Final Run in Charlotte

Time: 76:25
Distance: 16.17k
Pace: 4:44
Map

Meagan and I met up with an early morning crew for our last official run in Charlotte. I never felt great, but tried to enjoy being on familiar streets for many weeks or months to come. We wandered through Freedom Park, around the Dilworth neighborhood and ventured into Myers Park toward the end.

Back at the house it was a mad push to finish packing the rest of our belongings. The trailer was well organized until the final 5 minutes when I just started throwing small objects and let them land wherever. I shut the door, made sure it was secure, locked it, and hoped for the best. An eight hour drive was ahead, one nervous cat, and all of our possessions were off to MA.

Breaking from Packing

Time: 69:02
Distance: 15.30k
Pace: 4:31
Map

Meagan, Jeff, Melanie and I all headed up to the Childress Winery yesterday afternoon for the lovely wedding of Brook Starr and Lance Haman. The event was classy and accommodated for the frigid temperatures of an outside ceremony. We ended up staying the night and traveled back to Charlotte this morning only to be dropped off at the U-haul facility to pick up Meagan's VW with a hitch and trailer attached.

The packing started and didn't stop until early afternoon when we decided to get in a run to clear our thoughts. It's amazing how much two people can acquire and how much is absolutely necessary to have. Lots of stuff is being tossed at the dumpster and it's been funny to watch people immediately take home what were formerly our possessions. If we were really savvy the items would have been sold, but time was limited already.

Double Run to the AG

Time: 48:16

Distance: 11.10k

W/u: 35:53 for 8.20k

C/d: 12:24 for 2.90k

This evening I headed out to get in some extra distance and wound up at the AG. I wanted to run some light strides, but the field was being used for football and parents/fans were crowding the track. I opted to use the outfield of the nearby baseball field which worked quite well. I ran 6 x 110-130m at a solid effort. It felt good to turn over the legs really fast for the first time since working out with Jay in New York. I need to do more strides before it starts to get really cold up north and I don't want to spend the extra time outside.

Double Down in Charlotte

Time: 65:55
Distance: 15.62
Pace: 4:13

I arrived in Charlotte and started the long process of packing up our remaining belongings. Little did I know that Meagan and I would be doing this until the moment we left town. It was great being back with MRN who had been in Texas for work and then flew directly to Charlotte. In the late afternoon I laced up the shoes and headed out to the familiar sights of Freedom Park. After a loop o' booty I finished up with some quicker k's now that my legs are starting to feel recovered from Sunday.

Charlotte Evening Double

Time: 50:50
Distance: 11.24k
Pace: 4:31
Map

I arrived back in Charlotte in the afternoon which left plenty of daylight for some more running. I put in an easy 30 minutes with Meagan before heading off toward Myers Park high school. There was a brief stop in there at the AG track where I watched some members of the Omega Sports training group finish up a workout. My legs were left feeling good and ready to run more in the morning.

Distance Trend

Time: 66:39
Distance: 15.53k
Pace: 4:18
Map

I have no issues with running the same loop day after day. I used to be bored doing such things, but when the routine works it's good to stick to it.

Morning 15k

Time: 66:39
Distance: 15.51k
Pace: 4:18
Map

I put in some solo running this morning and got to pick up the pace a bit. I felt good running my morning 15k which I would like to make more standard in the near future. Every morning the minimum would be 15k as it sets up nicely for big weekly distance.

Easy Double Run

Time: 32:29
Distance: 6.65k
Pace: 4:53
Map

An easy double run just to Freedom Park and back with Meagan.

Medium Loop

Time: 63:17
Distance: 13.87k
Pace: 4:34
Map

Trying to get caught up on the blog after a 3 week lack of posting. Here we go...

Forgotten Sunday Long Run

Time: 66:29
Distance: 15.48k
Pace: 4:18
Map

I flew back from Austin, TX this morning needing to put in some distance. I headed out the door and found 15k on a familiar loop in Myers Park. This is the third respectable run in a row which has me thinking my foot injury is behind me.

Medium Loop

Time: 63:26
Distance: 13.78k
Pace: 4:36
Map

I don't really remember this run, but based on the pace it was with Meagan. Based on the distance my foot was feeling better.

Ms. Dullard

Time: 61:01
Distance: 13.22k
Pace: 4:37
Map

I think Meagan was tired of running Medium Loops and wanted a slight change of scenery which brought us into the Dilworth neighborhood. Big change right? She was convinced that if we ran from our house, across Freedom Park, around the 2 mile Speed Loop and back that it would be at least 9 miles. We were trying to calculate it carefully so that I keep my foot in check and not get carried away.

