Time: 81:45
Distance: 11.5 mi.
Map
Dave Burnham drove down from his parents' house where he is hanging out for winter break. We got in a nice easy run through Echo Hill to UMass and back through the center of Amherst. The sidewalks still aren't completely clear and the shoulders aren't well plowed, so we had to jump on and off the street throughout the run. Sesamoid still a little bit sore.
Time: 60:00
Distance: 8.5 mi.
A very easy morning run from Brian, Carmody and Ring's place on the East Side with Burnham, Carmody and Joe. We weaved down the streets on the East Side to Town Lake and then back up. It wasn't the prettiest run, and my legs are totally shot. I probably haven't recovered properly and am dehydrated, but I'm not sure why they feel quite this bad. I think tomorrow will be a day off.
Time: 85:00
Distance: 12.5 mi.
Easy afternoon run with Dave, Brian and Raul. Dave and I started on IF, Raul met us there and then we picked up Brian when he got back from work. I was feeling pretty good overall, though this was a bit of a tedious way to run 85 minutes.
Time: 51:20
Distance: 7.5 mi.
Easy afternoon run with Brian and Dave. We started out on Bull Run and then added on up to North Loop instead of finishing on 45th. Legs pretty tired this afternoon, but a good recovery day with some volume.
Time: 60:00
Distance: 9 mi.
Map
Afternoon run with Dave. I have been trying to explore up north and since this morning was a bit of a bust of a run, Dave and I headed in that direction. It is almost exactly 30 minutes to Foster Lane, which is where it seems that Shoal Creek Blvd. turns leaves the neighborhoods and heads into strip mall city.
I think the only way to do a loop out there is to head west on Northland about 2.5 miles into the run, cross Mopac, and then head south on Balcones and back around... something like this.
Time: 95:00
Distance: 15 mi.
Target: get a good long-ish effort in; close to 15:00 for the 5k and 9:40 for the 2 mi. with as much running between as fits
Workout/Race: 15:12 for 2nd (behind Joe), 9:52? for 2nd (behind Bernard); 40 minutes on Town Lake as "rest"
15:12? Ouch!
I wasn't planning on this at all, but was offered a comp entry for both by the Austin Runners Club, so I decided to use this as my longer workout for the week. By the time this came around I had some serious sleep deprivation, so it was an effort to even get up, but it was a beautiful morning and fairly cool. I didn't know quite what I'd be able to do, so two hard efforts were my only real goal. Both races (which shared the first and last mile) were downhill out and uphill back, and I positive-split both pretty well. In the 5k Joe was able to beat the first woman, who started 3 minutes earlier, to win the "Daisy Challenge." Dave ran down to watch me flounder, and we ran 40 minutes on Town Lake in between. By the time I started the 2 mile my legs were pretty beat, which showed in the second uphill mile, where I was over 5 minutes.
By the time I was finished, I was totally beat. It wasn't a terrible outing... 5 miles of good effort and decent volume. I hit the cold pool and lay down outside afterward before getting ready for more SXSW.
Also, Wish, who I saw at the race, did a nice recap (with one weird quote from me about running 14:20).
Time: 90:00
Distance: 13 mi.
Map
Started heading south to pick up Dave... after a short discussion about the fact that we always run the same places, we headed down to do the Scenic, Town Lake run backwards. He was hoping to get some decent volume in today, so I tagged along for a little longer than I was planning on doing. Miles of trails.
Time: 60:00
Distance: 8.5 mi.
Joe, Dave, Darren and Raul met at the house for a morning run. We did the standard 15th Street loop coming back up Shoal Creek. Raul and Dave started from their houses and peeled off early to get home. Not a fast run at all, and I ended up deciding to split the run today rather than add on as my legs were tired from yesterday's workout.
Time: 45:00
Distance: 6.5 mi.
Early morning run with Dave and Brian. This might be what Jordan would call getting in "time on my feet." Did a loop around the outside of IF before running 30 minutes with them.
Time: 90:00
Distance: 13 mi.
Early morning run with Burnham. I'm having short term memory loss on this run, but we ran a variation of the Shoal Creek and Campus loop with a loop around Handcock and then I added some time on IF. Legs a little heavy again and feeling tired.
Time: 71:30
Distance: 10.5 mi.
