Positive Running

Got a good night sleep, which I needed.  Then recovered all day, which I needed.  I wanted to stretch and do some yoga poses, but ran out of time.

Ran with Wesley at 12:40 p.m. - 1:48 p.m. for 8-miles north of the Arkansas River in approximately 90 degree weather with the dew point at 65.  I'm amazed at the condition Wesley is in.  In extreme heat, Wesley can run as fast as ever and without a water bottle.  We started strong at a pace under 8 minutes per mile, but I slowed considerably after the 4th mile.  I took approximately a one minute break at mile 4 and turned back while Wesley continued to run for a longer distance.  I stopped for brief walks (under 10 seconds each) on 4 separate times at 5, 6, 6.5 and 7 miles; and consumed a 20 ounce bottle of Powerade.  Wesley caught up with me at the Broadway bridge and we each felt good after we finished.  A year ago, I could not have done that, but now it would be good to do an afternoon run every week or two throughout the summer to acclimate to hot weather.

Our buddy Travis is running in the heat in Florida in Air Force Reserve training.  While I was running, I was thinking of how Travis is doing in their afternoon runs.  Travis is young, fast and strong, so I'm sure he's doing well.

Ran 8 miles with Kevin, including 3/4 mile doing 9 uphill runs. We ran a 3.2 mile warm-up on by the Arkansas River.  Then, we ran hill repeats on a 125 meter section of Overlook Drive, one of the steepest roads in Little Rock.  We each ran up hill fairly fast.  Kevin ran the hill in about 45 seconds each time, and I ran the hill between 55 and 60 seconds each time.  We ran up the hill, and jogged slowly down it to recover, then repeated that sequence.   After 9 hill repeats (about 2500 meters including the downhill jogging), we ran the 3.2 miles again to cool down.  By the last hill repeat, we were each really struggling to complete the hill at the pace we were running.  But our goal is to extend the distance of the hill segment we run by August from 125 meters to 200 meters.

On an 80 degree morning with a dew point of 66, Wesley and I ran 14.5 miles from downtown Little Rock to the Big Dam Bridge in West Little Rock and back to downtown Little Rock.  The course runs along the north side of the Arkansas River.  Wes could have run at least a couple miles per minute faster, but I slowed us to approximately an 8:20 per minute pace.  Not sure why, but it seemed like we were moving faster than usual in the first 7.25 miles because the time just flew by.  Maybe everything else just was more still than normal.

By the time we reached the 7.25 mile point, my running shoes were soaking wet with sweat.  Running in wet shoes slows me down a bit.  To prevent dehydration, I drank 20-ounces of Powerade and about another 12-ounces of water.  I felt very good after the run and did not have any signs of calf cramps or other muscle cramps. 

Two months ago, I could not have run that far in 80 degree heat without cramping, so I was pleased with the run.  Need to run that 14.5 mile course once each mid-week until mid-September, then increase the distance to 16-miles to build my base.  Running with Wes is making me a much stronger runner.

On a hot morning with temps around 80 degrees and a dew point of 70, Kevin and I ran 9 miles at an 8 min per mile pace on the trail north of the Arkansas River.  We started strong averaging about 7:45 min per mile and I ended running about 8:10 per mile while Kevin ran the last three miles at about 7:45 per mile.  Kevin wanted to run hard because he had only run on Tuesday this week, when we did hill repeats.  Once I reached downtown Little Rock, I ran an extra half mile while Kevin ran to his new gym by the Arkansas State Capitol Building. 

Ran 11-miles on the north side of the Arkansas River with Alex Wan.  It was a warm 80 degree morning, but it rained for approximately 10-minutes which caused the temperature to decrease to the 70s for about 45 minutes.  By the time we were done, the temperature was up to 83 degrees.  We ran 8 quarter mile intervals between 82 and 90 seconds each. 

Alex had strained his hamstring while canoeing down the Buffalo River, since the water level is so low.  During the last quarter mile interval, Alex's strained hamstring caught up to him.  So after running 11 miles, we walked for 7 miles back to our cars. 

It was a great walk.  Alex is from Malaysia, has travelled the world significantly, and is very interesting to run and walk with.  We talked about the medicinal benefits of ice baths and ice packs, different running events, qualifying for Boston, foods to eat, places to see, massages and spas, and towns where we have relatives living.  It was a good time!

Recovery day.  Did not run or work out.

Ran 14.5 miles from downtown Little Rock to the Big Dam Bridge and back in 2 hrs and 1 minute for an average of 8:35 per mile.  It was a muggy morning with a dew point of 70 and temperatures around 76 degrees.  The morning was cloudy and there was very little to no wind.  I ran the first 7.25 miles at 8:10 per mile, but slowed down considerably on the return leg of the run, averaging 8:59 per mile for the second 7.25 miles.  The slower speed on the return was due to a need to build up my endurance for longer runs.

There seemed to be fewer people than usual on the trail today.  My guess is that the weather forecast that called for a possibility of rain gave people an excuse to stay inside.  Also, the fish were really biting on the Arkansas River this morning, with large bass jumping out of the water to feed on flies.

