From Half Miler to Half Ironman: Dad's 5k PR and Other Stuff

March 11-17

Swim: 4640yds, 2 swims

Bike: 1:25, 1 ride

Run: 47 miles, 6 runs

Total: 8:23, 9 workouts

It was a crazy week, but I didn’t get much training done. Hey, you’re only young once—may as well enjoy it while you can. I love training, but if I had to pick between going to swim at 6am, or sleep in, lay out on the beach all day, and stay out til midnight (so late, I know)…with that said, it was my highest run mileage week in quite some time!

My Friend from Cocoa Beach

Well, Monday I was enjoying my last day at the beach. We were at Cocoa Beach, and I actually enjoyed it more that Daytona Beach—it was warmer, and it seemed like a more relaxing place. Monday was also the first day of break that I felt like I could actually relax, and didn’t have to focus on racing, homework, or anything else. Tuesday, dad and I made the trip home to end our spring break adventure. I still managed to get my track workout in at Middle Tennessee State University!

Woohoo! College Basketball!

Thursday I went to the Nebraska and Purdue tournament game with my friend Matt. He is a huge Purdue fan, but as an Indiana fan, I had to root for Nebraska. Following the game we went to Joliet for a Thousand Foot Krutch concert. I forgot how good TFK is, and they put on an awesome show! I know, it sounds like I was having fun all day—which I was—but, I still did my tempo run in the morning. AND I swam…which may or may not have been my first day in the pool in a while.

Somehow we're still friends after all these years.

Finally, and most important, Sunday was my favorite day of spring break. Dad and I went to run a 5k, and I got to pace him through to a new PR. He had run 29:15 (9:24/mile) in August, and I had been bugging him to run another one sometime soon. He finally caved in and agreed to run a 5k on St Patrick’s Day. He swore before the race that he would run 27:00-28:00 and that is the fastest he could run. I have been watching his workouts and I knew he was 25:00-26:00 shape, but I let him pick the pace. Our first mile was 8:35, and dad was feeling good. I wanted him to pick it up just a little bit, but he said no. The course was an out and back. When we got to the turnaround I told dad we needed to pick it up a little bit. He said “k” and tucked in behind me to let me block the wind. Our 2^nd mile was 8:31. At this pace, I knew it was going to be a PR, but I wanted him to keep on pushing. When we had about 1200 m left I told dad we were going to try and pick it up. I noticed that he kept running farther and farther to the left, so I said, “run a straight line—why run more distance than you have to?” And dad replied with, “I’m running with my eyes closed so I can’t see how far I have left to go!” It took everything I had to not laugh at him. Our 3^rd mile was 8:12! The last 0.1 was :47 for a total of 26:05 (8:24/mile)! It was definitely a great day, and a confidence booster going into the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon on April 6. I cannot wait to see how his first half marathon goes!