Week 14 Intervals

A very difficult 8x800 off-track session yesterday.  Luckily, Larry went out also - which made it easier and the weather was fantastic.  I took 26:15 to do the full 4 miles worth of intervals.  That's a pretty good clip.  My groins did tighten-up - so I did a solid yoga session last night and hopefully will remember the strengthening excercises tonight.  Little else going on today.  Tomorrow I do 8 - pretty fast.  Thursday is the swim (moved from today due to the busy work schedule).  Friday is a nice 2 hour 13 miler.

Biking Through Week 12.

I'm really wanting one of those cyclocross bikes.  I wish I'd known about them when I purchased my hybrid.  Anyway.  Before buying a new bike, my wife points out I should put a few miles on my current bike.  So today, after doing my 'off-track' intervals with Larry (2x1 miles 6:50ish; 1x800 6:30ish + bitch hill) I biked home today - my first ride in about 4 weeks (last one was sept 20th).  I'll take it into work tomorrow.  Rain Wednesday could push my long run back to Saturday - but that's ok - I'm still thinking I'm going to have a great week training.  Starting to feel good about this race.  I'll plan I buying my kick-ass bike next summer if we move up to Mass as a reward for all the hastle.  Of course, if we stay, I'll buy one anyway...

Hit the Track.

I finally made it to the Fitch High track for interval work.  6x1200s.  I like 1200s.  They're easy, yet not too easy.  I did all 6 in about 5 minutes - which I think is about a 6:50 pace or so.  I'm going to PWN week 11!

Wharrgarbl.

Long run yesterday.  My second 14 miler in a row.  Although it feels good to be in, what I call, the intermediate-long distances (14 and 15 milers).  I was hoping the second 14 would feel less painful than the first 14.  I started after dropping my kids off at school and just heading into work.  It felt bad from the start and was a 2 hour struggle.  I did the GLP loop (2 miles), as well as extra mileage around work - including the Jupiter loop.  2 hours even.  Weather was the first cold day of the year (40s when I headed out).  Felt like crap all day afterward.  Ate like a horse at dinner.  Strength training today - off tomorrow.  Next week starts with 12x400 intervals.  I'd like to run these hard at a track - but all the tracks are starting to fill up.  Maybe skip out at lunch...

Intervals and Good 'Ole State

So I made it to Penn State this weekend for the big 'bama Penn State football game.  It was an awesome visit.  I had forgotten how wonderful Happy Valley is on football weekends (and all other times).  Did dinner with the former advisor Friday night before wondering around town: found my old house and hit Zenos for a few beers and even managed to remember a few gift items for the wife and kids.

I also managed to not get to mangled Friday night and made it out for a 6.2 miler on Saturday morning.  Headed from the overnight RV parking, past the stadium into campus - looped around the golf course, then came back up past the stadium into muddy RV park.  Tailgated remainder of morning and afternoon before game.  Perfect.  Run was a sweaty sweltery mess and I couldn't run fast - but that's ok.

Got back into serious running today: 6x800 off track intervals along Tyler at work.  I think most were ~3:15s.  Felt hard but not very long which I take as a good sign.  Not sure how the rest of the week is going to go.  I should bike home Thursday and run long into work Friday - but I need to double check the schedule.  I should also try to do a strength workout Tuesday.  Wednesday should be a tempo run and Thursday should be a swim.  But we'll see, sounds a bit aggressive.

Irene.

The New London Thames river. Pretty incredible. Makes me thankful it wasn't a more intense storm when it whipped through.

Made it out before lunch to survey the damage around Eastern Point. Beautiful day for a run - nice clean and dry atmosphere after a hurricane. I did the down ladder intervals I missed a few weeks ago: 1200;800;600;400;200. I also did ~400 up the Meche hill. They felt pretty easy although my groins were hurting - I had to stretch them out in-between intervals. A reminder of the workouts I missed last week: yoga - can't be forgetting the yoga. All ints were off-track, but I did manage the 800 in 3:10 (6:20 pace) - and that's a pretty decent measurement. I should be able to nail my other run workouts - although cross-training is going to take a hit since Lany doesn't start school until next week - so I'll be on drop-off duty for awhile - no biking. I may try and finagle a swim Thursday.

We're still without power in Groton. Wife is going stir-crazy at home with the kids. Hopefully Mystic will get it back - although The Day is reporting that it could be a week or more in some locations. An interesting few weeks to end the summer of 2011.

Start to a Good Week?

Question mark? Well, I haven't had many good weeks of late. But this week is starting out pretty bad ass. First - the weather's been great. Second - I did my first intervals of my 'marathon training' yesterday: 1600 (6:47), 800 (~3:20), 1600 (7:07) and then a good 2 minute hill climb. Solid, off-track effort. The topper - bike home last night and to work today - 18 miles and about a 1 hour 30 minute effort. Tomorrow I'll start with a good tempo run and then finish with another bike to and from work Wed evening/Thr morning. Hopefully, mileage will be good, x-training will be solid and I'll get in some strength. I'm looking for a 6-8 hour effort week.

