Bret

Complete rest day today.  (Harder than it sounds...)

13 miles total today.  2 mile warm up and then 10 miles on the treadmill at a shade over 6 min pace. 1 mile cool down.  Felt very solid today - was a bit concerned late last week about possible beginning of an old foot injury, but took yesterday off and really was quite strong with no injury indicators today.  With the exception of the first three miles which were at 6:15 pace - the last 7 were right at 6 min pace - Thought about stretching it out to a half marathon effort, but when I approached 10 miles I decided it was enough for the day as I would have had to dig a bit too much get the next 3 miles done - and I was not planning an all out effort today.

AM - easy 4.0 mile recovery run in the rain.  Legs felt a bit beaten-up from yesterday's treadmill workout.  Noticed some deep quad soreness climbing stairs this morning to my office.  Will do a lunch time run with some fartlek pacing.

 PM - lunchtime run - 7.25 miles.  2-3 mile warm up and then fartlek of about 4 miles with 2-3 min efforts at 5k pace.  Light rain most of the run, heavy at times.  Deep quad soreness was quite pronounced - did a few minutes with the foam roller following the run.  Maybe consider an ice bath this evening?

AM - 3.0 miles easy.  Still quite a bit of soreness in upper legs - will keep PM run in recovery mode as well until soreness subsides.

AM - 10.0 miles easy.

Had some very upsetting news yesterday that my father passed away suddenly.  I would not have posted this on the blog, but my Dad was a runner for many years.  Started in the late 70's and was the reason I became a runner at a very young age.  I can recall going out with him in the morning to run a couple of miles when I was only 10 years old.   I loved it.  A few years later I was routinely going out to run in the morning before I went to school at age 12.  I have been running ever since.

We would go to local road races together and even got the rest of the family involved.  When I was in my twenties I remember entering a father/son race (combine the times of the two) and we took first place in a 5k.  Probably one of his proudest moments. 

He had his flaws and made his mistakes over the years as we all do, but he opened the world of running to me and it was something that always kept us connected.  Though he was not able to run due to his failing health in the last couple of years, he mentioned to me even a week ago that he was looking forward to getting stronger so that he could go get back to running like he used to do. 

So as I was trying to deal with the stress of his loss and unable to sleep early this morning - I went out for a nice quiet long run before the sun came up - as a remembrance to him.  I think he would have liked that.

AM - 6 miles easy - lots on my mind, good therapy to just go for an easy run to relieve some stress.  Will refocus on training in a few days.

PM - 10 miles on the treadmill with no real plan for training today but just to run and to process my thoughts on things.  Did the first 5 miles at about 7:10 pace and then the last at marathon pace which right now is between 6:40 and 6:45.  Could have done more, but that felt about right.  Will try to get a long run in tomorrow and resume training plan.