More Intervals

I did 3x7 minute intervals today. They felt, like all intervals, pretty difficult.

Difficult Tempo Run.

Ugh. Today was tough. I wanted to work some tempos in over the next 4-6 weeks. This week I lowered my 'long' run length to 6.4 miles at a 7:41 pace, 49:09 total. It felt pretty difficult out there. It kinda wiped me for the afternoon.

I'm happy with the week. I did a race Sunday, tough intervals Tuesday and had a good long/tempo run today. 3 solid workouts in one week.

More Intervals

I did another solid set of intervals today: 4x5 minutes (~1200 meters). They felt very good, and after Sundays race - a little easier than last weeks. Tomorrow and can either swim or take a rest day. Friday I'll do a longish run ~6 miles, but at a slightly faster than normal pace. Next week's intervals will step up to the always punishing 3x1 milers. Should be fun.

CVS 5K Race

Yesterday was the CVS 5K race in Providence Rhode Island. This race serves as a the national championship for this distance - and for people like myself, a nice flat course for achieving PR times. I would say the day was perfect for racing, but in truth it felt a little warm out there - especially by mile 2. From the Providence Journal:

As the sun rose over Providence, the air was chilly. As the sun climbed over Narragansett Bay, the air became pleasantly warm, then downright hot.

The elite field was out in force and garnered most of the media attention - but the race also serves as competition for children, high school and numerous other divisions including corporate.
I started pretty fast, passing mile one in under 6:30 and mile 2 right around 13:00, then I started to feel *real* bad - tingly and my hair felt like it was going to stand straight up. Definately over-heated. Although I slowed a little, I managed to keep it together for the last 1.1 miles - finishing in 20:40 (6:40 pace overall, ~7:00 pace for the last 1.1 miles). This actually beats my PR by exactly one second - so I'm glad I didn't stop along the way. I think if the weather was a little cooler - I may have broken into the 6:30s.

Today I actually felt good enough to go out. I did 4.15 miles at a slow pace - I was going to swim - but the air temp was cold and the clouds blotted out the sun - not an appeling day for the beach. Maybe Wednesday I'll try some laps. Tomorrow will be intervals.

Crosstrain Taper

Not a hell of a lot to talk about today. Yesterday I biked into work - 9 miles. It felt ok. My ass was actually sore from the run the day before - so I was scared the bike seat would make things worse - but no ill effects. Beautiful morning as well.

Today I jogged 1.3 miles down to Eastern Point Beach - swam around for ~17 minutes (I'm guessing ~.4 miles) then jogged back up. The swim was odd: high, swirling tide - murcky water and people bundled up along the benches and beach to keep warm from the wind. However, the water was not very cold. It was freezing coming out - and jogging back - but nothing horrible. Not the ideal swim - but it beats the indoor pool.

Sunday - national 5K championships!

Long Run Home

Today I left work a little early and ran home. The run covered 9 miles and I did it in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 20 seconds - an astounding 8 minutes faster than a few weeks ago. The weather had a lot to do with that - as it was a beautiful sunny/cool/dry afternoon. I decided to run a little hard 2x2 miles, so I started with ~1 mile warm-up at an even pace, then did 15 minutes faster, slowed for 10 minutes, then did 14 minutes fast. I then had an uphill (Brooke Street) for about four minutes - then did another 1/2 mile (4 minutes) fast, before hitting the Fishtown hill (3 more slow up-hill minutes) before finishing with another fast 8 minutes. I think I did ~5.85 miles fast at about a 7:10-7:15 pace, and another 27 minutes (~3.15 miles) at a slower (8:3oish) pace. All told, a pretty satisfying workout - since I *needed* the long run - but also wanted to mix in some faster tempo-type stuff before these shorter races come up.

Killer Intervals

Monday I headed out with Dave to do some brutal 'off track' intervals. The workout was only 5x4 minutes - but the weather was, again, very humid and tough to run in - hard to believe now since it's so dry and cool. The workout felt difficult during the run and I ended up taking yesterday off completely. Today I'll do my long run home again. Seems like I just did it - but it's actually been awhile.

Some big races coming up. This Sunday is the CVS Dowtown 5K up in Providence. The weather is looking good - and it should be a pretty fast race. I'm not going to taper much for it though - since it really isn't a goal race. I'll be doing 9 miles today, some biking tomorrow - and probably a swim/run Friday - all at a pretty mellow pace.

