Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

20F, 7:15 AP.  It was 18 degrees at my house but the bank sign in town by the track said 20, so we'll go with that.  Anyway, 8 x 800m was the workout today, 400m active recoveries.  This time my plan was to go easy on the first 4, as long as I hit at least 10k pace, then work my way down to 5KGP (2:52-3) by the end.

AP 2:56.5 - (2:58.6, 2:59.0, 2:58.8, 2:58.3, 2:56.3, 2:55.5, 2:54.8, 2:51.1)

So yeah, pretty much did exactly what I wanted to do.  This is surprising because I usually don't get to call my shots at the track.  Usually whatever happens, happens.  But by taking it (relatively) easy on the first 4, I was able to feel strong the whole workout.  This is the way to go!

40F, NNE 15 mph.  8:21 AP.  Considering the intervals yesterday, a huge steak last night and a few more beers than I shoulda, I felt pretty good.  First 20-miler of the cycle tomorrow.

31F, 7:36 AP.  Early-morning jaunt to/around Apache and back.  Squeezed it in before 8:30 mass, which cost me a bit of sleep, but I have a somewhat busy day so this was the solution.

I made sure the pace was slower than 7:30, and most miles were in the 7:30-7:50 sweet spot of easy running - fast enough to get a good aerobic stimulus, but slow enough so I won't pay for it recovery-wise.  I have an MP wave run Wednesday which I'm kinda looking forward to in a sick way.

53F, 9:03 AP.  The 9-minute guy jumped out to a big lead today and I couldn't catch him.

AM:  33F, 10 @ 8:09 AP.  Relaxing run - still feel a little sluggishness, but hopefully ready for a workout tomorrow.

PM:  52F, 4 @ 8:53 AP.  good plod, right after dinner.

AM:  51F, foggy.  15 @ 7:12 AP. Today I did my MP wave run.  The workout was an 8-mile tempo, alternating 15 sec faster, then 15 sec slower than MP.  To ensure I met the intent of the workout, I did this at the track so I wouldn't get lopsided efforts on the hills and could control my pace more precisely.

So 7.95 mile (12,800m) tempo in 52:34 which is 6:36/mile.  1600m splits were 6:21, 6:52, 6:18, 6:49, 6:18, 6:48, 6:17, 6:51.

I was initially shooting for something like 6:25/6:55 for the fast/slow 1600s, but it was obvious that was not quite providing the stimulus so I dropped down a bit and ended up averaging 6:18.5/6:50.  Even at those paces, it was honestly pretty easy for a "workout."  I guess I shouldn't be that surprised since I just did 10 @ 6:31.  So this is the second MP-type workout in a row that is coaxing me under 6:40 for a GMP.  I am trying to be conservative about this little improvement spurt though, so I don't run myself into the ground and erase the gains.  It's a good dilemma to have, at least.

PM:  57F, SE 17 mph.  4 @ 9:10 AP.

AM:  57F, S 14 mph. 6 @ 8:50 AP.  These recovery runs are the only thing keeping my legs alive.  I've got another week of tough stuff after this one, then a recovery week which I will welcome.

PM:  44F, N 13 mph.  4 @ 8:46 AP.  Keira turned 5 today!  For this run I had a belly full of birthday cake and other stuff.  I think I could feek it swaying back and forth in my stomach as I plodded along.

29F, 7:42 AP.  Just kinda filling in easy miles until Sunday.  Legs felt decent today.

44F, SSE 21 mph.  8:33 AP.

40F, SW 14 mph.  6:51 AP.  Today was 17 @ steady-state pace.  This is the only run of this type in the specific phase.  I didn't bother to stick to any pace in particular, just kept a nice moderate aerobic effort and let the wind and hills dictate the pace.  It was downhill going out with a headwind, then uphill coming back home with a tailwind.

Splits were 7:09, 7:05, 6:58, 6:53, 6:54, 6:49, 6:50, 7:03, 6:52, 6:59, 6:54, 6:56, 6:48, 6:47, 6:43, 6:32, 6:22.

