per diem
as of late, most of my running has been limited to 35-40 minutes at a very easy pace. honestly, that’s about the minimum amount of time i’d like to be out and about to justify the time it takes to gear up and clean up afterwards.
since i have been experimenting with running on a daily basis, it takes “choice” or even “motivation” out of the mix. it’s just something that will get done, daily.
10/15 – 6 miles
10/16 – 6 miles
10/17 – 6 miles
10/18 – 6 miles
10/19 – 6 miles
10/20 – 7 miles
10/21 – 7 miles
10/22 – 5 miles
10/23 – 5 miles
10/24 – 5 miles
10/25 – 5 miles
10/26 – 6 miles
10/27 – 4 miles
10/28 – 4 miles
10/29 – 4 miles
10/30 – 4 miles
10/31 – 4 miles
October Totals: 206 miles (31/31 Days, 30 Hours & 54 Minutes)
11/1 – 4 miles
11/2 – 31.1 miles in 4:02:27 (Personal Record)
11/3 – 4 miles
11/4 – 4 miles
11/5 – 4 miles
11/6 – 4 miles
11/7 – 4 miles
11/8 – 4 miles
11/9 – 4 miles
11/10 – 4 miles
11/11 – 4 miles
11/12 – 5 miles
MTD – 76 miles (12/12 Days, 11 Hours & 20 Minutes)
YTD – 2,337 miles (312/316 Days, 338 Hours & 12 Minutes)
Odometer – 37,275 miles
Chicago Lakefront 50K
as the 8:30am starting time drew near, i was waiting in line to use the porta-john. last year, i was a bit over hydrated and made three stops along the way which was a big waste of time. after my turn, i hustled over to the bag drop area to leave some spare clothes and my water bottle filled with defizzed cola. glancing over towards the start, the runners already assembled were off and running.
after a bit of a panicky, jackrabbit start i settled into a comfortable pace and began to click off the miles. the course is simple, three laps along the chicago lakefront initially headed north then south. without fail, the wind was from the north with temps in the low forties. while i was wearing sunglasses, there was no sun to be found on this day. heading north into the wind was more work but after turning southbound the tail wind nudged me along.
as i finished the first lap i also downed my first gel chased with a bit of water. a quick thank you to the aid station staff and i headed north again. the second lap was as uneventful as the first. i simply clicked off the miles at a steady, but aggressive pace and downed gel with water.
rolling into the start/finish area to finish my second lap i downed my fifth energy gel with water and grabbed my water bottle filled with cola on my way back onto the course. temperatures hadn’t warmed much, if at all. i had a cushion of time “in the bank” to meet my goal of finishing in less than four hours. however, things didn’t quite work out that way.
heading north on the third lap, my feet and calves began to cramp. i did what i could to run relaxed and not dwell on the pain. i rolled through 26.2 miles in a low 3:18, which would be my fifth fastest marathon; if only i was running a marathon. with less than five miles to run, i still had four minutes “in the bank” for a sub-four and told myself to hold on.
time was moving very slowly. without looking at my watch, i knew i was losing time. with a little more than two miles to go i could still do enough math to know if i’d muster 8:30 per mile for the remaining distance i’d be in under four hours. that’s about the same time that my legs began to rebel more severely. each step hurt and i was covering less and less ground with each stride. two fellow competitors sped by and i had nothing left to give chase. a quarter mile away from the finish, my watch read 4:00:00. damn.
knowing my primary goal was unattainable, my focus shifted to getting to the finish line faster than i had the previous year; which was my personal best time for the distance. after one last little hill i crossed the finish line forty one seconds faster than before. i briefly congratulated one of the runners who passed me in the final miles, collected my gear and walked back to my car. i must have looked rather pitiful as i shuffled along. while my calves and feet were seizing up on me, a woman in a passing car rolled down the window and asked if she could drive me to my car. i politely declined and shared that i didn’t have much further to go.
after easing myself into the passenger side of the car, i started the engine and turned on the heat. for the next hour or so my feet, calves and shins took turns seizing and slowly releasing. i even yelped once or twice. as i gradually warmed back up, the cramping eased and i slowly returned to normal.
