woah, a 3rd post for the day! Today was a rest day, so it worked out that I ran yesterday and took today as the rest day. I was able to go to the bank and also went to Cool Bean for lunch as well. Tonight we will be going crazy as we try to pack everything and the kitchen sink to take to Nags Head.

I already have three routes planned out for Corolla. 2 are basic 4 mile courses up and down the beach and the 3rd is in the “subdivision” of about 0.7 of a mile. I am hoping to get in 8 miles at sunrise or 3-4 miles at naptime during the day. I might even try to have a “two-fer” and run at sunrise and sunset. Who knows, but I'm bringing the running gear… I mean what is a vacation if there is no running! Sheesh!

I just got back from the 10 o'clock press conference for the Knoxville, errr I mean “Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon” which will be taking place on March 26th of 2006. The conference only last about 20 minutes and included the mayor of Knoxville Bill Haslam, Covenant Health Representatives Tony Spazio and Missy Kane, UT Athletic Director Mike Hamilton and the former and present Knoxville Marathon presidents Zane Hagy and Kevin Skurski.

The mayor talked about how well the marathon impacted the city through the information of a post race survey by Dr. Carol Costello. The amount of revenue that the city enjoyed was a breath of fresh air as the report estimated that $400,000 dollars were spent in the area over the weekend. He was also pleased that Covenant Health has signed on for two years as the featured sponsor. Covenant Health's Spazio and King revealed the first change of the morning, with the Knoxville Marathon being renamed to the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon. (I can see it referred to the Knoxville Marathon in the vernacular much as the ING New York City Marathon is commonly referred to as “New York Marathon” or simply “New York”).

Mike Hamilton expressed his thanks that UT and especially Neyland Stadium could be part of such a prestigious event. Even though the press conference was very laid back, Hagy provided some comic relief with his statement about those in the race needing hospitalization. “4 runners needed to be hospitalized after the race, with me being one of them, I can say that Covenant Health provided great care” - or something like that. Kruski, the present leader of the Marathon, officially revealed the date of the marathon this year 03.26.06, 7 months from today, which we already knew. He also announced a few changes for the upcoming year.

The biggest change will be a team competition to the marathon race. He didn't go into great detail, but awards will be given to the fastest team and also the team that completes the most cumulative miles. So, you don't have to be fast to win a team prize. He did mention that there might slight modifications of the course, but did not go into detail. He did mention that they are going to take the comments from last years and incorporate them into 2006, to make it bigger and better than 2005. Here are a few pictures from the conference:

Mayor Haslam welcomes everyone to the conference

Zane Hagy speaks about the success of the 2005 Knoxville Marathon

Kevin Skurski outlines some of the highlights of the 2006 Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon

No big changes to the 2005 logo, other than the name addition

Kevin reveals the date of the marathon on a timer clock

All runners are shown on the Jumbotron as the finish at the 50 yard line of Neyland Stadium

Yesterday's workout was a strange beast. I originally was going to take yesterday as a rest day, but as it turned out, I forgot my money at home so I couldn't go to lunch with the guys. So instead, I decided that I would go ahead and workout since it wasn't all that sunny and I could just use Friday as a rest day. SO, I packed up my bag with the intention of running and made my way up to the Aquatic Center. As I made it up to the area, I decided that instead of running 4 as I planned, that I would run 3 instead. I had worked my hamstrings pretty vigorously in the pool the day before and so I didn't want to put any stress on them, so I cut the mileage from 4 to 3. But look at the split times, so much for any type of easy run:

I can't be for certain, but my first mile I think is my fastest recorded mile of the year. Okay, looking back to the Race for the Deaf that my first mile was 7:03, but that was in race conditions, this 7:15 was me by myself which is fairly different mindsets. I felt pretty good for the rest of the run, I only had to walk right before the dreaded Lake Loudon hill because of the traffic at 12:30. Since classes are back in session, there is 10 fold the number of vehicles around campus, making the traffic a little more dangerous to avoid.

Today will be a rest day, but I am going to the Knoxville Marathon press conference in 20 minutes and so hopefully, I might have some pictures and/or information to blog about when I get back.

Don't you have one of those days where you get signs about what you should do, which often is not what you want to do? Today was ones of those days. Apparently, I was not to have a strenuous workout day today… and I didn't.

