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

Happy New Year everyone.

 Ran the 8 mile loop from my house with the killer hills on the last 2 miles.  Had a good pace going but needless to say I faded on the hills.   I figured with a full 7 days off my legs would be raring to go and they were until around mile 5-6.  Not sure when I will be 100% again but this is getting old.  Almost a full month since the marathon.

7:50's AP for the run.

Got some free time so headed to the gym.  I ran 8 miles on the treadmill - which was good for me since I could force myself to stick to a steady and easy pace.  Most at 7:53 - 8:10 pace.  Legs felt a bit sore at first but it was a good run.  I think that my red Kinvara's are shot cushioning wise and that has been part of my issue as of late.  I am retiring them.

I ordered the Saucony cushioned version of the Kinvaras for long runs and recovery runs.  It will be interesting to see how they work out.

Chilly am - temps in low 30's.  I ran the hilly out and back from the house. Hopefully I can get some solid mileage in this week and then start going back to the workouts next week.  7.25 miles - AP 8:15.

Woke up a bit early with enough time for a quick run before needing to be home to get the kiddos ready.  Going out at lunchtime for a nice double.  Legs feeling better day by day.  2k repeats tomorrow - should I or shouldn't I?

 Quick 5.2 mile run at lunchtime on a soft park trail - had to run it twice.  AP 8:06.

I decided I would take the leap and do a hard workout.  I figured even though my legs have not been feeling that great that surely they must be fully recovered by now.  Besides, I have found sometimes what my legs need is a good hard workout to make them all better.

I showed up at the group this morning.  There is a separate Boston training schedule that differs from the regular group.  After the coach cut that group loose there were only 10 or so of us left.  I looked around and was worried - it looked like I would be running by myself because no one else would be running faster or at my training paces.  I thought about the 3 months to come and how this could be a very long and lonely training period.  Fortunately Russ showed up at the last minute. He is a super strong runner.  Even though my marathon PR is faster it is not due to a lack of talent.  Russ can throw down a 3:05-3:10 marathon on 4 days a week of training and minimal mileage.  So I think we will both benefit from each other - I am trying to talk him in to committing the time to training to run a sub-3 and he can push me in the workouts.

We did a warm up to Zilker park and then 4 x 2ks on the road around the park.  I guess the time off did me well because 2 and 3 are the fastest 2Ks I have ever run I think.  The 4th was painful and I fell off due to lack of aerobic conditioning.  I know it will come back in a couple weeks though.  Russ took off and finished 15 seconds in front of me on the last one.

1.5 miles warm up to Zilker at 8:20 pace.

1. 2k in 7:38 (6:08 pace)

2. 2k in 7:16 (5:51 pace)

3. 2k in 7:23 (5:56 pace)

4. 2k in 7:32 (6:03 pace)

1.5 easy @ 7:30 pace back to the annex.

Went out for a recovery run - 7 miles in 60 minutes for 8:34 AP.  Hit some good trails that I have not been on before so it was somewhat of an adventure.  I have a hard time getting my legs to slow down the cadence on the the open road though - running 8:00-8:10s before looking at my watch and slowing down.  

Tried out the Cortanas today.  The jury is still out.  They are definitely roomy.   I had to stop a couple time to tighten up the shoe laces as my feet were moving around.  Definitely pretty well cushioned and only 2 more ounces heavier than the Kinvaras.  The plan is to wear them on my easy days and some long runs.  Hopefully it will reduce a bit of the pounding, which in turn should lead to quicker recovery and the ability to run more miles.

The group did a point-to-point course today.  It's a great course but always a hassle arranging a ride back and finding a group to run with.  The groups tend to get splintered and I usually find myself running alone.  

I met up with a small group for 16 miles and ran with them for 2 before picking up the pace.  From then on I was by myself but passed a lot of runners that had started and different times and different starts depending on how many miles they were running.  

 All in all it was a solid run and a good week.  The legs are feeling good again. The last 2 miles were hard but expected at this point.

8:42, 8:23, 7:12, 7:22, 7:25, 7:10, 7:12, 7:16, 7:16, 7:24, 7:12, 7:03, 7:05, 6:41, 6:58, 6:59, .25 @ 6:30.

8 easy around town lake trail this morning.  It was quiet and peaceful.  Legs felt good - maybe the shoes?  Only time will tell.  I think the legs are now ready for some punishment - let the fun begin. :-)

Windy and cool - had big storms overnight but it was not raining when I headed out.  7 recovery miles - 8:40's - nice and easy - saving my legs for tomorrow.

40 degrees and windy this morning.  I ran 1.5 miles easy and then met the group at the annex. We ran the lollipop route this morning.   It is called this because if you looked at it on a map there is an out and back with a big loop in the middle.  It goes through a section of town called Barton Hills - it it is pretty dang hilly.  We ran up Robert E. Lee road which is a straight up incline, then got off track a bit which required another good climb, and then finally made it over to the lollipop which has some really good rollers.  The paces don't seem that hard but the course made it so. We turned it into a pretty good progressive run. 

Ran some strides after the run.

8:26, 7:59, 7:55, 7:54, 6:59, 6:47, 6:44, 6:44, 6:35, 6:25.  w/.5 cool down @ 8:15.

Very easy out and back from the house - no watch.  

4 easy at lunchtime.

30 MPH gusts, 36 degrees, windchill in the 20's - call me a wimp but I decided not to run 1000's on the track this morning.  I have done it once before in similar conditions and it was just terrible. Fortunately, I got an email late last night from Russ asking if I was going to go to the workout.  We kinda both talked each other out of it with the intention of running Saturday's long run hard instead.  

I went the the gym and ran on the indoor track.   7:30s according to the lap clock and then picked it up on the last 2 to around 6:30 pace.  Nice run even though it was rather long to be running around an oval - still prefer it to a treadmill.  At least when I am running I generate a breeze which helps keep the heat down.  I usually start to overheat running on a treadmill.

Holy moly this was a tough run - especially the last 4 miles. The plan was to run this hard since we skipped the hard workout on Thursday.  I did not have a set number of MGP miles but I thought at least 10 would be good.  This training I am trying to run MGP miles at 6:50 or below to get my legs use to the pace needed. We ran the 14 mile Grove route but had to do an out and back at mile 12 - it was tempting to keep on the trail and finish at 14 but we pushed through and added the extra miles on.  My legs were getting tired.  I think the soft trail takes something off the pace so we were probably working harder than what the paces say.  Russ and I managed to stick together the entire run which was great.  It was cold but no wind so it did not feel that bad.  The sun coming up was a welcome sight indeed. 

Overall average pace was 7:01.

 8:32, 7:41, 7:13, 6:59, 6:55, 7:10, 7:12, 6:55, 6:49, 6:59, 6:45, 6:48, 6:38, 6:27, 6:42, 6:20.  followed by 4 x strides.

Have the day off so I took advantage and got a medium long run in.  I ran the hilly Scenic route for 12 miles - first 2 super easy and then 7:40's - 7:50's.  Could still feel Saturday's run a bit.  Tomorrow is 1000m repeats on a hilly course.  

Booked by hotel room for Boston - I think I need to take out a second mortgage to pay of it! LOL

warm - humid - something like 70 degrees this morning.  After today and yesterday it has dawned on me how luck all those Houston marathoners were - one more day and it would have been disaster.  Thankfully, the weather stayed cool.  Anyway, this does not bode well for the Austin marathon, but one never knows.

So today was a 3 mile warm up followed by 1000m intervals around a hilly neighborhood, and I mean hilly.  Wow - it was crazy. The last 100m was up a nice big hill. I have not done this workout in a couple of years and now I remember why - it hurts.  In fact, it was a big time crash and burn, I can't remember a worse workout. 

Could be the 12 mile run yesterday on the hills, the lingering effects of Saturday's hard run, the hot weather, or all three.  Not to mention that I probably ran these too fast to start with.  I wanted to do 5 but all I could manage was 4.  The fourth one I missed a turn and had to find my way back so I don't even know if that counts.  I had to sit on the curb after that one to let my heart rate come back down.  I was not a happy camper.

