Week 12 Tempo

i headed out on yet another hot humid tempo run.  Not the easiest taper in the world.  I kept the brakes on a little, so the pacing was: 7:24, 7:26, 7:25, 7:24, and 7:22.  Pretty good and even.  Now we get lots of rain and I'll do my 15 either Thursday night or Friday morning.

Week 12 Intervals

I made it out for intervals today at the MIT track.  It was just me, some dudes working on the gutters, some coed doing these weird sit-ups on the field and some serious heat.  I did the first few at close to 3 min/int - maybe 3:06 or so.  Numbers 4,5 and 6 were probably more in the 3:17 range - I slowed down for the heat.  Good enough.

Week 11 long run

20 miles this morning.  It was harder than I was hoping.  I decided to head up the bike path to Bedford.  I was thinking going out with the easy uphill and then negative splits coming back.  Looking at the elevation, it went up to 75 feet door the first 6 miles, then down to 45, then back up again, then back down, then finally up another 50 feet for the last part in Arlington.  In any case, I did 8:10s the first 10 miles, felt pretty good.  Then at about mile 12 I started not feeling great, pace dropped to the 8:30s.    After mile 16 the trail was heading back down, so I tried to pick things up, 7:56, 8:06 and 8:14.  Last mile into Arlington sucked, 9:37 - but was probably good for leg strength.

Pains at mile 12 included sharp pain upper back/ shoulder area, lower abdomen aches, and I could feel the groin, severe leg aches - nothing specific, just lactic acid.  Finally, the nips hurt - first long run with shirt on the whole way.

Final pace was 8:19, it was 8:15 at mile 19 and probably a little better than that with stoppages for water and hills taken into account.  Awesome weather.  First 10 miles were pleasant.  Hopefully the hills cut into the paceing, and to the legs, because it was not feeling like I can kill it for 26.  Anyway - it's taper time!  I'll be trying to push the pace the next two weeks, but no run longer than 13.

Trail details.  I think the elevation on the iPhone app isn't that accurate.  The elevation difference between Arlington and Lexington is over 160 feet, which would be about a 14 story building.  So although it was gradual, I think that is a fair amount of extra work.

Week 11 Tempo

This is why I train for the marathon.  I hate tempo runs.  But today I did 8 miles at a 7:21 pace.  It felt a little hard - but really pretty easy considering I would have died on this not long ago.  I warmed up with a 7:34 and 7:29 first two miles, then did 7:17, 7:12, 7:24, 7:17, 7:06 for the next 5 before cooling off with a 7:30.  My only concern is that I could handle pacing slower.  I really need to try and run the 20 miler in the 8:10-8:20 range.  But of all the complaints I could have - pacing a little fast on an 8 mile tempo is a pretty good gripe.

Week 11: Easy Ints

Today I headed to the MIT track with Lar to do the intervals.  Since we're doing seperate plans, we had different interval sets.  He had 6x800s, I had an easy one scheduled: 5x2minutes - I sure as hell wasn't about to take the hard way out - so I stuck to it.  I did each one in a little over 500 - so I think it was close to the 6 to 6:15 in/mile pace.  I also did Larry's last interval with him in 3:18 - so about a 6:40 pace - but I wasn't really pushing.  So all in all it felt good.  Nice and cool and easy.  Ready for my 8 miler round the river on Wednesday.

The bigger story of the day was the allergies this morning - i won't use the word col^^^ - since it will not exist until late October.  I think it's allergies anyway.  I felt better after the run and am drinking wine now.  My theory is that I slept with the window fan going and it gently blows pollen on me all night, so I wake with severe allergies.

Week 10: 10 Miler

I headed out this morning for a 'marathon pace' run.  Ideally this would be in the 7:45-7:50 pace.  I wanted to head down the first hill hard to avoid a poor pace due to a slow first mile.  I got to the bottom and realized I had left my work badge, and credit/charlie cards in my basement - so back up the hill I ran, then back down.  First 3 miles: 7:29, 8:06 and 7:22 - not exactly a steady MP pace to start.  Miles 4 and 5 were a little better: 7:47 and 7:58.  Then I started charging harder again: 7:37, 7:39, 7:26 and 7:33.  Last mile was 7:47.  So I succeeded in running a good fast pace [7:40], I failed in running a steady MP.  Legs are killing now.

