Couch Monkey

Last Friday afternoon I had a vasectomy. It was not fun and it interrupted my training cycle. Total bummer. Today was the first day back as I ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill at lunch. Not too bad. The stitches hurt a little off and on but that’s about the extent of it. 5 tomorrow and Saturday then 8 on Sunday. Time to start working on dropping that 5K PR this fall.

My first 8K of the year and probably my only 8K of the year. I like the distance but there’s few races in the area for it. That might be why my PR is so soft. The only 8K’s I’ve run in the past have come after a time off from running so my fitness has never been good for one… not that I’m all that fit now but I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in for an 8K so I was expecting a solid PR for this.

Picked my packet up on the way home from work… expected something crazy in it as the race director is known for not liking the traditional t-shirt. I was shocked to see a regular old black cotton t-shirt. Looks pretty good and black is so much better than white. My 5 year was up before me so getting up for the 6:30 race was not a problem. My legs felt like poo which worried me plus my stomach wasn’t interested in a pre-race snack. Drank down some coffee and prepared to head out. I was worried I was going to burkey* this race since I had to get my 5 year old situated before I left but I parked the car 15 minutes before the start so I had plenty of time to stretch and warmup.

My plan was to average 8:15. My fear was I would go out too fast though and die on the Powderhorn/Poinsettia hills late in the race. First mile was a little fast at 8:00 minute pace but not too bad. I settled in feeling pretty good. The garmin was about .05 over the whole way so I wasn’t 100% sure of my pacing. I only remember splits at one of the mile markers but I was pretty focused on what I was doing so I might have missed some. I always positive split every race. I wish I could run negative splits but I’m just not good enough of a runner to pull it off. I was slower the last 2 miles but I don’t think anyone passed me… I just kept picking people off little by little. Turned the corner headed to the finish line… I couldn’t see the seconds on the finish line clock which is a bummer since I might have dug down deep a little sooner. When I was finally able to see the seconds the clock read 40:54 so I gave it all I had hoping to stay under 41. I crossed in 40:59 but with my poor finish line luck it’ll probably be 41 when they post the results. 8:15 pace just like I planned. It felt good after running 2 hours 33 seconds in last weeks half marathon (goal was sub 2 hours but I died on a hill with half a mile left).

–note: 41:00:03 official finish time… I wish this had been a chipped race 

This was only my 2nd time running the race and I really enjoyed it. Both years have been really positive experiences. Packet pickup on Friday makes the early start much easier. Plenty of water and food.

*Burkey - the act of showing up at a race as the starter is going over the instructions… warming up by running from the car to the start line just to make it in time.

Today was my first double of the year. Ran an easy 3.27 this morning before work and an easy 3.25 at lunch. I think I’m going to try to run doubles 2 or 3 times a week now on my easy days. It’s the only way I can increase my mileage and still remain married

Saturday ran the Run for Scouts 5K. This turned out to be an awesome race. Plain but nice wicking race shirt and a box of that terrible boy scout popcorn but it’s the thought that counts. They even had some awesome coupons in the race packet. The race had lots of rolling hills and the last uphill cost me a small PR as I finished 3 seconds over my 5K PR in 24:55. They gave all the finishers a race patch and had McDonald’s apple dippers and cinnamon twists. Loved the cinnamon twists. I wasn’t close to an age group prize but I ran into an old colleague and he took home 3rd in his age group. Only downside to the race was packet pickup was a little slow and I missed putting my name in the hat for the awesome door prizes… 3 $50 gift certificates to Run In among some other awesome stuff.

Sunday was long run day and I had scheduled 14 miles. It actually went pretty smoothly. I had planned on heading out about 6:30am but didn’t make it out until around 7:20am. Knocked it out pretty easily and I was happy with my pace. Got home then showered, watched some of the F1 race on dvr, went to church, and then ate a ton of shepards pie at my mother in laws house. Easily put back in all those calories I burned and more. Doing 16 miles next weekend.

I knocked out some intervals on the treadmill yesterday but it didn’t go as planned. I bit off more than I could chew trying to run 6×1000m at 10K pace. I ended up dropping down to 800m after the first 2 intervals. Not good for the old confidence. I have 5K this Saturday in Spartanburg. I think it’s called the Run for Scouting or something. I would love to PR but it might be a little early to be thinking about 5K PRs. Today is 4 to 5 miles with some hill repeats followed by a yoga class after work.

Got in my long run in this morning. It was slow (9:28 mile pace) but I wasn’t feeling great and  It’s been kinda rare that I actually have the time to run close to 2 hours so it felt good getting it in. After the half marathon blowup I really want to do better about getting my runs in.

I haven’t posted much lately. I’ve been running but it’s been tough getting a lot of my key workouts in. I’m mostly just plodding along running when I can. I’m in better shape than I was this time last year so I’m confident I can maybe get a couple PR’s this summer. I’ll try to knock out a race report in the next couple of days from the Earth Day Half or what can better be described as Avery goes out too fast and blows up on the hills of Greer.

One of my goals for the year was to run a sub 52 minute 10K. I knew I was close when I crossed the finish line of today’s Reedy River 10K but I thought I was just seconds slow. Nope. 51:59 chip time which makes up for that 45 seconds I stood without moving after the gun went off. I’m just glad they had mats at the start or I would have been 52 seconds slow.

I’m a little bummed. This is the 2nd Monday in a row that I’ve had to accept the fact that I missed my long run from the prior weekend. This weekend it was a combination of kids plus snow and last weekend it was not enough time to get away from said kids. Having a new baby and a wife on the mend makes for little free time.

Reedy River 10K this Saturday. I’m looking forward to it. I have very little experience at the 10K race distance so it makes for an interesting time for me. Honestly, I haven’t learned to race at any distance above 5K.

Knocked out day 1 of my half training. I was supposed to have today off but I ended up taking yesterday off instead after doing my 10 mile long run on Saturday. I felt really sluggish on the 10 miler. My legs were tired from the mileage I had put in for the prior week. I felt pretty good today. Not great but not bad. I switched back to listening to podcasts today instead of music too. I keep switching back and forth to change things up.

I printed out the entry form for the next Corporate Shield event. Looks like Trendset will get another 2 points from it’s only 2 competitors.