Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 20
11/13-11/19 |
Things went pretty well this week, I just didn't put it all together on Saturday. Felt good during Wednesday's workout, I wasn't blazing but I was consistent. My legs weren't feeling all that amazing the rest of the week, but I just chalked that up to forcing a slow pace. I felt good and I felt like things were in place and I thought I was going to roll on Saturday, but I just never got near the front of the race. Don't know where I'm going to go from here. November Miles : 212 |
72 |
| Saturday |
USATF Club Nationals. Ran 31:19 to finish in 41st place. Felt pretty good on the warm up, but I only got in two or three strides because they kept us in our box for the final five minutes. Felt good at the start, it was pretty fast and I was moving but just trapped behind too many people. After about 3 or 4k I was in 40th position and wasn't really able to move up, just raced the people around me. Mark Miller and I went back and forth a bit but I wasn't ever able to put him away and he gapped me for good in the final loop. Not very satisfied with how the race went, never really got into a groove and was just trapped too far back. Cooled down 3M with Pat Moulton and Ed Baker, I was feeling fine until 15:00 in when my legs started getting really heavy. Got back to the van and felt really light-headed, but ate a little when I got to the hotel and felt fine. |
11 |
| Friday |
Genesee Valley Park. Took the 9am flight to Rochester this morning, we landed a little after 10, changed in the airport and drove over to the course. I ran with Oscar Ponce, Ed Baker and Mario Fraoli for about 33 minutes. We just followed the course, there's a 1k inner loop at the start and then it goes around a 2k loop 4.5 times, so we just ran a bunch of big circles. The temperature was pretty chilly, under 40, but I was warm enough while running. My legs weren't anything special today, I wasn't dragging ass but they weren't amazingly fresh, either. Stretched out a bit and then put in 5 or 6 strides. Didn't feel all that great, it felt like my form was off slightly. They were good enough to loosen me up and clean out the pipes a little, though. After strides I headed up to the parking lot and stretched out by the van waiting for everybody else to finish up. |
5 |
| Thursday |
Docks. Got going a bit after 7 this morning, the weather is getting cooler but it's still comfortable. It was 45 degrees when I got started so I wore a TShirt and gloves, but the temps got up to around 50 by the end, I probably could have done without the gloves. I made a point of keeping it really easy the whole way this morning, just stretching out my legs. Nothing exciting happened, felt good on the pick up down Clearway at the end. |
9 |
| Wednesday PM |
Orange Line. Just an easy couple miles this afternoon to loosen up my legs. Felt fine, didn't feel any effects from running kind of fast this morning. My legs felt pretty strong, they seem to always feel good after morning workouts. |
4 |
| Wednesday AM |
2x3x400 67, 66, 65; 65, 65, 64 (window 63-65). The usual deal with rest, 100m between intervals, 400m between sets (about 3:00.) Started warming up at 7am, did the usual route over to campus and a grass loop. Same as yesterday, my legs started feeling tired because I was pulling back on the reins the whole way, my legs were feeling good but I was trying to keep things easy. Felt pretty quick on the pick up at the end but didn't have any patience while stretching. I was anxious to get started I guess, so I only stretched out a few minutes before jogging and getting into strides. I was feeling great during strides, but think maybe I should have taken a little more time getting ready. I wanted to keep running these by feel, so I decided I'd run the first one without looking at the watch but if I was way off then I'd start looking at the watch. I wanted to run fast this morning but keeping it "long and strong" was the main objective. Felt smooth on the first one, felt like I was running hard but it clearly wasn't hard enough. Felt like I got after the next one though, came through in 32 but then relaxed too much down the stretch. Kept the hammer down the whole way on the third one though and felt better. Jogged the lap rest and got right back at it. Took a couple steps to get loosened up again, like always, but from there I was feeling good. For #4 and #5 I came through in 32-mid and finished well. Got after the final one a little bit more, came through under 32 and ran hard down the stretch. Got off to a slow start today but my legs came around after a couple and things were much better. Probably rushed the warm up a little, not all that patient this morning. I don't think it affected things too much though, still felt like it was a good workout, I accomplished what I needed to this morning. My legs are feeling good, hopefully I'll be a little sharper on Saturday than I have been for the past few races. Cooled down just 2M back home and put in some quality strides in front of the Church. |
6 |
| Tuesday |
Castle-Bunker Hill. Got going about 7:15 this morning, my legs were feeling good but I made a point of keeping the pace relaxed today. I'm so accustomed to just running how my legs feel, but now that the season's winding down I want to keep things nice and easy. Sometimes it feels like forcing a slower pace makes my legs feel worse and by the end of the run today my legs were pretty sore. Things were pretty good today, kept it nice and slow the whole way, the only negative was the rain that came about halfway through. Only put in one pick up down the street at the end of the run, skipped out on strides though. This was the only run for today, since Club Nats are only a couple days away. The workout for tomorrow is going to be 2x3x4, short and sweet. |
10 |
| Monday PM |
Orange Line. Got going around 5:30pm, it was a gorgeous 54 degrees outside. My legs felt awesome on this one, really fresh and really strong. I normally don't notice much on these short ones, but I was getting really excited about how good I felt. Cruised down Comm Ave and put in a pretty fast pick up down Clearway. Today's going to be the last day of big mileage, maybe the last double, we'll see. |
4 |
| Monday AM |
Reservoir. Was feeling pretty crummy at the start this morning, just shuffling along for the first 15 minutes or so. Weather was gorgeous though, about 55 degrees when I got started at 7am. My legs did start to loosen up though and I sped up in the middle of the run. I hammered a little on the Comm Ave hills, including up Summit, and kept it pretty quick around the Reservoir, too. Coming down Summit my right calf felt as though it might cramp up, but didn't bother me the rest of the way. I would guess it has something to do with running down that steep hill. I let the pace slacken as I came down Beacon though, just running how my legs felt. I was feeling good on the way home, but I seemed to hit every red light and it took my legs a little while to get back into a groove after stopping. Had to stop at the Holiday Inn to take a leak, the last 10 minutes went by fairly quickly after that. Put in a couple of strides in front of the Church, felt pretty fast. |
11 |
| Sunday |
Fresh Pond. Got out the door at 8am, I'm really starting to enjoy running early. The weather was warmer than yesterday, it was about 45 degrees when I left and warmed up to about 50 by the time I finished. I was feeling good the whole way, just more proof that yesterday's run wasn't as hard as it should have been. Nothing very exciting happened, just put in my miles. As I crossed Fresh Pond Parkway on my way back my calf was a little tight where it spasmed last week, but it didn't act up and the tightness subsided. Pretty low key the whole way, felt like I was running decently fast but didn't feel like I was working at all. Finished in 76:00, so the pace was good but today's effort was relaxed. Threw in a pick-up at the end, from the Korean-Japanese restaurant to Clearway. Skipped strides though, that needs to change the rest of the week. I don't check my HR all that often any more, but it was 39BPM last night. |
12 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 19
11/06-11/12 |
Not a bad week, but the two hard days didn't go as planned. My legs are feeling fresher now that I've dropped my mileage a little, but it wasn't enough on Wednesday and Saturday. Sunday's race went pretty well, I was happy with the time but not with the place, and I might have still been a little tired from the race when I started Wednesday's workout. My legs were feeling decent at the start, but the first two intervals were horrible. From there I started fine but couldn't sustain the pace, and on Saturday I had some problems focusing as well. I can't imagine it's a physical problem since I've been running so well, so it's probably just a mental thing, which isn't so great though. The mileage days were fine, just putting in my time. Starting to get excited about racing next weekend, it looks like Club Nationals will be the end of my season and I'll take a little time to relax afterwards. November Miles : 140 |
79 |
| Saturday |
Hard 7M along the river. Got out the door at 7am this morning for what was supposed to be a hard run. Ran a Mass Ave-Eliot loop but never got into a very good groove. My legs were feeling good but I wasn't able to stay focused at all. I was able to hammer small sections but then would relax and slow down. Crossed over the bridge at 22 minutes and tried to pick it up, but didn't have much success. Managed to finish strong from BU to Mass Ave, but it was too little too late. Finished up in 40:40 which is about 5:40 pace over the 7.17M loop (according to the Charles River Mileage Chart.) Not a horrible run this morning, but I was hoping for a little faster, especially after running 10M at 5:20ish. Cooled down up Mass Ave and ran some strides in front of the church. Had to run early this morning to get it in before leaving to watch the guys race at Regionals. |
8 |
| Friday |
Orange Line backwards, then Longfellow-BU. Spent most of the day in Andover interviewing with Broadcom, waited until almost 6pm to get out the door on this one. Didn't feel like going long, thought maybe stitching together two shorter loops would help. Took a little while to get into the flow on this one, doing the two loops turned out to be a stupid idea. I was finally getting into but as I went past Clearway I kind of got out of the flow again. Going over Longfellow I ran into Fidkowski, who turned around and ran with me the rest of the way. That made things go much quicker, we just spent the rest of the run chatting. Didn't notice much about my legs, they weren't feeling horrible, that's about it. Finished up at the apartment and went straight upstairs, still way too lazy about strides. |
4 |
| Thursday PM |
Orange Line. Got going about 6pm, it was a little cooler and blustery out. My legs were feeling okay, these runs are just too short to really get a good feel for anything. Kept it pretty relaxed the whole way, stretched my legs out a little coming down Comm Ave. Probably should have done strides, but only put in a single pickup down Clearway. |
4 |
| Thursday AM |
Docks. Out the door at 7am on the dot this morning, I was feeling great. The temperature was right at 50 degrees and something in the air reminded me of the Wisconsin State Cross Country meet, felt like I was back in Rapids. Unfortunately, I got stuck at the light at the Charlestown Bridge forever and my legs felt like junk after that. They eventually loosened up again but I never felt as good as I did at the start though. The run went by pretty quickly though, thinking about the race next Saturday. Got to the Mall and noticed that my calves were pretty tired, kind of just slogged through the rest of the run. |
9 |
| Wednesday PM |
Orange Line. Ran about 6pm in a light rain. My legs were feeling pretty good, not too tired from this morning's workout. Pretty boring run, just loosening up. |
4 |
| Wednesday AM |
3 sets of 2x1000y Grass Loops 2:54, 55; 2:50, 52; 2:53, 53; 400m in 64. Took 1:30 between intervals and 3:00 between sets. I was exhausted when I woke up this morning, don't really know why. Got out the door around the usual time and my legs felt fine on the warmup. Didn't even remember that my calf was hurting yesterday until I was halfway across the bridge. Once I got to campus it was pretty sore, but it loosened up by the time I finished up the 2M warmup. Stretched out on the track for a little and then got into it. The first two were pretty crappy, got out in 73 and 74 for them and just couldn't get rolling. After that my legs were feeling slightly better, was able to get out in 71 on the third and that was probably my best interval. The next one I got out in 70 but then faded badly. The last two were pretty much identical, I got out in 71 and then faded as I ran along Amherst. It took me about 2:00 to get over to the starting line, ran the 400 by feel and felt okay on that one. I didn't notice the first 200 at all, started picking it up over the final 150m and finished strong. Cooled down 2M by running a grass loop and then heading home. Not too happy with how this workout went, the first two were just horrible. After that I was able to get out well but then couldn't sustain the pace the rest of the way. After how well last week's workout went I was expecting another good one. The 400 just confirmed things, it was right where I wanted so my legs were fine, I just couldn't finish the longer intervals. And once the workout started going downhill it was hard for me to stay in it and try to turn it around. Last week I'd line right up and get into it after the rest, but today I was waiting a couple extra seconds, shaking my legs and convincing myself to get started again. I've got two more workouts scheduled before Club Nats, I hope things go better during those. |
8 |
| Tuesday PM |
Orange Line with Kathryn. My calf was a little sore, but it didn't really hurt at all, so I think I'm still going to run the workout tomorrow. I got a little glimpse of what guys like Fivos and Brewer must have to worry about, just a couple of seconds during a regular run this morning has made me paranoid that things might be seriously wrong. |
4 |
| Tuesday AM |
Castle-Bunker Hill. Didn't get going until after 7:20 this morning because Kathryn didn't have to be at school as early, the delay makes quite a difference in the amount of people out and about. My legs were feeling pretty good when I was running, but when I stopped at a light they felt pretty tired and took a couple of steps to loosen up again. As I was nearing the Orange Line stop I felt a pretty bad twinge/cramp at the bottom of my right calf/top of my right Achilles. It was really brief and didn't stop me, but it was sore afterwards. I had to stop at the rotary by Scraft's so I was able to stretch it out and it felt better after that, but I was pretty cautious the rest of the way. It didn't bother me again, which is good news, but I decided to skip strides, just to be safe. Otherwise everything went fine this morning. Settled on the workout for tomorrow, similar as last week with 3x2x1000 but then just a 400 on the track. Still not sure what my approach is going to be after Club Nats. I feel like if I'm going to take time off then I ought to taper more, but that's not the approach I want to take. So right now I'm thinking just a week or so of easy mileage and then a big base period. |
10 |
| Monday |
Fresh Pond. Got going about 7am as usual, my legs were awfully sore at the start, not very surprising. Not a very exciting run, just trying to stretch out the legs and put in a "long" run for the week. Felt good going around the Pond, relaxed coming down Mass Ave. Temps were in the 50s, we still have really great weather for running. |
12 |
| Sunday |
USATF New England Championships 10k. Warmed up 2M around Franklin Park before the 11:30 race, I was feeling okay, nothing remarkably good or bad. Felt really good running strides, didn't take much time at all to get up to full speed. The race went pretty well, it actually went by fairly quick. Got out in 4:44 and hit 5k around 15:30. Ryan Carrara from Reebok Boston went past during the next Wilderness and I couldn't keep up with him. Came through 8k in 24:57 and then wound up racing Justin Lutz over the final 2000m. Ran 30:55 and finished in 7th place overall. Cooled down with 2M more around the course and some strides in the field. Great day, really happy with how the race went, but I do feel like there's still room for improvement. Going into the race, I was a little cautious because of the longer distance and decided to simply run the first 5k and not start racing until the second 5k. What usually happens with that strategy, however, is that I rarely feel like I'm able to get it into a high enough gear when I do start trying to race. The time was pretty fast, but I think I could have been top-5 had I stuck with the chase pack instead of trailing them through the first few miles. Looking back I think I would have been fine had I started racing earlier, the extra 2k is not that big of a deal. |
10 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 18
10/30-11/05 |
Accomplished pretty much everything I was hoping for this week. Dropped my mileage slightly, just enough to freshen up my legs but I still feel like I was running enough to improve my fitness. I think the only thing I would change is possibly going a little longer than just 12M on my long run this week. Everything else went great, I finally put in a solid workout in the morning, it went a lot better than I was expecting. I was thinking I'd run around 2:50s on the Grass Loops and about 2:20 on the half, but wound up averaging 2:47 and ran 2:14 which really surprised me. Everything from there was just mileage, trying to balance maintenance with rest. I'm trying to avoid a formal taper (i.e. no sharpening or short intervals) instead I just want to drop mileage and rest up a little for these last two meets. November Miles : 61 |
85 |
| Saturday PM |
Abbreviated Orange Line. Kathryn and I got going just after 5pm, it was already dark, it was foggy but the weather was still pretty warm. My legs were feeling good. We turned down Berkley and ran to Comm Ave then headed west along the Mall. Kept it easy the whole way and threw in a pretty good pick up down our street. Feeling pretty fresh still and looking forward to tomorrow. |
3 |
| Saturday AM |
Fens to the Riverway. Left a little before 9am with Kathryn, just an easy run. My legs were feeling okay, still a little tight. Somewhere along the Riverway Kathryn decided to turn around because her foot was hurting, so I kept going alone to the half way point. I caught back up to Kathryn at the start of the Fens and we ran together back to Mass Ave. She decided to walk the last little bit, so I ran back to the apartment and put in a couple of strides down the street while waiting. Got loosened up after the first one and felt pretty quick on the rest. |
5 |
| Friday |
Orange Line backwards and BU Loop. I was ready to go this morning, but since I was only running once Kathryn asked me to wait until the afternoon and run a little bit of the run with her. When she got home though, she decided to take a nap so I headed out on my own. Decided to try something a little different, headed down Comm Ave to the Common and back through the Southwest Corridor Park. Picked it up a little when I got to Mass Ave in order to get past a guy running in full tights, top and bottom. Got to the river and relaxed a little, headed up and over Longfellow and then west along the Cambridge side. When I got to the BU Bridge I ran into some of the MIT guys cooling down from their track workout, so I ran to Mass Ave with Jake, Khatch, Trevor and Joe Roy. Felt pretty good today, putting together the two shorter loops made it seem like the run didn't take as long. Pretty nice weather, too. |
10 |
| Thursday PM |
Orange Line. Waited until about 6:30pm to get out the door, just a pretty simple shake out. My stomach was pretty full and I wasn't enjoying the run too much, the one problem with running in the morning is that I don't pay much attention to what I eat the rest of the day. My legs felt fine though, just trying to get through the run. Today was the last day of real mileage, Friday and Saturday are going to be low-key and short days, resting up for Sunday's race. |
4 |
| Thursday AM |
Docks. Got going just after 7am this morning, my legs were a little tired, never felt as good as I did last night. The weather is still cooperating, the sun was up and temps in mid 40s, great time to be running. Just putting in mileage basically, one last day before resting up a little. Ran for a solid hour this morning, didn't feel all that great on the pickup at the end, though. Skipped strides, just stretched out to end the morning. Trying to game plan a little for Sunday, my first 10k cross race. |
9 |
| Wednesday PM |
Orange Line. My legs were feeling pretty tired at the start, I was pretty sore for the first few minutes, but thankfully got loosened up. This was actually a pretty awesome run, it went by pretty quickly and my legs were feeling great once they loosened up. Kept it pretty low key the whole way, had to sprint to get across the road between the Common and the Public Garden and felt great. Coming down the Mall I felt pretty strong, finally have that feeling of being in shape and having my legs sharp. The pickup down my street at the end of the run felt really fast, kind of wish I could have been racking on these legs tonight. |
4 |
| Wednesday AM |
3 sets of 2x1000y Grass Loops 2:49, 48; 2:48, 47; 2:47, 47 (window sub 2:50); 800m 2:14 (sub 2:20). Took the usual rest, 1:30 between intervals and 3:00 between sets, took about 2:30 to jog over to the start of the 800. Got started a little after 7am and jogged over to campus and added on a grass loop. After a little stretching I started running strides on the gravel section along the fence, but my legs felt bad. My quads were really heavy and didn't really feel loosened up. Decided to just start the workout, by the first turn my legs were pretty tired, but I got to the far corner in 72-73 and felt better down Amherst. Surprised to come through in 2:49, decided that this could be a good workout. Got out in 72 on the next one and felt strong the rest of the way. I really got out hard on #3, about 70, but faded a little near the end. Refocused on the next one, got out in about 71 and maintained the rest of the way. By then my legs were aching and I took full advantage of the rest period. The fifth one went pretty well, basically the same as the previous, but I got out slow on the last one, about a 72, and had to really book it home. Finally able to push myself that little extra when my legs started aching. Jogged over to the track and shook my legs out before getting underway. Decided after the start to just run on feel and not check the watch at all, felt a little slow through 200m, picked it up a little over the next 200 and felt pretty good at the 400. Dragging a little at the 500, did my best to hammer the backstretch and keep it together over the final 200. My legs felt a little better down the homestretch, managed a little kick. Came through in 2:14 and split it evenly, 67-67. Headed down Mass Ave to Brookline, cut straight over the BU Bridge and headed down Comm Ave back to the apartment. Ran a couple of strides in front of the church before stretching out. The weather really cooperated today, it was about 50 degrees a the start and the sun was up in the sky. Awesome workout this morning, really excited about how it went. I think it went a lot better than the past workout for a variety of reasons. I'm more accustomed to running in the mornings now, it was a shorter workout and I could cut loose a little more and also I've been running strides with greater regularity. Whatever the reason, I was feeling great today and am really looking forward to Sunday's race. |
10 |
| Tuesday PM |
Convoluted route today. Headed through the Fens and got to the Riverway, but I got started pretty late in the day and the Riverway was pretty dark. Decided against running through there, headed over to the BU Bridge, crossed over and ran along the river to Mass Ave. Kathryn was running Longfellow and I caught up to her going across the bridge and we ran the rest of the way together. I didn't bring a watch, but it seems like a 5M route. My legs were okay, wasn't paying too much attention to them though, mainly just trying to figure out where to run. |
5 |
| Tuesday AM |
Reservoir with Summit. Got going about 7:15 this morning, there's a much different feel to getting started with the sun already up in the sky. My legs were feeling a lot better today, not tired like I was yesterday. Pretty uninteresting start to the run, just stretching the legs out and loosening up. Felt a little tired climbing up Summit, I'm starting to wish I had been doing lunges. I haven't lifted since outdoor and don't feel like I'm missing that much, but I haven't been running that many hills recently, lunges would have helped. The pace slackened a little on the way down, but I picked it back up heading towards the Reservoir. Felt pretty good going around the Reservoir, the weather actually felt like spring, with the sun up in the sky and a little breeze. Kept it relaxed all the rest of the way. Threw in a pickup over the final couple blocks and my left hamstring got a little tight so I opted against strides. Finalized the workout for tomorrow, 3 sets of 2x1000y Grass Loops and 800m on the track. |
11 |
| Monday |
