Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 23
01-01 - 01-07 |
This week was geared towards getting ready for Saturday's 5k, and given how it went I think the week was a success. I think that Monday's speedwork was too little too late, given how I felt during the race. From a fitness/strength perspective, I did a good job getting ready for the 5k, and also went in with realistic expectations. Saturday's race went almost exactly to plan, I wanted to run on pace the whole way and then pick it up for the final few laps to duck below 16:30. I just didn't have the turnover in my legs, or the toughness to stick with the faster pace, at the end. Time to close the book on this "season" and start getting ready for the spring. January
Miles :
47
|
47 |
| SAT |
Indoor Alumni Meet, 5k in 16:30.95 for 7th place. Warmed up 2M with Terry McNatt and Gihan, I was way overdressed, temps were probably in the 50s. My mouth was dry by the end of the warm up, and I was worried that I hadn't hydrated well enough. Had plenty of time to stretch out before the race, in a quiet part of the track and was able to get focused for the effort. Felt good running strides before the race, and felt ready by the time we lined up. Got out in the back of the pack, with Terry right behind me, and came through in 39, which was perfect. Saw 79 at 400 and resolved to only check 800m splits from there. Terry stayed with me through a mile (5:18,) then I got a little too excited at 2k and tried to surge for a lap or two. Despite not speeding up much the attempted surge messed me up and I had to work to get back to a good rhythm. Was alone the rest of the way, trying to reel in Kris Frey, who had fallen off the pack and was slowing. Was lapped by the top 4 with a mile to go (2M in 10:36) and got out of line again, trying to surge. Got back to a good rhythm for the last 1k but it felt like those 2 attempted surges took something out of my legs and all of the sudden I was fighting to maintain 78-79 second laps. Saw 15:54 with a lap to go and tried to find a fast 200m. Frey found some speed over the final lap and pulled away, which killed a lot of my motivation, I had been focused on chasing him over the final 1k. Pretty happy to have run right on pace the whole way as planned, but would have liked to be able to push a bit harder over the final few laps. Felt good when I was locked in at 5:18s, almost like I could have gone another mile, but as soon as I tried to speed up, everything got much, much harder. Took some time to recover, I had been working pretty hard by the end, then cooled down with a long, slow mile in lane 6 during the 4x2. 2012 Indoor Alumni Meet Summary
|
6 |
| FRI |
Charlestown Loop with Midge. Got going just before 7am with the dog, temps in the low 30s and feeling pretty good. Ran into Chorney by Tavern on the Water and ran with him to Warren Street where we split up. Legs felt good at the start (better than I would have liked them to feel the day before a race) but they weren't quite as sharp by the end. Pretty uneventful run, fairly distracted and didn't do a lot of thinking about tomorrow. Need to remember to find some time to get focused before the race. |
4 |
| THU |
2x400, 2x200 in 82, 80; 38, 39. Warmed up over to MIT this morning, thankfully today wasn't nearly as cold as yesterday. My plan was for some light and easy stuff on the track to re-inforce pace ahead of Saturday's race. I was originally thinking 2x400-4x200, for symmetry reasons, but decided to cut it short. I was shooting for 80s and expecting that to feel pretty relaxed, but wound up being too relaxed at the start. I got out in 42 on the first one and picked it up to close with a 40. Got out in 41 on the second and had to pick it up again, this time closing with a 39. I took 200m rest after everything and felt completely rested at the start of each. Didn't feel as smooth as I wanted to on either 200 and pulled the plug after I felt my legs tiring a little on the second 200. This workout didn't go exactly as I was expecting, but it was a good reminder that even though I'm running a slower pace, it won't be any easy. Even though 5:20s sounds easy, I won't be able to go out there and jog through a 16:30. I think the right plan is to use the first few laps to find the right pace, then ignore the clock the rest of the way and just respond to my body. I've run enough 5ks to know how it should feel. |
7 |
| WED |
Navy Yard with Midge, then Back Bay. Saw 8 degrees on the thermometer this morning and was wishing I had saved my day off for today. Ran with Midge for 2M through the Navy Yard, though going down by the water wasn't the greatest idea. Surprised at how warm it was just on the other side of the Tobin. Dropped Midge off at home and came close to staying inside in the heat, but got back out the door and things weren't too bad. The only truly cold part of the run was going across the bridge, though the river wasn't great. My legs felt okay this morning, getting a bit nervous about this weekend's race, though. |
8 |
| TUE |
Day off. The plan was to run, but I was really tired and slept in and didn't get out the door. |
0 |
| MON |
Castle-Bunker Hill plus 8x100m on the turf. Late start this morning, since today is a holiday, didn't leave until after 9am. Ran the standard route and detoured over to MIT, planning on running 4x200, only to find the track all locked up. Not sure why they've suddenly decided the track is so valuable, it's pretty frustrating. Luckily the turf field (with the new FieldTurf surface) was unlocked, so I ran 8x100ish with full jog back. Felt like I got into a good rhythm by the end, though this was more tiring than I had anticipated. The rest of the way was pretty uneventful and my legs eventually loosened up after the strides. |
10 |
| SUN |
Olmsted. Headed out around 8am this morning, surprisingly tired after yesterday's workout. Happily surprised to be able to wear shorts, tshirt, gloves and baseball cap on the first day of January. Pretty uneventful run and apparently pretty slow, as I was out there 94 minutes. Would have liked to run longer (though not a full marathon) but figured it can't hurt to rest up a bit before next weekend's Alumni meet. |
12 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 22
12-25 - 12-31 |
Wrapped up a good few days of training in Milwaukee at the beginning of the week and then wasn't able to get out for a run due to travel and work. Managed to get in a workout on Saturday after 3 days off, trying to tune up as much as possible for the Alumni meet. Not a great week, but a fitting one to finish off 2011. December
Miles :
174
|
35 |
| SAT |
1-2-3-4-3-2-1 then 5x(20s on, 20s off). Wanted to get in some kind of work before the 5k but also work on some turnover. Warmed up over to the 4.5 via MGH and after a few strides and a little stretching got right into it. My right ankle was store at the start and bothered me through the first minute. I think I got out a bit too fast at the start, I was tiring a bit by the end of the minute. Took half time rest and settled into a more accurate pace on the 2:00 segment (I was hoping to run 5:20ish.) Tried to ignore the marks as much as possible, but hit the half in 2:40 (with an easy 30 seconds in there) and the mile around 5:30. The 3:00 and 4:00 segments on the way out were a bit harder, I did a good job of staying focused but had periods of settling in. Finished the 4:00 segment right by the footbridge before BU, then turned back and headed home. Couldn't resist the urge to check the half mile split during the 3:00 segment and it was around 2:37. Tried to work on turnover during the 2:00 and 1:00 segments, but my that point my legs were fairly tired and I couldn't get much going. Finished up right by the 5 mile mark and ran 20s on-20s off back to the 4.5. Got in 5 ons and 4 offs, covering the half mile in 3:00. Those were short enough that I was able to get my legs turned over decently well on those. Was surprisingly tired at the end of this one, I was expecting a pretty light workout. Covered about 4.5M in 27:21 (assuming it's a quarter mile from the 6.5 to the footbridge) and the actual ladder was 4M in 24:20. (I really wanted to do a Nick End style workout and avoid gathering any data about this workout, but it seems I'm incapable of that.) No sense in trying to figure out if this was a good workout or not, the race is next weekend and I'm running it either way. Time to get in a good mental state. December
Miles :
174
|
8 |
| FRI |
Day off. Today was the final early morning, which makes me very happy. |
0 |
| THU |
Day off. The early mornings have resumed, back at the office by 7am again. |
0 |
| WED |
Day off, early flight back to Boston. |
0 |
| TUE |
Lake-Newberry-Bike Path with Nick. I was the first one to blink and told Nick I needed to keep it short/easy this morning, so we headed out on Lake to Newberry and took the boulevard straight down to Riverside. Picked up the bike path there and took it all the way back to Kensington, then worked our way back to the Schultes. Felt better than I was expecting again this morning, the recent mileage hasn't caught up to me, apparently. |
6 |
| MON |
Lakefront Hills with Nick. Another 8am start, ran with Nick over to the Lakefront and after a pitstop in Lake Park we headed down to Lincoln Memorial and started with the usual hills, Snake and St Mary's. My right ankle was pretty sore and took longer than usual to loosen up, it wasn't until we had climbed Snake that it stopped hurting. After climbing up St Mary's we extended out on the Lakefront to Art Museum, no hills but the pace was faster than a jog (or at least that's how it felt.) By the time we got back to LaFayette, though, I was out of workout mode and Nick started killing me on the hills. I'd start out with/near him for the first 25% of the hill and then he'd put a big gap on me and I'd finally stop the bleeding for the last 15-25% of the hill. St Mary's was a real massacre and Snake wasn't much better. I managed to hold my own on the final climb up Lincoln Memorial, but who knows how hard Nick was working by that point. He really put the screws to me this morning and I wasn't even close to keeping it respectable. This was certainly a sub-par workout for me, but the gap from Nick back to me made it feel even worse. We ran back to the Schulte's very, very easily. Was on my feet for 83 minutes this morning, hard to measure because of all the climbs but I'm going to call it a long 11M. |
11 |
| SUN |
Bender with Nick. An early start this morning, I was at Nick's place by 6:45 and we headed out on the old standby Bender route. Kept things nice and easy the whole way, though the pace naturally increased throughout the run. I finished at my parents house, the run was 70 minutes with the last mile in 6:40. Felt surprisingly good this morning, didn't feel yesterday's mileage at all. |
10 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 21
12-18 - 12-24 |
Good runs to start and end the week, but work really messed up the middle of the week. Happy to put in 46M in 4 days, being back in Milwaukee with Nick always results in me grinding out mileage. Hopefully I survive. December
Miles :
139
|
46 |
| SAT |
Third Ward with Nick. Met Nick at 8am and we headed down the Lakefront to the Art Musuem. Kept going past the Art Museum and ran through the Third Ward and nearly to the Rockwell (formerly Allen Bradley) building. (It looks like we made it to about First and Virginia.) Tried to run along the river to the lake on the way back but that didn't really work, so we swung past the Italian Community Center, under the highway and then took the bike path to Alterra. Went up LaFayette and north on Lake to 4676, then back to Lake Bluff. It wound up being 99 minutes and a solid 14M. The final few miles on Lake Drive were in the 6:30-6:40 range and I felt surprisingly good. Felt really sore the rest of the day and was dead by 8pm (though 3 plates of turkey and stuffing may have contributed to that.) |
