Tuesday Track

Everyone knows that Tuesdays are for track workouts. And everyone knows that they begin at 5:00 AM at Claggett Middle School. But does everyone know how much fun these runs are? 

Some do. There are seven of us today, so count us among those in the know. Seven is around average, but it's surprising today since there's rain in the forecast. Assuming said rain occurs later rather than earlier, Dan the Overachiever shows, but arrives a half-hour early. He doesn't want to miss this one.

Although the rain has indeed held off, you can cut the humidity with a knife. The Wolffs (who have also been known to overachieve) arrive as Dan is completing his warmup. Today's agenda calls for a Yasso workout: ten 800s. Dan's been doing these every other week. It's always a challenge.

The first one is always a shock. Today, the second, third, and all the rest are as well. The humidity makes it very tough. Dan the Overachiever takes his time in between the 800s; he needs the rest. But somehow, he manages to complete all ten. His times are consistent; all just under four minutes. It's what he was aiming for.

Today's tip-top track tempo training trot

It's my first run in the new Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT% 2 shoes. I start out by wearing them around the house. Feels like I want to bounce my way forward. Getting out of the car at the Claggett Middle School track is fun as well. Once again, forward seems to be the direction the shoes want me to go. And with a bounce in my step. Do they really make you faster? Google sure thinks so. We shall see.

The new Vapoflys

After a two-mile warmup, I'm ready to try to take them to tempo pace. Those three miles go well, and they feel fairly easy. After an easy mile, I decide to do one 800 at about the pace I've been doing during previous Tuesday Track sessions. Once again, it feels pretty easy.

Now, let's talk about perception vs reality. My heart rate during the fast portions of today's run was in the neighborhood of 144 (avg) to 152 (high). Looking back at my heart rate for previous speedwork was... almost exactly the same! So my perception is that they felt good and they made me feel fast, the true impact was tough to quantify. As they say... more study is needed.

That said, there won't be a whole lot more experimentation. Maybe just one more training run. I'm saving them for the Erie Marathon.

Volume

In my research for this post, I only just realized something that I must have misremembered: that there were two, not one, First Citywide Change Bank commercials on Saturday Night Live. It's like there were two parts by design. The first fake commercial is the setup, and the second one delivers a great punchline. It goes like this. "How do you make money (giving exact change all the time)?" The answer: Volume! 

Volume is the name of the game for me so far this Spring and Summer. I'm now up to 70 miles per week, including long runs of 20 miles or more. Pretty good, eh?

We'll see about that. Erie is in two weeks.

The best deadly sin of all

Sloth: the avoidance of work. I like it. Okay, maybe lust would nudge it out from the top of the list of Seven Deadly Sins. Oh, alright; gluttony ain't bad either. But the rest aren't nearly as much fun.

I engaged in some sloth by not running yesterday. It was my first day off in several weeks, but I think I earned it. I earned it by running 71 miles in a week for the first time in forever, and by running 21 miles the previous day.

Said day off enabled me to wake up energetic and ready for a good run today. I burst out the door, and although my run started off fast, I increased the pace as the run went on, and I finished strong.

Nothing - not one word - in the above paragraph is even remotely true. At least I did make it out the door, I'm hoping tomorrow's run will be less slothy.

Distant Thunder

The sky is clear (I had just pointed to Betelgeuse for those who wanted to see him), yet we can still see intermittent flashing lights near the horizon. It is lightning from a faraway storm, perhaps over Lake Erie. There really isn't any thunder to be heard, but for some reason, I like the post title Distant Thunder better than Distant Lightning.

What's the occasion, you ask? Why it's none other than our usual 5:00 AM Wednesday run at Lake Medina. We've been pretty consistent about these mid-week jogs, and consistency is vital for running success... I think.

For this particular Wednesday run, we have a slightly larger than usual gaggle of runners. There's Andy and Michelle Wolff, who (to no one's surprise) somehow managed to start even earlier than the rest of us. We have Debbie Hicks and Mallory Bergstresser, educators just beginning their new school year. Harold Dravenstott is here to discuss his upcoming work day along with yesterday's speedwork session. And then there is the surprise visit from Michelle Kelly-Daum, who is training for an ultra, yet has to finish fast to get home to get her kids off to their first days of school.

