4th Post-Collegiate2006-12-1773Week 26week262008-06-152008-06-21The rare two race week turned out okay. Not great mileage-wise, but what else is new. Bunker Hill was a solid effort and a little faster than I was expecting, even. Kept things easy during the week, even cut the workout short on Wednesday, trying to keep the legs fresh. Felt pretty out of whack early but gradually felt better and put together a good effort on Saturday. The climb was basically what I was expecting, just a long, endless grind but I didn't handle the final few miles too well. Just after the 6M mark there was a switchback right into a ridiculous climb which just killed any notion I had of making a move. Glad to have done it once, it was a pretty good way to finish up before the wedding and I'm thinking about getting out for post-race cooldown on Thursday.SATMt Washington, 66:40 for 17th. This was among the most painful things I've ever done, and probably my least aggressive/competitive race. I was surprisingly calm leading up to the start and was expecting things to go pretty well today. Got up early and found a breakfast spot that was open and serving Cheerios, a good sign. We got to the mountain and got Kathryn and Jen on their way up the road without a hiccup and had time to sit around before warming up. Easy 14:00 on some flat trails with a big group before stretching out and lacing up the red shoes for only the third time ever, and twice in the last seven days. Eric Blake said run easy at the start and take your time moving up, try to be around where you want to finish by two miles. Felt like I was running easy off the line but it's hard to fight ten years of sprinting off the line and I was probably out too fast. The climb started at maybe 400m and never really stopped. Each mile marker took forever to reach, my legs were trashed by 3M and I seriously considered calling it a day around five miles. Did my best to stay relaxed early and was trying to climb easily and kept telling myself I was running smart. Didn't get any splits, which was probably for the best, but there was a clock at halfway and I was 31:06. My left Achilles was hurting early, I think I was running on a slanted portion of the road, maybe in a rut worn down by cars. Managed to mitigate that eventually, but my left foot was falling asleep for a few miles in the middle. Worried I laced up my shoes too tightly or wrapped the tape too tight, for a while I couldn't feel the toes of my foot hitting the ground. I think part of the problem may have been the grooves/divots in the road, the pavement wasn't exactly new and running over those sections seemed to exaggerate the problem with my foot. Hit a flat section just after five miles and managed to shake everything out and felt a lot better the rest of the way. Gave up about 7 places in the second half of the race, had no response and no desire to respond when I was passed. Today was very much a get to the finish line day, more of an accomplishment than a race. Staggered a few steps after crossing the line, that's the closest I've been to collapsing after a race. Glad to have done this once, don't have much of a desire to run it ever again. Felt surprisingly good a few hours after the race, less wiped out than I do after a 5k or an 8k. Had a good time celebrating with dinner and beers at Moat Mountain afterwards with Carter and Jen, Mark and Heather, Terry and Carly, and Kathryn.9Mount Washington Road RaceHARDAVGAVGFRICTown Loop. Got an early start on this one because I needed to start work early today. Felt okay, hard to get a good read on things when you're running ~30 mins. Kept it easy obviously, spent a lot of time reassuring myself about tomorrow.4EASYAVGAVGTHUFens to Landmark Center. Got going just before 6am and was thinking I'd put in about ten today, nice and easy on some dirt. Have to skip Lincoln tonight because I'm working late so I can leave early tomorrow. Felt okay throughout, not the greatest though. Decided to turn around at Landmark Center instead of dealing with that intersection just to add on another mile. Turned just before 35 minutes, so running pretty slow to start things off. Picked it up a bit on the way home, but only in that I was running slightly less slowly. As I was falling asleep last night I had a terribly painful cramp in my right calf which seemed to last forever. The calf was sore when I got up but didn't bother me too much as I was running.9EASYBADBADWEDBAA Workout at Harvard. 3x800 then 2.5M loop in 2:23, 2:19, 2:22; 13:11. Warmed up 2M with Lou and met LaRosa at the track, pretty small group today. Wasn't feeling that great, legs were tired and my form felt a little off. Got out slow to start out the first one, coming through in 72 and worked a little harder on the second lap but knew things weren't going to go very well. Got out much better on the second one and was feeling good on the first lap, coming through in 67. Felt much worse on the second lap and struggled to keep it together, I felt like I was all over the place trying to keep the pace fast. The third one wasn't anything special, ran a bit more relaxed, came through right at 70 and slowed a bit on the next lap. We had 90s between the 800s and then a 6:30 break to jog over to the start of the river loop. Felt pretty good at the start, wasn't trying to go nuts on this one. Ran with Lou more or less the whole way and had stretches where I felt pretty efficient. Hit the sign in 5:16 and the other sign in 10:11, LaRosa closed hard once we got over Eliot and nearly caught us at the line. Decided to skip the final 1200m, got what I wanted out of the workout and wanted to leave something for Saturday. Turned the legs over enough to hopefully clean out the last of the junk from Sunday's race and even though I felt terrible early got it turned around enough on the river to end things feeling good. Cooled down a little on the track while Lou finished and then hit the usual loop on the river. Was staggering by the end, need to load up on fruits and vegetables the next few days. Tried out a new "Tiger" Gatorade afterwards, way too sweet for me.9HARDBADAVGTUEHighland Ave out and back. Got out the door at 6am and felt about how you'd expect after not running for 48 following a race. Got a little bit better as the run went on, I guess, but I had no fun this morning and felt like I was shuffling the whole way. Starting to feel better about Mt Washington, though, I think it's going to go well.8EASYBADBADMONWhenever I plan on running after work I seem to get really busy and productive, stayed at work late and got home around 7pm.0NONENONENONESUNBunker Hill 8k, 25:06 for first. Walked down to the Navy Yard and signed up then went home and was watching TV when the skies opened up. Warmed up 2M around Charlestown, checking out the finish through the Navy Yard then went home to stretch out inside. It was nice to change into dry socks before the start of the race; jogged the 2 minutes over to the line, put in a decent number of strides and was feeling pretty good. The red shoes were slipping a bit on the wet pavement, but that didn't turn out to be a big deal. The rain had pretty much subsided and we had great weather for racing, low 60s maybe with heavy clouds and no wind. Got out pretty hard and had company early, Jeff Boyd went past me at the turn off Chelsea onto Warren and built a 5-10m lead after 800m. Slowly reeled him in, we hit the mile together in 4:42 and then I started pulling away. Hammered the hill as well as I could and then was 5:05ish the rest of the way. Halfway up the hill I started wondering what I was thinking when I signed up for Mt Washington. Cooled down around Charlestown with Prindiville, Harry Stants, Paterno, Terry McNatt and another guy, added on a bit extra with Brendan. Wound up being 39 minutes, which I'm calling 5M. It's very nice to be soaking in the Jacuzzi 10 minutes after finishing the cooldown.12Bunker Hill 8kHARDGOODGOODWeek 25week252008-06-082008-06-14Another unimpressive week, with 3 missed runs. I wound up being very busy on Sunday since my family was in town and then on Monday I was just lazy. Felt pretty good the days I did run and had a decent Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday stretch. The workout went pretty well, a little surprised by the speed I had, but the 2k certainly didn't go very well. I think that without a firm goal in mind it's becoming easier to slack off and skip runs. I'm doing my best to not let it get to me now and hopefully I can turn things around after the wedding going into the fall.SATRun to Remember course. The standard pre-race route, slept in pretty late this morning but managed to get out the door when I got up instead of putting the run off. I felt pretty good and had to force myself to slow down a few times throughout the run, trying to stay fresh for tomorrow. Finished up with a really good stride along Constitution Road.7EASYAVGAVGFRINo running. Tired from staying up until the end of the Celtic's comeback last night, told myself I'd run after work but wound up staying at work pretty late to finish things up. I'm looking at this as an extended taper for Mount Washington.0NONENONENONETHULincoln. Small group this evening, just Maloney and Ginger, and she only went 30:00 before turning around. I felt okay throughout, the pace was pretty easy the whole way but I wasn't sore from last night at all. Maloney went 10M so I ran the Mt Misery section solo and even convinced myself to do some lunges in the parking lot before heading home.13EASYAVGAVGWEDBAA Workout at Harvard. 400-800-2k-800-400 in 64-2:15-6:05-2:16-63. Got to the track a little early so I warmed up alone, although I wound up 20m behind LaRosa, who was warming up for a 2M tempo beforehand. I was feeling really bad on the warmup, kind of like I took 2 days off and then ran 12M. Got in plenty of strides but was feeling slow and everything was taking a lot of effort. Got out hard on the first 400, didn't check the split but LaRosa said afterwards it was about 30, was surprised to hear 64, I was expecting about a 67 the way my legs felt. Got a bit more optimistic about the workout and got out aggressively for the 800, too. Came through in 67 and held on decently for the second lap, I can't remember whether Carter led the whole way or if we traded off. Matt and I were thinking 70s for the 2k, he took us out right on pace but I started fading after just 400m and wasn't able to hang with Carter. Hit 70-2:22 then dropped to a 3:36 and started running with Brendan. Stopped slowing down but just was not feeling it, another 74 got us to 4:50 and we finished up in 6:05. Really struggling at that point, did my best to regroup mentally, which was easier since there were only short distances remaining. Carter really started taking over at this point, I just got out and stayed as close to him as I could. I was right around 67 again with Carter a bit ahead and I just tried to hold off Brendan on the last lap. I thought I got out well on the final quarter but Matt and Lou had a couple meters on me, but I hit the 200m in 30s and held on decently. Happy to finish up with a 63, just felt like I was running slow because Carter was at 59. Cooled down the usual river loop to finish things off. Aside from the 2k, today was a decent workout, I didn't feel nearly as good as the times look, so I guess that's encouraging. Able to gut it out on the shorter intervals but can't still can't sustain a hard pace at the longer distance. It was hot today, but not as bad as it's been recently and it didn't seem to have much of an effect, just more uncomfortable.10HARDBADAVGTUEOlmsted via Fens/Riverway. Somehow I got out the door by 5:45 this morning and thanks to the back to back off days was feeling pretty good. Pretty much the same as last week, felt good early, slowly started to tire and struggled somewhat after the 60 minute mark. It's going to be another hot day, glad I got the run in early when it was still somewhat reasonable weather.12EASYAVGAVGMONI got up thinking I'd run, not really sure why I didn't get out the door. Busy the rest of the day and posted another zero.0NONENONENONESUNGot home late last night from my sister's wedding and had more stuff in the morning and early afternoon. By the time I had a chance to run I was tired and it was over 90 degrees outside, so I wimped out.0NONENONENONEWeek 24week242008-06-012008-06-07Rough start to the week, really poor race on Sunday and too tired Monday morning to get out the door. I let the circumstances of the weekend affect my race and definitely did a poor job of handling the negative thoughts. Got back into it as the week wore on, had my best workout in a very long time on Wednesday and followed it up with a rare double digit morning run on Thursday. Spent some time climbing hills on Saturday morning, though that didn't go so well.SATBunker Hill workout. Same as a few weeks ago, the standard Charlestown loop to the base of Sackville as a warmup, then up Sackville, over and back on Bunker Hill 4 times and once more up Sackville to finish. Feeling tired from the beginning, not a very encouraging run this morning. Starting to get a bit worried about Mt Washington, I didn't feel like I was running that fast up the hills but my legs were dead and it was a real effort just to finish this one. The temperature was rising throughout the workout and by the time I got home I had just about melted, not used to working out in 85 degree temps. Pretty tired after this one, took a nap right after breakfast.9HARDAVGAVGFRIFake Fresh with JMark. Slept past the alarm so I was rushing to meet Jared 10 minutes late. We headed up the river in a light rain, surprising to see people lining up outside Killian already for graduation. Felt pretty terrible throughout, slept okay last night but dinner was 2 hot dogs, 2 beers and peanuts at the Sox game last night. The rain slowly picked up as the run wore on, it was raining pretty hard by the time I got back to Charlestown.10AVGBADBADTHUOlmsted via Fens/Riverway. Got going around 6am, surprisingly wasn't that tired after last night's workout. My legs felt good throughout, although as I crossed the hour mark I did start to tire. Pretty obvious that I haven't been running that distance too often. Really enjoyed the run today, need to start getting in more of these.12AVGAVGAVGWED2x1000, 2x600, 4x300 in 2:49, 2:50; 1:49, 1:50; 47, 46, 46, 44. Rest was 3:00, 2:00, 90. Got to the track a few minutes late but still managed to get in 2M warmup and enough strides to be feeling good at the start. I knew with the amount of rest we could really get after it today and I was running hard right from the start. Didn't check the watch at 200m and came through in 67. TPS went to the lead after 500m and I more or less stayed on him, faded a bit before 800 (2:15) but rallied over the final 200m and we finished together. Able to jog 300-400m and was feeling good enough by the time we lined up for the second one. Pretty much the same story, got out a little quicker, just under 67, hung on Terry the second lap and held on through the finish. We wound up slowing a bit on the final 200 each time, but I was feeling really good and excited about how the workout was going. Terry said he was going to hang back on the shorter stuff, but I stayed out front, when I'm feeling that good I like to be doing the work. Got out really well on the first 600 and felt like I had a step the whole way, came through in 64 but struggled a bit on the way to the line. The workout started catching up to me about that time and I struggled at the start of the next 600. Carter went around me at 150m and somebody, I think it was Lou, got next to me at 300m. I managed to get my legs moving, I split between the two guys, hit 65 at 400m and pulled away a bit at the finish. The 300s were pretty straightforward, started out a bit easy on the first and gradually built into them. I had okay speed, but it's hard to really gauge running against marathoners. Had LaRosa on my hip for the last one and was reluctant to let him past, so we really got rolling. Cooled down a bit around the track as LaRosa tacked on an extra 2M, then hit the river for the usual loop. Pretty spent when it was all said and done, not used to that kind of speedwork. I was really, really happy with how things went tonight, I started things off aggressively and was able to focus on each interval without worrying about dying.9HARDGOODGOODTUEFens. Got up around 5:40 and was still pretty tired but I got out the door a few minutes after 6am and it felt good to stretch out the legs again. Wound up running a little quicker than normal, though my legs started feeling worse as the run progressed. I got to the intersection at Landmark Center in just over 31:00, headed back the same way. Finished up with a good, long stride past the Nautica, didn't feel too bad. We're getting to the time of year where it's warm early in the morning, not used to getting home and being thirsty. I think I'm getting back to normal after the weekend, we'll see how tomorrow's workout goes.9AVGAVGAVGMONDay off. Managed a short nap yesterday, but was dead tired after 8 hours of sleep last night and couldn't get out the door. Then worked pretty late and didn't get home until after 7pm.0NONENONENONESUNRhody 5k, 15:37 for 16th. Things were not set up for me to run well today, Bolt ran 9.72 at 11:45pm on Saturday, we were eating Chinese food at 12:30 and I went to bed a little after 2am. Woke up around 4:30 and was driving out of Manhattan by 5am (Chinatown does not smell good at 4:45am.) The drive was pretty uneventful, a lot of fog (and $4.29/gal gas) in CT, but I wasn't too tired and was thinking I had a shot at running well today. Warmed up 2M with TPS and was pretty confident on the line. Got out well, trailing the lead pack but in good position to pick guys off when they started falling back. Hit the mile in 4:47 right next to Terry, I was starting to tire but actually felt better at the faster pace and tried to keep my legs moving. Started falling back, though, as Carter and Wilson went past when we headed back into the parking lot. Around 1.5M I let the past 24 hours give me an excuse to justify slowing and just wasn't able to keep my legs going. Hung with Ryan C for maybe 30s when he went past around 2M and then just tried to get the race over with. The temperature was really climbing which wasn't helping me at all, I was really checked out mentally by the time we were heading back towards the dog track. Got passed by 4-5 more guys in the final mile and just couldn't rally, which was really frustrating. Cooled down 9 minutes then watched the end of the women's race and headed for home so that I wouldn't be falling asleep as I was driving. Tough day, wish I had been able to race a bit better, I really just packed it in at 2M and got beat by some guys I shouldn't have today. I was close enough to the front (Pat Moulton in 15:01) that I think I could have done well had I been fresh, but we'll never know.62008 Rhody 5kHARDBADBADWeek 23week232008-05-252008-05-31Things got off to a good start with a solid long run at Lincoln, the first one I've managed to get in recently. Monday wound up being very much a homeowner's holiday, taking care of a lot of chores. Had to work out on my own Wednesday and put in a decent effort on the Hill, though having company would have helped. Back at Lincoln on Thursday still feeling good, but things died off Friday when I headed down to New York. But still, I got to watch Usain Bolt set the world record, so I've got that going for me.SATNo running. Drove down to NYC last night, got to bed late, woke up at 8:30 and went straight to the draft. That lasted until after 3pm then got lunch and went to the Grand Prix meet. Busy day, lots of track.0NONENONENONEFRIRun to Remember course, mostly. Got going just before 6am and was pretty tired, though my legs were feeling okay. Headed out on the usual route, started picking the pace up a bit down Cambridge and on Charles. Was running a little faster than normal, though hitting lights kept me from speeding up too much. Heading down