Puttin' Money In The Bank (L.A.D.)

Well, I took the last 5 days off to rest up a touch for the final push towards Boston. I probably would have been good with 3 days, but schedules got crazy the last 2 days and I wasn't able to get a run in. My wife is on vacation now for the next 3 weeks and I'll be able to really press the training going up to Boston. Last year I felt very overtrained going into St Louis, and this year I feel quite fresh with 6 weeks to go. Whereas last year my legs were like rubber, this year I feel strong. So, on to the final push!

Did 10.75 today. Wasn't the best run. First my system was a touch shocked from 5 days off. Second, I ate more for lunch than I should have and that was only about 90 minutes before I ran. Third, it was only 81 degrees! And fourth, I had to drop a deuce the whole 2nd half of the run. Stopped at the 3 and 7.5 mile marks for water. Overall though, it was a good even paced, easy aerobic run. 10.75 in 1:19:18 (7:23s).

I think I've really dropped the ball with my Long Run training. For various reasons, some acceptable, some probably less acceptable, I haven't done a consecutive long run (Last Sat. I got in 16, but it was a double) in 4 weeks. That, combined with the 5 days I took off this week .... and I'm suddenly feeling strong. Runners certainly can be fickle people though. A couple days ago I was feeling quite confident, but today's run ... well, the only positive about it was that I finished it without shaving any off. However, I did need to stop a number of times for water, but it was 75 degrees and relatively humid.

1pm, 75 degrees, breezy and humid. Did 21.25 today in 2:42:35 (7:39s). First 6.5 in 50:51 (7:49s). Stopped here for Gu. Next 3.5 flat to slightly downhill on grants trail in 24:17 (6:56s). Stopped here for water. The 3.5 back up the trail was in 26:37 (7:36s). I ran this portion with some guy I started talking to who was a marathoner as well. At the top I ran about .4 miles down the road and stopped at the public library for some water. I stopped one more time for water in the last section and stopped about 2 miles out to talk to a police officer sitting in her car that I knew. The last section was 7.75 in 1:00 (7:45s).

Not much good to say about this run except that I was able to finish it. Definitely one of those days that leaves me feeling that hitting a sub 3 at Boston is not even remotely close to possible. There will be other days in the next 4 weeks I'm sure that I will feel it is within reach. Just got to chalk this one up to some mistakes I've made over the last month in my traning and fix those mistakes over the next month.

12pm, 71 degrees and very windy. 6.3 mile recovery run today in 48:05 (7:38s). First 3.15 in 25:05 (7:58s). Took a quick stop at the Y to get some water and then headed back. Second 3.15 in 23:00 (7:18s).

Still going over yesterdays run in my head. And I'm just not sure what to make of it. I wasn't going hard, and I wasn't intending to, but the run still felt so much harder than it should have at 7:39s. My legs were pretty trashed today too, much worse than they usually are after such a run. I think the rest of the week I will continue to run easy, increasing the intensity as the week goes on and try by next weekend to get back down near M-pace for at least 8 miles. It is possible that I've not been getting the approrpiate sleep, so I think maybe I'll start using the sleep tracker if I think about it. Might as well start with last night. I think I got about 7.

4:45pm, 55 degrees and a light, but steady rain. First 5.4 in 43:53 (8:07s). Next 4.55 in 34:04 (7:29s). 9.95 in 1:17:57 (7:50s). .5 cool down in 4:07 (8:14s). Frankly, I don't have any clue what is going on. If you would have asked me to predict the pace I was running, I would have said that the 2nd section of the course was run around 7:10s. The first half I felt completely and absolutely bloated. I had a salad for lunch along with a bagel and a cup of coffee. That was about 3 hours previous, but if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought I ate and headed out the door to run. One possibility for these incredibly slow times as of late is related to my wife being sick. She has flu like symptoms. I've felt a touch queezy and such over the last couple days. Perhaps we've both got it, but my immunity is high enough that I'm barely getting any effects and its just got my system run down without knowing it. Nothing to get worried about just yet, but we'll see how things are by next week. Definitely something to keep an eye on over the upcoming days.

4pm and 70 degrees, windy. Did an 8.8 mile run to work today. Seemed like I was fighting a moderate wind the first 2/3rds before I got to turn and have it help me out. The first 3 miles didn't feel that great today, but I was eventually able to push through them and get the total run a bit closer to where I was before I took the 5 days off. 8.8 in 1:05 (7:23s). My guess is that the first 3 or so were around 8s.

