5 Mile Run

Took an extra day off from running, so ran on Wednesday instead of Tueday. Mostly feeling better. Strong northwest wind, so tried to run a course up at the lake to avoid the wind, starting at the restaurant, running south and doing the tail, then up thru the woods and up the east side of the lake. Once out of the woods, the wind was pretty stiff. Headed back, did a little of the tail again to get distance, then back to the car. 5 miles in 51:23, average pace of 10:16, splits of 10:42, 10:25, 10:12, 10:09 and 9:53. Average heart rate of 156. Overall a decent run.

20 Miler ... well, sorta.

Plan was to run 20, but wasn't feeling well, tired and worn down. Walked 2 miles then started running, struggling to keep my pace below 11 min/mile. Ran from the restaurant, up and did the lower soccor field loop, with a pitstop, then up to the sailboat cove and down the otehr side of the lake, then out on the spur to the bridge, then back to the car. Had shotblocks during mile 8, and after mile 10 decided that I would slow to a 11:30 pace, then during mile 13 I just completely stopped running, I knew I was done for the day. 13 miles of running in 2:24:04, 11:04 pace, and 7 miles of walking. I guess I can say at least I covered the distance. Hopefully I'll start feeling better soon.

5 Mile Run

5 miles up at the lake 'with' the FFRC, though no one was running my pace. Did the upper lake loop, stopping at the soccor field bathroom, and running past the start point to round it out to 5 miles. 55:53 total time for a 11:10 pace. Splits of 11:31, 11:16, 11:21, 10:48 and 10:55. Average heart rate of 151. Took it easy, feeling a bit under the weather and have the 20 miler to do Sunday.

8 Mile Run

8 miles up at the lake, running a figure eight from the restaurant, starting north. Also added in a bit of the overpass and the tail to make it 8 miles. Ran fairly slow, 1:26:29 for a 10:48 overall pace. Splits of 10:52, 11:03, 10:36, 11:01, 10:44, 10:44, 10:47 and 10:38. Ran at 2 in the afternoon, so it was pretty decent out. Average heart rate was 158, faily high considering my pace.

5 Mile Treadmill Run

5 miles on a treadmill in Cedar Rapids. Don't really have any splits or such, ran mostly around a 10 minute mile pace. Dull, but had to be done.

Cold, Very Cold

Second Snowball Series run, half marathon, starting at Marathon Sports, going east on Olive, then north on Creve Coeur Mill Rd, then out on Waterworks Road a ways, backtracking around a bit, then finally heading back. Was it cold? Um… yes. 6F with 30mph+ winds. Nasty. I wore 2 pair of pants, 2 shirts and 2 jackets, 2 pair of socks and 2 hats. I did take off my outer jacket after a while, and the camelback froze up during the run. But... I got through it. I'm guessing a lot of people cut the course short, and even without cutting it short, the course was .1 mile short according to the garmin. Wasn't tired at the end of the run, just glad to be done. Splits were between 10:40 and 13:06, with 4 miles being in the 10s, 5 in the 11s, 3 in the 12s, and 1 in the 13s where I walked quite a bit near the half way point.

5 Mile Run

5 milles up at the lake with the FFRC. Ran with Mike, Bob, Debbie and a new member Rachael for the most part, but the last mile of the 4 he was running Mike and I slowed down a bit, then I ran 1 more mile after that with Debbie and Rachael. Decent run, was fairly comfortable out considering. 52:55 total time, 10:35 average pace, splits of 10:10, 10:33, 10:37, 11:30 and 10:03, average heart rate of 154.

8 Mile Run at Lake

8 miles up at the lake, fairly warm, snow and ice had mostly melted, but I avoided the tree areas because it seemed like that's where ice was. 1:26:57 total time, 10:52 average pace, splits of 10:52, 10:38, 10:52, 10:49, 10:58, 10:40, 10:43 and 10:23. Averagre heart rate was 152 and pretty steady with splits from 155 to 149.

5 Miler

5 miles up at the lake, cold and a bit icy/snowy, so took it slow. Splits of 11:39, 11:44, 11:53, 11:38 and 11:18, average heart rate of 153. Suppose to warm up a bit and rain tomorrow.

15 Mile Long Run

15 miles up at the lake, running a mostly double figure 8 course starting at the restaurant and going north from there. In the 50s out, but overcast and very windy from the south, for the most part the way I ran there wasn't too much head wind, just occasionally. Run went pretty good, I took 1 minute walk breaks every mile, had shot blocks at the end of the 6th and 12 mile (so slightly longer walk breaks there), and managed to keep my pace. Overall average was 10:45, my fastest mile was mile 4 at 1026, and my slowest mile was mile 14 at 10:53, so quite consisitent. Average heart rate was 157, with 3 of the miles being the high at 160. Legs and feet were getting pretty sore by the end. Walked 1 mile at the start and 2 miles at the end to stretch out the time. Weather for the week is looking really crappy, could be tough to get the runs in.

