sub-3 or blow-up trying

Ran 10 miles in 1:17:57 (7:47 pace).

Felt a bit sluggish and the legs were tired today.  However, I had a nice window of time in which I could run.  Decided to hit the steep hill route and just gave it a go...basically ran a 10k to Goshen and another 10k back.  Really gave it all I had.

1st 10k (6.25):  48:21/7:44 pace

2nd 10k (6.25):  45:32/7:17 pace

The biggest hill was on the way out and definitely made a difference on the time. Ran equally hard both there and back. 

Did a treadmill workout at the gym.  Ran 2.05 warm-up at a 7:30 pace and then began a 10k run, progressively bumping up the speed.  Started at 6:27 speed and worked my way towards 5:52 on the final mile.  Overall time was 38:47 (6:15 pace).  This is a bit quicker than I would expect to translate outdoors, yet felt like a solid run.  The machine forces me to lengthen my stride, keep those legs pumping and I felt fairly comfortable throughout (definitely worked hard, but didn't kill me). 

Ran 10 miles in Goshen- at least 6-8 strong hills.  Treated this as a recovery run, yet still picked up the pace on the second half.  Desire to turn it up a notch, whether it be speed work, tempo runs, and even recovery.  Hopefully, I'll be able to continue improvement for Boston.

1st 5 miles:  43:55 (8:47 pace)

2nd 5 miles:  38:47 (7:45 pace)

Think I may need to retire the triumphs. 

Weight:  179lbs.

Went to the gym and devoted 1 hour to weights.  Still able to maintain bench press at 225 x 5.  Did upper body and legs.  Followed up with 4 miles on the treadmill- 1 mile warm-up (8 min pace) + 3 miles at 6:53/pace.  6:53 is my new 7:20...just want to make that pace very comfortable to run.  My hope would be to push a 3 hr marathon in Boston...thus, I'm doing a lot of strength work with the legs, core work with crunches, and lots and lots of hills.  Winter will be a challenge, so I'll also take advantage of the incline feature of the treadmills. 

Weight up to 180lbs, yet it's probably water. 

Really pushed myself today.  Legs were tired from squats yesterday, yet was determined to get a strong tempos at 6:53 pace or under.  Took off at a strong pace for a 6-mile tempo and was all over the map in mile times, fastest being under six minutes and slowest being close to 7:30.  Overall, ran 9 miles and legs were completely spent at the end. 

6 miles:  40:47 (6:48 pace)

3 miles:  27:00 (9 min/pace)

Ran an extremely hilly area.  Started with a moderate pace and progressively pushed harder.  Keeping track of mile splits seemed pointly, since they were all over the map.  I ran one mile with a steep hill in 10 minutes and another around 6 minutes.  Mile 10 was about the only flat section- I ran it in 6:40.  Overall, ran 12.5 miles in 1:37:45 (7:49/pace). 

Was a little disappointed today.  Felt great and had the time to do 18-20.  Still had high energy after 10, but when I stopped to get water had trouble restarting again.  My right foot is still aggrevating me a bit.  Nothing like the "hot foot" from last week, but a bit painful nonetheless.  Could have probably gotten another 10 in, but didn't want to risk any damage.  Might take tomorrow off or just run lightly.  Ran first 9 through a segment of hills in 1:05:50 (7:19 pace).  Measured mile 9 (flat stretch) and timed it in 7:10- probably the best gauge of my effort throughout. 

Ran 10 miles today.  The first 2 miles @ 9min/pace to the track.  At the track started with a 3-mile tempo (6:39, 6:38, 6:29).  Jogged another mile and then did 16 x 100m sprints on the soccer field (jogged 100m between sprints).  Jogged 2 miles back home.

Legs feel great.  Right foot is still tender.  Plan to do much less on pavement this week- mostly track and treadmill.  Need to get this foot thing back under control.   

Made it to the gym today.  Did 25 minutes of leg-work- nautilus + light squats.  Followed up with a 7-mile run on the treadmill...seemed like 40 miles!

Mile 1: 7:55 pace

Miles 2-4:  6:35 pace

Mile 5:  7:45 pace

Miles 6-7:  6:27 pace

Foot's still tender...doesn't seemed to act up much until miles 8-10.  I'll continue to keep off pavement most of this week...see if that helps.  My wife noticed the tenderness seems to be on the portion of the foot that is affected by the slope in the road when running against traffic.  Suggested even running on the other side of the road (on streets less affected by traffic). 

