Doing What I Can

good effort tonight in the twilit mist and fog, 7:01, 6:57, 6:40, 6:39, 6;43, 6:52, X X, 6:57 total

7 easy tonight, 7:09 pace

treadmill tonight cuz too cold and lots of snow, did a 3 mile tempo in 18:23, 6:07, 6:10, 6:06, felt somewhat difficult with the shift back to altitude but not as hard as it could have felt. 7.5 overall

old shoes today, snow-covered route, was very slippery and footing was awful, 7.7 in 7:34 pace, super cold as well

good run tonight for the first 7 miles, then got onto some unplowed sidewalks and the footing made the last 3.5 miles really difficult, 10.5 total in 7:33 avg pace overall (7:18-7:22 prior)

treadmill tonight because of the melting snow and the slippery sidewalks, did 3.5 at 6:10 avg pace steady state tempo

7:19 avg pace

7 tonight, 7:16 avg pace, felt pretty tired + Strides

13 x 400 tonight, started in a decent night and by the time I finished, a snow squall had moved in. Each 400 was between 78-80 seconds with equal rest (active recovery over 200m jog), felt difficult towards the end, but was a good effort.

new shoes this morning for an easy 7 miles, 7:19 avg pace

not a great run tonight, just felt kind of sluggish, was going to do a 4 mile tempo but cut it short, just didn't have it tonight, 6.3 total 

10.3 today in 7:11 avg pace, felt really pretty good throughout and it was a solid run, 10.3 in 1:14:00 + strides

9 tonight in decent conditions given the snow today, it had all melted off the sidewalks - 7:23 ave pace, had to consciously slow myself down after starting a bit too quick

morning run today, beautiful clear skies, just a little cold, 7:24 pace +strides

7:29 avg pace

12.3 tonight, felt really good today, just kind of floating, new shoes helped, 12.3 in 1:28:xx, 7:13 avg pace + strides

morning run, mentally a tough run, but overall, not terrible, 7:23 avg pace

kind of a scatterbrained effort tonight..intention was to hit 4-5miles tempo, but was having a tough time breathing for some reason - may be coming down with a cold, ended up just trying to maintain a good effort/marathon pace - 6:09, short break then 6:40, 6:35, 6:26, 6:34 uphill. Those last 4 were consecutive and all well within/under marathon pace. 8.7 total, legs felt really dead tonight overall. 

good run tonight, although my legs felt a lil tired and I have felt like I'm getting a cold lately, 10.5 tonight in 7:22 avg pace + strides

8.2 this morning in 7:34 pace

treadmill this morning, was really difficult

11.6 tonight, just got rolling and probably could have kept on going if I wasn't getting cold. 7:25 avg pace, just kind of mentally zoned out and felt pretty easy. strides

10.7 tonight, felt really sluggish for some reason, probably the good effort yesterday + a long hike before the run yesterday + getting over a headcold. 10.7  was in 7:27 avg pace

easy 7.6 tonight, 7:23 avg pace, felt really tired throughout and my achilles were sore. 

treadmill tonight in the hopes of getting some quality speedwork in and avoiding wind or stomach problems. Still struggling to get solid speedwork completed though (specifically tempos), could be the amt of mileage this month. anyway first 2 miles was 12:19, could have kept going but had a nosebleed occuring, so stopped to take care of that, then did 1.25 in 6:07 pace, but abruptly stopped cuz I was feeling it in my legs, then did 1.25 at GMP during my cooldown. 8.5 total

7 this morning, 7:30 pace, felt pretty avg. 

225.8 on the month of January, actually my 2nd best of all time, nice to see, but also cautious given that this is my first full month on this cycle, explains some of the tiredness in my legs lately

treadmill morning on account of ice, not fun, but got it done, 7:2X avg

8 miles at goal boston pace tonight, 6:44 avg. For 5300' that is pretty good because it translates well to lower altitude. 53:57 for 8 miles, 47:00 for the 7 miles not counting the first one, which is more like 6:43 pace. total 10 miles tonight was 1:08:50, 6:53 avg pace, overall a solid run! only downside was the cold

difficult morning run with hard wind, 7:33 avg pace

was going to go further, but my legs felt tired (decent paced 10 on friday catching up with me. 11.6 in 7:20 avg pace + strides

decent effort tonight, 10.5 in 7:22 avg pace

8.2 this morning in 7:41 avg pace, tired legs +strides

morning run, 7:34 pace, felt easy

warm day, peaked at 80 degrees! Got my run in a little after that though, so felt prety comfortable (although still a touch warm). 14.5 tonight in 1:45:xx, 7:16 avg pace total, strides after, good first truly long run of the cycle

ok run tonight, felt kinda sluggish, 9 miles in 7:28 (i think) pace

easy run this evening, 9.3 in 7:24 pace or somewhere around there

11.2 in 7:16 avg pace + strides

tough slogfest this morning, 8.5 in 7:51 pace, wasn't much fun. 61 miles in the last 6 consecutive days, pretty good building phase, but also pretty taxing

