More Trail Running.

Did a difficult 'easy' run today - the same Twilight Trail Run route I did last week - this week it took 1 hour 6 or 8 minutes (can't remember). I'm not certain if this works or not, but I put my training log into google docs. Pretty cool - I can update it as I update the blog.

Week 9: Yasso 800s

Hard to believe I'm in week 9 already. I did some off-track Yasso 800s today. These are suppose to be, in minutes what the goal marathon pace is in hours. That's just too easy for me though - and so I did the 800s at a goal 3:30 - even though I know damn well I won't be sniffing 3:30 come November 22nd. I did them down at Tyler - including the Jupiter loop - for a total of 20:30 - about 6:55 min/mile pace - just under the goal pace - and they felt pretty easy at that. I think they would've been easier if I didn't have the race 2 days ago. Total mileage - about 6.5. Tomorrow I'll probably do the Twilight Trail run again since I think that's easy on the legs.

Bonus coverage: I got a 'beer of the month' for a birthday present - reviews to come soon ....

Half Marathon; Half-Way Point. Week 8 is in the Books

Yesterday I headed out to Giant's Neck in East Lyme for the Niantic Bay 1/2 Marathon. I did this race 2 years ago with 'eh' results. My pace then was 8:21 - 21 seconds slower than the New Haven 20K I did a month earlier. Nevertheless, that was my fastest half (of the 2 I'd attempted) and therfore my PR. So yesterday, I needed to do 15 miles - so I started early - an easy 2 miler warm-up. The entire morning was rainy and although it felt cold out of the car, it actually felt a little humid running. Since I have a 18 miler scheduled for Friday, I didn't want to go out too fast - combined with the congested start, put me at 18:30 after only 2 miles. I decided to pick it up then, and probably past a good 1/2-2/3 of the field coming up from the back over the last 11 miles - which I finished at an 8:16 pace - so the overall pace was 8:24. Just off my pace from 2 years ago. For the first time ever, I actually regret going out too slow - but feel pretty good about the strong finish. It was a great feeling peeling of good-solid-fast miles for over 10 miles.

I'm going to count it as my 'marathon pace' run for this week, as well as my long run for last week - since I don't want to do 2 hard workouts between the long runs - which are only 5 days apart. So that'll mean I'll do my Yasso800s and an easy pace Bluff Point run on Tuesday/Wednesday; long run Friday and either 7 or 8 miles around home on Sunday. This week I finished with 38 miles. An extra rest day is in order since both achillies are sore.

Week 8 Going On!

Today I finished my 3rd run of the week - a 7.4 miler that covered the Twilight Trail run course - albiet at a slower 1 hour and 6 minute time. It was great to get outside and run - I saw a few small frogs (must be small frog season), 1 deer and 2 chipmunks - tons of fisherman out at the point.

Yesterday I did the 6 mile loop at work including Avery (but not Jupiter) and the bitch, in 49 minutes - just over an 8 min/mile pace which felt fast (probably because I'm always starting pretty slow nowadays.

Monday I kicked off week 8 with a slow 5 miler with Larry - we were both pretty cashed after the CVS race Sunday so we took it very easy. I have to say, the more the days go by the more jazzed I am that I ran so well Sunday: 6:48 pace feels pretty good considering the miserable string of races and bad luck: (1) Washington Trail 10K [hills/heat], (2) Twilight Trail run [sick], (3) JP Morgan [sick/heat] and (4) Beach Run [quicksand beach].

CVS 5K Race

I rounded out this week's mileage with a trip up to Providence for the CVS 5K national championship. I finished a little less than 8 minutes behind this years champ - Matt Tegenkamp, but first on my team at a pokey 21:04 [unofficial]. The other 2 runners were ~21:17 and ~21:38, so were probably not getting the shoe prize [update: finished 9th out of 45 teams; all 3 other Pfizer teams finished 1st in there respective divisions]. Anyway - If I'm about right on the time, that'd be about 20 seconds off last years pace, and a 6:48 pace. I'm actually happy with that since I was worried I'd be more around 7:00s. I'll update with final results when they're posted.

Also - 30 miles this week - last time we'll be this low for a while.

Week 7 Easy Miles

I rounded out this weeks mileage with some easy medium distance runs: 6 miles on Thursday by myself at work and 7 miles around Bluff Point yesterday - both at about a slow 9 min/mile pace. Neither run felt particularly good and I'm a little worried about my speed heading into tomorrow's 5K race. So Ihave 25 miles on my only 'off' week - with another 5 coming tomorrow.

More Speed Work and Bowling

I had to go out early today: 6 miles, 4 of which I did at the 'mild' tempo pace of 7:30 min/mile. Again, it felt great to go a little faster than my goal marathon pace, even though it's well above what I'd normally do for a tempo run. I also liked the 4 mile tempo versus my normal 3 mile tempo run. I think I like a little slower, but a little longer with those. I wore the Asics again - without much problem -could still 'feel' the rubbing and the achillies, but nothing as severe as when I first got them - I'm still hopeful I can get 12-18 miles/week in those suckers - but I do need to also think about a second pair.

After the run, I met collegues from work at a Bowling alley to celebrate one of our projects' milestones. It was a lot of fun, probably the most fun I've had at one of our work celebrations. I even managed to focus a little in the second frame and (barely) break 100. Bowling is one of those things I really enjoy, but rarely do. The only bad thing was that my legs - mainly quads - are now a little sore from all the standing about/talking - whereas I usually sit on my butt following runs. Or maybe they're sore from the slightly more intense workout.

