Doug's Running Thingy

First run of 2012 went just fine and dandy.  I hit the trails early afternoon in a bit of wind and chilly temps.  Decent run around the trails to get things rolling for the year.

Finally got back out for a run after 2 days of laziness - shame shame.  Ran around the neighborhood after work.  Kept it under 8 minute pace pretty comfortably.  Mid-70s next several days - probably melt all the snow on the ground.

Another unseasonably warm day.  Lisa and I hit the trails late afternoon... me running 4.5 and she mostly walking almost 2.  Just a nice easy run with plans tomorrow to hit the track.

Too much yardwork and ladder climbing etc on Sunday resulted in tight right hammy, so did no running Sun or Mon.  Got back at it this morning with an easy mile on the track and then 4X300 easy (63, 61, 60, 59) and 2X200 moderate (35, 34) to test the leg - no issues.  Another easy mile around the school cooldown.

Evening workout in the neighborhood.  One mile warmup, then 6X2 min on 1 min off.  Finished up with mile and a half back to the house. Good chat with Trav this evening about the visiting runners from the UK that are working out in Tallahassee for a month.  Once a week they are hitting the track at Trav's school to take advantage of the trails immediately adjacent - very cool.  2008 Olympic 1500 meter guy/miler Andy Baddeley and steeple/5K guy Mark Draper are in town along with a few runners from Zap Fitness out of North Carolina.  Trav watched their workout Tues morning when they did two sets of 6 laps followed by 4X200 at mile race pace.  Each of the sets of 6 laps were generally neg split from 70 to 66 and then the 200s were 30, 30, 29, 28 for the first set and 28, 28, 28, 26 for the second...  3:47 simulated mile.  Baddeley's PR is 3:49.  Trav said Draper bailed out on the 5th lap of the second set looking pretty rough.  He got to chat with them quite a bit and looks forward to seeing them again next week.

Rushed an evening run in the neighborhood before dinner.  Nice hilly route that I occasionally tack on a couple miles on the golf course... not tonight.  Home in time to cook dinner for T and Lisa.  Lisa is bailing out of massively stressful real estate after a good 7 year run.  She started new job as Manager of Professional Development for the Florida Recreation and Park Association today - woooo.

Damp morning run in the neighborhood - nothing special.  Travis visited with the Brits again yesterday - they did 4X800 with full recovery.  Baddeley was a bit disappointed that he didnt sneak under 2 minutes on his last one - he went 2:00, 2:02, 2:01, 2:00 - pitiful, eh?  Trav got to speak with them quite a bit about training and racing - they both are doing the mile indoor this Saturday in NY at the New Balance Games - Baddeley told him there are several guys capable of sub-4, so it should be pretty good.

Couple days of no running to see if I could knock out the slight tenderness in the right hamstring.  Back on the trails today and felt just fine.  Prolly skip any faster stuff for a couple more days.

Easy run around the neighborhood early this morning.

Evening saunter around the neighborhood at 75 degrees and 80% humidity.  Actually had to clear pollen off the windshield this morning - majorly confused trees and bushes.

Raced the incoming storm this evening for 5 miles in the neighborhood.  Chilling things back down to normal at least - whew.

In Gainesville to visit Cynda and watch Travis run.  Got in 3 quick miles on the hotel treadmill  before dinner with C.  As I write this on Sunday night, Travis is fairly satisfied but not overly excited by his 4:46 indoor full mile earlier today.  With 600 to go, he was pretty well sapped.  He hadnt eaten anything since 0630 and he ran at 1PM - ugh.  The 4:46 is 5 seconds better than he ran this meet last year, so thats something.

Quick tour around the trails trying to beat the sunset - almost made it.

Puttin in a few miles before the big girls soccer regional champs at school this eve.  Our team was greatly overmatched and only lost 4-2 - not bad at all.  The run was ok as well.