The Next Step

Another great morning.  Temp in low 50's no wind.  I was still a little sluggish this morning. Had a hard time getting going.  Felt a little better later in the run but still dragging some.  I assume it is my body trying to get used to the higher mileage.  Getting close to normal mileage so feels good.

65:56 (8:15 avg) 

Nice morning today.  Temp around 60 with some light wind.  I am running a half marathon tomorrow so just did an easy run today.  I don't have high expectations for the half.  I don't have much of a endurance base built up and have not done any speedwork so just going to have fun doing it.  Hopefully, it will get the competitive feelings going again and movitate my to pick it up some more.

32:33 (8:08 avg) 

Pretty nice day for the race.  Temp was around 60 it was cloudy but pretty windy.  I didn't have the best preparation for this race so not very high expectations going into the race.  Was out late last night and then had a hard time going to sleep but was glad to get out and race again.  Since I haven't ran a race in awhile I didn't have a qualification time so I ended up back in corral F.  It was very tough at the start because I was having to go back and forth to get around people.  I probably did this for the first 4 miles.  After that the spacing got a little better and I was able to pick up the pace.  I felt good most of the way and picked up the pace as I went along.  The time was not very good but based on my lack of training it is something to build on.  It does get me excited to start pushing harder and increase my training to get back to where I was before.  Here are the splits from the Garmin.  They don't line up with the mile markers (especially since I had to move around so much passing people) but give a good overview of my race progression.

1st - 7:40

2nd - 7:46

3rd - 7:40

4th - 7:21

5th - 7:27

6th - 7:17

7th - 7:19

8th - 7:06

9th - 7:06

10th - 7:00

11th - 7:02

12th - 7:03

13th - 7:02

Nice day today but pretty windy.  Was raining but managed to get my run in between the rain.  I felt a little sore today from the race on Sat but not bad.  Other than that felt good and just ran easy to work the soreness out of the legs.  Excited to get going again and build off of this race.

48:19 (8:03 avg) 

Nice morning.  Temp in high 50's with light wind.  I was tired this morning and had trouble getting going.  Just took it easy for the first couple of miles and then seemed to get in a groove.  Glad to get in the miles and hope some zip comes back in my legs.

65:56 (8:15 avg) 

Beautiful morning.  Temp 56 with light wind.  I was still dragging some this morning.  Just took it easy the first couple of miles and then started to feel better.  Did 4 x 100 m strides toward the end just to shake out the legs.

48:13 (8:02 avg) 

Another great morning for running.  Temp 58 and no wind.  Today I planned on doing a 4 mile tempo at around 6:50 pace.  Still felt a little tired this morning so took it easy on the 2 mile warm.  At the start of the tempo had to push it to get going.  After a 1/2 or so started to get into the groove.  Felt better on the 2nd and 3rd miles then started to feel some effort on the 4th. Overall a good run and starting to feel some fitness coming back. Had some tightness in my calf so have to keep an eye on that.  Same area as last injury.  Here are the miles splits for the tempo: 7:00, 6:48, 6:50, 6:44.

52:27 (7:29 avg) 

Rainy morning but I was able to squeeze in my run before it started again.  Felt better today.  Just ran easy but legs seemed to feel more alive.  Still some tightness in my calf so keeping a close eye on it and icing, etc.

66:05 (8:16 avg) 

It was a little cooler this morning (48) and windy so felt cold.  I felt good today but just took it easy.  Had to hold back the first part and then got into a good pace.  Nice to be getting the weekly mileage back to a respectable level.  Hopefully build up to the 50's in the next few weeks.  

1:34:29 (7:53 avg) 

Much colder this morning and pretty windy.  I have been enjoying the nice mild mornings so today was not nearly as much fun.  I did feel good.  The only issue was that my calf continues to tighten up on me on need to figure something out with it.  It does not cause any pain just makes me concerned.  Hopefully I can just run through it and it will get better.

62:41 (7:50 avg) 

Nice morning.  Temp around 55 but windy.  Felt a little sluggish getting going this morning.  Plan was for 4 mile tempo around 6:50 pace.  Ran same workout last week so hoping this time I can build on that.  The first mile of the tempo I felt tired and had to push to get going.  This always seems to be the case for me.  After that settled into a nice pace and the rest of the way was pretty smooth.  Started to feel some effort the last 1/2 mile so seem to be improving.  Here are the splits: 6:53, 6:47, 6:44, 6:42.

51:43 (7:23 avg) 

Just an easy run.  Going to take it easy next few days before half on Sat.  

55:17 (7:54 avg) 

The mornings are starting to get warmer.  It was mid 60's and no wind.  Felt kind of sluggish this morning which is suprising considering the day off yesterday.  Have the Half tomorrow and don't have very high expectations. It would be nice to improve on my race from two weeks ago but the course is hilly and weather will be much warmer so not sure what to shoot for pace wise.  Just enjoying being back out there at this point.

