Sunday Run

I finished off last week with a tough swim on Thursday and an easy 5-miler on Friday. The swim workout is one of my favorites: 2x50 hard; 100 (breadth every 6 strokes); 4x50 hard; 200 (breadth every 5 strokes); 6x50 hard; 300 (breadth every 4 strokes). I'm not sure why I like this one - but it always seems like a great change of pace - and it's amazing how nice the 300 - breadth every 4 strokes feels. The next day's run was an easy 5 miler at an 8 min/mile pace. Felt great - beautiful day!

The nice weather continued through most of the weekend. Sunday was raining but really just spitting and cool - perfect running weather. I headed out and did the route showing on the left - essentially a counter-clockwise loop of the Mystic river. It felt remarkably good considering that just 3 hours before I had 3 enchiladas and a beer - maybe I should try nachos before races. I'd never run the river road at night and it was very very beautiful. I'll really be looking forward to doing this night run again soon. Total mileage was 8.6 miles (according to Google Earth) and I covered it in 1 hour and 14 minutes (~8:36 pace).

Back to Work

So after my Arizona vacation and triumphant return to the Southern New England running circuit, I've continued a good week of training with a Monday swim, hill workout yesterday and the 'Firm' workout last night. I re-did this swim from 2 weeks ago since I didn't complete the week then - and wanted to get back to 2/week. It was pretty easy - highlighted by a 300 build. However, despite the swim workout my legs were still sore yesterday when I headed out with the running team from work at lunch yesterday to do the hill workout - not a good combo. I was really brining up the rear - and had thought I'd be pretty solid this year on hills. The workout was a simple ladder: 30;45;60;75;75;60;45;30. Hopefully it'll feel easier next week. To really kill the legs - I did the Firm workout video - although I went easy on the lunges. I'll take it easy with some yoga today, swim tomorrow and easy running Friday.

In other news, I've bagged the idea of the Providence half since I'd like to continue to drop a few pounds and also focus on swimming 2x/week. I'll aim to run both the Twilight Trail run and the Niantic Bay 10K - both Friday night runs on back-to-back weeks. After that I think I'll transfer to summertime mode - and maybe do a 1-mile training program (long run + short intervals) that will allow for continued pool time - and transition from that to the summer triathlon. It's good to have goals.

Clamdigger 2010

After a week of sloth-like behavior in Arizona with my family, I finally got back to running. Today was the WTAC's Clamdigger 5 mile road race. I headed out at 9:45 for the mercifully late 11:00 start. It was a good day for the race - cold, but not much wind, and Misquamicut seems to have dried out from our recent flood. I started the race too fast - a 6:45 first mile which I knew I couldn't keep up over 5 miles and I wasn't too disappointed when I hit the second mile at 14 even. I managed to hold on to the 7:15 pace each mile until the end - a 35:46 - good for a 7:09 min/mile pace. I'm ok with that - though not thrilled. I was also a little bummed at the 9th place age group finish - some fast dudes out at those WTAC races.

Run, Swim, Run.

My own 3 day tri. Never liked the bike much - that, and it's still cold in the morning. I went out for an easy 5 Monday, did 1450 in the pool Tuesday and then turned on the gas and did 7:40s today over 5.15 miles. It felt warm and fast and good - I certainly could've went faster. Yesterday's swim was pretty easy - the only part I remember was a 300 build - but that felt pretty good. I'll probably run again tomorrow and swim Friday.

Tempo and Swim

Week 6 of my abbreviated 1/2 plan is more or less done. I did a 5 mile 'tempo-type' of run Wednesday with Larry. We did 5 miles in 38:40 - about a 7:44 pace - but like last week, faster along the back side than the front. I felt pretty strong the whole way - a good run. Last night I did my wife's "Firm" dvd again - a little easier on the legs the second time around. Today I hit the pool - it felt good but it is starting to feel harder to go pool on these nicer Spring days. The workout was pretty simple today: 100 fast; 2x100 steady - 3x. The first 2 'fast' 100s I did in 1:50 - the last one I made it a point to go out slower and low-and-behold I rip-off a 1:48. Pacing seems to make a big difference with those 100s.

All in all a strong week. A good long/tempo on Sunday; pool work on Monday and Friday and a hard 5 in between. I'm still not certain about the early May half - but it hasn't sold out yet - so I'll keep putting off the decision until I get back from 'zona.