Week 10 Tempo

Today's workout was a 5 mile tempo run with a mile warm-up.  I did 7:13, 7:12, 7:17, 7:18 and 7:25 - average of about 7:17 - a few seconds under the 7:20 goal pace.  Excellent!  It felt warm - and very difficult, but I have to be pretty happy with that.  The tape seems to be working well - either that or the new work shoes or yoga - whatever - no plantar facia pain today during the run. Kinda amazing.  Hope it hold up.

Update:  I'm wiped tonight.  I think the heat and pace got to me.  I'm realizing that there is nothing easy with this plan.  I have 10 at MP Friday, 20 at 8:15 next week, then 13 MP the following week, then 10 MP the week after that.  Blagghhhh.

Welcome to Speed Week

This week it's all about speed.  This morning I headed out on the first cool crisp day of the fall for what may be my final track session: 10x400s.  I did close to 6 minute mile pace (1:30s) for most of the workout.  I think I calculated 6:06 average pace.  Felt good and pretty easy to run the single laps - although I'm not sure I have a faster gear than that - I was trying to think what a 5 minute mile pace would be - and kinda decided I would never sniff it.  Maybe I should aim for like a 5:30 mile or something.  The next two workouts are a 5 mile tempo run (7:20-7:30) and a fast 10 miler - maybe 7:45s.  Nothing slow this week!

Longest Run Since Last Philly!

Today I headed out at 8:00 am to slog through the drizzel (not that i'm complaining) and did 18.5 miles into work.  The overall pace was 8:17, but I probably stopped for a good 2-3 minutes with the clock ticking due to gu/iphone/shirt issues.  My true pace was pretty fast for that distance - maybe in the 8:07-8:10 range.  Many of the miles were down around 8:00.  It felt pretty good really until the last few miles - which is, I suppose, why you run these.  Sore today, strong tomorrow.

Week 9 Tempo

One of the easier runs recently: 4 mile tempo - with a 1 mile warmup/cooldown.  I wanted to practice pacing - so I decided - based on an article - to try 1 mile MP, 1 mile fast, 1 mile MP, 1 mile fast.  For MP I was aiming for 7:45 or so, for fast I was aiming for 7:10.  I ran to the Minute Man bikepath - and started uphill.  It's very gradual uphill, but it was enough to make pacing a little tricky - just going by effort, I did 7:56, then 7:31 for my 'fast' mile.  Going down, I did 7:33 for the MP and 7:01 for the 'fast'.  Maybe not the best place to practice pacing.  Anyway - the averages are about right, 7:45 for the MP and 7:16 for the 'fast' - so pretty good really.

Labor Day Intervals

Week 9 is upon me.  I now have less than 5 weeks until the marathon.  Today's workout took place at the AHS track and consisted of 3x1600s - the simplest of interval workouts.  I did the first one at 6:40, the second at 6:36 and the last at 6:34.  A 6;37 average pace - so probably about right.  I was trying to take them a little easy and run hard - but not feel like I was not going to be able to hold on - so a more of a pace workout - since I've had a habit of running bad splits.  I may try and do alternating 7:50/7:10 pace for my 4 mile tempo run wednesday - for the same reason.  The right foot was sore - but they both felt good most of the weekend - and the workout felt oddly short - like my body is used to doing the 2 hour runs now.

13 Miler at a Decent Clip

I headed out today with some anxiety with my mother-in-law in the hospital.  The plan was to run into work, grab my crap for the weekend and take the red line home.  The mileage was the alternating 'short' long run - that needs to be run faster - aiming for sub 7:55s.  I ended up doing 7:45 - aided by cool weather and an anxious mind.  The splits are: 7:32, 7:39, 7:37, 7:51, 7:40, 7:52, 7:45, 7:42, 7:42, 8:04, 7:44, 7:40, 8:02.  Pretty good.  Legs are sore now - but that's normal.  Did feel pretty strong running.  Next 3 weeks should help build it up more.

The 9 Mile Tempo Run

I hate tempo runs.  Of the 3 main workouts - they are always the hardest to do for me and the most painful afterwards.  I was dreading today's 9 mile tempo run - in the heat - the day after intervals - just not a great feeling going in.  Luckily the heat wasn't awful - nice breeze actually.  I started out relatively fast: 7:39, 7:21, 7:36, 7:30 as I rounded the first 'lap' after four miles.  I slowed up a little: 7:39, 7:36, 7:41 - before finishing 7:45 and 7:48 - overall was 7:37 -  which is really outstanding considering the heat and the goal (7:45).

I taped my feet last night - I actually think it helped!  My feet feel pretty good right now - so although I looked like a complete clown with the 4 inches of shaved legs and dark blue tape - I may have to keep doing that.