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

Day off from running - did some legs and core at the gym.

6 easy on the trail at lunchtime - hot and sunny - high 80's

Woke up at 6 am - high humidity - lots of fog.  High 60's.  The group was starting at 7:30 but I wanted to finish a bit earlier today.  Since my workout was individualized, I knew others that I can run with would not being doing what I was doing anyway.

I did 3 miles warm-up and the 3 sets of 1200m w 200m recovery then 400m - so basically miles but broken up.  Also did 400m active recovery so this was a continuous workout - not stopping or walking!

1200m - 4:17 (5:44 pace) 

200m recovery

400m - 1:27 (5:50 pace)

400m active recovery

1200m 4:17

200m recovery

400m 1:26 (5:46 pace)

400m recovery

1200 4:19

200m recovery

400m 1:25 (5:41 pace)

Ran a mile cool down on the track and then 3 miles on the trail progressively faster, with some strides thrown in toward the end. 

Beautiful morning even it it was a bit humid.  Got to Barton Springs a bit early to get in a few miles.  I saw Jose when I drove in so we ran 3 easy and then met up with the group.  Jose was in NY on Friday for the marathon and flew back on Saturday after they announced it was cancelled.  He is now going to run San Antonio next weekend.  Shows how much I am out of the marathon loop - I didn't even know San Antonio was next week.  I heard a cold front is coming in this weekend - I hope it gets here in time for those running San Antonio and the Decker half here in Austin.

Anyway - the group ran 8 miles on the trail and then I tacked a bit on to get up to 12 miles.  Time to start thinking about 3M and adding a few miles to the long runs.

Easy around the trail - hot and sunny - blah.

3.5 miles warm-up to the Austin high track.  Got there around 6 pm - just in time to see the sun go down.  Strange running around the track in the dark and it's not 5:30 in the morning.

Workout was 2 sets of 5 x 400m with 40 seconds active recovery in between each 400m, and then 1:30 active recovery in between sets.  

Splits: 1:27, 1:26, 1:25, 1:25, 1:25

1:30 active recovery

2nd set: 1:25, 1:23, 1:23, 1:21, 1:16

3.5 miles easy after workout.

Easy run on the trail during lunch.  A bit warm - sunny and low 80's.

Got up early today for a nice run in cooler temps.  7.25 aerobic base miles - .5 mile slow and then around 7:10-7:20 pace for the rest.  

tough workout today - warm and humid - 70's to start and full sun thanks to the end of daylight savings time.  I feel sorry for all the San Antonio marathoners tomorrow.  It is going to be hot and humid.

So 2 miles warm up then met up with the group at Austin High at 7 am.  2 more easy miles and then the fun begins.  3M runners were doing 26 min Fartlek out and 26 min tempo back.  Since I am still doing 5k stuff for me it was 20 minute fartlek and 20 min tempo back - but I was supposed to run at 10k pace - the others at half marathon pace.

20 minute fartlek out - 1 on and 1 easy - we went out Lake Austin BLVD and up Bonnie to Expo.  I separate from the other 2 runners since I was going shorter - it was tough because now I had to run alone back.

I couldn't get down to 10k pace to save my life - but I was also running the Enfield hills for the first mile and then a mild incline all the way back up LAB.  I wasn't able to drop the pace until after mile 2 when the terrain leveled out a bit.  I had to keep going a bit after I got back to Austin High since I covered more ground on the tempo portion.

Tempo miles: 6:14, 6:11, 6:07, .26 @ 5:54.     6:09 overall average.

Fartlek minutes in the 6:20 range for the fast minutes, 7:30's for the easy bit - 7:00 average pace for the 20 minutes.

30 minutes of 6:20's - 6:00's paced work. Not too shabby for a day's work.

2 miles easy cool down on the trail.

Legs very sore and stiff today.  Felt much better after a couple miles in.  11 miles on the trail.

5.5 super easy on the trail at lunchtime.

OK – the workout -

3.5 miles warm-up followed by 2400m x 2 with 400m active recovery.  This workout was called Straights and Curves workout.  I had to get clarification because I had not heard of that before.  The gist of the workout out is to go faster on the straights of the track and slower on the curves while keeping the overall average of the laps at 10k pace.  I looked this up and I knew I needed to run around a 1:31 lap for a 6:04 pace.  It was a bit difficult keeping track of my speed with the variation of pace.  I had to use my watch a lot to keep track of the 100m times as I went around.

6 laps, 2400m – 1:31, 1:33, 1:30, 1:30, 1:29, 1:31 – average 6:04 pace.

400m recovery in 2:07

6 laps, 2400m – 1:30, 1:32, 1:31, 1:31, 1:30, 1:24 – average 6:00 pace.

2 cool down laps and then 3 laps with 6 x 100m strides on the straightaways in :18 and slow shuffle in between.  Another cool down lap and then 1.5 miles back to the car.

The workout was good.  It was a bit hard running consistent laps with the speeding up and then down but somehow I managed to run them pretty close.  Towards the end it got a bit harder than I thought it would be.

Overall a good solid workout.

I took yesterday off due to no time to run, and did 8 easy this morning.  I could still feel some fatigue from Tuesday but it got better as the run went on.  Kept it pretty easy – didn't wear a watch so just went by feel.

It didn't feel as cold as the temp gauge said it was - 38 degrees to start.  When I got back it said 45.  That seems more like it.  I wore a pullover on top of a singlet.  I had to take the hat off by mile 2 and would have felt better with a lighter long sleeve shirt.  Fortunately I wore shorts - I would have really burned up in tights.

6 easy miles on the trail at lunch.  Super busy that past 2 days and this run was needed to clear the mind.  Beautiful day down here- sunny, 60's and a light cool breeze.

