Once a runner

Hokas working well.
 

Schooner Head, starting to actually run.

In VT, slow down to xc turnoff and back.

Warm, in VT, same as Friday but walked it in a bit longer.

Pressed for time, tired.

Plodding away but trying to get some consistency.

Cool morning, felt great after several days off.

Woohoo, a full Schooner Head! Almost feel like a runner again.

V slow with Ben. Enjoyed the jog and chat though.

Tried to run a steady effort that was harder than I'd tried previously but not a strain in any way. Was amazed to settle in at 7:25s given I hadn't run sub 8:30 before. Splits per Garmin = 7:24, 7:25, 7:25, official time 23:08. Worked the last mile pretty hard up the hills and passed quite a few people but otherwise just ran steady and took it easy on downhills.
 

Easy run, legs felt fine, quite content.

Schooner Head, wanted sub-9:00s and got them, but still discouraging how hard it was to run 8:40s.

With Jim on carriage roads, hurrah. Went pretty easy around WHP but still ended at 8:30s.

With Jim, went WHP to EL then back by DBB. Felt fine, started slow but sped up from 8:40s -> 8:20s. Encouraging.

Felt good, caught the cool weather. No Garmin but ran pretty quickly relatively speaking.

Very slow today! Quite warm and sunny, so trotted out to Schooner Head and back very relaxed. Felt a little sore but otherwise fine.

A bit more sore. Tried the Saucony Rides instead of the Hokas today, and after the 1st mile it was OK. Knee is more sore than I'd like after though.

Good run. First hour plus in a long, long time. Sciatica kicked in at 5 miles but eased by 6. Pace was a bit speedier than it has been too.

White water rafting on the Penobscot. Quite a wild way to get x-training, but the paddling was a workout.

Slow run w Michelle in Abol, on logging road. Started at a very slow jog, sped up a bit throughout, very enjoyable. Glad to get a run in during the trip.

New shoes, so milled and hit some buttons. Fast is relative these days, but did 6 x 1:00 accelerations and got close to 7:00 pace at the end. Shoes feel OK, bit of a weird flex to the upper so we'll see.

Schooner Head. Tried to run steady and not too slow and it barely got me < 9:00 pace. Yeesh. A ways to go for sure.

Wanted to push more than I did at JAXfit because I know my knee can take it. My ancient, dying Garmin 205 died during warmup, so no splits and flew blind for the race. Went out a bit too hard I think, but moved up in the pack for the most part. Had no kick and had a couple guys go by me in the last .1, but with no speed workouts that's no surprise. Happy with my time as my B goal was 22:xx and my A goal sub-7:00 pace, so A goal achieved. Now, maybe some speedwork is in order.

Beautiful day, planned 4 miles turned into 5 around Schooner Head. Felt OK, didn't push.

Felt awful and slow at first, gradually improved. Heavy humidity, dead air.

Better today. Beautiful sunshine, ran easy.

Very pleasant, very slow run with Ben. Stomach bad so kept it on the easy side of easy, felt surprisingly good in slow trot mode though.

Hot run, but 1st around EL for the year. Glad I got out and about early.

On the treadmill with some pickups to help with the boredom. Also rowed 10 minutes on the new Concept 2s in the fitness center.

Felt pretty awful before BSC but slogged through it on the flat 4. Very humid.

Humidity is killing me. Slogged Schooner Head, had to do a lot of self-flagellation to get out there at all.

Slow slow slow around WHP, PH and to EL and back. 100% humidity and the temp climbed into the mid 70s--awful! But everything functioned and felt about the same towards the end as I did near the beginning, so I suppose that's a good thing.

More jogging in the soup. Felt a little better today. A little.

Still murky and humid, but a cool breeze off the coast made this much more tolerable. Legs tired after 3 days in a row, may take tomorrow off.

Stomach v off, went slow around WHP, glad to run before trip south.
 

Hotel treadmill run, just keeping the gears turning.

Knee a little sore and rather warm out at noon, so took it slow around Schooner Head.