I got bored with the pace and picked it up a little on the last 3 or 4 miles going uphill back home and finished with a nice progressive effort on some of the tougher hills.

I like the steady state run and will pick it up again after Boston.  It's enjoyable because you're not working too hard, but it feels like you're actually running.  For now I need to concentrate on GMP though.

AM:  35F, NNE 15 mph.  4 @ 8:49 AP.  I was going to do 6 in the AM and 4 in the PM, but I forgot to set my alarm. I ended up hitting the road just 7 minutes after getting out of bed, which is a minor miracle, but still only had time for 4 miles.  Will have to do 6 this evening.  At least this didn't happen on a 15-mile morning.

PM:  46F.  Did the other 6 @ 8:38 AP.

AM:  38F, NE 13 mph, pouring rain.  My favorite hypothermia-inducing conditions.  10 @ 7:51 AP.  As an added bonus penalty, it was the sharp, stinging kind of rain.

PM:  33F, N 15 mph, light snow.  4 @ 8:30 AP.  The snow was coming down a lot harder a few hours ago, but it didn't stick.

AM:  29F, a little fog.  10 @ 7:57 AP.  Hopefully ready to go for some LT work tomorrow.  Can't decide what to do though - 6 x 1, 30 min tempo, 4 x 1.5, 2 x 5k....so many choices....

PM:  47F.  4 @ 8:40 AP.  Still burping up Long John Silvers that I had 6 hours prior for lunch.  Happens every time.  The real question is why do I keep going there?  Because it's greasy and delicious, that's why.

30F.  7:13 AP.  Ran down to the track today for a 6 x 1600 @ LT, with 400m recoveries.  My idea was to start a little slower and finish a little faster.  Successful workout again. 

Average rep was 6:11.4.  Splits were 6:18, 6:14, 6:13, 6:12, 6:08, 6:03.  Average recovery lap was ~2:03.

Educated guess of my current vLT is 6:10-6:15, so this workout bookended that range pretty well.  I think I'm starting to get the right effort level with these workouts.  You want to finish feeling like you could do another rep or two if you absolutely had to, but you're still glad it's over.  Any slower and you're somewhat wasting your time, but any faster and you're not meeting the intent of the workout, plus adding significantly to your recovery time.  This morning was a good representation of that.  I avoided the temptation to go to the well, and just finished steady but strong.  Added a little extra cooldown to get to 15, and notch a MLR.  One more MP workout on Sunday, then a recovery week (ahhh).

AM:  33F, NNE 17-24 mph.  6 @ 8:37 AP.

PM:  42F, NNE 12 mph.  4 @ 7:57 AP.

That is all.

AM:  36F.  6 @ 8:10 AP.  Last bit of recovery before 10-11 @ MP tomorrow.  Goal is to go slower than last time and not race against the old workout.  I have a little tougher course picked out as well.

PM:  46F.  5.3 @ 8:54 AP.  Wasn't originally going to do a second run today, but my neighbor called and we've been trying to hook up for awhile so I joined him for a few during his long run.  Turns out we do the same routes a lot and use the same tricks to avoid some of the hills and wind around here.

32F.  6:46 AP.  Decided on an 11-mile MP run today, mostly because mile 11 was a nice downhill.  So overall, a net downhill course, but the first 10 were overall neutral.  About 3 miles on the warmup and 1 on the cooldown.

AP for 11 miles was 6:30.0.  Splits were 6:31, 6:34, 6:28, 6:28, 6:32, 6:23, 6:36, 6:31, 6:36, 6:37, 6:14.

Take out the last freebee mile and I actually end up at 6:31.6 for the first 10, which is exactly the same time as 3 weeks ago.  The last mile (tempo mile 11) was probably still MP effort but a good 75' drop.  I put my own little Heartbreak Hill in at mile 10, which was my slowest mile but still sub-2:55 pace.  I don't think 6:30 is my true MP yet, based on how my legs felt in the last few miles, but I'm getting there.