Weight:  181lbs

A little boy in my daughter's class (age 3) had his foot severed in a lawn mower accident.  He was air-lifted to the hospital and although they had to amputate his foot, he will be ok.  Unable to find a window of time to run today, but considering the big picture, I think I'll be alright.  The girls are making a card for me to deliver and I'll include a Red Sox cap for the little guy. 

I've finally come to terms with my denial. Although my foot isn't horrible, I'm not allowing it to heal properly. Rather then fighting it, I'm going to ease back into my running schedule. Maybe even take a few days off. This will be difficult due to how good my legs feel, yet it's just silly to rush into things when I have almost 5 months to prepare for Boston.

70 minutes of cardio at the gym- bike & 2 different forms of stairmaster.  Secured a doctor's appointment for Monday morning. 

30 minutes on the bike, 30 minutes leg work, 20 minutes on the steep stairclimber. 

45 minutes:  upper body weights

45 minutes:  stairmaster

25 minutes:  bike

weight:  182 lbs.

rest

Went to the foot doctor today.  Upon examination of x-rays, determined no structural damage.  However, he saw clear inflammation around the 4th metatarsal and prescribed a weeks worth of anti-inflammation medication.  A few of his suggestions included- new dress shoes, icing/stretching, a little trail running substituted for road running (he is not a big fan of treadmills) and taking it somewhat easy this week.  However, he made it clear not to stop running.  He did not want to see me lose fitness in preparation for Boston.  He wants to see how things go over the next week or to (easing back into a "normal" running schedule) and then come back if I'm still having problems.  He said my condition was not common, yet also not rare.

Did 45-minutes worth of strength/core work at the gym + 2 miles of light running. 

Tempature was in the 20's this morning w/fairly strong winds.  Went out in shorts, long sleeves, jacket, gloves, and hat covering ears.  Disciplined myself not to overdo it.

Went to the track.  Jogged 1st mile, picked it up at a comfortable pace for 2 miles (13:55), jogged the 4th mile, alternated a tiny bit of speed for the 5th mile (very controlled) which included 2 x 400 (1:28, 1:29) w/400 jogs in between, ran 6th mile at comfortable pace (7:02), and jogged final mile.  Felt like continuing, but am really going to be careful to ease back into things. 

Tough day to be outside.  Ran with a friend for 5 miles...he kept apologizing for how slow we were going.  I estimate it was about a 9/min pace- perfect my desire to ease back into things.  Foot continues to improve.

Jogged 2 miles at 9 minute pace.

Ran 5k on trail course (6:00, 6:45/uphill, 6:22- 19:54 total)

Ran 1 mile to the track, planned to do a second tempo, but my wife was there with our daughter who had fractured her finger in two places.  Quit my run and took the other 5 girls out to dinner while Jodi and Cassandra went to the hospital. 

My day off is tomorrow, so I'll get a full running workout in- thinking of a progressive-type run.  The foot is feeling great.  Still plan on easing my way back to "normal" running schedule.  Think I've gained like 4-5 pounds, but it should peel off fairly easily once I'm back in stride. 

It was bitter cold out this morning.  My initial intention was to do a progressive run, finding a trail and giving it a gradual push.  Made it 3 miles down to a trail and found it to be 5-10 degrees cooler.  My fingers and face were completely numb, so I spent just half a mile in the woods and came back out to the streets.  Ran a couple miles up to the track and at this point felt still felt fairly good, so ran a mile in 6 minutes flat.  Again, just so cold, I found it difficult to breath.  Rather than fight the weather, I toned it back down and headed home.  Ran a total of 9.5 miles, mostly at 8:30-45 pace.  Foot was not a factor. 

Might revisit doing a 10k Turkey Trot.  It is being held in Goshen and is one of the toughest courses in all of CT...there's like 6-8 hills.  Noticed folks with sub-40 pr's were running it in 42-44 minutes last year.  If I can discipline myself to continue to be gradual in my recovery, I'll enter and treat it as a training run.  If I feel any discomfort between now and then, I may use it to help pace my wife. 

Ran 10.8 miles with 2 friends early this morning.  It was brutally cold- 17 degrees when we returned- fairly strong wind.  Headed over to the gym and did a full leg workout, including squats.  Finished with 3.2 miles on the treadmill, 3 of them at my new mp goal (6:53).  I'm beginning to feel back to normal again!

Weight- 182.5 lbs.

Had a nice, solid run today.  It was yet another cold day, so I layered up and ran a course through moderate hills.  Did 1st 10 miles at a very comfortable pace in 1:17:20 (7:45 pace).  Felt good, so stopped by the track and took off a layer to start a tempo run.  However, within 3 laps, my bottom layer was frozen solid.  Decided to stop with 1 mile, save the tempo for tomorrow and jog home.  Did mile 11 in 6:28 minutes and jogged home at an 8:45 pace. 