7:37 avg pace

14.2 tonight, 7:14 avg pace, a really great run considering I got the visual symptoms of a migraine at about mile 7, was out and back though so had no choice but to run back, 2nd half was faster than the first, 1:42:XX overall + strides, a good run overall considering the circumstances

wanted to get another solid run tonight to piggy-back off the 14.2 last night, trying to do this double distance thing like I did last cycle, 11.4 in 1:23:24, 7:20 avg pace + strides

dead legs

did some MP miles today, 6 in 6:44 avg pace, most uphill and into a strong wind, so pretty good sign. I did run out of steam later (i was hoping for a little longer MP work), but I think the aforementioned hills and wind took their toll. 1:16:40, 6:58 avg pace for the 11 miles overall

rough run today mainly because of the 30-50mph winds, yuck, 7:50 avg pace

morning run, 7:41 or so pace

pretty cold evening (27 with wc of 18-21), only light winds though which helped. got my goal of 16 miles tonight, 7:19 avg pace (1:56:57 overall), took about 5-6 miles to loosen up then I started to roll off a pretty steady string of 7:12-7:19 pace, just kind of locked in. Strides after

9.6 tonight, felt not as tired as I thought I would. 7:29 avg pace for the run, 

8.5 in 7:26 avg pace..i think, around there somewhere, felt pretty easy. strides and ice bath afterwards

7:15 avg pace

tired this morning, 7:39 avg pace

almost identical to my tuesday run, another 7:39 avg pace + strides

morning easy 5

morning easy 3.7 + strides, 10 mile race tomorrow, goal is sub 1:03

Boston tuneup #1 today - Chieftain Spring Runoff 10 miler in Pueblo, Wanted to get a run through of all my prerace, tapering, eating, everything just so Boston won't be my first race of the cycle. Goal was 1:03 or better, have done no real speedwork and have instead just been pounding mileage. Got there plenty early, weather was really good - mid 40s and warming with overcast and no real wind. Course looked favorable on the mapmyrun, but always a crapshoot there. 1.5 warmup with the normal stuff - felt alright, always encouraged when it takes a while to loosen up because generally those are my better races, took me most of this week to loosen up cuz I was pretty tight. 

Goal was to go out at 6:15s and just hold it and see how easy it felt, turns out it felt pretty easy for most of the run. 1:01:54 for 10 miles at 4700 feet altitude on no speedwork and amidst 2 of the highest mileage months of my life is a pretty good sign. I will not be running this fast at Boston (6:40 pace goal), so today was a big confidence booster. Probably an even bigger confidence booster was the hills that happened to appear today posed no real challenge and my pace remained pretty steady as I hit them. That is a good sign as I want to be ready for the Newton Hills come Boston. Overall, a cool event today - neat bike trail by the Arkansas River with a finish lap around Dutch Clark Stadium, one of the nicest hs stadiums in CO. 3rd overall, 1st in the age group, but today was all about building confidence. Here are my splits:

1- 6:21

2- 6:08

3- 6:09

4- 5:57

5- 6:12 (30:18 or thereabouts)

6- 6:17

7- 6:19

8 - 6:14

9 - 6:17

10 - 6:00 (not a full mile on my watch, so probably made up the first mile here)

total - 1:01:54, 6:12 avg pace

treadmill 7:30 avg pace for 9.6 miles, too windy and cold out, high wind warning

morning run - heavy wind again, but made it through - 7:34 pace I think + strides

8 miles this morning, beautiful and warm

17 tonight in 2:02:56, 7:14 avg pace, first half was 1:02:3X, 2nd half was 1:00, 2 minute negative split. good run overall, strides after

9.3 in 7:27 avg pace, a lil sore tonight

9.3 tonight easy pace, 7:19 avg pace + strides + ice bath

9.2 in 7:28 on sore and tired legs tonight

7 on a beautiful spring morning, still pretty sore. 7:41 avg pace + strides

easy run this morning, 7:38 avg pace

did a little speedwork today, but was pretty zapped by about 8.3 miles in, the first half of my run is uphill and I think I spent all my energy there, stayed between 6:32-6:42, 6:40 avg pace for the 8.3, still finished the 13.3 in 1:31:12, 6:52 avg pace for the whole thing, had a few stops on last 5 tho for traffic and such, slowed to 7:12 pace

okay run tonight, felt better than I thought I would. 80 degrees, near record highs, 10.4 total tonight in 1:15:XX, 7:18 avg pace + strides

11 easy tonight in 1:21:XX, 7:24 avg pace, pretty warm night but felt pretty good

14.4 tonight on a 70 degree overcast evening, 1:45:XX, 7:21 avg pace + strides, prolly taking tomorrow off cuz 49.1 in the last 4 days, 12.25 per day

10.2 tonight, felt really easy 7:24 avg pace + strides

morning slog, 7:47 avg pace

good run tonight, I was stuggling through the first 7-10, had some GI issues that never fully went away, thought about turning it in early, but decided to get tough and grind it out, ended with 18.05 in 2:11:52, 7:18 avg pace, negative split by around 30 seconds, no chance for strides after, but overall a solid run

10.2 in 7:28 avg pace, just under 1:16 total, felt suprisingly good given my 18 yesterday, 71 on the week

