Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

AM - 29F, NNW 14 mph.  10 @ 7:53 AP.  Went out on some muddy/slushy dirt roads for some reason.  I wore some older shoes though, so it's all good.  Going to start the new year off with a double!

PM - 30F, N 10 mph.  4 @ 8:28 AP.

25F, 7:42 AP.  Just a MLR today, but I included a few short time trials at the track - an 800 and a couple 100s.  I felt pretty sluggish today, and it was kinda cold for a time trial, but whatever, I've been meaning to get these done for awhile.  When do you ever get ideal conditions anyway?

The 800 was a 2:29 (72, 77).  The 72 was actually right where I was aiming (well, the opening 35 for the first 200m wasn't), but it became pretty clear that was overcooking it for today.  I had envisioned an even or negative split...instead I got a really painful last lap!

Then I did a couple 100s - 16.1, then a 15.7.  The 16.1 was around the curve - don't ask me why I did that, I just didn't think it would make much of a difference.  Garmin actually recorded a 3:56 AP overall for the 15.7 on the straightaway, but it just goes to show how bad it is at short distances, because that would have been a 14-something.  My legs were kinda mush for the 100s so I might try them again at some point.

Anyway, things that would have helped are 1) fresher legs, 2) my faster shoes - kinvaras aren't exactly ideal for this, 3) warmer temps, 4) knowing what I am doing.  I think I could definitely go at least a few seconds faster in the 800.

Then I left the track, and did another 10 miles or so to get in my MLR - it took a few miles for my burning lungs to repress the memory of that 800....wow that was painful.

AM - 24F, 6 @ 9:08 AP.  yikes!  Must have really needed the recovery.  Tomorrow morning is my last HM workout, so hopefully I'm all better by then.

PM - 37F, 4 @ 8:33 AP.  Felt better than I did this morning.  Most of my problem is this cold that came on around New Year's.  Found myself nodding off at work a couple times...it's hard to take stealth naps.

Anyway, down to the track early tomorrow morning, so I'm going to TRY to get to bed early tonight.

29F, 7:10 AP.  Last-chance workout for my half marathon.  I ended up doing 2 x 5000m, with 400m jog inbetween 5k's.  I thought hard about just doing a straight 10k @ HMGP, and left that option open for myself, but I think this cold/virus has my heart rate artificially high right now (I didn't sleep well and was all achy this morning) so the 2-minute jog between 5k's was perfect to recover enough to finish out at the proper paces, yet keep a good continuous run.  I did this workout on the track, with my excuse being that Houston is flat, and this would help me lock in the pace.  So here's what I did (splits were taken every 1600m):

3+ mile warmup down to the track

5k in 19:44 (6:20, 6:18, 6:19, 47s) - 6:21/mile

2:11 for 400m

5k in 19:44 (6:18, 6:19, 6:20, 47s) - 6:21/mile

3+ mile cooldown back to my house

The consistency is why I like the track - just lock in 95 seconds/lap without worrying about making up time on downhills and crap like that.  The last 2k was pretty challenging, but I held it together and kept good form (I think).  Anyway, good successful workout to finish my HM training.  I think that with a good recovery, getting over this cold, good weather in Houston, and a good mini-taper next week (man, that's a lot of if's), I have an outside shot at breaking 1:23.

43F, SW 16 mph.  8:28 AP.  This cold/sinus thing is more annoying than usual.  Felt like I had just run 20 miles after this run.  The worst part is that now that I've run, I can't act like I'm too sick to go take down the Christmas lights.

46F, NNE 11 mph.  7:37 AP.  Ahh, nice and warm out.  This morning I was kind of waffling on whether or not to run, because I felt like crud.  But, a couple of extra strength tylenol tipped the scales for me and I decided I'd be ok if I just made sure I kept it relaxed; I was out the door by 11am.  I'm really prolonging this illness by training through it, but as long as it's gone by next Sunday, I'm good.  This next week is pretty tame, training-wise, so I should be fine.

25F, 8:31 AP.  Felt a lot less cruddy this morning.