The only smart thing I did was wear my old Brooks shoes as I have been having bit of achilles/calf soreness - no problems today with the big heel.

1000m @ 6:10 pace

1000m @ 5:52 pace

1000m @ 6:15 pace (legs going away at this point)

1000m @ ?? pace

Finished with 3 mile run back to the annex.

Went out at lunchtime and without a watch.  Ran pretty relaxed and tried to stay on the trail or grass when I could for the first 2.5 miles or so and then hit the street.  Took a round about route and headed back.  I am guessing 8.5 miles for the time I was gone, probably a bit more.

I was a nice sunny day with a cool breeze which felt pretty good.

50 degree start but humid.  Tomorrow will be close to 80 degrees - this does bode well for the summer!  I still predict this area will be like Arizona in a few years.  I am thinking about creating an AZ type front yard, too.  I don't see how we will have the luxury of wasting water on keeping grass alive.  Oh well, back to running.

I did the Jollyville out and back and to be hard on myself I took the Morado Circle loop on the way back - this is a very steep down hill that circles around and then comes back up.  Doesn't matter which way you run this the result is the same.  Anyway, I thought it might be good to start doing some of this stuff for Boston.

Nice run overall - average pace for the run was 7:23.  I still felt the last couple miles were harder than they should have been.  Not quite at the level I was before CIM.  I am also getting burnt out a bit - so all of you out there please give me some encouraging words to keep this up.  I am definitely taking a break after Boston.

8:37, 7:43, 7:30, 7:29, 7:16, 7:30, 7:30, 7:16, 7:17, 7:15, 7:10, 7:10, 6:39, .25 @ 6:29.

5 easy recovery miles for the day - 8:38 AP.

Cool morning -44 degrees and a pretty strong wind.  The temp gauge at the house read 50 degrees so I am not sure what happened but it got colder.  I showed up in a singlet - I was a bit cool but I survived.

We ran the Austin marathon course so lots of hills.  Russ and I ran with Mike Woo - one of the most knowledgeable runners in the group.  The entire run was filled with tidbits and insights into running Boston. We ran the Expo hills hard as he wants to get us ready for the Newton hills.

Overall, this run was tough but I figure if I can keep hanging with him I will do OK.  He said we should get to a point where 6:50's seem easy - and he thinks we will get there in the next 2 months.

So, 18 miles with AP of 7:03 (that's a 3:04 marathon) and the first mile was 8:40.  So we ran 17 miles probably at an overall pace of under 7:00.  Next time I will run in my Kinvaras.  The Cortanas are nice but definitely take some pace off.

8:30, 7:39, 7:15, 7:10, 7:08, 7:06, 6:56, 6:55, 7:09, 7:05, 6:57, 7:07, 6:43, 6:37, 6:33, 6:40, 6:34, 6:38.

Met up with some others at the annex at 7am for a recovery run.  Ran super easy on the trail.  Great morning - low 50's and foggy.  

8:40's overall pace.

Quick trip to the gym - 40 minutes spinning with some core.

The plan this morning was to run a tempo run on the hilliest part of the Austin Marathon course.  This was suggested to Russ and I to prepare for Boston.  We will be doing this several more times.  I got to the annex a bit early so I ran 1 mile warm up then met up with Russ.  Then it was 2.5 easy to the bottom of the course.  This is rolling hill after rolling hill with an elevation gain for 2.75 miles.  At the top at 35th street we took a quick break and then headed back.  This was a baseline run to judge our current fitness and to be able have a measurement stick to progress against.  I have a ways to go, the hills still cause me too much trouble though we made it.  There is a nice stretch at the end with a nice long down hill to practice hammering the quads.  

I am not sure how wise this run was after running these same hills on Saturday at the pace we did, but we survived.  Next time we will run this the Tuesday after a long recovery run instead of a hard long run.

3.6 miles easy followed by 5.5 tempo miles (6:41, 6:38, 6:28, 6:30, 6:25, .5 @ 6:06) followed by 2.5 easy just under 8:00 pace.

6 recovery miles at the gym.  Nothing special.

Got to the annex early and ran 1.5 easy and then 1.75 easy to Austin High track. Cool morning but the wind was fairly strong. On the schedule was 8 x 800m.  Coach said to run them at 10k pace but heck, I can't run that slow on the track.  I thought if I could run them at a controlled pace around 2:50 that would be good.  Not as fast as I have run them in the past but enough to get some good stimulus and turn over without killing myself.  We eased into the first 2 and then got into a pretty good groove.  We ran very consistent and right on 2:50 each time.  They felt pretty good though I felt like I was working a bit by number 6.  Decided to pick it up on the last one and open up the stride on the last 400m.  I think 2:35 is the fastest I have run an 800m during training. It felt good and this is just the confidence workout I needed.

3.25 easy warm up on the trail followed by 8 x 800m

800m in 2:57 (5:56 pace)

800m in 2:59 (6:00 pace)

800m in 2:50 (5:41 pace)

800m in 2:50

800m in 2:50

800m in 2:50

800m in 2:50

800m in 2:35 (5:11 pace)

2.75 easy miles back to the annex on the trail - 7:20's.

Just enough time for a quick recovery run at lunchtime.  Ran around the soft trail near the office.  Ever have one of those recovery runs where is seems like you are running at least a minute per pace faster than you actually are? Today was one of those days for me.  Overall average pace 8:40.

So much for a good solid recover week - still going to get in 56 for the week.  I would like it to be closer to 50 or high 40's.  Oh well.

Lots of hills again today - I was content on trying to run long run pace - 45-60 seconds off of marathon pace.  I wanted to try to run a real recovery type long run. Seemed to pretty much according to plan until the last few when I picked up a tad.  8:20, 7:40, 7:28, 7:28, 7:28, 7:31, 7:50, 7:31, 7:42, 7:32, 7:42, 7:20, 7:11, 6:58, 6:58, 6:45.

Had to hurry home and get in the car for a 3 hour drive to Corpus.  Somehow I managed to stay awake. 

Nice cool morning.  It's been a while since I have felt this good so I hope it is a sign that things are starting to come together.  Nice and relaxed.  First mile 9:00 then 7:30's - 7:20's - solid aerobic base miles.

Went out for a quick 4.5 at lunchtime on the soft trail - 7:50 warm-up and then 7:35's across the board.  

60 degrees and very humid out this am.  Ran from the house.  Not a soul to be seen.  I don't think many runners in Austin are training for the Austin marathon.  Normally I would see some out in the neighborhood - and I only saw one.  Some in my running group have mentioned that Austin has become a "destination" marathon since none of locals want to run it anymore.  Maybe there is some truth to it. 

Anyway, today was a less than stellar workout. The paces don't show how much I struggled at some points. I decided to add some hills on the end and I was doing pretty good until that point.  I seem to have lost some power in my legs - hills were always my strength.  Maybe it was a combo of the miles yesterday and the warm weather, but my heart rate started to climb - max out about half way up Rain Creek - this is probably about a mile from the bottom to the highest point with some pretty good steep sections along the way.  The road kinda makes a big 3/4 loop, both sides starting high with the middle a the lowest part.  I came down one side at a pretty good clip and then started the climb on the other side.  I thought this would be good training for Boston.  From the top there are a couple of small rollers on the way home, with another significant climb about a mile from the house.  This last climb was hard, I was shuffling pretty bad, but able to drop the pace at the top, added a mile loop when I got to the house to make it 13.  Not sure what to think about the loss of power on the up hills. 

8:47, 7:40, 7:24, 7:20, 7:20, 7:25, 7:22, 7:22, 7:07, 7:48, 7:31, 7:31, 7:22.  

7:33 overall average - not including the break I took when I paused my watch catch my breath on Rain Creek.

60 degrees and foggy - actually pretty neat weather to run in.  Simple out and back from the house - no watch - was in a zone and ran past the 3 mile point so ran a little extra.  I wanted to get in an easy 6.

Nice morning - 57 - it was actually cooler than I thought it would be - maybe it wasn't has humid as yesterday.