14 |
| FRI |
Lake-Lincoln-Bike Path, with a 200 in 35 on the SHS track. Kathryn, Nate and I flew back to Milwaukee this morning and as we were driving to the Schulte's, I saw Nick running along the Lakefront. I quickly put on my running stuff and headed out to try and find Nick. He was a lot closer than I was expecting, as I ran into him at Capitol. He was finishing up, so I ran back to Sheffield with him then continued on into Lincoln. There was construction along the Parkway so I just turned back instead of trying to find a detour. Took the bike path through Estabrook, cut through Culver's parking lot and then jumped onto the newly resurfaced track at the high school. Ran a somewhat quick 200 in 35 seconds then headed back to the Schultes. Was pretty tired throughout the run and didn't have the energy to do more than the single 200 on the track. I realized at the end of the run that I had been awake for almost 8 hours (woke up 4am Eastern, started running at 10am Central) and had only eaten a bagel. Refueled with a big breakfast and a lot of pulled pork at lunch. |
8 |
| THU |
Davis-Elm-Cambridge, partly with THE SPANIARD. Finally able to run again, headed out on Broadway, then took the bike path to Davis. Heading back along Elm I ran into Bedoya, who graciously ran with me to Union Square and then over to Inman Square before we split up. Nice and easy this morning, just enjoying being out and running again. |
9 |
| WED |
Day off. I have an early call for the next 3 days and have to be at the office by 7am. |
0 |
| TUE |
Day off. I have an early call for the next 3 days and have to be at the office by 7am. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. I have an early call for the next 3 days and have to be at the office by 7am. |
0 |
| SUN |
Reservoir with Harvey. Met Brian and Stef at the Common this morning and headed out to the Reservoir along Beacon. I mistakenly wore pants and was already hot and regretting the decision before learning that Brian was wearing half-tights. I lost the "exposed skin" category but won the "not wearing tights" category. Stef turned back around Park Street, Brian and I followed the course all the way to Cleveland Circle, did a lap around the Reservoir and headed back the way we came. Surprised that I made it through 1:53 feeling as well as I did, but was pretty wiped out the rest of the day. |
15 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 20
12-11 - 12-17 |
Another inconsistent week. Got off to a good start with back to back solid runs, but then had a lull with a few days off and finished with a crummy workout. I feel like I'm in better shape than that workout represents, hopefully I can find some mental toughness before I have to run 25 laps on the paperclip. December
Miles :
93
|
46 |
| SAT |
Day off. I stayed home with Nate while Kathryn ran and then didn't have time to get out for a run before leaving for the Pub Crawl. A lot of fun seeing a big group of BAA and GBTC guys in the afternoon. |
0 |
| FRI |
3x1600 in 5:24-22-18. Warmed up over to MIT this morning with hopes of running 4-5x1600 at 5:15-5:18. Reality was nowhere near that, unfortunately. Felt good enough warming up but didn't have it this morning. I'd like to think this doesn't represent the actual shape I am in and instead is just that my head wasn't in the workout. I was getting out in 80-81 and just unable to speed up from there, despite my best efforts. I decided the third would be my last interval and was able to run marginally better. Not the confidence boost I was looking for at this stage of the game. The Alumni 5k could get ugly. |
9 |
| THU |
L-Ocean-G-Broadway with Harvey. Met Brian around 7am at the Common as usual and we headed out to Southie through Downtown Crossing. Felt good to run again, glad I agreed to meet him. Ran straight to the Ocean, then over to and up G Street and then took Broadway back. Headed right back to Charlestown via Common-Gov't Center. Enjoyable run but my legs were done once I finished. |
10 |
| WED |
Day off. Should have run, my cold wasn't any better but it wasn't any worse, either. |
0 |
| TUE |
Day off. Despite being responsible and sleeping 8+ hours last night, my sore throat was worse when I woke up this morning. Decided to take a day to rest in hopes that it will go away quickly. (A day without running around in the cold for an hour plus helps, too.) Unless it gets a lot worse, this is the only off day I'm giving myself. |
0 |
| MON |
Short Fake Fresh, plus 12x220y in 35-36 with Jmark. Jared had the idea to run out to Harvard and do 12x(200 on-200 off) then head home. I agreed to this plan without thinking through how far I would have to run to get over to Harvard and I started regretting the decision around Western Ave. Got to the track after 42 minutes, then put in 3M on the track via 200 on, 200 off. The ons started out at 36 but after 2 or 3 I was solidly at 35-mid and stayed there the rest of the way (the offs were slow, around 60s.) Felt somewhat comfortable throughout but definitely tired by the end. To shorten the route home we took Mt. Auburn-Mass Ave-Vassar to Science. The "cool down" was about 36 minutes, and altogether I was running for 1:35. I'm calling this a long 13M, making it two big days back to back. Very tired by the time I finally got home. Another cold morning, but it was pretty warm on the track and felt great to get back outside when the 200s were over. |
13 |
| SUN |
JP with Jmark. Met Jmark at Mass and Memorial in the morning, with every intention of putting in a solid long run. Jared told me that he went 21M on Saturday night, just 12 hours earlier, and only wanted to go 10-12M. So we compromised on the route and headed out to JP. First really cold day, just above 30 when I left but it warmed up as the sun came up. Fairly comfortable with long sleeve, gloves and baseball cap. We ran up Mass Ave to the Fens and followed the Riverway out to JP. Just a single loop around the Pond and then back home along the Fens/Riverway. Jared ran down to Longfellow with me before turning back and I struggled home over the final two miles. Wound up right around 1:48, which is a long 14M for me. Heading out to JP is right around 14M, but taking the river instead of Commonwealth made this a bit longer. Felt decent early but was really tired after an hour or so and the final few miles were a struggle. Need to keep putting in time on the feet. |
14 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 19
12-04 - 12-10 |
The week got off to a good start with a long run and workout, but then my motivation waned and I started giving in to my weaker impulses in the mornings. Establishing more consistency is still the most important thing at this point. December
Miles :
47
|
39 |
| SAT |
Day off. Got caught up in errands and Christmas shopping and the day got away from me. |
0 |
| FRI |
Fake Fresh with JMark. As per usual, met Jared on the river at 7 and we headed up to Harvard Square. Felt okay this morning, the two days off really helped me recover from the workout. |
10 |
| THU |
Day off. |
0 |
| WED |
Day off. |
0 |
| TUE |
3x(800-400-400) then 200 in 2:41, 74, 74; 2:37, 76, 73; 2:33, 73, 74; 34. Total of 5k in 15:49. I wanted to run this workout before TriGobble, but illness and laziness conspired to delay it until today. Warmed up over to MIT and after stretching and a few strides jumped right into the workout. Maybe should have put in a few more strides, the first 800 didn't go that well. Was hoping for 2:34-36 on the 8s and 72ish on the 4s, but got out in 81 and knew I'd miss the window badly. Took 200m after the 800 and that left me feeling great for the 400s. Was able to focus really well over the entire interval but still was surprised to see 74 on the watch. Pretty much the same story on the second 400, with just 100m rest in between. Took 200m rest between sets and the next 800 went a bit better. Got out in 37-high but slowed down and split just 79 at 400. Found a better rhythm on the second 400m and finished up pretty well. Wasn't feeling as great at the start of the 400s and got out very poorly. Ran 75.76 and it really hurts to round that up, but those are the rules. Refocused during the rest and ran the best interval of the workout, 73.02. Pretty tired at the start of the third set but was able to see the end of the workout and stayed pretty focused. Very happy to see 2:33, and that was evenly split, then finished with two hard but consistent 400s. Immediately jogged across the infield and tacked on a 200 to make it a full 5k of work this morning. Felt good on that and was disappointed to see it was just a 34. I think the 200 summed up the whole workout, it was comfortably hard but I didn't push myself beyond that. I know I left a second or two on the track because I wasn't fully committed to hammering the workout. All in all I think this was a good step forward and am very glad I sped up after the first 2:41. I've got a long way to go still, but that first 2:41 had be thinking that breaking 17:00 would be a good race for me right now. By the end I was thinking that 16:20ish would be realistic. |
9 |
| MON |
Docks-Greenway. Just happy to get out the door this morning, I was pretty tired when I woke up this morning. Felt a little better as the run wore on, but was never tempted to extend it beyond 6M. |
6 |
| SUN |
Southie with Brian. Had gotten myself all pumped up for a 2 hour run, heading out to the Arboretum and then back home along the Riverway. I had forgotten that Brian is tapering, though, so we had to choose a shorter route. Ran out on Summer/L Street then took Broadway back to the South End and wound our way to Brian's apartment, then I ran home alone down Newbury St. Nice weather this morning, though not warm enough for Pretty Boy Brian to wear a tshirt. My legs felt good the whole way, they held up a lot better than they had on Wednesday. Finished up at 1:43. Nick ran 2:19:48 this morning at Cal International. That's a spectacular race for me, and very motivating for me. |
14 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 18
11-27 - 12-03 |
December
Miles :
8
|
22 |
| SAT |
Charlestown Loop with Midge. Kept it short and easy this morning because Kathryn had plans and I had to be home to watch Nate. Felt good enough. |
4 |
| FRI |
Day off. |
0 |
| THU |
Charlestown Loop with Midge. Wanted to keep today easy and felt like Midge hadn't been getting much exercise, so we headed out for an easy run this morning. My quads were really sore, but I loosened up a little bit by the end. Always happy to run in shorts, tshirt and gloves in December. |
4 |
| WED |
Day off. Tired, sore, lazy. November
Miles :
134
|
0 |
| TUE |
Southwest Corridor with Harvey. We met in the Common at 7am this morning and Brian was deadset on running out to the Arboretum. We picked up Orange Line and took the path all the way out to Forrest Hills, then turned around and came back the same way. This turned into a longer run than I had originally planned, but Brian insisted we make it all the way to the Arboretum. About 49 minutes on the way out and made it back in 48. Felt really good at the start, a week off will do that, apparently. My legs were pretty shot by the end, especially the right hip flexor. |
14 |
| MON |
Day off. Tired this morning when I woke up, and lazy. Feel bad wasting these late November days with temps in the mid 50s. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off. I think I'm all the way back, now I just need to get out the door. Didn't have a chance today. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 17