AM - 34F, 10 @ 7:46 AP.  Probably 80-90% cured from that cold.  Tomorrow will be a short workout with  2-3 miles @ HMP, and that's probably it for quality, other than some strides.  Definitely a recovery-focused week, hoping to run a good race on Sunday.

PM - 49F, 4 @ 8:10 AP.

47F, NNE 17 mph.  7:29 AP.  Just wanted to get the legs moving at race pace a little this morning, so I chose a couple aided miles on the way home for a 2 x 1 @ HMP.  I could tell in the warmup my legs had no pop, and sure enough, the HM miles felt bad.  I did 6:19, 6:15 with about half a mile inbetween but, yikes, lotta effort despite the favorable setup.  Well, ok, I guess I haven't tapered at all yet.  The next 3 days are going to be super easy and that should give me that pop back.  I'll just try to keep the 2 x 5k @ HM from last week in my memory bank and forget the way I felt this morning.  Sometimes it helps to have a short memory!

51F, fog, wet.  8:40 AP.  Possible weather simulation today for Houston!

55F, 8:20 AP.  We traveled to Houston last night, so this run was from my parents' house.  Just went up to Allen Pkwy and took the trail to downtown and back with some strides.

Weather looks ok for the race...low 50's, probably some rain, and a solid north wind (maybe 14-20 mph?) as the front is coming through right before the race.  This gives us a nice 4 mile downwind stretch mid-race, with miles 1,2, and 10-11 having the most headwind.  Not superb conditions but not too bad, especially if the buildings block some wind.

72F, 94%, S 16-22 mph.  8:34 AP.  Glad the race wasn't this morning...  Anyway, hope all this easy running has gotten me ready - I haven't felt good at all yet.

The wind should be about the same speed tomorrow (NWS says N 17-23 at 7am) and sure enough, 20 mph wind in the city feels like 10 mph out where I live.  Nice to have trees and structures blocking the wind versus having to run on the open plains.  So hopefully the wind is a minimal factor tomorrow.

42F, N 16-26 mph, raining.  21-second PR today, so minimal complaining.  I fat-fingered the buttons on the garmin a bit in the 1st half so I did some forensic backtracking with the official splits to recreate the actual flow a little better.  Some splits in the first 5 miles are educated guesses based on Garmin + timing mat splits.

Pre race was pretty easily the most miserable I've been at a starting line.  Cold, windy, and sheets of rain coming down.  Of course I didn't bring any throw-away garments, why would I do that?  Anyway, after violently convulsing for 30 minutes or so, we were off.

First 5k - 19:50.  Something like 6:37, 6:16, 6:10, 0:47.  The 6:37 is definitely correct.  Mile 2 is where I fat-fingered the garmin.  The first mile was probably the most brutal of the race, course-wise.  Due north into the wind, and some Houston hills (overpasses/bridges).  After I saw the first mile click in, I had to work hard to keep that positive attitude.  My arms were going numb.

Second 5k - 19:38 Something like 6:22, 6:19, 6:11, 0:46.  After mile 5 I was back on track with Garmin.  Anyway, I caught my breath in this 5k.  In mile 6, we finally turned downwind after a bunch of cross/headwind.  So that's the reason for the 6:11.  Hit the 10k in 39:28, right on pace.

Miles 7-9 - 6:21, 6:22, 6:20.  All tailwind miles.  After running a bit in the low 6:10s, it felt like too much, even going downwind, so I backed off to a more appropriate pace for 7-9.  The turnaround back to the north comes right after mile 9.

Miles 10-13.1 - 6:40, 6:32, 6:32, 6:27, 50s for 0.15 (5:43).  Mile 10 was obviously dead into the wind.  Managed to cross 15k in 59:13, which was still a nice 19:44 for the 3rd 5k (thanks to the tailwind).  I noticed I crossed the mile 10 mark near 1:04-flat though, which I recognized as some pretty decent hemorrhaging.  It meant I needed a sub-20 finish just to break 1:24 which I thought would be impossible.  I was suffering pretty bad too, then noticed my pace in the 6:50s...I was spiralling down hard but then this older guy came whizzing by me and I made it my mission to latch on.  Somehow, I did (probably because I was drafting like a mooch), and he brought my pace down to about 6:40, when we made the turn to the east.  Turns out he was 57 years old, wow.  I was able to pick it up a lot without the headwind, but had lost that spring in my step.  Crossed the 20k at 79:47, meaning a 20:34 for that last 5k.  I knew I still had PR-potential though.  It kept me driving on, and I was able to eke out the PR.