Fresh Pond. Got going before 7am this morning, but thanks to the end of Daylight Saving Time the sun was already up and temps were over 50 degrees. My legs weren't feeling that great, they were a little sore/tired, kind of like they were at the end of the run yesterday. Took awhile to get into the run, I felt good going around the Pond, in a pretty good groove. Coming down Mass Ave though I fell apart a little, felt like something was just a little out of whack. Wound up running 78:00 though, so the run went pretty well, just didn't feel spectacular. Got back and ran a couple of strides in front of the church again. My left hamstring was still tight but loosened up by the end of the strides. Didn't try anything full speed though, because I didn't want to screw anything up. October Miles : 407 |
12 |
| Sunday |
Jamaica plus a grass loop. Ran over to campus at 9am and met Jake Ruzevic for a run this morning. Headed out around Jamaica, felt pretty good today. The run went pretty quick, just talking and catching up. Turned out to be a really nice day, the sun was out and by the end of the run it was pretty warm. We got back to campus and added on a grass loop to bump the total up to 10M for Jake. He stopped there and I ran back to the apartment. My legs started getting tired over the last mile or two, I realized I haven't done a long run in awhile. Pretty relaxed, easy run today. The plan is to hit about 85M this week, the season is winding down but I'm not exactly going to taper. If I finish among the top 7 NE individuals next Sunday then the BAA pays my way to Club Nats in Rochester. So the plan is to back off the mileage slightly this week and race well on Sunday. Then back off a little more for Club Nats, so I'll be rested, but it's not going to be typical taper in that I won't be running a bunch of 200s or anything in my workouts. I'll maybe run some 400s and become more diligent about strides to get some speed, but that's about it. |
12 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 17
10/23-10/29 |
This was an okay week of training. Sunday's mileage was low because of the race, but after that I got back to respectable levels. Wish I had run a little harder on Wednesday, but at least the times were consistent. I know I'm in better shape than the times I ran there, I'm just not pushing myself all the way in these workouts. The rest of the days were just boring old mileage days, didn't do anything spectacular. Saturday's run was really good though, managed to more or less stay focused through 10 miles, my legs were pretty tired at the end of that. Just a week away from NE Champs and I feel like I'm in decent shape. October Miles : 383 |
89 |
| Saturday |
Hard 10 miler along the river, Mass Ave to Arsenal. Got out the door about 9:45 this morning, jogged down Mass Ave and got rolling at the bridge. Started out pretty quick, had a really good rhythm going on the Cambridge side. Got to JFK Street in 16 and change, but had to wait at the light and struggled to find that rhtyhm again. I was still moving pretty quick but it just didn't have the same feel. Was at 28:00 after I crossed over Arsenal but I feel like I slowed a little heading back to Eliot. Managed to pick it up again at Weeks Footbridge and really got rolling towards the BU bridge. Went past the breakdown cutout just before BU in 45:40, I normally use that as a time check and it's typically 10 minutes to the Mass Ave bridge during a normal run. Really hammered the long straight and wound up running 53:14. I thought today was a really good run, slacked a couple of times but did a relatively good job of keeping focused over a 10M run. Was hoping to run about 52:00 and that probably was possible had I hammered Arsenal-Eliot a little more on the way back, but it's still 2:36 faster than when I ran this two weeks ago, so I'm happy with how it went. Jogged back up Mass Ave and ran a couple strides on the stretch of grass in front of the Christian Science Church. My left hamstring started getting tight near the end of the run and I wanted to try and loosen it up a little. |
11 |
| Friday PM |
Orange Line backwards. Set out thinking I'd go five miles but didn't feel like running Science, so I cut up Comm Ave and ran to the Common instead. I was feeling really good today, had to keep a lid on it to avoid running too fast. I felt really smooth coming through the Southwestern Corridor Park, almost like an exaggerated stride at times. Slowed a little coming down Mass Ave, skipped strides and headed up to stretch. My left hamstring was a little tight afterwards, but felt fine during the run. Hopefully I'll feel this good tomorrow, too. |
4 |
| Friday AM |
Docks. Got going a little after 7am, I think I'm gradually getting more accustomed to this. It doesn't take as long for me to wake up in the mornings. Carlos emailed me last night saying that it took him about 3 weeks to become accustomed to running his workouts at 6am, so hopefully that's a large part of why my workouts haven't been so great. Today's run was pretty low key, I messed up the watch so I have no clue how fast I was running today. I felt good at the start, but after I got through the Marriott it felt like I slowed down a bit. My legs were fresh, I just don't feel much like hammering in the mornings, I'm much more content to just put in the miles. Training-wise, I'm thinking a hard 10 miler tomorrow and another grass loop workout next Tuesday/Wednesday. Mileage should be 90M this week and then 85-90M the next. |
9 |
| Thursday PM |
Fens-Riverway. Ran with Kathryn again today. A nice relaxing run on soft surfaces, my legs were feeling pretty good. Not much to summarize, just put in the miles. |
5 |
| Thursday AM |
Castle-Bunker Hill. Got going early again this morning, a little after 7am. It was about 40 degrees out, so t-shirt and gloves again. My legs were feeling really good, really fresh the whole way today, just an enjoyable run. Didn't try to hammer at all but I was moving pretty well, took just 62 minutes and change to finish up. Nothing much special happened, just put in my time today. A great run this morning, thinking a little bit about goals for the NE Champs in 10 days. |
10 |
| Wednesday PM |
Grass Loops. Went over to campus to get a run in on grass and then watch the Pizza Relays. I had more time than I anticipated and thought about bumping the run up to 6M, but decided against it. Felt like that would be junk mileage to some extent and I would be better served to spend more time on the cooldown. So I ran 4 laps all around 6:00 and then went up and around the baseball backstop and to the track. Ran a few more stride than normal, that's an area I've been slacking on and I think a main reason why I'm lacking speed. Stretched out a bit and then showered before the relays. |
4 |
| Wednesday AM |
4x1600 4:53, 51, 49, 52 (window 4:44-47), took 400m rest between each interval. Jogged over to campus and added on a grass loop for a 2M warmup, got going about 7am today. Didn't feel very good during the pickup at the end of the warmup, legs just got tired quickly. Went to one of the Johnson overhangs to find some dry ground for stretching. After a couple of strides my legs were feeling better but my right hip was sore. After a couple more that loosened up and I went to the line. Got out in 35, came through in 72 then 2:27, 3:40, 4:53. The first 200 felt a little fast even though it was right on pace, so I guess I backed off. Ran 71, 2:24, 3:40, 4:51 for the second one. Felt better on the second one, I was still slow in the middle but brought it back for a great last lap. Felt really strong over the last 400m, and I kind of felt the same tiredness I normally do during workouts. The third mile was probably the best of the workout, ran 71, 2:24, 3:36, 4:49. I was moving well but on the last lap the facilities guys had parked their cart in lane one on the back sretch so I had to swing wide and that threw me off slightly. I took a slightly longer rest to wait for the facilities guys to get off the track before jumping into the last one. Got out slowly, came through in 2:27, hit 1200m in 3:39 and faded a little near the end. Headed up Mass Ave, cut down Brookline to the BU Bridge, then down Comm Ave and up Mass Ave for a 4M cooldown. Felt alright today, but just never got into a rhythm. Don't know what conclusion to draw from this morning though, because I feel like I'm in good shape but was barely even able to put these under 4:50 today. Maybe my window was a little aggressive, but I ran 3 miles all under 4:50 after a 9:45 2M a couple weeks ago. I didn't have a lot of speed in my legs, felt like I could have added on another two repeats in the 4:50-55 range. I am starting to worry about my ability to workout on my own, the pace was so uneven this morning, some laps were good others were just slow. I'm thinking that next week I'll try working out in the afternoon, maybe 8am is too early to be running hard. |
10 |
| Tuesday PM |
Orange Line. Kathryn said she'd go with me tonight but she fell asleep and I had to run alone. Got going about 6:30, the weather was still cool and it was still raining. Not a lot of puddles though, so my feet stayed pretty dry. I felt fine, just a typical shake out run, kept it easy and didn't try to hammer at all. |
4 |
| Tuesday AM |
Reservoir, with Summit Ave add-on. Got going about 7:10am, it was still dark out, about 50 degrees and raining. Felt pretty good as I headed down to Comm Ave and through Kenmore. Got warmed up and into the run pretty quickly, not very many people outside today. I turned up Summit and climbed that pretty well. I felt awesome heading around the Reservoir, but the wind really picked up on the far side. I guess the hurricanes are moving north and today we get to suffer through a Nor'Easter. The pace felt good the whole way but I wasn't ever trying to hammer anything, just ran how my legs felt. Coming across the MassPike overpass into Kenmore I got stopped by a strong blast of wind and thought the guys running the Pizza Relay tonight were going to have a rought time of it. The rain was picking up towards the end of the run, glad to finish up when I did. |
11 |
| Monday |
Fresh Pond, around the Pond. Kathryn left early this morning so I waited a little while and left at 7:30am. My legs were still sore from yesterday's race at the start but I got loosened up after maybe 15 minutes and the rest of the run went by pretty quickly. I was feeling pretty good all the way, didn't really start hammering though. Made it around the pond in a decent time and started picking it up to Harvard Square and down Mass Ave. Got to MIT in 67-68, so about 61-62 minutes for the regular loop. Wound up running 75:00, so a decent pace today. Once I got into it I wasn't feeling any after effects from yesterday. Temps were down in the low 40s, so it was TShirt and gloves this morning. Instead of putting in a PM run I'm playing 9 holes of golf at Franklin this afternoon. |
12 |
| Sunday |
Mayor's Cup, 25:09 for 11th. Warmed up 2M around the course, feeling pretty good but the course was realy torn up in spots. The race went pretty well, didn't run the fourth mile very fast though, gave up too much ground. Hard to get rolling in places because the mud was so deep I was slipping around a lot. The finish was really torn up, too, I felt like I had more speed but couldn't get good enough footing to finish fast. Cooled down just 2M with Kathryn afterwards. My stomach started hurting me going into the second Wilderness loop during the race, I was burping and felt like I was going to vomit, and I got a pretty bad stomachache during the cooldown. I ate breakfast before 8am and didn't race until noon, so I think I was just hungry. I was a little disappointed in the race because I didn't feel like I really ran that well, the second Wilderness really killed me, but coming away with a 25:09 in these conditions is pretty encouraging. I didn't feel like I had a lot of speed, but I wasn't exhausted at the end of the race, so I think the foundation is there. Looking forward to racing 10k at the USATF-NE Champs. |
9 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 16
10/16-10/22 |
Put in a lot of mileage at the start of the week, was on pace for another 105M week. Backed off a lot during the final two days, trying to rest up a little for Mayor's Cup on Sunday. I was happy with the majority of the runs this week, the workout didn't go as well as I was hoping though. Finally started being disciplined enough to get up and out the door right away in the morning which is making things a lot easier. Things went pretty much according to plan this week, put in the mileage I was hoping for, and the workout I wanted, just not as fast. October Miles : 294 |
91 |
| Saturday PM |
Orange Line with Kathryn. We started about 6pm, it was already dark and it was raining. Today's pace was quicker than the other runs this week, probably about 7:30s, maybe 7:00s. I was feeling really good and kind of wanted to cut loose, hopefully I'll be feeling that good tomorrow too. We stopped for a couple minutes in the Common to look at a giant display of Jack-O-Lanterns, it was so crowded we wouldn't have been able to run through there anyways. I was hoping it wouldn't rain because now I think the course tomorrow is going to be really muddy since it's so torn up from the 10 days of rain we had earlier this month. I guess the course will probably be a little slower now. |
4 |
| Saturday AM |
Orange Line. Got going about 9am this morning, weather was pretty cold but at least it wasn't raining. Legs were good today, kept it really easy again but I felt like I would have decent pop if I needed to get rolling. Not much else, really, just put in the mileage, stretched out and that was that. |
4 |
| Friday PM |
Frankin Park. Ran the first four miles of the course while the team was warming up, then helped Coach time the Wilderness Relay and cooled down 2M with Khatch, Jake, Fivos and Brulois after they finished their workout. My legs were feeling pretty good, but I was keeping it really easy today. Overall the course is in pretty good shape, but the stretch from the bottom of Bearcage to the backstop is really, really torn up. Felt good on strides, I clearly need to run these a little more often, however. I got so far ahead by frontloading the beginning of the week that I'm able to back off a lot on the mileage today and tomorrow. |
6 |
| Friday AM |
Orange Line backwards. Left at 7am again, walked with Kathryn towards her car a little ways and then took off. My right hip was still sore at the start but eventually loosened up. I've been trying to foam roll it more often and hopefully that will help things. Otherwise just a basic morning run, my legs felt like they had some speed in them, just have to make sure it's there on Sunday. |
4 |
| Thursday PM |
Longfellow with Kathryn. We waited awhile before heading out the door, it was about 6pm and getting dark by the time we started. Stayed mainly on the pavement because I couldn't see the trail too well and didn't want to trip. We ran a little quicker today than the past few days, but it was still relaxed and just a typical short shakeout run. My right IT band was hurting a little more than usual, my hip and knee were both a little sore, guess that's what I get for assuming all my little aches and pains had subsided. |
4 |
| Thursday AM |
Docks. Out the door at 7am again this morning, I'm really starting to like this new routine. The weather was pretty cool, just below 50 and a little breezy. My legs felt fine the whole way but I kept it really relaxed, never tried to get rolling at all. Just a typical distance run this morning, running how my legs felt and not forcing anything. Kept it really easy down Comm Ave but threw in a little bit of a pick up at the end. The whole run took me an hour, pretty slow this morning. |
9 |
| Wednesday PM |
Orange Line backwards. Ran with Kathryn again this afternoon. My legs really weren't tired at all from this morning's workout, which was a little disappointing. I gave myself enough time before Sunday's race to recover from a tough workout, but don't think I ran hard enough to require all that time off. I'm now up to 60M this week, time to start backing the mileage off slightly. |
4 |
| Wednesday AM |
5 sets of 2x1000y Grass Loops. 3:00, 2:52; 2:52, 50; 2:50, 50; 2:49, 49; 2:49, 52. Took 1:30 rest between the intervals and 3:00 between the sets. Not such a great workout this morning. Left at 7am again, ran over to campus and added on a grass loop to bring the warmup to 2M. Stretched out on the track, hit the Port-a-John and ran some strides. The route was pretty basic, turned off the backstretch at the third base line extended and followed that past the dugout and behind the backstop to avoid the hammer cage. Didn't know what to expect time-wise, I looked at my past grass loop workouts and was hoping to run 2:45-50, keep the intervals even within the sets and get faster with each set. Started too relaxed, obviously, and had to focus a little more on the second one. From there I tried to run the second set at 2:52, then 2:50, then under 2:50 and then see how the 5th set felt. Felt more focused on the second set, kept it more consistent. I was checking my watch at the far corner by Next House, and was consistently 1:12-1:13. Third set was still good, was 71-72 at the turn and able to run hard and relaxed down long backstretch. The fourth set was even better, able to get rolling at the start, felt good all the way to the far turn and able to run strong all the way through the finish. On the 8th one I got to the far turn in 70 and struggled slightly to the finish. The fifth set was a little worse, I got out well on the 9th one but was surprised to come through in 2:49 because I didn't feel like I ran all that fast. The final one did not go well at all, got out in 74 and managed to pick it up the rest of the way but not quite enough. Hit the Port-A-John one more time and then jogged a Grass Loop and headed home. The workout wasn't quite as fast as I was hoping for, maybe it was just because it was early morning but I never felt like I was in the groove, I had to force almost everything. I'd get out hard and then fade by the first turn by the parking lot and then refocus on the long backstretch. My legs were pretty tired at the end of each interval but I wasn't devastated at the end of the workout. I think I had more to give today, need to figure out how to bring these workouts around when I'm running on my own. On the plus side, I was pretty consistent, absent the first one, and kept everything 2:49-2:52. Hopefully I'll be feeling a little smoother on Sunday for Mayor's Cup. The weather was actually pretty nice today, started out cool, below 50 degrees, but the sun came out and started it started warming up as the workout went on. |
10 |
| Tuesday PM |
Fens to Riverway. Ran with Kathryn again this afternoon, pace was a little slower than yesterday. My legs are still feeling fresh, it was a pretty standard run this afternoon. Most of the little aches and pains have subsided, probably because I was able to ditch my old shoes which were up over 600M and it's been almost a week in the new ones. |
5 |
| Tuesday AM |
Reservoir with Summit Ave. Got out the door about 7am again this morning, the weather was pretty miserable. The temperature was down below 50 and it was raining, I don't think the sun had even risen yet. Headed out down Comm Ave and my legs were feeling good so I got it rolling. I wasn't planning on heading up Summit but decided that I ought to add that on. Felt okay climbing the hills today, but didn't feel like last Thursday's workout has affected anything. Probably ought to start up the lunges again. Felt good going around the Reservoir, kept it pretty relaxed though. If I had wanted to get rolling I think my legs would have been there, but I would have had to work to keep the hammer down the whole way. Instead, I just let my legs dictate the pace and put in the miles. Planned out the workout for tomorrow, it's going to be 4 or 5 sets of 2x1000m grass loops, trying to get faster with each set. Wound up running for 75 minutes, the route is probably a little longer than 11, but Sunday was a little shorter than 15, so it all works out. |
11 |
| Monday PM |
Fens to Riverway. Ran with Kathryn this afternoon, kept it pretty relaxed the entire time. My legs were feeling good this afternoon, pretty fresh and the run was easy. The weather is still nice, having blue skies and the sun out makes a lot of difference. |
5 |
| Monday AM |
Castle-Bunker Hill backwards. This is the way I had imagined these morning runs working out. I left at 7am with Kathryn and got right into it. Headed down Comm Ave to the Common and then Freedom Trail'd it to Haymarket, crossed through the remnants of the Big Dig and cut through the North End to get to the Charlestown Bridge. Headed over to Bunker Hill Monument and then up and down Bunker Hill to Schraft's. Legs were feeling pretty good today, not running too hard just putting in mileage. Kept it pretty relaxed through Somerville and down Mass Ave. Pretty typical run, nice to get it out of the way early in the day. Wound up running 63:00, so the pace was good even though I wasn't trying to run hard. This week will probably wind up being slightly frontloaded, I won't really start cutting down until Friday. Also, I've signed on with the BAA, so I'm no longer running unattached. That decision won't affect training or racing at all, since their focus is still on cross country, just like mine. |
10 |
| Sunday |
Comm Ave to the Johnny Kelly Statue and back. 47:44 on the way out, 45:00 on the way back. Think the route might be a little short, maybe around 14.5M. Got going about 11am today, the sun was finally shining and it was nearly 60 degrees outside. Took it pretty easy, kept the effort relaxed, on the way out, got out to Boston College without working too hard. The wind was blowing pretty strongly, seemed to always be in my face on the way out though. Turned around and was feeling pretty fresh still so I slowly started working harder. Mayor's Cup is a week from today so I thought about the race a little, trying to come up with a basic plan. Didn't feel like I ever really got rolling, never really tried to hammer, don't really know how I got home in 45 flat. Near the end my legs started getting tired, maybe yesterday's run took a little more than I thought or maybe I was just getting bored with the run, I don't know. Despite getting tired I felt good the whole way, a really solid run. Going to try to hit 90-95M this week, not going to back off too much for Mayor's Cup. |
15 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 15
10/9-10/15 |
This week went pretty well, got my mileage back up to the level I was hoping for, no more joking around with 80M weekly totals. Went long at walden which was good, pace wasn't that fast but I put in the distance and was on trails the whole time. Started doing my long run in the mornings a couple times this week, I think that's going to fit into my schedule a little better, so hopefully I'll be able to keep that up. Nothing really spectactular this week, mainly just mileage days, able to put in a couple runs over 10M. Thursday's workout went well but was a couple miles longer than I expected it to be. Wasn't really planning on a 20M day on Thursday, but it let me relax a little near the end of the week. Saturday's run wound up being hard enough, but would have liked to have been a couple minutes quicker. I think the foundation is definitely in place, I've put in the mileage, we'll see if the workouts I've been trying to do on my own are going to be sufficient. October Miles : 203 |
105 |
| Saturday |
Arsenal. Got going about 11am this morning, temps were just below 60 and the rain was coming down steadily. Wasn't feeling all that great, the volume of this week is catching up to me, I think. Didn't really feel like a full-fledged workout, I opted instead to run a hard 10M along the river. Took the half mile to the river as a warm-up and started picking it up across the bridge. Heading west there was a guy just ahead of me that I was able to chase and catch by the BU Bridge, which helped get the legs moving. Didn't really feel like I was running incredibly fast, but I was working decently hard. The road just before Arsenal was flooded, so I was pretty well soaked after running through that. Was at the bridge at 28:00 but felt like I slowed slightly heading back towards Eliot. Once I got past Harvard though, I started picking it up again and was moving faster than I had been at any time during the run. Maybe once I knew I was close enough I was able to really start hammering. Still feel like I'm not working out as hard as I ought to be when I'm on my own. Need to get better at that, I suppose. I wound up running 55:20 for the loop, a little faster than I expected halfway through but not quite was I was hoping for at the start. Not a bad way to finish off the week though. |
11 |
| Friday PM |
Docks. My legs were a little more tired today, I just never got loosened up and into the run. I was able to ignore how my legs felt and put the mileage in, but I was never feeling good. The weather continues to be crummy and the temperatures are starting to cool off. Pretty laid back, boring run today, just putting in work and trying to loosen up a little. Was thinking about doing some sort of fartlek workout tomorrow morning, we'll see what happens. Pretty slow pace today, finished up at exactly 60:00. |
9 |
| Friday AM |
Orange Line. Woke up about 6:45 this morning and was really dragging. Thought about going back to bed but eventually got out the door. Opted to save the long run for the afternoon, but once I got my legs going I realized I could have gone long. Oh well. Surprisingly, my legs weren't very tired and the run wasn't a death march like I expected it to be. The weather is still crappy, I can't remember the last time I saw the sun. |
4 |
| Thursday PM |
