I'm Back

Seven miles today in the 50F sunshine. It goes without saying, but I did it in shorts and no shirt. Felt awesome.

Items from the run:

• Cricket Hill is in pretty decent shape.


• There's a light pole with a pretty good lean to it just south of the CARA board that's gotta fall--and I will probably be under it when it does.


• Today was the first time I have passed by the trough in months.


• Some people still wear pants, gloves, hats, coats in weather like today--and they stare at me, but shouldn't I be the one staring?

Back in the saddle

Ahhh, the remnants of the Caveman Weekend. Was able to sneak in a massage yesterday (Chris, many thanks for the lead) and made it out this AM for 8 miles here in Detroit. Still feeling a little bit of hamstring tightness, but fairly sure that it will loosen in the next couple of days. Don't expect much out of me at Cary, but I'll be trying to hold off Cahn as he attempts to close the gap again out there.

Finally, here's the GPS elevation from Boston. As posted last year, I think we tend to forget about that uphill in the first section of the run. Note to self......

CAVEMAN is over!

The caveman weekend with Matt and Ed as victims / participants is complete. Unfortunately our good buddy Chris was layed out by a mercyless flu and missed the fun. Which was:

Friday PM: 15 miles, with 12 @ LT pace. Coming on the heels of a 130 mile week my pace sucked ass, starting at 6:00 and ending near 6:25, with an average of 6:10-6:15.

Saturday AM: Slow but gruelling 18 miler on hilly terrain, including part of the race course and the dreaded summit avenue hill to boot (1/2 mile long, 300 foot elevation change). We did that twice, declined the third repetition. A solid hill workout at a slow-ish pace. AVG PAce: 9:00, Elv change: 4100 feet.

Saturday PM: 200 repeats. 20x200 at an avg. 37 sec for me. In the rain, at the outdoor track. nasty and cold, slight wind in the back stretch. Including warm up and cool down a total 5 miles.

Sunday AM: The big DADDY. Marathon course plus return to ed's, total 30 miles. AVG PAce 8:30, Elevation change 3200 feet.

Sacramento... what a gift!!!

So maybe I won't come back to Chicago....... Damn, I'm building a house, so I'm going to have to come back!!!

Two wonderful runs in the last 24 hours out here in Arnold's Town. Last night was a brisk 12 miles at 730p here. Only impediment (other than my slow legs) were the stoplights along the way. Averaged 735s for the distance and had to slow myself down several times. I will keep a more "metered" approach tonight.

This morning I stepped out into a CHILLY 44 degree darkness for an 8 mile LT. Mid to high 6s with stoplights mixed in (would have been mid 6s without). I felt good throughout much except for a couple spots on the return where gusts of wind from the North hit me in the face.

So I've made up a bit of distance, and plan on a nice 8 mile RECOVERY run this evening.

One other item... for Ed.... the fancy schmancy hotels likely don't have good treadmills. In fact, the current hotel in Sacramento is anywhere but nice. Last evening, in the final mile (which would be closest to the hotel), I was quasi-propositioned by a hooker that looked somewhat like Elvira.... or maybe that was Pearman... it's tough to tell, especially with my "running vision" which is much like Ed's normal vision.

Here's what I must suffer through for the next two days.....

20 this morning

with some hills. I'm pooped, not so much from running but rather from averaging 5 hours a night of sleep.

Matt, have you ever heard of a treadmill? Those fancy hotels you stay at probably have one... Anyway, youll get plenty of miles saturday.

Mother Nature is a mean hearted B*tch

So at 530a this morning, it was pouring rain... I mean POURING rain, so I opted to take my travel day and hope for an opportunity for a late night run in WARM Sacramento. Low and behold, American cancels my 345p flight... so I rush to the airport so that I can get to Dallas for my connection. Job done.

It snowed in Dallas beginning around 630p tonight. Between waiting in line for de-icing (which we never got to) and refueling (because we were running out of fuel from waiting so long), the pilot's legal time for work expired. So did my chance of making it out of Dallas (and I HATE Dallas, I really do).

Long story short.... no run today, no clean clothes for tomorrow until I arrive in Sacramento. Kinda makes JP's comment posts about "taint" not seem so bad. I'm running at least 13 tomorrow night. No dinner for me then.... I'm stuck at 19.2 as I go to sleep tonight.

We deserve at least 30 days of good running leading up to Boston. That's all I ask for at this point.

Boring run

Short LT. Saving myself for Friday.

6:00
5:58
5:49
5:53
5:34


Nice job JP, you are doing awesome coming back from some bad s--t...

We will try not to get injured thios weekend... it should be FUN.

Ketchup

Tuesday: Easy run / 7 mi
Wednesday: 45 min LT / 8 mi - 6:03 avg pace
  6:03, 5:58, 6:06, 6:05, 6:03, 6:08, 6:09, 5:53
Thursday: Easy run / 11 mi
Friday: Easy run / 17 mi slow with some hills
Saturday: Speed 2 x 3 mi / 7 mi total
  1: 5:55, 5:56, 5:44
  2: 5:42, 5:51, 5:41
That's 69 miles for the week.

Sunday: Long run / 18 mi
What a day to run. Shorts and t-shirt.

70

What a difference a little warm weather makes. I topped 70 miles last week -- for the first time in the last 4 years. Hard to believe I've been dealing with nagging injury stuff this long... but I checked my training logs and my last 70+ mile week was in January of 2004.

Did a 23 mile run on Saturday in nice 80 degree sunshine... and then back here to run in icy, crappy slush today. The time in Florida was good for my training. I'm slow and still pretty achy... but the miles are coming much easier than they have in a very long time. Now the challenge is to keep this momentum going in this climate.

I feel like I've lost weight and my clothes aren't as tight as they were... but the scale says I've only dropped a couple more pounds. 156 lbs - 16.1% body fat.

I have 62 miles planned for this cutback week.

Ed - take it easy on Matt in Boston (with the mileage -- the rest of the things you do to him is your business). You guys (Ed, Chris and Matt) are poised to run a great race in April. Don't f-it up in March.

Beginning of the long week

So I made a "guestimate" and came up a few tenths short this AM. 19.2 miles for the day. Kate Reicher and Dave Rubin were responsible for the 7 minute (and sometimes sub) pace for the first 10 (they turned back and did a total of 12 and left me to my misery) and then we settled back into something more reasonable. A balmy 38 degrees out here with a strong wind from the south. Made for a nice return, but also a bit dehydrated. I will be ready for mileage this week. The down week last week charged the battery. We'll see how I feel on Friday evening and Saturday AM.......