Inspiration

This post is dedicated to Mike Mann, an Air Force running friend who recently lost his battle with cancer. I first met Mike at the Marine Corps Marathon in '03 when he ran for the Air Force marathon team. He was someone who really loved to run and compete. He was also a fast runner with a marathon PR of 2:28. More importantly, Mike was an inspiration to many people. He underwent chemo and battled back running the 2006 Shamrock Marathon in 2:54.

A few links about Mike.
Running Carries Airmen Through Chemo Treatments

Washington Running Report

Running community mourns Mann's death

What's one more mile...

The original plan was to get in 15-16 miles. It wasn't going to be an issue because my unit doesn't do a morning BUB (battle update brief) on Sundays. Well, that changed when one of my soldiers woke me up at 2am to tell me that there will be a BUB at 0800. Okay, I can still get in about 13-14 miles. I headed out at 0520 for a steady easy run, which turned out to be 14 miles in 1:34:18 (6:44 pace) with the last mile in 6:06. The shoes, socks, and shirt were off within minutes of finishing the run. As I walked out to the shower trailer with a towel and hygiene bag in hand my battle buddy stopped me and told me that our meeting had now been pushed back to 0900. Great! I immediately did a U-turn and put my shirt, socks, and Boston Classics back on. I intended to run only a couple more miles to reach the original plan of 16. I got to 16 and decided to get in one more; 17 miles and a running time of 1:54:00 later I thought to myself "what the hell, six more minutes and I'll be at 18 in 2 hours". I can honestly tell you that there were no thoughts of going any further. The legs felt fine as miles 16-18 were comfortable at 6:25 pace. The body just had no energy left. According to my Garmin (Forerunner 205), I burned 2422 calories for the run. Not sure how accurate the Garmin is with calories burned, but I do know it had to be a lot with the run leaving my body feeling depleted.

Weekly Summary
Mon: 10M (1:12:22 - 7:14 pace) nice and easy

Tues: 13M (1:25:05 - 6:33 pace) 20' tempo (3.45M @ 5:48 pace) followed by 3' easy + 3 x 400m (77, 79, & 71) w/ 400m rec. + 2 x 1-mile tempo (5:33 & 5:37) w/ 1' easy; Legs really didn't get going until about the 3rd mile of the tempo; the 1-mile tempo felt comfortably hard but I could feel fatigue creeping into the legs in the end. Overall, a good workout.

Wed: 11M (1:18:00 - 7:05 pace) easy run

Thur: 13.2M (1:25:47 - 6:30 pace); 4 x 1-mile cruise intervals (5:34, 5:32, 5:22, & 5:23) w/ 2' easy + 6 x 200m (36, 35, 38, 36, 36, & 37) w/ 200m rec. + 2-mile acceleration run (12:35) - started out easy at 7:00 pace and increased the pace every 1/4 mile; last quarter in 1:21. Going into the run I was expecting the legs to be a bit tired. Ended up feeling pretty good.

Fri: 11M (1:17:36 - 7:03 pace) easy run

Sat: 11M (1:14:10 - 6:45 pace) progression run; easy for the most part with the last 4 miles progressively faster (6:38, 6:16, 6:08, & 5:42); last 1/2 mile in 2:39.

Sun: 18M (2:00:25 - 6:41 pace) steady long run; miles 13 & 14 in 6:19, 6:06; miles 16-18 at 6:25 pace; body is done in the end; longest run since Nov '06.

Weekly Total: 87.2 miles in 7 runs

Tough lost

It was a tough week as I lost a good friend. Erick, a fellow commander and paratrooper, paid the ultimate price for freedom. He was an easy going guy who had a great sense of humor. Erick and I worked together as staff officers before we transferred to take command. He didn't go far though as our offices were only about 50 meters apart. I'm going to miss the mornings at Ft Bragg where we would come into work at the same time and yell "Another day in the double A". Erick, you will be missed!

It wasn't the best week of training, but also wasn't the worst. I missed two consecutive days of running due to operations. Taking a day off from running was probably a good idea as the legs were feeling fatigue on Monday's easy run. Well, not sure if I'd call it a day off since I spent majority of the time on my feet in body armor and in 115 degree heat. It's quite funny that I add on almost half of my weight (which is a whopping 120 lbs) with just my body armor , ammunition, and water. On Thursday I contemplated whether to run easy or put in a tempo workout. I hated the fact that I missed two days of running so it was an easy decision to run the tempo. The workout had me confident that my fitness is quickly improving (at least that's what I think). Ended the week at 60 miles on 5 runs so I'm pretty satisfied.

Weekly Summary
Mon: 10M (1:10:43 - 7:04 pace); fortunate to get in a run before heading out for a few days

Tues/Wed: unable to run

Thur: 13M (1:25:30 - 6:35 pace); 3 x 2-mile tempo w/ 2-min easy (11:24, 11:20, & 11:18) plus 4 x :30 fast w/ 1-min rec jogs; breathing was more controlled in last 2 tempo repeats; felt good on the legs when I added in the quick 30 sec. of fast running.

Fri: 10.5M (1:15:25 - 7:11 pace); last night was very tough and sad; good friend Erick passed away; ended up getting only a couple hours of sleep; really didn't feel like getting up to run, but it was necessary to clear the mind; God Bless Erick.

Sat: 11M (1:13:04 - 6:39 pace); progression run; averaged 6:56 pace for first 7 miles then 6:08 for the last 4 miles; ran last mile in 5:47

Sun: 15.5M (1:44:38 - 6:45 pace); mid-long run; pace slowly progressed during the run; average pace for 5 mile splits were 7:10, 6:46, & 6:25; finished strong with mile 15 in 6:01 and the last 1/2 mile in 2:48. Legs felt real sluggish early on, but better when I took in some Gatorade which I ended up carrying along for majority of the run.

Weekly Total: 60 miles i n 5 runs