Finding New Kilometers

Time: 89:35

Distance: 20.16k

Pace: 4:26

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I coordinated with James Haycraft (real athlete) to run some this morning as he was looking to do 50 minutes, Meagan was needing about an hour and I wanted 20k. We met up at Chateau Woodcraft and proceed out for some fun. Meagan wanted to check out the alleged trail that is being built off Park Road near Fairview so we did that. Then we ran James' boring path up Selwyn, but I mandated that we had to run a loop and not out and back.

Our detours brought James and I back to his place right at the 50 minute mark (70 for me) and then I proceeded to find some extra kilometers around the neighborhood. I saw the Queens' soccer team running some hills and then found the trails near the Queens University athletic fields. All the little pieces of the run added up for a good adventure and I definitely need to get back in the trails more soon.

Simple Double

Time: 37:15

Distance: 8.17k

Pace: 4:33

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A simple double run to end out the day.

Medium Monday Loop

Time: 63:23

Distance: 13.75k

Pace: 4:36

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Meagan and I ran a Medium Loop this morning to start off the week. It was a fun to be out running with her again since she has returned from DC and hopefully fixed her ailing shin.

Week In Review

Time: 699:50

Distance: 156.41k

The month of August is when I need to figure out how successful of a fall I'm going to have. It's not make it or break it this month, but this will set me up nicely to start racing again in September and taking names in October. I had a big workout on Thursday that told me I have a lot of work to do, but that I'm not too much of a slug.

My biggest need is to keep an eye on my right peroneal tendon so that it doesn't get any worse. I have been icing, stretching, massaging my leg and going to Dr. Greenapple's office for treatment. I don't want it to get to the point where it's hurting at the lower insertion point. Right now it's just a nagging discomfort right under the malleus. Oh the joys of running. It's always something.

Davidson College Long Run

Time: 128:26

Distance: 30.01k

Pace: 4:16

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Somehow I've been motivated to make early morning runs with people this week and today was no different. I was up and out the door before 6:30 am to meet up with a group running from Davidson College. I mixed a cooler of Nuun and lugged it down to my car so that everyone in attendance would have something to enjoy.

I started out at the back of the pack and reeled the large group of 20 in by about 4k. I was going to be out on the trails and roads awhile today and I needed to make sure that I wasn't cooked by 10k. We made a few loops on the cross country course before returning to the parking lot along the road around an hour. I was feeling good and felt like the pace was startling to settle so I hit the front and quickened the pace a bit. My right foot is still giving me some troubles but the discomfort generally goes away.

After snagging some Nuun at the hour mark, it was back out to the roads for some faster running. I was trying to run down Caitlin and one of the Mayes brothers, but their pace was quicker than the 6:40 that I was told. I ended up running back into the center of town as the couple turned off to finish (they started at 6:30 am) and I ran into Cornelius. I had never before been to the town so it was cool to visit on foot. I was not feeling fantastic by the 20k mark and was just trying to break the run down into smaller segments.

I was back at the college parking lot at 22k where I snagged some more Nuun and headed out for a final 8k of running. I was feeling good, but not great. The heat and humidity was getting to me, but there were no signs of dizziness of major dehydration. With about 6k to run I stopped to pee and was pretty sure I saw blood in my urine. Not good. Really not good.

I continued on and ran another 3k before I had to pee again. More blood. Not good, but I was still unconcerned as I had taken an ibuprofen and been out on the roads for close to 2 hours thus far. There weren't any signs of heat exhaustion so I chugged along finishing with some decent kilometers the last 15 minutes. This was the first time I had experienced something like this, but know it has happened to other runners.

Overall, it was a good run minus the period of me experiencing my period. I was thankful to jump in the Hovis' lake house pool afterward to cool off and continue to hydrate with some electrolyte tablets.

Uptempo with Compton

Time: 99:20
Distance: 24.12k

W/u: 19:27 for 4.16k

Extra w/u: 3:30 for .73k

W/o: 16k uptempo at 3:40-3:55/k pace

C/d: 16:32 for 3.21k

Yesterday while I was at Caitlin's I asked John if he was interested in running 16k uptempo with me in the morning. He was game and we met up at the Freedom Park tennis courts to begin.