9.5 tonight in 7:29 avg pace, just a smidge over 1:11:XX, felt okay, somewhat sore, but overall, not too bad

13.5 in 1:39:33, 7;22 avg pace, racking up the mileage

cold rain and wind, usually a fun combo, but not today. 11.2 in 1;23:42, 7:28 avg pace

7:29 avg pace, pretty sore + strides, new all-time 6 day record - 71.25 miles in the last 6 consecutive for me

16.2 tonight in a little over 2 hrs, felt pretty tired, but powered through. 7:28 avg pace

new personal best of 87.45 miles in the last 7 days

11.2 in the cold rain today 7:30 avg pace, sore and rough, but overall pretty good last 10 days - 116 miles, 98.65 in last 8 days

strides + ice bath

7 easy, stomach probs was going to go 8

pretty good run tonight, especially after the difficulties last night, 10.5 in 1:13:32, 7:00 avg pace, did first half in 37:06, second half was 40 second negative split, most of it high-end GMP + strides

8 in the snow and sleet at the end (which was painful)

58:xx 7:18 avg pace

decent run today, felt kinda sore tho, hope I'm not overcooked, 7:19 avg pace + strides

easy morning run today, a little tight. 7:4X pace

good run tonight, 13.6 in 1:37:XX, 7:08 avg pace, felt pretty decent. strides + ice bath, now taper time for Boston!

7:31 avg pace for 7.1 this morning

8.5 tonight in 7:13 pace + strides, felt pretty easy so that is a good sign with Boston in a week

morning run, 7:34 pace

7.4 on a warm evening, 7:08 avg pace, felt pretty easy + strides

boston taper continues, up early tomorrow for my flight.5.3 this morning in 7:29 avg pace, felt easy + strides

pre-flight 4.2 miler, started around 3:45 am, dark the whole time, eerie but also peacful, felt pretty easy, off to Boston we go

pre-Boston systems check 3 miler with my brother Jon in Boston, nice and easy pace + strides

My first Boston Marathon - what an experience!

Pre-Race

Got to Boston after an early flight on Saturday. Went to the convention and bought the obligatory jacket and picked up my packet, couldn't believe all the people. Got whole wheat past at Olive Garden Saturday night. Sunday - drove the course with my family and my fiance. Was really nice to get to see it before running it, that actually helped a bunch. Ate white bread sandwich at Panera for lunch. Good thing the marathon wasn't today, highs neared 90! Made my normal prerace night meal at the hotel using the microwave and some ingenuity. Woke up at 5 am ate my normal pre-race turkey and white bread (canadian white this time) sandwich. Got to Boston about 6 am, dropped off the bag after spending some time deciding on which shoes to wear, finally went with the flats - it was that or the ds trainers. Took the bus to the athlete's village in Hopkinton and staked out a spot in the shade. Felt really good in the shade, but could already tell it was going to be hot in the sun, so spent most of the 2 hours in the village hydrating and relaxing. About 9:10, started the walk down to the start - really cool, kind of like going through the tunnel at a sports stadium before the game. Waited in line at the porta-potties and got in about 9:45, perfect! went up to the corrals (#3) and stretched and waited around til they introduced the elites, did the national anthem and had the flyover.

Race:

Took me about 1:15 from the gun to cross the start line, got going and it was just a mass of runners for the first 8-10 miles, never experienced anything like that before. Truly amazing, just a mass of humanity. The crowds were great from the gun, just nonstop people at almost every point, really helped to have so  much support. I found myself giving many high fives, especially to the groups of kids waiting with their hands out - just too cool not to run by and give the high five! From the start, I could tell it was warm, the tailwind was strong but negated by the heat, if anything it actually made the run hotter. I took fluids at every station, grabbing multiple ones at each, and was pretty well hydrated before the race. Despite taking as much fluids as possible (including from random bystanders too), I still suffered from the heat. Started dumping water on  my head and body at mile 3 and kept this up throughout the race. It helped as much as it could have, but overall, the temps in the mid-70s was just too hot for marathoning. Overall, I felt like I ran a smart first half, set myself up for a PR. My first goal was a PR, but after the forecast, I dialed my goal back to simply breaking 3. Really though, I was prepared for all scenarios and just finishing was not far off my radar. My watch deleted my splits again, but Boston keeps the 5k splits so I will include those here:

5k - 20:23, felt really easy, didn't go out too hard on the early downhills, I can thank the huge crowd of fellow runners for that as they checked my pace. It also meant that a lot of people went out at this sub-3 pace and many ended up in the carnage later on. But for me, my initial plan was to hit 20:30 5ks as much as possible (2:53-2:54 pace).

10k - 41:00 (20:37), right on my goal of 20:30s, still feeling really easy but I can already tell the heat will be a factor.

15k - 1:01:38 (20:38) continued on the pace still with no problems, warm but manageable, crowds were just awesome!