11-20 - 11-26 |
November
Miles :
120
|
10 |
| SAT |
Day off. Had a big-ish meal last night and I guess I'm not fully over everything, but felt pretty good today and was able to eat what I wanted without issue. |
0 |
| FRI |
Day off. Feeling better but haven't eaten a lot over the last few days, so I'm going to take my time getting back into it. |
0 |
| THU |
Day off. Had been holding out hope for TriGobble this morning, but had another rough night and was still feeling bad when I woke up. Finally started turning the corner around 1pm. No Thanksgiving dinner for me though. |
0 |
| WED |
Day off. Still no end in sight with this sickness. Went to the hospital in the afternoon and was told it's likely viral gastroenteritis and I just have to ride it out. |
0 |
| TUE |
Day off. My stomach pain continued overnight and was much worse this morning. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. Woke up feeling pretty badly, had stomach pain all day. |
0 |
| SUN |
River with a big group, plus Nate in the stroller. Ran over to Mass & Memorial with Nate this morning. We got there 15 minutes early, so I stopped at Killian Court and let Nate run around in the grass. We headed up the river to River Street and came back down on the Boston side. Felt good enough early on but got really tired by the end of the run, happy to be done by the time I got home. Stomach trouble started after breakfast. |
10 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 16
11-13 - 11-19 |
Another in the string of so-so weeks. Had a few good days, 3 in the double digits and a decent workout on Saturday. Still need to find some sort of consistency. November
Miles :
110
|
43 |
| SAT |
6M tempo then a hard 800. Tempo in 34:17 via 5:56-56-41-44-32-27, the 800 was 2:29. Had a pretty big group for today's workout, the plan for the tempo was 6-6-5:45-5:45-5:30-5:30-5:20-5:20, then faster. I was hoping to get through 6M feeling good and then hang on through the 5:20s for as long as possible. Settled in at the back of the pack early then moved up to help out on the 5:45s. My legs were feeling good at the start of the 5:30s but struggled staying focused. We were heading all the way to the 'xx' by the BU Bridge on the Boston side, so the turn around was going to be after 6M. After 5M I moved back up into the lead to help out one last time. Got a little too amped up and came through the half in 2:40. Backed off a bit and then dropped off when the guys turned around at the 'xx'. Started feeling bad about giving up when things started getting tough and decided I'd jump back in for the fast finish. I had 10-11 minutes to get over to the 6.5, which was plenty for a slow jog and a few strides. (I took the stairs on the side of the BU Bridge for the first time in my life, those things are steep. No way they're up to code.) Everyone except for Harvey and Dan stopped at 8M, which is where I jumped back in, so that left the three of us to take off hauling down the river towards Mass Ave. I was right on Brian's shoulder at first, but I started to tire after 400m or so and it felt like Dan wanted to move up. We were somehow able to switch places without talking, but that left me to try and chase, which meant I quickly fell off the back. They were through in 2:27 and I was cooked after running 2:29. Not sure if I could have hung on longer had we hit the goal of 2:35, but I was pretty much red-lining it. Ran across the bridge with Will, Colman and Ted and called it a day. Good workout, though I wish I hadn't stopped at 6M. Had a brief lapse of confidence/concentration and let myself take the easy way out. An extra 2M of tempo would have been better than the hard 800 at the end. |
10 |
| FRI |
Charlestown Loop with Midge. Wanted to keep today easy ahead of a bigger next three days. Going to workout Saturday and Monday with a medium long run Sunday, then take Tuesday and Wednesday easy before TriGobble. Felt good from the start today, though it was much cooler with temps in the mid 30s. We've had a lot of nice weather recently and that tricks you into thinking winter's not going to come. |
4 |
| THU |
River with a big group of guys. Met pretty much the same group as Tuesday, but this time much closer to the Sonesta because I got a late start. Same route as Tuesday, even, up to River Street on the Boston side then back down on the Cambridge side, but went home over the Prison Point Bridge instead of going over to MGH. Nice, easy run without anything out of the ordinary. Finished up around 73 minutes. |
10 |
| WED |
Day off. |
0 |
| TUE |
River with a big group of guys. Met the guys (Harvey, Jmark, Will, Colman, Paul and Liam) on the river around Sloan, then turned around and headed down to Science. Back up the Boston side of the river, across at River Street and then back down to MoS again. I looped around to the Boston side of the river and went home via MGH. Just over 90 minutes this morning, I'm calling it 13. Went a bit longer than normal on purpose to compensate for missing Sunday's long run. Felt really good the whole way, the pace was easy and there was good conversation, but I was pretty wiped out the rest of the day. |
13 |
| MON |
Charlestown with Midge. Easy four miles with the dog to get her tired out for the day, since Kathryn was staying home with a sick Nate. I felt pretty good, but didn't have much interest in going any further. |
4 |
| SUN |
Navy Yard with Midge. The plan was to run 2M with Midge, drop her off and then head out for another 10-12M. However, right as I came through the door, dropping off Midge, Nate threw up all over Kathryn. Half an hour later, after everything was cleaned up and everyone was rinsed off, I had no motivation to head back out. Instead, I just made waffles. |
2 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 15
11-06 - 11-12 |
I missed another long run, this time because of travelling. The rest of the week went pretty well, I was really happy with the mile repeats I ran on Thursday, that's the best I've felt since I started getting back into it. Finished the week off with a disappointing workout, my legs felt okay but my head wasn't in it. I think I'm capable of running faster than I have been, but I'm not yet used to pushing myself again. November
Miles :
67
|
41 |
| SAT |
Tempo on Ollie course in 29:59. Warmed up over to the start of the Ollie course (3M) and went straight into the workout. Was hoping to run close to 29:00, but never really got into a good groove. I don't know any of the exact mile marks, but I think I was about 6:15 and 12:12 for the first 2M. I wasn't running as hard as I should have been, this was really more of a faster than normal easy run. There was a crowd down by Castle Island, apparently getting ready for a race, but I was able to get around everything without much of an issue. Finally managed to push myself over the last mile, based on where I think the 4M mark is I closed with about a 5:45. Though, I'm not sure if the course is 8k or 5M. Headed home right after the finish, I wasn't nearly as tired as I should have been. A pretty disappointing workout, wasn't as focused as I needed to be and wasn't working as hard as I should have been. |
11 |
| FRI |
River with Jmark, Will, Dan Smith and Nate in the stroller. Kathryn has the day off of work and had her own plans to run this morning, so Nate and I headed out at 6:45 and went to the river. Made it all the way up to Mass Ave without running into the guys, then stood around waiting for Harvey who never showed. Ran back down to MoS and up the Boston side, I eventually had to turn around by Fielder when Nate started getting upset. Spent the last 20 minutes running home with Nate screaming in the stroller. I felt very conspicuous, but he was also kind of a siren, so people knew we were coming and moved aside for us. Only made it 8M (58:00) this morning but felt really good and wish I'd been able to go 11-12M. |
8 |
| THU |
4x1600 in 5:23, 21, 18, 19. I was responsible and went to bed at 9:30pm last night, which I think contributed to me feeling pretty good this morning. Warmed up over to MIT and after a little bit of stretching and three strides I got right into the workout. My goal was 4x16 at 5:20, which I thought would be one mile more than the last time I did this, though now that I look back I see I only managed 2x16 last time. The biggest issue right now, I think, is that I'm still expecting 5:20 to feel comfortable, because I'm so accustomed to running mile repeats around 5:00. I guess I haven't full accepted the new reality. Rough start to the workout, out in 19-41-83 before focusing and running a 79 to get back on track. Ran the second half in 2:41 and used the 400m rest to re-focus. Pretty straightforward on the second interval. Running more or less straight 80 second laps, but the tenths added up to push it over 5:20 (watch said 5:20.87.) At this point I was debating breaking up the fourth into 800-400-400 because I didn't feel like I was running as hard as I should have been over 1600 and shorter intervals would (theoretically) let me cut loose a bit more. But I rallied to really nail the third mile, I got out in 79 and kept hammering when it got tough. Really happy to see a sub 5:20 on the watch but really needed the 400m break to regroup (took 3:22, the other 2 rests were each 2:57.) It took me 200m to loosen up at the start of the fourth mile, but then I found a good rhythm and clipped off a solid 1100m. Had to really work over the last 300m, my legs were getting tired but I managed to hold on and dipped under 5:20 again. It took a few minutes for me to regroup before slowly shuffling home along the river. My right hip and lower back was pretty tight, so I made sure to take my time stretching when I got home. Very happy with how today went, I had much better focus and was able to push myself harder than last time. If the current trend continues, my next track workout will be 8x1600 around 5:15 pace. This workout does show how much work I have in front of me: 5:20 is 16:40 pace and I can't think of a time when I would have been able to run 4x1600 at 5k pace. Really looking forward to testing myself at TriGobble in 2 weeks. |
10 |
| WED |
Short Run to Remember. I had four or five different route ideas at the start, but was so tired I decided to kick the can down the road a bit. Kept it short this morning and planned out a big four day stretch to compensate: mile repeats Thursday, 10+M Friday, tempo run Saturday and long run Sunday. Felt slightly better at the end of this mornings run and finished with a stride, but on the whole my legs were pretty tired throughout. |
6 |
| TUE |
Day off. Planned on running, but Nate had a rough night and morning and I just didn't have the energy to get out the door. |
0 |
| MON |
Back Bay. Managed to get out the door but was pretty tired. Only put in 6M but was happy to just have some time on my feet. Didn't check my watch along the river on purpose, I'm sure it was north of 7:30 pace. |
6 |
| SUN |
Day off. Woke up around 7:15am, slightly hungover after a late night at the wedding. Kathryn and I almost immediately left for Milwaukee then headed to the airport with Nate and flew to Boston. We got home around 5pm and I was exhausted. Long day of traveling. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 14
10-30 - 11-05 |
Hit or miss this week. Got in a solid long run on Sunday to start things off and managed a decent workout and a ten miler with Jared, but the other 4 days weren't that remarkable. Still trying to establish that daily consistency. I've been feeling a bit rundown following long/hard efforts; I should definitely be sleeping a bit more and I still think there might be an iron issue, too. November