Grass Loops. Needed to pick up a new pair of shoes that Coach had ordered for me, so since I was on campus anyways, I decided to run Grass Loops with the guys. Practice was pretty unorganized, because the freshman had a big test afterwards most of them ran early. So it was Khatch, Fivos and myself out there. My legs were surprisingly fresh during the run, it wasn't until after I stopped that I started feeling tired. After the first couple laps we got rolling pretty well, down to the mid 5:30s, but then backed off because their pace has been slowed down a little for this week. Khatch and I stopped at the same time, Fivos went a couple laps longer, so we ran strides on the turf and then headed up to the indoor track to stretch out to get out of the cold, misty weather. Decent run, but I'm sure I'll be regretting the decision to go 6M tomorrow. |
6 |
| Thursday AM |
Summit Ave workout. 1xLong, 4xShort; 1xL, 3xS; 1xL, 2xS. Headed out at 7:30 this morning and jogged down Comm Ave to Kenmore then up Beacon to the base of Summit. The warmup lasted 17:00, I turned onto Summit and got rolling right away. Climbed the long side in 2:30 then ran the short side in 1:27, 27, 28, 26. I was pretty tired heading down the long side but tried to really hammer on the way up, but faded badly over the final hundred meters or so and ran 2:34. Was slow on the next short sides, 1:31, 30, 30 and then reluctanly headed down the long side. Came back up in 2:36, I tried to relax more on the way up and then hammer once it levelled off, but I guess I slowed too much. Refocused for the last two and ran them in 1:28 and 1:29. The times don't really mean much because I have no idea what the distance of either side of the hill is, I just used them to gauge how consistent I was being. On the long side I went from a "No Parking" sign right at the base on Beacon up to a hydrant at the very top of the hill, and on the short side I went from the stop line at the first stop light up to the crosswalk, which I think is a little farther than Coach had us go, but a convienent finish line. After the repeats I headed down to Comm Ave having spent 51 minutes on the hill and ran hard/uptempo for 5:30. Wanted to run 6:00 but started feeling like I was going to need a Port-A-John so I cut it short. I underestimated how long this was going to be and was down by Shaw's on Comm Ave and had already put in about 12M. Jogged back through Kenmore and took the overpass above the Masspike to the Fens, and then walked/jogged the rest of the way. I was out there for about 90 minutes this morning, I was thinking just 10-12M this morning but apparently didn't think things through very well. Temperature was awesome, I wore a TShirt and sweated through that, but it was only 55 degrees or so and overcast. Pretty deserted on Summit, a couple of cars every now and again, but very few people walking around, hardly anybody running. I did ask myself a couple of times why I was out there, but I just decided to ignore those questions and keep going. Probably did run the workout as hard as I would have if the team had headed out there, I'm still learning about working out completely on my own. |
14 |
| Wednesday PM |
Science Museum. Ran a little after 6pm and decided I'd head down to the Charles, since I haven't done that in awhile. My right hip was really sore at the start, thought I might have to cut the run short, but by the time I got to the Esplanade it had loosened up and wasn't such a big deal. My legs were still pretty fresh, but once I got home I started feeling tired. Good run, it's pretty stress-free to only have to put in a handful of miles in the afternoon, and running at dusk/dark is enjoyable, too. |
5 |
| Wednesday AM |
Fresh Pond, around the Pond. Got going about 8am this morning, after Monday's run I decided that I prefer getting the long run in early, assuming I'm able to get out the door in time. Ideally I'll start getting out the door when Kathryn leaves for school at 7am. Legs were still feeling good, I was pretty groggy when I got up at 6:30 but was pretty much awake when I took off. It took a little bit to get into this one, but by the time I got to the Pond things started to pick up. The rest of the run went by pretty quickly, got back to MIT in 67, so about 60-61 minutes for the regular loop, and wound up running 74:45 for the whole thing. Another good run this morning, not as aggressive as yesterday's but kept the pace honest. Temps were in the low 50s when I started, at least it wasn't raining. |
12 |
| Tuesday PM |
Castle-Bunker Hill. Did my best John Brewer impersonation today, got out the door about 4:30 and started hammering right away. I wasn't forcing the pace too much, but I was moving at a good clip, right around 6-flat, the whole way. By the time I got to Castle I had pretty much settled into the run and didn't have to think about keeping it fast anymore, I just let my legs keep on turning over. Felt good climbing up Bunker Hill, the legs were fresh the entire way, pretty much. Took the Charlestown Bridge into Haymarket, then just Freedom Trail'd it to the Common. Came through there feeling good, just kept it steady down Comm Ave back to Clearway. Felt great to have a steady, fast run after how I felt last week. Weather wasn't the greatest, upper 50s and raining, but it just meant I had the sidewalks pretty much to myself. |
10 |
| Tuesday AM |
Orange Line. Thought about putting in the long run in the morning, but didn't get up in time. Slept about 10 hours, don't know why I was feeling so tired, but it took some effort to get up. Once I got out the door I was feeling great though, got rolling a little bit and had to hold back to keep from getting crazy. Weather still in the 50s and it was raining this morning, too. I think that summer is pretty much over. |
4 |
| Monday PM |
Orange Line. Felt pretty good, ran with Kathryn this afternoon. Run went by pretty quickly, the pace was nice and relaxed the whole way, a good shake out run. |
4 |
| Monday AM |
Reservoir. Got going about 8:30 this morning, my legs were feeling pretty good. The town was pretty much dead, not too many people out, probably because it's Columbus day. Weather was cool again, but once I got going I warmed up and it wasn't a big deal. Felt good climbing Summit, got rolling going up and topped it well. Got to the Reservoir and my legs were feeling fresh still, so I got rolling a little. Coming back down Beacon I tried to keep it going without actually hammering. Didn't bring my watch with me though, so I have no idea about how fast this morning's run was. |
11 |
| Sunday |
Walden. Fivos drove myself and Nate Sharpe out to the Pond this morning. Weather was pretty cool, but once we got moving it wasn't an issue. Nate went his own way once we got across the tracks, Fivos and I headed down the fireroad and then wound around through the usual trails. We weren't running all that fast, we were talking the whole time and before we knew it we were already 55 minutes into the run. Got a little lost trying to get back to the Pond so Fivos could finish off his 12 miler, I ran a couple more trails before crossing back over and running some of the trails around where Thoreau's cabin used to be. Pretty good run today, my legs were feeling good and the time passed very quickly. Put in about 1:40, maybe a little short but not too much. |
15 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 14
10/2-10/8 |
What a horrible week. Didn't have a respectable run until Thursday and didn't feel good out there until Friday. Sunday's race went well, but it seems like a long time ago after a week of running on trashed legs. I completely underestimated what racing back to back days would do to me, and as a result this week was pretty much wasted. Legs felt okay for a few miles on Monday then got really tired, and I was tired every morning I woke up until Saturday. And last weekend's races didn't even go well enough to justify the loss of a week. Just a lot of dragging ass all week, not much else. october Miles : 98 |
88 |
| Saturday |
Fartlek at Franklin Park. Pretty bored this morning so I headed over to Franklin early, got there at 9:30 and was more or less alone, outside of some of the Reebok Boston guys. Warmed up with a couple miles and then got rolling. Went 2:00 on, 1:30 rest at the start. Tried to keep the rest pretty aggressive, my goal was to run the course in 26:30 and/or wind up top 5 on the team. Came through the first mile around 5:15 and was feeling good. Climbed up bearcage and my legs were still okay, but I think I slowed a bit on the rest after that. Picked it up again into the Wilderness and through the top of the small hill. Coming out of the Wilderness I slipped and nearly bailed, but caught myself. It was raining the whole time and most of the course was fine, but my trainers are pretty old and the sole is wearing down a lot. Anyways, I got to 3M still feeling good and cut the rest down to 1:00 for the final couple. Finished one of the last intervals at the 4M mark, took the 1:00 rest way too slowly and then got started again heading towards Bearcage, the interval lasting all the way to the top. The rest took me down Bearcage and I finished with a hard effort from just across the road to the finish line. I wound up running 27:32 which would have been about 8th man, so not quite what I had wanted. Following the formula I should have been a little under 27:00 given my first mile. Not quite the workout I was hoping for, I don't think the 2:00 sections were that far off, I think I just didn't keep the rest as aggressive as I needed to. Also, trying to run 26:30 might have been a bit of a stretch. Cooled down by running the course backwards, then some strides on the field. |
12 |
| Friday PM |
Castle-Bunker Hill, came back through the North End to Faneuil Hall then to the Common and down Comm Ave. Waited until after the Sox game to take off, so it was later than normal, about 8pm when I started. Weather was really nice, about 70 degrees and not too humid. My legs honestly felt good for the first time all week, yesterday was good but they were still tired, today I actually felt normal. Got a bad stitch in my side about 15 minutes in, but by the time I got to Castle it was gone and didn't bother me the rest of the night. Ran pretty easily the whole way, but I did try and push it slightly up Bunker. It was nice to be able to go out for a regular run and not have my legs dictate anything. It's always kind of nice to be running at night, the streets are empty and the temps are a little cooler. I've got a new pair of shoes waiting for me at MIT, wish I would have picked them up today, mine are probably a little overused. |
10 |
| Friday AM |
Orange Line. Still pretty tired in the mornings, almost didn't get out the door but eventually convinced myself I needed to. Weather was beautiful this morning, cool and overcast, a nice fall morning. Once I got going my legs felt fine, not tired or sore at all today. Really enjoyed the run, not much of a pick up at the end though. |
4 |
| Thursday PM |
Grass Loops. Was on campus for an interview with Oracle and decided to get in some soft surfaces. Got started a little before 5pm so I could finish when the rest of the team did. Had put in 2 or 3 laps before the team came over, hooked up with Fivos and Brulois right away. We weren't running all that fast at the start, I had been about 6:20 before they came over and we got down to low 6:00 after a couple laps, but Coach thought that was too slow, so we sped up to 5:50s for the last couple. Fivos said he was feeling tired and hadn't slept much, so we were keeping it easy for him, but I guess it was a little too easy. My legs are finally starting to feel better but I'm not all the way back because they were still pretty sore and it felt like we were running harder than the times reflect. I threw in a hard finish around the turf and felt pretty fast during strides, so hopefully that blew the pipes out somewhat. We'll see how it goes tomorrow, still hoping for a Saturday workout. |
10 |
| Thursday AM |
Fens to Riverway. Got going about 8:30am this morning, my legs were awfully tired when I woke up but once I got going they loosened up. Glad I was able to stay on soft surfaces this morning, my shoes are pretty worn out, I should be getting new ones yesterday. Typical morning run, only a mile longer than normal. |
5 |
| Wednesday PM |
Docks. Had to drive Kathryn to the airport so I didn't get out the door until 7pm, so the streets were pretty clear and it was a pretty nice run. Legs were feeling pretty good the whole way, even though I wasn't running very fast I think I'm starting to turn the corner. Nothing exciting happened at all, I just ran about 7 minute miles the entire way, didn't really pick it up at the end at all. It was nice to be able to just put in some miles without having my legs completely fall apart. |
9 |
| Wednesday AM |
Orange Line. Slept about 8 hours, but my quads were still really sore when I woke up. Glad I decided to skip the workout I was thinking about. Once I got going I felt okay, but I could tell that if this was a long run my legs would have gotten tired. I think things are slowly coming around, however. |
4 |
| Tuesday PM |
BC, no Summit, no Reservoir. Another crummy run. Decided I wasn't going to miss much by leaving during the Sox game since it was already getting out of hand in the bottom of the fourth. Got out the door and was feeling good for a little while but then I started getting stomach pains. Don't really understand what the problem was, it wasn't the typical stomach problems. Don't know if I was hungry or what, but my stomach felt a little bloated and painful. My legs sometimes felt good and sometimes felt like trash, it kind of came and went. Honestly, I was distracted by my stomach and not paying a lot of attention, but my legs kind of came and went. Felt like I could have gone the 10-11M I was planning, I just didn't want to deal with the stomach any more. Stopped at the Holiday Inn for a pit stop but that didn't help anything, so I just headed home. Ran for over an hour, so either this was a long 8M or I was running incredibly slow. Could be either. Coach is of the opinion that my legs will likely be off until Thursday, possibly Friday, so I'm scrapping the midweek workout and waiting for the weekend. I'll just run whatever mileage I can manage and wait for the legs to come around. |
8 |
| Tuesday AM |
Orange Line. Stayed up to watch the Packers on Monday Night Football, slept until about 9 this morning. I was pretty tired laying in bed, but once I got up I started feeling a lot better. Didn't feel as tired as I was yesterday, but my legs definitely aren't all the way back. Finished up with a decent stride but still lacking pop. Make a decision later today about when the workout is going to be. |
4 |
| Monday |
Fresh Pond, around the Pond. I was pretty tired this morning despite sleeping about 9 hours last night, so I decided I'd run 12M this afternoon instead of the 4-10 I was thinking for today. Was feeling good at the start though, my legs were surprisingly fresh. Felt like I got to the pond pretty quickly, not that I was running fast but time was passing quickly. Kept it steady around the Pond and took a quick pit stop at the Sunoco. Was a minute or two behind pace at the dealership and things went downhill from there. My legs were feeling good and I was contemplating jumping in the workout the team is running tomorrow, but as I got closer to Harvard Square I started thinking maybe that wouldn't be such a great idea. My legs just started getting sore and tired and I started slowing down as I ran down Mass Ave. Time was no longer passing quickly and run was not quite as enjoyable anymore. Wound up running 84 minutes, so only about 7:00 a mile, but probably a little under at the start and a little over at the end. Not so sure that skipping the morning run helped out, a lot of times I think it loosens me up for the afternoon. Definitely no workout tomorrow, I'm thinking Wednesday or Thursday and then Saturday. |
12 |
| Sunday |
Ollie Classic 5M Road Race, fifth place in 24:42. Woke up with my alarm at 6:30 but fell back asleep and didn't get up until 7:15, way too late. Managed to get out the door about 7:35 but got to the race late and didn't register until about 8:20, and the race was starting at 9am. I jogged down to the starting line with my bag and hit the Port-A-John, then added on another couple minutes around the starting line. Stretched out and then hid my bag under an orange construction barrel, I took the T and was alone so I had no other options. Felt pretty good during the warmup, I was a little hurried and not paying a lot of attention to how I felt, but I was fast on the strides before the race. Got out in front next to Miller and we were hammering along with Casey Moulton, made a move up G street but couldn't maintain, faded to fifth during the fourth mile and couldn't move up at the end. Cooled down a couple miles, ran part of Docks backwards, and then stretched out at the Bank of America pavilion and waited for the awards. I got a Harpoon beer glass which was cool, but I have to wait for them to mail me my check, which isn't. It was an okay day, not as good of a race as I was hoping for, but the field was a little weaker than last year and I finished about the place I was expecting. Looking back at the past two days it's hard not to second-guess and think of what I should have done, because I feel like both of the races this weekend were winnable. The plan for now is to keep it relaxed and laid back for a few days before getting back into it. I'm probably done road racing and will turn all my attention back to cross now, start getting ready for Mayor's Cup in just three weeks. Given how today went I think I should probably add in some hill running. Maybe this week's workout will have to be at Summit. |
10 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 13
9/25-10/1 |
Not my best week of training. Ran short early in the week before Tuesday's workout. The workout with Fivos went pretty well and the rest of the week was very low-key. Wednesday's mileage was a little short because of the trip to Baltimore, but it's not like the week was going to have a very high total anyways. Got rolling on the grass on Thursday, my legs were feeling good then but a little sore on Friday. Glad I was able to get in soft surfaces both days, I think that helped. Saturday's race didn't go nearly the way I had hoped. Ran harder than I wanted and came away with less money. Hopefully my legs will still be fresh for Ollie tomorrow. October Miles : 10 |
84 |
| Saturday PM |
Orange Line with Kathryn. Got back from CT about 2pm and pretty much immediately headed out the door with Kathryn for a quick shake out. Wasn't feeling all that bad, which was surprising since we really got rolling this morning. Our pace this afternoon was pretty relaxed though, just a nice easy run in the great weather. |
4 |
| Saturday AM |
Cider Mill 5k in Tolland, CT, second place in 15:13. Was hoping for an easy race to just pick up some prize money, but both Dave Bridgewater and Paul Mwangi showed up, so we got rolling. Felt good on the 2M warm-up, the weather was pretty good and my legs were loose after driving about 80M. Saw Dave when I got back to the starting line though, and knew I was going to have to run fast today. Came through in 4:50 in fourth place, a couple steps behind the leaders, hit 2M in 9:42 and had moved up to second place behind Mwangi. Stayed the same distance behind him the rest of the way, finished in 15:13 about 8 seconds behind Mwangi. Cooled down only about a mile and then ran strides in the outfield of some baseball diamond at the park. Wound up running a lot faster than I wanted and didn't pick up as much prize money as I had hoped for, pretty disappointing. I didn't bring my flats with me to try and keep my legs fresh for tomorrow, surprised I was able to run that fast in my trainers. |
6 |
| Friday |
Franklin Park. The team had a workout at Franklin and I drove one of the vans out. I just ran the 10k course (at least what I think was the 10k course,) then ran a couple strides and stretched out while watching the end of the workout. Legs were feeling a little tired and I was running just over 7:00 pace. Just trying to get in some mileage so that the week total isn't too low. Opted against running this morning, wanted to keep it easy today and I was tired when I woke up. Racing both Saturday and Sunday so the past few days have been very low-key. September Miles : 368 |
6 |
| Thursday PM |
Grass Loops. Met up with Fivos and Kevin after their first loop and we started going round and round. The first two laps were 6:08 and 6:04 but they felt pretty quick to me, and I was surprised when Fivos said we needed to average 5:40-45 today. My legs loosened up as we went on though, and we jumped down to 5:48 on the third one. From there we were holding steady in the 5:40s, but started closing on Khatch and Jake who were ahead of us. We dropped down to about 5:35 on the sixth one as we got closer to them, hit 5:28 and passed them then another 5:30. Fivos and Kevin stopped and I put in three more on my own, all of them about 5:40. Ran strides on the track on my own and then headed up to the indoor track to stretch out while the guys were lifting. Pretty good run, my hip and knee hurt though, which I hoped wouldn't happen since I was running on grass today. Everything else felt good, took about 2M to get my legs loosened up and then we were clipping them off pretty well and it felt pretty effortless. Maybe should have backed off a little, but I didn't feel like I was working very hard, so hopefully my legs will still be feeling good tomorrow. |
10 |
| Thursday AM |
Orange Line. Was seriously contemplating not running this morning because I was so tired, but I eventually convinced myself to get out the door about 8:30 this morning. Glad I did run because my legs were feeling good and I really didn't want to have to run long this afternoon. Typical morning run, it wasn't too cold out but you can tell that there aren't going to be many warm days left. |
4 |
| Wednesday |
Fresh Pond around the Pond. Found out yesterday that I need to fly to Baltimore for an interview today. My plane leaves at 11am and I won't get back until 7:30 or 8PM at the earliest, so I put in what mileage I could this morning. Got out the door basically when Kathryn left at 7am. The temps were really low, about 55, so today was the first run with a shirt on in a couple months. My legs were feeling decent this morning, probably a little sore because I didn't cool down very well yesterday, but they loosened up pretty quickly. Felt good going around the Pond, not running all that fast but the pace wasn't crawling. Heading back from the Pond I saw a Port-A-John but decided not to stop, which was a bad decision in retrospect. Slowed down a lot coming down Mass Ave, got back to MIT in 75, so the usual loop would have been about 68. Stopped in the student center for a quick pit stop and was feeling good after that, picked the pace up a little as I headed across the bridge and down to Clearway Street. Not the greatest run ever and not the mileage I had planned earlier in the week, but I got in what I could. Had to get right into the shower when I got home, so again no cooling down, I'll probably be paying for that tomorrow. |
12 |
| Tuesday PM |
7x2:00 in the Arboretum with Fivos. Took a little while to get my legs used to running hard, but it wound up being a good workout. We warmed up over to the back half of the Arboretum and squeezed in two intervals around the perimeter. Fivos gapped me at the start of both of them, but I worked my way back up to him and we ran side-by-side the rest of the way. The third one was a little hectic as we had to dodge some traffic to get back into the front half of the Arboretum. We hammered as best we could but it was a sub-par interval. From there we went over to the gate near Mount Wushoo and got on the gravel trail that runs out to the Orange Line, and really hauled on that interval, aside from having to turn completely around halfway through. We climbed up the hill alongside the road for the next interval, where I finally started gapping Fivos slightly. We got back to the trail that runs along the Arborway for the sixth one and really started moving. I pulled away from Fivos with about :45 left, but the gap didn't grow much. We wound up going past the entrance and wrapped around on the paved path. We ran our last one on the same path and I opened a gap at the start that Fivos closed up, but I got away again over the final thirty seconds. We were supposed to be running about 6:00 pace and then surging to race pace, but as always, we surged a little faster than race pace near the end. We did a good job of keeping the rest pace fast, I let Fivos dictate the length of the rest on all of them. We started out with the full 2:00 for a couple and then started cutting back to 1:00-1:45 over the final few. We cooled down about 3M by running to the back half of the Arboretum, then taking a shortcut to the backside of Wushoo and then straight back to the entrance. By that time my stomach was too upset to bother with strides, so I just stretched out and waited for the guys to be ready to head back to MIT. Pretty good workout today, got the legs turning over but wasn't devastating like last week's. The rest of the week is relaxed and easy from here. My right hip started aching on a couple of the intervals, but didn't give me any real problems and it didn't act up during the cooldown, so hopefully it was just a matter of stepping wrong once or twice. |
10 |
| Tuesday AM |
Orange Line. Got out the door a little after 8:30 this morning, legs were feeling pretty good. My knee hasn't been bothering me as much recently, which has made the first mile more enjoyable. The summer weather is definitely coming to a close, but it was nice and warm this morning still. Nothing very exciting, just a typical morning run. |
