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November 30, 2004

We got a *real* cold front this time

ooooh-weeeee. I just got out of a 20-minute shower - my second of the day. On days as cold as today, my hands are pretty much numb from cold throughout my runs, even with gloves on. So when I get in the hot shower afterward it hurts to put my hands in right away. So I just stand there 'til my hands finally warm up. And then I stand there some more waiting for the courage to turn off the water.

This morning was supposed to be an easy run, but someone I knew caught me as we were both running down Lake Austin Blvd in the dark and I was grateful to have company. So I ran with her even though it was probably a little faster than I'd go on my own. The trail is still flooded so I'm having to head out into the hills, which also makes the run a little tougher than it's supposed to be! I was fortunate to finish when I did, too; as I was stretching under the bridge it started to rain pretty hard. I would have been miserable!

Tonight's workout with Steve was fartlek-ish, even though it was supposed to be a hill/interval workout. We did mile repeats in a hilly neighborhood, running hard uphill and then easy down. It was a tough run to do hard since it was pitch dark in some spots and the road wasn't entirely even. In fact, on the downhill stretch there was a cattle guard we had to cross which made me a little nervous.

I'm still a little creaky from taking time off - I think it's mostly from sitting in the car so much. Tonight my cold-numb feet also contributed to an awkward stride, too. One of my shins is sore to the touch right now, and I could feel something while I was running, but because my legs were so cold (and because it was dark) I couldn't tell if it was a problem with the muscles and tendons or whether it was the hard part of my shoelace poking into my leg. It doesn't hurt when I flex my foot, which is good, but I've never had a problem with my shoelace poking my shin before, either.

My sensory systems just kind of freak out with the cold. I remember at the start of the Tucson marathon a few years ago I felt like I had a big rock or something stuck in the bottom of my shoe for the first mile or two. I didn't; it was just that one little part of the bottom of my foot had gone numb from cold.

I love running in this cold weather!

Posted by jenandmats at 9:01 PM | Comments (2)

November 29, 2004

Lots and lots of R&R

Last week turned out to be a *really big* cutback week. I got two short runs in on the beach, but nothing strenuous other than strides (which hardly count.) I told myself all along that I'd be cool with whatever running I managed to get in and not stress about missing runs. Still, I hope things go well this week so my rationalizations about rest doing me good will be justified.

Tonight at the ARC run my legs felt awkward and stiff from sitting in the car for so many hours this weekend. We had a funeral to attend in Beaumont in addition to our trip to Galveston. Overall it was a fun Thanksgiving weekend, though. So sad that it's over!

Posted by jenandmats at 10:05 PM

November 23, 2004

Nice little signs

A few weeks ago when we did our 9-mile pace run, the mile markers were off and my splits seemed all over the place, but my overall pace for the 9 miles turned out to be one second off of 6:50 pace exactly (1:01:31.) On Sunday, with a hilly course and muggy weather (and therefore erratic splits), my overall pace turned out to be right at 6:50 again. Nice, huh?

Tonight we were supposed to do 4x 1600 at 10K pace w/ 400 jog. The last time I did this workout I did my *real* 10K pace, which was 6:40 (6:37 exactly.) This time I was prepared to do that again, since it's what my 2-mile time trial predicted for 10K pace. But once I got there, Steve informed us we were supposed to do 10K pace as extrapolated back from our goal marathon time. I didn't know what that was for a 3hr marathon. Fortunately, one of the guys in the group knew that it was 6:10, which made me laugh out loud. I decided to choose a "middle ground" and go with the guys who were going for 6:30s.

Somewhere in the middle of that first mile we caught a guy who was just not going to let me pass, so I just decided to hang off the back of him. I had no idea what our splits were but felt like I was working hard without struggling. My first mile? 6:10. Right on the money. Just like the average paces for those other "workouts." I must say I *really* like these little signs, especially since I'm not trying overly hard to hit these things. I'm definitely working hard; I just mean I'm not stressing in the middle of them and trying to hit certain splits. They're just "working out."

