Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 23
06-17 - 06-23 |
June
Miles :
25
|
16 |
| SAT |
Day off. |
0 |
| FRI |
Ridge-Noyes-River. Felt pretty terrible at the start, as in almost making this a 4M run terrible, but managed to persevere. Picked the pace up after crossing Green Bay, though I wasn't exactly hammering it. Managed to keep moving quickly until I turned off the river at Oakton. Slowed a lot on South Street and my legs were feeling bad over the last few blocks. Had a little bit of time to sit and sweat when I got home before getting in a cold shower. |
7 |
| THU |
Lakefront (short) with Midge. Finally managed to get out the door during the week for a run. It's been a pretty long time. We headed north as usual but the road to the Northwestern lagoon was closed for construction so we just turned back and headed home. It was already getting pretty warm and it seemed to be getting to Midge, so I didn't bother trying to find a detour. It would have been nice to stop at the dog beach and cool off in the lake, but we had just put flea and tick stuff on Midge last night and I didn't want it to wash off. |
5 |
| WED |
Day off. |
0 |
| TUE |
Day off. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. Two days of running/sprinting on sand has really highlighted a lot of weaknesses. Both plantar fascias are sore, especially walking barefoot on wood floors, and my right ankle is hurting, too. |
0 |
| SUN |
To/from dog beach. Wanted to get Midge tired out before Nate's birthday party, so we ran north on the lake to the dog beach. I didn't time how long we were at the beach, I'd guess somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes. It started out as a lot of both of us running around on the beach but by the end it was just me throwing a stick and Midge chasing it. Laced the shoes back up and ran home slowly at the end. Midge was pretty spent by the end of it, but so was I. |
4 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 18
05-13 - 05-19 |
May
Miles :
53
|
16 |
| SAT |
Can't remember. |
0 |
| FRI |
Can't remember. |
0 |
| THU |
Can't remember. |
0 |
| WED |
3x4x400 in 75-75-76-74; 73-74-72-71+; 74-74-aborted. Warmed up over to ETHS as usual this morning and got started with the workout at 6:15 after some quick stretching and a few strides. My original though was to run 4x4x4 and since I had no idea what to expect pace-wise, I wanted to keep the first set reasonable so that I wouldn't run too hard too early. Did an okay job of that for the first two but slipped into a "don't work hard" mentality on the third. Ran better on the final one to finish off the set, but by then it was clear that if I wanted to run any faster I wouldn't be able to make it through 4 sets. Compromised on 3 sets and running the next 8 intervals hard. Did a good job of working on every one in the second set, the third 400 was probably my best, as I ran most of both curves in lane 2 in order to get around groups of slower runners. I was tired but my legs were still feeling good and I was focused at the start of the third set, but within the first 100m my stomach started acting up. Gutted through the first one and thought I'd be okay but things unravelled on the second one and I gave in mentally. Grabbed my shirt and headed to the Port-A-John, then cooled down back home. I woke up today expecting to run 16 400s and only wound up running 10. And of those 10, really only the 4 in the second set were solid efforts. Even though this wasn't a great workout quantitatively, it felt good to do some "faster" stuff and I'm glad I gave this one a shot. |
8 |
| TUE |
River to Devon. Same route as a few weeks ago, got on the path along the river at Oakton and ran south to Devon. The route is a solid 7.5M, so I added on an extra 4:00 by going 2:00 out and back before heading home along Oakton to bump up the total. Felt good this morning, haven't run in a long time. 27:30 on the way out, 31:00 on the way back (including the 4:00 extra.) |
8 |
| MON |
Day off. No desire to get out of bed this morning. I went to bed early last night for a change, though, and wound up sleeping for 10 hours, so hopefully that will help. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off. Up early but went out to breakfast for Mother's Day and was busy the rest of the day. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 17
05-06 - 05-12 |
What a crappy week. I only ran once (but that run was a workout.) Really lacking motivation this week for some reason, I didn't even feel bad about skipping runs. The workout on Wednesday went really well, though. May
Miles :
37
|
8 |
| SAT |
Day off. |
0 |
| FRI |
Day off. |
0 |
| THU |
Day off. |
0 |
| WED |
4x"mile" along the lake in 5:40-30-29-33. Used the same route along the bike path as a few weeks ago, I have absolutely no feel for the actual length of what I'm treating as a mile. Warmed up over to the lake and after some brief stretching I ran a single stride and it felt like my left hamstring got tweaked. I decided to just start the workout and see how it went and it turned out not to bother me at all. I wasn't looking to do the kind of progression I did last time, but I did want to make sure I didn't run too hard on the first one and have nothing left for the rest of the workout. Felt pretty under control and had a few stretches where I wasn't focused and just coasted, hit the "3" painted on the ground right at 4:00 and then was 5:40 at the finish. Took just a minute of rest then jumped right back into it. On the second one I got to the "3" in 1:30, so I was already 10s ahead of pace. I gave back about three seconds in the middle and had to run the final stretch a bit harder to get down to 5:30. The 1:00 rest didn't seem nearly as long this time and despite having an aggressive mentality I didn't get out any faster. Was only 4:00 at the "3" again and by this point my legs were starting to feel the effort of the workout. Managed to get myself psyched up enough to hammer the final stretch and brought it under 5:30, but just barely. The rest slipped to 1:10 as I took a few seconds to walk to the line for the last one. Had a hard time getting out, got to the "3" in 1:32 or so, and wasn't able to push myself any further. Lost focus at times and had negative thoughts creep in throughout the final interval, definitely at the edge of my fitness on that one. Pretty wiped, jogged slowly back home via Greenleaf and Sherman. I purposely did not check the times from my previous workout beforehand because I didn't want to bias my opinion of what a good workout was. Felt like I ran hard and pushed myself well and the times seemed fast. Looking back, the previous workout went 5:53-38-32, so I was faster across the board today. I think the past few weeks have helped me, not just by improving my fitness but also by getting me back into the workout mentality and used to dealing with pain again. Very pleased with how things went this morning. |
8 |
| TUE |
Day off. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 16
