Training Log: February 18-24

Monday, February 18: Ft. Yargo State Park – 13 miles – I had President’s Day off so I rolled out to Ft. Yargo to get a run in on the course for Saturday’s race. I know the course really well because I run out there often, but I wanted to get one more run on it before the race to get ready. I started from the mountain bike parking lot but I ran the entire course. Hopefully, I will be ready for the two pipeline climbs this year, which I didn’t know about last year and pretty much blew my race up. Because I don’t have the mileage or strength work that I’d like to have going into this race my plan is going to be similar to Heritage Park, stay relaxed for as long as possible and race the sections of the course that are race-able and just survive the rest.

Tuesday, February 19: Cash Road Loop – 10 miles – This run starts out downhill but has a couple of tough climbs on the way back to the office, specifically a nearly three mile climb up cash road back to the middle school. Things started off pretty well, I was clipping along at a good pace, but then once I hit the up hills things went south. I still managed a solid run, but my legs were screaming at the end. I hit the weight room after to foam roll and that seemed to help. I would have liked to have jumped in the ice bath but it was getting late and I had to grab dinner on my way home so I passed. 

Wednesday, February 20: Barbed Wire Road – 8 miles – This is a similar run to the Cash Road loop but instead of running all the way out to Winder Hwy I turn on JM Turk road and run past the Mulberry Creek rec center. JM Turk runs into Cash Road and follows the same last three-plus miles as that run. It meets up with Cash Rd about half way up the Elizabeth Road climb then finishes with a long gradual uphill to the middle school then back down to the office. I added a loop around the complex to make it a full 8.

Thursday, February 21: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – I had the day off but my hamstring was really, really tight. I ended up just running an easy eight on the trails behind my apartment. I ran up and around the GEHC then out and back on the greenway. It was a little slow, mostly because of the slower GEHC loop, but I wanted to take it easy with this tightness/pain. Stretched and foam rolled once I got back to the house then spent the rest of the day playing Halo. I also got a chance to talk to Josh, who was coming back from running in -11 degree weather on top of a mountain…nice. I’m looking forward to getting a chance to get up to VT and run in a couple week, not so much to the cold but just for something different and to run with friends.

Friday, February 22: In Town – 5 miles – Substantial pain in my hamstring today. I just ran five as a shakeout for tomorrow’s race and despite not feeling great at the start I felt much better as I ran. My legs loosed up a bit and I actually felt like I had some spring in my step after the first two miles. I ran out to McEver road then back through Flowery Branch and back to the office. I definitely think it’s time I get myself a new pair of shoes. I’m thinking of trying out a pair of Saucony Guides. The added stability might help me lock down this hamstring issue. Once I got back to the office, I hopped in the cold tub for about 15 minutes to ice down my legs. It was a little brutal because it was so miserable outside, but it was hugely helpful and I need to start doing that more often.

Saturday, February 23: XTERRA Georgia Thrill in the Hills Half Marathon – 13.1 miles – Two straight days of rain made this one a total mud fest. I got a little bit of a late start and ended up only warming up for about 10 or 12 minutes but I jogged from my car to registration then warmed up then had to run back out to the starting line once I realized it had been moved to a different part of the park. All the running around helped me forget about some of the nerves and served as extra warm up which was nice. Thankfully the rain stopped just before the race. The temperature was around 45 so it helped that we weren’t going to be cold and wet.

Prior to the race I saw David Bell, who’s won this race three years in a row (spoiler alert he made it four). I talked to him for a few minutes before the start and I planned on trying to hang with him for as long as possible without running over my head. I beat him at both the KP 5k and the Fall Fitness 5k, but those were 5ks. At the start I moved towards the front to get a feel for who the other main contenders were going to be. I noticed Matt Rivers taking the early lead and decided to settle in behind him and Dave for the start.

