Training Log Archive: ebuckley

Easy jog on the powerline with a detour to the grocery store for bacon. Warm enough that I thought about going barefoot, but then remembered that they wouldn't let me in the store without shoes.

After a very nice day spent with the family, I went for a spin. First cooker of the year (just above or below 90F depending on whose themometer you wanted to believe). Very strong wind out of the south. If I had cared how fast I was going, it might have made things unpleasant. As I didn't, it didn't.

4x1250@4:55 1:00R, 10 miles easy, 4x1250@4:55 1:00R

Last of the really tough runs. Sure, there are still three split tempo runs to go, but this is the one I wanted to get past. First set felt fine, even easy. You'd think the 10 miles in the middle would be the easy part, but I knew better: you just spend it dreading what's to come. So, I timed it so I could join the St. Charles Running Club 10-mile run. That helped pass the miles a bit easier. Second set was really tough. By the end of it, my heel (and pretty much everything else) was complaining, so I did my warmdown on the Katy trail. Brought a bag of frozen vegs into the 2nd Street Bike Shop where everybody was meeting for breakfast (yes, it's a bike shop and a cafe). That got a few laughs, but I think icing the heel right after the run helped quite a bit.

C • If i'm doing the math right... 2

After doing a few errands on the St. Charles side of the river, I did an out and back on the Katy. Legs felt pretty good all things considered. Was nice to put a little pressure on the pedals knowing the hard stuff was done.

In to work. Despite being a bit underdressed (anticipating a warmer and longer trip home), it was a nice enough morning that I took the longer route through Forest Park.

Home from work. Stiff wind from the west. Nothing like last week, but enough that I had to take some care to not trash the legs for tomorrow. Wound through the tree-lined streets of the Central West End, Forest Park, Clayton, U-city, and Olivette, generally avoiding being into it for more than ten minutes at a time.

In to work.

Back home.

Duck(U)@18:42. Worked from home today, which is good because I'm not sure I would have been able to run as well if this was part of a full run home from work. Also, it meant the run was soft surface, saving the pounding for this weekend. As it was, it's the fastest I've run the Duck except when I've used the paved path rather than the grass along side. Pace felt a little soft, if anything, so I may be looking at a slightly better tempo pace than what I've had the past few years. That would be nice as lactate clearing is the limiting factor for a marathon.

Powerline had it's usual goopy spots, but quite runnable.

Grass loop down to Arch and back. I hope my readers are seeing the irony in using an "Arch" run as therapy for plantar fasciitis. Was a bit surpirsed to get done in 42 minutes as I certainly wasn't pushing it. I guess my legs really were fried when I ran this last week.

Knees felt just a bit stiff driving back yesterday. Not sure if that's from stepping up the bike miles, the hills on Saturday, or if I'm just getting old. In case it's the first, I took the SUV in to work again so I could use a lower gear against the headwind (which was light, but still enough to take the "easy" out of spinning the 62 on the Felt). In related news, the heel is barely noticable this morning with just one brutal road run left prior to the marathon. May have dodged a bullet on that one.

Time doesn't include stopping for a tube change when my front developed a slow leak. How does that happen to a 29er tire on roads? Anyway, if you're going to get a flat, no better place than right in front of the field house at Forest Park. Changing it inside was a lot easier on the hands as the outside temp was still below freezing.

Home from work, mellow pace.