Miles :
26
|
44 |
| SAT |
Des Plaines River Trail in Lincolnshire, IL. There was a running trail right behind the hotel and this may have been the best hotel running of my life. It was a dirt/crushed stone path through the woods and aside from crossing a street in the first half mile everything was uninterrupted. Felt surprisingly good this morning, there were mile markers along the trail and I was consistently sub 7. Would have liked to go longer, but knew it was going to be a long day and didn't want to tire myself out too much. Fantastic run, really made me miss being able to run well in the fall. |
6 |
| FRI |
Day off. Kathryn, Nate and I flew to Milwaukee, then Kathryn and I drove down to Chicago for Maltas' wedding. Didn't have a lot of time to workout, and even less energy. |
0 |
| THU |
Fake Fresh with Jared. Met JMark along the river as usual and headed up to Harvard then back down Mass Ave. We stopped at MIT and ran a few strides on the new turf field, then headed down the river towards Charlestown. Nice run, nice weather this morning. |
10 |
| WED |
6M "tempo" in 35:23 via 6:08-5:56-5:55-5:47-5:48-5:47. Warmed up over to the 3.5 mile mark this morning and after a little bit of stretching and a few strides got right into today's effort. My plan was to run 6M at sub-6:00 pace, expecting it to be comfortable early and tough late. Took things too easy at the start and was 3:07 at the half, then picked it up and got back on pace. Felt good the whole way and just naturally sped up as the run wore on. It got harder late in the run and I was working hard over the final half mile to get under 5:50. It took a few minutes to get things under control after finishing, but I felt better by the end of the cooldown. Happy to get this in, but there's clearly a lot of work left to do. |
10 |
| TUE |
Day off. |
0 |
| MON |
Charlestown Loop with Midge. I was expecting to feel bad this morning after yesterday's long run and had planned on just 4, to make it easier to get out the door. Actually felt decent, though climbing up Sackville was rough. I have a feeling I was a bit low on iron and eating a giant burger last night helped me feel okay this morning. October
Miles :
122
|
4 |
| SUN |
Jamaica with Harvey. It snowed/rained overnight and the ground was sloppy in places but really not a big deal. Headed over to Brian's place around 8:30 this morning, weather was really nice, very comfortable. We headed out on Fens/Riverway to Jamaica, ran a single lap and headed home. Standard conversation topics this morning (football, gambling, re-defining the length of a day, etc.) made the run pass very quickly. Harvey came all the way back to the locks, but once he turned back I realized how incredibly tired I felt. About 110 minutes this morning, longer than I was expecting but this route has always been 14M in the past. I guess we were running slower than I thought (7:45ish.) |
14 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 13
10-23 - 10-29 |
Started getting back into semi-serious training, motivated by watching Mayor's Cup on Sunday. Had a good stretch early in the week but felt pretty worn down by the end of the week. I'm sure there's going to be an adjustment period as the mileage starts increasing; I'll need to walk the line between pushing through it and allowing for recovery. October
Miles :
104
|
38 |
| SAT |
Day off. Wiped out again this morning, taking Thursday off helped so much that I thought I'd try it again. |
0 |
| FRI |
River with JMark. Met Jared by Longfellow on the Cambridge side of the river, then crossed over the bridge and headed up to River Street and back home along the Cambridge side. Felt great early, the day off yesterday clearly helped, but felt worse as the run wore on. |
10 |
| THU |
Day off. Entirely wiped out this morning. Couldn't force myself to put on the shoes. |
0 |
| WED |
Davis Square. Pretty tired this morning but forced myself out the door. Headed out on Highland to Davis Square then took Elm back to Union Square, over to Inman and back home along Cambridge. Felt really tired and run down this morning, glad to get the run in but I'm sure I was running very slowly. |
9 |
| TUE |
River with BH, JMark and Prindiville. Met Jared and Brian along the river a bit after 7 this morning then headed up river for awhile. Bumped into BP at Western Ave, turned around and ran back downriver with him. Looped around Science, crossed over at Fielder, ran up to the State House and back home from there. Felt pretty good the whole way this morning, no residual soreness from yesterday's workout, which probably says something about yesterday's workout. Almost 82 minutes, this was a solid 11M, though I didn't check any of our splits along the river. |
11 |
| MON |
2x1600, 400 in 5:22, 5:24, 69. Slept almost nine hours last night, felt amazing when I woke up. Headed over to MIT for this workout, I've been wanting to do something for awhile and finally decided to just run a workout despite not having run the day before. Didn't do much stretching or strides, basically jumped right in. The plan was to run 1600s at 5:20 until I couldn't and then possibly tack on a broken down 1600 (800-400-400) at the end. Out a little quick on the first one but settled in and ran 81-81-81 before closing with a 79 to hit 5:22. Pretty happy with how I felt, my breathing was fine and my legs weren't too bad. Took a lap in a little under 3:00 then jumped into the the next one, but was running a bit slower, splits of 82-82-81-79. Decided that was too slow, took another lap and finished the workout off with a single 400. Surprised to see 68.88 at the end, was thinking 72-73 would have been good. My legs still felt okay and my breathing was fine, right now it's mainly a matter of being aggressively mentally and pushing myself to run harder. Cooled down back home along the river. |
8 |
| SUN |
Day off. Planned to run with Nate again this morning but that was when I thought Kathryn's flight landed at 11am. When I found out she was landing at 10am I didn't have time. Was able to get over to Franklin Park in time to watch Mayor's Cup, which got me energized about getting in shape again. I think I'm going to pull the trigger and sign up for Tri-Gobble. I've got 4.5 weeks to get ready. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 12
10-16 - 10-22 |
Another not so great week. Managed to get in a run in Chicago and given the activities of that weekend I consider that a win. Probably could have run earlier in the week but I wasn't there mentally. Felt great later in the week when I finally got out the door. I'm sure finally sleeping 8+ hours on Friday night helped. October
Miles :
66
|
24 |
| SAT |
Out to River Street with Nate. It's just me and Nate this weekend, so after he ate breakfast we headed out to the river. All the way up to River Street, thankfully turned back before the Head of the Charles traffic got ridiculous. Only checked two splits, from 7 to 6.5 and 5 to 4.5, both were in the 3:30 to 3:35 range, which I was surprised to see. The stroller felt like it was pulling to the left ever so slightly and I didn't feel natural steering with my left hand, so my right arm and shoulder were pretty sore by the time I finished. Right around 70 minutes this morning, but I'm rounding down to compensate for rounding up on Thursday. |
9 |
| FRI |
Day off. |
0 |
| THU |
River with Jmark, Harvey, Stef and Liam. Headed out towards Mass and Memorial but got a late start so I met the group under Longfellow. Ran down to MOS and up the river on the Boston side, where we ran into Liam. I got up to the 6.5 mile mark before needing to head home. Liam and I turned off from the others and ran back towards Science. Split off from Liam at some point, I think around Longfellow. Finished up around 65 minutes, so I'm rounding up a bit to call this 9M. |
9 |
| WED |
Day off. Still recovering. |
0 |
| TUE |
Day off. In rough shape. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. Going to need a few days, this past weekend reinforced that I'm not 22 anymore. Ouch. |
0 |
| SUN |
Chicago Lakefront to Soldier Field. A slightly earlier night, got back to the hotel at 1am, up and out the door by 8am this morning. Raining but not too terrible this morning, wound up taking off my shirt pretty early on and was comfortable. Got on the river off of Michigan but that dead ended after a few blocks. Probably could have found a way to get onto the Lakefront Trail but didn't feel like wandering around. Turned back then took Columbus south, which turned out to be a horrible decision as I ran though a 4 or 5 block long tunnel. Finally got to the Lakefront trail and kept going south, turning around at Soldier Field. The half mile from Shedd to Soldier was 3:34 and a few seconds faster on the way back. Back to the hotel after 45 minutes or so, then went to the gym for a few minutes of core. Finished with some time in the sauna, but I had to turn it on when I got in so it never got very warm. |
6 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 11
10-09 - 10-15 |
Not a great week. A lot of staying up late, getting up early and feeling generally tired. Not a lot of motivation to do anything this week. Pretty discouraging. October
Miles :
42
|
14 |
| SAT |
Day off. Could have run, but had an omelete and hung out with Bo instead. Was a zombie by the end of last night. Went to bed at 3am Central time, after waking up at 6am Eastern time, with plenty of carousing from 10pm onwards. |
0 |
| FRI |
Charlestown Loop with Midge. Wanted to get Midge a little tired out this morning, just the standard 4M route with a little bit of rain this morning. Flying to Chicago later today. |
4 |
| THU |
Day off. |
0 |
| WED |
South End with Harvey and Stef. We met up at the Common this morning and headed down Shawmut (I think) through the South End then up Mass Ave and a small loop through the Fens. Stef dropped off then Harvey and I ran back to Charlestown via Boylston-Common. Felt alright, put in 82 minutes this morning. Nice weather, good company. |
10 |
| TUE |
Day off. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 10
10-02 - 10-08 |
October
Miles :
28
|
17 |
| SAT |
Day off. Really tired this morning, motivation is waning. |
0 |
| FRI |
Day off. |
0 |
| THU |
Mini Club O after work. The usual lifting routine but I was really tired and didn't bring a lot of energy to the workout. Got through everything but was going through the motions instead of really ripping into the workout. |
0 |
| WED |
Day off. |
0 |
| TUE |
5x800 in 2:40-28-43-30-40 with JMark. I woke up in the middle of the night and it was pouring rain, so I wasn't too excited about this morning's workout, but the rain cleared up by the time I headed over to MIT at 7am. Met Jared at 7:30 and we more or less got right into it. The plan was for a pretty laid back workout, running 2:42-2:30-2:42-2:30-2:42 with 1 lap recovery. Jared took the 2:42s because that's his marathon pace and I said I'd do what I could to hit 2:30. We got out in about 37 or 38 but adjusted from there and were on pace the rest of the way. Felt really good once we settled in at 2:42 pace. Took the lead on the second, got out a bit slow in 38 and then sped up a bit too much, running 72 for the next 400m to get to 600 in 1:50. Backed off slightly to hit 2:28 at 800. Surprised that I was able to managed 2:30 pace as easily as I did. Settled in behind Jared on the third and split something along the lines of 80 then 82. I had the lead on the fourth, took us out in about 76, hit 1:53 at 600 and felt good maintaining pace on the final 200. More or less just followed Jared on the final 800, felt really comfortable running 2:40 pace and it helped to be able to just follow JMark around the track. My track running skills are a bit rusty, it took me almost 300m on the first interval to figure out where I should be behind Jared to stay in contact but avoid the water he was kicking up off the track. Cooled down back home, not nearly as wiped out as I was expecting to be. This marathon stuff isn't so hard, maybe I'll head out to Chicago with Jared this weekend. |