Knowing I’m not in great shape, I wanted to try and stay in contact but I didn’t want to get out too fast. I had some issues in the 8 miler I ran a few weeks ago and I didn’t want to blow up at the end of the race. I decided I’d rather run smart and finish in second than blow up and end up jogging it in. Matt and Dave actually put a decent gap on me pretty early, because of how torn up the early part of the course was, due to the marathon starting before us. We hit a paved road for about 600 meters and I used that to catch back up to them. I caught them on the first short climb then took over the lead on the second. At this point I figured if I took the lead into the woods I would be able to control the pace a little bit. This worked for a minute, but I took a wide turn because of all the mud and Dave cut inside and took the lead. He opened up a gap and I tried to settle in behind him, but he was cruising. Once the trail leveled out I was able to settle down and find a good rhythm. My hope was that I could keep my rhythm and eventually pull him back. I did, but it was more because he took his foot off the gas late in the race.

I felt like I was running pretty well early on. I wasn’t over my head but I wasn’t taking it easy. I found a pace that wasn’t exactly comfortable but it wasn’t too taxing either. I was trying to stay between 6:15 and 6:30 per mile, which was doable on some miles, but some sections of the course made it tough because of how slick it was. I also tried to use the marathoners as a target to go get.

Overall this race unfolded almost exactly the same way as last year’s. I settled into second but was unable to maintain contact with Dave, but after three miles I’d opened a good size gap on Matt Rivers (who dropped out at some point, but I didn’t know that until the race ended. Hopefully he’s alright as I didn’t see him after). I was running in no man’s land but passing marathoners pretty often. I made it through miles 5, 6, and 7 still running smooth, considering that’s the section of the course with the most twists and turns. Tim actually took one of the tougher climbs out of the race, so after we passed the dam we went directly onto the inner lake trail instead of up the pipeline trail.

This gave me a shot of adrenaline because this is where I wanted to open it up and try to get back to racing, unfortunately, my legs would not have it. My legs were dead at eight miles, uh oh. It was incredibility frustrating because I was in a great place mentally. Without that first pipeline climb I felt like I could made a big gain on Dave along the lake and then on the downhill mile we had coming up. My legs just didn’t want to cooperate. After surviving the pipe line climb, I tried to rally on the downhill mile that runs back down to the lake, but again no dice. My legs felt like they were full of cement. Once I got to 10 it was just about survival, which is exactly what happened last year. That’s what happens when you are not prepared, training wise, to race 13 miles. I suffered through the final 5k and then ran all the way to the line for second place.

I crossed the line in 1:26:30, I was hoping for 1:24ish but the combination of the mud and the fact that I went into the hurt locker (which fittingly was on TV later in the day) big time made 1:26 fine. It was much slower than last year, but the course was such a mess time really got thrown out the window. Maybe if I hadn’t gotten sick I would have been able to put together some better training, but I’m happy with the finish. It was easier to swallow second when I spent most of the race there than it would have been to lose contact when my legs gave out eight or nine miles in. Now it’s time to figure out this hamstring situation, get healthy, get ready for Dirty Spokes and hopefully have some fun on the roads.

Race Results:

Male Open Winners
Place	Name	City	Bib No	Age	Overall	Chip Time	Gun Time	Pace
1	David Bell	Decatur GA	24	30	1	1:24:46.8	1:24:46.8	6:28/M
2	Matt Haley	Buford MA	176	29	2	1:26:30.2	1:26:30.2	6:36/M
3	Bradley Thomas	Watkinsville GA	483	23	3	1:33:30.9	1:33:30.9	7:08/M

 

Race Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0W6uP5Agcg&feature=youtu.be

After the race I cooled down then hung out around the awards ceremony for a bit. The take home was pretty solid, power bars, power bar gels and a pair of Tifosi sunglasses. I also took over the lead in the XTERRA Georgia Trail series. After the awards, I tried to clean off all of the mud that I was caked in then headed home for a nice hot shower. I also watched Travis Pastrana finish 10^th at Daytona.

Sunday, February 24: Mall Roads Loop – 5 miles – I considered taking the day off, but I decided to get out and get something in. My legs were tired, not too tight or anything just fatigued. I think I’m going to take it easy this week, maybe get a couple mountain bike rides in if the weather holds out.  

Weekly Totals: 62 miles on seven runs – This was a pretty solid week. The race went okay, not great, not terrible. If it wasn’t for a series and it wasn’t something I’d already paid for an planned for, I probably wouldn’t have run it due to the pre-race pain I was dealing with. I am going to keep an eye my hamstring, foam roll, stretch and get in the ice bath. I’m hoping for a laid back but solid week, then I am heading home for a week, which will probably be a little bit lower mileage wise due to the weather and other activities we have planned.

