10/25-10/31

Monday: 0 - sick
Tuesday: 0 - sick

Wednesday: 0 - sick

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:
Sunday:

Completed: 0mi + 0mi cycling
Plan Total: 30mi + 100mi cycling (need to adjust for being sick)

Shoe Mileage - Aegis: 35.75, Tempo: 20

10/18-10/24

Monday:

• AM: 3mi (21:30) Easy run after lifting.
• PM: 20 miles on the bike.
  

Tuesday:

• AM: 20 miles on the bike
• PM: 3mi+ (22:30) Easy run.
  

Wednesday: Brick - 20 miles on the bike + 4mi (28:03)

Thursday:

• AM: 20 miles on the bike
• PM: 4.25mi (30:32) + lifting. 3x15 (squat, leg extensions, hamstring curls, bench, lat pulldown, military press) + 3x10 1-legged squat (pretty darn hard).
  

Friday: 6mi (43:52) I did not really feel like cycling today so I ran a bit further. Man, it is really cold outside. I had to run with a hat and gloves. 3x10 1-legged squats + core work and stretching.

Saturday: Brick - 10 miles on the bike + 4mi (30:00) I did not have much energy today.
Sunday: 0 - sick

Completed: 24.25mi + 90mi cycling
Plan Total: 30mi + 100mi cycling

Shoe Mileage - Aegis: 35.75, Tempo: 20

10/11-10/17

I am back from an easy week but I will probably not hit the same running mileage I was doing two weeks ago. I am going to continue riding 3-4 days per week to give my legs a break from the pounding but still get in the cardio work and possibly some more leg strength. I am also hitting the weights a bit harder for the next month or so. I will do a separate post about that latter this week.

Monday: 20 miles on the bike.
Tuesday:

• AM - 20 miles on the bike.
• PM - 3mi (20:40) Easy run after lifting.
  

Wednesday:

• AM - 4mi (27:48) This was an easy morning run to shake out the legs. Quicker than I expected.
• PM - 9mi () 2.2 mile warm-up (16:03) followed by 4x1600 w/ 400m rest @10k pace. Finished with a 2+ mile cooldown (17:11). I did the first repeat alone and then ran with Joe Rogers for the next three. He had a great workout and actually forced me to run the workout quicker than I originally planned because he was cruising tonight. Times and rests were: 5:15 (2:10), 5:19 (2:28), 5:10 (2:31), 5:07. I was cruising for the first two, felt comfortable hard on the third and had to work pretty hard on the fourth one. Good workout. I will probably just ride tomorrow with a short run.
  

Thursday: 10 miles on the bike and lifting. I was going to ride 60-90 minutes tonight but I think that I am going to take my day off today. My 9 month old son is sick and I got no sleep last night.

Friday: 25 miles on the bike.

Saturday: 20 miles on the bike + 3 miles running.
Sunday: 30 miles on the bike.

Completed: 19mi + 125mi cycling
Plan Total: 50-60mi + 60mi cycling

Shoe Mileage - Aegis: 24.5, Tempo: 7

10/4-10/10

I have been ramping my mileage for about 5 or 6 weeks so far and even though my mileage is not too high (60ish/week), I can feel the stress of increasing mileage on my body. I am starting to feel a bit tired and my right IT band/knee are acting up a bit. I am going to take a really easy this week and cut my mileage to around 40 miles but add in some cycling to keep working on my cardio. I also trashed my old shoes and got two new pairs to help out.

I did not get near what I wanted with only 20 miles of running and 70 miles on the bike, but it was an easy week. This is roughly 40-45 total equivalent miles.

Monday:

• AM: 3mi (21+) Easy run and then lifting.
• PM: 30 miles on the bike (90+ minutes) Easy ride.
  

Tuesday: 5.1mi (37+) Easy run. I was going to ride too but I was really tired.

Wednesday: 9.5mi - 3mi warm-up, 4x1600 w/200m rest @ HM pace and 2.2 mile cool down. I really wanted to take it easy tonight because my right IT band is acting up a bit and I am taking a real easy week but I kept the rest real short and sweet. 5:57 (1:09), 5:50 (1:06), 5:42 (1:10), 5:30. I ran 85's for the first 3 laps of the last one and then let it out a little and closed in a 75. The workout was pretty easy but it felt good and my IT band did not bother me at all.
Thursday: 20 miles on the bike.
Friday: 20 miles on the bike (60 minutes) + paces elementary 2km and 3km races (~20 minutes).

Saturday: 0
Sunday: 0

Completed: 20.7mi + 70mi cycling
Plan Total: 40mi + 60mi cycling

Shoe Mileage - Aegis: 9.5, Tempo: 3

New Gear

It is time again to get some new kicks because the old ones have served far beyond their intended tenure. I included a photo of the carnage below. I have been running in a mix of five different shoes: Asics DS-Trainer 11, Asics Gel-3000, NB 904, Nike LunarElite and Nike LunarGlides. I have mixed feelings about each of these shoes but they have served me pretty well for the last couple of months.

I have been a long-time Asics fan, particularly the DS-trainer, but I am so frustrated that they completely change the shoe every year. Some years the shoe feels like a light-weight trainer and other years it feels like a stability shoe. Some years it is too wide, other years it is too narrow. Over the last several years I have been as small as a size 11.5 and as large as a 14 when I am really a 12.5. I also tried the Nike Lunar shoes and they are alright but the heel counter irritates my achilles so those are out. The NB are way too soft.

9/27-10/2

Monday: 8mi (58:30) Really easy. I felt like crap again today.
Tuesday: 10mi (71:19) Not great, but much better than the last two days.

