Running Redhead

Took it easy over five miles to prepare for a three mile time trial on Thursday.

The time trial didn't quite work as I hoped. Nature called after about a mile and I had to interrupt. Overall I put together a 5K worth of fast miles, but not uninterrupted as I hoped. The total ended up being the same as my last 5K in early May. Started out with a 6:20 mile to begin but the pace tailed off as I struggled with stomach issues. My total time was 20:07. Looks like I might have another opportunity at a four on the fourth for Saturday.

First time I've run this race, so I was unfamiliar with the course. I'm happy with the last mile split. Overall, I was looking to break the top 20 based on historical results, so I guess I should be satisfied with 17th place. The course was a loop with the first two miles up significantly and then back downhill to the finish. My first mile considering the uphill and crowd at the start was a respectable 6:51. I wanted to start there and pick up the pace, but the legs just felt heavy today. I slowed to near seven minutes for the second mile. Since I wasn't sure about the course,  I didn't realize I could afford to push the pace for the third mile and let the downhill carry me in at the end. The third mile was a disappointing seven minutes. My average pace ended up being 6:51, while I was hoping for something closer to 6:35. I think I'm overestimating my fitness for shorter races based on five K times from a flat course. I think I also need more experience racing so that I know how to leave it on the course rather than having some left in the tank at the end.

Good checkpoint in my 10K training though. I guess I need more miles and more race pace miles rather than shorter and faster repeats. Plus I need to be more mentally strong on the uphill and ready to push the pace a bit more on the downhill sections.

Recovery day after the race on Saturday. Easy miles in the 8:20 range to get the blood flowing. Legs not too sore.

Long day to get back into the weekly cycle. Tough going from about three miles through the midway point, but it's downhill a bit on the way back, so I cruised home, feeling stronger along the way. I think the pace ended up averaging around 8:10 for a total time on the road of 1:52:56. I'm hoping again that my Saturday race should be taken as a time trial and that I'm still on track to peak August 9 for the 10K and then later in October for the half marathon. I'll be building up to about 50 miles per week for a few weeks by then. First time I've ever logged that much mileage, so I'm trying to mentally prepare myself to get some more sleep and eat a little better. It will be a little tough to get the miles in this week due to travel, but I guess I'll just shift the rest day around a bit.

My wife did three miles on our local bike trail. Jogged the entire way even though she wanted to stop and walk. Hooray E!

Great day for a 10K. Aerobic run at 7:52 average pace.

All praise cool morning temperatures! I did 4x1mile intervals on the track with quarter mile recovery jogs. Finished with a pair of 800 m reps. 10K goal pace is 6:45, and I was planning on one slower, two right on and one faster, but ended up with four slightly faster. Splits were 6:40, 6:42, 6:40 and 6:37. Then two half miles in 3:13. My legs felt so much lighter than they did during the four mile "test" race on the fourth. About one month to go, so this was a good confidence boost.

Erin ran three miles on the bike path today.

Recovery day from the mile repeats yesterday. Ran slow and easy on the bike path. I'm wondering at this point about "tapering" from my 10K August 8th. Most of what I read suggests one week of reduced mileage with equal intensity. Mostly I am deciding on how long to my normal "long" run the weekend before the race and whether I should cut it short but finish faster. After the 10K I'm looking to peak again in late October for a half marathon. So I'll have about 10-11 weeks in between. Perfect for the Runner's World 10-week half marathon PR plan. Anybody tried that one?

Cool-to-warm morning run with gradually accelerating warm-up to 7:45 pace. Included four bursts of 20 seconds at 5K pace to help loosen up and flush out the legs.

Ran later in the day than normal today. Had to slow myself down a bit in the early miles. Weirdest thing: My left calf wanted to cramp up, but I wasn't feeling fatigued and I wasn't cramping anywhere else. Had some gatorade with me and that seemed to head off a full cramp. So I finished the run. Last four miles were no more than eight minutes per mile. Overall average pace was 8:13 including a few pauses at intersections. Quite happy with this run, although I want to make sure I can run fewer and faster as well.

Rest day for me, but Erin did three miles on the bike path with three surges at 5K pace. Go Gorgeous!

A little ragged today, but I feel like I adjusted well. The plan was 2x3 miles, but I switched it to 3 x 2 miles. Warm temps, not too humid. Ran on rolling hills and it seems like the hills take more out of me or slow the pace more than I would expect. First two-mile interval was 13:38 with even pacing. Second interval was the most challenging. I had to slow and even stop at an intersection, so the first mile was slow at 7:07, but I came back with a 6:40 for a good overall split of 13:47. Third interval was the best, but also a slight down hill I think for 1.75 miles. Split for the third interval was 13:25 with a nice finish of 6:35.

My upcoming 10K has a monster hill for mile three (yes, all of mile three apparently), so it will be a tactical, mental and physical challenge. I'm hoping to get halfway in 20:30 and finish under 42. I need to pace myself on the hill without losing too much time. I don't suppose anybody on here is in Western Mass and going to run the Bridge of Flowers race?!

Nice and easy five miles on the bike path today. Legs were a bit tight, but loosened up by the end of the run. Good stretch when I got home. This will be my highest sustained mileage ever, so I think my body is adapting.

My gorgeous bride ran 2.7 at 10:21 per mile pace in the heat and humidity of late afternoon on the bike path.

