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

First run in over a week - decided to do the Black Eye'd Pea run - it's an informal run put on by a local running group.  The run is a point-to-point from up north to downtown.  There was a really big turn out - there must have been 300 hundred runners at least.  I ended up running with a couple guys from another group that I trained with and we pretty much ran together until mile 8 or 9 when I took off a bit.  

This wasn't a race by any means and I really didn't run it all that fast - the last two miles were hard on the legs though and I was still fighting the last remainder of the flu or whatever I have.  I was glad to be done.

At the finish they had black eye'd peas, a keg of good beer, coffee, etc.  It was a great way to start the year!

6 easy miles - legs a bit sore from that hilly run yesterday.  I had planned to go downtown an do a 6 mile mgp tempo with some other runners but decided an easy run was in order.  

5 very easy at lunchtime.  

5 easy miles at the gym followed by some core.

Point to point course.  Nice weather for running.  I didn't arrange to run with anyone, but just showed up at the 14.5 mile starting point.  A couple groups came but no one in my pace range. So I took off.  Of course, afterward, I found out a group that I could have run with arrived about 5 minutes later.  Oh well.

Solid effort - low 7:00's with the last 4 sub 7:00.

took the day off.

Too cold this morning so found a couple guys running the 10 mile MGP run after work.  After some mix up at the meeting point I saw the guys take off on the trail so I had to play catch up for a couple miles.  I did OK until about 3 miles to go.  Slowed down quite a bit.  I really feel out of shape.  7:23, 6:42, 6:46, 7:02, 6:55, 7:11, 6:53, 6:54, 7:10, 7:10, . 5 @ 7:07.  .5 warm up and cool down.

Is it possible for cornea's to freeze?  Towards the end I couldn't see well and was blinded by on coming traffic, and my corneas felt scratchy.  I wonder if that is due to the cold wind?  It took about 30 minutes after the run before my eyesight was normal.  Strange!

Recovery run of 6 miles in 51 minutes at lunch time.

About 6.25 in 50 minutes during lunchtime.  Nice and misty but no real rain.

Showed up and saw a big group leaving.  So I hurried up to meet them a Zilker as 2ks were on the scheduled.  Unfortunately, Zilker is still closed!  So I have no idea what the group ended up doing so I decided to run 10 miles as my legs were still a bit sore.  Turned it into a progressive run with last mile down to 6:30.  Even that felt hard.  Maybe I am getting old?

Got a big promotion at work = more stress = less than stellar running, most likely.  At least personally I notice a big correlation between stress and the quality of running.

5.5 recovery miles at lunchtime.

Nice and easy for the first few before picking it up ever so slightly.  Longest run in a while so more concerned with getting the legs used to the mileage than anything else.

16.5 long run up to Mt. Bonnel and back.  3 @ MGP between 9 and 12 and then backed off a bit to finish it off.  52 degrees at the start - it was a perfect running weather day.

6 strides at the end.

Met up with a couple guys and ran 8 on the trail.  Beautiful morning!

Big issue at work when I woke up at 5:30 so only had time for 4 this morning, then went out at lunch at ran 6 with 5 @ MGP.  

Lunchtime miles 8:18 first mile, 6:19 last mile.  

Went out for my lunchtime run - 70 degrees but only 20% humidity - pretty nice running weather.  On my way to the trail loop I decided I would do some fartleks to stress the top end a bit.  Only did some MGP yesterday and don't have 1000's until Thursday so I figured it would be a good time.  2 plus miles warm up and then I ran hard on the half of the loop that is crushed granite and recovered on the rocky part through the woods.  Worked out pretty well.

.26 @ 6:14 pace, 2 min easy, .27 @ 5:57 pace, 1:47 min easy, .30 @ 5:50 pace, 1:49 min easy, .30 in 1:44 (5:46 pace), 1:53 min easy, .30 in 1:45 (5:50 pace), 1:57 min easy, .29 in 1:44 (5:54 pace), 1:56 min easy, .30 in 1:42 (5:40 pace).

1.5 cool down.

recovery run on the trail.

Met up with the group for 1000's.  A lot of people are running the 3M half marathon and went off to run Fartleks.  So we had a pretty small group going to the track.

Objective was to run 6 x 1000 @ 10 k pace.  The first one was very slow but it was a good start, held the next 4 right where they should be, and the coach said to drop it on the last one so I did.  There were 3 of us but on the 4th we started running with another group of 3.  It's good to know everyone is suffering a little bit. :-)

2 mile warm up followed by 6 x 1000 with 300m recovery, then some strides on the track and cool down on the trail.

1000 @ 4:05 (6:34 pace)

1000 @ 3:46 (6:03 pace)

1000 @ 3:45 (6:02 pace)

1000 @ 3:46

1000 @ 3:45

1000 @ 3:24 (5:28 pace)  this one hurt a bit!! 

6 x 100m @ 17 seconds with 100m recovery in between. 

3 miles easy back to the car.

5 nice and slow during lunchtime.