Another muggy and cloudy morning in Little Rock.  Ran 12-miles along the Arkansas River trail, scaring away the hundreds of Canadian Geese that had gathered in various spots between mile markers 5 and 5.5.  We haven't received much rain where I live, but the trail had three large sections with standing water this morning between mile markers 5 and 5.5. The temperature was 77 - 79 degrees and the dew point was 72, so it was a good morning for a slow long distance type of run.  I averaged only 8:40 per mile, after starting out running at an 8:13 per minute pace for the first 6 miles.  By the time I turned around at the 6 mile point, my shoes were soaked in sweat and I could hear the "squishing" of my insoles.  I'll take Wednesday off as a recovery day since I ran two consecutive days.  But I don't feel sore, probably because both runs this week have been at a slower pace than I usually run.  But I feel good that mile base of miles is staying consistent at the 50+ miles per week level.

Worked out on elliptical machine, burning 650 calories in the gym.

Tempo run of 8-miles with Wesley north of the river on a 77 degree morning with the dew point at 73 (very muggy).  Ran the first first 4-miles in an average of 7.53 per mile, and ran the second 4-miles with an averge of 8.08 per mile.  Ran the 6th mile in 7.52, so need to push harder to get the 7th mile under 8-minutes.  The weekday medium-long runs are helping to improve my endurance, but are also causing me to not be as fresh for tempo runs as I had been.  That's OK.  Wesley and I talked about whether temperature or dew point has a greater affect on runners.  We agree that high temperatures have a definite impact, and so do high dew points when combined with moderately-high to high temperatures.  

Ran 7 very easy miles with Abtin and Kevin north of the Arkansas River.  We averaged an 8:45 per mile pace in order to enable Abtin to keep up with us.  Kevin and I thought of it as a "recovery run" or warm-up, but Abtin was running hard.  We talked about lots of different things as we ran since Abtin just came back from spending approximately 10 days in North Carolina.  It was a fun way to start the day, and it started to rain just after we finished.  I wore my new Saucony Cortana shoes which felt great, but this was not much of a test for them.  I'll reserve my assessment of the Cortanas after I run a Tempo run on Monday.

Kevin sent us a photo of our buddy Wesley completely in the air as he was extending his stride during the Little Rock Firecracker Fast 5K, which Wesley ran in 5:35 minutes per mile.  The photo is a textbook example of outstanding running form that reminds me of short films we used to watch of world class runners when I was in high school and college.

Recovery day from the Full Moon Midnight 25K.

Ran 10 miles north of the Arkansas River with Wesley.  Averaged around 8 minutes per mile, but ran miles 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 under 8-mins.  It was a warm morning at 80 - 81 degrees, and pretty humid with a dew point of 72.  I feel good to be able to run this well just a day and 1/2 after the 25K in the hills of Lake Sylvia. 

I was raised in the foothills of Colorado and have spent a lot of time hiking and running in the mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah.  Based on some pretty good experience, the mountain trails of Arkansas are comparable to many of the mountain trails out west.  If you haven't been to the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, it is well worth travelling to.  The differences between summer running in the Arkansas mountains versus running in the Rocky Mountains are that (a) Arkansas is much more humid, and (b) the elevation is lower so people from Rocky Mountain states have a distinct advantage since the air is much thicker here.

Ran 8 miles with Kevin and Abtin.  We started with a 3 mile warm-up.  Followed with about 1.2 miles of hill climb repeats in which we ran approx. 120 meters up a fairly steep inclined paved road.  We did 5 repeats of hard uphill running and the reversed it and did 3 repeats of hard downhill running along the same 120 meter stretch of Overlook Drive.  We ended with a 4 mile cool down run.  Kevin runs hills extremely well.  I ran the uphills at about 3/4 speed to avoid straining my old reconstructed left knee.  Abtin did great and was able to run with us since we took the warm up and cool down extremely easy.  It was a fun morning to run.  Although the temperature was 79 and the dew point was 72, it did not feel as hot as yesterday.

Easy morning run of 11-miles at a 8:30 per mile pace.  The temp was about 80 degrees and the dew point was 72 (hot and muggy).

Ran 5 miles with Josh and Abtin in the Pleasant Valley (PV) area of west Little Rock.  It was Abtin's first time running with the PV group and he was suprised that the course was so hilly.  Saw Howard at PV, but he ran at a slower pace.  But we met up with Howard at the end.  It was good to see Josh and Howard.  I really ought to run with the PV group more often, since I hadn't done that since I ran with Josh about two months ago.

5-miles is barely worth waking up at 4:20 a.m., so I drove downtown to where I work and ran 6 more miles north of the Arkansas River. But I took that easy, running at an 8:30 per mile pace like at PV.

