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Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 12 8/18-8/24 |
A fine week to finish off the summer with. Got in a killer 16M on Sunday and filled up the rest of the week with solid runs. Tuesday's decrease was great, not only from a physiological standpoint but also the confidence it gave me. I know I'm fit after that run. Have no complaints about any of the runs this week. Great to finish up back in Boston, logging miles on the old routes and having studs to train with. Now the real work begins. August Miles: 345 | 105 |
| Saturday: | Fake Fresh Pond Loop to Reservoir plus 1+ grass loops. Good to be back and running with the team again, the freshman took off and pushed the pace through Fake Fresh Pond naturally, but I was willing to run with them, so I can't blame them. CBW, Nolan and I went around the Reservoir and Nolan and I tacked on the extra grass mileage. Good to see Nolan again, he's been running a lot and is ready to roll this year, I like his attitude. Legs pretty tired, but not dead. Solid end to a solid summer, topped the mileage off well and feel set for cross season. Gonna try to grab a lot of sleep tonight before 16M early with the guys tomorrow. But first, BRISTOL NIGHT RACE. | 15 |
| Friday: | Watertown Bridge Loop after a long day of travelling. Only had 3 hours sleep last night and a little to eat for breakfast, but the run turned out just fine. My first Watertown Loop ever. Started on the Boston side for once, that was a new perspective. Legs feeling really good, churning out a quick pace. Held about 6:30s I'd guess. Loop was about 89 minutes total. Stopped off at the MIT track for strides, nothing much happened there though. Legs were somewhat tired during the run, but it was nothing horrible, mainly just waiting for the run to be over. Great to be back in Boston, been catching up with the guys, resulting in a late post, and my network connection is still up in the air. One more day left to the summer season, running with Nolan and some of the cross boys. | 14 |
| Thursday PM: | Loop around Shorewood. Edgewood to River Park to Wilson to Lake Bluff to Lake. Legs a little sore, felt clunky the first mile, unnatural. Eventually found my form but with about a mile left legs tied up a little. Nothing horrible though, got through just fine and finished off a record day. Yzerman finished up with games of 7 and 8 goals. That's 107 goals in 12 games. Tomorrow, Watertown Bridge Loop in Boston. | 4 |
| Thursday AM: | Art Museum to Silver Spring. Unable to make it to Lapham today, which I wasn't happy about. Felt pretty good out there though, running 6:20-6:40s the whole way, a solid run. Only one more run left in Shorewood, taking off early tomorrow morning for Boston. Today felt like an early April day, foggy and overcast with a slightl drizzle. Over the last 5M the rain picked up so I was running with heavy shoes for the last half an hour or so. Drawing up a strategy to discover the route of the Schmeck Loop. | 13 |
| Wednesday PM: | Bender Loop backwards. Feeling a little queasy so decided to take it easy. Planning on going to Lapham tomorrow, more motivation to take it easy today. Running 6:40-7s just relaxing and running with minimal effort. Quads were a little sore during the run but on the whole I wasn't hardly devastated after yesterday's effort, which is very encouraging. Throughout today I was pretty tired though, going to try to get a bunch of sleep tonight. Essentially done packing, the whole thing took me about half an hour. It's crazy to realize how close cross season is getting. | 10 |
| Wednesday AM: | North along Lake Drive. Feeling pretty good, not as sore as I expected to feel. Things are looking pretty good. Going to start packing this afternoon. | 4 |
| Tuesday: | 5M Decreasing Pace run with Maduza then another 7M from Kenwood to Art Museum. I always enjoy getting back with the HS team for a run, although the team has changed quite a bit in just a year. The run was supposed to go 6:20, 5:50, 5:20, 5:00 then sub-5 for the last mile. Maduza's had a great summer so Kenney wanted me to help pull him sub-5 for the last mile. We got a little excited at the beginning turning 6:08, 5:40, then a slow 3rd mile (which I still think is long. We've NEVER hit the 3rd mile on decreases) at 5:28. Then stepped it up with a 5:04 mile leading Maduza by about a second. Spent the next quarter mile trying to get Maduza to close the gap but he wasn't coming. Hit the first half in 2:34 second half in 2:25 to go 4:59. Duza hit 5:20. I haven't done any speed work since mid-May, I know it was strength from high mileage that let me hold sub-5 (barely) over the last mile. This workout's made me certain I can go sub-16 for the 5k time trial, and this workout will be hitting the legs about next Friday, just in time. Sat around talking with Maduza for a little while waiting for Kenney, then ran along the lakefront with Duza. He turned at LaFayette and I kept on down to Art Museum. I'd guess I was holding 6:40-7s. Great run, great workout, great day. It appears I was a bit premature in declaring my August dominance over France at 10 times the mileage. He actually ran 3M yesterday, putting the actual dominance factor at 9x. I'm thinking I'll try a nap for an hour or two mid-day. Yzerman opened up the Stanley Cup Finals in style, scoring 12 goals. Unheard of. That's an NHLPA '93 record for me. He was on a tear. He's at 88 for the playoffs, that's 6.8 goals per game. His dominance factor is through the roof. | 15 |
| Monday PM: | Bender Loop. Taking it easy today, running 6:40-7s mainly. Kind of resting up for tomorrow, got a fast run planned with the high school cross team, should be a good workout. Feeling pretty good, legs a little sore, to be expected given yesterday's run. Really focused on not running fast, I think that may have contributed a little to the soreness. Nice cool weather still, perfect for running. My August total (270M) is now 10x France's (27M.) Of course, he did log 3 HOURS on the cross trainer on Sunday. Poor mindless fool. Yzerman closed out the series against Winnipeg with an 8 goal effort, pulling his 12 game total to 76 goals. I believe it is fair to say that he is dominating domination. | 10 |
| Monday AM: | North along Lake Drive around 10:30AM. Nice to be able to sleep in again. Nice and cool out, didn't really start sweating at all. Felt good on the run. SHS cross practice started tomorrow, I'm running with them Tuesday. | '4 |
| Sunday: | I think I just surpassed last week's run as the best run ever. Went along the same route, Lake Drive to Churchhill etc. Started out kind of slow, building into it, feeling how my legs felt. First 3M in 20 minutes. Found a good pace about 25-30 minutes in and held that. First 8M in 51:06. I was expecting to roll through in about 53:20 at 6:40 pace because I really didn't feel like I was trucking that fast. On the way back I was feeling good, cruising, not really working hard, the run was flowing well, wasn't struggling. Next 5M in approx. 30:45. Nailed the last 3M in 17:48 making the second half of the run 48:26. Over the last mile I was still feeling good so I stretched the legs out and made a concious effort to run fast, but still wasn't killing myself and threw down 5:38. I was feeling great afterwards too, not crawling around or dying at all. Needless to say, I am in the best shape of my life and I'm ready to start racing. I'm thinking this week's mileage will be 102-104M, depending on how my legs feel throughout the week and how my HR reacts to the mileage. I could throw in 6 more 16M days to hit 1000+M for the summer, but my name isn't Austin Roach. | 16 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 12 8/11-8/17 |
Solid week of high mileage. Kind of hoped to hit 102M but HR was too high on Tuesday. Part of me wanted to avoid running 100M a week exactly because I see it as an artifical construct with no magical meaning. People aim for 100M because it's a nice round number. In short I didn't aim for 100M this week, I just happened to run 100M exactly. Hitting three-digits felt good though, especially when my legs felt as good as they did all through the week. Sunday's run was awesome, maybe the best I've ever run, and the legs stayed fresh all week, holding most miles around 6:30. One more week of summer training then cross season starts and I get to start racing again. Gonna try to get out to Lapham next week a time or two, need to work on the hill running skills. August Miles : 240 | 100 |
