For yesterday's workout, I got a post work KP from the bride unit, and got out for a run.  The temperature was a nice 61 degrees at 5:00 in McKinney, and I covered 5.6 miles in about 44 minutes.  I say "about" 44 minutes, because for the first time in years, I headed out the door with only the key to my front door.  I couldn't track my time, sinc there was no GPS.  No music.  No cell phone.  No pager.  (Yes, in 2008. and soon to be 2009, my technology oriented company still uses pagers.)  It was the purest of escapes.  Just me, unleashed, gliding over the pavement getting back in touch with why I do these silly marathons and triathlons, because I like to run.

Note - New Year's Resolutions include getting back on track with tracking my training online.  Look for a link soon.

I have unofficially taken two weeks "off" following White Rock, working out about 2 to 3 days a week, and taking it pretty easy with what I have been doing.  That ends today....... when I get home from work, since I slept in today.  The holidays have been wreaking havoc on my training, but I am going to get some work in this week.  Fortunately, I am off from the day day job Wednesday through Sunday of this week, so over those 5 days I am looking to get starting on building for 2009.

What does 2009 hold in store?  Well, I'm not exactly sure.  I asked for some race registration money for Christmas, and got some... which will probably go towards two triathlons put on by the PlayTri group.  Both would be Olympic distance at the PlayTri Festival in July and then the Olympic distance event at Stonebridge Ranch in September.  There will be some filler in between, but not sure what.  More than likely, my "A" triathlon for the year will be the Redman Half Iron distance in OKC in September.  Another strong tentative is the Big D Marathon in Dallas in April.  But we'll see.

I managed two workouts this past week.  On Christmas Eve I got out for 10.5 mile run and did much better than expected.  Mainly because I stayed on a 8:15/mile pace for the first 5, then dropped it for a 7:45/mile pace the last 5.  I am going to concentrate on negative splits on my long runs for 2009. 

The on Saturday, I kicked the dust off of the bike for a small Team Seabicsuit reunion and put two hours in with Coco, who kicked my butt all over the great McKinney area.  The wind was pretty brutal that morning, and then we rode right into a 15 degree temperature drop that come with driving rain.

I'm hoping to get 2 (maybe 3) bike rides in this week, with my 5 days off from work.  And about 30 miles of running.  We'll see.

Well, I missed my qualifying time by 36 minutes.  I've been spending the past few days (not running, that is for sure) licking my wounds and trying to find out why I crumbled the way I did.  Sure, the weather conditions had something to do with it, but I think there was more.... and I don't know that I was mentally prepared for 3:10:00. 

The day started out well... not too cold and I was about 4 bodies behind the 3:10:00 pace group in the starting corral.  The F-14 flyover was insane and got me amped.  The oddest thing I saw all day was in the corral, when a lady to my right sporting a running skirt, decided to squat and pee right then and there.  I had to go too, and almost joined her.  As the gun went off, the first two miles were chaos.  My opinion is that the starting corrals did not work, since they were to wide in their groupings.  Staying with the pace group durinng that phase took a lot of jumping narrow medians and cutting through slower runners.  At about mile 3, things opened up and I clung to the pace group.  I dropped a few steps on the group at mile 7, when I took in a gel, but kept them close... within 20 yards.

At mile 8, I had to stop for a restroom break, and my legs didn't get back into groove after that.  It was here that I bonked and missed my qualifying time.  At mile 11, I got passed by the 3:20 pace group.  At mile 18 got passed by the 3:30 pace group.  I managed to scoot along the rest of way, doing well with the Dolly's, but finally broke and had to walk for about 100 yards at mile 24.  Once in the downtown area, my last 1.5 miles were probably my fastest as I set a PR for myself at 3:46, which I am quite pleased with in that weather.

The conditions were tough and that had something to do with it...... that there was a steady 20mph wind on the course that day, gusting into the 30mph range (depending on which report you read) which played havoc to times.  Compared to last time I ran White Rock (2006), the average time this year was up by 16 minutes, and the elite men's winning time was up by over 10.  The 5 miles on the east side of White Rock Lake were directly into that steady headwind, and were just brutal.  The temperature was a bit higher than expected as well, about 60 degrees at the start and the mid 70's by the time we finished.