4 |
| Monday PM |
Reservoir with Summit Ave add-on. Got going about 4:30 this afternoon, my legs were feeling alright but the pace was slow from the start. Nice weather for running, but I wasn't all that into it for some reason. Didn't feel all that slow, but I was out there for about 76 minutes. Pretty boring, uneventful run. Legs felt pretty fresh the entire way, I just didn't feel like pushing today. Didn't see Terry McNatt as I was coming down Beacon, guess it was too early. |
11 |
| Monday AM |
Fens-Riverway out and back. Only slept about 6 hours last night but I was feeling decent once I woke up. Nice run on soft surfaces, nothing very exciting. Moving at a reasonable pace, felt like I had some pop in my legs, probably because yesterday was short and slow. Still, this week is mainly about resting up, so nothing hard except for tomorrow. |
5 |
| Sunday |
Fresh Pond, around the Pond. Waited around almost all day before getting out the door, my stomach was upset at the start and I wasn't too excited to be running. Was planning on going to Watertown for 15M but opted for a shorter route. Stopped at Mount Auburn hospital for a pit stop along the way, felt better after that. Wasn't too concerned about cutting the run short, this is going to be an easy week since I've got a big weekend planned. Will probably log decent mileage tomorrow and then will run a fartlek with the team on Tuesday, then it's just easy runs the rest of the way. Tried to pick it up around the pond but my legs didn't really comply. Wound up just running consistent the entire way, not all that great of a run, but at least I got some mileage in. My legs felt fine, wasn't expecting them to be sore since I wasn't all that tired after yesterday's workout anyway. I need to find a way to start getting out the door first thing in the morning on Sundays. |
12 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 12
9/18-9/24 |
One of the better weeks of training I've had. Sunday was a little short because of the race and that left me sore for a couple days. Able to put in a long run on Monday at a pretty good pace, and Friday was long too, but slower. Tuesday's workout was awesome, really. Would have liked to have held together on the miles a little better, but I was still able to put in 6M worth of work and it was even a little better than I did last year for just 5M. That workout really messed my legs up though. I was able to push through and run a long 12M the next day, but I wised up and cut Thursday short after my legs were feeling like ass for 48 hours. Recovered quickly after that and put in a really good workout on the Tufts course Saturday. I like where I'm at right now and how things are feeling. September Miles : 298 |
100 |
| Saturday |
Fartlek at Tufts Farm Course in Grafton, MA. Rode the bus with the guys out to Grafton, stood in line at the Port-A-Johns to change into running shorts and got out on the course about 11am. The women's race started at noon, so I didn't have a lot of time to work with. Jogged the first mile forwards then backwards, then toed the line and got rolling. Went 2:00 on 2:00 off through the first 3M, then cut the rest down to 1:30, 1:20 and 1:00 over the final 2M. Probably took a little too much rest early on, but I had never run here before and decided it would be smart to respect the course, instead of trashing my legs early. I was running pretty well, covered the first mile in 5:45, the course was tough at times but I was able to get rolling on pretty much every interval. My legs were feeling really fresh, probably because yesterday was slow, even though it was long. Covered the course in 27:37, but they had to re-route the course a little and it wound up about a quarter mile short. Cooled down almost 3M on the course before the women's race started getting in my way, I hooked up with the team for their 2M warm-up to make it a 5M cool down. After watching the men's race I cooled down another 2M with Fivos to make it a pretty long day. Nice weather, able to put in all the miles on grass, really good day. |
14 |
| Friday |
Arboretum. Got out of bed about 6:30 this morning after sleeping about 8 hours. Found ways to waste time until about 8am when I started lacing them up. Was planning on going about 15 or 16M this morning and getting it all out of the way early. Ran through the Fens and along the Riverway to Jamaica and into the Arboretum, which took 35 minutes. I thought I was a little slow, but I remembered that going through the Fens adds on a couple of minutes. Did my usual route to the back half and ran the perimeter there, then headed up the Big Green Hill, back into the regular Arboretum and took a roundabout route to Mount Wooshu, which I climbed up the steep way. I always forget how steep that hill gets, it seems like it's about 80 degrees. From there I found myself climbing up the corkscrew road that leads to the top of the other hill, even though it's all paved, just to have climbed the three major hills today. Wound up spending 50 minutes in the Arboretum, a little longer than I had planned on. Picked the pace up slightly on the way home, but the entire run today was decidely easy. My legs felt great, so I don't regret going short yesterday. I ran for 117 minutes, but it didn't seem nearly that long. I was coasting most of the way though, I'd guess between 6:45 and 7:00, so I'm calling it just 17M. Pretty solid distance, not the most aggressive pace, but my legs are finally feeling good again. |
17 |
| Thursday PM |
BU-Longfellow. Was not in the mood to run today, wound up waiting until about 7pm to even get out the door. Was heading through Kenmore on my way to run Reservoir when I started thinking about cutting the run short. My legs felt worthless all day and I figured I could force myself to run long but it wouldn't be enjoyable at all. Also, I was on pace to be up over 100M so cutting back by 5M today wouldn't affect much and resting would probably be a good idea anyways. Ran pretty relaxed the entire time, once I decided to go short I was much more excited about it and my legs felt a little better. It was getting pretty dark as I was finishing up but I managed to run on the grass/dirt on the Cambridge side without rolling an ankle. I think I made the right decision to cut back today, sometimes resting up is better than trying to run through the fatigue. |
6 |
| Thursday AM |
Orange Line. Slept about 9 hours last night but was still exhausted when I woke up. My HR was 39BPM overnight, so I'm not too concerned that I'm training too hard, I think I'm just not accustomed to hard workouts like Tuesday's. Legs were pretty sore the entire run, my knee wasn't such a big deal though, which felt good. Never really got to where I was feeling good or in a groove at all, though, just a tedious morning run. |
4 |
| Wednesday PM |
Fresh Pond, 2x around the Pond. Met with Coach to discuss my racing schedule and some general training questions, then ran from the Z Center at about 3pm. Heading down Vassar my hip and knee were both really sore and it felt like I was limping a little more than I normally do at the start, maybe they're just tight from yesterday. Really never got into a groove today, the whole run was a chore and I had a hard time getting my legs moving. The extra loop around the Pond took 18:00 and I spent the rest of the run trying to decide if I should call this 12 or 13M. The regular loop is a short 10, and the Pond is supposedly 2.5, so I'm going with a long 12. Wound up running about 83 minutes, would have been 65 without the extra loop, so I think it's about right. Held 6:30-7:00 the whole time I'd guess. Got back and ran a bunch of strides but it took a lot of them just to stop feeling clunky, so once I felt decent I shut it down. Took my time stretching out and then headed home. Probably should have used the cold whirlpool, but it was close to 5 and I figured Sports Med would be busy. Need to go in and find out what the policy is for washed up guys like me using the stuff. It's a little frustrating to feel so bad after such a good workout, but I guess that just comes with the territory. The mileage has jumped a little over the past few days, I think I'll be able to get up over 100M this week. |
12 |
| Wednesday AM |
Grass Loops. Had to be on campus at 9am today, so I just left my shoes in the lockerroom and got to the Z Center a little before 8am. My right knee and hip were both pretty sore this morning, it felt like it took longer than normal to get them loosened up. My legs felt like junk the whole time, was running in the 6:20s per lap, which is about 7:00 pace. Ran four laps and headed back to the lockerroom, just trying to get the run over with. Pretty tired this morning, hopefully my legs come around soon, I hate feeling out of whack like this. |
4 |
| Tuesday PM |
Build your own 6 miler. 3200m 9:45 (window 9:40-45); 3x16 4:48, 4:47, 4:49 (4:45-4:50); 2x800 2:20, 2:20 (2:18-20). Took about 3:45 after the 2M, 2:45 after the miles and 1:30 between the 8s. Wound up running 28:49 in about 42:19. The team had a 5 miler, but since I'm looking at 10k XC now, I decided I'd add on the extra mile. Came up with the windows and the rest on my own, I think the window on the 3200 was a little too aggressive and had actually paced it out to hit 9:45-9:50, otherwise everything was just about right. Based it a little off of how I performed last year, 24:06 in 35:15 for 5M, the times were slightly faster, except for the 8s, and the rest was basically the same. Warmed up 2M with Fivos and then waited for the women's soccer game to finish up before doing strides and feeling awfully crappy. I was feeling awesome during the warmup but did not feel fast during strides. Started at the same time as Fivos and Kevin, but pulled away early and ran the rest on my own, because I was taking shorter rest. Felt pretty good during the 3200, lost focus a little during the first mile, came through about 4:54 and started picking it up the rest of the way. Jogged a 400 and was feeling a little tired still at the start of the miles, but the point wasn't to be fully recovered, so I just got rolling. Came through in 71 and 2:22 then fell off and hit 3:35 then tried and failed to pick it up on the last lap. Took a little more than 200m rest and got going again. Came through about the same, a little slower, but faded on the third lap and was at 3:37. Managed to get my legs under me ran a decent last lap. Same deal on the final mile, only I wasn't able to pick it up over the last mile. Fivos and Kevin started on their 800s and were chasing me during the 2 and 3rd lap, so that kept me at 72-73s but that wasn't good enough. I started getting a little frustrated because I had been running so well and would get out fast enough through the first half and then just fade. Not even because my legs were that tired, I think I just didn't have the focus I needed. The 8s were the same way, I got out in 68.5 and 69 for the two of them but couldn't keep it up on the next lap. I'm not upset about how it turned out though, just my second real workout and still a lot of quality work without much rest, but I did come up a little short of the windows I set for myself. Since I don't have to race this weekend I knew I could be a little more aggressive during the workout, but perhaps the windows were too aggressive or I think I'm in better shape than I actually am. If you take out the extra mile I wind up with 24:00 in a little under 35:00, slightly better than last year's workout, but I was more aggressive on the 2M this year, so I'd say they're about the same. Cooled down with a BU loop with Fivos, Khatch and Jake then did some strides on the grass and got lit up by Fivos. By then it was already late so I stretched out a little and then just showered and headed home. I could really use an ice bath after this workout though, if I'm still feeling bad tomorrow I'll see what the trainers say. |
11 |
| Tuesday AM |
Orange Line. Got up pretty early today, about 6:30, and got out the door about 7:45. Legs were feeling good, not all that tired, but my hip is still a little sore. I'm hoping that it won't give me any problems during the workout tonight. The plantar on my right foot is getting tight and sore again, that just started acting up for no good reason. Didn't get going very fast on the stride at the end, my legs weren't feeling it and I didn't force the issue. Pretty nice weather this morning, a little more crowded than usual, lots of people going to work I suppose. |
4 |
| Monday |
Mass Ave-Watertown Loop. Got going about 8:30am this morning, a lot later than I had hoped but still pretty early in the day. I was feeling really good, very relaxed the whole way and not very sore or stiff at the start. Really didn't feel at all like I raced yesterday. Thought a little about how 15:08 has become a pretty basic, jog in the park type time for me, time to set my sights a little higher. Today was one of those runs where everything clicks and you really feel like anything is possible. Starting picking it up as I got closer to Watertown, but on the way back my legs got really tired right before N. Beacon St. bridge, about 54 minutes in, so I backed off a little. Wound up cruising the rest of the way home, felt really comfortable and totally in control the whole way. Wound up running 90:05 for the 14M along the river and 97:10 for the entire run. I think I probably wasn't running all that fast out by Watertown, the entire run was most likely in the 6:20-6:35 range. Right about the BU bridge my right hip started acting up, just really sore, it's gotta be from racing in those flats. Racing on Sunday messed up the schedule a little, I went long today to compensate and will almost certainly be on the track tomorrow afternoon with the guys. It's always great to be done with running for the day at 10:30am. |
15 |
| Sunday PM |
Out and back through the Fens and along the Riverway. Took off about 3pm this afternoon, I really wasn't too sore, even though I didn't cool down very well this morning. I guess I didn't take a lot of time between the my runs today, but I was feeling fine. My right hip was a little sore, probably because my flats don't have any support. My legs were feeling good and the run went by really quickly, probably could have added on a couple more miles without feeling any effects. Trying to get back up over 100M this week, but I won't have to back off at the end of the week since I'm not racing this weeekend, which will make things easier. |
5 |
| Sunday AM |
Striding for Smithfield 5k, 15:08. Coach Nolan picked me up at 8am and we headed down to Smithfield, RI for my first road race. Warmed up 2M out and back along the course, it looked pretty flat. It was just a simple out and back route and I was feeling pretty good. Stretched out some, laced up the Zoom Streaks and headed to the line. Ran some strides and was feeling pretty fast, it didn't look like I was going to have much competition, but you can never be sure. Adam Sutton won this race last year, but I didn't seem him around this morning. Took the lead at the gun and lead the rest of the way, had a pretty good run and won by 1:37. Cooled down with the second place finisher, we just ran another 5k along the course, then stretched out a little and waited for the awards. This was my first time making money from running, it's a nice bonus. Sean and I got back in the Blue Beast and headed home by noon. |
8 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 11
9/11-9/17 |
Pretty good week. Would have been up around 100M most likely, but I cut Saturday's mileage down. The highlight of the week was definitely Wednesday's workout with Fivos. It took us a little while to find get our legs tuned, but we were really clipping on the final three miles. The lowlight was certainly Sunday's run, I feel like it's been awhile since I've put in a solid long run, need to make sure that happens next week. Monday's run was decently hard but I was losing focus in the middle, would have been better at Franklin Park, too. After Wednesday I was mainly just coasting the rest of the way, but getting ready for a race on a Sunday is a new feeling, it's not quite normal. After Sunday's race I think it looks like I'll be able to put in at least 10 days of solid training before gearing up for another race. I know I'm fit, but I don't feel like I can afford to be cutting back each week for a race. I'm still looking at November, and then maybe February, so I'd like to keep the volume up for another few weeks, if not longer. September Miles : 198 |
92 |
| Saturday |
Longfellow-BU. Thinking about doubling today, but my legs were tired when I woke up, so I decided to just run once and rest a little for tomorrow. Ran the first half of the loop with Kathryn today, which kept the pace easy, something I definitely needed. She turned on Mass Ave and I picked it up to about 7:00s to BU and back down Commonwealth. I met Kathryn back at Mass Ave and we finished up together. Went up to the apartment and stretched out some then laced up my new pair Nike Zoom Streak XCs and went back down to the street to run some strides. They're definitely very light shoes and don't have much cushioning, closer to spikes than trainers. Felt good on the strides, had a lot of speed in my legs tonight. Pretty good run, really liked how I was feeling, some of the pieces seem to be there. We'll find out tomorrow, I guess. |
6 |
| Friday PM |
Docks. Got going about 4:30 this afternoon, decided to leave my watch at home and just run according to feel the entire time. Didn't want to really start blasting away and I did a pretty good job of keeping things under control. Right after the Fleet Center a guy came past me and I was debating whether or not I ought to start picking it up, but then he crossed the street and turned off, so I was able to keep it easy. Was feeling good the whole way, legs were loose and and I was pretty relaxed. It really feels like cross country weather, cool and overcast and it just smells like cross weather. Enjoyable run today. |
9 |
| Friday AM |
Orange Line, one more time. My calves were pretty sore this morning, but I got loosened up and felt normal by the end of the run. The weather's starting to cool off and it was drizzling a little bit at the start, but that stopped early on. Nothing much happened this morning. |
4 |
| Thursday PM |
Castle-Bunker Hill. Headed down Mass Ave to campus and picked up the route in Central Square. I was feeling pretty loose, my legs felt okay, but I just locked into a comfortable pace and kept my legs going. Hit the big intersection in Somerville at 22 or 23 minutes and my legs got really tired all of a sudden. Climbed up to Castle and my legs started feeling a little better, by the time I was climbing Bunker Hill I was feeling fine again. Got to the Monument and then took the bridge into the North End, followed Endicott to Haymarket and then Orange Lined it back to the Common. From there it was down Comm Ave and back to the apartment. Wound up running 65 minutes and enjoyed the entire run. It was raining on and off through the entire run, so I was pretty wet and my shoes were soaking when I got home, felt good to get in the shower. |
10 |
| Thursday AM |
Orange Line. A brutal reminder that I'm still taking classes at MIT, I was up until 3am working on a lab, so I slept in until about 9am this morning and was still tired when I got up. Was thinking about slacking off on the morning run, but decided I didn't really want to have to go 12-14M this afternoon, so I manned up and got out the door. Typical morning run, my legs were feeling really good, actually. I guess I'm still used to dealing with late nights. It was drizzling the whole time, which helped keep things cool and was actually enjoyable weather for running. |
4 |
| Wednesday PM |
Out and back, through the Fens and along the Riverway with Kathryn. We left at about 5:45 for an easy run, I wanted to stay on soft surfaces so we ran part of the Emerald Necklace. We ran up to Olmsted park before turning around, it was 21-22 minutes, so I was guessing that was 2.5M. We were a little faster on the way back, we got back in about 20 minutes. It was a nice, relaxed and easy run this afternoon, after this morning's big workout. I had finally strapped on the HR monitor last night, it averaged out to 37BPM. |
5 |
| Wednesday AM |
5xmile over the 8k course at Franklin Park. 5:09 (window 4:55-57), 5:08 (5:15-17), 5:05 (5:05-07), 5:14 (5:15-17), 4:51 (4:50-52). Took 3:00 rest between all the miles, warmed up 2M and cooled down 3M. Fivos has class until 5pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, so he wasn't going to be able to make it out to Franklin Park with the team this afternoon, and I volunteered to run the workout with him on the track. But he's got a car now, so instead we met at Johnson at 9am and drove out to Franklin. I was feeling pretty good, loosened up after a mile or so of the warmup, felt a lot like a typical morning run. The park was pretty quiet and deserted, a lot different feel than in the afternoons. We started out and after a minute or two of asking myself why I was doing this, I got into it and was feeling good. I didn't want to really hammer and go way under the window and screw up the workout. Despite my previous attempts, this was pretty much my first real workout. We were shoulder to shoulder the whole way, and it felt fast at the start so I thought we were alright, but I guess we backed off a lot once we got around the stadium. We refocused during the rest and really started smashing the second mile. Fivos stayed more or less next to me up Bearcage, I gained a step over the second half of the hill but he closed that quickly. We cut loose a little once we got back to the field and came through a little fast. The third mile was dead on, we were running next to each other the whole way and I felt really relaxed. It took a little while to get calibrated, but we eventually figured it out. On the fourth mile I slowed up to give Fivos the better tangent entering the Wilderness and wound up running right behind him for most of the mile, but coming out of the Wilderness we were shoulder to shoulder again and I opened a slight gap up the hill to the fourth mile mark. We got started on number five and it really felt so relaxed I thought we might miss the window again. Towards Bearcage we started picking it up and I really attacked the hill, but didn't get much of a gap on Fivos. He was right with me at the top and that was the hardest point of the whole workout, my legs and arms were both heavy and tired, but I got my legs jumpstarted going down Bearcage and Fivos didn't try to kick, so we came through the finish line together. We cooled down 3M running the course backwards, I was pretty wasted at the start but my the end I was feeling fine and my legs were pretty well recovered, even had a little turnover during strides. This workout was harder than I was expecting it to be, honestly. I was expecting a solid workout but thought I wouldn't have to work quite as hard. Didn't want to really start hauling because I want my legs pretty fresh for this weekend, so I was content to try and hit the windows, but by the end my legs were really feeling it. Probably a little because I'm unaccustomed to running workouts right now, but maybe I'm not quite where I thought I was. |
10 |
| Tuesday PM |
Arboretum. Coach Nolan and I drove the vans back out to the Arboretum, but today was just the people who couldn't make it yesterday, so there were only a handful of people. Fivos and I ran together, it was supposed to be an easy day but I think we probably ran slightly faster than our prescribed pace. We topped all the hills really well, but a lot of times didn't back off enough after climbing a hill, or so it felt. We ran all over the place, climbed the back of Wushoo but didn't try the Big Green Hill. Legs were feeling great and today was just a great run. My left hamstring was a little tight on the strides again, don't know exactly what's going on with that. |
9 |
| Tuesday AM |
Longfellow-BU. Got up early again, I've been pretty motivated the past two days, and getting up early is really helping me put in some solid morning runs. Felt great out there again, my legs were still pretty fresh and my knee didn't bother me much at all. Stayed mainly on the dirt trails where possible, only did a short pick-up at the end but felt fast. It's going to be another hot day, I think. |
6 |
| Monday PM |
Arboretum. For some reason I thought we'd be going to Franklin Park, so I was planning on just a hard 10, and decided I'd do my best to get it in at the Arboretum instead. Started out at a pretty good pace, really focused and running hard, wound through to the back half of the park and ran the perimeter there, like always. Went up the Big Green Hill but had already slowed a little, I think. I was running pretty cautiously on all the downhills and not getting back in gear all the time. Headed back into the regular part of the Arboretum and then went over to the gravel path that runs to the Orange Line and tried to use that to kickstart things. Came back and climbed up the backside of Mount Wushoo and then ran the perimeter of the back half again. Found myself at the bottom of the Big Green Hill at about 43 minutes, so I climbed up that and went around counterclockwise to get back to the gate. Got into the front part of the park at 52 minutes and change and decided I'd try to get back to the front gate in 60:00. I had wound my way to the back half in 9:30 or so to start things off, so I knew I'd have to get moving. I ran that part pretty well, lost focus a few times but in general kept the hammer down and made it back in 60:00. Wasn't completely trashed at the end, I was thirsty more than anything. Some how it bounced back up into the 80s today, after a nice day in the mid 60s yesterday. I felt a slight twinge in my left hamstring and calf during my fast stride, so I took the next two very relaxed and then stretched out. Didn't feel anything afterwards though, so I think it will be alright. |