3pm and 35 degrees, just a slight breeze. Good day for a 'winter' run, although its essentially spring. First 3.1 miles in 24 (7:45s). Next 2.6 [with 2 solid hill climbs of about 300 meters] in 18:19 (7:03s). Turned around and hit the same 2.6 back in 16:58 (6:32s), and finished up the starting 3.1 in 21:46 (7:01s). Followed this up with a .5 mile cool down in 4 minutes (8:00s). Total run time less the cool down was 1:21:04 for 11.4 (7:07s). If I take out the first 3.1 miles that gives me a solid 8.3 miles at MRP or faster. This is a good sign, and as I've been thinking over the recent situation .... I'm beginning to believe the drop off in pace was related to a drastic temp change from the mid 40s to the mid 70s. Coming off months of 40 and below, my body just had not acclimated to the higher temps. Pace for miles 3.1-11.4 was 8.3 miles in 56:56 or 6:51.5s (exactly MGP). Good stuff today. I'm well pleased. 

3pm and 45 degrees. 10.1 mile easy run in 1:15:02 (7:26s).

3:30 pm, 55 degrees, nice day. First 7 miles in 52:09 (7:27s). Next 3.05 in 21:56 (7:11s). The remaining 2.9 contained 2 pickups (1 about 4 minutes long, the other about 90 seconds long) 2 recoveries from each pick-up, and a relaxed finish to the run in 21:07 (7:17s). Average pace per mile for the 12.9 was 7:23s.

2.2 mile warm-up in 16:11 (7:21s). Then took about a 5 minute rest and talked to the WGHS distance coach. The team was planning on running a mile and 800 meter time trial at the track today, so I changed my plan. Hit the next 3.1 in 19:24 (6:15s). Then did .3 mile cool-down to the track where I hit 3 x 1 mile @ M-race pace (6:52,6:56, and 6:45) with a few minutes rest in between each one. Then another .3 before hitting my second 5k, except I shut this one down at the 3 mile mark. The first one was more downhill than up with a slight tail wind. This second one kicked my butt a bit more and my intent was not to get to a point where I was going 100% for the distance, but keeping it in the range of controlled speed. As such, I shut it down at 3 miles when I was beginning to feel the control slipping. 3 miles in 18:46 (6:15s). Then did 1 more mile at M-race pace (6:51) after 2 minutes rest. Finished with 1.3 mile cool down.

Total miles for the day was 14.2. A good quality day I felt.

55 degrees at 9am this morning. Calm and sunny. Weather.com said it was 45 degrees. The bottom line was I was overdressed in a long sleeve wicking shirt. The temps got to 60 half way through the run I would guess. At any rate, ran down to the YMCA and picked up the lady's for a recovery run today. Total run for the day was 9 miles in 1:11:31 (7:57s). I was a bit tired at the end of this one. Yesterday's killer workout has me still shot. Will go easy again tomorrow.

So I just finished typing up this dissertation on my run today and it didn't save. So now I post the pissy shortened version. 70 degrees at 12:30pm today. Breezy but humid with periodic bursts of light rain. Did 19.45 today. First 15.45 below M-race-pace and 4 mile cool down. The first 7 miles were at about race pace. The next 3 were about 10 seconds/mile faster and the final 5.5ish were about 5 seconds/mile faster. The full 15.45 was in 1:45:26 (6:49s). I stopped for Gu and water for 4 minutes at mile 7 and then stopped for 3 minutes for water at mile 10. Followed all this up with 4 at recovery pace (8:17s).

I believe today's run was a strong one that was directly influenced by Monday's workout. I'll try to rest up most of the rest of the week, but continue to get in easy miles.

Bought another pair of Asics Cumulus yesterday and ran in them today. I love those shoes. I don't know why I even considered the Nike Structure. I'm sure its a fine shoe, but not a shoe designed for me. Was beginning to have some trouble with the pronate support and the stiffness of the midsole, as such, I've retired them and activated another pair of Cumulus.

4pm and 60 degrees, breezy. Did a 10 miler today with 4 approximately 1 mile pick-ups at just a touch faster than race pace. Warm-up, 1 on, 1off, 1 on 1off, etc. Running time was 1:11:48 (7:11s).

