Once a runner

35 minutes on the treadclimber plus calisthenics. Happy to get a workout.

Met Shannon at the Y early for a run out Schooner Head. 5 slow miles but felt pretty good. Nice first run for the year.

Mill run, did 8 x 1:00 hard, 1:00 easy w hard reps going from 6:53->last 4 @ 6:44. Felt very difficult at first but found a better stride toward the end. Need to get my legs used to faster turnover after so many 8:30 miles.

Scary after work run in the dark rainy streets with Ron and Shannon. Ron kept going faster despite pretty tough conditions :-/

2x weightlift plus 3 progressive on mill, ended at 7:13 pace (I think). Felt fine, was chatting w Nick B all the way through.

~2 mile progressive warmup, 3 miles in 22:12 (7:24 pace), .5 wd. Like last workout of this type, felt stressed at first, got a good rhythm going and was able to sustain. Leg felt off at times, still my biggest concern/limitation.

1:00 hard on the treadclimber.

Steady mill run. Felt very good, caught a groove at 8:00 pace and it felt easy, leg felt fine. Encouraging.

2x upper body lifting & :10 hard elliptical to keep the blood moving.

Progression run, .1 every minute from 6.6 to 8.6, then back down to 7.6. Ran a total of 8 minutes at roughly race pace--7:35-7:24--and 8 minutes between 7:19-6:58. Last workout before the half, will do a couple of very short, gentle runs only.

Slow, on mill, just winding down.

In Bahamas looping around, shaking out the legs. Ran at 8:00, a little after expected finish time, was a little humid but not too toasty.

Ugh, that was ugly. Went out close to my goal 7:30 pace and felt OK for 5 miles, then the wheels started coming off, and by 8 I was done. Really done. It was warm and humid, but I don't know why the unraveling was so complete--from 7:35ish pace to low 8:00s to high 8:00s, fighting like crazy to keep going the whole time. I even walked a little just before 10 miles when my calf spasmed. It may be that my training was better than it had been but still not nearly good enough for the warmer conditions, I don't know. Anyway, I fought to keep my pace from going > 9:00, finished and won my AG--ha!--so while I didn't have nearly as much in the tank as I'd thought/hoped, at least I gave what I had. And I was in the Bahamas, so that's OK too. We'll see what's next.
 

2x weights and 15 minutes on the elliptical. Legs feel OK.

Slow run, though did progress to < 8:00 pace at the end. Legs felt OK with some hamstring twinges during, pretty trashed/fatigued after. The half recovery is close to what it was for a full 10-15 years ago :-/

30 minutes of treadclimb

Very sick all week. Felt better right after the run, but ugh.

Ugh.

Treadclimb :35

W Shannon around EL. Starting to feel human again but still tired after the run.

Progressive run, finally feel back to normal. Started slow, increased steadily to 7:13 pace by the end.

Steady mill run at 8:20s after I got up to speed. Felt comfortable so kept going a little longer than originally planned. Will be sitting a lot tomorrow, good to get a run today.

30 minutes on the treadclimber before heading to Spain.

Run w Dave M in Barcelona :-)

Run with Dave and Christa in Barcelona.

Run with Dave, last morning in Spain. Great to get some runs on clear pavement and with good running weather.

Shovel a lot :-/

Shovel a lot :-/

Shovel more :-/

Shovel a lot :-/

Ugh. Slow on mill.

Skied 5k on the carriage roads. Nice day. Very sore--1st ski in 2 years!

Blech. Ran a bit.

Creaky, slow. Will try to climb out of the February blah hole I dug myself into.

Treadclimb hard :45

Treadclimb :35

Mill miles, started 6.5 -> 8.0 mph through the run. Felt pretty good during, logy after.

Blech! Felt awful. On mill, plus pushups and situps.

Pushups and situps and :12 rowing and :12 elliptical.

With cals, felt blah.
 

Treadclimb :50

With cals.

Pushups + situps + :10 row + :10 elliptical. Felt like death on a cracker.

Slow, with cals.

Treadclimb :30

Feeling really really run down.

Elliptical, etc.

Treadclimb :30, felt blah.
 

Row :12 + elliptical :12. Bleah.

Slow.

Bleah.

Treadclimb :35

Treadclimb 1:00

Weights x 2 plus slow mill run.

Slow, but felt a little better overall. Hip sore :-/

Weights x 2 + :15 row

Mill. Getting a little better but hip still sore.

Slow run w Shannon from Y to High Seas. Distance an educated guess.

Treadclimb :30 before flight to DC

Out and about in DC, ran down to the monument and WH, then back to the hotel. Slow, didn't feel peppy.
 