Supposed to meet the group at 6:00 and I got there 5 minutes late.  Had to start off at a good clip in an attempt to catch them.  My watch died at mile 2.  :-(

Caught up with the fast group early - they must have left a couple minutes before I got there.  We were running 7:10 pace on Expo - not what I wanted.  I finally caught up to a couple runners  I wanted to run with at mile 5 or so.  We slowed it down to the 7:50's.  Picket it up on the last 3 - MGP or better from the feel of things.  

The last 2 miles were very cold - the sun had come up and that seems to cool things down initially.  I had taken my gloves off earlier because my hands were too warm, and by the time I finished my hands felt frozen.  

Drove down to mile 12 of the 3M half marathon to cheer on my friends.  Got there a bit late but managed to see quite a few people come through.  Weather could not have been better that's for sure.

Went to the gym - 5 x 1 mile recovery on the indoor track with core in between each mile.

The coach has a 10 mile MPG run on the calendar for every other Monday.  I didn't want to drive downtown to meet the group so I decided to run this on my own.  

1 mile warm up followed by 10 miles - (7:22, 7:00, 6:51, 6:57, 6:50, 6:50, 6:51, 6:46, 6:34, 6:32) AP 6:51.  I miscalclated my "out" miles so I had to run a mile after I went by the house.  Not fun!  

.5 cooldown walk/jog back to the house.

No watch but ran over 4 per my normal route in the morning, then a bit over 4 after work around the trail.  Easy, easy miles.

easy miles at lunchtime.

Easy mile then met up with the group for 2ks at Zilker. 

Total 3 miles warm up followed by 5 x 2k @ 10k pace with 2 min recoveries.  I had to really talk myself into that 5th one!  We just beat the front as well - the cold wind really had picked up on the way back.

These felt pretty good - wasn't struggling too much aerobically - legs were getting a bit tired half way through number 5 thougjh.

1.25 miles in 7:40 (6:08 pace)

1.27 miles in 7:37 (5:59 pace)

1.27 miles in 7:38 (6:00 pace)

1.27 miles in 7:38 (6:00 pace)

1.26 miles in 7:36 (6:01 pace)

2 miles cool down.

4.5 easy recovery on the grass and trail.  40% increase in miles in 3 weeks so keeping things easy.

Met up with the group - 28 degrees out so it was pretty chilly for us down here - fortunately no wind!  I was a little bit late getting there as I had to find my running tights this morning - buried at the bottom of the laundry basket, of course.

Super easy run today - tyring to run these long runs a bit easier, esp. with the bump in miles - and this is my longest run in quite some time as well - but willing to pick up the pace on the last 3-4 miles.  Ran a good portion of the Austin marathon course- climb, desent, climb, desent.  

8:43, 8:27, 8:07, 7:48, 7:42, 7:35, 7:37, 7:47, 7:42, 7:38, 7:38, 7:37, 7:29, 7:00, 6:48, 6:37, 6:46, 6:33.

7:30 AP

6 strides at 5:40ish pace after the run.

Met up with a couple guys for 8 easy on the trail.  Fantastic morning.

Well, tomorrow looks like another chance of sleet, cold and high winds.  So firgured I would get in a good run before.  

12 miles - somewhat progressive - but most miles in the 7:30's - taking it somewhat easy.

Only enough time today for a quick run after work.  Ran to the trail loop near the office - on the 3rd lap I picked it up for 200m to about 10k to 1/2 pace.  No watch but that's what it felt like.  Repeated this for 4 more times one each loop - just enough to touch that pace and get in a bit of turnover without too much strain - also makes a boring run a bit more fun!

Easy run at lunchtime - 7:40's-50's.  Nice day out, sunny and cool!  

Met up with the group for 800's.  Running up to the store my knee started bothering.  I had PT yesterday to work on a heell issue and my knee has been perfectly fine up to this morning.  I think I need to go get my money back from them!

Anyway, I was hoping the warm up would loosen things up and the pain would subside.  And it did for the most part.  Only a tiny bit of soreness so I carried on.  I probably need a day off.  I haven't had one in a while.  

Anyway, 3.38 miles warm-up followed by 9 x 800m with 2 min light recovery jog in between.

Coach said to run these at marathon goal time - 6-8 seconds - so for 3 hour marathon that would mean 2:52-2:54 800m.  Well, the group I ran with had a vocal leader who wanted to go easy on these - and they felt pretty easy until the last 2 when I picked it up.  In retrospect we should have been sub 3 for all of these - hanging around 2:55 or below would have been ideal.  

800m - 3:05

800m - 3:02

800m - 2:59

800m - 2:59

800m - 2:55 (I paced this one :-))

800m - 2:58

800m - 2:54

800m - 2:44

800m - 2:47 (bonus 800 that I ran on my own)

2 miles cool down.  

30 minutes spinning and the 60 minutes spinning class.  Some light core work after.

Early morning spinning class at the gym.

Early spinning class.

Saw the PT today - the knee was a mystery to her - she poked on a spot and I jumped through the roof - so I had to see the Dr. again.  My kneecap was "stuck" - I didn't realize one could push the kneecap back and forth, up and down. He thinks it is related to all the other issues on that leg - sciatic and heel pain - and said no need for X-ray or MRI.  He did say it could be 4-6 weeks before running normally again.  Anyway, felt better when he got it to move again.  So the PT worked on me a bit and did some other exercises.  

