Broadway

11 Miles 1:18:21 7:07 average per mile
147 HR Average
1:00 pm) teens sunny

Wore my heart rate monitor strap today. I have not worn it
in at least 2 months. I was curious to see what the results
would be. After a mile or so I decided I would cap it at 150
max. This was okay for the first 4-5 miles I was able to run
at a decent clip just under 7:00 minute miles. After 5 miles
I had to slow the pace down to keep it from going over 150.
I now was running 7:15 pace. This pace did not feel as good
I prefer the 7:00 pace or under as that is what I'm accustomed
to running when on the roads. I find it kind of funny that
keeping your HR lower is suppose to be for recovery runs and
I felt this run was harder than my runs where I just run by
feel and don't worry about these things. Anyways I think I
should do some slower paced runs even if they don't feel as
good to me. I need to build an aerobic base and this is
probably the best way to do that. I will be doing several
ultras this year and I need to run slower anyways to prepare
for the time on my feet that is required. Okay I will stop.
I'm starting to ramble on and on.

43 Miles for the week. Not a bad week at all. I'm only 2 weeks
out from the maraton and feel I'm almost back to normal. Might
do a 15k on Saturday. I'm not sure what to expect as far as time
goes. I guess I will just run at whatever pace feels right.

161.7 Miles for the month. Not really a great number but I
had to taper for a marathon and recover from a marathon so
as expected the miles where down.

b/a10r/73

Scray Hill

15.5 Miles 1:45:26 6:48 average per mile
11:00 am) 15 degrees sunny
Decided to skip the 8:00 am marathon training group run
and run solo. It was 0 degrees at 8:00 am and I waited
till 11:00 am to run, it was up to a balmy 15 degrees.
It was actually warm once I got going. I felt good today
but the hills slowed me down at times. I need to build my
hill climbing ability back to how it was last fall. If I
run this route more often that will help for sure.

b/a10r/62

Snap Fitness

8 Miles 55:35 6:57 average per mile
10 minutes elliptical warm up
6:30 pm)
Very cold tonight so I took the easy route and ran on
the treadmill. Tomorrow doesn't look any better or
this weekend for that matter. I'm ready for spring!!!

Ft Howard

3.1 Miles 20:58 6:46 average per mile
6:15 am) mid 20's windy
Got up early this morning. Wanted to do a short run
in the Newton shoes. My first impression of them is
not favorable. Of course it's too early to say I
don't like them. It might take several runs in them
before I can pass judgement on them. The reasons I
was not overly impressed at this point was the way
they felt while running. They seemed to make a slapping
noise when the shoes hit the pavement. This might be
due to the design of the shoes. As for cushioning
they did not feel as good as my Brooks Adrenaline 10.
Afterwards my arch in my left foot was acting up
not sure why. Not sure if these have enough stability
in them as well. Another issue I have with them is
they are very airy my feet would probably get cold
if it was colder and I did a longer run in them. I'm
sure this would be a big plus however if it was
summer time. The forcast is for a cold snap so I
probably wont run in them again for a week or so.

In Competition

5.43 Miles 39:32 7:17 average per mile
5:30 pm) low 30's light snow

Ran with Mike tonight. We ran the usual route we do this
time of year. It's a well lite course and has some good
hills. I felt the hills tonight. I have not run many
hills the last couple of months. In training for Houston
I knew it was mostly a flat course so I trained almost
exclusively on flat routes.

Received a pair of Newton running shoes in the mail today.
They are used but not many miles on them. I am curious to
see how they will work for me. I will start out with short
runs in them. I have heard you have to adapt to them and
the best way is to do shorter runs. Thanks Tim for the
shoes. You are too nice!

Got to run 24 is coming on.

b/a10r/38

Packerland Loop

9.5 Miles 1:01:09 6:26 average per mile
1:00 pm) 38 degrees cloudy & windy

Ran in shorts today is it really January in Wisconsin?
I don't think I have ever run in shorts in January.
I didn't feel great this morning and thought about
not running today. Yesterday's run took a lot out of
me even though the pace was not super fast.

It was raining this morning and it was easy not to be
motivated to get out. Then the rain stopped and I thought
to myself how often do I get a nice day like this to run
so I got ready. I wanted to wear my HR monitor so I would
not go to hard today. Well I couldn't find it so I would
run by feel instead. I had no intentions of pushing the
pace but after 1 mile I was off to the races. I just can't
seem to hold myself back unless I have that strap on me.

Started a new book last night Born To Run. So far I'm
liking it. The book has received great reviews. I'm looking
forward to getting more into it. I'm only at Chapter 3.