Atlantic I ran into an issue at the bridge to the Seaport, the Hook Lobster shack was on fire, or had been on fire. The road was blocked off and I had to swing through the Greenway to get past, I decided to cut off the out and back and just shorten the run. Ran one or two strides at the end and wasn't feeling all that great, hopefully things pick up by Sunday.6EASYAVGAVGTHULincoln. Met Terry, JMark and the Healys for the usual Thursday evening routine. We were running quicker than normal at the start and kept the pace up pretty much the whole way. I was happy to be running a bit harder, given that yesterday's workout wasn't that great. My legs felt pretty good and the run went by fairly quickly, the Healys turned off at the field, JMark, TPS and I added on around Mt Misery and wound up back at the lot after 84 minutes. Spent some time talking over Mt Washington strategy with Terry, I'm still pretty daunted by that race. Good day overall.13AVGAVGAVGWEDHill Workout on Bunker Hill. To make up for missing a hill run yesterday and missing tonight's workout because of another dance lesson, I opted for a hill workout this morning. Headed out around 6am starting with the usual Charlestown loop. Ran up Sackville, then four times over and back on Bunker Hill and one more time up Sackville. Ran hard on the uphills and took my time on the way downhill, which got me pretty tired out by the end of it. Wound up being about 35 minutes of hill running, then finished up with just a short 4 minute jog back home. Not a knock down, drag out workout, the 10 hill climbs were pretty tough but I'm still worried about Mt Washington.8HARDAVGAVGTUECTown Loop. Up early and out the door for a hill run, only to have my stomach act up 10 minutes in. Went the usual route for 4M and decided I'd just run again in the afternoon. Other than my stomach, I was feeling okay this morning. The big rainstorm around 3pm started killing my motivation, plus I was getting a lot done and stayed late at work. I got home after 6:30, just ate dinner and called it a day.4EASYGOODGOODMONNo running, busy, busy day. Slept in as I didn't get a nap after yesterday's run and when I woke up our neighbors had started staining the deck. Kathryn and I pitched in, which wound up being a much longer job than we expected and left me pretty sore. By the time we were done, we had to go shopping and then made dinner, just ran out of time today. This wound up being one of those days when I wished we were still renting.0NONENONENONESUNLincoln with JMark and TPS. Picked up Jared at 8am and headed out to Lincoln for a long run on the trails to get the week off to a good start. The Run to Remember had Memorial closed so we had to take Mass Ave out and we got out to the parking lot a little after 8:30. Got going right away, kept it easy at the start and explored a different route to the school, which was less rocky and a bit nicer to run on. We were all content to keep things easy, as we all had raced yesterday, I was just glad to be putting in a long run again. Had to take a quick pitstop about an hour in, but things were otherwise smooth and put in a good 1:45.15EASYGOODGOODWeek 22week222008-05-182008-05-24Another so-so week, decent day to day but the overall mileage is still low. Missing Sunday hurt, but there just wasn't any time that day. Wednesday's workout went okay, even though I had to bail out on the last interval. Kept things easy on Thursday and Friday then put together an okay race on Saturday. Pretty tough course, rolling throughout, but I felt good getting out in 4:43 and would have been nice to have competition the whole way as I definitely slowed once I was out front on my own.SATRun For Dave, 5.3M in 26:41, 1st place. Warmed up 2M around the the streets of Dartmouth and was feeling okay. The sun came out and the weather warming up, I wound up regretting wearing a jacket on the warm up. Wound up standing around on the line for a few minutes as they sang "God Bless America" and the national anthem, but the shot the gun pretty quickly after that. Got off the line well and was quickly out front, with Gilbert Kipton right on my hip. Started pulling away at two miles and ran solo the rest of the way. My legs got pretty tired over the final few miles and I felt like the pace was slipping at times. No splits after the first mile, though, so I have no idea how things were playing out. Picked things up over the final half mile, overall a decent effort, and another PR at a quirky distance. Cooled down four miles with Brendan Prindiville, wasn't feeling too bad.11Run For Dave 5.3MHARDGOODGOODFRIRun to Remember course. Got going just after 6am, wasn't all that tired when I got up, going to bed early really helps. I felt great once my legs fully woke up, from Haymarket on the run was comfortable and relaxed. Felt really good to be out running early again, went a bit shorter than usual to keep the legs feeling good for tomorrow. Looks like the mileage this week is going to be pretty low.7EASYGOODGOODTHULincoln. Good sized group today, mainly new faces. I was having trouble with my footing the whole way, rolled my ankle a couple times and even took a spill once. My legs felt fine, no affect from yesterday's workout. I took the short loop back with TPS, Dan and one of the Healy twins because my stomach started acting up when we hit Walden. Would have been nice to tack on a couple extra miles, but at least this will keep my legs a bit fresher for Saturday.10EASYAVGAVGWED3x(400-600-1000) in 68, 1:43, 2:55; 68, 1:42, 2:54; 65, 1:44, --; rest was 1:00, 2:00, 3:00. Warmed up the usual route with Carter, weather was on the cool side and it started raining as we left the parking lot. Not the most enjoyable conditions, plus we got a late start on the warmup and I didn't have a lot of time before starting the workout. I basically went straight to the line after the post warmup pit stop, and it showed in the slow times. Took the lead right away, came through in 33 and was feeling good but didn't have any kind of speed or turnover. Managed to come through in 68 to start the 600 and held on decently to finish it off. Felt decently fresh to start out the 1k, Carter led most of the way, we were 69-2:20 and I went to the front at 775m and didn't feel quite as smooth as I would have liked over the final 200m. Same story on the next set, had a lead throughout the 400 but just didn't have the speed, then managed to get out in 67 on the 600, though Jen Donovan was catching all of us at the end of that interval. Got out in 68 to start the 1k, came through in around 2:19 and drove through the finish as well as I could. Still wasn't really able to get up on my toes and felt pretty sluggish and out of sync. I was determined to run faster than Jen on the final 400, so I got out hard in 31 and held on enough to come through in 65-low. My stomach started acting up after that though, and halfway through the 600 I decided I'd have to skip the thousand and basically cruised through the final 200m. Disappointing to miss out on the final interval, though the workout was light enough that I don't think I missed too much. Cooled down with the usual route again. Decent workout today, not a lot of volume and didn't have the speed today to make this workout really hard.8HARDAVGAVGTUEFells. Stopped on the way home from work again, running at 4:30 with some nice weather today. Felt okay throughout, though my legs started getting tired around 35 minutes in. Nothing special again today, just wandering around lost most of the time. Had been planning on going further, but found myself at the car after 8M and could tell my stomach was going to start giving me problems soon, so I called it a day. Leaving my legs fresh for the workout, I guess.8EASYGOODGOODMONMurphy's Law. Worked from home and took off at 4pm, after the weather warmed up a bit. My legs were feeling good, thanks to taking 2 of the past 3 days off. Pretty uneventful, just trying to get back in a routine.8EASYGOODGOODSUNWay too busy today. Power washed the deck early in the morning then the rest of the day was with my family for BU graduation.0NONENONENONEWeek 22week222008-05-112008-05-17Got off to a good start this week, and aside from missing Friday things worked out pretty well. Had a decent race on Sunday, didn't execute the plan very well but my legs felt pretty good. Wednesday's workout went pretty well, held back a bit too much early on but managed to put in some good work and was reeling by the time it was over. Saturday's effort didn't turn out as planned, but I got in some up-tempo work and my legs were feeling pretty good.SATFresh Pond. I got going fairly early today and headed over to MIT thinking I'd try a threshold run on the track. When I got there, though, there was some event going on and the track wasn't available. It's charity walk season, too, so the river wasn't an option either, so I just headed out along the Fresh Pond route and tried to run hard. Started working hard just after Next House and had a good stretch early then slacked a bit on Mt Auburn. It was hard to keep the effort up while dodging traffic and to avoid falling into an "everyday run" rhythm. Got going again after turning off of the Parkway, though it's just hard to run fast from Harvard Square to Central, given the pedestrians and all the intersections. I got in 38:30 of faster than normal running, ending at Vassar, and then jogged home slowly, finishing up at just under 84:00. Today wasn't quite the workout I was hoping for, but it was a decent effort and maybe the easier day will pay off.12HARDAVGAVGFRINo time for running today, too much work.0NONENONENONETHULincoln. Short loop with TPS, two guys from MVS, Justin Maloney and Matt Ely, then added on around Mt Misery with Maloney and Ely. A little tight at the start, but once I got loosened up I was feeling really good. Not nearly as sore as I was expecting after last night's workout. The run went by really quickly, always good to get on trails and run with a big group. Got to tell some gallon challenge stories, those are always fun.13EASYGOODGOODWEDBAA Workout at Harvard. 2.5M-1200-2x600-2x400-4x200 in 12:30; 3:30; 1:42, 1:39; 66, 65; 30, 30, 31, 28. Had 6:00 after the river loop, 3:00 after the 1200, 2:00 after the 600s and 60s the rest of the way. Traffic was terrible the whole way from the office today so I got a late start on the warmup and was looking to take the 2.5M section on the river to get my legs loosened up a bit more. Got out in front with Ely and was feeling okay, lost a step or two on the turns before Arsenal and found myself a few seconds back after crossing the river. Was right at 5:00 at the sign and had to really work to try and reel in Ely and Shea. After yoyo-ing a bit, I finally fought my way back up, we went past the "2M" mark in 9:33, but that's clearly short. Still, that second mile was probably around 4:50 and I was really working so I backed off a bit the rest of the way, finishing with Carter a few seconds behind Matt and Terry. By the time we got back to the track my legs were recovered enough that I was hoping for good things the rest of the way. Terry wanted 69s and I sat behind him the first lap coming through right one pace, with a pretty strong wind in our face on the backstretch. Could not switch gears fast enough to cover Terry's surge right after 400m and he pulled away over the next 200m, with Matt Ely going around me to catch him. Was 2:19 at 800 and did my best to hang on over the final lap. I found myself reluctant to really work hard, instead falling back a bit to where I was running fast and feeling smoother. Need to start sticking my neck out a bit more. I think Ely led the first 600, we were out fast, just under 33, and 67 at 400m but slowed on the last 200m. I took the second 600 and brought us through in 33, then LaRosa got next to me and helped to keep pushing through 66-1:39. Mark led the first quarter, we got out under 32 and I instinctively slowed around the curve but got back on my toes down the homestretch to finish with Mark and Terry. Carter and I got into the lead on the second quarter, coming through in 32 and more or less keeping it there the rest of the way. The 200s took a little more effort than I was expecting, probably since I haven't run 200s in a very long time. Usual 200m stuff, getting out well and closing hard, I ran almost in lane 2 on the first two, and really noticed a difference when I was on the rail for number three. Got out behind Mark and Terry on the final one and put in a big push down the homestretch to close the gap to Mark. Cooled down with everybody and then a bit of stretching out/laying down before heading home. My legs were really wiped at the end of the cooldown but I rebounded a bit and wasn't too sore when I got home. Pretty good workout today, would have been nice to have hung with Terry and Matt on the early stuff, but I was really on my heels for the 1200 and had no chance of sticking with Terry when he picked it up. After a couple of sub-par workouts it was nice to finally run a really solid one.10HARDGOODGOODTUEFells. Was at work for a pretty long time today so I was happy to get out for this run. Weather was really nice and the run passed by very quickly. Followed much the same route as last week, started up Bear Hill Road and then followed the bike trail around most of the park, then took a couple new turns and wound up getting somewhat lost around 55 minutes in. Started thinking this one might wind up being an unintentional 13 or 14 miler, but managed to figure out where I was soon enough. Made it back to the car at 71 minutes and then ran a couple strides before heading home. Really good run today, legs are still feeling good.10EASYAVGAVGMONOlmsted. Out the door by 6am, thanks to an early bedtime last night. Didn't feel too bad, couldn't really even tell that I raced yesterday. Probably means I should have run harder. Really boring run, and I screwed up the watch so I don't know how long I was out there. I think I wound up on the Fox 25 morning news on the way out and on the way back, so I got that going for me.12EASYAVGAVGSUNMedical Center 6k, 18:24 for 3rd. Warmed up 2M with Kathryn down Main Street in Nashua, had plenty of time to get loose and was feeling good at the start. It was a downhill start and I tried using that to get out fast and hopefully drop guys early, but a large group stayed together through almost 2M. First mile was 4:45-4:50 and I was feeling decent, but not good enough to try running away from everybody. I was covering every move early and started to worry about being able to maintain that effort, especially given all the quick turns in the second mile. I dropped back right as Wilson surged over a hill and I found myself in 8th and almost out the back. Managed to hang tough and worked my way up, was with Ely and Ryan C at 2M with Casey, Ben Ndaya, Wilson and TPS out ahead. Slowly clawed my way up but the gap was too much and I couldn't bring back Ben and Casey. Over the last mile I was sure that I was simply pulling Ryan and that he'd dust me at the end; I was trying to at least get into 2nd so that when he knocked me into 3rd I'll still win some money. Moved into 3rd with maybe 800m left and couldn't make up the final 10m to the leaders, had to get the legs going over the final 50m to keep Wilson at bay. Cooled down about 3M, the first bit with Kathryn and then finished up with Casey. Didn't feel too bad afterwards, but wound up taking an hour long nap when I got home which left me feeling tired and out of it, typical post-race nap. Really big group today and everybody was racing tough, haven't been in a pack of 8 on the roads in NE in quite awhile. Really going to have to be sharp at Rhody, and race a little smarter, too.9Medical Center 6kHARDAVGAVGWeek 21week212008-05-042008-05-10Not the greatest of weeks, missed too many days again. Skipping Sunday is inexcusable, the most glaring weakness right now is maintaining hard efforts so I need to get out on more long runs. Wednesday's workout wasn't terrible but I didn't run the 3200 as well as I should have. Finished off with some solid 400s, though, and put in a good long run at Lincoln on Thursday.SATCharlestown Loop. Sat around most of the day and finally got out the door for an easy shake out. Was feeling really good, too good for the day before a race, I think tomorrow's going to go well. A few strides and then some stretching afterwards.4EASYGOODGOODFRIDay off. Was planning on going to the Fells after work but wound up staying later than I thought I would and didn't have time to run. It was low 40s and raining, so I wasn't too disappointed. Kathryn and I did take an hour long dance lesson, although I'm not sure what that converts to in miles, though.0NONENONENONETHULincoln. First time out at Lincoln, ran with TPS, La Rosa and Justin Maloney. Nice to finally get back to trails and long Thursday runs, things were easy the whole way and I felt pretty good. Nothing special, we wandered off the route once, but managed to find our way back. Just over 90 minutes, which I'm okay with rounding.13EASYGOODAVGWED1600-3200-1600-4x400 in 4:45-9:57-4:48-66-6-7-5. Rest was 2:30 after 1600s, 4:00 after the 3200 and 45s between 4s. Usual Harvard warmup with Carter then a little stretching and only a couple strides before getting into it. Terry took the first half, bringing us through in 71-2:22. I was feeling pretty good, the pace was comfortable and my legs responded well when I surged down the homestretch to take the lead at halfway. Had tps right on my hip the rest of the way, hit 3:33-4:45 feeling pretty good but my legs were getting heavy afterwards. Will, Terry and I agreed to start out around 4:55s and pick it up from there if we could. Will led us through in 74-2:29 then I took over and tried to speed things up a bit. Felt good for about 500m, got us to 3:42 before fading a bit and we were just 4:57 at the mile when Terry took over. Tried to hang with him as he started to tighten the screws but slowly drifted back. 73-2:27 for the next 800m before slowing substantially on the final two laps. Carter went around me and I couldn't respond, managing just a 2:32 to wind up at 9:56 for the interval. Was really dragging after that but did a good job of staying aggressive going into the mile. Carter started out in the lead but at 100m I could tell we were really slow so I surged into the lead, we hit 200m in 38 and 400 in 73. Was 2:24 at 800m with Terry going around me into the lead and Carter right with us. Had trouble hanging with Terry right away, but it turned out to be more that Terry was speeding up than I was slowing down. Kept working hard and managed a 4:48, kicking away from Will at the finish. Not quite sure how the quarters would go, Carter and I got out well, coming through in 32-mid and more or less maintaining through the finish, with Terry moving up on us down the stretch. I faded a bit at the end of the third when I was reluctant to get up on my toes, and wound up slowing slightly. We got out a little bit slower on the final one, 33ish at 200m but then Carter and I got moving and were together until the last 50m or so. I pulled away but didn't run through the line, closing things out with a 65. Cooled down with a mile around the track before the usual loop. Pretty worn out by the end, put in a lot of good work today. Still lacking the focus to get through the longer intervals, but did a good job of hanging tough on the shorter ones. Bounced back from the 3200 decently, I was pleased with the 4:48 and felt good on all of the 400s, even though they hurt a whole lot.11HARDGOODAVGTUEOlmsted. Got going a bit before six this morning, headed over the locks to Commonwealth and then picked up the Emerald Necklace at Boylston. Just an easy morning run today, just letting my legs dictate the pace. Nice to get on the trails again, pretty good weather this morning and a decent run to start off the day.12AVGGOODAVGMONFells. Stopped on the way home from work, the weather was gorgeous this afternoon and I had a pretty good run. The ground was soggy in places but it wasn't a big deal throughout. Headed