May Day Hills

I worked from home today - then managed to head over to Haley Farm/Bluff Point.  It was so beautiful and vivid out after the rain that I decided on the 'long' loop - but once I hit a nice hill I went ahead and did the hill workout: (60;75;90)x2 - it actually felt easier on the rough hill - probably because the footing makes it impossible to go as fast as on a paved hill.  After the hill - I worked my way back to the Haley Farm parking lot.  Total run - 1 hour 9 minutes.  Probably about 8 miles.

What will my kids life be like?

I've been feeling a lot of stress lately.  Relo has it's problems - and I feel those every day.  In the end though, I feel like most of my stress comes down to: what life will my kids have?  In their future, will the polar ice caps melt?  Will they find happiness?  Will there dad be employed in 2 years?  I think if I understood those questions a little better - I'd feel a lot better.

What's really weird, is that I feel like, when I was that age - life didn't have stress.  Was that really true?  Or do I just not remember it?

Anyway.  Bob Harper workout Sunday.  Destroyed my legs.  Monday off.  Hills today: 45; 60; 75; 90; 75; 60; 45.  Felt ok.  Legs may feel sore, but they still moved.  Tomorrow brings the pool.

Week 7 Done!!!

Week 7 is finished. Two tough workouts - two pretty easy workouts. Tuesday was hills: 60;60;60;90;120 and then today (Friday) was the long run - 10 miles over 1 hour 23 minutes - and included 2 tough hills near the end. Weather was very nice all week. The other 2 runs were just 5 mile loops on Monday and Wednesday. I was going to try tempo work Wednesday - but maybe did a 7:20 for the last 2 miles - not much.

Week 6.

How long is this training plan anyway? Ah yes, 10 weeks. With that in mind - I was hoping to get some speed in. Problem is, I'm still doing hill-work. Solution: back-to-back hill-speed days! And that's exactly what I did. Yesterday - great day for running - did 60;75;90;60;75;90. Relatively easy as hill-work goes. The hill we train on rewards longer intervals because it flattens out a little at the top - and as a bonus the rest time (going back down) is longer.

We followed that up with an attempt at a 3x1600 - which we turned into: 1600;800;1600. We were going to do another 800 at the end - but that seemed like overdoing it a little. The first 1600 was form the golf course to just past Avery point (2nd house on the left). The 800 was around Jupiter and the final 1600 was the Sneeker's mile. Times looked good: 6:40, 3:02; 6:35 - actually ran the last one a little faster.

I'm hopping to do 4 miles tomorrow - including a 2 mile 'tempo' (but pretty easy); and then 8 miles Friday.

Week 4 Going On.

I'm almost through my fourth week of training. I did 4.8 *real* easy Monday and then the team hill work on Tuesday: 30;45;60;75;75;60;45;30 - total of 7 minutes of hills. It's amazing how lung searing hard workouts are. Wednesday I took off. Thursday I did 5.8 miles at a moderate pace. Today I'll aim for ~6 miles. No real long run this week. Next week I'll do another 10 miler.

Spring Hills

Last week larry and I got our first taste of spring hills - actually 1 week early. We did them on Wednesday: 45;60;75;75;60;45 - which is actually *not* one of the workouts in the Pfizer team training plan. I'm still not sure why we started it - but we'll probably go again this week. That workout was bookended by Monday/Friday runs of 4.3 and 5 miles - nothing very excrusiating. Well, Monday's run was very cold - all the runs have been cold. It's been in the 30/40s with lots of wind to chill us to our bones - not a pleasant March this year. Hopefully it'll warm up soon.

Oh! My Back!

My back's been the story this last week. Sore enough to really bother me, but not enough to stop me from running. I agrivated it doing yard work two weekends ago and sleeping in a sleeper sofa last weekend probably didn't help. I've managed a few runs - but it's really taken it's toll on the strength training - where I'm afraid I'm starting to lose some muscle. Hopefully it'll get better soon.

