Practice To Suffer So Racing Becomes Easy

Morning:  15.81 miles - Since I missed a run yesterday I thought I'd  put in a little longer run today.  I missed the record breaking heat in the afternoon with this run, but toward the end of my run I wished I had some water with me.  Finished the day off working on my camper in the heat.  It was really tough work in the rafters hanging lighting.  The next 2-3 days will be all construction work, so I'm not expecting to run as much mileage as I did last week.  I'm going to just let the body and motivation decide how much is appropriate.

Morning:  4.61 miles - very early morning waking at 4 am to run, but it was the only way to get out the door without Jameson.  Jen had to leave early for work and we didn't have the running stroller with us.  It helped me beat the heat a little, although it was still 80 degrees with 100% humidity.

 Evening:  8 miles - debated on my run about running the Milton Independence Day 10K I wound up deciding I'd let my body decide.  If the run felt good I'd do it, if I was feeling flat I'd skip it.  The run felt great, even though I had been working in 100 degree heat all day on my camper.  I figured the past 3-4 days of work in the high heat was going to be good heat acclimation. 

I decided to do this race around 9pm the night before.  Milton is my childhood hometown and I've run the race about a dozen or so times in my life.  It's always a hot time of the year to race a 10K and this year was no different.  Since I've been running slow and holding high miles with no speed work I figured I'd treat it as a springboard workout back into regular training.  Temps at the start would reach 95 degrees with high humidity and I knew it was going to be a matter of survival out there today.  The high for the day reached 112 another state high temp record.  

I got out to a 5:50 pace 1st mile start, which is all downhill.  On the way down a nice breeze was blowing in my face.  That breeze made the first 3 miles a little more comfortable.  there were about 6 guys in front of me with Zac Bruns way out front.  He ran a 1:10 at the 1/2 champs so, I knew he wasn't going to fade much in the heat.  As for the rest of them, I figured they were all out way too fast for the conditions.  By the time I reached the 2nd mile I passed 3rd place like he was crawling with a 6:04 split (not a good thing for him so early in the race on such a hot day).  I was able to see 2nd place about 20-30 seconds in front of me as I came up the 1st hill.  I was feeling good and I was patiently waiting for 2nd to come back to me.  By the time I hit mile 3 I had closed the gap between me and 2nd place to about 15 seconds.  My split at mile 3 was slightly slower, but mostly uphill with a 6:08.  I started to get dizzy running down the hill, the heat was cooking me!  The course had a water stop at mile 1.5, 2.5, and mile 5.  Since the course was an out and back it allowed me to hit the water stops on the way back as well.  I was using them all, dumping water overhead and drinking down 1 cup.  Right before mile 4 I would pull up along side 2nd place.  The runner clung onto my pace and drafted me for about 1/2 a mile before he would slowly fade.  I came through mile 4 in 6:03, which felt like a little harder effort than the last 3 miles.  The wind was now completely with me for the last 2.1 miles making the race a lot hotter.  First place was no where in sight so I knew I had 2nd locked up unless someone chased me down from behind.  The last 2 miles were really hot.  I managed a 6:12, but as slow as that split was I felt like the race was getting much much harder than I wanted it to be.  Mile 6 was just a matter of finishing without falling over splitting a 6:14, and a jog into the finish area.  Somehow I managed to rip off my tag, but it took all the energy I had to rip it from my bib.  I grabbed some ice and a bunch of water then went to the shade to cool off.  I was a little dizzy, but not Boston dizzy.  I knew I'd pull out of it after cooling down.  About ten minutes later I was walking around talking to old high school coaches and friends.  My official times was way off my best time, but I was really happy with the effort and thought I ran a very smart race.  It was a good hot weather race redemption effort to my Boston disaster.  Slow time, but the right effort today.

 Finished with a very short cool down, although there was nothing cool about it. 

Evening:  10.19 miles after watching Jen's Aquathon.  The aquathon had a food theme.  They run these once a month in the Madison area.  For this one the athletes had to swim an open water mile swim (shot gun a beer along with scarfing down  a slider and a burrito to subtract 90 seconds from your 5K run time) or just run the 5K.  I was surprised to see a large number of people choosing the beer, burger, and burrito!

