Author: Mark Allman

First day back on the road. Flights back from the race on Sunday were cancelled, so we rented a car and drove back all night Monday/Tuesday. Taking a few days to rest up after all that was probably a good idea. Now it’s back to work.

Today’s run was an easy 4.22 mile mildly rolling route. Pace was 10:04. Weight was 144.8.

Race day. I decided to try to keep up with a pacer at a faster time than I planned, and it cost. The classic “going out too fast” mistake. It was worth a shot. Paid the price, as expected. Started cramping a bit at mile 17, so backed it off and ran/walked the last 9 miles. OK — lesson learned.

Today was the Erie Marathon. Split time 2:04, finish 4:38. Pace overall was 10:37.

Mild, very humid morning for a run. Good training weather. The left shin is still letting me know it’s there, but it’s not too annoying.

Today’s run was an 8 mile mix of hills and flat. Pace was 9:38. Weight was 147.0.

Mild, humid early morning for a run. Scrap resting the left shin. It’ll work it’s way out. I didn’t really notice it during the run. Glad to get out and back to putting work in.

Today’s run was a 12.5 mile rolling hills route. Pace was 9:44. Weight was 146.0.

Nice, “easy” (I thought) run in the Sun today. Just a short run to get out mid-day, get a little work in, and work on my tan. This is what I’ve experienced before: keep at it over the months and the “natural” pace will pick up.

Today’s run was a 4.22 mile rather flat run. Pace was 9:25. Weight was 144.8.

Well, I suspected that a few days off really wouldn’t help the left shin much and I was right. It’s not bad, but it’s there. Time for a different approach.

Also time to start pushing the pace and getting that mindset in place. I’ve noticed that I pay too much respect to the longer distances. “I better take it easy — it’s a longer run today.” Enough of that nonsense. Let’s see what happens if I don’t take it easy. They are races, after all.

Today’s run was a 14.74 mile rolling hills route. Pace was 9:23. Weight was 152.2.

A nice, mild, humid mid-morning for a run. Get out on the road and get some work in when it’s sunny and a little sticky. The early morning runs during the week are in a higher humidity but the Sun adds an energy-sapping element.

The left shin is still sore. Odd. Might give it a rest for a few days. Past experience, though, is that only a few days doesn’t really do anything.

Today’s run was an 11.33 mile rolling hills route. I mixed in one short snippet of a walk at about mile 10 up a hill (thinking about the sore shin). Pace, including the walk, was 10:02.

A mild, stormy morning. Pouring rain making for lakes and rivers along the berm of the roads. Can’t go very fast, and also all that water keeps the shoes waterlogged and heavy. Good training, though. More work.

Today’s run was a soggy 14.74 mile rolling hills route. Pace was 9:57.

First day back on the road after a few days of rest. One issue I’ve noticed is somewhat sore left shin and Achilles Tendon. It’s due to that long climb at the start of the race last Saturday. It was long!

Today’s run was an 8.05 mile rolling hills route. Pace was 9:15.

Race day. Whew. What a course. After a mile it’s a 3 mile climb up to about 7100 feet, then a creeping gradual rolling climb to a max altitude of 7600 feet. I tried to manage the effort with walking the really steep parts, but it didn’t help much. By mile 5 I was beat. OK, run what you can and mix in walking. Not sure how much of the impact was due to the altitude.

After about 1.5 miles the road turns to dirt/gravel. As the race progressed I accumulated lots of gravel in my shoes. Very painful. Lesson learned: do something, e.g., gauze, some product, etc., to try to keep gravel out of the shoes.

Today’s run was a 26.2. mile run/walk. “Pace,” if you could call it that, was an embarrassing 13:27 (reflects all the walking).