Splits:

3:51, 3:50, 3:46, 3:47, 3:41, 3:40, 3:46, 3:42, 3:39, 3:42, 3:44, 3:44, 3:46, 3:39, 3:43, 3:43 for 59:51 total and 16.02k.

We didn't have a particular course in mind, but I knew that the Blue Points 5k was being held. Our first destination was to cheer on the runners up Morehead and then turn off to South taking the Thunder Road course route. The pace was just right for us to get in a good effort, but slow enough for us to be conversational. We chatted about his recent time up in the mountains for Providence Day's cross country camp among other things like how we should become triathletes and get a shit ton of sponsors. The run was going really well for me until about the 12k mark when I started to fatigue. I was on the rivets (awesome Tour de France lingo) for the final 4k and had to quickly come up with a route that had as few hills as possible. Had we turned up Queens Road West or East Blvd. my day would have been over.

My cool down took me back to Common Market on South Blvd where I had left my car overnight and was driven home by Meagan. I had a few pints last night with Bob and Melissa from Inside-Out Sports which is always a great summer spot. It was a quick trip back home for a shower and then a drive down to TrySports for a Soft Tread Launch Party.

Double in Uptown

Time: 34:26

Distance: 7.19k

Pace: 4:47

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Earlier today I had treatment from Dr. Evan Kahn of Greenapple Sports and Wellness. I've been needing and meaning to get in there to have someone look at my peroneal tendon. It has been giving a little discomfort on runs the past few days during toe off and especially running uphill. It was just my luck when an hour before I was planned to visit Dr. Kahn that a huge storm rolled through Charlotte and knocked the power out of my house and their office. This meant I wouldn't have access to all of their fun treatment toys like the laser. This is very much a first world problem when the power goes out and I don't get my tendons lasered. Oh well.

I did work from Caitlin's house for part of the day and we ended up heading out for a run with Aaron. It was good catching up with everyone and getting to run around Uptown. The creeks had flooded and Frazier Park was unrecognizable.

Easy 10k

Time: 45:15

Distance: 10.33k

Pace: 4:22

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I got up and started my day with some work instead of a run. I eventually headed out the door around 10 am to log a morning 10k. It was just what I needed after yesterday's track workout that had me running the fastest I have all year.

Back on the Track

Time: 84:01
Distance: 14.10k

W/u: 16:19 for 3.41k

W/o: mile, 1,000m, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m

C/d: 41:04 for 8.69k

Today was a big test in checking my fitness. When I got my training plan from Jeff, I spotted this workout on the schedule and said, "oh, shit." The times were fast and my training hasn't been great, but I at least would get to see where I am at. In our discussion leading in to designing my current program, I told Jeff that I thought it would be beneficial to run really fast splits or slower tempos. I wanted paces to be sub-3:00/k or above 3:20-3:25/k. I usually race pretty easily between 3:01 to 3:19 in distances 5k to half marathon.

I drove over to the AG where I brought my supplies: flats, cooler of NUUN, towel, water bottle. I set up and then headed off for a short warm up. Factoring in the heat, I didn't want to ruin the workout just to hit a distance goal for the day. My right peroneal tendon has been bugging me a bit, but not so much that I didn't want to do this workout. It was properly warmed up by the time I was ready to run a fast opening mile.

Splits:

Mile at 4:35 - 4:42.94 (3:00),

1,000m at 2:48 - 3:02.29 (3:00),

800m at 2:08 - 2:27.40 (3:00),

600m at 1:35 - 1:47.67 (2:01),

400m at 62 - 66.08 (2:00),

200m at 31 - 28.91

Total of 26:38 for ~5k including jogs

The 4:42 opening mile was the start and end of this workout. And to think it was supposed to be a 4:35. I felt good clicking off 70s and just couldn't grab those extra gears to drop the pace down to 68. I felt heavy the final 200m and knew that the rest of the workout would be brutal. I had no ability to even come close to the prescribed splits as looking back a 2:08 half mile would have taken a ginormous effort even on a good day. That all being said, I was actually pleased with how the workout ended up. The 400m and 200m obviously felt good, but I see where most of the work needs to be done. I don't have the aerobic base or turnover to effortlessly run 64-68 pace. It will come.