I ran my run along the lake shore mansions.  The homes were very stunning.  I finished in the dark, but right before sun down a fox came toward me and sat down in the sidewalk.  I moved to the street and for a second it started to follow me!  I've never seen one so tame.  Just before I reached my truck a family of raccoons came trucking out of the weeds in front of me.  They all looked at me and just slowly walked across the road while I waited for them pass.  Wound up getting in late, but I'm glad I didn't run any earlier.  The temps were well above 100 at 9pm - unbelievable!  We set another record high.  The dangerous part about this heat is the high humidity.  We've had heat indexes reaching 115-120 degrees.  We also haven't had a drop of rain since early May!  Looks to be some relief come Friday night though.   

Morning:  5.36 miles out Hwy N.  Unbelievably hot and muggy for 5:30 am.  I've never seen it this hot and muggy in WI for this long.  My pace has gone from 7:30 miles to 8:10 miles.  Not much I can do about it.  I actually feel well acclimated, but it's dangerous weather to run anything other than easy pace for any length of time.

Evening:  13.19 in triple digits on the heat index again.  Although, the humidity wasn't as bad this evening as it was in the morning I seemed to be dragging my feet tonight.  All I could muster was an 8:35 pace.  I was going to go 15, but cut it short due to fatigue.  What a miserable run.  I hit every water fountain I could.  These kind of days are the ones that make me wonder why I do this.  I'm rating this one two thumbs down.  (1)

Morning:  5.85 miles - Another muggy slug it out run.  Just trying to get one foot in front of the other this morning.  These days are either going to break me or make me a piece of iron.  

Morning:  10.24 miles around Warrens, WI.  Nice dry air made for a much more enjoyable run!  Avg 7:23 pace

Evening:  5.01 miles around Warrens countryside.  Avg. 6:59 pace 

Morning:  5.04 miles around Warren - Avg 6:37 

Evening:  10.33 miles, 20  min warm-up, 10x400m w/3:00 min easy pace recoveries, 10 min cool-down.  It took a few to shake the rust off the legs from 3 weeks of easy running.  (77, 75, 74, 72, 72, 73, 71, 71, 71,70) Temps in the low 80's and low humidity.  

Morning:  10  miles Glacial Drumlin trail in Lake Mills.  I've been so spoiled with new running routes the past couple of weeks I felt the need to get out of Fort.  I slept in and got a late start to my morning run, but the temps were still cool enough to make it a nice run.  My left leg was having some issues today.  Nerve numbness down the left inside of leg and loss of power.  I tried a few striders, but it didn't feel right so I skipped out on the rest of them.  I think the turns on the track were a bit of a shock to my left side last night.  It's been about 6 weeks since I ran fast on the track.  Avg 7:23 pace with the weak left leg.

Morning:  14.31 miles, another late start to my morning run, but with the low humidity its not so bad.  I've enjoyed staying up late and sleeping in (if you can call 7:30 sleeping in).  The left leg was giving trouble for the 1st 4 miles again.  I had loss of power and shooting nerve pain again.  I'm thinking it's some sort of high hamstring tendinitis/strain.  It could also be sciatic related.  I started to find a groove and the power came back a little bit after 4 miles.  I managed just under an 8 min. pace.  Started to get dehydrated toward the end, ran up to a drinking fountain to discover it wasn't working.  I wanted to cry, but no tears would come out anyway.

Morning:  5.53 miles, I had the shooting nerve pain out the door for the first 100m or so.  I stopped to do some leg swings and took the rest of the 1st mile nice and slow.  I must have put things back in place because I went from a 9 min 1st mile down to 7:17, 6:54, 6:31, 6:26 at an easy effort.  Avg. 7:09 pace  The left leg didn't seem to have any loss of power, so my guess is the track workout from Monday had put something out of alignment in my back or hips. I guess I'll need to be careful about running around in circles.  

Evening:  10.40 miles, shooting pain the 1st step and then nothing for the rest of the run.  I took it easy the 1st mile just to make sure, but was able to settle into a nice easy pace for the rest of the run.  Temps how, but low humidity made for a nice run.  Avg. 6:51 pace

Morning:  5.06 pushing Jameson in the stroller.  Muggy, but not 100 degree muggy.  The nerve pain was around for the first few steps out the door,  I kept the pace slow until everthing got into alignment again.  I guess running 100 mile weeks is my chiro...  Avg pace 8:12 due to the really slow start.