9 |
| MON |
Day off. Should have run in the morning, but was too tired when I woke up. Then wasn't in the mood for anything after dinner and went to bed pretty early. |
0 |
| SUN |
Mass Ave with Nate. Got started just before 8am this morning with Nate in the jogger, headed over to the river and up to Mass Ave. Felt really awkward with the jogger at first, but eventually got it figured out. Was running right around 8:00 pace and felt pretty tired the whole way. Pretty tough on the way home because of the Breast Cancer Walk on the Boston side of the Esplanade. A lot of traffic to weave through, but I was able to get out on the "islands" part away from the crowds for a decent part of it. |
8 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 09
09-25 - 10-01 |
This was another decent week. Still not doing much to get in good running shape, but I'm at least doing something every day and am feeling better mentally. The only real runs were on Sunday and Saturday, but I had a really tough workout in the gym on Friday afternoon, too. October
Miles :
11
|
29 |
| SAT |
River-Southwest Corridor-Huntington with Jmark, Brian and DSmith. Met the guys by the BU Bridge at 8:20 this morning then headed towards Franklin Park, where Dan was going for a workout. Took Ruggles Street to the Southwest Corridor until I got to 45 minutes and had to turn around. Jmark and Harvey came with me, we headed back the way we came then turned onto Huntington off of Ruggles. Jared turned off around the Pru, Harvey and I ran down to the Common before splitting up. Got home in 83 minutes, which I'm guessing makes today a pretty solid 11 miles. Felt better than I was expecting early on, my quads weren't nearly as sore as I feared, but I was rapidly running out of energy by the end of the run. |
11 |
| FRI |
Charlestown Loop with Midge in the morning. Nice weather this morning and had a nice easy run through the neighborhood with the dog to start the day. Legs felt pretty good, but it was only 4 miles. Went to the gym after work and had a really good session. Did all the usual stuff and finished up with the same 3 continuous sets of [15 hamstring curls, 1 minute wall sit, 1 minute planks,] which I am tempted to start calling the "coup de grace." Tonight I decided to raise the difficulty level and held a 35 pound plate during wall sits, which left me really wiped out by the end. Found a new favority sit up, too, twisting your torso touching a medicine ball on the floor on either side of you. Very tired at the end of the day. September
Miles :
84
|
4 |
| THU |
Core and Yoga. The now-standard 5 minute core routine plus 10 minutes of yoga before bed. |
0 |
| WED |
Charlestown Loop with Midge, then core. Ran the usual route around the town this morning, felt good after a few days off. Ran hard up Sackville, and Midge easily kept up with me. When we got home I did the same 5 minute routine as Monday, planks-wall sits-kicks-wall sits-planks. |
4 |
| TUE |
Day off. Still feeling sick, but that's not the reason for the day off. Didn't feel like running in the morning, didn't go into the office because there's a boil water order for Burlington and then got distracted in the evening and didn't feel like doing anything at 11:30pm. |
0 |
| MON |
Core + Yoga. Did a 5 minute routine this evening that went planks-wall sits-kicks-wall sits-planks, one minute of each, and then the usual yoga routine. All of this while watching the Red Sox lose. |
0 |
| SUN |
Fake Fresh backwards. Out the door around 7:30 this morning, really enjoyed being out there this morning. Nice, cool temperature and a very still morning. Thought I'd be running pretty slowly, but was 7:20ish along the river and 75 minutes for the entire run. |
10 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 08
09-18 - 09-24 |
This was an okay week. Not a lot of miles but managed to get in a decent amount of work, other than taking Saturday off. Felt good on Friday, running with Brian, and had a really good workout in the gym on Thursday. September
Miles :
66
|
25 |
| SAT |
Day off. Felt pretty bad when I woke up, I've had a head cold for at least a week now and haven't been able to get over it. Decided to take it easy today. |
0 |
| FRI |
South End with Harvey. Ran over to the Common and met Brian at 7am. We did a quick lap of the park since neither of us had an idea of where to go. We wound up taking Charles Street into the South End and followed it as it turned into Tremont. Took Tremont to Mass Ave, then up to Boylston and Boylston/Essex to the Greenway, then back to Charlestown. Felt pretty good this morning, though we kept things nice and easy the whole way. Wide ranging conversation, from the cable television ecosystem to legalizing sports gambling. 61 minutes total today, probably a bit longer than 8M, but I'm rounding down. |
8 |
| THU |
Mini Club O after work. A pretty good workout this afternoon, I'm finding more ways to work harder in the gym. (Doing planks on a medicine ball is borderline impossible, though, at least in shoes.) After the usual bench press, single leg squats and lat pull downs, I finished up with 3 continuous sets of 15 hamstring curls, 1 minute wall sit and 1 minute planks. Really wiped out after that. |
0 |
| WED |
Castle-Bunker Hill with JMark and Carlos. Met the guys on the river by the Royal Sonesta and ran up to Mass Ave, then picked up the Castle-Bunker Hill route. Felt good from the start this morning, and Carlos kept the pace honest, really good run. Split off from those guys by the Training Field, finished up at 57 minutes. Good to catch up with Carlos again. |
8 |
| TUE |
Situps. My plan was to go to Mini Club O after work but I left my badge at home and couldn't get into the gym. Nearly skipped the day altogether, tired and hungry when I got home from work and was falling asleep on the couch, but I managed to get in 200 situps before heading to bed. |
0 |
| MON |
Yoga. The usual routine this evening, before going to bed. |
0 |
| SUN |
Charlestown Loop with Midge, then River with Nate. Got started with Midge right away this morning and ran the standard loop around the town. Basic, boring start to the run, then dropped Midge off at home and headed out with Nate in the stroller. Only had about 45 minutes before Nate needed to go down for nap, so I wasn't able to run as long as I would have liked to. Today was a particularly good session with the stroller, almost didn't notice it at times. Ran up the river on the Cambridge side and stopped to talk to TPS and Matt Ely at Mass Ave. There was a group of women about to start a workout, it would have been fun to try and tag along with them again, but it was naptime for Nate and I had to get home. Ran a bit over 40 minutes with Nate, felt good but was definitely running slowly, close to 8:00 pace. |
9 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 08
09-11 - 09-17 |
After two days completely off at the start of the week I decided it was time to get serious about getting in shape. Trying a slightly different approach this time. I have plenty of evidence that trying to run 70+MPW right out of the gate leads to failure and dejection, so I'm going to try and sneak up on it this time. I'm going to do something geared towards improvement every day. That could be running, or lifting at Mini Club O, or yoga or just push ups and situps at home. Ran three times this week with a hard session chasing Brian around the track on Wednesday. September
Miles :
41
|
21 |
| SAT |
Castle-Bunker Hill. A bit of an early start this morning, great early fall weather, the streets were still pretty quiet which made for a nice change. As I was crossing the river at Mass Ave I saw a group of guys starting their workout on the Cambridge side. They were gone by the time I got over there, but I was looking for something easy this morning anyways. Felt alright this morning, didn't notice my legs much and was just enjoying being out for a run. |
9 |
| FRI |
Yoga. Wasn't terribly motivated throughout the day but got off the couch during the end of the Red Sox game and did some "Yoga for Runners," based off an article I found online. A total of about 10 minutes. |
0 |
| THU |
Mini Club O. For the next few weeks my plan/goal is to do something athletic each day. Today was lifting at the gym after work. Did the typical routine, with wall sits added in and core work in between sets. Felt like it was a little bit better workout than last week, though I still feel like it should be a bit harder. Would like to feel wiped out, rather than just sore, after this. |
0 |
| WED |
4x600, 800 in 1:49-50-51-51, 2:28. Ran over to MIT this morning with the idea of tagging along during Brian's 6x1k workout for as long as I could. I had no delusions about running kilometers with him, instead my plan was to chase him as long as I could, then drop off and join in again once I was recovered. Got to the track just after Brian started, joined him at 300m and dropped off at 900m. Wasn't sure where Brian was starting the next interval, once I realized he had started I cut across the infield to meet him at 200m. I hung in for 600m then doubled back to meet Brian during his rest. I fell into a pattern the rest of the way: start with Brian, drop off at 600m, jog back up the straight, run the last 100m or so with Brian then jog 200m back to the start. It helped that I was chasing Brian, I probably couldn't have run 1:50s on my own this morning. Decided that the fifth would be my last one and I was set on making it through 800m. I used the old trick of telling myself I was only running 600m and then not stopping when I hit 600m. I was dropping off Brian over the last 200m but did a decent job of hanging on through the line. Felt good to get out and run hard again, which is really all I hoped to do today. Cooled down back to Charlestown along the river with Harvey and a group of guys who were also working out on the track. Pretty tired when I got home, but I forced myself to do push ups and sit ups, which left me pretty exhausted. Good morning. |
8 |
| TUE |
Charlestown Loop. Up early and out the door at 5:30am (Kathryn and Nate have the day off from school,) surprised at how dark it is then. This was my first run in the Brooks Ghost 4 (I used to wear the Ghost 3) so I spent the first mile or so worrying about the transition. Once the fear and paranoia subsided, I had an upset stomach to deal worth. Really didn't feel great and was worried that Nate brought a bug home from daycare. Very glad to be done when I got home and happy I didn't go any further than four miles. |
4 |
| MON |
Day off. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off. Nate didn't sleep well last night so I was up for an hour in the middle of the night and then was pretty wiped up when I woke up. Decided I'd rather make pancakes than run, though I did some situps and wall sits before eating. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 08
09-04 - 09-10 |
Took things easy this week, trying to rest up mentally since I was low on motivation after the Alumni meet. I think it worked, I'm ready to get back at it. September
Miles :
20
|
4 |
| SAT |
Day off. |
0 |
| FRI |
Mini Club O. No running today, but I put in an hour at the gym, the usual lifting with plenty of ab work between sets. |