04-29 - 05-05 |
This was a so-so week. Missed two days, one of which was a Saturday. But the days I did run went pretty well. Had a great workout on the track on Wednesday, the times weren't spectacular but it felt like I was working hard again, so that was nice. This was the third workout I've done and the first where I've felt like I was focused throughout the whole thing. Followed up that workout with two solid runs, but still haven't hit double digits during the week. May
Miles :
29
|
40 |
| SAT |
Day off. |
0 |
| FRI |
Ridge-Noyes-River, then 3xhill. Ran the usual (of late) Sunday route backwards, heading north on Ridge first, then coming home south on the river. When I turned onto Noyes (20 minutes in) I started to pick it up and ran faster than normal, but certainly not tempo, the rest of the way. Stopped at the park on Oakton and ran hard up the sledding hill there 3 times. The ground was soft from rain overnight and the hill is pretty steep at the top which made finding good footing tough and I wasn't able to run a sustained effort all the way up. Pretty good run this morning, nonetheless. |
8 |
| THU |
Out and back to XXX via the river. The string of good runs continues, I was out the door before 6am this morning and in a really good mood. Got on the Skokie side of the river at Oakton and just ran south until I hit XXX. Turned around at 28:20 and made it back in 27:15. Total of 55:35 this morning, measured the route later and got 7.5M, so just under 7:30 pace. Would have liked to extend this by a few miles, I was really enjoying this run. |
7 |
| WED |
4800m of alternating 80s and 90s laps in 17:06 via 80/90, 81/91, 81/90, 79/90, 80/91, 79/89 (1600m splits of 5:43-41-42.) Was out the door for Workout Wednesday at 5:40 and got to the ETHS track at 6am. After about 10 minutes of stretching/plyos/strides I got right into the workout. Had no idea if the paces were right or how they would feel; wanted an honest but not hard pace on the fast ones and a moderate, not resting, pace on the slow ones. I was really surprised at my pacing ability after not having been on the track in so long, I was dead on at 200m on the first lap and I don't believe I was slow at 200m on any of the 12 laps. The 80s got a little bit tough at the end, mostly because my quads felt heavy, and I was fighting muscle memory to avoid going into a jog after the 80s. Fought through the workout pretty well and in retrospect should have extended it to 6400m. I realized within 10s of stopping that I should have at least finished with a hard 200m to make today a full 5k of work. Pleased with how the workout went today, I didn't kill myself and felt better at the end than I did last week, but I was focused and ran well the whole way. Also happy to have warmer temps, it was nearly 60 degrees when I started the warmup, though a little humid since it had rained overnight. |
8 |
| TUE |
Lake with Midge. Usual route out to the lacrosse field and back. Ran fairly slowly this morning, but was happy that my left hamstring felt back to normal during the pickup I threw in when turning around. |
6 |
| MON |
Day off. Tired again when my alarm went off, didn't get out of bed. April
Miles :
86
|
0 |
| SUN |
Lake with Midge, then Temple Run. Same start as last week, an easy 3M along the lake with Midge, letting her run off the leash for part of it. Headed back out after dropping her off at home and ran up Ridge to Sheridan. Decided to extend the usual Ridge-Sheridan by heading north on Sheridan and turned around after running past the ginormous Bahai temple (for accuracy, I turned around at the end of the bridge just past the temple.) Headed back along the now normal route down Sheridan and the lake. Really enjoyed the run this morning, my legs didn't feel great or terrible, and probably should have extended it a few more miles. Good start to the week, hope I can keep it going. |
11 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 15
04-22 - 04-28 |
Not a great week of running. I need to start bumping up the mileage on Sundays and getting out the door during the week. Had a good workout on Wednesday, though, it felt really good to be back on the track and pushing myself again. It's been cool and overcast all week and has felt more like fall cross country weather than early spring. April
Miles :
75
|
24 |
| SAT |
Lifting at the Y. Didn't feel like running right away, so headed over to the YMCA around 9:30 with Kathryn and Nate. It's only a 9 minute run to get there, so I'm not counting any mileage. Did mainly core work, with some single leg squats and bench press worked in. |
0 |
| FRI |
Lake out and back with Midge. The same as a few weeks ago we ran over to the lake and then out to the lacrosse stadium, and I was able to drop the leash for the majority of the run. Put in a hard stride when we turned around and another near the end, my legs were pretty sore, especially my left hamstring. Good run this morning, but the weather was in the low 40s. Looking forward to having some warm temperatures to run in. |
6 |
| THU |
Day off. Had a work outing last night and didn't get home until late. Woke up with a headache and exhausted legs and was barely able to get out of bed in time to catch the train and go to work. |
0 |
| WED |
3x(800-400-400) in 2:31-73-73; 2:34-74-73; 2:35-74-73. Another Workout Wednesday, was out the door and warming up over to the ETHS track at 5:50am. Really looking forward to getting out of my comfort zone and getting in a change of pace this morning. I didn't have any idea what to expect from this one, but figured that 2:30s and 72s would be an awesome workout and 2:35s and 74-75s would be more realistic. I wound up pretty squarely in between those two goals. The warmup took 18 minutes and I did some brief stretching and a few strides before getting into the workout, but clearly had gotten myself amped up as I ran the first 400 of the first 800 in 72. That would turn out to be the fastest 400 of the workout. I was glad to see a 72 because it felt like I was running hard and it would have been a long workout if that was how 78s were going to feel. Without trying to, I immediately hit the brakes after seeing the split and only managed a 79 on the second lap. I wasn't terribly fatigued and I wasn't trying to slow down, but my body seemed to just naturally pull back. I took 200m rest after the 800s, 100m after the first 400 and 200m between sets and felt decently recovered at the start of each interval. The first two 400s went by uneventfully and I was focused on running the next 800 well after the rest. Got out smarter and came through in 76. It felt like I kept working hard and just slowed as I was tiring, but I did lose focus over the final 200m. Cruised the next 400 too much, but that was enough to re-focus me and I was running hard the rest of the workout. A little daunted at the start of the final 800 and my legs were really dead over the last 150m, I got out in 77 and was very happy to see that I managed to hit 2:35 despite that. I ran the last two intervals as hard as I could, but wasn't able to get my legs moving very quickly. Pretty wiped out at the end but still had a 20 minute cooldown ahead of me. Felt much better when I got home, but I was pretty spent the rest of the day. Todays workout went pretty much as I was hoping it would. It was a good change of pace and I managed to stay focused and push myself for the majority of it. Just wish I was able to run faster. |