So, final thoughts -- not bad at all.  My A-goal was sub 1:23.  I don't know that even in perfect conditions that I was quite ready for that.  Close, maybe.  B-goal was a PR.  So I checked that box, at least.  I'll have to look and see how the elites did.  I get the feeling it was not an optimal day, with the waterlogged shoes/clothes and wind.  But the temp was great!  I'll call it a good stepping stone, proof of improvement, and move on to Boston training in good spirits.

**update - ok, checked out some times/places, and it appears I did pretty well.  Even most of the elites added 1-3 minutes to their PR's out there, and my overall place was WAY higher than I expected (69th according to prelim results - my time last year would have barely cracked the top 200).  Feeling even better, although my honest assessment is that the conditions added no more than 1 minute.  I run somewhat well in chilly weather and wind.

24F, N 12 mph.  8:35 AP.  So yesterday was my first day off since November, and I might have gotten injured on it.  Last night, after we drove home, the outside of my right foot started hurting when I would turn on it.  This morning I could feel it while running, and it got steadily worse, especially when I made right turns, or ran on uneven/bumpy roads where I didn't land normally.  Then when I finished the run and started walking, it felt even worse.  Now I'm limping around...  So I'll probably try to spend the morning consulting Dr. Google.  It's a weird one, not really sensitive to touch.  The insertion of the peroneus tendon, way down at the edge of the foot is what I'm mostly looking at for now.  A few days off are definitely in order....*#$^%!

**whoops, this entry should be on tuesday.  ah, so what.

Foot is a little better this morning, might try jogging some on the track tomorrow.  On the plus side, I got 9 hours of sleep!

38F, N 20 mph.  8:13 AP.  Foot felt really good when I woke up, so I did this on the roads.  Pretty much didn't feel it while running, just afterward.  It seems to be at its worst for the first hour or two after running.  So much better than Tuesday though.  I probably just had a little micro tear from landing funny somewhere in the race, maybe avoiding puddles.

I'll continue to ice it and take ibuprofen and probably just run through this one with just a couple modifications - cancel the PM run today, and move tomorrow's 16 x 400 to next week and just run the mileage easy tomorrow.  I'll replace a LT workout next week with the 16 x 400, since LT has been worked hard recently anyway.  By then I'll pretty much be in the specific phase, building up toward Boston.  Basically, this will be an ad hoc recovery week to be ready for the tough stuff coming up.

35F, 7:36 AP.  No real complaints from my foot, so I will start to wean myself from the ibuprofen and should be primed for next week.

Monday, I'll be 12 weeks out from Boston.  My training will come in 2 big blocks:

4 weeks @ ~85 miles/week

1 recovery week

4 weeks @ ~90 miles/week

1 week in the mid-70's, continuing workouts

2 week taper, concentrated in last 10 days

Of course I reserve the right to chop off miles when I get bogged down and need the rest; this usually happens at least once or twice in a cycle for me.  Major changes: Instead of my normal 3 long MP runs, I have 7 MP workouts planned this time.  And a lot more recovery recovery-paced runs, versus my usual medium-paced mileage.  Speed and LT are also touched at regular intervals.  Really, really excited to get started.  I love this stuff!

36F, 8:18 AP.  Slept in a little, then a recovery run.

50-63F.  7:42 AP.  Yeah, finished up this run at 2pm and I actually felt hot out there, wow.  I'll look back on this in July when it's 80 in the morning and laugh at myself.  Good run, still need to work on keeping the easy runs even easier so I can nail my workouts.

AM: 24F, NNE 20 mph.  6 miles @ 8:45 AP.  Hot yesterday, 11 degree windchill today.  Legs enjoyed some nice recovery though, and I got to sleep in thanks to the holiday.

PM: 44F.  4 miles @ 8:19 AP.