Week 9 Intervals

I did 1600;800;1600 today. The first mile was ~7 minutes, the 800 was under 3 - but I can't remember how much below - maybe a 5:40 pace. The last 1600 was 6:30. Rainy day - but it was pretty nice when I went out at 4.

End of the World Edition

So I had a solid week. 21 miles - broken down to 3 runs. Monday I did 5 miles - but the workout was 4x800s. I really liked this workout - it is kinda over before you know it - but you certainly find yourself working pretty hard for those 4 intervals. Wednesday I did 5 miles pretty quick ~ 38 minutes - but the first one was ~8 min/mile, so the final 4 should've been around 7:30 or slightly under. Not the best tempo pace - but Larry and I were certainly working hard. Today was the dreaded 11 miler. Funny how 11 miles during marathon training is the easiest workout ever - but now, over 18 months later, feels pretty hard again. I did it in 1 hour 37 minutes. I ended up running it this morning after dropping the kids off at school. I did the first 3rd in 35 minutes (beginning 'till the rail road tracks), then I did the Haly farm loop (from rr-tracks back to Bluff point parking) in 31 minutes - and finished the last 3.6 miles in 31 minutes. It was a good workout - it felt long - but certainly build confidence for the Twilight Trail Run. Hopefully the world can hold it together until then!

Kick'n It

Made it out today for the first intervals of the year: 4x800s off track on Tyler and the Jupiter loop. They felt hard - as intervals should - and my groin is in pain right now. I'm suppose to do a tempo tomorrow - but may swap it out for the 'long' run since it'd only be 8 miles and that sounds easier than 4 miles fast right now. Injury aside, it is good to be runnin hard again and on my way with the first race training of the Spring season.

Lull

I hit a lull. A wonderful, beautiful fall weekend - and I was just wiped out. Too much training? Too much other life? I ended up not running until yesterday, following last Friday's 7 mile tempo/interval run. The Friday run was good - I did 7 miles including 1x1;1x2;1x1 mile intervals - all at about a 6:40 pace. Felt fast. Saturday nothing. Sunday 1 hour strength. Monday nothing. Tuesday 5 miles easy. Today??

Beach Run and 10x400s

Monday I headed out to Misquamicut for the end of summer beach run. They flipped the course again - I believe because a fairly large dead sea turtle washed ashore and they didn't want people running into it??? Anyway the flipped course and the fact I brought my Asics instead of my beater shoes meant that I was going barefoot. I hit the 1.5 mile turnaround in 10:48 and then eased up slightly to finish the race in 21:50. A sub 7:20 effort - could have went faster but I didn't want to trash my toes on the sand like I did a few years ago.

Yesterday I did 10x400s at the ConnCollege track. Each one was around 1:30 (6 min/mile pace) and the average below that - so it felt good and pretty fast. One more long run and I'm pretty much done with this training program!

Ahh Summer.

We're had great cool dry weather the last few days. I headed over to Fitch afterwork and did: 200;400;600;800;600;400;200s. I did the 200s in about 38 seconds (~5 min/mile pace), the 400s ~ 1:25 and the 800 was around 3:10. Faster than normal. I think the previous speed work helped. Today I just did an easy 5 with a few guys at work. Now it's 3:00 on Friday - and I'm trying to boogy out of work.

More Intervals.

So I wrapped up last week by heading over to the Conn College track Saturday morning. Sandwiched between mile warmup/cooldown was: 3x150;3x30;3x120. It's nice to run all out. Can't believe I hadn't done this type of workout before. Up next interval wise will be the more standard: 200;400;600;800;600;400;200 workout.

Sunday morning I headed out earlyish for a nice 8 miler - 1 hour 12 minutes later I rolled in completely soaked in sweat. Not pretty, but a good start to the week. Today I took a break from running and did 1400 in the pool: 5x50s; 300 steady; 5x50s. The 5x50s felt real hard. My fastest was about 48 seconds. Slowly getting faster.

500th Post!

I've been doing this blogging thing for some time now! It's certainly helped my running and overall fitness. So: thank you Internet.

Friday I did a fun track workout over at Conn College. I started with a one mile warmup, followed by 2x150 fast, 30 all-out fast (50 lead in) and then 120 all-out fast. It was fun. I think I did the 120 in 17 seconds - although now I think that can't be right. I'll double check this week. I finished the workout with a single 400 interval to get help fill out my distance vs. pace chart. I did it in 1 minute 21 seconds. Then a 1 mile cooldown - good for 3.75 total miles.

