Another 8/2 Run

Another 8/2 long run. About 18 miles this time. Didn't feel quite as good as last week, but I think that had to do with the donut I had after church and before the run. Maybe needed to keep the sugar high going for the whole run, since I only had my Tailwind. I am feeling pretty good about my general fitness, however. Earlier in the week, I went for a good 60 minute run at 9:30/mile pace with my heart rate monitor. My heart rate never went over 113 over the whole run and stayed around 110 for the majority. I just need to keep doing what I've been doing in training, but now it is time to watch my diet better with seven weeks to go before the Tunnel Hill 100.

A Quick Look at My Tunnel Hill 100 Training

Just had a nice long run. Trying out my 8 minute run, 2 minute walk which I was thinking of using at the Tunnel Hill 100. It worked out pretty well with my 21 mile run. I will definitely try it again. I was actually running a bit faster by the end of the run.

A Surprising Race Result

Wow! I had a great race on Sunday morning. I'm still trying to come to terms with it. It was totally unexpected. It was at the Ashley Can Half-Marathon in Bourbonnais. After last week's 50K, I was not going to really back off my training for the Tunnel a Hill 100 Mile in November. The 50K was used as a long training run to start the week. I ended up with a 92 mile week which I haven't done very often. So I expected that the legs would be a bit on the tired side for the half. But after opening with a 7:31 mile, I managed to continue to reel off sub-8 minute miles, including several in the 7:10 to 7:20 range on my way to a 1:37:23 finish. Ended up 7th overall and incredibly, not only 1st in my age group but 1st Masters runner. 

And a funny thing happened. Someone asked me if it was a PR and I said no because I was sure I had run faster back in my younger days. So I decided to check up on it. As it turned out, I had run 20Ks and 25Ks, but didn't run my first half until I was in my 50s. It came as a great surprise then that the 1:37:23 was actually my PR beating my time at the Frankfort half by two minutes. Crazy, huh? And a especially after that 90+ mile week. The legs and body are in good shape. The key now is keeping it up without going over that line and overdoing it. Staying healthy is paramount.

Lake Marathon 50K

I had a pretty good day at the Lake Michigan 50K in Cudahy, WI, just south of Milwaukee. My time was 4:56:35. I was 9th overall and 1st in the 60-69 age group. It was run together with a marathon, half-marathon, and a 20 mile fun run with staggered times so there was always people around. The course was about 22 miles of bike path, about 1 mile of road and about 8 miles of single track with much of the course right along Lake Michigan. It gave us runners some beautiful views out over the lake, especially in the early morning. Temperatures were pretty good with a start of about 62 degrees up to about 75 with medium humidity. It was a double out and back both to the south and to the north of our start/finish point. All in all, a very enjoyable event.

Recovery over the next two days has been great. Got in 10 miles the day after and another 9 today. And the legs are feeling pretty good (9:30 to 10 minute miles).