Feeling close to 100%.  Have lost a little bit of fitness (mostly due to 2-3 lb weight gain), but should have it back in a week or two.   

Jogged 1.75 to Whites Woods.  Ran a 5k trail course...mile 1- 6:05, part way through mile 2 was stopped by a 1/2 dozen deer...stopped my watch and then forgot to restart it when I resumed running.  Hit the stop button at the finish and looked down, expecting to see somewhere around 20 minutes and saw 11 minutes...pretty dissappointing for the effort that was exerted.  Not an all out, 100% run, but pretty close.  I'm guessing 19:50 or so.  Legs were a little heavy from the weekend, but the foot is absolutely fine. 

Jogged 1.75 back to the gym and did a leg workout with squats.  Plan on 2 days of recovery running before the 10k on Thursday. 

As badly as I wanted to run today, felt it would be wise to rest a day.  Foot is feeling heathly, had a great weekend of running, and hope to remain strong.  Will run a 10k on Thursday and a long run on Friday.  No need to get crazy this far out from April. 

Did 45 minutes with upperbody weights. 

Slow run on the treadmill.  Two days easy, leading into a full weekend of running. 

Overall, felt very good about the race this morning.  Did 3-mile warm-up.  Sizeing up the field (500 runners) and the times from last year, my goal was top 50 and a time under 45 minutes.  This was the most challenging course I have ever run (6 fairly strong hills) and felt as though my pacing remained consistent throughout. 

Mile 1:  6:30 (Had to exert myself for a hill that cover the last .25)

Mile 2:  6:30 (Probably the hardest I ran for the entire race)

Mile 3:  7:10 (.75 uphill followed by a sharp decline back down)

Mile 4:  7:28 (Not that bad a hill, just pretty much covered most of the mile...my legs began to really feel it)

Mile 5:  7:47 (nastiest stretch of the race...kept a solid pace...held position)

Last 1.2:  7:40 (nice gradual slope downward, followed by one sharp upward hill, and ending w/a .2 mile stretch that was flat...ran this stretch at a 6:23 pace and felt strong at the finish)

Overall, if this was a flat course, I really feel as though I had it in me to maintain a 6:20-30 pace...the hills were challenging, yet I seemed to push through them with strength.  This is officially my 10k pr (although I've shattered that time within a 1/2 marathon and 20k).

Weight:  183.5 lbs (Will begin to shoot towards 175lbs, starting tomorrow)

I'm very pleased with my run today.  Having completed a 10k yesterday, I didn't expect to do anything special.  As I set out, my intent was a 20-miler, yet within a few miles I knew I was feeling pretty good.  Decided to turn left instead of right to pursue to 22-miler Ed and I measured out last September.  It's extremely challenging, full of hills. 

I checked last September's log (20th) to find what I completed it in:  2:55:39 (7:59 pace).  It was my last long run before the marathon taper.  Today I did it in 2:43:22 (7:25 pace).  The first 12.5 was 1:33:35 (7:29 pace) and the last 9.5 was in 1:09:47 (7:21 pace). 

In September I weighed 179 lbs...today I was 183 lbs.  My goal for Boston will be a sub-3hour and I hope to get my weight down to 175lbs.  The 8 lbs alone might help shave 16-20 seconds per mile which puts be almost there (I was 182lbs for a 7:16 overall marathon pace).  Nutrition diet starts today!

I had to laugh today.  Ed did not know I was running a 20-miler yesterday and found a semi-long run for today full of hills.  Asked if I was up for something new and I heard my self saying, "sure, why not?"  First 5 miles was "killer".  I joked that he was sadistic and sticking it to me.  He replied, "You haven't seen anything yet."  Sure enough, the next 5 miles was a series of hills unlike anything I've ever run.  Felt like the streets of San Francisco.  I joked that he was just going to keep hitting me with hills until I dropped.  He quipped back, yeah each new one's like a punch to the gut.  We ended up running 13.6 miles in 1:52:49 (8:18 pace).  I'm now heading off to run with my 9-year-old, Courtney.  She's getting ready for the "Jingle Bell Run", a 3-miler next Saturday. 

Finished off the day by running with Courtney.  She ran the 1st mile in 8:25.  Then we ran a sequence of three half-miles with a 1-minute break between each.  Kept about an 8:40 pace.  She is hoping to run 3.1 next Saturday.  I think she'll do fine.

rest.  Feel a good kind of sore after a solid weekend of running.  No physical activity today whatsoever.