Today I went out with a nice large group from work to do 5.7 miles in blistering temps - we went pretty slow: 52 minutes. I'll be looking forward to some swims this week.

I'm also starting to piece together my plan of attack this fall. The goal is to run my best ever 1/2 marathon - mainly by piling on some miles. The problem is that it's starting to get hot and muggy out - so I want to do mostly cross training until September and race is in late September. My solution is to start in August and do this 8 week plan. Hopefully I won't pass out in August. I think the plan is manageable - I have my version of it on google docs.

Week 3 Done.

So I managed some nice workouts this week. After my long run Sunday, I did a solid swim workout on Monday. The main workout was a progression of 1x100 [25 fast;75 EZ], then 2x100 [25 EZ; 25 fast; 50 EZ], and so on totaling 1000 (+ warmup and cooldow). I liked the workout - it was interesting and relatively easy to keep track of. I then took Tuesday off and then did off-track 3x1 mile intervals on Wednesday. I've lost my watch again so I'm not certain how fast I did them - but they certainly felt difficult. The worst part was that my groin felt real sore - I really had to stretch it after each interval. Will this ever go away? More swimming on Friday - 2x200 Steady; 2x100 fast; 2x200 steady; 2x100 fast. The 'fasts' felt real hard. Almost a mile in the pool all told.

This weekend we're getting lashed with some serious wind-driven rain. I bagged my first run of the year - the O'Niantic 5k - mainly due to my groin - although I'm sure the weather kept the total number of runners pretty low. I probably would've had a good chance at an age-group place had I went (assuming the groin didn't snap after 1 mile).

Next week - I think I'm going to do 2 runs from work and maybe one swim - then resume the 2xweek swimming plan after that. I need a bit of a break from the pool. Besides - I probably can't go very long tomorrow with this rain storm and wind blowing around. It really is nasty out there.

I think this week has me a little down. Or, at least the groin does. I'll have to re-think my racing schedule a little. Hopefully it'll be ok for the Providence 1/2 and TwTr-Run. Then I can take the remainder of the summer and do another triathlon - before setting my sites on a fall 1/2 - 1oK combo.

Weekly totals: 18 miles running over 2 hours and 5 minutes; over 11 x-training 'miles' in the pool in over an hour and a half. As well as 50 minutes of 4x8 strength training + 1 yoga session.

Holiday Charge.

Holiday Charge is the title of a recent Runners World article that claims "Even a minimal amount of mileage keeps you fit, sane and motivated through the silly season." I'm planning on taking the next 2-3 months pretty easy - but I do plan on getting out at least 3 times/week and make an attempt to get stronger and more flexible at the same time. Last week I managed 3 runs of about 4-5 miles each totaling 13 miles over 1 hour and 45 minutes. More importantly I did about 1 hour of what I'll call miscelaneous activities including 3 yoga sessions, one core session and an upper body workout.

This week I'm continuing the "charge". I've done two more runs: 5 miles Monday and a 4x400 today. I tried to do the 400s as fast as possible - add some intensity once a week. I'll try and do hills and blah/tempo runs at some point - along with a goal of one longer run [8+ miles] once every 3 weeks.

Week 11 Done; Week 12 Underway

I finished up last week with a 7 miler on Sunday night. Sunday was miserable, but Sunday night actually had a beautiful feel to eat: low clowds, not too wet, great views down by Beebe Cove and Groton Long Point.

Week 12 started the next day with 4x1 mile intervals down around the Jupiter loop and Tyler Ave. They felt pretty good and I did most around the 7:10-7:20 min/mile pace. Yesterday I did the Twilight Trail Run course again - this time I picked up the pace a little compared to my last few 'easy' runs and did it in 1:04:30 - good for a 8:43 pace. That's exactly where I need to be for the marathon - so that's good.

Week 9: Yasso 800s

Hard to believe I'm in week 9 already. I did some off-track Yasso 800s today. These are suppose to be, in minutes what the goal marathon pace is in hours. That's just too easy for me though - and so I did the 800s at a goal 3:30 - even though I know damn well I won't be sniffing 3:30 come November 22nd. I did them down at Tyler - including the Jupiter loop - for a total of 20:30 - about 6:55 min/mile pace - just under the goal pace - and they felt pretty easy at that. I think they would've been easier if I didn't have the race 2 days ago. Total mileage - about 6.5. Tomorrow I'll probably do the Twilight Trail run again since I think that's easy on the legs.

Bonus coverage: I got a 'beer of the month' for a birthday present - reviews to come soon ....

Week 7: Intervals

Today I did my first set of intervals of the season: 3x1 milers with Larry down at Tyler near Avery Point. We did the first mile in 6:49, the next in ~7:10 (deliberate slow down) and the final in ~7:00 minutes. It felt good to go fast. The first two didn't even hurt much. The last one I could feel - hopefully it'll help this Sunday - can't hurt.