Red Dirt Harriers

In lieu of more enthralling news, I'll opt for the training recap. I've still been fighting off the allergy blues or whatever, so I've been a little under impressed with my training. I went long yesterday and threw in several marathon intensity miles but I wasn't really running the splits I had hoped for, anyway I practiced taking fluids and only had one really bad bear trap like side ache. I think I was needing more fluids anyway as a result of the amount of sinus drainage and the like so I'll of course hope for more inspiring conditions down the road. I did get another beer in the fermenter, a Dortmunder style Lager. This would be in the pilsner classification, but the yeast that I used was a standard top-fermenting ale yeast so my plan is to lager half the beer in a mini-fridge at 50 degrees and then rest the other half at room temp 70-75 degrees. I will look in to this technique more, but right now I'm calling it an alter-Maibock. It is seasonally appropriat...

Jordan and I headed to the mondo oval at Norman High for yesterday's pm workout. It was a nice day, if a bit warm, and so while I wasn't sure what my body was going to be able to manage, it was hard not to get in the running spirit with lots of kids out running around. I was looking for a couple tempo paced segments, maybe like 2 times a 4 mile or something, but upon chatting with Jordan, I opted for something a little shorter, but that was easier to wrap my mind around: 3x 3200 with a steady 800 between. I went 10:29, 10:21, and 10:20 with the rest being covered around 3:15-3:30. I think I may have run an extra lap on the 2nd repeat because I just extrapolated my total time for 7 miles and it indicates as much. The effort was moderately tough, but Jordan mentioned that it was kind of nice to have to keep an eye out for various roves of kids wandering through lane 1 and there were a few close calls, but it kept us from getting too serious and we had to keep our wits about us to...

Well my allergies have continued to slight my attempts to train. In fact last night, instead of a training run, I walked over to Petco and Target to get some Pak Choy for my sisters new lizard, Pancake. It was a really nice evening so I hardly even noticed having to walk over the Robinson bridge, enhaling diesel and noxious fumes from the roadway project and through the rutted, sidewalk-free route up to the supposed aesthetically accomodating outdoor shopping plaza, aka strip mall. I am hoping to avoid digging myself into a hole, so will probably just do a short tempo run with a long warm up and cool down this afternoon while Jordan does some shape-cutting. We're at least going to benefit from being in the same arena as one another, regardless of what stimulus each workout brings. I'm not too concerned about not being able to run an intense quarter workout, but at the very least, I need to have the strength to get out the door for a couple hours. I'm still not sure about t...

As it stands, we are 3weeks out from the marathon and things are going alright. This week I pulled through a funk early on and then felt pretty good throughout the remainder. The weather has been a challenge but mentally and physically but it's probably best this way as we will no doubt encounter some less than perfect race day conditions. On Friday and Saturday, I basically shaped my training around coffee drinking sessions, which was everything I hoped it would be. Finally, Sunday marked the inaugural Redbud Classic bandit workout. On this years installment, Jordan was part of the show to see how a truly well-managed Oklahoma race is conducted. Other than 30 mph sustained wind and 40mph gusts, weather was great and we managed to tack on 2 miles just before the race in 11:0X then ran the 10k in ~32:45 with something like 16:45/16 splits. It was a session that left us feeling pretty good, not all out, and ready for whatever this week holds. This is really going to be the last 14 da...

On this fare morn, just after 6:30am CST, Jokin and I set out from our respective abodes for a 2+ hour sojourn. I had stashed a couple bottles of carefully measured and primed elixir last night and Jordan brought the GU so we were not without electolytes or calories for what ended up being a decent run. First we logged a couple miles around campus with a pit stop at the union, then it was on to greener pastures, cedar lane to 48th with a quick tour of one of the neighborhoods before bringing it home on Lindsay with some quicker miles and a few laps on the track. There were definitely some positives on this run: good company, proper fluid intake, and plenty of practice for OKC(start time, wind, and cheering spectators i.e. cows). As I sit idle at work, I can say that my stomach is not particularly upset thanks to better hydration, and although I will no doubt be looking for a nap in a few hours, I think it was well worth the effort of getting up well before the sunrise.

This spring has been marked by some non-standard training preparations for me. The highly intense and typically short workouts I had been doing were not ideal for marathon preparation, but they got me back in the game and ready to get going. I have now been trying to build into some endurance work, with variable returns. After failing to get the effort in that I wanted, I came back on Tuesday with the old double barrel workout. I did a moderate progression type run of 90ish minutes then came back that evening with a 45 minute steady run and then some half marathon pace efforts in the form of 3minutes on/ 2 jog on the roads. I didn't force the pace so my first few were more in the 2:45 range but then I was able to start turning the legs over with the same effort and my last couple were more in the 2:35 range. I only managed 8 due to rising stomach discomfort. All this ended up being a marathon in volume for the day. I did the second run all in flats too. Then the funk set in. I have...

Winds remain unceasing, whereas yesterday I opted for the treadmill in the morning because I was unmotivated and still a bit lethargic after the weekend, today I went outdoors. I don't think it was actually as windy as yesterday evening, when I basically watched it go from sunny to questionably swirly cloudy. John has jumped on the treadmill bandwagon and searched out capable locales in B'ville. I must say that I curiously felt pretty good yesterday afternoon after a morning running easy with some inclines thrown in. The treadmill provided more cushioning than the roads would have and I think it allowed for a little more recovery due to less pounding. I'm going to continue to utilize this curious machine and see what I think of its effects on the fitness. And yes my indignation has subsided since I found out about this guy's use of the 'mill . I did end up running a kind of marathon effort thing this morning, although I have no idea how fast I was going because I ra...