8 |
| TUE |
Day off. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. |
0 |
| SUN |
Short with Midge, then River-Noyes-Ridge. Same run as last Sunday, headed out with Midge for a short 3M and then put in a long 7M north on the river. Felt good with Midge but seemed to lose a little something when I stopped to drop her off at home. Felt a bit rundown when I was heading west towards the river, but things eventually turned back around. Was tempted to extend the run instead of heading home down Ridge, but didn't have the time this morning. Really started to feel distance around Davis; I've been putting in too many 6-7M runs, I need to get to double digits more often. |
10 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 14
04-15 - 04-21 |
The week got off to a decent start, but then petered out. I need to start doing a better job of getting out of bed and out the door in the morning, especially on the weekend. April
Miles :
51
|
29 |
| SAT |
Day off. Lazy in the morning and then errands in the afternoon. |
0 |
| FRI |
Ridge-Sheridan. Out the door by 6am this morning and wanted to put in an hour. Ran up to Ridge and then straight north until I hit Sheridan. Came home along the lake, the usual route. Legs felt decent, but not great. A little tired at the start but improved as the run wore on. Wish I could have extended this one by about 15 minutes, was in a good place by the end. The weather still hasn't warmed up, it was mid 40s with a threat of rain and it felt more like fall xc weather than early spring. |
7 |
| THU |
Day off. Not sure why I've been so tired in the morning recently, but I keep turning my alarm off and immediately falling back asleep for another hour. Had to drag myself out of bed this morning just to make it to work on time. |
0 |
| WED |
Day off. The Wednesday workout plan only lasted one week, apparently. Wanted to get one in this morning but didn't get out of bed when my alarm went off and the next thing I knew it was 7am. |
0 |
| TUE |
Sherman-Lincoln-Lake. Out the door by 6am this morning and my legs were feeling really tired for some reason. I didn't feel like I was running very hard or very fast yesterday, but I guess something about the run wore me out. Pretty much just slogged my way through this run, my legs felt a little bit better by the end but on the whole I didn't feel that great. |
6 |
| MON |
Lake with Midge. My original plan was to do the 3M loop with Midge and then head back out alone again, but park was empty enough that I was able to drop Midge's leash and she was really enjoying running around on her own. We made it all the way to the Northwestern lagoon and turned around at the field hockey/lacrosse field. I felt pretty good this morning, but was certainly running easily (aside from 2 random strides in the middle of the run to keep Midge interested.) There is a decidedly different feeling in Chicago on Marathon Monday than there is in Boston. |
6 |
| SUN |
20 mins with Midge then River-Noyes-Ridge. Woke up at 7:30 and was out the door with Midge by 8am and did the same route along the lake with her as last week. Dropped her off (and saw the BAA 5k was won in 13:40, which made me pretty confident about my bet with Harvey,) and then headed over to the river via South. Ran north on the Skokie side of the river to where the path ends at Green Bay road and then picked up Noyes. Headed back home along Ridge after a few blocks on Noyes, finishing up the part without the dog in 54 minutes. Glad I got out there this morning, felt good to put in 10+ again. |
10 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 13
04-08 - 04-14 |
Had a brief stretch in the middle of the week where it felt like I was getting back into the swing of things, but failed to keep it going. Felt like I ran decently hard in Wednesday's workout, but it certainly wasn't a great one. April
Miles :
22
|
13 |
| SAT |
No excuses for today. Walked Midge and the weather was so nice I was going to run right away, but got sidetracked by other stuff and never made it out. |
0 |
| FRI |
Day off. Planned on running this morning, but was too tired and hitting snooze was too easy. |
0 |
| THU |
Day off. Pretty tired when my alarm went off. |
0 |
| WED |
3x"Mile" along the lake in 5:53-5:38-5:32, then another "mile" in 5:55 via 20 on-20 off. Today was the first of what I hope is a string of "Workout Wednesdays." I decided that I need a way to mix things up and some fast twitch recruitment couldn't hurt, too. Got a later start than planned and had to scale the workout down a bit. Warmed up 12 minutes over to the lake and doubled back to the start of the bike path just after Edgemere Court. Started right at the bubbler there and ran north to the lightpole where the trail forks and heads towards the lagoon by Northwestern. My thought was to run 6:00 hard on the first one and use that distance as a "mile" for the rest of the workout, but get progressively faster. Felt like I got out well at the start of the first one but then settled in too much over the second half. Did a better job of finishing hard on the second interval and wound up running that one faster than I was anticipating. I was only taking 1:00 rest between intervals but was feeling recovered by the time the minute was up. Did not get out well to start the final one, I was a little too self aware and thinking too much about how the workout was going (and trying to guess the actual distance I was running) instead of focusing on running hard. Recovered really well, though, based off of earlier splits I wasn't much faster than the first one through 3:00 or so, but I managed to run hard (or possibly slow down less) and was okay with 5:32. I took about 90 seconds rest before starting the 20/20 mile because I didn't have the timer on my watch set up. That mile went decently well but I don't think I was running the on sections quite as fast as I should have been. Cooled down straight home, only about 8 or 9 minutes. A little too rushed this morning, but it felt good to be working hard again. (I have been unable to get a measurement of the route because Google Maps does not have the path I ran in their system. It's not even on their satellite pictures, though it is on Bing.) |
7 |
| TUE |
Sherman-Lincoln-Lake. The weather has cooled off a bit and it was just above 40 when I left this morning. My legs felt fine, I haven't been running much recently so I guess I'm decently rested. Just a standard, boring run. I need to start getting out the door a bit earlier so that I can extend these runs out to an hour. |