I managed 34 minutes of running Sunday in NJ and did about 8 minutes or so of push-up/situps (I guess the back wasn't feeling too bad then). I then did the last hill workout with the team yesterday (45,90,120 x2). It felt hot but good and then I did a few more miles to bring the total to ~6.5. Today, since my work office was flooded, I decided to make the best of a bad situation and do my run in the morning after dropping the girls off at school. I did the 7.4 miles of the bluff point course in 67 minutes which is about 9 minute miles. Not great - but hopefully I'll be much faster with a better back for the race in 9 days.

My plan now is to swim tomorrow and try to do a long run Sunday or Monday. Then I'll do a speed session on Tuesday at Fitch.

Updated: new low weight - 153. It was after my trail run - but still, a low I haven't had in years.

Week -1: More Hills + Lots of Wind

Man - lots of wind this week. The week started great from - but not from a fitness standpoint. I had in the last four days the following to eat: Five Guys Hamburger, Kobi Burger from Cheesecake Factory, Meatloaf and more Meatloaf. The meatloaf, to be fair, is somewhat healthy (I added oatmeal, diced mushrooms and shredded carrots). The Kobi Burger was completely awesome - I'm still drooling over the thought of having another one of those. But this is probably the most red meat I've eaten in recent memory - and there is still half a meatloaf to go!

Anyway - missed the Sunday long run again - Mother's day. I did the swim yesterday. It was hard. I wanted to do 800 straight. I was doing easy/efficient strokes getting across the pool quickly in less than 7 cycles - but I must've been using some energy because my times (per 50) were always less than one minute and I was gassed after 500. So I stopped there and then did 2x200. 1500 total including warmup and cooldown.

Today I did a tough run: hills + 5 miles (8 total). The hill workout was 3x60, 2x90 and 1x120. I felt pretty strong during the hills - but boy are they hard. I slogged the last 5 miles at a 9 min/mile pace - but I'm glad I got some mileage in.

Saturday I may try the Groton Riverfront 5k (which is almost 3.5 miles). It's lightly attended - so I may have a shot at an age group place.

Another Week of Running

So I missed blogging my workouts for about a week, so here is the quick summary:

Sunday - long run, covered here.

Monday - 1500 in the pool.

Tuesday - missed hill workout, did the Firm video with wife.

Wedn - short run 4.3 miles

Friday - easy 5 mile run.

This week started poorly with a missed long run Sunday, but I've rebounded to get another 1500 in at the pool and then today I did the hill workout with the team from work: (60,75,90 seconds)x2. I then ran an extra ~ 5 miles - so the total mileage was about 8 miles. So that felt hard, but good.

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.

LesterTown Hills

I went out today with Larry and DaveB to do the always brutal LesterTown run - which takes us up the river and through some difficult stretches of uphill running. Total time was 53:30 for the 6.5 mile distance - good for an 8:14 pace. I'm pretty happy with that considering how much the hills slow you down during those stretches.

Wednesday I ran to the UCAP pool, did a workout that totalled 1000 yards (4x(200 steady/50 breast)) and then ran back. Round trip running was 3.1, while the swim eq.miles were ~3.6. A pretty weak week in the pool. Next week I'll start again on my 2x/week swims - and try to get the Sunday long run in...

Bowling

Bowling with the kids this weekend:
1. Me (dominated)
2. Julia (special talent)
3. Wife ('get your head in the game')
4. Mother in-law.
5. Elena - but first for enthusiasm.

Probably the last time I finish ahead of Julia in anything. I'm pretty certain she already has a much deeper understanding of the TV remote than I do.

Julia officially starts Kindergarten tomorrow and Jen started working at SHS yesterday - she went to bed at 8:00 tonight - so I can't say things are going great - but she seems to be holding it together pretty well.

I made it out for over 7 miles Sunday - felt awesome. Probably the best run in a long while. Did 5 with the Daves at work Monday. Wore those damned new Asics - felt fine for about 20 minutes then I had about half-dozen sore areas along the legs and feet. Not as bad as last week - I'm still holding out hope that I can break them in. Two more easy days and then another long (13 miles) on Friday.