Hotel basement treadmill. Ugh, steam bath.

:30 treadclimb

:40 treadclimb

:50 treadclimb

Nice sunny 55 degree day! Ran Sch Hd on the path, slow but so nice to be outside.
 

Nice day! Felt fine, kept it to 4 miles just under 9:00s so I would have legs to run with Ron in the morning.

With Ron, felt really good, better than in a long time. Ran steady 8:40s with a little faster by the end, but just a nice, solid 6 mile run. It's been a while.

Weights x 2 plus :12 row. Needed to give my legs a break but will run tomorrow.

Another pretty good run on a pretty nice, if a bit chilly, day. Was spot on just under 9:00 pace the whole way--that seems to be my cruising speed for the moment. Hopefully it will start to speed up if I have better fitness and fewer pounds to haul around.

:30 treadmill

:45 treadclimb

Felt v ill Monday and better but fragile yesterday. Ran on mill today bc very cold outside, but didn't progress past 8:49 pace, given my recent outdoor run paces. Felt much better and was able to cruise comfortably. Maybe I really need to ratchet back intensity for a while but build easy distance.

Bleah. On mill, felt crummy, weather crummy.

:40 on treadclimber

Boy am I slow these days. Averaged 9:01 for Sch Hd 4. Overall it felt easy but I did try to pick it up here and there. Finally a nice day though, and it was good to get out.
 

Schooner Head. A little quicker than usual, but still slow. Nice cool cloudy day though.

With Shannon, around WHP + PH from HC.

On mill, crappy day.

Schooner Head, slow.
 

With Shannon around Great Meadow from Y.

In CT around UCHC, cool, wet, breezy morning.

Same as previous, but nicer wx for sure.

On mill, rainy outside. Ended at 7:40 pace, felt a little stressed but better than recently.

Good WHP, PH from HC. Beautiful morning, ran pretty steady.

Fencing

Schooner Head path, slow but felt surprisingly good. Left glute totally tweaked by fencing but eased up after a mile or so.

Around WHP from HC with Shannon. Started v slow but picked it up a bit for a steady effort overall. Cool, foggy 100% humidity morning.

Full Schooner Head. V humid again, foggy near the coast. Went slow but HR still approached 170 at the end. Sigh, a jog uphill is getting close to max effort these days.

Fencing.

Lunchtime Schooner Head. A bit warm but breezy, felt blah so ran slow and all worked out ok.

Felt like death on a cracker but made myself jog.

WHP from HC without PH. Shannon and I were both feeling blah and unmotivated and actually walked for a while in the middle, so getting anything was a positive.

With Gareth around Great Meadow and the Tarn. Felt a little stressed, but we didn't run fast, and it was good to catch up.

Met up with Shannon and skirted a t-storm, but was feeling bleah so kept it short.

Shannon bailed Friday, so did the WHP/PH loop on my own in the morning. Warm, went slow, felt OK.

The planned Monday run just didn't happen. Forced myself to shove aside inertia and at least trundle down the path for a little while. Went quite slow but happy to have gone.

Treadclimb :30

In CA (!) with Bruce and Michelle, slow around the Shell Ridge trail in Walnut Creek. Enjoyable short run with tough hills/footing at times.

In Napa town, to the river trail for a bit and back.
 

Shell Ridge again, on my own. Found a dirt road with nasty hills so ran that loop twice.
 

Back in Maine, standard short SH and back. Felt OK, nice weather.

2nd race of the year. No expectations, but it was a nice cool, cloudy morning, so I was able to run pretty hard for my current fitness. Splits were 6:58, 7:11, 7:30, which reflected a pretty steady effort on a net positive split course. In addition to running more miles I need to lose weight!

Ran WHP from HC. Cool fog, warm muggy sun mix. Felt pretty good--legs not tired after a lot of steps and some more intense running yesterday.

Nice shakeout run in cooler-than-expected sea breeze. Wildlife sighting: porcupine right next to the path.

Fencing

Very slow with Gareth around Aunt Betty. Warm evening made it feel a bit more difficult, but 7.5 miles! Progress, progress.
 

Warm, felt meh, short, but this is the kind of run that will get me to RtB eventually.

Very warm and muggy. Around WHP/PH before heading to So ME. Got going a little quick for the conditions, eased back and averaged 8:22s in the end.

Tour of Ogunquit, with visits in between short jogs. Kind of fun, nice morning to be out and about.

With Shannon after work. Felt breathless and slow. Nice day/visit though.

1st run in new shoes! Felt a little odd, but OK. Ran steady SH, nice weather.