6 |
| MON |
Day off. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off. Kathryn went up to Milwaukee today, so Nate and I hung out all day and I didn't get a chance to run. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 13
04-01 - 04-07 |
Not a great start to real life in Evanston. Continually tired and unmotivated in the morning. Hopefully I find something to start getting me out of bed and out the door in the mornings. April
Miles :
9
|
9 |
| SAT |
Short along the lake with Midge. We had a busy day planned and I didn't get out the door early, so I just took Midge down to the lake and then north to Greenleaf and back home down Sherman. Finished with a hard sprint down Seward that left me feeling a bit out of it. I think it's time to do some fast twitch recruitment. |
3 |
| FRI |
Day off. The laziness has returned. |
0 |
| THU |
Sherman-Lincoln-Lake. Finally got out the door for a morning run and it felt great to stretch out my legs again. Ran easy, the weather was a bit cool, but my legs felt decent. |
6 |
| WED |
Day off. |
0 |
| TUE |
Day off. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. Set my alarm to get up and run this morning but didn't manage to get out of bed when it went off. |
0 |
| SUN |
No running. Finished unpacking and ran a bunch of errands, then my parents drove Nate down. The move is officially complete. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 12
03-25 - 03-31 |
This was my last week living alone in Evanston, glad to finally have Kathryn and Nate (and furniture) back in my life. Didn't run a whole lot this week and when I did it was either short and easy or unimpressive. March
Miles :
176
|
18 |
| SAT |
No running. A long day of unpacking. Very sore by the end of it. March
Miles :
176
|
0 |
| FRI |
1600m at ETHS in 5:16. Kathryn was coming down from Milwaukee today and the movers were bringing all of our stuff this afternoon, so this was the last run of my solo period in Evanston. Thought I'd head over to the track and see if I'd gotten any faster compared to the start of the month when I ran 5:12. Ran 18 minutes over to the track and got right into the mile. I was expecting a fast pace to come easily, and was surprised to see 79-80 at 400 and 2:39 at halfway. Tried to hammer the second half but wasn't able to get any turnover and finished in a disappointing 5:16. Wasn't even that tired afterwards, I just did not run as hard as I should have. Cooled down straight back home, about 20 minutes. |
7 |
| THU |
Ridge-Noyes-Sheridan. Started out this morning with the plan of putting in about 8 miles. Headed north on Ridge but then started running low on motivation and turned east on Noyes. Got to Sheridan and started heading south, hugging the lake the whole way back. Finished up in 42:30. |
5 |
| WED |
Lake-Lincoln-Sherman. Managed to get out of bed but kept it short and easy today. Must have been running pretty slowly, because the watch said 48 minutes at the end. |
6 |
| TUE |
Day off. Originally was planning on running this morning, but was still pretty wiped out when my alarm went off and have less time now that I'm taking Midge to PetSmart before work. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. Slept about 9 hours last night but was pretty tired and sore in the morning and all day, really. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off. Up early and on the road by 7am. Got to Chicago by 3pm and was pretty wiped out by then. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 11
03-18 - 03-24 |
It was good to be back in Boston, even if just for a few days. The next few weeks are going to be hectic, so I'm glad I had a chance to get in some nice runs with the guys one final time. March
Miles :
158
|
47 |
| SAT |
One Last Run, beef and broccoli style. Met Harvey, Dan Smith, TPS and Ted Breen at Mass and Memorial this morning, a little bit earlier than normal. Headed over to the Fens and ran through there to Landmark Center, then looped around Fenway and headed through Kenmore Square and over to the finish line. From there we ran up Boylston to Charles, across Longfellow and back to Mass Ave along Memorial. Put in about 50 minutes with the guys, said our goodbyes then I got in the car and drove back home. The movers showed up not long after I got home and after they packed everything up and emptied out the condo Midge and I hit the road. Glad I was able to put in a final run in Boston and glad a couple of guys were able to make it. Tough to leave after almost 11 years in Boston, but looking forward to a new experience in Chicago. (Today was only about 6.5M, but I'm rounding up and I don't care.) |
7 |
| FRI |
Lincoln with Ely. Drove out to Lincoln after dropping Nate off at daycare this morning and we hit the trails about 9:30am. Stuck with just the 10M route because there was a lot left to do back home, but this was a great run. Very happy we were able to get together for one more Lincoln trip and the weather really cooperated. Running on the edge of Walden was almost enough to make me reconsider moving, sunny and warm with pine needles on the ground, just spectacular. It took almost 80 minutes to get through this one, though it didn't feel as though we were dawdling. Guess we're both slowing down in our old age. |
10 |
| THU |
Day off. Very busy day back in Boston, between meeting the lawyer to sign documents for the sale of the condo to packing up the last of our stuff to trying to work whenever I had a minute there wasn't any chance to get out the door. Too bad, because the weather was awesome today. |
0 |
| WED |
Day off. Flew back to Boston in the evening, so was up and headed to the office early since I had to leave work early to get to the airport. |
0 |
| TUE |
Commute home. A little bit windy on the way to the lake, but really great weather tonight. This run seems to keep getting shorter every time I do it, either I'm that much more familiar with the route or I'm actually getting in shape and running 14M is no longer the challenge it was 3 weeks ago. Made it home in about 1:41; the last half mile on the lake was 3:37ish but I think I had picked it up slightly and 7:20 pace is more accurate for the overall run. I'm increasingly convinced that I need to strap the phone to my arm, carrying it is distracting plus it's very salty and gross by the time I'm done. |
14 |
| MON |
Day off. Despite my best efforts at recovery yesterday I was completely wiped out this morning and couldn't even get out of bed. |
0 |
| SUN |