10 |
| Monday AM |
Orange Line. Got up about 7am when Kathryn left and got right out the door. I think I prefer getting up a little earlier and getting out the door, everything's a little quieter and I'm not quite as rushed, either. Foam rolled before taking off so my knee didn't give me many problems at the start, my legs were feeling fine the whole way. Nice, cool weather this morning, just felt great. |
4 |
| Sunday |
Johnny Kelly Statue. Headed out down Commonwealth and I was feeling pretty good, hoping for a solid run at a pretty fast pace, something around 6:15 maybe. As I turned at the Reservoir and headed towards BC, some guy was up ahead of me running a decent pace, and he would wind up following me all the way to the statue, which made the pace a little faster than it would have otherwise been. I thought I dropped him going up the hill at BC, but I got caught at some lights and he caught back up about a mile from the statue. I got to Johnny Kelly in 47:something, which was a little quicker than I expected. I spent a couple minutes jogging around the Newton City Hall hoping to find a bathroom, but had no luck. Things deteriorated from there and I was slow all the way back to the Reservoir where I was able to use the Port-o-John. Made a concerted effort after that to run fast/hard the rest of the way back home. Was able to get moving pretty well and got back in low 48. Today could have been a solid run if my stomach hadn't messed me up. |
15 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 10
9/04-9/10 |
Not such a great week. Didn't bother running on Sunday because of the blister and took it easy on Monday too. Felt great during the workout with Fivos and Kevin on Tuesday though, but Wednesday's long run didn't go so great. Thursday and Friday were just pretty much standard distance days and Saturday was a wasted workout. Don't feel like I got too much out of this week, originally I was hoping for a big week of mileage, but that wasn't going to happen because of the blister I got last Saturday. I hit 77M though, which equates to roughly 95-100M during a regular week. Not everything's going to go my way I guess. I've decided to make my "pro debut" as it were next Sunday, the 18th, at a little road race in New England. September Miles : 106 |
77 |
| Saturday |
The planned workout was a 5x5:00 tempo run, with 5,4,3,2 minutes rest. I was planning on taking the first 2:00 of the rest easy to let my legs recover and then spend the remainder of the time gradually running harder. I'm kind of making this stuff up as I go right now, today I just wanted a way to put in a long, hard workout. I was a little slow on the first one, but picked it up over the second half of the interval. Felt good during the rest, but I could feel that I was going to need to find a bathroom. Ran the second one pretty well, not quite as fast at the end though. Crossed over at Arsenal and stopped at the playground/wading pool to use the bathroom there, but it was locked. Luckily I spotted a Port-A-John in the community garden across the parking lot. Basically though, it broke the workout up into 2x5:00 and 3x5:00, which kind of ruined it. Got back at it right away and was feeling good, but my mind wasn't in it all the way. Took 3:00 then 2:00 rest and ran hard during the intervals but I wasn't very tired at the end of it. Ran down to Longfellow to add on some distance, since I made it back to Mass Ave in just 61 minutes. My legs were feeling fine all day, my mind wasn't all the way in it ever though, hard to find motivation I guess. I was thinking over how this botched workout is going to affect things, and I think I'll go long tomorrow, then a hard ten at Franklin on Monday the long again on Wednesday, then coast to Sunday. |
14 |
| Friday PM |
Fresh Pond. Went to campus to turn in some paperwork and ran from the lockerroom, hit the roads a little after 3:30pm. Felt a little sluggish the entire way, but I wound up running 63 minutes for the loop, so I couldn't have been running that slow. Just ran how my legs felt all the way to the Pond, then tried to make sure I at least didn't slow down the rest of the way. Got back to the track and ran some strides on the field but didn't cool down or stretch out very well. |
10 |
| Friday AM |
Orange Line. Was thinking of going longer this morning but decided against it, mainly because I'm lazy. Typical morning run, my knee was stiff for about 2M then things were feeling good the rest of the way. Went a little bit harder than usual during the pickup at the end of the run, felt pretty fast. |
4 |
| Thursday PM |
Reservoir. Got going a bit before 5pm today and I was feeling pretty good. Turned west on Boylston and took the ramp to Comm Ave this time, after that it was the usual route. Felt like I was running at a pretty good pace, but started slowing as I got onto Beacon after the Reservoir. Legs were still feeling alright but my stomach was a little upset, so I stopped at the Holiday Inn and was feeling better after that. Decided not to kill it though and kept the pace very relaxed the rest of the way home. As usual, I saw Terry McNatt on Beacon, he seems to be there everytime I am. Pretty low-key run, just putting in mileage. The most exciting part of the run was trying to dodge people through Kenmore Square before the Sox game started. |
10 |
| Thursday AM |
Orange Line. Thought about running in the Fens, but didn't bring my watch, so had to stick to a route I knew. Typical morning run, my knee was a little sore for a few minutes then it loosened up and my legs felt great the rest of the way. Felt pretty fast during the pickup down Clearway, pieces are falling into place. Think I'm going with just distance today and tomorrow and then hard days on Saturday and next Tuesday. |
4 |
| Wednesday |
Fens to Riverway to Arboretum. Today was the first day of classes and I was pretty worn out when I woke up, so I decided to be lazy and just run once, long, in the afternoon. I checked my heart rate when I woke up this morning and it was in the 38-42 range (I only counted for 0:30, so it's a little inexact,) so I think it was more laziness than tiredness that made me skip the morning run. I get out of class at 2pm Monday and Wednesday, so I figured I would be able to run relatively early. Of course, things never work out as you plan, so I got out the door at about 4:30. Decided it was early enough to run through the Fens, which was nice because it's even more dirt trails. Got to the Riverway in 11 minutes, about 3 minutes slower than if I had taken Boylston, so I decided I'd add on in the Arboretum and come back the usual way down Boylston to make it a 15-miler. I was feeling good and actually running pretty quickly, or so I felt, to the Arboretum, but gradually slowed as I wound my way to the back, ran the perimeter then added on by climbing the Big Green Hill before heading back out. Spent 37:00 in there, so I was definitely slow, even with the add-on, which was 4:00, tops. Kept on struggling back to Jamaica for a quick pit-stop then got back to a decent pace the rest of the way home. Felt good almost all the way, once I got near Mass Ave I started to get a little more tired, I could feel my legs getting heavier. Still, I put in a pretty good long run and it went by pretty quickly. I liked running through the Fens, it'll be nice to have a soft surface option in the mornings. Cut the dead skin off of the bottom of my foot today, ran without a bandage too, and didn't have any problems. I thought about the affect that my blister's going to have on my mileage, I figure Sunday and Monday I missed about 20M (13-15M on Sunday and 5-7M on Monday,) so I'm going to attempt to get this week into the 80s, but there isn't a lot of time left. |
15 |
| Tuesday PM |
5x3:00 in the Arboretum with Fivos and Brulois. I was feeling pretty good today, felt good to put in a workout for the first time in months. We warmed up for 2M and got ran the first one around the perimeter of the back half of the Arboretum. Fivos and I really got rolling and gapped Kevin a little over the final minute. It was pretty hilly terrain and I was tired by the end of it. For the next one we crossed the street and ran three wide on a path the whole way, kept it a little more under control. Realized these are only at race pace, not as hard as you can run. We took our third one back towards the Arborway and caught a downhill near the end, which really got the legs turning over. We jogged back to the starting location, then turned around and ran the fourth one along the path that runs parallel to the Arborway. Of course, groups C and D had just started along the same path, so we rolled up C at the start and spent the next minute chasing down D before heading out on our own. We wound up hauling way too fast at the start and I think we all slowed over the final minute. We wound our way through the Arboretum and started the last one on the wide gravel path that leads to the back half, Kevin and Fivos got a gap on me at the start and I stayed about 5m behind them through the whole interval. We cooled down back to the Arborway gate, but were only at 48 minutes, so we added on another mile before some strides. Pretty good workout, I wasn't really hauling today but we got moving any my legs were tired by the end, so I was happy with it. Fivos and Kevin are in pretty good shape and I was struggling to keep up at times. Luckily my foot didn't give me any problems today. |
9 |
| Tuesday AM |
Orange Line. Got up about 8am and was out the door by 8:30. Feeling pretty good, I stumbled a little bit over the weekend but I'm back in a groove again. It's time to really decide about my schedule and start to plan things out. Didn't bother to bandage up the blister this morning, wanted to see what would happen. The new skin split a little bit but nothing very big and it didn't hurt during the run, so I think it's pretty much healed. I'm going to keep bandaging it for my longer runs though. |
4 |
| Monday |
Franklin Park with Fivos. Drove a van out to the Park at 3pm today, Brulois didn't show up so Fivos was on his own and we ran together. There was a big cookout by the backstop, so we decided we'd explore beyond the Wilderness Loop a little and hopefully not have to bother with running through the big group. There aren't a lot of trails back there, apparently, so we only ran for about 15 minutes before we wound up back on the course. We were about 2M in by then, so we decided to run the course and then I'd call it a day. I was feeling good today, glad to finally stretch out the legs, hadn't run since crossing the line at Alumni. The foot wasn't a big deal, I had a bandage on it and wrapped it with tape and pre-wrap and barely felt it. Planned on going shorter today because it would be the first time on the blister and also I had to get back to campus by 5pm for an MEng meeting. Ran a couple strides and stretched out before heading back. Good to be back at it. |
7 |
| Sunday |
Nothing. Woke up and had to help my sister move, decided then that it really wasn't worth trying to run on the blister. If I were still on the team I would have at least tried it out, but I figure there's no harm in taking a day off and letting everything heal up a little more. It still hurt to walk on a little, I don't know what running on it is going to be like. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 09
8/28-9/03 |
Pretty good week of training, never really threw in a very long run and had some pretty slow runs, but I was feeling good on Saturday, and really, that was the main focus of my training recently, so things went well. Wasn't really affected by the time trial last week so I was able to go longish on Sunday and hard Monday and then coast into the weekend. I really wish that I hadn't ripped up my foot though, but I think I'll be back running on Sunday. Ran a pretty good race Saturday, I think it could have been :20-:30 faster if I had just left Feldman at the top of Bearcage and really hammered from there. There's always next year. September Miles : 29 |
85 |
| Saturday |
Alumni Meet at Franklin Park. Ran 25:56 which was good enough for the win. Had a lot of fun today, warmed up 2M with Carlos, Fidkowski and Driver and talked a little bit of strategy with Dan Feldman at the line before the gun. I was feeling good from the start, got out pretty well and lead the whole way, breaking away for good just before the 3M mark. The only negative was that I ripped open a blister on the bottom of my left foot and wasn't able to cool down afterwards. It wasn't as bad as the carnage from my sophomore year, but I was advised by the trainers not to run for a little while. My plan was to cool down along the Riverway back to the apartment and get some decent mileage out of today, but instead I only put in 7. Spent the rest of the day enjoying the festvities, this year is the 100th anniversary of MIT XC so the department had a big day planned. A lot of fun today, just wish I hadn't messed up my foot. |
7 |
| Friday PM |
Harvard Square loop with Monty. I was expecting at least a couple alums to show up at practice, but it was just Sean and I, so we set off planning to go 4 or 5 miles. Sean was running pretty quick, my legs were pretty heavy and I was struggling a little to keep up while staying relaxed. He's still got his speed, and I got smoked during strides, so I'm not sure how fast I was feeling today. I was definitely a little tired, hopefully I'll be fresh tomorrow. |
4 |
| Friday AM |
Longfellow. Slept until about 10 this morning, don't know why I've been so tired recently. I ran with Kathryn this morning, so we walked a little until her heel warmed up and then we started up Mass Ave. We had a nice relaxing run and my legs were feeling good the whole way. Not nearly as tired as I was yesterday afternoon, I guess I needed all that sleep. |
4 |
| Thursday PM |
Franklin Park. Same route as Monday, ran the course forwards and then backwards. This time I just ran easy though, and actually pretty slow. It was just the freshman who made the trip today and they all ran in one big group with Coach on his bike so they could learn the course, so I was on my own today. Started out pretty slow, but dropped a couple 6:30s in the middle before slowing back down to 7:00 range by the end. I was feeling good through 5-6M and then the bottom kind of dropped out and I got really tired. I'm looking forward to being able to take a down day on Friday, hopefully I'll be feeling fresh on Saturday. |
10 |
| Thursday AM |
Orange Line. My knee was hurting again this morning, it takes a couple blocks before it loosens up and then it doesn't give me any further problems, so I'm not too concerned with it. It would be nice to have it feel better but I am getting old and these things come with the territory. Otherwise everything was fine, my legs weren't aching when I woke up, which is always a good way to start the day. Felt good throughout the whole run, a little anxious to race but didn't have the bouncing, ready to bolt feeling like when I'm tapered and really ready to race. |
4 |
| Wednesday |
Reservoir. I was really tired this morning and couldn't imagine getting up to run, so today became my second long run of the week. I don't really feel like I was slacking off, since I had it in the back of my head to put in one long run today anyways, which made not running this morning easier. Headed west on Commonwealth and ran up Summit, then twice around the Reservoir before coming back down Beacon and went up and down the long side of Summit. I guess I was really dogging it at the start, because it took me 40:00 just to get to the Reservoir, at first I thought I had messed up timing, but I think I was just slow. Stayed slow on the first lap, but then I took a quick pit stop at a Port-A-John and started feeling better. Picked the pace up slightly on the way home, but I'm sure I didn't get any faster than 6:45s. Felt good climbing Summit the second time, that was really the only highlight of the run. Pretty slow all around, really, ran for 96 minutes today. Decided to run 14 or 15 tomorrow, too, and then back off Friday and will probably only be able to put in 10M or so on Saturday, so the week will be in the low 90s. August Miles : 408 |
14 |
| Tuesday PM |
Arboretum. Drove the team out to the Arboretum at 4pm today. They were running a fartlek so I just took off by myself. Started out at a decent pace, ran my usual route to the back part of the Arboretum, went up the Big Green Hill, then around the perimeter and back up the Big Green Hill. My plan was to then head back to the rest of the Arboretum and kill some time before going back to the Big Green Hill, but I wound up really slowing down in the regular Arboretum and got a little distracted. I forgot to head back to the back part and only got back there for one trip up the hill before heading back to the gate. Wasn't feeling all that great today so I skipped strides and just stretched out and waited until the guys were ready to leave. Not such a great run today, I went for 69 minutes and that was maybe a little short, I was not feeling it today. I wasn't especially sore though, so I think I'll be fine by the end of the week, at the latest. |
10 |
| Tuesday AM |
Orange Line. Got going earlier this morning because I got up when Kathryn left for her inservice. My right knee was pretty sore at the start, need to start using the foam roller a bit more often. Once my knee loosened up everything was just fine, my hamstring was feeling good and I wasn't really sore from yesterday. It was raining slightly but pretty good weather for a morning run. |
4 |
| Monday PM |
Franklin Park. Got to the course about 4:30 this afternoon, it was overcast but pretty muggy. My legs were still feeling good enough, so I jogged right over to the starting line and started my hard 10 miler. I had decided that I'd run the course forwards then backwards. The guys had an easy day, they're working out tomorrow, so I was all alone, but got to catch and pass a group occasionally along the course. Felt pretty relaxed through the first mile and came through in 5:45. Locked into a steady but quick pace and tried to just keep rolling. Avoided checking the watch at all because I wanted a hard 10 miler, not a hard 10x1 miler. Was surprised to hit the finish line in 28:15, I was expecting something closer to 29:00 and tried to get going faster on the way back. Felt like I lost focus from about 6.5M through 8M and was just kind of covering ground. I was a little too concerned about getting to the 2M to go mark and didn't just focus on running fast. Brought it back around over the final two miles and finished with a 5:15. But the second 5M was just 28:00, so I was 0:15 slower on miles 6-9 than on miles 2-5. On the whole I was satisfied with how things went, I got in a solid hard effort without feeling like I was running a full-blown workout, which was what I wanted. I was surprised about how easy some of the run felt, I certainly didn't feel like I was running 5:15 effort over the last mile. Cooled down with some strides and stretching and waited for everybody else to finish up before heading back to MIT. The guys lifted today, but I think I'm going to wait a little while still to start lifting again. |
10 |
| Monday AM |
Orange Line. I'm driving one of the vans to Franklin Park this afternoon and I want to put in a hard 10 miler so I kept it really easy and did my best to get my left hamstring loose. It's stayed tight and sore since yesterday's run, but my right hamstring is feeling fine. Put in the normal run, kept the acceleration at the end very easy and spent a little more time than normal stretching out. I used the SportStretch rope, too, trying to make sure I'm ready to go this afternoon. |
4 |
| Sunday |
Walden. Drove out about 9am this morning with a couple of guys from the team. The water level in the Pond has really risen, there's no way to run on the beach anymore. Both of my hamstrings were really tight when I woke up this morning, so I took it easy until they loosened up. We headed out beyond the train tracks right away and the rest of the guys turned off and left just Fivos and I together. We ran about 12M around the trails there, talking about a lot of different things and not running too hard. Got rolled up by a group of about 7 guys pretty early on, thought about ditching Fivos to chase them but decided against it. We ran all the usual trails, but our memories weren't very good so we just kind of jumped around instead of running a set plan. Ran back to Walden with Fivos and then added on a little extra on some of the trails next to the Pond. Nothing exciting, just waiting for the time to creep up above 90 so I could call it a day. We were pretty efficient today, basically in and out. Pretty good run today, nice to be able to put it all in on the trails, lots of soft dirt and pine needles. Planning to dial down this week a little, the long run will just be something like 14 or 15 and probably only hit about 95M so I'm fresher at Alumni than I was at the time trial. |
14 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 08
8/21-8/27 |
Great week, probably the best week I've had since I started back up. Able to keep the volume pretty high all through the week, didn't have a day that I wasn't able to run the mileage I was hoping for. Would have liked to have finished off Tuesday's long run a little stronger, but I'll chalk that up to the midday heat and not worry about it. Got in all the volume I wanted and started adding speed near the end of the week. Surprised I was able to hit a 57 for my FSQ despite no speed work all summer, and really happy with being able to run a 15:15 at the end of a 107M week. I'm honestly a little surprised that I seem to be in such good shape, I thought I'd be a little off and a little sluggish. Very exciting. August Miles : 352 |
107 |
| Saturday |
5k time trial in 15:15, got smoked by Fivos who ran 15:06. Cooled down 10M with Sean. Felt pretty good today, I was a little sore/tired/tight during the warm-up jog but was relaxed and not very concerned about being fresh today. I felt myself loosening up during strides before the start, but still wasn't quite on. Got out a little slower than I wanted to, came through in 2:30 then 4:57 then 9:50. Brulois was right with me through the first 2M, even took over for about a lap during the second mile and dropped a 72 which helped get us moving. I started pulling away from him over the final mile though and was trying to keep things together and close with a 4:50. With 600m to go Fivos pulled up next to me, which was pretty surprising, and he was moving. I hung with him for 100m, but at the top of the homestretch he surged again and got a gap pretty easily. He went on to really blast the last lap, his final mile was a 4:38, so I was a little disappointed at the end of the race. But Sean and I headed out around the Pond, as usual, and broke down the race and I wound up feeling really good about how things went today. I ran a really consistent pace, got a little faster as the race went on, and wound up running pretty much the time I was hoping for. Now I've just got some added motivation for next weekend. Got back to the track and stretched out a little before heading home. Really good day today, capped off a good week. |
15 |
| Friday PM |
Fake Fresh with Bruce. Biked over to campus today, wanted to get in a short run with the team and be able to stretch and do strides at the track afterwards. Felt okay during the run, Bruce and I just chatted it up the whole way, the 35 minutes went pretty quickly. A little sore/tired, but I think that's a combination of the mileage this week and the fact that I went long in the morning. Once I got warmed up and into it I was fine. Wound up sitting around before strides for longer than I wanted to, so I took a bit longer jog barefoot around the football field before starting strides. My Achilles was tight at the start of the jog, but it loosened up quickly and didn't give me any other problems. Looking forward to the time trial tomorrow. |
5 |
| Friday AM |
Docks. Continuing the trend from yesterday, I put in a pretty slow run this morning. Decided to switch things around and run longer this morning and shorter this afternoon with the guys, so I can run some strides at the track this afternoon. Got out the door about 9:15 and was feeling pretty stiff. Took a mile or two for my right knee to loosen up, and my quads were sore the entire run. I messed up the watch, but I got back about 10:20 so I'm pretty sure it was 9M at 7:00 pace or slower. It was pretty warm this morning, not as bad as a couple weeks ago but warmer than it has been recently. Have to remember to keep drinking water throughout the day. |
9 |
| Thursday |
Arboretum. Wow I was sore today, probably from the FSQ and strides yesterday, without much stretching afterwards. Just relaxed and took it easy the whole way, because I knew pretty early on that it wasn't going to be a very fast run today. Got to the Arboretum a little slower than usual and took my time going around. Decided I needed some hill work, so I added on by running up the Big Green Hill, but that only added 4:00, a lot less than I expected. Decided I'd just head home and call it a long fourteen today. Continued slowing down on the way home, just a very slow and relaxed run today. I was pretty sore and it was just easier to run slow today, at least I got in some soft surfaces today. |
14 |
| Wednesday PM |
