I only run on days that end in a "y."

9.25 on the hilly route with 5 100m strides at the end.  Overall 8:30 pace.

Wonderful morning for a run - mid 40's.  Medium long run this morning - some hills in the first few miles - very even splits around 8:05 pace with 2-3 second variation.  Ran in the Kinvara's - I find it difficult to run slow in these shoes.  

Went to the gym at lunchtime.  Did 3 sets of 15,15, and 11 reps of the "Lance Armstrong" step up followed by 2 sets of 25,25 Bulgarian squats with body weight only followed by core work - planks, etc.

6.5 recovery miles on the soft trail. Overall pace 9:00.  

I have gotten interested in nutrition lately.  This was spurred on by being dizzy after Saturday's long run.  I began to wonder if I was eating enough for the workouts and mileage that I am doing.  I went to McMillian's nutrition calculator http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/nutritioncalculator.htm and punched in my age, weight, body fat % and weekly mileage.  The output said I need to eat between 2700 and 3000 calories a day!  2700 if I want to lose .5 lbs a week and 3000 if I want to maintain. Monique Ryan in her book Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes pretty much concurs with those numbers.  It is hard to say but I am fairly certain I have not been eating this much on certain days, nor keeping track of fat, carbs and protein.  I am certain after tracking the last 3 days that I have not been eating enough carbs.  I have started a journal to track my food.   It can be hard eating this many calories when I am not hungry.  Like everything I have a feeling it is going to be difficult to strike a balance between getting enough calories to fuel my workouts yet not too many to start gaining weight.  Anyway, I will be tracking over the next couple weeks to see how my body reacts.  I should know on Saturday's 20 mile run if I feel like I have more energy or not.   

Perfect weather for a run - 38 degrees to start.  1.5ish miles to warm up followed by 4x2k with 2 minutes rest inbetween. My legs felt stong this morning - I think the strength training is beginning to pay off.  I debated doing 5 but decided against in as Saturday's long run will be quite taxing.  In retrospec maybe I should have run the last one around 8:00 and then run a 5th 2k.  Oh well, still 5 miles of quality work for the day.

Interval pace based on Garmin lap times as we ran a couple of these over the 2k mark as we did not run on a track but on the Zilker park loop.

1. 8:20 (6:44 pace)

2. 8:03 (6:28 pace)

3. 7:53 (6:22 pace)

4. 7:35 (6:06 pace)

Tacked on a bit on the cool down to get to 2.5 and 9 miles for the day.

A few recovery miles this morning around 9:00 pace.

Perfect conditions for a run - low 40's and no wind or humidity.  I wore a singlet and was a bit chilly the first few miles but fine by the latter half.  Legs felt really good today.  I woke up around 3:30 am and drank 1/2 of a carb loading drink and finished the other 1/2 when I woke up again at 5 am.  70 carbs total and 280 calories. Tried shot blocks today and I have found a new fuel of choice (thanks Dan!)  Much easier to consume while running compared to gel.  I cut them in half and rubbed a bit of flour on them to keep them from sticking together.  I put them in the pouch on my fuel belt which made it very easy to reach down and grab one.  I think the nutrition helped my running today - I felt pretty good after the run compared to last week when I was really dizzy.  I did not struggle until the last 1/2 mile.  I didn't have my watch on auto lap the first couple of miles so I had to stop and mess with it - so no miles laps for the first 2 miles.

First 2 miles at overall 9:00 pace and then as follows: 7:38, 7:56, 7:58, 7:52, 7:45, 7:33, 7:26, 7:18, 7:16, 7:02, 7:07, 7:15, 7:10, 7:06, 6:55, 6:50, 7:07, 7:14.

Cold, dark and foggy - great day for a run.  Ran miles between 8:10 - 8:00 pace with 9 x 100m strides around 5-10k pace with 100m or so easy pace in between.  I had to guestimate 100m as I did not what to fiddle with my watch - looking back I did a fairly good job estimating. 