North Branch Trail. Drove over to Harm's Woods again and got the run started just after 9am. I don't normally get wrapped up in total time (i.e. I don't care about stopping at 89 minutes) but today's goal was to put in 2 hours. Ran north along the same route as two weeks ago and felt good early. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to go 2 hours, but finally decided that I rarely have the luxury of being able to do nothing the rest of the day and should take advantage of it. Things went well and time was passing quickly, I got to the point where I had turned around 2 weeks ago in 43 minutes and just a little bit later reached the end of the trail. Picked up a 4M paved bike loop (actually 4.4M) and slowly started melting. Something about being on pavement and in the sun made the run start to get long. Additionally, my stomach started acting up but luckily there was a Port-A-John along the trail. According to the mile markers on the trail I did the last 3M in 22:00, but split them 7:20-7:00-7:40, which is hard to believe, especially since the stomach problems were the worst during the 7:00 mile. Happy to get back onto the dirt trail and in the shade and start driving for home. Told myself that the run would be fine up until 1:40 and the last 20 minutes would be rough. I didn't know how right I was, the last 20 minutes took forever and I was really working just to keep my form together. I was struggling to do the math to figure out where I was and how much time I had left. (By the time I confirmed that yes, the last 6 minutes was 5% of the run there were only 4 minutes left.) Happy to finish this one off, total time of 2:04 for what was probably over 16.5M (6+M to the loop, 4.4M loop, 6+M home.) I can't remember the last time I ran 2 hours, I haven't done it since Nate was born. (Looks like it could have been 5/23/2010 with BH, Dan and Bedoya where I finished up "right at 2 hours," otherwise it was 1/24/2010 when I put in 18M with Jmark and BH.) I regretted forgetting to bring Gatorade and food with me, but refueled pretty well once I got home. |
16 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 10
03-11 - 03-17 |
Missed the first two days of the week, which I blame on travelling, but put together a fairly decent rest of the week. The commute home went very well, great weather and I really like being able to put in an uninterrupted 90 minutes or so along the lake. Saturday's run wound up being 2-3M longer than I was planning, but I got through it, somehow. March
Miles :
111
|
43 |
| SAT |
Lake-River. Didn't run until the middle of the day and by that point it was in the mid 70s with a lot of sun. Headed north along the lake for the third day in a row. Went north on Sheridan and took that all the way into Wilmette. Thought I'd be able to easily follow the river on the way back but there wasn't a path and I got a little turned around on the side streets. Finally got to Green Bay Rd and was able to take that to the river and then headed down the river to Oakton. It felt like I really went out of my way, but looking at the map I only added an extra 400m or so. Things started getting rough along the river and I was really hoping I'd find a bubbler, but never did. Thankful to finally make it to Oakton, but the last 10 minutes home along South were pretty long. I was really feeling bad when I got home, very overheated. Put in 84 minutes on the nose and the route measured out to 12M, surprisingly. Felt like I was really shuffling along by the end. |
12 |
| FRI |
Lake-Lincoln-Sherman. Same route as last night, except I wanted to run this one harder than normal. Told myself at the start that it shouldn't be tempo effort, but just run faster than I normally do. Took the first 8 minutes easy, over to the bike path, then started running faster and tried to keep the effort honest the whole way. Felt okay throughout, doubt that I was ever running much faster than 6:30, but I felt good throughout. Finished up in 41:25, so 6 minutes faster than last night, and about a 6:40 average, if you online measurement of 6.25M is accurate. |
6 |
| THU |
Lake-Lincoln-Sherman, with a stop at Jimmy John's to pick up dinner. Ran the usual route north along the lake past Northwestern after getting home from work but instead of continuing north along Sheridan I took Lincoln straight over to Sherman and headed home. Stopped in to buy a sub and ran the last 14 minutes carrying it like a baton. Got home in 47:20, measuring the route online puts it at just over 6M. |
6 |
| WED |
Oakton-Dempster on the river. Took South to the river again this morning, the flip side of it being light late is that it's dark early and path along the river is not lit. I stayed close to the road, though, and there was enough light to see where I was going. Ran two bridges north and came home along Dempster. Not a very eventful run, just glad I got out the door because my legs were feeling so bad. I've put in 19M in the last 12 hours, and there was a time in my life when that wouldn't have been so remarkable. |
5 |
| TUE |
Home from work. Another commute home holding my phone has me seriously contemplating buying something to strap it to my arm. I left a little earlier, just before 5:30, but the start of daylight savings time made a huge difference. The weather was nice and the path was packed with people, which helped me focus on moving forward, as I kept catching and passing people. A combination of knowing where I was going and being able to see landmarks made the run seem to go by much quicker. I wasn't running any faster, but the run did not take nearly as long as last week. I made it home in 1:42:42 this time, just 2-3 minutes faster than last week, but it was only starting to get dark at the end of this run. My legs felt better, too, I never really felt like I was working hard or running too far. |
14 |
| MON |
Day off. Took far too long to get out of bed and once I did there wasn't time to get in a run. |
0 |
| SUN |
Day off. Tired in the morning and had a lot to take care of before my flight in the afternoon, so I skipped the run and ate pancakes with Nate instead. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 09
03-04 - 03-10 |
Still struggling to find consistency, but I managed to get in some enjoyable runs this week. The route home from work is a good option, but does make for a long day/late night. Had a good run back in Boston with BH, everything else was just basic mileage this week. March
Miles :
68
|
42 |
| SAT |
Southie with Brian. Met Brian at the Common this morning and we headed out to Southie along the usual route. Ran to the Ocean then up G Street and back to the city along Broadway. Ran into some guys Brian knew and ran with them the rest of the way. Wound our way through the South End until we hit the Pru, then headed down Boylston to Charles and then I took the standard route home from there. Put in 82 minutes, but we seem to have been running leisurely. Great to run with Brian again, and to have company in general. We somehow made it through the run without gambling, but we figured out a good March Madness bet later in the day. |
10 |
| FRI |
Day off. Headed into work early this morning since I had to leave work early to catch my flight back to Boston. Didn't get to Charlestown until 9:30pm or so. |
0 |
| THU |