31:14 (7:49 avg) 

Geist Half Marathon just two weeks after running the Indy 500 Half.  I am using these to kind of kick start me to get back in shape.  I didn't have really high expectations going into this race but wanted to push it harder to see how the body responded.  It was a decent day.  Temp around 68 but overcast and hardly no wind.  This is a smaller race so was able to get real close to the front and got off to a good start.  Tried to settle into a pace that was just over 7:00 and see how it went.  Was able to stay pretty steady the whole way.  The only problem was the 12th mile.  I was starting to feel the effort and there were a bunch of rolling hills in this area and kind of knocked me out of my pace.  I was glad to bounce back and finish strong.  Overall very happy with the race.  Can definitely feel myself starting to get back in shape.  Kind of upset that I let my fitness slip so far but excited about trying to get back to where I was.  I was especially pleased that I was able to knock off 4 minutes from my half two weeks ago.  This was a much harder course and the weather was not as good.  I don't get a lot of practice on the hills but felt I handled the rollers pretty well.  Here are the splits off the Garmin.  They are a little off from the course splits naturally.

1st - 7:12

2nd - 6:57

3rd - 6:59

4th - 7:07

5th - 7:17

6th - 7:02

7th - 6:53

8th - 7:05

9th - 7:07

10th - 7:02

11th - 7:02

12th - 7:17

13th - 6:54

It was warm and humid this morning.  Felt pretty good coming off of the half on Sat.  Just a little bit of soreness in the legs.  Just did an easy shake out run to get the legs moving again.  I am planning kind of an easy week this week.  I have been pushing it hard the last few weeks trying to get back in shape so going to take it easy this week then kick back in next week.  Trying to be smart with my training and keep the injuries away.

34:22 (8:36 avg) 

Philadelphia, PA:  Nice morning with temp around mid 60's and cloudy.  Just another easy run.  That is pretty much the plan for the week.  Just some easy recover runs and then will go from there.  Ran down along the Schuylkill river.

48:32 (8:05 avg) 

Philadelphia, PA: Warm (69) and humid this morning.  Just another easy run today.  Felt better today and energy seems to be coming back.  Enjoyed running down by the river.  There were a lot of people out this morning which is cool to see so many other runners.

57:32 (8:13 avg) 

Philadelphia, PA: Warm (73) and humid again this morning.  Had some early meetings so just did 5 miles today.  Planned on this being an easy week so not to worried about the mileage.

41:25 (8:17 avg) 

Very cool this morning (46) but felt good after the humid days recently.  Felt good this morning but just took it easy.  The easy days and lower mileage seems to be helping with the recovery.  Look forward to getting back in training mode next week.

39:51 (7:59 avg) 

Worked outside in the yard all day so was pretty tired but glad I got out and ran a few miles.  After I got out I ended up feeling pretty good.  Turned out to be a decent week even though I planned a down week.

63:26 (7:56 avg) 

Nice morning.  Temp in high 50's but pretty windy.  I was really tired getting going this morning.  Maybe all of the yard work recently is catching up with me.  Started feeling better after a few miles but just felt like I was dragging the whole way.  Glad to get in a few extra miles though.

1:20:12 (8:01 avg) 

Nice morning (60) with light wind.  I went to the track this morning for the first time in a really long time.  The plan was 8 x 400 at around 90 and then 4 x 200 at whatever felt hard but under control.  

I did a 2 mile warmup and then ran the 400s with 200 jog in between.  I felt good on the first 5.  The next three I was starting to feel the effort on the last 100 of each one.  Seemed to be about right effort.  Not so hard that I had to slow but enough to feel like I was getting something out of it.  I ran the 400s in: 91, 90, 90, 90, 91, 90, 89, 91.

Did a 1/2 mile jog and then ran the 200s with 200 jog in between.  Just want to work on neuromuscular strength so didn't really have a pace in mind just wanted to run them hard but try to stay in control. Ran them in: 40, 41, 40, 41.

Ran a 1 1/2 cool down.  Felt like it was a good start to getting back to doing some workouts.  Still have a long way to go to get back to racing shape.  Want to work on 5k and 10k speed then back to the longer stuff. 

Got out a little late this morning and it was warm (68) with little wind.  The legs felt tired today. Probably from workout yesterday.  Just a real easy recovery run.  

58:50 (8:24 avg) 

Had an early morning call so got out later this morning and it was warm (75) and windy.  Felt better today but still a little tired.  Just took it easy and tired not to push too much.  

63:14 (7:55 avg) 

It was rainy and 73 this morning.  Just light rain so not too bad.  Felt tired this morning but still planned to follow through on the tempo run today.  I was shooting for 4 miles at 6:45 pace.  After a two mile warmup I got going on the tempo and knew from the start in would be a struggle.  Just didn't seem to have any energy in the legs.  The first couple of miles weren't too bad but on the third mile I was working pretty hard.  Much harder than what tempo pace should feel like so I cut it short and just did 3 mile tempo.  Still felt pretty good about the workout.  I was on pace and at least got in 3 miles.  Here are the splits: 6:46, 6:41, 6:44.

53:33 (7:39 avg)