Bret

AM - easy 4 miles on a foggy muggy morning.

PM - lunchtime - did a small sharpening workout - 6 x 200 @ about 40-42 secs each with a 200 rest; 2 mile warm up and 1.5 mile cool down.  Purposely did not crush these - but wanted to do something to get some pop or snap into my legs before Saturday's race.  Actually pretty enjoyable workout.

AM - 5 miles easy with 6 striders before work.  Very warm humid and muggy again - can expect the same tomorrow morning at race time.  Too bad, there is actually a cold front coming through late in the day tomorrow and early Sunday, and not today.  Should be good for those in the half marathon and 8k for Sunday if the storms clear out before the race.  

Anyway - I felt a little flat this morning so did some surges and the striders to notch up the muscle tension a bit to feel sharp for tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes.  Lots of friends and acquaintances running this year.  Look forward to seeing them and hanging out afterwards.  

Richie and I are heading over to the expo to pick up our race packets at lunchtime today.  Read in the paper where Bill Rodgers and Joan Benoit Samuelson are running the 15k again this year.     

Bit of a disappointment this morning - felt "off" by the second mile on a very humid (96%) warm and windy day.  Knew my planned pace of 6:24 was not going to happen after about the third mile  when I was right at 6:27 pace through 5k; and with a 6:47 mile at 4th, I just decided to convert this race into a tempo run at slightly faster than marathon pace.  I did that through mile 7 (avg'd 6:44) and then shut it down and basically did a cool down for the last two miles. 

Richie paced our mutual friend Steve - who wanted to average 7 min pace - and did well thrugh 6 miles but had to dial it back for the last three miles and ended up running about 1:10. 

Saw my friend Ken during the race as he paced his neighbor through at just over 8 min pace and we gathered at Four Green Fields after the race to catch up.

Not sure what to make of my performance this morning - my training has been good to date and though I felt a bit fatigued late in the week, I did not expect it to have that much of an effect.  Guess I will just chalk it up to having an off day and look forward to the next race.

 ** As a post script to this - in looking at the age group results  (if accurate) - had I finished out the last 2 miles on pace - I may have ended up in the top 5 - with no runners under 1 hour for this age division; which is perhaps an indication of how the conditions seemed to have had an effect quite a few.

PM - 6 miles easy - shake out active recovery run.  Felt no aches or pains - slightly fatigued / bored near the end.

PM - had a nice run home from the office today after work of 18.25 miles.  Had never done that before, but it turned out quite well, with very pleasant weather.  Just have to coordinate getting a ride to work tomorrow as my car is still there.

Although I felt like running - I have not taken a full day off in 10 days - so I just went to the gym and did some strength/core work and some stretching at lunchtime today.  Was reading on the forum about the % of quality miles - and did a quick review of my prior 3 weeks and I think I may be over 25% of quality miles as compared to my weekly mileage.  Something to consider in the next few weeks of planning for my training.

Heard from Ingrid - who ran with me at NYC in a complete random meeting - and turns out is a blogger on the board, but never posts.   Anyway - she ran a marathon in Albany GA this weekend and PR'd at 2:57!  Congrats to her.

AM - easy 3 miles before work.  Body feels "off" today.

PM - 7.5 more at lunch.  The oak pollen is in abundance in the air this week - not necessarily allergic, but found myself coughing afterwards.  Pretty decent run nonetheless.

PM - lunchtime - treadmill - 5 x 1000 @ 5:42 ppm - 3 - 3:30 rest; 2 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down.  Felt very good on this workout.  Good recovery time since Monday's long run, and no run this morning seemed to make a difference.  Will plan to space my quality workouts with more recovery time in between for the remainder of my training this period. 

PM - during Delaney's soccer practice - very easy untimed 4 miles.

PM - easy 8 miles at lunchtime around Feathersound.

AM - Mid/Long run on an overcast cool but humid morning.  16.5 miles from my house through Greenbriar and Dunedin - surprised to see the old Nielson ratings building site completely razed off of Patricia.  Ran into Octavio Falcon on the trail near the Causeway and ran with him for about a mile.  Garmin battery gave out early, so this was mostly untimed and a relaxing pleasant run.

PM - Squeezed in 6 miles on the treadmill at lunch between work meetings today.  Will try to head out for a few more this evening after work.  Legs felt very good and rested. 

PM - after work - another 6 outside on a pleasant DST shirtless evening.  Legs a bit heavier than earlier today - not sure if I will do a workout tomorrow or Wednesday.

PM - lunchtime workout on the treadmill.  3 x 2 miles with .25 rest.  Did the first one at 6:25 pace, 2nd at 6:18 pace and the 3rd at 6:15 pace.  1 mile warm up and cool down.  Felt really good about this workout.  Pace was manageable and just on the edge for the last one - but still crisp and strong.  Giving ample rest between my quality workouts and having some good base under me has made some of these hard days actually something I am beginning to enjoy more and more. 