My Garmin while occasionally inaccurate can still hold its own. We had only covered 5k when we hit Rebecca's house (Meagan was calling those warm ups 4 miles) and then we added on the 2 miles around the popular tempo loop. A confused MRN couldn't figure out how this run takes her 70 minutes on occasion and that there is no way it was only 8 miles. She thought of every factor that could make the run longer than it was trying to convince me that she doesn't overestimate her distance. After 30+ minutes of confusion she realized that she normally runs all the way through Freedom Park to meet Caitlin before continuing back to Dilworth. Mystery solved for the dullard.

A Run with MRN

Time: 62:54
Distance: 13.82k
Pace: 4:33
Map

I picked up Meagan from the airport late last night and we didn't get started on this run until a little later. It is my first run with her in quite some time as it was nice to catch up. She just got back from Chicago where she was helping with the Chicago Half Marathon. We put in a Medium Loop together which was enough to take my mind off my foot. It was feeling pretty good today which no real irritation. I think the last 10 minutes were run pain free which I won't complain about.

Blue Ridge Listening

Time: 40:41
Distance: ~9k

I was sitting around the house getting ready to watch some football when I sent a text to Compton asking if the was around. I wanted to hear about the race and how they ended up losing to the Asheville Collective by 3 minutes when the Charlotte Running Club team was only 28 seconds back with 2 legs to run. He said he was just sitting down to eat at Bad Daddy's with Jaskot.

I laced up my shoes and was off to meet them for some social interaction. It took me just over 20 minutes to arrive and they were just finishing up paying the bill. I heard all about the race as I sat there in my running clothes which was in major juxtaposition to the dude in a Steelers jersey. After hearing about Blue Ridge for 10-15 minutes I was off to finish up the second half of my run. I ran into AJ at the end of Freedom Park and ran with him for about a half mile.

My foot was actually in a decent place today. I have been wearing a pair of inserts in my shoes for the last 3 or 4 runs which I think has been helping the twisting motion. The injury is definitely getting better, but it's been a slow go.

Monday Morning

Time: 65:00
Distance: 15.49k
Pace: 4:11
Map

I got in my 15k this morning and don't remember much beyond that. The pace was clipping along towards the end of the run which must mean my foot wasn't being too much of a nuisance.

End of the Week

Time: 74:41
Distance: 17.35k
Pace: 4:18
Map

I left the house this evening with the plan of getting in some time before meeting the Charlotte Running Club 6 pm crew at Freedom Park. It was fun catching up with Caitlin, Billy and some others before wrapping up the week training.

My foot wasn't feeling too bad this evening as the taping and compression sleeve seem to help.

Fitter Than I Think?

Time: 106:39
Distance: 25.74k

W/u: 24:39 for 4.52k
W/o: 16k (5k uptempo, 6k relaxed, 5k uptempo)
C/d: 24:57 for 5.22k

In an attempt to stick to my training schedule, I ventured out for a 16k uptempo run. I wasn't feeling creative so I came up with the bright idea of running 3 Loops o' Booty. In order to break up the run, I wanted to run the first 5k uptempo, the next 6k relaxed and the final 5k hard. I waited a little later into the morning before heading out so the final few kilometers were quite warm.

Splits:
3:39, 3:32, 3:37, 3:33, 3:29 (17:50 5k)
3:35, 3:35, 3:36, 3:38, 3:34 (17.58 5k)
3:43, 3:27, 3:33, 3:34, 3:33, 3:25 (17:32 final 5k) - 16k total in 57:03 and 3:34/k

I felt really good the first 8k and had a hard time holding back. I kept clicking off 3:30 kilometers when I wanted to be in the 3:40 range. The workout called for an average of 3:35 to 3:45 which I was able to hit. I struggled the final 2k as my body temperature was becoming undone. I only had slight discomfort with the foot which I'm clearly happy with. I have noticed that my right foot is landing on the outside of my foot more than it usually does. I also taped my lower leg with KT tape and wore a compression sleeve.

Rare Run with MRN

Time: 62:46

Distance: 13.88k

Pace: 4:31

Map

I picked up Meagan from the airport late last night which is the first time I've seen her in about 5 days. We got to run together this morning on a familiar loop. Her stride looked pretty good and my foot felt pretty good. Maybe things are looking up for us after all.

More for the Monday

Time: 57:37

Distance: 13.87k

Pace: 4:09

Map

I got back out this evening for some more kilometers by myself. I was definitely in tune with my heel to see if there were any alarming signs being sent to the ol' noggin. The pace gradually picked up to where I was steadily clipping off sub-4:00/k at the end. I've stopped taking any sort of anti-inflammatory and started a daily regimen of flax seed or fish oil.

Back on the Roads

Time: 45:23

Distance: 10.47k

Pace: 4:20

Map

Man did that feel weird. After four consecutive days off to let my heel heal, I felt totally awkward out on this morning's run. I only ended up going 10k but the legs were feeling really fresh and gangly. I was glad to be back on the roads and only felt a slight bit of inflammation in my heel. I'll be closely monitoring the tendon all week and hopefully getting treatment from Greenapple Sports & Wellness.