4 miles plus some Tour de France spinning

Went out for a steady 4 miler after work. Held a 7:30 pace fairly easily. Legs feel good. A little tired, but good. 30:36 total with traffic time.

When I got home, Jennifer and I hopped on the trainers to watch Stage 3 of the tour. 30 minutes only, but it felt good to do a little spinning.

28 Down, 24 to go

After yesterday's 50k, I expected that my legs would be shot today. Whether it would have been from the hills, the heat or the distance, I expected to have jello legs. But I didn't. Not sure why. But I won't complain.

Woke up about 5:00 a.m. for a 6 a.m. run. Today I met my TNT folks out for our weekly team run. Because of the 4th falling on Friday, we anticipated that many participants would rather run on Sunday than Saturday. And when we showed up and had 20+ runners, we knew we were right. But before they met us at 7:00 for the run, several coaches and I met for 4 miles first.

The first 4 miles went well. We held a nice steady 10:15 pace. It was already getting warm. I could tell the temperatures would quickly reach the 90's as forcasted.

The next 9 miles were run with the team. I joined up with some run-walkers on a 4-1 plan. That is 4 minutes of running with a minute of walking. When running, we averaged about 10:30 miles. Total miles were around 12 min/miles. Not a bad pace at all, considering the heat.

And this sort of running walking I think is fantastic training for my upcoming 100 miler. I plan to do a fair share of walking during that race, starting at mile one. So having a slow run with walk breaks is just fine. And it keeps me on my feet for longer. Not a bad thing.

After those 9 miles (13 total), Laura (who will be joining me at the Heartland 100 in October), Pam, Amanda and I ran another 4 miles. We stuck to an "outside" loop at the park that has no shade. By 9:30, the temperature was already 86 degrees. And rising.

Pam and Amanda dropped off (as planned) after that 4 mile loop. Great job to both of them, as neither had planned to be out their that long. Thank you to both for just being their for Laura and I.

Laura and I continued. Actually, we were feeling great. The only problems were 2: first, the heat and the lack of shade; second, the monotony of loop around a small park. But we kept up our spirits, and kept to the best shaded areas of the park. This meant 3 more loops around a 3 mile section.

We kept going. Kept drinking. And kept going. The last few miles took some time, especially considering the length of time we took refueling and hydrating between loops. But we kept going.

5:35. Not a great time if you are counting, but I am not. I considered this a huge success, especially considering the heat. And didn't I mention yesterday that I am not a good heat runner?

28 "marathons" on the year down, 24 to go!

PsychoPsummer 50k Race Report - 27 down, 25 to go!

Until today, I wouldn't have considered myself to be a good heat runner. (I probably wouldn't consider myself to be a good cold runner either. Now temperatures of 45-50...that is where I excel. But that is beside the point.) I have always enjoyed running in the heat, but generally only short distances. I've just always thought that my body is just not suited to take hot, humid days on long runs, especially on tough trails that really get your heart pumping. So really, I figured that an ultramarathon on a tough trail course in the middle of July would not be my best and brightest of days.

And I have some experience to support my belief. Last year I entered and finished an event called the PsychoPsummer 50k trail run in Kansas City. I'll keep the story short. I finished. I leave the story at that because the rest of the story would be about the near death experience I had last year when the temperatures reached triple digits with terribly high humidity (I exaggerate, I thought I was going to die but I really had a great time!). So obviously I couldn't wait to run it again this year.

Well this year came today. I'd nervously watched the weather all week long. Hoping that we wouldn't have another 100+ degree day like last year. Hoping the humidity would stay down. Hoping to have a partly cloudy, cool day. Well, I didn't exactly get all that, but I got a fairly nice July day. Some clouds, lower temperatures (high in the mid 80's), but pretty high humidity. Regardless of the weather, I was there in KC and ready to run.

This event is great. Its a two-loop 50k. I consider this to be a very hilly course. It isn't terribly rocky, although there are some rocky sections. And it isn't terribly winding, although there are some winding sections. Its tough. And that is why I like it. As the race website says, this is not a sissy paved event!

We arrived fairly early from Topeka, where my wife and I had stayed the night before. Jennifer helped me pick up my packet, filed up water bottles and got set to run.

I started near the back. The first couple of miles had several long fairly steep climbs and descents. Pretty tiring, but I remember the first few miles of the course having some fairly long hills. So I was mentally prepared. I passed a few people on this section, but pretty much tried to hold a steady pace (my goal was to have 2 laps at around 3 hours each).

After those few miles settled down, the race got fun. I consider the middle part of the course (miles 4-9)to be fairly fun. There are some very steep parts (those where you use all fours), but most of it is really cool trails (I have one favorite section where the trees completely cover the trail. Its like you are running through a tunnel). Some nice long descents to pick up the pace, and some nice long and windy ascents to keep things interesting. The aid stations at miles 5 and 9 were great sites and perfectly located and manned.

Miles 9-12 are pretty fast (considering how much fun the rest of the course is) as they were off the trails a bit. Other than one pretty long walking hill, most of this portion was very runnable. It was a nice break to start running again and hold it for 20 minutes or so.

After mile 12, we headed back to a windy section, and then into some really muddy sections. The last four miles seemed to take forever. Oddly, those last four miles were just as horrible on the first loop as they were on the second. So I really think those were tough sections, no matter if I was on mile 12 or 28.

I finished in 6:16 and some change. Turns out that I was 15th place out of 50. Not bad for me.

I really felt great when I finished. I joked with my wife after I finished that I could go another loop if I needed to. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to, especially if it meant that I had to go back through those last 4 miles of mud again. But I was trying to save my legs for another 25-30 miler tomorrow. So I think I paced myself fairly well. Just right, so that I had enough left for either another 15 today or 25 tomorrow.

Yearly "marathon" update: 27 marathons down, 25 to go!

4th of July 9 miler

Met some of my TNT teammates for a morning 9 miler. Steady 10 minute pace throughout. Probably pushing it on distance though, have a 50k race tomorrow.

Successful 4 miler.

Took the dogs for another 4 miler. Nothing fast. But wore them out. Success.

4 miles + 2 dogs = Fun Run

We are dog sitting for some friends. Rueben, a 2 year old black lab, is also a runner. At about 5:00, after an afternoon rainstorm cooled everything down, Pav, Rueben and I headed out for 4 miles. Both dogs did fairly well. Pav actually did great, and stayed right beside me. Rueben had a tendency to want to run ahead. Trying to control the two was pretty tough. Actually though it was pretty fun.

4 mile afternoon run

I intended to wake up early to run. Didn't happen, because Jennifer and I both had to be at work early. So I got an afternoon run in about 90 degree temps. I won't complain, I actually love it. 4 miles in just over 35 minutes. Heavy traffic cost me 3 to 4 minutes.