Oakton/Howard on the river. "No Surrender" is 2/2 in getting me out of bed and out the door. A little surprised I was able to get out the door just 11 hours after I finished last night's long run. Felt horrible, no surprise, and kept it short this morning. Still looking for a route to PetSmart, I took South Street which actually runs straight to the PetSmart parking lot and got there in 10 minutes. I cut through the lot to Oakton, crossed the river and then headed south to Howard. Headed back on Howard but quickly worked my way back north along the neighborhood streets. My legs never really got loosened up and even though this was 33 minutes I'm sure it was barely over 4M. Planned on going out again after work but got home later than planned and had too much to take care of to get ready to fly back to Boston tomorrow. |
4 |
| WED |
Home along the Lake. Decided that since today was going to be a nice day that I'd try running home from work. I took the minimum stuff required for the day and the only inconvience was that I had to carry my cellphone the whole way. I tried keeping it in my shorts pocket, but it only took 10 seconds of running to figure out that wasn't going to work. I might need to buy one of those arm bands to strap it strap my phone on if I'm going to do this regularly. Ran straight east on Randolph to the lake, which meant stopping every block or three for a light and there was too much traffic to run many reds. I got onto the lakeshore path in about 12 minutes, though, and then I didn't have to stop again until turning off of Sheridan in Evanston, 80 minutes later. The path started out busy (but now crowded) and as I got further north it thinned out until I was pretty much alone. I didn't account for how dark it would get and maybe should have left 30 minutes earlier, but the path was lit the whole way and I didn't really have any problems. I wasn't sure how long lakeshore was and the mile markers were going up, not counting down. I'd been pretty disciplined about not watching the watch, this was too long of a run to be counting minutes when I was just 40:00 in. I timed the last half mile on the path in 3:40 and was out on Sheridan at 72 minutes. Coming off the path made it feel like I was nearing the end, even though I knew that I still had 4+ miles ahead of me. Kept straight north on Sheridan just like a few days ago and by this time I was looking forward to being done and thinking about the Spotted Cows I had waiting for me in the fridge. I took Sheridan all the way to Kedzie and back home the usual way from there. Finished up in 1:44:30 on what was a solid 14M route. Pretty worthless the rest of the night, couldn't keep my eyes open after 9:30pm. Glad I did this and will hopefully be able to do it every once in awhile, but it's certainly not a viable every day commute. I really felt great the whole way, I was worried about my hip acting up but that didn't give me any trouble and I was worried about falling apart in the final few miles but I could have extended this another few miles, I think. Really great night weather-wise, I was comfortable in tshirt and shorts and the wind wasn't noticeable on the lake. Once I got off the lake the wind picked up, and there were times when I regretted running on a day with 25 mph winds and gusts up to 40, but all in all it wasn't an issue. |
14 |
| TUE |
North on the lake to Ridge. Was fed up with being lazy in the morning so I set my alarm to play "No Surrender" and that enough to get me out of bed. I was out the door just after 6am and it was surprisingly warm, warm enough for me to take my hat off before I even started to run. Took Kedzie to the lake again and ran north but this time continued going to Northwestern and ran on a nice path right along the lake and past their lacrosse field. Then picked up Sheridan and took that north until I hit Ridge. Decided I should start heading home, I was 30:00 into the run, so I just took Ridge straight south all the way home. Much more direct route on the way back, so I finished up just under 53 minutes. I suppose I should have added on enough to bump it to 8, but I can live with calling this 7. My right hip/IT is acting up again and was hurting pretty much throughout the whole run. I was better about stretching out after I finished, but I need to remember to find a tennis ball tonight. |
7 |
| MON |
Day off. Had intended to get up this morning but was really tired when my alarm went off and the next thing I knew it was 7am. Long, busy day at work and not enough motivation to get out the door at night. |
0 |
| SUN |
River in Evanston/Skokie. Decided I'd check out the route to PetSmart, since I might wind up running there with Midge in the mornings until everything gets settled. Ran up Ridge to Main and then west to the river without seeing PetSmart then turned north thinking I hadn't gone far enough along Ridge. I eventually figured out that I'd overshot it to begin with, so I crossed at the next bridge and then ran south. There's a nice paved path along the river, but it intersects a lot of busy streets so it'd be hard to put in a continuous effort there. Ran down 2 bridges to Oakton, the street I'd been loooking for, then crossed the river and headed home. Across the street from the PetSmart is a big sledding hill so I took a detour and climbed up it, it's decently steep but not very long and the ground was pretty soft still. Will be good for repeats once the ground firms up, though. Headed down Mulford until I got to Ridge, where I realized that I started out on Ridge going the wrong direction. I must have messed up the watch on the way home, because the map says almost 2M to PetSmart but my split was just 9 minutes. Looking at the river path online it seems I can put in a 1+M loop by running back and forth between bridges. Not as great as the Charles, but still a decent option. |
7 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 08
02-26 - 03-03 |
A big week in terms of life changes, but not a very big week of training. Completed the first stage of the move on Sunday and spent the whole week living in Evanston and working in Chicago, but the long days haven't left as much time for training as I had originally hoped. Started to get in a bit of a groove by the end of the week, though, and put in a good 12 miler on Saturday to close things out. I can really feel the improvement each time I run close to and beyond an hour. That's clearly where I'm at fitness wise. March
Miles :
26
|
38 |
| SAT |
North Branch Trail. Drove over to the parking lot at Harm's Woods around 8am and headed north on the trail. I somehow missed the start of the equistrian trail and wound up on the paved bike path for the first 5-10 minutes until I found the dirt trail. The trail was pretty wet and muddy in places and it was just over freezing and spitting snow, running with wet feet wasn't very fun. The trail turned out to be great, though, it went through a series of forest preserves and had very few street crossings. I kept things easy the whole way, the trail makes for a straight out and back and I turned around after 45 minutes, just show of the end of the trail. I felt good through the first 75 minutes or so and was pretty dead on my feet by the end. Got back to the car at just over 88 minutes, pretty happy with the run overall. This is a good option and from what I could the paved bike path had very prominent mile markers. Will be worth checking this out further. |