20k - 1:22:38 (21:00) hit a rough patch from 10.5-12 miles, just started to mentally question my effort and pace, I was happy with how I handled it though, I told myself it was a rough patch and that it would pass and it certainly did once I hit Wellesley, those girls and the "scream tunnel" helped bring me back into the race and refocus! I did start to scale back my expectations a little at this point though as the heat was wearing on me. Already saw people walking on the sides of the road

half - 1:27:15, on pace for a 2:54:30, but no way of running even or negative splits on this day

25k - 1:43:46 (21:08) still maintaining a pretty good pace through 25k, had a really good stretch here after the rough patch

30k - 2:05:21 (21:35) fading a touch, the heat is wearning on me and starting the Newton hills is looming

35k - 2:27:22 (22:01), still battling, really happy with how I ran the Newton hills, Heartbreak was really tough, just a long slow burn and with the battering I had already taken with the heat, it was especially tough, but I powered through it and passed a lot of people who were walking 

40k - 2:49:54 (22:32) gave quite a bit back here, despite the overall downhill after Newton, I was just drained, probably from maintaining my pace through the hills, at about 22 miles, I hit a very rough patch. I was suprised because usually if I make it past 20 miles I'm good. I didn't necessarily "hit the wall" as I still maintained a rough proximation of my earlier pace, i never walked, and I didn't blow up, I just slowed considerably (probably to a worst of about 7:20 mile) I think it was a culmination of the hills, the heat and just the effort to maintain hydration, nevertheless I continued on

Finish - 2:59:53 , 6:52 avg pace overall

The turn onto Boylston is everything people say it is and then a million times better. I have never heard a louder mass of humanity just erupt in a roar, it was overpowering and amazing. Turning onto that stretch, I looked at my watch and knew I had to give it a burst to get in under 3. The Boylston crowds helped me do it and I finished hard, crossing in just under 3 hours. Not a bad effort on a hot day in Boston.

Post-race:

Walked through the finishing chute after the near-sprint finish, felt pretty woozy so had to stop and sit a few times. Wolfed down an energy bar a banana and an apple and 2 bottles of water, plus some gatorade. That seemed to help. Went and got my medal and space blanket (which helped, despite the heat, I was cold). Got my checked back and went to the family meeting zone. My family was there a few minutes after I got there, and it was a happy reunion!

Reflection:

I knew right after finishing that what I had just experienced and accomplished was special. The crowds were so amazing, I have never run a race with that kind of support - just awe-inspiring. The runners were awesome too - many times throughout the race, we were sharing water bottles and drinks, just passing from runner to runner - the spirit of comraderie at Boston is alive and well! I am very happy to have run a 2:59 at my first Boston. With the pre-race weather forecast, I was honestly just hoping to finish in the back of my mind. But once I got out there, I just trusted my training and ran my way to a very good time on a far-from-ideal warm day on a pretty tough course (Newton hills are the real deal). I also requalified for next year, and I think i will be back. Had to fly out of Boston and my brother did an amazing job of driving us to JFK (yes, went all the way to NYC to fly home on Monday night, not ideal). Next year, i will definitely stay monday night and get some sightseeing in on Tuesday.

This blog has been a testament to my attempt to get to Boston. I remember watching the race every year growing up and into my college years. Then after the bombings in 2013, I made a vow to finally qualify and go to Boston. Today I made that a reality and it was even better than I dreamed it would be. Now that I've achieved this milestone, I have many more to accomplish. Among them will probably be starting a Boston streak - see how many in a row I can run, make it an annual event. Today, I was reminded what I love about running - the ability to set goals, however high they may seem, and then slowly work your way up to achieving them. There are few other endeavors in life where this process is as tanigble as it is in running.

first run post-Boston tonight, decently sore, especially in the quads but not as bad as my last marathon, felt okay as the run progressed, 6.83 in 7:38 avg pace

morning run today, 6.4 in 7:50 pace, felt pretty sore still, but not terrible

easy run tonight, felt pretty decent, 9.15 in 7:26 avg pace + strides, prolly take tomorrow off to help my legs recover

went a little too far today for where I am at in my recovery, but it was out and back so once I committed I had to come back. 10.7 in 7:16 avg pace total 1:17:41, actually didn't feel terrible, just legs were a little rubbery, strides after

mixed bag tonight. did a tempo, got 5k in and stopped, just too beat. 6:11, 6:09, 6:11 + 39, 19:10 avg pace, right around 6:10 pace, felt like a decent effort, but slow times, probably some lingering soreness from the marathon. on my 1st cool down, stopped at the local track and decided to run an 800, 2:48, so that was a little better to have some pop in the legs, switched out my shoes for the final 3 miles of the cooldown to my new ones to break them in

6.3 this morning in the new shoes, felt pretty tired tho, 7:41 avg pace

decent run today, felt good 7:13 avg pace + strides

have never had a run this long feel so easy. 1:38:xx, 7:09 avg pace and that was in crazy spitting snow, 30 degrees with 20mph winds swirling, just felt super easy still + strides

snowy run, but not accumulating much more than was already on the ground, weird snow at the end of april. 7.7 in 7:20 + ice bath used bags of snow