Fun On The Freeway 5K

5K "Fun On The Freeway" run on I-64 in St Louis. About 2000 people ran, so somewhat crowded, but with 5 lanes of freeway to run on, it was all right. Ran with Bob, who again said he was going to run 'slow' but then he ran somewhat fast anyway, heh. Couse had a decent uphill to start, then down, then back up, turn around, and then back to the start, so the finish was downhill. Splits of 9:35, 9:19, 9:06 and 1:03 for the final .12 miles, so 8:25 pace. Overall 29:05 time, 9:18 pace. Heart rate was 163. Wanted to run a little slower since I'm doing 15 miles yet today, but it wasn't too bad. In the 50s but windy, though the course was OK because the wind was from the south (cross wind) and a lot of the times it seemed like the sound walls was blocking the wind. 

5 Mile FFRC Run

5 miles up at the lake with the FFRC. Small crowd this morning, but most of the people that did show up were running a pace that worked well for me. New member Michael was there, and so I ran with him. He was planning on doing 4 miles, so we ran the upper loop, and then when he was done I double backed and ran another mile, then walked a mile to wrap it up while waiting for Judy. 52:34 total time, 156 average heart rate, splits of 10:38, 10:27, 10:57, 10:39 and 9:51. Stiff wind from the south, temps were not too bad but the wind made it feel a lot colder.

8 Mile Run

8 miles up at the lake, starting at about 6:20, so still fairly dark. Walked a mile at the start and at the end. Ran from the restaurant up past the sailboat cove and down to the woods, then returned the same direction. 1:22:22 total time, 10:17 pace, average heart rate of 155. Splits of 10:58, 10:26, 10:33, 10:20, 10:17, 10:03, 10:07 and 9:35. Took 1 minute walk breaks all miles but the last one. Overall a decent run.

5 Mile Run

5 miles up at the lake, running in the new Asics GT-2120s I picked up for 35 bucks. They feel a bit different, and I'll probably stick with short runs for them. Ran in the morning, was fairly cool out, but not too bad. Started at the restaurant and run up and past the sailboat cove and back, walked about a half mile before and after the run. Splits of 10:41, 10:37, 10:40, 10:30 and 10:10. Took 1 minute walk breaks all miles except the last one. Average heart rate of 153, so took it fairly easy.

16 Mile Run

16 miles up at the lake, mid to upper 20s out, a bit windy, but nothing really bad, sun came out for a bit later in the run. I walked 2 miles before starting to run, and then 3 miles in I needed a bathroom stop, which took 5 minutes that I stopped the timer for. I also stopped for a quick bathroom break 2 miles from finishing, and didn't stop the timer for that. Had 2 shot blocks during mile 6 and mile 12. Started at the restaurant, ran counter-clockwise doing the big loop, going on the lake side of the soccer fields, then out on the spur to the far side of the bridge, then back the same way, but instead of going thru the woods, ran along the underpass then back to the car. Then walked about 1.5 miles afterwards while drinking endurox and waiting for Judy. 16 miles in 2:53:23, average pace of 10:50, all miles but mile 6 (shot blocks, 11:14) and mile 14 (bathroom break 12:09) were between 10:04 and 10:56, so fairly consistent. Average heart rate was 155, with 160 and 162 for the final 2 miles. I was able to finish with a 10:04 mile, so I had a little gas left. Legs were pretty tired afterwards, and the usual soreness, but I made it. Need a day of rest, that's for sure.

15K Snowball Series Run

First run of the Snowball Series, this one ran in Queeny Park. Didn't see any FFRC members to run with so just ran on my own. Course had some very hilly stretches, 2 loops plus a little more, so the second loop I knew what to expect with the hills. I mostly took walk breaks up the hills, didn't want to push it too much with a 16 miler planned for tomorrow. Was cold, but not very windy - though the wind did pick up near the end. 9.32 miles in 1:34:48, 10:10 average pace, splits of 10:16, 10:16, 9:53, 10:27, 10:02, 10:25, 9:45, 10:19, 10:06 and 10:14 pace for the final bit. Average heart rate was 165, so I was pushing it a little more than I should have been, but it felt OK overall. Nice shirt and decent pants with the Snowball Series, should be fun.

5 Mile Cold Run

5 miles up at the lake, cold again. 49:17 overall time, 9:51 pace, splits of 10:19, 9:53, 9:54, 9:45 and 9:25. Ran up to the sailboat cove and back, finishing with running up the overpass hill and down. Average heart rate of 161, so a little higher than the other day, but was a little quicker too. OK run.

5 Mile Morning Run

5 miles up at the lake in the morning, another cold one, but not too bad. Walked about a half mile before and after, running up to the sailboat cove and back. 50:01 total time, 10:00 pace, splits of 10:24, 9:59, 10:22, 10:19 and 8:55. Average heart rate of 157.