I'm still a bit confused as to why I lost 7:15/mile pace at mile 8, when I did 18.6 at 7:19/mile a few weeks ago in a 30k race.  But with a death on the course that day, I am thankful to have finished with a PR, while my heart goes out to family of Erin Lahr.

I've put the Big D Marathon on my Christmas wish list, so I may give it another go for Boston in April.  We'll just have to see what Santa brings.

Much like I hate the bike trainer.  Sure you get your heart rate going, and it is going to turn up the resistance to crank out a workout.... but it was a mind numbing 7 miles to run on Tuesday morning.  And that was with breaking it up into a 4 and 3 mile run.  Brutal.  I don't see how people run marathons on those things. 

But now that I think of that, I have question...... is there a such thing an "in place" Iron distance triathlon.  Something where you swim 2.4 miles in an Endless Pool, then ride 112 miles on a trainer, and then run 26.2 on a treadmill.  Surely someone has done that.... and they would be mentally stronger than me for doing it.  I would end up in the nut house about 4 miles into the treadmill run.

Wednesday the weather was nicer, in the low 50's when I rolled up to park on Tee Pee Hill at White Rock Lake.  I started my six miler heading south for about two miles, and then back along the southern tip of the lake, to charge up the Dolly Parton hills.  Granted I was only 3.5 miles into my run when I hit them (as opposed to 19 like last week... and on race day for that matter) but I needed the psychological boost of maintaining pace on them. 

I actually paid attention to that course markings, to see that mile 20 begins close to the right turn that starts the ascent up the actually Dolly Parton hills.  Though, from the elevation chart... we're already running uphill for about 3/4's of a mile before that, on Winstead.  I am thinking now, that the right turn on Winstead is where the race will actually begin.  I would imagine that hill is going to separate from the qualifiers from the dreamers in the 3:10 pace group.  All total, between Winstead and the Dolly's, it looks like 2.5 miles uphill, covering about 150ft of elevation change.  It's gonna be tough. 

Here is what I am talking about... the White Rock course map.

http://www.runtherock.com/race_info/pdfs/TheRockMap2008combined_CLIF.pdf

Is what I received this morning.  Well, the air temp was 39 degrees at 5:30am, with a 12 mph winds that made it feel like 31… according to weather.com.  Regardless, it was a tough run.  After missing out on yesterday’s 12 miler due to holiday hangover, I intended to run those 12 today, but made it only 7 miles (in an hour and 4 minutes) before I called it.  Just couldn’t get into a rhythm.  This morning I found an article on runnersworld.com about the affects of cold weather, stating that 35 degree temps can add 7% to your expected time.  After this morning, I believe it.

The from Tuesday to Thursday of this week, I have to drive downtown for work, so I may get some time on the marathon course at White Rock Lake (temperature pending), but I am preparing for some quality time with Mr. and Mrs. Mill…….. Tread Mill, that is.  Ba doom ching.  I’ll be here all week folks!

Thanksgiving Recap

Thursday, ended up not running the Dallas Turkey Trot, but got 10k in with my 15 year old brother in law.  He whipped my butt around two passes of the cross country course at Warren Park in Frisco.  It was a nice little hill workout for me, with some stints at max heart rate trying to keep up with him.

Friday, was off, to pursue some Black Friday madness to replace an ailing TV at our house.  This was a success and now I get to bleed more money for necessary HD programming.  US v Mexico in World Cup qualifying is set for February 11^th, and I would love to see that in HD, not to mention the Ironman World Championships when they are broadcast….. if they are broadcast in HD.

Saturday, I blazed off my 4 miles at a bit faster than marathon pace, average 6:56 per mile across those four.

Sunday, life just didn’t support a 12 mile run in the morning, with so much holiday stuff going on.  So I am going to pepper in a few additional miles into this week’s mix, to make up for it. 

I am ready for race day to get here.  Though I am enjoying the reduced mileage of the taper thus far, my motivation has taken a hit.  I am hoping that it is just the weather that is preventing me from wanting to workout these past few days.  Also hoping for no rain and a temp in the low 50’s on race day.