I was kicking myself when I started my warm-up this afternoon for not getting out earlier today before it warmed up and the humidity hit. However, there was a breeze, so it turned out to be reasonable. I set up an interval workout on the Garmin for mile repeats so I could run on the bike path instead of the track. A little bit closer to race conditions. In any case, the interval workout really keeps you honest on the recovery times. I did 5 x one mile with two minute recovery slow jogs.

I discovered that in the interval mode I set you can't see your pace, just the distance remaining. So I ended up running the first mile significantly faster than I had planned, and that changed things up a bit. I wanted to run the first two at 10K race pace, the third at 5K pace to simulate a hill on the course and then hold the last two at slightly faster than race pace. Because I took the first one out too hard I decided to run the first two fast and see if I could finish the last three at 10K pace. My splits ended up being 6:18 (Yikes!), 6:29 (more reasonable), 6:44(right on!), 6:53 (a little slow), and finished with a 6:42 (perfect). So except for mile four I was very happy. I think the first two at faster than 5K pace probably simulated the big hill in mile three pretty well. The last three miles are downhill, so I just need to keep close to pace by halfway and finish strong. The heat, humidity and breeze made for a realistic challenge. Pretty winded at the end of five, but legs felt strong. Two more full training weeks and a taper to go.

Muggy summertime has finally hit New England. I did 4.5 slow recovery miles after Thursday's mile intervals. I just bought Jack Daniel's Running Formula Book. On first glance it seems like I may be running long runs a bit fast. I also wonder if Daniels considers mile intervals at 10K pace to be speedwork that shouldn't exceed eight percent of weekly mileage. I suppose that's another arguement for raising weekly mileage totals to 60.

Moved onto the track for part of the run today to get a softer surface. No dirt trails around to use. I included 4 x 100m strides into the run to loosen up the hamstrings. Long one tomorrow.

Got up early for a long one today to beat the heat. Average pace of 8:15 over rolling hills on out and back course. Then an ice bath to refresh my legs. I have three weeks to go for my target 10K race and I'm wondering about my long run for next Sunday. Cut back the distance and pick up the pace at the end? Maintain the distance to keep my base strong? My legs and lungs were fine today. Could have picked it up, but I wanted to keep it under control. My right hamstring started a little tight but loosened up and my left calf has a sore spot, but nothing debilitating. Good run to start the week!

Erin put in 2.5 miles while I ran.

The weather and scheduling forced me inside to the treadmill today. Tempo run for about 25 minutes at 6:53/mile pace. Legs felt okay, but I was really overheated with no breeze and no air conditioning to remove the heat. The treadmill definitely feels different, but at least I was able to get in a workout. Abbreviated warm-up and cool-down, so I'll have to loosen up some more tomorrow. At least I hope it clears up some for an outside run.

Erin did 30 minutes on the elliptical.

Warm and humid morning. My shirt was soaked! Eight miles in 64 minutes for 8:00/mile pace. Felt very heavy probably due to the humidity.

Nearly 100% humidity today, but the temperature was fairly cool. It would have helped to have a workout partner today to pace me or help monitor pace. The workout plan was 5x1 mile with the first two controlled, push the third and then controlled push on the last two. I took the first one out far too fast and slowed way down to try to get back on schedule. The time for the first rep was 6:39, which was about the right pace, but very uneven during the interval. I tried to control the second but ended up with 6:31. Faster than I wanted, but I still wanted to push the third. The third rep was 6:34, slower than I wanted but still faster than the 6:40 controlled pace I was shooting for on the first and last reps. Then I ended up running the final two reps faster than I thought as well. Fourth was 6:27 and the final mile was the fastest at 6:21. Rest interval of 1:50. So I averaged 6:30 miles, which is excellent I think. Two more quality workouts next week before the big 10K August 8!

Recovery run at 8:15 pace.

Aerobic run with 5x100m surges to loosen up.

I set out to do a "progression" run like I've been reading about. With the big hill in the middle of the 10K course, I figured I'd work on the feeling of picking up the pace after I'm tired. I ran seven miles at my normal pace for a long run. Felt sluggish, but it was brutally humid. Then I picked up the pace for two miles with the goal being two miles at marathon pace and then two at 10K pace with a final mile for cooldown. It proved a bit tricky to hold marathon pace and I ran too fast for those miles. In between marathon and half-marathon pace. The I picked it up for the two miles at 10K pace. Hit the first mile spot on with 6:45 according to the Garmin. Felt like it was a bit faster than that. Then the second mile ended up being slower, but there was a decent uphill at the end that probably knocked the pace back a bit. For the two miles I averaged 6:53, so about eight seconds slower than 10K. Not bad. The ending three miles for my race are downhill and flat, so I'll have that advantage once I make it over the big hill. Now I hope to hit a 10-day taper correctly.

Erin ran 2.7 in 27:30. She had some problems running right after dinner but kept up the pace.

Evening run waiting for the temps to cool off some, but of course the humidity was high. Relaxed pace, but the H and H had me sweating big time.

I hate nature's call in the middle of a workout! Did two miles at race pace (6:40/mile) then a 400 recovery lap. The intention was to then run a mile at pace and then a couple of 800 meter repeats. Nature called during the mile so I pulled in at 800 meters. Ended up doing two repeats x 1000 meters with 200 jog then 400 at pace to finish. I think I'll have to alter the goal for finish time in my 10K if this combination of heat and humidity keeps up. The race is at nine, so that should avoid the worst temp, but it warms up plenty by then somtimes.

Four X 1 mile repeats very hot and humid, but hit the pace well at 6:40 per mile. Hope race day is a little less of both h's but I guess I'll be ready for it.