Chad's Runs

7 miles this morning at 8:17 average.  I wanted to see if it was realistic to run my 10k this weekend in under 50 minutes.  I did this morning because my first mile warm-up was 9:40.  Everything else was right around 8:00.  I don't know how the conditions in Illinois will affect me.  It will be more humid but at lower altitude.  With a 7:30 start it will also be hotter than the 4:30 start this morning.  It's also on Sunday so I might be struck down.  Oh well, I'm looking forward to it.

Fun little race in East Moline Illinois.  Every thing is so green here.  Trees absolutely every where.  You would think with all those trees there would have been some shade during the race.  Nope.  It was hot.  And humid.  And hilly.  Up and down and up and down.  All of that took its toll and so I didn't make it in under 50 minutes.  I also started too far back in the pack.  I only had one person pass me the whole race because I started back with 10 minutes people and then passed all the nine minute people.  I don't know how many people ran the 10K because there was a 5K at the same time and we all started together.  My guess is 700-900.  Somewhere in there.  I raced in the Clydesdale division and came in 10th; 179th over all.  I'm very happy with that.  Now I've got a ton of miles to put in the rest of the week.  I missed almost all of last week so I have to make sure I get all of them this week.  There is a trail that runs along the Mississippi river that I'm excited to try.  I've got a picture or two that I'll add later.  I'll put up the splits then too.

How do you like my farmer tan? 

10 miles easy on the Illinois Mississippi River Trail.  It's not as scenic as it sounds.  It's back from the river a ways with river front property getting the priority.  With so many trees and so much vegetation you only get occasional glimpses on the river.  I took it super slow and easy trying to recover from yesterdays 10K, about 10:50 miles.  I started at around 6am and it was already hot and muggy.  I took plenty of water with me and was soaked from head to toe when I got back.  I don't know if I could ever get used to this.  I don't know how KP does it.  I've got 16 to run tomorrow or Wednesday.  I'm going to get up earlier this one, maybe I'll feel better after today's slow day.

Ran on the Mississippi trail again but I went north instead of south.  Port Byron was beautiful.  It was definitely more scenic than on Monday.  I can tell I haven't been running enough.  I felt slow and weak.  I hit a bit of a wall around mile 12.  The strangest thing was what the humidity did.  I started at 5am and by the end of my run I was soaked from head to toe as if I had took a dip in the pool.  I could literally wring out my clothes.  This moisture wasn't from rain, and it wasn't from sweat.  I was condensing.  Crazy stuff.

 OK, I have added a couple of pictures of the scenery in Port Byron.  Both of these are actually looking across the river into Le Claire Iowa.

Ran a slow 6 miles.  I hope I can get my endurance and speed back after two weeks of very little running.  At least I don't feel injured.  The bad news is that I'm out of town again next week.  I'll be camping near Laramie.  I will have a small trailer with an outdoor shower so maybe I'll have better luck with finding time to run this time.

8 easy miles at 9:30 pace.  I am running 16 tomorrow so I wanted to take it easy today so I have enough for tomorrow.  I felt much better than yesterday.  I had to focus on slowing down to 9:30 on the second half of the run.  My body wanted to run faster.

Rough run.  I really ran out of gas by 10 miles and struggled the next 5.  I was actually supposed to run 16 but I took a shortcut.  It just wasn't my day.  Overall pace was 10:30.  I haven't done much trail running, but I am looking forward to running in the mountains near Laramie next week.  The popup trailer I rented has an outdoor shower with hot water.  Nice.  I'm hoping next week is a little better.

Ran south out of Curt Gowdy State Park near Laramie WY.  It was a gorgeous run.  I should have taken pictures.  It was a gentle river valley full of hay fields, cow pastures, horse pastures, country farm houses, big barns and stables, and a display of antique wagons.  The elevation was 8700 feet so I was sucking air but the scenery made it well worth it. 

9 miles with Josh.  We ran on the Jordan river parkway after dark.  It was pretty cool with patches of warm muggy air.  I felt pretty good.  I'm not sure of the pace because the charger to may forerunner is dead.  I've ordered a new one.  I hope it gets here soon.

14 miles Saturday morning.  I had 18 planned but my wife wouldn't let me.  Too much going on.  We went to Lehi Foam day later on.  The fire department sprays a soap suds like foam over all the kids and the the get their fire hoses on a mist to wash you off when you want.  The foam stings your eyes but the kids went in and had a blast any way.  My 3 year old didn't like it but the other three dove in and got all foamy.  I have some pictures; I need to put them up here.

10 miles.  I still don't have the charge for my Garmin so I ran blind this morning.  But I felt stronger and faster than I have in a long time.  I started off slow.  It always takes more than a mile to warm up at 5am.  I continued to take it easy until about 6 miles, then I picked up the pace and ran hard without slowing for the next 4 miles.  I'd love to know my splits, but watch to tell me.  I bet most, if not all 4 or those miles were under 8:00.

 I added some pictures of my run in Illinois.

http://dcbailey.fastrunningblog.com/blog-07-08-2010.html 

10 more at 5am again.  It felt good.  My average pace was 8:39.  Much faster than Monday even though I couldn't match the speed on my last 4 miles that I did on Monday.  The moon was behind the clouds so it was pretty dark.  As I passed the wetlands/pond by my place there were some strange calls that sounded somewhat like a sick cow and they came from several different places so it was definitely some kind of animal.  Almost everything in that swamp is a bird with the occasional muskrat or beaver.  What made that sound?  Is that the sound that pelicans make?  I see them there all the time but I've never actually heard one.

Average Pace 9:26.

 Splits:

9:34, 9:18, 9:21, 9:03, 9:02, 8:58, 9:04, 8:52. 8:58, 8:57, 8:50, 8:52, 9:35, 9:11, 9:54, 9:51, 11:59, 10:21 

 I haven't ran 18 since I ran the Salt Lake Marathon last year.  I'm pretty tired with various blisters on my feet, but that goes with the territory.  I ran 3 out and 3 back, got a gel and a drink, went out and did it again, then did it a third time.  I din't want to carry that heavy fuel belt with more than a quart of liquid.  Those stops really mess up your groove.  I had a good 9:00 groove going after the first six and then getting started up again was a chore.  I did and made up the time that mile.  I had a bit fast groove going through twelve and the took that break.  I never recovered from the break.  That sounds strange.  I wonder when I would have slowed down had I not taken a break or just took a little water and gel and kept running.  I felt fine after twelve but felt heavy and weak when I started 13.  Who knew?