Wednesday:

• AM - 4mi (28:39) I felt much better this morning. Just a shake out.
• PM - 10mi () 3 mile warm-up, 8x800m @ marathon time (about half marathon pace) w/ 400m rest. I think this is basically an aerobic power workout. I hit times of 2:42 (2:14), 2:42 (2:17), 2:44 (2:09), 2:40 (2:10), 2:42 (2:21), 2:43 (2:12), 2:40 (2:18), 2:36. I felt good on the workout and it was not too difficult but it was soooo humid tonight so I sweat a ton. It was a little bit challenging to get air. I only did a 1 mile cool-down in like 8:30 because I was pretty tired. I tried to do 4x100 barefoot strides on the grass but that did not go great either. I am currently taking an ice bath from my knees down and will take it really easy tomorrow.
  

Thursday: 6mi (46:39) Really slow today, but it was intentional. I need the rest. This humidity is ridiculous - I thought we were heading for fall. My feet felt much better after the ice bath last night so I will do that again tonight.
Friday: 0 - I moved my off day to today because the weather sucked and this weekend should be amazing running weather.

Saturday: 10mi (62:10) This was such a great run. I felt good from the get-go and just cruised along enjoying the great fall weather. I was supposed to be at 6:30 pace but I was running 6:15's without much effort and finished with a 5:40. Easy and long tomorrow.
Sunday: 14.5mi (1:43+) I felt better than last Sunday but I was pretty tired today and never really got into much of a groove. It is unfortunate because the weather was so nice - I really wanted to have a good run today. Oh well, I got the miles in.

Completed: 62.5mi
Plan Total: 60-65mi

9/20-9/26

I ran 59.7 miles and nearly got my goal of 60-65 miles. I will shoot for the same this next week.

Monday: 8.1mi (58:10) Really easy. I felt really good except the last mile or so. I was planning on doing a second run today but punted because of how I felt.
Tuesday: 8.1mi (58..) Easy run again today. I felt a bit off.

Wednesday:

• AM - 3mi (22:30) Easy run to shake out the legs.
• PM - 9.5mi () 3mi warm-up (20:45), 4x1600m w/ 200m rest and 2.2mi cool down. My times were 5:35 (2:00), 5:35 (1:30), 5:37 (1:30), 5:39. I felt great on the first two but my fitness is not there right now so I slowed down a bit on the last two. Once I get a few more miles in my legs I will recover better. It was also quite warm and humid tonight.
  

Thursday: 6mi (46:00) Really easy run after last night's workout. I cut it short too because my soleus was a bit tight and tender. Felt alright later in the day.
Friday: 10mi (68:30) A slightly up-tempo run and it felt pretty good except for the humidity. This run is setting the framework for future threshold runs like I used to do on Fridays.

Saturday: Zippo
Sunday: 15mi (1:49:20) This was one bizarre-o run. My first mile split was 8:06 (holy crap!) and my last mile split was 6:12. I passed through 5 miles in 38:25 and my last 5 miles were in 33:51. I nearly stopped at 10 miles because I was feeling like garbage but things started loosening up and I felt much better the last 5 miles. One thing that I did was to do 4 20 second surges after 10 miles to recruit some fast twitch muscle fibers. I read that Ryan Hall does this on long runs and it seems to work. I'm glad I got in a long run but I hope I feel better in the coming days and weeks.

Completed: 59.7mi
Plan Total: 60-65mi

9/13-9/19

This was a good week. I slightly exceeded my mileage goal (60.5 miles vs 55-60 miles) and I did my first track workout. I am starting out slow and the workout was pretty relaxed, but it was so nice to get back on the track and run fast again. Right now it seems like things are headed in the right direction and all the little aches and pains are clearing up. I think the icing, stretching, lifting and extra drills are starting to pay off as is running only 6 days per week. I will bump my mileage slightly next week to 65 miles but will have to miss the track workout because of parent-teacher conferences. I might do a short threshold run on the roads instead.

Monday: 7.3mi (50:36) I almost did not get to run today because things were busy at work and then I bailed once in the evening because of the storms that rolled in. I finally got out the door at about 6:30PM and had to cut the run short a bit because it was getting dark, but man, what great weather for running. I felt so much better than yesterday and was able to click off the miles with ease.

Tuesday: 10mi (68:54) Felt good again today and the weather was really nice. Pretty easy effort.

Wednesday:

• AM 4mi (29:48) Real easy run to loosen up for this afternoon.
• PM 10mi () 2.2 mile warm up (16:04), 5x1000m @ 5k pace and 2.2 mile cool down (17:52). Workout splits and rests were 3:21 (3:37), 3:21 (3:36), 3:25 (3:42), 3:15 (4:13), 3:10.
  

Thursday: 6mi (44+) Easy, short run to recover from yesterday.
Friday: 10.1mi (72:24) I wanted to go a bit longer than usual and take it easy. Nice easy run. Ran a bit faster at the end.

Saturday: Goose egg. I intentionally took today off but did some core and strengthening work.
Sunday: 13.1mi (92:45) I started out really slow and felt a few small twinges and aches but things settled down and I got rolling about 4-5 miles into the run. Over all I felt really good and my long runs are now respectable.

Completed: 60.5mi
Plan Total: 55-60mi

First Workout - 5x1000m

2.2 mile warm up (16:04), 5x1000m @ 5k pace and 2.2 mile cool down (17:52). Workout splits and rests were 3:21 (3:37), 3:21 (3:36), 3:25 (3:42), 3:15 (4:13), 3:10.