Evening run from the house. Started south and picked up Dave, did a loop of campus and dropped him off again (it was his double run) and then headed west and north up upper shoal creek up to North Loop finishing down Guadeloupe to IF (where I ran into Raul). Body felt surprisingly good, and it was good to get the run in. I should get back into the morning routine, though, ASAP.
Time: 40:00
Distance: 6 mi.
Easy evening run with Brian (and Dave for a little bit). I really must have shocked my knee better somehow because I have had zero pain since the workout on Tuesday. I also managed to do this somehow last year with my IT band which was bothering me until I did a tempo run. Anyway, I'm not complaining. The run was easy and felt good.
Time: 85:00
Distance: 12.5 mi.
Ran with Brian from the house... picked up Burnham and headed out on the 15th Street loop and then Dave and added on the Ridgetop loop. Legs and body a bit tired and calves a bit sore from yesterday's workout, but right hamstring felt surprisingly good.
Time: 85:02
Distance: 12.5 mi.
Map (approximate)
Took Dave on one of the runs that we made up this fall. Of course, it's not that different from the other loops I've been doing recently, but any change of pace is nice at this point. I've added this to my list of runs, but today we did it a bit differently that we probably should have, ending up on Exposition and heading all the way up to 35th on it before heading back east. This added about 5? minutes onto what the run should be.
My right glute/piriformis is still nagging pretty bad... the first 10 minutes of most runs are a chore as it warms up. I'm not sure exactly what I should be doing about it, but more stretching and rolling couldn't hurt. It was really nice to run with Dave, as I've been driving myself a little crazy running alone every day.
Time: 140:00
Distance: 18.5 mi.
For a chance of pace (literally, it turned out), Brian, Joe, Dave and I headed up to Lake Georgetown in Georgetown, TX. We found the start of the "Good Water Trail" that runs 26 miles around the lake and started out. We immediately realized that while these trails are somewhat similar to the Greenbelt, as we heard, it mostly resembled the rockiest and most twisted sections. There were mile markers on the trail and we were splitting 8+ minute pace, which seemed reasonable. We went out-and-back and got back to the car at 104 minutes (12.5 miles?). We then ratcheted it down for about 6 miles at close to 6 minute pace on the nearby roads and across the dam to get in the right distance and a good effort while tired.
I'm not sure I'd head out to this section of the trail again, but it was great to go exploring with the guys.
On an unrelated note, articles like this, while basically true, will convince a bunch of people to replace a run with standing on one leg. Great.
Time: 100:00
Distance: 14.5 mi.
Easy morning run. I wasn't looking for this much, but by the time Erik and I made it down to Dave's, and then Dave and I made it down to Town Lake, this was the way it worked out. I guess I didn't mind because I'm taking the opportunity to get miles whenever I can at the moment (especially with people), and don't have a lot of time to double these days. Ran into Jake for the last 10 minutes of the run, so I didn't even have to run the last bit alone. Legs are pretty beat.
Time: 60:00
Distance: 8.5 mi.
Easy run after class with Dave. Legs are a bit less sore than this morning, but were pretty beat by the end.
Time: 110:30
Distance: 15.5 mi.
Ran from 0.0 with Hanley and Burnham out onto the Greenbelt. Feeling pretty stiff and a bit sore from yesterday's workout so going to the Greenbelt was nice where we could just roll along and not worry about pace. Not 30 seconds after we turned around I took a dive on some mud-slick rocks and landed HARD on my right kneecap. After a good bout of loud swearing and hobbling around we started running again and it loosened up as the adrenaline kicked in. Ran into Wetzel on the way back and finished up with Hanley and him a little loop downtown after dropping Dave off at the cars.
Knee was tight and sore afterward, but I rubbed some dirt on it (put some ice on it) and used it as a good excuse to sit on my ass all day.
Time: 64:47
Distance: 9.5 mi.
Mid-morning easy ("slow as you can go") run with Hanley and Burnham. Met Dave at his house and then headed all the way down Shoal Creek to Town Lake, across to Congress and back through campus. Right hamstring/glute pretty tight at the beginning, and legs were pretty stiff throughout the run and afterwards, definitely resulting from the workout yesterday.
Before the run I caught the Olympic Trails Marathon, which was broadcast online. Ryan Hall completely dominated the race, followed by Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell. A pretty inspiring performance... Hall's 5k splits: 16:44, 15:41, 15:27, 15:12, 15:05, 14:48, 14:28, 14:56.