3pm, 60 degrees, mostly calm and sunny. Planned on a 15.6 mile run today at a fairly easy, but steady pace. It actually ended up being a somewhat agressive progressive run. And at 1:22:00 I started to think I messed up the mileage, so I decided on an alternate route back from there. First 5.9 in 43:29 (7:22s). Next 5.6 in 38:48 (6:56s) for an 11.5 mile run of 1:22:17 (7:09s).  My guess is that my progressive run started out in the 7:45 range and hit a peak in the 6:15-6:20 range coming down a long hill the last mile. At this point, the route I had planned seemed to be more than 4 miles, but now that I think about it, it was probably right. At any rate, I modified my run just a touch and ended up shaving about .7 off the run or so. So I finished with a 3.4 mile cool down for a 14.9 mile run.

1pm and 66 degrees, calm. Easy 6.05 mile recovery-ish run today in 45:52 (7:35s).

4:45pm, 70 degrees and quite windy. First 2.8 miles in 20:42 (7:23s). Ran into Karen (a woman who was running along the same route as I was and training for a 1/2M) and did 1.45 with her. I stopped the watch during this segment, but I think we were probably running 8:00s-8:15s. Next 5.8 in 40:49 (7:02s). Next 2 miles clocked in at 6:28 and 6:27 before the final cool down. I honestly did not think I was moving this fast tonight. Obviously I was crusing right along, but it felt comfortable for most of the run. The 7:00s felt like just a moderate pace, certainly nothing approaching M-pace. This is a good thing I suppose. Total run tonight was 13 miles on the nose.

4:30 pm, 65 degrees and steady moderate rain. Easy 8.3 today. First 3 in 22:41(7:34s), next 2.5 in 18:34 (7:26s), next 2 in 14:35 (7:18s), and the last .8 in 5:55 (7:24s). Total 8.3 in 1:01:43 (7:26s)

5pm, 60 degrees, sunny with a slight breeze. Did a 6 mile run at marathon race pace [41:34 (6:49s -- was actually 5.95)] followed by a 1 mile recovery run. Immediately into a 5 mile run at slightly faster than 1/2 marathon race pace [31:53 (6:23s)] also followed up with a 1 mile recovery run. Tough workout, but man it feels great now.

40 degrees and steady, light to moderate rain tonight at 6pm. This was a killer run today that had me wimpering like a baby immediately afterwards. Did an 11.1 (might have been a touch less than this, so between 11 and 11.1) mile loop twice. This loop is definitely rolling hills with some good ups and downs. On the first lap I felt very good early on, my goal was to hit the downhills hard and recover during the rest (only on the 1st lap). Well, I did just this, but my recovery pace was probably close to marathon race pace as the first lap went down in 1:13:10 (6:34s for 11.1 or 6:39s for 11). At this point I came in the house, got a Gu (took one at mile 4 too), a drink of water, and changed my shirt. Lap 2 was intended to be mainly easy base miles, working on fat burning. And I think as a result of glycogen burn-up in lap 1 it was a definite switch-over to fat burning. This lap was in 1:23:57 (7:38s for 11 or 7:34s for 11.1). My calves and hams were singing a song of their own when I was done. After I finished I got some quick juice in me and followed that up with a cup of chicken bouillon to replace the sodium loss. Then I hit an ice bath. All these things significantly helped my calves and hams. I've never felt such soreness in those areas after a run as today. Total run was 2:37:07 (7:09s for 22 or 7:05s for 22.2).

Well, that's it. I now officially begin taper mode as I move into the last 3 weeks before Boston.

5pm and 60 degrees. Very windy. 8.4 mile easyish /base run in 60:40 (7:13s). 30:38 (7:18s) there and 30:02 (7:09s) back. The way there was mostly into the wind and the way back was mostly with the wind. Stopped in the middle watch my son Eric take his first tennis lesson. He did well and seemed confident himself with how he did. Good for him! Legs still fairly shot today from Saturday's killer run.

Did one of those run to work, run home things tonight. So temps at 4:45pm were about 60 or so and very windy. Fought the wind most of the way to work. Ran 5.4 in 40:57 (7:35s). On the way home temsp had dropped into the upper 40s or so. Not so windy. 5.45 on the way home in 39:47 (7:18s). 2nd to last mile in 6:48. Both of these runs were done with a 3-5lbs backpack on that contained my work clothes.