Yeah, but a solid part of that was downhill. I think it would have been closer to 6:15. Running fast downhill killed me for the remainder of the race, though.

I pulled off the intended workout with little trouble. I ran three miles, and then stopped for about ten minutes to do my core routine. I was at the NCR Trail, so I did an out-and-back three miles. The lot where I park (by the second mile marker) is apparently not frequented during the week. I ran another two miles afterwards, which went better than I thought it would. I kept my HR in the range of 150-155 again, but this time ran closer to a 10:04 pace rather than 10:20. That could be the difference between me running closer to 150 before and closer to 155 last night. Here is a new dilemma, though… my right leg began hurting a bit a few inches above the heel (right at the bottom of the calf muscle), which is what eventually drove me into a week long hiatus prior to Thanksgiving. Of course, that was exacerbated by the ill-planned pyramid workout (seriously, what was I thinking running that at 5K pace?). I stretched, iced, and heated well last night. Today, it has been reduced to soreness. In fact, both of my legs are fairly sore. I was kicking around the idea of scrapping tonight’s speed workout, but I’m no longer sure if that’s necessary. If worse comes to worse, I may just take the weekend off. It’s been a long time since I’ve outright skipped a workout of any merit (I’ve only missed a couple of 2-3 mile runs since January), so I wouldn’t be too worried about it.

DR: I was thinking that, as well. As much as I think a solid speed workout will help for next weekend, it probably wouldn’t be smart to do 400s faster than 5K pace on a creeping injury. I’ll probably end up taking today and tomorrow off, and then getting back into the swing of things on Saturday with a long run. I may even skip my planned tempo on Tuesday (in favor of a regular easy run), and just make the next couple of weeks easy (except for the race, of course). If I were to get a full-blown injury this month, I would probably scrap my 10K plans and just roll right into long, slow distance (LSD!) for the next three or four months. My only worry is that my taking it easy for the next 10 days won’t do me any favors come race day, but I’d hate to relive my Turkey Trot 2007 experience of racing with a body part feeling like it’s on fire.

I was planning on doing something very similar, but a more Rick-level equivalent... Thursday: 400s (scrapped) Friday: Off Saturday: 7.5 miles (depending on how the calf feels, but maybe_ closer to five milers Sunday: Yoga, gym, three miles Monday: Off Tuesday: 3.5 mile tempo, 160 - 173 bpm (gradually increasing) Wednesday: 3 miles, 8 strides Thursday: Off Friday: 2 miles (at least 24 hours before gun time, so I'll probably get up at 5am to do this) Saturday: RACE. I remember Coach Einboden saying something about how anything you do 7-10 days before a race won't help you a great deal. However, I wouldn't want to go the entire week before the race without doing anything fast at all.

After stretching and icing last night, my calf feels much better. While I probably won't do the full 7.5 as originally planned tomorrow, I hope to do at least five, followed by yoga and three more on Sunday.

On Saturday I ran 10 tense miles in 1:27:##, which equals an average pace of 8:47/mi. The first half was marred by some heinously high humidity, and the latter half was impeded by some wildly whirling wind. My right foot needs some serious icing. Rick, how are you presently feeling? Hospice is only five days away!

Saturday was a rough run which I’m chalking up, in part, as one of “those” days. I got a good night sleep the night before and felt alright prior to the start of running, but my body wasn’t responding well. I intended to run 7.5 miles at what is now the normal 150 – 155 bpm, which has been a bit over 10 minute pace. However, I was struggling at closer to an 11 minute pace for most of the run! Of course, I’m not naïve enough to believe that my aerobic capacity has dropped off significantly since earlier in the week. In fact, during the last couple of miles, I came up with a couple of reasons as to why my heart rate was so off. 1. I think the sudden increase in heat and humidity caught me off guard. While it wasn’t oppressively hot or humid (only about 75 degrees), it was considerably warmer than the 40s and 50s that I’ve grown accustomed to recently. 2. While I don’t know if it has any direct correlation, the pollen count was WAY up last week. While my allergies aren’t as severe as when I was a child, I am most susceptible to symptoms on the onset of grass pollen, which usually starts up when the weather begins to turn in April. I have to think this affected my system somehow. 3. I failed to prepare for the run at all. I ran at 1pm, but had not eaten since a bowl of oatmeal and a banana at about 9:30. I used no GU, despite running for over an hour. Also, I felt very dehydrated over the last half of the run. Low blood sugar and dehydration can cause the heart rate to increase by themselves. I should really look into getting one of those water belts for long runs. I shouldn’t need to carry much water at this point, but it would probably be helpful. My confidence was low throughout the run, and for about an hour afterwards. However, this isn’t the first time I’ve had a run like that, and it surely won’t be the last. I think I could have run faster, but I really didn’t want to get my HR up to much higher. My heart was literally telling me that this was not the day to push it. (To give you an example as to how bad it was, I actually had to walk for about 10 seconds at a couple of points to get it back below 155 bpm!) Sunday was a stark contrast. The temperature was back in the low 50s, and I had just gotten out of yoga class at 11am. I had eaten a DOUBLE bowl of oatmeal at 8:15, and washed it down with some yogurt. I felt ready to redeem myself as I got out of the car, but was shocked when the “low battery” message appeared on the Forerunner when I switched it on! Apparently I had left it on all night. Fortunately, Sunday was only meant to be a three mile maintenance run. The Forerunner lasted for less than 0.75 miles, but I was able to gauge my heart rate decently enough. On Saturday, my HR shot up to 155 bpm within the first minute or so. However, on Sunday, I had to battle to get the HR up to 155 for the first five minutes. In fast, I was cruising at 8:45 at one point and was astonished that my HR just broke 150. I think I eventually settled into a pace just slower than nine minutes when the Forerunner went blank. Cautioning on the side of safety, I pulled on the reins a little bit and tried to keep my pace at what felt like 9:15 – 9:30. Of course, without the Forerunner to beep at me, I was going a good bit faster at times. Sunday proved a couple of things… First, I am way better that what I showed on Saturday. Second, without the HR monitor, I am still prone to speed up faster than I should be going. Depending on how I feel tomorrow, I think I’m going to move forward with the 3.5 mile HR tempo. I know it’s not going to help me physically for Saturday, but (1) there is more than enough time to recover from the run before Saturday (so it won’t hurt me), and (2) I need to confidence boost more than anything. My calf is doing very well as of this morning. In my research on Thursday and Friday, I picked up a new calf stretch that seems to be working wonders. It starts with the traditional one foot in front of the other, hands on the wall while leaning forward calf stretch. After completing that stretch, simply bend the knee of the outstretched leg to stretch the lower portion of the calf muscle. DR: If anything is in serious need of some icing, it may be a good idea to pull back for a while, maybe even take a week or so off (after Hospice, of course). You really wouldn’t lose anything by taking that much time off, and the rest would likely even be good for your legs. Additionally, you would still have 3-4 full weeks, depending on which 10K you choose to run.

Today I'll be returning to Ryken --- for the third time in a week! On the menu is 3 X 200 + 1 or 2 X 400 + 3 X 200. I checked the SMR athletic activities calendar, and although men's lacrosse is away, varsity and JV women's lacrosse have home games at 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., respectively. That shouldn't be a problem, though. Our passage proceeded unimpeded just fine last time.