7th Post-Collegiate 2009-01-19 160 Week 20 week20 2009-06-14 2009-06-20 Ran an okay race on Sunday, I think the week before left my legs a little dead, but I was able to find some speed when I needed it. That seemed to put me in a big hole though, as I was absolutely wasted on Monday. Didn't relish the thought of working out on Wednesday and decided there was no point in forcing things at the moment. Taking an easy week or two, with the goal of resting up and coming back with more energy after the trip to Canada. (That's the end for this "season" then, moving on to the 8th Post-Collegiate log.) SAT Day off. 0 NONE NONE NONE FRI Back Bay plus 4x150m finishes. 7 EASY GOOD GOOD THU Lincoln. The plan between now and Canada is to do what I feel like and not force myself to do anything. Hopefully that will recharge my batteries a little. Good run on the trails with the usual guys. 13 EASY GOOD GOOD WED Day off. Decided to take some down time for the next few weeks. 0 NONE NONE NONE TUE Docks with Yermie and James. Felt a little better today, having company always helps. Good run, a little faster than I'd run on my own. 10 EASY AVG AVG MON Charlestown Loop. I felt absolutely terrible on this one, it was a death march. Had planned on running in the afternoon but spent the day feeling like a zombie so I decided not to run. 4 EASY BAD BAD SUN Battle of Bunker Hill 8k. 24:55 for first. Got out hard and expected to run away with it, but wasn't able to break away and started getting tired around mile 3. Managed to stay aggressive, surged a couple more times but couldn't get a gap. With 600m left the other guy made a big surge, but I was able to reel him back in and pulled away in the final 200m. 9 HARD AVG AVG Week 19 week19 2009-06-07 2009-06-13 SAT Run to Remember. 7 EASY AVG AVG FRI Fake Fresh, with 4x150m finishes. 11 EASY BAD AVG THU Lincoln. 13 AVG AVG GOOD WED 4x800, 2x1600, River Loop in 2:23, 22, 21, 22; 4:54, 53; 13:11. Warmed up with Bernie and Brendan, I felt alright but wasn't terribly psyched up for this workout. It was a lot longer than I was expecting but I wound up feeling pretty good. The five of us (Carter and Chettle joined up) got started right around 7pm, I led the first two 800s, coming through in 71 each time. Chettle went past me on the second lap, but I managed to avoid slowing down too much. Brendan took the the 3rd one out in 70, he and Chettle took off on the second lap, I kept the effort about the same. The fourth was just like the first two, I got out in 71 then Chettle went around and took off. I led both miles, coming through in 2:27 for the first and 2:26 for the second. On the first mile, Chettle went around me at 800m and really dusted me, finishing in 4:45. I managed to hold him off until 1200m on the second mile, he still put a decent amount of distance on me in the last lap. Headed over to the river to finish up with the 2.5M loop. Terry has put down marks along the loop, which moved the start back a little bit, I think the new loop is 5-10 seconds longer than the old one. Got out alongside Chettle, we hit the first mile in 5:12 and he started pulling away just after Arsenal. I rallied for a little bit but started falling off after 1.5M. Brendan caught me just before 2M (10:28,) then he and Chettle started pulling away even more. I didn't have much fight over the final half mile, slowing to 2:43. Brendan, Bernie and I stayed on the river for the cooldown and tacked on a little bit extra on the mile loop around Harvard. Glad to have everything over with, I was pretty spent after 6.5M of work and stretched out quickly before heading home. 11 HARD AVG GOOD TUE Olmsted with Paul Welle and James Kandie. Ran over to the Z Center and met up with those 2 guys, then headed out to the Riverway. Legs felt decent, we kept the effort easy and kept up the conversation the whole way. Pretty basic run, just putting in mileage. 12 EASY AVG AVG MON Davis-Bike Path. Surprisingly not tired at 5:45am when my alarm went off and managed to get out the door around 6:05. I guess taking a nap yesterday really helped. I still felt terrible at the start and was slow and sore the whole way, but I managed to put in a long run and get ahead of pace for the week. Only checked a few splits along the river, went from 3:35 from 7.5 to 7 down to 3:30 from 4.5 to 4. 14 EASY AVG AVG SUN Rhody, 15:18 for 8th. I felt decent on the warmup and got off the line really well, was out front for the first 400m or so until everybody caught up. Wasn't hammering and didn't plan to take the lead, but everybody seemed to be jogging and I just wound up out front. Fell back a bit up before the mile (4:49) then moved up a little bit over the next two. Lost the back and forth with Dan Vassallo, I wasn't confident enough to push from 800m out, I waited until the last 400m or so to really get going. Came up short of the 15:07 target, so it's Sharp's N.A. for me this week. Cooled down 2-3M with a big group of guys and Midge as the women raced, then went another mile plus with Kathryn when she finished. Big day for Midge, running 5-6M and did a great job. Didn't race as well as I was hoping for, but put in another solid effort. I feel like I've been right on the cusp of running well for a few months now, hopefully I'm able to put things together soon. 9 HARD GOOD AVG Week 18 week18 2009-05-31 2009-06-06 Disappointing week, got off to a great start with Sunday's long run but couldn't keep it going. I may have dug myself into a little bit too deep of a hole on Sunday, I really pushed hard for almost that whole run. A pretty pathetic attempt at a workout on Wednesday and then a little bit of speed on Friday just to turn my legs over. I'm feeling pretty confident about Rhody, maybe more confident than I should be right now. Came in well under 70, we'll see if I'm able to get under 15:07 on Sunday. SAT Docks-Greenway. Headed out this morning for an easy six miles and my legs were feeling much better than yesterday. Not much going on for this run, got close to the Harpoon 5 mile race, but wasn't lucky enough to see the Hall of Famers Carly and Terry. As always, finishing up down the Greenway was great. 6 EASY AVG AVG FRI Fake Fresh backwards. Really tired when I got up but still managed to get out the door not much after 6am. My legs went from feeling terrible to feeling slightly less terrible over the course of the run, pretty slow the whole way. Took a detour to the MIT track and ran 4x150m finishes, which is a continuous easy mile jog around the track, with a hard effort from the water barrier to the finish on each lap. Didn't time the first one, then ran 24-22-22 which was a little slower than I was hoping for. I had been playing around with trying to break 60, a la Mark LaRosa, but my legs were feeling so terrible I decided not to even try. Headed home nice and easy along the river. Hopefully this little extra turnover helps out on Sunday. 11 EASY BAD BAD THU Lincoln, long loop. Pretty big group this evening, I had a frustrating day at work and wanted to hammer right away but managed to hang back and keep it easy. A lot of guys went the long loop, had a really good run and my legs were feeling good, even when Terry started tightening the screws at the end. 13 AVG GOOD GOOD WED Fells, quasi-fartlek. Originally I had hoped to get over to MIT this morning for a workout and put in some shorter intervals to sharpen up for Rhody. Felt really tired and run down when I woke up and knew I'd get over to MIT, start running slowly and then wonder why I was wasting my time and likely cut it short. Instead I stopped at the Fells on my way back from the office and tried to put in a fartlek. The Fells is a terrible place to do run a fartlek and it took me far too long to find a reservoir. I managed to get in 5 or 6 hard efforts between 1 and 3 minutes long and did enough to get my legs turned over and I felt a lot better when I finished up. Got a little lost at the very end (imagine that) but that only tacked on maybe 5 minutes. It looks like there's no way to get up to 70M this week without totally ruining Rhody on Sunday, with that in mind I'm giving myself one out from the 70M rule. If I manage to run faster at Rhody than Terry did last year (15:07) then I can drink. 7 HARD AVG AVG TUE Day off. 0 NONE NONE NONE MON Run to Remember course. Dead tired in the morning so I waited until the end of the day, got going about 5pm. Felt absolutely wrecked for the first few steps, eventually managed to get to a non-terrible state, but I didn't really ever feel good. Had no desire to extend the run, finished up with an awkward feeling stride and called it a day. 7 EASY BAD BAD SUN Davis-Minuteman, hard long run. After skipping the workout yesterday I decided I'd make the long run harder than usual. I wasn't that excited about it and really didn't feel good early on, but that may have been from trying to keep it easy slower than my legs wanted to go. I started picking it up as I got to Davis and ran 6:10 and 6:00 along the Minuteman. Tried to keep it there down Mass Ave but was probably a little bit slower. Got to the river in 73 minutes (would have been 54 without the stretch on Minuteman) and was starting to feel pretty tired. From 7.5 to 7 I was 3:08 and then did what I could to finish up with 3 hard miles to the Science Museum. Felt bad right from the start though and at each half mile had to convince myself to keep going. Managed to gut out 5:59/5:56/6:03, not that fast but felt as though it was all out. Jogged/shuffled/walked home and then just laid around wondering why I do this to myself. After drinking a bunch of water and cooling off I started feeling normal and even took Midge on a hike for a few miles in the Fells with Kathryn in the afternoon. 17 HARD GOOD GOOD Week 17 week17 2009-05-24 2009-05-30 One of the best 5 day stretches in a long time, but things fell apart at the end of the week. I had a good shot at getting into the 80s but didn't get out the door on Friday. Really nothing special today, just some decent mileage and one terrible workout. SAT BU. The plan originally was to run a workout this morning, but wasn't feeling that great when I woke up and lost motivation as the day went on. Eventually managed to get out the door for an eight miler to get up over 70M this week, but wasn't that into it. Running about 6:50 along the river, just wanted to get this one over with though. 8 EASY BAD BAD FRI No running. Exhausted in the morning and then busy all day. So much for 80M this week. 0 NONE NONE NONE THU Lincoln. The Sheatocks, Carraras, Mark LaRosa and Jeff Caron were all there today; we ran the 10M loop and then Mark, Jeff and I tacked on around Mt Misery. We kept things pretty relaxed the whole way, and I felt decent but was glad to be finished. Went 89 minutes, which I'm sure TPS loves. 13 EASY AVG AVG WED 5M decreasing pace, 2x800 in 6:06-5:53-5:38-5:34-5:30, 2:32, 2:34. Had to get going early this morning, was up around 5:15 and started the workout a little bit after 6am. The plan was to start at 6:00 and cut 15 seconds every mile, finishing at 5:00, and then 2x800, hopefully close to 2:20. Stayed relaxed early, splitting the first mile 3:04/3:02, but wasn't able to get going after that. Off by a little bit on the second mile but was hoping that I'd be able to pick it up over the final three miles. Knew it wasn't my day when I saw 2:50 for the first half of the third mile and was stuck around 2:45 the rest of the way. Took 5:00 rest and then ran the two halves, I felt pretty good on those but gradually slowed as the interval wore on (at least that's how it felt.) This wasn't the workout I was hoping for this morning, I'm not sure what the conversion is for solo workouts at 6am, but I'm sure it's not enough to make this a good one. 10 HARD BAD BAD TUE Elliot with Yermie. 13 EASY AVG AVG MON River Street with Terry and Brennan. Ran over to Science at 2pm to meet Terry and Brennan, we just ran a simple river loop up to River Street on the Boston side then back down to Science before splitting up. I was feeling kind of sluggish in the early going and sat behind the two of them, letting them set the pace. I eventually started feeing better and my legs came around, by the end we were 6:30-6:45 and my legs were good. Couple of hard/long days in a row coupled with doubling today, felt like it was 2003 today. 10 AVG AVG AVG MON Charlestown Loop. Woke up a little tired this morning and wasn't overly motivated, so I decided to change plans and double today. Felt absolutely terrible in the early going, it took about 10 minutes to really get loosened up, but I felt better as the run wore on. Guess it just takes longer to get going in my old age. 4 EASY AVG AVG SUN Around Boston. Kathryn ran the Run to Remember half this morning, so I ran to various points on the course to watch and ran a few miles with her. I'm guessing I covered about 13M in the 90 minutes I was out there. I was really tight and slow at the start and though I started feeling better I was never feeling great. I didn't think that I had run that hard yesterday, but clearly it took more out of me than I thought. 