Evening:  9.23 miles River Rd to N to M - 7:02 Avg (no nerve pain at start of this run) 

After almost turning around and heading home I was able to track someone down to find the start of the race.  Since I was just a kid they've run the race along the lake.  The new course threw me for a loop because I had been visualizing a completely different course the past few days.  Since the temps were the same as the dew point and humidity was 100% I figured it wasn't going to be a PR kind of day anyway, I'd just make it an aided tempo run.  The event is your typical small town 200-300 person field.  You could look around and kind of pick out who your competition might be.  The 5K and 10K follows the same route until the turn for the 5K.  I decided to build into this race thinking 6 minute miles might be a good goal pace, plus I didn't want to get sucked into the 5K race.  

The 1st mile went according to plan - 6:00 min on the dot (although, it felt harder than it should have).  I was in 4th place and saw 2 runners quite a ways up front.  I figured they had to be running the 5K, I was right.  So it was just myself and one other runner in contention for the win.  I moved into 3rd place just before the mile marker.  The 2nd mile was a long steep climb all the way up.  I split a 6:19 going uphill into the wind.  The slow 2nd mile let 2nd creep up on me, but when we got to the top of the hill I maintained the same effort and he slowly dropped back again.  Mile 3 was a big down hill and I split a 5:47.  I was able to put a lot of distance between myself and 2nd place.  I entered the village town of Rockdale that took me up some steep back roads, but then gave me the steep downhill right back again splitting a 5:57 for the 4th mile.  I was able to get a visual on how far I was leading with a u-turn in part of the course, but when I made the turn I didn't see 2nd place.  I figured he must have dropped out.  On the flat gravel trail I saw a runner in front of me that looked like 2nd place!  Sure enough it was, so I picked up the pace to catch him.  I split a 6:02 on the slippery gravel for mile 5, but the trail became a little more packed for the last mile, so I was able to pickup the pace enough to pass the guy with about a 1/2 mile to go.  I mentioned he took a wrong turn, but he was certain I made a wrong turn!  The last mile I just focused on running an even effort to the finish splitting a 5:52.  When 2nd came into the finish he must have noticed his GPS showed him being short on distance so he asked if he could finish out the distance on an alternate course.  When he got back he was still the 2nd place finisher and the officials didn't DQ him.  So, I'm sort of glad I was able to pass him back again otherwise I may have wound up 2nd.  All in all the race was a nice tempo workout.  I finished about 1 1/2 minutes faster than my 10K 2 weeks go in the triple digit temps.  Although, this race was humid it wasn't nearly as hot.  I finished without feeling dizzy and was happy I got a nice workout in.

The official results show I ran a 35:40, but my Gamin says 36:06, which is consistent with my splits.  The distance on my Garmin only shows 6.02.  I might have lost some reception on the trail, but I'm a little confused to how they timed me at a 35:40.  I guess the extra seconds make up for all the times my watch has shown a faster time than the official results.

All in all a nice tempo workout for me.  It's so much easier to do those workouts in a low key race than all on my own. 

3 mile warm-up and 4 mile cool down 

Morning:  7.90 miles in town loop, it was a hot and humid run.  The lack of wind made it tough to keep the core temp down.  Managed a 7:30 avg pace.  The next couple days are going to be triple digits.

Evening:  St. Joe's Golf Outing - my team was almost the worst team, but we were the holiest.  I golfed with two priests and the Grandmaster Knight of The Knights of Columbus.  I had to do my best not to curse at some of my terrible shots!  99 degrees of all you could handle heat and 100% humidity.

Morning:  8.57 miles Creamery Rd to Hwy K - hot and humid!! - triple digit heat index today.  7:05 Avg

Morning: Workout - 6.46 miles - 1 mile warm-up, originally planned for a 2 mile warm-up.  I was sweating so badly after 1 mile due to the extreme heat I decided I was already warmed up.  Workout goal was 4x2 miles @ mp effort w/.4 easy running recovery.  The key word to the workout is effort.  I knew there was no way to hit my pace in this weather.  I settled for a 6:05, 6:08 (12:13), and wound up only doing one more of 6:11,6:14 (12:25) since I was already fading in the heat.  I think I could have been okay doing one more set, but a 4th would have been too much.  Better to error on the conservative side with dangerous heat.  Just happy to get a workout in on a tough weather day.  Finished with a 1 mile cool down - Avg run pace 7:05  Temp 85, Dew Point 70%, Humidity 100%

Evening:  Finally a break in the heat advisory!  10 miles in town loop at night ~ 10:00pm.  Nice pace for the conditions - Avg 6:53  83 degrees/79% humidity 

Morning:  12.39 miles in and around the outskirts of town on some trails.  Thunderstorms kept me from getting out early enough to beat all the heat.  The dew point and temp were the same at 72, but it was cool.  I was originally planning to run 19 miles with some mp effort at the end, but as soon as the sun came out I knew it was time to take it back home when I couldn't keep the core temp down. The legs felt really dead anyway.  I think it was the 10 miler late last night without anything of substance to eat afterwards.  I was probably glycogen depleted.  Managed to drag myself around at a 7:44 avg pace. 