The other three turned out to be 6:12, 11, and 09. Always fun to do something you didn't think you could do!

Hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Posted by jenandmats at 8:55 PM | Comments (7)

November 22, 2004

Summary - week 19 of 31

Week 19 of 31 (11/15-11/21)
Monday – 9pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 8pm w/ 2mi time trial (12:12)
Wednesday – 6am EZ; 6pm EZ
Thursday – 14am; 4pm EZ
Friday – OFF
Saturday – 8EZ
Sunday - 20 w/ 13.1 at MGP (1:29:26 - 6:50pace)
TOTAL - 80

Posted by jenandmats at 7:29 PM

November 21, 2004

Motive Bison Stampede Half Marathon

Things started looking good for this half marathon on Friday when I found out for sure that Andy had decided to run this race and that he was going to run it as a pace run at 6:50min/mi. That was my assignment, too. I found out later that two other friends had decided to do the same thing. I was so excited to have company to get through this thing.

Then, as Andy and I were warming up on the course, he spotted a lone porta potty out in the middle of nowhere. (Can you picture the clouds parting and angels singing and that lone ray of sun shining on that blue little hut?) You *know* things are going your way when you have a fresh potty to yourself ten minutes before the gun goes off. (Can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but And has reserved us a room at the marathon starting line on race day. What a great dude. I never would have thought to do that seeing as it takes us 20 minutes to get up there, but MAN that's going to be nice to go warm up, go back to the room for last-minute details and then stroll to the start. So thoughtful.)

I was really skeptical of this "assignment" since this race has some notorious hills in it, and I knew it was going to be near impossible to hold pace throughout the whole thing. Steve was asking us to do an average marathon pace, which was going to require some strategy. You can't bank time early on or you'll end up passed out from hypoxia in somebody's front yard on one of the hills, so it was going to require minimizing damage through the hills and then making up some serious time on the back stretch. Which is exactly what we did.

We all did it a little differently at first. I knew the dudes would be capable of making up more time on the back stretch than I would over that short distance, so I didn't start off as slowly as they did. I worried a little bit through the hills that I might start to lose it - it wasn't easy and it was so humid I thought I might have the same recovery problem I had at the 10-miler. But this race had some longer stretches of downhill after the ups, so when we came out of the hills I was still feeling strong. Our friend Steve caught me first, almost right as we got out of the hills, and Andy caught up with us just a little later. So we were all together through the last 5 miles. We even had a little extra company in our friend Jimmy who jumped in to help out those last miles. (I think he was a little disappointed that we weren't as chatty as he was, though.)

I thought I had things wrapped up at mile 12 which was fast and felt easy. But then the last mile was *mean* and included a long incline. So we didn't really finish with a bang, but that's ok. We finished strong, and together, and right ... on ... time. Our offcial chip time was 1:29:26 (ok fine well Andy was actually 25.5 and I was 26.0. Our overall times are .1 apart.) It's the first time we've ever run together in a race, much less finished together. It was very nice, especially since he could have easily left me in the dust those last few miles.

I was third overall this morning. Same crowd as last race, only one of the women who finished ahead of me last time either dropped out or fell off badly in the hills. Actually, it may not have been the same woman; I don't actually know her. But I passed *somebody* walking on the hills who never caught me again.

So it's a good sign of progress. Hard to tell what it really means with the hills and humidity, though. It certainly wasn't easy, although I felt good a much greater percentage of the time than I felt bad. I wasn't racing, but I wonder how things would have gone if I were. I was pretty tired at the end. I wonder if I'd raced if I'd have ended up falling off at the end during that mean little last mile.

I managed to squeeze out 20 miles today, too, with a good warmup and a looong cooldown. It was a productive morning.

