Boston, here I come?

Easy but important run today, I was very tempted to just stay on the couch watching baseball but worked up the energy to run before going out to dinner.  My pace was 7:11/mile, which felt right for the energy I used.  I'm doing a 5K with a friend tomorrow who I'll stay even with, and who is in the 8-9 minute/mile range..good to have done some faster miles today with that coming up next.

Morning - fun 5K with my friend (and my mostly-walking pregnant wife) down on the boardwalk in Santa Monica.  He did well, with the miles getting faster as we went along, and we crossed the line in 27:20.  Went out for a nice breakfast afterwards and had a good time, I'll hopefully run with him a bit more in the future as it makes the easy runs a lot more fun.

Afternoon - this wasn't planned, but I did another 3 with my brother-in-law near their house in Calabasas.  We went up there to visit them and our six week old nephew, so he could get a break and get some exercise in.  I wound up joining him, and it worked out as another easy run (8:40/mile).  He used to run a lot more (and faster) but has been pretty busy with a newborn so he's slowed down...but as time goes on he'll be back to where he used to be.

Wonderful long run today, better than expected.  I set out to do 10.6, instead of the 12 I had in my calendar, just because I did more miles yesterday than I thought I would.  At the five mile mark I had to make my first ever (ever!) stop to pee during a run, and that stop saved the day.  I decided to go 12 after all, but then added up my weekly mileage in my head and realized that would leave me just shy of 40 for the week.  So naturally I added a bit of distance to just exceed that total of 40, and kept my pace steady throughout the run.  Splits:

1 - 7:17; 2 - 7:28; 3 - 7:23; 4 - 7:22; 5 - 7:18; 6 - 7:20; 7 - 7:11; 8 - 7:11; 9 - 7:13; 10 - 7:25; 11 - 7:46 (brutally steep hill for .37 miles); 12 - 7:29; .8 - 5:45 (7:12 pace) 

Overall 7:21/mile pace, very proud of the consistency.  First 40 mile week of the year! 

Nice easy recovery run, I kept the pace slow (7:47, 7:42, 7:42) and my heart rate low (148 avg, 156 high).  In the third mile my legs felt rubbery and strange..didn't slow me down or increase my heart rate or anything, but definitely felt different.  Last week was my first 40+ mile week in about a year so they could just be tired, gonna see what happens tomorrow.

Very easy run today, taking it slower after the big 40 mile week.  With my 7:30/mile pace, I kept my average bpm at 153.  Really took it easy the first three miles, going 7:47/7:39/7:51, and sped up a bit over the second half of the run.  Planning on a run tomorrow before going out of town this weekend to make a decent weekly total.

Back from our weekend trip, went to NYC to visit some friends, had a great time.  Sure stayed up late and drank a lot of beer though, it was nice to get back out for a run.  Did my usual loop, at a steady 7:15/mile pace, keeping all miles between 7:11 and 7:22.  Legs felt great after a few days off, but I've got some catching up to do with the time off.

5 mile Loop 

Went to the gym last night for just a couple of exercises, very glad I did.  Got out this morning for an easy run, averaging 7:17/mile with a 158 average heart rate..both solid numbers.  Kept the first three miles slower and sped up over the last two, but nothing too drastic..just enough to earn the sweat :)

5 mile Loop 

Pretty sluggish run, but still clocked in at a 7:25/mile pace.  My legs felt good, but my energy just wasn't very high..a little lower than a normal morning run.  So to combat that I decided to add a sprint around the .27 mile park mid-run, and managed a 1:38 (6:03/mile) loop.  That didn't really help the sluggishness, but the other miles were consistent so there's nothing to complain about.  Next week I've got to do some speedwork, just to see where I'm at - should be fun!

Blazingly hot today (85-90), just went out for a trot to make sure I got some miles in.  Kept it slower, at a 7:30/mile pace - hoping it's cooler tomorrow for a longer run.