So the original workout on the schedule was a tempo run - but the coaches changed it at the last minute to 1000's on the track.  Russ and I traded some emails and we decided to go with the tempo run instead.   I didn't feel like the track for some reason and figured tempo would be better in the overall scheme of things.

This time we did some easy miles to Expo and 35th - yep, the hills again - and then started our tempo there coming back on Expo, turning right on Enfield - more hills - and then coming back on a nice stretch of LAB and then the last mile of tempo on the trail.  I thought we did pretty well on the trail considering how much pace it can take off.

I really needed this run.  We both ran very controlled and relaxed the whole time, I never thought at any point that I was working too hard - it all seemed to come together.  We cooled down with an easy 1.2 miles. 

Easy miles:  8:38, 8:11, 7:48, 7:13, 7:06, .35 @ 7:10

Tempo miles:  6:20, 6:17, 6:26, 6:18, 6:22, .11 @ 6:25.

Easy 1.2 miles: 7:20

warm and humid but the rain held off.  Went out during lunchtime for a 6 mile recovery run - 8:20's.  

I thought this morning was going to be gross weather wise, but we got reprieve last night from a nice cold northerly wind.  Around mid 50's to start and windy.

One warm up mile and then met Mike and Russ at the annex for 20.  I wanted to hit 70 this week.  Also fighting a bit of a respiratory infection.  Fun!

Today was the most hills I have ever run on a long run.  The rollers start around mile 4 all the way up to Mt. Bonnel.  When we got to the parking lot Russ had some crazy idea that it would be fun to run the stairs to the top for a view of the city lights.  So up we went, the view was awesome - seeing downtown that far away and realizing that we had just run that was cool.  So off we went through some more rollers and then made our way to a nice flat part.  Next thing I know Mike and Russ were cruising in the low 6's with the intent of stopping for water at the upcoming water stop.  The only problem was that the stop wasn't there and we had to keep going to the Expo hills and quite a bit further until there was water.  After that they kept cruising and I kept up with pretty much until we hit the trail again.  Then we come out the other side and start up Barton Hills drive.  This is the first time in a while I had to stop and take a quick breather during a long run.  The next couple miles were full of hills - they never seemed to stop.  Finally around mile 18 I got a good down hill and tried to cruise it in from there.  My legs felt like they normally do during the last miles of a long run.  By this time I got completely dropped by Russ and Mike and had to make my own way in.  I hope that on one of these runs I will be able to stick with them the entire way. 

I am starting to question the sanity of running with these guys.  I am sure long runs are not meant to be like this! :-)  Hills on Tuesday, hills on Thursday, and then today.  That's enough hills for me for a while.

One warm up mile and then met Mike and Russ at the annex for 20.  I wanted to hit 70 this week.

9:00, 8:38, 8:16, 7:38, 7:22, 7:08, 7:06, 7:32 (Mt. Bonnel), 7:38 (more hills), 6:58, 6:55, 6:45, 6:47, 6:38 (Expo) 6:50, 7:06, 7:26 (hills start again) 7:36, 7:11, 6:37, 6:40.

Overall pace 7:15.

My wife was gracious enough of letting take a nap!  I felt pretty beat up.

For grins here is the route map - click on elevation - large to view the fun(takes about 30 seconds to refresh):  http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5282658

I didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning.  I stuck my head out the door a while later and it was cold, windy and a bit rainy.  I would have gone out if it were not for the rain.  So I finally made it to the gym around 8:30 for some easy miles around the indoor track.  Did some quick core work afterward.  Legs felt better than I thought they would.

8.25 easy - overall average pace 8:25.  Trying to save the legs for tomorrow's 2k's.

Nice cool morning - a tad under 50 with a full moon out.

 I ran 1.25 miles warm up and then met the group at the annex.  The Boston group got a lecture from the coach about running long runs too fast.  I am sure he was talking to me and Russ but he did not pick us out.  Lots of talk about how it is still early in training to be hammering it too much in the long runs, and to try and get to the marathon feeling fresh and not beat up.  I am sure it is all good advice.  We will see if anyone heeds it. Runners like to push things, you know.

We finally got on the way and did 1.5 easy to Zilker park and then 5 x 2k.  The group stopping point is not exactly 2k so I always continue on for another 100m to make it a true 2k.  

When we arrived the others who did not get lectured and who got a head start had already completed 1 lap.  We tagged onto a group.  Then the coach put us into groups based on time, and that worked for 1 lap.  Then we fell in with the group ahead of us on the next one, which Russ took off on, not knowing it was their last.  So we probably ran this one a bit fast, I know he did as I held back a little knowing we still had 2 more to go.

We finished it off strong, the 5th one is always tough mentally as the mind wants to tell the body to quite.

Good solid workout - we basically ran a 10k this morning but took 2 minute recoveries in between the laps. The last time I ran these I did 4, so happy to have been able to get in 5 today. Not very consistent laps - too much confusion out there this morning.

2k @ 7:27 (6:03 pace)

2k @ 7:22 (6:00 pace)

2k @ 7:16 (5:54 pace)

2k @ 7:29 (6:04 pace)

2k @ 7:14 (5:52 pace)

1.5 miles back to the annex @ 7:04 pace (I had to get back.)

Since I won't be able to run on Thursday and will miss that workout, I figured I would try to front load the week a bit to get the mileage in.  I ran 5.6 miles during lunchtime.  The first couple minutes were not easy, but after a while the legs warmed up.  8:20's.

Cold morning - we have one off those satellite weather stations.  It never seems to be accurate.  It read 50 degrees.  When I opened the door I knew that wasn't right.  I had to grab my pullover.  When I got back it read 44 - still not right.  The radio on the way in said it was 39.  I guess I will have to go old school and get an outdoor thermometer. 

I had just enough time to squeeze in a 4 mile slow recovery run.  I plan on going out at lunch to tonight for a few more.  

9 pm - kids off to bed - went out for a 7 mile run.  I almost never run in the evening but surprisingly my legs felt really good.  My intention was to run some more easy-recovery miles but the legs felt so good I fell into a nice MGP pace.  No running tomorrow so I figured it would be OK to push it a bit.

1.5 easy followed by 6:54, 6:52, 6:50, 6:45, 6:44, .5 @ 6:43.

I had the kids this morning and a monthly lunch meet-up with some other runners, so my only chance to getting in a run was after work.  I stopped by the trail near the office on the way home for a few loops.  They had recently put down some fresh mulch/bark so half the trail was nice and cushy.

 Ran to shake the legs out a bit and prepare for tomorrow's run.  I did a couple sets of step ups last night and can feel it today.  I think I should start doing some more of those with some lunges.

Windy and cold morning - high 30's but the wind made it feel much colder.  

I had no plan for this run other than to get some good MGP stuff in.  I did not do a hard workout on Thursday and felt pretty well rested.  I ran a very easy warm up mile and met up with the group at the annex.  I took off with Mike, Russ and another runner, Matt.  When I saw Matt I knew this was going to be pretty quick run.  We ran the hills of Enfield and Expo again and pushed hard on them.  We climbed a bit more - though very steady - until the turn around point, and them came back across and down Duval.  This is a pretty fast stretch and I felt good here.

I stuck with Mike and Russ until Duval.  I wanted to stay closer to MGP and they dropped the pace and let them get about 40 meters in front.  We met at the last water stop and I told them to just take off, I wanted to keep at MGP.  However, I felt pretty good at this point so I dropped the pace a bit as well for a nice strong finish.  I never did catch them.

I need to check but I don't remember ever running a long run this quick - overall AP was 6:50.  I really tried to stay in the 6:40s as much as possible to get the legs use to that pace.  I felt really good afterward - 65 days until Boston so there is yet hope of being in shape for a sub 3.

(8:56 pre run mile) 8:17, 7:39, 7:09, 6:55, 6:59, 6:48, 6:48, 6:42, 6:48, 6:44, 6:44, 6:41, 6:34, 6:34, 6:09, 6:18, .13 @ 6:02.

Eight and a half easy/recovery miles.  I stayed on the grass/dirt next to the streets and sidewalks as much as possible.  It was very muddy and slick in some spots from the rain, and I again went down with less than a half a mile to go.  Muddy hands and a bruised ankle - from hitting it against a curb.  Not fun, hopefully I can run tomorrow.  I'll take an external injury instead of an internal one any day - fortunately I did not pull anything.