One Week Left

I'm on my last week before the Washington Trail 10K in Durham on Memorial Day. I had a pretty good week last week, and started off this week with a smooth 4.5 miler Sunday night. It felt like my best run of the year. I took Monday off (more due to the work schedule than anything) and then hit the hills with the running team today: 45,90,120,45,90,120 second repeats. The hills felt good, although I'm a little gassed now - hanging out with the kiddos in the basement. As usual, they're all smiles.

So now the question is how to taper. Not being a high-mileage runner, I don't think cutting miles too much is worth it - maybe 20-30% - which is only 4-6 miles - leaving about a 15 mile week. Not counting Sunday's run (since it was really 8 days before the race), I have about 10 miles to work with. I'm thinking an easy 5-6 miler tomorrow and a shorter (<4 mile) run Friday - with some 45 second intervals. Saturday and Sunday will be rest days. The big question is how long the long run should be. I was leaning toward a 9 miler for Wednesday, but now I'm thinking it can't possibly do much good.

Hills.

Today was the seventh team hill workout over in the 'hood - but only my second of the year. It was a one-way ladder: 45,60,75,90,105 and 120 seconds. Like all hill workouts, it was killer. Still, combined with yesterday's intervals I now have about 10 miles in 2 days. One more long run - and it should be a pretty good week.

Hills!

Did my first hill workout with 'the team' today. The workout was: 30,45,60,75 seconds - and then back down. I took it pretty easy with my aching back. Feels ok now. No running tomorrow - just the swim class at night.

Brutal Hills Today

Today I took my newbie running Dave on the Lestertown road route - which actually heads north past EB, onto military highway - but then East alongside the sub-base on Lestertown road. This road sucks - brutal hill about 2.5 miles into the run that just killed me. I was driving the struggle bus for the rest of the run, which ended up at 52:50 for 6.25 miles (~8:30 min/mile pace). It's really not the lenght on this run, it's the hills that kill. I'll be felling this one for awhile.

Long Run Home

Today I left work a little early and ran home. The run covered 9 miles and I did it in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 20 seconds - an astounding 8 minutes faster than a few weeks ago. The weather had a lot to do with that - as it was a beautiful sunny/cool/dry afternoon. I decided to run a little hard 2x2 miles, so I started with ~1 mile warm-up at an even pace, then did 15 minutes faster, slowed for 10 minutes, then did 14 minutes fast. I then had an uphill (Brooke Street) for about four minutes - then did another 1/2 mile (4 minutes) fast, before hitting the Fishtown hill (3 more slow up-hill minutes) before finishing with another fast 8 minutes. I think I did ~5.85 miles fast at about a 7:10-7:15 pace, and another 27 minutes (~3.15 miles) at a slower (8:3oish) pace. All told, a pretty satisfying workout - since I *needed* the long run - but also wanted to mix in some faster tempo-type stuff before these shorter races come up.

6th Hill Workout

Ok, my 5th, but 6th on the team schedule. 3x60, 2x90, 1x120 - good for 8 minutes of hill running. The arch and legs felt a little sore heading out but warmed up ok. I feel a little queezy now - but not horrible.

More Difficult Hill Repeats

Today was the 4th set of Hill repeats with the team, and was (imo) one of the harder ones: 45,60,75,90,75,60,45 - for a total of 7:30. I think this workout is tough because of the shape of the hill - it flattens out at the top. As a result, the 75 and 90 second repeats aren't as difficult as they would seem. It didn't help that it was hot out. I feel a little sick now (a few hours later) - and have to give a scientific presentation in about 30 minutes - hopefully I'll make it through without getting sick.

Cheap Hills

So I had a meeting over lunch yesterday, as a result, I was unable to join the team for the hill workout. Instead, I made it out on my own, but did the easier hill on Meche street. It's not as steep, and therefore a little easier. I tried to compensate by really charging up and treating it like a short interval/hill work - I managed to get pretty winded. The ladder was: 30,45,60,75,75,60,45,30 - one of the easier ones. If I remember correctly, next week will feel much more difficult.

Between the Hills and the yard work, I'll be celebrating my drug of the week: Ibuprofen! Hurray Ibuprofen! Without you, I'd be out of shape and have ugly/weedy garden beds.