I can't believe our next race is in two weeks! Another hilly one, but it's one of my favorites. Meghan had toyed with the idea of doing it, but I think with her bad ankle it may not be a great idea. So I get ONE WEEK of rest and then it's back to work.

Posted by jenandmats at 4:25 PM | Comments (4)

November 18, 2004

High water and rush-hour traffic

Man this morning was rough. I was supposed to do 14 miles but I'm pretty convinced it was more. We were making it up as we went along since the trail was completely flooded in spots and we had to run on the streets. Where we start on the trail was sandwiched on either side, about a half mile in each direction, by impassable flooding. Our little Colorado looks like something out of Montana! The geese over near the Pfluger bridge were especially cranky (AAAAA-FLACK! - ok I know that guy's a duck but that's what these geese remind me of. They're very vocal and sometimes a little intimidating around "their" water fountains.) The swans were MIA, too. There's just a lot of crap - mostly paper products it seems - floating and swirling around in the brown waves and eddies.

This afternoon I tried out running from my office. I just headed out the door and down toward the river, which is about a mile and a half or so. I made a point to run on a street that was one way headed into town to avoid traffic, but it didn't work all that well. I still had traffic and had to stop for east-west traffic every three blocks or so. I took Congress back north to the office, but it wasn't much better as far as making lights. Plus, I had the capitol staring at me the whole way. Don't get me wrong - it's a gorgeous capitol, especially at dusk. It's just that it's the source of all my work stress. And it's uphill.

Tomorrow ... I'm taking ... a day ... OFF from running. Alert the press. It's been four weeks.

Posted by jenandmats at 8:47 PM | Comments (3)

November 17, 2004

Priority shift

The past few work days have marked a turning point in my year - more accurately, a turning point in my biennium. Now that the election is over and the legislators are turning their attentions to the upcoming biennial legislative session things have started getting seriously busy at work.

So pretty soon I'm going to have to wrap up my high mileage experiment. I'm going to have to compromise a little. I'll still stay pretty high, but not significantly higher than I've been in the past. The difference this time will be that I'll be able to do more intensity at this level of mileage since I'm much more used to the volume. And I'm going to have to go back to doing workouts in the morning to make sure I get them in - YUCK. I've gotten so spoiled with being able to run easy in the morning and then come back and work hard in the afternoon.

Who would've thought that I'd feel "spoiled" running twice a day?

Posted by jenandmats at 8:23 PM

November 16, 2004

Itty bitty progress

So I shaved off another 8 seconds from my two-mile time trial to a 12:12. I wasn't sure at first if I had taken anything off; it was dark and I have a tendency to hit the split button on my watch when I'm done rather than the stop button. So I waited until we got back to the store to check my splits. I was pretty consistent again: I stayed between 1:28 and 1:34 on my splits, and I think the two 1:34s were due to my hitting the split button late.

I'm happy with 8 seconds. It's actually a pretty big 8 seconds according to McMillan. That !@#$ calculator still says I'm capable of running a slower marathon than I've already done (except now it's down to 3:13.) BUT ... it predicts a 5K 10 seconds faster than one I ran five months before my last marathon pr, and a 10-miler about 20 seconds faster than the 10-miler I did four months before that marathon pr. The predicted half-marathon time is slower than the half I did that year, though, but that half came after my Christmas mini-break. So I'm faster on the short end this time around, which will hopefully translate to even faster times on the long end. I know my endurance is good!

I just need that big improvement I saw last time after my Christmas mini-break and I'll be set ...

Posted by jenandmats at 10:05 PM | Comments (2)

November 15, 2004

ARC Monday Night Jam (again.)

A bright flash of lightning as we were preparing to run was enough to convince my friend Heather and me that we didn't need to run this morning. We decided to go to Magnolia for breakfast instead. Heather said she took that as proof that I wasn't entirely insane with my running.

So tonight I added a little extra to my regular run with the ARC folks to make up for some of the missed mileage this morning. I think the extra 8 hours or so of recovery time did me good; I felt really good despite the humidity.

