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The Maple Hill group made it safely to the Mission Lazarus Posada in southern Honduras and is about to sit down for our nightly devotional. Tomorrow we will travel to Namasigue for morning worship and then to setup the medical brigade.
We would appreciate your prayers for our safety and success in reaching souls for Jesus Christ. Looking forward to a great week.
It seems improbable, but January 2013 is now my biggest mileage month ever at 222-miles, and I’ve still got a track workout tonight!
I didn’t even notice this until a couple of days ago, since I haven’t had a single week greater than 52-miles in January. Seems like I was routinely cranking out 55 to 59-mile weeks back in mid-2012. Oh well, guess there’s a chance I could reach 230 by the end of tonight!
Beast Mode….ON!
After early morning storms and tornadoes moved through Middle Tennessee, Nathan and I set off for very, very wet and rainy shakeout run through the flooded and debris strewn streets of Bellevue.
It actually wasn’t that bad to run in the rain, because the temperatures were still around 60º throughout. It would have been miserable had the temperatures been cooler.
In total we finished just over 5 1/2-miles, which includes 4 x 100m stride outs at the end in the Bellevue Church of Christ parking lot.
Beast Mode….ON!
I was not able to run this morning due to the “Father’s Breakfast” at Kate’s school (Wouldn’t miss it!), which meant an afternoon run for me today. I had been dreading this all day since my scheduled called for 12-miles and I would have to do the whole thing by myself.
However, early this afternoon I decided to text my friend Josh and see if he had any interest in running. Thankfully he ended up joining me for 8 of the 12-miles, and I thoroughly enjoyed the run.
First of all, I felt really good today. My legs have bounced back pretty well since last Saturday’s tough marathon workout. Second, I’ve been having a hard time running on my forefoot/mid-foot recently due to shin splints. Today they were feeling MUCH better, and I ran the entire way on my mid-foot. Third, it was great catching up with Josh (fun and interesting conversation). Fourth, the temps were very mild in the mid-60s (crazy for January).
We kept the pace pretty chill throughout with all of the miles but one between 8:30 and 9:00. In total I finished just over 12-miles with an average pace of 8:47 per mile.
Beast Mode….ON!
“Is that Your Final Answer?” …. Yes
While Nathan and I still wore hats, it was warm enough this morning to FINALLY get a run in without tights, which was AWESOME!
Today’s effort was was a super-chill 70-minute shakeout run on the Harpeth River Greenway with 4 x 100m stride outs at the end. I felt pretty crummy during the first half of run, but much better during the final 3 miles. My legs are fairly trashed after last week’s tough series of workouts, but it is always nice to feel better at the end of a run than at the beginning.
The strides at the end were hard, but I guess the goal of running fast on tired legs was accomplished. In total we got in just over 7.5-miles.
Beast Mode…ON!
Apparently we have one or more of these ‘critters’ who has made a home in the air ducts under our house (and has been wreaking havoc with our outside condensor and return air duct). The AC repair people initially found them, and the critter people have set traps to catch them. However, in the meantime, we can’t use our heat in case it sprays. Very grateful it’s turned warmer outside.
This has been a hard, but good week of training for the Rock n’ Roll NOLA Marathon next month. After Nathan, Paxton, and I did our tough tempo workout on Tuesday, I ended up getting two more speed/tempo workouts this week (in addition to easy shakeout runs on Wednesday and Friday):
Thursday Track Workout
The temperatures on Thursday night were slightly above 30º, but it felt much colder than that with a strong and persistent wind throughout. However, I ended up having my most consistent track workout since returning from the injury. Here’s a rundown of the workout with my splits:
- 2-mile warmup
- 6 x 100m stride outs
- 800m fresh (3:02) / 300m recovery
- 1200m fresh (4:39) / 400m recovery
- 800m fresh (3:02) / 300m recovery
- 1200m fresh (4:38) / 400m recovery
- 800m fresh (3:02)
- .75-mile cool down
The times weren’t blazing fast, but I’m very happy with the workout. This is especially true considering the wind and the fact that I ran the entire thing by myself since no one else was running my pace.
Saturday Marathon Workout
Today our group did a marathon workout over in Percy Warner Park, and it was one of the toughest ones we’ve ever done. Nathan, Brian, and I got in a couple of extra miles early, and then did most of the repeats together along with John. Here’s a rundown (not including the recoveries between intervals):
- 5-mile warmup
- 2 x 1-mile half marathon pace (6:47 Avg Pace)
- 12-minutes marathon pace (7:05 Avg Pace)
- 8 x 30-seconds hill repeats
- 15-minute marathon pace (7:08 Avg Pace)
- 1-mile half marathon pace (6:39 Avg Pace)
- 5-minute cool down
This looks hard enough on paper, but add to this the fact that the route had over 2,000’ of cumulative elevation gain, and you have one nasty workout….
Again however, I felt really good even though it was difficult. We hit or exceeded all of our goal paces throughout the workout. It made it a lot easier having several friends running with me the whole way. With recoveries I got in just over 16.5-miles for the day.
This week has been a big confidence boost towards NOLA. In total I finished just over 51-miles, which brings the monthly total to 196.
Beast Mode….ON!
