Tempo Tempo

Raccoon for two quick laps -

Avg 6:45 for 6 miles

1   7:06
2   6:55
3   6:47
4   6:42
5   6:33
6   6:27

Nice negative splits.  Sadly they were brutal...legs felt really heavy.  This was the 6th day in a row of running.  It's time to rest the dogs.  I cannot run Saturday morning either, so it will be later on Saturday before I get back out.  My legs will like the 36 hour rest.

We are thinking about getting another whippet (dog).  They make it way too difficult to get a dog.  I think it is a sign.  "Dog People" are weird.

I got some of my Brooks running swag today.  Total buzz kill.  The t-shirts were too big, the shorts were the wrong size, and the other shorts go to my knees.  Maybe I am just too short?

Anxious

I really want to get my miles up.  The abs feel better every day, just trying not to re-injure anything.  So for right now I am trying to play it cool.  Next week I will ramp the miles up a bit.  I will probably get to about 40 miles this week and then step it up slowly.  Last year this time I was a lot farther along.

My next planned race is Bix...so I have plenty of time.

I am going to our Atlantic and Ft Dodge offices tomorrow.  Five hours in the car for three hours of meetings.  Fun day.

No pop in over a week.   

Catch Up

I haven't updated in a few days.  This thing is hard to keep up with.

Sunday -

I went to the gym again for 30-60 minutes...wasn't sure how I would feel.  Curtis was there and ran the first bit with me and the Feldman showed up to run with Mark and she ran with me for about 10 minutes.  That broke up the run nicely.

The the tri geeks showed up.  I couldn't let them beat me.  Pride is a bitch.  It was good though.  It forced me to drop the pace for 20 minutes.  I am guessing that I ran a bit over 6 miles.

Monday -

Good to get outside again.  Pete, Curtis, Jeff, Mark, and I ran from the gym.  Weird run.  We ran the first mile slow and then turned on the jets.  I didn't get anaerobic, but it was close. Mark and Jeff had no mercy. When we got back to the gym I did my core work and then ran a 1 miles cool down.


Tuesday -


Sushi for lunch at Myabi 9. Good.


I haven't been to Raccoon River Park for a while so thought I would head down. I did not feel great today. I forgot my watch and had to use my cell phone as a clock. boo. I ran too fast. boo.


Teresa dropped me off at the gym after. Did my core work and ran home.


Done.

Inside again

The weather was rough so I opted to run indoors today.  So did Pete, Curtis, Kristy, Christy, and Mrs. Brooks.  Sorry Striders, it was just a bit too slick for me.

Anywho, I ran 1:15:00 at a pretty easy pace.  I am guessing we got 10 miles or so in.  Curtis and Kristy went a bit further.  They logged 12 miles.  The abs felt pretty good.  I don't like doing all this core work but it seems to be working.

After the run we went to Gateway for some delish breakfast.  Too bad they were so slow...I really like their food.

Reno and I are going to see Alice in Wonderland tonight, Teresa and I already went to church, and Northern Iowa beat number 1 Kansas.  Another good day.

151.0

Last day PT today went well.  First run post PT went well.  Me being awesome is going well.  This blog, well...


This was the first weekday in a long time that I ran outside.  Can you say 65? 


"65" 


Pete, Mark, Shauna (sorry, not sure how to spell Shauna...might be Shanna), Curtis, Jeff, and I ran from PLF.  Most of the group ran 4, Mark and I ran 6 almost.


I don't know if Shauna / Shanna will ever run with us again.  We need Feldman back.  That's not a crack on Shauna / Shanna.  It's a crack on Mark, Curtis, Pete, and Jeff.  Certainly not me.


Let's see, what else?  Anyone want to talk health care?  Yeah, didn't think so.  


G'night Gs!


Oh, I almost forgot.  I weighed 151.0 today, hence the title to this blog entry. 

It's on

I signed up for the Pikes Peak Marathon today.  Awww man.  Delsin signed up for the Ascent, and N & L signed up for the marathon too.  Time to get my training on.


Tomorrow is my last PT visit.  I think.  Hopefully it goes well and get to it.


Yesterday I ran at the gym with Curtis and Mark.  We started out nice and slow but picked the pace up nicely.  The weather is nice and supposed to be better tomorrow...but not better this weekend.  Boo.


Tonight I went to Dr. Ganske's (former US Congressman) house to meet Congressional hopeful Jim Gibbons.  Those of us that have been in Iowa for a long time know the Gibbons boys for their 10 state championship wrestling titles.  Jim went on to coach Iowa State.


