alabama master

Late morning run at Pt Mallard on trail and bike path. 5.76 miles, 43:06, 7:29 avg.

Ran a little with the kids at practice. We have a leap frog bungee cord and small parachute that they got to use for the first time today, we also practiced soft ball throw. 

Work day with church afterward took up my day and night. While waiting on 2 of my girls to get back from a church function I watched a race between a marathoner and a new Fiat car on the London Marathon course on You Tube. They ran/drove during morning rush hour. The runner(a 2:30 marathoner) beat the car by 11 min. Very cool.

10pm fartlek run thru neighborhood and oak lea. 5.5 miles 38:55. 7:00/avg. Here's the breakdown: 1.3 @7:45 pace(p), .7 @ 4:57 p, 1 @ 6:40 p, .25 @ 8:00 p, .5 @5:05 p, .25 @ 8:00 p, .25 @ 5:10 p, .5 @ 6:40 p, .25 @ 4:57 p, .5 @ 9:08 p.

3 quality workouts in the last 6 days and no signs of injury. It is about time to get new training shoes though.

Easy 7.21 with Eric thru neighborhood, oak lea, and the hills of montevallo. I pushed hard on the hills. Then 2 x .5 w/2min rest on the home loop. 2:32, and struggled thru a 3:04. Rest was too short and I was tired.

The kids did well at their track meet despite some organizational problems and it being 48 degrees and windy. Relay meet coming up on the 10th.

Night tempo run thru oak lea and dunbarton. 55:40/ 6:58 avg. Middle 3 miles at 6:00 pace.

Easy 5 in neighborhood and oak lea. 36:07 / 7:14 avg. Negative split 7:32 down to 6:59

Ran and did plyo w/kids at track practice. Meet tomorrow.

At the track meet, chasing kids around an cheering them on. The kids did well in the field events and ran strong in their relays. The team is mostly 4th graders and were competing with 5-6th graders. A little out matched but we all had fun.

At the 3M River City Run 10K. This is a race our club has put on for the last 28 years. Eric and I did course set up and assisted the "race director". Kelly ran the new event this year, a 3.5 mile run in 33:40 avg 9:35/ mile. The girls and Kelly also ran the kids 1/2 mile fun. Later in the afternoon she got out and did 6 more miles. She got more miles in this week than I did. She is training for her first 10K at Jesse Owens on May 17th.

Evening run thru neighborhood and Oak Lea. 34:14/ 6:51 avg pace, last two 6:33, 6:23.

Late morning run w/Brother on the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge north river trail. 8 miles, 1:01:04, 7:38/mi. 31:05 at four mile turnaround. Kelly has been running w/Brother so his endurance has built up. The last time I took him out on the trail he stayed with me for 5 of the 10 miles I did, then I was having to slow down and walk to allow him to catch up. We're getting our last (hopefully)  gasp of winter, with temps only in the mid 40's and a strong north winds. Should be back up to 70 by tomorrow afternoon. 5K race this weekend, will see if speed work has been worth it. Would like to go sub 18.

Ran and did plyo with the kids at track practice. We gave the kids clinics on shot put, softball throw and standing long jump.

Afternoon interval workout at Pt Mallard. Rick Doke, the track/cross country coach at Decatur HS has marked off 1/4 mile marks on a 1 mile stretch of the park access road.

7 X .25 @ 72 w/90 sec rest. The first 4 went well, the fifth was a little harder and by the last 220 inthe sixth my arms were feeling very heavy and I had a difficult time keeping pace. I skipped the 7th in favor of a longer recovery and was able to bring the last one in at 72. It gave me confidence that I can stay strong through the one mile mark at 4:48 pace. Will have to reduce the reps to 5 and shorten the recovery time.

Ran and did plyo with the kids at track practice, but was feeling the effects of the hard running.

Easy 3 after work. 23:05/ 7:42 even pace. Still tired in the legs from yesterdays workout. I would normally take days off after a hard workout, but will try run everyday this week.

Easy night run with Eric over on the SE side of town. 33:36/ 8:24 pace. I have been feeling a strange movement in tendon or ligament in right knee. No pain or swelling, just something not moving correctly as I run. It lessens as I go farther and get warmed up. I choose to ignore it now, hoping it will correct itself. I'm getting new trainers this weekend, should hopefully be the fix.

Easy 3.5 thru neighborhood and oak lea at 7:30 pace. Ran w/kids at track practice and did 1 x .25 at 4:50 pace.

Kelly and I will run a 5K in Huntsville tomorrow before the girls Track meet. I'm hoping to go sub 18, Kelly sub 30. 

Kelly and I raced in Huntsville this morning. I was on 5:40 pace and in 2nd place behind a 17 yr old up until the 2 1/2 mile mark when I started to fade. My 3rd mile was 6:06 and Marty passed me. I held on for 3rd but missed my sub 18 goal. Kelly ran well, 30:14, a new PR.

I had no time for a cool down after the race. Two of my girls and I had to get to their track meet in Madison. All the kids ran great.

Ran an easy 5 thru neighborhood in the evening.

Rest day. Went over to Eric's to watch the womens marathon trials. Then a busy day of church, Eric's daughters birthday party, coached a kids soccer game, and then had to work 3 hours OT.

10 on the refuge with Brother. 1:17:29/7:45 pace  negative split.68 degrees at 9am.  Too much for Brother still wearing his winter coat. Saw 2 snakes,a turtle, and numerous water fowl. Brother injured fore paw and rough gravel section of trail.

Ran w/kids at track practice. Raced them in a shuttle run relay, with me being my only team member. Only made it thru 6 of 8 shuttles.

Ran easy with the kids at track practice.

Evening tempo run thru oak lea. 38:17/ avg 6:58. Did 3/4, 1/2 and 1/4 mile track speed pickups. Left glute a little sore from running with kids yesterday.

Evening run thru neighborhood and oak lea. 37:47/7:12 pace. Took 3 miles to loosen up my left glute. Afterward had some left shin soreness as well. 

8am - Bird Sping 10K+.  47:25/7:18 pace. Cool temps, great run but still a little stiffness in left glute.

ran with kids at track practice

Late morning run at Pt Mallard. Warm up and cool down with 4 x .25 miles w/60 sec active recovery.  78, 78, 70, 75. I could'nt find a rhythm in my stride. During the warm up I felt sluggish and my left hamstring was tight. I need to be running consistant 72-73 splits in order to have a chance of breaking the record.

Kelly and I will race gain this weekend at a 5K here in town. She looks very good fr breaking 30. I think I'll take it easy the rest of the week and then try to break 18 on Sat.

It almost 10pm as I write this. I should be out doing 3-5 easy miles but am opting to do none. I'm going to rest my sore left hamstring (it was my glute, but now it has moved down) and try to get a good nights sleep. I used to be able to sleep solid thru the night, but now I find myself waking up every two or three hours. My work schedule/life! really disrupts my natural pattern.