over towards the Sheepsfold where I ran up Bear Hill Road which is a pretty good climb. From there I picked up the mountain bike trail and more or less looped around the perimeter of the Fells. Finished up right around 67 minutes, rounding up a bit to ten miles.10EASYGOODAVGSUNNo Running. Cold and raining in the morning, decided I'd wait and then got caught up doing chores, running errands, etc.0NONENONENONEWeek 20week202008-04-272008-05-03SAT8M tempo on the river, then 1600m at MIT. Splits along the river were 6:01, 5:57, 5:35, 5:32, 5:26, 5:19, 5:20, 5:14 then an easy jog to the track and a 4:52. Got going around 8:30am with the usual jog over to Mass and Memorial. The plan in my head was starting at 6:00 and dropping about 10s a mile over 8M, then jogging over to the MIT track and running 4:45ish. Felt okay at the start, the pace was really comfortable and felt like a jog. Bounced around a little with the early pace, after the 6:01 I was slow on the second mile and overcompensated a bit at the start of the third. After a 2:45 first half I forced myself to back off and managed to get back to a 2:50, right on pace. Started working harder from there, was right around 2:45 to start off mile four but slowed a bit to the turnaround. On the way back I wasn't able to speed up as much as I needed to. Was around 2:45 before refocusing a bit and picking it up, but wound up stuck at 5:20s. Felt like I was working hard but just could not shift to the next gear. A bunch of 2:40s until the final half, when I could finally feel the finish and put in a 2:34. Took my time getting over to the track, trying to let my legs recover. Readjusted my goals a bit and honestly would have been happy just going under 5:00, I was pretty frustrated with the tempo effort. Got out well, hitting 200m in 35 and coming through the first quarter in 72 seconds. Slowed a bit on the second mile as the rain started falling and was just 2:26 at halfway. Kept forcing things and my legs came around a little bit more, put together back to back 73s to finish up at 4:52. Took things pretty easy on the cooldown back home, not the greatest workout this morning but a decent effort. Still having problems finding ways to go that extra step and keep working hard on tired legs. When I'm feeling good I'm able to run well, but when things start going bad I still start shutting down.14HARDAVGBADFRIFake Fresh backwards.10EASYAVGAVGTHUNothing, again. This is embarassing.0NONENONENONEWED2x(1600-800) 2.5M river loop, 4:48-2:20-4:51-2:21-12:48. Decent workout, but the quality declined as it progressed. Did an okay job of running hard at the start but as my legs got tired I was no longer able to keep pushing, Terry and Matt started running away from me. The times don't reflect it too much, but I stopped running hard around the middle of the 800. Tried to get things back on track along the river, got out to a good start but Terry and Matt built a gap around 8 minutes in and continued to pull away. Still trying to put together a good workout, can't seem to keep the hammer down.10HARDAVGAVGTUETired in the morning and thought I'd wait until after work. That never works.0NONENONENONEMONFells. Stopped on the way home and put in a decent hour on the trails. A little on the chilly side and raining off an on throughout the run. My legs were feeling okay but I was glad to be done when I got back to the car. Wasn't feeling yesterday's race too much, although my calves were terribly tight going down stairs this morning.9EASYAVGAVGSUNJames Joyce Ramble, 30:44 for 2nd. Warmed up with a big group, Casey, Terry, Paul Ryan, Liam Revell and Matt Carter, ran into Mark Miller on the way back. I stretched out a bit and then hit the Port-A-John on the way to the start, should have done it in the other order though, as I wound up standing in line for 10 mins and got to the start 30s before the gun. The weather was perfect today, it was spitting rain early but by the time we started warming up the rain stopped, leaving temps in the low fifties and cloudy skies. Was feeling good right away and got out trailing Mark with what felt like a big group right behind me. We hit the mile and heard 4:35, which I find hard to believe, but I reflexively slowed and Mark pulled away there and never came back. Hooked up with Terry right after the mile and we went to work on breaking away from Paul. Ran side by side with Terry the whole rest of the way, never getting more than a few yards ahead or behind. There were a few times it looked like Mark might start coming back but we never got closer than 50m. Terry put in a big surge after 4M, right after leaving Noble & Greenough which almost broke me but I managed to get things together and we went back to trying to run down Mark. Right after the 5M mark we turned left into Dedham Square and Mark had put in a big surge and it was clear he wasn't coming back, so I started setting things up for the finish. Terry made a couple of moves to speed up but I covered each and slowed us down again. Pushed for the finish on the downhill just before 6M and had enough speed to get away and stay away. Terry really pulled me from 4M through 5.5M so I felt bad about letting it come down to a kick, but he was a good sport about it. Cooled down 4M with a lot of the same guys, felt good for 3.5M and then really wobbly the last few minutes. I really was not expecting something this fast, 5s faster than what I ran in 2006, although the weather was much cooler this year. Terry and I worked great together, I certainly couldn't have held that pace without him leading big sections of it. After the past 2 workouts I was doubting myself a little bit, but this race was a huge confidence builder. Splits were something along the lines of 4:35/9:31/14:38/19:48/24:41/29:52 (stolen from Terry, so maybe +/- 1 sec depending on the gap from him to me.)12James Joyce RambleHARDGOODGOODWeek 19week192008-04-202008-04-26Not a terrible week, got off to a good start with back to back 15M days but quality started declining from there. An okay workout on Wednesday, then tapered off from there trying to freshen up for Sunday's race. Probably didn't need to back off as much as I did, but it was a good excuse to be lazy.SATCharlestown Loop. Wasn't planning on just a shakeout today, but the day wore on and all of the sudden it was 5pm and I still had to run. Kept it short and sweet and kept the pace very slow. Didn't bring a watch along, just stretching out my legs, felt decent though the climb up Sackville wasn't too comfortable. Did a half-assed ice bath afterwards, not even 55 degrees (according to my meat thermometer), just the coldest water I could get out of the faucet and a few frozen water bottles. It's been a long time since I've done of those and I was quite disgusted by my Mielcarz-esque behavior, it took me a few minutes to bite the bullet and sit down and I only lasted 8 minutes. What's happened to me?4EASYAVGAVGFRIFells. Got to work early and was heading home by 4pm. Hit the trails by 4:30, Fivos isn't the only guy who can get on soft surfaces after work. My legs were feeling pretty terrible the whole time, and before I left work my lower back got really tight. Made for an uncomfortable start but I got loosened up eventually. I chalk the back thing up to lackadaisical stretching recently and not getting out there yesterday to stretch out my legs after the workout. My right hip/IT/knee was pretty tight which made the rougher parts of the trails tough, but for the most part I was on smooth, open trails. Went decent for the first forty minutes but on the way back my stomach started giving me trouble. Had to stop a couple of times but the last mile or so felt a bit better. Would have liked to go a bit longer, but was glad to just get miles in on trails today. With the nicer weather coming, I think I'm going to try and do this more often, get to work early and hit the Fells on the way home.9EASYBADBADTHURest\Laziness. Didn't run right away and since I was working from home I thought I'd have time later, but that didn't happen.0NONENONENONEWED3x(1000-400-800) in 2:56, 69, 2:21; 2:56, 69, 2:19; 1:46 (600m), 69, 2:22. Rest was 200m between intervals and 3:00 between sets. Pretty hot day, mid 70s, the first one of the year and that made things tough near the end. Warmed up the usual route solo, TPS, JMark and Will were all there for the actual workout though. Got out decently well at the start and 70-71s quarters were feeling really good. A little bit relaxed over the final 400m and the pace slipped slightly, but I was happy to hit 2:56. Kept the effort about the same for the 400, didn't want to blow it out and trash my legs. The start of the 800 was good, Terry led us out in 69+ and I took the second half but coasted too much and we were just 2:21. The next set was more of the same, though my legs started feeling progressively worse. Terry and I split the lead and I started noticing that I didn't have the ability to switch gears and close the gap to Terry. He would surge down the homestretch into the wind and it took a lot of effort for me to get back to him by the middle of the backstretch. The 400 was short enough to not be an issue but I really faded on the second half of the 800, even moving out to lane two over the last 150 to get out of Terry's way. I was getting really hot and my head wasn't in it enough to gut it out when my legs stopped cooperating. I tried to hang onto Terry to start out the 1000 but quickly fell off and was running in last, so I just stepped off at 600 and refocused on finishing well. Hung in the back for the 400, which Jared led, and started out in the back for the 800, too. Got a good head of steam at 300m and started moving, which brought me through in 70 but I wasn't quite able to hang on for the second lap. Happy to get this one over with, cooled down with the usual loop and then headed home. The times turned out decent, but the quality of the workout certainly declined as it wore on. Need to make sure I pound the water and eat some vegetables so I rebound okay from this.9HARDBADBADTUEMurphy's Law. This was a classic case of meeting expectations. Since I got home from the three miler yesterday I've been convinced that back to back fifteen mile days would leave my legs trashed this morning. Took off without a watch so I wouldn't see how terrible it was, but my legs actually weren't sore or tired at all. Of course, I was expecting this to be a painful eight mile shuffle so I didn't run fast and felt out of whack the whole time. Even when you feel decent, if you expect to feel bad the run doesn't go well. Less excited about running the 2009 Boston marathon than I was yesterday.8EASYBADBADMONPrudential Garage to Charlestown. I originally wasn't planning on this, but I drove around watching Ashley run and then parked at the Pru. Kathryn went to meet Ashley and I ran home to get back to work. I thought I'd be able to avoid the crowds by taking St. James; that was incorrect. Swung out to Columbus and took that to Arlington, then the usual route through the Garden and Common. I haven't doubled in a long time.3EASYAVGAVGMONSummit, had to put some time in on the course on Patriot's Day. Took off just before 6am and wasn't feeling too bad at the start. The line of buses for the marathoners stretched all the way back to Charlestown, so I got to follow that to the Common. Kept everything easy and felt okay climbing up the hill. Nothing special about this one, a good start to the week though.12EASYAVGAVGSUNAround the Oly Trials course. Headed over to the State House first but got there a minute too late, then headed down to Charles and over Longfellow. Bumped into Terry on the way to Mem Drive so ran with him for a bit. Basically just running back and forth from the Royal Sonesta to Baker along Mem Drive watching most of the race. Wasn't running very fast, probably 7:30s and stopped a lot, ran into a lot of people out watching the trials. Felt okay throughout, typically I would have pushed this run a bit due to yesterday's failed workout, but these were special circumstances. I headed back home after the women's third lap and wound up being out there for about 1:50.15EASYAVGAVGWeek 18week182008-04-132008-04-19Pretty good week, relative to how things have been going recently. Got out the door all seven days, put in a long run on Sunday and two hard efforts. The mileage is borderline respectable again and I felt really, really good on Wednesday. I don't remember the last interval workout I ran feeling that good, when Terry took us out in 34 to start the mile it felt like 36 and the rest of the workout felt that way too. Saturday'd workout didn't go as well, but at the very least I got in a little bit of faster stuff.SATThreshold run, 5:12-5:14-5:05-5:10. I was expecting this to go much better than it did given how I ran on Wednesday. Same as two weeks ago, warmed up over to Mass and Memorial and got into it pretty much right away. Felt okay at the start and got out well, I was 2:32 at the half but then slowed going under Longfellow. Tried to get into a rhythm on the next mile but had no luck there, 2:37/2:37 for the half miles. I ran the third mile a little better, but by then I had decided I was cutting it short, which probably helped me push a little harder. Tried to keep it going on the fourth but slowed after starting it out in 2:32. Cooled down over BU and back home along Mem Drive. Another disappointing attempt at a threshold run after a couple good ones with the MIT guys. I'd like to make these a regular thing, but not if I keep cutting them at 4M. It's either 1) I can't run these solo or 2) I can't run these on the river.11HARDBADBADFRICastle-Bunker Hill. Standard early morning run, the weather's getting nice and I was feeling decent throughout this one. Not a bad way to start off the day. My legs were feeling much better today, finally recovered from that blazing fast 400 on Wednesday.9EASYAVGAVGTHUMurphy's Law, my new name for the out and back to L and First. Really, really tired, slow and painful run, can't say I enjoyed any part of this one. Even with last night's workout I was able to get myself out of bed and was out the door a few minutes after 6am. My legs were pretty tight, to be expected after yesterday's effort, never really got loosened up. One of the wharves was closed for painting or something and the boardwalk right by India Row was torn up so I had to weave my way around that section, which was the morning's only excitement. Glad when this one was over.8EASYBADBADWEDRiver Loop-1600-1200-800-400 at Harvard. Track intervals in 4:45-3:34-2:19-64, rest was 3:00-2:00-1:30. Warmed up along JFK-Elliot with Ely, LaRosa, Jim Dadeneau and Chris Magill. Was feeling okay, ran a couple of strides and then headed over to the river to get things started. Had to crawl under the fence to get out of the Harvard complex, we had a pretty good group as JMark, TPS and new guy Will were there too, though LaRosa did his own thing on the track. Got out well and was in the lead by a step or two early. Terry caught me around the boathouse and we were working well together, then we got closer to Arsenal and discovered the brush on the other side of the river was on fire. We decided the safe move was to double back and retraced our route back to the start. Got back at 9:00 and agreed to go until 13:00, which took us under Elliot and a good way towards the Harvard boathouse. That effort was really screwy, with doubling back and trying to decide on the route, I'd guess we were around 5:10s. Had maybe 5:00 rest jogging back to the track which took me out of workout mentality a bit and I had to get back into it when we started the mile. Terry and I talked about 4:50 then he took us out in 33.9, which worked out well because we were both feeling really good. The splits wound up being 70-2:21-3:33-4:45, Terry had the first 800 and I had the second. Really psyched after that one, talked with Terry about keeping it going, shooting for 70-71s the rest of the way. The 1200 was decent, though we slowed a bit at the end with me leading. Terry took us out in 70, I took the lead at 600 and we hit 2:21 at 800 but then coasted too much on the last lap. I led the 800 and started a bit more aggressively, we got out in 68 then Terry took the lead and I started to struggle a bit, glad I had him to stick to as we ran 71 for the second lap. Feeling pretty good after 90s rest and got out at what I thought was a good pace to start the 400, then Terry came alongside me at 150 and my ego/young legs took over and dropped the pace. Felt good through 200 then my body started to realize it hadn't used that gear in a long time. Even though I was driving to the finish pretty well my legs were pretty well cooked and I was honestly surprised to see I hit 64, not surprised Terry was right on my heels. Cooled down with the same loop as the warmup, then a bit of stretching before heading home. Really good workout, wasn't expecting anything close to what I ran. That 4:45 felt extremely comfortable and makes me feel much better about where I'm at fitness-wise.10HARDGOODGOODTUEFens-Riverway. Got going a few minutes before 6am today, headed over the Locks to Comm Ave and then into the Fens for some time on soft surfaces. Kept things really easy the whole way, barely even paid attention to the watch, it felt really good to be out just putting in miles in the morning. My legs were feeling good, not sore at all from yesterday's hills, I feel like maybe I'm starting to come around again. Really not much worth mentioning, the weather's gradually getting nicer but it's still in the 30s at 6am so I'm out in long sleeve and gloves but wind up dripping with sweat when I get back because the temps have climbed into the 40s. I'm ready for summer.12EASYAVGAVGMONBunker Hill. I'm starting to get concerned about the Mt Washington race and decided today would be a good time to add some hills. I ran the usual Charlestown Loop and was at the base of Sackville after 20 minutes. Climbed up that and then ran down to Green St, then over Bunker Hill to Main Street and back two and a half times. I didn't want this to turn into a workout, I was just trying to put in a hilly run, but felt really conspicuous just going back and forth. There was a natural tendency to work hard on the climb up and relax on the way down but I did my best to just keep an easy, steady effort the whole time. After about 25 minutes of that I headed over to check out the Harborwalk by the Schrafft Center, but there really isn't much there. I did find a gravel path around some ball fields which might be good for intervals though. Climbed Bunker Hill one last time on the way back, so that made 3 over and back trips, and the run wound up being 57 minutes. Didn't feel too bad on the climbs, but I wasn't working very hard, either.8AVGAVGAVGSUNScience-Arsenal. Got out the door around 9am and surprisingly wasn't too stiff. I wasn't feeling great but I've had much worse post-race long runs. Just kept things nice and easy the whole time, whatever speed my legs felt comfortable at is what I was running, made no effort to control the pace. I was around 6:50 by the BU bridge on the way out and felt like it stayed there most of the way. My legs were getting progressively more tired but nothing out of the ordinary for a long run. Finished up along the river with about a 6:45 and wound up at 84:30 for the 12.5M on the river. Total time was an hour forty, just like last week.15AVGGOODGOODWeek 17week172008-04-062008-04-12Not a bad week, but I did post a zero on Tuesday, which needs to stop. Got off to a great start with a solid long run on Sunday and then a twelve miler before work on Monday. Wednesday's workout went okay, running the decreases on my own I can never seem to go slow enough at the start and I have a feeling it's catching up to me later on. Still, I was able to close it out with back to back five flats, which is a huge improvement over the prior workout. Saturday's race went pretty well, encouraging to see how close I was to what I ran last year, but my legs were feeling much, much better this time around. I was