Fresh Pond, around the Pond. Ran over to the track to meet up with the team today. After a short meeting we took off, just about everybody headed out towards Fresh Pond. I stayed in the back and relaxed most of the way, but as we got closer to the Pond guys started peeling off and soon it was just Brulois, Khatch, DiGenova and myself. Khatch and I went around the Fresh while DiGenova and Brulois ran regular Fresh Pond. Khatch and I kept it easy the whole way, the run took about 65 minutes. I was (un)lucky enough to show up on an FSQ day, so I joined Khatch when we got back. Surprised myself by running a 57, despite nothing but slow mileage all summer. Ran strides afterwards, the most speed I've had since outdoor track. My legs today were sore throughout, I think because of yesterday, but the FSQ and the strides really loosened them up and I felt a lot better on the jog home, after a little stretching on the track. Still felt pretty natural to be out there with the guys on the track. |
12 |
| Wednesday AM |
Orange Line. Got out the door about 9am this morning, was feeling pretty stiff and sore at the start. But in typical morning run fashion, I loosened up and felt better at the end than at the start. Good way to start off the day, this week has gotten off to a good start. |
4 |
| Tuesday |
Science-Watertown Loop. Wanted to go this morning but got out the door a little before 1PM today. The sun was directly overhead but it wasn't too hot. I stopped for a splash of water at Eliot Bridge on the way out, but otherwise it was really smooth. Locked into a good rhythm on the way out, my legs were feeling fresh and the run was pretty easy. Made the turn at 65 minutes, right where I wanted to be, but started struggling a little more on the way home. The sun was starting to take it out of me and there wasn't a lot of shade, I started basically running for a bubbler. Stopped at the playground just after Arsenal for a drink, which helped me get refocused for another couple miles. After I got past Harvard I started counting the bridges I had left and started struggling a little more. I really slowed past the BU bridge, but realized what was happening and put things back together until I got to Mass Ave. Wound up running 1:49, 6 minutes faster than last week and a little slower than 6:20 a mile. I feel like I could have run a couple minutes faster on the way back had I not fallen apart so badly. It started at about 85 minutes, which is right around my breaking point it would seem. The longest of my runs have been right around that recently, so it makes sense. Overall it took me 1:56, but I took it easy at the start just getting to the Esplanade and was just trying to survive on the way home. I stepped on the scale when I got home and weighed just 155lbs, so I lost about 10 lbs during the run. Spent the next hour lying around on the floor drinking water. The rolling week has climbed to 110M, so I'm not entirely surprised I was so tired by the end of today's run. |
18 |
| Monday PM |
Fresh Pond, around the Pond. Feeling pretty good this afternoon, bought a new pair of shoes after the morning run and that really helped my legs feel better. Ran a little after 5PM today so I was half-expecting to see the team out on the streets today, but I didn't. My legs were pretty fresh today and I contemplated hammering the pace as I went around the Pond, but decided against it. Still, I held a good pace, the regular 10M loop from campus would have been about 62 minutes today. Door to door I ran just over 75 minutes. Just a good day to run and my legs were underneath me, wish I could feel like this everyday. |
12 |
| Monday AM |
Orange Line. Out the door about 9am this morning, finally didn't feel sore/tired this morning, maybe it had something to do with drinking more water last night than I have been recently. Legs were feeling pretty good, but it was just a typical morning run, not very exciting. The guys started practice today, and the house started work week. I miss one of those things. |
4 |
| Sunday |
Arsenal-Longfellow Loop. Ran over to campus and happened to run into a bunch of guys about to go run, so I tagged along with them. We were running relaxed the whole way, it was nice to have a big pack and just run along at a steady, easy pace with them. A couple freshmen turned back at Eliot and everybody turned back at Arsenal. DiGenova said he was going to go down to Longfellow to add on, so I said I'd just run with him. We were relaxed and talking the whole time, one freshman dropped off so Khatch went back to run with him, everybody else stuck together. The rest of the guys headed back across Mass Ave, but Fivos, Kevin and I went on down to Longfellow, with a quick bubbler stop thrown in. It was pretty hot out, really humid, and I was sweating a lot and pretty thirsty. I've been a little negligent about drinking water recently, and I paid for it today. We did the loop in 84 minutes, right about 7 minute pace, and I headed back up Mass Ave while they went on to Johnson. I was pretty tired at the end of today, don't know why exactly, I guess the heat just took it out of me. Slept a lot last night, about 10 hours, so I was rested and I felt good most of the way, just started dragging a little near the end. It was nice to be able to run with people, that makes the distance go by a bit easier. |
14 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 07
8/14-8/20 |
Got the mileage back up to a respectable total. I was shooting for triple digits this week, but that didn't work out. The low mileage on Sunday kind of submarined the total, but I did a good job the other 6 days of putting in mileage. It would probably help to start putting in at least 3, hopefully 4 morning runs each week. Glad that I finally got a long run in, felt pretty good the whole way on Friday. I've really started to like running to the Arboretum, I think I might try heading to the Riverway via the Fens, which might add a little distance and give me some more time on soft surfaces. The weather cooperated more this week, temps were a little lower and there wasn't much humidity, which helped a lot. |
99 |
| Saturday |
Arboretum. Surprise, surprise, I wanted a long day so I headed out to the Arb once again. That makes 3 times this week. Felt alright at the start, actually felt like I was running fast on the way to the Arboretum, but got there in 29:45, so it wasn't that fast. Slowed a little running through the Arboretum, just relaxed and didn't feel like pushing at all. Got back to Jamaica and the Riverway and slowed a little more, had to pick it up from Landmark Center just to make it back in 30:30. Another day of just putting in miles, yesterday's long run didn't seem to affect me too much. |
14 |
| Friday |
Science-Watertown Loop. It's half a mile to/from the river, so that bumped the total up a mile. Started out pretty relaxed today and gradually built into a little faster pace. Never really got moving very fast but I felt good the whole way, the run went by fairly quickly today. Kathryn rode her bike with me so we wound up talking most of the way. Felt good to finally put in a long run, I've been avoiding it since I got out to Boston. Was at 67 minutes at Watertown, which is like 65 normally, since I started at Mass Ave instead of Fairfield, or maybe I was at 69, I'm not sure. Either way, I was more or less at a good pace but didn't put the hammer down at all on the way home, so I wound up running 1:55 for the 17.1 along the river, pretty much averaging 6:45s. Not a bad run, and that's a pretty average pace for me right now, so I'm pleased with the run. Had I gone in planning to hammer I think I could have easily gotten down in the 1:47-1:50 range. I like where I'm at right now. |
14 |
| Thursday |
Arboretum. Haven't come up with a better route for long runs, so I wound up heading to the Arboretum yet again. My legs were feeling pretty good, I didn't try to hammer but I was feeling faster than I have the past few days. Temperatures were great today, beautiful weather for running. Got to the Arboretum in 30:00, spent 31:45 in the Arboretum and got home in 29:45. Nothing very exciting happened today, just putting in miles and feeling pretty good. Didn't do a morning run because I had to go out to Lincoln Labs to interview for an RAship there. I was pretty tired when I got home, so I spent the next couple hours laying around before finally getting out the door at 6PM. |
14 |
| Wednesday PM |
Fresh Pond, around the Pond. Dragging a little bit at the start, but got into it as I was heading around the Pond, turned into a pretty decent run. Stayed relaxed the whole way, didn't try to force a fast pace, even though I was feeling good. Ran the usual loop in about 64 minutes, and wound up running 78 for the whole thing. I was tired at the start from walking around all afternoon, but as the run wore on my legs loosened up and I wasn't as tired anymore. Pretty good run today, I always like the ones that I build into, that wind up coming around and I feel good at the end of. |
12 |
| Wednesday AM |
Orange Line. Feeling okay this morning, wasn't as tired when I woke up as I have been recently. Picked it up at the end of the run, finally felt like my legs were turning over well and didn't feel forced. Not a bad run, the weather is starting to warm up again, at least it was comfortable for a few days. |
4 |
| Tuesday |
Arboretum. Same deal as last week, Boylston to the Riverway to Jamaica to the Arborway. Got to the Arboretum in 30 minutes, then spent another 30 minutes in the Arboretum. Ran around to the back of the Arboretum and did a loop there before heading back out. Not running very fast today, just getting in miles on soft surfaces. Came back around the opposite side of the Pond, but the trails on that side aren't as good. Still, I spent maybe 25 minutes on pavement today, and the run lasted 93. I'm still feeling good, I've been taking Iron for about a week now, but I should check my resting HR soon, just to be sure. |
14 |
| Monday PM |
Reservoir. Skipped Summit today, too lazy to try for a long one this afternoon, so I just cut it down to a ten miler. Legs were feeling good but I tried not to get rolling too much because I was a little afraid of stringing together too many fast runs. I'm probably worrying too much though and should just let my legs dictate the pace for a few more weeks. I was thinking a little bit about what my schedule is going to be like in terms of working out and I haven't settled on anything. I feel like avoiding workouts at least until Alumni is over, not for strategic reasons, just to use that as a mile post. The weather was still cool today and I wish I had gone a little farther, I've been letting myself get started later and later and that makes me feel like cutting them short so I'm not eating dinner at 9PM all the time. |
10 |
| Monday AM |
Orange Line. Still raining, but at least the weather has cooled off. Felt pretty good today, not too sore from yesterday's run and I believe the mysterious quad pain has left. Hoping to put in a longer afternoon run to compensate for the short run Sunday. |
4 |
| Sunday |
Jamaica. All the humidity from the past few days built up and exploded in thunderstorms all day today. I was watching the radar online and thought the worst had passed so I took off about 6PM. Was thinking that I'd run Reservoir, but caught a red light at Boylston and decided to run Jamaica instead. I was hoping that going around the Pond would be good enough to make it a 10 miler, but it turned out that I needed a longer route to the Riverway. I was feeling good the whole way, but started worrying that the time trial was less than 2 weeks away and all my training had been bulk mileage, lots of it slower than 6:30 pace. So I decided that as I went around the Pond I'd pick it up and try to hammer the back half of the run. The skies opened up again as I was going around the Pond, which didn't bother me and the thunder still sounded a ways off. As I got back to the Riverway and closer to Landmark Center I realized the storm was getting closer but I had only run 45 minutes. I cut up Park Drive, which is the road that runs in front of the Landmark Center, and took that across Beacon to Commonwealth. Ran down Commonwealth to Mass Ave and back to the apartment. Only wound up running for 57 minutes, so the mileage total took a little beating, but it was a good pace and pretty aggressive, so it wasn't a complete waste. |
9 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 06
8/07-8/13 |
This week's mileage was pretty high, a big jump up from last week. Didn't have a long run though, it seemed like everytime I headed out for a 13 or 14M run my route wound up being a little short, or I changed my mind about going long. Next week hopefully I'll get out the door for at least a 15 miler. Don't really know how the mileage got up so high, I doubled up quite a bit this week, that probably influenced it. Only averaged 13M a day, need to bump that up a mile or two. August Miles : 146 |
92 |
| Saturday |
Fresh Pond around the Pond. Waited until 3:30 this afternoon to run because I was too lazy to get up this morning. It was pretty hot today but not overpowering. My legs were pretty tired and I definitely wasn't running very fast. About 20 minutes into the run my left quad started hurting again, same place that it was yesterday. Kept it relaxed and under control the entire way, got around the Pond pretty well but started slowing down as I headed back down Mass Ave. My quad definitely influenced that, it's bad enough to make me stop but it's uncomfortable while I'm running. Don't really know what the problem is, it feels like a bruise but there isn't a bruise, hopefully it will just take care of itself. |
12 |
| Friday PM |
Docks. Had a tough time deciding where to go, still haven't found a good 10M loop. Sometime this afternoon my left quad started hurting, it felt like it was bruised so I wasn't sure how this run would go. Caught up to Kathryn a little before Longfellow and ran with her across the bridge, then took off on my own. Felt pretty sluggish most of the way, and my quad was slowing me down a little. Finally, heading back through Boston Common, my legs loosened up and running was a little bit easier. Finished by cutting up Hereford and put in a longer stride down Clearway. Still not feeling all that smooth, the stride was a little too forced, but it's coming around. |
9 |
| Friday AM |
Orange Line. Regular morning run, nothing too spectacular. Felt decent the whole way but nothing to write home about. Lately I've been trying to pick it up slightly at the end of the run, haven't done strides all summer so I'm trying to build into them. |
4 |
| Thursday |
Jamaica to Arboretum. Ran west on Boylston down to the Landmark Center and got on the Riverway there. Stayed on gravel/dirt all the way to Olmsted Park, where I picked up the usual Jamaica route. Pretty soon though I veered off the path onto some trails and followed them all the way to the Pond. Ran to the otherside of the Pond then down the Arborway to the Arboretum. Got there in 30 minutes, so I had about 20 minutes to kill in the Arboretum. Was feeling pretty sluggish all the way to the Arboretum, my quads were sore and even slight inclines were tough. Of course, I headed straight to the Big Green Hill and climbed that. There was hay on the path which made footing a little slippery and I wasn't very aggressive on the way up. Headed down and straight out the Arboretum after spending 23 minutes running around there. Decided to head back the way I came instead of going around the Pond so that the time would work out, the entire run wound up taking 83 minutes. Pretty good run, the legs really came around after climbing in the Arboretum. I really liked this route, I was able to get in a large portion of the run, probably about 75%, on soft surfaces. |
13 |
| Wednesday PM |
Fresh Pond. Felt pretty good today, put in a little more than 9M to compensate for some runs I rounded up recently. My legs were feeling alright, a little better than I was this morning. Nothing spectactular today, just putting in miles. The run went pretty quickly today, glad I got out the door this morning and was able to shorten up the run this afternoon. Looks like this week is going to be right around 95M, hopefully I'll be able to put in a long run in a couple days. |
9 |
| Wednesday AM |
Longfellow-BU Loop from home. Feeling pretty tired today, don't know why I was dragging so much this morning. Struggled through most of the run, but don't think I was running all that slow. Didn't have a watch with me, so maybe I was slow, but my legs came around near the end of the run finally and I was feeling a little better. Still pretty warm out, but it was early enough (and the run was short enough) that it wasn't a big deal. |
6 |
| Tuesday |
Mass Ave-North Beacon Street Loop. Headed out hoping for 13-14M but couldn't remember how long this loop was. Wound up running 78:00, the chart says it's 11.2M and it's about half a mile to the river from my apartment, so I'll call it 12M. Legs were feeling really good and I tried to keep the pace aggressive the whole way. Wasn't really hammering though, probably holding 6:20-30 most of the way, but it felt good to stretch the legs out some. Saw Adam Fitzgerald during the run, he was heading down the river on the Cambridge side between Eliot and Arsenal as I was heading upriver. Another really humid day, I was pretty much drenched by the end of the run. Need to kick the mileage up a little more this week, my legs were hurting this morning, so I was lazy and didn't get up for a morning run, which I really regretted in the evening. |
12 |
| Monday PM |
Reservoir with Summit Ave. Got going about 6:30 tonight, after watching the World Champs and hoping it would cool off a little. Headed down to Commonwealth and out towards BC, and even though it had cooled off some it was still very humid and I was sweating pretty quickly. Legs were feeling good, felt like I was running pretty quickly. Good run, pretty uneventful. It was fairly crowded going around the Reservoir, looks like the secret's out about that place. Streets were a little crowded around Kenmore on the way out, but had cleared up by the time I got back. Expected this to be 10M, but it wound up being 71:30, so I'm calling it 11M. |
11 |
| Monday AM |
Orange Line. My place is right on Mass Ave next to the Christian Science Plaza, so Orange Line is a natural choice, I'll probably be running this a lot. Was kind of tired this morning so I opted for a short run in the AM and I'll go 10-12M later on tonight. Once I got into it, of course, my legs felt fine and I probably could have gone longer if I wanted to. Looks to be another beautiful day, hopefully I'll still be feeling good this afternoon. |
4 |
| Sunday |
Fresh Pond, around the Pond, from the new place. It's about a 7:00 run over to campus, so that added 2M onto the loop. It felt really good to get out the door and stretch out my legs again after two days off. I settled into a good pace, nothing too aggressive, and the run went by pretty quickly. Ran the whole loop in 76:00 and the normal 10M loop took 62:00+. I slept about 10 hours last night, which I really needed, so that's probably why I felt so good. Nice weather today, felt good to be back running in Boston. |
12 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 05
7/31-8/06 |
Slacked off at the beginning of the week and wasn't able to run at the end of the week, so the mileage total really suffered this week. I think I'll be able to step back up to the 90-100M range next week though, so it shouldn't affect anything. I was really dragging ass near the end of the back to back 100M weeks, so an easy week probably helped. The 18 miler with Nick was pretty slow this week, but we're not going to be blazing all the runs. The other runs were pretty slow too, but Thursday I felt pretty good and got moving near the end. August Miles : 54 |
64 |
| Saturday |
Another goose egg. We drove the last 2 hours of the trip into Boston and then spent the rest of the day moving stuff up into the apartment. It's on the fourth floor with no elevators, so I was pretty tired by the end of everything. By the time we got to dinner it was already 7:30pm, so I didn't run. |
0 |
| Friday |
We left Shorewood at 5am this morning and drove all the way to Lee, MA before finally stopping. By the time we got there, it was midnight and we had been on the road for 18 hours. Obviously, no running today. |
0 |
| Thursday |
Bender with Kletzsch Park add-on. Had to go earlier today, so I wasn't able to wait for Nick to get back from work. Legs were feeling alright, much better than yesterday's run. Hit 3M in 20:00 and continued on the pace for the majority of the run. Didn't let it deteriorate into a jog, but I wasn't pushing the pace today. Hit Klode at 60:40 and ran the next 2M in 13:00 and the final mile in 6:10. Kind of surprised about the time on the final mile because I wasn't pressing at all, just trying to wrap things up nicely. Pretty good way to end the Milwaukee training, but I regret not being able to go with Nick today. The rental truck is all packed up and we're heading to Boston early tomorrow morning. Hard to believe the summer's gone by so quickly. |
12 |
| Wednesday PM |
Out and back along the Parkway with Nick. He picked me up today and we started from his house and got right into it. Never got going fast today, I think we are both in a little bit of a downswing right now, legs are feeling heavy and reeling a bit from the mileage. We hit halfway in 35:00 and I was in no mood to pick it up on the way home. Nick's legs were feeling better than mine, I think, but he stayed with me instead of taking off over the final few miles. I was really thirsty and hadn't been drinking enough water today, which I think hurt me this afternoon. Kathryn and I started packing the UHaul for the trip back to Boston, so I wasn't able to lie around all day like I'm used to. |
10 |
| Wednesday AM |
South along Lake Drive to St. Mary's and back. Feeling decent this morning, but still tired from yesterday. Not running very fast, just putting in the miles. Everything felt fine, my legs were just generally fatigued. |
4 |
| Tuesday |
Usual long run with Nick. Drove home from Door County this morning, spent the rest of the day sitting around until Nick called. We started out pretty well, it felt like we were moving at a decent pace from the gun. Kathryn was riding her bike with us, and that got us moving a little faster, or so it felt. We kept the pace honest along the bike path, but slowed near the end as I suddenly needed a pit stop. Afterwards I was feeling good but we must not have gotten back to a quick pace along the Parkway and down Bender. Coming along Lake Drive we were hitting 6:50s, until the final mile when we picked it up to 6:30 to pass a guy who had been ahead of us for 2M. We let the pace slow again down capital and we were both just not feeling all that fast today. Made it home in 2:03, which is just 6:50 pace. Very long run, it was pretty humid out today, and I was just wasted by the time I made it home. |
18 |
| Monday |
Out and back along Highway E in the afternoon. Woke up to go golfing this morning and walked the full 18, then had a big lunch and laid around digesting for most of the afternoon. Got out the door around 5pm but didn't want to make everybody wait so I decided to just go 10. It was pretty hot out and I was feeling pretty tired, ran the first half under 34:00 but slowed to 34:00 on the way home. My stomach started feeling pretty bad, I think because of the heat, and I wasn't really hungry for a couple hours after my run today. Looking back, I probably should have gotten up and run a bit before golfing this morning, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. I'm on vaction right now and feel like enjoying it without stressing about mileage. |
10 |
| Sunday |
Out and back along Highway E in the morning. Was a little tired this morning and didn't feel like being gone for 1:30, so I decided to try and break up today into 2 runs. Feeling alright this morning but definitely not running very fast at the start, turned around at about 34:20. Started moving a little faster on the way home, clipping off 6:30s pretty well and hit 35:30 for the way back. Had a good run today. Got caught up doing other things all day and never got out the door for a second run though. July Miles : 410 |
10 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 04
7/24-7/30 |
Came into the week trying to hit 105-110M and the week went pretty well. Happy with how my runs went this week, especially the 18M run with Nick. I was finally able to get moving on some of my runs this week, Nick and I were flying on Monday and I was able to hold an aggressive pace (at least agressive relative to what I've been doing recently) for 7-8M on Wednesday. Doubled up twice which made the mileage easier to handle. Moving out to Boston next weekend, don't know how that's going to affect the mileage totals, I'm just going to play it by ear. July Miles : 400 |
105 |
| Saturday |
Ran on the Ahnapee State Trail, starting in Sturgeon Bay. I had recommended to Maltas that he should check this place out for soft surfaces and decided I'd drive down and check it out myself. It's a Rails-To-Trails thing, crushed gravel the whole way, it's a great place to run. Got down there about 8:30am and got started right away. I was a little sore and achy but after a mile or two I was feeling fine. Wasn't running all that fast on the way out, the map said 6M was at Hwy 42, which I hit in 41:00, so I turned around at 48:00 and headed for home. Didn't speed up at all over the next 4M, but really picked it up over the final 3M or so. Wound up running just under 46:00, the 2+ minute differential came entirely over the final 21 minutes of the run. Pretty good run today, nice and soft and because it used to be a railway it was flat the entire way. |
14 |
| Friday |