Training Log - February 11 - February 17

Monday, February 11: Flowery Branch Roads – 8 miles – Ran the standard FB road route. I’m definitely getting tired of this run after running it a ton during the season. I need to check out some other runs in the area, unfortunately there are only a few options around the office. I added a figure eight loop of the complex to make it a full 8 and ended up being 8.5.

Tuesday, February 12: Flowery Branch Roads – 8 miles – Basically the same run as yesterday. Nothing too exciting.

Wednesday, February 13: Cash Road Loop – 10 miles – I tried out a new route from the office where I headed down towards the fire station and took a right on Martin road then ran up to Winder highway to Union Church road then back up Cash road through the middle school and back to the office.

Thursday, February 14: Little Mulberry Park – 8 miles – I got out of work a little early today, so I hit up Little Mulberry Park for an easy 8. I ran from the Hamilton Mill side of the park, starting CCW around the lake to the equestrian trail, up to the XC course, to the ridge trail, back down the paved path and back on the XC course to the second half of the equestrian trail. Once I got back to the lake loop I closed out the loop over the dam and back to the car. This is a great run, it’s got a little bit of everything, paved path, hilly trails, cross country trail and crushed gravel trail. It also features the highest point in Gwinnett County, or so I am told.  

Friday, February 15: Satellite Loop – 9 miles – This was a new route from the apartment. I ran up past the GEHC to Woodward Mill then took a left on to Satellite Boulevard. I ran along Satellite then took a right onto Smithtown road back over to Westbrook and back up to Old Suwanee Road. From there I jumped back on Woodward Mill and up to the GEHC then back down to the greenway behind the house. I started out wanting to work the up hills and ended up with a pretty solid tempo run. I finished up at 55:06 for nine, which was 6:05 avg. pace, including a couple under six. Nothing earth shattering but it was good to run hard for almost an hour in a state of comfortable discomfort. I felt like I was working hard but it was at a pace that I could keep up. Overall it was a good run. I am still a little worried about next week’s half marathon, but at least this was a step in the right direction.

Saturday, February 16: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Recovery run. Nice and easy. It was really cold, nothing like what all my friends back home are dealing with but below 20 with the wind chill at times. Of course it was about 40 by the time I finished. Cold day for down here.

Sunday, February 17: Town Center Out & Back – 14 miles – Same run as last week. I ran out to the Greenway on the Suwanee back roads the out to Martin Farm Rd, then back through Town Center park, back onto the greenway and back home. This is a nice route that has some flexibility to become longer in the future. It was nice and peaceful on a Sunday, not may cars and only a few other people out running or riding. It was another colder day but it warmed up as I got going. The wind was the worst part. Low to mid 20s with the wind, but again mid-30s, pushing 40 by the end.

Weekly Totals: 65 miles on seven runs – Another solid week in the books. Unfortunately, I don’t think solid is going to cut it for this upcoming half marathon. I guess we will see. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made. I’ve now run three straight weeks of 60+ miles, so like I said, progress. What I need to try and do is increase my mileage. I’ve found a good plan of running in the afternoons either from work, stopping somewhere on the way home or running from home. If I can get my mileage up to 10 on most days with one run I’ll do that for a little while, at least until it starts getting lighter a little earlier, then I’ll go back to running in the morning and afternoon. Doing clips is a pain in the ass, but I made it work last year, so I’ll just have to figure it out. Next week, I need to get my mileage up and hopefully survive the half. Then I’ll focus on getting things into gear for Dirty Spokes and road races.

Training Log - February 4 - February 10

Monday, February 4: Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – I headed to work early to hit the Flowery Branch road loop from the office. Not a great run, my legs were still tired from the weekend and I just wasn’t into it at all. I might have over done it a little bit yesterday with the 11 mile run then about 9 on the bike. Even though I was riding easy I think it took a little more out of me than I thought. I could still feel the Saturday’s race in my legs too. I think I’ll start working in afternoon runs next week if I can get things dialed back in this week.