in really good shape last year and caught my legs on a bad day, I'm in decent shape right now and my legs were feeling great. Still, it was a good race to build on.SATTodd's Trot, 15:28 for 1st place. Drove up to Durham, NH this morning, the goal was to put in a good effort and get my mind and body used to racing again. Haven't put on flats since the 8k in NYC about a month ago, so there was a fair amount of rust to bust today. Wilson Perez showed up, we took it out together and came through the mile in about 4:50. I made a move right after a small hill just before the mile and pulled away from there. Heard 9:52 at two miles and needed to pick it up to have a chance at the 15:21 course record I set last year. Wasn't able to put things together though, I think that if I had some company I had another gear. I felt pretty good kicking to the line but slowed once the clock ticked past 15:20. Cooled down 3M with Wilson, finishing off a good morning.8Todd's TrotHARDGOODGOODFRIHighland Ave. Got going this morning for a nice and easy eight miles to get the legs loosened up for tomorrow. Felt much better than yesterday but my legs still weren't quite there, I was around 29:00 on the way out, which is about as slow as I've ever been for this route. Kept it easy on the way back but things started to come around.8EASYAVGAVGTHUCastle-Bunker Hill. Gorgeous day, unfortunately I felt terrible the whole way, just dog slow. Bright, sunny day with temps in the sixties when I headed out around 4pm. Felt okay at first but by the time I hit Commonwealth my legs were dead. Slogged through the rest of the run at what felt like a pretty slow pace, clearly not recovered from yesterday. Mysteriously great weather, I couldn't understand it until I was running through MIT and saw a kid holding his CPW folder. Clearly, MIT dusted off the weather machine again, those prefrosh don't know what they're getting into.9EASYBADBADWED5M decreasing pace in 5:47-5:32-5:15-5:00-5:02, was shooting for 6:00-5:40-5:20-5:00-4:40. Got out of work early enough to start warming up at 5:30 for today's workout. Warmed up 2M towards Mem and Mass and ran a couple of strides to get to the mark. I was feeling a lot better after the strides, but I think they led to me going out too fast. Even though I was conciously trying to keep things easy, the first half mile was 2:45, but I managed to slow down to 3:02 for the second half. Tried to get back on track for the next mile but sped up too much and hit another 2:45 and only slowed down to a 2:47 on the second half. From there I was nervous about how the fast first 2M would affect me, but the pace for the third mile wasn't much faster and I was able to hit that pretty easily. Came through in 2:38 and then was 2:37 to finish up 3M. With the formalities out of the way it was time to hit the meat of the workout and I shifted gears pretty well and felt good at 5:00 pace. I held off a biker for a bit and then had a brief conversation with him, trying to explain that I was running a bit faster than 3:40 marathon pace. I was dead on 2:30 at the half and somehow managed to keep it together out to the bench, hittin 5:00 there. I turned around and hit the last mile, just wanting to dip under 5:00 at the very least. Didn't do a good job of staying focused on the first half, coming through in just 2:32 and not running as hard as I should have been, managed to speed up marginally, it at least felt like I was working harder and more focused, as I finished up with a 2:30. Started cooling down towards Science but ran into JB before the Hatch Shell, so I turned around and ran to Mass Ave with him, then crossed over and headed home along Mem Drive, making it a long 4M cooldown. Pretty content with today's workout, even though the early pace was erratic and too fast. I didn't finish as fast as I was hoping for, but putting together 2 five minutes miles at the end of a 5M run is pretty good, considering I couldn't get under 5:10 fresh on Saturday. The rust busting continues but I'm getting accustomed to pushing myself and running hard again.11HARDGOODGOODTUENo running. Need to stop planning to run after work, it just doesn't work.0NONENONENONEMONSummit Ave. Still tired in the morning but I got myself out the door before 6am and took the usual route over the locks to Comm Ave. Legs were tight at the start, felt like the end of yesterday's run, but once I hit the Mall I started feeling better. Things were very relaxed throughout, tried to put in a decent effort up Summit but coasted the majority of the run. My legs started getting tired as I got to the river to head home. Managed to make it home okay, put in a 6:40 last mile on the river and was around 84 for the whole thing. Best two consecutive days I've had in a long time, almost ahead of last week's total mileage just 2 days in.12EASYBADAVGSUNArsenal Loop. Got going around 10am after sleeping in again this morning. My legs were a bit tired from yesterday's workout but not so much to affect things in any way. Started out on the Boston side, the half mile from the bench to the BU boathouse was around 3:15 and kept things in the 6:30-6:45 range throughout. Felt good for the first 45 minutes or so, after the hour mark things started getting pretty rough. Good to finally get a long run in, it's been a couple of weeks and that was very apparent. Managed to hold things together okay though, and was 6:35 for the last mile along the river. All together I was out there for an hour forty and the piece along the river was 83:45. So around 6:40s for the 12.5M loop, not too much of a stretch to call it fifteen. Good start to the week.15AVGAVGGOODWeek 16week162008-03-302008-04-05What a crummy week. I was just happy to put in a run while I was on vacation, so Sunday was about the only good day. Too many days off still, and I was fighting myself the whole way on Saturday. Maybe that terrible workout will be an eye opener and I'll get back in gear. There's really not much time if I'm going to have a good race or two this spring and early summer.SATAttempted an AT run along the river. An hour or two after I woke up I jogged over to Mass Ave and Memorial thinking I'd try to make it 8 or 9 miles at 5:00-5:10, and deciding that the workout was over when I couldn't hit 2:35s anymore, with some leeway for the first 2 miles. Got more or less right into it, but things didn't go all that well. Was trying to keep it smooth at the start and was just 2:39 at the half and couldn't pick it up from there, hitting 5:17 at the mile. Managed to speed it up a bit from there but never felt good and started thinking about how far I could make it before I'd stop. The next two miles were 5:12 and 5:11, despite telling myself that it'd come around and I'd get into a groove I never felt good. Made it one last mile in 5:16, the halves were about 2:36/2:40, and called it a day. Crossed over the BU bridge and took Memorial home. Pretty disappointing workout, didn't even come close to having it today. Haven't been all that diligent recently but thought I'd be in better shape than this. I'm chalking it up to being rusty, I haven't run hard in over 2 weeks and didn't have the mindset to really push myself. At least that's what I'm telling myself.11HARDBADBADFRIDay off. Haven't felt right since I got back from Vegas, really tired this morning and slept through my alarm. Work went long and I was too tired when I got home to try and put in any mileage. Can't seem to get on track.0NONENONENONETHUBack Bay-Mass Ave. Got a late start today and was going to go longer, but decided I should be responsible at get to work at a decent hour. Cut the loop off at Mass Ave and took Mem Drive back home. Running about 6:40 pace along the river.6NONENONENONEWEDFake Fresh backwards. Got out the door this morning and was feeling good enough at the start that I decided to push the pace throughout. Wasn't trying to get in a formal workout, just ran faster than I normally would have. Decent effort and my legs were basicall cooperative throughout. Finished up with a 5:46 along the river which I was pleased to see.10HARDAVGAVGTUENothing. Work went long trying to catch up from vacation and I ran out of time.0NONENONENONEMONCTown loop with Kathryn, ending at the Y. Got off the red-eye at 6:30 this morning, took a short nap when I got home but was tired all day. Put in an easy 4 with Kathryn and was feeling pretty good. A little bit of lifting before using the sauna. Long day.4NONENONENONESUNOther direction on the Strip, out to the airport. Pretty much the same story as yesterday in terms of logistics. Headed the other direction, checking out the parts of the Strip I hadn't seen. Made it out to the airport, and the famous Vegas sign, when the sidewalk ended. Turned around rather than running alongside what seemed to be a highway, and was back at Caesar's around 42 minutes. Figured 6M was good enough and couldn't psych myself up to tack on any extra. First shirtless run of the year, that was good.6NONENONENONEWeek 15week152008-03-232008-03-29Certainly not one of my best weeks. Got off to a crummy start and then could never get in a groove day to day. Once it was clear the weekly total was going to stay low it got easier to justify skipping runs. Glad I got some mileage in when I was in Vegas, but it's a little frustrating that I can get going after staying up 24 hours and sleeping 5 but I can't get out the door back home after 7 or 8 hours of sleep.SATOut past the Palms, back to the Strip, down to the Stratosphere and back. I woke up at 7am despite going to bed at 2am and was out running by 7:30am. We're staying at Caesar's, I headed away from the strip, which took me out to the Palms then I turned off that road and ran for a bit until I wasn't sure how safe the neighborhood was. Got back to Caesar's around half an hour and headed down the strip towards the Stratosphere. Running was actually pretty good early in the morning, not crowded and there's walkways over big intersections so not much stopping. Made it almost to the Stratosphere before turning back. Wound up ta 56 minutes, pretty safe 8 miles. Thought about going to the gym until I discovered it was $25 a day. Nuts to that. Stretched out in a hallway, then went down to the pool. My hamstring cramped up during breakfast, should be drinking more water.8NONENONENONEFRIL and First out and back. Probably should have done something of quality today, but wasn't feeling it when I woke up and really needed to start working early. The usual stuff, not feeling amazing, not feeling terrible. Heading to Vegas tonight, we'll see how that affects the mileage.8NONENONENONETHUFake Fresh backwards. Got going early this morning and felt pretty good the whole way. Kept it relaxed and didn't try to push the pace, but all these days off have left my legs really rested. Was around 6:20s along the river on the way back. Thinking about a workout tomorrow.10NONENONENONEWEDNothing. Didn't manage to get out the door before the Sox and then work took over and I didn't have time/didn't feel like running at the end of the day. Too many zeroes recently.0NONENONENONETUECharlestown Loop. Woke up early to watch the Sox play in Japan, got out for an easy 4 miles before the game. Out the door by 5:30am, a little too early, apparently, as Gate B out of the Navy Yard was locked, I was able to get out Gate A though, I think they were in the process of unlocking all the gates. Felt pretty good, should have gotten out again later in the day but was feeling a little sick.4NONENONENONEMONNo running. No good excuse, didn't get out in the morning and felt a little sick by dinner.0NONENONENONESUNDidn't get out the door. Slept in, ran some errands, started watching the tournament and couldn't motivate myself to get out for 2 hours today. Should have gone shorter, instead of just putting up a zero.0NONENONENONEWeek 14week142008-03-162008-03-22A pretty low-key week, allowing myself time to recharge after the 8k in NYC. Had 2 days off, but felt really good on the 5 days I made it out the door and have started looking ahead to some low key road races this spring. The only serious day was Friday and it's tough to tell how much the wind affected things. The times weren't that impressive, but I came away from that feeling like I worked pretty hard.SATModified Ollie. Slept about 11 hours last night and it was cold when I woke up, so I decided to wait until it warmed up some before running. Headed out just before 1pm and the weather was pretty nice. In the sun I was too hot in a long sleeve with gloves, but in the shade and wind it was much colder, so I'm glad I wore them. Ran over to L and First the usual way, then ran Ollie backwards out to Castle Island, then took the breakers (man, was that windy) and then followed Broadway back to L and home the usual way. My legs were really, really tired throughout, but I was just 26:00 to L and First, and 26:00 on the way home, too. The section in Southie was 23+, which I can easily call a long 3M, not a bad run to finish off the week. Despite the dead legs the run went by fairly quickly, it wasn't as miserable as most post-workout runs.11EASYBADAVGFRIAnaerobic Threshold at MIT. Made it 7M in 36:53, went 3.5M with guys and the final 3.5M on my own. Splits were 5:14-5:14-5:13-5:15-5:18-5:21-5:17. Got to MIT a bit late because of traffic and warmed up on my own around the outside of the track. Pretty windy today so Coogan had us running 1:00 slower, instead of 0:40, so that had us shooting for around 5:20s. The wind wasn't as bad as it can be, but it hit you on the backstretch, especially going into the turn and stayed in your face almost until you hit the homestretch. We had a good group of Khatch, Jake, Jacokes and myself and we spent the first mile working out the pace and I just sat back behind Khatch and Jake. Took a turn at the front after the first mile but we never really worked out who was leading when and we all had different strategies for the wind, so it was a bit haphazard. After a second 5:14 Khatch stepped off and Jake led the next half mile, speeding up a little bit (I think it was a 2:35) before he called it a day. I led from there and Brian was with me until about 3.5M. I was just trying to hit about 78s and keep it feeling easy for as long as possible. Was good through 5M or so and then started to feel the effort and fighting the wind got progressively tougher. I had made up my mind to get to 10k, but then my legs started feeling better and after hitting 6M in 32:54 I decided to keep going until I couldn't hit 80. Ran a 78 to get to 10k in 32:54, then ran 79-80-79 and called it a day at 7M. Coming in I was hoping to make it 8M, I was happy to last a mile longer than the last time I tried this workout, but I'm not sure the wind was really worth the :20 per mile we were giving it. In other words, I'm not sure that I was working as hard this time as I was last time, I think taking 10s off per mile might be more reasonable. Everybody else was gone by the time I finished, so I cooled down with a BU loop on my own and started really feeling the effects then. Got back to the track and tried running a few strides but my right ankle was mysteriously hurting again so I couldn't really get up to speed and was dead tired anyways, so I skipped out on those. Took all my effort to stay awake during the early evening NCAA games, even though UConn's loss busted my bracket already.12HARDGOODGOODTHUSummit Ave. Got going at 6:20 again this morning, didn't have an option on when to run because I wanted to be able to watch the early games of the NCAA tournament. Felt okay throughout, had decent weather and just took my time, enjoying the run. The climb up Summit was okay but I'm going to have to do a lot more now that I've signed up for Mount Washington. Didn't feel like I was running any faster than 7s and certainly wasn't trying to, but I clocked a 6:36, perfectly split 3:18/3:18, which felt pretty comfortable and only slightly faster than what I'd guess I was averaging throughout. Saw Voce, TPS and Pat Callahan along the river on the way home.12EASYGOODGOODWEDDidn't run. Slept in and planned on running after work, forgetting about the conference call I had late in the day. Wasn't planning on taking this many days off after the 8k, but I can afford a few of them right now.0NONENONENONETUEFake Fresh backwards. Got going around 6:20 this morning and my legs were feeling really good. Heading over the bridge to the river I decided that I felt like running quicker than usual this morning and started picking it up as I turned off of Mem Drive. Built into it slowly, starting out around 6:45s maybe and working down under 6:30s by the time I got out of Harvard Square and back to the river. (Those paces are entirely guesses.) Got stuck at JFK Street for a long light and it took awhile to get back into things after that. Managed to get back to a decent pace and I would guess I was 6:20ish on the way to MIT. Picked things up involuntarily after that, running 2:54/2:59 for a 5:53 between the mile marks and kept running fast until I was back by BHCC. Took things a little easier through Charlestown and wound up at 63 minutes, good run this morning.10MEDGOODGOODMONDay off. Didn't plan on this, was thinking I'd get right back on the horse after Saturday and I want to avoid downtime but I couldn't get myself out of bed this morning. Not a big deal, could probably use a day off after the busy weekend, hard race and not much sleep.0SUNCentral Park Bridle Trail. Slept in a little later than planned because last night lasted a little longer than planned, so this morning wasn't quite as long as I expected. Headed over to Central Park just before 8am and jumped right onto the dirt trail at the 90th street entrance. I stayed on the Bridle Trail, which roughly followed the route of yesterday's course all the way to it's end just past Tavern on the Green. Turned around 30 minutes in and headed back the exact same way. Back at the hotel after an hour, I'll generously round it up to nine miles to start off the week. Headed back to Boston shortly after finishing up.9EASYBADAVGWeek 13week132008-03-092008-03-15An okay week, because the only thing that mattered was Saturday's race. Mileage was low but no more so than recently, Sunday was especially short. Wednesday's workout was a pretty good one, felt great on the miles and came away from that feeling really strong and confident. Would have liked to run a better final 3k on Saturday, but 24:28 isn't bad enough to sulk about. It simply highlights even more than I can run decently at this lower mileage, but if I want to run well I need to buy in a little bit more. Still working on that decision.SATUS 8k Champs, 24:28 for 33rd. Not the race I was looking for, but I put it all out there and came away with a decent showing. Got to the hotel around 10pm last night and was up just after 5:30am to get my number and chips and start waking up for the 9am race. Took the bus over to Central Park and found a spot to tape my arches and had a few minutes to kill before warming up. Put in 2M with Paul Ryan along the last mile of the course so I'd have some idea of what to expect and was feeling okay. Got out well and was 4:45 at the mile and 9:27 at 2M with a few guys around me. Josh McAdams went past just before 5k, which I hit in 14:57, and looking back I should have gone with him. I wound up running solo most of the rest of the way and probably would have been a bit faster had I been racing someone. I wound up getting outkicked by one guy over the final 300m, but at least that got me to close fast. Cooled down 4M with Kathryn and Andrew Schoewe, who just randomly happened to be watching the race. At 2M I was feeling really good about my chances of getting under 24:00, but I think I was underestimating the difficulty of the second half of the course. McAdams went on to run 24:10ish, but I certainly slowed much more than I should have over the last 2M. Running 9:30 for 3k is simply abysmal, so that part is hard to stomach. Not the result I wanted, but hard to be completely disappointed in it, either. Seems like there's been a string of those