NC->MD->NC: A Summary (Week 18)
Vol.4 No.29
The week started with motivation and was completed with discipline. I didn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to writing this week so I’ve adjusted the format to properly summarize what my running has looked like over the last seven days. This week I ran with friends, ran solo, ran in the woods with deer and next to a river. While my writing lacked consistency, that same detriment didn’t cross contaminate to my running.
So without further explaining away my lack of writing, let’s jump into how I managed to run 36.9 miles this week.
Never miss a Monday.
It’s a mantra that has occupied the space between my ears for a few decades now. I’m glad the Early Risers group continues to grow and the runners are consistent and disciplined. However I wasn’t too happy that my alarm was blaring at 4:30am and the sudden reality that I’ve committed to running in a mere 30 minutes. My morning routine requires constant movement from wakeup until I get to the meeting point. No time for checking e-mails, scrolling the phone or even a cup of joe.
Get up. Get dressed. Go Run.
It’s that simple.
That’s exactly what we did, as a group of 10. We were traversing the streets of our small town, heading this way and that way. Up a hill, down a hill and when we hit the flat roads we picked up the pace.
This would end up being my last run with the club until Saturday and it felt great to get this done under a 9min pace.
5.03 miles | Avg Pace: 8’38” | Avg HR: 129 | Best Mile: 8’12” | 44°F at 97%
Monday started at 4:30am and by 10:30pm I had driven over six hours to arrive at my destination just outside of Baltimore, MD. My head finally hit the pillow at 10:45pm with a plan to run a route I’ve ran before from this hotel.
Despite only getting four hours of sleep, I was awake early and determined to get this run done. I had a purpose and a lack of sleep wouldn’t affect that.
There are monumental events in your life that mark special or important moments that impact your life. 25 years ago this week I graduated from Airborne School at Fort Benning, GA. So on Tuesday morning I went out to exceed the ABN Standard of four miles in 36min or less while maintaining at least 9min/mile.
I actually spent my 19th Birthday dangling below a training parachute from the 250ft drop towers on Fort Benning. It was a Birthday for the record books and one I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
With just a few hours of sleep banked away, I set foot to pavement and did exactly what I intended at 5am. It felt great and I got it all done by before sunrise.
4.01 miles | Avg Pace: 8’39” | Avg HR: 129 | Best Mile: 8’16” | 51°F at 82%
Following a long day at work with only four hours of sleep, I found myself unconscious by 8pm with a determination to get my Wednesday 5K completed the following evening.
Throughout the day on Wednesday I was contemplating where I would get in my 5K and finally settled on Susquehanna State Park. I’ve ran a few miles within the park before and am familiar with the routes. This time thought I decided to start at the damn and run into the state park.
Driving to the public access at the damn I see a dead bird in the middle of the road. A few feet later I cross paths of about 500 vultures all acting strangely and looking back at me. It was something out of a horror movie or The Twilight Zone. It was eerie.
As I get out of the car, I see big yellow warning signs and the trailhead is blocked off. Signs warning of “Avian Flu” and all access is denied, no pets or animals allowed in the containment area and to avoid all dead birds and animals.
Needless to say, I got in the car, closed it up tight and made my way to another trail, heading north along the shoreline.
The trail itself was a hiking trail heading north for approximately 199 miles, but for my portion I’d only be running 1.5 miles out and back.
3.20 miles | Avg Pace: 15’08” | Avg HR: 113 | Best Mile: 12’17” | 81°F at 27%
The weather was warm, however the trail was amazing and provided plenty of shade, views of the lake and the opportunity to get in 600ft of elevation over 3 miles. It was tough and the terrain prevented me running the entire thing. It really was a run-hike-run pattern where I walked up the hills when I needed and ran when I could.
I’m proud to say I made it the entire distance without tripping or falling once!
The next day I woke up a little sore and felt the lingering effects of getting in some elevation on that last run-hike-run. On Thursday’s I usually get in the requisite 5-miles with the club, but as I’m running solo in Maryland, that’s not going to happen.
I decided to keep the streak alive and take on an easy 5K on Thursday morning. This would be my last run in Maryland as for Friday I’d be up at 4am and driving back to North Carolina at 4:30am to avoid traffic through Baltimore and Washington D.C.
3.15 miles | Avg Pace: 10’14” | Avg HR: 114 | Best Mile: 9’52” | 56°F at 84%
This route took me past old historic houses that looked to be there during the revolutionary war or built soon after. I’m not a big fan of New England, however I do enjoy those old houses and this route was relaxing.
Friday was a rough day! Without much traffic, the drive home can take about 5hrs, however this morning took nearly 6.5 hours and when I got home the job continued. It was a long day of e-mails, work, housework and more.
Before I knew it, the clock was reading out 7pm and I had still yet to run! I had to feed the streak, so I kitted up and headed for a nearby neighborhood trail to log at least a mile if not a little more.
1.76 miles | Avg Pace: 9’25” | Avg HR: 123 | Best Mile: 9’15” | 77°F at 67%
As soon as I stepped outside, mother nature let out a boisterous thunderclap to welcome me to the thunder-dome! There was no turning back, I was committed to running and should today be my day to go, at least I’d go by a strike of lightning doing something I love. Running.
That fateful lightning strike never happened and the thunder rolled on out of town. The sky continued to look angry and intimidating, yet never opened up on me. I think I was being gifted with a dry run for my tenacity to continue the run streak. It’s a funny thing that happens when you take action, often times things work out for you.
