6.5 Mile Run

Did the Avery loop twice today: 57 minutes, 6.5 miles. Pretty slow. The weather was great and my back held up - so I should be good for the tempo run Friday.

4x1 Mile Repeats

Well, sorta. I forgot my watch at home - so instead of running the track I headed out from work and just did 4x7 minutes repeats with ~2 minute rests. Were the mile repeats? Google Earth thinks they were about on. Probably not that far off. Although I didn't get the pacing practice I needed, it felt like a great workout. I'm certainly gassed now. Looking forward to 2 days of with the kids and wife.

Last Two Days

So it's been a difficult week. We got a miserable blast of cold/wind on Monday, so I decided to wait until Tuesday to do my first run - a 5.8 miler - which included Avery and Jupiter, then back up. Pretty slow: 8:30 pace, ~49 minutes total - probably should've extended it. Yesterday I made it out for a quick 3.8 miler - around Avery and back up. Probably about the same pace as the day before. Nevertheless, I managed to really tweek my lower back. I still made it to the swim class last night. The lanes were a crowded mess - but we probably logged about 2000+ yards.

Hopefully my back will feel better come Friday afternoon - I need to get my interval/tempo workout done: 4x1 mile repeats. I'll keep the pace down a little for the first 3 (~7:00min/miles) and hopefully have enough left to lower that on the last one. I don't want to kill myself - just work in a little speed.

Tempo and Pace.

So today I made it over to Fitch High School in Groton after work for my first real training session. It was pretty simple: 20 minute tempo run. After last Saturday's poorly paced 5K, I wanted to do the workout on the track so that I could more easily judge pace every 200 and 400 yards. The plan worked well: I did the first 2 miles in 14:36 (a 7:18 pace), and had enough gas to do the last 1250 yards at a 6:54 min/mile pace. That gave me a 7:11 pace for the 20 minutes - and a strong finish: perfect!

Yesterday I made it out for a 4+ miler, which included 10 x12 second hill sprints toward the end. Those were really just for fun. Next week I have lined up 2 key workouts: 4x1 mile intervals and a 50 minute run (about 6 miles). I'll also do one 'easy' 4-5 miler and my Wendsday night swim. Week 1 is in the books!

St. Patty's Day and Pool Work

I felt absolutely horrible most of yesterday, after staying up to midnight drinking Guiness and Beamish at our neighbors "pub". The Beamish tasted so good, I just couldn't pull myself away. Needless to say I bagged the run. I did, however, make it to my swim class - probably did over 2000 yards in the pool. I felt pretty nauses the whole workout, but seemed to have worked it all out of my system. If it doesn't rain too hard this afternoon, I may try and head out for a quick 30 min run.

10K Training Begins...

...Today! Sorta. I did the 5.3 mile (both loops) at a pretty quick pace. I'm counting it as my 'long run'. I'll do another easy run Wednesday and then try busting out the tempo run Friday. I should've done the tempo today, but was still pretty gassed by Saturday's 5k. Nevertheless, Dave pushed me to a 41 min (and change) run, which was probably about a 7:45 min/mile pace.

O'Niantic 5K Race

O'Niantic 5K: my first race of the spring running season. I won my age group in this race last year, and was looking to defend my title this year, the races second year of existence. One year brought a course change and different weather, much colder but drier this year. The race started with temps in the low-mid 30's. I started fast and, like my previous 5k's - kept it up for a good 2 miles, before struggling in. I still managed to beat my PR by a few seconds: 20:37 (6:39 pace). While it felt great to PR, I was a little disappointed by the finish. I had to really concentrate on leg turnover during the last mile - and I was actually passed by the 2nd and 3rd place guys in my age group. No big deal in the grand scheme of things - but pacing is certainly something to work on if my goal this spring is a good 10K.

Post race, I met my family at the SE-Conn children's museaum and got pizza at Illiano's. I'm pretty wiped now. And I'm suppose to take my kids swimming. Crap, just getting them into the car's going suck. blah. Maybe to pool will wake me. up.

Race Day.

Saturday! I'm resting up today and tomorrow. I was training a lot harder this time last year, but we'll see. Maybe I'll catch some race day magic. I did hit the pool last night - probably about 2000 yards in about 1 hour - mostly drills. That, plus 3 runs, gives me four pretty good workouts in four days.

Spring Run

A perfect day for running here in SouthEastern Connecticut. Temps in the high 40's, no wind and a light rain/mist to keep you nice and cool. I went with the fast Dave again - about 5.2 miles in 41 minutes - the normal route with both Avery and Jupiter loops. Tonight I have the swim class - should have a pretty good week when all is said and done.

Grey Running

Completely slate grey and a little colder out today. The temps were in the low 40's with some wind especially down around the water. I did the normal loop with Jupiter (no Avery) - about 4.3 miles. Felt fast - but the pace wasn't very good. I'll probably skip tomorrow and do a run/swim on Wednesday. Then try and get the 5K in on Saturday before starting the real training next week.

Sunday Run

I actually made it out today! I ran from our house over to Spicer Road in Noank - about 4.5 miles round trip - a pretty easy run, but with 2 good hills (well, the same hill twice). The weather must give strength, because I charged up it coming back - it felt good out there. If the weather is ok, I'll try and make it out tomorrow and Tuesday. Get some mileage this week before adding in some harder runs the next week - 10K right around the corner now (and I need to defend my St. Patty's title next week).

Run and Swim

Yesterday I made it out for an relatively short run (4.7 miles) that took about 39 minutes - I guess we were moving pretty slow. Avery point was covered in snow, so we did 2 loops of Jupiter instead. Last night, I started my masters swim class. I don't remember exactly what the workout was, but it ended up being the most of swam at one time ever - probably about 1.5 miles. With my old 'equivelence' conversion - it would be 9 miles - but I think I'll count it as 6 since it didn't feel anywhere near as difficult as a 9 mile run. The workout was over 80 minutes - with plenty of rest. I'm sure it'll get harder. It's every Wednesday night, so I'll discuss it more in the coming weeks.
update: I also made it out Thursday - for a really short 3.5 miler.