0 |
| THU |
Day off. Started work early so that I could end early to prepare for the Packers game tonight. Turns out I had plenty of time anyways. |
0 |
| WED |
Charlestown Loop with Midge. Headed out around 7am with the dog after Kathryn and Nate left for school. Felt okay, though the run was short and easy. The only excitement was a short altercation with Midge, she cut in front of me, I stepped on her paw and she barked at me. I had planned to go to Mini Club O after work, but forgot to bring shoes with me to work. |
4 |
| TUE |
Day off. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. |
0 |
| SUN |
Taking a few days off for mental health. Walked to the Common and back in the afternoon for a picnic, legs were pretty sore. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 07
08-28 - 09-03 |
Bad time to have a bad day. I probably didn't do enough work this summer to be well prepared for an 8k, but I thought I'd be able to gut it out a bit better than I did. I folded like a cheap tent in the last mile. Was encouraged by how I felt during Tuesday's workout, but that was run in near ideal weather, mid 60s with no humidity, and it was upper 70s and very humid on Saturday afternoon. Even the hurricane run on Sunday was a disappointment. September
Miles :
16
|
50 |
| SAT |
Alumni XC, 29:13 for 8th. Warmed up 2M around Franklin Park with a group of Alumni, felt okay but it was incredibly warm this afternoon. Did the usual routine of stretching and strides and felt strangely confident on the line. Stayed conservative early, fought the urge to push the pace and came through the mile in 5:32 just behind all 5 varsity runners. The big group broke up on Bearcage and I ran the next few miles with Ethan Crain, just behind Jay McKenna. Lost a lot of ground in the fourth mile and had an abysmal fifth, losing about 15 seconds to both McKenna and Bill Phipps, who caught me from behind. Really overheated today, despite drinking water throughout the day and wetting down at the start. Faded worse than I should have, not very strong mentally today. I really didn't expect to run slower than I did last year, though I did manage to stay ahead of Bob Collins and Terry McNatt. Cooled down just one mile, mostly with Bill. Not only was this my worst Alumni performance ever, but starting next year the race will be just 5k, meaning I'll likely never run another good 8k at Alumni. |
8 |
| FRI |
CTown, with 5 hill sprints. Another lap around Charlestown this morning. Legs felt about the same, not great and mildly fatigued. Ran five hill sprints at the Monument, dodging sprinklers. Doing that seemed to make my legs feel better in the spring, hopefully it helps for tomorrow, too. |
4 |
| THU |
CTown. Had originally planned on going over to MIT for 200m strides, but was really tired when I woke up, took my time getting out the door and could only talk myself into 4 miles. If I wasn't racing on Saturday this probably would have been a day off. My legs felt fine, but I wasn't in this one mentally. |
4 |
| WED |
Short Run to Remember. Felt okay this morning, got through the run without any problems, pretty uneventful. Wasn't too tired after yesterday's workout. August
Miles :
177
|
6 |
| TUE |
1600-2x800-4x400 in 5:19; 2:31-31; 73-72-71-71. Warmed up over to MIT at 6am this morning for a final "tune up" before the Alumni meet. I was hoping to hit 5:20-2:30-73 for the workout and hoping it wouldn't feel too difficult. Took my time to stretch out and run strides when I got to the track, my right hip was tight/sore and I wasn't able to loosen it up, but it didn't bother me too much during the workout. Got out in 81 to start things off and was surprised at how hard I was working. Quickly told myself that I knew I wasn't going to be able to coast through this one and hung in there pretty well. Hit 800m in 2:41 and picked it up from there, just under 4:00 at 1200m and finishing in 5:18.77, just slow enough to get rounded up. Had an easy lap jog in 2:52 and then started in on the 8s. They were almost identical, I got out in 37-high and saw 75 going on 76 at 400m, and really had to work over the last 300m. Each time I felt good on the backstretch and worse on the homestretch. I almost felt like a real runner on the backstretch going into 600m each time, somewhat fluid and running aggressively despite it starting to hurt. Had 200m after the 800s, and felt pretty recovered afterwards. The plan was to definitely run two 400s and not do numbers three and four if I was killing myself or unable to break 75. That turned out to be a non-issue, as I was comfortably out in 35-36 to start each one and brought it home running hard but not going to the well. I did visualize rounding the backstop, though, to help myself stay focused, but never kicked it in at the finish. It took a little more effort to get lined up after 100m rest, but got off the line feeling good on all of them. The first and last intervals had to be rounded up, I hit 72.81 and 70.85 respectively. Very surprised to see 70-point-anything today, I was running well but didn't feel smooth or fast on the 400s. Legs were a bit heavy and I was able to hold pace but didn't feel like I could change gears at all. Cooled down back home, legs sore but not wiped out. Just resting from here out, with a few strides either Wednesday or Thursday. Would have liked to have felt a bit more comfortable at 5:20, I had been hoping that would be the first mile at Alumni. Might need to back off of that a bit. |
9 |
| MON |
Back Bay. Pretty boring run. A little tired throughout, but absolutely fantastic weather. Mid 60s with no humidity, it was great. |
6 |
| SUN |
Ocean with Harvey, Jmark, Dan and Stef. Ran over to Mass and Memorial to meet everyone, then headed to the Ocean via Common-Summer-First. Unfortunately, they had the causeway closed because of the hurricane and we weren't able to run out there as I had hoped. The storm wasn't a big deal at all, it wasn't raining very hard and it was only windy at times. I've run out to Castle Island in far worse weather. We headed back to the South End along Broadway, I split off from the group at Tremont, they were heading back to Mass Ave and I needed to get home. Finished up in 1:41, the map says it was 13.5M but I'm going to round down. Pretty good run this morning, nice to have company. |
13 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 06
08-21 - 08-27 |
The focus of this summer was to get ready for Alumni and now that race is just a week away. I wasn't able to put in the kind of mileage I wanted and this week was another example of that. I finished the week off with two good runs on Thursday and Friday, though, and think I have a good idea about what to expect for the race next week. Running the right pace is going to be vitally important, I don't know that I have the strength to hold it together if I go out too hard. I felt good running 200s on Tuesday, I'm planning to do that again next week and hopefully it will get me a little smoother and more comfortable. Friday's workout was alright, though I would have liked the miles to feel a little bit easier given that I was on the slow side of 5:20. There's nothing left to do but rest up and prepare mentally. August
Miles :
143
|
41 |
| SAT |
Longfellow. Felt absolutely horrible at the start of the run, sore and achy and just shuffled the first few minutes. Eventually loosened up and progressed from absolutely horrible to managably horrible. And felt a little better than that on the hard effort up Green Street at the end. Glad I decided to keep this one short, even though the weather was nice I wasn't able to enjoy it. I need to do a better job of sleeping over this next week, no more staying up past midnight and waking up before 6am. It's recovery time. |
4 |
| FRI |
4x1600 in 5:26-5:19-5:21-5:23. Slept through my alarm this morning and almost didn't get out the door, but I couldn't skip this workout just a week before Alumni. Warmed up over to MIT just before 7am and only ran a few strides before getting right into it. Tried to stay relaxed through the first interval, hoping to loosen up as it wore on. Ran splits of 81-2:44-4:05, I took the "stay relaxed" mantra a bit too far on the second lap. Took a lap recovery and was feeling good by the time I got back around to the start. Ran 80-81 for the first three laps and somehow closed with a 38 to finish in 5:19. I was still feeling halfway comfortable through that mile though my legs were starting to get tired. I wasn't hammering the workout but it was steadily getting harder. Harvey was nice enough to lead the entire third mile after finishing his workout, we were out a little quickly through 200 but then found a good rhythm and hit our splits the rest of the way, finishing in 5:21. I felt much better sitting behind Brian and letting him do the work, and that made the fourth interval much more difficult. Was really slow at 200, about 43, but then managed to get back on pace the rest of the way. I had to swing out into lane 7 going into the final straight on the last lap to avoid a soccer goal that some facilities guys were moving across the track. Despite that I still hit 38-39 on the final 200. I was pretty tired after that mile and even though the original plan was to run 5, I decided that there was no point in running myself into the ground a week before Alumni. I got a good idea of where I'm at after the fourth mile, I probably could have gutted it out and run under 5:25, but the primary goal is to be ready for Alumni and an extra mile repeat 8 days out won't get me in better shape. Cooled down back to Charlestown along the river with Brian and Jared, they turned back at Science. This workout went about as I had expected it to, and having Brian lead a mile made it a lot easier. I was glad that repeats at 5:20 felt much more under control than the 5:20s at the end of tempos on the river where it feels like I'm hauling ass. I don't think I can put 5 of them together at Franklin Park next weekend, but I should be able to be competitive. The key will be to run in a pack for as long as possible, I'm not mentally tough enough right now to gut it out solo. |
10 |
| THU |
Route 9 with Harvey and Stef. Headed over to the Back Bay and met Harvey and Stef at Mass and Boylston at 7am. We headed out on Fens/Riverway and turned back when we hit Route 9. I felt pretty good the whole way, though we had a solidly nerdy discussion the whole time, so that helped. Stef turned off when we got back to Boylston and Harvey ran with me down to the Common to Government Center. 87 minutes total, since I normally call Olmsted 12M I think this one has to be 11M. Didn't feel like we were running that slow. |
11 |
| WED |
Day off. Tired when my alarm went off so I just stayed in bed. |
0 |
| TUE |
Back Bay, with 4x200 at MIT in 32-33-32-32. A little tired when I woke up this morning but got out the door without really thinking about not running. Forgot where I was going and wound up taking a detour through the Training Field before heading to the locks. Felt about average this morning, my legs weren't feeling all that great but I was able to run decently quickly. Stopped at the track for 200s, ostensibly to work on turnover but really just to check out if the track would be open for a workout tomorrow morning. Felt the worst on the first 200, but it wound up being the fastest if you trust the tenths and hundredths on the watch. Was running fast, looking for smooth speed, but not trying to sprint. The biggest issue was that my right hip was pretty sore and my stride felt a bit off. Was nice to be back on the track early in the morning, it's a good feeling. Nice and easy back home afterwards, my legs felt a lot better after running fast. About an hour total, so a long 7M but I could use the karma. |