Saturday: I had a plan and put out an open invite to anyone who wanted to join in.
Two men showed up. Kean and Dwayne. This was going to be a good run!
The workout was approximately 1hr long and consisted of the following:
10 min Warmup
3x 8min at Race Pace + 2min Recovery
3x 3sec at Max Effort + 3min Recovery.
10 min Cooldown.
The men were onboard and we took off! Here are the results.
This training run was something I had pinging between my ears for a few weeks. It’s been a long time since I’ve done some interval work that really pushed the pace, even for just 30 seconds.
6.57 miles | Avg Pace: 9’37” | Avg HR: 125 | Best Lap: 5’23” | 65°F at 96%
The efforts at pace were difficult but needed. Growth comes from increasing stress on the body systems. This is the “good” type of stress, controlled and managed in a way to illicit growth resulting in better future performance.
That’s exactly what a “training plan” is. A purposefully built design of processes to increase the stress on the body systems to build capacity and produce greater performance. The plan also includes rest/easy days where stress is decreased to allow for physiological adaptations and psychological alignment to those adaptations.
In addition to these intervals, mother nature provided us with increased humidity that had a direct correlation to the level of stress on my body. It was welcomed and only helped in the overall process. Although, I was hoping this wouldn’t affect my half marathon long run tomorrow!
Sunday Long Run: From 10 miles to 13.1 thanks to a friend.
April and May have the propensity for big thunderstorms and a lot of rain. This was the case for Saturday night and trailing into Sunday morning. For these reasons I pushed this run to a start time of 10:00am to avoid the heavy rainfall. The plan seemed effective, however we still got a few sprinkles here and there along the route.
The group met up at the trailhead and we started to sort out who was going for what distances and paces. We had runners going out for four miles and others wanting to get in 13.1, like myself. When it was all done and said we had four of us that decided to settle on 10-miles around a 10’00” pace but no faster than a 9’30”. Those of us going for 10-miles included Matthew, Renae, Becca and myself.
The first five miles were done at an easy and consistent pace with a few minor instances of spikes in the heartrate caused by the occasional black snake lounging on the trail. Luckily these black snakes are the good kind of belly crawler and often feast on the well known venomous Copperhead snake that is also common to our region.
As the miles ticked away, the other runners would break off and we’d all bid farewell with a little motivation of “have a good run”. Eventually it was down to the four of us on our return trip to the parking lot. Matthew, Renae, Becca and myself naturally picked up the pace and our second five miles was faster than the first.
At mile nine, I convinced Becca to make the Last One the Fast One!
It was around here that Renae said she was in for a full 13.1 miles because “What’s another 5K anyway!?”.
Matthew was in for another 2-miles to round it out to 12; a decent distance during his taper week leading up to his first Marathon.
The last mile we pushed and Becca hit the goal of making the last one the fast one! Notice Mile 10 below!
Great work Becca!
We dropped off Becca at the finish and that’s when this run took on another form. I’ve ran enough with Renae to know she’s a strong runner and when she offered up to go for another 5K to bring us to 13.1, I was unsure if this would be a fast 5K or we’d simply continue this easy, consistent pace around 9’30”.
However, once we took off to finish our final 5K, it was clear we weren’t going to take it easy.
Comfort is a lie.
Within the confines of my mind, the way I figured it, if I was out there running on a Sunday morning I should maximize what I can get out of it and I shouldn’t have been so weak as to think this last 5K would be easy. No, making the last 5K difficult is exactly the level of stress I needed.
13.18 miles | Avg Pace: 9’30” | Avg HR: 129 | Best Mile: 7’55” | 64°F at 94%
It is a really great thing to be able to run and train with someone who matches your running ability and with a mindset of “never fucking quit”. Renae is one of those runners and the more runs I complete with her, the more I enjoy the the challenge. She’s tough as nails, fast and has the ability to push through pain and discomfort better than most people I know.
You want to be a better runner, run with better people.
Matthew was sticking with us at the 8’00” pace with ease until mile 11, where he was going to turn around but opted to go up “the hill” instead. Renae and I both deferred to a flatter path so we turned around and continued to beat feet until we hit our intended distance.
At that point there was no more talking. It was simply two runners, going fast and making every attempt to breath and keep the legs moving. Neither of us were slowing down and you could feel the momentum of the moment propelling us down the path.
Go on without me! My legs are heavy. I don’t want to slow you down. - Renae
I couldn’t believe my ears! We just ran 12.4 miles together and now when it’s just the two of us, she tells me to leave her! NO. FUCKING. WAY!
It’s not in my nature to go that far, put in that much work together only to split up in the midst of the last mile. We slowed the pace, just slightly. As you can see above, literally slowed it down by about 1 second!
My watch pinged at 13.1 first but the normal procedure here is to go until the lowest mileage person reaches the goal. So we kept going until she hit that half marathon and my watch read 13.18. I’d rather complete this run with my friend that leave her.
My apologies for the late posting of this weeks The Long Run. I hope the shorter format and summary-brief made up for it. Week 19 will be back to the normal format and normal publishing time of Sunday at 12:00pm.
The yellow sign and dead bird would have sent me packing as well! Looks like another solid week of running, well done my friend! (Thanks again for sticking with me that last bit on Sunday as well as the encouragement to keep pushing!)