12 |
| FRI |
South along the Lake. Starting out winding my way through the neighborhood streets of Evanston until I found a tunnel under the train tracks. That put me at the northern end of Rodgers Park and I ran east until I hit the lake at Sheridan. Ran south along Sheridan with a detour through Loyola Park until I hit 26 minutes, which was just past Loyola's campus. I felt good enough to extend the run a bit farther (I was trying to find the start of the Lakeshore trail) but decided to play it safe and ensure I feel good enough for a solid long run over the weekend. Ran back the same way, only I stayed on Sheridan all the way up to Kedzie and took the tunnel under the tracks at Madison. The route was a little bit longer on the way back, and I finished just short of 54 minutes total. Felt really good to be out there again, though my legs were leaving me over the final 15 minutes or so. My right hip was still bothering me, I think the mile yesterday aggravated it. I'm regretting my decision to leave the foam roller in Boston, I could really use it now. Need to go find myself a tennis ball. |
8 |
| THU |
1600m in 5:11.99 at Evanston HS. I've been wanting to get some barometer of where I'm at after all this time off, so I headed over to the high school track this morning to see what I could run for a mile. I didn't entirely remember where the HS was, and didn't check a map before I left, so I just wound my way along random streets in the general direction and luckily didn't miss it. Went straight to the starting line and got right into it, no strides and only a few quick stretches. Was very worried about going out too hard and dying so was happy to see 79 for the first lap and feel good. Tried to maintain from there and came through the half in 2:39. Decided at that point that I was feeling good enough to start getting after it and without even realizing it I shifted gears down to 76 for the third lap. When I saw 3:55 on the watch I started thinking about breaking 5:10 which would have been incredible. Was able to hold 76 or so on the final lap without killing myself; I tried to get up on my toes at 200m to go but that only lasted about 3 steps. Very happy to see the 5:12, going in to this I thought I'd be struggling to break 5:20. And I didn't kill myself to do it, either. I could have put in a few more intervals (though likely not 5:12 miles,) but instead I just headed home. My right hip started hurting almost immediately after I started running hard, I've been incredibly lax with stretching, even worse than I have been with running. Need to stay on top of that going forward. It's 17-18 minutes to get to/from the track, so I'm calling it 2.5M each way. In the future I imagine I'll be extendig the warmup/cooldown to a full 3M. |
6 |
| WED |
Day off. I finally had a good night's sleep on the air mattress and didn't wake up until nearly 7am. No time to get in a run before work and didn't get home until nearly 7pm again. I did wall sits, sit ups, push ups and planks before going to bed, though. February
Miles :
90
|
0 |
| TUE |
Day off. Woke up pretty tired this morning and didn't feel like squeezing in a run before heading to work. |
0 |
| MON |
Out and back along the lake. Ran down Kedzie to the lake again and headed north looking for mile marks along the path to Northwestern. There was an "S" on the ground at the northern end of the path but nothing else. The path is about a mile long and would be a good alternative to mile repeats on the track. Maybe I need to fly Terry and his wheel out here to put down mile marks. Kept it easy today, just 16 minutes out and then came home the same way. |
4 |
| SUN |
Evanston. Woke up in the Cleveland hotel around 7, did some wall sits and sit ups, ate breakfast and got back on the road. I got to the new apartment in Evanston around noon and by the time I had gotten everything moved in and ran some errands it was after 6pm. Headed out for a run to explore the town, ran down Kedzie to the lake and then north to Northwestern. Picked up Green Bay and took that to the river, then started working my way home along the river. I stumbled across the high school so I took a detour to check if the track was open (it was.) Managed to find my way home, despite being temporarily worried that I was utterly lost. This was a good first run in my neww town. |
8 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 07
02-19 - 02-25 |
February
Miles :
78
|
18 |
| SAT |
JP with JMark and Nick End, from Jmark's place. Drove over to Jared's with Nick early this morning and put in 51 minutes with those guys. Runs with Nick, and especially Nick plus Jared, always wind up at a faster pace than I would run on my own and I was feeling the effects by the end of this one. Glad I was able to get out with those guys, though, and it was a good run. Packed up the car almost immediately after I got home and by 9:30am I was on the road headed towards Chicago. Drove for about 10 hours and finally called it a day by the Cleveland airport. Long day. |
7 |
| FRI |
Day off. Long day of travelling back to Boston from Florida and then last minute packing once we got home. |
0 |
| THU |
Day off. Didn't feel like running today, but did wall sits, push ups and sit ups. |
0 |
| WED |
McGregor Drive in Ft Myers. I felt pretty good on this one, just ran out and back on McGregor for an uneventful eight miles. Pretty basic run, though running shirtless in the sun was a welcome change. |
8 |
| TUE |
Day off. Very lazy day, I realized around 5pm that I hadn't been outside yet, so I forced myself off the couch for a 30 minute walk around the complex. |
0 |
| MON |
Perimeter of the Landings. Just wanted a short, easy run so I put in 23 minutes mainly around the perimeter of the complex at the Landings. The golf course is closed on Mondays so I was able to get on the cart paths for awhile, too. |
3 |
| SUN |
Day off. Very long day of travelling from Boston to Florida, the closest I came to putting in mileage was pushing the stroller through the Charlotte airport to make our connecting flight. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 06
02-12 - 02-18 |
February
Miles :
60
|
10 |
| SAT |
Freedom Trail-River. Headed out this morning thinking I'd run the Freedom Trail and then Castle/Bunker Hill but got a later start than I wanted and was worried I'd be gone when the body shop came to pick up my car. Made the right decision to cut it short, since I got home about 10 minutes before the guy from the body shop came. Felt alright during this one, glad to finally get a run in. |
6 |
| FRI |
Day off. Flew back to Boston in the afternoon, heading to Florida for a week on Sunday. |
0 |
| THU |
Day off. |
0 |
| WED |
Day off. |
0 |
| TUE |
Day off. First day at the new job in Chicago, I didn't even bring my running stuff with me. |