Evening:  3 hard miles on the treadmill running in some test shoes the brooks test development sent my friend.  He's not able to put enough miles on them so he gave me a couple pairs to test for him.  Last last 1/2 mile was in the 5:30's on a 1.5% incline.

Morning:  5 miles in another test shoe (Saucony Omni 12).  Not feeling too peppy this morning due to another late night run.  The shoes seemed to feel good for 8:00 min avg pace.  Finally, got a break in the heat, but still pretty humid.  Not a very comfortable run.

Evening:  20.10 miles w/3 hard miles at the end.  Wow what a difference a little cool temps with some light rain can make!  This run felt easier than some of my 5-10 milers in the heat and humidity.  It was actually so cool my son's swim lessons were brought inside for a safety discussion.

I started the run with the intentions of running an 8-10 miler, so I didn't bring any nutrition or water with me.  Plus I wore the Brooks Adrenaline test shoes my buddy lend me.  After 7 miles I noticed I was keeping the core temp down and the legs felt flat, but I was maintaining a nice 7:00-7:20 pace comfortable enough, so I decided to take a big loop with the opt out option of turning around anytime.  I wound up feeling so good throughout the run I ran the last 3 at a light mp pace effort.  It was my 1st long run over 16-18 miles in a couple of months, so I'm really happy with how it went.  No blisters or sore spots from the Brooks Adrenaline.  In fact they almost felt light enough to use as an mp trainer.  Avg 7:12 pace with the last 3 at 6:35, 6:23, 6:28 

Evening:  4.21 miles in the Saucony Omni 12.  Legs weren't feeling too bad for running 25 miles yesterday.  It must have helped taking the morning off and I'm sure the 9.5 hours of sleep didn't hurt either.  I've got a late night planned with Jen and Jameson running along in a nighttime bike ride tonight.

 Night:  9.78 miles running next to Jen and Jameson on the bike in a sanctioned bike ride at night!  We all had our bikes decked out in fancy lights, it was a nice cool night run for me.  I was the only runner so I felt a little out of place.  The run felt pretty good, nice pace of 6:50 per mile

I learned of this race through word of mouth.  It's a hidden gem if you ask me.  The course is run on a private farm.  It's the home course of Lake Side Lutheran High School.  It's all on grass and takes you through woods and over lots of hills.  Some of the hills were incredibly steep!  It really brought back old memories of Cross Country.  The temps weren’t too bad this morning because the sun stayed behind some clouds and we’ve got a storm system moving in.  It was windy, but I didn’t feel it that much because the course takes you turning in different directions.  I started off in the back of the pack to see how things would shake out with the 5K runners.  By the time we hit the mile marker I was in 2^nd place and could see 1^st place splitting a 6:29 1^st mile.  I wasn’t really concerned with splits on this course.  I came through the 2^nd mile in 5:35 and put some considerable distance between myself and the 3^rd place with that split.  By the time I hit mile 3 running a 6:11 split, I was within striking distance (30 meters) of the 1^st place runner. I was a little concerned that 1^st might be a 10K runner so, I wanted to make sure the gap wasn’t too big.  I made the turn to run the 10K as 1^st place went straight to finish the 5K.  Now I was all on my own with a monster lead as later learned I won by 20 minutes.  My 4^th mile was a 6:51 which was slow, but the steep hills disguise the effort associated with that split.  Mile 5 was 6:00 and I was feeling nice and strong.  For the 1^st time in a long time I noticed I was in good form and the body seemed to be perfectly in sync.  The last .96 was on cruise control with a 5:45 (5:59 mile average).  I didn't fight with this course I took what it gave me and I wound up feeling good about my effort.

I’m really glad I skipped out on sleeping in after the late night run to run this race.  It was also a lot of fun to run in spikes!  This was another win at a low key event without taxing my body.     