13 EASY AVG AVG Week 16 week16 2009-05-17 2009-05-23 Up and down week, two days off but a good long run, a good workout and a decent race. Still trying to get into a good routine, I feel like I'm just on the verge of getting into decent shape and running well again. SAT Run for Dave, 26:58 for 8th. Drove down to Dartmouth with Craig, Sean and their friend Vikram for the second annual Run For Dave. They really raised the prize money this year and that brought in a lot of the Westchester guys and Mark Carroll. Felt alright on the warmup and strides, not great but good enough. 6 Kenyans took off at the gun and I never saw them again. Mark Carroll caught me by half a mile or so and went right past. I passed Chettle around 3M, but he was the only guy I managed to catch. Not a great race, but a decent effort and Sean, Craig and myself managed to win the team prize. Cooled down 3M around the streets of Dartmouth, didn't feel too bad. 10 HARD AVG AVG FRI Day off. 0 NONE NONE NONE THU Lincoln. Big group at Lincoln today and almost everybody went 13. I was a little sore early but my legs came around and had a really good run. 13 EASY GOOD GOOD WED Mile Loop-1600-Mile Loop-1200-Mile Loop-800 in 4:58, 4:53, 5:07, 3:41, 5:10, 2:22. Felt decent on this one, ran with Brendan and Carter on the first loop mile, a few seconds behind Ely. Chettle joined us on the track, I took us out in 71-72 and we came through the half in 2:25. Managed to hang on pretty well and finished up with a decent last 100m to hold off Carter. Transitioned back to the loop and managed to latch onto Brendan the whole way. Came back to the track and got after it again, opened up with 72-73 and did my best to hold it together. Back on the mile loop I really fell apart over the second half, lost touch with everybody and cruised home. Got it back a little for the final 800, took it out in 70 and Chettle went around but I managed to gut out a decent second lap. Pretty spent at the end of this one, but really happy with how it went. I decided that I was sick of running slow on the track, so I started getting out harder and running at least part of the intervals fast, even if that meant I started to die at the end. 11 HARD GOOD GOOD WED CTown Loop. 4 EASY AVG AVG TUE BU. 8 EASY AVG AVG MON Day off. 0 NONE NONE NONE SUN JP with a big group. Met Ian Nurse, TPS, Bernie, Liam, Will Dobbie and a few other guys at Mem and Mass Ave then headed out to JP via BU. I was feeling alright, but not as good as the guys up front as when we got to JP we really started hauling. I managed to hang on and was glad when the pace settled down. Most guys dropped off around BU on the way back, I headed down to Science with Ian, TPS and Bernie, then ran home solo. Was out there for just under 1:40, I feel pretty confident calling it 15. Learned a lot about Puerto Rican lizards from Liam. 15 AVG GOOD GOOD Week 15 week15 2009-05-10 2009-05-16 SAT Castle-Bunker Hill. Got going right away this morning on a nice and relaxed run. Felt good the whole way, kept it easy and my knee was feeling pretty good. 9 EASY AVG AVG FRI Day off. 0 NONE NONE NONE THU Lincoln. Met the Elys at Lincoln after work today, headed out with Matt on the 10M loop then added on around Mt Misery. I was fighting stomach issues for the second half of the run but managed to gut it out. Pretty sore and slow at the start, but got loosened up after a few miles and felt decent for the majority of the run. This was the best that my hip and knee have felt recently, I'm glad that I was able to get on the trails today. 13 EASY AVG AVG WED 2.5M River loop, 1600, 800, 800, 400, 400 in 12:47, 4:55, 2:22, 2:23, 68, 67. The plan was to run the river loop at 5:10 pace, but Ely quickly pulled away and Brendan went with him. Managed to keep a good effort for the whole loop, but I wasn't really working as hard as I should have been. Surprised that this one didn't wind up being slower. Jogged back to the track and managed to run a little more aggressively, we all shared the lead but Ely was pulling away on everything until we got to the 400s and then I was able to hang on. Not a great workout but another step in the right direction and my knee wasn't giving me too much trouble. 10 HARD AVG AVG TUE No running. 0 NONE NONE NONE MON Charlestown Loop. Slept through the alarm again, really tired this morning. I wanted to get something in this morning though before a follow up appointment with Carly, and my knee felt pretty good. The appointment went pretty well, too, things weren't as painful as they were last week. I had originally hoped to get out for a second run later in the day, but work is still pretty busy and I never had a chance. 4 EASY AVG AVG SUN Day off. Felt pretty nautious today and spent most of the day in bed or on the couch wishing that my club wasn't so supportive. 12 EASY AVG AVG Week 14 week14 2009-05-03 2009-05-09 Pretty short and uneventful week, I missed a lot of time due to my right knee getting really painful at the end of last week, but an appointment with Carly on Monday really seemed to get things moving in the right direction. I stayed cautious the rest of the week though, partly to avoid screwing things up and partly out of laziness. I was really happy to be able to put in 12M on Saturday relatively pain free though, that was a step in the right direction. SAT Olmsted. Got out the door around 8:30 this morning and was feeling pretty good from the start. It took me a few miles to get into the run, I've been so accustomed to going short recently that my body didn't seem to know what was going on. Felt really good the whole way and if I wasn't paying such close attention to how my knee felt I don't know that I would have noticed anything. I'd say it's back to the way it was before, slightly tight at times but nothing that's hindering my ability to run. 12 EASY AVG AVG FRI Charlestown Loop. My right hip/knee continues to feel better, very little pain or tightness on this run. Had wanted to go a bit longer but slept past my alarm and didn't have a lot of time this morning. 4 EASY AVG AVG THU Day off. Was absolutely exhausted in the morning for no apparent reason and couldn't get out of bed. Work piled up and I never got a chance to get out the door. Taking a day off here probably won't hurt, it gives me a decent chance to get better. 0 NONE NONE NONE WED Run to Remember. Slept in a little bit again this morning but was headed out the door by 6:40. Great Boston spring weather, about 45 degrees and raining. My knee was a little sore at the very start, but it's hard to stay objective when I'm thinking about it all the time. Throughout the run my knee was hurting where the IT band attaches and I did think about cutting it short but after 2-3M it started feeling less bad and I made it through the whole run without feeling like I was pushing it. Finished up with a decent amount of stretching, foam rolling and tennis ball action. Happy to see the mileage slowly moving back up, maybe I'll be able to keep my mileage above Terry's. 7 EASY AVG AVG TUE Charlestown Loop. A little cooler this morning, got out around 6:45 this morning for an easy loop around Charlestown. Things felt great early and my hip wasn't bothering me at all. I developed a little bit of a dull ache right where my quad hits my knee but that was pretty much all. Much more optimistic after this run, made sure to do a good job of stretching and foam rolling and tried Carly's suggestion of rolling on a tennis ball where my hip is tight. Felt good enough to start building back to regular mileage, I'm thinking 7M tomorrow. 4 EASY AVG AVG MON Charlestown Loop. I knew when I woke up that things were still off, my hip was tight before I even started, but I got out for an easy four miles this morning. Things weren't bad for the first mile or so, just some generic tightness in my hip. Heading past the HarborView my IT got much tighter and the inside of my quad started to hurt. Things got worse as the run wore on and I was pretty dejected by the end of it. Went to Carly's brand new office a little after the run and got what felt like a very helpful massage. 4 EASY AVG BAD SUN Day off. Still no shoes, though I managed to pick up a new pair in the afternoon. Hopefully a couple days of rest will help. 0 NONE NONE NONE Week 13 week13 2009-04-26 2009-05-02 Pretty bad week. Posted a pathetic 33:07 at James Joyce, the heat slowed me down but not as much as my stupid tactics did. Took my time getting back into the swing of things, kept it easy on Monday to recover from the James Joyce death march, but was feeling good for the workout on Wednesday. I felt really good working with Matt and Brendan and even though the 400s at the end were a little slow I started to feel more comfortable running hard. That seemed to have really affected things as my right hip and knee got really tight the next day and I didn't run much the rest of the week. I officially waived the 70MPW rule on Friday, I don't want to encourage myself to push through this just to reach an arbitrary goal. SAT Day off. Since I threw my shoes away I didn't have much of a choice; I did drive out to Sports Authority this morning but they had about 3 types of adidas and Marathon Sports wasn't opening for a few hours. Busy the rest of the day, tried not to think about things. 0 NONE NONE NONE FRI Inman Square. Got started around 6am this morning, originally planning on a 14 miler with a fast finish and felt good for the first couple of blocks. As my hip started to tighten I decided to scratch the fast finish but by the time I got to Sullivan Square things were starting to get worse and I started thinking going 8M was a better option. My hip and IT were bad but not much worse than recently, the real issue was that the inside of my quad, from my hip flexor down to my knee was really tight and felt unstable. Bounced back and forth in my mind between cutting it short and gutting out an 8 miler. Eventually decided to turn at Prospect and head home. I made the right decision as heading home down Cambridge the whole right leg got much worse. Pretty frustrated by the end of this one, chucked my beat up shoes in the trash as soon as I got home. 5 EASY AVG BAD THU Charlestown Loop. I originally planned on going about 7M but as I was heading out the door this afternoon decided to keep it short. That actually turned out to be a good idea as my right hip/knee was much worse than it's been recently. My knee was bothering me during the workout last night but I finished the workout anyways and today was a little discouraging. Tried to stretch out afterwards, but didn't feel that great. 4 EASY AVG BAD WED 2x(400-800-1600-400) 4x400 in 70, 2:23, 4:55, 68; 67, 2:22, 4:54, 68; 67, 67, 66, 66. Got to Harvard early this evening and had a chance to shoot the bull for a bit with Terry, Ely and Brendan before warming up. Went the usual route with Matt and Brendan, didn't feel all that great and my hip was a bit sore. Didn't run any strides beforehand, spent awhile stretching out my hip and felt decent enough when we got started. Sat behind Matt on the first one, a pretty evenly paced 400, then took us through in 70 to start off the 800 before slowing on the second lap. Matt and I traded off the lead during the mile, I took us through in 74/2:28 then Matt went to the front and hammered. He started pulling away a bit and I wasn't feeling great, we came through in 3:40 which explained why I was barely hanging on, I backed off a bit too much on the last lap as Matt pulled away. Ely split off on his own, running another mile, Brendan jumped into the lead and I followed him to a 68 wrapping up the first set. I led the next few intervals, felt alright on the first 400 and the 800 went pretty well too, out in 70-71 and even effort on the second lap. Brendan and I traded off the lead over the mile, I took us out in 2:27ish and faded a bit on the second half as Brendan pulled away. Rebounded nicely and was able to stay on Brendan's heels finishing up with a 68. Felt awesome at the start of the 4x400 set, sat behind Brendan on the first on though and lost a bit of the rhythm over the last 150m. I led the second and did a good job of pushing and even though it wasn't as fast as I was looking for it felt aggressive, which was great. I led the final two intervals and managed to keep the same aggressive feeling, though they weren't as fast as they felt. Somewhat more pleased with how this one went, would like to hit at least 65s on those quarters, but all in all a step in the right direction. Cooled down with the guys on the usual loop. 10 HARD AVG AVG WED Charlestown Loop. Out the door for a quick shakeout this morning, felt good enough but it's hard to feel too good or too bad over 4M. My right hip has been giving me some issues lately but today things didn't feel as bad. Maybe the stretching and exercises I've been making up are helping. 