Nice ocean breeze today, so I worked the uphills a little bit. Felt OK, not great.

Schooner Head w 3x the big hill fairly hard both up and down. Trying to adapt.

Cool, lovely morning. Very nice easy run with Ben around Compass Harbor and Schooner Head.

Good hill run, longest of the year I think. Gained 400 feet in 4 miles, went down a steep hill, then turned around, went up and then down. Kept the knee and the sciatic mostly in check, though miles 5-7 were a little challenged. Fastest mile of the day was the 9th and last. Feeling good for Reach the Beach in 11 days.

Originally planned 5, but HHH weather, then the sun came out in full force just before my run. It was easy to turn around at 4 given that it was just a gear oil run anyway.

Ran 1.5 mile warmup, then 6 x 2:00 hard w/ 2:00 recoveries. Paces were kind of depressing for the effort spent, but I haven't done any speedwork, so the turnover is really not there. Ended with 7:28; 6:49; 6:58; 7:06; 7:25; and 6:58 on varied terrain. Warmed down about 2.25 miles. 

Was going for an easy 5, but work meetings shrank it to 4. Probably not a bad thing given the hard run yesterday.

Good run, Aunt Betty plus more up Around the Mountain. Gained about 350 feet of elevation in a little more than a mile, was able to keep chugging up at ~9:00 pace, then sub 8:00s down again. Will have to call this good for RtB.

Slow Schooner Head with Ben before work. Steamy but cool, felt pretty bouncy.

Ran 1.5 warmup, 6 x 1:00 hard, 1:00 recovery, 2 mile cooldown. Paces reflected hilly terrain and ranged from 7:44 up the steepest part of Schooner Head to 6:07 on a gentle downhill. Tried to work on steady effort and smooth turnover.

V slow 4 on a warm day. Guess my easy pace is grooved in, as all 4 miles were 9:16-9:19. Recovering from yesterday's pick-ups, easing off for Reach the Beach. More ready for that than I thought I'd be, will have to be ok with new, slower reality though.

First leg of Reach the Beach. Like jumping off a cliff, level for 1/2 a mile, then straight down Crawford Notch. Tried to run as smoothly as I could to keep my quads from getting trashed, ended up at about a 6:35 pace. It was bright sun and > 80 degrees, so I was very happy to have a short descent for this leg.

Leg 2, middle of the night, 6.5 miles with 700 feet of elevation gain and loss. The hill right out of transition was a wall. I've run up hills that steep, but they were always short--this went on for a mile, with the super steep part at least half of that. So that was a 9:25 mile, but the downhills helped make up for it and ended with a 7:57 pace overall, which is fine with me. Leg 3 was on rolling terrain and again hot and sunny, and I was very sore. So I'm happy that my slowest mile was my first (7:49) and I averaged about 7:35s overall. I'm still slower than I'd like to be, but progress is being made.

Ow.
 

Ran w Ben. Hamstring still tweaked and burning. His calf was strained too, so it was slow. Still feel pretty fatigued too.

Was sick all last week, which maybe wasn't a bad thing, as I felt much better today after I got going. Legs fresh, hamstring OK--will try to run a few times on the road this week and start building back up.

Hotel treadmill. Meh. + situps and pushups

Hotel treadmill. Meh.

Hotel treadmill before flying home. Meh. + situps and pushups.

Also rowed on a Concept 2 pretty hard.

In CT after a looong day.

Tread climber miles - 30 minutes, went relatively slow.

Around Eagle Lake. Cold, breezy. Felt surprisingly good except for sciatic issues 4.5-5 miles in, which eased after that. Ran 8:20s.

Schooner Head. Felt like I was working hard and I got 8:50 miles. Sigh. But a very nice day and a good run overall. Did TRX and elliptical on Monday, so getting a little more consistency with workouts too.

Slow, nice chilly run w Ben.

Slow, from work.

Short Eagle Lake. Picked up the pace at the end -> just over 8:00s. Used to be my slow training pace, now it's tempo. Sigh. A lot of cross-training this week too, TRX and rowing.

