Streak!

This weekend I was tempted to start a holiday running streak after reading an article in Runner's World.  The goal would be at least a mile until New Years.  Very tempting, although probably a horrible idea for a runner battling knee pain.  Nevertheless, today I did what may be the first attempt.  A slog with Larry along the Charles at a slow 8:30 pace.  The knees felt ok during the run, but were a little sore all morning - perhaps due to yesterday's workout.  I think I'm going to try the mile run tomorrow and see how they feel.  Could be a short streak.

Turkey Trotting

Thursday morning I headed to Davis Sq. for my first Mass turkey trot.  Haven't done one of these in a while, but I picked the 'gobble, gobble, gobble' run that the Sommerville Road Runners put on.  The morning was bright and mild and I had picked up my packet in advanced, so I could just show up and run.  The course is a 4 miler.  I did the first fastish - but not all out: 6:40, and then slowed a bit for mile two 13:40.  Mile three was a bit more hilly, and slower, but I think I managed another 7 min/mile, then closed stronger: 6:40-something for the last mile which had a lot of downhill stretches.  Average pace was 6:53 - a little disappointing - as I was hoping to be in the 6:40s.  

Not my best effort, but good to get another race and certainly one I'll be doing again.  That is 5 races for the year.

Holiday Shut Down

At work we have a holiday shut down between xmas and new years.  This year I did a shut down the last week to give my legs a rest.  I was sensing some overuse injuries, so I didn't run or do anything from last Monday to Sunday - when I just did a strength session.  Then the first two days of this week, I had planned on going out, but lack of friends to run with and knee worry kinda zapped my motivation.  Felt tired today but did a short strength session - didn't want to work too hard since I have the t-day race tomorrow.  Report to follow.

Weak in the Knees

Today I made it out for 3x1200 intervals.  The day was lovely, but my knees are still feeling sore - so i'm going to take the next 3 or 4 days off - or maybe the rest of the week.  Not the best - but I feel they are at the point of overuse and need a break.  Wish they could last one more week - but such is life...

Strength.

I spent over 1 hour of the weekend working on strength, in two seperate workouts.  Really need to make sure these knees hold up.  Hopefully they feel good tomorrow.  Not sure how many weeks of strength training before I get some real results.

23 and Me

Made it out today for an 8 miler to cap my first 4 run week in....a very, very long time.  Not sure I'll do this again next week, as today's run started with some acute pain in the right knee during the first 1/2 mile.  I focused on shortening the stride and running like an 80 year old - and managed to not have it so much the rest of the way.  So I finished with 23 miles.  The run didn't feel to hard.  I'll keep doing the knee strengthening excersices and see how it feels on Monday.

Keeping Pace

This week I'm focusing on running at a reasonable pace, while part of me just wants to sit on the couch and drink beer.  Monday I talked lar into doing 2x6 minutes.  We were probably close to 6 min/mile pace for the first interval, slower for the second but still a good clip.  Today we did the 4.7 loop in 35:14, which I think is a 7:30 average, but we certainly started slower and did negative splits. So some nice faster running.  Tomorrow I'm going to try and get 6.5 in and then try for 8 on Friday.

Back-to-Back-to-Back

One of my short term goals was to experiment with a fourth run and try to exhaust myself a little before my 'long' runs.  I kinda did that this week: 5 mile tempo (wend), 4.6 easy (thurs) and 6.5 today (not exactly long - but i'm working up to this).  It did make today's run feel harder - so that may work out well.  I'll try again next week (5-8-8 if i'm up to it), and throw on a monday session (either intervals or hills).  

An oldie but a goodie

Visiting PFE-GTN today and made it out on my old loop: 5.1 miles with some wonderful scenery.  Miss this run very much.  Brings back so many memories.  37:07 - so a nice 7:17 pace.  Didn't run many of those in the old days...

Battlegreen 10K

Today I ran the Lexington Battlegreen 10K race.  My first 10k since 2010, and only my second since I really started running.  The good news is that it felt really short after the marathon.  The bad news is that it was a pretty hilly course.  The first mile was nice a fast a flat - I clicked by at 6:35.  I was trying to simultaneously dial back the pace and keep my legs moving at a decent clip after that.  The second mile went by at 13:30-something - still under 7 for the mile.  Then the hills started.  I'm pretty sure the first one was right at the mile 2 mark and went up for a good 3 minutes.  I was just hoping to hit mile 3 marker under 21 minutes - and did around 20:40.  The hills kept coming and I just tried to take them easy and then get the legs moving fast again downhill and the flat parts.  The good news is that the legs felt great the whole run - my lower back and that searing feeling in the lungs were the limiting factors physically - but that is a good thing.  Was able to keep the pace under the 7s and even had a decent kick at the end for a 43:13 finish - good for a 6:58 pace, and only 16 seconds slower than my 2010 effort.