| Saturday: | Ran along Milwaukee River Parkway then through a residential area of Glendale with End, started at End's house. Pretty good run, new route. Holding 6:30-6:50s I'd guess, chilling for the first part of it then slowly building up. Ran up a hill in Kletsch Park, I was feeling pretty good up that, but haven't run enough hills lately. Stopped by Kenney's house, he wasn't home but said "Hi" to Gina and grabbed some water. Overcast and cool at the start, kind of humid though. By the end of the run it was around noon and the sun was beating down. Pretty good end to the week. Watched the last lap of Boulami's 7:53.17 WR steeple last night. That guy was trucking. El G wound up 0.9 seconds off his WR in the 15. Also discovered a hillarious interview with Gabe after his first-round loss in the 2001 World Champs 15. I could listen to that dude talk for hours. Talking about his "vision," predicting 2002 to be a great year for him. So many soundbites. | 14 |
| Friday PM: | Bender Loop. Running pretty well, just relaxed though, not pushing at all. I guess maybe I'm a little sore from yesterday, it wasn't the best run ever but it was far from being a bad run. I'm feeling strong, even though I'm nearing the end of my first triple-digit week ever. Nice weather, pretty cool out, especially in the shade or with a breeze. Legs kind of ached, but work's over now so I'll be able to get more sleep between now and when school starts. 6:15 last mile, even though I wasn't trying to push it or turn a quick time. 66 minutes for the loop. I'm ready for this season to start. The scoop on Nolan is that he was moving quick enough to avoid most of Fang's bite, but "one of the sharp corner teeth" did get him pretty good. (My translation of Golden God-speak: "moving pretty well" = "booking 5:40s at the start of a 14M run, and only proceeded to accelerate. The Golden God does not understand reverse thrust.") | 10 |
| Friday AM: | North along Lake Drive. Really tired when I woke up, didn't feel like running, but I got out. Glad I went, because my legs felt great and I was trucking the whole way. Felt like I was really moving. In exactly one week I'll be boarding a plane to take me to Boston. | 4 |
| Thursday PM: | Art Museum to 2M mark. Ran Art Museum with End, alone to 2M mark and hooked up with Aaron Nodolf for the last mile and a half. He's working back from an injury, running for Wisconsin Runner. Pretty cool. End and I were smashing it, started with a 3:00 half kept it 6:00-6:15 the whole way, despite End's claims at the start that his legs didn't feel good. Actually a little harder than I had wanted, but I'll take it, it was a good run. After 7M clipped off 6:15, 6:05 then I stopped checking when I was running with Nodolf. I think I'll hit 100M even this week, that seems like it will work well. Apparently Webb signed with Nike for $1.5mil over 6 years. Why am I going back to MIT again? (For those of you following the unfolding Yzerman saga, 56 goals through 8 games. The man is on a tear. NINE goals, NINE goals against Chicago, perhaps the only team in the entire game as physical on D as I am. Bodies flying everywhere. Yzerman's "worst" game was a 3 goal effort in the fourth and final win over Chicago in the second round. Luckily the phantom calls have ceased, near the end of the St. Louis series he was spending 10-12 minutes in the penalty box a game. Ludicrous.) | 12 |
| Thursday AM: | North along Lake Drive. I was incredibly tired this morning, but HR was low so I logged a couple. Looking forward to sleeping in next week when I don't have work anymore. | 4 |
| Wednesday PM: | Bender Loop backwards. Feeling good still, 6:20s for the first few miles, 64 minutes total, so a few 6:30s probably slipped in there somewhere. Nothing much memorable happened, just a solid, steady-state run, so I'm going to babble for awhile to waste space. Cool weather still after the torrential rains we had yesterday, beautiful for running. Saw Dom and End near the end of the run, apparently there's a 5k race at Lapham this weekend that End wants to run. I'm not so sure. I don't know what it is about today that's keeping this in the front of my mind, but I really want to get out to MIT and log miles with the guys again. Steve Yzerman is experiencing what can only be described as the most dominant play-off performance ever. In the 4 games (in a best of 7 series) it took Detroit to beat St. Louis in the first round of the Stanley Cup tournament in NHLPA Hockey '93 for Sega Genesis he's scored 31 goals, including two games of 10 goals on 17 shots. Utter domination. | 10 |
| Wednesday AM: | North along Lake Drive. HR back in the low 40s this morning, always good. Feeling OK during the run, not really tired, felt like I was moving pretty quickly. Anxious to get back to MIT and train with the team. | 4 |
| Tuesday PM: | Bender to Kenwood. Legs feeling a lot better than yesterday, sleep really helped. First 10M in 65, about 78 minutes total. Didn't check an individual mile, felt like I was holding 6:30s all the way through. Ran right after a rainstorm, so it was nice and cool. Got a little hot in the middle but clouds came back and it cooled off by the end. Still haven't decided if I'll try to recoup the 2M I lost today, that'll be a judgement call based on how I'm feeling the rest of the week. Nolan claims to have been bitten by a dog, strange. | 12 |
| Tuesday AM: | HR was up at 50-54 BPM, so I stayed in bed an extra half an hour instead of running. Surprised it was up so high since I slept about 9 hours last night. Haven't decided how this will affect the weekly mileage. | 0 |
| Monday PM: | Bender Loop backwards. Legs really tired. Started out around 6:20-6:30, but legs quickly tired. Saw Pat Reis around Klode. Running into a strong wind along the Parkway, that sucked. Really, really tired. Need to sleep a lot tonight, check HR in the AM. 67 minutes total, so not horrible, especially given yesterday's run. Heat was back today, nearly 90 degrees when I ran, didn't realize that til I was comitted to the run. Got thirsty, but I survived. Lifted today, did a lot of situps too, because the Fitness Center was really crowded. | 10 |
| Monday AM: | North along Lake Drive. I'll be happy when I can get some variety with the Science Museum->Harvard Bridge Loop going. Legs sore and tired, soreness went away but fatigue stayed. Surprise, surprise. XC2002 Practices start in 14 days. | 4 |
| Sunday: | North along Lake Drive to Churchill Lane, down onto Linksway over to Hawley, down to Santa Monica then back south til Longacre (the 2nd Longacre), turned around and came home. Same basic run as two weeks ago with J, except fixed up the little mistake. Last time we turned at the 1st Longacre, have to go another 0.5M or so down to the 2nd Longacre. Kick-ass run, probably the best of the summer, maybe even best training run ever. First half in 51:30, back half in 50:35. 102 minutes total (6:20s.) Feeling great, absolutely awesome. Cautious at the start because I didn't want to bonk 10M in, but I was feeling good after the first 30min so I kind of cut loose a little, nothing wild though, just running a steady, quick clip. First hint of fatigue around 64 minutes, makes sense after a week of 10M runs. Legs not nearly as bad as yesterday, much, much fresher. Last half about 3-flat. Wonder what might have happened had I thrown down over the last 3M. Regardless, logging 16M in such fashion rocks ... hard. Before the run, I weighed in at 169 lbs, afterwards (dried off and before drinking H2O) 160 lbs. Interesting tidbit: with this one run, I eclipsed France's total mileage from last WEEK! Shows you what crazy mad mileage jumps will do to you. Planned out a method to hit 3-digits this week, with the ability to pull the parachute and drop mid-90s if need be. HR low (38-40BPM) this morning after 8 hours of sleep. I'm so pumped about this day. Official practices start two weeks from tomorrow. | 16 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 11 8/04-8/10 |
What a week! Great mileage, and the legs held up pretty well too. Only minor aches that hurt for a few miles then disappeared forever. That was my biggest fear, that the upped mileage would cause me to self-destruct. Granted, I was pretty tired on Saturday, but what do you expect? And the speed came back too, a lot of miles in the 6:20-6:40 range, always good. And of course 17:30 for the last 3M of my Wednesday run was great too. I'll try to make the jump to 100+M next week, but I'll have to play it by ear. August Miles : 140 | 98 |
| Saturday: | Art Museum to Klode. Started out pretty well, feeling good but a little tired. The things I iced last night I couldn't feel at all. Slept about 10 hours last night, always helpful. Legs really tired about halfway through, felt like I was dragging. In reality though, my legs were tired but still able to move pretty quick. Over the last 7M I averaged just under 6:30s (25:30 for miles 8-11 and 19:30 for miles 12-14.) Took a short break after 11M stretched a little and grabbed some water. Really surprised to be moving so quick, last mile was 6:22 but felt more like 7:00. Pretty good end to the week though. | 14 |