Ran 7.5 miles north of the river. Ran 6 miles with Wesley, who ran 8.5 miles, and walked 1/2 mile.  It is getting hot in Arkansas.  Temperature this morning was 82 degrees and dew point was 71 (74% humidity).  I drank 20 oz. of Powerade and was still a bit dehydrated at the end.  Ran the first 4 miles at an 8:06 per mile pace.  Ran the second 3.5 miles at an 8:53 per mile pace.  I'll take the day off from running tomorrow and reduce my goal to 45 miles for next week. 

This is the time of year in Arkansas when morning temperatures are in the low 80s and daily high temperatures exceed 100 degrees.  This will likely continue for the next three weeks.

Took Wesley's suggestion and had a recovery day in which I did as much relaxing and as little physical exersion as possible.  That seemed to work well.

Ran 20.25 miles in just less than 4 hours of AR forest service roads from Lake Sylvia to Lake Winona and back.  This was a training run for several expeienced runners of the Arkansas Traveler 100 mile run that will be held in the first weekend of October.  Everyone had a really good time.  Wesley joined us and will probably run with this group several times between now and the Traveler, and we hope he becomes a regular member of the group on Saturday mornings.  I was pleased with my running since I did not have any leg muscle cramps and ran the final 3.7 miles in 8:01 per mile. 

Got a good night of sleep.  Another recovery day.

Ran 9 miles north of the river on a pretty nice morning for mid-July.  Ran the first 4.5 miles in 35 min 50 secs, ran the return 4.5 miles in 36 min 54 secs -- overall 8.05 per mile.  Not many people on the river trail this morning and only one other runner.  The bicyclists came out late too.  I only saw one bicyclists before 6:30 a.m., but saw quite a few of them after that.

My 14-year old Black Lab kept me awake for two hours last night, so I didn't get much sleep.  The morning was 77 degrees with a dew point of 71 (another hot summer morning).  But I felt great with lots of energy, as I ran 14.5 miles from downtown Little Rock to the Big Dam Bridge in West Little Rock and back downtown.  Started miles 1 - 5 this morning at the following per mile pace for each consecutive mile: 1: 7:56, 2: 7:59, 3: 7:46, 4:7:53, 5: 8:01.  I  slowed down to an 8:11 pace for miles 6 through 9.  Met up with Wesley at mile 9, he continued west while I continued east.  Finished a little slower at 8:25 per mile fo the last 5 miles.  I didn't cramp and don't feel sore, so the increase weekly milage seems to be working.

Good night of sleep.  Recovery day - no work out.

It was a warm morning (81 degrees with a dew point of 72) to run 13-miles north of the river with Wesley.  We averaged 8:07 per mile, with the following 5 miles under 8-minutes per mile: mile 2: 7:29; mile 3: 7:30; mile 4: 7:46; mile 5: 7:57, and mile 11: 7:56.  My last mile crossing the Broadway Bridge and stopping at traffic lights was at 8:44, which slowed down the average for the run.  I drank nearly 50 ounces of Powerade and water to keep from dehydrating, and felt good after the run.  I was a bit surprised that mile 11 was under 8-minutes -- not sure how that happened.

Recovery day.  Feel good.  Would like to run, but know that a recovery day is better.

Met Cliff, Tina and Bridget at Lake Sylvia at 5:40.  They were late due to putting out water along the trail.  Started at 5:45 a.m. and finished at 9:30 a.m.  Ran from Lake Sylivia to FR132 on the Catsmacker Loop course, then took the Flatside Wilderness Loop to Brown's Creek and back to Lake Slyvia.  The Flatside Wilderness is a misnomer because it involves several miles of some of the steepest section of dirt roads in the area.  But the top of the mountain is flat for about 1/3 mile with a spectacular view.  We had an 8 minute stop for water refill, energy gels and other snacks at mile 13.  Bridget and Tina are consistent sub-3:30 marathon runners, and Tina is an experienced ultra runner.  Hence, they kept up with Cliff and me most of the time.  It was a good 19 mile run.  

Recovery day.

Ran 7.2 miles on the treadmill at lunch, which I almost never do.  But I had trouble sleeping last night so I skipped running this morning.  Plus, I knew it would be a hot morning with the temperature at 84 degrees at 7:10 a.m. this morning.  

Feeling good that I was able tor run 7.2 miles at a 1% incline in 52 min 20 secs or about 7:19 per mile.  Ran a couple of miles under 7 min per mile.  I had to cut the miles short due to lack of time, but felt like I could have maintained a 7:19 pace on the treadmill for at least 10 miles.  Looking forward to cooler weather.

Ran 15 slow miles in 88 to 90 degrees on a hot Arkansas morning.  Averaged 8:36 per mile, so the run took me 129 minutes. When I reached the trail north of the Arkansas River, I ran half the distance to the Main Street Bridge, turned around and ran to the Big Dam Bridge.  I ran pretty hard yesterday on the treadmill, so I was just trying to get in some miles this morning.  The sky was mostly overcast without a strong sun, so the heat index was about the same as the temperature.  I drank about 50 ounces of Powerade and water, but felt good and not overheated at all.