem we just found out about this week, Charles couldn't run due to IT problems and Joe H. may have a fractured bone in his foot that caused him to finish his race at the half way point still with a great time of around 1:37 I think. I hope everyone gets over all these injuries really quick.

Cleveland Taper

My plan for this week was to run 2 or 3 days all easy to be ready for a PR Sunday. I ended up working a couple 12 hours days and a 10 so it was easy to not run much this week, so it worked out well. Marsha and I ran 4 easy miles Wednesday after work and tonight we ran another easy 4 before our runners meeting with Bart Yasso. It was a good talk by Bart and at the end I talked to him about Facebook and he remembered my name and a couple posts I made which was pretty neat as he has 2000 friends on FB as of today. He answered my post just in the last day or so. Marsha will post the picture of us with him later. I took off today at 11 and we followed Charles and Tara to Cleveland and had lunch at the Great Lakes Brewing Company. I tested 3 of their beers but didn't like any of them and then ordered a Pale Ale that was pretty good but I stick to light beer still. We then went to the expo and spent a couple hours there and got a couple good deals on shirts and gu's and a nice new pair of winter gloves and I try out on the next cold morning. Sadly, Marsha cannot run the half due to her very high blood pressure but Charles found someone that wanted to run and paid us the full price for her entry since they are sold out. Chuck waited to long and now can't run either as they closed the half but there is going to be a waiting list if you spend the day at the expo to try and get in. It's looking to be a perfect day for a marathon now we just need a perfect run on that perfect day. 1 day and 8 hours to go.

An Easy Run ?

As per my last post we were to do a 8-10 mile easy run this weekend but like normal we didn't quite do that. That is one reason I thought that we should run with the ladies and be forced to run at a slower pace. Dan and I ended up running at 11:00 and going out into a wind advisory, the 1st 6 miles seemed like we were being greatly slowed by the wind then the last couple miles heading back towards home we went alot faster than we thought and at one point felt like we were running faster than 5K pace as the wind threw us forward. We got back and I still thought that the 7:55 pace on my GPS had to be wrong as I was thinking we ran about a 8:30 pace but both our GPS's confirmed we did sub 8 minute miles.
Today, Mothers Day, we slept in and then got up for that easy run I was supposed to do and we ran 6 miles at a 8:38, must have been tired from yesterday cause it still felt like a workout.
Now for a taper week, I'm planning on running Tuesday and Thursday for 3 miles and resting til the big day. Just looked at the weather and Saturdays nights low is 58 and race days high is 68.

Run for Fun , Panera run, Hinckley Run

A quick run down of my last couple runs. Last Thursday we ran the annual Medina prosecutors victims awareness run, my first run since Nashville. I was sick but this race is free and I needed to get a run in with 4 days off so we went out hard for a mile then eased up for 2 and 3 with Frank coming in second with a 19+ minute PR and Dan and I tying for 3rd in 21:38. Then we attended the after run drawing and we won a 1 hour Massage that Marsha will get as Mothers day is this weekend.
Friday night was the Medina Run 4 Fun, wasn't feeling great yet but went out with a small bunch of Medina people and sped out to get in front of the 574 runner crowd. Stayed with Dan for about a mile or so but couldn't keep up so I fell back and ended up running most of the last 2 miles with Connie with her telling me to GO as we neared the track finish so I sprinted ahead to finish at 20:40 by my clock but 20:29 by official results. Connie told me to go at the end cause she thought I could PR but I told her later that it was not happening tonight as I was still sick. Dan PR'd in 19:44 and did great. I finished 29th of 574 with Kyle Finishing in 22:55 (65th) and Marsha finishing in 23:59 (90th).
Then Sunday we met at Panera for a group run, Dan,Chuck and I and 5 ladies. The guys met early to get some extra miles in, Dan 15.5, me 14 on the nose and C.D. around 9 or 10.
Today Dan and I were planning a Hinckley run but at 5:30 it was pouring and I was changing my mind about going but Dan was going anyways so I looked at the radar and it looked like it would clear up so I decided to risk it and go and it turned out to be a beautiful evening. We ran for 1 hour 36 minutes and guessed it to be around 11 miles. What a good workout that place is.
Now a easy long run of 8 -10 miles this weekend and then a taper week of maybe 2 or 3 slow runs and off to Cleveland to attempt a BQ. 3:30 was our original goal but now were looking at going out at a 1:37 1st half and hoping to keep it up for the whole thing so Dan and I can both qualify for Boston. Even if this doesn't happen I think we'll both be happy as long as we break that original goal which would be a new PR for both of us.