Other than that a great run - I could have kept on going.

8:25 AP.

Medium long run day - skipped the group fun of doing 1000m repeats on the hills.  I met Russ and Mike at BS pool for the 11 mile loop.  I got there a bit early and did 1.3 mile warm up.  I had hoped I could pick it up on the last 2-3 miles for a bit of a progressive run but the legs were having none of it.  Mike and Russ took off, of course, this is getting a bit disheartening.  Sigh.  Maybe I should start running by myself again - I probably won't feel so bad after these runs.  

The trail was pretty wet so for sure that took 10-15 seconds of pace off per mile - I can find no other reason why the paces felt a lot harder than they were on the final 5 miles.   I think my legs were still feeling it from Saturday, so I backed off a bit on the last mile instead of pushing harder.

45 degrees but 100% humidity and fog.  I was getting warm towards the end though even with a short sleeve on.

1.3 @ 9:00 pace, then 8:56, 7:59, 7:34, 7:25, 7:06, 6:45, 7:01, 7:10, 6:55, 7:07, 7:15.  (7:24 AP)

5 miles @ 8 pm.  Decided to go run otherwise I was going to fall asleep.  LOL.

AP 8:09 with 5 x 15 seconds steep hill sprints afterward.  Fortunately there is a short but extremely steep hill right across the street from my front door.

75 degrees and sunny at lunchtime.  I ran the soft trail loop in my soft shoes at recovery pace.  I tried to run slower but I don't think my legs will let me run a 9:00 mile -  I tried.  AP - 8:34.

My legs are tingling from the recent runs/workouts.  I thought 5 miles was more than enough for today.

What to do, what to do.  I got an email from Russ yesterday saying he was skipping the scheduled workout this morning because his legs were toast and he was going to take it easy.  The workout was 2 x 2k, 3 x 1k, and 4 x 400m.  The more I thought about it the less I liked the idea of piling that on top of my legs this week, especially with a hilly 20 mile run looming on Saturday.  And I don't want to embarrass myself on Saturday since SlowJoe will be joining me.

I got to thinking that I have not done any 400's yet this training cycle.  I like them because they are great at getting that quick leg turn over but are so short that they don't cause a huge amount of stress on the legs.  So 400's it was. 

I ran 6 easy with one slow mile and then 7:40s followed by 12 x 400m with 60 second active recoveries on the neighborhood middle school track. 

1 x 400m @ 1:27 to ease into it.

1 x 400m @ 1:24

9 x 400m @ 1:20-1:21

1 x 400m @ 1:16

Then ran 1 mile cool down to the house @ 7:50.

I woke up to rain and decided to sleep in.  Raining a bit at lunch, too.  I figured the trails would be too wet or muddy and I wanted to stay off of pavement today.  Ran the inside track for 6 very easy miles. 

Soggy morning.  It was not raining when I arrived at the annex.  There was a dearth of people there, I can only guess that many are running the marathon tomorrow or were scared away by the forecast.  I met Slow Joe in the parking lot and we went for a quick mile before the long run.  

We then met up with Russ and Mike and headed out.  It did not take long for the rain to start coming down, there was ample lightning to the north, and plenty of large puddles on the trail to attempt to dodge or jump over.  At a certain point I kind of gave up as my feet were pretty much soaked.  

Maybe around mile 6-7 we started hitting some rollers and then on to Mt. Bonnel.  Of course, we made SJ run the stairs up to the top from the parking lot.  I think there are 105 stairs.  Not easy after making the run up the Mt. Bonnel road.  The view at the top makes it all worth it, though.

Now onward down the other side on a very steep decent through another 1.5 miles of rollers, then turn around and back again.  Nothing is as demoralizing as seeing that climb coming up in the distance.  We all survived though and enjoyed the next mile or two of nice down hills, through some rollers on which we came and then back via the trail.  It started raining heavily on the last couple miles, and this is where I pulled out the wild card of the prerun mile and counted it against my 20.  Mike and Russ were not so lucky and continued on.  SJ and I finished the last 2 on a very wet and sloppy trial.

SJ is a super nice guy and a very strong runner.  It was great to meet him.  Hopefully, he enjoyed his time with our group.

9:00 warm up then 8:33, 7:54, 7:53, 7:24, 7:34, 7:34, 7:00, 6:58, 7:15, 7:44, 7:18, 7:10, 7:01, 6:50, 6:50, 6:46, 6:36, 7:19, 6:59.

The hills are paying off, I feel like my legs are getting stronger.

Cool morning - very quiet out on the streets.  7.5 easy - a bit stiff from Saturday but the legs felt better after a few miles.

The group schedule was 10 on the trail with the last 20 minutes hard effort.  I decided to run from the house.  I didn't feel like the trail again, and with Russ nursing an injury (I warned him he was pushing it a bit) it would be just me out there after a while, so I didn't see a need to drive all the way downtown.  Besides, last week when I tried this on the trail it did not work out too well.

The legs felt really good so I let them carry me.  I ran some rollers out for a while then down Jollyville and turning around at the Arboretum, coming back up Jollyville and some back streets to the house.   Nice gradual by steady elevation gain on the way back.  I turned it into a progression run. I kept thinking of what Joe Rubio said in Kevin Beck's book (the chapter I have based most of my training on) about how he would do his progressive 15 mile progressive runs: 5 eays, 5 @ MGP, and 5 as hard as he could.  Well, I wasn't doing 15 miles today, but stuck with the idea for the run that I had, except that I had too many easy miles up front.  Maybe next time something like 4, 4 and 4.  Well see, this run seemed good enough!

8:51, 7:52, 7:41, 7:21, 7:13, 7:10, 7:05, 6:50, 6:47, 6:50, 6:29, 6:15.

I need new shoes!

Cutting back mileage a bit this week - that's the plan anyway.

Actually a pretty warm and muggy morning - 6.5 easy in the Cortanas.  I really don't like these shoes that much - it's too much shoe.  Good enough for plodding along, I guess.  8:40 AP.

Wow - 66 degrees this morning.  The Boston schedule had some funky fartlek while the rest of the group had intervals.  I emailed Mike last night and we decided the intervals would be good to get in some turnover.

We did 5 sets of 600m, 400m, and 200m, with 200m active recovery in between intervals and 2 minutes recovery between sets.  We kept moving a bit during the 2 minute recoveries as well.  These were more "endurance" based intervals than pure speed and we ran them as such.  Never felt out of breath and was nice and relaxed.  In fact, Mike and I were singing "singing in the rain" during some of them, just to make sure we were not working too hard.   I only pushed it on the very last 200m.

3.6 mile easy followed by 5 x 600, 400, 200 sets.

1.  2:14, 1:27, :44

2.  2:14, 1:30, :44

3.  2:09, 1:25, :44

4.  2:06, 1:27, :42

5:  2:07, 1:28, :36

1.6 easy back to the annex.

Only 10 miles for the morning, but I was OK with that since I am cutting back a bit this week.

Stayed on the trail behind the office and then around the small lake.  8:40 AP

Nice morning for a run!  40 degrees, no wind.  We ran a point-to-point down to the trail with some rollers along the way, but a net elevation drop, with a few miles of hills tacked on the end to mimic Boston.  This is the lollipop loop that I died on 3 weeks ago and which today I dominated.  It felt so awesome to take the hills without slowing down too much and definitely not stopping as I did last time.  It was confident booster.  Several factors probably helped me today - I wore my new racing flats which were phenomenal (thanks SJ!), I ran the speed work on Thursday easy and did not kill myself, and I had a couple small baguettes last night before bed (thanks Dasha for the advice.)

Most of the group did 15.5 but Mike and I went up another mile and parked after dropping a few runners off at the other stop.  We passed most of the runners on the hills of expo - we were flying here - looked at my watch once and it read 6:20.  We slowed a bit.  We picked up another runner at a water stop and he had ideas of of turning it into a race I guess, and Mike fell into the trap trying to keep up and pass him.  They were at 6:10 or so and I let them go.  We still had the hills and I was not going to die on them today.  So I ran the last few miles by myself, which I actually like since I don't feel like I have to keep up with anyone.  

