It's all relative

PM: 10+ miles solo.

AM: 12 miles total, 4.6 fast on the treadmill.  Mixed in some incline up to 7% (finally) with some speed up to 12mph but stayed within myself.  I've been reserved with doing any incline at all the past 3 months since I think that's what led to the injury in the first place, so today might be a milestone day in terms of finally getting back on track.

AM: 15 total miles, 4 of them at marathon pace.  Overall a pretty quick run, ~6:50/mile average pace.  Ran with James, Jonathan, Anthony, RJ, and two other guys, so that was a nice change to run a fast conversational pace with a big group.

PM: 7.3 miles solo.

AM: 3 tempo miles sandwiched in between 5 easy miles.  It appears I may be further along in my fitness than I thought, but I suppose we'll see on Sunday as I'll be racing yet another half.  This course has beaten me up twice and it's time to take one back- at least for the sake of my pride.

PM: 6 miles.

Day off.

PM: 11+ miles solo.

PM: 5 miles with Anthony.

AM: 4 miles with Anthony

Holiday Half- Madeira Beach Race Report

The race is kind of a cool one for its location.  This is a point-to-point half marathon with 3 bridges to cross over and 1 incline.  There was a headwind for the majority of it, but it wasn't terrible, probably a consistent 7-10 mph.  The weather otherwise was about as good as it gets for Florida- low 60s and no sun.  Needless to say I was pretty confident a 1:14 flat was in the cards especially with managing my pace, which I planned on doing.

The race started off the way I would have hoped it to, as a decent sized group of six plus me ran the first couple of miles together.  I was shooting for 5:40 miles the whole way and thought that'd be perfectly manageable given my fitness.  Sean was the only one in front during that time- like usual- as he likes to run out in front at the beginning of races.  He led the way for 2 miles and I caught him in mile 3 with a contingent still of about 6 other guys.  By mile 4 the group began to dwindle, and by mile 6 it was just Jonathan and myself.  I felt confident in my pace, so I kept it right in the 5:40s.  I really did feel relaxed and confident.

Mile 7 and 8 went okay with only the second of the inclines slowing me down a bit, but I wasn't really worried at this point.  Although off pace, I was  only about 35 seconds back by mile 9 and still thought I had a shot at closing the gap, but the excuses started building up in my brain.  My breathing was fine, I just lost focus on my form, staying loose, and also succombed to tired legs.  By mile 10 I was 1:15 back and felt defeated- not about the runner in front of me, but defeated that the pace had somehow become too challenging.  I sped up the last two miles simply to hold off third and fourth place... Had they not been there this time would have been in the 1:17:30s for sure.  Jonathan finished quite handily 2+ minutes in front of me.  I finished second with about a 16 second lead on the next pair of runners.

Splits- 5:41, 5:40, 5:39, 5:43, 5:41, 5:48, 5:56, 5:45, 5:49, 6:11, 6:10, 5:48, 5:55, 0:35 finish

No time to spell check, oops.

PM: 8ish miles total, 4 with Anthony. Felt fine, 7:40/mile pace.

AM: 9.7 miles at the track running with different groups.

PM: 5 miles and then the gym

PM: 10.5, a couple of those with Anthony.  ~7:16/mile.

Late PM: 6.5- ran to the gym, did a little workout with running (4.3 @ sub 6/mile) and then ran back.

PM: 10 miles solo.

PM: 10 miles solo.

AM: 5 miles with some older lady- never did catch her name.

AM: 20 miles, 8 of them with Anthony.

PM: 10 miles, 6 with Anthony.  Low 7's.

7804377

AM: 11 miles, because, well... the miles won't just run themselves you know!  Most were fast, but only 1 was legitimate.  

PM: 10 miles total, 3 fast or on inclines on the treadmill.  Also did the gym- mostly leg and abs.

PM: 10.1 miles solo.

PM: 10 miles total with 4x1 mile repeats with 400 recoveries.  Waned a bit, starting at 5:14, 5:18, 5:22, then 5:31.  I can't say I'm proud of any of that, but it's time to start making it hurt.  Very humbling track experience- thankful no one was there to witness it.

PM: 10+ miles solo.

AM: 10+ miles with Anthony.

Noon: 28 degrees, but it felt good. I ran pretty hard and got progressively faster. Ran up in the mountains which was a nice, icy change from 80 degrees, humid, and flat.

No running, Merry Christmas!

No running, skiing in Vermont!!

No running, skiing in Vermont!!

PM: Gym with my sister, wasn't planning on doing any running this week, but the treadmill looked fun so I jumped on and did 3x1mile at 5:00/mile pace with jog recoveries.

Gym again with my sister in Boston, hit the treadmill again too.  Got to see my old place in Boston as well which was fun to see.  It's weird to think It's been 7.5 years since I've lived there.  It doesn't feel like home anymore, but Florida certainly doesn't really either.  It's a weird spot in my life that I'm in.  

No running.

No running, had Christmas in Florida today with my friends!  Plan on jumping back in the saddle tomorrow.  It's been a nice break from running.