PM - 4.5 more miles during Delaney's soccer practice.

PM - Lunchtime - easy 6 miles around Feathersound on a warm spring day.

PM - 6 more on the treadmill after work.  Think I was a bit dehydrated from the run earlier in the day - so I stayed inside.

PM - lunchtime - treadmill 7 mile tempo run at about 10 seconds faster than MRP or 6:40 ppm - 1 mile warm up and cool down.  Good workout - very solid, though I was a little fatigued coming into it, so it wasn't an "easy" run by any means. 

PM - easy 6.5 miles around my neighborhood on a very pleasant evening.  Body feel really good right now - fit.

AM - easy 6 miles before work.

PM - 7 more on the treadmill at lunch averaged around 7:25-30 pace.

PM - 20 miles from my house up through East Lake around the high school and then the back way through Lansbrook and back.  Warm 81 degrees when I started around 5 pm - became a bit dehydrated, and finally had to stop at 16 to buy some water at a 7/11.  Consistent speed, but a bit on the slow side.  Bit of a high mileage week for me.

PM - lunchtime workout.  2 mile warm up then 6 x 400 @ 5k pace with sets of core/strength work in between each rep (chin ups, push ups, burpees etc) then 1 mile cool down.  A non-standard workout for me  - really wore me out as the exercises really got my body fatigued between each 400.  Not a lot of distance - but this took about an hour or more to do.  Hot day too.

PM - during Delaney's soccer practice - another 5 easy.  Bit of an adventure run.  There is an equestrian trail up the road from her soccer fields that I drive by frequently - and the thought occured to me tonight, that the trails may be soft and nice for my legs - so I headed into the woods around 7:30 - basically about 15 minutes before sundown - Trails were nice, but I got a bit turned around and ended up out on Race Track Road when I expected to end up where I had started on S. Mobley (essentially a mile and a half northwest of where I wanted to be).  No worries, though, as it was too dark for me to really find my way back through the woods, so I added some miles on roads at the same easy trail pace.  Will go back there in the daylight sometime - trails were nice. 

PM - 7 miles easy to moderate on the treadmill.  Getting too warm out now for longer outdoor midday runs. 

PM - 5 more afterwork while Delaney was at soccer practice.  Tonight her team trained at fields in Carrollwood - so I had a nice run around that neighborhood for the first time.  Legs very sore from the workout yesterday.

AM - 6 miles easy - traveling today.  Will try to get a run in later.

PM - late - long day of travel, meetings and dinner in Indy.  Went out for a short 4 miles when I got to my hotel room around 10:15. 

AM - easy 6 miles in Indy before early morning / all day business meetings.

PM - good workout on the treadmill.  6 miles at basic moderate training pace (7:25) then 6 miles at about 10 seconds faster than MRP -

PM - 10 easy miles during a break between soccer games for Delaney in Auburndale.  There is a rails to trails-type of bike path that bisects the soccer complex and this trail goes for many miles - but also very boring rural scenery and quite hot in the upper 80's.  Kept the pace/HR low and aside from some minor dehydration, I felt pretty good about the run. 

PM - lunchtime run around the Carillon office complex between work meetings today.  Hope to get a nice workout in this evening.

PM - after work - med/long run with fast finish 16 miles.  First 9.5-10 miles at decent long run pace then 4 miles at slightly faster than MRP - then 2 miles cool down.  Was a bit fatigued from the work day and the 5 miles earlier; was feeling ok and debated on whether to pick up the pace - but went ahead with it - was quite tough to push through.  Certainly not a "confidence build" feeling that MRP is easily sustainable on tired legs.  More like - wow, that was really hard. Glad I got it done though.

PM - lunchtime - 6 miles easy around the Carillon office park lakes.

PM - easy 6 miles on the treadmill at the gym, followed by strength/core work. 

PM - really nice threshold/tempo workout at lunch on the treadmill at the gym.  2 mile warm up then 3 miles at what probably averaged to be around 6:10 pace.  Started off at 6:18 and about every 800 I would increase the speed until I was running the last half at 5:56 pace.  2 mile cool down.  Was extremely pleased with how strong and solid this effort was.  Last year I did this workout but did 5 miles instead of 3 and remarked in my log that I averaged 6:17 but that the last mile I cracked a bit and slowed / decreased the incline on the treadmill.  This time around I definitely could have stretched this out for another mile or two -- but remember some folks talking about making "deposits" and taking "withdrawals" in their workouts and so I decided to stick at 3 as my deposit for the day.

PM - easy 6 mile lunchtime run around Feathersound and Carillon. Kept the HR under 75% on a very warm day.

PM - on the treadmill 9 miles at about 7:24 pace then 4 miles at 6:40 pace then 2 miles easy cool down.  Felt really good until about the last mile of the sub MRP part - was fine, but just not as smooth and relaxed as the bulk of the workout.  Last longish run/workout now for the next two weeks.  Pleased with where I am.