I think I did something this day, but can't remember exactly.  Guess I need to get back to daily blogging. 

Spinning after work - 60 min class plus time before .. can't remember how long.

Went downtown to the Y for early spinning class - I could see the running group go by while I was on the bike - bummed.

15 mins spinning before class and 15 after plus 60 minute class.  Did some core work after.

Schools cancelled for cold weathter!  Well, there was going to be ice so I didn't wake up for the early spinning class - I should have because nothing materialized.  Only had time for 45 minuites spinning at the gym at lunchtime.  

Got to the gym 50 minutes before the spinning class (this is required on Saturday mornings as it fills up fast) jumped on the bike and did 50 mins plus the 60 min class.  Not even close to a 20 mile run but trying to keep the aerobic system in tact.

80 mins on the elliptical at the gym - the Olympics were on so it made time go quickly.  Did some core after.  Tried to run around the indoor track and made it 50 feet before stopping.  I can walk, bike and do the elliptical with no problem - but running is out.

60 mins spinning and 40 mins eliptical at lunch.

Elliptical at lunchtime.

45 mins elliptical.

Had my first Arrosti appointment yesterday.  The Dr. gave me hope - she was able to get in and manipulate the knee tissues and made it feel much much better.  

Today I did 80 mins spinning and then tried a mile on the treadmill, that went really well.  

Also picked up a pair of Hoka One One's on clearance and those seemed to help as well. 

Went out at lunctime for 2.5 miles on the trail but by the second mile the knee was hurting.  The good thing is that it didn't hurt when I stopped running and started walking.  Small steps.

3 miles on the indoor track - good until the end of mile 2 - then a bit of pain but got another mile.  Then 95 minutes spinning.

Went to the gym in the evening as I went out this morning to see my wife finish her first half - so that was pretty exciting.

Ran 6 miles on the indoor track - felt pretty good considering how it has been going.  Some minor pain but really happy that I could run 6 - hopefully I am back up to speed soon.

6 miles and that was about 5 too many.  Probably pushed it by trying to run today.  Lots of pain.

40 mins spinning at lunchtime.

90 mins spin and elliptical.

20 mins spin and then weights and core.

1 hour 45 mins spinning and 15 mins ellptical.   

Broke down and bought some shoes for spinning.  60 minutes this morning - hard class.

3 mile run on the indoor track followed 40 mins spinning and the 60 minute spinning class.

Run went ok and I stopped before there was any pain.

Took the kids to the Marathon Kid's finish celebration.  It's a program that started here in Austin where kids have a few months to complete 26 miles.  So it's pretty neat for them to run the victory lap and get a medal at the end.

60 mins spinning plus 1 mile run.  

3 mile run - 60 mins spinning - 1 mile run.  Knee felt pretty good.  Taking it slowly this time.

squeezed in 30 mins spinning.  worked hard due to limited time.

5 at lunchtime.  I was good until about mile 4.  Last mile hurt but stragely enough no issues walking around later.  

However, I will probably cancel my hotel room - this weekend is the last weekend to cancel before I have to pay a full night's rate to cancel.  I just don't see this getting better enough in time to run Boston, if I can't even get through four miles.

Spinning and elliptical again.

3.5 miles on the treadmill at the hote (in Lima this week).  No pain.

4 miles on the treadmill again.  Feels good but don't want to push it.

4 miles again on the treadmill - feeling good so far.

Back in Austin - 3.5 on the indoor track - hurt a bit at the end so backed off.

25 mins elliptical - plus 70 mins spinning - plus 1 fast mile on the indoor track.  Felt good.

5 miles on the indoor track - knee held up but the muscle above got a bit sore.  Going to go for every other day this week.  Still have not given up complete hope on toeing up at the starting line for Boston.

60 minutes spinning plus 2 miles on the indoor track.

longest no pain run in a while - 6 miles at lunchtime pain free.  Fingers crossed this is not false hope.

65 mins spinning and 2 easy miles on the treadmill in the am.

Good strength training session at lunch time.

Yesterday I told my wife if I could go run 10-12 miles today then I would go for Boston.  If not, then it wasn't meant to be.

Since I was sticking to the trail I didn't plan on running with the group or anyone.  I showed up around 6 am, spoke to the coach for a bit, and took off.  

I really didn't know what to expect but by mile 2 my legs were moving and I was feeling really fresh.  By mile 3 I was running 6:55 pace.  I tried not to look at the watch too much and just ran by feel.  Now, I won't lie here as the last 2 miles I started to struggle a bit but managed to keep the pace around 7:00.  For not having any significant running the last four weeks this did not surprise me.  What did surprise me though was the pace I was able to hold without struggling too much cardio wise.

1 warm up and 9.5 miles @ 6:56 AP.

2 miles on the indoor track - 60 minutes spinning class - 1 fast mile on the track.

Calves sore from yesterday but otherwise feel good.  I will try to take it a bit slow coming back and try to maintain a signficant amount of cross training to see how the knee holds up.