With Jim in VT. Felt strong, nice morning, suburban Essex run. Didn't want to take 2 days off in a row, but was OK for this.

Double digits! Ran with Edge Sunday group, joined up with a young guy training for 10ks. Ran 8:11 out, a lot slower back, but de nada, glad to run the full distance.

Warm day, standard short SH, felt pretty good.
 

SH with 6 x 1:00 pickups, 1:00 rest. Hot and hazy so didn't go all out, but worked on a bit of turnover. 6:25 pace downhill, 7:25 pace up, ~7:00 level.

Squeezed in an afternoon run.

Had no zip this morning at all! Finally motivated myself out to Lab, Schooner Head after dropping off L. Very slow but got the miles.

Fencing

5 miles out SH with Kevin. Packed the wrong shoes! Ian's x-trainers worked ok for one run though. Ran slow and felt OK after fighting a mild bug for a few days.

Very slow and easy--a little sore after yesterday's run in the wrong shoes, but nothing bad.

Ran slow to past Highseas, then 8 x 1:00 hard, 1:00 easy to Great Head. Felt pretty stressed at times--warm day--but was able to finish OK.

Around WHP + PH with Shannon. Cool rainy morning. Felt tired with dragging legs but was able to run steady, nice to have company.
 

Good grief, felt awful. Glad I wasn't packing the Garmin today--just slogged through 4 miles at a crawl. Humid but not all that warm and only partly sunny, so didn't overheat, just didn't have it today.

Slow, SH, still logey albeit not as bad as Monday.

Slow, logey despite cool, cloudy weather, just beating the rain. Not sure what's up this week--gradually improving but still not all that good.

With Shannon around WHP/PH. Felt a little better this morning, cool mist helped.

Snuck in a quick run before BSC. Something of a microwave run, quicker than normal.

Fencing

Easy run with Shannon, both feeling a bit challenged but made it fine. Warm, humid day, so good to run easy.
 

Slow, with Shannon, around WHP/PH. Gorgeous morning, felt OK at last. Was very lazy yesterday, maybe just needed a little down time after a lot of activity, even if most of it wasn't running.
 

Felt pretty logey, and my hip extensor started to hurt a lot by the end of the run. Not a great day overall.

Microwave run, rather quick out SH and back. Cool sunshine, felt a lot better than yesterday, no leg issues.

Ran quite slow, but that's fine. Felt good, cool cloudy weather helped.

Brisk, breezy day. Felt pretty blah at first but better as the run progressed. Think it was good to take yesterday off despite the perfect conditions.

With Shannon. Didn't feel great, but it is a beautiful morning, so could be much worse!

Ran pretty strong for me lately, averaged 8:12s around WHP/PH with a jaunt out to EL and back thrown in. With all the ups and downs, solid effort, helps my confidence for RtB.

Felt pretty logey but maintained a slow, steady pace out SH. Warm, humid, windy conditions.

Another super humid day, hard to breathe. Still ran steady if sweaty.

With Kevin around Great Meadow. Nice afternoon for a run! Went slow.

Good, steady WHP/PH from HC on a beautiful morning.
 

A little tired but I got it done. Thus endeth the RtB "training"--will just do a super-slow 4 on Wednesday before heading out Thursday.

Last pre-RtB run. Warm! Out SH late morning, felt OK, legs creaky.

First leg of Reach the Beach. Very, very hot and humid, so had to manage pace carefully and save enough for the hills at the end. Did a pretty good job, running the first three miles at progessively faster paces, then keeping a solid (8:18) pace up a significantly uphill mile. Finished strong, averaged 7:40ish.

Legs 2 and 3 of RtB. Leg 2: Ran 8.6 miles at 3:00 a.m. Went out a bit too hard, as I knew there were huge hills (500-feet elevation gain in ~2 miles) from 3-5. I forgot that the inclines just don't relent and ended up power walking in parts to keep from totally redlining. Warm foggy 100% humidity didn't help--breathing sucked. So I went from 7:40 pace to 9:30 average for the uphill miles to back under 8:00s at the end, with some good downhills plus rollers. Overall happy with 8:14 average, even though that sure looks slow here.

Leg 3 was a flat-ish 4.1. There's a pretty significant uphill out of Exeter though, and with hot fog clearing to sun, I really had to keep from blowing up in the heat. Ran this one smarter, was able to be steady throughout. Finished in just under 7:40 pace, which again seems slow, but in the heat I'm happy with it.

With Shannon, WHP from HC w/o PH. Had major DOMS after RtB then got sick, so built up slowly--lawn mowing Friday, hike Saturday. Felt predictably bleah today but got around OK so back to it.

Very slow with Elissa in Portland, early a.m. Felt good to move though after nothing yesterday.