Also there tonight was former Speaker of the House, Speaker Hastert.  Very cool.


I came home and had a little turkey chili and water.  mmmm.  Healthy schmealthy.

Great Weather

Nice day.  It was nice to see the sun shinning and the temps high.  So I celebrated the warmer day by working out indoors again.


Pete agreed to join me on the elliptical for 30 of my 60 minute workout.  I didn't want to push my luck by running after yesterday went so well.  Not too much can be said about the elliptical.  I hate it...but it works.

After my hour was up, I did my stretches and core work.  Almost as boring as the elliptical.

After going in to the office for some catch up, I took the dog to the park for a quick trail run.  Most of the trails we usually run were washed out.  We still had a good time and probably got 2-3 miles in.  It was nice to get him out for some good exercise.

Perfect Ten

No, not me.  Thank you for thinking I was a perfect ten.  Sadly, I am a only a solid 9.85.

We ran a bit over 10 miles at a "medium hard" pace.  It wasn't perfect but it went better than expected.  It was also faster than I expected.  We rolled out the first mile at just under 8:00.  After than we kept getting faster.

I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat wondering how the abdomen felt.  It's hard to answer...it felt strained the entire time, but good.  My form was good and my breathing was good.  The more I can relax, the better it felt.

Feldman, Downs, Swisher, and I hung together for the first 8 miles.  Feldman was putting pressure on us and pressing the pace.  With each mile our pace got quicker and quicker.  The last two miles we dropped down to low 7's, with the last mile at 7:03.

For the whole run we ended with 10.25 miles at 7:20 pace.  The last mile I could really feel the ab burning.  The good news is that is felt good after the run.

Thank you to Feldman for breakfast!  I "forgot" my wallet.  Swisher ate 22,000 calories at Palmers.  What a display.

Oh yeah, Nick put in 20 miles today.  He looked good.  Nice work!

Not Good

Boo, ugh, argg, rrrrr.  Whatever lame anger expression you prefer.  Today did not go well.

• I hope that the deep tissue massage broke up some scar tissue and maybe caused some bruising or swelling.  That would explain why I felt bad.
• It could be the poor diet I had today that caused extra pressure on my abdomen.  My weight was just over 154 lbs...right about where it should be.  My "fighting weight" is 147 lbs (ish). 
• OR, it cold be that I am not getting better.  That would suck.

I had PT this morning and we went through the usual routine.  Recap, ultra sound, massage, exercise review.  My belly felt gnarly all day.

My run was very unpleasant.  I kept waiting for the muscles to warm up and relax, but they did not.  It got worse.  I failed to stretch prior to the run...maybe that was to issue.  For those tracking numbers, my "pain level" started at 4-5 and ended at 5-6.  That isn't terrible, but it isn't going the right direction either.

Sorry that this is not a very uplifting blog entry today.  I just didn't have a very uplifting running day.

Back on Track - kind of

Today I ran 35 minutes on the track indoors.  We had quite a crew today.  Jeff (aka JG, aka Pause), Curtis (aka Curtis), Kristy (aka Feldman), and Mark (aka Mountain Man, aka the Kid).

I am not really sure what the pace was but I would guess that we averaged 7:30s.  We got progressively faster.  We could barley contain Jeff...the dude was ready to go.

Back to me.  My abdomen felt okay again.  I feel like I am right on the edge of pushing it too far.  Physically I feel  really good.  It makes it hard to hold back when the legs and lungs are strong.

Return to physical therapy tomorrow for some ultra sound and massage.  The rehab seems to be working...I need to keep the core work going.  I will stretch, ice, and advil tonight again.

A little rice and fish for dinner and some American Idol.  I am living the dream.

Later kids...

Brooks ID

I got an e-mail today that I was selected for the Brooks ID program.  Yeah!  The Brooks ID stands for...
"Inspire Daily" which is something I try to do.

I do not have all of the details, but I am stoked.

I love running and I love the Brooks brand for many reasons.  This will be fun to do something I love and represent the Brooks brand.  repeat...

Physical Therapy

I should change the name of this blog to "Chris Brooks Rehab".  I am still nursing a sore / strained lower ab.  Today was the first day back running at the gym.

I thought the blog would be a good way for me to track my progress.

Today felt pretty good.  I was supposed to keep my pain at a "5".  I think I did that.

The pain started on my left side and moved to the left.  The location was very specific.  I was still a bit sore from PT today.  The deep tissue massage made things more sore than usual.

