TEXAS Paul - Out to Pasture - Healing

1.  LasCruses, New Mexico, 22 degrees this morning I got in a 5 mile run from the hotel through the neighborhoods and around through some agriculture areas.  A nice start of the day.  We are on vacation going to the Tucson, AZ gem and mineral show.

2.  Green Valley, AZ about 30 miles south of Tucson, AZ.  Got in a 6 mile run this afternoon again from the hotel through the neighborhoods, past a golf course, through a river bed wash, through a pecan orchard, along a country road, back along a gravel road past the waste water treatment plant, climbed through a couple of barbed wire fences to get across the river bed wash and back to the hotel.  A beautiful run in about 60 degree temps with the sun beaming. 

After a 5 day trip to Tucson, AZ and back (900 miles each way) and then returning to work this morning, goodness it felt good to get in a run tonight at the Florence HS track, even if it was only 5 miles.  I was late leaving work and then had a 8:00 PM teleconference call from here at home so I sneaked in the 5 mile run prior to the call.  It just felt good to be running instead of driving 900 miles.   At least the Texas weather is okay as it was a little windy but temps in the high 50's or low 60's. 

And then for the 8:00 PM call it turned out that when the Japan team arrived to work this morning (our evening) they must have cancelled the call because I was the only one on the call.  Go figure.

Wednesday morning we are doing a 10 mile run so that is going to be nice. 

A cold morning in Austin, TX with temps in the high 20's.  Ran 10 miles with Karen F.  Nice run.

A beautiful morning in Austin, TX.  Temps about 48 degrees at 6:00 AM down at Austin HS track where Karen H and I did 10 speed interval miles with 1/4 mile recovery between each interval mile. 

Karen's goal was to stay below 8:00 and she averaged 7:54 with a slowest interval of 7:56.  My intent was to stay at 7:30 pace and most of the time I held it down to about 7:30 with the fastest at 7:03.   We went to breakfast over at Maudie's after our run and I messed up the order, as I ordered bacon, eggs & cheese taco wraps instead of potato, egg & cheese taco wraps.  We ate them anyway.

This past week was a busy one at work so I hadn't run since Wednesday morning when Karen F and I did 10 miles, so chalk this one down as almost a recovery easy week that finished on a very good note.  It was the easiest 10 miles of intervals that I have ever done. 

A key as we get ready for Boston in April is to stay injury free and right now all systems are go, no issues, no injuries.  I think the 10 mile days and 50 mile weeks have been good to strengthen the base and continue to bring the heart rate down. 

A beautiful evening in Austin, TX with temps about 62 degrees.  We ran at McNeil HS track and for the first 6 miles we shared the track with the high school track team.  Then Jill had us move over on the softball field to do our drills and workout.

For the workout we ran 10K pace for 300M and then push it hard for the last 100M.  We did this repeat for 3 miles.  A nice workout.  Karen F left in the middle of the workout with an upset stomach. 

The Austin AT&T Marathon is this weekend so lots of the runners were getting ready for the big one here in Austin. 

Ran after work at Brushy Creek.  Temp in the low 50's with a breeze.  I got creative and ran an assortment of routes and on a trail I had never run before.  A relaxing fun evening.  By the time I was doing the last 2 miles it was getting dark and the moon and stars were out.

A fun run.

A beautiful evening in Austin, TX.  Temps in the mid 50's.  Ran again at Brushy Creek.  Bill S couldn't make it so in the middle of our 10 mile run we stopped and I led the drills and got everyone running the workout.  Karen F and I ran lots of trails and had a great run.   The last 2 or 3 miles were under the moon and stars making shadows on the trail from the overhead trees, fun.   

Today was the Austin, TX AT&T Marathon.  We only needed a 22 or 23 mile run, so Karen H and I ran 18.5 miles of the marathon course and then 4.5 miles on the TownLake Trail and on Congress Avenue. 

This was a fun run.  A clear day with cool temps at the start and nice temps throughout the run.  It is sure fun to mix in with the marathoners and enjoy the bands and all the runners and the good crowd support. 