I'm thinking about pushing my recovery week to the right by 1 week.  Might jump in a half marathon in 2 weeks and it makes more sense to have the recovery week right before that.

51F, WSW 17 mph.  8:36 AP.  Felt like a creaky old man.  Good time for a recovery week. 

Summary of the last 4 weeks:  42 runs, ~345 miles, 86/week, 12.3/day.

AM:  29F.  6 @ 8:26 AP.

Just noticed an interesting article about Berard Lagat on Let's Run (the quote of the day) about why most people slow down after age 30 (and why some don't).  In some ways, I'm glad I started running after the age of 30 so I don't know know the difference.  It means I'll probably never run a 2:20 marathon, but the fun part of running is getting faster and I definitely still have a few years of doing that ahead of me, especially if Lagat can set records at age 38.

PM:  46F.  4 @ 8:24 AP.

36F, SE 17-23 mph, raining.  7:37 AP.  Not quite cold enough for snow, so I got the stinging needle rain again.  Stepped in a bunch of puddles, shoes came untied twice, gloves soaked by mile 3.  Of course the wind was not from a cardinal direction so no crosswind legs....I pretty much only finished the run out of spite (learned it from Tracy).  I guess it was character building, at least.

AM:  32F, NNE 11 mph.  light drizzle.  Enough to soak me for the first 2-3 miles, then it stopped.  6 @ 8:23 AP.

PM:  34F, NW 21-24 mph.  4 @ 8:19 AP.

20F, N 11 mph.  7:24 AP.  Easy, but with a 6:28 thrown in on mile 7 to keep from getting too stale.  Probably a good idea, because it felt kinda bad.  I think I might be getting sick though, so maybe that's the culprit.

39F.  8:18 AP.  Easy 5 after lunch.  That ends my recovery week six days.  Time to start the abuse again.

32F.  7:12 AP.  Today was my fast-finish long run.

First 17 easy to moderate, averaged 7:25/mile.

Last 5 @ 6:27 AP.  6:33, 6:35, 6:28, 6:24, 6:15.

My local Heartbreak Hill was in miles 19-20 (tempo miles 2 and 3) and I put forth my biggest effort going up the long hill today, keeping it around 6:30.  I think hills are a weakness for me, and hills at mile 20 are a magnified weakness, so I took advantage of fresh legs (from the recovery week) and hit all the uphills in the tempo portion pretty hard today.

AM:  41F, NNE 15 mph.  light rain.  6 @ 9:02 AP.  Lucked out as there was heavy rain right before and after this run but I got a little window of less weather.  Legs a little mushy from the 22-miler.

PM:  32F, NNW 26-36 mph, sideways stinging snow.  Why does all the precipitation here have to sting?  4 @ 8:26 AP.  Better than rain, I guess, although my face and neck was all red from the tiny flying snowflake daggers.

AM:  33F, NW 17-27 mph.  6 @ 8:40 AP.  Legs still pretty beat up from Sunday, so I shortened this run to my standard recovery distance.  Hoping to do speed work on Thursday but I should be careful about piling up too much and getting into a hole, since I am going to do 13.1 at race effort on Sunday.  Going to play it by ear, I think.

PM:  38F.  4 @ 8:29 AP.

AM:  nothing.  Forgot to turn on my alarm.  This time, I'm not going to make up the miles though, since it was probably for the best.  I still have soreness from Sunday; maybe getting over this cold has something to do with the extra recovery time needed.  Anyway, I'll get in a short run this evening and maybe some pared down speed work tomorrow.

PM:  39F, NNW 21-29 mph.  5 @ 8:30 AP.

30F.  7:30 AP.  Mostly easy, with a 10 x 1 min on/off on the way home.  Didn't take down the paces, but they were ~3k-5k effort.

My legs still ain't quite right.  Just as I was touting my improvement in recovery time...  I do think trying to run the 22-miler fast finish while being sick might have contributed.  Anyway, it's a pretty shallow hole and I'm pretty confident I can climb out with a couple more easy days, and still put out a pretty good (99%) effort in the HM on Sunday.