5/27-6/2

Monday: 8.25mi (60:22) Real slow recovery run.

Tuesday: AM - 8mi (no watch) Felt better than expected, PM - 3mi (no watch) Stopped in trails on way home from work.

Wednesday: AM - 5.3mi (38:58) Real slow for some reason, PM - 9.5mi (link)My first fast track workout in quite a long time. The workout was 10-12 x 400m at Daniels' "R" pace with a full recovery (3-4 minutes). My plan was to hit 70-72 seconds but I am having a hard time determining pace and was getting out too fast for most of the repeats. I did 10 repeats because I do not want to hurt myself and my times were: 66.5, 69.9, 69.5, 70.6, 66.9 67.8, 69.2, 69.2, 68.5, 68.3 and my average rest was about 3:15. I felt good by 2:30-3:00 of rest so I did not want to sit around for the full 4 minutes. I really need to work on pacing.

Thursday: 

Friday: 

Saturday: 

Sunday:

Total for week: 34 miles

5/20-5/26

Monday: 8.1mi (56:20) Surprised it was this quick.

Tuesday: 8.8mi (62:43) Easy run.

Wednesday: AM - 5.3mi (37:30), PM - 11mi () 2.2 mile warm-up followed by 6xmile at tempo pace (~10k pace) with 1 minute rest + 2.2 mile cool-down and 4 strides. I based the target pace on Daniels tables from my race this past weekend and was supposed to hit 5:40-5:50 but I never touched that window. My times were 5:33, 5:37, 5:34, 5:35, 5:35, 5:32 and I was ready to go within 30 seconds each repeat. My pacing was pretty bad as I bounced between 80 second quarters and 85 second quarters trying to dial in the pace. I also felt surprisingly good during the cool-down. Take it easy the next two days.

Thursday: 6mi (44:53) Cut it short because I felt like %*#(.

Friday: AM - 5.3mi (37:34) Easy, PM - 10.2mi (71:11) Felt much better but I felt a twinge in my left soleus so I had to slow things down quite a bit. I will probably take tomorrow off.

Saturday: Off

Sunday: 18.1mi (2:01:14) (link) This was my longest run in a long time but I did not think it was going to go that way in the beginning. I started out with a 7:46 first mile and felt like garbage. It took all the way to halfway to get the average pace down to 7minutes/mile. At that point I stopped at my car, stretched, changed shoes, got some water and took a GU pack for the first time ever. What a horrible after-taste! I felt a lot better and average 6:24 min/mile for the next 9 miles and dropped as low as 6:03 for mile 12 or 13. Good run.

Total for week: 72.8 miles

5/13-5/19

Taking an easy week to rest up. I am feeling really tired after building up from 60 miles/week to over 80 miles/week for the first time in a long time. I am pretty much cutting out morning runs and only running 6 days this week.

Monday: 9.1mi (62:21) Easy run. Started out slow but loosened up by end.

Tuesday: 8.1mi (no watch)

Wednesday: 10mi (63:18) + 0.6mi cool-down (link) - Same 10 mile progression run as last Wednesday but since it is an easy week I dropped my pace slower to make the run easier. I was surprised to run the second half 20 seconds faster than last week (29:40ish) and it felt better.

Thursday: 8.1mi (57:47) Really easy to recover. Felt good.

Friday: 6mi (42:48) Another easy day. Did an acceleration at end + 4 strides.

Saturday: 12mi total - started with 3 mile warm-up ending with acceleration (21:43) + 12k/7.4mi race (42:36) and 1.5 mile cool-down (13:46). The race was the Bedford Rotary 12k (link) and it was pretty much awful. I knew that I was not in shape to race but Friday night I decided that I just needed to jump in with two feet and should race myself into shape. I did the 9.5mi leg of the Mill Cities Relay in December at 5:25 pace and this was only 7.4 miles and I avaraged 5:44 pace - pretty pathetic.

Sunday: 9.25mi (63:48) Based on how I felt last night I though that this would be an awful run but after the first mile I dropped to 6:50 pace and ran that pace the rest of the way.

Total for week: 62.5 miles

4/22-5/12

It has been quite a while since I have updated my blog. It is not because I have been injured, as in the past, it's just that I have had so much else going on. I have actually been running injury free since the middle of July, 2012 averaging almost 50 miles per week. I do a four week rotation of three weeks between 50 and 65 miles and then an easy week between 30 and 50 miles and I do not run more than 6 days per week. Taking a bit more rest seems to have really helped. The last change is that the only quality that I do is on the roads or trails - I am pretty sure that all the repeats on the track led to more than one injury.

Anyways, I just started building up my mileage so that I can handle either the Daniels 'Plan A' or 'Elite Plan' to attempt my first marathon this fall. I like the structure of the 'Elite Plan' but do not think that I will get much over 85 miles/week so I may have to do a hybrid plan. I have started this training before and not followed through and can not promise that it won't happen again. I am pretty terrified of the 26.2 mile distance and am not really sure how my body will handle it.