Fastest long run yet @ 6:44 overall pace.  Maybe I need to adjust my marathon goal a bit.  We will see how it goes over the next few weeks.  6:40's felt really good.

7:34, 7:05, 6:55, 6:44, 6:42, 6:31, 6:27, 6:20, 6:34, 6:48, (here come the hills) 7:05, 6:53, 6:45, 7:08, (homeward stretch) 6:35, 6:25, 6:02 (including a few strides.)

Chilly morning but the sun was coming up.  I could definitely feel the calves this morning.  I thought it would be a good idea to get them stretched out a bit so I went for a super easy run.  9:09 AP.

6 SLOW miles on the trial near the office in the clogs - 9:10 AP. Yes, the calves are still sore.  Leave it to me to try those flats out on a 17 mile run. (It was worth it though.)

There is supposed to be a 10 mile MGP run on a hilly course in the am tomorrow - that may end up being more of a progressive run for me with the last couple fast.  Not sure the wisdom is there to go and run a 10 mile MGP run after this last Saturday.

A big group of Boston marathoner's are headed down to San Marcos on Sunday to run Moe's, a hilly half marathon.  I am going to pass on that and get 22 in on Saturday.  I don't want to race it (I think the San Antonio half took something off of my CIM performance) and I don't need to run it as a MGP run as I can do that for free. :-)

70 miles for the week seems like a long shot unless I don't take a day off.  We will see how it goes.

Misty, foggy, humid morning.  The workout for the day was a 1 mile warm-up followed by 10 miles at MGP with some killer rolling hills from mile 3-7.  There was one hill, man, me and Russ about died, unfortunately, it was not the last one, we still had the long climb on Scenic on the way back.  

Russ and I had exchanged emails yesterday and decided to go for MGP but back off if it was not happening.  I wasn't sure how my legs would react. They were still a bit sore.  They actually felt OK during the run, until the last mile when I could feel the fatigue. My breathing was in control the whole run and I never felt from an aerobic perspective that I was working too hard.  Trying to hit MGP after a slow 9:00 mile warm up was difficult, especially on the trail - my legs were like "what are you doing?!"

One of the coaches had set up a water table at the halfway point, so it was grab-and-go to simulate race conditions.

All in all a good workout, good confidence booster to make it through the hills at MGP.  Energy was not an issue - 3 slices of whole wheat bread with Nutella before bedtime. :-)

9:00 warm up mile followed by: 6:58, 6:47, 6:44, 6:37, 6:44, 6:48, 6:50, 6:41, 6:44, 6:29.

4 x 50m strides with .15 cool down jog back to the annex from the trail.

PM - 6 easy on the trail near the office.  Wow, the first 1/2 was slow - I hope I know what I am doing here, I am definitely stressing the legs.  Moreover, I had average pace showing and I thought I was glancing at current pace - it made a difference the first mile was close to a 10 minute mile but I finished with 8:34 AP - the last couple were close to 8:00 even.  Faster than I wanted.  Tomorrow will be a short recovery run day.

5 super easy around the trail near the office.

Woke up to a nice cool morning.  After Tuesday's MGP frolic through the hills on top of Saturday's hard long run, we decided to run some fartleks on the trail this morning.  Time to stay on a soft surface and get in some good turn over. We ran 8.5 miles with 20 x 1 min fast with 1 minute easy in between.  It was good to make it through these feeling strong, though I was really glad it was over when we finished.  

Ran 1.5 miles warm-up and met the group at the annex - then 8.5 miles with 20 x 1 minute fartleks for a total of 10 miles.  Paces for the first 5 were around 6:20, then dropped to low 6:00's, with the last 5 around 5:40 - 5:50 pace.  7:40-7:50's pace during recovery minutes.

3.2 miles of fast stuff.

Legs still a bit on the fatigued side and on the last fast minute I felt a pop in my right hamstring.  Fortunately, it feels fine now, and I think I will take tomorrow off.  We have a 21 mile long run with nothing but hills scheduled for Saturday.  Fun.

low 50's and pretty windy.  I gotta say that I am getting tired of hills.  First half of the long run reached a peak gain of over 300ft, then back down, and close to the same on the second leg. Lots and lots of rolling hills.  It has been good though - I am feeling more confident on the hills than 4 weeks ago. 

The groups got mixed up with those running 14 - who were running at a pretty good pace - and us running 21 - who ended up also running a good pace because of the other group.

I held back a little bit on the second half - the hills took a toll - the last 8 days have really taken a toll.  I could barely do easy strides at the end.  Tomorrow is my Birthday, so I plan on taking a day off, and I just might take Monday off, too.  My wife is traveling on Wednesday for a few days, so this week is going to be light mileage.   Probably just what I need.  

My quad held up pretty good.  A couple times I felt it but it was because of a miss step.  It's sore so I am icing it.  A couple days off would be good for it I am sure.  I think we are very close to being in race shape at this point - need to maintain, sharpen a bit, and arrive fresh and healthy. 

Splits all over the place due to the hills:  8:37, 7:45, 7:37, 6:48, 7:03, 7:01, 7:16, 6:54, 7:08, 6:50, 7:07, 7:16, 7:20, 7:12, 7:05, 7:05, 6:51, 6:57, 6:58, 7:00, 6:44, .5 with some strides. 

21.5 miles @ 7:10 AP.

After 2 full days off and a treatment on my quad yesterday I decided to go for an easy run this morning.  I did not wear my Garmin but I can tell you the pace was slow.  I am sure I will never go through a training period like the past Saturday to Saturday period - it destroyed my legs and nearly gave me a major injury.  If I had it all to do it all over again I would have replaced that Tuesday run with an easy run.  Live and learn they say.

My legs were very lethargic this morning but started feeling good by the last mile.  My quad is much better - probably 90-95% - so I will continue to take it easy this week.  I am pretty sure I won't get above 40 miles.  But hey, one of my running buddies just ran at 3:00:17 at Napa Valley this past Sunday on 40 miles a week training - so I am not too worried about taking an easy week at this point in my training.

Nice 8.5 mile easy run - did my regular out and back with a little extra - no watch but pace at the end was probably high 7:00's.  

A couple of times it was light rain - very enjoyable.

Quad is probably 95% - did not really bother me at all.  Still a bit on the sore side.  It seems to move around a lot - kind of hard to pinpoint. 

Possibly going to the gym at lunch to hit the core - time to really start in on getting stronger. 

PM - 45 minutes core - got to 10 x 200lb on the crunch machine!  Did some light leg extensions to gently work the sore quad, along with some one leg squats, regular back and core workout as well.

Had some more therapy on my quad - there was a knot deep that was causing all sorts of issues.  Seemed to have gotten it worked out, also got some good strengthening exercises for the hip and a really good stretch.  Should be back up to speed in no time.

7 ish miles - no pace watch - on Brushy Creek train in the rain - some paths of concrete by there was a 12-14 inch worn path right next to it of hard packed dirt - which at this point had turned a bit muddy.  Other parts crushed granite.  Never been there before but it was really pretty - would go again.  Pretty good pace at the end as it was coming down pretty hard and I was late to where I needed to be.

Went to the indoor track due to the rain.  Was going to go easy but this other runner kept looping me and well, I didn't like that.  So after a mile I sped up, caught and passed him  He kept with me the rest of the way.  I did not pay attention to lap times, I am guessing 6:20 pace.  3.5 miles at this pace, the other runner stopped when I hit 3 miles.  Then over 3 miles easy pace to finish the run.

My mom is here visiting, picked her up yesterday, so I actually had someone to watch the kids so I could go for a run.  My wife left town on business on Wednesday and isn't coming back until later today.  It was really a struggle to get in a run while she was away.

My leg felt much better so I figured I would go on a 14 mile run today.  I have lost one GPS watch and misplaced the other - so I am watchless.  I had a normal watch to keep track of time but otherwise I ran by effort.  I ran pretty hard so most likely low 7:00's for the majority, tried to push it at the end.  