AM: 24F, 10 miles @ 8:03 AP.  Last day of slogging today, then 16 x 400 tomorrow @ 3k-5k pace.  That'll be quite a shock to the system...

PM: 48F, 4 @ 8:42 AP.

34F.  Down to the track for the dreaded 16 x 400.  My only real guideline for pace was to keep it faster than 17:59/5k pace which is 86.3/lap.  I did 200m active recoveries between repeats.

Average 84.6 (83.7, 85.6, 84.9, 83.6, 86.1, 87.0, 83.7, 84.9, 84.2, 84.9, 83.2, 84.6, 86.2, 83.9, 84.2, 83.3)

Standard deviation 1.1 sec, so kinda bounced around a little.  For the 5th and 6th repeats, I changed my technique and relaxed the first 200 and tried to finish hard.  But that actually produced the slowest splits.  My best ones were when I ran the first 100 hard and held on for dear life, even though it meant tying up a bit at the end.

Back in June I did 12 x 400 and averaged 84.5, so this was probably a bit of improvement from that, since I'm sure I could have gone faster if I only had to do 12.  My legs were also a bit heavy from the recent mileage today, so overall a decent session.  No way I could have done 20 though...no way!

AM: 40F, NNE 18 mph.  6 @ 8:35 AP.  Legs are less mushy than expected, so that's good.  In the past, 400's have seemed to crush me worse than other workouts, as far as recovery goes.  Hopefully will be good to go for some MP work on Sunday.

PM: 38F, 4 @ 8:44 AP.

27F, N 14 mph. 7:44 AP.  Filler miles.  Felt pretty decent, should be ready to go for a tough MP run on Sunday.

41F, 8:25 AP.  Waited until it warmed up a bit, then headed out for a recovery run.

Last night I bought the airline tickets for Boston.  The whole family is going and we'll stay with my aunt in Providence...making a little vacation out of it, Friday to Wednesday, since our Hawaii vacation was kinda ruined with me and Keira getting sick.  After this it'll be local races only for awhile!

47F, SSE 13 mph, foggy.  7:03 AP.  Bit of a breakthrough today.  5 mile warmup, 10 @ MP, 2 cooldown.  Felt yucky and slow during the warmup so I was not expecting good things but when I started the workout I quickly realized it was going to be good.

10 MP miles - 6:31.6 AP.  Splits were 6:31, 6:39, 6:35, 6:31, 6:36, 6:36, 6:21, 6:31, 6:27, 6:28.

Yesss.  I've done 10 @ MP a lot, and this time (65:16) was just over 2 minutes faster than I've ever done this workout.  This equates to about a 5 minute improvement over a marathon (2:55).  The other metric is that I usually run the race 5-10 seconds/mile slower than this workout.  Another indicator for 2:55.  Even the uphill miles were sub-2:55 pace, and the best thing is that I finished on a nice even keel and felt like I could have kept going for awhile longer.

I'm starting to think I under-valued my Houston performance in the wind and rain.  Either that or it just launched me to the next level.  I think the most important thing for me right now is to not jump the gun with my training and start running TOO hard.  This 2-stress-days-per-week is working well for me right now, especially when I keep my easy days really easy like I've been doing.

57F, 8:29 AP.

AM:  66F, S 15-20 mph.  10 @ 8:00 AP.  Still kinda recovering/sluggish from Sunday, which is ok because my 2 stress days this week are Friday (intervals) and Sunday (long run).  Lots of time to bounce back.

PM:  54F.  4 @ 8:42 AP.

AM:  37F, NW 21-29 mph.  15 @ 7:39 AP.  Man it's hard to leave the warm house at 4-something in the morning when you can hear the wind whistling from inside.  I just alternated going north and west a mile at a time until 7.5 (I hate when the wind isn't coming from a cardinal direction), then rode the tailwind back home which was niiiice.

PM:  40F, 4 @ 8:56 AP.  Me and the 9-minute guy battled it out for awhile but I gapped him in mile 3 with some downhill.

AM:  27F, 6 @ 8:40 AP.

PM:  40F, NNW 20-27 mph, 4 @ 8:41 AP.