| Friday PM: | Bender Loop. Feeling alright, a couple nagging aches (left knee, right plantar fascia, right quad) that I should jump on before they become more than that and start to inhibit running. 67 mins for the loop, didn't feeling like throwing down at all. Last mile in 6:40, just logging miles. Ran late because I was enraptured with the new DVD player and The Matrix on DVD. I like running around 8pm, only problem is the gnats. Neck was speckled when I got back. Not as bad as that one time, that was horrible. I'd say this was right on par with looking Yuval in the face. Its ugly but you can stomach it, even though you'd rather not. Legs holding together really well given mileage. Looking to finish this week up well tomorrow. | 10 |
| Friday AM: | North along Lake Drive. I'm glad today was the last AM run of the week. Man, am I tired. Legs alright, a little sore but that's to be expected as I near the end of this massive week. Looking forward to sleeping. | 4 |
| Thursday PM: | Bender Loop backwards. Got bored in the middle of the day and didn't feel like waiting til after Jeopardy! (it's the College Championship anyways, sub-par Jeopardy!) so I ran at around 3pm. At first I felt horrible, well, I felt horrible pretty much all the way through. Legs tired, felt like I was pulling them through Jello. But then I knocked off Mile 1 in 6:30, 2M in 13 and 3M in 19:30, so I wasn't so dejected about feeling horrible. Finished up in 64:30, which amazes me since I didn't feel very good. 70M in 5 days?!?! What is this? I had never even broken 70MPW until last year, and now I'm running it in 5 days! Rockin'. France broke my heart yesterday, writing: "You don't have, nor will you ever have, permission to rub my body with hot oil" in his training log. Apparently I've been too "lovey-dovey" (real masculine phrase there Yuval,) of late, so I'll rev up the ol' Insult Machine again. Yuval is fat, slow and ugly. That is all. | 10 |
| Thursday AM: | North along Lake Drive. Feeling alright, pretty tired. I think that was a combination of throwing down like I did yesterday and running late yesterday (I finished up at 8:45.) Nothing amazing, nothing terrible. No treatment for the ankle and no pain either. | 4 |
| Wednesday PM: | Bender Loop. Feeling good, really good actually. 4 Ibuprofen (2 at 8am and 2 at 5pm) and 1 icing session of 5-10 minutes at 3:30 and I didn't even feel my left ankle once on the run. I figure it was merely a function of it being stiff and sore this morning, and being awake loosened it up. Played a spot of golf in the afternoon, shot 79 on Lake Park's par-3, Alberty went 59! Anyways, today's run was really two separate runs. Logged the first 7M fairly easily in 47 or so, nothing of import happened, just running along. Hit Klode and was winding through those streets when I decided to throw down over the last 3M. So about 0.25M into the last 3M I took off. It's always interesting to try to throw down when you're on your own, I oscillated between hammering and just running fast. Last mile was 5:50, last 3M were 17:30. Legs felt amazing, I was stretching them out and really speeding without any difficulty. Finished the 3M and wasn't out of breath, didn't feel any different than a normal run, which is very encouraging. Really took advantage of the 38 BPM HR this morning. Total was 64:50, but to say I averaged 6:30s is a stretch; this really was two distinct runs. France is back on the wagon, that's always good. Hopefully his last fall off the wagon knocked some sense into him. Apparently he doesn't get jive, that's unfortunate. | 10 |
| Wednesday AM: | North along Lake Drive. Caught about 8.5 hours last night, HR down sub 40, that's kinda freaky, didn't expect that at all. Feeling good, not overly sore or tired, but inside of my left ankle started hurting about a mile into the run. I'll hit it with the I-Squared treatment (Ice and Ibuprofen) and hopefully will be able to run this afternoon. It's nothing impeding, just a slow ache every step. It doesn't feel serious, but I'm not about to ignore anything 2.5 weeks away from the start of cross season. | 4 |
| Tuesday PM: | Bender Loop Backwards. Beautiful weather outside today, nice and cool, especially when catching the wind unobstructed off the lake. Felt like autumn almost. Really tired still, which means two things. 1) Going to sleep at 10pm tonight regardless. 2) Checking the HR tomorrow am. Might need to back off the 98M plan, we'll see. Got the July issue of the MIT XC Newsletter today, thoroughly enjoyable. Sean Nolan is pure genius. Back to the run. First 2M in 12:50, then I felt so tired I decided to ignore the watch the rest of the run to avoid artifically influencing my run, wanted to just respond to my body. Still, wound up holding 65 minutes, basically 6:30 pace, so I'm satisfied. Then I lifted. Haven't lifted in quite some time, felt good, but also tiring. Now, for rest. | 10 |
| Tuesday AM: | North along Lake. Legs tired, as usual. Grabbed 8 hours last night, didn't want to get out of bed. Enjoyable conversation with Nolan last night. That fool's talking some jibba jabba about me beating him at the time trial. HA. | 4 |
| Monday PM: | Bender Loop. Whole body was tired the entire day, legs tired for most of the run. I need to try to get ahead of the curve with my sleep again, before cross season and fall term start up. Nothing amazing today, 6:15 last mile en route to a 66 minute total. Wasn't too excited about going out today because I was so tired, but the miles got done. Figured out that I could give 1000M a scare for the season but won't hit it, unless I pull a Roach and log crazy mileage jumps. Going to sleep early tonight. | 10 |
| Monday AM: | North along Lake Drive. Legs tired and sore for the first half mile, then it just became routine. Saw JRC driving to work, that was the extent of this morning's excitement. | 4 |
| Sunday: | Art Museum to Klode. Started at 8pm, so I had approx 34 hours between runs, which I could definitely feel the effects of. Played a spot of tennis today and then had a three hour drive home before the run, but my legs were feeling good. Felt like I was trucking, really moving well, without effort, but averaged about 7s for the first 8M, then dropped down to around 6:40s over the last 6M, 19:54 and 19:54 splits, pretty even. I can't express how great my legs felt, absolutely no effort required to move, almost like I was floating, surprised I wound up so slow. Good start to the week, much better than last Sunday's run. | 14 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 10 7/28-8/03 |
A nice "rest" week, leading up to August. Legs were falling off at the beginning of the week and the heat was making it hard to sleep, only compounding the problem. By the end of the week legs were coming around, did a few AM runs, I think that helped to take some of the stress off. Threw in a BIG 16M with J on Thursday, starting early in the morning, that was the highlight of the week. Feeling ready to move up mileage again, taking aim at 98M next week. | 94 |
| Saturday: | Out and back along Highway E. Same run as last week, but felt *much* better today. Averaged about 6:30s throughout, miles kind of slipped by without realizing. Enjoyable run, ran in the late morning, direct sun but a breeze kept the temps low. Legs feeling fresh, not hardly sore at all. Compared with the beginning of the week, quite a turnaround. Good end to the week. | 12 |
| Friday PM: | Bender Loop. Ran almost immediately upon returning home from work, so by 2pm I was a mile or two into it. Thankfully the heat broke last night, it was mid 70s when I ran, sun shining with a cool breeze. Nothing of import to write, truthfully. Legs feeling good, I think they're coming back. Miles 6-8 were great, kind of fell apart over the last 2M but nothing terrrible, kind of saved over the last half mile. Looks like Roach went and hurt himself again. What a surprise. Heading off to Door County for the weekend in about an hour. | 10 |
| Friday AM: | Out and back along Lake Drive. Wholly uneventful. Only excitement was seeing Mr. J on his Zurich with 0.75M to go. Don't feel any effects of the big run from yesterday, probably since I waited 26 hours to run again. | 4 |
| Thursday: | Lake to Klode, then back onto Lake up to Churchill, back south on Links, west on Bradley, South on Santa Monica. Turn around at Santa Monica and Longacre. Then ran up to Edgewood because the route felt a little short. Ran with the illustrious Mr. John David Jacobson (aka JDJ or Mr. J), high school teacher, ex-running bum and webmaster at centerstreetmedia.com. Great run, trucking about 6:50-7:10 pace through the first 14M, I left J around Pallisades and hit halves of 3:20, 3:15, 3:10, 3:15. Started at 5:30AM because of schedules and because it's supposed to reach mid 90s again today. Running that early is kind of interesting. Get to watch the sun come up and the people come out, since you start out all alone on the roads. Upside is that I'm done running for the day, downside is I'm getting scanned today and might fall asleep in the scanner. Always enjoy going with J, he's got good advice and expert experience and the conversation keeps flowing. Roach is scaring me, the guy's running ridiculous mileage and keeps upping it. I barely stayed ahead of him for the month of July. Anyways, it's back to normal running schedule tomorrow, probably a 4-bomb in the AM. | 16 |