7 easy, 7:16 avg pace + strides

8 easy on a really nice night, 7:17 avg pace

easy 6.35 tonight

decent run, 5.5 in 7:32 avg pace

4.15 this morning, felt okay

easy pre-race 3 miles + strides

Decided to run the Colorado Marathon today just 3 weeks after Boston. Felt I was in PR shape at Boston, but the warm weather made me adjust my goals. Goal today was to go as quick as possible and PR as big as possible. Pre-race stuff went pretty much normal all week. Got up at 3am and drove up to Fort Collins to catch the luxury bus to the start line. The Colorado Marathon loses about 1000 feet of elevation, so they drive us up to the start, which is up in the mountains and really pretty that early in the morning watching the sun come up. weather up there was pretty good mid to upper 40s and it stayed cloudy through about 17-18 miles. After that it was starting to get pretty warm pretty quick. My watch couldn't find the GPS signal at the start so I had to just do the watch time, then I reset it and tried to find the GPS signal again by the one mile mark, but it wasn't working so I just set it to keep time and so not only was my watch time one mile short the whole race, but I don't know how to keep manual splits, so I had to do all the math in my head the whole race (or at least for the first twenty or so miles). I do remember a few splits: 10 mile was somewhere near 1:05:xx, half marathon was 1:26:06, 1:38:xx at 15 miles. Half split was actually a little slower than I was hoping for. I will say that I definitely still "felt" Boston in my legs as I just was kinda worn throughout the first half. The first half contained most of the downhill, after that the course levelled off and even had some hills. I struggled at about 22 miles and actually came to a full stop at the 22nd mile marker. Just up-and-stopped and took about a 10 second rest before continuing on. I thought that since I had stopped there, that I would keep stopping (as so usually happens if you stop once) but I was happy with the fact that once I restarted, I ran the rest of the way and stayed relatively close to pace, although mentally and physically I was struggling that last 4 miles. I turned up the street to finish and the official clock was way off, so I could tell I had PR'd by my watch (even though it was off), but I wasn't exactly sure by how much or what my time was. It was kind of cool to go look at the results and be surprised at what I saw: 2:55:11, which was later revised to 2:55:10 officially. 6:40 avg pace, a new PR by almost 2 full minutes! I was very happy with that and its always nice to get a new PR, but that rest break cost me a sub-2:55 and a 10+ min BQ!! Oh well - If I hadn't just run Boston three weeks ago, I probably could have gone much faster anyway. Definitely not running another marathon til next year's Boston most likely. Going to do Bolder Boulder and then take some time off in June. Overall, a good race and something I'm proud of. Just not the smartest thing to do two races in three weeks (despite the PR today, I am sure I will be sorry tomorrow!)

6.3 this morning, a little sore but not terribly bad, 7:46 pace

decent run, though started feeling rougher at the end. nice fine misty rain the whole time. ice bath

tough run tonight, just felt kinda rough, not sure of pace as my watch was on the fritz again - 7:16 pace for what I was able to get + strides

10 on a beautiful iowa morning out on the bike trail, 7:2X pace

still feeling good, 8 plus strides - can't remember pace

was going to do around 7, but ended a little early - i was beat, just kept stopping and was soaked in sweat. had 2 miles at GMP

last run in carlisle, probably should have just taken the SRD. had a hamburger and fries at lunch and tried to run 3 hours later in the 85 degree heat with humidty, had some big time problems. scrapped together 5.1

good workout tonight back in Colorado. 6x800 at 2:44, 2:45, 2:43, 2:43, 2:44, 2:43 with a jogged 400 in between each (about 2:00-2:30 active recovery) felt hard effortwise but doable, nice to see a little bit of speed, 9.3 total with w/u and c/d

10.5 tonight in a driving snowstorm...in mid-May, 7:16 avg pace, felt okay despite the cold and wind and wetness, +Strides

nice run tonight, 11 in 7:20 avg pace, felt really easy + strides

morning run, felt just ok, 7 in 7:36 avg pace

good run tonight on a cold rainy night, first 6 roughly GMP, the last 2 of them were around 6:44 pace, 7:00 overall pace for the run - a little over 1:01 + strides

easy pace run tonight, legs felt kinda tired though, 7:18 avg pace, ice bath after

easy run tonight, 6.4 in 7:26 pace, felt pretty tired, taking tomorrow off + strides today

5.8 today, felt ok + strides, 7:31 avg pace

4.75 this morning, felt kinda tired still, 7:31 avg pace, started raining on me the 2nd half, going for a sub-37 at BolderBoulder

3.5 easy this morning, bolderboulder tomorrow + strides

my 2nd Bolder Boulder today. around 2.2 warmup. A wave kicked off right at 6:55 as scheduled, goal was to go under 37 minutes, and given the absolutely perfect weather (49-51 degrees, almost no wind), I thought I would have a shot at it -- especially given my recent high mileage. However, what I failed to realize beforehand was all the marathon training I've been doing the past 5 months has sapped quite a bit of my speed. 6:00 felt like good, both sustainable but decent effort-wise, but I just had no other gear to kick it into like I do when I do speed training. My watch splits and the official splits were at odds with each other, so I will just go with what they had:

1 - 6:01.6

2 - 6:01.7

3- 6:16.7

4- 6:06.8

5- 5:56.1

6 -6:05.6

change - 1:25 (really was disappointed with my effort here)

