TEXAS Paul - Out to Pasture - Healing

A beautiful and pleasant evening in Austin, TX at McNeil HS.  Temp about 58 degrees.  I got to the track early and it was loaded with high school track athletes which made it fun to be running the track while they were doing their relay race training.  I got in 6 miles and then joined Donnie's group for drills and the workout.  About 40 of us in the group tonight.  Donnie had us do 8 sets of 350M with a 50M recovery jog.  I ran with Karen and then we did 2.25 miles recovery.  A really great way to start the week.  Ethan was there tonight as he is on a trip down here from Utah. 

Today I managed a lunchtime run over at Wells Branch Park.  Temp about 60 degrees and perfect for a nice run.  7.25 miles at Boston Marathon qualifying pace.  The plan was to get in at least 3 more miles tonight but I got hung up at work and couldn't get away.  7.25 miles isn't 10, but I'm going to try not to feel guilty for a short mileage day.  Legs feel really good. 

Resting heart rate has been 46 and even down to 45 this week. This is as low as I have ever measured it.

Stopped by Wells Branch park this morning on the way to work and got in 6.6 miles.  A beautiful morning with temps in the high 40's.  Squirrels running across the trail, ducks on the pond, people walking and running on the trail.  This is a nice start to the day.  Plan to join our Wednesday evening Brushy Creek bunch tonight for the speed workout and another 7 miles. 

This evening we ran at Brushy Creek with temps in the mid 50's. I got in 7 miles with the speed intervals right in the middle of the run. After we did drills, Bill had us run over to the dam and then do 5 speed intervals (1/2 mile each) with each one faster than the one before (3:29; 3:23; 3:20; 3:09; 3:01). For most of the run we had a beautiful half moon overhead.

This business of consistently running longer distances mostly at areobic paces seems to be a good thing for extending the running base. So far the experiment seems to be working.

Update on the polymyalsia rheumatica disorder: taking 8mg of prednisone medication per day (5 in the morning; 3 at night). Hopefully this nuisance issue will be gone by spring (2 years of putting up with this stuff).

A nice lunchtime run today for 6.6 miles in temps about 45 degrees.  A nice start to the running day.  Will do more after work. 

Ran tonight at Florence HS.  Lynn went with me and she walked while I did 4 quick miles.  The temps were cold probably about 35 degrees.  I noticed a good strong feeling in the legs tonight even after all the miles I have run lately.  Hopefully this is a result of the extended mileage mostly at an areobic pace. 

A cold morning in Austin, TX, about 29 degrees.  I joined Karen F and Karen H at Austin HS track at 6:30 and we did a warmup mile and then 8 speed mile intervals with a 1 lap recovery between each interval mile, and then 1.5 miles cool down.  Lynn did her walk of the People Bridge loop of Townlake.  Then we all went to Maudie's for breakfast.

The speed mile intervals were moderately difficult as I was just trying to do a pace of 90 seconds per mile faster than my Boston qualifying marathon pace.  So the speed intervals were 8:05 (start easy with the 29 degree temps); 7:37; 7:36; 7:22; 7:19; 7:30; 7:32; 7:25.   The intent was to hold the pace to 7:30 so I backed off after doing the 7:22 and 7:19. 

This finished up another week going over 50 miles and the legs felt great.  So far so good on the longer mileage weeks.  Both Karens think I am goofy for extending my weekly mileage this fast.  This experiment continues.