Back and forth we go, doing the lower and the upper trails near the lake. It's a great morning for a run. Yet it's difficult for me; yesterday's Yasso 800 workout is still in my legs. I think the same is true for a few of my companions, especially Michelle Wolff. As we keep returning to the trailhead, we keep losing folks. Eventually, it is just Michelle Kelly-Daum and me running the final few miles. 

We finish as it's getting light. My watch tells me that I've completed the planned ten miles. That should get me through. Until tomorrow.

Akron Goodyear Half-Marathon Race Report

I am usually pretty even-tempered about my running, and I also don't generally like to brag, but just let me say one thing: Yipeeee!

The Akron Goodyear Half-Marathon Race was a keeper, for all the best reasons:

• Great organization for a fairly big race.
• A Swenson's burger and two (2) beers at the finish.
• Great company (my friends, Theresa Wright and Julie Boggs traveled with me).
• Absolutely perfect running weather.
• A blimp.

Julie, Theresa, and Dan before the start. Oh yeah, and the Blimp too

With the blimp overhead nearly the entire race, I managed to keep my pace fairly steady at around nine minutes per mile. After the nifty start at the Goodyear Proving Grounds, Julie and Theresa pulled ahead, and I settled into my groove. Just like last week's race, I had some trouble in the middle miles (mostly due to the slightly rolling hills) but then found my mojo again for the last few. That downhill finish helped. 

My time was 1:58:28, good once again for second in my ancient age group. Yet another 65-year-old kid beat me once again. Oh well. This run felt way better than last week's brain-baker. I will take it. Gladly.

Autumn is Coming

Yes, I spotted it this morning, rising in the Southeast, as it is wont to do each August. I didn't hesitate to point it (my first sighting of the Orion constellation) out to my running companions, who gave a collective, enthusiastic. "Meh."

When I see Orion coming up in the morning, I know that Autumn is on its way. I know I can also do this by looking at the calendar (only to see that there's really still a month of Summer left), but sometimes I like being old-fashioned.

It's been a long, hot summer, so this is welcome news.

Hofbrauhaus Half-Marathon Race Report

It's mile 10, and I'm just getting over a bad patch. 

But wait: bad patch seems to imply that that slowdown will be followed by some sort of recovery and subsequent speedup. Unfortunately, my experience with bad patches is that they're almost always followed by worse patches. It's hard to imagine anything else on this HHHH (Heat, Hills, Humidity, and Humility) kind of day. Okay, the hills aren't so bad on this course, but the excessive heat, humidity, and humility more than make up for that.

This is my first experience with the Hofbrauhaus Half-Marathon (I'd been attracted by the offer of free beer),  Other than the not-so-serious Brunswick Half-Marathon last January, this is my first half in a year and a half. I averaged around 9:30 per mile at that Boston 2.1 race, where my overall time was 2:06. Picking up where I left off seemed like a good idea, so I started today's race at that pace.

Did I mention the heat and humidity? It was oppressive even at the start. As the sun rose higher, things would go from bad to worse. All of my miles were at 9:30 or better until about halfway. Those middle miles are on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, through Rockefeller Park, along Cleveland's Cultural Gardens. It's relatively nice and shady, but that's where I lost it. Could I get "it" back?

Somehow, with three miles to go, I do. I start running at about the pace I went out at, and now I'm passing people once again. Some of them had recently passed me. A lot of runners are staying in shaded areas, even when they're out of the way. Me? I'm running tangents, despite the hot sun.

That final 5K turns out pretty decent; about like the first 5K. I guess I did get over the bad patch. I finish in about 2:04, good for 2nd in my age group. I suppose the electrolytes and multiple gels I took helped. Not to mention the promise of the free beer at the finish.

Consistency and Comfort

The 60-plus mile weeks are coming fast and furious, and now, so are the long runs and interval workouts. And yet, I'm still in a kind of comfort zone of my own making. Consistency is essential, and comfort is nice. But improvement requires at least some amount of dis-comfort. To that end, I am:

1) Running a couple half-marathons, including one this Sunday. This will require a slight disruption to my weekly mileage and rest-day routines.

2) Working even a little harder on the speedwork. This week's 800s were my best yet. Since the surgery, of course.

3) Running on trails occasionally. Often, this is on the trails in the field behind our subdivision. Other times on nicer, easier trails like LRT.

4) Picking berries. I did this today whilst trail running behind our sub. The slow pace was comfortable, but stopping to pick amidst prickers, poison ivy, bugs, and more bugs was not.