The Big Ten

Ten miles out at the lake, ran with the running club, running most of the way with Bob, who ran at a steady slightly above 10:00 min/mile. After running about four miles with him, I went out on the spur, then back. Total distance of 10 miles, miles were between 10:01 and 10:55, except for last mile which I ran at 9:15, though I wasn't pushing it all that much. AHR of total run was 163.

4 Miler

Four miles up at the lake, temperture about 37F out, with a decent wind. Out and back, total time of 40:15, splits of 10:06, 10:05, 10:00 and 10:02, overall pace of 10:03, AHR of 162. Meant to take it a bit slower but as usual got going faster than I meant to. 10 miles planned for tomorrow morning, things feel pretty good overall.

6 Mile

Six miles in the rain during the afternoon. Thunder had let up for a bit, so Judy and I figured we'd get our run in up at the lake, but it really poured on us. Temperture in the 40s, not very pleasant. Ran faster than I wanted to at the start, but was wanting to get it over with. 6 miles in 59:36, splits of 9:46, 9:30, 10:03, 9:58, 9:59 and 10:17, overall pace of 9:56, AHR of 165.

4 Miles

Four miles up at the lake, out and back. Overall time was 41:20, splits of 10:16, 10:04, 10:33 and 10:24, overall pace of 10:20, AHR of 162. Took it fairly easy.

8 Miles, getting longer...

Eight miles up at the lake - idea was to run with the Fleet Feet Runners Club, but no one showed up, perhaps because of the Easter weekend. Brisk out, upper 30s but with a stiff northern wind. Ran clockwise from the north parking lot, including the trail part, adding in a bit of the spur to make it 8 miles. Started a bit quicker than I should have, ended up taking walk breaks from about mile 3 on, but just 1 minute long every mile, so fairly typical. 8 miles in 1:21:33, avg pace of 10:11, splits of 9:55, 9:55, 10:36, 10:34, 10;20, 10:01, 10:02 and 10:05. AHR was 162, which is better than it has been recently.

3 Miles

Three mile recovery run up at the lake, went out 1.7 mles, came back 1.3 miles, walked .4 miles. 31:34 total time, splits of 10:37, 10:30 and 10:26, AHR was about 159, heart monitor was acting up the first half mile or so. Comfortable run overall.

4 Mile Run

Four mile 'tempo' run up at the lake, 1 mile warm up, 2 miles at about 9:40 pace, 1 mile cool down. Splits of 10:15, 9:39, 9:34 and 9:32, overall paced of 9:45. For the last mile, I ran .2 miles near all out (6:51 pace) to see how it felt, then coasted at a 10:10 pace the rest of the mile. AHR was 167, but was boosted by my all out .2 mile stretch (183 AHR for that, then took a while for it to come back down). Right knee is bothering me a bit, feels like I banged it against something, perhaps I did, but I'll have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get worse.

3 Mile Run

Three mile run up at the lake while Judy was running. Tried not to push it as much, but still was going at a pretty good clip. 28:08 total time, 9:22 pace, 9:29, 9:23 and 9:15 splits. AHR of 169 so not as high as it had been the last few runs. Was in the 50s but was raining hard at the start, let up a bit as I went on. No wind, so the rain didn't feel too bad overall.

5 Miler

St Louis St Patrick's Day Parade five mile run, ran the weekend before St Patrick's day. They were calling for crappy weather, 30s, windy rainy, but it ended up being in the 40s and no rain, with not too much wind. Crowded start, about 10K total runners. First mile was 10:20, it was mostly uphill and was tight quarters. 9:41, 9:33, 9:45 and 9:35 for the rest of the race (plus 27 seconds to wrap up the race). 49:23 total time, 9:53 avg pace, AHR of 174 with an AHR of 181 for the last mile, and I felt like I could have ran faster, I didn't feel like I was giving it my all. Overall a fun time, will do it again.

4 Mile Evening Run

Ran four miles up at the lake in the evening, running two miles out and then back. Bit of a head wind on the way out. Was nice enough to wear shorts, but it was starting to cool off and it was a bit chilly by the time I was done. Pushed it a bit, 37:25 total time, 9:21 pace, splits of 9:27, 9:22, 9:21 and 9:14. AHR of 173, high again - going to take a bit for my conditioning to get back after my 'slow' running leading up to Little Rock.

Back To Running

Three miles around the neighborhood, had to take two short walk breaks, but overall pace was good. 29:29 total time, splits of 9:53, 9:45 and 9:49, avg pace of 9:49, AHR was high, 173.

4 Mile Walk

Walked four miles up at the lake 'with' the running club, felt pretty good out, walked with Judy, ran the last half mile to see how my legs felt, and they felt surprisingly good.

Little Rock Marathon

Little Rock Marathon. Tweaked my back, so was letting it rest up before the marathon - then managed to tweak it again sneezing while in Little Rock, heh. We walked around quite a bit on Friday seeing the sites, probably got in our 3 miles. Race morning was quite nice, in the 50s, getting close to 70 by finish time, but it was mostly overcast with a good wind, so didn't feel too warm out. Race went pretty good, first half I ran all miles in the 10s, with a Half Marathon split of 2:18:13, 10:33 pace. I then started slowing down as the course started the major climb, next 6 miles were mostly in the 11s (one was 10:39), then the final 7 miles, 5 were in the 12s and 2 were in the 11s. I did have enough juice to push it a bit at the end, but not too much. Total time was 4:55:46 for an 11:17 pace, AHR was 166 It was my slowest marathon (other than Chicago) but the course was much tougher than Memphis, and with my calf muscle injury slowing me down in training, I was happy with the results.