| Wednesday PM: | Bender Loop. So this is the upside to AM runs, legs feel better in the afternoon and you have to run fewer miles. Averaged about 6:45s for the whole way, but didn't check any mile splits. Taking it easy today. Wanted to run early this afternoon, but temps in the high 90s nixed that idea. Wound up leaving around 7:20 and logged some quality miles in beautiful weather. It was still hot, but nothing oppressive. Forgot to mention in this morning's entry (I don't know why it slipped my mind), but I logged some x-training last night playing Dance Dance REVOLUTION for about an hour. I'm secretly adopting all of Verbal's mannerisms in hopes of acquiring for myself some 3:50 1500m speed. Closed out July today, a pretty good month I have to say. If you want to see some REAL morning running, check back tomorrow. July Miles : 366 | 10 |
| Wednesday AM: | Ran North along Lake Drive to the 2M mark and came home. I had forgotten how true morning runs feel (the one last week wasn't a true morning run.) The reluctance to wake up, the stiff and sore legs for the first 5 minutes, the fatigue through the rest of the morning. Yeah, these things are great. | 4 |
| Tuesday: | Art Museum to Klode. Feeling better still, HR lower this morning. Averaged about 6:45s, I'm guessing I ranged between 6:30s and 7s. Still a little slower than I would like. I'm throwing in a morning run tomorrow, guys have been harping on me to start those. I don't know about AM runs. If given a choice between 90MPW on singles and 100MPW on 20M of AM runs and 80M of long runs, I'd probably opt for the 90M, I feel like running longer helps out a lot more, and shorter 4M AM runs just don't get the job done as well. But I'll lighten the load on my legs by tossing in a 4-bomb tomorrow. | 14 |
| Monday: | Bender Loop to Kenwood. Didn't run too fast, averaged about 6:50s I'd guess, but felt a lot better than I did yesterday, so the run didn't completely suck ass. I actually felt like I was moving pretty well, surprised it wound up so slow. Got some new kicks today, they were dearly needed. Noticed yesterday that I had run through the rubber sole on one part of my old shoes. For awhile it felt like the problem I had awhile ago with the Internationals was coming around again, the outside part of my right ankle was rubbing against the shoe, hopefully that won't happen. I'd had a lot of rotten luck with shoes this past year, until I started on the Motos. This'll be my third pair of 'em, no complaints so far. HR was higher this morning, about 48 BPM. Only slept 4 hours last night because I couldn't fall asleep, it was like a sauna in my room but I had to get up this morning to go to work, so that impeded recovery. Roach suggested doing AM runs to help reach higher mileage, I might give that a shot. He's tearing shit up right now, maybe 100M this week. That animal, he's lost his mind. | 12 |
| Sunday: | Ran along Highway E. What a crappy run. Planned on going 14M, but the legs were heavy at 2M and dead at 4M, so I decided to back it down to 12M and I'll just have to go long sometime in the middle of the week to compensate. Basically, the only thing I can say is that I felt like shit today. Held about 7 minute miles the whole way, just dragging. Slept horribly last night, took me two hours just to fall asleep then I kept waking up every hour or two. Seeing as how horribly my legs are taking to 90M weeks, I think I better repeat 90M this week. Maybe if I'm feeling better near the end of the week I'll step it up to 92 or 93M. | 12 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 09 7/21-7/27 |
A monumental week, my first ever at 90M. I'm satisfied with the way things turned out, although I was feeling the effects of the mileage increase over the last few days. Thursday was a really good day, turned in some quality mileage. And ran a summer high 14M on Sunday, so there were some good runs in the week, with a few sub-par ones mixed in. On vacation in Door County, afforded me a chance to sleep a lot and lay around, not doing much but resting, so that helped out a lot. July Miles : 314 | 90 |
| Saturday: | Didn't run too fast today. Same route out along Highway E. Slept a lot last night and took an hour nap today, don't understand why I'm not feeling better. More stretching, water and bananas are in order, I guess. Took about 79 minutes today, the first 6M and last 6M were about even. After the first 4M my mind wasn't in it, just wanted to get it over with. Really dragging the last 20 minutes, or so it felt. Legs really tight, tired. Got through another week though, July is almost over and cross season starts soon. | 12 |
| Friday: | Same old route along Highway E. Guess I was feeling it from yesterday's runs. First half wasn't too bad. It wasn't great but it wasn't terrible. Poor focus though, just trying to get the run over with. Second half was worse, I guess. Tied up really bad over the last two miles. Second half was a minute slower than the first. Didn't look at the watch at all during the run, a new strategy. My body is a little run down from the long week, but not as bad as I had expected it to be. Didn't sleep too well last night, oh well. Pretty hot today unfortunately, but I ran around 5pm so didn't really feel it too much. Need more stretching. Hopefully I'll grab 10-12 hours tonight and get rested up and ready for a weekend of big mileage. | 12 |
| Thursday PM: | Ran in Peninsula State Park again. 76 minutes along the Sunset Trail, the gravel bike path. Really great run, I was really trucking on the second half. A great day overall, especially this run. Weather was cool at the start, rain came about half way through, got pretty hard right at the end. I finished before the worst of it, but still got kind of soaked. I'd almost forgotten how great running in the rain was. 10 degrees warmer and it would have been perfect. Got 9-10 hours last night and grabbed an hour nap between runs today. 6 hours separating the two runs. Very good day. | 12 |
| Thursday AM: | Ran up E to Elm, over to School, down to US Highway 42 then back to E. Nice run, haven't had a morning run in awhile. Cool out with a little rain, nice weather. Very sore and stiff though, hope I feel better this afternoon. | 4 |
| Wednesday: | Back on County Highway E again today. Same route as Monday, but I felt a whole lot better this time around. Put in solid miles, legs tied up around 3M to go, but nothing horrible. Really tight at the start, could feel yesterday's run still. Ran the whole way at 6:20-6:30 pace. Nice and cool weather again today. Slept 12 hours last night, HR was in the low 40s in the AM, surprising given how uncomfortable I was at the start. Guess I'm still recovering well, which is very good. Probably going to double up tomorrow. | 12 |
| Tuesday: | Ran in Peninsula State Park. Run was pretty good, trails alright. Ran on the longest trail they had, 5.1M one way, it was mainly a bike path, so mainly hard packed gravel, not much better than concrete, but running through the woods is much better than running along the side of a County Highway. Cool temps, low 70s and trail mainly stayed in the shade. Legs feeling good, not exactly sure how fast I was going, I don't trust the mile markers. A couple had me around 6:20s, which I think was accurate, but others were short or long. Ran the 5.1M, then came back, then turned around and ran about 6 minutes out along the same trail and came back. Good run, really not hard on the legs at all. Good, relaxing, restful day. | 12 |
| Monday: | Basically same route as yesterday, headed out along County Highway E, except I turned around after 6M, instead of 7. Not such a good run. Miles 7-10 were pretty slow, wasn't feeling very good. Picked it up enough over the last 2M though, last mile at 6:20, the downhill really helps. Averaged about 6:40s all the way through, started around 6:30s. Nice weather, a little warm but nothing horrible. Did absolutely nothing today, that's what's great about Door County. Great life for running up here. | 12 |
| Sunday: | Ran to Cherry Road just east of Kangaroo Lake. It was freakin' hot when I started out and I wasn't liking it. Took about 4M to get used to it and to get my head ready to go. Then I got going and started trucking sub 6:30s. Very pleased with the way the run went, recovered well after pushing it hard yesterday. Got a good strength run for the most part, turned the last mile in 6:00, which surprised me a lot, because the first half of it didn't feel that fast, but the second half has a big downhill which sped me up a lot, apparently. A good run in Door County, looking forward to a big week, another mileage increase and a lot of rest. | 14 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 08 7/14-7/20 |