10.25 miles in 1:17 - 7:30 AP - nothing too fast today.  I wanted to take it easy and it was.  Hoping to at least be able to requalify at Boston and after this mornings run - all things being equal - that should be doable.  

Right now it is going to be all about getting the legs to a point they can take the beating of 26 miles.  

The plan, therefore, is to get in a 4 medium long runs as well as 4 16-20 milers on the weekend.    Maybe 16- 20 - 20 - 16 - and with some 14 mile medium long runs and a couple tempo runs that should get me to a pretty good place.  5 weeks doesn't give much to work with but I do believe all of the cross training as helped maintain a good level of cardio endurance.  Now just need to get the legs there.

60 mins spinning class.

5 easy after work.

Figured I would attempt a medium long run and see how the knee held up.  Took off from the house and ran the hilly way out including Rain Creek, which I have not run in a very long time, and had no issues getting up that hill.  

Kept the pace super easy for the first 2 miles then down into the 7:40's - 7:30s - still fairly easy - not pushing it too hard since I haven't ran 14 miles in a while - dropped to 6:50's for last mile and quarter.  

14.25 miles in 1:50 7:40 AP.

All in all felt pretty good but I can tell I don't haven't been running much.

May take tomorrow off or cross train and shoot for 18-20 miles on Saturday.  

just had enough time to squeeze in 35 minutes of spinning.  20 miles tomorrow so not running today.

Today was the 10 am start long run that our running group does once before Boston.  It's good to go through the later start and nutrition in the morning.  I woke up around 7 and had 2 packets of oatmeal and some Belvita crackers and coffee.  That was pretty much it. 

Met up with the group and ran with Kevin who is shooting for under 3.  He was going to run 22-24 miles so I ran with him until mile 10 when I turned around.  I didn't think my legs were up to that kind of long run. 

The plan was 10 miles at MGP +60, 5 miles @ MGP + 30, then a couple at MGP+15 and the last 2 at MGP. 

Well when I turned around at 10 my legs felt pretty good and I ran a 6:44 - yikes - too fast!  I was able to slow down to 7:05's +-5 secs and maintain that pace.  Until mile 19 that is - the legs started hurting here and I dropped a 7:25 or something like that. 

When I drove home it was 75 out with 95% humiity - so really given that I am happy with my long run.  Suddenly 3:10 seems possible if my legs hold up.  The cardio seems to be there so I just need to get in a couple more solid medium and long long runs.

80 mins spinning with one fast mile on the indoor track plus some weights.  

8 easy miles.

15.5 progressive run 8:00's to start and 6:35 last mile.  Ran the hills on Rain Creek to between 3 and 6 then came back up Jollyville.  Most miles 7:20's - 7:30's??  AP 7:26.  .25 recovery jog.

Sciatic started complaining just a tad - thinking back I was in these shoes when that cropped up in October.  I guess  I am done with them - that's too bad because they are fast and I needed some shoes with enough cushion for the hills of Boston.  Still don't know what I am going to wear for that.  

Day off - I did nada - nothing - but rest - and  I am happy with that. :-)

Funny morning - like most seem to go when I don't get to the group meet up on time.  I parked at the Y and went in and used the bathroom etc. and didn't see anyone come down the hill - the group meets up the street at a running store.  

Anyway, wasn't sure what I was going to do today.  Hamstring is a bit sore but nothing too terrible - so slow easy run on the trail - or the super fartlek on the trail or on prescribed route.

So I started on the trail with the intent of doing the super fartlek on the road - the hills of Scenic, Pecos and Enfield.  Then I ran up on a couple of runners from the running group and asked them if they were doing the Fartlek - no they said - and it was cancelled so people were going to the track.  Huh.

Now I turn around on the trail and head towards the track, pass it, and then come back as part of a longer warm-up - and I pass one of the faster guys coming back.  I ask him what he is doing and he says he was running the hills but decided to stop as his quads were sore.  Now   I am confused.  So I turn around again and head for the hills.

In the end I finished the workout with 11 miles on my watch.  

Warm up -

Then 10 minutes at HMGP - 6:20 - then 2 minutes rest -

5 mins at HMGP with 1 minute rest x 3 (schedule said @10k pace but with the hills and my recent injuny and somewhat sore legs I figured HGMP was good enough)

Then 1 min HMGP with 1 min easy x 10.  Again schedule said 5k pace but why?  Honestly I was tired - very muggy this moring - and my legs were not feeling it.  I started to add up the minutes and I figured 35 total mins @ HMGP was pretty good - so  I stayed around that pace.

Short easy cool down.  AP for the total 11 miles with easy miles and slow recoveries was 7:10.  

Have not added up the threshold miles but estimate around 5.5 ish.  

5 easy at lunch on the trail.

Point to point starting up north with quite a bit of downhill and then hills on Balcones, Pacos, Enfiled, Expo - then trail before climbing again up Barton Hills - the lollipop loop (more hills) before coming back down Barton Hills, then the trail and finish. 

