sub-3 or blow-up trying

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

Beautiful weather today- low 50's.  Jogged down to the track at about an 8:45 pace...felt rather sluggish.  Decided to run the first mile on the track without looking at my watch...wanted to see how close I could get to mp (6:53) by feel.  Mile was fairly effortless (despite feeling sluggish), yet hard to judge by about a 15mph wind...did it in 7 minutes flat.  Speed up the second mile with the thought of a 3-mile tempo run...again wanted to run by feel.  Part way through decided if I came in between 6 and 6:10, I'd finish the tempo...did it in 6:20.  Felt as though I should save the tempo run for tomorrow when my legs might be a little more fresh.  Decided to run a third mile by feel to see if I could nail the mp pace...finished it in 6:50 flat- pretty darn close!  Again, the wind was making it tough to judge, but I'm starting to grasp a better feel for pacing.  Jogged a mile slowly and then picked up the pace to a 7:30-40ish range on the final 2 miles home.  Total of 9 miles.

Weight:  182 lbs.

No records set today.  Was up last night until 2:45, doing a paper for school.  Made it to the gym and got a quick workout in.  It's a challenging time of year to get in the workouts.

Jogged down to Whites Woods (1.5 miles).  Ran a 5k on a trail course in 19:42 (5:52, 6:50, 6:13).  Felt good with the effort, considering it was off-road and I have had two poor nights of sleep.  Would love to get my 5k efforts closer to the 19minute range...it's been hard to work on speed with the weather conditions.  Jogged 1.5 back for 6 mile total. 

The weather was in the high 30's so I broke away in the afternoon to get another tempo run in.  Normally wouldn't do 2 days in a row, but I'm willing to take what the weather will give me.  Jogged 1.5 miles down to White's Woods.  Ran the 5k trail course hard...didn't have great expectations based on having run it hard yesterday.  Felt satisfied to run it in 19:50 (5:58, 6:55, 6:12).  Honestly, that middle hill is a bear!  Took a 4 minute rest and decided to run the same course with a goal of keeping new marathon goal pace.  Figure tired running would give me a sense of how I'm progressing.  Ran the 2nd 5k in 22:35 (6:58, 7:59, 6:52).  Was very happy to nail the 3rd mile in almost exactly my goal pace.  The middle hill is just nasty, so I just kept the same effort and allowed the time to slow down.  Jogged 1.5 miles back for a total of 9.2 miles.  Although the speed work may be a challenge in the winter, I want to at least be able to maintain what I have and perhaps continue to broaden my running base with hills and distance.  I've decided to skip the 5k event in town this weekend (to do a longer training run) and have signed up for a 10-mile run two weeks from Saturday.  They advertise themselves as having the most challenging course in New England (steep hills).  I will not concern myself with pr's this winter/spring (will be happy if they come) and will focus more on challenging courses to prepare for the hills of Boston.  Boston is where I want my new pr. 

Weight:  181.5 lbs

Good solid run this morning. Took Ed's route from last week (Pie Hill Road) and ran it backwards. Crazy hills- doesn't matter which way you go, still the most challenging hill course I've ever face. Gave it a nice push this time and came through the 13.6 in 1:47:12 (7:53 pace). Also, did 1.5 warm-up run. Started cold, but got used to the weather as the run progressed. Weight: 181 lbs

Today was a semi-recovery run.  Ran with Ed through rolling hills- not as crazy as yesterday, yet still challenging.  Temperature was 16 degrees and we kept a nice solid pace throughout- 13.5 miles in 1:48:42 (8:03 pace).  Finished the run and went to the gym for a leg work-out- squats, leg extensions/curls/calf raises.  Felt really good today.  After 4 straight days of solid running- 2 5k's under 20 min + two long hill runs, plan to take tomorrow completely off (maybe a few crunches/sit-ups).  I'm finally understanding the concept of "weekend warriors".  Looks as though these cold weeks may involve short, quick lunch breaks during the week and double long-runs on the weekend.  I just can't get myself to get up early and run in the dark...especially with temperatures in the low teens.  Would rather run 30-40 minutes hard during lunch break in mid to high 20's and sun.