I ran with Justin and Michael and was pretty was much hanging out for the first two and half repeats. I did not know what the body was capable of or it it would quit on me part way through the workout so I wanted to be cautious. The rests were long to start with and they started getting longer at the end so I tested myself a little and went solo at 400m of the 4th repeat and the entire 5th repeat. It felt good except my left shoe was tied too tight and my Achilles started bothering me. It really felt great to be working out again, especially since the weather is perfect for running.

9/6-9/12

I came up a bit short of the goal for the week (51.5 miles vs. a goal of 55-60 miles) but I only ran 6 days and I started to feel better than I have been feeling the last couple of weeks. I also got my first double-digit run in, a whopping 12.2 miles today. I do not think that my long run will get much longer than this for the foreseeable future. With my recent track record of injuries I am planning on limiting my long run to 15 miles, total miles to 70 and I will only run 6 days per week. If I need any more base work I can always jump on the bike and add it there. If I can stay healthy off this plan throughout the winter then I may have a shot at running some fast times on the track and roads in the spring. Here's the breakdown for the week:

Monday: 8.2mi (57:27) Easy run.

Tuesday: 7mi (49:30) Easy run.

Wednesday: 8.7mi (61:00) I went a bit longer than planned, but I felt good once I got going.
Thursday: 7.4mi (52:32) Meh ... Just getting in the miles.
Friday: 8mi (55:13) I actually felt pretty good today. I started out easy at about 7:30 pace and dropped it down to 6:30 pace by the end. Good day.

Saturday: 0 - intentionally took the day off.
Sunday: 12.2mi (87:06) Yay, I finally got in double digit run. I felt decent at the beginning but things went down hill after the mid-way. My lower legs felt sore and my lower back tightened up. What ever happened to those days when running felt good?

Completed: 51.5mi
Plan Total: 55-60mi

8/23-9/5

I did not post last week because things were so busy. After work each day I drove an hour back to Nashua to spend 1.5 hours helping out with my oldest son's XC practice and then 2-3 hours at my second oldest son's football practice. I leave the house at 6:30AM and do not get home until 9:30PM, so this does not leave a lot of time for running. I had 32 miles of running, 30 miles of cycling and I ran 15 miles with the Nashua PAL XC preseason conditioning camp. I won't count those miles because it was 9-11 min/mi pace.

I ran 51 miles this week, although 6 of those miles were with my son at about 10 min/mi pace. My lower legs have been feeling like crap all week. I am not too sure what it is but I have a hard time running more than 5-6 miles at a time without discomfort. It is a dull, aching in my calves and back of my ankles (Achilles) and I had some pitting edema early in the week in both legs. Just to be on the safe side I got some blood/urine tests done and everything checked out so I am not really sure what is going on. Maybe it is just old age. Hopefully my body is just taking longer than normal to get into the groove and I can work out of this funk soon. The goal is to move up to 55-60 miles this coming week if the old body cooperates.

8/16/2010-8/22/2010

38 miles in 6 runs.

6/14-6/20

Monday: 8.2mi (58:00) This was pretty slow because my left hip was a little tender. I spent some time working on it with the foam roller, stretching and popping advil.

Plan

Tuesday: AM - 4mi, PM - 10mi

Wednesday: AM - 3mi, PM - 10mi
Thursday: AM - 4mi, PM - 8mi
Friday: AM - 4, PM - 10mi w/ ss run
Saturday: 8mi
Sunday: 16mi

Completed: 8.2mi

Plan Total: 75-85mi

6/7-6/13

This was a pretty hard week because I ran 81 miles, did three hard workouts and did my first 20+ mile long run. I am not sure how often I will run that long, but I wanted to see if I could do it at this point in my training. The hard workouts were a 5km tempo run in 16:12, hill repeats and a 10km steady-state run in 34:33. I am going to shoot for 80-85 miles next week but limit myself to 2 hard workouts.

Monday: AM - 3mi (20:56) Easy run at work. PM - 10mi (66ish) On Wednesday we are going to run hills and I wanted to get something fast in so I did a 5k tempo run tonight. I got out of work late so I did not make it back to Nashua for the Mine Falls Park Trail Race tonight so I ran the tempo run on the track. This worked out well because I was not sure about pace and running it on the track allowed me to get splits. My goal was to hit 5:20 pace for the first two miles and then run what ever felt good for the last mile. I was still feeling pretty tired from my long run and my legs were heavy but I settled into 79 sec/400m pace after about the first mile and split 5:15, 10:29 (5:14), 15:34 (5:05), 16:12 (:37). The first two miles were very comfortable, although not really that smooth, but I was working pretty hard on the last mile. I feel like I could have held 5:10-5:15 pace for another mile or two but I did not want to over-do it tonight. I did a three mile warm up (20:47) and a four mile cool down (28:52).

Tuesday: AM - 8.2mi (59:49) Slow recovery run early in the morning, PM - 6mi (41:57) Easy run.

Wednesday: AM - 3.3mi (24:20) Easy run to loosen up the legs, PM - 11.9mi (1:20:24) I warmed up by running 4 miles to the school and then we went to a hill close to Nashua South to do repeats. I think that the hill is about 1/5th of a mile long. The workout was 5 sets of 1/3, 2/3, all the way up and then a 100 meter stride at the bottom of the hill. The total workout added up to about 3.5 miles. I cooled down by running 3.5 miles home. I did one of the miles at MP (actually, I only hit 5:55 and felt like crap) to flush out the legs. I felt really tired today and my legs are beat up a bit so I am going to go really easy and short tomorrow.
Thursday: 6mi (44:13) I bailed on doubles today and did a really easy run. I was feeling over tired today and I have a steady-state run tomorrow so hopefully this will help.
Friday: 12mi+ (80ish) Instead of doing my standard 10 mile steady-state run I decided to do a 10km stead-state run on the track to mix things up. The main reason I did this was that I wanted to run a bit faster than the road run, even if I cut the distance. I started out with a 3 mile warm up and some strides. After how tired I felt yesterday I was not sure how I would feel today but things went pretty well. I wore my heart-rate monitor and set my HR alarms to 165bpm and 176bpm (170bpm should be roughly MP for me with HRM = 205bpm). My splits and HR were:

Mile Split Mile Split Avg. HR
1 5:35 5:35 166
2 11:06 5:31 170
3 16:39 5:32 171
5k 17:20
4 22:07 5:28 173
5 27:38 5:30 174
6 33:12 5:33 175
10k 34:33

I guess that looking at the HR it was steadily increasing over the run, so it was a bit faster than "steady-state". I finished with a strong 3 mile cool-down. Rest tomorrow.
Saturday: 0 - I just did not get around to running.
Sunday: 21.1 (2:33:33.) This was a pretty tough run because I did not have anywhere to get fluids on the route that I ran and it was 4 miles longer than my longest run so far. I decided to just take it slow and steady and focus on just getting the miles in rather than worry about pace. I averaged 7:17 pace, which is not bad for this long of a run.

Completed: 81.5mi

Plan Total: 75-85mi

5/31-6/5

I got back to business as I jumped my mileage up from 55 last week to a bit over 80 his week. I had good workouts on both Wednesday and Friday but felt pretty crappy the rest of the week. I am not sure why, but it bothers me when I run an 8 minute mile (I have the Forerunner set to give mile splits) and I have see several of those in the last week. I keep telling myself that it does not matter and that I should just listen to my body so that I recover and stay injury free. Looking back over the week, I will gladly take the slow miles on recovery runs if I can blast some good workouts (and races , in the future). It is only the first week of June and it feels like we are in the middle of August with all of this heat and humidity. I am hoping that it cools off and dries out a bit because I am rotating three pairs of running shoes right now and all three are always wet.

Monday: 11.7mi (?) My watch battery died just as I started the run. Grrrr! Anyway, I was planning on doing some hills today but after digging in the yard for 5 hours and considering the heat I just did a moderate run in Mine Falls Park.

Tuesday: AM - 6.5mi (50:25) This was a really slow recovery run. I was supposed to go 8 miles but it was so hot and humid and I felt like garbage so I cut it short. PM - 4mi (29:30) On the treadmill at work. I could not face the humidity again today.

Wednesday: 11.5mi () 3mi warm-up in 21:50 followed by 1600/800/400/400/800/1600 @ 5k pace with 400m rest for all (yeah, I know, that is a lot of rest). I hit 5:00 (2:30ish), 2:28 (3:03), 71 (2:49), 71 (2:47), 2:25 (2:56), 4:56. The heat and humidity really started to get to me (83 and the dew point=64 when we started). Cooled down for about 4 miles.
Thursday: AM - 8.1mi (61:26) Really slow recovery run again., PM 4mi (29:12) On the treadmill at work again. This heat and humidity is killing me!

Friday: 9.9mi (61:25) This was my "10 mile" stead-state run. I was a bit nervous about this one because it was 84 degrees and the dew point was 64 degrees (not good running weather). I did not wear the Garmin today so I did not get exact splits but here is a summary of how I did compared to last week's run when the weather was much more conducive to running. I was 20 seconds slower than last week at 1.5mi but had pulled even by 2.5mi. At the turn around (halfway) I was 5 seconds faster and by 8 miles I was ahead by about 20 seconds. I decided to shut things down at this point and just cool down the last two miles because I was getting really hot and figured that it was not wise to over-do things. I averaged about 6:00min/mi even for the first 8 miles.

Saturday: 8.1mi (60:23) A really slow recovery run in Mine Falls park.

Sunday: 17mi (2:01:30) I did what I should have done the last two long runs and I drove down to Mine Falls Park and ran from there. That allowed me to stop for fluids half way through. I did not think that I would have issues today since it was only about 66 degrees but it was quite humid and I still can not seem to deal with the humidity. I never really felt good on the run and never got into a groove, but I got in 17 decent miles at 7:08 pace. The heavy rain hit at about 14 miles and when I heard the thunder rolling in at about 16.5 miles I quickly changed my plans to try to hit 18 miles and headed for the car.

Completed: 80.8mi

Plan Total: 70-80mi

5/24-5/30

This was a decent week, although it did not feel as restful as it was supposed to be. I think that was because of the extreme heat that we had (Wednesday hit about 95 in Nashua!). I ran 55.5 miles on 6 runs and I had two good workouts and even got in a real long run. Next week I get back to work and my mileage will pop back up to 75ish miles and I will probably try to throw in 2-3 doubles in the week.

Monday: 6mi (43:16) Easy run.
Tuesday: 7.5mi (57:16) Really easy run in the morning to beat the heat.

Wednesday: ~8mi () 2.5mi warm-up in 19:13 w/ an acceleration in last 200m, 10x400m @3k pace w/ about 150-200m rest (~90sec) followed by a 2.2mi cool-down (18:10) and 6x100m strides. It was about 93 degrees when we started and this is an easy week so I was not about to put too much into this workout and was fully prepared to pull the chute if the heat got to me. I finished all 10 repeats and hit pretty consistent splits except a couple where I let the wind on the back stretch get to me and I slowed by a second or two. Times and rests:

Bout	Split	Avg HR	Max HR	Rest
1	70	172	186	89
2	71	176	184	80
3	71	178	185	77
4	70	175	188	85
5	70	176	186	78
6	72	176	184	110
7	70	173	184	91
8	71	177	185	96
9	72	173	184	91
10	68	-	-	-

It is interesting to note that for the repeats where I slipped to 72sec my peak HR was around 184bpm while it was about 186-188bpm when I ran 70sec. This just shows it was a mental slip, not a physical limit. In the end I do not really see the point of this workout, especially since it was touted as a HR workout. We were supposed to run 3k pace and with pretty much equal time rest. I agree with Dan Hocking's rant about this type of workout.
Thursday: 8mi (58:21) Nice and easy today. A bit longer than I planned, but it was such a nice day and I could not resist.

