It's all relative

AM: 15 miles, then the gym.

Noon: 24 miles.  Felt great, but went very slow once Elia joined up with me.  I think that made it more difficult, but I tried to stay positive.  3 hours and 3 minutes.

AM: 13.4 miles.  Felt easy despite tired legs at the beginning.  I'm surprised the super-long runs like yesterday are not taking more out of me.

AM: 11.4 miles at the track, 3.75 of them sub 6:00/mile to help out Dylan and to get them tired for this afternoon.

PM: 9.1 total miles at the track, about 3 miles fast.  Workout- 4x1200 with 600 recoveries with John and Jeremy and four others.  I wanted the intervals to be honest, so I made them quick from the start and let Jeremy know that I wanted sub 3:45 (5:00/mile pace) for each.  They seemed concerned, but I knew it was time to start getting a bit serious and stop wasting these training opportunities, especially with 6 of us out there together.  John hung on for one, and then dropped off a bit, but  Jeremy was right there on each one which was nice.

Splits-  3:47, 3:44, 3:41, 3:42

Overall, I felt pretty in control.  I did feel the need to gear myself up and focuse for each one, but I never felt as if I was not going to get under 5:00/mile pace, which was the goal.

PM: 9.4 miles. 

PM: 15 miles.

Grading myself for week 3:

Mileage (90%)- My mileage is decent and I am on pace for the 110 I want this week.  Next week is shaping up to be a down mileage week, which is right on time given my training.

Speed (60%)- I have run more honest intervals and done 4 mile sessions twice, which I am happy about.  I would like to nail a speed workout tomorrow, so that's a goal on the agenda.  I am a little peturbed about missing speedwork on Sunday, but with the mileage increase it is a good thing- I will just plan some good stuff next week.

Nutrition (60%)- Has been much better.  Less sugar/simple carbs, no over-eating, and a good amount of fat, vegetables, and protein.  I am transitioning well, but can noticeably do a better preparation job with my protein macros to prevent muscle loss and aid in recovery particularly  in that 1-hour-after-workout time slot. 

Water/electrolyte balance has been very strong for me, which has aided in feeling pretty bouncy and ready for my runs. 

Racing weight (40%)- This week I again am focused on a reduction in overall calories.  Goal weight loss is 3 pounds healthily.  Losing weight is about as challenging as I remember.  Total weight loss- 7 lbs, with 13lbs to go.

PM: 14.5 total miles with a workout sandwiched in-between.  2x1mile, 2x800 @ effort, 2:00-2:30 recoveries.

AM: 8 miles easy.

PM: 5.2 miles easy.

AM: 23+ miles with RJ and Anthony.  RJ doesn't really have an off switch, so we averaged 7:08/mile pace for the duration.  Fitness-wise it was pretty easy, but my legs were a bit tired from the mileage by 20 miles. 

Anthony fell off early on- he didn't want any part of that after his 3rd place finish in his 10k yesterday- interestingly RJ finished 1st.  I tried to remind him that he should be tired and remind him RJ has been marathon training, so hopefully he took it to heart and wasn't bothered by it.

No running... made me super crampy.

AM: 2.5 miles fast with a couple of runners, no particular pace- 11 total miles.

PM: 9 total miles, workout was 5x1000, 2x200 with half time recoveries and 20 seconds before the 200s.

Splits- 3:05, 3:04, 3:05, 3:04, 3:05, :31, :31

Felt good.  Had to go solo today for almost all of it, but that is what I figured would happen with the short recoveries.  

PM: 17 miles and some leg stuff at the gym.  The miles felt effortless in this weather.  

PM: 10 miles with tutoring in between (7/3 split).

Grading myself for week 4:

Mileage (90%)- My mileage is fine and I am on pace for the 80 I want this week.  I think it was a good move to lower the mileage this week.  The next two weeks will be back over 100.

Speed (70%)- Effort workout on Friday, good speed on Sunday for the long distance, and I am very happy with Tuesday especially going solo.  It was nice to hit a sub-16:00 5k workout for the first time in a long time. 

I will do another workout Friday, but I am just expecting an effort-based result as opposed to hitting good times.  Overall, positive progress.

Nutrition (80%)- Continued with very few slip ups.  Recovery macros, water, and electrolytes were great this week.  With so many long runs I am shocked at how good I feel each time I get into a longer run, and I truly owe it to my consistent nutrition.  