Total - 37:53, 6:06 avg pace

Overall- I can't be too disappointed with this result. It's slower than last year by about 30 seconds, and certainly off my goal for this race, but at the same time, I am at 1110+ miles at the end of May, which for me is extremely high + I ran 2 marathons within 3 weeks between 3 and 6 weeks ago. I could feel in my training that my top-end speed wasn't there and I hadn't been doing speedwork, so this is probably the best I could do at this tough course today. I could feel the endurance training kicking in as I still feel like I had more miles to go at the end (though probably would have kept clicking away that same 6:06 pace). Trying to get one more 10k in next weekend before I leave for Europe for the summer. It is downhill, so will benefit from that and see if I can open up my pace a little (will be good for confidence if nothing else).

7.2 tonight, 7:20 avg pace  + strides

felt really good today, 5.15 in 7:29 avg pace, each mile was either 7:28, 29, 30, or 31

easy 7:28 avg pace jog this morning  + strides

was planning on racing this morning, but woke up and just didnt feel like it. Too much stress and anxiety over travelling to Poland later today. did get 10.2 in at 7:28 pace or so, felt pretty easy + strides. Will hopefully be able to sleep on my trans-Atlantic flight tonight now!

first run in Krakow. 7:2X pace, felt just okay, but also ran within 2 hours of eating lunch, need to find a better schedule to get some running in. 

warm run this afternoon in Krakow. found a new park that has a nice running trail. 5.7 miles in 7:2X pace

What a night. Started off the day with a terrible run, tried to get one in before class here in Krakow, but had absolutely zero in the tank. I think I went 2.3 and averaged 8:25. Figured at this point that my training cycle was over and it was time to pack it up. Even had a burger for lunch assuming I wasn't going to be running tonight.

On a whim, decided I wanted to run a free local running group's 5k and 10k that they offer every Thursday night. It was one of the things I had planned on doing before coming to Krakow, but with the way my running has been since I've been here, I figured I had better just not. But, I needed a pick-me-up tonight, and running provides that for me. I showed up by taking the bus (figuring out how to use it on the way). got there about half-hour before the race, did some stretching and only about .5 or .6 warmup (pretty good tempo though). Got my race number and met a few people who spoke some english, tried some broken polish but they were way better in english than I was in Polish. Decided on the 5k option and didn't know what I had in me, figured mid-18s would be okay given the burger for lunch and the general lack of "umph" lately. Got out the first mile in 5:38, pleasantly suprised. Was running with just two other guys at this point, 2nd mile (included the turnaround) was 5:33, just 2 of us now, was planning the whole last mile on passing the other guy for the win, but was contemplating whether or not to show up as the only foreigner to a tight-knit running group and winning the first race. Turns out that was a little premature because the other guy had plenty left and just had a better close than me. Last mile was 5:36, and :35 for the .11 for a total of 17:21, 5:35 avg pace. 

The course was amazing - the sun was going down over Krakow and we were running along the Vistula river alongside Wawel castle -- just one of those magical moments that you know you are in while you are in it. COuldn't believe how easy the pace felt, was just floating - maybe the lessened mileage gave some pop back in my legs as I felt in control the whole time and the pace was consistent. The altitude of the last 1.5 years has also apparently paid off (krakow is 600-700 feet). Aside from the amazing scenery, which was truly stunning and a privelege, the only difficuly part of the race was weaving in and out of walkers and bikers (open trail), which actually was kind of fun when it wasn't borderline dangerous. 

The spirit of the runners in the group is truly unmatched. They are all great people and had congratulations and high-fives to go-around (even for me, the new guy!). Met some nice people and they invited me to come back next week and to come to a slighlty bigger running get together saturday morning (which I will probably do but not race). Will definitely be back next Thursday for round 2. Pretty cool way to end the day and really feel like I've arrived in Krakow.

only ran 6, slow paced (7:54), but I am finding that i am walking about an extra 10 miles today (wearing my garmin all day and it was well above 16 miles for the day.

Got invited to the local parkrun today by the same group of people who I met Thursday. Was going to try to run it hard, but kept falling back asleep and barely got up in time to even jog down to the start of the race, so I decided just to jog the race. 7:08, 6:38, 6:31, plus change got me to 20:46, really easy effort, managed GMP as an average for the run 6:45 ish. Started getting a migraine right at the end and so I hightailed it back to the apartment before the headache set in. 7 all told, and it wasn't fun to get the migraine, but the parkrun was fun and maybe I will race it hard next week.

very nice run tonight after touring the Wieliczka salt mines all afternoon (very cool stuff). 10 miles in 7:22 avg pace, held 7:10-7:12 for most of it, but fell off toward the end. Just got tired. + strides