There was a whole gaggle of new dudes at the run tonight. Unfortunately, that meant that the pace was much less leisurely than it normally is, and I was barely hanging on to the back, stubbornly refusing to let this run turn into a workout. There was a pecking order to be established, apparently, and although I'm not entirely immune to that kind of thing I knew if I pushed too hard I'd be feeling it tomorrow during our scheduled two-mile time trial. Still, I managed to sucker a few of them into conversation and keep it more or less social.

I sure hope it's less humid for the time trial tomorrow. We've got a race coming up on Sunday and word is it's going to be warm and humid again. Can you believe it? It's been such great running weather lately ...

Posted by jenandmats at 9:42 PM | Comments (1)

November 14, 2004

Summary - week 18 of 31

Week 18 of 31 (11/8-11/14)
Monday – 5am EZ; 7pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 12pm - 6mi hilly fartlek
Wednesday – 5am EZ; 5pm EZ
Thursday – 5am EZ; 10 w/5 tempo (6:58-6:44)
Friday – 5am EZ
Saturday – 18
Sunday - 7EZ
TOTAL - 83

Posted by jenandmats at 8:53 PM | Comments (2)

November 13, 2004

Trailbound

I stuck to the trail for all of my 18 miles this morning. I thought it was going to be mentally tough since Steve's group was only doing 10, and because the thought of cold dark early morning miles on my own was completely unappealing, it meant that I'd be doing 6 or more on my own after leaving the group. Usually that's a big blech. Getting the alone miles done early and then finishing with the group is always much better.

By coincidence I had company for early two alone miles - some friends from one of my very first training groups - and those ladies can talk (and that means something coming from me.) The miles I ran with Steve's group went by quickly with plenty of conversation, too. Some of the guys from the fall training group have recovered from their marathons and are now starting to run with us. The more the merrier ... except when you're trying to pass the other hordes of runners in other training groups.

And then, after lingering longer than I probably should have at the end of the group run, I set out on my own. Apprehensive at first, I quickly got into a groove, which is remarkable after having stood around for a while getting cold. And it turned out great. I've found that if I run with a smile on my face when I'm on my own I get lots of smiles back on the trail - and that helps the miles go by. It doesn't hurt that I usually see someone I know every 200 yards or so. I've had numerous people comment lately on the number of people I know on the trail. One new guy this morning said he felt like throwing confetti over my head as we ran. I've been joking that I'm the mayor of Town Lake. I'm like Norm from Cheers! For a military brat who moved every few years, even through and after college, it's an unbeatable feeling.

Posted by jenandmats at 1:45 PM | Comments (3)

November 11, 2004

More gerbil miles

I had the day off of work and can't believe it's already over. I took Matty for a quick run this morning after waking up at 7:45 (sweet!) We fought for the first mile or so then she calmed down and it was a nice fall morning run.

It was a nice mellow day - I read and napped mostly. We went to see Sideways this afternoon, which I really liked, but wish I hadn't had such high expectations. I procrastinated until 8 to do my evening run. I did another treadmill run, 10 miles with 5 or so at tempo. I'm calling it tempo but it was more like marathon pace worked down to slightly below marathon pace with the last bit at real "tempo." When I first get going on there I feel just downright *awful*; like I'm never going to make it. Then somwhere in there I get into a groove and realize it's all going to be ok.

Locked my key in the car at the gym. Andy had to come bail me out.

Posted by jenandmats at 10:21 PM

November 10, 2004

Wax on, wax off

Last night was a good workout. I ran with Steve's group again; we did a fartlek-type workout on hilly streets. I spazzed a little bit when we started; I had no idea how long the workout was in miles (we just zig-zagged our way up some neighborhood streets, running north/south easy and east/west hard.) Turns out it was 6 miles total, with 48 hard segments anywhere between 100 and 300 yards long.