I cooled down to the new Run For Your Life location in South Park and ate a taco. Probably not the best thing to do in the middle of a run, but it didn't give my stomach any issues later. Congrats on the new store and if you're in the area I suggest you check it out.

An Evening Run

Time: 32:55
Distance: 8.08k

Pace: 4:04

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I traveled to Greenville, SC today which is probably one of two cities in South Carolina that I could live (Charleston is the other one). I visited a bunch of stores and sold them on the greatness that is Balega's new sock called Soft Tread. Check them out at your specialty dealer, and if they don't have them yet, demand them!

After my final visit my options were either to drive home and run, or run and drive home sweaty. I opted for the latter and got to run with an employee who ran at High Point University where my friend Jenna Wrieden now works. He is just getting back into shape and needed to run 2 miles uptempo which I was keen on, but did anyway.

We ran from the store down to a bike path and looped around. I was definitely feeling a little sluggish on the uptempo portion, but I think it was due to the heat. This weather is not so awesome.

A Morning Run

Time: 68:23

Distance: 15.44k

Pace: 4:25

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I got in my run this morning according to my new training schedule put together by Jeff Gaudette. His online coaching business is becoming pretty successful and it's cool to see his athletes improve. Now I just need to be one of those athletes.

Hot/Cold Track Strides

Time: 49:56

Distance: ~11.28k

W/u: 25:41 for 5.47k

W/o: 1 mile in 6:16, 4 laps of jogging turns/sprint straights

C/d: 12:21 for 2.61k

My plan this evening was to hit the AG track for some light strides. After my failed attempt to spark some speed in the legs back in Santa Rosa, I needed something to wake the legs. I took a 5k route over to the track and was excited to see some of the Omega Sports Savannah Marathon training group running around. I've become friendly with the district manager of the Charlotte stores and his son is a pretty solid youth runner. He's probably only in junior high school but has already run a number of half marathons. The son was slated to run a mile time trial and his dad suggested that I pace him. No problem.

I got out there with the intention of running a 6:30 mile, but after an opening lap of 93, the little man was sitting right on my heels. We kept the pace honest and after the second lap he told me to pick it up. No problem.

He was ran tough all the way to the finish line and finished just over 6:15 and well under his goal time. I then went into 4 laps of jogging the turns and striding the straights. I was running fairly hard down the stretches and ended up splitting 5:38.

It was a quick jog back to the house for some Nuun and cheap pints.

Early Start

Time: 74:23
Distance: 15.85k

Pace: 4:41

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I woke up wicked early this morning in order to see Meagan off to the Speed Loop where she was meeting Caitlin and some others. From the outset of the run I watched Meagan struggle to keep a fluid stride. Her shin has been bugging her some and I could tell it was worse than she had described it. I kept hearing her scrape her right foot every 20 seconds which is not normal. We got to the Speed Loop and I was just jogging around watching some of the workout when I could see Meagan falling off the back on the second workout. Not good.

She called it a day and we jogged back through Freedom Park to the Booty Loop to get in some additional distance. It was not a good way to start the day at the Kinley/Nedlo household especially since it required a 5:30 am departure from the house.

In the South. Again.

Time: 82:45

Distance: 20.01k

Pace: 4:08

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After returning around 11 am to Charlotte from the west coast, I had little interest to get out the door and run. Plus, I had to start firing off some emails to some of my stores. It wasn't until later in the evening when I got in my run around Myers Park. I had a goal of getting in 20k which included a few loops around the Earth Fare parking lot to complete the distance. Meagan, Caitlin, Kelly and Megan Fillnow and Mr. Allen "Road to Boston" Strickland were already present discussing the book Unbroken. (What is proper punctuation in a blog for books? Underline. "Quote." Color).

It was a good run that had me feeling good to be back in Charlotte. I was fortunate in that I got a relatively "cool" day as my introduction back in the south. I sweated quite a bit, but wasn't in danger of bonking like in previous runs. The book club was an interesting way to end the run. Honestly, however, I was more interested in being able to purchase a coconut water and a beer.

Happy days.