 

Tuesday, February 5: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Decided to just run from home for the rest of the offseason for my morning runs. It’s just easier this time of year. I got out at about 6:45 am so I needed my headlamp for the first 15 or 20 minutes then it was fine once the sun started to come up. I ran around the GEHC, adding in the road hill and creekside spur trail section that I found a couple weeks ago, then ran out and back on the greenway before adding an extra .2 to make sure I got a full eight miles.

 

Wednesday, February 6: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – I tried something a little bit different this morning, running the out and back greenway section of the run first and then tacking on the GEHC loop after. It didn’t make much of a difference in terms of time. The out and back part is always faster than the loop. The loop is a lot hillier and it’s just slow going in general. I had to remember that I ran a 5k on parts of this loop in 18 something and won. This is the down side to wearing my GPS watch. Sometimes I forget that the terrain dictates the pace. That said, I still need to get to a point where my training runs are faster.

 

Thursday, February 7: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Ho-hum 8 miler. Same run, different day.

 

Friday, February 8: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Felt like crap all day, so I ran after work. Didn’t matter much. I felt like crap and this was a complete death march. At the end of the day I was just glad to get something in. I am definitely coming down with another slight cold. It’s nothing too serious but enough to make me feel like I don’t have anything in my legs.

 

Saturday, February 9: Suwanee Roads – 14 miles – I need to come up with a name for this run. With the greenway and GEHC right behind my apartment and living so close to the mall I haven’t ventured out on the roads in my area very often, but needing to get something longer in and not wanting to do a bunch of loops of shorter trails I decided to make my way over to Suwanee and hit that greenway with the new route I found last week.

 

I started by running up past the GEHC and onto Woodward Mill Rd. From there I ran past the woodward mill farms then turned up onto Old Suwanee road and ran through the Morning View neighborhoods, up, over and down to the elementary school to hop on the greenway. I ran down the greenway to Martin Farm then turned right onto the Martin Farm road to run to Suwanee Town Center. They really should rename Martin Farm Road to Martin Farm hill, it was a brutal climb, not all that long but it was pretty steep and I wasn’t expecting it. I ran along the train tracks and back through Town Center park, stopped at Big Peach for some water and to chat with some people that were running around the park then ran back down to the greenway and retraced my route back to the apartment.

 

Overall it was a good run and I was happy to be able to, one find a decent road run from my apartment (even if it was out and back), and two, find a way to linkup both the Ivy Creek Greenway behind my apartment and the Suwanee Greenway in a fairly direct way. That means that I can get close to an 18 miler out of this run if I follow the greenway all the way to its end. It would be 9 miles out and 9 miles back but there wouldn’t be much traffic at all and eight miles of it would be on the greenway.

 

Sunday, February 10:

AM - GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Another slog on this route. The first part of it is slow. There is no doubt about that. I think running with the Garmin has made me a little too cognizant of how fast or slow, I’m running (obviously because it displays pace), but I’ve had to remember that some of the trails I run on are going to be slower. When I ran at Ft. Yargo each of the last two springs and summers I’ve gone into each run knowing that it’s going be 8 minute pace, the effort might be faster but the way the trail is, on a normal run it’s going to be 8 minute pace. I just need to accept that on these GEHC trail runs. The second half is flat and I should be running it under 7 unless I’m really running easy.

 

PM – Harbins Park MTB Ride with Amanda – 4 miles – Since it warmed up in the afternoon, Amanda and I drove over to Harbins to check out the mountain bike trails. We stuck to MB1, which is a short beginner loop. Amanda enjoyed it because there wasn’t a lot of up and down or roots/rocks. It was a fun flowy ride through the trees, Forest Moon of Endor style. Here is the Strava info for the ride…

 

http://app.strava.com/activities/40447718

 

Weekly Totals: 61 miles on seven runs – Back to back weeks of 61 miles is positive, but my hopes of getting a workout in didn’t materialize. I have to start working in a second run either at lunch or after work to get my miles up. The upcoming XTERRA half marathon could be brutal otherwise. Hopefully next week I can work on getting my miles up and get in some kind of workout. I’d also like to make sure I get out to Ft. Yargo to get a run on the half marathon course before the race. The big positive of the week was finding a route that incorporated the Suwanee Greenway without just being a straight up out and back run. Even though about 11 miles of the run ended up being the same (out and back), it’s still a pretty good run with only one section that I generally dread.