Here is my training for the last two weeks plus this week:

4/22-4/28

Monday: 8.3mi (55:42)

Tuesday: 10.5mi (71:41)

Wednesday: AM - 3.1mi (22:21), PM 10mi (64:22) Moderate progression run. First one and felt alright.

Thursday: 8mi (58:07)

Friday: 9mi (61:04)

Saturday: 3.1mi (21:45)

Sunday: 16mi (1:45:30)

Total for week: 68 miles

4/29-5/5
Monday: 7.3mi (53:26) Totally wiped
Tuesday: 10.5mi (71:29)
Wednesday: AM - 5.2mi (37:09), PM 10mi (63:14) I was feeling fine until the last two miles. I had hydration issues and dropped from 6 minute pace to 6:30 pace on the last two miles. Bonk!
Thursday: 8mi (58:35)
Friday: AM - 5.2mi (38:34), PM 8.2mi (57:44)
Saturday: 4.3mi (30:27)
Sunday: 16mi (1:50:15) Easy and under control
Total for week: 74.7 miles

5/6-5/12
Monday: AM - 5.2mi (38:35), PM - 9mi (62:23)
Tuesday: 9.1mi (62:17)
Wednesday: AM - 5.3mi (38:02), PM 10mi (62:16) + 0.5mi cool-down (link) - Another progression. Got down to 6min pace by half way and held it for the second 5 miles. Did a short cool down.
Thursday: 8.1mi (no watch) Really slooowwww.
Friday: AM - 5.3mi (38:38), PM - 10mi (69:16) Decent run.
Saturday: 3.5mi (25:35) Really slow for some reason.
Sunday: 15mi (1:44:38) I was really tired and this was much slower than I expected.
Total for week: 81 miles

This was the first time over 80 miles in a week in a long time and it was much harder than I remember. Taking a rest week next week.

12/17-12/23

Even though I was tired most of the week things really improved by the end of the week. I had my highest mileage yet and had a decent workout despite feeling tired. I would like to go over 70 miles next week since I will not be working and can sneak in a nap each afternoon and possibly some morning runs (not likely).

Monday: 10mi (72:26) It was wet, windy and really slippery running on the ice and snow so this was a real slow one. I am so tired of running in the cold on packed snow.

Tuesday: 10.2mi (68:57) Finally got to run on a surface that did not slip back half a step each stride. Easy run to recover from the last two days.

Wednesday: 11.2mi - 2.9mi warm-up, 10k threshold run (33:58), 2.1mi cool down. I was not sure how this was going to go because I was a bit tired from the last couple days and the wind was pretty strong on the back stretch of the track. I almost bailed at 5km but things loosened up after 2.5-3 miles and I finished much better than I started. Splits were: 5:29, 5:29, 5:27, 5:27, 5:24, 5:26, 74. I felt pretty good after the workout but will take it really easy the next two days.

Thursday: 10.5mi (73:10) Recovery run.

Friday: 10mi (68:16) Kind of cold, really wet and windy, extremely miserable. This run just sucked.

Saturday: off

Sunday: 17.2mi (1:50:27) I don't say this often, but this was a truly awesome run. I was not sure how things would go because I have been feeling really tired for the last week and I did not get decent sleep the last two nights because we have a sick 2 year old in the house. I started out quick and when mile 9 passed in 5:58 I had to pull things back a little bit. I felt strong and I was just cruising at 6:15 pace for the last half of the run. I did 4-5 full speed accelerations between mile 8 and 10 to recruit fast twitch muscle fibers.

Total for week: 69.1mi

12/10-12/16

More catch up here. I was a bit short on the miles this week for some reason, had a mediocre workout and had a slow, sloppy long run. Overall the week was kind of meh.

Monday: 8mi (55:24) Easy recovery.

Tuesday: 10.2mi (70:38)

Wednesday: 10.1mi (64:22) I was at work today so I did a 3 mile warm-up, 6x0.33mi hill followed by 1 mile at threshold pace (5:22) and then 2 mile cool-down. This was the same workout that I did two weeks ago in 63:48 w/ a 5:27 mile at the end. I was definitely more tired this week and the warm up and cool down were slower as well as the first mile split on the hill efforts but I was able to pull things together and get in a decent workout.

Thursday: 8mi (58:18) Easy recovery.

Friday: 10mi (64:14) Let it out a bit on one of my standard 10 mile out-and-back runs.

Saturday: off

Sunday: 16mi (1:50:06) I was cold and snowy the whole time so I was pretty tired at the end from slipping on every step and being frozen to the core. It is amazing how much this kind of run takes out of you even when going easy.

Total for week: 62.3mi