When we had just a quarter left of the workout we stopped for water and I complained to Steve that I was going to be sore in the morning. He said "good" and told me that if I was looking for sympathy I was looking in the wrong place. One of the guys responded that he felt like we were in the Cobra Kai running group (remember? Karate Kid? The evil hard-core karate group with the mean coach?) That, naturally, led to a series of 80's references and a discussion of our childhood crushes (incidentally I never really thought Ralph Macchio was cute even then.) We worked hard that last set but it went by a lot faster than the painful ones before it.

The group has turned out to be really fun. We all run well together, running comfortably on long runs (until the end) and waiting for one another to regroup at water stops. And a few of us are of the same age, which is really here nor there except that we've had some great reminscenses (?) about being kids. I just wish one of those guys was aiming for 3hrs so we could do marathon pace together. Most of them are going for 3:10 or so I think.

Sorry you all are so cold! I was in just shorts and a bra last night and was on the warm side. I think we're supposed to get it tomorrow sometime, though. Good timing - I have tomorrow off from work!

Posted by jenandmats at 7:51 AM | Comments (3)

November 8, 2004

Summary - week 17 of 31

Week 17 of 31 (10/25-10/31)
Monday – 5am EZ; 7pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 8pm - 4 at MGP (6:50 - was more like 7:00, 6:50, 6:44, 6:29. Need to keep in mind that it gets easier as I go along.)
Wednesday – 5am EZ; 5pm EZ
Thursday – 5am EZ;
Friday – 8am EZ
Saturday – 16 w/ 9 at MGP (1:01:31 - right at 6:50)
Sunday - 7EZ
TOTAL - 71

Posted by jenandmats at 8:17 AM

November 6, 2004

A qualified success

Isn't it funny how little exchanges between people can have a lingering effect? I've been trying to shake the nagging feelings I have from this morning all day with little success. I'm definitely not in a bad mood, but I'm not in nearly as good spirits as I should be for such a gorgous day and a decent run.

By the time I got to the starting point of our run this morning I was totally ready to run the workout, even though I was somewhat apprehensive about it. As we were standing there getting our instructions I started thinking about how far 11 miles at marathon pace was going to be. Then somebody said something about *9* miles at marathon pace and I started asking around. Are they *sure* it's not 11 miles? They were sure. If someone had told me that the day before or even an hour before I probably would have just decided to do 11 anyway. But right then all I felt was elation and relief. So I did 9. And then I found out that it was the Intermediate group that was supposed to do 9 and the Advanced were supposed to do 11 (but I'm also nearly positive I'd made that distinction even at the starting line.) So my satisfaction at having done 9 miles at pace successfully was tempered by my disappointment in myself for not sticking to what I knew was the plan.

The run itself was good, though. The weather was MADE for running. Absolutely gorgeous. It was cold and clear (as we ran east in some places you were running blind with the sun in your eyes.) My company for the warmup was good and fun.

We were supposed to (I thought) do 2.5 loops of a 3.5-mile course for 9 miles. Things started off well with a ridiculously comfortable 6:46 with a 3:25 half-mile split. I started to think it was going to be a cake walk. There was a help-yourself water stop between 1 and 1.5, and since I plan to drink at every mile of the marathon I decided to slow down and take a cup. I still hit the next half mile split right on 3:25. And then, as the next 6:45 rolled around the 2-mile cone was nowhere in sight. I panicked a little and then didn't hit mile 2 until 7:16. I knew it was wrong but it still messed with my head and I picked it up for a 6:34 next mile. After that I continued to take my splits but really didn't know what to make of them. So I just ran. And I'm pretty sure I was dead on. My total for the first 3.5-mile loop was 24:04 which is 6:53 pace. My overall time was 1:01:31, which is one second from being *exactly* 6:50 pace for 9 miles. Way cool. The last mile was a tough one, though, because I was finishing at the obviously long 2-mile mark and just didn't want to end up with an over-7 mile at the end. So actually I was probably slightly faster than 6:50 pace overall because of that long last mile, but I had to work for it! In my mind it's better to have finished "on-time" and worked hard for it than to finish up at the right pace but with a slow time with an asterisk, if that makes sense.