An alright week overall. I was feeling the effects of going 80M last week, so didn't have too many outstanding runs. Sunday at Lapham was notable however, I really put together 13 solid miles. Ended on a good note as well, Saturday's run was awesome. Looking forward to a week of running and relaxing in Door County. I took the increase in mileage this week pretty well, hoping for a similar jump next week. Also notable this week, a supremely enjoyable phone call from Austin Roach himself. When men of such grandiose stature take time to talk to you, it makes you feel a little more important. July Miles : 224 | 85 |
| Saturday: | Ran along the Fox River in Green Bay, WI. An enjoyable run, ran early (around 10:30) with the sun out but not oppressively hot. Started moving pretty well but didn't have any exact mile markers so could only go by feel. I imagine I was running mainly 6:20s, perhaps slightly faster at times, slower at others. According to mile markers along the path, I dropped in a 2:55 half, followed immediately by a 3:15, so I don't trust those markers. Feeling really good, much better than the other days this week. But the last 15 minutes took a very long time, and the legs really tied up with around 10 minutes left. In Green Bay for my cousin's wedding, heading up to Door County tomorrow morning. Congratulations Byron and Alisa. | 12 |
| Friday: | Kenwood to Bender Loop backwards. Ran in the morning, feeling pretty good. Averaged about 6:40s the whole way. Legs still somewhat tired, but nothing terribly impeding. Slept about 9 hours last night, that always helps. Roach called me last night. He's got a bit of a mileage crisis on his hands, but sounds like he's managing it well. Leaving for vacation later today, I'll have sporadic Internet access, so updates won't be consistent for the next 9 to 10 days. | 12 |
| Thursday: | Art Museum to 2M mark. Feeling alright, trucking about 6:30-6:40 the whole way. Last 2M in 13:00. Legs really tired, starting to tie up with about 5M to go. Didn't sleep enough last night, up way too late, but what are you gonna do? It's summer vacation. Taking some time off from work, going up to Door County, that'll be really relaxing, lots of sleep, good for the legs. Really nice for running today, overcast and cool. Only downside was a lot of gnats out. Ran through a few clouds, when I got home, I was absolutely covered with them. One of the more disturbing things I've ever seen, and I've seen Austin Roach shirtless. | 12 |
| Wednesday: | Bender to Kenwood. Legs still tired, surprisingly. Really started to tie up over the last 3M, but still held on to about 6:30s. Was actually faster at the end. 33 minutes for the last 5M. Legs must be tired from lifting. Yeah, that's it, tired from lifting. Forgot to check the HR this morning, hope it isn't high and I'm neglecting to check it. Been sleeping a lot, looking forward to vacation next week. | 12 |
| Tuesday: | Art Museum to 2M mark. Not a spectacular run, mainly just maintenance I suppose. Ran about 6:40s, last 5M in 33:20 exactly. Didn't feel as good as I had hoped today, forgot to take my HR, gotta do that tomorrow. Got a little queasy over the last few miles, not as bad as yesterday though. Lifted today, did a lot of situps too. The indomitable Roach had been matching miles with me this week, we'll see if I manage to pull ahead of him, that man is an animal. | 12 |
| Monday: | Kenwood to Bender Loop backwards. Not such a great run. Remembering how poorly the run went last Monday, I started out cautiously, running about 6:40s for the first 5 or 6M. I was feeling pretty good the first 7M, legs not overly fatigued, moving easily and relaxed. But then I had to stop 2x over the last 3M to go to the bathroom, that slowed me down a lot. Roach's weekly total had been higher than mine, we'll see if I reclaim the lead after today. That guy is developing a syndrome, which I have termed the Monty Syndrome. It's characterized by an increasing fragility (Monty breaks a bone answering the phone, Roach hurts his knees by running) and an illogical fear of routes (Monty won't run Jamaica, Roach won't run Watertown.) I'll continue to post symptoms of this emerging syndrome as they appear. On a technical note, I have now been warned twice by MIT about using an insecure FTP (although I went for a few months without them noticing,) so I went ahead and switched over to MIT-ordained FileZilla from WS_FTP. Not that it matters or that anyone should care. | 12 |
| Sunday: | Black Loop then Blue Loop at Lapham Peak. Legs really tired at the start, wasn't sure if I could make it. You know how when your legs don't feel too good and then you get nervous about it, they get worse, almost feel weak? That was me for awhile. But End and I picked it up, ran 44 minutes for the Black Loop, then I did the Blue alone in 38. So 13M in 82 minutes, about 6:20s or so. Pretty good day after all. Gonna try and get a lot of rest this week. HR was low (42BPM) again this morning. Things looking good so far. | 13 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 07 7/07-7/13 |
What a week! Hit 80M on singles, that's exciting. This was my last big jump in mileage, I could really feel it near the end of the week. From here out I'm only increasing 4-6M a week. However, with only 6 weeks left before cross season starts, I don't think I'll be hitting 1000M this summer. The only bad day was Monday, that was just a bad situation, I was really rushed, and it came after a hard day, my legs and head were not there. I put approximately 75-80% of the miles in the 6:00-6:30 range, so this week was not only a significant step up in mileage but partly in pace too. And my HR stayed low too. Probably the best week all summer. July Miles : 139 | 80 |
| Saturday: | Art Museum to Big Bay. Feeling pretty good, averaged 6:30s. As always, legs a little sore so I didn't push it, I always enjoy when 6:30-6:40 feels like jogging. Last 4M in 25:40. Think I'm gonna break out The Stick this afternoon, loosen up a little bit after a big week. Beautiful day outside, sunny, warm but not too hot, cool near the lake. Just beautiful. Lapham Peak tomorrow. | 11 |
| Friday: | Kenwood to Bender backwards. It was an alright run, I guess. Nothing spectacular, legs tied up somewhat over the last three miles. Legs were sore the whole way, so I didn't push, just ran as comfortably as possible. Averaged slightly under 7 minutes a mile. I was expecting it to go a little better, my HR was 42 BPM this morning, plenty low, and I slept 8+ hours last night. Not a big deal, I'll sleep plenty tonight, drink a lot of H20 and Gatorade and everything will work itself out. | 12 |
| Thursday: | Art Museum to Big Bay. Legs a little sore and heavy, but hauled approx. 6:30s still. Finished up around 6:20s over the last 4M. It's pretty sweet to be moving this quick without pushing it. It feels like I'm running slightly above conversational pace. Need to try to grab a couple more hours sleep, maybe drink a little more water, eat some bananas. As always, more stretching and situps will help too. Nothing to complain about though, things are rockin' right now. | 11 |
| Wednesday: | Bender to Kenwood. Felt pretty good today. Legs somewhat sore still, but averaged sub-6:30s, hitting 6:10-6:20 near the end, but didn't ever feel like I was pushing it. Curious as to how fast and far I could go if I was really pushing. I'm content with running double digits at steady 6:20-6:30 pace though. Beautiful, cool weather, amazing for running. Lifted today as well. | 12 |
| Tuesday: | Art Museum to Big Bay. Feeling much better than yesterday. Didn't ever really push the pace, but held approx. 6:30s throughout. Legs feel heavy, but not so heavy as to prohibit a good pace. I REALLY need to start lifting regularly, I'm going tomorrow. So Roach doesn't like the names of my runs? Next he'll probably be saying that Oconomowoc and Ashwaubenon are strange names for towns, too. Who's he to insult the names of my runs? Running anywhere in Wisconsin is better than running in Indiana. Regardless, running at "Lapham Peak" and running to "Klode" beats running 10M worth of grass loops. | 11 |
| Monday: | Bender Loop. Bad, bad, horrible run. This may have been the worst run of the summer. I was rushed for time when I started, so I started too fast, I think, and then the wheels fell off around 30 minutes in. The last 3M were a struggle, about 22min total. Ran the whole 10M in 71. The run yesterday must have been harder and more devastating than it felt, because my legs were not here today. Had poor focus too, negative mindset. Everything was wrong today. | 10 |