Two weeks from Saturday is the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championships. The race starts on Park Avenue at 9:00 AM - so I'm going to drag the wife and kids down Friday afternoon for a little city life. My goal is to try and sniff the 6:30s in either one or both of these races. May as well try, at some point age is going become a factor.

Feeling Better Long Run

Two things happened today that changed my workout from a swim to a long run. As you may remember - my achilles were killing after Wednesday's intervals - so the plan was to shut it down for a few days. However, it's unusually cold and windy - especially out on the water, and my achilles were feeling better - so I laced'em up and headed out on a long-ish run: 6.7 miles in 54:18 (8:06 min/mile pace). The pace felt good - I thought I was actually going faster than that through most of the run. The achilles 'felt' - but not as tight as they've been, and now I'll take the weekend off before going again.

Totals for the week - just under 22 eq-miles and about 14 miles running. I'll probably try a 9 miler early next week and maybe take a crack at some intervals next Wednesday.

Roundtrip Bike

9 miles in, 9 miles back - 18 miles total and 4.5 'equivalence miles'. This week is turning out okay despite some disappointments (rain out day, intervals cut short). I'm in position to either do my long run, a good swim - or some combo of both tomorrow, and I'll be filling out the week with over 20 miles - which isn't great - but isn't horrible. Most importantly - my legs feel pretty good. I'm obviously out of running relevant pictures, so I give you: Gossamer. He does have sneaks on.

Off track intervals

I did off track intervals down at the Jupiter loop to make-up for yesterday's washout. My achilles in both legs are very tight - so I only did 5x600 (goal was 7x's) - before stopping and jogging slowly back up to work. I may shutdown the running until next week - yes it was that bad. I figure I can drive down to the beach and do some swimming one day and maybe bike in the other day - just to keep the 'equivalence miles' going - but I'm I need to get the legs healthy before the CVS downtown (now only 11 days off). Hopefully, if the tendons are feeling better new Tuesday or Wednseday - I can do the run home - and just kinda combine this weeks and next weeks long runs.

Rock Number 2

Today I did the second Rock swim of the year. It felt good - I did the swim out in 9:30 and the swim back in 8:50 (about 1/4 mile each way). My feel good buzz was cut short when I steamed my middle finger lifting the lid off my food coming out of the microwave. It's been 3 hours and the finger still hurts. Damn!

Long Run Friday [again]

Today's long run was abbreviated to only 5.25 miles - still at a pretty slow pace: 8:46 min/mile. I actually have a multitude of reasons for cutting it short: First - wicked soreness in the Achilles tendons in both legs from Wednesday night's run, second - unusually hot and humid (82 %) weather and third - that cut on the heal of my right foot - that is partly to blame for me going barefoot at the race in the first place. So a lot of good excuses - but still a sad week of running: 17 total miles so far. I may tack on some walking miles before the weeks over - but probably no more running until next Monday.

Update: I did some strength training this morning and I'm looking forward to next week: Monday swim, Tuesday intervals, Wednsday easy or swim, Thursday long run and Friday bike. Should be a good weekend.

3M Beach Run

Last night was the Misquamicut 3M Beach Run put on by the Westerly Track & Athletic club. I took the wife and kids over early (~4:30) to play in the sand and surf - then decided to run the race barefoot - a first for me. I started fast and kept up a pretty good pace - finishing the 3 miles in 20:18 - a 6:46 pace. Not my fastest - but adequate considering the lack of any speed training. Also notable was that I ran slightly negative splits - and didn't get passed by anyone during the last half - which is always a good thing.

I enjoyed running barefoot - although 3 miles of running in the sand rubbed my toes pretty raw, and the run itself really tightened up my calf muscles (both legs) - so I'm not sure if I'll get out today. In itself, that's not a big deal - but I'll be down a little this week in total mileage.

Rock!

Today a group of fifteen made it out to Black Rock for the first "Rock" swim of the year. A great day weather wise and surprisingly no jelly fish - considering it was high tide. All told, about 2.6 miles running + 1/2 mile swim.

Yesterday I made it out for a quick 3.2 miler over Fishtown road and back (the hill twice). Tomorrow I'll be aiming for the beach run out at Westerly.