Dark and cold - I looked at the temp before I went out and it read 38 degrees.  I thought no big deal - I will run in a singlet in the 40's.  So I threw on a short sleve base layer and a long sleeve base layer on top of that with shorts.  Well, I did not account for a 19 degree wind chill!  I had gloves and a ear warmer head band but I was on the cusp of not being dressed warm enough.  After mile 2 it was better as I warmed up a bit, but still cold when the wind would get me.

Took the hilly course near the house - lots of hills - what joy!

Ran by feel and did not pay too much attention to my watch. All in all not a bad effort for the day.  9:10, 8:20, 7:58, 7:46, 8:05, 7:43, 7:50, 7:57, 8:31, 8:05, 7:58, 7:49, 7:41.

Lunchtime:  Strength workout at the gym. 3 sets of 10 Armstrong step-ups with 30lb dumbbells, 2 x 25 Bulgarian squats, core work.

Brisk morning - wasn't as cold as was predicted.  8 miles at recovery pace.  Overall 9:04 pace.

Nice cold morning - low 30's.  Met the group at Barton Springs pool and ran 2 miles warm-up followed by 8 x 1000m intervals with about 600m active recovery between each one.  Followed by 1.7 miles cool down.  Started intervals slow and finished fast. Counting active recovery distance into "easy miles" total.

1. 4:08 (6:39 pace)

2. 3:59 (6:24 pace)

3. 3:53 (6:14 pace)

4. 3:52 (6:13 pace)

5. 3:48 (6:06 pace)

6. 3:46 (6:04 pace)

7. 3:45 (6:02 pace)

8. 3:32 (5:41 pace)

This is the funniest thing I have seen about running.  I can't stop laughing! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw5MHsO-JI8

6 recovery miles on the indoor track.  Somewhere around 9 minute miles.

Cold, rainy, did I mention cold?  We ran the south portion of the Austin course.  The first 6 miles is a loop.  I had to stop at my car to change into my hoodie - at this point my long sleeve was soaked and I was cold.  Fortunately, the rain let up on the back end of our run.  My legs were complaining parts of the way - it has been a hard last 7 days.  Looking forward to a recovery week.  Also, the plan was to run 16 but I did a bit of extra credit before meeting up with the others so I ended up with 17.5 for the day. 

Met the group for an MGP run.  I wanted to run a LT tempo run instead as it was on my schedule.  So I decided to stick with the lead group and push myself to keep up.  We ran the hills on Enfield/Exposition.  I held my own until mile 3-4 of the tempo run until the lead 2 runners pulled away.  I ended up finishing ahead of the other lead packer though.  Good run - it's a confidence booster to push through some pain once in a while.  

2 easy warm-up followed by 5.5 miles tempo on hilly course with 2 miles cool down and strides.

Tempo pace miles: 6:58, 6:37, 6:32, 6:43, 6:38, last .5 @ 6:13 pace for overall pace of 6:39.

Cold, snow, freezing rain - so I ran 6.25 recovery miles @ 9:00 pace on the hotel treadmill.  I am glad it is a recovery week and I don't have to do any major workouts or miles while up here.  

5 AB miles on the hotel dreadmill.  Too many slushy puddles to try and go for a run outside. 

Awoke to a snow storm.  We had to catch our flight at 7 am.  I had hoped that since our flight was one of the first out we would not have a problem.  We made it out but they had to de-ice the plane so that put us behind.  We landed in Atlanta at 10:25 with our plane to Austin leaving at 10:55.  I thought for sure we would not make it.  I came off the plane and looked at the monitors - gate A20 - I looked up and we were are A19.  I couldn't believe it.  If the plane was at another terminal I would have missed the flight out.  

I picked up my son from school.  When my wife and daughter got home I spent some time with them and went out for a run.  I did an easy warm-up to the local middle school track and did Yasso 800's.  The theory behind this workout is what you can run 8 x 800's is what you should be able to run a marathon at.  So, a 3:20 800m would translate to a 3:20 marathon.  It is probably safe to add 5 to 10 minutes to that time.  Of course, you need to have been doing marathon specific training for this to have any validity.  I ran 8 of them - I was unhappy with my time on the last one so I ran a 9th one.  I did not stop to rest at all, but ran a 400m recovery lap between each 800m.