I ran 4 miles in 30 minutes

• walked the first 2 minutes
• .70 miles at 7.5 mph
• 1.2 miles at 8.0 mph
• 1 mile at 8.5 mph
• .5 miles at 9.0 mph
• .25 miles at 9.5 mph
• .25 miles at 10.0 mph

I am writing this almost 2 hours after the run and I feel good.  I do feel the ab but the pain is low.  Ice and Advil are on the docket for tonight.

Hopefully tomorrow goes well too...

Elliptical this!

I can't take any more of the elliptical.

Week in review

I had one of the better training weeks in a while.  It is hard to run indoors all the time...

Saturday - 8.3 miles with Striders at just under 7:30 pace.  Ran most of it with Brian and Tag.  All of my PLF peeps ran indoors.

Monday - Mile repeats with on the treadmill Feldman.  After a short warm-up we did 3x1 mile with 3 min rest.  The first mile was at 6:18 pace, the 2nd at 6:04 pace, and the 3rd was at 5:54.  I felt okay...Feldman ran all of them 6:00 minute pace.

Tuesday - Ran track with Delsin and later with Downs and the Sandman.  I was planning on running 30-40 minutes, but pulled out a nice 50 minute run.

Wednesday - Ran on the treadmill again.  Good hard run that felt good too.  I ran the first 4 miles at 8.5 mph.  Miles 5 & 6 at 9 mph, and the last two at a progression pace from 9 to 10.  All totaled I ran just a bit under 9 miles in an hour.

Thursday - Ran on the track with Curtis and Pete.  About 20 minutes into the run I started to feel light headed and weak.  I kept going to 24:30 and stopped.  I got a drink of water and walked a bit then hit the showers.

Friday - off

I am going back to Drake tomorrow for a cold 10 mile run.  Yeah!  (not really)

Striders anew

This is as good time as any to start the blog back up.  The Capital Striders started the winter runs up this week.  This is the first outdoor run for me in weeks...maybe months.

We were supposed to run 8 miles from Drake.  It wasn't too slick out, but it was slushy.  It made for slow going at times.  We took a wrong turn at some point and ended up going .7 miles long.

I don't have my Garmin info because the battery was only 10% when we started.

After the run Kristy, Curtis, Pete, Nick, and Lizzie went to ___________ (sorry brain cramp) for breakfast.  Dems is good.

What did we learn this day?

1. Don't follow me because I don't read the map
2. A "Jeff Pause" is not a good thing
3. If your meal takes 35 minutes to get lost, you get a new meal and $20 gift card

Later some dudes came to my house and replaced a bunch of light fixtures and removed tile.  And then Arizona lost.  Boo.

New Year - 2010

Happy New Year runners!  I haven't posted anything in a while mostly because there has been little to write about.  I have been running 2-5 times a week, 4-6 miles, indoors for the most part.

A quick look back sheds light on what was not that great of a year.

I didn't run Dallas that well.  Went out too fast and got killed by the wind.
I didn't finish Grandma's.  Just wasn't my day, heat got to me.
I didn't run Dam to Dam very well.  Went out right on pace and tanked at the end.
I did okay at Bix.  Ran my 4th fastest Bix...felt like I could have done better.
Pike's Peak was fair.  I was 10 minutes slower than I wanted to run...and think I could have.
The Quad Cities Marathon was good.  Ran one of the best all around races for me.

So, what would I like to see in 2010?

Nashville Marathon - 3:14:00 - good way to start the season
Dam to Dam - 1:21:59 - my best is 1:25:50
Bix 7 - 41:59 - my best is 43:24
Pike's Peak Marathon - under 5 hours - up in 3 hours, down in 2 hours
Quad Cities Marathon - 2:55:00 - this is the qualifying time for the New York Marathon

That would be a darn good year.  We will see...

New Shoes old man

I need some motivation.  My 4 mile run felt less than good.

But before I forget...New York was great!  I was almost there to watch the first US runner win the New York Marathon since 1985 or something like that.  By almost, I had to leave to catch my flight and the winners came by 15 minutes after we left the finish area.  Boo.

I was pulling for Paula to win too, but it wasn't to be.

My (everything below the knee) area has been bothering for too long now.  So I broke down and bought new shoes today.  The Brooks Summon.  Hopefully it will summon some motivation for me to train better or more.  It will probably summon an injury.  Sweet.