4 EASY AVG AVG TUE Olmsted. Managed to get out for a longer run this morning, felt good on my way out to Olmsted and kept it steady on the way back. Still trying to be smart and recover from Sunday's effort but everything feels fine right now. The real test is going to be the workout tomorrow though. A little cooler this morning, which made for an enjoyable run. 12 EASY AVG AVG MON BU. I was really concerned that yesterday's effort in the heat would have taken a lot out of me so I kept it short and easy this morning. Out the door around 6:30am and wasn't feeling too bad. My legs weren't sore and I had a lot more energy than I was expecting. Pretty low key morning, about 7:00 along the river which was probably my fastest mile. 8 EASY AVG AVG SUN James Joyce Ramble, 33:07 for 3rd. Warmed up with Jeff Caron and Dan Lounsbury, my legs were feeling decent and even though it was warm there was enough of a breeze to keep things reasonable. Got off the line really hard, trying to break away early, but it was much hotter out on the street than I was expecting and the guys around me didn't fall off and I cracked around the three mile mark. The sun was really beating down and the wind was still throughout most of the course and it felt like running through an over. Started feeling sorry for myself and checked out in the middle of the race, didn't run aggressively when I need to. Fell back into fourth around 4M but somehow managed to refocus and turned myself inside out over the last 1200m to catch Dan Mazzocco and move into 3rd. Completely wiped at the finish, was barely able to straggle through a 2M cooldown. Really rough day, I overestimated by own fitness and underestimated the other guys in the race and the affect of the heat. Had I been a little smarter I would have shot for an evenly paced 32:00 effort getting stronger at the end. 10 HARD BAD BAD Week 12 week12 2009-04-19 2009-04-25 Not the greatest of weeks, feel like I ran the Charlestown loop every day. Had an alright race on Sunday, not as fast as I was hoping for but a decent effort, but that meant no long run and then the marathon on Monday put me further behind pace. Had an alright workout on Wednesday, felt good working with the guys, but the 400s on my own didn't go as well as they should have. Only going 4M on Thursday really screwed things up and I had to go longer Friday and Saturday than I wanted to. Another Sunday race leaves the week a little unresolved. SAT Olmsted. I got out for a run around 10:30am and felt decent early on. It's still really hot, which is nice enough but means the streets are crowded. Got to Olmsted and decided to keep it slower than slow on the way home to save up for tomorrow, so I was just jogging along at a pretty easy pace. I think that actually made me feel worse, plus I was likely dehydrated, as the last stretch from the Garden home was long and slow. Made a point of drinking plenty of water the rest of the day to replenish. 12 EASY AVG AVG FRI Ollie. Got going around 6pm and it was still really warm. The front edge of a mini-heat wave moved in today. Regretted wearing a shirt about a mile into this one, though maybe I should have LaRosa'd it and worn long sleeve, hat and gloves to get myself acclimated for Sunday. Didn't feel that great today, the run dragged on a little bit, it was really crowded with everybody out enjoying the weather and I was feeling dehydrated by the time I finished. 11 EASY AVG AVG FRI Charlestown Loop, for about the millionth time this week. Tired again this morning and decided to just go short this morning and longer in the afternoon. Quick, easy run. 4 EASY AVG AVG THU Charlestown Loop. Woke up exhausted this morning and put off running until later in the day. Work piled up and before I knew it it was 7pm and I barely had time to get in a run at all. Felt pretty good and wish I had managed to get out for a longer run. 4 EASY AVG AVG WED 2x1600, 4x800, 8x400 in 4:59, 4:58; 2:30, 26, 26, 24; 68, 68, 69, 68, 69, 68, 68, 67. Long workout at Harvard, the early parts with Matt Ely, Brendan and Chettle. It was raining off and on, sometimes hard, sometimes light but I didn't feel like it affected things too much. Matt took the lead on the first one, running a pretty evenly paced mile, 75-2:30-3:44-4:59, but I bounced around off the back a little too much, didn't have a good rhythm. Brendan took us halfway through the next one in 2:30 before Matt took the lead and started grinding away. I hung back a bit too much and had to really dig over the final 600m to keep it respectable and finish up with back to back 74s. I did an impeccable job of pacing the first 800, roughly 35-74-1:51-2:30. We were looking to progressively get faster over the 800s, we seemed to always get out in 34-35 before settling in and finding pace. Chettle showed up before the third 800 and joined us, we were working together well and getting into a good rhythm. We went our separate ways after the 8s though, Brendan called it a day, Ely and Chettle ran 2x1600 and I opted for some 400s. The 4s didn't go that great, I consistently got out in 33-low but then struggled to close well. The 2 69s came when I relaxed too much on the first 200 and got out in 34. Pretty tired by the time I finished up, and it didn't help that I had to deal with Carly picking on me at the same time. Cooled down the usual loop with all the guys before finally being able to get warm and dry and head for home. 11 EASY AVG AVG WED Charlestown Loop. Same loop three times in a row, got going around 6:30 this morning and felt alright. Boring morning run. 4 EASY AVG AVG TUE Charlestown Loop. Spent the whole day working and running errands and it was almost 7pm before I knew it. Didn't have a lot of time for more mileage if I wanted to get to bed at a decent hour. I put in a quick and easy four in the rain, and felt awesome and wished I had more time tonigh. 4 EASY AVG AVG TUE Charlestown Loop. When I planned out the week today was a 14M day, but I went out with Nick last night and was feeling a little queasy when my alarm went off at 5:30am. Slept in an extra hour which made a huge difference and put in a short one planning on doing more later in the day. 4 EASY AVG AVG MON Docks-Greenway. Still didn't feel great this morning, got going after dropping Nick End off at the shuttle buses. Nothing special about this one, didn't feel too bad after yesterday. 6 EASY AVG AVG SUN BAA 5k, 15:15 for 5th. Woke up around 4am feeling sick to my stomach, spent some time in the bathroom and some time tossing and turning before getting settled again. Still didn't feel great when I got up but as the morning wore on I managed put it out of my mind. Warmed up 2M with Jarrod Shoemaker a little faster than I would have liked, they didn't let us run strides off the line so I wound up standing around for 5-10 minutes before the gun. Got off the line terribly as the mat for the chips slipped, I was behind Jarrod and Matt Ely and everybody was just jogging, so after 400-600m I elbowed my way between them and took the lead. Stayed up front until Jarrod made a move on Tremont, tried to hammer down Beacon but lost a couple spots, spent the second half of the race in 5th, staring at Michael Chettle's back and that's where I finished. Cooled down 3M before watching the awards, and then another 3M with Brendan before the elite miles got started. Not the race I was hoping for, a solid effort but I feel like I had more in my legs. 11 HARD AVG AVG Week 11 week11 2009-04-12 2009-04-18 Had to scramble to hit 70M after getting off to a good start, which is never a good situation. Aside from Wednesday's debacle at Harvard I'm not too disappointed in how this week went. Thursday's workout wasn't amazing and I still feel slow but it went better than my recent workouts have. This is one of those fluky weeks where I'm racing on a Sunday and there's no definitive ending to wrap up the week. SAT Ollie course. I felt absolutely terrible out there today, I didn't take a watch but my legs were heavy and it took a lot of effort to get through this one. Hopefully I feel a little better tomorrow. 11 EASY BAD BAD FRI Summit Ave. Having to compensate for Wednesday forced to me pick a longer route than I otherwise would have, but at least it keeps me honest before Sunday's race. Since I'm trying to race more often this spring/summer, I need to be sure I don't go overboard and back off before every race. 12 EASY BAD AVG THU 8x400, 4x600, 4x200 in 67, 8, 7, 5, 7, 6, 7, 7; 1:45, 1:44, 1:45, 1:46; 30, 31, 32, 30. Worked for a few hours this morning and headed over to MIT around 10am. Felt alright on the warmup and the wind wasn't too bad when I got to the track, I was hoping that would lead to a good workout. Since I've been struggling to run longer intervals hard enough I decided that I was better off running shorter intervals where at least I'd be able to push. Struggled to find a rhythm early on but after managing the 65 things started feeling better. The fifth interval felt on par with the 65, except I hit a strong headwind at the start of the homestraight that stood me up a bit. The 6s didn't go as well as I would have liked, I got out well but hit the 400 in 70-71 and cruised too much after that. I wound up having to weave in and out of traffic during the 600s as an MIT phys ed class was out jogging around. I was alternating the start on those, so the second and fourth were finishing into the wind. All the 200s were comfortable and felt good, I got a little too complacent on the third but managed to refocus to end on a good interval. Talked with Coach for a few minutes, who said not to worry too much about the workouts if my races are going well, then cooled down back home and took Midge out for another 2M. Fairly pleased with how this one went, it felt good to be able to run hard and stay focused throughout an entire workout. 12 HARD GOOD GOOD WED No running. Didn't get up for a morning run when my alarm went off and then got to Harvard at 6:30 frustrated after sitting in traffic for an hour. There was some special event going on; they were charging $10 to park in the lot and there weren't any spots on the street so I just went home. Even more frustrated and couldn't psych myself up for even just a short run. Bad day all around. 0 NONE NONE NONE TUE 2M with Midge then Fake Fresh backwards. Managed to get out the door when I got back from work and had to bright idea of taking Midge to get her tired out. She did a better job of running, but not a great job of pacing. My legs were a little dead when I started the rest of the run and I just kind of trudged through it. Nothing spectacular. 12 EASY BAD BAD MON Run to Remember. Certainly not the distance I was planning today, but going 17 yesterday gives me some flexibility. I was tired and it was cold when I woke up so I decided to wait until the afternoon, which paid off because it was in the 50s for the run. 7 EASY GOOD GOOD SUN Lars Anderson Park. Got going as soon as I woke up this morning, decided to try something new and took Perkins and Goddard from Jamaica to Lars Anderson. It was a good climb to get to the park and then a nice 10 minutes or so around the park. Didn't feel yesterday's race too much, though I just kept it nice and steady the whole way. The highlight of the run was certainly coming across a pair of turkeys in the road on my way back to JP. Wound up being just a few minutes shy of two hours, which I feel pretty comfortable calling 17. 17 EASY GOOD GOOD Week 10 week10 2009-04-05 2009-04-11 Managed to get up to the mark this week, even without a long run on Sunday and being lazy on Thursday. I felt like I finally got the fast finish long run figured out, managed to close well without working too hard and got in a really good effort. The workout on Wednesday was pretty much the complete opposite. I ran really pathetic times but still felt like I was working hard, which is the worrisome part. I keep telling myself it's the after effects of all the work I did getting ready for Houston, my body is trying to find a pace it can hold for 10M, not two minutes, but I'm not sure how much I believe that. Hard to argue with what I'm doing on race day though, really happy with the 15:22. During the warm up I was telling WP how the course is harder than it looks and a CR of 15:21 would typically be soft, but I felt like that was a good time to run solo. Put somebody else out there with me and I'm sure we get under 15:10, maybe even under 15:00. SAT Todd's Trot, 15:22 for 1st. Got to the race a little later than I had planned, but still had time to get my number, use the bathroom and put in a full warmup. Warmed up with Wilson, who I was expecting to be here, and tried to scope out any other competition. There were a few fast looking guys and on the line I had psyched myself up for a race, but after 800m I was in complete control and went on to win by about 30 seconds. Got out in 4:53 which was almost as fast I was hoping for and really tried to push the second mile, running a 4:57. That put me at 9:50 when I had been hoping for 9:40-9:45 to give myself a realistic shot at the record (15:21). Didn't think I had a shot at it until the last 100m or so when I saw the clock at 15:08. I got up on my toes and probably ran faster than I have since the mile at Alumni but came up one second short, which was disappointing. Cooled down about 6M, the first 30:00 with Wilson and Heidi (who broke the women's CR), the last 10:00 with WP after the awards. Very excited about this race, felt really good throughout and was surprised to come within 0:01 of the CR. I set that record 2 years ago in the build up to Penn and was in much better shape (although I did feel terrible that day). 