A new week

ORN: about 4.5 mles in about 43 minutes

Yeesh, it is even dark at the end of the run now. Nice run though, legs fully recovered from the 10 miler on Saturday.

Pesevere.

Long Run with Wooly Worms

ORN: 10.3 miles, 1:34:28, about 9:40/mile or so

What a specacular fall day to run! All winter and all summer I dream of such a day. Full sun, temp in mid 50s, trees turning color, mild breeze. Could not be any better.

The legs are back. After really cranking my R calf two weeks ago in the Half, I'm back to regular running. Originally set out to do 9 miles, and threw in an extra mile just because it felt good.

Winter awaits, though. Saw many, many wooly caterpillars slowly crawing across the trail today. To my knowledge, I didn't squash any but it was a hazardous place for them to be. Typically, the weather holds out OK through early December, then into the deep freeze through February.

For now, I enjoy what we have. And am grateful for it.

Persevere.

Aromas

ORN: 5 miles, 50:13,

The legs are back. Felt good. Intented to do 4 miles, just carried on the Morehouse Spur and did 5. Lost track of time on the way back, good sign. Travel on Friday, do 9 or 10 on Saturday.

Quite a smell of decaying leaves as I ran past Cumberland Woods. Fall is here and winter is not far away. Exacerbated by baseball season ending last night with the awful White Sox winning the whole thing. Tough news for a Cubs fan

Mars looked a dusty orange this morning, not red. Interesting.

Pesevere.

Road running on the Road

ORN: 4 miles (about), 10:00/mile (about), as the sun set

At meetings in Bloomington, IN. As usual, the meetings broke up around 4:30, no dinner plans till 6:30, got in a run late. Ran along 3rd street, along the IU campus, along Frat row on the south side of campus. Lots of traffic and fumes, sure made me miss the clean trails in West Lafayette. But, it was a good run.

Calf feeling better each day. Stretching helps. Actually didn't notice it during the last 3 miles of run. That's cool.

Persevere

First Cold, Dark Run

ORN: 4 miles, 10:30 pace; 43 deg, windy, damp, dark

After running at 5pm yesterday, I was out again 12 hours later. The run felt good. Stretched three times during the run, that helped. Still feel both the calf and, to a lesser extent, the right hammy.

Will take two days off now, as I’m in Bloomington for meetings. Will run again on Thursday morning. Maybe go long on Saturday???

Persevere.

First Run after Injury

ORN: 4 miles, 47min, 11:00 to 11:30

Amazing. Went out not knowing if I could run or not. Gingerly took off. Stretched early, then four times along the run. Amazingly, I could roll forward on the ball of my right foot without hurting my calf…and that’s the first time that has happened in a week since the half marathon.

So I decided to see what I could do. As it felt OK after one, I decided to try for four. Made it to my two mile turnaround and felt fine and ran all the way. No walking, eacy running (see pace!!).

Man, did it feel good to run again. And the longer I went, the looser the calf felt. Still feels fine tonight. Will have to see how it feels in the morning when I attempt another four miles.

Oh, and I wore my $2 running vest. Worked well, both into and with the wind. More on that later.

Persevere.

A steady-state plan

ORN: 4 mile walk. Ran maybe .4 miles.

The pull on my right calf seems to be taking a long time to heal. Which is making me think that the plan I had to run two laps of the Huff is not going to make it…the time was close anyway and I’ll be lucky to get back to decent mileage even by next Saturday.

And so I consulted my Hal Higdon plans today. Eureka. I can toggle between weeks 8 and 9 of the half marathon plan aud infinitum. Speed work each work, 9 miles one Saturday, 10 the next. Right at 30 miles a week.

By so doing, I’m always 6 weeks from tuning for a half marathon and 10 weeks from a marathon. Makes sense. And doable. And I can relax.

Persevere.

Indianapolis Half Marathon--October 15, 2005

A beautiful fall day for a race…sunny, little wind, temps in mid 50s, to low 60s at the end. On a nice course in and around Ft. Ben in Lawrence.

Here’s how it went.

Did not sleep well at all, was pretty anxious to get going. Finally, the alarm went off at 4:50am, got up and got set. Got Matt up at 5:25am, as he had to go to Indy as well for his first ever HS Debate team event…then I head to Indy. Twila Paris on the CD player…a great way to start.