It started out with the sun coming out this morning. Yesterday was such a wonderful running day (over cast) and I chose to swim. Today, the sun was out pretty much all day, although it was forecasted to be in the upper 80s and not the 90s. When I went up to the aquatic center, still thinking I was going to run, I kept feeling that I should swim today. Then Jen called. I talked to her for about 17 minutes and that was another sign that I was not going to run. I thought that I could get in 400 meters and then some extra laps, in the given time I have to work out. So, that is what I did, I had an abbreviated workout, where I got in 12 laps, 548 meters, in about 20 minutes. I even caught 5 minutes of sun ray absorption. I didn't want to stay out too long with out sun screen. But since we are going to be in Corolla North Carolina next week, I do not want to spoil our vacation by burning and peeling. This way, I can use sunscreen while I am there and still have a tan when I get back, because no matter how much or how well you put on sunscreen… you will burn.

On a side note, I found this website that allows you to make your own custom magazine covers, using your own picture! if you don't want to fool with using something as fancy as Publisher or to a lower tech - Word, you can use this online tool to make your own. I will have to get a good picture and make a running magazine cover!

Perhaps tomorrow will be my Rest Day for the week we will see. I will get another running day in before the weekend. I also have to schedule some beach running in sometime next week.

Monday and today (Tuesday) workouts:
Monday
A run day, a short one at that. I planned to only go 3 miles since I wasn't sure if the heat was going to get to me. It was hot but not very sunny, so I didn't want to get out to 2 mile turn around and be dead. So, I made it to 1.5 and turned back. It was a very successful run especially after the Scholar's Run. I was able to keep my pace up really well and only stopped at the halfway point to rehydrate. So in essence, I did the total 3 miles without walking. That is right, I made it up the Lake Loudon hill without stopping and in good time too. Here are my splits:

Tuesday
In the pool, 1097 meters… I did 822 of them freestyle and then for 6 laps I tried the backstroke, worked on breast stroke and see how far I could go under water. I should have ran today, because it was nice and cloudy and fair cool (around 80 degrees). The humidity wasn't as bad either.

Background: The Scholar's Run is a long standing (29th annual)local 5k race which is used to fund scholarships for 4 local runners for college. It is the sencond leg of the Ruby Tuesday's (HQ in Maryville, TN) Triple Crown of Racing. Traditionally, with RT being a sponsor, the race bags are often filled with some good stuff, more on that later. For me, this race is one of my favorites. It was the first race that I received any recognition for finishing in my age group. I received a ribbon for placing 5th, I could have had fourth, but the guy out sprint me at the end. Also, before they changed the course in 2001, it was the site of 2 PR records, 23:07 in 1998 and then 22:07 in 1999 (which held for 3 years). I enjoy the new course because of the brutal hills (I will analyze the hill structure soon) on the course.

Race Day: THe forecast for the day was going to be HOT HOT HOT and what compounded that was that the previous' nights low was not very low. So the temp at 7am when I got there was already high. Check-in was was organized, as always, I also was able to use the bathroom before the crowds (Thank goodness). I made two loops around the campus as warmups which was about 1.5 miles, but it gave me a chance to practice on the hill that you have to run at the beginning of the race and at the end of the race, so it is important to know what you are going to face. I stretched a bit before the gun went off and then jumped into the crowd, somewhere in the front 3rd of the starting group.

The first hill was rather easy, I was able to keep my current pace and thus pass many of the people who started off a little too fast. As we were leaving campus, I hit the 1 mile at 7:46 which was about what I felt I was running. It wasn't too difficult, but I knew that I was working. As you leave campus you turn right into another hill for about 0.3 of a mile, but then it's either flat or downhill for a while. I hit the 2nd mile at 15:41, a little slower mile, but knowing what was coming up, I was trying to conserve when I could. The last half mile is 80% hill and 20% flat, thank goodness the flat part is at the end, but the hill is nothing to snear at. I dug in deep to keep my feet moving up the hill. I know that I passed a bunch of people while on the turns of the hill, as I came to the top of the hill, I contemplated the runners in front of me that I could over take before the finish line. There was no 3 mile mark, but I think as I hit the last 0.15 miles is when I lengthened my stride and picked up the pace. I ended up passing 2 people before I finished in 24:36. Looking Back to what I was shooting for, I made it right on the money. I wanted to finish between 24:30 and 24:45! Here are my split times:

On a sad note, I didn't win any door prizes and I was not an group winner…

You can browse all of my race results on my running corner

I had a good time at the pool today. I did a semi-time trial for the 800 meter distance, in that I went as fast as I could while doing the entire 800 meters (actually 822) and I took split times at every 6 laps or 137 meters. The splits are as follows:

How does this compare? Well, if I regress back to 800 meters from this workout, I get a time of 16:34 for 800 meters. My best recorded times, which are essentially my best times for triathlon swim are:
800 meters in 2002 at 21:27
400 meters in 2002 at 09:23, but would be a 18:46 if I doubled it

Tomorrow is the Scholar's Run 5k I'll let you know how it turned out!