11 HARD GOOD GOOD FRI Olmsted. Kept it really easy this morning, trying to stay somewhat fresh for the race tomorrow. Pretty nice weather and a good enough run along the "trail." Looks like I'll be back at 70M after tomorrow. 12 EASY AVG AVG THU Day off. Just absolutely wiped out when my alarm went off and then wasn't able to find time to run later in the day. 0 NONE NONE NONE WED 4x400, 2x800, 4x1200 in 69, 68, 68, 69; 2:27, 2:27; 3:47, 47, 47, 47. Ugly workout this evening. Got to Harvard late thanks to a traffic jam on 95, but I was working out alone so it didn't really matter. Felt okay on the warmup but rushed through stretching and strides a little, just wanted to get into it. Felt alright on the 400s though I wasn't running very fast and just :30 rest was barely enough to get my breathing back to normal. The first set went by very quickly, but the 800s seemed to last forever. Came through in 72-73 for both of them and then slowed a lot on the second lap. I continue to try to settle in, or coast, or whatever you want to call it and cannot grind out the short, hard intervals right now. The 800s had pretty much killed my confidence and I was just trying to get through the 1200s without embarassing myself too much more. Each 1200 went exactly the same, I got out in 75 feeling decent and then tried to push the second lap but hit just 2:33 (a 78). I'd then have to salvage the interval on the last lap and bring varying degrees of a kick into play in the final 200m. Glad to have it over with, not at all encouraged by what I've been doing on the track recently. Struggling to find the ability to push myself, and trying to put thoughts of retirement out of my head. Cooled down on the usual route with Sweet Lou. 10 HARD BAD BAD WED CTown Loop. Actually managed to get going for a short one this morning to make today a double. Amazing. 4 EASY AVG AVG TUE Run to Remember course. Managed to get out for a quick 7 after getting home from the office, I felt alright but would have liked to have had time to go a bit longer. 7 EASY AVG AVG MON Davis-Bike Path, fast finish. Got going around 6am and kept it easy early, like always. Got to West in just under 29:00, which was a little quicker than normal. Started picking it up along the bike path but didn't really start moving until I got close to the river. Got to the river in 54:52, about a minutes quicker than usual, and kept it steady along the river at first. Covered the half from 7.5 to 7 in 3:11 and then started grinding for the three miles to Science. Got to 6 in 5:50 and had to swing onto the path close to the river because of construction, I got to 5 in 5:50 but don't know what that means. Cut loose a little bit more on the last mile, running 5:33. Cooled down back home, really happy with how this one went. 14 HARD GOOD GOOD SUN Olmsted. Got started around 9am but my stomach was feeling a little bit upset. Decided after a few miles to cut it short, I had been planning on 14-16M but just turned at Olmsted. Felt better as the run went on but had already decided to cut it short. 12 EASY AVG AVG Week 09 week09 2009-03-29 2009-04-04 Got off to a great start with 17M on Sunday, and felt pretty good. The rest of the week wasn't that great, two days off, a bunch of slow mileage and one crappy workout. Not sure how to explain it, I ran the first mile of the four miler a week ago in 4:47 and then can't run half of that this Saturday. Better to be racing well and working out poorly than the other way around. SAT 8x800 in 2:24, 26, 25, 27, 25, 25, 27, 27. Terrible, terrible workout. Warmed up over to MIT this morning and actually felt pretty good, even had a few quick strides. Got out in 70-71 for the first lap and everything went downhill from there. Typically would get out in 71-73 and then wound up coasting much of the second lap. I just wasn't able to grind out the rest of the interval. It was a little windy, but that really only affected the third and fourth intervals. Glad when this one was over, cooled down over the BU bridge and back home along Commonwealth, which at least got me to 60M for the week. I feel like I'm still in half-marathon mode, where I'm getting out and looking to settle into a pace that I can hold for 10M, and I'm just not able to really push over a short interval for whatever reason. 12 HARD BAD BAD FRI Summit Ave. Went early, felt alright and climbed the hill pretty well. 12 EASY AVG BAD THU Day off. Worked from home but didn't have a chance to get out the door. 0 NONE NONE NONE WED Ollie. Managed to get going this morning, kept it easy the whole way and put in just put in easy mileage. 11 EASY AVG AVG TUE Didn't run. Waited until I got back from the office but had too much work and wasn't able to get out the door. 0 NONE NONE NONE MON Pretty tired this morning and slept in a bit longer than I should have so I had to cut back from my planned 12M. Felt pretty good throughout, though I'm back to running 7:00 pace. Surprised that I wasn't more worn-down from the weekend. 8 EASY GOOD GOOD SUN Davis-Minuteman. Slept about ten hours last night and was pretty tired/sore when I got up at 9am. Convinced myself to get out and run first thing, which I don't do often enough. Thought about going out to Jamaica but thought the footing would be too bad since it rained overnight, so I decided I'd do the Davis-Bikepath route and extend it out along the Minuteman. About 40 degrees but raining, so not the greatest weather for a run and I spent the first five miles or so trying to find a reason to cut it short. Managed to get myself far enough into the run that cutting it short was no longer feasible, though. I didn't feel too bad early, not at all sore after yesterday's race. I added on out to the overpass by the baseball diamond just before the Mass Ave intersection, which was a little more than 10:00. The mile splits on the way out and on the way back were both 6:30s which really surprised me. Got to the river in 1:15:50, which would have been 55:20 without the Minuteman stretch and faster than I've been going on the fast finish long runs. Hit a headwind on the river though and was just trying to get home and finish. Ran 6:45ish for all the splits on the river and made it home in 1:55. I was very glad to be done but happy that I was able to put in 17M today, which is much further than I've run in a long time and puts me well ahead of pace for this week. 17 AVG GOOD GOOD Week 08 week08 2009-03-22 2009-03-28 A slow start to this week but things picked up and I managed to stick to the plan more or less, running 66M in the last six days. Didn't really have a workout this week, the fast finish long run didn't turn out as I had planned so I went into Saturday's race without having run hard since New Bedford. Felt a lot better going out in 4:47 than I would have expected, and managed to hold on for a decent time but didn't race very well. SAT April Fool's Four Miler in Salisbury, MA. 19:44 for 3rd place. Felt good enough on the warm up and had plenty of time for strides waiting for the gun, got off the line pretty well. Ran shoulder to shoulder with Dan Vasallo through the first mile in 4:47, with Ely a step behind. We found a more manageable pace in the second mile but I lost focus right at 2M, Dan and Matt got a little gap on me. Matt really stepped on the accelerator in the last mile and the gap went from 2 to 20 seconds. Happy to run solidly under 20:00 today but I didn't race very well and should have been in the mix late in the race. Cooled down a mile on my own, then ran the course again with Ely then put in 20 minutes more on my own to get in an 8M cooldown and hit 70M for the week. Pretty much exhausted by the time that was over, went home and took a great 2 hour nap. 14 2009 April Fool's 4 Miler HARD GOOD GOOD FRI Run to Remember course. Wound up working a lot later than I had planned and it was after 6pm by the time I was able to get out the door. Kept it shorter than I originally wanted in order to feel a little fresher tomorrow. Easy and boring run, leaving a lot of mileage for tomorrow. 7 EASY AVG AVG THU Olmsted. Waited until just before noon, as it was dark and 30 degrees at 6am. Great weather, sunny skies and nearly 50 degrees so I decided to get on the "trails" for the first time this spring. Felt pretty good but kept it nice and easy, today was just about putting in time. Nothing special about this run, though it got me looking forward to warm weather. 12 EASY AVG AVG WED Davis-Bike Path, with a fast finish. I did a good job of limiting myself to one snooze and was out the door by 6:05 this morning. Kept it easy early on like normal, got to West in 29 minutes and change then gradually started picking it up along the bike path. Kept it pretty steady down Mass Ave and got to the river in 55:50. Was getting a little tired but tried to stay relaxed and kept it faster than normal along the river, going from 7.5 to 7 in 3:15. Wanted to finish hard but only managed 6:07/5:58*/6:05, which was faster than I had been running but not a very solid effort. The middle mile is questionable as the stretch by the Fairfield footbridge is under construction and I had to swing out onto the path on the otherside of the lagoon. Hit 3:00 from 5 to 4.5 and then slowed to 3:05 to finish up, though that half is naturally slower from all the turns. Pretty tired once I got home, I guess 25M in 12 hours will do that. Today didn't wind up being as fast or as hard as I had hoped, but at least I got in the mileage I had planned and there weren't any issues with my foot. 14 HARD AVG AVG TUE Ollie. Actually managed to run after work, I woke up to 23 degree temps this morning and couldn't bring myself to get out the door. Felt a little rundown at the start but gradually got better as things wore on. Covered the course in about 33:30, which surprised me, and kept the pace about the same the rest of the way. Was pretty tired by the end, haven't run this far in about a week. 11 EASY AVG AVG MON BU. Nice and easy this morning, I got a late start and had to cut back slightly on the route this morning. The thermometer said 30 degrees this morning, which was really surprising, and I had to put on the hat and gloves. My legs felt great and I was excited to be back putting in real runs again. Heading home along the river I ran into Bernie, so we ran together from New House down to Science. Wish I had the time to make this a 12 to 14 mile day, I felt that good. 8 EASY AVG AVG SUN Charlestown Loop with Kathryn. I had originally hoped to run An Ras Mor this morning, but the past few days convinced me that putting on racing flats wouldn't be the best move give the state of my blister. Woke up and put together the desk we bought yesterday, by the time that was taken care of it was 2:20 and Xavier and Wisconsin tipped off. CBS turned away from the game just before 3pm so we headed out for an easy jog then. Felt alright today, my foot was feeling fine but I was too lazy to add on once we got back. The 70M standard is being enforced this week, I had thought about exempting today, but to be honest I went short because I was lazy and not because I was hurt. The bar stays at 70 miles, making the rest of this week a bit of a challenge. 