books

1:41 10 mile at Townlake with Shan this morning.  I really need to stop anticipating finish times.
This morning I would have bet money that our time was at least 5 minutes slower.  We stopped once to talk to an old acquaintance and had two walk breaks.  And, our running seemed very conservative too.  Oh well, another good one for the books!!

sub ultra

My ultra days may nearing an end but my running and racing days are nowhere near over.  I think I may just not enjoy going long anymore.  I've been slowly realizing this over the last year or two and have been hanging onto being an "ultra" runner.  Well, 15yrs is pretty darn good at the age of 54 I'd say.  It really has become a chore to do anything much over a 100 mile running month or a 15 mile training run the last several years which pretty much spells doom for running ultra's.

This all comes up after my 2nd ever DNF at the 50k distance yesterday.  Yes, there were plenty of extenuating circumstances, a really bad weather forecast, very, very busy life and emotional circumstances lately, nagging, niggling injuries etc.  Life has gotten in the way of consistent running lately but I've felt good on the runs I have had.  Yesterday I felt great on the 1st loop and #1 I wanted to finish to get another notch on my "gunbelt" (ultra finish) but a big #2 was outrunning some torrential downpours that were predicted all over central and near east Texas.  My 1st loop (7.8 miles) was just a shade over an hour and a half and I was able to maintain that pretty well and come in at 25k in 3:09.   All in all a darn good 15.5 miles.  But, I was toast mentally and physically and decided to cash it in.

Over the last month or so I've been looking at the Trail Championship series.  There are two categories, one ultra distance and one sub ultra.  I've been thinking of doing the ultra but am now thinking very seriously about doing the sub ultra series.  After doing some investigative work it looks as if I may be able to do well in that category.  It would be something to get excited about and do some faster running too.  The idea of getting done with a trail marathon in 6hrs or even some 25k races is sure appealing. At least right now it is.

middle age

Very good run around the 7ish mile loop at Townlake this morning.  This is the first time Shan and I have checked the new distance with her Garmin.  I believe she said it was 6.83.  Before the boardwalk it was a shade over 6.9.  Not a big deal except for anal peeps like me who like to measure their progress (or lack of it sometimes).   Our time this morning was 1:06.30.  Not too shabby but I was a bit disappointed.  It felt like sub 1:04 or so.

Trying to figure out what races to run this winter.  I always vacillate this time of year about which winter events to run.  One of the Bandera races is a no brainer.  Also, I've pretty much decided to enter the points championship this year so I really need to get in 3 races early in the year.  I was gonna do the 100k and 2 50k's but now I'm leaning toward the Bandera 50k and see how fast I can go at the Rocky Raccoon 50 mile.  And then maybe Hell's Hills 50 mile.  My goal is some good points and to possibly try for a new (middle age) 50 mile PR.  There is no way I'll ever get close to my old 50 mile PR of 8:51 from '99.  My middle age PR was set at Wild Hare in 2012, 11:40.  I know with some decent training I can go much faster than that in Huntsville.  I really feel like I can go at least sub 10:30 there.  So, looks like it's time to get busy!!

excellent

Solid 17+ mile run in Barton Creek this morning in 4:10.  I think my crappy phone shorted me on some Runkeeper mileage, maybe as much as a mile.  I started with the first hilly portion of the loop Sam and pals use to run.  I KNOW with my previous phone the mileage was 6.5ish miles.  Today it said 5.5.  Anyway, I had an excellent run.  After I got out of the hills and down on the flats I felt great and kept the motor down pretty good the rest of the way.  This was a longer run I really had to have so I'm happy to have gotten it done!!

old feller

Another great Thursday morning run.  Shan and I did the 10 mile loop in 1:39.43.  Very, very happy with that although we need to start and finish at the exact same spot for our improving times to be totally legit.  I'm an anal SOB when it comes to measuring my performance but that's okay.  One consistent thing is that I've started my watch the exact same place the last 2 times we've done the big loop.  We park in the YMCA parking lot and take the trail down towards Cesar Chavez between the baseball diamonds.  I start my watch not very far from the parking lot and then we end at the cross walk on Cesar Chavez just west of Lamar.  When Shan stopped her garmin this morning it said 9.94.  I was so fricking done and there was no way I was doing another .06.  Weak I know, but that's the deal.  All that being said the bottom line is that we knocked a full 5 minutes off our time from just 2 weeks ago.  I'm very sure I have the foam roller, extra stretching and the new push up routine to thank for the faster running.  I've never forgotten a 90 minute 10 miler I did at Townlake in probably '99 or '00.  I wonder.......if that could be done by this old feller again?

shiny

Very good 7 mile run at Townlake this morning.  My knee is showing signs of improvement with some recent stretching.  Along with some foam roller I hope it'll continue to improve enough for me to consider the Bandera 100k.  I'd sure like to get another shiny buckle!!

trucking

Started off my running month with a good 4 miler this morning in the 'hood followed by day 4 of my 100 push ups program.  Ended up having a decent month of running in October despite a whole of  bunch of personal stuff going on.  I've also been fighting some niggling stuff, plantar in one foot, an open dry spot on a heel of another, an achy left knee that I need to have someone look at.  Besides all that I'm gonna keep on trucking!!  I've a got a 50k next month to be excited about!!