Week 8 Intervals

Hopefully my last early morning interval session.  I went down to the Arlington High track figuring there wouldn't be anyone there the week before school - but lots of people working out and a girls soccer team.  No biggie - still ran the workout: 1K, 2K, 1K, 1K.  Because of the weird distances I only eyeballed the 800s - which looked to be about 6:40s.  It felt hard!  Hopefully I can recover.  I either need to do the 9M tempo tomorrow, or do it Wednesday morning.  My preference is to do it Wednesday - but I may need to be in Groton that day.  Either way - the remaining to runs this week are going to be very hard.                            

Week 7 Long Run

Today's goal was 16 miles at a 8:20-8:35 pace.  I started out the run with a 7 miles that were mostly above that pace: 9:03, 8:3, 8:39, 8:49, 8:40, 8:44 and 8:41.  That was the down into Fresh Pond and around part.  Once I hit the Charles, I was feeling warmed up and started to run a little faster: 8:29, 8:27, 8:10, 8:20, 8:22, 8:10, 8:01, 8:29 and 8:17.  That was a pretty good way to end the run - felt strong - but tired at the end.  Legs feel like dog meat again.  8:30 overall pace - so right in the goal range.  That is the longest run since my last Philly and the most mileage yet for this training plan - at 30 miles.

The 18 and 20 milers are suppose to be in the 8:20 range - so I'll have to worry a little bit about getting off to a better start.  

Week 7 tempo

i was looking forward to this as it was only 3 miles, but I really do struggle with the tempo runs.  The three miles were at a 7:22 pace which felt hard on the hot day.  But just like last week, when I was useless the rest of the day - I didn't feel too great tonight.  Played clue with the family and made a smoothly to help recovery.  I feel so gassed now, I'm planning on doing the long run Friday instead of tomorrow.

Week 7 Intervals

Today I headed out from work - first time in forever.  Another hot one.  The workout was a weird one: 1M, 2M, 2x800.  I did the first in 6:31 - in retrospect - a bit fast.  The two miler I did in 13:55 - so just under 7s - which felt difficult.  The 2x800 I did at a 6:58 pace - just stopped the watch - so I don't really have the per-800 breakdown.  I was pretty gassed.  Hoping the humidity breaks soon.  I'm thinking of doing my tempo after work on wednesday.

Did a good strenght session yesterday and then another 23 minute swim at Walden - so  a very good cross training week last week.  Will have a little trouble getting 2 workouts this week - since Walden is probably out for Tuesday and I plan on doing my long run Thursday - that only leaves the last 3 days to do 2 workouts.  I may try and do a short session Tuesday at home and then Sunday.

On paper, not the best week

glass half empty, or half full?  Looking at the positives, I could say I managed about 80% of my mileage, and make up most of the difference with cross training.  I also managed 5 days off of running and one of the hardest runs in some truly oppressive conditions.  Today I capped the week with a rare Saturday long run - 12 miles into Cambridge and back into Arlington. Kind of a place holder for next Friday's 16 miler.

Week 6.

So week 6 finally got off to a start this morning.  I skipped mondays run for a myriad of reasons: had to do a conference on Sunday, our late Saturday, busted water heater at home, sore foot - I suppose mainly the sore foot - since if that felt better I would have gutted it out.  As it stands, I skipped the 8x400 intervals since it was on the light side anyway - I was guessing I'd do more harm than good - and did a kinda pathetic strength workout.  Did the normal swim last night - although, again, kinda skimped on it since we were meeting friends at the pond.  So this morning I set off on a 8 mile 'tempo' of sorts - 7:50s were the goal.  

As has been the case all summer - the humidity was pegged near 100% when I started out - I did the first 3 miles at a 7:40ish pace, and knew I needed to slow up.  So I then did 8:02, 7:58, 7:53 and 7:55 - which probably still had me under 7:50.  The last mile I was pretty destroyed - so I eased it in at 8:03.  A pretty good effort really - although the rest of the day I felt pretty dehydrated and useless.  Fortunately - sitting at the conference center listening to science is a pretty good way to treat that.  Even that wore me out though - I'm now home nursing my foot injuries.  Pretty acute pain on both heals and the right plantar facia.  I'm not panicking yet - but if this continues to progress worse - I probably won't be running that marathon.  I think it does feel a little worse today than it did after last Friday's run - but it may be all the conference center walking around.