Finish: 4:02:21
Overall: 11th/178
Age group: 2nd/28
Mile Split Elapsed 1 7:19 7:19 2 7:19 14:38 3 7:27 22:05 4 7:26 29:31 5 7:29 37:00 6 7:21 44:21 7 7:20 51:41 8 7:18 58:59 9 7:18 1:06:17 10 7:16 1:13:33 11 7:27 1:21:00 12 7:29 1:28:29 13 7:33 1:36:02 14 7:32 1:43:34 15 7:32 1:51:06 16 7:34 1:58:40 17 7:24 2:06:04 18 7:30 2:13:34 19 7:26 2:21:00 20 7:25 2:28:25 21 7:46 2:36:11 22 7:45 2:43:56 23 7:52 2:51:48 24 8:10 2:59:58 25 8:15 3:08:13 26 8:34 3:16:47 27 8:19 3:25:06 28 8:31 3:33:37 29 8:30 3:42:07 30 9:35 3:51:42 31 9:53 4:01:35 31.1 0:52 4:02:27
burnt ends
using a barbecue reference sums up where i’m at for the moment. in the past four weeks, i’ve logged weekly mileage totals of 65, 60, 62 and 68 which (for me) is plenty of miles.
there’s a fine line between training and over training. in the past, i’ve crossed that line and caught some grief from my dad. weeks later, i was able to recover enough to run a solid race.
this time around, i think i’ve gotten myself as close as i could to that fine line without crossing it. i’m a bit battered but i am unbroken.
9/27 – 9 miles
9/28 – 14 miles
9/29 – 18 miles
9/30 – 7 miles
September Totals: 255 miles (30/30 days, 37 hours & 4 minutes)
10/1 – 7 miles
10/2 – 7 miles
10/3 – 7 miles
10/4 – 7 miles
10/5 – 9 miles
10/6 – 8 miles
10/7 – 7 miles
10/8 – 7 miles
10/9 – 9.25 miles
10/10 – 7.75 miles
10/11 – 9 miles
10/12 – 20 miles
10/13 – 4 miles
10/14 – 6 miles
MTD – 115 miles (14/14 days, 17 hours)
YTD – 2,171 miles (283/287 days, 313 hours)
Odometer – 37,109
two grand
in the past, i’ve found myself running during the few remaining minutes of new years eve to get my annual mileage total to two thousand. thankfully, i won’t have to resort to that this year as i was able to roll past the milestone in the wee hours of this morning.
9/6 – 7 miles
9/7 – 13 miles
9/8 – 10 miles
9/9 – 7 miles
9/10 – 6 miles
9/11 – 5 miles
9/12 – 5 miles
9/13 – 5 miles
9/14 – 8K race in 30:24 plus 2 miles w/u & c/d
9/15 – 10 miles
9/16 – 7 miles
9/17 – 7 miles
9/18 – 7 miles
9/19 – 7 miles
9/20 – 7 miles
9/21 – 10 miles early morning, 10 miles mid morning
9/22 – 7 miles
9/23 – 7 miles
9/24 – 7 miles
9/25 – 7 miles
9/26 – 9 miles
MTD – 207 miles (26/26 days, 30 hours)
YTD – 2,008 miles (265/269 days, 288 hours & 54 minutes)
Odometer – 36,946 miles
al’s run
once again, my friend ryan assembled a solid group of folks to represent hillrunner.com at Briggs & Al’s Run & Walk for Children’s Hospital. after a few team photos were taken, we warmed up as a team with a leisurely run along wisconsin avenue.
as the start of the race neared, we found our way to the starting line and were sent on our way. while i had initially planned to run the first mile with two of my teammates, i moved out at a bit hotter pace than we had discussed. to be honest, i hadn’t raced since the fourth of july and was a bit fired up to have a number pinned to my shirt.
through the downhill first mile, the course turned north and uphill. shortly after the second mile, a group of bagpipers in full tartan gear were playing…which always amps me up. mile three continued uphill until turning sharply downhill along lafayette hill drive to the flat lincoln memorial drive.
unfortunately, i developed a side-stich during the fourth mile which slowed me a little as i made my way into the finish. regardless, i was able to stop the clock in 30:24 which was thirty two seconds faster than last year. the effort was my fastest five mile race in ten years and ranks as my fourth fastest five mile road race on my all-time list.
Splits 1M - 5:48 2M - 6:08 (11:56) 3M - 5:52 (17:48) 4M - 6:14 (24:02) 5M - 6:22 (30:24) 45th Overall & 4th M40-44 Age Group
after getting a drink of water it was pretty easy to locate my teammates from our matching blue singlets. not only did our team finish 3rd in the community division but a few of our members scored age group awards as well.
============================= 1 28:23 Ryan Hill 2 28:24 Tim King 3 30:01 Rick Smith 4 30:24 Jerry Cameron 5 30:33 Steve Tietz ============================= 3rd 2:27:45 HillRunner.com
once everyone recovered from the race effort, we headed out for a team cool down run back to our vehicles. some of us then headed up to ryan’s house for a post-race bbq that was generously hosted by ryan and his wife. overall, if i were to describe the day i’d say that it was great day to run with a bunch of great people.