Last Run of 2007

This morning I ran out the old year with 6.3 miles around the tour de Noank route. For some bizarre reason, I ran really well again: 48:11 total, 7:34 min/mile overall pace which is pretty good for a very hilly course. I guessing it's all the extra calories I'm eating.

A Long Day at the Y

Today I arrived at the Y for my swim at exactly the wrong time and had an hour to kill, so I did some upper-body work then did another (easier) hill workout covering 3.6 miles in 30 minutes -with the last 4 minutes at a 6:30 min/mile pace. Once done, I then headed to the pool -which was now open and did 1100 again. A 2-in-1 workout. It felt pretty good, although now I'm unmotivated to hit the 5K tomorrow. I'll probably take the kids out and give the wife some time instead.

Christmas 10K

I went out today for my own private Christmas 10K - from my house to Butler middle and then the tour d'Noank route. I must've eaten well last night, as I ran negative splits on my way to a 7:44 min/mile overall pace. Nothing like holiday meals to give you extra calories to burn. The weather was fairly mild for late December, although we had some wind. I'll aim for a swim Thursday night and possibly a 5K up in Colchester this weekend.

Flabby Friday

Yesterday I opted for lunch and a beer at Par4, before coming home and eating and drinking indulgently. No running. Today I went to the Y with my wife and did an upper body workout and then 25 minutes of difficult 'hills' on the treadmill. It wasn't fun, as I could feel every molecule acetaldehyde and acetic acid traverse my pores out my body. But it counts. 3 workouts for the week (~14 mile equivs) and 10 for the month.

Old Year, New Run

Larry had a little surprise for me today, a brutal 6.5 mile run that was full of hills. The run started at the front gate of work, headed north past EB, runs past I-95 and along the Thames (Groton US, not London) River before turning up a hill on Lestertown Road, near the sub-base. We then looped back under I-95 and headed alongside Washington Park before ending-up back at work: 55 minutes and 10 seconds - 8:31 pace. Larry was about 40 seconds ahead of me - probably finished at an 8:25 pace.

This was a nice distance and the hills made me feel less guilty about not doing some hill work recently. I'll probably aim to do this about once a month until it gets to warm to slug through it.

Swim Milestone

Thanks to one extra cool down lap, I managed to swim 1100 yards last night, which is exactly 2/3s of a mile - my longest distance yet. I did 1x200 (rest), 4x100 (rest), 6x50 (rest), 6x25 and 2x25 cool down (hey, it still counts). I normally swim on Wednesdays, but it was too cold and windy to go out yesterday - so I flipped my run/swim workouts. I'll do some distance tomorrow and a more difficult run on either Thursday or Friday.

Friday Intervals: 400s

Today Larry and I did10x400s at a 6:32 pace. The weather and scenery were beautiful coming around Avery Point. Perfect day for a run. The first eight were pretty easy: 6:21 average. The last two were much slower coming up the back side - so our average doesn't look as pretty. I'm happy I've been able to keep the intensity going.

Fitness Center Fun Run

Today was the Fitness Center fun run at work. Although I'm not a member, I remembered running last year at lunch and seeing the big group coming back up Eastern point road, only to realize later that everyone got a free t-shirt. Since I'm a sucker for a free t-shirt, I made certain to sign up and run this year.

The course is 3 miles - we had snow today so it was extra festive. I wore my Santa hat and probably did ~8:00 min/miles. The t-shirt turned out to be nice - long sleeves! The food never materialized - but that's ok, I had to go back to work anyway.

Sick Run #2

Still about a 3/5 on the 'sick scale' - not sick enough to stay in. I did ~4.3 miles with Larry at a slooowww pace (~9:00 min/miles). Felt like we're walking - but still could feel the muscles struggling. We agreed to do some more intensity on Friday if we're feeling better. Details: a pretty nice day temp wise, a little windy.

Long Run Monday

Today I ran about 7.5 miles in 1 hour and 5 minutes. The weather was cold and misty, but not bad. I was about a 3 (out of 5) on the sick scale (1 - bed, 2 - work but no run, etc...).

This Best of 2007!

So I ran 8 races this year - so good, some not so good. Here's how I would rank them:
1. Tarzan Brown Mystic River Run - 5.5 Miles. This race has a great combination: close to home, a mid-distance (not too short, not too long), typically good weather - almost perfect this year. The last 2 years this has been my best run - so I must rank it number 1. If only they would bring back the long sleeve Ts...
2. Twilight Trail Run 7.4 miles. The weather sucks, the distance is long(er) and the terrain is undulating. For some reason this run always makes me feel like it's running season again. It probably helps that Bluff Point is Beautiful.
3. New Haven Road Race -20K. So I bonked a little in this one - but I'm looking forward to running it again, so I'll place it ahead of JP Morgan Chase on account that I like the distance better. It also helped that we took home some hardware in the corporate division. Now I need to figure out how to train for a long distance race through the month of August.

I had some bad races this year. Some were fine races that I just died in, like the first ever Niantic Bay 1/2. The Tour de Noank had the quadfecta: hot-humid weather, hills, two kids in a stroller and an oddly fast field of runners. At one point I could see the cop car trailing the last runner - almost behind me! But I regrouped, and running a race with kids is better than not running at all. And it certainly beats running on the wrong course, which is what I did - along with a few thousand other people - at the CVS Downtown 5k - this years dog-race of the year. A great race to be sure (I'll certainly go back), but come on people, that was just bizarre.

5 x 4 minute Intervals

Today was actually pretty decent weather wise: overcast, 40 degree temps and little wind. Larry went with me, despite my doubts. I guess running intervals beats running alone. We averaged 6:46 min/mile pace over the five. I will say this: running tough long intervals is a lot easier when you run with someone. Looking back at old posts - I didn't enjoy life much the last time I did this workout.

Wednesday night I did another 30 min/1000 yard swim - so I'm hitting my cold-weather workouts pretty well.

Through Ice, Rain, Sleet or Snow

Well, at least ice. Last night I went on a 60 minute, 6.3 mile 'run' on some slippery roads. I did the tour de noank route - minus the second big hill. I'm glad I went despite the weather. It was an oddly enjoyable run - something kinda cool about being out running on a night like that - watching the Amtrack go by (looking warm inside) and seeing the Noank Baptist Church lit up - it looked huge this night.