Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Christmas in October

Monday I decided to run into work and follow the good vibes from Sunday. (Jodie had taken a supply of clothes to her lab to help facilitate this.) Why not another fast paced run near LT. I put on my headphones and headed out the door. I did the 6 miles in a not near record pace (43:3x - record is about 42:0x - a pretty big difference) but acceptable considering the lack of recent purposeful training. I have been maintaining fitness but not actively improving.

At lunch, still getting back to the plan, I hit the treadmill for hard forced intervals. I had planned on a 1 mile warm up followed by 3 miles of 1/4 mile intervals @ 6 min / mile pace (1/4 REST @ 8 min / mile pace) and then a 1 mile cool down.

I ended up doing only 3/4 mile warm up and no cool down. The intervals went fine. I can run these faster but not willing to push the pace at this point in the training. The Gulf Coast 1/2 mary that I am now officially signed up for is just 6 weeks away. That will give 5 week of concentrated training. I have not really picked a plan yet (I have been looking at the end of a challenging full mary plan) but I know the routine. I hope to do well in this 1/2 mary because I will use the pace to develop the training plans for the rest of the year.

I rode the bike into work this morning. With all of the travel and late nights at work, etc. I have not ridden the bike much. I also push the bike too hard in the commute - these should be easy miles but they are not. From house to campus, stowing the bike and getting clothes and making my way to the locker room in just under 30 minutes. The bike is still the fastest way to work and considering the construction around town that now includes taking a shower.

Tuesdays are the 'Dot Race' and as always they are exciting. Vic has been on a roll and continues to drop big blocks of time for his handicap. He started just a few weeks ago with a 8:30 minute mile and today clocked a 6:55. Huge gains in time. Chad has come down to a 6:30 minute mile and has plateaued a bit - he has been nursing a strained quad. I was able to better pace myself this week and watched the quarter mile markers and was able to keep my heart rate under control. Challenging but not out of control I clicked off 1:30 1/4 mile splits and was then able to push it to a 1:24 for the final leg of the mile. I passed Chad in this segment but Vic was too fast today. With the new handicaps next week Vic will have to continue to put up big numbers.

I decided to run a bit further and hooked up with Ryan. We ran about 3 more miles in and around campus at 8 min / mile pace. Total running miles today was 6.

Pent up and full of energy I surged repeatedly on the bike commute home. I would slow down for Jodie but we have always agreed to not race home. To better expend this tension I rode a good portion of the ride standing on the cranks in the largest gear.

Still wound up I decided to drop the backpack off and do a early evening time trial. I was not sure if I was going to do the 11.85 mile (home to Epley) or the 20 mile (home to Sumrall) time trial out and backs. My heart rate monitor was not registering and I probably pushed the pace a little hard so I decided to do the shorter of the two. Funny enough I finished in exactly the same time as my PR for this course (achieved on 07/31/08). 32:10 @ 22.10 MPH - however, I have not been riding much the past few weeks and this ride has brought on the 'Santa Claus Syndrome'.

Mind and body better I called it a night.

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