Out and back along Hwy E in Egg Harbor. We drove up to Door County this morning and I got out the door about 2pm today. The sun was up and the skies were blue but it wasn't very hot, pretty nice for an afternoon run really. Felt great to be able to get out and stretch out my legs, I was feeling good but didn't worry about pushing the pace at all. Didn't check any mile splits along the way, only the halfway mark, which I hit in 46:20. Picked it up a little on the way home, but nothing drastic. Came back in 45:20, feeling pretty good. Enjoyable run today. |
14 |
| Thursday PM |
Hill Loop with Nick. Pretty boring run, kept it easy the whole time because my legs were pretty sore today. Running right around 7:00 pace I'd imagine, but I never checked any of our splits. Felt decent on the climbs, but didn't run any of them very hard. Incredibly uneventful, just logging miles today. My right foot feels like it's gotten a little worse after tightening up near the end of yesterday's run. It had been getting better and then I slacked off on the treatment and it got a little worse. Also, my right knee was tight for a few minutes at the start of the run but didn't bother me after that. That happens occasionally, ever since my injury sophomore year, so I'm not too worried about it. I was able to foam roll when I got back, so it should be alright. |
11 |
| Thursday AM |
Out and back South on Lake Drive. Got out the door a little after 9:30am this morning, legs pretty tired but the run went by pretty quickly. No watch, no idea about pace except that it was not fast. Right plantar hurts a little. |
4 |
| Wendesday |
Back and forth along Lake Drive. At 7:30am this morning I drove down to Iowa City, IA to help my sister move and didn't get back to WI until 9pm. I was debating whether or not to even go for a run, but decided I'd run 3M north on Lake, then turn around so I'd be at 6M at my house and then run Art Museum to make it 14M. During the run I changed my mind and decided to skip running along the Lakefront, so I ran the 6M back to my house, added on a mile south which took me just past Kenwood, then turned around an ran back north on Lake. I started out pretty slow, right around 7:00 pace but wanted to be done sooner so I starting picking up the pace. I got to the halway point in 47:00 and then starting hitting 6:20-6:30. Felt pretty good, the weather was great and I basically had the streets to myself. You definitely feel like you're running faster when you run at night, but I felt like I was working harder too, so I was a little diappointed to be running just 6:30 pace. Ran the second half of the run in 44:30 and the last mile in 6:15. I had a pretty good mindset today, stayed aggressive over the last 8-9M. About 4M into the run I was thinking about just stopping at 6M and chalking it up to extenuating circumstances, but I couldn't come up with a good reason to stop. There was nothing to do at home except eat dinner and then sit around and get fat, and I wasn't hungry. Once I realized there was nothing I'd rather be doing, I got that agressive mindset back and really bought into the run. Tonight I found that I've still got the hunger to be in great shape and run fast, which isn't good for guys running the time trial in about a month. |
14 |
| Tuesday PM |
Out and back along the bike path to Art Museum. Met Nick on the bike path and we headed out rather slowly. We were both feeling the effects of yesterday, I was pretty sore and he was a little banged up so we both needed an easy day, which is what today was. I started off thinking that I'd add on a little to make it a 15 or 16M day, but my foot was aching a little and I figured I'd keep today entirely about recovery and not try to tack on some largely token miles. I doubt we ventured too far from 7:00 pace at all today, which was pretty much what I needed though. My legs weren't completely trashed, I definitely could have thrown down if required, but there was no reason for that today. It rained earlier in the day so parts of the grass/dirt were muddy and slippery so I was on the pavement more than normal today. Nothing amazing happening today, just Nick and I covering miles and conversing. Hope I feel fresher tomorrow. |
10 |
| Tuesday AM |
Out and back north along Lake Drive. I've been meaning to start doing these for about a week now, finally got my lazy ass out the door. Ran at about 9:30am, it had cooled off overnight and was actually pretty good weather. Typical morning run progression: trying to figure out a way to skip it while putting on the shorts, then struggling through the first minute or two, then feeling good about a mile into it and thinking you could run all day, then getting heading home after 2M and just wanting the run to be over. After I fell apart at 12-13M yesterday I decided I had to run doubles because my legs just couldn't take singles anymore. |
4 |
| Monday |
Same route as last week's long run, Lakefront to bike path to Bender. Feeling decent today and End was chomping at the bit, so we jumped right in at 6:40s and got down to business. I think we kept it under control for the most part, probably hitting 6:30-6:40s along the Lakefront and the beginning of the bike path. I messed up the watch and don't have any clue about the time it took us, however. It was obvious we were both feeling good, I was wanting a hard run today, and we slowly sped up, especially as we got closer and closer to the end of the bike path. Took a quick pit stop in Lincoln and then got down to brass tacks. I had been a little afraid of starting to push too early in the run so I did my best to keep it under control along the parkway but we were hitting around 6:20s and it wasn't too bad. Once we turned onto Bender things went south however. We were about 12M into the run and I think the past 10 days starting catching up to me a little because I felt like I had no energy and had to really work to keep the pace up. Once we got to Klode I could feel the end of the run getting closer, so after a quick drink we got back after it and really starting moving. Hit the next mile in 6:30, then 6:10 then 5:50 for 3M in 18:30. We were going after each other a little more than we normally do, surging and trying to break each other. Nick's got short legs so his turnover is higher than mine, so I always feel like I'm relaxing and running easily while he's working hard, but I'm usually wrong. I was feeling good over the 1.5M from Big Bay to Capitol and really tried to get after it, but Nick is a scrappy kid and I couldn't break him. He built a couple meters lead over me in the final half mile but the gap closed up before we got back to Capitol. A really good run today, I was dragging ass a little finishing up the run and was dead when I got home, but this is the kind of run I need to be doing occasionally. This was a good enough fitness test for me, running sub 6:00 after 15M. The weather was better today, the heat had pretty much broken, but it was overcast and humid and I was sweated through my shorts pretty early in the run. It's still better than high temps. |
18 |
| Sunday |
Typical out and back 16M loop. Nick wasn't able to run today and Khatch blew me off again, so I was all on my own today. Forecast called for temps nearing 100 today, so the plan was to get out the door early and beat the heat. It was mid 70s when I woke up at 8am with a nice breeze, but in less than an hour I could feel it heating up and knew I had to take off. Started a little after 9am and it was 80 degrees. I was a little cautious at the start and decided to break the run up 3M-10M-3M because the only bubbler along the way was at Klode, 3M into the run. Started out pretty slow, barely under 7:00 pace but sped up after stopping at the bubbler at Klode. Ran about 6:40s out to the halfway point, made it in 54:00. Struggled a bit after that, heading north on Santa Monica because the sun had really started to beat down and was taking its toll. The nearly 6M stretch along Lake had enough shade that once I made it back there I was feeling a lot better. I don't think the heat was as bad as I expected it to be, but it was on my mind the whole time and distracted me a bit. I got back to Klode :30 slower than I was on the way out, 67:30 for the 10M segment. Took a considerable break at Klode, I was afraid I had drank too much water, but once I got started again I was fine. Wanted to get the run over with but wasn't able to push the pace at the start, I didn't really get moving until the last mile of the run. I came back from Klode 0:30 faster than I was on the way out, so I ran another 54:00. I was happy with that, able to average 6:45 in the heat, all alone with a last mile of 6:30 or so. It was nearly 90 degrees when I got back home, probably would have benefitted from running even earlier in the day. Still, a solid Sunday run, always good to get it done early in the day. Khatch was probably right to say no to running on the Sunbelt today, the run was considerably easier because of the water and shade, neither of which is available out on the NBRT. |
16 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 03
7/17-7/23 |
Hit my highest week of singles ever and one of my highest weeks overall, in just my 3rd week of focused training. All the concerns and frustrations I had with 7:00 pace are pretty much gone, but that may have been because of Nick coming back. Still, my legs felt easy and relaxed at 6:30s, so hopefully I really did make a step up this week. Probably should have thrown in some morning runs, but I'm so lazy in the mornings and then my ego took over at the end of the week. Up in the triple digits with just a 10M run on Monday, I'm pretty satisified with that. Put in a decent long run with Nick, I doubt that I'm going to increase that to 20M next week, probably just try to add some intensity to it, instead of starting out slow and building up to a medium pace. July Miles : 295 |
101 |
| Saturday |
Lapham with Nick, two Black Loops. Legs were feeling pretty good today, ran the loops in 45:15 and 45:40. Nick and I seemed to have different agendas today, he was consistently ahead of me, working a little harder than I was today. I decided early on to keep with my recent strategy at Lapham and focus just on the uphills and take the downhills easy. I've got too many little aches that I don't think opening my stride up downhill is the best approach right now. I was climbing as well or better than Nick on the first loop, but he was running faster on the downhills and putting time on me the whole way. I've learned that the watch isn't the best gauge of how the run went, because how you run the downhill has such a large influence on overall time. So I decided that all that matter was that I felt like I was running the uphills agressively. Of course, I am not without pride and ego, so I ran a little harder than normal to keep Nick close by. A good example of this, Nick and I were even at the top of Tower Hill, but then he was 0:11 up at the base of Two Tier, which I closed to 0:04 at the top, but then he was 0:09 up at the bottom of the Magic Carpet Ride. On the second loop I was looking to just maintain pace, I was happy with 45:15, and keep on working the hills. I passed End going up Gutbuster and that must have woken him up, because we were more or less even for the next 2M or so, but right before Roller Coaster he took off and I didn't really ever see him again. He claims to not have run the downhills aggressively, but I'm not sure how much I believe him. He really just disappeared, he had been 5-10m ahead, then I went around a corner and he wasn't in front of me anymore. But we're at different points in our training and training for different things, so I wasn't upset, he was just doing what he had to do. I just held it steady the rest of the way, put in a really good effort up Two Tier before relaxing through the finish. Weather was better than it had been, slightly overcast and in the low 80s. Really good run today, the legs are doing pretty well. |
14 |
| Friday |
Out and back along the Parkway with End, then added on south along the bike path. Ran over to End's house and we got rolling from there. He was only going 8M because he had front loaded his week and ran this morning. We were cruising along pretty comfortably, but at a faster pace than we've been running recently, which Nick appreciated. I would imagine that we were solidly around 6:30s the entire time without straining. Guess my patience and all the miles are paying off. Pretty typical run, we talked about the Crystal Palace meet and some random other stuff, time passed pretty quickly. The 4M mark for him is the train tressel just into Kletzsch, which took us around 27:00 to get to. When we got back through Estabrook and took the tunnel out to Congress and Wilson I jumped onto the bike path and he headed home. I kept the pace where it was and didn't force it at all and ran for 6:30 south from Capitol, then turned around and came back, then headed home along Morris to Beverly. Pretty good run, neither of us wanted anything crazy because we're headed to Lapham tomorrow, but it's encouraging to have the pace come around like that without forcing it. Contemplated doing a 4-5M morning run today, I almost put on my shorts, but my ego took over and I decided that I was so close I'd go ahead and run 100M on singles before switching over to doubles. I think I made it through alright, 14M isn't that tough, but if it backfires I'll feel like a real ass. |
14 |
| Thursday |
Hill Loop with some extra mileage. Ran over the End's house to start and I was feeling really good. It rained more or less all day today and was very overcast at the start, so the temps were much more suitable to running. Nick was a little sore from his 51M the past 3 days, so he was looking to take it easier today. We got started around 6:50-7:00 pace, and as we got to Lake Bluff the skies opened up on us. Out of nowhere it started pouring rain and we were both pretty well soaked pretty quickly. Not a big problem to be running in the rain, a little refreshing actually and we had the sidewalks and trails all to ourselves. Nothing very special happened on the rain, got some good climbs, but kept it relaxed the whole way. Really attacked going up LaFayette and then settled back down again. In the usual style of our recent runs the pace gradually worked its way down to 6:20s by the time we were back on Lake Drive. I added on an extra 4M by running back to End's house with him and then running home from there. Wound up running 1:40, right about 6:40 average. The rain stopped a little after we climbed up Snake Hill, but the trails were muddy and the footing wasn't very stable, so we stayed on the paved paths the whole time. Another solid mileage day, but nothing memorable. |
15 |
| Wednesday |
Out and back along the Parkway with Nick. We both have some aches and pains we're taking care of, so we both wanted soft surfaces. He was running 10M in flats and then extra in trainers, so I met him at his house and we went north along the Parkway through Kletzsch. Turned around a little past 5M out from his house and headed back. Kept it comfortable pretty much the whole way, around 6:45s again I'd guess. We were both recovering from yesterday and looking to take it easy. Stopped back at his house for him to change shoes then headed up to Lake and over to my house. We started picking it up about that time, I think he was looking to go a little earlier but I was hesitant. Felt good to stretch the legs out though, dropped down to about 6:20s again I'd guess. My foot is feeling better, I stopped wearing my old shoes which had about 480M on them and went to my other pair, which only have about 150M on them. Felt great for the first 3:00, then it started aching slightly, but nothing at all like it has been, barely noticeable the whole run. There were only a couple steps the entire run where it really hurt. Going to keep up with the Vitamin I and icing for at least a solid week, even if the pain goes away completely. |
14 |
| Tuesday |
New loop today. Nick wanted 20M today, so he ran over to my house and we took off down the Lakefront. Came back along the bike path, we both stopped for quick stops at River Park, took the bike path all the way to Hampton, right by Dairy Queen, then ran the Bender Loop. We got to Capital and Nick headed west to his house, I went with him down to Maryland, turned to Beverly and came home. Finished up in just over 1:58, so I'm calling it an average of 6:45s, although we started out slow and picked it up near the end of the run, so average pace doesn't really mean anything I guess. Everything was feeling good at the start, but we were both a little gun shy and didn't want to get in over our heads so we started out a little slow. I guess Nick had a hell of a time travelling yesterday, didn't get to run and didn't sleep much so he claimed he was a little out of the rhythm. He did meet Alan Culpepper at Washington Dulles, so that kind of makes up for it. Anyways, I found some really old tape and prewrap in my room today (the pink stuff, so like 2 years old,) so I taped up my arches, hoping that would help out my painful plantar fascia. It gradually started hurting, and coming back on the gravel/dirt of the bike path I'd occasionally stretch it out a little too much with a slight misstep (toes on a rock or the like) and it would hurt a lot. I was a little concerned about it and thought about cutting the run short, but it got better as we got back into Shorewood. By the time we got to Hampton it was feeling better, I started landing more to the outside of my foot which took a little pressure off of it, so I decided to go the whole way, or at least finish the Bender Loop, which would make it 16.5M. The miles along the Parkway pretty much slipped right by, completely uneventful. Nick occasionally jumped ahead, I think he wanted to get moving a little more than we were, but the pace stayed pretty consistent, probably a shade under 7:00 but I didn't ever check. We got to Klode and gradually started speeding up, by then both of us wanted to get the run over with quicker I think. Clocked the last mile along Lake at 6:20. Decided that the extra 1.5M couldn't hurt my arch any more, so I just finished the run off as planned. Relaxed a little after I turned off, didn't feel wasted at the end, the legs weren't trashed, it was just a nice, solid run. Had an ice cup waiting for me when I got home, it's a little frustrating to have everything going so well but 3 or 4 inches on the bottom of my right foot is screwing everything up. Going to try to get miles in on soft surfaces again tomorrow. My resting HR last night was down at 39BPM, so I'm not too worried about the mileage I've been running recently. |
18 |
| Monday |
Out and back along the bike path to the Art Museum. Not exactly the way I saw this week starting off, but given how my foot felt yesterday I decided to run just 10M, and only add on if I was pain free. After a few blocks I knew I was only going 10M as the plantar on my right foot was still hurting. It's a little over a mile to get to the path from my house, so I was able to put about 8M in on grass/dirt/gravel today, hopefully that will help my foot feel better. I've been taking Vitamin I and using a golf ball, but I guess I should start icing it too. It didn't feel like it was a giant hindrance to my pace, but it was less comfortable than I had hoped for. Made it out in just under 35:00 and came back in just under 34:00. Again, nothing spectacular and again I felt like I was running faster on the way back than I actually was. I did hold back a little over the last mile because I did set out for a rest day and an easy day for my foot. I'm still planning on running 18M with Nick tomorrow, hopefully having someone with me will help me break out of this 7 minute funk. Thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to start taking iron supplements again, because this is vaguely reminisicent of the way things were last summer. Everything's feeling really good aside from my foot, which makes it frustrating. I do feel like I'm running slightly slower than I would have on a healthy foot, but I don't think it's slowing me by 30-45 seconds per mile. I really thought I'd get more than 2 weeks back before I started questioning this. Over the next few days I think I need to draw up a racing schedule and make what I'm doing a little more concrete. Because I can tell that running 90+MPW for running's sake won't cut it much longer. |
10 |
| Sunday |
Usual 16M route along Lake then Santa Monica to Longacre. Khatch couldn't run today and Nick is still out of town so I was left on my own for the long day. Waited until nearly 5PM to try and let things cool off a little, temps were still in the mid 80s the whole time, but it was a little more comfortable by the end of the run. Not the greatest of runs for me, started out at 7:00 and repeatedly tried to speed up with no success. Hit the 8M mark in 55:10, about a minute slower than I was hoping for. I was content to just cover distance on the way out, but really wanted to negative split the run. I know distance is what is important right now, but I'm getting a little frustrated with the slow pace of all my runs. On the way back I didn't pick it up much over the first 2M, but then had a runner 200-300m ahead of me when I got onto Lake Drive. It felt like I picked it up substantially to close the gap but I hit the checkpoint at Holly a little behind the pace of the first half. Despite a couple more attempts to speed up, I just cruised in the last few miles and finished up with 55:50 for the second half. I would be a little more content with the run if my plantar hadn't been bothering me the whole time. I'm planning to run along the bike path tomorrow for some soft surfaces, and just 10M if things aren't feeling better. I guess in my old age things don't heal up quite as well as they used to. Not the way I was looking to start off the week. |
16 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 02
7/10-7/16 |
A long week with a pretty good mileage total. Started falling off near the end of the week, not able to keep the pace up the whole week. Still, the mileage is what really matters and I was able to put in some good runs this week. The highlight was definitely going 16 with Nick on Monday, really felt good and the legs were turning over well. I've got a collection of aches and pains, including left hamstring, right IT/knee and right plantar. Even with one easy day of just 10M I was able to get up above 90M this week, which was my highest on singles, I believe. The plan is to keep on increasing the mileage, maybe not 12MPW jumps though. July Miles : 194 |
93 |
| Saturday |
Lapham. A decent run but not quite what I was hoping for today. Ran two Black Loops, each in 49:00, despite making an effort to run harder on the second loop. Don't know why exactly I was slow today, probably still holding back on the downhills. I feel like I'm climbing the hills well, guess I need to become a little more aggressive about pace when I'm out here. Was feeling alright on the first lap, taking it a little easy and just running. Nothing of any importance happened. Stopped after the first loop to wet down again, then took off. Rolled my ankle about 15 minutes into the second loop, but that didn't do any damage and I was able to keep going without any problems. Stopped again at Homestead Hollow for a drink and to cool off before finishing up. Pretty hot out today, about 90 when I started and up to 95 by the time I was done. Not the greatest run today, but still a good effort. |
14 |
| Friday |
Out and back along the Parkway. Waited until around 5PM to let the heat die down some, and it was pretty nice for running today. The Blue Angels were out again during the afternoon but had stopped by the time my run started. Pretty relaxed for the first few miles, not worrying about pace just taking it easy. Hit halfway in 48:45 and got a little frustrated, so I started picking it up on the way back. Legs were a little sore the whole way, but once I started moving a little faster they felt better. Wasn't killing it at all, told myself I was going to work on pushing without pushing, if that makes any sense. I basically just ran a little faster than I would have were I to just settle on an easy pace. After a mile or two of holding that I was able to keep it up without actively forcing my legs to run faster. Covered the last 3M in 19:20 and ran 46:45 on the second half. Wasn't really looking for a hard day today, because I'm planning on going to Lapham tomorrow and today didn't scorch the legs at all. Looks like the week's going to be 90+M, which I believe is my highest total on singles. My right plantar was sore over the last couple miles, it was bothering me a little yesterday and I completely forgot about it, so I'll have to dig up a golf ball tonight. |
14 |
| Thursday |
Bender. It's been a rough couple of days and End is out of town so I decided to give myself an easy day and take a break from all the thrashing. Started out nice and easy, probably around 6:45s and didn't worry about it too much. Forgot that I was taking it easy on purpose a few times and tried to squeeze it down a little, but I was never able to hold it, thankfully. Must have slowed along the Parkway after Silver Spring, hit 5.5M (approx) in 39:00. My left ankle was a little painful for a few steps about 5M in, but that went away quickly and didn't bother me again, so I'm not worried. Ran my last 3M right around 7:00 to finish off this easy day. Think I accomplished what I set out to do, hopefully my legs will feel a little recharged tomorrow and I can pick the mileage back up. Would have been nearly impossible to run with Nolan today, the Blue Angels had been flying around all afternoon, saw them a couple of times during the first 3M or so. |
10 |
| Wednesday |