4 EASY GOOD AVG Week 07 week07 2009-03-15 2009-03-21 Kind of a lost week. Had an excellent race on Sunday and set a half marathon PR but ripped open a blister and that bothered me all week. No real running at all, which was a letdown as I came back from New Bedford ready to go, but at least it's all healed up now. SAT Charlestown Loop. Busy morning running errands so I pushed the run into the afternoon. My foot felt great throughout the run, only a little discomfort but nothing I would call pain, so I'm excited to get back into serious training. Weird temperature, right on the line where it's too warm to wear a long sleeve but too cold for a tshirt, so I went out in a tshirt and had cold forearms by the end. 4 EASY AVG AVG FRI Thought I might have a chance to sneak out during the day but work kept me occupied and my foot was still hurting (it woke me up in the middle of the night and hurt like hell for 5 minutes) so I figured one more day off wouldn't hurt. 0 NONE NONE NONE THU Charlestown Loop. I was pretty sure that I'd feel better today, but as soon as I put on my shoe the blister was killing me. Decided I'd start out with a short loop and see how it went, and it did not go well. Very painful at the start and only a little better by the end. I'm now very reluctant to force the issue as my knee is starting to hurt and I'm worried that I'm messing with my stride since it hurts with every step. On the bright side it looks like my blister is really starting to heal and it'll be only a few more days of dealing with this. No point in risking a serious injury for a few extra days of mileage. I am anxious to get back, but I'm trying to be smart about this. (The mileage goal for this week has been waived entirely.) I can't figure out how I managed to run three days after ripping up my foot terribly at the start of sophomore year. 4 EASY AVG AVG WED Back Bay. I was determined to run this morning and was hoping to put in 8M. Put on a Band-Aid right when I woke up and was out the door around 6:30. My foot hurt worse than I was hoping for and I immediately started thinking about cutting it short. Did my best to stay open-minded but as the run wore on it became clearer that I'd really have to cut it short. I was paying way too much attention to how and where my foot was landing and really didn't feel natural. The blister was hurting on each step, but other than that I was feeling fine. Got home to find that I had bled through my sock again. Wonderful. 6 EASY AVG AVG TUE Another rest day. Sleeping overnight isn't helping my blister feel better in the morning, my guess is it gets set in whatever shape my foot is when I'm asleep and then has to rip again when I wake up and move my foot. Pretty painful to get out of bed this morning and decided another day off was for the best. This week's target slips to 50M, but that's where I'm drawing the line. There's no reason not to run tomorrow, 72 hours is plenty of time off my feet. 0 NONE NONE NONE MON I went to bed at 8:30 last night with every intention of getting up to run this morning, but when my alarm went off I immediately knew that wasn't going to happen. I slept until nearly 7am and was limping around thanks to the ripped open blister. I managed to walk Midge to the library in the middle of the day without incident and by the evening I couldn't really feel it at all. Since the 70M threshold is really to punish laziness and not encourage foolishly running when rest is needed, I've decided to exempt today and set this week's target at 60M. 0 NONE NONE NONE SUN New Bedford Half Marathon, 68:29 for 13th. The past few days didn't leave me very encouraged about today, especially the workout where I couldn't break 5:00 to save my life. But I managed to put that out of my head and got out in the thick of things, with a 4:57 first mile. Got to the top of the hill around 3.5M in a group just outside the top 10 and started grinding away. Matt Ely helped out and we were 4:58 from mile 4 to mile 5. Got through 10M with a big group and then really hit the wall. Struggled home and got passed by a few guys on the big climb at the end. Tried to close hard but went too early and ran out of steam. Had a blister on my foot starting around mile 6 or 7, and I think it ripped open around mile 10. Looked down when I crossed the line to see it running down the sole of my shoe, and smudged on my left calf where I kicked myself. Got an EMT to bandage it up, then walked back to the school with Carter and JMark. Cooled down just 1M with Carter and Andrew Hill. Really encouraged by this race, though I would have liked to have finished better. I guess it's not too surprising that I started falling apart after 10M, I haven't really been doing the work necessary to run that hard that long. Never really felt like we let up after 3.5M and I finally couldn't hang on any longer. I had been tucked in the back of the group after 7M trying to stay out of the wind and just started dropping back. Still, I put up a ten second PR, so it's hard to be disappointed. 16 2009 New Bedford Half Marathon HARD GOOD GOOD Week 06 week06 2009-03-08 2009-03-14 What a rundown week, just dragging ass almost every day. Had a decent race on Sunday, put in a good effort though the final time wasn't that amazing. I wanted to put in a harder effort on Tuesday but my stomach didn't cooperate and then I hit a funk of just feeling worthless on every run. Had a bad workout on the track on Thursday and finished things off with just easy mileage. SAT Run to Remember course. I had planned on going 7M today and didn't even let myself think about distance or route so that I wouldn't cop out. Headed out around 10am and had some pretty nice weather, very sunny but not as warm as it looked. Felt good for maybe the first 20 minutes or so, which was very encouraging. Starting to think that maybe I'm pulling out of this nosedive. 7 EASY AVG AVG FRI Ollie. For the first time all week I didn't have to drag myself out of bed and I even felt good at the start of the run. I had more bounce in my stride than I've had all week, but that went away just a few minutes into the run. Really had to just slog through this one, it wasn't as bad as earlier in the week, but I felt dead throughout and was just trying to get the miles in. At least I've climbed up to 65M, pretty much locking in 70M for the week. 11 EASY AVG AVG THU 5xMile in 5:01, :07, :03, :01, :04. I'll be working out on my own for the next few weeks as I have a work conflict on Wednesdays, but I don't think I'll be working out in the middle of the afternoon anytime soon. Had the bright idea to wait a few hours and run this one when I was good and awake, but that backfired as I spent most of the time worrying about getting back to work. Headed over to MIT around noon and sped through some stretching and strides before getting right into the workout. The plan was to run the first 3 comfortably, right around 5:00 and then cut loose a bit on the final two. Felt good enough early, coming through in 75-2:31 and fairly under control the rest of the way. Took 400m rest and got right into the second one with a good first lap of 74. That was the end of the good part of the workout, I came through the half in 2:33 or 2:34 and really had to press the final two laps just to run 76-77 pace. Tried not to let that interval get to me, but I wasn't feeling it and really struggled the rest of the way. Instead of looking at 74-75 as comfortable I was forcing 75-76 and just trying to get through the workout. The fourth mile was decent and I had a good start to the fifth but wasn't able to finish it off. Didn't do the longer cooldown I had planned, just ran back home, showered and got back to work. It wasn't any windier than normal on the track, probably better than normal for March, I just felt flat footed and slow throughout the entire workout. Not too sure what to think of this, but it isn't promising. 11 HARD BAD BAD WED Castle-Bunker Hill. Another late start as I had trouble dragging myself out of bed, didn't hit the roads until almost 6:40am. Not too bad out there this morning, almost 40 degrees and just a light rain, very comfortable and much better than snow. Felt rundown throughout this one, decent early but pretty bad at the end. Not too sure on why, although this run did push the rolling week to 78M. I started thinking last night that maybe my iron level is getting low like in 2004, but I guess the supplement I took hadn't kicked in by this morning. Hopefully I start feeling better, I don't think I'm working hard enough to be this tired. 9 AVG BAD BAD TUE Davis-Bike Path. Managed to get myself out of bed somewhat early enough today (after going to sleep at 9pm,) and I took off around 6:30. It snowed/rained yesterday and overnight so there were a few icy patches where people didn't shovel, but for the most part the sidewalks were clear enough. The plan was to take it easy early -- and I did, getting to 4M in 30+ -- and then start cranking it down to a fast finish. Didn't feel quite right along the bike path and down Mass Ave, I was running maybe 6:30s but coasting more than I would have liked. I hit the Boston side of the river (stepping off the concrete and onto the asphalt) in 56:30 and tried to speed up again, driving for home. Was 3:17 from 7.5 to 7 (which includes shuffling across an iced over Death Bridge) but then as I tried to push my stomach said to back off. Managed to keep it a little quick, running 3:07/3:15 but then took Mass Ave over to MIT for a pit stop. Didn't try to run hard the rest of the way home, but kept it quicker than normal. Pretty tired by the end but today really did not turn out the way I had planned. At least I got in some decent mileage. 14 AVG AVG BAD MON BU. Slept in this morning and pushed the run later in the day, thanks to Daylight Savings Time it's dark again at 6am. Got going around 4:30 this afternoon, felt decent early and was originally planning on going 12M. However, it didn't take too long for the soreness from yesterday to set in and I decided to cut it short today. It's a lot easier to slog through a post-race long run on a Sunday when it doesn't matter how long it takes you and you can spend the rest of the day lying around. I realized during the run that I should be more pleased with yesterday's race given that I ran 12M on Saturday, which I had forgotten about. I can't say that I felt it during the race, but 12M is a longer than average run for me right now. 8 EASY BAD BAD SUN Raynham K of C 5M in 25:45 for second. Headed down to Raynham this morning for what I was hoping would be a solid effort and easy win, and came away with just one of those, maybe. As I was getting my number I saw Pat Tarpy walking around and pretty much immediately resigned myself to second. I don't like counting myself out before the race starts, but he mopped the floor with me at Amherst a few weeks ago and is very much out of my league. I was just hoping to keep it respectable today and maybe ride him for a few miles if I could. Felt alright on the warmup, not spectacular, and the weather was great, mid 50s and sunny, so I was hoping to get down near 25:00 today. Got off the line in front and ran with Pat for maybe 1:30 before settling in and watched him pull away. Got to 3M in 15:10, then hit a windy fourth mile and split 5:21, then climbed the only hill and tried to push hard to finish, my fifth mile was a 5:14. Changed shoes and got right into the cooldown, running the course a second time. Felt alright out there, don't really know if I should be satisfied with how this one played out. After coming through in 15:10 I thought I'd finish up well, but only managed 10:35 for the final 2M. On the other hand, I was just 1:02 behind Tarpy, as opposed to 3:43 over 10M in Amherst. Had I finished 2:04 behind Tarpy in Amherst I would have run 51:55 and been 6th, which I probably would have been happy with. I felt like I did a decent job of running hard today, I got out well and didn't ever coast, and you can only expect so much when running solo. 2009 Raynham K of C 12 HARD GOOD GOOD Week 05 week05 2009-03-01 2009-03-07 This was a decent week if you ignore Tuesday and Wednesday. Started things off with a solid long run, at least compared to what I've been doing recently. Felt really good on Sunday, not at all sore after the 12M tempo the day before. Frustratingly kept it short on Monday due to more frigging snow, then was lazy/tired on Tuesday. Got the mileage up somewhat at the end of the week, doing my best to salvage something reasonable. Thursday's workout was not great, but I'm hoping it was a step in the right direction for me. In the end, though, I came up short of 70M and will have to stock up on Sharp's N.A. for next week. SAT 2M with Midge and then Fake Fresh Pond, backwards. Headed out with Midge around 8am this morning, she wasn't too excited about running and it was a slow jog with a lot of coaxing to get her to keep up. Dropped her off at home after 12 minutes and headed out on my own. Felt fine, I kept it slow and comfortable, trying to keep my legs as fresh as possible for tomorrow. I decided a few days ago that I'd rather put in mileage than back off before tomorrow's race and I didn't really dwell on that decision this morning. Finished up with a stride or two, I feel like I'm gradually getting faster and more comfortable running fast. 12 EASY AVG AVG FRI BU. I came home from Reggie last night with thoughts of doing a 12-8 double today and saving a 70M week, but I could not get out of bed in the morning. Probably for the best, as I doubt running 20M today would have been a good idea. After getting out of bed it was clear that I made the right decision as I was terribly sore and hobbling around the condo trying to loosen up. Worked most of the day before heading out around 6pm on a rare spring-ish day in Boston. Actually didn't feel to bad during the run, I was just really bored and glad to get home. Ran a 6:42 along the river, but it was split 3:17/3:25, I think jumping all the puddles in the first half got me going a little quicker. 