I arrived early to get 2 miles super easy in before the group started showing up.  The main group had 18 on the schedule and I wanted to get one more 20 miler in. 

Kept it easy first 8 droping down to 7:20-7:40 range with last 10 at MGP.  I started my MPG miles at the begining of the hills on Pecos.  I glanced a few times at my watch and thought I was doing well - but you really never know until after the run.  Climbing that long hill on Barton Hills I thought I was doing 7:30 but the overall mile pace turned out pretty good looking at my watch now.  I don't know if I could run those paces for 26 miles but it's a nice dream.

Finished up with 6 x 100m strides i nthe 5:00's.

10 miles easy followed by

10 MGP - 7:02, 6:49, 6:45, 6:47, 6:49, 6:48, 6:48, 6:44, 6:30, 6:32, .5 @  6:47.

60 miles for the week on 5 days of running - I'll take it.  Probably repeat the same type of workouts this week.

15 minutes easy on the indoor track followed by 75 mins spinning.

4 recovery miles in the am.

4.5 at lunchtime - slow - calves still a bit sore.  Not liking the heat already. ;-)

Should be last medium long run - ran the hills again - this time Lost Horizon to the bottom of Rain Creek - turn left - 1 mile climb all the way up then turn around and back down, then up the other side up to Great Hills - then Jollyville back.  Heartbreak has nothing on the Rain Creek hills.

Pace was sane as calves were a bit sore from Saturday still and didn't see a reason to really push the pace - I just wanted to get some miles in.  

Hot and humid as heck too - close to 70 with 98% humidity.  

50 mins spinning. 

2 miles warm up to the track - most of the group got an early start since this can be a long workout.  The guy I wanted to run with ended going easy on the trail as he is nursing an injury.

So all by myself - 8 x 1000m @ HMGP with 400m run slightly slower in between 1000's.  

It was 73 degrees and 90% humidity at 5:45 am so  I knew this would be a tough one.  Suprisingly, it was my legs more than my cardio that struggled at the end.  I think it is the combo of ramp up in miles, pace and hills coupled with the weights on Tuesday.  

I mananaged without stopping but the 10 I thought I would do ended at 8.  Which was fine as I can feel a bit of the knee issue coming back.  Time to take it easy now.  

2 mile warm up

(8 x 1000's between 6:23 and 6:13 pace)

3 miles cool down.

decided to take a day off to rest the knee.

Wasnt sure if I was going to do this run as it is through the hills again and I didn't want to aggrevate anything.  I figured I would start off with the group and see what happened.  If needed I would keep going on the trail.

In the end it felt good so I ran with the 3:10 group for the easy part up to the bottom of Mt. Bonnell - then we turned around and it was MGP all the way back through the hills on Pecos and then back down to the trail and finish.  My watch died but guessing 6:40's for MGP as I finished well ahead of the 3:10 group and they were running 7:10's.

7 miles this am with Kevin in the neighborhood.  Slow and easy.

5 miles on the trail at lunchtime.  

Was going to meet up with the group for Super Fartlek day, but turned off alarm instead of hitting snooze - so I woke up at 5:30 - too late to meet the group.

I decided to run a 10 mile MGP run in the neighborhood and I must say this has been the best that I have run this - still can't see running this for 26 miles but it felt pretty good.  48 degrees helped, too.

1.25 mile warm up then

6:52, 6:56, 6:49, 6:53, 6:55, 6:48, 6:47, 6:42, 6:55, 6:20

1 mile cooldown with 3 x 1 min @ 5k pace.

Had issues with my garmin so had to dig out the old garmin.  I have to turn it on with the tip of a pen because the rubber button is gone.  But it works.  However, this means I can't get the light to turn on so I had to wear a head lamp.  This set me back about 20 minutes in getting out of the house this morning.

Anyway - 2 miles warm up and then 4 @ MGP (6:50 AP) and then 4 x 1 mile @ LT pace with short recoveries in between.  These miles were 6:20's.  

1.5 miles cool down back to the house.  

The weather was deceptive - it seemed cool with the wind but it wasn't - 98% humidity and 60 degrees.  But I survived.  Legs were a bit fatigued by mile 4 for sure.  It will be interesting to see what happens at the marathon.  I haven't raced any races since last year at Boston.  Hard to believe.

5.5 on the Town Lake trail.  Legs were a bit sore from yesterday.

Pretty warm and muggy - just 10.5 with the last couple at or close to MGP.  My watch was giving me fits so I left it at home.

2 days complete rest - trying a hard taper - I might hit 20 miles this week.

40 degrees in Austin in April?????!!

Supposed to be an easy run with 3k@MGP but I thought I would make it 3 miles @ MGP and then, of course, I really couldn't slow back down on the last mile so it ended up being 4 miles.

1 mile warm up with 4 @ MGP and 6 x 100 m strides at 5k pace.

6:45 pace felt challenging, cruised at 6:58 pace - may be a telling sign.

5.5 easy at lunchtime.  

5.5 easy at lunchtime with some pick ups towards the end.

Aussie carb load - 1.5 miles easy followed by 2.5 mins hard, 30 seconds all out, followed by 700-800 grams of carbs today.