Friday: 9.9mi (59:35) This was the same "10 mile" steady-state run that I ran last Friday, but I wore my Forerunner and it unfortunately came out 1/10th of a mile short. Oh, well. I was feeling a bit tired and was not sure if I was going to do this run, but once I got going I felt better and had a decent run. I averaged 6:02min/mi pace and my mile splits were: 6:20, 6:14, 6:03, 5:59, 5:51, 5:58, 6:02, 5:59, 5:52, 5:12 (for 0.9mi = 6:03 pace). If it had been a full 10 miles the time would have been ~60:20.

Saturday: 0 - I spent the day digging in the yard. Yay!
Sunday: 16.25 (1:51:21) I felt alright, although a bit sore from yesterday's digging, and began the run hitting 7min/mi pace for the first 6 mile. Just after 6 miles I stopped to stretch and did most of the rest of the run at around 6:30 pace until I started to get dehydrated and slow down. I am not sure which was the worst part of the run, the dehydration or the chaffing that I endured for the last 8 miles of the run. I think that I have to get some compression shorts to run in from now on.

Completed: ~55.5mi

Plan Total: 50-60mi

5/17/2010-5/23/2010

I am going to start updating this daily so that I do not have to remember all my runs at the end of the week.

Monday: 11.75mi (80:20) Easy run to shake out the legs from yesterday's long run.
Tuesday: 10mi (69:42) Felt really easy and I was just resting up for tomorrow's workout.

Wednesday: 11.5mi - 4mi warm-up followed by 1 mile @ 5k pace on the track, 5km @ MP on the trails and finish with 1 mile @ 5k pace back on the track. There was no rest between each segment and it turns out that the 5k on the trails that we did was actually only 2.5 miles. It was pretty cool (55F) and rainy but I felt decent. I did not really know what pace to do for the "5k" section so I used my heart rate monitor and set an upper limit of 176bpm, which is about 87-88% of my HRM (pretty much marathon pace from what I know). I hit the first mile in 5:15 w/ an average HR of 183 (only 90% of HRM), I did the 2.5mi stretch in 14:55 w/ an average HR of 177 (sadly enough, it was only 6:00 pace), and then closed out the last mile on the track in 5:14 w/ an average HR of 185. I felt really comfortable the whole way, rightly so since I ran so stinking slow, and the hardest part of the whole run was switching up the pace for the last mile. I ended with a 3mi cool-down and 6x100m strides. Rest up tomorrow.

Thursday: 11.75mi (83:05) Same route as Monday. I felt great the first 8 or so miles because it was sunny, warm and I just felt good. However, as the run went on I sweat so much that chaffing became an issue and the run went down hill. Overall it was a great run because I am starting to feel like a runner again but I really need to cut my weight.

Friday: 10mi (62:15) I felt really good from the start today and let out the reins a little bit to get the legs going. I covered the first 5 miles in 31:47 and covered the second half in 30:28. The pace was pretty quick but I was not pushing too hard - it was much slower than LT pace.

Saturday: 8.2mi (60:09) This was a really easy run and my first run with my new Forerunner 305. It seems pretty good, although it is A LOT bigger than my Suunto T6. I like the idea of being able to set up workouts based on any combination of time and distance (intervals and rests) and do them on the road.
Sunday: 17.1mi (1:59:07) I felt really good on this run other than the fact that I had some hydration issues. I usually drive somewhere to run and take fluids with me but today I ran from home and did not have access to any fluids on the run. It was not that warm out but it was pretty humid and I felt dehydrated by 9 miles. I started out at 7:30 pace for the first 2-3 miles, did most of the run at 6:55-7:05 pace and then finished the last 4 miles at 6:30-6:40 pace

This week was pretty good. I hit my highest mileage yet (80 miles on singles), I had two good workouts and my longest long run yet. Next week is going to be a really easy week with one or two easy workouts and I will only do 50-60 miles.

Completed: 80mi
Plan Total: 80mi

5/16/2010

I got 74 miles this week with one good workout, a decent tempo and my longest long run since coming back. Next week I will shoot for 75-80 miles and then take a rest week and cut my mileage to 50-60.

Monday: 10.6mi (1:14:56) Easy run. I thought it was slower than it really was.
Tuesday: 10.6mi (?) Standard 10 miler at work.
Wednesday: 11mi - 3 mile warm-up, 5x1600 @ 10k pace w/ 400m rest and 2 mile cool-down.

Thursday: 10mi (73:11) Really easy run at work to shake out the legs.
Friday: 10.6mi (71:03) Really easy the first half and then pushed hard for 6-8 miles. Averaged 6:40 pace overall and near 6:00 pace for the hard parts.
Saturday: 5.2mi (40:13) I really needed an easy run.
Sunday: 16mi (1:50:04) I wanted to do 3-4 miles at MP but after the first 6-7 miles I realized that I was not feeling great and just focused on getting the run done. It was beautiful weather so I was a bit bummed that I could not run the run I wanted to do. Oh well. I also had to cut it a little short because I had to take one of the kids to a birthday party (I was planning on 18 miles).

