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Duluth, MN - half marathon

Monday, December 31, 2012

Year in Review

Week in Review:
64 miles
2 doubles
1 run on dreadmill
13 mile long run
1 run w/Jamie

Well, Anthony and I made it to 3000 miles this year, with one day to spare. We ran 3004 miles, only logging four miles today because of the snowy, slippery roads. I also ran several races this year, 20 to be exact. 7 of them were half marathons (yikes!) This week Jamie came down to run with us, and we took him to Wilson's Creek. Jamie, if you are reading this, I apologize. For those that aren't familar, Wilson's Creek has some monster hills, one even being named "Bloody Hill", however, I think that has more to do with the war ;) This last week we also experienced what finally felt like winter, with cold temps, wind chills in the single digits, treadmills, and snow.

Now what's up for next year? I want to "debut" in a full marathon. It will actually be my second full marathon, the first being in Oct. 2010, but this one I will actually train for properly. I ran my first marathon before even attempting a half marathon. It was right after I graduated. . . I felt like I was in good shape and would just go for it. I definitely underestimated how hard I thought the marathon was going to be. . . you have to respect the beast. So, which marathon, I'm not sure yet. It's going to have to wait until the fall because of school, boards, job, etc. I'm leaning towards Chicago, but open to suggestions if anyone has any.

Also for 2013, I want to run in the USA half marathon Champs in June. I've already run a good qualifying time, now it's just a matter of them letting me in. . . fingers crossed!

Anthony is still planning on being open sometime in early January for his practice. Carpet and fixtures should go in this week. He got some good marketing experience this weekend, working at one of the local half/full marathons providing free soft tissue/ART to the runners. Unfortunately, several were out of towners, so we probably need to hit up a local 5k.

For those that are wondering, we took second place in the balcony contest at our apartments. We still think we should have got first ;)

Everyone have a safe New Year's Eve!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Lousy Workout

2 mi w/u
Goal: 4 x mile w/half mile recovery @ 5:30 or faster
Actual: 2 x mile @ jog
c/d back to home

Well, we decided to run this workout today rather than tomorrow because the wind was supposed to only be 10-12 mph today. We head out to the mile stretch that we have recently adopted as our new "workout" route, but wind was not as reported. When I got home I checked weather.com and it said 23 mph!!

So we decided to try the workout, running the first mile into a head wind. I'm too embarassed to actually tell the split, but my thinking was that obviously we would run faster on the one with the wind at our back. Well, wrong again. It was at this point I got so frustrated that I quit and jogged back home. I couldn't keep up with Anthony anyways. Anthony attempted another another repeat and was successful since he didn't have me holding him back.

I probably should have known better and opted for a fartlek where I could focus more on effort rather than time-sensitive workouts.

On another note, we spent most of the afternoon finishing our balcony for the decorating contest. It seems like things never work out. . . winds are supposed to be 40mph on Thursday. I don't think our gingerbread house will survive that :( and judging is on Friday evening. All that hard work gone to waste. But check out our cute gingerbread people. . . we are going to keep them inside until Friday (just in case the house survives)

Aren't they cute?!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Christmas Mile

Week in Review
70 miles
1 workout
1 race
17 mile long run
3 doubles


I'm on a mission to reach 3000 miles this year, an all-time yearly high for me. Last year I ran around 2500, so this would be quite a leap from last year. 3000 miles is a weekly average of about 57 miles per week, which doesn't really sound like much. It is actually quite the accomplishment when you throw in important races that require tapering and a recovery week after a hard season of training/racing. I'm at 2870 miles, only 130 to go and 15 days to get there! I didn't make it easy on myself.

With some doubles, I was able to significantly increase my mileage last week. Once I catch back up to Anthony, I'll move back down to singles (I really don't like running in the cold). I currently don't have any races lined up anytime soon. I'm thinking of possibly getting back on the indoor track again this year at my Alma Mater in Jan/Feb?

For anyone interested to hear about Anthony's practice, it's underway. With a few set backs from the carpet company (we rushed to get the walls painted because the carpet was supposed to be put in on Monday. . . that was 3 weeks ago), he is expected to be open by Monday December 31! He is still working on his website, but feel free to visit Ultimate Health and Rehab
Pictures to be posted soon.

Christmas Mile
3 mi w/u
Goal: mile @ 5:10 or faster
          first place female
Actual: mile @ 5:17
          first place female
6 mi (to make a total of 10mi)

This was a very small race, yet fairly competitive up front for the men. The race actually started about 3/4 a mile from the finish, so at 8:00am, when the race was supposed to start, people were still walking to towards the start line. We got started about 15 minutes late, and as a consequence my legs didn't feel very good the first 1/4 mile. Which is unfortunate when the race is only 1 mile. Anyways, the late start meant that I warmed up too early, which resulted in a poor start with legs feeling like the lactic acid had already built up.

Small race. . . I'm starting to miss KC
I'm still fairly pleased with the time I ran. It gives me a good starting point. I have no doubt that if the first 3/4 of the mile hadn't been run head on into a  22 mph wind, I'd likely have run faster than 5:10. When we first got there, I got really excited because I thought they had reversed the course. Hence, having the 22 mph wind at our back a majority of the race. Unfortunately, it was false hope.
Old guy I ended up passing shortly after.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Tis the Season for Tempo's

Been a while since I've had anything of importance to blog about. Since Bass Pro in early November, we've simply been doing mileage. Enough mileage I've decided, time to start incorporating some workouts again. Another reason we haven't been doing workouts is because we simply don't have any races lined up. . . until now. I've signed up for the Christmas Mile this weekend. It advertises a flat, fast course. We will see.

Today was the first day in over a month, that Anthony and I tapped into sub 6 minute pace. We planned to ease into speed stuff again with an easy 3 mile tempo at sub 6 minute pace. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit scared at the thought. I usually feel like I can run right around 6 minute pace all day, but ask me to go faster and the run immediately feels harder.

Fortunately, that's no the way it went down :)

3 mi w/i
Goal: 3 mi @ sub 18:00
Actual: 3 mi @ 17:34
3 mi c/d

This workout was run from our new apartment in Republic, so we warmed up to a point where we would have less traffic. The route turned out to be to our advantage. We would begin by running the first mile west, turning to run the second mile north with the wind pushing us, then pulling a 180* turn to repeat the second mile in reverse. We knew that we'd have to run the first 2 miles a little faster to give ourselves a cushion for the 3rd mile being into the wind. We opened up with a 5:51, feeling very easy and relaxed on the semi-flat mile. Turned the corner to head north and, suprisingly, split a 5:47. Surprising because this mile tended to have more uphill, but we attacked and had the wind at our back. It was during this mile that the tought of running a 5k popped into my head. I did a quick calculation and figured we had a chance of running sub 18 minutes if we could just hold on the last mile.

Well, as soon as we turned around, it was instantly like running into a brick wall. This mile started out up a decent size hill and directly into a headwind. A quarter mile later, we crested the top of the hill and my Garmin was reporting that we were on pace to run 6:22. This was when all thoughts of an extra .1 left me. I just wanted to finish the last mile at a respectable pace. Once we got to the top, Anthony pulled ahead and I tucked in behind him, trying to hold on and let him pull me through the last 4+ minutes. I focused on his back and let him pull me through the rest of the run. Still managed to get the last mile under 6 minutes.

This was a great first workout, giving me lots of confidence to be running this kind of pace on pure mileage. I was so pleased, I decided to give the Christmas Mile a try this weekend :) Acutally, I was always planning on running, but now I have something to go off of to set a decent goal for the race.

Now, time to go help Anthony with our Christmas decorations. We are entering a contest for our apartment complex.