Slow, mid-day. Feeling a little more normal by now.

Was going to run but forgot my socks :-/ So did some weights and :20 elliptical to keep the blood moving.

Made it back to Eagle Lake, nice run with Shannon on a very cool, crisp morning. Wore long sleeves for the first time in forever. Ran slow but felt very relaxed pretty much the whole way.

Slow run in a lost week.

Flat 4 with Shannon. Felt better than expected despite party with boys last night.

Slow, felt OK. Warm day out.

Beautiful day, ran SH and felt better than I have for a while. Hope to keep it up.

Core workout then progressive run on the mill. Ouch.

WHP from EL after Shannon had to bail with an injury. Ran pretty hard for a while, eased up at the end.

On the hotel treadmill :-/ but it's so hot and soupy in Orlando that I'm not sure I can survive outside. Glad to get it in though.

Mill, ended at 7:50 pace.

Last mill run in Orlando. Ugh.

Slow, with Shannon who made it the whole way despite her gimpy leg.

Treadclimber :35

Pouring outside and all treadmills in CT frozen so elliptical :25

Finally, a nice run outside. Just a short SH and didn't feel great, but enjoyed the cool fresh air and sunshine.

With Shannon. She's recovering.

On mill after weights. May do some upper body. Starting now.

On mill after weights and planks. Upper body again!

Outside! 65 degrees and breezy, sure didn't feel like November. Didn't run well--very logy today--but it was nice to be in short sleeves.
 

With Shannon. Flat 4 again, very warm for Novembr. Felt meh but good to run.

3 days sick--got hit by a truck on Monday. Felt better yesterday but was happy to wait one more day. Did :12 elliptical with arms and :18 climb/walk on mill, ending at 8 degree incline and 4.5 mph to clear out the lungs a bit.

Mill run. Bleah. Hip hurts--ITB?

:40 on treadclimber

On mill, ITB beginning to hurt a fair bit.

Was going to go longer but pulled my calf muscle at 2 miles. At 8:00 pace! Oh, man, my body just doesn't work well enough any more.

:30 on treadclimber. Very careful, slow, stretched a lot, calf didn't scream, so that's a relief. Perhaps I gave it the kid gloves it needed.

:30 on treadclimber, a little faster, calf still OK.

Started with walking steep incline, 4-4.5 mph, then jogged for a bit. Got to 9:30 pace and while calf didn't zing like last week I could feel it, so went no faster.

Treadclimb slow :50

Treadclimb faster :45

Very slow with Shannon. Sunny, 50 degrees! Calf felt OK.

Treadclimb :40

ITB felt awful.

Indoor triathlon coming up. Decided to train for it, so 12 minutes on the rower and 12 minutes on the recumbent as well.

Triathlon training, 12-12-1.5 again, everything a bit more intense today.

:40 treadclimb, with > intensity.

:35 treadclimb.

Tri: 15 min row, 12 min bike, 2 mile run

Tri: hard 10 min row & bike, 1.5 run

Tri - 15 min row & bike & run, 8.1 miles total. Progressive on each, building from light/mod effort to fairly hard at end.

5k rowing (22:30) and 4.5 miles bike (15:15)

Slow, with Shannon on flat 4 plus a bit up toward bubble.

2+ hours shoveling snow. All I had in me!

:20 on recumbent, was going for 2.5 miles on the mill but my calf started feeling twingey, so I called it good a little short of goal. I felt nothing running outside Saturday, but I guess the Kayanos on the mill are still a dicey combination.

Tri training :12 row :12 bike 1.5 mi run

V slow, topped out at 8:34 pace. Made it to 4 miles but depressing how dinged my leg still feels.

:30 rowing. Good workout!

:40 treadclimber, went a bit harder than previously.

:30 treadclimber, harder still.

:10 hard row (2,500m in 10:36), :10 hard bike (3 mi), :10 hard-ish run (1.2 miles)

:15 rowing, :15 spin bike hard.

Triathlon: 2,529m rowing, 7.8km spin bike, 1.93m running, all within 15 minutes. Tried for 9 miles, ended just short (8.95). Still, pleased with result.

Very slow on mill, felt a little fatigued after the tri.

:30 treadclimb

With a group from the Y. A little treacherous, but stayed on my feet and went farther than I have for a while, albeit quite slowly.

Shovel during the storm.

Shovel after the storm.

Treadclimb before drive to VT. Short but intense :30

At Hotel VT. Rowed 5k in 22:27, ran a slow 2 on the mill. 5 below outside!

:45 treadclimb. Felt good to sweat after 2 more days of eating in VT.