I ran my 14 mile progressive run route but kept going until I felt like turning around.  I figured I was around 15.5 for the run but gmap shows the route to be 16.22.  I ran the last 3.7 miles in 26 minutes so right around 7:00 pace.  That seems to be about what I did most of the run at. Full 16.22 miles in 1 hour 57 minutes - so overall average pace was 7:12.

 Quad feels pretty good.

A bit over 6.5 miles in 60 minutes.  Still can't find my GPS watch but I know the route.  I ran the trail loop near the office during lunch.  Legs were pretty sore and it took a while to get going.  75 degrees and sunny - it was quite warm out.

Warm and muggy morning, and my body is not used to the time change yet.  My alarm went off at 4:50 and my body is saying "wait - it's 3:50!"  

Got to the annex a bit early and ran a couple easy.  Met up with Russ to do Barton Hills - lollipop loop - so putting down these miles as easy is a misnomer, there were anything but easy.  We hit the first hill about 1.5 miles in and it was rolling hills for the next 4 - 5 miles.  Nice finish via the trail.  There was no water set out so we carried on.  That was really mentally tough because I really wanted to stop 1/2 way through the hills.  

No GPS but Russ said the last mile was 6:40.  We ran 8 miles in 56 minutes so the AP was 7:00.  It felt hard but did not realize we were moving that fast.  See - there is a positive about not running with the Garmin all the time. 

1.25 easy miles cool down to finish it off.

Leg felt pretty good - I was worried a bit about the downhill stress but had no issues.  Actually felt fine after the run and even now. 

7 miles around the trail near the office during lunch.  It was humid but fortunately the sun stayed hidden, otherwise it would have been miserable. 

65 degrees/humid. 

I had to go into work last night at 9 pm and did not get home until midnight, in bed at 12:15, probably fell asleep around 12:30 - only to wake up at 4:55.  I had to get downtown at 5:30 to meet Dasha and borrow her fancy new touch screen Garmin.  I then ran a couple easy and met up with the Boston group at the annex.  After the coach spoke (seemed like eternity) we headed over to the track, so another 1.75 miles easy.  

I then did 8 x 1000 with 200m active recovery in between sets.  Nothing outrageous today speed wise - I kept it nice and relaxed and worked on turnover.  I didn't feel fatigued until #7 but I suspect that is normal, pushed through without a problem.  Although there were a lot of runners out there I did not have anyone running my pace.  Mike was there but had started early - he was already on number 5 when I arrived.  So I just ran them by myself.

I decided to take the long way back and really fatigue the legs, and it worked.  2.6 miles back.

1000m in 3:50 (6:10 pace) (warm-up)

1000m in 3:45 (6:02 pace)

1000m in 3:45 (6:02 pace)

1000m in 3:41 (5:55 pace)

1000m in 3:43 (5:58 pace)

1000m in 3:45 (6:02 pace)

1000m in 3:42 (5:56 pace)

1000m in 3:42 (5:56 pace)

1000m in 3:42 (5:56 pace)

As a side note, Garmin shows these long - .63 to .65 miles, which, if true, would make the pace closer to 5:37 - 5:43.  This is the pace that the Garmin said I was running during the repeats.  I am going to trust that the track is correct and that the Garmin is off.  I had to run around other runners a few times, but I can't believe it would have been off that much.

65 degrees, 100% humidity.

7 recovery miles this morning.  First mile was really slow.  9:22 AP pace.

68 degrees - high humidity.  Yuck.  Woke up at 6 am - right when the group should have been leaving the annex.  I knew the route so found them around mile 4.  Parked my car on a side road and jumped in with Woo.  Man - going from 0 to 7:00 mile pace is not easy, we turned the corner after 1/4 mile and hit the expo hills - also not fun without a warm up.   We met up with Farshid and I ended running with him as Woo took off later in the run, and we kept the pace right around 7:05 - 7:10 which felt nice and easy.  That seems to be a good sign.  

I think there was maybe 3 miles of this run where there were not any hills.  It was hard running to the annex - where I normally would have finished - and to have to keep going since I had to run to my car where I left it on the course. So 4 more miles to go at this point, and it was the first part of the cap 10k course - so all rolling hills to my car.  

I went a little bit extra to get in 19.  Around 7:15 AP for the run. 

Last week 30 miles, this week 80.  My legs held up pretty well.

In San Antonio with the family.  Slept in but managed 4 easy on the treadmill - get the legs moving a bit.

Warm and humid - continued recovery run - 7 super easy.  Legs started feeling better by the last couple miles.  Took it easy as still trying the quad from flaring up.  Rolled it last night for some time and it was sore this morning.

Tomorrow looks like a wash out - the prediction is for 3-4 inches of rain tonight through tomorrow am.  I may end up running a double - some at the gym in the am and then in the afternoon.  

AM - 4 inches of rain last night - lots of lightning and rain when I woke up.  So off to the gym, 10 miles on the indoor track.  This really isn't too bad with music and getting into a zone.  

Will be going on at lunch for 6 more.

I think I will finally take a day off tomorrow - we are doing a tempo run on the hills Thursday.  Would like to get to 6 miles of tempo pace.

PM - I was really on the fence about what to do for lunch.  I ultimately decided on some 400's to work on turnover/speed.  I did not over do-it since 1) I had run 10 miles already and 2) I only had an hour to squeeze this in.  I ran over to the 1/2 mile trail loop and did some warm up laps, and then did 9 x 400m on the crushed granite portion.  After a couple I decided to turn this into a Fartlek style workout but running the other half of the loop - which is covered in wood chips - as recovery.  This took about 2 minutes so it worked out great and allowed me to add to my mileage at the same time.  I did not rest but kept this up as a continuous loop - 400m hard, 400m recover, repeat.  I set up the distance alert on the Garmin so I would run the correct distance.  It was hard to keep consistent on the trail so my lap times varied a bit but I managed to start hitting them on the last few.  

9 x 400m 1:30 (first couple) down to 1:23 on crushed granite trail with 400m active recovery.

Easy pace back to the office - 7 miles total.

As a side note I reached in my gym bag to grab my kinvaras and they weren't there, fortunately I had the A5's.  I hit a couple puddles on the way back - bad thing about the A5's is that they have holes in the soles - but that is also a good thing, too, because the water drains back out. 

55 degrees - felt cool but a bit humid.  

I mile warm up and then I met Russ at the annex.  The group was doing Fartlek on the trail but we had decided on a tempo run.  This might be the last one before the big show.  In the end it was a wise choice because the trail was dark and washed out in some places and we heard from other runners that it was not a good run.

We ran 5 easy to the top of Expo and 35th then ran 5 tempo miles through the Expo hills, over LAB and then 2 miles on the trail.  I wasn't sure I would do to well because my legs still felt a bit off from Tuesday.  However, it all worked out in the end.  Big surprise too coming back as a strong wind was right in our faces.  The trail definitely took some pace off, there was the initial part where it was a bit dark and I stumbled a couple steps but managed to keep it going.  Our easy miles were a little fast at the end, too, I looked down at one point and we were at a 6:58 pace.  I thought our pace was pretty good through the hills and overall we were pretty happy with the run.

6 easy - progressive up Expo hills - 8:18, 8:01, 7:41, 7:17, 7:07

and then 5 @ tempo:  6:26, 6:24, 6:20, 6:30, 6:15.

Lunch:  1 mile warm up and then hammered the quads with extensions, lunges, and one legged body squats, plus core.  Trying to toughen up the quads a bit for the downhills.

6 recovery early in the morning.  Legs felt beat up - took it slow.

 PM - 4 easy after work.

Slept in after 9 hours of sleep!  The legs are definitely feeling the stress I have been putting on them these last 2 weeks.  5 easy before the last big 23-24 mile run tomorrow which will be 3 weeks out from marathon day.

