slow and easy
i geared up and headed out the door at about 6:45AM today. i opted for an out-n-back route on the glacial drumlin trail, initially heading west. my legs were a bit sluggish for the first 3 miles but they came around on the way back home. overall, i mustered 8 miles in 1:08:20 which averages out to 8:33 per mile.
go long
i slept in this morning, got geared up and headed out the door at around 6:45AM. i brought along my ipod shuffle to help me out with some motivation and a gel packet to avoid the dreaded bonk. my route headed south on comanche then east on the glacial drumlin trail towards town. i then picked up the fox river bike trail and headed south to a county park on the outskirts of town.
at 7.5 miles, i made a 180 to double back on my outbound course with a few ticks past 60 minutes elapsed. on my way back my friend ryan – who maintains hillrunner.com – was out for his morning constitutional as well. he opted to join up with me and we chatted about a bunch of stuff including the olympics. after 3 miles he headed for home and i made the turn off the drumlin trail.
i fished my ipod out of my jersey pocket and plugged myself in for the last few miles. i made it back to my house in about 1:59 with 15 miles covered – but i wasn’t done yet. i continued north on comanche, which includes a slow but steady rise in elevation until my watch said 16 miles. i then did a 180 and rolled myself home stopping my watch at 17 miles with 2:14:17 elapsed. (7:54 avg pace)
MTD – 118 miles
YTD – 1,243 miles
Odometer – 27,581 miles
as i’ve said before, i usually look at the 12 weeks of training leading to the marathon as an indicator of success. here’s an update of my weekly mileage breakdown…
wk 1 – 52 miles
wk 2 – 50 miles
wk 3 – 46.5 miles
wk 4 – 54 miles
wk 5 – 57 miles
…only 49 more days until the lakefront marathon.
TGIF
thursday i took the day off from running and got a bit more shut eye instead.
this morning i got myself geared up and headed down to the glacial drumlin trail. my route took me west and i noticed another runner ahead of me. i slowly made up ground between us and eased up next to him. we ended up running together for about a mile and chatted about marathoning, work and kids. after i covered 3.5 miles on the way out i said goodbye and did a 180 for home. the pace on the way back was a bit quicker as i was a bit more awake. i ended up back home with 7 miles in a few ticks past 58 minutes and then took the trash to the curb.
one lap around frame park
this morning’s route took me down madison avenue, around frame park and back up madison to home. it rained overnight so it was pretty humid, plus it began raining lightly on my way back home. i ended up with 8 miles in just under 72 minutes which translates to a rather slow pace. to be honest, i think i began waking up after the 5th mile.
rolling along on the drumlin
my morning constitutional took me out west along the glacial drumlin this morning. i’m beginning to notice the "regulars" including cyclists, runners and walkers. i ran out a bit past county trunk DT and made the turn for home after 4 miles had elapsed on my GPS. the pace was a bit faster on the way back and i ended up improvising an extra mile in my neighborhood to bring my effort up to 9 miles in 1:17:30 which averages out to 8:37 per mile.
i saw this article online…
…to which i can only say "duh!"