This pretty much sums up Boston for me:

2.5 mile walk at lunchtime.

3 mile walk at lunchtime.

3 mile walk at lunchtime.

4 miles on the trail and lunch with a half mile walking stint in there somewhere.  Legs felt pretty beat up!

5 easy in the am - woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.  Legs are feeling better.  Pretty hot out there!

5 miles early - not watch but problaby ran too fast.

Core workout at the gym duriing lunch time.

Enjoying the nice weather - 5 at lunchtime - no watch but pretty good clip.

With these cool mornings I HAVE to get out early and run.  They won't last much longer!

Parked at the Y on Town Lake - as soon as I came up on the trail Mike Woo was running by - I mean at the exact moment.  Not planned at all.  We ran together for 3 miles and talked about Boston the whole time.  Nice surprise.

Ended up with 6 miles total.  No watch.

Thinking of a 5k on Saturday - I run it almost every year and this year is the last time they are running it.  

Decided to run this race on Thursday.  This is the last time they are going to run this race after 30 years - it's a shame.  Not only that, but the weather was predicted to be in high 50's - low - 60's with very little humidity.  Probably the best conditions that I have seen for this race.  It's usually 70's and 80% humidity.

I had very low expectations for this race - looking at the pace calculators I figured it would take a miracle to run below an 18:20.  Coming off a marathon 2 weeks ago my legs still didn't feel fully recovered as late as Wednesday this week.  That and the lack or proper marathon training and zero work below threshold pace - I wasn't expecting much.  In fact, I just didn't want to look too bad and was hoping for at least sub 19.  

I got there early so I could register and then went off for an easy mile.  I wanted to scope out the finish again to see how long it took to get to the finish after turning the final corner.  It seemed far.  :-)  

I met another runner and we went off for another easy two miles - this time on the course - the first mile is an ever so gradual incline and then shortly after the first mile there is a right turn into a neighborhood and that is the last any hill - there rest is flat an a every so slight down on the last mile.

I saw Sam at the start and he was going to try to break 18:00.  I figured I couldn't hang but decided to try to keep him in my sights and see how I felt.

The gun goes off and I am running 5:40 after a short while and it doesn't feel that bad.  I see Sam about 40 feet ahead and decide to trail him.  My watch goes off a bit before the mile marker and shows 5:45.  Not bad.  But not sure what's off - my watch or the marker.  

It's getting harder, of course, but I make it to mile 2 - again the watch goes off a bit early - and shows 5:51.  

Now I am thinking I can actually run a pretty good time if I can hold things together.  Honestly, after running seeing 26 mile markers 2 weeks ago the thought of mile seeeing 3 and then finishishing makes the pain more berable.  

At this point I don't know what my pace is but I am holding on to the guy in front, slowly gaining ground.  But I can't catch him.  Sam is about 50-75 feet in front - I can see him but no way I can catch him.

The last turn is into a shopping parking lot - lots of trees and you can't see the finish until a final curve.  But I glimpse it and hang on while trying to push.  

I hit stop on my watch but don't see until later that it didn't take.  So I don't know what my time is.  Sam says he ran 18:13 and it seemed like I was right behind - maybe 7-10 seconds.  

Well, the timing system has issues and a lot of runners are not even in the results.  My bib # in the system shows 18:25 and I am a bit dissapointed as I thought I got under 18:20.  I think this course ran a bit long and over heard the timing guys at the start saying it's wasn't certified.  Sure wish I would have hit stop on my watch. 

My watch shows the last mile at 5:57 so I slowed down at the end.  Hey, without training for a 5k I managed a pretty good time, only 20 seconds off my PR when I was in top shape.  Makes me wonder why I am not training and running 5ks which seem to be my strength, and instead doing these marathons for which my body is not really meant for.  I see no reason I couldn't get into 17:50's with the proper training.  Could be a good fall plan if I dont' get into St. George. ;-)

Went out for an evening run as my wife took the morning to do her Tri race.

Someone I lost count of the miles and did over 7 instead of the 6 planned.  Oh well. 

7:30's.

5 easy in the evening - it's all I had time for.

5.5 easy at lunchtime.

Oh Fartlek - why do you hate me so?  76 degrees at 5:45 am and high humidity.

10 x 1 min hard with 1 min recovery.  This would be easy, right?  Wow, for some reason these are always hard for me.

Warmed up for 3 plus miles then we started - averaged around 10k pace with a couple just under 6 min mile pace, coach came along and ran the last 6 with us which was cool - but my legs kind of lost it after the last one and I slowed down a bit and let the group go on the cool down.  Maybe still feeling it from the 5k?  Not sure.  

oh well, I have a base line now so we will see how these go in the future - seems there is a fartlek on the schedule at least once a week.

6 miles in the am before work.

Too much going on today - no run.

Got out early while everyone was still sleeping.  Decided to run a progressive with a could of faster miles at the end.  We are going to start running these on Saturday and I want to get used to it.  I didn't wan't to kill myself but thought a mile between 5k and 10k pace would be good for finish.