Met Russ and Mike at the Barton Springs pool parking lot and took off about 9:25.  We then header over to the annex to pick up one of our coaches who wanted to get 20 miles in.  On our way we ran into the Cap 10k runners so we hijacked the race and ran the last couple miles of the race to the annex.  We caught the right group as they were doing 7:20's.  We couldn't find the coach at the meet up point so we took off on the trail.  He had gone ahead hoping to catch us coming the other way on the trail.  We found him about 4 miles later.  He had put out water and gatorade stations earlier every 2.5 miles.  This was a life saver - it was hot.  Full sun and 70's for most of the run.  At the end I was just hanging on wanting it to be over as soon as possible.  The Expo hills coming back were particularly hard.  This was not a pace run but a time on feet run - and I haven't done a run like this in a long time.  We had some 7:05s and some 7:30's and everything in between.  Glad it's over.  The last 2 weeks were hard but I plan on cutting back significantly over the next 3 weeks and to try to get to Boston with some really fresh legs.

We jumped into Barton Springs at the end of the run after strides.  Very nice reward!

The Three Amigos caught on camera in the race:

https://webspace.utexas.edu/ab2293/www/Running_Photos/CAP_10_K/img191.jpg

High 50's but humid.  Met up at the annex for 8 easy on the trail.  I did a bit before so ended up with 9 miles.

Coach preached to the Boston group to stay on the trail or soft surfaces for all easy and recovery runs from here on out.  Good advice, like always.

Started low 8:00's and worked down to 6:35 at the end - enough to fire the muscles for the last 10 minutes and work on muscle memory at MGP and slightly faster.

Legs felt pretty good overall - a bit tired - but no major ill effect from 23 miles on Sunday.

It is going to be a challenge to cut back my mileage - I won't know what to do with myself. :-)

5 easy on the soft trail near the office.  Warm and humid - light rain at the end.  8:10 AP.

Preparing mentally for tomorrow's tempo intervals on track.

Low 60's, high humidity.  Met Russ at the annex at 5:30 and did an easy warm up to the Austin High track.  We met Mike there who was starting his 3rd 1000.  This workout is not particularly hard, just long.  We ran 8 x 1000m at HMP or faster, with 400m active recoveries with no stopping.  It ends up being about 5 miles worth of tempo pace but the 400s break it up so it is not too taxing on the body.  At this point it's all about keeping the workouts fairly easy.   Ran easy back to the annex for a bit over 10 miles total.  

I am in denial at this point that Boston is less than 2 1/2 weeks out.  

1000m intervals @ tempo ish pace with 400m recoveries around 8:10 pace

3:59 (6:24 pace)

3:58 (6:24 pace)

3:53 (6:14 pace)

3:54 (6:16 pace)

3:51 (6:11 pace)

3:47 (6:05 pace)

3:50 (6:10 pace)

3:37 (5:49 pace)

5 recovery miles at lunch time. Warm and humid - stayed on the trail.

14-15 on tap for tomorrow.

Close to 70 degrees, muggy start.  The group took off at 6 am, Mike and I ran a half mile down the opposite direction on the trail so that we would get in 15 miles.  I had run a half mile before the start.  

The course was Expo hills, Mt. Bonnel, Scenic, Enfield hills, then finish on the trail.  

I had a crappy run, nothing in my legs the last couple miles, Mike took off with 4 miles to go and I couldn't stay with him.  It was miserable, I am actually quite depressed.  I thought I would be feeling good around now in the training cycle but I feel worse. I couldn't generate any leg speed for the life of me - no strength, nothing... Not sure what to make if it all. 

I came home and slept for an  hour and a half. 

Next training cycle I am sticking to what has worked for me.  I feel like I just want to get through Boston and take some time off.  Hopefully, I will cheer up later today.

9:09, 8:34, 7:49, 7:44, 7:26, 7:16, 7:13, 7:43, 7:24, 7:06, 7:21, 7:22, 6:55, 7:11, 7:28, .5 @ 7:02.   7:30 AP.

70 degrees and high humidity.  Fun stuff.

Got to the annex early and did a warm up on the trail and then met Russ and Mike at the annex.  Sticking to the trail all this week.  The main Boston group was doing the 10 mile fartlek with MGP, HMGP, 10k pace, etc.

Mike didn't want to do that - he thinks it is too strenuous at this point.  So we did 8 miles on the trail and with 4 miles to do started a 12 x 1 fartlek with 1 minute easy in between.  Our easy bits were low 7:00's which may not seem hard except that our fast minutes were 5:45-6:05 paces.  Let's just say I was glad we were done when we hit number 12.  I finished the last 3/4 @ slightly faster than MGP (6:30 pace) to get a feel for running tired.  The heat is definitely taking some getting used to.

Lunchtime - 45 minute spinning - good solid effort.  Get the blood flowing and loosen up the hips a bit.  Felt pretty good afterward.

Had a deep tissue massage from Kip - the Kenyan marathoner.  He gave me some crazy advice.  My favorite was this:  Wake up at 4:00 am on Saturday - don't eat anything - go for a 12 mile run.  Come home, shower, eat, go back to sleep.  Wake up in a couple hours, go for another 12 mile run.  Come home, take it easy all day.  Go out at 5 pm for another 12 mile run.  Maybe if I was single I might try this one time.  He did finally say one could start doing this with going for time and not mileage, and don't wear a Garmin, and go out on a route you have never been on before.  So go out for an hour, repeat 2 more times.  No wonder the Kenyan's dominate the sport.

5 easy on the trail at lunchtime.  Warm and sunny - no watch.  Legs are feeling a bit better.

Warm and muggy.  It felt a bit cooler than it actually was.  1.5 miles easy and then met Russ and Mike.  The rest of the group was running Yasso 800's.  It's a good track workout, but I don't really get anything else from it.  I know I can go run 2:50's and I also know I can't run a 2:50 marathon, so in that regard it really doesn't tell me much.  

We decided to continue with the taper and healing and instead run the 7 mile trail loop with 3 miles progressive and one mile cool down with 10 second strides on and off on the last half mile. 

I don't have my Garmin in front of me but we ran low 7:00's for the warm-up and then 6:50, 6:40, 6:30 ish on the trail.  The effort was there even if the pace doesn't reflect it.

Looks like I will put in a whopping 38 miles this week.  

45 minutes spinning at lunchtime, solid effort.

Met Kevin for an easy run.  I haven't seen him in ages so it was good to catch up.  I didn't have my Garmin but he said we had run 44 minutes when we parted ways.  This was his neighborhood and he gave me a couple directions, but of course I took a wrong turn and ended running up Talleyran, a rather long and steep hill.  55 minutes total running.  I'll put down 6.5, could have been closer 7.

68 degrees and humid.  We decided to start late today, 6:30, which was a nice change.  Unfortunately, there was some dog walk that they shut down the streets for.  So I had to park about 1/2 a mile way and then run to the annex.  I saw the main group leave and Russ and Mike were no where to be found.  Finally Russ showed up and Gilbert, our coach, told us to run with him.  Mike was nowhere to be found so we went.  We ended up running the entire run with Gilbert which was awesome.  He told us some great running stories along the way - it made time fly.  4 MGP miles at the end - my legs felt the best they have in a while.   

MGP miles on the trail:  6:50, 6:43, 6:36, 6:43.

sunny, 80, 4.1 miles around the trail at lunchtime.  7:35 AP.

60 degrees and a bit on the humid side.  Really a wonderful morning for a run.

Somehow I let myself get talked into this, but I knew it would be good for me mentally and to keep the legs from getting stale.  So I got my last sports massage on Sunday and Kip said I should do this workout.  He has won the Cowtown marathon so who was I to argue.  I was already planning on 400's but not 10 of them.  But the gist of the workout was this.  10 x 400 with 10 push-ups after every 400 with a 100 m walking recovery, then 100 sit ups and 5 x 200m with same recovery.

I met Kip at the track at 6am after warming up from RunTex, Kip had run 5 miles from his house.

We ran the 400s with each of us alternating the lead. We kept the pace sane and didn't push too much, no need at this point with only 6 days until the marathon. 

10 x 400 1:23 to 1:20's with 1:17 last one with 10 push-ups after each repeat.

100 sit-ups

5 x 200m :39 down to :34 for the last one.

Cool down back to RunTex.

Looks like it will be on the warm side at Boston.