0 |
| MON |
Longfellow. My last run as a real resident of Boston. Decided to run Firebox because it has the best view of the city, in my opinion. Pretty cold, only about 20 degrees and the wind on the bridge had me momentarily regret wearing shorts. Nice and easy run, it still hasn't sunk in that I'm flying out to Chicago tonight. |
4 |
| SUN |
Day off. After how apathetic I felt during yesterday's run, I really didn't feel like forcing myself to go outside for a run in single digit temps. I've gotten quite soft. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 04
01-29 - 02-04 |
February
Miles :
20
|
41 |
| SAT |
Day off. |
0 |
| FRI |
2.5M-2M tempo run in 13:42 (5:29-5:35-2:48) and ?? (xx-5:29-xx), chasing Paul Ryan and Terry. I jumped in with TPS and Paul at the 4.5, when they were 2M into their 12M tempo. My plan was to just chase them for as long as I could, then take a break and meet them on their way back. The first mile felt a bit quick but the pace on the second mile felt a lot easier. They sped up slightly and I started falling off over my final half mile and I hit the mark a few seconds after they did. I first thought they only had 2M of running until they'd be back at the 7, but once I regained my composure I realized they actually had 3M to go. I ran down to the 6 and back to the 6.5 at about 7:30 pace then did some light strides and plyos, trying to make it back to the 7 in time. Wound up a bit short and jumped in with them just past the sailing pavilion. I felt pretty good in the early going but by the time we hit the lagoon I was really working hard to stay in contact. I yo-yo'd a bit but was pleased that I managed to make it back to them each time I started to fall off. I hadn't really thought through what I wanted to do on the second piece and decided I'd stop at the 5, making it just shy of 2M. As we got closer I felt like I should try to get to the 4.5, but I wasn't committed to that and once I started falling off again I just bagged it, right before the Community Sailing Center. Disappointed that I wasn't tougher mentally and didn't hang in there the extra half mile. Paul and Terry looked very smooth, which made my labored running seem even more conspicous. I noticed that my feet were slapping the ground a lot, I'm definitely not a very efficient runner right now. Lots of work to do, but it was good to get out there and chase those guys for a bit. Not sure how many more workouts on the Charles I have left. |
11 |
| THU |
Day off. |
0 |
| WED |
Castle-Bunker Hill. Just a boring, basic run on the standard route. |
9 |
| TUE |
Day off. January
Miles :
95
|
0 |
| MON |
Davis-Elm-Inman. In addition to getting you sick, kids get silly songs stuck in your head. Had the "Elmo's World" song stuck in my head for most of the run. Otherwise, pretty decent. Stomach issues all resolved after yesterday's debacle. |
9 |
| SUN |
BAA Long Run from Cleveland Circle. Met a group at 9am this morning for what I thought would be an easy 12M. I had originally hoped for 15M today, but scaled back my expectations after having been sick the past few days. Was hoping I'd feel good enough to get through the run without any problems, but was wrong. Woke up starving this morning, so I ate a few pieces of toast and felt better before leaving. Got there early and was able to stop at Dunkin Donuts, then we stood around for 10 minutes waiting for various people to arrive. The early part of the run felt decent but after 30 minutes or so I was starting to hurt pretty good. Had it just been the effects of taking 3 weeks off I could have ridden it out, but after we turned at the firehouse my stomach started acting up. Luckily found a Port-A-John not long after, but that left me alone for the rest of the run. Had a second wave of problems around Center Street and wound up walking for a few blocks, then shuffled for a few blocks before thankfully finding another Port-A-John at the base of Heartbreak. Managed to get back to the car at Cleveland Circle after that, but the final few miles weren't very enjoyable. Tough run and I probably should have just skipped it, my stomach wasn't ready. |
12 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 03
01-22 - 01-28 |
This week was a false start. I had every intention of getting back into training, but started a couple days late and then got derailed when Nate got sick. Will eventually get it straightened out. January
Miles :
74
|
12 |
| SAT |
Day off. More stomach issues, but thankfully no vomiting. |
0 |
| FRI |
Day off. Now I'm starting to come down with Nate's bug. More tired then usual when I woke up, plus my stomach was upset all day. |
0 |
| THU |
Day off. Nate was sick and I stayed home to take care of him, which meant I wasn't able to get out the door at all. |
0 |
| WED |
Back Bay. Decided to run this one harder than usual, but didn't really hammer it. Kept the pace honest the whole way but didn't take a mile split along the river. Felt like I was running just north of 6:00, but my feel for pace isn't what it used to be. |
6 |
| TUE |
Docks-Greenway. Kept it easy but it felt good to be out running again. |
6 |
| MON |
Day off. |
0 |
| SUN |
The plan was to start up again this morning, but I didn't get my lazy butt out the door. |
0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
Week 01
01-08 - 01-14 |
January
Miles :
62
|
15 |
| SAT |
Day off. |
0 |
| FRI |
Day off. |
0 |
| THU |
Day off. |
0 |
| WED |
Day off. |
0 |
| TUE |
Day off. Still feeling run down and my calf is sore. Could have run but think taking a week off might recharge the batteries. |
0 |
| MON |
Day off. Barely able to drag myself out of bed this morning and my right calf was tight and sore when I was walking around. Couldn't force myself out the door this morning. |
0 |
| SUN |
Fresh Pond, around the Pond, with Harvey. Met Harvey, JMark and Dana on the river at 9am and headed up river. Jared and Dana turned back at River Street, then Harvey and I decided to get off the river. We took the standard route down Mt Auburn to the pond, then ran around the pond counterclockwise. Then Brattle Street to Harvard Square and back along Mass Ave. Harvey and I split up at Memorial and I headed home down the river on my own. As usual, the time passed quickly with Harvey, I was surprised to see 75 on the watch outside of Harvard Square, but by the time we got to the river I was toast and didn't relish having to run back home. Ran about 7:20 along the river at the end, finished up at 1:52, exhausted. I was in pretty bad shape by the end, I probably ran 10-15 minutes longer than I should have. I had woken up at 5am worried about making it through the run, all I ate Saturday was a few bowls of Cheerios and 2 slices of pizza, and then had 4-5 beers after the meet. Ate a banana and some toast before the run and thankfully my stomach didn't give me any problems throughout the run. I was pretty worn out the rest of the day and took a 90 minute nap in the afternoon while Nate was asleep. |
15 |