races, it'd be nice to put a few good ones together now. I was happy to come through 5k faster than I ran a month earlier at BU, that was a step in the right direction. I went out hard like I wanted and was on pace and very confident at 2M and was still running aggressively at 5k. I just lost focus at the exact worse time, right after 5k I let a gap develop and wound up on my own climbing the biggest hill on the course and that's what killed my race. Not the result I wanted, but hard to be too disappointed in it, either. Seems like there's been a string of those races, need to put a few good ones together now. It was good to come through 5k faster than I ran a month earlier at BU, though.11HARDGOODAVGFRIRun to Remember course. Got out for an easy run this morning on what's becoming my standard pre-race route. Felt much better than yesterday, even though my legs weren't as fresh as I was hoping for. I'm heading down to New York this evening, feeling pretty good about the race and ready to run aggressively. Day in and day out my training has been hit or miss but I've still been doing the big things well and think I've got the ability to focus and get the most out of my legs tomorrow.7EASYAVGAVGTHUHighland Ave. Worked from home today so I got out around 4pm while the sun was still out and it was decently warm. Felt okay at the start, but climbing up the small hill to Castle really killed me and left my legs feeling terrible the rest of the way. Not encouraging to be out of breath after a small climb 15 minutes into an easy run. No explanation for this, this route has not been kind to me recently, I seem to be feeling terrible when I run it. Managed to get through it and climbing up Bunker Hill actually wasn't a big deal on the way home, so who knows what's going on.8EASYBADBADWED1k-1600-1600-1k-800 in 2:57-4:49-4:47-2:56-2:18. Got to Reggie pretty late because of terrible traffic in the Big Dig, but it worked out since I wound up skipping the first 800 to make the workout a bit easier. Decent group of guys who were running 74s and I was looking for 70-71 so I was alone on the first two intervals. Felt good through the thousand, still getting loosened up and finding a rhythm. The plan for the miles was to start conservative through 800 and then speed up progressively over the next two quarters. Got out a bit quick in 72-high and backed off too much coming through in 2:27 high. Easily sped up and hit a pair of 71s but it wasn't the easy, smooth pace I was looking for. Got things figured out on the second one and was pulling Matt Ely along the whole way. A pair of 73s got us to 2:26 on the nose and then the acceleration to laps of 71 and 70 felt good and within myself. Matt did some leading during the thousand, we got out in 66 or 67 and were 2:19 at 800, I was in front for the final lap and really struggled to keep my legs going, managing just a 38. Felt better on the 800, I think I led the whole way and put together a pair of 69s. A few seconds slower than what I would have liked to see, but not bad after those two good miles earlier on. Cooled down 3M around the outside of the track and then stretched out a bit before heading home.9HARDGOODGOODTUEFake Fresh backwards. Worked from home today and was able to get out for an easy ten around 4pm today. Temps were in the high 30s but I wound up taking off the gloves and unzipping the shirt before everything was said and done. Still dealing with a little ankle pain at the start but it was nothing terrible and didn't affect things at all. Running about 6:40 for the final mile along the river but that felt a little quicker than the rest of the run. My legs started getting pretty tired around the 45 minute mark, but just stayed at a dull ache and didn't get any worse.10EASYAVGAVGMONL and First. Just wiped out this morning, slept through the alarm and struggled to get out of bed at 6:40. Did the usual get to work early(ish) and leave before 4:30pm. Was out the door by 5:30 and was in a pretty good mood for this one. Kept the effort pretty easy, didn't feel like I was running all that fast but made the turn at 26:30 when it's normally high 27s. Same on the way back, glad my legs don't feel as wiped out as last week.8EASYAVGAVGSUNFens-Riverway to Olmsted. Slept in again this morning and didn't get started until 11:30 or so. Headed over the locks and took the usual route to Commonwealth then up to Boylston and into the Fens. Nice to be able to get on trails again, moreso because it means the weather's been good enough that the trails are clear. Wasn't running very fast today, didn't feel too sore from yesterday but my legs were just tired and I wanted to keep it easy. Wound up turning around at the baseball diamond in Olmsted, thinking that was good enough to get me 13M, but it looks like I'll need to round it down to just 12M. I was running for about 85 minutes, not fast enough to call it 6:30 pace. Not to get too Ed Baker with this entry, but I ate at Gaslight in the South End last night and they make a kick-ass Steak Frites.12EASYAVGAVGWeek 12week122008-03-022008-03-08Really not a great week. Started things off well with a solid 4M race on Sunday, I felt strong throughout and came away from that with a lot of confidence. Then I absolutely bombed the second half of Wednesday's workout, my legs got tired and my mind wasn't in it and I can't really explain why. Then I felt like trash on Thursday and especially Friday, my legs didn't feel horrible during the short workout on Saturday but I wasn't running very fast, either. Things had been going so well the past few weeks I guess I was due for a rough patch, I just hope it's a short one and I'm feeling good next weekend in New York.SAT2x800, 6x400 in 2:18, 19; 67, 66, 66, 66, 66, 67. Should have ran right when I woke up but instead I waiting until the afternoon and got to run in the middle of the rainstorm. Cold and rainy throughout, but thankfully the time on the track wasn't too bad. Warmed up over to MIT and stretched out a bit before getting into it. Got out in 69 and felt like I was running harder but only came through in 2:18. Got off the line a little better to start the second 800, hit 68 at 400 but wound up slowing on the next lap and was just 2:19. I was hoping to run 2:14-16, but shrugged it off and focused on the 400s. Got out in 32-mid on all of them, it was just a matter of how hard I was able to run the second 200. Too relaxed on the first one, but did a good job on numbers two through five of driving to the line. Decided the jacket I was wearing was weighing me down too much and not really keeping me warm anymore, so I ran the last three 400s in a t-shirt and gloves. Still not as quick as I was hoping for but given how bad I felt yesterday I was satisfied with it. Felt like the last one was going really well but apparently coasted too much down the final straight and was back at 67. Wasn't too tired afterwards, I took Prospect to Washington for a 4M cooldown to finish off the day. It started raining pretty hard on the way home, glad I didn't have to deal with that in the middle of intervals.9HARDAVGAVGFRIHighland. Absolutely exhausted when I woke up this morning so I just snuck out around 1pm for an easy hour. Never really felt good and had spurts of feeling terrible. Legs were very heavy the whole way, still made the turn in 27:10 but it was a real effort to make it back home. Just run down and tired, not quite sure what's changed, but I haven't felt good since halfway through the workout on Wednesday. Mileage isn't high at all, and no higher than it's been recently, my diet isn't great but no worse than it's been recently; my only thought is that it's been 11 days in a row without a day off, which isn't even that much. Of course, things were going well for 2-3 weeks so I guess I'm due for a downswing. Did my best to avoid just shuffling through this one, though, I'm still planning on a workout tomorrow and am hoping that will keep my legs somewhat fresh.8EASYBADBADTHUDocks-BU. I worked from home and got started around 4:30pm and was planning on running the Ollie course but lights and traffic at Summer Street made it easier to just head back into the city and extend the run along the river. I had decided before I started that I wanted to get in double digits so I was committed to going up to BU. I wasn't too tired from last night's workout but just before Mass Ave I started feeling really bad. My legs rebounded a little and I was feeling better by the end. Running about 7:00 pace along the river and looped around the Lechmere Canal before going into Charlestown.11EASYBADAVGWED2k-3k-3k-2k in 6:10, 9:14, 9:34, 6:20. Got to Reggie a little early tonight so I had some time to sit around before starting the warmup. Did the usual 2 miles and stretched out a bit before getting into it. Had a decent group tonight, Ely, JMark, Magill and a guest appearance by Ryan Carrara. Ryan and I were shooting for 4:50 pace throughout, I led the first half mile in 2:28 then Ryan got us to 4:56 and stayed out front for the last 400m. I was feeling really good, able to stay relaxed and easily hit the pace. Got out a little quicker on the 3k, 2:26-4:53 with ks of 3:05 and 6:10, trading off 800s with Ryan still. The first 400 of the next 3k was a little slow, we got out in 74 and were trailing Terry, Mark and Ian Nurse who were running 5ks. I felt like we were getting stuck at their pace so I sped up over the next 400, running 72 to get us to 2:26. Ryan went to the front then and my legs started getting heavy. Not a good sign when you start counting down the laps and Ryan slowly started pulling away. I was in no man's land for awhile, then the 5k guys picked me up and I got pulled along most of the rest of the way. Tried to speed up over the final half mile but couldn't get my legs going and wasn't in it enough to hang on any longer, the last 3 laps were pretty slow. Did my best to get ready for the final 2k but wasn't that confident going into it. Took the lead but couldn't get faster than 74s, managed to hang on until 800 when Ely, Ryan and Bish all went past me and I struggled to hang on the rest of the way. Was 3:06 at 1k, around 5:00 at the mile had to really work over the final 300m to keep up with Magill. Cooled down 2M outside, my legs weren't all that tired but mentally I was pretty wiped out after tonight. Not sure why things went so poorly today, maybe Sunday's race affected me more than I thought, maybe I don't have the base to put in 10k worth of intervals, who knows. Things were great when my legs were feeling good and the pace was comfortable but once my legs got tired I didn't have it in me to run harder.10HARDBADBADTUEFake Fresh backwards. Too tired to get up this morning so I wound up running at 5:30 after work. Would have been better off going this morning as it was nearly fifty degrees, instead I got to deal with 40 degree temps and rain. The frigid cold of winter may be behind us, but now we get two months of rain, better known as spring in Boston. I was feeling okay throughout, the run actually passed fairly quickly but I was only running 7:00 pace. The pace felt faster because of the dark and the rain and how fresh my legs felt, but I checked along the river and it was only 7:00 per mile. Starting to get excited for the US 8k in New York next weekend, putting together goals and figuring out what pace I need to run.10MONCastle-Bunker Hill. Got out the door at 6:15 this morning, not too sore from yesterday which was good. We're finally in March and the weather seems to be coming around, hopefully no more bitterly cold mornings until next winter. Just putting in miles today, the run passed pretty quickly although there was a rough patch maybe 30 minutes in when my legs got pretty tired for no apparent reason. Snapped out of it after awhile, though.9SUNCladdagh's Pub 4 Miler - 19:55. Drove out to Lawrence at 9:15 this morning, spent a couple minutes chatting with Terry and Carly before they started their 4M warm up. Headed out at 10:15 and wound up meeting Terry and Carly so I put in some time with them along the first mile of the course. I was feeling pretty good, stretched out in the parking lot for a bit before heading over to the line. It was much warmer in the parking lot than at the starting line and I regretted not wearing gloves. Got off the line really well, and ran alone the rest of the way. Hit 4:59 at the mile, which felt more like a 4:50, and 10:21 at two miles, thanks to a huge hill at 1.5M. The third mile was back downhill so I really got rolling, 15:01 at 3M (4:40 split) and then held it steady over the last mile, running 4:54. I misjudged the finish and went a little early, only to realize I still had to go around the block and pretty much just coasted to the finish. Happy to get under 20:00 and ran 14:34 when you throw out the uphill 5:22. Cooled down a long 4-5M with Terry and Carly to finish off a good morning.11Week 11week112008-02-242008-03-01SATRun to Remember course. Had planned on running 12M early this morning but didn't get out the door and then wound up running some errands and watching basketball in the afternoon. It snowed early and then switched to rain, but the time I got out at 5pm the sidewalks were pretty slick, especially as the run wore on. I felt great early, my legs were really fresh and there was a lot of easy speed in them. The stretch from the Seaport back to North Station had a lot of brick sidewalks which seemed to be much slicker and I wound up cutting my stride and my legs felt gradually worse. Didn't bother trying to run strides, just played it safe and went inside.7FRIDocks. Woke up to 8 degree temps and had to really bundle up before taking off this morning. Actually didn't feel all that cold out on the roads, heading along Summer was straight into the wind and the only part that really sucked. Running 6:50ish along the river, just letting my legs dictate the pace and putting in the miles. Nothing exciting. February Miles : 2429THUFartlek at Boston Common, 4-4-3-3-2-2-1-1. Not the greatest of workouts this afternoon. Worked from home and got going around 4:30pm. Did the ususal 2M warm up over to the Charles-Beacon corner and got right into it. It's been over a week since the last hard effort and it took a while to feel normal while running hard. The four minute segments were decent, I coasted a bit in the middle but was moving well throughout. The best interval was the first of the 3:00 segments, got out hard and pushed the whole way. Stayed too complacent on the second, though, and then didn't get into a high enough gear to make the shorter segments feel worthwhile. Cooled down 2M back home, couldn't feel the workout at all in my legs, which is usually an indication I wasn't running hard. Wasn't in the right mindset to work that hard this afternoon, but it was good to get my legs moving again. Put in just over 5 laps, so today was a long nine but I'm rounding down.9WEDComm Ave - BU. No workout this week because of conflicts at Reggie, I was really tired this morning and couldn't get out of bed early enough. Ran after work and was feeling okay throughout. Headed over the locks, up Beacon Hill to Comm Ave and all the way down to the BU Bridge. Coming back along the river I was running 6:40-7:00 pace, but it felt a lot faster. The right ankle was a little tight at the start, I finally remembered to get some ice on it after the run, I think it'll be okay.8TUEFake Fresh backwards. Got a late start this morning and hit the road just after 6:30. I was hoping for 12M but didn't have the time to squeeze in those fifteen minutes today. Ran pretty easy throughout, wasn't looking to do anything nuts, anyways. The nice weather of yesterday has left, still warm enough for shorts, though. A couple times throughout the run there was a really intense, shooting pain in my right ankle. Passed quickly each time but it's got me pretty concerned. Forgot to ice as I was eating breakfast, will have to get an ice bath together tonight.10MONL and First. Got out the door around 3:45 this afternoon and was feeling okay for the most part. Cut the mileage back a little bit because I got a later start than I had planned on, but the day off yesterday left my legs feeling good, even though I wasn't running all that fast. Nice weather, temps in the mid-40s the end of this winter is getting closer.8SUNThe wedding shower last night went a lot longer than I was anticipating and I was just too tired to think about getting up early before the flight home. Got back home around 2pm but it was nearly 4 by the time we finished unpacking everything. Probably could have gotten some miles in, but my heart wasn't in it.0Week 10week102008-02-172008-02-23I wasn't too happy with this week, there were a few bright spots but I'm still not quite back on track. Had a good run on Sunday, I've been feeling good recently with the long runs, which is encouraging. Had an excellent workout on Wednesday, I was really pleased with how that went. Another missed run this week though, I need to do a better job of getting out the door in the mornings, because waiting until the afternoon is too hit or miss. Saturday was really frustrating to have to miss the workout, but I did enjoy the run a lot. February Miles : 198SATWeaving through Whitefish Bay. Got out the door at 6:45 this morning and headed over to Kathryn's house. Back in Milwaukee for wedding stuff and the sidewalks are covered in ice and the streets aren't much better. Was hoping to put in an AT run this morning on the treadmill, but after one mile on that I discovered it topped out at 11mph, not 12. The streets were good enough to put in mileage on, better than on a treadmill at least, so after an awkward first 2M I wound up running along random streets through Whitefish Bay. Stuck to the quiet, residential ones and it was early enough in the morning that I could run in the middle of the road and not worry about cars. Turned around after 27 minutes or so, I wound up on a dead-end street and figured that was as good a place as any. On the way back my legs started getting fairly tired, more than they should have over such a short run. Finished up with 60 minutes on the road plus the first 2M which I'm saying totals 10M. Couldn't have been running very fast, I'll chalk the tired legs up to the unstable footing and not worry about it. Flying home tomorrow, will probably wind up doing 2 runs instead of trying to squeeze in a long one.10FRICastle-Bunker Hill. Got a late start on this one, about 8am, and the snow had already started falling. Hit the usual snow route and was feeling good throughout. Not much happened, climbing Bunker Hill was tough as my feet were slipping on the snow, but otherwise the run felt pretty easy. Coming downhill after Castle got adventerous, slid a couple times and had to run into Washington Street to avoid taking a spill, thankfully no traffic at the time. By the Dunkin Donuts just before Sullivan Square my right ankle got really painful for a few strides, but then subsided. Not sure what that was about, I don't think I did anything to aggravate it, but after a few steps it stopped hurting.9THUL and First. Really tired this morning and slept straight through the alarm. Got a late start at work, too, and wound up getting home at 6:40. Pounding the pavement by 7pm, the usual route past the docks and out on L. Felt okay but wasn't running very fast tonight, just trying to get this one over with. Took awhile to get into this one but after 20 minutes or so time started passing quicker. I'm starting to fall apart, however, as my right leg was all screwed up for the first 15 minutes, sore IT/knee, balky ankle and a new pain in my shin. Need to be better about foam rolling, as my knee has been tight for a few weeks now. The ankle has been bothering me off and on since the summer, eventually I'll get around to putting some ice on it. Not too worried about the shin, I think that was just a fluky thing.8WED2x(800-1600-800) in 2:19-4:45-2:17; 2:17-4:45-2:17. An earlier start now that there's no longer HS meets at Reggie, we were running hard at 6:30 tonight. Smaller group than normal today, Ian