Nice morning, 2 easy out and 2 back.  I pretty much have everything ready for the trip.  I haven't had much time to think about it since work has been quite busy.  I am sure it will start to sink in on the plane ride up.

To run tomorrow or not?  I will probably skip and run easy on Friday and that will be it.

Was at the Serengeti resort with the family.  Went for a quick 4 mile run - 80 degrees, high humidity - 7:30's .  Up at 5:50 am for 1:40 hour drive to the Austin airport to catch the flight to Boston. 

Aussie carb load run.  1 mile warm-up and then 1000m in 3:35 followed by lots of carbs. :-)

Hit a new trail today.  It is down by Bull Creek where we have been taking the kids during the evenings.  I had to turn around at dead ends a couple times and complete a couple stream crossings, but it was a solid 5 miles on a great crisp morning.  After coming out of the trail head I ran a quarter mile down the road to another small trail loop and added a mile and then back to the car.  Low 6's on the last mile.  Legs feel pretty good - a bit of tingling later when I got home.  

Back to the basics for this chap.  Nice cool morning, slept in until 7:00 then 2 miles easy followed by 10 x 400 @ the local middle school track.  1 minute rest in between.

10 x 400  1:18, 1:19, 1:19, 1:16, 1:17, 1:16, 1:17, 1:18, 1:18, 1:19. 

Legs got a bit tired on the last on so I decided not to push 2 more or add any 200m repeats.  Heart rate was maxed out on the last 2 - I can tell I really missed running the repeats leading up to Boston.  I won't leave this component out of my training ever again.  I used to be able to run 16 of these at this speed.

Got sucked into an all day conference that I had not planned on, but it

got out early.  I was able to hit the gym on the way back for 5 easy on

the indoor track.  Followed by a good foam roller and stretching

session.

2 miles warm up followed by 3 miles at "short tempo" pace, which means "around" 10k pace, followed by 2 miles @ 7:20 pace.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the paces in the history on my Garmin.  I thought I ran these miles a bit slower.  I did stop at 1.5 miles for a 30 second stop at the water faucet.  The plan for next time is to do this without any stop, however brief.

Tempo miles:   6:12, 6:02, 6:05

Met up with the group this morning.  It was warm and humid.  We ran the trail with 3 x (3,2,1 hard with 1 minute recoveries in between.)  For some reason this was harder than my 3 mile tempo on Tuesday.  It could be the trail and the heat.  I do know that by the third set I trailed off of the lead group - I couldn't hang.  I definitely have a lot of work to do to get back to where I need to be.

3 x (3 min hard, 1 minute recovery, 2 min hard, 1 min recovery, 1 min hard, 1 min recovery)

Times of hard minutes ranged from 6:12 to 5:52.

68 degrees, muggy - 5:30 am.

7 mile recovery, no watch, probably ran it a bit faster than needed.  Took the hilly route on the way back.

70 degrees and humid.  This will be the conditions for the next 6 months!

Met up with the group at the annex.  I thought I was going to stick to the trail but after using the port-a-potty the only person was Mike.  We ran a couple easy and then followed the group route into the hills.  Yikes, it was Boston all over again.  We took it nice and easy on the inclines though.  8:50, 7:30, 7:26, 7:20, 7:38, 7:19, 7:04, 7:20, 6:59, 7:14, .5 @ 6:45.  My legs could feel it on the last mile.  3 speed work this past week caught up with me.

7 easy pace - out and back from the house.  73 degrees at 5:30 am and humid.  

Met up with the group at the annex.  They were doing circuit and I initially thought about skipping and doing something else.  I am glad I tagged along.  

2.7 miles warm-up followed by circuit:

4 x (15 step ups per leg, 15 lunges per leg, 30 squats) 

200m run to the other side of the track:

3 x (15 push ups, 15 supermans, 15 crunches)

200m run to the other side of the track, repeat.  W

We only had 15 minutes to complete as many as we could, I got to 4 times the first set and only 3 times the second set before we ran out of time.

Then 15 minutes of various plyometric stuff, and then core.

2.7 miles back.  I decided to run 30 seconds hard and 30 seconds slower to the end. I got 15 of these in with burst up into the 5:00's.  Once back I went out for an easy recovery mile out and back. 

8 around the trail at 9 am - mid 70's and sunny during parts, 7:50 AP.

Legs are incredibly sore from yesterday.   Just goes to show you that lots of miles does not strengthen the legs.  I need to start doing more resistance training like I used to do.  I definitely felt stronger during those times.

Nice dip in the springs afterward. 

74 degrees and humid at 5:45 am. I still had significant DOMS from Tuesday's workout. Met up with the group for a 4 mile progressive run on the trail.  The coach told us to start at 10k pace and finish the last mile at 5k pace.  I am not sure what he was on.  The temp alone was going to make that nearly impossible and we were running on the trail which is a 15 second handicap.  

I decided to run more like 1/2 marathon pace effort and progress down from there.  I actually wanted to finish this workout and not die with one mile to go.  Turns out most of the runners either slowed down considerably or quit at mile 3.  This was a good mental test just to push through and finish.

I was happy that I stuck to the intent and finished strong: 6:43, 6:35, 6:25, 6:10.

Ran a cool down mile out and back, doing 4 bursts on strides on the half mile coming back in.

5 easy miles at the gym followed by some rolling, hot tub and steam room.  Not a bad way to start the day.

This is my annual 5k race.  I was really unsure how this would all turn out.  Though I shoved a bit of speed in to my week last week I really have not been training for the distance.  When I was filling out the registration this morning I really thought about not doing it at all.  It was 75 at 7 am, so by race start it was probably 78, super high humidity, and strong winds - enough to straighten out the flags.  In the end I decided why not, I could turn it into a workout.

I met up with a couple buddies from the running club.  We did a couple warm up miles and then some strides.  I was already hot and the heart rate was high.  Not a good sign I thought.  We ended up standing around for a long time, I thought the race started at 7:45 but it was 8:15.  The kid's K was 7:45.  Anyway, I did some more bursts 5 minutes before the race.

Anyway, the gun went off and I was passing people left and right.  5:45 for the first mile - it flew by.  I did not know whether I would blow up or not but I had ideas of greatness in breaking 18:00.  The next mile has a slight hill - 5:52 - definitely going to PR I thought.  The last mile was hard, no doubt.  By this time the heat is catching up with me and my legs are screaming for me to stop.  I lost a few here - 5:58.  I turned the corner and started picking it up a bit and pushing - .1 @ 5:43.  I saw the clock and was really disappointed.  I thought for sure I had a PR but the clock said 18:30 but I was not sure what my chip time would be.  It turned out to only be 4 seconds. 

I finished 22 out of over 936 timed runners and won my AG, which entitled me to an nice wooden fish award and a free meal for 2 at Chuy's.  So all and all I am pretty happy.  On a cooler day I feel like could have PR'd, and with training I will get that elusive sub 18:00.

Met up with Mike and Dan at the annex for 12 miles - Scenic route out and back.  Gentle rain the entire run which was great.

4.25 miles easy on the trail - 7:30's - followed by circuit and core - followed by 3.8 with last 2 miles 30 sec hard and 30 sec recovery.

I started my new job on Monday and it is downtown.  The good news is that it is 3 blocks away from the Town Lake trail!  I went out at lunchtime for a 7.5 mile run.  It was low 70's but the humidity must have been at 100%.  Otherwise a nice run.  Yes, we have showers at the office. :-)

70 degrees - high humidity.

Met up at the annex - the main group did Fartleks and a sub group of us went to Austin High to run 400's.  Why?  Well, we are planning on running the Congress Avenue Mile race next week.  I have never run a mile all out before so it should be fun.  I have not trained properly for it but we will see what I can do.  The calculators say around 5:15 and I think that might be doable if I can tolerate the pain.

1.7 mile warm up followed by 10 x 400. 

5 x 400m with 200m active recovery followed by 3 minute rest (1:23-1:20's)

5 x 400m with 200m active recovery followed by 2 minute rest (1:17-1:20's)

5 x 200 m with 100m walking recoveries.  (:35-:33's)

1.7 mile cool down followed by stretching, a few lunges, pull ups and pushups.