A fun run day. 

Beautiful evening in Austin, TX.  Ran at McNeil HS with Karen F and Daniel F.  A fun night to celebrate with the guys who ran the marathon yesterday.  A fun evening.

Wow, what a nice evening in Austin, TX.  It turned out to be a lot warmer than we had expected with temps in the 70's.  We were sweating a bunch tonight.  I got in 6 miles on the trails before we did the drills, and these miles felt really easy even though I was pushing it a bit.

For the workout Bill had us do 4 of the 3/4 mile loops pushing it hard.  I ran about a 6:20 pace and it felt really good.  Then after the workout I did a mile cooldown.  Just a really nice evening.

A beautiful morning in Austin, TX with a 40 degree temp at 6:00 AM for our start with a bright moon above and the sun coming up with clear skies.  What a great day to run.  Karen F, Karen H and I did the 10 mile loop around Townlake and after 4 miles we did a 3 mile push at 5K race pace down across the Longhorn Dam and back up the other side just past the I-35 overpass.  Karen H is nursing a pinched nerve in the small of her back and butt area, but she hung in there and had a great run with us. 

I did this 3 mile push at a 7:20 pace which was plenty fast for me today.  It felt great.  Then we finished running our 15 miles on the Townlake trail.  Just a really nice run.  Then we went over to Maudie's for breakfast tacos and just like that our weekend had already been a good one.

This past several weeks I think I can feel a benefit of running those 10 mile days during the week.  I think there are benefits that will payoff in 2 months at Boston.  Which reminds me we need to get our airplane tickets and hotel tickets for Boston. 

I usually don't run on Sunday unless there is a race, so I think I will try to use the Sunday blog to note other aspects of my fitness program.

1.  Resting heart rate in the mornings this past week have typically been 47 to 48. 

2.  Polymyalgia Rheumatica muscle disorder status.  It has now officially been 2 years since I started seeing muscle aching symptoms.  The doctor said this disease normally goes away within 2 years, so I am very hopeful I can soon begin reducing my medication. 
A week ago I reduced my Prednisone medication down to 7 mg a day (4 mg in the morning and 3 mg at night).  Today I am noticing aching between the shoulder blades in the back.  Have to watch it and see if I raise the medication back to 8 mg.

3.  Core strength training.  Boy am I missing on this one.  Nothing to report. 
No situps, no crunches, no push-ups, nada. 

A hot evening in Austin, TX at McNeil High School.  Temps in the 80's and high humidity, just a hot evening, so I was sweating like a pig.  I did my warm-up miles pushing the pace with Richard.  Then we did drills and Donnie's workout and then back to pushing the 1.2 mile loop around the high school perimeter.  Donnie ran the last 2.4 miles with me after everyone had gone home.  Just a nice hard workout for most of the 10.25 miles.

A cold front across Texas cooled down the temps from the mid 80's last evening to the high 40's tonight.  So I ran with gloves on at Brushy Creek and got 11 miles in tonight.  A nice run all by myself.  I found a new trail where I had to cross a barbed wire fence and got in 2 miles out and back.  The legs felt great tonight after running 10.25 last night over at McNeil HS.  I still think these long runs during the week are good for strong base building.

All body parts feeling pretty nice, no injuries. 

A beautiful evening in Austin, TX with temps in the 50's and a clear sky perfect for running.  I got over to Brushy Creek and started my run at 5:03 PM. I got in 6 miles before the group workout and then joined Bill and the bunch.  We had 18 of us for the group drills and workout.

For the workout Bill had us do 6 of the 2/3 mile loops.  Joe and Tam ran with me and we had a great run.  Bill wanted us to do each loop faster than the one before and we pushed it good and then better and finally we were really pushing it hard.  I think we averaged about a 6:30 per mile pace with probably the fastest pace of 6:15. 

Then I finished with some cool down mileage.  Just a great workout.  All systems are go, no injuries, no complaints.