8 EASY AVG AVG THU 2x1600-3000-2x800 in 4:53, 4:49, 9:29, 2:22, 2:21. Warmed up the usual 2M with Lou, Ely and LaRosa, felt pretty fresh after barely running the past few days. Ely and I were doing the shorter workout and the marathoners had some terribly long workout, but Chettle showed up just as we were starting and Andrew Hill jumped in after the first mile, so we had a good group this evening. Matt and I did a good job of working together on the first mile, got out a bit slow in 73-2:29 but cranked it up from there and closed really well. I took the second mile out in 72 and basically ran that the rest of the way, with Andrew leaving in the second half to chase Michael. Had a good start to what was supposed to be a two mile, I took us out in 2:29 and then Andrew took over and we were 4:58 at the mile. I was gapped a little bit after the mile and the other guys took off. They wound up running a 4:48 and I slowed to 38-39s a lap. I cut it at 3k since I was already 100m behind and there was really no point in running another 40 to close out a terrible second half. Tried to refocus and really nail the 800s but my speed continues to elude me. I was really working to run 35-70-1:45 and didn't feel like I slowed that much on the last lap but clearly did as I finished in 2:22. Did a decent job of staying aggressive on the final interval, even though I got my doors blown off by everybody I ran hard through the finish. Cooled down about 4M, the first half was running down Tremont with Chettle, then I turned around and headed back to Reggie on my own. Disappointing finish to the workout, it had started out really well but I lost focus in the long interval and couldn't get it back. The mile in 4:49 felt great though, I was running hard and pushing like I haven't in awhile. I still feel like my mentality from the half marathon workouts is with me, I'm looking to settle in to a fast but comfortable pace and aren't willing to exert myself the way I need to over short distances. Hopefully that'll come back. 11 HARD AVG AVG THU Charlestown Loop. Same as last morning. Still happy to be putting in a double, ran through the numbers in my head and I can't see a way of hitting 70M this week. 4 EASY AVG AVG WED Charlestown Loop. Headed out around 6:15 this morning, very happy to be putting in a double today. Felt alright throughout, kept it easy, the usual morning routine. Found out a few hours later that the workout was actually on Thursday, which threw a wrench into things. Had a long day at work and got home too late to put in a run. It looks like work is going to bad for the next few weeks, I can't keep planning to run later in the day. 4 EASY AVG AVG TUE No running. For some reason I was dead tired this morning and had to drag myself out of bed at 7am. Then I wasn't able to motivate myself to get out the door later in the day. Should be able to make up the mileage later in the week though. I followed through on my plan and didn't eat dessert, I had an apple after dinner. 0 NONE NONE NONE MON 3 laps of the Common. Out of bed just before 6am to find a few inches of snow on the ground and more coming out of the sky. Got started just before 6:30 and figured the only real option was to head to the Common. Pretty deserted when I started, which was nice, got to the Common and it was clearer than the roads but still not that great. After running the first lap slower than 7:30 pace I decided it didn't make a lot of sense to try and stick it out for a long run, I opted to put in enough to keep me on pace for 70MPW and then headed home. Had I not made this decision before heading up Tremont the second time with the snow pelting me in the face making it impossible to see I might have ended the run right there. Didn't get any faster on the third lap, running 8:25ish for the 1.1M loop, so I think I made the right decision. The footing wasn't terrible but there were occasional slippery spots and the Boston Classics have zero traction anyways. We thought the wind on the river was confusing during the tempo on Saturday, but through some strange confluence of weather, topography and architecture, the wind (and blowing snow) was always in my face at the Common, even though I was running in a circle. Glad to have at least put in a few miles this morning, running in this stuff is always good for the ego, you feel like a badass when you get home. 6 EASY AVG AVG SUN Davis/Bike Path. Fell asleep at 9pm last night and didn't wake up until about 8am this morning. Headed out not too much later, the 10 to 11 hours of sleep seemed to really help as I wasn't sore at all. The snow started falling as soon as my shoes hit the sidewalk, but it didn't get too bad until I got to the river. Slow and easy early and not much quicker as the run wore on. Made it to the river in 56 minutes, headed home splitting 6:45-7:00 pace the whole way. This was the part where the snow turned into tiny ice balls which didn't feel that great getting driven into my face by the wind. Happy when this one was over, 97 minutes total. 14 AVG GOOD GOOD Week 04 week04 2009-02-22 2009-02-28 Managed to get up above 70M and put in 7 days of running this week, so it was a pretty good way to end February. Disappointed in how the race turned out on Sunday, I was really expecting a much better finish and hate making excuses about bad runs. Kept it easy the next few days, even though I didn't feel like the race affected me too much. Had an alright workout on Wednesday and finished things up with a great tempo on the river Saturday morning. SAT River tempo run, 12M in 63:44 (5:18 avg.) Drove over and parked in front of Walker, put in a mile on the river before stopping in at Building 2, then headed up river and met Terry around the 2 mile mark. We headed back to Mass and Mem, where we met a huge group of guys before getting into this one. Not sure I can recount everyone, but it was Terry, Chettle, Andrew Hill, Paul Ryan, Liam, Will Dobbie, THE SPANIARD and 2 other GBTC guys. The plan was 12M at 5:20 pace, with a thought that I might take off at 8M and close with 2 faster miles. Started out with a 2:45 then got right into it, 2:40 for the next half before hitting a couple 5:15s. Did a turn up front over mile three, it was windy this morning but only gusts, so it didn't really hamper us too much. I went to the back for the next few miles as the wind started blowing and we put in a couple of 5:24s. I nearly got dropped while crossing the Death Bridge and had to really rally, working my way back up to the front by the time we reached 7.5. By then we had gotten back into the 5:15-5:20 range. Went to the lead after the turn, ran up front with Paul as guys started dropping off. Paul was clearly having an easy go of it as he tried to chat me up about my racing plans, I did my best to answer but the conversation didn't last that long. He stayed with us through mile 8, at the 6.5M mark, then it was just Chettle, TPS and myself. We agreed to keep it 5:15-5:20 the rest of the way and I dug in for the final third of the run. Chettle dropped off after 10M and it was down to just Terry and myself. Terry definitely could have taken off and left me to blow up on my own, but he kept it under control and I was able to hang 1 to 5 steps off of him. We were about 2:39 at the Science Museum and 5:17 for the 11th mile. We hit 2:37 for the next half and I was killing myself to keep Terry close. The final half mile is dead straight and looks really short, but it took forever to finish off the mile in 5:13. Even though his cheerleading helped, I really wanted to punch Terry in the mouth for making me do this to myself. He skipped over to his car to grap a long sleeve shirt as I struggled to regain my compsure. I must have looked pretty bad, because one guy stopped to aske me if I was alright and offered me a drink of his water. Terry and I shuffled downriver, running into Bedoya and turned around just after Longfellow. I peeled off back at Walker, and even though it was 12 minutes I'm calling it a mile. Headed home and just tried to recover. Really encouraged by this workout, I did a good job of hanging tough at the end, though it makes the way the 10 miler turned out all the more disappointing. Splits were: 5:26/:14/:14/:24/:21/:17/:18/:16/:20/:20/:17/:13. 15 HARD GOOD GOOD FRI Summit Ave. Out the door at 6am this morning, got in a good night of sleep and felt a lot better. Didn't push things at all today, just cruising through the mileage. Was just a hair under 7:00 along the river. Pretty sure I'll earn next week's beer tomorrow. 12 EASY AVG AVG THU Docks-Greenway. Didn't have much time to run today, got home from the workout last night and worked until around midnight, then got up at 5:30 to take Midge out this morning and went back to work. Pretty much stayed at my desk until 5pm when I headed out for this run. Could have squeezed in a few more miles but I really didn't have the motivation, today was a long day. 6 EASY AVG AVG WED 2k-1k-1k-3k in 6:09, 3:01, 3:02, 9:18. Got to Reggie a little bit late because of traffic, but figured I'd be working out alone since the marathoners were doing about 10M on the track tonight. Warmed up 3M with Jenn Donovan, then stretched out and ran a couple strides before getting into it. Turned out that Michael Chettle was going to workout with me, but that just meant that we started together and then he took off on his own. Aiming for 10k pace throughout, which I guessed was 31:00, or 3:06 per kilo. Felt alright early, trying to just figure out the pacing and get myself into a rhyth, came through in 2:29 and then 4:56, closing with a 73. Felt better than I was expecting on the two 1ks, able to run 72-73s per quarter fairly comfortably. Michael unfortunately rolled his ankle at the end of the second k, so I ran the 3k solo, which really just meant I didn't get lapped. Was hoping to keep the 72/73 pace going, but quite have it. Pretty much ran straight 74s early, coming through the first two kilometers in 3:06 and 6:12, but then I faded a bit. I put in a few 37-38s laps before rallying at the end trying to hold off Donovan. She wound up passing me as she was finishing and I had 2 laps left, but it was enough to jumpstart me I closed with a 35. Pretty spent at the end of the workout, another moderate effort but I don't feel like I'm really working hard enough yet. Cooled down 2M around the outside of the track with Jenn and Andreas. 10 HARD AVG AVG TUE Fake Fresh. Slept in a little too late again this morning, out the door just before 6:30. Felt alright early but was keeping it easy and just trying to put in some miles. It's surprising how big of a difference half an hour makes, the streets and sidewalks were much busier and it was harder to run red lights. Sped up a little as the run went on, hit 6:45 at the end of the river, and was probably about that pace from JFK. Was getting noticeably more tired near the end and couldn't really manage much of a stride past the Monument. Glad to have gotten this one in, earned myself dessert and kept myself on track for beer next week. 10 EASY AVG AVG MON BU. Slept in a little later than I had planned on and was out the door around 6:30am. Knew I only wanted to put in 8M today, but my legs actually felt a lot better than I was expecting to. The snow and rain of yesterday froze overnight and there were a few icy patches, but I was going slow and it wasn't a problem. Had I gotten an earlier start I would have been tempted to extend this a little bit, my legs were feeling really good. From just glancing at the watch I think the mile along the river was in the 6:30-6:40 neighborhood, though it felt like 7:00 effort. I've decided that it's time to incentivize my training, because whatever I've been using as motivation hasn't been working. The plan is 2 pronged: 1. Any day I don't run, I don't get dessert and 2. Any week I don't hit 70M, I don't drink until I hit 70M the following week. The phrasing of #2 is critical, if I go 65 one week, there's no beer from 12:01am Sunday until I've run the 70th mile of the next week. So if I want to drink on Friday night, I need to hit 70M in 6 days somehow. 