Pleasantly surprised with how today's run turned out - I went out around 4 PM, after not eating much all day.  It was pretty warm, temps in the mid 70's, and I just didn't know how my body would respond.  Overall it was a success..I kept a steady pace and finished at 7:23/mile, with no stomach troubles until some discomfort in the last mile.  Very happy to get another 30 mile week in the books, and doing a 10+ mile run always feels good.  Now off to eat some delicious Mexican food :)

Speed week!

I kicked off speed week with a tempo run of sorts, alternating easy and hard miles.  Splits:

1 - 7:24; 2 - 6:30; 3 - 7:18; 4 - 6:26; 5 - 7:06

This was perfect, I wanted the easy miles to be in the 7:20-7:30 range and the hard miles to be around 6:30.  It feels great to go for faster miles and nail the pace.  I know speedwork isn't supposed to take up too many of my training runs, but I want to get a feel for where I am when I push myself this week, and this was a great start.

5 mile Loop 

Speed week!

Today was interval day - jogged to a park with a .27 mile sidewalk "track" surrounding it for 5x800 (really 5x .54 mile):

1.12m to park: 8:42

.54 mile: 3:09; recovery jog for 1:10 

.54 mile: 3:07; recovery jog for 1:05

.54 mile: 3:11; recovery jog for 1:15

.54 mile: 3:12; recovery jog for 1:07

.54 mile: 3:14; jog home from park in 8:16

I am so happy with these results..my goal was to do the splits in the 3:10-3:15 range (5:53-6:04 per mile) and I did just that.  The only thing to improve on is to hit the last loop at the same speed as the first..but a difference of 5 seconds in this case is nothing to complain about.  This will be a great measuring stick for my intervals during the real marathon training! 

Speed week!

Okay, today was just an easy recovery run, as I know enough not to do speedwork every day.  I ran nice and steady, at a 7:19/mile pace..a bit faster than I wanted to, but I was in a rush to get home and then go out with friends.  My average heart rate of 154 bpm was great for this pace.

Speed week!

The previous speedy runs were in the evening, after work.  Today I gave it a shot in the morning and after a slow start I was really happy with the results.  Splits:

1 - 7:46 (do I really want to go fast this morning?)

2 - 6:58 (okay, that felt good, surprised to get under 7)

3 - 7:33 (feeling better)

4 - 6:46 (okay, now we're getting somewhere)

5 - 7:34 (perfect)

6 - 6:38 (great!)

.5 - 3:37 (7:17 pace)

Feels great to know I can run those speeds early in the morning, once my legs are a bit more awake.  Gonna try to sneak in a quick run tomorrow morning, before heading out for an all day paintballing/eating/drinking adventure...might not feel like running on Sunday. 

Ouch.

Went paintballing on Saturday, which made my legs incredibly sore - combination of crouching, sliding, and getting drilled with paintballs makes for a tough day.  Partied that night, then went bowling yesterday, which wasn't a problem...until I wrenched my back.  I'm too young for this!  After being very stiff all day I figured going out for a few miles would help, and I hope it did.  I wasn't worried about pace (wound up at 7:27/mile though), just wanted to get loose..that finally happened in about the 4th mile.  My stride got closer to normal and I felt decent enough.  Let's see what happens tomorrow... 

5 mile Loop 

Well, I'm still stiff and sore but I think my back is better than yesterday.  Forced myself out of bed for an easy run, which went reasonably well...wasn't worried about pace again (7:35/mile), and I felt looser as the run went along and am encouraged that my back will feel better soon.  I've got one more run to get over 100 miles for the month...and that will be the last run of my 20's.

Had to cut today's run short to do some cleaning before work..not much to report about such a short run..steady 7:29/mile pace.

My first run as a 30 year old..pretty much only ran today to make sure I got over 100 miles for the month, as we're going camping this weekend.  The run itself wasn't very pleasant..I slogged through it just wanting to be done.  Mission accomplished - and I'm now 4-4 on 100+ mile months this year!