Trying to Get Caught Up

It has been brought to my attention that I have been neglecting my blogging duties. This is correct and I was aware of the problem. I will now try to get caught up.

Last Thursday I once again joined the Thursday night group for some mighty fine trail running in the Hinckley Metropark. We had a much smaller group this time with Roy, Shannon, Frank, and myself. Frank had to leave early and Shannon was running slower, so it was just Roy and me for most of the run. I found out that there are indeed coyotes in the park and that was probably what we heard the previous week. I had another great time thanks to wonderful spring weather and my new trail shoes. That's right, I couldn't bear running off road without the proper shoes so I'm now doing my trails in Brooks Cascadias. They're mighty fine! I was almost sad when I landed in that first muddy patch. Almost. It was great plowing through the mud and charging through creeks without worrying about how wet or dirty my shoes were getting. Thanks to Dan at Second Sole for helping me decide on the Brooks!

Saturday I was under the weather and not able to leave the house for the first part of the day. And that's all I'm going to go into on that. I was feeling better by the afternoon. Which was good because Bailey was having his birthday party at the Rec. Center. Pool party! Everything went well and the kids had fun.

Sunday I was all better and headed out to get a 12 to 15 mile run in. I stayed around town, heading through Reagan Park on my way south and into the hilly part. I went down the trail at the frisbee golf park and climbed my way into the Lexington Ridge development where I proceeded to climb to one of the higher points in Medina County. As it was mostly downhill from there, I maintained a nice pace all the way back home. 15 miles total for Sunday's run.

Monday I hit the pool again for a half Iron swim trial. I swam the full mile and a quarter in an hour and fifteen minutes. I felt strong at times and went too fast at times. But the most important thing I noticed was that I wasn't developing too much congestion in my lungs the way I did over the winter. Maybe my body is finally adapting to breathing with a little extra pressure pushing on it.

Last night saw the return of Tuesday night speed work. We had a huge turnout of 3 runners: Connie, JB, and myself. JB is a full Iron veteran and had some good advice for me. Some things I might not have thought of. We did 10 X 400 meter repeats with 200 meters rest between. Splits were as follows: 1:30 / 1:31 / 1:31 / 1:30 / 1:30 / 1:26 / 1:26 / 1:26 / 1:26 / and 1:17. Connie told me just to go and run the fastest 400 I could on that last one. Let me just say that I was spent afterward. I couldn't breathe as I was finishing the last 75 meters and my hands and feet were getting tingly the way they would when I ran track when I was younger. I Didn't like that feeling then and I don't like it now. But it sure feels good to stop. All told, 7 miles for the night.

In case you might not have noticed, there is a new race added to my 2009 race list on the right. Heather and I are going to race the Buzzard Duathlon as a team this Sunday. She's going to do the two 3 mile runs and I'm going to do the 15 mile bike leg. This race is unique in that it's all hills. There isn't a flat section anywhere on either the run or bike course. I would consider doing the entire duathlon solo, but the team will work out much better. Bailey can stand with whomever isn't competing at the time, plus I'm doing my last long marathon training run on Saturday and I won't be in any condition to be running hills. I'm afraid my bike time is going to be horrible as it is. At least I have some downhill coasting to look forward to!