faster with age

     5 easy recovery miles. 8:47 AP

     PM   10 mile mt bike ride. Mud a lot of the way made the ride harder so I counted it for 4 miles.

     9 very slow miles

     Played a hard church tournament basketball game last night. We only had 5 players so no subs. Of our 5 players, 2 of us are 50 and one is 55. The other team had 8 guys with all but 2 in their 20s and 30s and 4 of them 6'2" or taller. I was amazed we hung right with them the whole game and just lost 64 to 60. 

     Started out my run pretty slow for the first couple of miles to work out a few kinks I was feeling from last nights game. After 3 miles I did some fartlek running 3x1/4 and 2x1/2 at anywhere from 5:55 to 6:10 pace with slower recoveries of equal distance between. 6 miles overall ave pace 7:37.

6 slow miles. My hip was a little sore again so I just went very easy. 9:27 AP.

     13 miles today starting with 4 at 7:46 ave. followed by an MP run of 9 miles at 6:53 ave. [7:05, 6:55, 6:55, 6:54, 6:54, 6:53, 6:53, 6:46, 6:46].  Very strange how every 2 miles were exactly the same then got 1 second faster for the next 2. I had no idea the mile splits were coming out like that until I got home and plugged in my Garmin. This workout felt better than most that I have done lately. It's a little more encouraging for my fitness as I get closer to Boston than I have felt the past few weeks. 1:32:58 for 13 miles.

     AM   I've been feeling a bit more worn out than normal during a lot of my runs the past few weeks and it has felt harder to hit the paces I would like in my harder runs. I've also had some minor injuries that keep coming and going [mainly my right hip]. With Boston coming up I hate to cut my mileage any so last week I tried running a lot of my easy miles extra slow. It seemed to help. I felt better on last Saturdays workout than any I've done lately. So this morning I just kept it very easy for 10 miles at 9:21/mile. My hip felt better than it has.

     PM   4 miles at 9:08 pace. 

     8 miles at 8:36 AP

     PM   3 miles at 8:32 AP in blowing snow.

     Started out today with 2 miles warm up at 7:58. Then for the next 2 miles I went 1/4 mile hard [around 5:45 pace] , 1/4 mile easy. Then ran another 1/2 mile over to the top of a large hill that climbs almost 300 ft in a mile to get in some hill running before Boston. I ran the one mile down in 6:38 then back up in 8:19. Back down in 6:36 then back up in 8:00. Running down was a bit easier than MP effort and running up was a bit harder than MP effort. Finished off with another 1 1/2 miles at 7:30/mile ave. Overall pace for 10 miles was 7:22/mile.

     Another 10 easy miles. 8:57 AP

     5 miles easy. 8:45 AP

     Shamrock Shuffle in Smithfield this morning. I looked at the weather report last night and it said snow changing to rain in the morning. This brought back memories of last years race, especially after the race when Paul P Scott E and I went for a cool down run  in the blizzard. When I left home this morning it was 28 degrees but by the time the race started at 10:00, it had to be close to 40 deg and sunny. Real nice. This race only costs 4 bucks if you wear green. They had a pretty big crowd this year. I got signed up and ran a 3 mile warm up. This is a pretty tough course without any flat stretches. It starts right out with a big 1/2 mile climb up about a 4% grade then turns and has a nice drop that isn't quite as steep for the rest of the mile. The second mile has a lot of nice downhill. The rest of the race is all uphill. It's mostly a long gradual climb of about 70 to 80 feet and gets a little steeper the last 1/4 mile.

      I took off up the first hill and was at about a 7 min pace at the top of the climb. I picked it up after the first hill and finished the first mile in 6:26. 2nd mile was 5:51 and I felt like I had a chance to go under 19 min but the next mile uphill was too much and I ran a 6:21. Final .1 was 34 seconds [5:47 pace]. Finished in 19:13. Good for 1st in my age group. I felt pretty good about that time for that course and this time of year. I beat last years time by 26 seconds. I've been getting in a lot more mileage than I was this time last year but nothing faster than marathon pace.

     Ran another 4 after I got home.

     22 mile long run today. I moved it to today since I ran a race last Saturday. It was 35 deg and lightly raining this morning when I headed out. Not much wind so it wasn't too bad. The rain got a lot heavier the second half and I was thoroughly drenched by the time I was done. I took a route that took me through a number of hills including two 1 mile climbs and descents of 300 ft. My average pace for the first 9 miles was 7:55. I picked the pace up a little and averaged 7:37 for the final 13 miles. at 16 miles I dropped down the last big downhill and my hip was a bit sore by the time I reached the bottom. Mile 18 was my last big climb and I was pretty beat and slowed a lot for the next mile after the hill. I actually got feeling a little better for the last 3 miles and ran the last mile in 7:12 which was my fastest mile that wasn't downhill. My hip was a bit sore after the run. Hopefully it will recover quickly. Overall pace for 22 was 7:45/mile.

     My hip was still a bit sore today so decided to play it safe and not run. I went for a 30 mile ride on my road bike. I can tell my biking condition isn't good right now.

     Easy 8 mile run this morning. My hip flexor felt fine today. 8:58 AP.

     10 easy miles. Nice morning. 8:46 AP

     PM   4 miles at 8:35 AP.  My hip flexor soreness after Mondays long run seams to be gone. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

     24 deg this morning and calm. I started out this morning with 4 miles between 8:20 and 8:30 pace. Then another mile easy downhill in 7:23.  back up the hill at a hard effort in 8:07. Half mile recovery the 2x1 miles at 6:38 and 6:30 with 1/2 mile recovery between. Last mile 7:39. My legs felt pretty heavy during the first 4 miles but got feeling pretty good on the second half of the run. 7:46/mile overall ave for 10 miles.