Out and back along the Parkway. Legs weren't feeling the greatest today, don't think Nick and I were running that fast. At times it felt as though we were moving, but the watch told a different story. We took a slightly longer route by going through Estabrook, but it couldn't have been a huge difference. Ran 49:00 for the first 7+ and 48:15 on the way home. It was a little hotter than I expected and that didn't help me too much. I don't know what exactly it was today, but the legs weren't there. Maybe the mileage is catching up to me a little, the rolling week has been climbing steadily and it's now over 90M for the first time. I've jumped up pretty quickly, but my body seems to be handling it alright, so I'm going to continue climbing. It'd be interesting to get a gauge of my fitness somehow, but it's still early so I think I'll wait. |
14 |
| Tuesday |
Hill Loop with End. As I was walking downstairs this morning I had a very sharp pain in my right calf and it was pretty sore for the next few minutes. Thankfully, I was able to take it easy during the day today and stretched it out periodically. Don't know exactly what happened, but I think it was some kind of a cramp. Felt fine during the run, didn't give me any problems at all. Nick claimed to want an easy day, which would have been fine for me, but after a few miles the pace started picking up. Can't blame it totally on Nick, as I had a hand in speeding things up. I really like this route, I'm able to put in decent distance without feeling like I've gone that far. The run went by pretty quickly today, Nick and I were more or less even on all the hills, but we ran them increasingly aggressively. Dropped down around 6:10-6:15 pace by the end of the run. Legs were feeling good, not tired at all from yesterday's run. I think it's about time I check my resting HR, just to be safe, because the past few days have been a significant jump in mileage/intensity for me. |
11 |
| Monday |
Usual 16M course. 51:30 out, 50:00 back. End drove over after work and we got started right around 6pm. Wasn't sure what to expect after yesterday's implosion at 13M and was a little wary as we settled into 6:30s. End is taking an easier week with lower mileage and claimed his legs weren't feeling so great, so that made me feel a little better. Felt like we were hauling, but I think it's just that I haven't run fast in awhile. Didn't check any meaningful splits along the way, Nick and I had plenty of things to talk about and the first half of the run passed pretty quickly. Picked it up slightly around the 8M mark, maybe a little before, maybe a little after, I'm not sure. There wasn't a definitive drop in pace, just a gradual increase in speed. Once we got up to Lake Drive, 10 to 11 minutes after the turn, we had settled into our new pace and held that most of the rest of the way. Didn't get any mile splits on the way back, but the final mile was between 6:00 and 6:10 and I'd guess that we held 6:15s pretty consistently the whole way. I bought a SportStretch Rope and it showed up today, so I used that afterwards to stretch out. Today was decently warm and my shorts were drenched at the end of the run, but it was a lot better than yesterday because there were clouds in the sky and some shade along the way. Today's run really helped my confidence, I'm sure that yesterday was merely an effect of the heat. I made a conscious effort last night to refuel, drank a lot of Gatorade and water and ate complex carbs, and all day today I had my water bottle with me. It's days like today that make me glad I'm still running. |
16 |
| Sunday |
Out and back along the New Berlin Recreational Trail. Met Khatch at his palatial estate a little after 10am and we took off for a nice easy run along the gravel path near his house. My legs were feeling alright, it helped that we weren't running very fast. Hit the 7M mark at 48:00 and turned around. It was pretty hot out, over 80 degrees when we started and up to 90 by the end of the run, without any shade to speak of along the path. I was feeling fine through about 11M, then slowly started running out of gas. Got pretty thirsty by the time we hit the end of the path, but we had another mile or so to run and I was really dragging ass. Wound up at 47:00 for the way back, probably would have been around 46:00 if the wheels hadn't fallen off after 13M. Just another reminder that I'm not quite in the shape I wish I was. Have been planning on 16M tomorrow, and a week of 90ish, hopefully I'll be able to recover enough to make it. It was hotter than I expected and I was definitely dehydrated by the end of the run. I've been less than diligent in that area recently and it caught up to me today. |
14 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 01
7/3-7/9 |
First real week back, hit a decent mileage total despite having a bunch of 10M days. Was able to put together two runs of 14M, but I think the first one with Nick took a little more out of me than I thought. Didn't have the speed I wanted, still a little cautious of my hamstring. Hopefully in the coming weeks my easy days will drop to 6:20-6:30 per mile. All in all though, this week was a step in the right direction and I'm pleased with it. July Miles : 101 |
81 |
| Saturday |
Lapham, Black Loop then a Blue Loop. Was a little tentative heading into today because of my left hamstring, but it was my right knee that gave me most of the problems. I haven't been foam rolling as much as I should and it's really starting to ache now. Between my hamstring and my knee I decided to take it easy on the downhills, which pretty much guarantees a slow pace. Made an effort not to push the first loop, ran it in 48:00 which was good enough. Stopped briefly to wet down and try to cool off a little before starting on the Blue Loop. I started around noon, and while it was nice in the woods, the few times the trail came out into the prarie the sun was relentless, the heat just enveloped you immediately. Clearly wasn't hydrated well enough, the second lap was more of a struggle. All I was thinking about the last 5 minutes of the run was getting to my water bottle and cooling off. Simply had nothing in my legs when I wanted to speed up. Most of the time this place destroys my legs and I can't pick it up because they're too fatigued, but today there just wasn't anything there and I ran 42:00 for the 6M Blue Loop. There wasn't that much of a difference in pace between the two loops, got to the top of Gutbuster in 10:22 and 10:35 and finished up from Homestead Hollow in 19:40ish and 20:00. Disappointing because I hoped to be running faster today, but it's still early, I've just started up again and my legs will come around. |
13 |
| Friday |
Ran down Beverly to Morris, then down Capitol and got on the bike trail at Baker's Square. Took the bike trail all the way down to the Art Museum and came back along the lake. Was probably a little bit short, would have been better off running out and back along the trail, but it's not that big of a deal. Wanted to take the bike trail because pretty much the whole way I was able to run on grass/dirt/gravel. Not feeling any effects from yesterday's long run, which is good but expected. The pace varied a lot, or at least it felt that way. I still have a tendency to sit back and more or less jog, I'm not really able to force the pace down and keep it there without a lot of effort. It's not a big concern for right now though, I'm probably better off defaulting to a slow pace. |
10 |
| Thursday |
Parkway. Wasn't able to get in touch with Nick today so I just ran on my own. Headed out and back along the Parwkay to Rochelle, which is right before Good Hope, my standard 14M loop. Was feeling pretty good on the way out, holding steady at just above 6:30s. I actually saw Nick out there, I guess he was in a hurry today and just took off, not a big deal. Anyways, my legs were feeling good and I was pretty relaxed but I could still feel my hamstring, especially climbing up the hill in Kletzsch. Made the turn at 46:00 and decided to make the run a little harder and tried to speed up a little bit. Didn't really change speeds until I was all the way through Lincoln though. Hit 3M to go at 26:45 and then I got into it. Once I got into Shorewood I kept picking it up until I was moving at a pretty good pace. Never felt like I was really pushing and held back a little because of my hamstring, but managed to get home in 45:15, so I ran the last 3M in about 18:30. Pretty happy with where I'm at right now fitness-wise, able to put in runs of a pretty decent distance without working too hard. Not worried about the pace, even though some runs are at 6:40s I figure that will come around in time, and for now I'm just going to up the mileage a little bit more. |
14 |
| Wednesday |
Lakefront. Took off planning on Art Museum and was trying to think up a good way to add on 2M. Got down to the start of the ramp at the Art Museum, turned and ran along the pier in Veteran's Park. When I got back to Lincoln Memorial I realized that heading back along the Lakefront instead of atop the bluff would make the run nearly 10M, so I headed back the way I came. Managed to keep it easy the entire way today, unlike yesterday. Just didn't feel the need to start moving ever. Ran on my own today, hopefully I'll be able to meet up with End tomorrow. |
10 |
| Tuesday |
Bender. Nick was going to get back from work late today, so I just went on my own. Feeling pretty good, wanted to take it easier today, didn't want to press too much two days in a row. My legs were feeling good and I was running 6:35-6:45s comfortably. I began picking it up over the last 3-4M though, worked my way down to sub 6:30. Feeling really good the whole time, probably should have gone 12M instead of 10, I think I'm being a little too cautious. My legs have really come around since I started up again, it took a little longer than I expected but I feel like I'm ready to really get into it again. |
10 |
| Monday |
Art Museum, added on down Lake Drive. Headed out with Nick about 2:30 this afternoon, it was drizzling a little, pretty good weather for running. I was feeling good but he was tired from travelling, so we kept a lid on it most of the way. Kept it very relaxed all the way along the lake and as we came back along the bluff. Nothing really remarkable, my hamstring was still sore, pretty much from the start. As we headed north along Lake Drive after Kenwood I started gradually picking it up. We started running 6:45s and worked it down to under 6:30s by Big Bay. Nick wasn't really in the mood for that though, since he was going 19M today, so we didn't really get rolling. I stuck with him all the way into Whitefish Bay and turned back 1:00 after we turned off Lake Drive, just past the pig's house. For a little I was regretting having pushed the pace, but eventually my legs came around and I was moving pretty well. Held steady at 6:30 most of the way, but dropped down to 6:15 for the last mile. Very encouraging run, had great weather and the hamstring hasn't gotten any worse. Once that starts healing up, I think everything should be in place. It was pretty tempting to try and go the whole way with Nick, but I think I made a smart decision by not running eighteen or nineteen miles today. |
14 |
| Sunday |
Bender backwards. Same run as yesterday, put my watch on my wrist again and managed to not look at it at all this time. Feeling about the same as yesterday, letting my legs move without forcing anything. Got some decent turnover, but obviously not a tremendous amount of speed because I was 64:40 today. Felt really good at the start, about 2.5M in my hamstring started feeling tender again though, so it's not completely back yet. Basically the same as yesterday, legs started getting tired through Lincoln, had to work a little harder to keep my form together. Didn't ever force the issue, just let my legs do what they wanted to do. As my legs got tired it felt like I was compensating slightly for the weaker hamstring, hopefully that doesn't throw something else out of whack. The plan for this week is to hit 80+M. |
10 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 00
5/29-7/2 |
I think it was worthwhile to take some time off, but taking as much off as I did made it a little more difficult to get back into it. I wish I had run a couple times instead of doing nothing but the occasional bike ride. Once I started up again, having End call me nearly every day really helped get me out the door every day. I think I'm at the point now where I'm ready to dig in a little more and put up some real mileage. The past week was 61 miles, I'm going to try to jump to upper 70s lower 80s next week. Disappointed that my left hamstring has been a little tender, haven't tried any strides yet, going to wait until it feels a little stronger. When it does start feeling better I'll head out to Lapham, get in some serious hill training. July Miles : 20 |
91 |
| Saturday (7/2) |
Bender backwards. Got going about 4PM today, feeling good right from the start. Had the watch on the wrist again, able to ignore it pretty much the entire way. Got some decent turnover today, was feeling pretty fresh, which is encouraging. Feeling good through Lincoln, where my form started falling apart slightly. Had to force the pace a little just to keep my form moving straight ahead. Absentmindedly checked my watch and was at 45:00 at Port Road and Hampton. Didn't make a concerted effort to put the hammer down, but made it home in 18:40. Pretty good day, my left hamstring is still pretty tender, especially when my stride is a little quicker and the pace is a little faster. I'm still stretching it out, should probably add some ice and vitamin I to be on the safe side. |
10 |
| Friday (7/1) |
Bender. 6:45-7:00 the whole way. Nick is out of town so I was on my own and just ran easy. I would have liked to pick it up a little near the end but that didn't happen. Hamstring is still a little tender. Nice cool day, overcast and upper 60s. Ran about 4PM, really nice weather. Did my best not to check the watch, but peeked a couple times over the last couple miles. Just as I though, I wasn't running very fast. 8th mile just under 7:00 and the final two miles in 13:30. |
10 |
| Thursday (6/30) |
Hill Loop to St. Mary's, then back along the top. Little bit of a setback today. Planned on running the same loop as yesterday, headed over to End's house a little after 1PM. Was feeling a little tired, wasn't running fast at all, but that wasn't the real problem. My left hamstring has been bothering me for awhile now, it's been tender since I tried a stride last Thursday, and it wasn't handling the climbs well at all. So after we climbed St. Mary's the first time I turned back and ran home along the top of the bluff. Went through Lake Park instead of following Lake Drive to add on a little distance. Was running 6:40-7:00+ pace today, pretty disappointing since I felt so good yesterday. I'll stretch, ice and foam roll, and take it easy for the next few days. Nick's leaving town for a few days, so I'm going to be on my own this weekend. June Miles : 71 |
9 |
| Wednesday (6/29) |
Hill Loop with Nick. After yesterday's run got cut short, I was looking for something harder today. Originally was thinking just a 10 miler and push the pace, but End suggested his Hill Loop which sounded like a good idea. Ran over to his house, from there we headed up Kensington to Lake then down along the Lakefront, cutting up and down the bluff over and over. Ran up Snake Hill, came down a path to Bradford then immediately back up St. Mary's. Took a staircase back down at Back Bay park then ran up LaFayette. Then we did everything backwards again, basically. Down the staircase, up St. Mary's, down to Bradford, up Snake Hill, back down to Lincoln Memorial and up to Lake Drive. The hills weren't too bad today, I think I took the polka dot jersey, but End said I wasn't in the Tour since I didn't go the full 18M on Monday. Either way, this was the best I've felt since coming back, which is very encouraging. As the run went on and I got a feel for how much was left I started pushing slightly, just after the 45 minute mark as we were climbing up LaFayette. Feeling good the entire way, probably ran all miles under 6:30, finished up right around 6:00-6:10 pace. Although all the pieces definitely aren't back yet, I'm still able to climb really well. Finally got some cooler weather, low 70s with a nice breeze off the lake. Still sweating pretty good by the end of it though. Was hoping my new shorts from Eastbay would show up while I was gone, but they didn't. Looks like I'll get them tomorrow, after they sat in a sorting center in New Berlin for 2 solid days. First 7 days back, 55M. Good start. |
11 |
| Tuesday (6/28) |
Out and back along the beginning of the Bender Loop. Was feeling good, the legs were moving easily, hitting 6:40s from the gun. Hit the 3M mark right at 20:00 and headed into Lincoln. Unfortunately, I was headed straight at some dark clouds, and I started hearing thunder and seeing lightning. I ignored the first few rumbles, but it eventually got close enough to force me to turn around. I waited until 23:20, figuring that was about 3.5M, turned out to be right after the bridge over the river in Lincoln. When I turned around, the sky was still clear over Milwaukee, but the storm basically chased me back home. It started spitting rain as I was coming down Wilson and the thunder seemed to be getting closer. Right as I got back, it started pouring, so I decided to just call it a day. I had a feeling that was going to happen and had started picking up the pace over the final mile. Covered the last 3M in 19:30, probably splitting them 6:40, 6:40, 6:10. I'm sure nobody will believe that I cut the run short because of a storm, thinking instead that I'm trying to justify cutting corners, but I don't really care. I'd prefer to not get hit by lightning and just start the 10M days tomorrow. |
7 |
| Monday (6/27) |
Art Museum with Nick. He was going 18M so he ran to my house and then 8M with me before adding on another 9. Got moving at a decent pace from the start, 6:20-6:30s, which still feels fast to me. Kept it under control the whole way, probably never faster than 6:20. Very good run, helped my confidence some more. Feeling really good through about 6M, then it got harder to keep up but it was never impossible. Starting up the 10M days now. |
8 |
| Sunday (6/26) |
Lake Drive to Klode and back. Got out the door at 7:30PM in some beautiful running weather. I was feeling good and opted for a shorter, quicker run today. Felt like I was running pretty quick, but hit the first half mile in 3:20. From there the pace dropped down to 6:30s with the third mile a little quicker. I hit halfway in 19:20 but slowed down a little on the next two miles. Hit 5M in 32:40 (13:20 for miles 4 and 5,) before dropping down to 6:20 on the last mile. Feeling good at the end, wasn't trying to kill it at all, just cruising in and stretching out the legs a little. Felt good to run kind of fast, it's been awhile since I've done that. Plan right now is to build up to 10M daily runs by the end of this week. |
6 |
| Saturday (6/25) |
Lake Drive to Klode and back. Ran around noon today, not too terribly hot. Saw End along Lake Drive, he was near the end of his run but still ran with me from 4676 to Big Bay before turning back and heading home. Started out slow and easy, hitting about 7:00s, picked it up a little with Nick but slowed it back down through Klode. Turned around at the 3M mark in 20:40. Legs were feeling good the whole way, which was good for the confidence. Most of my problems the past two days were probably heat related. Picked the pace up a little on the way home, but nothing drastic. Hit 6:40 and 6:45 before a final mile of 6:20. Good run, hopefully I'm in good enough shape to start putting in some respectable mileage. |
6 |
| Friday (6/24) |
Bender with End. Ran over to his house about 5:30PM this afternoon, but it was still 95 degrees out, which made for a rough day for me. I soaked my head before I left, but it was pretty much dry by the time I got to his house, so I doused myself again before we took off. I was pretty much dry again before we hit Silver Spring, and the stretch to Klode was pretty tough. Got some water and cooled off at Klode, but by the time we were at Big Bay I was dry again and couldn't sweat, the last mile didn't go so well. We weren't running quick at all, 6:30-7:00 the whole way. Nick was pulling ahead along Lake Drive, mainly because I was starting to struggle cat. He didn't mind slowing down and staying with me though, he turned off down Lake Bluff and let me finish on my own. Wasn't quite as easy getting back into 10 milers as I expected, but my legs weren't the problem today, it was dealing with the 90+ degree temps that gave me problems. Hopefully this heat will break and make it easier for me to get back into it. |
10 |
| Thursday (6/23) |
Actually ran today. Was planning on running 5M today, but waited almost all day to get out the door. Nick called me around 5:30PM and offered to go with me. He ran over to my house and we started a little before 6PM, headed down along the Lakefront. Just past LaFayette we cut over and ran across the fields between Lincoln Memorial and the Lake, circled around the far end of the pond and headed back along the road. It was hot today, about 85 degrees when we were running, and even though I had been drinking water all day the heat was really getting to me. I was dripping wet and really dragging by the end of the run today. My legs were doing fine, tried to put in a stride at the end but felt really uncoordinated and slow. I'm completely unaccustomed to running in this heat and it was really obvious today. End seems to be in pretty good shape, already up to 85M on singles, so I gotta get things together or he's going to start kicking my ass. Got home and stretched for about half an hour, hopefully I'll actually improve my flexibility this summer, that's the first thing I always slack on. Didn't bring a watch with me today, and End wasn't timing the run either, so I'm ballparking it at 7M, 6:30-7:00 pace. |
7 |
| Wednesday (6/22) |
Nothing. |
0 |
| Tuesday (6/21) |
Nothing. |
0 |
| Monday (6/20) |
Bike Ride. |
0 |
| Sunday (6/19) |
Nothing. |
0 |
| Saturday (6/18) |
Nothing. |
0 |
| Friday (6/17) |
Nothing. It's gotten to the point where I'm really not doing anything unless Kathryn asks me to go for a bike ride. But I'm holding steady around 173 pounds, which isn't too bad. Gonna have to start up soon. Did a little research today and found some more motivation. Over 33 races, Sean Nolan is kicking my ass, 28-5. |
0 |
| Thursday (6/16) |
Rode along the trail up through Lincoln to Silver Spring then turned around and rode all the way down to the Art Museum, out along the pier and back home. Made it from Oakland to Congress along the path in 9 minutes. I don't know if that's good, but we were riding fast. Managed to finally get a 10+ year old computer to boot from a CD, so pretty soon I'll have a FreeBSD box to play around with. |
0 |
| Wednesday (6/15) |
Nothing at all, just sitting around all day. |
0 |
| Tuesday (6/14) |
Bike path to the Lakefront, out along the pier in Veteran's park. I think I figured out why it is that I feel like I need to start up again. I miss being tired. That feeling after a long run or hard workout when you're exhausted and it feels so great to just lie down and you know you've done something that day. I've found very little that's as satisfying as that feeling. |
0 |
| Monday (6/13) |
Considered biking today, but never got out the door. Did mow the lawn this afternoon, so I didn't spend the entire day inside. I'm starting to feel like it's time to get started again, but when I think about exactly what that means (10-15M per day,) I'm still hesitant. I think it's good that I'm itching to go, going to hold out for another week or so though. I'll do my best to get on the bike occasionally, or maybe go for 5-8M every once in awhile. Just not starting back up for real yet. |
0 |
| Sunday (6/12) |
Went to Lapham with Kathryn today. Ran the Black Loop once while she ran a couple Green Loops. It really wasn't as hard as I was expecting, but I didn't run fast/hard at all. Felt great to be back running, but this isn't going to be the start, I'm still taking some time. Legs were getting a little wobbly about halfway through, but I didn't have any problems climbing the hills at all, just never really opened it up going downhill, couldn't have picked the pace up on the flats if I wanted to. Really hot and muggy in the sun, but most of the run is in the shade and it was quite nice there. Able to just relax and climb without straining, which made the hills significantly easier than when you're trying to climb them as fast as you can. Good day, felt nice to stretch the legs out some. |
7 |
| Saturday (6/7) |
Nothing. |
0 |
| Friday (6/7) |
Bike ride for about an hour, bike path down to the Lakefront then out along that pier in Veterans Park and back. |
0 |
| Thursday (6/7) |
Long bike ride along the Oak Leaf Trail. We saw Nick Sandoval along the way so we stopped in Brown Deer Park and talked to him before turning around and retracing our steps to get home. Maybe about 2 hours. |
0 |
| Wednesday (6/7) |
Nothing. |
0 |
| Tuesday (6/7) |
Bike Ride. Rode for about an hour and a half today. Followed the Oak Leaf Trail to Brown Deer Park and then just stayed on Range Line, worked our way to Bender and took that to Kletsch, grabbed a drink and headed back along Lake Drive. Felt good to do something resembling exercise again. |
0 |
| Monday (6/6) |
Nothing. |
0 |
| Sunday (6/5) |
Drove back to Milwaukee from Cincy. |
0 |
| 5/29-6/4 |
Spent the begining of the week in New York City with my family and from Tuesday through Friday I was in Boston hanging around until graduation. Flew to Cincy on Saturday for Kathryn's roommate's wedding. |
0 |