5 miles at 7:20-7:30 pace, then 6:40 and 6:08 then was going to run a cool down but that ended up being 6:40 just because it felt easy after that 6:00 mile.  

Then ran 5 steep hill sprints and 1 x 100m stride for some quick turnover.

Spoke to the coach on Friday for about 20 mintues - if I don't get into St. George we are going to shoot for 17:40 ish 5 k in September.  It's going to be a lot of painful workouts to get there. :-)

May try to get into Houston 2015.  

6 easy around 8 min pace.

Oh yeah - this just in:  (so much for my 5k PR this fall ;-))

Decided to ease myself into LT pace work and continue to work on the faster stuff this training cycle vs the tons of base I did last summer, and well, I have a marathon I need to start getting ready for.  I will conitinue to push the distance of these over time.  

Fortunately the storms had stopped around the time I woke up.

3 miles warm up followed by 4 miles at LT and then 2.5 back to the house.  I was going to break it up into 2 x 2 but kept going to 3, took 90 sec break and finished the 4th.  

3 miles around 7:40 pace

4 @ LT pace - 6:18, 6:20. 6:11, 90 seconds recovery, 6:18.

2.5 easy back to the house.  

Nice and cool morning - 57 degrees/ 98% humidity.  

Finding a new affinity for those fastwich shoes. 

Met up with the group for some track work.  Ran easy mile to the track followed by drills.

My legs hurt bad from the torture personal training session I had on Tuesday.  That was 30 mins of some of the hardest leg stuff I have done.  I woke up today and wondered how on earth I was going to run as I hobbled out of bed.  But I digress ...

Today was 2 sets of 1200, 800, 400 with 2 mins recoveries.  

I jumped in with the first group as it was all runners I have run with before.

These felt good - the last 400 hurt a bit and I was stuck behind a larger group that had taken off before us, but managed to get through them and hammer out a good final 100m.

Splits:

1200 - 4:14 (5:40)

800 - 2:44 (5:29)

400 - 1:18 (5:21)

1200 - 4:12 (5:37)

800 - 2:40 (5:21)

400 - 1:09 (4:37)

Took the long way back for 3 + miles.

Overall pretty happy with my splits.  Legs very sore though.  lol.

5.5 at lunchtime - sunny and 79 but low humidity - nice.

Did 4 x 45 sec - 1 min pick ups on the last mile for turn over.

Met up with Gilbert and some others for a 10 mile progressive run on the trail.  We started a 7 am.  This was a lot tougher than I thought it would be, but the around mile 7 my legs felt like mile 24 at a marathon.  Some runners fell off completely so I felt OK. I did hit the legs pretty hard this week so I should not be surprised.  Nothing to push on those last 2 and just held on.

Had to make an emergency stop between 6-7 and then got water at mile 9.  

Finished with 4 hard strides.

8:12, 7:42, 7:04, 6:51, 6:47, 6:32, 6:36, 6:37, 6:48, 6:43. @.75 cooldown.

Went to the gym because I needed to get some strenght training in.

20 mins spinning to get some blood flowing and then 45 mins super easy on the indoor track.  Legs feel very beat up.

Did some core and upper body work after.

45 minutes easy at lunchtime - no watch but going to approximate.  

Fairly nice morning - 60's with a stiff breeze, but it didn't seem like the humidity was too bad.

3 mile warm up and then 3 x 3-2-1 with 1 min recoveries between each.  Messed around getting everything into my Garmin and then when I hit start it said workout completed!  After a few choice words I decided I would run these and keep track of the time on the watch and manually hit laps.

3 x (3 minutes @ HMP, 2 minutes at 10k pace, and 1 minute at 5k pace.) 1 min easy between each

3:46 min @ 6:23 pace (went a bit long)

2:02 min @ 6:06 pace

1:00 min @ 5:50 pace

3:00 min @ 6:21 pace

2:02 min @ 5:59 pace

1:03 min @ 5:43 pace

3:01 min @ 6:15 pace

2:00 min @ 5:50 pace

1:12 min @ 5:48 pace

3 miles - 7:30's back to the house.

No time for hill sprints as I had to get the kids ready for school.

5.5 easy at lunchtime.

Traveling to Galveston today - no running.

Run on the island this morning - 70 ish heat index - and nice stiff breeze coming off the Gulf.  Ran out 4 and back 4.  Tried to pick it up a tad coming back - seemed to be heading more into the wind on the way back.  

8:45 first mile, then 7:50s, last 3 - 7:05, 6:44,, 6:32, final .2 @ 5:14.

Decided I had to try and get a 10 miler in - didn't get out until after 7 - hot and humid - I got off the coast for a couple miles around mile 5 and that was a mistake - it really felt hot without the breeze.  Was very happy to get back to the coast for the final 4 miles.

A couple of 8:00 miles and then 7 around 7:30 pace with final .30 miles at 6:13 pace.

Last day in Galveston - didn't feel like running along the Seawall today - 5.5 on the treadmill. 8:40's.