Week 7: Intervals

Today I did my first set of intervals of the season: 3x1 milers with Larry down at Tyler near Avery Point. We did the first mile in 6:49, the next in ~7:10 (deliberate slow down) and the final in ~7:00 minutes. It felt good to go fast. The first two didn't even hurt much. The last one I could feel - hopefully it'll help this Sunday - can't hurt.

Week 6: In the Books

Today I finished week six with an easy 5.7 miler pushing Elena in the jogger. We went slow: 53 minutes. The only news of note is that my new Asics didn't suck. I could feel a little rubbing on the left heal, but no soreness in the right Achillies, which is in the grand scheme, more of a worry. I'm not certain if these will ever get to the point of use-ability on the long runs, but I did 12 of the 35 miles this week in them, and hope to bump that up to 15-20/week. I'll have to buy some Adrenlines at some point, and probably do the race in them.

Speaking of 35 miles, I pretty certain that's a new record for me in 1 week, and the 16-miler Friday is the longest run I've ever done. My reward - an "easy" week: 30 miles, only 6-miles/run for 5 runs - starting with tomorrow's 3x1 mile interval workout. If I remember, I'll try and head over to Bluff point this week after work to do some trail running.

Week 6 Training

I've re-arranged my training schedule a little to (1) accomodate the CVS 5k next Sunday and (2) get a better long run in after last week's fiasco. However, I didn't want to bump up mileage much, so I decided to only go 4 days: Monday [7-miler], Wednesday [6-miler], Friday [16-miler] and Sunday [6-miler] - that'll give me 35 miles for the week.

Monday's run was great. The day before I did the Brooke St./Noank run with the kids and it took an hour and 8 minutes. Without the kids it only took 56 minutes and felt great.

Wednesday was pretty good - I went at lunch with Larry, Les and Dave R. We did the Avery loop before Larry and I veered-off and did the 'bitch' hill for some extra mileage. I felt strong, although the new Asics 2140 continue to cause me problems: not so much the arch blister in the left foot, but rather achillies pain in the right foot. What the hell happened to Asics? I'll probably have to cough up another $100 and get a new pair of Adrenlines soon.

Yesterday was raining and I had wicked jock itch (don't laugh - it sucks), so I decided against running home and instead decided to do 5 x 3 mile laps at work. The first 4 laps were just down the river toward Eastern point and then over to Jupiter, back across Tyler - slightly over 3 miles. The last lap I did the Eastern point beech parking lot and skipped the 1/2 mile Jupiter loop. I did the first 2 loops in about 27 minutes each: plus the 6 minutes to get clear of Pfizer and I was already over one hour. I was feeling good, so I pushed the next two loops to 26 minutes/3 mile pace - still pretty slow, but I was now pushing 2 hours. The last lap I treated as more a of cool down and poked back through the gate at work in 2 hours, 23 minutes - over 16.3 miles - a sub-nine pace. I realize I shouldn't be pushing on the long runs - but it's hard to go that slow for that long.

Sunday I'll be doing a quick 6 miler. Next week should be more fun - no long runs! I have a 3x1 mile interval run planned with Larry on Monday. Then I'll need to do 6 at lunch each day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Then next Sunday is the CVS 5k up in Providence. I'd like to do the 3x1s in about 7:10-7:15 pace - maybe going faster on the last one - so hopefully the CVS run won't be a complete disaster due to lack of speed work.

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend got off to a good start with a party at Pete's Pub Friday night and then lunch with the kids and wife at the Spot to watch Penn State. It was good to see some other Penn State fans, and of course, the team get the easy W - although this schedule is truly sad. Akron, Syracuse, Temple and Eastern Ill? Unbelievable. What is the AD thinking? Anyway, today Jen finagled some pool time at the Mystic Marriot and in about 10 minutes we have the Judson Avenue block party followed closely by the Judson Avenue Fantasy Football Draft at 8:30 - also at the pub - a busy PM to be sure.

This morning I capped week 5 of marathon training by pushing 50 pounds of little girl for 7 miles over about 1 mile of hills. It wasn't too bad - although Friday's 13 miler killed. I think I dehydrated myself. I'll have to watch that. Anyway - 32 miles this week. Another 7 or 8 tomorrow and then I'll either do a 5k or a long 16 miler next week. I'm leaning toward the 16 miler since the 13 went so poorly and the CVS 5k would be the week after anyway. We'll see.

Bowling

Bowling with the kids this weekend:
1. Me (dominated)
2. Julia (special talent)
3. Wife ('get your head in the game')
4. Mother in-law.
5. Elena - but first for enthusiasm.

Probably the last time I finish ahead of Julia in anything. I'm pretty certain she already has a much deeper understanding of the TV remote than I do.

Julia officially starts Kindergarten tomorrow and Jen started working at SHS yesterday - she went to bed at 8:00 tonight - so I can't say things are going great - but she seems to be holding it together pretty well.

I made it out for over 7 miles Sunday - felt awesome. Probably the best run in a long while. Did 5 with the Daves at work Monday. Wore those damned new Asics - felt fine for about 20 minutes then I had about half-dozen sore areas along the legs and feet. Not as bad as last week - I'm still holding out hope that I can break them in. Two more easy days and then another long (13 miles) on Friday.