Pool Running is Fun

10 easy.  It was not easy because it was so frickin HOT and humid.

12 fast easy.  Got caught in a torrential down pour.  Soaked most of the run.

8 easy.  Very humid.  Dehydrated.  planks, push-ups.  got a good stretch in.

5 easy at lunch

2 mi WU

6 x 800 with 400 jog  (2:39, 2:30, 2:28, 2:32, 2:28, 2:26) 2 x 200 "fast" (30, 30)

2 mi CD 

8 slow legs. nice day.  National Running Day.

did 8 total starting easy and using mile 6 for a hilly 5:30 to get the legs moving; the rest easy. Racing a 10K on Saturday.  First race in a long time.

4 easy in the rain

This was my first race since the Boston Marathon.  I had no idea what to expect but I knew I would be slow based on the hills there and my lack of specific endurance training.  Since coming back from Boston I've only run three speed workouts so I wasn't expecting much.  However, I at least thought I would break 34:00.

I'm not sure what I was expecting and I don't know really what to think about it now. It is what it is.  However, it puzzles me that running 50 mpw last summer and fall I was able to go so much faster but now that I've trained for a marathon and am running more mileage I am so much slower.  Perhaps this is because I'm comparing my best end-of-season times from last fall to these times now.  Perhaps it is because I've only just started training for shorter races after Boston. Perhaps it is because my training is now so much different with my new training group or that my body has not absorbed the extra benefits from the extra mileage. Maybe it is true what they say about it taking a year to see results from a major ramp-up in mileage with much of that mileage slow.

Either way I need to race to get better at racing and that is something I just haven't done with the marathon training.  Summer here is hot and humid but don't kid yourself--I plan on being blazing fast (for me) by the time the cool fall comes around. 

I have to start doing the right things: eating better,doing my morning runs, being consistent with strides and drills, and keeping my mileage consistent.  Distance running is a game of patience.  I know I'll never be elite but I want to be able to be the best that I can at the sport I enjoy and help others do the same thing.  Sure beats wasting my time sitting in front of the TV when I'm not working. 

Results 

12 easy.  Cool but humid.  Only thing sore from yesterday are my calves from my flats.

5 easy plus 5 x 10 sec hill sprints.  Drills, core, etc.  Needed a rest day after the past two quality days.

5 easy at lunch

2 wu 

400, 600, 800, 1000, 1000, 800, 600, 400  all with 1/2 the interval jog rest

2 cd 

7 easy HOT

5 easy at lunch

1 mile WU

4.25 mile tempo.  Died from lack of sleep. Had to cut the tempo short from 5miles

2 mile CD 

8 easy.  Beautiful day for a run.  Low humidity and 80 degrees.

14 progressive. I dropped a 5:39 then a 5:22 by mile 11 but I was tired so I went 6:40s the rest of the way for 14. Lovely day out in DC today.  Low humidity.  Odd for this time of year.

took the day off. Need a day off every now and then.

5 easy at lunch

2 mile WU.

6 x 1100m hill loop around Iwo Jima Marine Corps memorial.  Good workout.

2 cd. 

8 soaked in the rain.

8 easy. Low humidity.  Nice day.  Saw and adolescent groundhog #fluffymarmotofjoy. Standard planks and push-ups of course.

6 miles at lunch

2 mi WU

2 mi tempo about 11:10. 4 x 800 meters: 2:38, 2:34, 2:31, 2:26

2 mi CD

Gorgeous low humidity weather. 

7 recovery.  Tired.  Nice day.  Sunny

14 easy to moderate. Became warm and deydrated big time on that one.  Should run earlier.

8 easy recovery

SICK.  I woke up at 4:30 am and began puking my guts out.  I guess I should have checked the expiration dates on that lunch meat I had for dinner.  I think I am just going to give up meat in general (unless from a restaurant).  Makes me nauseous thinking about it.  I feel like ass today and I have a fever, aches, and chills.

8 easy (actually hard due to heat).  Decided since it was breezy that I could do 8 even though I still feel a little weak from passing the bad food.  Anyway felt great with the breeze but coming back there was no breeze and no clouds to block the sun.  I was very hot despite drinking tons of fluids prior.  If it is this hot again I need to bring an additional water bottle to drink while running.  Disgusting outside (94) but we've actually been very lucky this year.  In the past two summers there have been week long periods of 95+ with many days over 100 degrees with humidity.  Not so this year so far.   Stomach is still a little weird.  Still working on passing any bacteria infested nastiness out of my digestive tract.

5 easy at lunch plus 3 x 10 sec. hill sprints.  I need to do these more often but NOT on hard days.

evening: 2 m WU, 2 x 1600, 5:15, 5:21 with 800 jog between. 4 mile easy run for cool-down with Mills.  Only did a small workout due to the fact that I'm running a 5K this weekend and on the 4th of July. 

6 easy. Hot. Tired

slept 10 hours last night and caught up on some sleep.  Did 4 today. Running a 5K tomorrow.

Well I went out to run a 5K this afternoon.  Some big time local Kenyans and Ethiopians were out to win some big money.  The winner ran 14:15. But take this with a grain of salt.  Apparently there was some course cutting by a few and the turn-a-round had no cone, no marker, and people just decided when to turn around.  What a joke.  However, I am disturbed at how slow I am despite putting in many more miles. I ran 16:45