Marcus, Bish, TPS, LaRosa and Ely, I led most of the intervals with the guys right on my heels. Didn't get in enough strides as my legs were heavy the whole first interval and that got me worried about the rest of the workout. Ran 35-70-1:45 and felt a little better on the last lap. Guess that was enough to get my legs loosened up, I took the mile out in 34-70 and then Bish, who was running 1200m, took the lead at 500. That really saved me as he threw down nice, even paced 71s, bringing us through in 2:22 and 3:33 and I just had to avoid slowing down too much when left on my own for the last quarter. Had to take a quick pee break which left me feeling not so great during the remaining rest but my legs were fine, getting out in 68 with Terry on my ass and I held on well enough over the second quarter. Same story to start the second set, running fast but comfortable and able to hang in there when my legs started to tire. Started out a little shaky on the mile, 35-71 and was worried about how it was going to finish up. Luckily Bish jumped in at 600 and led the rest of the way, I managed to stay within a meter or two of him the whole way but was really reeling by the end. Didn't do a very good job of staying loose before the last 800 and my legs were very tight for the first 600m. Out in 34-69 with everybody and his brother on my heels. Things got slightly better from 500m-700m but it took a lot of effort to hold things together through the line. Talked a bit with MP, cooled down 20 minutes around the outside of the track with Terry, LaRosa (after his 2M at 5:20 pace) and some of the ladies. Third good workout in a row, tonight has me feeling pretty good about where I'm at. The only missing piece, really, is consistent mileage throughout the week.9TUENo running. Didn't get out the door this morning and thought I would have time after work. Work got hectic again and I didn't have the time or energy for it when I got home. It looks like work will be easing up a bit, though, which is good.0MONHighland. I woke up at 5:15 and heard the wind whipping against the windows and went back to bed, thinking I'd find a time to run when the weather didn't suck. I got up at 6:30 and was just going to start working but noticed it was 55 degrees outside. It was raining a little bit but I decided I should take advantage of the weather and headed out for 8M in shorts and a tshirt. Felt great this morning, I think the warm weather was responsible for that, although my legs felt much fresher when I woke up than when I went to bed. Not running all that fast, just over 27 minutes each way. It's too bad we have to wait 2 more months before we get weather like this consistently.8SUNSouth Boston, along the Ocean. Didn't get out the door until 11:30 this morning, took the usual route to L and First. Just like two weeks ago I headed out to Castle Island and ran across the breakers back to the beach. I followed the ocean back to G, but instead of going straight back, I continued on for 7:00 out towards the JFK museum before turning back. Since this route was 13M two weeks ago, the extra 14:00 will bump it up to 15M. Running into the wind all along the ocean, not the most fun and things were much easier once I turned around and had it at my back. The climb up G was rough, I started getting tired on the way back to G, and I just coasted the rest of the way home. The section in Southie was 47+ minutes, that's a pretty solid 7M.15Week 09week092008-02-102008-02-16All in all not a bad week. Got off on the right foot with a solid 2 hour long run and followed that up with one of the best workouts in a long time at BU on Tuesday. Felt really good that day and was working really well with Yermie the whole way. Finished things off with a really good AT run on the track Saturday morning. The only blemish this week was not running on Thursday, could have gotten the mileage up into the mid 70s. February Miles : 139SATAerobic Threshold run, 6M in 30:40 (5:06-08-11-02-05-06). This is a new workout Coach wanted the MIT guys doing and seemed to fit with what I'm looking for right now, it's a simple workout, really: Run 40s per mile slower than your mile PR for as long as you can. Most of the guys wound up running yesterday because they were afraid of how cold it was going to be today, so it was just Joe and me with Coogan timing. I warmed up 2M alone and stretched out in the Z Center before heading out to the track. Ran in shorts and was actually pretty comfortable, thankfully not much wind this morning. Joe and I alternated halves, I started us out with a pair of 77s and Joe sped us up a little bit. More of the same on the second mile, we were working well together and starting to find a good rhythm. We were 10:14 at 2M and I picked it up a little bit at the start of the third mile, hitting 2:31 at the half. I had gapped Joe a little bit but he rallied to take his half, but we were stuck on 80s for those two laps. I went to the lead at 3M and Joe ended his workout shortly after. I dropped down to 75s and had a good rhythm going for all of mile 4 and most of mile 5. Coming into this workout I knew I could make it 5M and was hoping to go 10k and the pace was pretty easy through 4.5M. I was 2:31ish from 4M to 4.5M and then started slowing a little bit. I was 5:05 for the fifth mile and focused in on just making it 10k. It was getting harder to hold the pace, I came through in 75-2:32 and then dropped to 77 and that's when I knew the end was near. It took a lot of effort to hold the last lap together and I was pretty spent at the end of it. It would have been nice to make it one more lap, I would have been fairly close to my 10k PR (31:51.) Joe and I cooled down with a BU Loop and then ran some strides on the indoor track before the MIT CoEd Invite. Stretched out a bit and then headed home for breakfast and a nap. Happy with how things went today, I feel like it shows I'm in decent shape, at least better than my recent races indicate.11FRIFake Fresh backwards. Got going just a few minutes before 6am, actually feeling really good this morning. Wasn't all that tired when I woke up and my legs were feeling really fresh. I guess taking yesterday off worked out well. Nothing much happened, I was 6:35-6:40 heading home along the river and that felt nice and easy.10THUNo running. Worked from home today and was thinking I'd be able to get out at some during the day but work never really let up and I wound up posting a zero today.0WEDBunker Hill backwards. Snow.9TUE3x1200, 3x800 in 3:27-27-27; 2:14-14-15. Started the warmup at 4:40 from MIT with the guys, put in 2M over to BU and was feeling much better than yesterday. Took our time stretching out and ran a couple strides before lining up. Ran with Yermie the whole way, he led the first 600, we started a little slow 36-71 and I picked things up at 600, we hit 800 in 2:18 and managed to keep it going, finishing in 3:27. I led the first 600 of the next two intervals, getting out a bit faster on the second, 68-2:17, and then finishing in 3:27 a few steps behind Yermie. More or less the same on number three, we got out a little slower but Yermie did a good job of pushing the second half and pulling me along. We had 3:00 between the 12s which meant we were more or less fresh and 5:00 between sets had us feeling really good a the start of the 800s. I led the first 400 and Yermie tookt he second for all 3 intervals. A little too amped up at the start of the first, got out in 32-mid, 66 before struggling to stay on Yermie's shoulder. A little better pacing on the second one had us come through in 67 high and then Yermie really kicked it down, I finished a few steps behind him running another 2:14. The final interval was the toughest, started out with a 67 and was right on Yermie through 650, he hit the afterburners down the backstretch and finished more than a second ahead of me. I slowed a bit too much over the final 150, finishing up with a 2:15. Took awhile getting into the cooldown, ran 2M back to campus with the guys then tacked on a warmup loop backwards to get the mileage total up since I slept in this morning instead of putting in a morning run. Ran a stride or two on Vassar then drove home and stretched out there.10MONDocks. Worked from home and got out the door pretty late in the afternoon. My legs were pretty heavy, the past two days have taken their toll, apparently. Nothing too exciting, pretty cold running into the wind which didn't help things. This run kind of dragged on, I was glad to finish it up.9SUNBAA Long Run with Ian Nurse, Ramon, Ely, La Rosa, Liam, and Terry "Metronome" Shea. Met the guys at Cleveland Circle at 8am, pretty nice weather for a long run in February. I was a little tired from yesterday, mainly just from the 11 hour turnaround, not necessarily the effort of the race. From the first climb by BC I could tell it was going to be a long day. Ian, Mark and Liam were running a tempo and started moving about the time we hit the course. I hung back with Ely and we turned around by the gas station between the 13 and 14 mile marks. Kept things steady the whole way back, the run got a little long going up Heartbreak and we finished up at 2:01, a pretty solid 17M.17Week 08week082008-02-032008-02-09Not the greatest of weeks, couldn't keep the momentum of last week going. Short Sunday run and a zero on Tuesday didn't help things, then on Wednesday it took a pretty big effort just to hit 70s. Still, those things wouldn't have mattered so much had I been able to hang with Ramon over that last mile on Saturday. Still trying to get that racing edge back, I seem to be able to hang around long enough to give myself a shot at running a good race but then can't take that last step to finish things off. February Miles : 73SAT5k in 15:03.92 at BU. Raced late at night, about 9pm, so I had to waste a lot of time throughout the day. Headed over to BU around 6, watched 10 3k sections and then warmed up with Ely and Ramon. I was in the third section with Ramon and we both were looking for 70s the whole way. Got bumped off the line and was way back in the pack from the start. Stayed relaxed and hung back, slowly working my way up. We weren't running quite as fast as I was hoping but I was feeling good, we came through the mile in 4:42 but then slowed some more. I had gotten up to the top five but nobody wanted to lead and we had slowed to maybe 72s. I got a little out of position just before 3k and had had to either go to the lead or run in the outside of lane 2. Went to the front, sat on the leader's hip for a lap and then took the lead with 9 laps left. Ramon was with me and he went to the lead with a mile to go (we were 10:06) and he really started moving. I tried to go with him but wasn't able to stay aggressive and slowly faded over the final mile. Really couldn't do anything as guys went around me, should have worked a little harder to stick with Ramon, he broke away from the pack and went on to run 14:45. Not too great of a racce, cooled down about a mile around the infield with Ramon watching Terry and Ely race in the next section.6FRIRun to Remember course. Worked from home today, ran an easy 7M around 4pm. Felt decent, getting excited for tomorrow's race. A couple strides in the street to loosen up before cooking dinner and watching last night's TiVo'd episode of Lost.7THUDocks. Pretty uneventful, slow the whole way with a pit stop at Building 2. Way too tired this morning after yesterday's late workout to get going, had to go in the afternoon, after work.9WED2x(400-600-1200) in 71-1:44-3:33; 69-1:44-3:31. We got a late start because the track meet before us ran long, but that just meant more standing around before the warmup, once we got started it was business as usual. Got out pretty slow on the first 400 and had to pick it up on the second 200 to save things. A little more consistent on the 600 but legs were feeling a little heavy, led the whole way on the 1200 and felt decent, despite the slow time. The group got halved after the first set as Terry and Ian Marcus dropped out, it was just Ely, Alasdair and myself on the second set. A better start to the 400, got out in 34ish but faded a bit on the second lap, trying not to work too hard. That interval knocked out Alasdair, so Ely and I were the only 2 left by this point. Hung with Ely through a 69 or so before he hit the afterburners and left me. More of the same on the 1200, holding 70ish the whole way, Ely led the whole thing and then dusted me over the final 200m. Cooled down with a little over one lap outside. Wasn't too hard today, trying for pace work at Saturday's goal pace but just didn't feel comfortable.8TUENo running. Was going to run a workout with the MIT team but some stuff came up around 3pm and I didn't get home until after 5. Sometimes life gets in the way.0MON Back to PKT to get my car. Short and sweet, not much more than a 20 minute shakeout after work. Played some musical chairs moving cars around and then drove home.3MON Back Bay Loop. Out the door at 6am today, ran past the State House and down Comm Ave. Stopped at PKT but I was still parked in, I was really looking forward to ending the run there and driving home so I wasn't too into the final 3M. Pretty slow this morning, still feeling staying out watching the Super Bowl last night.6SUNSouth Boston. Waited until nearly 1pm today before getting started, took the usual route over to L and First in 26:00 and then took First down to the water, out to Castle Island and across the breakers, where they've unfortunately torn down the Lost-esque structure which used to be out there. I followed the ocean down to G, ran up and around the top of the hill then took Broadway back to L and the usual route home. It was 32 and change in Southie and another 26 minutes to get home. Wound up around 85 minutes, it might be a little generous to call it thirteen, but it'll come out in the wash as the week goes on.13Week 07week072008-01-272008-02-02All in all not a bad week. The mileage took a step in the right direction but I still need to find a way to get at least one double digit run in during the week, or at least get in a double. Really good run on Sunday morning with a bunch of guys out on the marathon course, we didn't get hammering which I appreciated but we definitely picked the pace up as the run wore on. The only bad thing about that run, aside from freezing my legs in the snow, was that I wasn't sore from racing the day before, a sign I didn't race hard enough. Wednesday's workout attempt was horrible, got off to a good start but just had dead legs, was fighting the wind and lost motivation as I was out there all alone. Compensated a little bit the next day by keeping the pace near 6:00, if I'm not going to get the mileage up where it used to be then I'm going to need to get more out of these eight and nine mile runs by running a bit quicker than I'm accustomed to. Saturday's workout was great and really ended the week on the right note. It makes a big difference having a group of guys running together like that, and if that hadn't been organized by Terry I probably would have just put in an easy ten to twelve miles. February Miles : 21SAT8M tempo on the river, 5:23-5:33-5:28-5:18-5:15-5:05-4:59-5:03. Drove over to Mem and Mass Ave this morning, put in a 2M warm up and a stop at Building 2 while a big group of guys was putting in the first 4M of their effort. Met Terry, Casey, Liam, La Rosa, Voce, Paul Ryan and Pat Callahan back at Mass and Memorial just before 9am and got into things. The plan was 5:35-5:30-5:20-5:20-5:10-5:10-5:00-5:00 but we got rolling a little bit on the first mile. Mark was leading and since they had just been running into the wind finding the right effort took awhile. Came through the first half in 2:40 and backed off a bit but didn't want to lose the group, although I didn't realize Terry was hanging back. Slowed down after we came through the mile, plus all the turns after Science makes it slower and we were 5:33 for mile 2. Now we were back into the wind again which was making things tougher, a lot harder effort than it should have been to hit 5:20s. Paul took most of the third mile before ending his workout, we came through the half a bit slow but nobody wanted to go crazy this early in the workout into the wind. Came through in 5:27 and Terry went to the lead and I got on his shoulder to help him out a bit. He did a great job of setting the pace and we were dead on at halfway where Casey dropped off because of a foot/ankle sprain so it was down to just Terry, Mark, Liam and myself, I think. We were 5:18 and Mark dropped off, I went to the lead and tried to drop the pace without working too hard against the wind. Terry reminded me we could negative split since we were turning back at the half mile mark and would then be done fighting the wind. Made the turn at about 2:40, by then it was just Terry and me, and having the wind at our backs made a huge difference. Without working much harder we came through in 5:15, so 2:35 on the way back and then kept clipping them off. We were 2:32 at the next half but I was working so hard to just keep the pace hard that I knew I didn't have the fine grain control to slow up by just :03, I just had to maintain and then somehow pick it up on the next two miles. Hit 5:05 and then kicked the pace down one last time. Did a good job of setting the pace on mile 7, was just under 2:30 at the half and 4:59 back by the baseball diamonds. This is where I started to slip a little bit, Terry was still running strong and got a step or two on me a couple different times but either I rallied or he slowed up to keep me around, I couldn't tell. We were 2:32ish at the Science Museum, not bad given all the turns on that half and then turned back up river and hit the wind again. We were running shoulder to shoulder and traded the "lead" a couple times, getting a step on the other guy but nobody pulling away. I felt like there was maybe another gear there but couldn't get my legs to catch and didn't feel like sprinting 400m anyways. We finished up together in 5:03, not bad given we both were saying we'd be happy just to get the final 2M under 5:10. Cooled down back to Mass Ave with Terry and Mark and then another 2M solo along Mem Drive. Really good work this morning, I was very happy with how this one went, especially given the difficulty I had with Wednesday's workout. Fighting the wind from Science Museum to BU really took a lot of work, after 4M I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep it going, but having a group like this really made things better. The weather was great today, mid 40s and sunny, I was very happy that I decided to ditch the long sleeve shirt before starting the workout.13FRIHighland Ave out and back. Another busy day working at home and didn't get going until after 4pm. Should have gone earlier as it started raining in the afternoon and didn't let up. It was around 40 degrees so I thought I'd be okay in some thin gloves so they wouldn't get wet and heavy but my hands were freezing by the end and I definitely didn't feel like adding on. Standard route out past Castle to West Street on Highland and back. Out in just under 27:00 and back in 26:30. Went straight into the shower to warm up when I got home.8THUCastle-Bunker Hill. Worked from home today but was busy all day and didn't get going until nearly 5pm. Kept the pace pretty aggressive the whole way, I'm not used to trying to run fast on just a normal run, I typically just let my legs do what they want. Did a decent job of keeping the pace quick, but I slowed a bit on Washington after Castle and then backed off after getting to the top of Bunker Hill. January Miles : 2919WED3x1600; 3x800 in 4:50, 53, 57; 2:26, 26, 31. I had planned on working out with the MIT guys today, but they moved their workout to yesterday and I couldn't make it and was on my own today. Worked from home today and took a break at 1pm to get this workout in. Warmed up 20 minutes over to MIT and could tell it was going to be pretty windy. Stretched out for a few minutes and ran a couple strides before starting up. The plan at