     10 miles very easy in a lot of wind. Doing a few of my runs extra slow the past couple of weeks seems to have given me better energy.

     My plan this morning was to run a half marathon at marathon pace. I was worried about the wind because it has been very windy and we are supposed top be getting more storms today. The temperature was 36 with no wind this morning. Perfect. My wife dropped me off 15 miles down the road and I started off with 2 miles warm up at 7:49 pace. My plan was to start out in the 6:50 to 7:00 range for the first half of the run and see how I felt. I was hoping I would feel good enough to pick the pace up a bit more toward the end. I started out how I wanted with my first 8 miles all between 6:51 and 6:58 depending on how much up or down hill there was in each mile with the exception of mile 6 which was all uphill I ran a 7:12. At about mile 7 I started to get a bit of a headwind which got a lot worse at mile 8. My pace slowed to as much as 7:10 on some of the next miles so I tried not to worry to much about the pace and just maintain the effort and heart rate. My overall pace for the run was quickly going backward and by the time I had 3 miles to go it had gone above 7 min pace. I picked it up on the last mile to see if I could get it back under 7:00 and ran a 6:45 last mile into the wind and 40 second last .1 and just passed the 7:00 min guy in the last 1/4 mile. finished in 1:31:35, 6:59/mile average pace. I was planning to try and run around 1:30. If you figure in the headwind I probably came close but this run took a lot more effort than I had hopped. My actual MP would definitely be much slower than that right now. I felt pretty spent by the end. I ran 1 more cool down mile at the end to make the total for the run 16 miles. Hopefully with exactly 4 weeks until Boston I can stay healthy and improve my fitness a bit more.

     6 easy 9:15 AP

     Ran 10 miles this morning up past the reservoir. It was the first time in a while that I've been this way because it's been too muddy lately. This morning with the temps in the low 20s everything was frozen so I gave it a try. It was a very pretty morning and I saw a lot of wildlife. Pheasants, Hungarian Partridge, ducks, and geese up near the inlet of the reservoir. The rest of the reservoir was still ice covered. After the sun got up a bit it started to quickly thaw some of the mud on the surface. On my way back some areas that had been frozen nicely were quickly getting a bit sticky. It was building up on the bottom of my shoes and adding a lot of noticeable weight and covering the backs of my calves [I had worn shorts] with globs of mud that were getting thrown up. Lots of fun. Great run. It was the first run in a while where I'm wasn't counting down the miles at the end of the run and anxious to be done. At the end of this run I felt great like it had just been a walk in the park and I could turn right around and do it again. I wasn't looking forward to being done. Surprising after running very hard 2 days ago. 10 miles at 8:17 AP.

     PM   4 miles at 9:07 pace.

     Went out for 10 this morning. Started with rain then changed to snow and back to rain at the end. 8:55 AP.

     11 miles this morning. There was some snow falling and a bit of wind. I started out with 3 miles warmup at just under 7:54/mile AP. Then 1 mile down the big highway hill in 6:25 [easy marathon pace effort]. Turned and ran back up in 7:33 [probably around 10k effort]. That was a PR for up that hill. Then 1/2 mile recovery then 2x1 mile at 6:39 and 6:34 and 1.5 mile at 6:31 pace with 1/2 mile between each at around 7:35 pace. Last mile in 7:05. I felt pretty good about this workout. I was surprised that after the hard uphill effort in the fifth mile that I felt pretty fresh for the rest of the run. I felt good at the end and was tempted to run another fast mile or two but played it safe and quit. I too often seem to injure myself around this part of my marathon training.

     7:12/mile overall pace for 11 miles

     PM   20 miles mt bike. I guess I should have done some VO2 max miles today and I would have had something in each category.

     Snow this morning but by noon it had melted and cleared off. It made for a pretty nice run. 10 miles at 8:27/mile.

     Today was my last run over 20 before Boston. The weather sounded terrible for this morning with lots of snow and wind. When I left this morning it was snowing but not sticking to the roads. It was hard to know how to dress. It wasn't that cold but with the weather changing you never know when the wind can start blowing the snow hard and it can feel a whole lot colder quickly. I wound up carrying a fleece type jacket tied around my waist the whole run just in case but never used it. I went 24 miles that included a lot of hills including the 2 highway hills that climb almost 300 ft in about a mile coming and going. I averaged 7:56 for the first 8 miles then 7:33/mile ave for next 16 miles. I timed it so that I would go up the last big hill at mile 18 and have 6 left to run after that similar to Boston only this hill is over twice what heartbreak hill appears to be. I felt pretty spent after topping the hill and trying to get back to a better pace over the next mile but soon got feeling better. I averaged 7:15 for the last 3 miles and 7:01 last mile. I was very glad to be done but actually felt better at the end than the 22 miler I did 2 weeks ago on the same route. The run took 3:04:34 which is a time I would be happy with in the marathon. Overall pace for 24 miles was 7:41.

     4 mile recovery run. 9:12/mile

     20 miles mountain bike. Lots of mud.

     Just 8 miles easy. My legs were still feeling a bit heavy probably still not recovered from Mondays run. 8:57 AP.

     I had much better energy today but kept it easy anyway. I ran 10 miles up around the reservoir. Most of the mud is gone now. The reservoir is still covered in ice all but the edges where there were a lot of ducks. 8:23 AP.