5x1600

I really like this workout, 5x1600m @ 10k pace w/ 400m rest, so I was psyched for tonight. There must be something in the air because, from what I can tell, a lot of people did this workout tonight. We had great weather but I felt awful for some reason. I kept getting a stitch at the top of my stomach and never felt like I got into any kind of flow or rhythm. I got in a 3 mile warm-up with a couple strides and hit:

5:20
5:15
5:17
5:23 (I paced Joe Rogers at 83 for the first lap and I got a bad stitch when I jumped to 80s pace)
5:15

The rests were all 2:20-2:40, which is not bad but I would like to work on cutting that down to the 60-90 second range. I wrapped it up with a long 2 mile cool down and 4 strides on the track. Total miles covered ~ 11mi.

5/9/2010

Again, I am posting late, but I always seem to run out of time on Sundays with the kids, the long run, yada, yada, yada ... I hit what will probably be my peak weekly mileage until I am 100% confident in my recovery and I start the ramp for Bay State in the fall. I hit 73 miles off singles and I did not ride at all. For sanity's sake, I am going to stick with singles for now because work is a bit crazy right now and I don't mentally feel up to doubles at this point. I am just enjoying being able to run 10 miles/day without pain.

I do not like to talk of work on my running blog because I try to keep those two worlds separate, but I will make a small exception here because of how much my job has impacted the last two years of my family's lives. I am really happy that I was able to get in all of my runs this week because the chip that we have been designing at work for the last two years came back on Tuesday and I had to spend 3-4 very long days in the lab testing all the blocks that I designed. I have a lot invested in this chip (lots of long days and countless nights working until 2-3AM after the kids went to bed) and my family sacrificed a lot (we have not had a vacation in over 2 years) in order for me to get my work done. In the end it was all worth it because all of my stuff works! I am hoping that the next year will be much less hectic and I may be able to get some decent running in.

I did not get too many times for runs this week because my watch battery died and then the wrist strap broke right after I replaced the battery. Maybe it is time for a new watch ...

Monday: 8.2mi (?) Easy run
Tuesday: 10mi (?) Standard 10 miler at work.
Wednesday: 13mi - 4 mile warm-up, cut-down based on time (7m/6m/5m/4m/3m/2m) at 10k pace with 3 mile cool-down.

Thursday: 8.2mi (61:30) Really easy run at work to shake out the legs.
Friday: 10mi (?) Again, no idea on time but I took the first half really easy and then picked it up a bit for the second half.
Saturday: 8.5mi () Easy run in the cold rain.
Sunday: 15mi (1:39:48) I did a similar thing to last week and ran fairly easy for the first 10-12 miles and then I threw in 3 miles at MP. That felt pretty good but the wind beat me up a bit. I also tried something new on the run based on some videos that I watched by Ryan Hall on YouTube. At about 8 miles I did some really short, full speed accelerations on the flat and on hills (3-4 total for 30-50m each) to recruit different muscle fibers later in the run. I am not sure if it made too much difference but I did feel a little better. I am hoping that there will be a long term benefit to doing this.

3/25/2010

I went to the Wednesday workout tonight and thought I would give an update. We were supposed to do a 2000/1600/1200/800/400/200 cut-down with about 1/3 the distance rest at 10k pace but the Nashua South track was overrun with high school kids tonight. Instead, we headed into Mine Falls Park and did a similar workout on the trails based on time. The workout consisted of efforts of 7min/6min/5min/4min/3min/2min with rests of 3min/2min/2min/1min/1min at roughly 10k pace. It was actually a nice change of pace to be in the trails and not running in circles on the track. Our group actually started out about 6-7 strong, the largest that I have seen it in a long time which made for a more interesting run. I am not sure what pace we were running but I covered a little over 6 miles total (I turned back after each bout so we could all start together) in 36:17 and I was probably running 5:20-5:30 for the efforts. Not too bad. I should get a GPS sensor for my watch so I know exactly how far I have run on workouts like this. I started the workout with 3 miles of warm-up alone and a mile of warm-up with the group and then ended with a 3 mile cool-down for a total of 13 miles on the night.

5/2/2010

I am a bit late posting my blog this week because I am was so tired yesterday. After getting in my first real long run (15 miles) I worked in the yard all day edging flower beds in 93 degree heat. Not smart. I am just about to hit the hay tonight too because today's run was a bit torturous - I am not used to running in 85 degree weather with a 65 degree dew point yet. I got in 63 miles in 6 days of running. I wanted to run on Saturday but decided to give myself a day of rest. I should hit 70 miles next week. Oh yeah, I did not even sit on the bike this week ...

Monday: 8.2mi (59:10)
Tuesday: 10mi (69:24) Standard 10 miler at work.
Wednesday: (9.5mi tot) 3mi warmup (22:47) 3 x (400, 400, 800) with half the distance rest + 2.2 mile cool down. I thought that we took way to much rest last week so I was glad to see the rest was cut in half. I still decided to do the rest at a much quicker pace: last week we did the 400m rest in 2:30ish and this time the 200m rests were in about 50s and the 400m rest was in 1:45ish. Joe Rogers stuck with me for this workout which was great. I usually do not have any one to work with so it was nice to have company. My watch battery died part way through but the first 400 was in 76, the remaining work was all done at 78 pace and the last 800m was in 2:41 because I let Joe lead the first half. Joe had a great workout, especially considering how short the rests were.