the start was a straightforward 5x1600 with 400m rest. Got out in 71 and everything was downhill from there. My legs were pretty heavy from the get go, was 2:23-3:37-4:50 on the first one and pretty pleased with it. Had 400m rest which went pretty quick and was back on line after 2:30 or so. Came through in 73-2:26 and things were going downhill. A 74 got me to 3:40 and a decent final lap saved a barely respectable 4:53. The wind was blowing pretty bad on the backstretch but I was feeling bad all the way around the track. Thought about changing the workout but decided I'd stick it out the rest of the way. Got out hard but could not get my legs going, saw 74 at 400m and decided that would be the final mile. Hit 2:28-3:43-4:57 and just felt flat the whole way. Took another 400m rest and lined up hoping for some good 800s to save face. Came through in 71 but slowed a lot on the backstretch into the wind and couldn't get my legs going over the final 200m. Pretty much the same story on the second after 200m rest, came through a bit slower, 72ish but was still unable to get things going on the second lap. The wind, my flat legs and apathy by the final interval really did me in, was out in 75 and slowed to a crawl on the backstretch. Happy to be done with this one, told myself to leave it at the track when I left, sometimes you just catch things on a bad day. Another 20 minutes back to Charlestown, my legs were pretty spent by the time I got home. Not sure why a day like this leaves me feeling more tired than the recent workouts at Reggie which have been much, much faster. Need to improve my diet a little bit, introduce a few more fruits and vegetables. I don't want to speculate at how the wind affected things today, I could tell from the start my legs were heavy and had no speed, even with the wind at my back.11TUEDocks. I got out of bed this morning but wasn't able to get out the door, so I ran after work. I was feeling okay and the weather was pretty good but I wound up taking it easy on this one. I was about 6:50 along the river near the end but had picked it up slightly by then. Very uneventful this evening.9MONFake Fresh, backwards. Got back to the morning runs today, got up after 7 hours of sleep and was out the door by 5:50am. Was a little worried due to the sound of the wind in the chimney as I was getting ready, but not too bad when I hit the street. Sections of the sidewalk were iced over from yesterday's snow but all in all not too bad out there. My legs were okay at the start but fatigue started setting in as I headed home past Harvard, just 40 minutes in. Saturday and Sunday probably took their toll, plus fighting through the poor footing at times. Thankfully my legs didn't get any worse and I made it back home without incident.10SUNLong run on Marathon course. Met Ramon, Terry, LaRosa, Wayne and about five other guys at Cleveland Circle at 8:30 this morning for a long run. Started out on Beacon, then picked up the course at I-95. We went down to the 16M mark before turning around and following the course back to Cleveland Circle. We stayed on the course, taking Beacon towards the city, and I turned around after 2 more miles and headed back alone. We had worked down to 6:30ish and I tried to keep the effort up over the final few miles. Pretty spent when I got back to the car. It was in the mid-20s but the snow was flying the whole time and I was regretting wearing shorts by the end of the run. Didn't bother stretching out, just bought a Gatorade at the 7-11, cleaned the show off the car and headed home.16Week 06week062008-01-202008-01-26A decent week but the mileage continues to be lower than I'd like. Still not able to get out the door in the mornings and don't have time to put in 10-12M after work. No long run this week, but a decent 5M tempo on Sunday and I felt good at Reggie on Wednesday. Things are coming into place, the workouts are going pretty well but I just need to get the mileage up. Saturday's race wasn't quite what I was hoping for but the race didn't play out well for me. I woud have preferred a faster pace and then having to just hang on for the last kilo instead of trying to kick the pace down. January Miles : 236SAT3k at Terrier Invite, 8:25.93. 2 up, 3 down. Slept until 10am and then took my time getting things together. Actually got a haircut early in the afternoon and headed over to BU around 3pm. Warmed up 2M with Ely and then had plenty of time to stretch and run strides. Got off the line well but then the pace slowed, we came through in 35-69 and had a big pack the whole way. Lots of pushing and I wasted too much distance and energy fighting for a position in the pack. Came through 1k in 2:50 and 2k in 5:40 but was in the back of the pack and wasn't able to latch on when the pack started moving. Cooled down 3M to finish off the day.7FRICastle-Broadway. Didn't manage to get out the door this morning, so I had to run again when I got home from work. Kept things easy the whole way, feeling decent and thinking about tomorrow's race. Ran over to Castle and then took prospect to Broadway and back to the Science Museum. Ran a stride or two in the street afterwards and was feeling okay.6THUDocks. Could not drag my sorry butt out of bed this morning, so I ran when I got home. Felt okay throughout but was keeping it easy and not running very fast. I wasn't very excited about running when I started but as the run wore on I got into it a bit more. Felt like I was running fast, but that's probably just from running in dark, I was only 7:00ish along the river.9WED3x(200-800-400) in 32-2:17-67; 31-2:17-66; 32-2:16-65. Got to Reggie on time only to discover the start of the workout had been moved up by about 10 mins, so I rushed out to meet up with the guys warming up. Managed to put in 13 mins and some decent strides so the early start wasn't an issue. There were two separate workouts, our group was just Ely, Alasdair and Steve Bishop. A little surprised that the first 200 was only 32 given how hard I was working, but my legs eventually came around to me. Got out a touch slow in the 800, 35-69 but recovered and came through in 1:42-high before tying up a little bit. Alasdair took the 400 out hard, I came through in 31-mid well behind him, and I backed off too much on the second lap. Rest was 45-90-3:00 which was plenty of time and I was feeling good at the start of each interval. A little confusion about the start of the second set and I got out in last, caught up to Ely just past 100m and had a little shoving match. Ran 31 mainly in lane 2 joking around. Bishop led the first lap of the 800, we got out in 33-mid then I went to the front and held on for a 67 before slowing a bit over the next two laps. Took the 400 out hard and managed to maintain pace pretty well. The last set was more of the same for me, but Alasdair and Ely really started hauling and left me in their dust. Quick pitstop afterwards then 20mins around the outside of the track because I forgot hat and gloves. Pretty good workout today, got in enough turnover to be encouraging for this weekend and did it all without straining too much.8TUEFake Fresh backwards. Ran after work today so I could sleep in, my stomach was giving me problems all day and acted up at the end of this one. Felt okay at the start, the snow/rain had stopped but parts of the sidewalk were frozen and slick. Coming back along the river my stomach was getting upset and I wound up walking part of the way from BU back to MIT. Stopped at Building 2, which helped, but was uncomfortable the whole way home. I screwed up my watch at some point, but it could not have been fast today.10MONSummit in 84 mins. I had a late brunch today so I waited a while before taking off on this one. Felt decent the whole way, I was running fairly quick at the start but slowed as the run wore on. Nothing special, had a good climb up Summit, you can see the Monument pretty well from the top with the new lighting, it looks really far away and is slightly demoralizing. A little over 7:00 for the mile along the river on the way back. Boring run.12SUN5M tempo on Ollie Course in 27:49. I had wanted to get in something hard yesterday and didn't have time to go long before the football games this afternoon, so I opted for 5M on the Ollie course. Warmed up over to the pavillion and got right into it. Always feels weird at the start, like I'm running working way too hard, not running very fast and won't be able to keep it up. Not too clear on the marks, I was at 2M somewhere between 11:00 and 11:30, maybe. Slowed a bit on the way back from Castle Island and a lot on the desolate First Street stretch. Didn't pick it up too much over the final mile, just trying to get to the finish. I was around 22:24 where I'm guessing the 4M mark is, so decently consistent the whole time, 5:25-5:40ish. Cooled down back to Chucktown, then the day went downhill as the Packers somehow lost to the Giants.11Week 05week052008-01-132008-01-19Disappointing mileage total this week, got off to a decent start with a good long run on Sunday but couldn't maintain as the week wore on. Felt decent on the track Wednesday night before my stomach started acting up. Getting back to where I'm hammering the intervals, instead of trying to coas through them. Thursday through Saturday weren't good days, training-wise. January Miles : 172SATNo running. Slept in a little bit, woke up and the inside of my right knee was sore and uncomfortable walking around. Was pretty busy all day and didn't get a chance to run. Saw There Will Be Blood, pretty good acting by Daniel Day Lewis.0FRIL and First. Worked from home but didn't manage to get out the door until late in the afternoon and had been snacking all day. Felt okay on the way out but was rushed for time and didn't get to extend it into Southie at all. On the way back my stomach was giving me trouble and I had to stop at Rowe's Wharf again, but felt fine after that. Pretty low key day, another low mileage day.8THUCambridge Street to Prospect. Ran after work today, way too tired to get out the door in the morning. Left the house with no idea about where I was going, took the locks over to North Station, then up to Cambridge Street and across Longfellow. Decided to stick on Cambridge, which meant I ran into a bunch of lights, but I'd never run down that street before so it was something new. I wound at Prospect Street and then followed the Castle-Bunker Hill route home. I got back around 47 minutes and didn't feel like adding on at all, so I called it a day.7WED3x(400-800-1200) in 69-2:19-3:31; 68-2:18-3:29; 68-2:17-3:38. Rest was 45s, 90s, 3:00. The MIT guys were working out on the track at BU, I didn't feel like a 5M decrease on a 200m track so I went to the BAA workout instead. Got stuck in traffic and wound up with a shorter warmup than I would have liked and it really showed on the first 400. Had a big group today, Casey, Terry, Ely, the Ians (Nurse and Marcus) and Alasdair joined for the second and third sets. Got out in I think 36, well behind Casey, and had to really work the second 200. Was worried about things here, since I had zero speed throughout. Felt much better on the 800 and 1200, running hard but in control and right with Casey on both of them. 8TUEDocks, with some extra. Ran after work, got started about 5pm and was planing on running Fresh Pond. Met a group of MIT guys at Mass Ave and Mem Drive and turned around to run with them. Trevor, Yermie, Brian, Rocco, Jack and myself wound up running Docks, I turned off at the Common and headed home past Faneuil Hall. The sidewalks were basically clear and the pace was solid throughout, wound up around 75 minutes, so maybe a long eleven miles.11MONBunker Hill. Got up around 5:30 to find it snowing and decided I was going to work from home, so I went back to bed. Since I started working when I would normally start my commute I was able to get out for a run before I would normally be heading home. Pretty obvious choice of routes, the footing was decent but not great and I had to run through quite a few puddles. Had to stop at MIT for the restroom and contemplated cutting it short but soldiered on. Met Kathryn at the Y and hit the sauna for a bit before walking home.9SUNWatertown-Longfellow. Met Fivos at MIT at 9:30 this morning for an easy long run. Fivos had the choice in routes since he's visiting and he opted for the river to get a respite from the San Francisco hills. I was pretty sore from yesterday, especially my calves, and didn't ever feel too good. Weather was decent, didn't bother with a hat and took off the gloves about halfway through. We were running about 7:00 miles near the end and not any faster than that earlier on. The run went really quickly though, since Fivos and I were catching up and talking the whole way. I messed up my watch but Fivos had us at nearly 2 hours and the mileage chart says 16+M for the loop. Feeling a bit rundown and yesterday's performance isn't helping.16Week 04week042008-01-062008-01-12So-so week. Felt good to put in another long Sunday run, I can really feel in the last few miles that I'm not as fit as I'm used to being. Wednesday's workout went really, really well, much better than I could have hoped for. It seemed to have given me too much confidence, though, as I didn't race very smartly at the Alumni meet and came away with 2 second place finishes. Another year until I have to race a mile again, thankfully. January Miles : 113SATAlumni Meet Mile in 4:24.78 (2nd), 5k in 15:25.31 (2nd). Warmed up 2M with Fivos, felt okay on strides but was unprepared for the start of the mile. Got out in last, worked my way up mainly out in lane 2, was 2:14ish at halfway. Was on Jake's shoulder at 400m to go, didn't run the last lap aggressively and had to kick the last 10m to hold off Paul Welle. Paul's a freshman and Jake's a junior, so next year's race should be even more challenging. Felt really tired after the mile, jogged a few laps and ran some strides then sat down until the 5k. Felt decent on the line, then just raced stupidly. Decided I'd try to run away at 400m into the race, but I'm not in that kind of shape and these guys are good enough to hang around. Yermie passed me at 2100m left and I had no responsed, fought off Jacokes over the final 6 laps and found a second wind over the last 600m. Really spent when I finished, struggled to motivate myself to put in 2M with Fivos. Tough meet, didn't race well either time and should have won at least one of those races. The 5k certainly highlighted my lack of strength right now. At least the Packers game went well.8FRIHighland Ave. Got going a little after 6am this morning but decided to turn back at 4M so that I could get in some strides without feeling rushed. Felt decent the whole way but was running pretty slow, maybe got down to 7:00 pace. The strides felt good, tomorrow will probably be a shock to the system though.8THUBack Bay Loop. Took some effort to get out of bed and out the door, but once I started running I was feeling pretty good. Pretty slow the whole way, went over the locks, up to Boston Common, Commonwealth to Mass Ave and back along the river. Was right at 7:00 on the river, and felt like I was running about that fast. Nothing special, just a short, easy run this morning. Was planning on another 4M at work, but both times I went down to the gym the treadmills were being used. By 6pm I just didn't feel like getting on one anymore, so the day wound up a little shorter than planned.6WEDDocks. A little tough to get out of bed this morning, even though I slept about 7 hours last night. Got out the door a few minutes after 6am and was feeling okay at the start. Surprised that yesterday's workout didn't leave me feeling worse, but at the Convention Center, about 25 minutes in, my legs started to go south. Pretty tired and slow the rest of the way, about 7:00 on the river which I'd guess was the fast side of this morning's pace. Finished up with a few strides through Charlestown which helped me feel slightly better.9TUE 5M decrease in 6:01-5:46-5:24-5:07-4:42. Met the MIT guys at the Z Center at 5pm for the workout tonight. Normal decrease, but the warmup was just a 2M run and then straight into the workout (more or less). Hung way back on the 2M loop with Yermie and Hemu as everybody else was speeding up early. We picked it up enough over the final few blocks to be feeling ready to go on the line. Got out very easy a few meters behind Joe and Jake, came through in 86ish and slowed even more, hooking up with Yermie. A little under 3:00 at the half and right at 6:01 at the mile, 5-7s behind Joe and Jake. Yermie and I did a good job of working together, switching off half miles, and slowly reeled in Joe and Jake. Pretty even splits throughout, I may have kept it too easy the first half of the second mile but better a bit slow than too fast early. At the end of 3M we were right with Joe and Jake, I took the lead and got a little excited, we settled in and stayed together the whole way, Jake leading the second half. I was feeling really good and ready to roll over mile five, easily the best I've felt in a long time. Took off hard, running 70-71 for the first lap with Jake on my hip but everyone else falling off. Jake took the lead around 800, no clue what the split was, but on the backstretch (normally the homestretch) I went back into the lead, feeling good and running strong. Jake rallied back and we ran the final 300m together, the last 100m side by side, finishing with a great last mile. Going in I was hoping to run 4:50 for the last mile, I really couldn't believe how good I felt at the end. This was by far my best decrease ever, but also the easiest I've ever run, having a group together through 4M was a huge benefit, plus staying slow early helped out enormously. Went right into a 2Mish cooldown on the soggy grass loops, then some strides and stretching on the track. Wasn't nearly as wiped out as I should have been given the speed we closed with, guess I'm in better shape than I thought. Finished the night off with a burrito and a root beer, really encouraging workout tonight.9TUE North Point Park (?). Got going at 5:45 for a short one this morning, my calves were pretty sore and I wanted to get loosened up before tonight. Headed over to the new park across from the Science Museum, which I only recently noticed was finally open. Some nice gravel paths, but not very big, I had to loop around twice just to put in 10 minutes. It'll be nice if they finally link it to Paul Revere Park, which they're supposed to be doing. Ran a couple strides and felt pretty good.4MONFake Fresh with Ian Marcus. Got going a few minutes before 6am, headed to the river and just before Longfellow ran into Ian Marcus who recently moved to Beacon Hill. We wound up running the rest of the way together, nice to have some company. Felt like we were running really fast, but it was only 68 minutes so maybe it's just the lingering effects of yesterday. Lifted at the Y after work.10SUNNorth Beacon Street, mainly with Jake. Out the door at 8:45am to meet Jake, it was further to the meeting spot than I expected so we met up around Hatch as Jake started running downriver to meet me. Headed up to North Beacon Street on the Boston side and down to Science on the Cambridge side. Had to pick our way through a few icy spots but able to keep it 6:40-7:00 most of the way. Jake needed a pit stop at MIT but it was so close to home and I was starting to really feel the distance, so I just headed home solo. I sped up a little bit, running 6:24 for that mile, and was feeling a little better. Wound up being 1:38 for the 14+M along the river, stopped at Figs, 1:52 total, and ran strides home. Went straight to the Y for stretching and sauna, which might not have been the best idea. That was a lot of stuff to do without eating breakfast and after a few beers at Pourhouse last night and I was slightly woozy after getting out of the sauna. Drank a bunch of water, ate a good breakfast and felt much better.16Week 03week032007-12-302008-01-05A decent week, but taking Friday off hurt the mileage total. Finally got in a good long