I ran 4 miles at 6:48 pace...dumb.  If I ran more often I wouldn't feel so fresh on the days I do run.  I hope these new shoes make me faster and let me train less.  And I want a million dollars.

New York, New York

I am putting this post up from my phone...never done that before. It is pretty cool to be sitting here at Starbucks across from Central Park, waiting for the New York Marathon runners to come by.

On Friday Teresa and I ran around Central Park. It was not flat...it was very cool. There were runners everywhere. People were setting up for the NYC Marathon. I heard every language I could imagine.

I ran 6.5 miles at a 6:57 pace. It did not feel great...shoes are a problem.

Teresa ran about 4 miles and got some great pictures.

This is a lot more work on my phone then I thought.

Muddy Sunday

Reno and I went back down to Raccoon for a muddy trail run.  Teresa and I came back later and took House to the dog park.  Mix in church, lawn care, a little work, a football game, and that pretty much covers my Sunday. 

Round and round and round we go

It was a cold start to a nice day.  Curtis, Kristy, and I ran 4 laps around Raccoon River for a bit over 12 miles.  I didn't feel great but we got through it at a nice 7:45 pace.

Really nothing too crazy to report.  It was nice to run with Feldman and Downs again.  I haven't been able to get many runs in lately with them.

Teresa ran the Race for the Cure with a friend from work.  Sounds like they had a good time for a good cause.  Reno ran the ghetto version (ran it bandit) ...don't worry I gave him grief for it.

Good win for the Cyclones today!

Cold Windy Rain (5 miles)

If you have ever wondered how much I hate running indoors, today should tell you.  It was 42 degrees, windy, and raining.  Yet instead of running on the treadmill or indoor track, I chose to run outside.

It really wasn't too bad.  My North Face shoes kept my feet dry, the wind-proof tights kept my legs warm.  The only rough thing was my Garmin beeping every 2.5 seconds.  I couldn't figure out how to turn the bezzle dealio off...very annoying.

I may run a 5K on Saturday.  I need to get some speed work in...

Back again

I have been bad about updating the blog lately.  A lot of it has to do with me not having a lot to blog about.  I have run just 55 miles in the last 3 weeks.  I have cut my millage in a third.  Until today.


I ran 12 on Saturday, ran an easy 3 on Sunday, took Monday off, and ran a hard 5 today.


Back at Raccoon today I ran my new 5.75 mile loop at 6:45 pace.  Today started a little rough mostly because I have been eating very badly lately.  Until today...okay...until tomorrow.


It was good to get the blood flowing and get a tempo run in again.  Tomorrow should be an easy run.  Should be...

New New Raccoon Route

Every now and then I listen to people.  Kristy said that there was more to the Raccoon trail then I knew.  Today I did a little exploring and found a lot of cool trail running.  Not miles and miles...but more than there was before.  It made one lap almost 5.5 miles instead of a little over 3.

It was fun.  I have probably run around that stupid lake 100+ times.  It is nice to mix it up once in a while.

See info on my run HERE .

After the run I met my boss and a possible sales candidate at Flemings.  Dems is good.

Here we go again...

After 13 days of rest and recovery, now is time to get back at it.  Dallas is 2 months out and I don't want to loose too much fitness.  The goal at Dallas won't be to run a sub-3 again...but keep it close.  After Dallas I am looking forward to dropping the weekly miles down near 30-35.

Today I ran an 8 mile route that I have run quite a bit.  I covered the route in 55:33 for a 6:56 average.  I would say that I felt "average" out there today.  Not great...not bad.  My shins and ankles were bothering again though.  These shoes are not doing me any favors.  I will be buying some new New Balance soon.

See my Garmin info HERE.

That's it for today.  This upcoming week is going to be busy.  I hope I have time to get some miles in.

The real Whippet good

I have had a Whippet Good blog for over two months without mention of my Whippet (House) (yes my dog's name is House...and he is a Whippet...a small Greyhound).  But this is a running blog right?  Well good news folks...I took my Whippet for a three mile run today.  Sweet.

I was always nervous about taking him running.  Would he get too hot?  Thirsty?  Tired?  Would he slow me down?  How far could he go?

I still don't have all the answers to how House will do.  But it was cool to go for a quick jog with him.  He did really well too.  We ran 3.0 miles at 7:44 pace.  I have a feeling he could have gone faster...maybe next time.

Lizzie, thanks for the note today.  Don't worry, you aren't getting off the hook that easy.  I am going to keep running and keep blogging.  Keep logging in, and who knows...maybe someday I will write something interesting.