7.7 tonight in 7:37 pace, got in just before the heavens opened up and it started to rain hard, feeling kind of sluggish so rest day tomorrow

easy run today, 5.5 + strides

My second ITMB Wiezcorem run here in Krakow. Another beautiful thursday night. Felt a little tight going into the run, but was still hoping for a good outcome. Got a little more normal warmup in this time, 1.5 with some good stretching. took out hard from the start this time and really settled in quickly to a nice pace. 5:32 first mile, better than last week by a few seconds, hit the turn right around 8:30, so I knew it was going to be close on sub-17, felt the full brunt of the wind after my turn, but it didn't seem to effect me much. What really slowed me down was the constant tight squeezes with all the walkers and bikes on the course, almost had to completely stop at one point with about .3 left that may have cost me sub-17, oh well - what can you do. second mile was 5:25 (10:57 at 2 miles), final mile was 5:29 (3 miles in 16:26), just hanging on + 35 seconds for the .11 to make it 17:01.5, 5:28 pace by my watch and a perfect 3.11 to boot. They had some stopwatch problems I believe and they had me at 17:04 or 17:05, but I know how close I actually was to sub-17 and I couldn't believe I just missed it. Oh well, they told me I have the course record now (which is cool because I've never held one before - kind of neat!). it is a 20 second improvement on last week and my best time since 2012. I should be able to take a few more cracks at the 5k here before I take break on this cycle. overall, happy with my effort, and another wonderful run and experience. 2.4 cool down

nice easy paced run tonight, 7:37 avg pace

easy run this morning. 4.55 in 7:51 pace + strides in a light mist

Navigated the public transport system this morning to run an 8k race in nearby Niepolomice. The race started at noon in town and was on a paved trail except for about 4k that was in the beautiful Niepolomic forest, which was absolutely stunning. My watch did not save my splits of course, but I have a vague idea of where they were. Race started with people bunched in like sardines - it was almost clausterphobic, so I was glad when the gun went off. I was probably the only American in the race, as the field was almost entired Polish (which makes sense). The weather was nice, mostly clouldy and around 65 degrees, cool when the clouds reigned and muggy when the sun came out - nice and cool in the forest. My goal was to hit 5:45's and just maintain to get under 29 for the 8k - I just missed that goal, but probably not by much. The course was long by about .08 or .1, so I can venture to speculate that I probably hit the actual 8k mark in somewhere between 29:05-29:10, perhaps faster. As it was, my official time was 29:28, my watch, which isn't super reliable sometimes, had the race at 5.05, and regardless, the race was definitely a little long. Still, my splits were likely all over the place. Hit the first mile in 5:46, which was right on, then the 2nd was I believe 5:49, then I hit two between 5:55-6:00, then the last split, which flashed well short of the finish line (indicating 5 miles) was something in the ballpark of 5:36 (downhill) and may have lost signal in the forest. FInished in 16th place and 6th in my division. Was happy with the result, but upset my watch didn't get an accurate split for at least 5 miles. Regardless of if the race was long, it was fun, and even the off-road portion was beautiful. I had decent energy, but my turnover was degraded, probably because of the 5k a few days ago. Regardless, fun to run and I enjoyed the experience immensely! 

decent run tonight, just trying to work the kinks out. 6.8 in 7:27 pace, + strides, RD tomorrow

4.5 on a glorious mid-summer evening + strides

Another Thursday run along the Vistula - very warm day, but some late cloud cover helped a little and it made the atmosphere achieve a unique lighting for the whole race, which was fun. Something about running later in the evening and in such neat (flat) settings, really works for me. Goal this time was simple, sub- 17, a place I haven't been since 2012. Started off way, way too fast - my legs were on fire and I was wondering if I just didn't have it today, but then I saw the 400 click by on my watch between 70-75! first 1k was probably 3:14-3:18, went through mile 1 in 5:22, halfway turnaround was 8:23 (looking good for sub 17), 3k was 9:59, 2nd mile was 5:27 (10:49 for 2 miles), the last 1.1 was pretty rough and I paid the price for my fast start - definitely hurt coming home and I lost some time in the 3rd mile (5:35), not a great way to run a 5k, but closed it out in :31 (so maybe the last mile was a little faster and my close wasn't quite that fast, since that is booking it. crossed at 16:54 on my watch, 16:55 officially. Again, broke my own "course record", which made everyone in the running club really excited, I think its pretty cool they celebrate other's accomplishments like that! If that time stands for a week or a year, it doesn't matter to me, I am just happy to have reestablished my speed to where it was before my break of 2013. Just one more Thursday run before my cycle break, perhaps I will do the 10k and have a crack at my 10k PR before taking some time off.

4.6 easy this morning, very slow pace 7:54 plus strides

decent long"ish" run this morning, pretty warm and humid, but a nice day nonetheless, 7:27 avg pace, a little over 80  min, strides after

had to cut this one short...

felt rather tight, 7:21 avg pace

stomach issues yet again :/, 7:27 avg pace + strides, will try one last race tomorrow, hope everything holds up

Took down a PR tonight that had stood for over 5 years! I knew my 10k PR was within my range the last few cycles, but haven't been able to take a good crack at it. With the way I have been running here in Europe, and with the flat course of this weekly race, I figured I'd have a shot at my old PR (35:49) which ironically enough was also set in Europe. In fact, the only 2 times i've broken 36 for 10k have been on the European continent. Good weather again, upper 60s, low 70s, a little warm, and actually quite windy, but it could always be worse weather. Warmup was normal, 1.5 with the stretching and strides, although I've found that warming up closer to the race when available works better for me (starting half-an-hour out instead of 40 min). I thought I got out well, as my watch showed somwhere south of 2:50 for the first .5, which is well under pace, but yet my first mile split was 5:49, so I dk if my watch was off, or if I really slacked off that much of the second half of the first mile. either way, I consciously picked it up after that and got on pace quickly. Here are my splits:

1- 5:49

2- 5:42

3- 5:45 (17:16 3 miles) right around 17:50- 17:52 according to my watch as I made the 180 degree turn to do a second out and back loop

4- 5:44

5- 5:45 (5 mile split was right on at 28:45, 8k would have been close nearby, 28:36 by rough math)

6- 5:55 (technically, according to my watch, second 3 miles was 17:24), although my closing the last .21 in 1:04 is pretty fast (like sub-5:20 pace), so I wonder if perhaps another mile was off here on my watch

.21 - 1:04

Total - 35:46, a brand new, shiny PR by 3 seconds! 

Just squeaked in under my old PR. with 1k to 800 to go, I was doing the math in my head and wasn't sure if i'd be able to break my PR. I knew I'd get under 36, but the math was working out to something like a sub 2:40 final 800, yet, I did it. I closed hard, and I know I was all out because I could feel the effort and it was all I had. I still think my watch may have been off somewhere during the run because I know I closed fast at the end, but 1:04 seems excessively fast (although I know I do have that speed in me right now with a 16:55 last week for 5k). Either way, I will take the final result and am extremely satisfied with that PR regardless of my watch's splits. I will say the one huge positive for me is the sheer consistency of my mile splits. That is one thing I could feel during the race, was that for most of it, certainly the first 4.5, I was running hard but evenly. Since the race is a out and back loop 2.5 km and back, then again, I had to make 3 - 180 degree turns, and i found this not only slowed me down but broke my rythym each time. For example, the 3rd section (5k - 7.5k), I could feel myself getting in an absolute groove, and it started to feel easy to hold the pace, but no sooner had I turned around than i felt the struggle again (and the wind, which may have been a factor holding me back even further). I looked at my watch at the turnaround at 5k and saw between 17:49-17:52, so with a guess of 17:51, that means my 2nd half was 17:55, only a four second positive split - very good news there! 

Cooled down after for only a mile -- again, everyone at the running group was very impressed with my time and told me that I had broken their course record for the 10k. (they have done this race almost 100 times, so I am impressed no one has run faster than I did today). That gives me 2 "course records" here in Krakow for the ITMWB run, 16:55 for 5k, and 35:46 for 10k. Not super fast as far as course record comparisons go, but its neat for me to be able to say I own them for however long they stand and I know as far as my ability level, they represent an extremely fast effort (for the 5k which is still a ways from my PR, but faster than I've gone in a long time) and an all-time personal best (the 10k, which I feel like is still pretty soft in terms of what I'm capable of).

Although I'm in pretty good shape, I have been on this training cycle since mid-December and have run 2 marathons as well as half a dozen other races. Thus, it is time to shut it down for 2.5 weeks and restart fresh in mid-July for a new build-up for the fall. Fall goals are to break 1:17 in the half-marathon in Carlisle on Nov. 4 and to possibly take a shot at my 10k PR a few weeks after in Moab, Utah. It will be strange to have no running for the next several days, but will give me some time to explore europe!

so eager to get back to training that I ran first thing after I woke up today. 3.75 in 7:55 avg pace + a few strides, goal this fall shortened cycle is to go sub-1:17 in the half in Carlisle on Nov. 4

easy run today, 7:27 pace, actually somewhat sore

5 tonight in 7:27 avg pace - strides after. Actually still quite sore 

warm 7:27 pace

another hot one - 7:19 pace

Final evening run along the Wisla tonight. Only 6 days of training into this new cycle and so I didn't know what to expect - especially after a full 2 weeks off running and eating pretty horribly. My goal was to maintain a good tempo and hopefully be in the 18:30 (6:00) range. Lot of people showed up tonight which was really awesome. It was super hot all day and even at the 8pm start, it was probably mid-80s, thankfully the sun had dipped down. Got out first mile in 5:46, was amazed at how smooth it felt despite the breathing not feeling as easy. hit the turnaround in 8:5X, was all alone at this point in front, so I knew I'd have to maintain a lot of focus to keep running hard on my own. 2nd mile was 5:34 (11:20, 5:40 pace). last mile I started to feel the lack of overall fitness of this new cycle, but I still cruised home in  5:43 + 36 seconds roughly for the last .11 for a total of 17:39. By far the best shape I've ever started a training cycle in and assuming I can slow down enough on my easy days, I should be in for a really fast half this fall! Looking forward to it!

old shoes for the last run in Krakow before heading back home, 4.6 felt kinda sore + strides

5 back in Colorado - altitude got me 

decent workout today. 7.2 in just under 55

easy run today. Very humid. 

6.3 easy in 7:37 avg pace

7 early in 7:21 avg pace-ish

7:25 pace

7:27 pace on hilly course in carlisle