| Sunday: | Black Loop with End, then Blue Loop alone. I think doing Black then Blue is easier than Blue then Black, and it also helped to have End along for the first 7M. Ran Black Loop (7M) in 46, Blue Loop (5.8M) in 40. Running pretty much the same speed at the end of the Blue Loop as I was at the end of the Black Loop. I think I might be somewhat in shape, running 6:30-6:45 pace for 13M at Lapham in tough. But now I'm wasted. It's time for water and bananas and rest. (I realize that 7+5.8=12.8!=13, but I rounded up, due to the difficulty rating of 1 Nolan I've awarded the Lapham Peak Unit.) | 13 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 06 6/30-7/06 |
What a great week. Closed out the month of June with a shitty run at Lapham, but got it back together for a string if 4 runs at sub-6:30. I remembered on Saturday how amazed I was with 70 MPW last summer, I thought it'd take two runs a day a few times. Now, a year later, I'm running 70M on singles. And only more miles to come. Great week! July Miles : 59 | 71 |
| Saturday: | Green Loop then Black Loop at Lapham, then some barefoot strides. Feeling really good still, this is kind of surprising how long I've been running really well. Ran the 7M Black Loop in 43:30, a PR. Honestly wasn't trying to hammer it, felt really easy, actually easier than last week, when it took 46 min. I believe that if I really hammered I could easily go sub-42, maybe even close to 40 for the loop. But that'd take a lot of effort. Hopefully tomorrow will go better than last Sunday. | 9 |
| Friday: | Bender Loop backwards. Stopped at SHS (after 9M) to do some hurdle work. Starting to feel more comfortable with them. I'll do that once this weekend as well. Got to SHS in 55 min, I've been running pretty well and pretty fast recently. The faster pace is starting to feel easier, more comfortable. I feel pretty natural running fast. Very much cooler today, probably sub-70 when I run. That makes it a lot easier and more comfortable too. Lapham twice this weekend again. | 10 |
| Thursday: | Art Museum to 4676. Felt good, again. Runing sub 6:30s, near 6:10 by the end of the run. Thought about going another mile, but my legs were a little sore so I turned around at 4676. It still feels like I'm running fast, but it doesn't feel like I'm overextending or pushing the pace, which is good. It finally cooled off, got some nice cool breezes off the lake, unlike Roach out in Boston. Somehow a river became a lake, then filled with sulphur and ignited. Zany! | 10 |
| Wednesday: | Bender Loop backwards. First 3M in 18:40, whole run in 62:30. Good run, averaged 6:15s, right in the middle of where I want to be training most of the time. Don't really feel like I'm working too hard, but I do feel like I'm running fast. I'd like to get 6:30 pace to feel normal, and not feel like I'm pushing. Hot again, so I ran later, but it didn't help too much. Supposed to be cool tomorrow, and I'm not working because it's the Fourth, so I'll try to get out early, maybe get some hurdle work in, too. | 10 |
| Tuesday: | Bender Loop. Ran fairly late in the day, 5ish, so it was a little cooler. Managed to run in the shade most of the way. Ran with a watch, 63:30 total, so about 6:20s. Ran the last 3M in 17:50, 5 straight 3:00 half miles then a 2:50. Part of the reason I don't like running with a watch is because I start doing stuff like that at the end of the run, running for the watch. But I need to lower my training pace to 6:00-6:30 consistently, so I'm gonna need to start keeping time on the runs. I think I ran the third highest mileage for June. Wasn't surprised to get blown away by Albert, but Nolan put up 40M more than I. Time for a big July. I've got some plans. | 10 |
| Monday: | Art Museum Loop, then a quick stop at home to douse myself with the hose before a run to the track for some hurdles and barefoot strides, then back home. Hot outside again, but not overbearing. Managed to stay cool by staying wet, then staying near the lake, but on the way back I was boiling, and on the track too. Legs felt pretty good, a little sore from the excessive hills the past 2 days, but otherwise feeling good. Good start to July. | 10 |
| Sunday: | Blue Loop (5.8M) and Black Loop, except I took the Green Loop shortcut to avoid Two Tier because I was hurting. Very, very tough day today. The first loop took 40 minutes, right about 7 minute pace, which I was happy with, but things started to fall apart during the Black Loop and my breakfast wasn't agreeing with me so I cut it short. Disappointing because my legs, although they were hurting, could have lasted through Two Tier, but my stomach couldn't. I was wasted when I finished. June Miles : 251 | 12 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 05 6/23-6/29 |
Good week, another successful step up in mileage. Hit 66M with only singles, hopefully will be able to carry singles through 80M or more a week. No negative effects from step up, I'm starting to hit a range I'm very comfortable with. And I moved past Roach for the season. June Miles : 239 | 66 |
| Saturday: | Green Loop then Black Loop at Lapham. Very good day. Ran with End and Dom for the Black Loop. Didn't push all that hard, could've taken off a couple times but held back. Still ran 46-flat for the Black (7M) Loop. Legs felt much better than yesterday. Going back to Lapham tomorrow. | 9 |
| Friday: | Klode to Kenwood. Bad run, I felt pretty tired the whole way. I had thought that having moved up to double digits would make the 8M go by quickly, I was wrong. Hot outside again. I hate the fools running along the road who keep looking back at me like they think they're staying ahead of me. That only gets me mad and forces me to bust a nut to catch them while I've still got 2M to go. I felt like throwing up a couple times today. Lapham tomorrow. | 8 |
| Thursday: | Art Museum to Big Bay. Felt really good today, finally got a lot of sleep last night. Moving really well the last two miles, but didn't have a watch. Closed a 75m gap on some dude over half a mile, that was pretty good. Finally got some cooler weather to run in too, always helps. Got a 1M lead over Roach yesterday. Ain't looking back now that I've finally pulled ahead of him. We'll see if he can cover this move. Total applications for Hose Man: 1. In an effort to increase excitement about it, I've decided to offer 25% of all my prize money from this entire year to whomever I hire. | 11 |
| Wednesday: | Bender Loop. Got kinda stiff/sore/slow in the middle of it, but I got through. It was HOT out again, and my hydration of late has been sucking ass, quite frankly. A mile in and my mouth was dry, I took an extended (1min) break at a bubbler 7M in. I'm currently accepting applications for a hose man. Main responsibilities are following the route in front of me and either directing me to sprinklers to run through, or (preferably) comandeering unused spigots for the greater good (namely my comfort.) Today was a long day in general, really tired. | 10 |
| Tuesday: | Art Museum Loop. Keeping it simple. No ill effects from the long run yesterday. Legs feel good, but I was dragging through most of the day. Still hot outside, but a little cooler at 5pm when I was running. On the way back, just past St. Mary's Hill caught a nice breeze, very cool. As of yesterday Roach held a 1M lead, that will disappear soon. | 8 |
| Monday: | Bender Loop to Kenwood. Felt really good on this run, especially at the end. Running 6:20-6:40 over the last 5M. Legs were tired near the end, but didn't feel like I was pushing it, just running with a comfortable amount of discomfort. Really hot out today, the only real physical problem was my mouth getting dry. Had I been born six days later and ran at Junior Nationals, I would have been in contention for the steeple win, it went 9:18. Real Nationals took 8:38 just to qualify for finals. Not exactly sure, but I imagine I pulled closer to Roach's total, was down 5M before today. I'll get him by the end of the week. The way things are going, I'm setting myself up well to hit 70-73M the first week of July. | 12 |
| Sunday: | Same route as yesterday. Felt that running at 9am without breakfast was better than running at 11pm after the 8 hour return trip. I'm always afraid running without breakfast is gonna mess me up, but it rarely does. I should keep that in mind and get some runs out of the way earlier. Anyways, it had rained, so it wasn't in the 90s like yesterday. I'm incredibly tempted to move to a backwoods town just to be able to run on their dirt roads. They're rocking. No issues with the legs. Got sore when I got back on blacktop, but nothing horrible. Hopefully longer tomorrow. | 8 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 04 6/16-6/22 |