I definitely could have done two more miles. I just wish I had. I was really annoyed with myself at the end, and I'm worried that I annoyed my friends with my quasi-obsession over it afterward. I know I'm a tightly-wound person in general but I try to hide it and am embarrassed when it comes out in public. Especially since I'm pretty sure I'm not the typical hyper-obsessed runner; I try to limit my anality (ha! is that a word?) over paces and times and distances on the majority of my runs. In a typical week I worry about that stuff on 2 out of 11 runs - at the most! But when it comes to doing a workout with a purpose I can be overly-focused on getting things done and overly-worried when I don't do it right. Especially when there's no good reason for not having done it right!

The other thing that got to me this morning was that somewhere around 8.5 miles I caught a guy and said hey and "almost done!" or something like that as I passed. And then he accused me of cutting him off. We were running against traffic and I was probably anxious about getting back over as quickly as I could, but I really didn't think I cut him off. So instead of just apologizing and moving on I said "Naaaaah I didn't" in a non-confrontational tone (as much as that's possible when you're contradicting someone.) But he insisted. And then I tried to make things better between us but he misunderstood what I was trying to say. It was silly and we talked about it later, but those are the little exchanges that just tend to linger all day. Why didn't I just say sorry and keep running even though I really didn't think I'd cut him off? It would have been so much easier.

So it was a morning plagued by little episodes of personality shortcomings. And a stupid mistake. HOWEVER. This morning's stupid mistake combined with Thursday night's slacker-ness has me fired up again about doing this training thing right. I'm going to, as Larry the Cable Guy would say, "Git 'er done."

Posted by jenandmats at 5:19 PM | Comments (2)

November 4, 2004

So sue me

I didn't run tonight and I'm feeling horribly guilty because I don't have much of a reason other than I just didn't feel like it. I got home and Andy was making dinner and Matty was staring at me and the thought of 12 miles on my own just didn't appeal to me. So I had a nice dinner with my dude and we took my girl for a trip to the park to throw the ball (I think her little yellow ears perk up even at the typing of those words.)

I rationalized my flakiness by assuring myself that it's for the better. I know that the 11 miles at marathon goal pace on Saturday is going to be tough and I want to make sure I get it done. If I can't do it I don't want to be wondering if it's because I'm just tuckered out from the week. I know I could go out and race a (normal, flat) half marathon this weekend at 6:52 pace, but I still think that this training run is going to give me some important feedback and I wanna make sure I do it right.

I can't believe I struggled through all those nasty summertime runs and tonight, when I have an absolutely gorgeous night, I decide not to run ...

Posted by jenandmats at 8:49 PM | Comments (3)

November 3, 2004

Government of, by, and for ... whom?

Before I headed out on my run this morning I checked the weather on my computer and saw the results of the presidential election (or, more accurately, the probable result of the presidential election.) Despite having had numerous political discussions with my running girlfriends we didn't really talk about the election this morning on the run. And then when I came home and I could tell Andy wanted to talk about it I waived him off with a "zzzzt" (an abbreviated Dr. Evil "zipit") and a "I don't wanna talk about it."

And then I managed to stay busy during the day, and didn't stray to any web sites with political commentary (I mean, not that I ever stray on the internet at work anyway.) I even went to lunch with law school friends with whom I'd had plenty of political discussions, and although we talked plenty about some of the more interesting local races, we managed for the most part to avoid the subject of the presidential election. I even managed to avoid talking about it with my coworkers, mostly by holing up in my office.

I don't remember what I thought about on my afternoon run - I think I was pretty focused on the run itself. But then after the run I went out onto the bridge over the Colorado River and looked out into the dark as I stretched and I just couldn't ignore it anymore. I was overwhelmed by this feeling of disappointment and frustration and helplessness.