Thursday: 10mi+ (74:14) Really easy from home to shake out the legs.
Friday: 10mi+ (69:10) Same run as yesterday but I felt so much better.
Saturday: Off
Sunday: 15mi (1:41:48) I ran the first half of the run pretty easy and then progressively cranked down the pace the second half. I was going to do two miles at marathon pace on the track at the end but I opted for this in the end. I am not sure of pace but I would bet I hit 5:40-5:50 pace for 3 miles or so based on how it felt. Pretty good for where I am now.

4/25/2009

I think that watching the Boston Marathon on Monday started me thinking about my current route and got me thinking about what I really want out of my training. I have been spending a lot of time on the bike lately and not that much time running and I am not really loving it. When ever I get up to ride I really dread it and feel like I am doing work rather than something that I truly love. Anyway, that is probably why I completely fell off the wagon this week and did not even come close to my original goal of 300 miles. I am having very strong reservations about the cycling/triathlon training and think that I am going to turn the emphasis back to pure running. In fact, I just listed the Kueen K bike on Craigslist and will hopefully unload that this week.

Since I did not ride that much this week I was able to bump my running mileage and even did my first track workout of the season. I ran 58.5 miles and biked a measly 70 miles (I said that I fell of the wagon ...).

Monday: 8mi (58:02), bike (30)
Tuesday: 6mi (45:32)
Wednesday: 9mi total. 2.2 mile warm-up, 10x400 w/ 400 rest (way too long), 2.2 mile cool-down. Splits were 80 (2:19), 79 (2:19), 76 (2:20), 74 (2:20), 73 (2:17), 71 (2:17), 72 (2:23), 74 (2:30), 74 (2:34), 71. We started out really slowly and ramped down gradually. I felt decent but had to back off a bit at the end for my achilles.
Thursday: 6mi (44:57), bike (20)
Friday: 10mi (71:55) Easy run, bike (20)
Saturday: 7mi (52:36) Really easy run at Mine Falls. I felt like absolute crap.
Sunday: 12.5mi (1:26:56) I was planning on running 2 miles at MP near the end of the run but my achilles was a little tender so I bailed and just finished up.

4/18/2010

I am going to keep this short so that I can get to bed. I am beat. This week I rode 280 miles and ran 48 miles and I was also able to increase my long run to 12 miles. Not bad overall. Unfortunately, all of my rides were inside on the trainer but, on a positive note, I am starting to feel much better on my runs. I was really concerned that all the riding would make my legs feel thick and heavy but when I balance the riding and running they feel pretty good. They are not as fresh as they used to be, like even last spring, but I am finally able to do all of my running in the 6:30-7:30 min/mi pace range so I am back to where I should be.

Monday: bike - 30, run - 8mi+ (56:08)
Tuesday: bike - 40 (AM), 30 (PM), run - 8+mi (54:06)
Wednesday: bike - 30
Thursday: bike - 40 (AM), 30 (PM)
Friday: run - 11.5mi+ (79:44)
Saturday: bike - 40, run - 8.5mi (58:35)
Sunday: bike - 40, run - 12mi (80:21)

Next week I am planning on bumping up to 300 miles on the bike and 50+ miles of running. We will see though because Wednesday is the first of the GCS track workouts and I have not decided if I am ready for that yet. I think that I am ahead of last year at this point and I had a great spring season, but this is an Achilles injury and I do not want to press my luck.

4/11/2010

This week was supposed to be an easy week and I was hoping to feel well rested by the end. Well, that was not the case. It started out alright but I commuted to work on my bike on Tuesday (36 miles each way because of a detour) and that pretty much killed me for the week. I think that the problem was that I did not have enough calories and fluids on the ride home and I totally bonked. I did not really slow down but I was in a trance just cranking along in the cold (it was 45 and damp) and only made it home because I have ridden or run that stretch of road so many times before. I was really tired the rest of the week and I had a hard time getting psyched to get out the door for a ride or a run. By the weekend things began to turn around and I had a really good workout on Sunday morning - I rode 40 miles and ran 10 miles before 8:30AM.

For the week I got in 182 miles on the bike and 40 miles of running. Quite a drop off from last week, but hopefully I can build next week. The plan for next week is to get 250 miles on the bike and close to 50 miles running.

Monday: bike - 0, run - 8mi+ (59:02)
Tuesday: bike - 36 (AM) 1:50:21, 36 (PM) 1:45:05 -- today just killed me!
Wednesday: bike - 0, run - 10mi+ (73:17)
Thursday: bike - 30, run - 8mi+ (57:58)
Friday: nada!
Saturday: bike - 40, run - 4mi (26:08)
Sunday: bike - 40, run - 10mi+ (69:32)

I did get the Kuota Kueen K back from the shop this week and really wanted to ride it but discovered something that I did not know about the bike. It has what is called an integrated seat mast. Instead of a seat post that can be adjusted to fit your inseam there is a very short seat post and the frame has to be cut to fit your position. I guess that this improves rigidity, but it just seems stupid. If I cut the mast too short the bike is scrap and if I want to sell the bike down the road I can only sell to someone with a shorter inseam than me. The previous owner of the bike claimed to be 5'-11" with a 33 inch inseam (I am 5'-10.5" with a 32" inseam) so I was hopeful that it would fit me fine. I can barely touch the pedals on tippy-toe when sitting on the bike. He had to have a 35"+ inseam I bet. This leaves me with cutting the frame, which I am a little scared to do, or selling the bike. I played with the shifting a bit too (it has SRAM Red) and I would have to say that it does not seem nearly as smooth as the Campy Record on the other bike. I double checked with the shop to see if it was dialed in correctly (it was) and they said this was normal and that SRAM Red is a bit noisy, but overall very nice. Weird.