Very relaxed, with Ben before trip. Doing a lot of treadclimbing too, hard to note on here, but 45 minutes on Sunday the 1st.

In San Mateo. Found a bike path. Very flat.

On bike path in San Mateo again. Picked up pace, last mile was 7:23.

Treadclimb 30 min

Treadclimb 30 min

First run in 10 days, and Ron almost killed me. Not a blazing run (8:25s average) but pretty strong for a week + of illness and on the trail.

Was going to do EL but time constraints put me around WHP. Not a bad thing, as I didn't feel very good. I need to run in order for it not to feel like I don't run enough. Ugh.

Treadclimb 40:00

On mill. Felt quite off.

Also TRX. Mill run after.

Witch Hole Pond, nice warm morning. Felt a little better than I have for a while, but didn't push it either.

Eagle Lake around noon. Warm and windy, shorts and a long-sleeve Coolmax! Sciatic felt better than it has in a while, tried to hug the left side of the carriage road. Overall a very good run relatively speaking.

:40 treadclimb

Aunt Betty on a clear, cold late morning. Longest run since RtB. Ran steady, didn't feel great at first, but maintained well. Sciatic behaved--felt it, but not limited. Will definitely be on the left side of the carriage roads whenever possible.

:15 row and :15 elliptical

Run w Ron. He took it easy on me for the first 3 miles but finished strong. Felt pretty good.

On mill, upped speed from 6.5 mph to 8.0 at the end. Leg did not hurt!

Row :20 plus stretching and exercises. Tried brace, it's supportive but I think I'll save it for the tennis court.

Run with Ron. Felt OK but lower right calf felt sore for the last mile, so will need to monitor. Happy with the run though.

Beautiful 45-degrees with sun, moderate breeze, nice rolling course with one substantial hill early in the 3rd mile. Wanted to run hard but not all-out, given a complete lack of speedwork or racing and hence no adaptation. Think I achieved that, with splits of 6:48, 7:06, 7:11 and :37, even 7:00 pace overall. OK with the positive split given the terrain.

Hit a tennis ball around with Michelle for an hour.

Tennis clinic for 1:30.

Morning run with Ron. Chilly but above freezing, he was happy to go slow but 8:45-8:50 pace felt v easy, so that was good. And my legs still work after a race then 2 days of tennis, so that's v encouraging.
 

Slow, chilly raw day, with Ben.

:20 row

Witch Hole Pond on a beautiful 50+ degree day. Ran a slow pace but by the end it felt a little too hard.

Ran trilakes with Ron. A little longer than I should have probably, and the average pace wasn't much slower than yesterday. Sciatica kicked in bad at about 7.5 after behaving well until then, and right ankle tendon burned after 9.5 but still finished with a 8:10 after the leg loosened a bit.

Tennis!

Chilly, but sunny and nice. Started slow with legs still hurting from the 11 on Sunday + tennis, but was OK after a while. Last mile was definitely the best, which is always a good thing.

Rowed 3,550 meters, biked 7.4 km and ran 2.01 miles in 15 minutes each, 8.81 total miles. Looks like I came in 3rd overall.

Very slow with Ben. Legs were sore! But glad to run in shorts in mid-December.

Treadclimber for an hour. Good workout for a day I didn't want to brave a cold wind outside.

Tennis!

Rowed :15 then did an easy 3 on the mill. Felt pretty good, smooth.

Really slow today. Chilly, foggy, raw day--warm for December but not nice. Old calcification injury is really sore, so just took it easy and got some pre-holiday miles.

EL. Started out kind of breathless but got a good rhythm going down the back side and finished with two sub-8 miles. 48:58 total for the EL+ 6 miles. Freaky warm but cloudy and damp.

Treadclimb for :30

In VT. Cold! With a north wind. Decided not to go down the bike path as a result and looped around Archie Post field instead.

In VT in the snow. Ran down the unplowed bike path and back up Prospect St. Took > 50 minutes but definitely harder effort than the pace indicates.

Treadclimb :45