Another successful increase in mileage. I like the way things are going so far. Got in two double digit runs, always a good thing. Need to focus on stretching, sleeping and situps. Nothing much stands out about this week though, I don't think much will, or should, for quite awhile still. Basically just going to keep running miles 6:20-7:00 pace for a few more weeks. June Miles : 173 | 61 |
| Saturday: | Ran at 4pm in Alexandria, MN. Thought it was going to be 28 minutes along a highway, and 28 minutes back, but thankfully I found a dirt road about 3 minutes into the run that went away from the highway for as long as I needed to run. I can understand why the kids from nothern Wisconsin always clean up, they've got miles of dirt roads to go bombing up and down, day and night. Soon as I got back on the blacktop for the last mile, the legs started stiffening up, but on the dirt, I was fine. Couldn't feel any ill effects of the 8 hours spent in the car. | 8 |
| Friday: | Art Museum. Squeezed it in before umping two games. Felt fine really, nothing exciting. Nice and cool, glad I backed off to only 8M today. | 8 |
| Thursday: | Bender Loop. Ran mid-morning, because I'm working in the afternoon today, so I can get my brain scanned again. This run didn't go so well. It was warm out, but nothing too terrible, didn't really affect me that much. I ran this route with End on Monday and that went fine, but today, started falling apart around 6M in and the wheels almost fell off with 1.5M to go, but I managed to hold on. Probably shouldn't have done this today, since my HR was up in the low 50s this morning, but I'm stubborn and thought I needed the miles. I'll finish off the week with two 8 milers. | 10 |
| Wednesday: | Art Museum Loop. Felt really tired all day today, especially on the run. But once I got up top, I kinda zoned out and the run disappeared. I don't know why I'm so tired, perhaps I'm just now feeling the effects of Monday. Slept 9 hours last night, will probably do that again. Definition of "Cooler By The Lake": 83 degrees at the Medical College, 65 degrees at Bradford Beach. | 8 |
| Tuesday: | LaFayette Hill to Big Bay. Pretty straightforward, uneventful run. Legs feel fine, no ill effects from yesterday's double digits. Sorry Roach, no Charlie Daniels references today. Webb's going pro, according to Warhurst. I think Webb's just afraid he'll have to race Verbal eventually. That's enough to scare any mortal. Got my brain scanned today. | 9 |
| Monday: | Bender Loop. First time in double digits this summer. Ran with Nick End. Put a 6:20 on the end, don't know any other splits. It helps to pass the time when you're running with another guy, so this run felt really easy. No time to think about sore legs or what have you. Saw Mr. J biking at the end of the run. The interview went up at centerstreetmedia.com today. Not much else is new. 30 years ago today: Watergate. | 10 |
| Sunday: | Had planned on running 10M today, but was lazy and started late and didn't have enough time, so Bender will have to wait til tomorrow. Ran Kenwood to Klode. Feeling good, went without a watch again. Nice weather, had had a storm an hour before, but sun came out and was heating up. Good to start to what will hopefully be a good week. | 8 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 03 6/09-6/15 |
This week was a step up in mileage again, it went pretty smoothly, no rough spots really. A few aches in the left knee at the start, but got right on that and squashed it. This was my first week of work, so I shifted the runs to 4pm during the week, that worked pretty well. Still need to find a place to get some hurdle work in. Closed within 5M of the indomitable Austin Roach June Miles : 112 | 56 |
| Saturday: | Ran Art Museum, added on a mile at the end. The first half was uneventful, running along the Lakefront, sunny, typical summer run. Then I got up top and the clouds came and the sky got dark. Around LaFayette Hill it began to drizzle, around St. Mary's Hill it started to pour and around the Lake Park Golf Course I was getting hit with hail. Aside from the danger of running in a thunderstorm, it was a sweet run through a tempest of Biblical proportions. I was feeling good at the end, so I went an extra mile, but felt like adding on six instead. Obviouslly, I didn't, but the time of 14M runs is quickly approaching. | 9 |
| Friday: | Art Museum. Wasn't really excited about running, rainy and dreary outside, not too warm. For awhile, it reminded me of a few AM runs in February with spitting rain and nobody around. Right knee hurt for half the run, then it kind of went away. I've been slacking off too much with stretching, and situps. Today was pretty boring; no watch. Yup. | 8 |
| Thursday: | Kenwood to Klode. Ran with a watch again, I think that changes my perception of the run. This went pretty well. Didn't kill it, but the legs were feeling like they were working, which is good. Ran much later, 7pm, because my hours at the Medical College were skewed to a couple hours later, to accomodate travel. Saw former Assistant Coach Dom, he's moved on to tris, which is cool. He biked next to me a little ways, kinda sped me up. After a warm-up mile, I hit 6:40, then 3M in 19:48, then ran the last 3M in 19:39 (6:31, 6:39, 6:29.) Pretty solid run. | 8 |
| Wednesday: | Art Museum Loop. Thought today I'd try to push it, that kinda failed. Started out around 6:00 pace for a short while, then the legs weren't feeling it, so I backed off slightly, then I started to feel out of sync again, like I was fighting myself. I managed to calm down and get through it though. Ran with a watch for the first time, that didn't feel natural. Ran 51 minutes, so about a 6:20 average. Not too shabby. I'm just gonna chill for awhile longer though, build up mileage more without explicitly trying to bust a run. | 8 |
| Tuesday: | Kenwood to Klode. First 2-3M felt good, legs fresh and ready to roll. Then it started feeling out of sync and awkward, my calves were kinda sore, I just wasn't feeling it anymore. I managed to relax enough to get through the run without any further problems, but didn't really feel good again. Hopefully with some sleep tonight and just relaxation in general I'll be able to bust out a fast one tomorrow. Lifted today. Tried to do some hurdle drills, but couldn't find any hurdles, so those'll have to wait til I can talk Kenney into letting me at some hurdles. When did I start wanting to do hurdle drills? | 8 |
| Monday: | LaFayette Hill Loop. Just a maintenance day, had this planned out because of the trip to Lapham yesterday, but I didn't really feel any after effects from that run. Really wanted to pound today. My knee had been aching a bit during the day, especially going up and down stairs, but I started up the Ibuprofen diet and iced an hour before my run, and 3M in, I couldn't feel the knee at all. I blame it on lackadaisical stretching of late. That's changing. Otherwise, my body is fine. | 6 |
| Sunday: | Lapham Peak Unit. Ran a Black Loop (7M and incredibly difficult) followed by a Green Loop (2M and much easier.) Originally, I thought the Green Loop was 3M, so today was supposed to be 10M, but I can live with just 9M. Green Loop was bascially just a stretch out / cool down to add miles, the Black Loop is where you work. It is easily the hardest run I know, much harder than anything in Boston. I had really wanted to kill the legs, and running this, even if you don't go hard, kills the legs. It's in the Kettle Morraine area, which means it's up and down the whole way. Great Day! | 9 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 02 6/02-6/08 |
Solid week building up the mileage. Feeling ready to take another step up. It's kinda crazy to reflect back on when 50MPW was serious running, and going 7M was a long run. Now 50MPW is chump miles and 7M doesn't even register, its completely normal. I'm looking forward to some real runs, 12-15M and some serious mileage 70+MPW. But for now, I have to be satisfied with 50M and call it a good week, which it was. HR was low 40s all week. June Miles : 56 | 50 |
| Saturday: | Silver Spring Loop. Ran late, about 5:30 start, because I was busy doing nothing all day. Run felt alright, legs were less than perfect, but that's fine. HR was a little higher this morning, but I'm not worried. The run went past pretty quickly, not to say that I was running fast, the time kinda flew by. I got hit a few times umping, but nothing too bad. Watched the Belmont Stakes today, War Emblem got out poorly, got to the front then faded hard. Those horses, 1:37 for the first mile of the 1.5M race. | 7.5 |
| Friday: | Edgewood->Klode. It was nice running along the lake, nice cool breeze meant that even in direct sunlight I didn't get too hot. Really tempted to go long and/or hard today, just felt like running, but of course, I played it cool. Legs were a little bit fatigued at the start, took awhile to get into the run, but then it all just slipped by like they have a way of doing. Planning on hitting Lapham this weekend, hopefully for 10M. | 7 |
