Thanksgiving Fallout

Nothing beats a gluttonous holiday when it comes to self motivation. What’s odd is that my wife and I were not that bad this year, but are now back on to the low-carb-type food (carb/fat) seperation diet. In addition we're doing Jorge Cruise's 8 minutes in the morning workouts (Jorge is on the right, Heidi Klum on the left). We've done both before kids, now that our youngest girl is 6 months, we're going to try and again.

I always look at the strength training tips in Runner's World, and many of Jorge's workouts are similar - but organized in one place. Six days a week, Jorge's book leads you through 4 sets of 12 repetitions for 2 exercises, alternating them for greater effect. There are a number of exercises including standing heel raises, kickups, knee pushups, and one arm curls. In addition to feeling better, I hope this will help my running and maybe get rid of some of the nagging pains I've had (back, heel, etc...). The last time we did this, I could feel a nice difference in my body in under a week - so I'm hoping to stick to this - at least until the more intense spring running starts up.

So how's the running been you ask? Not much going on. Dave and I went out last Monday and did a slow (8:14 pace) 4.47. I then took the rest of the week off for travel and family, and went out today with Larry and Dave for a 7:52 pace 4.32 miler.

EBAC Fall Challenge

Last Saturday was the EBAC fall challenge, which was also the last 'team' race of the year. It was a relatively warm day for November in New England, which I'm guessing accounts for the fact that my pace was ~10 sec/mile slower than the week before. The totals are: 33:12 for the 4.75 mile course, average pace: 7:00 min/mile and the splits are: 6:44, 6:44, 7:19, 7:11, 7:00 (for the last .75 miles). During the race I thought I had went out a little fast, but the splits for the first two miles aren't really that much faster than what I was hoping to run - so I think I just ran out of gas. Still, 7:00 min/mile overall isn't bad. In fact, if I hadn't run my best race ever last weekend, this would be very close to my best ever (considering the distance). Race results can be found here. I finished 45th out of 183 overall, and 5th out of 17 in the 30-39 age group. Our team won the men's open division, although it looks like no other company had a team in that age group (EB only had enough for the Masters division).

I may skip this weekend Little Roady Run-around, although it looks like I'm also going to miss the Thanksgiving Day races (I'll be in Jersey on Thanksgiving, during the race in Mystic and I'll be in Mystic Sunday during the race in Jersey - exactly backwards). So I'll have to be content with the abrupt end to my racing schedule, unless I can get out to this weekends run...

I'm still training though - just nothing too intense. Did a 7:48 4 miler with Larry on Monday, and will probably do something similar today. After Thanksgiving, I may try and start a few months of strength training, and cut down a little on the runs (which the weather may help me with anyway).

Distance Log

It's raining here, so I postponed my 'easy' run until tomorrow. I looked back at my running log and loaded it into a bar chart just to see the overall breakdown:
Each week's total mileage is plotted on the y-axis and the colors represent the type of specific workout. I was pretty good about getting the intervals and 6-10 mile distance runs in over the last 6 weeks. It's interesting that I could drop my 5 mile pace from 7:13 to 6:48 with only 2-3 workouts a week and ~15 total miles/week. Kind of fun.

Tarzan Brown Run

Yesterday was the Tarzan Brown Mystic River Run, and it turned out to be my best run to-date. I covered the 5.5 mile course in 37:27, for an average pace of 6:48. That was good for 12th out of 89 runners in my age group. I started a little fast (6:30 for the 1st mile), and kept that up for about 3 miles before slowing a little. The last 1.5 miles were very difficult, but I managed to keep the legs moving. A good begining for a stretch of November races. Next Saturday is the Electric Boat Atheletic Club race over at New London's Ocean Beach. I'm hoping the 4.5 miles will feel a little easier, and that I can run about the same pace. I feel pretty good today, so I may try some easy intervals Tuesday and then another easy run on Thursday.

Taper Week

Finally, the taper week. I love these weeks. Monday, went out with Larry and Dave, and did 6 miles at a 7:41 pace. Today, did 6x400s with larry at an average pace of 6:09 min/mile. Tomorrow or Friday, I'll go out and do 3 or 4 miles easy, just to stretch the legs.