Got there and found, eventually, a place to park, a long ways from the registration spot (why, when anticipating running 13.1 miles, would I complain about walking 4 blocks?? Pretty lame). Quckly in and out of registration, though. A good, LS t shirt. Went to car, picked up race stuff. Dang! I forgot to pack my pace band which I had so carefully prepared for a shot at a PR!! I pull out my running notebook, write 8 splits on my left hand in ink, that’ll have to do. Dropped off gear bag (wow, I’m grateful for that service at races..) queued a few times in the porta johns.

My objective was to set a PR, to improve on the 2:06:35 I ran at the Sam Costa in March. I hoped to run 9:30 miles, which would end up at a 2:04:40.

If you’re up for it, here’s the mile by mile summary:

Mile 1—Nice start, the usual struggle to find a rhythm, but it was nice. This is, after all, Indiana, where people are nice. Beautiful loop through Ft Ben Harrison officer housing. Did it in 9:37. Good.

Mile 2—more in the Fort. Beautiful. Found some folks to talk to. 9:29. A bit quick, I back off.

Mile 3 – Leave the Fort, head down E 56th street, fully blocked off. Big, long, downhill late in the mile, I let myself fall freely. 9:06.

Mile 4 – into a residential area, big loop, well-proportioned people standing in front yard watching this spectacle. Walk through water stop, 9:33. Feeling fine. Start to run with a group of ladies who have an Internet running group and all met Indy to run. Nice folks.

Mile 5—back the other way on 56th, now up the hill. Some nice fan support here. 9:39. Surpised how good I feel. Eat a Gu. 4 seconds under my needed split.

Mile 6, 7, 8, 9 – Click off quickly. Very nice. Beautiful day, in a groove, nice conversation. The mile markers surprise me at how quickly they appear. Times at 9:26, 9:39, 9:35, 9:47. Feeling good.

Mile 10 -- Loop into a park, onto a bike trail. Wooded, hilly, pretty. Take another Gu at the bottom of the hill as we circle a lake. 9:20. What’s that twinge I feel in my right calf?? Choose to ignore it.

Mile 11—Climbing up from the lake. That can’t be a cramp…that can’t be something to stop me…this isn’t really happening. And I have to walk. It eases…then it picks up again. 9:51. I’m losing it. And start to panic.

Mile 12—Out of the park. What do I do? I decide I need a slow, careful stretch. My conversation group passes me. I find a car with a bike rack and hope the owner won’t mind me leaning on the bike rack to stretch the right calf. A long, slow stretch. It feels a bit better. I head down the street, wondering what to do. I decide to pop another Gu. I’m thinking it is a cramp. I gradually pick up the pace, but feel each and every step with my right leg. And I decide to relax, work through the pain and keep going. Mile checks through at 10:03. I figure my PR is toast.

Mile 13 –Amazingly, I feel a little better and catch up to the support group. They were surprised to see me. Have enough wits about me to smile for the race photographer. Only a mile and change to go, so I just keep plugging. As I run with the group, I do a quick calculation and observe I’m only 75 seconds over the pace I need to hit my 2:04:40. I wish my team well and decide to make a push and see if I can get the time. I start passing people and choose to ignore my right calf. Passing more people. They are all panting…I’m not. I just hurt. As I come to the 13 mile sign, I can see the finish. Mile clocks at 8:41. Wow. I look at my watch, I look at the finish line, I see I have a shot at making the goal.

Mile 13.1. A flat out fast run, an interval, if you will. Hit the mats at 2:04:37 on my watch, later find out the chip time is only one second higher. By both counts, I beat the target. An exhilarating feeling!

Post Race: Chip clipped off, medal on, I’m limping but don’t notice it at the time. grab 3 bananas and Gatorade and greet several folks I ran with. As I leave the finish area, I realize just how much my right calf hurts. And I’m starting to wonder if it is more than just a cramp. But that’s not a worry now.

Get to the gear pick up and it feels great to put on a dry LS T shirt. And then gimp over to get some food.

This race had the best food line I’ve seen in a race. Actual hot food…fresh burgers and bratwurst off the grill, baked beans, cole slaw, cookies, donuts, Gatorade, water, all in abundance, all served with genuine good cheer. Wow.

Find a place to sit down and start talking with a fellow runner. Turns out it is Dedre, who is an originator of the website tapermadness.com. We talk running and blogging and have a great time. She also tells me to take more salt during a race. Easy way to do it?? Grab a handful of salt packets from a fast food place. Yeah, I’ll try that. Wonderful conversation.

Gimp back across the street and head home. Happy with the PR. Wondering what happened to the calf. Thinking what could have been, as I felt fantastic, except for the silly calf thing. Thinking it might be more a pull than a cramp. Oh well. A fine way to spend a beautiful fall morning.