8 EASY GOOD GOOD SUN Jones Group 10M, 53:34 for 14th place. Drove out to Amherst with Mark LaRosa, got to the race with plenty of time to register and hit the head before going out to warm up. Put in 2M with Mark Miller, though we started out in a big group that was going further. Felt pretty fresh and the stride at the end went well, I was feeling pretty confident that I'd be able to put together a good one. The plan was to stay in the back of the front pack and wait until the second half of the race to really start working. The field was pretty deep and the front pack was about 10 through the first mile. The second mile was largely downhill and we got rolling, coming through in 4:45ish. By then I was 5m off the back of the pack and there wasn't much chance to close the gap when we were rolling along at those speeds. The third and fourth miles were pretty tough with a lot of climbing, but I was staying somewhat close and feeling good about my chances at moving up. Hit 5M in 26:17 and started working but wasn't able to do too much since we were on a dirt road that was almost entirely iced over. Michael Chettle came up on me just before 6M and we worked together for :30 or so before my stomach started acting up and I had to drop off. Chettle was able to work his way up to 5th, running about the race I had hoped for. I struggled home over the final 3M, my stomach was uncomfortable at 5:30ish and would really start to hurt when I tried to go any faster. Got passed by 5 guys in the last 2.5M and had absolutely no response. Disappointing finish, didn't even bother cooling down as I knew my stomach would just keep on hurting. If I hadn't carpooled with LaRosa this really would have been a bad day, but at least there was good conversation for the 4 hours in the car. My stomach kept bothering me the rest of the day, so I really have no idea what could have caused this. My guess during the race was taking Ibuprofen 30 mins before the start without eating anything, but as the day wore on I started wondering if I've got some kind of bug. I don't feel too bad in general, though Kathryn has been sick for over a week. 12 2009 Jones Group 10 Miler HARD BAD BAD Week 03 week03 2009-02-15 2009-02-21 This started out as a good week with decent mileage on Sunday and a good finish to Monday's run, but Wednesday's workout didn't go quite as planned and then I wound up having to skip Friday's run because of work. I feel like I'm getting back into decent shape and am looking forward to the race tomorrow, I think it will be a good barometer of where I'm at. SAT Inman Square plus Basin park. Spent most of the day running various errands, finally headed out for this run around 4pm. Kept it easy the whole way, just trying to get my legs loose for tomorrow. Added on in the Basin Park across from the Science Museum, there still hasn't been any activity on connecting that to Charlestown though. 6 EASY AVG AVG FRI Day off. Was working from home and thought I'd have a chance to run in the middle of the day, but wound up heads down on an issue straight through 6pm. Just one of those days. 0 NONE NONE NONE THU Fake Fresh backwards. I did my best to sleep through my alarm this morning, but somehow I dragged myself out of bed and was out running by 6:10am. Things weren't too bad early, I was tired but my legs felt much better than I had been anticipating. Still, I was glad to have cut back from the planned 12M route to a basic ten miler. About the time I got to the river it started to rain, which made for a miserable run home. Rain in July is fun to run in, not so much in February. Cold and soaked by the time I got home (72:00), I went straight into the shower. I purposefully stayed on the north side of Mem Drive so that I wouldn't know just how slow I was going. 10 EASY AVG BAD WED 800-1600-3200-1600-800 in 2:19-4:53-10:05-4:56-2:21. Felt decent on the warm up and decided to really get after it early and run aggressively. I guess the other guys were in a hurry to get started, because by the time I got out of the bathroom they were already 400m into the 800. I took my time, stretched out a bit, ran some strides and made peace with working out on my own. Turns out it really didn't make much of a difference, as I would have been running by myself anyways. Got out in 34 which was right where I wanted but settled in too much and came through 400 in 69 high. Kept grinding from there but didn't push it the way I would have liked. The 90 seconds rest didn't seem like enough, but I was able to get out and run 36.5 with some consistency for the mile, coming through halfway in 2:28, but all the tenths added up and I was 4:52.93 by the end. Felt a lot better after 2:00 rest, I was happy with how things were going and wanted to run the first mile of the two mile in 5:00 and then push from there. Got out in 37.5 but settled again and had to work a little after a 76 first 400. Hit 2:30 and 5:00 before the wheels started coming off, I started counting the laps left when I still had 1400m to go. I was working hard and trying to push myself, but my legs weren't responding and I ran 2:33/2:32 to finish up the 3200. I had hoped for a better rhythm at 5:00 pace, but I did a good job of hanging tough and kept things from spiraling out of control at the end. I used every possible second of the 4:00 rest and refocused on finishing up well. I got out aggressively to start the mile, coming through in 73 again but then slipped to 74s and 75s to finish up. Was dead set on finishing up with a 2:16-18 but couldn't run more than 1 lap at that pace, getting out in 34 before slowing, ending with 69-1:46. Even though I felt like I was closing well, I was actually just getting down to 35 after a 37. Pretty poor workout, I got after it at the start but not so aggressively that it should have killed the second half of the workout. I feel like those early times are all ones I should be able to handle, but I didn't have it in me tonight. I guess part of it is getting re-acclimated to running short and fast after the half marathon training, but it's hard to accept that I can't break 2:20 right now. Cooled down 2M with LaRosa, then stretched out a bit and headed home. 9 HARD BAD BAD TUE Inman Square. Got out for a short one after getting home from work this afternoon, though I wasn't too excited about it. Kept it easy the whole way, pretty boring run. I added on a little extra by going up to Castle instead of staying on Washington, made it solidly longer than 5 which balances out Sunday. Felt alright, not too tired from yesterday. Better than posting a zero today. 5 EASY AVG AVG MON Alewife with fast finish. Another new route, I took Highland to Davis, then followed the bike path to Russell Field, then Rindge-Mass-JFK and home along the river. I kept it really easy and slow early, 28:45 to West and didn't really start speeding up until I got to Russell. Kept it steady down Mass Ave and through Harvard Square, making it to the Boston side of the river in 54:40. I tried to keep the pace about the same on the river, though I was starting to get tired and wasn't too thrilled about my plans to finish with a couple of fast miles. From 7.5 to 7 I tried to get a feel for how fast I'd been running, hitting 3:05 which makes me think I was 6:15-6:30 from Russell to the river. Then I started speeding up, but I was trying to ease the pace down so I wouldn't get overly excited, drop to 2:30 and kill my legs. Was only 5:48 (2:55-2:53) from 7 to 6, then got sick of pulling back on the reins and decided to let it go a little more. Ran 5:33 (2:47-2:46) from 6 to 5 and then 5:21(2:40-2:41) back to the Science Museum. Was feeling pretty good, my legs weren't holding me back, I just couldn't make myself really grind. Covered the last 3M in 16:49 and then jogged back home, finishing up in 90:40. This was pretty much what I was looking for this morning, a longer than normal run with a faster than normal finish, and even though the last half was only 2:41 that's a slow half mile with a couple of 90 degree turns, so I was pretty happy to hit 2:41. The only way this could have been better was if I was able to go back to bed when I got home. 14 HARD GOOD GOOD SUN Docks-BU. Waited most of the day again and around 3:30 I finally laced up my shoes and headed out. Didn't feel too sore after yesterday's workout, but I kept things pretty easy the whole way. Fairly deserted around Docks and the Seaport, even Downtown Crossing was relatively quiet. Not much going on, I extended up Comm Ave to the BU Bridge and even though I was tempted to go further I was running out of time. Came back along the river around 6:40 pace and finished up in 75 minutes. The route measures out to 10.8M, so I'll have to find something to round down later this week. 11 EASY AVG AVG Week 02 week02 2009-02-08 2009-02-14 Another 6 day week, which is too bad, but felt good on Sunday's long run and also had 2 good workouts. Things are coming around, I felt like I turned a corner on Monday when I was able to hold 6:00 pace easily for at least the second half of the run, and actually felt natural out there. Wednesday was shaping up to be a good workout before my stomach acted up, but I managed to put in a decent effort regardless. Kind of slacked the rest of the week and even though Saturday was a good workout the mileage was still on the low side. I'm feeling pretty confident right now, but I need to make sure I don't try and coast through on residual fitness from Houston, I need to get out the door more and for longer runs. SAT 5M decreasing pace in 5:59-5:48-5:26-5:15-5:01. Wasted as much time as I possibly could today, I finally had to get going at 3pm to have a chance to make it to BU to watch the distance races at Valentine's. Warmed up over to the 4.5 mark, with a detour through the park across from the Museum of Science to bump it up over 2M. A little stretching and a stride or two before jumping right into it; the plan was to start at 6:00 and drop 15 seconds per mile. Got out too fast, as usual, coming through the half in 2:54. Managed to settle down and actually slowed too much, running 3:05 for the second half and making the drop in pace steeper than I was hoping for. I was running into the wind on the way out, which wasn't too bad, but also into the setting sun which made picking up the marks harder than usual and I might have been a little late on the 2M split, which was 5:48. Felt good through 2M and the speed up to 5:30 pace was more of the same. Hit the 7M mark in 2:43 mid, took 6 seconds to turn around and headed back in 2:42 mid. Still feeling really good, the next drop came easily as well and despite a calf cramp on the temporary bridge by the Fenway overpass I was 2:35 at the half and eased off a bit to hit 5:15 on the nose. That made the drop to 5:00 pace a little bigger than planned but it went really well, things weren't easy anymore but I still felt under control and I wasn't straining to hit the pace. I wound up taking off my gloves and rolling up my sleeves as I was really getting hot and made it to the Hatch Shell in 2:30. More of the same for the second half, although there was another cramp just before Longfellow I managed to hit 2:31 and finish things off pretty well. Started jogging home more or less right away and made it about 5:00 before things caught up to me and I struggled home from there. Not a barn burner of a workout but a really solid effort and another confidence builder. Felt good bringing the pace all the way down to 5:00 and was reasonably comfortable at the end, all of which is good. Stretched out and got a quick bite to eat before heading off to BU for yet another Shea PR. 9 HARD GOOD GOOD FRI 2M with Midge then to Mass Ave along the river. The usual route with Midge got extended a bit as she did her best Terry Shea impression on the sidewalk in front of the HarborView and we had to go grab a bag for cleanup as I was caught unprepared. We wound up putting in just over 17:00, which really took it out of Midge, then I headed out to check out the Esplanade in advance of tomorrow's workout. The recent warm temps seem to have taken care of everything, the path was entirely clear and tomorrow's workout is a go. Pretty boring run, just a tick under 60 minutes, but there's no way it was 9M. 8 EASY AVG AVG THU Nothing. Decided to wait until the afternoon but couldn't squeeze it in between work and my family coming over for dinner. 0 NONE NONE NONE WED 5x1600 in 4:58, 4:56, 4:59, 5:00, 4:58. Felt alright on the warmup at Reggie this evening, but I was a little nervous about what my first workout post Houston would feel like. Pretty rocky pacing throughout, but 5:00 effort didn't feel too much harder than it did pre-Houston. Coming into this workout I set 2 goals for myself, keep everything under 5:00 and run 6 of them. The rest of the guys were running 2ks and going at 5:10-5:15 pace, so I was all alone for this one. I bounced around a bit on the first mile and had to bring it home with a 74/74 or 74/73, but that seemed to wake me up and the second mile went much better. More or less straight 74s, though near the end I could feel my stomach starting to rumble. Had to work a little harder on the third one to get it under 5:00 as I really coasted from 400 through 1200, and ran through the line and straight to the bathroom. Got back into it and my legs were pretty tight as I didn't do much to loosen up besides run back to the line after the pit stop. Was hurting early, I think I came through 800 in 2:32, but I managed to dig it out and my watch actually said 4:59.99 at the finish. Just 2:00 rest before lining up for the last one, where I got out well but faded late. I think I was around 2:28 at the half but then could not hold on and it was clear that a sixth wasn't in the cards. I managed to bring it back a little after the bathroom break but my head wasn't in it anymore and there wasn't much motivation to gut out another one. The mid-workout break really turned it into a 3x16-2x16, and sitting down for 4-5 minutes killed my legs. A decent first effort though, and a pretty good confidence booster. I felt comfortable at 5:00 pace, which is what I was hoping for. Cooled down 2M around the outside of the track with Bernie and Andreas. 