7 |
| MON |
Day off. |
0 |
| SUN |
River with Nate, partly with JMark, partly with big group. Headed out just before 8am with Nate in the baby jogger. Was planning on just running up the river until I felt like turning around, but was adjusting the front wheel when I saw a big group of guys and girls run past. Had to really hammer it to catch them, turns out they were running 6:17s, and I hung in the back of the pack with Jared and Dan Smith. Gradually fell off the pace and Jared was good enough to hang back with me and the jogger, though we still were running faster than normal. I made it out to the BU Bridge before turning back (and slowing down.) Surprised to see I was still running 7:20s on my way home. We'll see how well my legs handle this, though, it took a lot of effort to push the stroller. Discovered that I run the best when I'm able to get alongside the stroller, but the wheel needs to be true and the path needs to be wide enough for that. Nate was getting bored over the final few minutes, but did pretty well throughout the entire run. |
9 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 05
08-14 - 08-20 |
More of the same. A few days off but the days I did run went well and were enjoyable. I think I'm stabilizing at a place where I'm able to run long when I want to go with people and otherwise just keep it short and run when I feel like it. Not great from a competitive standpoint, but it's better than not running at all (from both a physical and quality-of-life perspective.) August
Miles :
102
|
44 |
| SAT |
Day off. Just lazy. It's becoming hard to get out for a run first thing in the morning because Nate is up early and I don't want to leave Kathryn to do everything on her own. |
0 |
| FRI |
6M progression in 6:00-6:00-5:41-5:39-5:39-5:25, then half mile rest and half mile in 2:39. Decided to join a huge group of guys (9!) running a progression along the river. Their plan was 3x6:00, 3x5:40, 3x5:20 then 1 fast mile. I met them at the 3.5, a mile into the workout and jumped into the middle of the pack. Felt good at 6:00 pace, pretty effortless. Hung in the back of the pack with TPS as the group picked it up to 5:40. Terry and I worked together well to run 5:40s but wound up getting dropped by the rest of the guys. Was ready to hammer the 5:20s, planning to hang with/help Terry as long as I could, but with a half mile left at 5:40 TPS told me he was going to call it a day. Did my best to run hard on my own and was able to reel in Paul Ryan but was cooked physically and mentally by the end of the mile. Took a very easy half mile rest in 3:50 and then ran from the 5 to 4.5 hard, just dipping under 2:40. Really spent at the end of this, plus fully soaked with sweat. Took an easy cooldown past MGH and over the Locks. Decently happy with this run, glad I felt good at 6:00 and 5:40, wish I would have had some company during the 5:20s though. |
11 |
| THU |
MOS with Harvey, JMark, Dan Smith. Had made plans to meet these guys last week, so I didn't have a choice but to get out the door for a run this morning. Met everybody at Mem and Mass Ave then headed down the river to Science and up the river on the other side. I turned back at the 6.5 and ran back down the river. All told, I was out there for 80 minutes this morning, running pretty slowly. |
11 |
| WED |
Nantucket. Headed out early this morning since today we're leaving on the ferry at noon. Ran roughly the same roads as Monday, but much, much better weather. No clouds and very sunny even though it was early. Sacrificed a few minutes to jump into the ocean on my way home. Should have tried to find a closer beach, though, as I ran the last 10 minutes or so with sand in my shoes. 39 minutes total this morning. This is a life I could get used to, an easy 5-6M with a jump in the ocean every morning. |
5 |
| TUE |
Day off. Should have run early on, but Nate's not sleeping well so I got up with him to let Kathryn sleep a bit. Ate breakfast with Nate and then didn't feel like running. Went to the beach in the afternoon instead of getting out for a run. |
0 |
| MON |
Nantucket, in the rain. Didn't run early but got out around 5pm for a run. Headed the other way on Long Pond and found myself on sand/dirt roads by the ocean, running through big fields. Pretty cool run, raining hard at times and deserted aside from a van being pulled off the beach after it apparently got stuck. Was shooting for 45-60 minutes and took a random road that brought me back close to Long Pond, so just headed home for a total time of 46 minutes. Really enjoyed being out there today. |
6 |
| SUN |
Nantucket, bike path and nature preserve. Had an early ferry over to Nantucket this morning, headed out for a run around noon. Started out along Madaket Road towards the Sanford Farm conservancy. Jumped the gun and left the bike path for a trail too early, spent about 10 minutes looping through a field before winding up back where I started. Eventually found what I was looking for and took the Garden Trail to the Barn Trail to the Ocean Trail. Left through the side entrance and found myself on a sand/dirt road. Didn't remember the map well enough to figure out where to go, wound up heading all the way back to Madaket and running the last 10-12 minutes on the bike path. Decided to pick it up once I hit the bike path, probably didn't run very fast but had to work pretty hard. Ran for a total of 83 minutes and was pretty tired once I got home. |
11 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 04
08-07 - 08-13 |
August
Miles :
69
|
18 |
| SAT |
Day off, drove to Hyannis. Busy morning of packing and taking the dog to the kennel, wasn't super motivated to fit in a run this morning. |
0 |
| FRI |
Day off. I honestly can't remember whether or not I ran today. |
0 |
| THU |
Southie with Brian, Paul and Liam. Met Brian and Stef at the Common this morning, headed out to Southie along Summer Street. Ran into Liam and Paul by the Federal Reserve and ran with them into Southie (Stef turned back.) Took Summer/L to Broadway, then Broadway back to the South End and Clarendon to Commonwealth, then back to the Common. Split off from Paul and Liam and ran home with Harvey. Just under 73 minutes for this one, a pretty solid ten miler. Felt alright, was good to have this much company on a run again. |
10 |
| WED |
Day off. |
0 |
| TUE |
4M tempo in 6:04-5:53-5:28-5:21. Up early for a quick workout before heading to work. Warmed up over to the 4.5M mark and got right into the workout. Took the first two miles at a comfortably fast pace, then really started to work after turning around. Felt good the whole way, really just limited in how quickly I could turn my legs over. Need to get in some work at faster paces before the Alumni meet. |
8 |
| MON |
Day off. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 03
07-31 - 08-06 |
More of the same this week. Building a bit of consistency in terms of running day to day, but still am not putting in the mileage I would like to. Felt pretty bad in the middle of the week, but had a good run with Brian on Friday. August
Miles :
40
|
49 |
| SAT |
Drills, lunges, strides at MIT. Jogged over to MIT this morning and did about 30 minutes of work barefoot on the FieldTurf infield. Did 100m of drills down one sideline, then walked across the field to the other sideline and then did another 100m of drills. Started with the usual plyometrics, then sprint drills, then "leg kicks" and finally the thing where you bend down to touch the ground and stick one leg out behind you horizontally. Then did 100m of lunges with a short break at 50m and finished with about 6 strides, building up to full speed. Taking a break in the middle of lunges and running strides after, instead of before, seems to have left my legs feeling better than last time. Ran back home afterwards. |
6 |
| FRI |
Olmsted with Harvey. Ran over to the Common and then down Boylston to meet Harvey at Mass Ave. We headed out through the Fens and Riverway to Olmsted, then turned around and ran back home, this time heading down Huntington after leaving the Fens. Harvey came all the way into Charlestown with me. Felt bad early but things got better, or was distracted by talking to Harvey. Either way, much more enjoyable than yesterday. |
12 |
| THU |
Fake Fresh backwards. Up with my alarm at 5:30 again, and out the door just before 6am. Very surprised at how bad my legs felt this morning. I felt horrible from jump street, completely wiped out. My legs really felt like I had just run 13M, but I was only five minutes into the run. My quads were especially tired and there were plenty of aches and pains to go around. It helped to have a solid route in mind this morning, it would have been very tempting to cut it short. Legs progressed from horrible to bad by the end of the run, but a lot of that was probably just getting accustomed to the horribleness. Couldn't really figure out why I felt bad, especially since I took yesterday off. My best guess is that I ran "hard" on Tuesday and then barely stretched afterwards. But I would have expected my legs to loosen up at some point, if that was actually the reason. Might be time to take some iron supplements again. I wasn't dragging this morning, I split 7:20 along the river at the end, but was just really tired the whole time. |
10 |
| WED |
Day off. Woke up at 5:30am with my alarm but got distracted with looking at how badly the stock market is doing and ran out of time. |
0 |
| TUE |
Navy Yard with Midge, then Back Bay. Another forced march for Midge, this time just 2M, then out on my own for the Back Bay loop. Tried to keep it much faster than normal this morning and mostly accomplished that. I didn't cut loose and hammer but never let myself settle into a comfortable pace, either. My legs are still tired, not as bad as yesterday but they did not feel good. I ran 6:18 for the river mile, splitting 3:06/3:12, but I would be surprised if I had been running 6:20s the whole way. Slowed by accident once I got back to Charlestown, and once I noticed that I had slowed I didn't bother trying to speed back up for the final 3 or 4 minutes. 13/16 |
8 |
| MON |
Charlestown Loop with Midge in the afternoon. Tired this morning and didn't get out for a run after waking up. Had another busy day but was able to get out with the dog around 5:30pm. Felt absolutely terrible, really dragging, and it seemed like Midge was tired, too. 13/16 |
4 |
| SUN |
Fells with Midge. Started slightly later than planned, but we were out of the car by 8:15 this morning. Stuck mainly to the usual trails but was worried that I'd gotten lost when I was about 45 minutes into the run. Had wanted to run 70 and wound up at 67, which is probably a short 9M but I didn't want to make Midge run an extra couple minutes, she was really dragging at the end. (Although she was still surging on the uphills, so maybe she was just bored, not tired.) Didn't really feel the effects of yesterday's workout, I was expecting to be really sore for at least the first 10 minutes. 12/15 July
Miles :
132
|
9 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 02
07-24 - 07-30 |
A slightly better week. Ran 6 of 7 days but would like to bump up the total mileage. Had a rough workout on Saturday, or maybe a good workout, I don't really know. Hammered pretty well and somewhat ran myself into the ground, but the times aren't very impressive so I have no idea. Got back into more of a rhythm of running this week, but I only have 5 weeks until the Alumni race. It's going to be close. July
Miles :
123
|
46 |
| SAT |
