Saturday, July 30, 2016

Easy run

Did 3.9 ver hilly arlington miles today.  I wanted to describe a track workout that a coworker mentioned which is 3x1600s, but you run the first 1000 at a 6:30 [5k pace], and the last 600 at MP [7:40], then 400 easy.  I'll have to give that a shot in a few weeks.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Tempo #3

Today I needed to do a MP run for 6 miles.  I decided to run up the minuteman until 3.5, and come back down for 2.5 - before walking/cooling down up-hill.  It was about 95% humidity, so I really didn't want to add the hill work at the end - and try to maintain pace - seemed like overkill.  The only downside, is that it is a net downhill overall.  The splits: 7:48, 7:43, 7:58, 7:50, 7:34, 7:46.  7:47 overall.  Tomorrow I need to do 4 easy before heading out on my neighbors boat.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

And we have lactic acid.

Sunday and Monday I was greater withe some nice, low humidity weather, and did 6 miles and 10 miles up and down the minuteman.  The 10 miler felt good, but I did feel the lactic acid in the legs at about mile 9.  I guess that's good.  Legs felt tired on the way into work, but seemed to be fine by the end of the day.

Last night was a 26 minute walden swim.  This morning I went to the Belmont hull track, and smacked into another "under construction" track.  Two weeks in a row?  The track looked fine, so I decided to do the intervals until someone asked me to leave.  No one did.  I managed 20:43 for 5x1000s.  That is a 6:40 pace.  Slower than the 800s, but faster than the 1600s.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Mileage

Did an easy 3 today.  Adding these easy runs actually makes the heat not so bad.  Tomorrow is 6 at an easy pace.  The worst thing is getting up in the morning.

Yesterday I did my 3x1600, but the ahs track is, once again, under construction.  Wtf!  Anyway, I did 7:10 up the bikeways, then 7:00, then 6:43 back down.  Not great, but not shabby.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Pacing

Two posts in one day!  Did my tempo, so I figured I should summarize.  Went out by myself - nice sunny day - legs felt good.  I went too fast though:  7:30, 7:21, 7:35, 7:47 and 7:33.  Overall was 7:33.  I'm most proud of the 7:47 mile - since I was actively trying to go at a 7:50 pace.  I don't really have any good excuse for the poor pacing.  I'll have to work on that - since I need to be able to feel comfortable at MP.

A Rocky Weekend.

Last weekend I took the family up to Mt. Monadonock in NH (well, one kid).  I skipped my saturday 3 miler - and in it's place did the hike up the mountain (about 4 miles - but i'm pretty sure the effort was more than the 3 miler).  Lovely hike, good times camping.

Sunday morning I did a very slow/sore 3 mile hike around the campground.  Monday I did an 8:40 pace 8.2 miler up and down the bike path.  My plantar facia was killing me Tuesday - but magically feels better today.  The pain seems to have migrated to my back.  Will be taking off in about 1/2-hour to do my 5 mile tempo run.  Weather-wise - today seems to be the best day in July - as the heat/humidity is returning tomorrow.  



Friday, July 15, 2016

The dreaded tempo run

96% humidity this morning.  5 mile tempo on the docket.  The difficult aspects of running a tempo run are partially related to pace.  In Arlington, it is simply not possible for me to keep the pace up hills that stretch almost a mile.  If I run them into work, I have to interrupt the run at traffic lights - thus removing some of the benefit.  Also, the net down hill also makes the run to easy.  It is better to run in reverse, but then it is suppose to be 94 degrees today - so that wasn't going to happen.  Hopefully it can be an option later in the training cycle.

So today kicked off withe a 7:32 first mile down hill, them a 7:36 mile up the minuteman.  Then I started feeling the heat: 7:43, 7:44 for the next two, and 9:01 for the last 0.9 up the hill.  Overall, I managed under MP for four miles, and had a good effort at the end - hopefully running arlington hills will make the marathon's rollers feel easy.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

First interval set

I did not feel great heading down to arlington high track, but managed 4x800s at a 3:10 clip - good for a 6:20 pace.  Just what I was aiming for.  Felt hot, but not awful.  Felt good to get this one out of the way.  Hopefully I feel better Friday as I need to be able to do 5 miles at a 7:45 pace.

Monday, July 11, 2016

First Long Run

This morning was my first long run of the plan - but only 6 miles.  I woke up with severe pain in my shoulder-blade/back area - a result, apparently, spraining the muscle while turning off a light before bed last night.  I iced it while I drank coffee pre-run - and it seemed to respond well - but hurts now.  The run went well.  I started down hill into Arlington at a 7:30 pace - then turned up the bike-path for a slower (8:09, 7:43) two miles.  At that point, I decided I could probably do my marathon pace - in case it is too hot later in the week - so I turned to head back and did 7:13 and 7:15 for the next two.  The last mile was mostly up-hill - 8:34.  Overall pace was 7:45 - MP!  Hurray!  That is good since Friday is suppose to be hot - and I may have trouble doing a 7:45 5 miler - so at least I know I can do it if the weather isn't bad.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

And we are live!

Marathon training started yesterday.  I did my first run in 18 days yesterday - 5k consisting of two hilly laps around my hood.   I did this at an amazing 9:38 pace.  This morning I did the same course in 8:26.  I hope to do two easy runs every weekend - and will try to keep at least one of them hilly and short.  Tomorrow I need to do my intro "long" run which will be 6 slow miles in the morning.  Wednesday morning will be my hot intro two intervals, and Friday will be my first 7:45 mp goal tempo.  It doesn't sound two bad, but the heat has me a bit worried.