3.2 mile warmup 

2.4 mile cooldown 

Avg race pace 6:11

Morning:  9.95 miles along Lake WI  - Hot and Humid  7:54 Avg

Evening:  5.80 miles Yellow Thunder Trail to J -Hot, humid, and hilly 8:08 Avg

Noon:  4.66 miles along Devil's Lake Trails - Hot & humid - Avg 7:37 pace

Morning:  10.66 miles out Hwy 106 W along river.  I like this route for my tempo intervals because it's pretty much flat.  Warmed up for 2.5 miles then ran 4x1 mile w/.4 recoveries  Went 5:45, 5:44, 5:31, 5:46 for a 5:41 average.  These went well because it was cool outside and I ran low miles yesterday.  The workout felt like the right effort.  I wanted them to feel like I was pressing, but not putting the hammer down.  I walked away from the workout feeling just right.

Avg run pace 7:07

Evening:  4.96 miles in town loop, legs felt really flat and I seemed low on energy.  Avg run pace 7:52 (Saucony test shoes)

Morning:  4.81 miles pepple and back through arboretum.  No power on this run, but not sore.  I'm guessing it has something to partly do with the heat advisory.  We've had over 30 days of head advisories this summer.  Avg pace 8:24

Night:  8.26 miles Heat index of 98 in town loop, lots of lightning off in the distance.  I was really hoping for a cool front to come in.  The run was a hot steamy one for being at 10pm.  Can't wait till these hot days are behind us.  Avg pace 7:40

Morning:  13 miles around Kettle Moraine North State Park.  Drove up to the park last night and got in late so I took an unplanned day off yesterday, but probably needed one to reboot the mind a little anyway. I also didn't want to miss second of Jameson's excitement over his 1st camping trip.  Didn't get much sleep last night in the tent due to storms and Jameson getting scared a couple of times.  Avg pace 7:59

Got up nice and early to take advantage of the cool temps and had a nice easy run on random trails.  Ran a nice flat look around Mauthe Lake then connected up with a crushed rock bike path that leads over to Long Lake.  I found some flat nordic trails that I explored as well.  A nice cool, but muggy 75 degree run.

Off to Door County for some family fun for the next 3 days.

Evening:  10.33 miles on some nice mt bike trails at Pennsula State Park.  Legs were feeling flat, but the soft dirt helped make the run more manageable.  Mid 70's and low humidity! :)   Avg pace 8:11 on the single track trails

Morning:  7.94 miles along Ridges Rd to Topfer Point in Bailey's Harbor.  Pefect temps 61 degrees no humidity at 9 am.  Avg pace 7:26

Should be a fun day of exploring Door County with the family.  The weather is so nice up here.  Going to explore some more state parks and maybe go to a famous Door County fish boil tonight in Fish Creek.  The shore lines along Lake Michigan in this area are amazing!  The water temp is very warm, which is so rare for Lake Michigan.  Finally got a chance to try some cherry pie made from fresh Door County cheeries.   

Evening:  12 miles @ Newport State Park.  Mostly double track trails with some technical single track trails.  Hit a big hole and went down hard.  No injuries other than my pride.  It was the 1st fall in over  2 years.  Perfect temps and weather.  Awesome trails for running, but not well marked.  Got a little turned around in the park.  Found my way out by asking for directions from a couple campers deep in the woods. Avg pace 8:12  

Morning:  5 miles Ridges Rd to wild life sanctuary.  Saw a huge doe and her fawn less than 5 feet away.  She just stood there and looked at me for a good 30 seconds or so and then started walking slowly away.  I've never seen a wild deer so tame.  The trails were all single track either woodchips or sand.  The trails made for a really slow pace, but I wasn't up for running much faster anyway.  Avg pace 8:59

Evening:  4 miles on Lakeshore Dr. Legs felt trashed from all the hard trail running the past couple of days.  Planning to take a day off tomorrow to play some golf if the weather cooperates.  Then driving back home to Fort.  It's been a very nice vacation.  Avg pace 7:47 

Morning:  9.92 miles w/6x800m @ 5K-10K pace.  Felt terrible on this workout even with the day off yesterday.  The legs were really flat and I seemed to be over heating with the 80 degree temperatures and 100% humidity.  Did a .67 mile warm-up interval in 4:10.  Went into 6x800 after a .25 mile easy jog.  2:50.2, 2:47.6, 2:40.5, 2:55.7, 2:59.4, 3:08.8

Not the workout I was hoping for, but I'm happy I was able to hang tough on a very bad day.