| Thursday: | LaFayette Hill Loop. Legs feeling great, running is really, really easy. Not really much to say, legs never got fatigued, form felt fine, nothing went wrong but the run wasn't anything spectactular. Again, I'm just chilling for awhile still. For some reason I was thinking about the steeple a lot today, don't know why. I'm not gonna run another steeple for like 9 or 10 months. Crazy. Yeah, today's a slow news day. I watched "Let's Make a Deal" before I ran, but they didn't give away any goats this time. A couple days ago I saw a guy give up $1500 for whatever was behind a wall; he wound up with a ton of bricks. Yup. That's my life right now, running and the Game Show Network. Thrilling. | 6 |
| Wednesday: | Silver Spring Loop backwards. Run felt pretty good, stomach's been a little uncomfortable recently, I don't know why. Legs still feel great, HR was 42 BPM this morning; my body's taking the training really well. I'm excited for higher mileage and for the season to start up. Weather is still cool, misty here, so that makes running a lot easier. | 7.5 |
| Tuesday: | Ran LaFayette Hill to Lake Bluff to home. Good run, nice running weather. Pretty desolate outside, it's British weather outside, foggy and cool. Could hardly see 100m of the lake. Legs still feeling fresh, run was relaxed, although it felt faster than previous runs have. Still no watch. Lifted today. I'm so bored right now, I need somebody to give me a job. All I've been doing is reading about Java and watching TV. Figured out the name to the "Big Money, Big Money, No Whammy, No Whammy" game show I used to love. It's "Press Your Luck," and it's not as cool as I remember it being. | 7 |
| Monday: | Silver Spring Loop again. Feeling relaxed, easy at the start. Wanted to really get rolling, legs were feeling great. Around 5M they started getting a little sore, I don't know if it was from fatigue or from boredom. I'm feeling really good right now; I'm itching to run harder, which is always good. A lot cooler today, but I was sweating by the end. Good running weather. Measured the loop today, actually 7.5M. That's the good thing about running next to roads all the time, easy to measure accurately. Applying the change retroactively to Sunday's mileage too. | 7.5 |
| Sunday: | Silver Spring Loop. The quads are no longer sore, it's now just a general fatigue in the legs, they feel a little heavy, but didn't interfere with the run at all. Still not wearing a watch, just running what feels comfortable. I really want to push one, blast the legs a little, but I'm holding off on that for at least another week, but probably two. Weather's cooler now, facilitates easier running. Solinsky = 8:58 for the win, second place was 9:32. Ben Porter won D2 again, 9:27 again. Danny Licoln came back from his 8:22 steeple win to take 3rd in the 5k with a 14:00.01. Hot Damn! | 7.5 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 01 5/26-6/01 |
It's good to be back running. Had I run on Sunday, the miles would have been mid-40s, so that's how I'm going to treat this week. I'll step it up to 50M next week. The legs never felt horrible, never felt after effects, only a little soreness during the runs. Building into it this way is much better than parachuting in to 70MPW and a track workout for the first week back. Doing my best to stay calm during the runs, realizing I still have 6 straight months without a break. June Miles : 6 | 38 |
| Saturday: | LaFayette Hill Loop again. Hot outside, again. Doused myself again. Dry before 1M was up again. This time though, the legs felt fresher. The fatigue in my quads didn't hit until 5M or so was up. Very tempted to chase down rollerbladers, had to remember that I've got a long row to hoe in front of me. At least one more week of easy, steady miles. Probably start lifting next week. Hurdle work in 2 weeks. Danny Lincoln = 8:22 for the NCAA DI win. DAMN! Solinsky = 4:09 for the WIAA DI win. He's in the 32 today. He'll be all by himself though, there's nobody in this state who can run with him, but how close can he come to the 8:48 he ran at Arcadia? I'm betting pretty close, that kid is a stud. Two Greyhounds in the D2 3200 today, Nick End and Alec Maduza. Maybe one of them can pick up the title I never won. Good Luck Boys. | 6 |
| Friday: | Out and back to Klode along Lake Drive again. Legs were aching after 1.5M but never got any worse. Its tempting to go more, I could have thrown in some mystery miles last night, but I gotta keep it under control, stay aware of the big picture. Quads are still sore, but thats it. I really don't understand it. I guess all the bad things I was eating last week went straight to my thighs. Soaked my head again, and again it was dry after a half mile. Its supposed to cool off soon though, that'll be nice. But the heat is making me drink more H2O, so I guess it's not all bad. PS: Austin Roach is certifiably insane. "When Jupiter and Pluto are in line with the moon, there is an increased "pull" on the seas that results in larger tides. This excess of water on the beaches changes the cross-product so that it yields the magnitude of the vector that is normally produced by the cross-product. This was the case on May 23. Unfortunately, an influx on sea urchins in the Shorewood, WI areas has made it impossible for you to understand this planetary-mathematical link. It's not your fault. Just trust me on this one. If you don't, you'll have to face the wrath of the Mad Conifers from Detroit." Roach, just face it, i x i does not accurately describe mileage. Sorry. May Miles : 171 | 6 |
| Thursday: | Lafayette Hill. It was really hot outside today. Direct sun. Why do I keep running around noon? I soaked my head before I left, but it was dry after half a mile or so. I'm glad I don't have much hair on my head. Quadriceps are still sore. Very much inhibiting speed, but that's not such a bad thing. Been running without a watch recently. Mindset is: whatever pace feels right for the legs is the right pace. I'll probably keep that going for another week or two. | 6 |
| Wednesday: | Ran along Lake Drive from my house. Strange to be back running through Shorewood. My quads were really sore, not sure why. Didn't sleep too much last night. Woke up after about five hours and just wasn't tired so I got up. Realized today that I'll be running every day for the next 6 months, God willing. Thats a LONG time, so I gotta take it easy and build into it. No hard runs for awhile. Gotta start watching the HR too. | 6 |
| Tuesday: | Docks from PKT. Good run, got a little hungry near the end though. Legs sore at the start, never felt really fresh (surprise, surprise) but I got through the run. Had to take a small detour at the Docks proper, but it was nothing of any importance. I'm going home today! This was my last run in Boston til August. | 8 |
| Monday: | Ran Science Museum->BU Bridge kinda early in the morning. Felt good, natural to be out running again. Looking forward to a big summer. Afterwards, my legs weren't so happy, kinda sore, kinda tired. But hopefully, since I'm building into the summer, instead of parachuting back into 70M weeks like during the year, my legs won't be screaming as much. | 6 |
| Sunday: | Had planned on starting the week today, but instead, spent the day carrying boxes as we moved my sister out of her dorm room. I was pretty wasted, and carrying boxes up and down the stairs was killing my legs, so I nixed the run. Hopefully the only time I'll do that this summer. The plan is to put in 2-4 solid weeks of mileage, building up. Nothing hard, nothing blazingly fast. (Is "blazingly" a word? It is to me!) Then about the time June is ending I'll start stepping the mileage up. Coach said that as long as I watch my HR I have free reign with my training. I'd like to hit upper 80s, maybe graze 90. All in due time. | 0 |
Day |
Round Up |
Miles |
| Week 00 5/19-5/25 |
All in all a good week of rest. Would have been better had I not had to take three exams. But, what can you do. May Miles : 139 | 00 |
| Saturday: | Rode a bus up to South Hadley, MA for my sister's graduation. No run. | 0 |
| Friday: | Nothing doing. | 0 |
| Thursday: | All my exams are done. Now I'm packing up. Still no running. | 0 |
| Wednesday: | Two Exams Down. One to go. I need to do something to combat this sedentary lifestyle I've adopted over the past couple days. Maybe some situps today. | 0 |
| Tuesday: | Nothing. But I really, really want to get out. | 0 |
| Monday: | Nada. Studying 8.02. Resting. | 0 |
| Sunday: | So the plan is to wait a whole week before I run again. Whether or not that will happen, we'll see. I'm feeling anxious to get out there, feeling healthy, so I think a week is all I need away from it. Maybe some mystery miles will pop in this week, but no formal, long runs are on the docket. Nothing like resting up. If only MIT would pay someone to take my finals for me. Sigh. Why did I go D3? | 0 |