How can someone as politically moderate as me feel so completely unrepresented by my political leaders? Who's going to represent *me*? Who's going to represent this *huge* minority? I feel like 48% of us are going to be disregarded. We have a president who has consistently shown that he's not interested in hearing dissenting opinions. Just ask former EPA director Christie Todd Whitman, or former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil. Or soon-to-be former (I'm assuming) Secretary of Defense Colin Powell. We have a House Majority Leader who simply bullies anyone who might disagree with him. The minority's voice in the Senate has been silenced. The Supreme Court is not going to become any more moderate in the next four years and most likely won't provide anything remotely close to "checks and balances." My Senator has spearheaded the anti-gay marriage movement in the Senate, and my Congressman is also staunchly anti-gay marriage and anti-immigration. In my state government districts I have pretty moderate representation, but I'm pretty sure they're not willing to go against the party grain to any great extent to protect those of us not in the majority, even if they may not completely agree with the party line - it wouldn't go over well with party leadership.

If the percentage numbers were switched and Kerry had won, no one in that hypothetical minority would be feeling the way I do now. In fact, one of their biggest complaints about him was that he's too interested in what people think.

It would have been a nice change of pace.

Posted by jenandmats at 8:53 PM | Comments (2)

November 2, 2004

I don't wanna know until tomorrow

I have been pretty good about not watching any coverage today. Interested as I am about the result I'm not interested in watching people talk this process to death. Nor am I interested in fraying my last nerve by watching the electoral votes get racked up over the hours. I want to wake up in the morning and know one way or another. To be honest, I'm disappointed enough that the race is as close as it is.

On a running-related note, I'm pleased to announce that four miles at marathon goal pace (6:50) tonight did not wipe me out. That was our workout: warmup, 4 miles marathon goal pace, cooldown. It didn't feel like a walk in the park, unfortunately, but I certainly wasn't overly taxed by the effort. And really the harder part was the first mile; once I got into it I could just cruise. *And* ... even if it's an unrealistic marathon goal pace it wasn't a wasted effort. I could just call it a low-end tempo run. Our long run this week is 16 miles with 11 at MGP, so I think Steve was just trying to get our feet wet with this shorter workout before making us take the plunge with 11 miles.

There was a little bit of traffic on the course, and there was a little bit of congestion with us runners, even, but overall it's a great workout. Close to half of it is on the actual marathon course, right around the 10K mark, so we can get some real race-day conditions (the road surface isn't all that smooth right there, actually.)

I ran the workout with our San Antonio friend Brian (he's usually in town here on Tuesday nights,) which hopefully also is simulating race day conditions. This weekend my brother-in-law suggested that I run with him and Brian and one other guy on race day. If I can get my rear end in shape to run sub-3 it would be so great to run with those guys. My brother-in-law Steve is one of the main reasons Andy and I run (my sister-in-law is the other one) and Brian has been running with us for years. We all struggled with Boston qualifying about the same time. In '03 Brian and Steve and I passed one another back and forth throughout the marathon, and I finished only about a minute behind them. In fact, as we ran past the marathon 10K point on our run tonight, Brian pointed out "hey ... right here's where we caught you sprinting out of the porta-potty." Ahhh. Good times.

Man I hope I'm in shape to run with them!

Posted by jenandmats at 9:56 PM

November 1, 2004

Summary - week 16 of 31

Week 16 of 31 (10/25-10/31)
Monday – 5am EZ; 7pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 12pm - progressive pace run
Wednesday – 5am EZ; 5pm EZ
Thursday – 5am EZ; 9pm w/ 3.5 at tempo (7:03 to 6:58 to 6:54 to 6:40)
Friday – 5am EZ
Saturday – 16 hilly
Sunday - 7EZ
TOTAL - 81

Posted by jenandmats at 9:21 PM