9 HARD AVG AVG TUE BU. Got out the door a little after 6am dead set on getting out to Summit Ave to burn off the rib-eye I had at Abe and Louie's last night. Felt okay early and despite some temptation to turn at Mass Ave and head home I soldiered on. After getting through Kenmore though my legs really started to leave me, I was feeling terrible and decided it was best to turn at BU and call it a day. I know I could have made it through the 12M route but after turning for home I was quite glad I didn't force myself to. Sunday and Monday were both big days compared to what I've been doing recently, and I want to be able to run a good workout at Reggie tomorrow night, so there's no immediate benefit in going to the well during a low key Tuesday run. We'll see tomorrow if I was right. 8 EASY BAD BAD MON Fake Fresh backwards. Decided to sleep in a bit and get the run in a little later in the day. That let things warm up a little which made it much more comfortable than running this morning would have been. Was in a bit of a hurry to get back to work so I wound up pressing almost the whole way, but I felt really good and didn't have to work too hard to keep it quick. Ran 5:57 along the river at the end, trying not to run much faster than I had been earlier. I split it 2:55/3:02; the path is mostly clear but I had to slow a couple times on the second half. Really encouraged by today, I've been telling myself to stick with it and that the fitness from getting ready for the half would come around eventually and that seems to have happened today. Made it back home in 63:49, which has to be one of my fastest times for this route. 10 HARD GOOD GOOD SUN 2M with Midge, then Ollie-Ocean. Pretty good run this morning, headed out with Midge who did a little bit better job of running, then dropped her off and headed over to South Boston. Temperatures were up today, which made for a more comfortable run, but also brought pretty strong winds. Of course, I chose about the windiest route to run, especially out on the walkway by Castle Island. Put in 12:00 with Midge and then 1:28:43 on my own, running Docks to Ollie, extending along the Ocean to G Street, then up and over and back along Broadway to the Common. A little surprised to see it wind up this long, but I felt good throughout which is encouraging. Mapping the route online yields 12.8M, but the loop with Midge is just 1.5M. 14 EASY AVG AVG Week 01 week01 2009-02-01 2009-02-07 First week of semi-serious running, although I couldn't even make it 7 days into February before skipping a day and screwing up my goal of running every day. Felt better as the week wore on, but the two weeks off definitely left me in a hole. Didn't feel at all natural this week, especially at the end of Sunday's twelve mile run. SAT Day off. Stayed out far too late last night and slept until after 11am. Way too hungry to head out once I got up, and then I just kept putting it off and putting it off. 0 NONE NONE NONE FRI 2M with Midge, then Back Bay. I did not want to deal with the single digit temperatures this morning, so I started work early and ducked out a bit after 11am, so that at least the sun would be up. Took Midge with me, but she wimped out earlier than usual and we trotted home from HarborView. Got her put away and then headed out on my own, kept it simple and ran out to Mass Ave and then came back along the river. Since I rounded down yesterday I'm able to round this up, because it was definitely short of 8. Pretty boring day. 8 EASY AVG AVG THU Castle-Assembly Square. I headed out a little after 3pm to meet Kathryn at Planet Fitness in Somerville. I knew more or less how I was going to get there, I took the usual route to Castle, but then instead of coming home along Washington I kept going straight along back streets until I hit Broadway. My plan was to take Broadway back to Sullivan Square, but I was running late so I followed Rte 28 and cut under I-93 by the Stop and Shop, which put me right in the Assembly Square lot. Wound up running decently quick, trying to get there on time, so it was a little harder than normal. This wound up being 7.5M and I got there in just under 49:00. Stretched out and did the usual lifting routine at the gym. 7 AVG AVG AVG WED Davis Sq. Headed out at 6:10 this morning to deal with the snow that fell yesterday and wasn't shoveled. I don't really like dealing with Sullivan Square, especially now that it's iced over, but that early there's not much traffic and I can get by, but I didn't want to come back through it an hour later. I took the usual Highland route out, but instead of turning back at West I kept going into Davis and took Elm to Somerville back. Got to Union Square then took Prospect to Cambridge and headed home along what is becoming my favorite street to run on. Finished up at 67:19 for a route not much over 9M, thanks to the slow and sloppy conditions. Managed to stay in the roads for the majority of the run, but even the edge of the road wasn't that clear. There's probably a good way to extend this route, that's 2 new-ish runs the last two days. 9 EASY AVG AVG TUE South End. I woke up wanting to run somewhere new, which is a bit of a problem after living in Boston for 7 years and not looking to go more than 5M away from my house. I decided to try and find a route through the South End, though what I came up with needs some work. Ran over to the Common then took the Orange Line out to Mass Ave. I think that's the first time I've run Orange Line since leaving Clearway. Took Mass Ave down to Tremont and turned left, heading back towards downtown. Basically just ran straight, which took me through the South End, Bay Village and the edge of Chinatown (approx. Tremont to Stuart to Kneeland.) Found myself at South Station, so I just followed the Greenway back home, though it's not as nice covered in snow. A little shorter than I wanted, but I felt good throughout so I wasn't too upset. 7 EASY AVG AVG MON Mini Club O. I rode the bike for 10 minutes as a warm up since all the treadmills were taken, unfortunately this made my right IT band start tohurt. Stretched that out a bit then did the usual lifting routine, but I skipped lunges today since my quad has been sore. I think I used the heavier weights today, because 135 lbs on the bench felt much tougher than last week, I didn't have much more than 3x6 in me. 0 NONE NONE NONE MON Fake Fresh backwards. My right quad was still a little sore this morning, but it felt a lot better than it did yesterday. I guess foam rolling it before I got started made a big difference. Kept things relaxed, especially after yesterday's debacle I'm just looking to get in mileage for a few days and remind my body how to run. 10 EASY AVG AVG SUN Summit Ave. Slept in a bit but got out the door not long after waking up. Didn't feel that great, my right quad was sore from the start but not bad enough to justify turning around. Kept the effort pretty easy, though it felt like I was running fast at the start. Nothing much happened early, but on the downhill side of Summit my quad was not happy. Felt better once I was on Beacon though. The river was pretty icy still so I crossed over and ran back along the MIT side of Mem Drive. About the time I crossed over the BU Bridge is when things started going south. It became a pretty big effort to get home, my legs were really tired by the end of this run. Hard to believe that just a two weeks ago I was racing a half marathon. Hopefully the two easy weeks didn't ruin me too much and my fitness comes back quickly. Good start to February, my goal for the month is to run every day. 12 EASY BAD BAD Week 00 week00 2009-01-19 2009-01-31 Had a pretty good 2 weeks of down time, took the whole first week and then some completely off, but a week or so after Houston I started feeling a little more excited about running. I got back into lifting a little, using the gym at the office, and want to try and do that somewhat regularly going forward. After a long build up to Houston having some time to not worry about workouts and goals and races was welcomed, but I'm ready to get back to it. SAT Navy Yard with Midge, then Docks solo. Took off with Midge around 8:45, we did the same route through the Navy Yard as Thursday, and she started slowing after Flagship Wharf again. We took a little bit longer route home, but she still finished with a strong kick. Dropped her off and headed out to run Docks, questioning the choice of routes given that temps were in the mid-20s. Warm enough along the Docks, it got colder by the World Trade Center when the wind started blowing in off the water. Couldn't run along the river again, crossed over and enjoyed the thoroughly salted sidewalks by MIT. I felt great the whole way, today was a really good run. 10 EASY AVG AVG FRI Had planned on running before work and lifting after, but when my alarm went off I couldn't find the motivation to get out and deal with the snow and ice, so I stayed in bed. Went down to Mini Club O after work and did 1.6M on the treadmill in 10:00, starting out at 6:30s and bringing it down to 5:15 by the end. Then did the same lifting routine as Monday. Brewer would be happy to know that despite having lifted maybe 5 times since graduating in 2005, I was still able to bench plates. 1 NONE NONE NONE THU Navy Yard with Midge. I had a feeling everything was going to be iced over this morning, so I didn't even bother getting up to try and run. Decided I'd see how Midge liked running and put on my shoes around noon, after thinking about taking the day off entirely. She wasn't too sure at first what was going on, but when we got into the Navy Yard Midge seemed more excited and we were able to run at a decent pace. Had to stop and shuffle over a few icy patches, but all in all it went well. Coming back past Flagship Wharf Midge seemed to be tired, she wasn't keeping up with me anymore, so we just headed home. She did find the energy to kick once we got onto Lowney. For the record, she's faster than I am; it looked closer than it actually was, since she was on a leash, after all. Had to take her into the park afterwards and then didn't feel like bothering with getting her into her crate and then heading back out so I just called it a day. 2 EASY AVG AVG WED Back Bay Loop. Managed to get out the door around 6am for my first serious run since Houston. Felt great early, then my legs got a little tired and the rest of the run was average. It was nearly 30 degrees but it was snowing which made the footing a little tricky in places. Gave up on running along the river after slipping 2 or 3 times in 100m, the snow was covering up the patches of ice and I had no idea where to step. Crossed over Mem Drive and took advantage of the clear sidewalks by MIT. My legs felt a little fatigued by this point, but that feeling might be attributable to wearing shorts and having the snow hit my legs. Finished up Monument Street and past Col. Prescott and the Monument, since it was snowing. 6 EASY AVG AVG TUE Planned on getting up to run when I went to bed last night, but after taking Midge out in the middle of the night decided I was too tired and turned off my alarm. Slept in until nearly 7 this morning. Wasn't as sore from lifting as I was anticipating. 0 NONE NONE NONE MON Mini Club O. Ran on the treadmill for a little over a mile to get warmed up before lifting. Started out at 7:00ish but was bored and wanted to finish so I brought it down to low 6:00 with a short stint at 5:35 at the end. Then did the old MIT lifting routine, substituting lat pulldowns for pull ups. Not a lot of room for lunges, tried to do them in place but it didn't feel right, have to work on that, I guess. 1 NONE NONE NONE SUN Had some thoughts about running today, but it was 12 degrees when I woke up. Did some chores and then discovered that the liquor store was carrying Leinenkugel's 1888 Bock, which made my weekend. Tried to drink enough to forget that TPS ran 14:31. He is fast. 0 NONE NONE NONE SAT Day off. Watched some of the Terrier Invite, which made me wish I was on the track. I'm not sure that I'm comfortable living in a world where Terry Shea has a faster 5k PR than I do. 0 NONE NONE NONE FRI Started looking at the calendar a bit, excited to start running more. 0 NONE NONE NONE THU Nothing. I'm able to stay up past midnight without feeling tired when I don't run. It's a strange feeling, I have no motivation to go to bed. 0 NONE NONE NONE WED No running. 0 NONE NONE NONE TUE Day off. Not much of anything today. 0 NONE NONE NONE MON Day off. Slept 11-12 hours, thanks to today being a holiday, but wasn't too sore when I woke up. Chased Midge around the park a little but was tired after maybe 30 seconds. Excited to have some time off. 0 NONE NONE NONE