31.5 miles for the week. Not a bad week for the week after
a marathon. Body feels good a little sore but not bad at all.

b/a10r/32

Bay Park Square

7 Miles 49:00 7:00 average per mile
8:00 am) mid 30's
Ran with the marathon training group. Ran with Scott
and Bob. Bob is new to the group first time. He moved
here in August from Arizona. We ran pretty hard today
especially after starting slow. I was feeling it today
not recovered yet. Well Bob was fresh and didn't even
look like he was working. Well come to find out after
the run he is a 2:35 marathoner.
This might be good for me to run with someone faster
than me maybe push me a little bit. Plus he especially
likes trail running another good thing.
Finally got around to watching the new season of 24
4 hours of action packed adventures. Love this show.
Feeling a little bit wore out though from all this.
It was like a marathon.

b/a10r/22

Snap Fitness

5 Miles 38:00 7:36 average per mile
7:00 pm) Treadmill

Decided to do something a little bit different tonight.
I did 3 miles at 5% incline. This made it a lot harder
but felt good.
Mile 1)1% warm up
Mile 2-4) 5% @ 7.5 MPH equals roughly 6:54 pace
Mile 5)1% @ 9.4-9.8 MPH

Added a few more races to my 2010 schedule. One of them
is in April and is a Trail Marathon it's a 2 loop course.
Not sure how difficult it is as I have not run there yet.

B/a10r/15

Snap Fitness

5 Miles 34:27 6:54 average per mile
7:00 pm) Treadmill
Good run feeling good. Not much to report. Just going
to be taking it easy for a couple of weeks.

b/a10r/10

Pictures from Houston

Broadway

5 Miles 33:20 6:40 average per mile
6:00 pm) mid 20's
Feeling pretty good. My quads are sore but not that
bad. I ran without any pain tonight. No injuries to
report I seem to be healthy. I should recover quickly
from this marathon.
I'm excited for what 2010 will bring I'm off to a great
start so far.

b/a10r/5

Chevron Houston Marathon

26.2 Miles 2:50:02 6:29 average per mile
7:00 am) Low 40's at start sunny light wind

I'm very happy with my race yesterday. I took almost 4
minutes of my previous pr from 2008 (2:53:54). My goal
was to run 2:50 so mission accomplished.

I got up at 4:00 am to get ready and eat. We then had
about a 30 minute drive to downtown Houston. We were
staying at my friends brothers house in Sugar Land. I
did my usual hot shower, bagel, banana and Red Bull.

We arrived parked then went inside the huge convention
center. It's awesome! Nice place to stay warm and stretch.
They had water and Gatorade and plenty of port a potties.
We stayed in there till 6:30. Then headed outside to the
start line it's about a 3 block walk to the start line.

Waited at the 3:30 pace group with my friends Scott & Dan.
Took in a GU at this point. Talked for a bit then headed
up to the front of the start line behind the elite athletes.

I did not do any warm up like I planned. They had it
barricaded so I couldn't get through. The elites though
could do there warm ups. I was a bit bumbed about this.
I wanted to be somewhat warm at the start knowing I needed
to run 6:30 or better miles.

Well the gun went off and I was okay but a bit sluggish
not being warmed up. Plus the first mile has a incline with
the overpass. I ended up running 6:39 the first mile my
slowest of the day. After this it all became much easier I
was running 6:25-6:30 at every mile marker. I was at 1:25:12
at the half way point.

I was not feeling bad but not great either. I just kept
holding the pace though not matter how good or bad I felt.
So I actually ran a negative split on the second half not
by much but it was faster and considering I felt some
fatigue I'm really happy with that.

In the second half I kept looking for the GU stop. I always
take one around mile 17 or in that area. Well I never saw
it. I later found out they had one at around 21 but I never
saw it. I only had 2 GU's all day the one before the start
and one at around mile 7. I was worried without the GU near
the end I would slow down and hit the wall.

As it turned out I never hit the wall or really slowed down.
I felt slower at times but my splits would come up and I
was right on pace. I kind of surprised myself with my pacing
ability. I had one mile I thought for sure was 6:40 and it
was like 6:24 and this was at mile 22. My second slowest
mile was at mile 24 6:34.

The course was great. Not the best I have run but definitely
one I would recommend. It did have a lot of concrete that
is probably my biggest dislike about it. The organization
is top notch. I also liked that I always had runners near
me. Most smaller marathons I end up running by myself it
seems. Not this one I usually had a group of 2-4 runners
right with me. Except the last 3-4 miles it was pretty much
just myself and a few runners in front and a few behind me.

Afterwards got some food changed my clothes and waited
for Scott & Dan. Like I said before I got to wait inside
the nice convention center and stay warm and sit down and
eat. Dan just missed his goal of 3:30. He ran 3:33:XX.
So he missed out on his Boston qualifying time but still
ran a PR. Scott ran a 3:27:XX and ran most of it with Dan
trying to get him to the 3:30.

Today I feel great other than my quads are very sore. I
think that's mostly due to the pounding of running on
concrete. I'll be okay in a few days. No hurry to get
back I think I earned some rest after this one.

What's next? 50 mile trail run in April. So I will have
to get in some good training for that one. I will wait
a couple weeks before I start with that. I'm not sure
if I will do any more marathons this year. I have several
ultras planned. I kind of have some new motivation though
to due another marathon. Other than Pikes Peak of course I
can't count that one. That's more of an ultra.
My thought is if I can get in some serious training a
2:45 is not out of the question. Just don't know when
I could work in the training for one. Maybe April before
my ultra? Will see.