Racing weight (60%)- I again am focused on a reduction in overall calories.  Goal weight loss is 4 pounds healthily.  Total weight loss- 12 lbs, with 8 lbs to go.  Finally under 10 to go!!

PM: Thunderstorm workout!  Only Elia and I made it out to the East Lake track- but, so mentally I knew it would be tough when combined with the raining.  We decided against a tempo style run, so I chose short intervals (400s) to make them less mentally taxing.  The workout was 3 sets of 4x400 with 200 recoveries and 400 in between the sets.  I decided to shoot for 1:10 on each of them.  

Splits-

set one- 1:10, 1:10, 1:10, 1:10, set two- 1:12, 1:08, 1:12, 1:08, set three- 1:10, 1:10, 1:10, 1:10

I am happy about the 1:10 overall average, since I was solo for the workout.  I am surprised by myself, with the weather working against me.

PM: 7.5 miles at 7:00/mile pace.  Felt easy

AM: 20+ miles with Elia.  I did feel a bit like trash today, which was odd.  I suppose I was running around a lot yesterday when I was volunteering all day, but still, it was noticeably challenging.  

PM: 6 miles solo.

PM: 14 miles solo, 7:28/mile pace.

AM: 1 fast mile and a fast 200 with Elia, and the rest just helping out. 10.1 total miles.

PM: Workout with Jeremy.  3x1600 with 400 recovery in 2:30 maximum, followed by 1x200 after 20 seconds.  11.5 total miles.

The track was a mess- kids had bags in lanes 1-6, lanes 1-2 had a mat in front of it, we wanted to do mile repeats, but the math was a bit challenging to gauge in lanes 7 and 8, so the workout itself is more effort than actually hitting the times.  Even by interval 3 we had to roll around lane 1 due to a trash can and two benches.  Annoying and it really through off my rhythm overall.  I suppose that mimics race day better than anything, however.

Splits (estimated)- 4:58, 4:58, 5:04, 0:34

PM: PM: 17 miles on the treadmill.  Note to self: I do not enjoy the treadmill for that long.  I ran a bunch of it at marathon effort just to make sure it ended sooner.

PM: 6.1 miles solo, 7:05/mile pace.  This felt super easy, and would have run more but life events get in the way.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 9 miles.

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Grading myself for week 5 of 7:

Mileage (90%)- My mileage is fine and I am on pace for what I want this week.  The taper will begin next week, so my only regret is the consistency and the build up to 100+ could have been better, but fortunately no injuries seem to be manifesting.

Speed (75%)- Decent workout on Tuesday, good endurance on Wednesday, and a tempo on Saturday @ 16:30 5k pace will be a nice way to end this cycle.  

Nutrition (80%)- Recovery macros, water, and electrolytes were again good this week.  Very consistent, but next week will be tough being up with family.

Racing weight (75%)- I will move to mostly maintaining calories for two weeks, but I hope in the back of my mind to lose two pounds overall.  Goal weight loss is 2 pounds.  Total weight loss- 15 lbs, with 2 lbs to go, but ideally 5 lbs. left before February.  I can finally see abs again, which is a plus.

The next two weeks are taper weeks, so I am not expecting much change.  Hopefully 2 more pounds shed, I'd like to run 70-80 miles and then have a quick taper for the 1st week of January, and just the two or three speed days left: tempo Saturday and a speed day or two at a track next week if I can talk myself into it.

AM: Ran 4 miles and then paced Jeremy for a 5k then ran 5+ more.  He wanted to break 16:30, so we picked a certified course of which there isn't many choices, so we picked a relatively challenging one with lots of turns, but pancake flat.  The course was a bit flooded out and we did loop back into some walkers, but overall it wasn't much of an issue. 

He came in at 16:28!  Very impressive run, since he had never been under 16:47 before despite many tries.  I was happy for him, and happy my pacing seemed to help.  

PM: 5.15 miles to even it out.

AM: 20 miles with Alan and Elia, easy pace.

Noon: 13.2 solo on some hills.

Noon: 10 miles solo.

AM: 6.15 miles solo.

PM: 4.3 miles at the gym, fast with inclines (at effort).

AM: 5.55 miles.

PM: 3.7 miles, 2 fast.

No running.

AM: 17 miles, 7:20/mile pace.

AM: Gym and then treadmill with hills and speed.

AM: Gym and then treadmill with hills and speed.