800m lap times:

1.  3:08 (6:03 pace)

2.  3:09 (6:03 pace)

3.  3:04 (5:57 pace)

4.  3:04 (5:57 pace)

5.  3:00 (5:45 pace)

6.  2:59 (5:40 pace)

7.  2:59 (5:44 pace)

8.  3:02 (5:50 pace)

9.  2:54 (5:33 pace)

Ran home @ a 7:30 pace.

Fantastic morning for a run.  The group met at 7 am today to rehearse the Austin Marathon start time.  My plan was to run 16 with the last 3-4 fast.   But then I found out one of our members who has a band and plays along the Austin Marathon course was going to be out practicing on today's course.  The catch though was in order to see him I had to run the 18 mile loop.  So in order to show my support I ran the extra 2 miles so I could have a chance to run by while he played.  His song selection was a good one.  I want to be sedated by the Ramones. Today though the group was feeling good and pushed the pace a bit early.  So in the end I ran a lot faster than planned on top of my 800m workout late yesterday afternoon.  It was good to push on tired legs though.  Well, at this point I would say I am ready for the marathon.  I just hope I am not peaking too soon.  Only 4 weeks to go.  

Overall pace for today's 18 miles was 7:29

Splits:  8:29, 8:11, 8:03, 7:47, 7:47, 7:40, 7:38, 7:35, 7:37, 7:28, 7:39, 7:33, 7:09, 6:58, 7:03, 6:56, 6:35, 6:34.

Nice cold morning - 8 easy @ 8:30 pace.  I am planning on going out at lunch as well.  I would like to hit 70 miles and then taper over the next 3 weeks.  

Mile repeats are on the schedule for tomorrow.

5.5 easy on the soft path near the office.  8:20 overall pace.

Perfect morning for running.  Met the group for an easy warm up followed by mile repeats. Repeats were done on a loop section around Barton Springs park.  We run one direction for one repeat and go the opposite for the next.  A couple good climbers in there for extra fun.  I had wanted to complete 6 of them, and after 5 I was on the fence but my legs were tired.  Half the group stopped at 4 with 3 of us doing a fifth.  I would have been on my own for the 6th.  Saturday, strength training on Sunday, and yesterday's mileage were catching up with me a bit as well. 

Splits:   1. 6:30, 2. 6:20, 3. 6:18, 4. 6:20, 5. 6:15.

Low 30's this morning - great weather for a run.  Ran 9.25 recovery pace miles
@ 9:01 overall average. 

I wanted to get in a medium long run but at the same time go easy on my legs.  So I drove downtown to the Lady Bird Lake trail.  I ran the 11 mile loop from the pool and tacked bit on before and after to get to 13.5.  It was in the 30's so great day for running.  When I left the house it was 39-40 so I wore shorts and no gloves or hat.  I think it was colder downtown.  The last mile was really cold - this is when the sun was just coming up.  When I got in my car the temp was 31.  Strange that it would cool off a few degrees during sunrise. 

Overall pace for the run was 8:20 - the last couple miles were in the 7:50's. 

Hey - finally a morning where gloves and hat not required. Low 50's so I broke out the singlet.  Final long run before taper time.  Felt pretty good but legs were a bit tired by mile 19.  It was a big week so I am not surprised.  The good news is that even with the slow miles at the beginning I would have qualified for Boston as long as I kept it together for 6 more miles. Lots of hills for the first 9 miles.  Overall pace of 7:30.  Splits:  8:47, 8:12, 8:09, 7:56, 7:47, 7:33, 7:23, 7:11, 7:20, 7:16, 7:11, 7:16, 7:20, 7:18, 7:19, 7:25, 7:20, 7:18, 7:19, 7:10.

That's 2 strong Saturday's in a row now.  Will be taking it easy the first few days this week - most likely running soft trails to let the legs recoup.  Probably taper something like 45, 35, 20. 

7 easy/recovery miles - calves were a bit sore from Saturday's run.