Thanks to everyone that follows my blog for your encouragement
and your support I really appreciate it!

b/a10/92
Miles for the week 41.2

Snap Fitness

5 Miles 35:20 7:04 average per mile
7:00 pm) Treadmill
Last run in Wisconsin till after Houston Marathon. Leaving
in the morning. One more run before the marathon. It's
getting close now. I'm as ready as I can be.

b/a9/370

West to East De Pere

6 Miles 40:34 6:46 average per mile
5:30 pm) 20's
Feeling good. I'm ready for Sunday. I can't wait.
Race starts at 7:00 am Sunday. The weather looks
good so far. Probably 40 degrees at the start.
A little colder than I would like but better than
being a little bit too warm.

b/a10/62

Lost Dauphin Rd.

7 Miles 44:25 6:21 average per mile
12:00 pm) 12 degrees cold and windy

Wanted to put in a solid effort today. I accomplished
that goal. I went out against the wind so I would have
a tailwind on the way back. When it's cold like this you
don't want to be running into a headwind after you warm
up and start sweating. My miles into the wind were around
6:30's and I had a couple sub 6 minute miles with the
tailwind. I felt good except my hamstring is still tight.
I hope one week from today all is good. The weather
should be much warmer than here and that will be good
for the hamstring

b/a9/365

Bay Park Square

8 Miles 1:04:00 8 minute average per mile
8:00 am) teens

Ran with the Cellcom Marathon training group. Today was
the first training run for it. This will go on every
Saturday till the event in May. Lots of runners showed
up I would guess a couple hundred.

Afterwards had breakfast at IHOP with Dan, Scott and Dave
and discussed are up coming trip next week to Houston.

I'm feeling pretty good physically I think the taper has
been good for me. A few more short runs next week then
it's time to let it roll.

b/asr7/85

Snap Fitness

7 Miles 49:25 7:04 average per mile
6:30 pm)
I ended up joining Snap Fitness, Anytime Fitness didn't
work out for me. I got a better deal at Snap. I was a
member back in 2008 and should have stayed in the first
place. I really like the treadmill there. It's a Woodway
brand and it's so easy on the joints.

I started out at 8:00 pace and kept working it down. By
the last mile I was running at 10.0 - 10.5 mph. The roads
were awful tonight with the snow storm so this was a nice
option.

Last night was the kickoff party for the Cellcom Marathon.
The race director Sean Ryan went over some of the changes
for 2010 and discussed some other issues. The biggest change
for this year is that it's a 2 day event.
Then it was time for the guest speaker Boston Billy Rodgers.
He talked for some time about past experiences and such and
answered some questions. I got my 8 X 10 autograohed as well.
This was a good day!

b/a9/358

Running with a legend

6 Miles @ 11:00 am) cold but not bad. Upper teens.
St Brendan's restaurant in Green Bay.

We had 25 runners show up today to run with Mr. Bill Rodgers.
In case you didn't know he has won Boston Marathon 4 times and
won New York Marathon 4 times.

What a awesome experience running with him today. He is such
a nice guy. We ran a little over 6 miles then headed back to
the restaurant. Some of the runners had to get back to work
or what not but many of us stuck around and had lunch with
him. I was lucky enough to sit right next to him at the table
and we did some small talk. We talked about my upcoming marathon
Houston marathon next Sunday. He wished me luck and shook my
hand. Glad I took the day off from work is was so worth it.

Tonight Bill is the guest speaker for the kick off party for the
Cellcom Green Bay marathon. I am going to that and looking
forward to hearing more stories. I have a 8 x 10 of Bill and I
that I hope to get autographed. I will try to post a picture
of it in a day or two.

Packerland Loop

12 Miles 1:21:25 6:47 average per mile

12:00 pm Cold 14 degrees and windy!
Not as cold as yesterday but it was more windy. I felt good
other than my hamstring was tight. I have noticed a big
difference in effort to maintain pace when it's cold like
this. Normally a 6:47 average would not be too difficult
but in these conditions and with all the gear I'm wearing
(see above picture) it's not easy. I hope race day is much
warmer than this. I would be very happy with 40-50's range.

Yes I do get some strange looks from cars as they drive by
they are probably saying there goes another one of those
crazy runners, and yes I would agree with them. It is
kind of crazy running in these conditions but you have to
get your miles in some how.

34 Miles for the week. Another week with sub par mileage.

b/a10/56

Broadway Brrrrrrr!!!

6 Miles 40:45 6:47 average per mile
11:30 am) 4 degrees COLD!!!

First run of the new year and it was a cold one.
I wanted to do more than 6 miles but it was too
cold for me. Yesterdays run was scratched due to
me feeling sick all day. I think I had a bug or
something my stomach was upset all day and could
not eat and what I did eat didn't stay down.

I was actually warm enough on the run today but
my stomach was still a bit upset and breathing
in the cold air seemed to aggravate it more.
Tomorrow is suppose to be slightly warmer and my
stomach should feel better so I will try to do
at least 12.


b/a9/345