PR streak continues

Every race this year PR. Chase the Gobler 5K this morning. Here are splits:

8:11, 8:05, 7:59, and 0:55. PR by 42 sec and a course record by 2:41. Results were not available at the end of the race but will be posted online soon. My wife killed it too! She had 2:13 5 K PR/course record with a total time of 26:16. Now lets eat!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Silverman Pics...what next?

Pic 1: Finish line w my wife

Pic 2: Finish line w "Gallagher's groupies" I love them

The rest are self explanatory

Since I am rolling over training right into marathon training, I have some time to think. Running only. What can I do to get better? What do I want to do after this? What goals should I make? What races should I do? How far should I race? What do I want out of training? I bounce around from answer to answer and I do not necessarily have any good thoughts. Despite a wandering brain, I am running the best I have ever run. Most of it is better conditioning, the rest is confidence. I feel so good running. The "base" I have under me feels very supportive. So I am torn. Here I am running 16 miles a few weeks after a 1/2 Iron and I do not feel so supercharged but I dont feel a limit either. I am running and I asking myself if I like this. It is windy, cold, long and I dont know if I like it. Weird? I dont know what to think of it. I finish and I feel pretty good. I am not so tired or sore but when I am out there sometimes I dont feel like pushing it. I am inching my way to performing and stop finishing. I think about that too. Thinking...

This year I have had good gains. Before any chickens are counted, I still have 2 more races to go. A 5k and Las Vegas as a half. I believe the reason this year was a step up from last year is because of my running last year. Last year at this time I was training for my first marathon. Longer and longer runs than the week before. This long run flew by. I dont want to listen to music. I like hearing myself. I hardly hear my feet. Its what I want from the runners that I train. Its fun to feel myself not so tired at places I used to be gassed. Then I think why am I thinking about the past? Why arent I in the moment and going faster, going harder. I am not that tired. Ok enough rambling....here is how my week went.

Monday-Rest

Tuesday-Run 4 miles. No watch not rules just out and about.

Wednesday-Pushed a 5 miler to have some fun. Karl will question this move since it brought my weekly mileage under the 1/2 my long run level. Try not to let that happen again Karl.

Thursday-6 mile run. Might be the single best run I have had. Unfortunately no watch to track it. From clock to clock it was about 56 min. I used my rates of perceived exhaustion. I must have had a 3 min or so negative split. I used a strong exhale and a little faster than I used to. I wonder what my HR was. Days like this I like running.

Friday-Rest

Saturday-Long run of 16 miles. About 6 of those miles with a gnarly head wind. Cold/windy. I felt very strong for the first 8-10 miles. Then I was pooped. The funny thing is despite the conditions it was about 8 min faster than the last time I ran 16 miles. I didnt even think about that until tonight. Funny brains of mine.

Sunday-Off. One of these weekends I am going to get a ride in. Quote:

“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”

Andrew Jackson quoting Napoleon Bonaparte

More action, check

1 week Post

First and foremost I must thank my fellow bloggers who commented on last weeks race report. The people who love me dont really get it. Funny how perfect strangers with an unbiased opinion go out of their way to send a kind word. Well they mean a lot. I feel a lot better about the race now. When I posted that report it was still quite raw. Now that I have a little distance I am a lot more proud of my accomplishment. I raced a harder race with more harsh conditions than last year and I was faster and more competent. I have to realize that people travel from all over the place to race this race, so how can I compare myself to them? Silverman marks the 2 year anniversary of beginning cycling. It IS a half iron distance too. Not only that, but I have recovered incredibly fast compared to last year. Here are a few notes I want to remember for next time.

One; the 3 weeks taper was perfect. I felt well rested. However, during that 3 weeks I need to watch my food intake. Cannot eat like I was training super hard. Three; perfect recovery session. 5 laps swimming in a cold pool, 5 min of jacuzzi with quad sets, glut sets, calf pumps, press-ups, rotation, and hughstons, jacuzzi, swim 5 laps, jacuzzi, and swim 5 laps. I went from a 7/10 soreness to a 2/10 by the next morning. Not sore after 2 days. Last year I ran vegas as a half (in early dec) and I was still sore. Fourth; I need to do a half iron away from silverman. Its not fair. I mean it is a ridiculous bike and run. What is another bike course like? How would I perform on another stage? My Ironman dreams are still on hold while I sort this out. Here is how the week went:

Tuesday-Contrast bath swim/jacuzzi. 750 meters total.

Wednesday-4 mile swim. Good cardio, limited push, felt great. I couldnt wait to run.

Thursday-5 mile run. In the cold head wind.

Friday-Rest

Saturday-Basketball. Felt great to do something different. Sore back though.

Sunday (today)-10 mile run. Up hill run for 6 of the 10 and was able to keep sub 9 min miles on the flat/down parts. Overall, cold/hard run. Felt decent. My back as a little sore at times. Quote:

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”

Peter F. Drucker

Did plenty of that and looking forward to the other thing.