run on Sunday thanks to Nick and kept that momentum throughout most of the rest of the week. Really happy with how Wednesday's workout went, also, got in good turnover at the end and posted decent times throughout. Had to deal with some bitter cold temps, which made running not much fun. January Miles : 43SATOld Ollie to G, Broadway to Freedom Trail. Slept in and started this one at 11am. Headed over to L Street and took that down to Marine, climbed up G and circled Telegraph Hill, then took Broadway to Arlington and picked up the Freedom Trail, but skipped the North End section. Felt okay today, wound up running just over an hour, nothing too fast.10FRINo running. Dead tired and couldn't get out of bed until 6:45am. Too dark and cold and late when I got home from work.0THU Treadmill at work. I knew that because of the temperature and my general lethargy after work I wouldn't run when I got home, so I brought my shoes to work and got on a treadmill in the gym before heading home. Kept it at 9mph and 1.5% incline and only ran a few steps further than 4M as I couldn't take watching the news without sound, trying to read the close captioning. I was thinking I'd get in a routine of doing this, but that was the most boring half an hour in a long time, I don't know how often I'll be willing to get on the treadmill.4THU Run to Remember course. I was exhausted but still wound up after last night's workout and didn't get to bed until after midnight. The 5:30 alarm came far too soon and I pried myself out of bed at 5:50. Running by 6:15 in positively balmy 4 degree temps. Went with a long sleeve under a jacket and double gloves and wasn't bad at all. Things were slow the whole way, I was insanely stiff at the start but felt good by the end. Almost 53 minutes for this loop, which I'm not even sure is a full 7 miles. Cut off the Comm Ave to Berkeley nonsense, stayed on Arlington and just ran down to Morton's at the Seaport before turning around. The only bad part was heading back to the city from the Seaport, it was straight into the wind, which FOX25 said was giving us a -13 degree windchill. Didn't mess around with any strides, for fear of frostbite.7WED2x1600-4x800-4x400 in 4:50, 51; 2:19, :17, :19, :21; 67, 67, 65, 65. Worked out at Reggie tonight with Ian Nurse and Terry Shea, warmed up at 7:30, started the workout at 8pm. Did a lap outside with Ian and a few minutes indoors to get loose, then squeezed in a few strides before getting down to it. Small group doing the workout but there were easily 50 people on the track tonight, which meant we were passing people on nearly ever lap. Got out in 73-2:25 on the first mile and managed to hold on pretty well after that, hit 3:37 at 1200 I think. Had 400m rest then got out a bit slow, 74-2:26 before picking things up slightly with Terry on my heels the whole way. The two miles went by pretty quickly, I was feeling good on both of them, not struggling to maintain the pace at all. Was hoping for 2:16s on the 800s but never really got on track for that. Went out in 69 on the first one, then started the second right behind a group who was running a quarter so they pulled me through in 67 low but I slowed a bunch when they stepped off. Number three was pretty similar to the first, out in 69 and hanging on for the second lap. I was feeling pretty tired by the end of the third, wishing we were doing the better sounding 2-3-4. The 200m rest wasn't nearly long enough and I never really got into the fourth one, was pretty much 70 at 400, rallied a little bit on the third lap but put in a slow last 200 and was just 2:21. We took 400m rest and then got into the fun part of the workout, I did my best to work on running fast and staying relaxed, trying to get in some turnover before next week's race. Stayed pretty conservative on the first two, getting out in 33-mid on both of them, before taking more chances on the last two. I got out hard on the third, in 31-high, but couldn't quite keep the speed up on the second lap. That at least got me working hard and pushing the envelope, and I feel like I've been playing things too safe in my workouts. It felt good to be closer to the edge and forcing myself to hold the fast pace and not slow down. Got out in 32 something on the final one and managed a better last lap to finish the workout on a good note. Ian and I cooled down 10 minutes with Terry outside in the frigid temps before heading back to Reggie. It only took 30 seconds outside for my sweaty shirt to make me miserable, but having guys to talk with made the time pass quickly. Ran a few strides once I got back to try and loosen up but cut stretching short so I could get to the supermarket before closing time so I'd have something to eat for dinner. Stretched out a little more when I got home, both hamstrings and the right calf were pretty sore. Really happy with this workout, the 8s could have been a bit better but still a solid effort throughout and I felt fast and relaxed the whole time.10TUEFresh Pond backwards. It was 38 degrees when I started around 11am so I headed out in shorts, a long sleeve and gloves, feeling pretty good at the start. Heading up Mass Ave, though, it started to rain/sleet/snow and I wasn't feeling too good. I wasn't too sore from yesterday, probably thanks to sleeping nearly 10 hours, but the preciptation was making my legs tight and cold. Thankfully the snow stopped for awhile and the run became enjoyable again, but finishing up along the river it started raining again and I was pretty cold by the end. Too cold and the ground was too treacherous to try strides, pretty much straight to the shower when I got inside, not much chance to loosen up. I'll have to be sure to run some strides at Reggie tomorrow after the workout.12MONOllie Course in 29:30. Had an early flight home, walked through the door a bit before noon and was running before 1pm. Had the bright idea to throw in a hard section, still trying to compensate for Saturday, so I took it easy for 21 minutes over to the Pavillion then started picking it up. Wasn't too committed early on and thought about just running easy but my legs loosened up and I got used to holding the pace. Around 6:15 where I think I remember the first mark to be, then 12:20ish on the way out to Castle Island. The way back was pretty tough, straight into the wind and since there's virtually no sidewalk on a surprisingly busy First I was dodging traffic back to L Street. I thought I was about 24:15 at the 4M mark, but I must not remember where that was because I finished up in 29:30 and wasn't running 5:15 pace over that last mile. Probably closer to 24:00 with a mile to go and almost certainly cut the loop around the parking lot short at Castle Island. Pretty tired at the end of this one, not much sleep last night plus 3 hours sitting on a plane meant I wasn't very loose at the start and forced things for awhile. Took it easy on the way back and ran a couple strides to try and loosen up a bit. December Miles : 24311SUNNick's to Hampton to Lake to the Hoan Bridge. A little confusion about starting time and time zones had me running over to Nick's at 10:15 this morning to meet him. We took Wilson to Hampton then up to Lake Drive and all the way down past the Summerfest grounds. The sidewalks were pretty icy in spots which lead to slow going at times, but for the most part it was a pretty honest pace today. When we got to the Art Museum we cut down right next to the Lake then past Pier Wisconsin to a new park where we shuffled along on some frozen paths before coming out right behind the Ampitheather, then ran down underneath the Hoan bridge before finally turning around. Same route back, once we hit the base of the hill on Lincoln Memorial we started running hard, out in the street to get some traction. We were about 2:40-2:45 from Kenwood to Edgewood before relaxing for the last few blocks to Beverly. Finished up in 1:49 which is a pretty safe 16M since we were running 6:30-6:50 early and picked it up over the final 2M. I really needed this run this morning to burn off the full rack of ribs, giant piece of cake and 4 beers I had during the Pats game last night. Felt good to get in a solid long run again, even though I nearly fell asleep during the end of the Packer's 13th victory.16Week 02week022007-12-232007-12-29A pretty decent week, aside from not getting in anything on Sunday before the flight. It helps to have Nick getting me out the door each day and keeping me honest with mileage. Put in a good workout on Wednesday and enough hard stuff on Saturday to get my legs stinging and just a bunch of solid runs the rest of the week. I feel like I'm getting in better shape each day, but then I look back at last year's decrease and I second guess where I'm at. December Miles : 216SATBender, with Nick. About 2M hard along the Parkway and Bender. Met Nick at SHS hoping we'd be able to put in a hard effort on the roads today, but didn't have much luck. It snowed overnight and most of the sidewalks were snowy and a bit frozen and the roads were slippery so we kept it quicker than normal through Lincoln, once we hit the Parkway we were able to get on some clear pavement and really picked up the pace. Kept it hard down to Bender and up across Port Road, but then the roads got worse and we went back to an easy pace the rest of the way. Nick turned off down Oakland again and I was thinking about tacking on some extra mileage but I was getting frustrated at shuffling along on the unshoveled and frozen sidewalks and decided there wasn't much point in staying out any longer.10FRIBender, with Nick. Overslept slightly today and didn't get to Nick's until closer to 9am. Same deal as yesterday, talking about a workout for tomorrow, or possibly just hammering a run, but there's snow in the forecast which might change things.10THUBender, with Nick. Ran over to Nick's early this morning to get a run in before having to work the rest of the day. Kept it to the usual Bender loop, Nick turned off down Oakland to shorten his run. Felt okay today, can feel the miles a little bit.10WED5M decreasing pace in 5:54(2:52/3:02)-5:27(2:40/2:47)-5:26-5:07(2:32/2:35)-5:03. Picked up Nick around 11am and drove out to Kenwood so we'd be able to stash extra clothes in the car after the warmup. Decently warm today, I probably could have gotten away with t-shirt and gloves. Warmed up 2M through Lake Park and used the warming house there before stretching out a bit by the car. I'm still trying to get this workout right, took another shot at 6:00-5:40-5:20-5:00-sub5. We got a little fast, with Nick a step ahead we hit the half mile in 2:52 before backing off a bit. Came through in 5:54 and then picked it up a little too much, which was my fault. We were 2:40 at the half and slowed down to hit 5:27 for the second mile. We had to swing out in to the street to avoid some construction on the sidewalk on the out and back third mile and I dropped Nick around there on the way back to the 3M mark. I missed the half mile split but was 5:26 for the full mile, not bad given the detour and turn around. I dropped the pace right away and stayed pretty focused on the near term instead of the rest of the run and came through the half in 2:32. I must have relaxed a bit after seeing that split because I was just 5:07 at Capitol. Tried to get going on the last mile but for a while couldn't get myself to run much harder than I was on the fourth mile. I didn't get a good view of the split at Edgewood but it looked slow, maybe 2:37, and managed to get things together for the final half mile. I was 3:40 at Hampshire Ave and felt like I closed pretty well the rest of the way. Measuring it afterwards the stretch from Hampshire to the light was 0.28M which means I closed at around 74s, not as fast as it felt. It took a couple minutes to stop feeling like I was going to vomit, then Nick and I cooled down 3M, running down to St Mary's. Another okay attempt at this workout, but still not running the last mile well enough (or the first, for that matter.) All in all, not a bad way to turn 25 years old.10TUEOut and back along the Parkway with Nick. Nick wanted to go a little shorter since he's running in old shoes thanks to a luggage snafu. Headed out all the way to Good Hope, no mileage markers that I know of, but I headed up to Lake and was around 6:30-6:40 at the end. Another run in the 85-86 minute range. Feeling good.13MONBender, plus Kletzsch add-on with Nick. Headed over to Nick's place at 9am and we put in a solid run this morning. Long day of travelling last night meant not much sleep but I was feeling surprisingly good. Given that this is about my longest run in the past 6 weeks I was happy with how it went, we were even near 6:10 finishing up down Lake Drive. Wound up being 86ish on the watch.13SUNNo running. Flew back to MKE.0Week 01week012007-12-162007-12-22Not a bad mileage total for the week, given that I skipped Tuesday. Got in a decent long run on Sunday in some nasty conditions, for some reason I don't get bored running 9 laps of Boston Common in a snowstorm. Didn't have many choices for a workout on Wednesday, the Common was essentially the only reliable footing I knew of, put in a good effort before work. Saturday's workout went okay also, but I'm a little worried about leg speed. Not the best conditions for running, temps were okay but the ground was covered in snow or ice the whole week. December Miles : 150SAT5-5-4-4-3-2-1 at Boston Common. Got a decently early start today, took a 2M warm up over to the Common and started at the same place I did on Wednesday. Probably running 5:10-5:20 on the 5:00 sections and bit faster on the 4:00 ones. Took 1 minute shorter rest than the last interval (4 mins after 5 mins hard) and that was more than enough. I threw in the shorter stuff at the end in an attempt to get some speed in preparation for Alumni. Ran the 60s along Charles, which I measured to be 0.23M, which means about a 68, not that quick. I wasn't too tired during the cooldown, this workout was a little easier than I was anticipating.11FRIRun to Remember course. I worked from home today and got wrapped up in what I was doing and lost track of time. Managed to get out the door a little after 6pm but didn't have the energy or motivation for a very long run.7THUFake Fresh backwards. I got going about 5:45 this morning, temps were nearly 30 degrees so I manned up and ran in shorts, which helped wake me up. There was snow on the ground and at first I thought it was slick and frozen but it turned out to just be crunchy. Ran up Mem Drive to Mass Ave and through MIT this time, but even that wasn't cleared yet. Footing wasn't too bad anywhere, just some puddles, until I got to the river. The path must not have been fully cleared last time, because most of the river was new snow on top of a mostly frozen and very uneven snow pack. Every once in awhile the snow would give way underfoot and I wasn't able to run very fast, as soon as I got to MIT I crossed Mem Drive to get some better footing. Nothing special today, just putting in mileage. Didn't feel anything lingering from yesterday. My flaky right ankle didn't appreciate the uneven ground, but I did get some snow and ice stuck behind the tongue of my shoe so I guess that's somewhat like icing.10WED5x5:00 at Boston Common. Got going a few minutes before 6am, warmed up over to Boston Common, after 14 minutes or so I got right into the workout. Just trying to run hard and get that feeling back today. I did a decent job of running hard through the entire interval, though I did start coasting a bit during number three. I started the first one at the corner of Charles and Beacon, running counterclockwise. The footing was good enough all the way around that it didn't affect things adversely, which made the workout more enjoyable. Got after it pretty well from the start, able to keep the effort up through the whole interval. I started out taking 4:00 recovery and worked that down closer to 3:00 by the end. There was nothing very spectacular about this one, the third was the worst for me but the fourth was the best, pushing the whole time and about 0.97M according to gmap-pedometer. I wound up running 6+ laps in roughly 41 minutes, a solid effort throughout but I wasn't doubled over at the end. Another 15 minutes or so of cooldown back to Charlestown finished off the run. I was happy with how it went, not a bad workout for 6am with Christmas carols stuck in my head.11TUEDidn't get out the door this morning, too tired and apathetic after work.0MONMandatory Castle-Bunker Hill run. Tried going this morning but turned around at the end of the block due to ice. Things were a little better after work, and it was light enough that I could see the ground well enough to avoid the ice. Slow going over the unshoveled sections but for the most part was able to run at a decent pace. My right ankle was sore when I got back though, from all the rolling around on uneven packed snow. Went over to the YMCA and stretched out then put in 12 minutes in the sauna, which was north of 190F.9SUNBoston Common. More snow overnight, probably 6 inches on the ground when I left at 8:20am. Made my way over the locks and up Beacon Hill to the Common which thankfully was being plowed. Put in 9 laps, the perimeter is 1.1M, and had pretty good footing throughout. I was running about 7:30 per lap, so a little bit under 7:00 pace. After about 40 minutes in the Common Jake and Jacokes showed up and I ran with them for another 30. After 70 minutes in the Common I headed back to Charlestown, the footing was much worse on the way back than on the way out. The snow had progressed to freezing rain and on the way home it felt like I was running into the wind the whole way. Being hit in the face by tiny pieces of ice is no fun. I slogged through the Navy Yard which wasn't hardly plowed and ended up at the Charlestown YMCA after 97 minutes. It's closer to 1.5M than 2M to the Common, and the roundtrip took 27-28 minutes, pretty slow going. I stretched out for a few minutes at the Y then spent 15 minutes in the sauna before walking home. It wasn't quite the shock I was expecting going from 160 degrees out into snow, but walking through the 8 inches of unplowed snow was still a jolt. Great run this morning, reminded me a lot of January 2005, only I wasn't running during the worst of the storm this year, and I was living much closer to the Common then. 13Week 00week002007-12-092007-12-15Wasn't planning on running so little this week, but that's the way it goes. Felt good the 2 times I did get out the door and I actually lifted for the first time since May 2005. Now that the indoor Alumni meet is looming it's time to get down to business. December Miles : 89SATDidn't run when I woke up and spent the rest of the day running errands and doing Christmas shopping. Exhausted at the end of the day.0FRICTown loop with Kathryn then Locks-Causeway-Longfellow-River. Ran at about 3pm today, in the middle of my work day, and was feeling pretty good. Easy the whole way, the piers were covered in snow so we wandered around the Navy Yard for a bit before heading out on Main. Climbed up Bunker Hill instead of going around to Sackville, then dropped off Kathryn and took the locks over to Causeway. The locks were surprisingly clear, as was the bridge. From what I say it looked like the Esplanade had been plowed, too. Ran 30 mins with Kathryn and about 28 on my own.8THUHighland Ave, glad I ran in the morning. Pretty sore from lifting yesterday but other than that it was a good run. Was going pretty slow, 28+ on the way out and 26:50ish on the way back. It took me 4 hours to drive the 15M home from work this afternoon, I didn't venture out into the snow when I got home.8WEDOne more day off, but I did go to the gym after work and lifted.0TUESlept in again, decided to catch up on sleep for one more day.0MONTurned off the alarm at 5:15am and rolled over. Could use another day off.0SUNNo Run. Left the hotel at 8:30am and didn't have it in me to get up early enough to put in any meaningful mileage. Going to take a day or two and then get back into things.0