7M tempo in 6:16-6:07-6:00-5:53-5:56-6:01-5:55. Warmed up over to the 3.5, with the Lagoon add-on to bump it up to 2M. Went right into what was supposed to be 2 build-up miles, I was thinking 6:45 then 6:15, planning on then putting in up another to 10M at 6:00 pace. I knew that getting to 10M would be very unlikely, but my plan was to keep working until I cracked. Surprised by how easy the pace felt during the "build up" miles and definitely ran too fast. Felt good early on at 6:00 pace, but by the time I got to 2.5M I was really working. At that point it was more a matter of staying focused, my legs weren't hurting too much but mentally I was struggling. Managed to hold on well to the turn around at 7.5 (but that half mile after BU still sucks) but shortly after turning around my resolve broke. I managed to push all the way to the next mile mark and even though I felt like I was falling apart I split a 5:55. Maybe the 8am start was a bit too late, I was pretty warm the whole way and spent some time at the bubbler by the 6.5 pouring water on my head once I stopped. Part of the reason I didn't want to bail early was that I had no choice but to jog home and the 4M took a long time. Strangely, my left foot started hurting after 2M or so and I had to stop and walk a few times. For future reference, felt very warm at the head of my fourth and fifth metatarsal and there were occasional shooting pains. It didn't hurt when I stopped to walk, though, and had more or less eased by the time I got home. Very wiped out after this one. I really hoped to make it more like 7-8M instead of just 5M, but I think the faster "build up" miles made this more like a 7M tempo. My main measuring stick is how I feel when I get home, and all I did the rest of the day was lay around and hurt, which was nice. Took a 2+ hour nap in the afternoon. 11/14 |
13 |
| FRI |
Charlestown Loop with Midge, in the afternoon. Took Kathryn and Nate to the airport early this morning and went back to bed, planning on getting up for a run at 6am. I woke up at 7:30 and didn't have time to get out for a run. After a busy day I was able to head out with Midge at 5:30 in the afternoon. 10/13 |
4 |
| THU |
Day off. Tired this morning and busy the rest of the day. 9/12 |
0 |
| WED |
Harbor-G Street-Broadway. Followed Docks/Ollie into South Boston and ran Old Ollie up to the top of G Street. Ran down Broadway back to the South End and cut up Arlington to the Public Garden, then back home the usual way. Felt good this morning, ran a little over 70 minutes so probably a short 10. A little worried about going under I-93 this early in the morning, but everything was fine. 9/11 |
10 |
| TUE |
Boylston-Riverway-River. Headed out to the Common and down Boylston to the Fens. Took the usual route but turned back at the T stop on the Riverway. Took the Jamaica route back to BU and home along the Cambridge side of the river. Legs felt better than they have of late. 8/10 |
9 |
| MON |
Back Bay. Another run shorter than I would have wanted but at least I was running. Tried to keep things honest the whole way, since I was running short I figured I'd run faster than normal. Timed the river mile in 6:45, which isn't that impressive. 7/9 |
6 |
| SUN |
Charlestown Loop with Midge, plus 5 hill sprints at the Monument. Another short Sunday run, didn't want to miss an entire weekend but didn't have a lot of time for a long run this morning. Felt decent this morning. 6/8 |
4 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 01
07-17 - 07-23 |
Had a good start to the week but quickly found myself tired and low on motivation. I guess jumping into 10M a day will be harder than I anticipated. Trying to stay positive and motivated about things. July
Miles :
77
|
35 |
| SAT |
Day off, no motivation to run. 5/7 |
0 |
| FRI |
Orange Line-South End. Ran to the Common, then took Orange Line almost to Mass Ave and then took some side street through the South End to Washington. Followed Washington back to Stuart/Kneeland and took the Greenway home. My legs felt okay, but it was very humid this morning. 5/6 |
8 |
| THU |
Charlestown Loop with Midge. Pretty tired this morning, so I kept it to just a short four miles with Midge this morning. 4/5 |
4 |
| WED |
Day off. Well, that didn't last long. 3/4 |
0 |
| TUE |
Davis Square-Cambridge Street. Out the door around 5:30am, the usual route out Highland and the bike path to Davis, then back on Elm to Union Square, over to Inman and home along Cambridge. Really dragging on this one, legs felt okay but I was simply low on energy in general. Got through the run without any problems, didn't think about cutting it short, but am starting to think I need to sleep more than 5 or 6 hours a night. Just under 70 minutes this morning and last time I ran this I called it 9M. Seems accurate. 3/3 |
9 |
| MON |
Fake Fresh with JMark. Nate slept in this morning, but luckily I was already planning on running later in the morning. Out the door at 6:40 and met Jared at Mass Ave, then headed up the river to Harvard Square. Didn't feel terrible on this run, but was a bit tired. Pretty humid this morning, I was sweating pretty well by the end of it. Didn't check any splits, but I think Jared was keeping the pace honest, even though he raced Stowe yesterday. 2/2 |
10 |
| SUN |
Charlestown Loop with Midge, plus 5 hill sprints at the Monument. The build up to Alumni does not start off with a solid long run, instead I fit in four miles early this morning since I had some errands to run today. The goal for the next seven weeks is to put in 10M a day, but at a minimum I want to run every day. Started things off right. 1/1 |
4 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 00
06-27 - 07-16 |
This was easily my best "off" period in a few years. Took enough time away from running to get healthy (or at least healthier) and recharge the batteries. (I never directly addressed this, but I really didn't want to run in the week leading up to the 10k. I wanted to do well at the race, but was super low on motivation.) Got out the door often enough to not fall entirely out of shape and at the end of it found that I'm pretty motivated to keep building on what I did this spring. Looking for a good race at Alumni, and I have 7 weeks to get ready. July
Miles :
42
|
42 |
| SAT |
Day off. One final day of slacking, build up to the Alumni meet starts tomorrow. |
0 |
| FRI |
Charlestown loop with Midge. My hamstrings have been tighter than elevator cables since drills and lunges on Wednesday and it took pretty much the whole run to get loose. Felt okay otherwise, no aches and pains yet. Did 5 hill sprints at the Monument at the end. |
4 |
| THU |
Day off. Tired and legs were sore when I woke up this morning. Legs felt terrible all day, probably should have run to get loosened up. |
0 |
| WED |
Drills, strides and lunges at Briggs. Left a little later this morning, 5:45am, and ran easy over to MIT. My plan was to do drills and strides on the infield, but the track was locked, again. (The schedule said the track would be open at 6am. I'll omit my rant on the idiocy of locking the track in the first place.) Found an open gate on Amherst and was able to get onto the outfield of the baseball diamond. Realized I didn't have a lot of drills in mind, so just did my normal plyometrics and sprint drills. Then ran about 5 strides, felt pretty good by the end, and did 80 lunges. Can't remember how many we used to do in college, but I was feeling terrible by the end of those. The run back home was slow and easy, my legs were pretty beat up, almost a post-workout feel. I had intended for today to be an easy, laid back day, definitely wasn't expecting lunges to hurt as badly as they did. Might be pretty sore on the run tomorrow. |
7 |
| TUE |
Fake Fresh backwards. Nate compensated for sleeping in yesterday by waking up at 4:55 this morning. Wouldn't have been so bad had I gone to bed at a decent hour last night, but had stayed up hacking until 1am so was pretty tired. Nate drank his milk super fast, so I was able to get started before 5:30 this morning. Was dragging a lot this morning, but just from being tired, my legs felt pretty good. Ran easy the whole way, finished up in 76 minutes and ran about 7:20 for the final mile on the river. Felt like I sped up a bit on that mile, though I didn't intend to. |
10 |
| MON |
Day off. I've been relying on Nate to be my alarm clock, and today he slept in until 6:30am, leaving me no time to run. I had planned on running 10M this morning, will push that to tomorrow. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off. Really wiped out when I woke up this morning and didn't have the motivation to get out the door. The next think I care about is Alumni XC, which is 8 weeks from yesterday. My rough plan is one week to "get my legs under me," then 4 weeks of standard mileage (hopefully 70+) with maybe a tempo or two to mix things up. Then I have 2-3 weeks for more workouts leading up to the race. I'm not concerned with being terribly sharp, I'm trying to get stronger than I have been in a long time. It's been a long time since I've worked on my base, and I think the 10k really demonstrated that I'm lacking. XC will only further illustrate that if I don't work on it. |
0 |
| SAT |
Mass Ave with Nate. Was at home alone with Nate today and waited until he finished his morning nap before heading out for the run. Of course, he napped for 2.5 hours today so we didn't get going until 11:30am. Hot but not terribly so, but had a decent amount of traffic to deal with on the river. Felt good the whole way, I'm sure I was running slowly but my legs weren't sore from yesterday. Took a few blocks to get the front wheel trued up, but once that was fixed running with the stroller wasn't a big deal. |
6 |
| FRI |
River with Brian and Will. Got an early start this morning, headed out the door at 6:30am. Ran up the river until I met Harvey, Will and Stef just before the footbridge by Harvard. Ran back down the river with them (Stef turned back soon afterwards,) crossed at Mass Ave and back up on the Boston side to the 6.5M mark. Was concerned about going too far after a two weeks off, wound up being a long eleven miles but I felt pretty good the whole way. Was running slowly on my own then felt a noticeable speedup once I met the guys. Started out at 7:50 pace when I turned back on my own, worked down to sub-7:30 by the time I got to Science. Pretty tired the rest of the day, but fun to be back out there with the guys. |
11 |
| THU |
Day off. Busy day, no chance to run. |
0 |
| WED |
Charlestown Loop with Midge. Now that we're weaning Nate, I'm getting up early to give him a bottle when he wakes up. Since I was already awake at 5:30am when he finished eating, I grabbed Midge and headed out for a run. Obviously kept it easy, a gentle re-introduction to running after 10 days off. Could tell that I'd taken some time off, but felt pretty good hammering it up Sackville (though Midge stopped halfway up the hill to smell something in the road.) |
4 |
| TUE |
Day off. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off. |
0 |
| SAT |
Day off. Starting to think about running again. I'm not overly excited about it, but I need to get in shape for Alumni XC. |
0 |
| FRI |
Day off. More of the same. |
0 |
| THU |
Day off. Last day of June. The month went by pretty quickly. June
Miles :
193
|
0 |
| WED |
Day off. Stayed up until 1:30am last night working on some side projects. A nice by-product of not running is more energy to devote to those kinds of things. |
0 |
| TUE |
Day off. Kathryn's first full day of summer vacation. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. Taking a week of vacation from work, and likely from running. Stayed home with Nate all day. |
0 |
