An afternoon at Little Rocky Raccoon

First off, this morning's run was 5.1 miles easy, an O&B up to 1960 along Atascocita Shores Drive.  I missed Thursday as William needed a fair amount of homework help and I took the opportunity last night to go vote early.  I hate to miss two consecutive days, but that's just what happened. 

Today was mainly about heading up to Huntsville State Park to help in the afternoon at the Little Rocky Raccoon 25k/50k.  Houston Trail Runners Extreme (HTrex) had the last aid station on the loop, sending runners on to the start of another loop or the finish with 2.8 miles remaining.  A decent day out, if not a bit warm, as temps once again headed into the 80s.  Warm for early November and many of the runners were showing the effects.  Nonetheless it was fun hanging out with other ultra folks and helping out at the race.  I definitely want to get back into ultras at some point, but not until I have built back in a bit more speed.  My first ultra back may very well be next November's version of this 50k.  A lot of work to do before then. 

Anyhow, the race was largely uneventful, especially when compared to the return drive.  I managed to come upon a line of thunderstorms that had visibility down to just a few dozen feet in front of me.  Steak and salad finished off the night with some good college football on the tube.

Halloween 2012

Just a quick post as there is no running tonight.  Our house is decorated out front in zombie graveyard decor as we finally will have a year with a decent number of trick-or-treaters.  Desiree is holding down the homefront while I take Mel (aka, vampire schoolgirl) out with one of her friends from the swim team, Zach, and another friend.  Should be a fun night for them; pleasant out with no jackets required.  Hope to get back to the run tomorrow evening.

Back to It

Well, after a ten day or so break from track workouts, it was time to start a new session of training.  I think I am going to focus a bit less on the mile and more towards the improvement of my 5k and 10k times.  The mile will still improve along the way, and I can put in another focused session late next summer as the Fajita Mile rolls around again.  I'm still pretty confident that I can be under 5:30 without working the mile specifically.  That said I am probably going to roughly follow the Jack Daniels' plan for 5k to 15k running. 

Tonight was back to the track for two sets of 2x(200 @ :44, 200 rest + 400 @ :90, 400 rest).  Overall the workout went well, though it's still pretty warm for late October.  I guess that's south Texas. 

Starting to look at some 5k and 10k races late in the year and next spring to target as sub-goal and goal races.  I think this will help to get through the current training schedule and get some racing in before the heat of summer next year.  Will post those later as I start firming up those decisions.