Here is the plan that I have created using the RW's “Train Less, Run Faster” article from the August 2005 edition. The article highlights the F.I.R.S.T. at Furman University (GO FU!) and their approach to training. It seems that this plan will fit into my schedule and I have devised a scheme, errr training regiment, that should be workable for me. The training program will be for the Knoxville Marathon on March 26th 2006. Last year, I was registered but was unable to run due to pneumonia complications.

Here is legend for the table:
Date/Day/Note - pretty obvious
Name - chronological identifier for the week. I prefer a 12 week training program, but I think that I should commit to a 16 week (standard time period) but you will notice that I have added 5 weeks called Base. This is the “I'm not in official training” but rather getting some mileage in to start official training already [insert pun here] a leg ahead
Day - This is the general classifications for my “Day”. Cross - Crosstraining, Easy - Runs at a comfortable pace, Long - runs that are 10 miles or more, Repeats - aka Intervals - run a distance fast recover run 1/2 distance repeat, Speed - 5k race pace, Tempo - Tempo Workouts something faster than easy but slower than intervals
Type - Short, med, Long and interval number which dictates the speed at which I should be running given the “Day” I am supposed to have
Mileage - The amount of distance that I am schedule to run
Distance - Same a Mileage, only in Repeats is the number of total meters to run at pace
Recovery - Repeats only, the amount of distance for the recovery runs between intervals
Total Mileage - Distance + Recovery
Faster End Pace / Slower End Pace - This is the window of pace that I should be running given the “Day” this pace was calculated from my last 10k run of 50:02 where my pace was 8:03 mile. I expect this to change as my training increases. Either way, the slower end of my “Long Run” is 9:18 a PR pace for me, but in most cases my Marathon pace (based on “Long” run pace) would be a 9:48 to 10:18
Weekly - Total Mileage for the week. By most standards, the mileage (20-30 miles per week) is not adequate for running a marathon. But to be honest, I have completed with very little mileage, so it will not be new territory

Most of my running will be done during my lunch time, but some will be after work. If I tutor this fall, I will have one day a week that I will be on campus until 9 or so. As a result, I will have an hour or so where I can run before having to go to tutoring. So those days will be a Twofer. Also, on Tuesdays I will be bringing Eric to preschool, so I will go in late, this will give me a chance to run in the am where I could get in as much as 5 miles, then at lunch can get the rest of mileage, another Twofer. Saturdays will be for long runs, which is nice because I can accommodate some KTC races on those days.

Comments? Suggestions? Leave a Comment!

My coworker Tom and I were in court for a little more than an hour at the courthouse before our case come up. The victim nor the police officer was not there, so they rescheduled the case for Sept 21st. So, I will be going back at that point. Well, if the Aquatic Center wasn't closed, I could run, but NAH, today is a rest day, especially with the Scholar's Run 5k on Saturday Morning. I'll swim tomorrow, probably about 800-1000 meters - nothing to difficult

Today was another hot one and I coerced one of my Stat Buddies, David to run with me today in the high heat. I was hoping that the clouds would have stayed around, but they left the area from 11-2 today, leaving the running path nice and hot. This was David's first time in the heat of day and I wasn't exactly sure if he'd make it, I probably bugged him with all my “Feeling, okay” questions. But as someone who has experienced Heat Exhaustion before, I know that it sneaks up on you and you can be prone to Heat Stroke, which is something you do NOT want to have. The plan was to go out and at least do 3 and at the 1.5 mile marker, see how we feel and decide whether to turn around or do 4. We decided to try 4 but we only did 3.

You can see by our split times, that we ran very consistently for the first 3 miles. But then we walked to conserve energy for the Lake Loudon Hill (see monday's post). But we never ran again and took a different path to get back to the TRECS building to avoid the big hill. Here are the splits:

I didn't post on Tuesday's swim… I went 1000 meters, but then got a Charlie Horse in my left calf and so I called it a day. No problems with the calf today.

I will not be exercising tomorrow for 2 reasons: 1) the UT system is shutdown for training for the Fall semester and 2) I'll be in court as a witness and do not know how long I will be gone.