Sean's Running Blog

Managed to get in my 3xone-mile repeats in 4:53.

Still very tired from a very long weekend of no sleep. But 16 miles has never felt so good.

A gorgeous morning. Supposed to be hot again today.

Heat and I are enemies. I did my workout at noon this morning thinking I could avoid the 95-degree weather predicted today in Seattle. Turns out, it was already 89 degrees at noon. Some of you may laugh, but that is quite hot for around here. We get only one or two days a year that are that hot and I simply cannot perform in the heat. There is no amount of water that can compensate for my water loss.

My coach gave me a choice for my workout: (1) 3x2M with an 800m float or 2x3M with an 800m float. The target pace was marathon pace which for some reason my coach has pegged at 5:15. The first rep felt pretty good: 5:15, 5:13, 5:14. The 800m float became a 400m float with a trip to the bathroom. Started having those stomach/bowel issues again. But, I was back to the starting line in time to start the second and final rep. First mile was hard but did it in 5:15. By lap six my stomach was having issues again. I commited to finishing the second mile and then head to the bathroom. The last two laps I gutted out and finished in 5:17.

I hate the heat.

Another warm day in Seattle. Despite my hatred for running in the heat, I waited until the warmest part of the day today to run my 16 miles (6:39 pace). Whether I like it or not, I will need to be prepared to run in the heat so I can at least do my easy runs in it.

On track for my only me second ever 100+ mile week. Last time I did it in seven days not six and managed to get injured in the process. So I will be monitoring things very closely.

I crossed the 500-mile threshold with my Adrenalines so they are officially retired. Time to crack open my Trance 8s.

Easy 12 through the streets and trails of Snoqualmie. Warm day but not as hot as the previous few days.

Another six+ this evening as I was charting out a couple of course options for a local 5k I am putting on in November.

A fantastic end to a great week of training. My body really responded well. I was Logan's blog and saw he did a Tinman. I had never heard the term before so I Googled it and lo and behold, it's a cool concept. So I did his "long" tempo run of 80 minutes which was 14 miles. According to his formula, based on my 5k time, I was supposed to do them in 5:46s. So I plugged it into my Garmin and off I went finishing in an average mile time of 5:43. The last few miles were all in the low 5:30s and I wasn't pushing all that hard. It was definitely a workout but not one that killed me. I like Mr. Tinman.

The run also brought me over the 100-mile mark for only the second time. My final mile in the Tinman came at mile 96 or so for the week. I feel great.

12M in the AM. 7.5 more this evening in glorious weather. Just found out I have to fly to London on Wednesday and then Germany over the weekend. It will be fun to run in Hyde Park.  

13 miles around the community in a sunny but crisp 51 degrees. Hoping for another 6 or so tonight.

Easy 10 but it didn't feel all that easy. Very late night last night and woke up with no energy. This is shaping up to be a sub 100-mile week with my travel. Oh well. Looking forward to my 12 hour flight to London this afternoon. :-)

Landed in London at around 10:30 and was at my hotel by 11:30. The only problem was my room wasn't ready. So, despite being completely exhausted, I changed into my running clothes, left my bags with the bellman and headed for Hyde Park. It was gorgeous weather. Mostly sunny and low 70s with a nice breeze. Reminded me of a summer day in Seattle. I did three laps around Hyde Park plus a few wiggles to get the full 15 miles. Unfortunately, I went the whole run without water. I couldn't find a drinking fountain anywhere in Hyde Park. Lesson learned. I have a water bottle for tomorrow's run.

11 miles around Hyde Park this morning. Let me just say that Hyde Park has nothing on Central Park. Central Park is way better. CP has way more restrooms, and drinking fountains. Plus it's bigger with way more options for mixing things up. It was quite crisp this morning. 47 degrees under cloudless skies. Shooting for 6-8 more tonight. O have to earn my English Fish and Chips dinner.

7 more this evening.

Finally a good night's sleep. I managed 10 hours and didn't wake up until 10:30am local time. That made all the difference for my workout/long run combo today in Hyde Park. I did a Fartlek which I don't do often. Usually, it's something I do when traveling and a track isn't avaialable. I did a 2x(2:1), 2x(3:1), 2x(4:2), 2x(3:1), 2x(2:1). I hovered right around 5:00/pace. The outs were with the wind and the ins were against it...quite gusty at times.

A strong finish to a week laden with travel and little rest. Still managed getting mileage into the 90s.

Hood to Coast is next week. Go team Brooks.

A new week means a new country. I'm now in Leipzig Germany. I learned on the flight over that Leipzig actually sat in the old East Germany nearly 20 years ago before the wall came down. It's a great town with nice people....who don't speak a lick of English. My experience in Munich has been that a fair number of people understand English. It seems far fewer here do. I wonder if that's a lingering effect of the old Communist regime.

Back to running. I ran this morning for e few miles around down before finding a virtual wilderness area with lush trees and dirt-packed and gravel trails winding for miles. It reminded me a lor of running back home but i was in the middle of a city.

I headed back there this evening to do one final speed workout before Hood to Coast. It was 2M @ 5:12 followed by one mile at 5:08 and one more at 4:56. Give or take a second, I hit all of them despite running most of it on gravel or dirt trails. I was tired but happy. Now I have a few days to recover before throwing down the hammer at Hood to Coast.

Slogged through six miles this morning. I was tired and slow. Hoping to go 10 this afternoon after meetings. Only managed another 8 miles this evening due to my business schedule. I did six of them on the treadmill at the hotel. Felt great except it was exceedingly warm in the fitness room. So warm that I had something happen to me that has never happened while running. By mile 6 my feet were sweating so badly that I was actually sloshing in my shoes. My shoes would have been no wetter if I had  jumped in a swimming pool and then gone for a run. It made me think that maybe it is a good way to train for warm marathons like TCM. Train warm and force fluids down you constantly to help yor body adjust.

A final 13 miles in the beautiful city of Leipzig. I fly to Paris tonight before catching a flight back to Seattle Thursday morning. Hoping to get at least a few pre-flight miles in Thursday morning even if it's on the hotel treadmill.

10 easy miles through a little villa near the Paris Airport. Looking forward to an 11 hour flight across the pond. Deifnitely need to figure out how to sleep and make sure I'm up and walking around to stay loose. I'll try and do a shakeout run of 3-5 miles when I get home. After that, it's rest up for Hood to Coast.

5 shakeout miles this afternoon after a long flight from Paris. Everything felt wrong but that's what I expected.

Next run is at 11pm Friday night at Hood to Coast

A full lap around the community of Sunriver Oregon where I am enjoying one last family vacation for the summer. Felt like crap in every way. Sore from H2C, sick and congested and then the 4500 elevation to boot made for a fairly miserable run today. But no worries. Most of the issues are H2C related. I still owe a race report on that.

12 miles in the morning and almost 6 more in the evening. Still feel pretty poorly as I can't shake this head cold which has turned into a chest cold. I'm basically recovered from the H2C but running on half lung capacity is a bit exhausting.

Another cold run this morning and a bit shorter than I wanted. Still bothered by the head and chest cold which makes the 4500 foot elevation seem worse than it is.

 Finally getting my legs back although I'm still battling the head and chest cold which makes breathing at 4500 feet that much harder.

A wonderful 16 miles today on the trails of Central Oregon. I ran 5 of the miles on dirt roads along the Deschutes River near Sunriver. I ran early as it got into the 90s today.

16+6 today under cool sunny skies.