8/25 21 miler

Well, it was time for my first 20 miler since ATT and I was feeling a little nervous as my legs were still tight from Thursdays intervals. And, having only ran 16 miles in the weeks before, I was optimistic on how the body would handle the milage increase. I started with a conservative pace and ran solo until 35th street where Fletcher and Dick Beardsley caught up with me. At the time, I did'nt know this guy with Steve was Beardsley thus, I was running with a marathon legend and not knowing it!! We ran as a group until after Shoal Creek where Steve decided to do a 20 minute surge. I decided to let them go and stay with my consistent pace strategy and run the last 3-4 at MGP. I caught up with Fletcher and Beardsley again at about mile 9 and ran with them until the 10.5 mile turnaround and back. It was not until about mile 12 or so that I finally realized who this guy was and I told him what an honor it was to run with him. I broke free from them at the shoal creek aid station as I wanted to step it up a little. Actually, I was feeling pretty good and ran the last 3 miles at a 7:10 pace. Afterwards, I rewarded myself with a dip in Barton Springs and then a smoothy from Whole Foods. Great run and only one more 20 to go before Marathon 2 Marathon.

Total miles for day: 21, 2:42
Miles for week: 63

Monday Pace Run

This morning was to be a 10 mile pace run for all fall marathoners and since I don't get off work until 7am (night shift), I ran this one solo......for the most part. Started with Bernard at 0730 and managed to keep a 6:30 pace for the first 5. I started feeling a little tired at that point, perhaps from the Grove run two days before so I told Bernard to go on so I could slow 10-15secs/mile. Reached the Mopac bridge at about 57min at which point I began to find an extra surge. Ran the last two miles in about 6:15, 5:45 respectively. A strong run overall, although at the time of this writing, my legs are tired. Total time: 1:08:23, 10.1 miles.

Thursday evening Intervals

Today, Gilbert wanted us to focus on leg turnover as we focused on form and speed. We were told to do between 2-5 sets of 1x600m, then 1x400m, and 1x200m with 200m jog between and 2minutes recovery between sets. I chose to do 4 sets with tomorrow morning being a pace run for me. The weather was much cooler thanks to the rain coming in from the coast. First set: 1:58, 1:17, 35sec....Second set: 1:59, 1:19, 38 sec.....Third set: 2:01, 1:18, 36sec.......Final set: 2:00, 1:17, 34sec. Felt relatively good but a little tight from the pace runs earlier in the week. I've been meeting with Bernard lately in the mornings at 0730 and I told him yesterday I was going to run with him on Mondays and Wednesdays. Hopefully, this will get me the speed I desire to run well at this years M2M marathon in October. I'm disapointed after what I would call a half ass performance in Panama. My goal was to run 1:20 or better and with a 1:22, I know I did not run aggressive enough in the first half.
Total miles for week: 30.....7mile pace run scheduled on Friday, and then 13.5 grove run on Saturday.

Viva Panama!

Hello to all from Panama City, Panama! I must say that the trip down here has been worth it. The Panama Canal is just spectacular in its vastness and beauty. Panama City is rich in historical significance and people here are very friendly and proud of thier country. This morning, I ran the Half Marathon that is held each year in the downtown area. Start time was 6am. Temperature....79 degrees with 90% humidity! The course is not to be taken lightly as much to my surprise, there were several hills to negotiate. The first 4 miles or so ran along the pacific ocean and then weaved through the mercado or market place, before making the turn around back down the coast. There was plenty of water and gatorade every mile or so as well as great local support. I was feeling pretty good the first 8 or 9 miles but was having trouble keeping a consistent pace below 610. There were no mile markers either which made it difficult to gage my pace as well. In the end I finished 9th overall with a time of 1h 22m.....not my best but a fun race in a beautiful city. I am thinking that the two days previous, I did alot of walking around the canal area and mercado, or mabey it was the humidity which is higher here than Austin. Oh well. I´m not too worried about my performance and so should not make any excuses. Today I will take a bus over to portebello on the Atlantic side and visit the old staging point for the spanish conquistadors in thier search for gold. This coming tuesday, I will return home to Austin. In closing, I highly recomend a visit to Panama. It will change you.