The town is going a little bit crazy with all the F1 race events going on.

Finally getting around to putting this in.  Tough, tough workout!  Maybe I need to start heading the advice of my coach who says I may need to start running less miles while the legs adapt.  These workouts don't seem like much when I look at them on paper, but they are not easy, that's for sure.

Arrived a bit early for a couple easy miles then met up with the group at 7 am.  The group is splintered right now - some racing, some doing a long run, some doing the track workout.  Anyway, there were 5 of us doing the track workout no one in my pace range.  So I knew it was going to be mentally tough at the very least.  

Ran 2 more easy with the other runners then started the workout on my own.  The others went to the trail for their 2k - I stuck to the track since I could keep better track of my pace.

The workout: 2k @ 10k pace, 3 minute rest, then 1k @ 5k pace, 1k @ 5k -30 sec pace, 1k @5k pace, 1k @ 5k -30 sec pace.  Continuous - no stopping!!  The last 1k was very hard to get through. 

2k - Laps (1:30, 1:31, 1:31, 1:30, 1:30, 1:31) 6:02 pace

3 min rest then 4 x 1K continuous running

1k - 3:32  (5:41 pace)

1k - 3:53  (6:14 pace)

1k - 3:35  (5:46 pace)

1k - 3:55  (6:18 pace)

1.5 miles cool down on the track - I wanted to get a couple more in but had to hurry to get to my son's 9:00 am soccer game.

12 easy with Kevin around town lake.  Fabulous morning - a bit chilly to start but by the end I was down to my singlet.  After a couple of very easy miles we got into the 7:00's for the rest of the run.

Legs felt amazingly good even after yesterday's killer workout. 

6 on the trail at lunch.

Very tough workout - not sure what is going on but having trouble with heart rate - that is - seems to max out quickly.  I figured I would have to run alone since the holidays are coming up and that was the case.  Ran 4 easy miles and then the plan was 10 minutes out at fast tempo pace, turn around, and 10 minutes back but try to bring the pace down.  Goal was to get to a 6:10 average.  Well, by the time I was ready to start the fast bits it was already past 6 pm and pitch black out as well as having to run on the trail - not a good combo - seriously I could not see people coming the other way.  Additionally, it was in the high 70's and humid.  All things working against me.

I made it to about 15 minutes in and I had to take a 20-30 sec breather before turning around and coming back. 

6:15, 6:25, 6:17, .2 @ 6:25.

Heart rate seemed super high at the end - these paces should be around 1/2 MGP - so not sure what gives.

3 miles cool down @ 7:45 pace.

Day off today - went out for a run after lunchtime.

Got to get some miles in to do some pre-eating calorie burning!  No watch but ran my out and back from the house.

Up early and nothing to do.  Parked at the gym and went for an easy run, then went in for some stretching, rolling, hot tub and steam room.  A nice shower and then home for some hot coffee.

Nice cool morning - showed up at 7 am to meet up with some others from the group that did not run the Turkey Trot.  I thought we were doing hill repeats but no, the fun and fantastic Scenic Hill loops - 5 of them at half marathon pace or 3 at 10k pace.  The last time I did this workout I did 3 continuous and did pretty well.  Today I ran a bit slower as I wanted to do 5 of them at half pace.  There was much discussion about whether or not we were supposed to take a break or run them all continuous.  Well, my mind wasn't in to the workout really because it was not want I was expecting to do, but I managed to get through it.  I ran 3 continuous loops then took a minute break, did #4 and decided that was enough, but after another short break I decided to suck it up and get through one more.  My legs were hurting and it was tough - almost 60 miles this week and it has been a while since I did that - and although there were others I was out front and had to run on my own.

2.12  miles warm up and then 5 Scenic hill loops: 6:23, 6:24, 6:24, 6:25, .62 @ 6:24.  If anything I was consistent.

2.12 miles cool down.

Went down to Town Lake at 7 am hoping to get in 6-7 miles.  Quads were feeling beat up from the downhills yesterday.  

Well, none of my regular group was there but some of the guys I train with in my new group happened to be going out.  They wanted to do 16 miles but they decided  in the long loop and then adding on after that if they wanted.   This way we could all stay together.  So I went along with them even though it wasn't my plan.  Ended up with 10.7 miles at a fairly good clip.  I will be taking tomorrow off!!

taking a day off from running - some core at the gym.

Well, I fell off the ladder putting up Christmas lights.  10 ft drop straight down on the driveway.  Amazingly the only thing I got was a sprained wrist.  Even landed on one of my knees but nothing happened.  The next morning I went to the Dr. to make sure I had not broken my wrist.  He said I had some really strong bones.  I say that is a good thing.  Anyway, did tonight's workout in a big wrist over the hand brace.  Didn't really affect me at all.  So, for all of you that might be thinking of putting up Christmas lights around the house - please get someone to hold the ladder!

 Crazy workout night after work  - warmed up 3 miles to the Austin High track and then 3 sets of (1 mile at HMGP, 200m recovery, 400m faster than HMGP, then 400m recovery)

Ran the miles around 6:15 pace and the 400's around 1:30 with the last one at 1:22.  Still feels weird doing these workouts at night and pretty much alone - I think there were 4 or 5 of us and the coach - that's it.  And we are all at different paces so I ran alone.

3.25 miles back to work going around the trail to Runtex and then back over 1st St. bridge.  There was a point along that dark path with no one else around that felt really strange - like I couldn't feel my legs moving - sounds odd but kinda like an out of body experience.  Dunno - maybe all that oxygen was going straight to my brain.

daughter was super ill so I had to take a half day and work from home.  Didn't get a chance to run.

Up early - 8 miles - no watch.  Nice and cold out there.

easy miles during lunch.