Back home - yay!  Decided I would try to start getting some runs in close to MGP - say MGP + 15-20 - just to get the legs close to running at that pace without killing myself.  No need to start running to hard this early in the training cycle.  Additionally, I want to get my mind around finishing strong and not stopping.  Did 5 miles out and 5 miles back fron the house. 

8:17, 7:06, 7:01, 6:58, 7:00, 6:56, 7:02, 6:54, 6:51, 6:21.  

Followed by 6 x steep hill sprints.

Alarm went off at 5:10 and I awoke to lightening, thunder and rain.  I went back to sleep. :-)

5.5 easy at lunchtime.  Section of the trail was pretty muddy - I fogot how heavy shoes can get.

the plan was to sleep in but I woke up at 5 and could not go back to sleep.  My wife had to leave early for work so all I had time for was 5 miles.

Lunchtime strenght training session with personal trainer - these are the hardest workouts I have ever done.  Getting stronger though.

Met up with the group @ 5:45 am for the 3 x 3.2.1 Fartlek - the problem with a group run is you have a few of us at various levels of fitness and therefore have to go with the pace of the group or fall off a bit and stick with what one's personal plan is.  So I talked to them saying what did last time - hmgp, 10k and 5k paces, but again, some of us are close and a couple are not, e.g. one runner just ran 17:30 at the same 5k I ran 18:25.  So I fell back a little bit on the second set but just a little, and then I had to stop and tie my dang shoe before the last set but even so they didn't get to far ahead and I made up some ground. 

I think the paces are fine - it was on the trail and it was pretty warm out there this morning.  I felt I improved compared to the fartlek I did with the group 3 weeks ago.

Oh, and I finally changed my weight training day so it does not preceed a hard running day.  Smart, eh?

3 miles or so warm up (my watch wasn't going)

Then:

3mins @ 6:23 pace , 2mins@ 6:12 pace, 1 min@ 6:04 pace.

3mins @ 6:25 pace, 2mins@ 6:10, 1 min@6:10 (wow, really fell off this one)

3mins@6:11 pace , 2mins@ 5:57 pace, 1 min@ 5:38 pace. (vindicated)

about 1.5 miles cool down.

5.5 at lunchtime on the trail - hot out there!

Showed up for a 10 mile progressive and it had changed to Mt. Bonnel with the last few fast.  We didn't get going until almost 7 am which made the last 2 miles pretty warm.  

Haven't done some good hills in a while.  We started with 4, one dropped and turned around at mile 5, the other decided to be a hero up Mt. Bonnel and paid the price later.

This is the first time we didn't stop at the top and just kept going - wasn't easy but after a couple minutes we were recovered enough to start picking in up.

The other guy I ran with pulled away with 2 miles to go, and even though I ran a 6:30 mile I couldn't keep up.  Had to make emergency pit stop with a mile to go and then just held on to MGP.  

Thought this was interesting - guy I have been running with went sub-3 at Austin (and 17:30 at the Chuy's 5k) - no easy feat - and is shooting for 2:50 at Austin next year - highest weekly mileage?  He's never done more than 57 in a week.  Lots of progressive and quality runs though.

Finished with some good strides.

I'll put my paces in later.  

8.06 miles @ exaclty 8:06 AP - coincidence. Dew Point 73.  

Just an easy run early in the neighborhood.  Quite a few hills. 

Gave up my morning so my wife could go do her track workout and no time at lunch for a run.  And then she had swimming at 7:45.  NOTE to all runners out there - don't let your significant other become involved in Triathlons - your running will suffer.

Anyway, that left me heading out the door at 9 PM - 80 degrees and humid - but not much of a change from the morning.  At least it was dark.

I did 3 miles warm up to the middle school track and then ran 10 x 400m @ 3-5k pace with 60 secs active recovery.  Now, I wanted to try 10 x 400m with only 30 sec recoveries but I could tell in this heat that would be really hard for me, in addition to running off schedule and having eaten dinner only 2 hours prior.  

Anyway - I will count this successful even if the last 2 recoveries were more like a walk/ death trot - I am happy that I kept the recoveries that short and was able to gut the last 2 out.  

3.15 miles warm up -

10 x 400m with 60 sec active recoveries:

1:24, 1:24, 1:24, 1:23, 1:24, 1:20, 1:21, 1:20, 1:22, 1:24

1.5 easy back to the house.

6 recovery miles afterwork in the heat of the day - around 8:30s.  

Met up with the group for progressive run with last 3 miles progressive.  I am tired of not being mentally strong enough on these runs.  On top of that, these paces should not be that hard.  Dew Point was about 76 but I am tired of excuses.  Ran about 4.5 miles and then we started progressive part about .5 mile early (compared to where we needed to finish at the mile marker) so when my watch beeped at 3 miles I walked a bit (since the intent of the workout was 3 miles) my HR was pretty high and my legs hurt .. but when someone passed me I decided to finish this thing out all the way to the end.  So that tells me I had it in me to tough it out and finish.  

8:30, 8:10, 8:00, 7:50, 7:45, 6:55, 6:38, 6:28, .4 @ 6:15

.35 cool down and then 6 x 75 m strides.

6 at lunchtime - hot but just enough clouds to keep it managable.  4 x 100m strides.