Some rest time

i ended up taking some unplanned days off from my training plan.  Saturday was a scheduled rest day, and the wife and I did an OAR concert in Boston, which put us home at midnight, at which point we noticed our hot water leaking.  Sunday I had a conference in Boston all day and skipped my strength workout.  Today I decided I needed more rest for sleep and the foot, so I skipped my morning intervals.  Tonight, feeling guilty, I did a mellow version of the strength workout, and am thinking of doing the intervals tomorrow, which would put me back on schedule, but probably won't help the foot.  I'm leaning toward giving the foot an extra day and doing the tempo run Wednesday morning, since the intervals are light anyway.  Always tough managing nagging injuries like this...

14 Miler C'Mon

Saw the last Delta Spirit concert last night.  Great show.  home at midnight - up at 6:40 to run.  Did 14 miles including a 1 and 1/2 loops of Fresh Pond.  Ran into Kun and had a good pace through the first 8 miles (probably 8s/mile) - then slowed up a little the last 6.  Overall was an 8:08 pace and 1 hour 54 minutes of running.  Reasonable weather - actually felt pretty good.

God Awful Tempo Runs

I really hate this workout the most.  Today was 5 miles at tempo pace - very hot/humid (by our standards).  The data: 7:20, 7:20, 7:21, 7:26 and 7:33 - for an overall pacing of 7:24 - which is more or less perfect.  Enough said about this one.  Looking forward to a slower paced long run Friday.

Week 5 Intervals

Made it out today from work for the first time in many many many weeks.  It wasn't as great as I remembered - very hot and no friends.  But I suppose it beats getting up at 5:00 am to run.  I also used my new mizuno's for the first time.  I was very worried about how they would feel - especially with my arch pain and heel pain - but they felt great for the whole run - maybe the new go-to shoe for this marathon - as I think they are way better in the heel.
The workout today was pretty easy on paper: 4x800s.  I ran them in the 6:20-6:40 pace range - and they killed in this heat.  I didn't realize how hot it was going to feel - the 'real feel' has it up to 86 - not blistering - but not great for intervals either.  I get another easy interval week next week before the really hard sessions return.

Long Run In Today

Lovely morning today.  Left at 6:50.  Did the first two miles at a good clip because I noticed these tend to be slower and I wanted to come in under the 8:05 overall time.  By mile, the pacing was: 7:51, 7:52, 7:47, 7:49, 7:52, 8:00, 7:41, 7:58, 7:46, 8:00, 8:06, 8:04, 8:29.  Overall time was 1:41 and overall pace was 7:56 - so a good 9 sec/mile under my goal.  Still have doubts about running 7:50s for 26 - but at least i'm on target with the plan.  Pacing certainly is easier with the nice dry weather.

Ridiculous Tempo Run

God I'm sick of this 100% humidity crap - and I'm also sick of running in the morning.  I wasn't looking forward to this one - and for good reason.  The goal was a 7 miles at tempo pace - I was targeting 7:40s - which would put me toward the end of my tempo scale.  I started 7:42, but then did 7:56, 7:54, 7:52 - then picked it up for 7:33, 7:36 and 7:36.  The average for that mess was probably 7:44 or 7:45 - but since I didn't start/end exactly on the mile it could be a little more/less.  Anyway - a little slow - certainly miserable.  I wouldn't have thought that running that slow could be that hard - but I'll blame it on the humidity.  Hopefully this weather breaks before my long run Friday.

Week Four Intervals

I kicked off week four with some short 5x2 minute intervals.  Short - so I ran them hard - 6 to 6:20 pace.The heat - as it has the last few weeks - really made this one challenging.  I can't remember the last run I did when I wasn't just completely drenched in sweat after 10 minutes.  Tomorrow is shaping to be any easier - 7 mile tempo run.  my goal is to ckick off 7:40s - which may be challenging as tomorrow is suppose to be hot also.