4/4/2010

It is hard to believe that it is Easter already. Time is flying this year. This was a pretty hard week because of the total miles that I covered and the number of workouts. I was able to trim it down to only 2 triples, but those were long days. I met my goals for both running and biking by hitting 41 miles on foot in 6 runs and 303.7 miles on the bike in 9 rides. That is an almost 44 mile increase over last week on 2 fewer rides in the week (a 23.6 mile/ride average versus a 33.8 mile/ride average). Thankfully the weather cooperated this week and I was able to get out of the basement and out on the roads. I was not sure it would make that much of a difference, but I have a much easier time handling time on the bike when I am outside, both mentally and physically. My achilles seems to be hanging in there too as I can do a full 8 miler without stopping to stretch my calves and hamstrings. Here is a breakdown of the week's training:

Monday: bike - 30 (AM), 30 (PM), run - 6 (42:xx)
Tuesday: bike - 40, run - 6 (44:40)
Wednesday: bike - 30, run - 8 (58:33)
Thursday: bike - 40 (AM), 30 (PM), run - 6 (?)
Friday: bike - 28.5 (1:21:29), run - 4 (25:46) -- Actually biked outside!
Saturday: bike - 46.7 (2:12:00), run - 0 -- biked outside again. I meant to run today but I was beat after the ride. It was longer than I expected and I only had one bottle of fluids for the entire ride. Not good since this was the first 80 degree day we have had since last summer.
Sunday: bike - 28.5 (1:24:33), run - 9+ (1:04 and change) This was a nice easy ride to let the legs relax. After the ride I hung out for an hour with the kids while my wife worked out and then I went to down to Mine Falls Park to run. I thought my legs would feel better than just going into the run after the ride but my legs were like lead weights and it took me 2-3 miles to work out the stiffness.

I am going to take next week on the bike by feel. I have been ramping mileage for about 4 weeks now at about 20%/week so I will probably drop back a bit to somewhere around 200-250 and get some rest. I feel pretty good but do not want to push my luck. I should be able to hit mid to high 40's for running and I will work on adding a mile or two to my long run if it feels good. If everything goes well I should be able to level off at 50-60 miles of running and 300 miles on the bike by the middle of April.

O.M.G.

The title of the post says it all. I was so excited that the rain had finally stopped (we got 15+ inches in New England in March!), the sun was shining and it was 70 degrees. This was also the first day outside on the Kalibur and I really wanted to see how it felt on the roads. I was not disappointed. To borrow a line from my kids, the bike is sick! I am amazed at how much nicer a ride it is than my old bike. It rolls much smoother and farther and there is just this swooshing when I coast. Very cool. Also, on my old bike when I really pushed the pedals it did not respond but on this bike when I push I have to hang on because it feels like the bike is going to shoot out from under me. All I can say is incredible.

I stayed off the roads and rode the Nashua River Trail only because I had never ridden with aero bars and did not know how well they handled. I did alright, although the bike is a bit harder to control. On a positive note, I had no problem keeping in the aero position for almost 30 miles and I also did not have any problems with the saddle. I had an easy day scheduled because I rode 70 miles and ran 6 miles yesterday but once I got going I went a little harder than I should have. I did 28.5 miles and averaged 21 mph (20 out and 22 back) and then jumped off the bike and ran 4 miles in 25:45 (my first run averaging sub-7 minute pace since last fall). Very good day overall.

3/28/2010

Not a bad week overall. My goal going into the week was to run 30-40 miles and cycle 225-250 miles and I ended the week with 32 running miles, in 5 runs, and 260 cycling miles, in 11 rides. That sounds like a lot of rides but I can not sit on the bike for more than 90 minutes at a time or I go crazy (I'm on the trainer) and my backside starts to hurt. I am still getting used to the saddle. Even though my running miles were a bit on the low side, I am pleased with the progress I have been making because I got my longest run up to 8 miles for the first time since November. I feel like I need to get my run up faster though because my legs are definitely starting to change from all the cycling and they are not really feeling like running legs any more. It is helping on the bike because my legs do not hurt all the time while riding, but they are feeling a bit bulky for running now and I did not start out with small legs.

Today I spent some time getting the Kuota Kalibur set up to ride, adjusting the cables and putting on new tires and brake pads so that I could start using it. I did my first ride on it tonight and man, what a difference from my old bike. I am still getting used to the aero position and have to do some tweaking to my position, but the difference between the Campy Record and my 15 year old Shimano Ultegra is like night and day. The Campy is sooo smooth and I can ride much faster with less effort. The last thing I have to do is get some new pedals like the Looks. I have the old Shimano SPD pedals that are very narrow and I always feel like I am falling off the sides of them.

Monday: bike - 30 (AM), 20 (PM), run - 6
Tuesday: bike - 25 (AM), 20 (PM), run - 6
Wednesday: bike - 30 (AM), 20 (PM)
Thursday: bike - 20, run - 6 (44:05)
Friday: bike - 20 (AM), 30 (PM)
Saturday: bike - 20, run - 6 (44:33)
Sunday: bike - 20, run - 8 (56:59)

The goal for next week is to hit close to 40 miles for running and 250-300 for cycling. I would like to level off at 50-60 for running and 300ish for cycling and hold that for 2-3 months to build a solid base. I will then look at adding speed work and hills to both.

A New Beginning

This past winter really sucked for me. Last fall, after my racing season ended, I took 2 weeks off from running to let everything heal. On my very first day back I went out for a really easy 8 miler and half way through my achilles felt a little off. This was weird because it was my left achilles that was bothering me and I had never had any trouble with it before. I have had a lot of trouble with my right achilles, but this was new. I ended the run, iced, took some advil and did not think much of it. The next day I was barely able to walk and ended up taking more than two and a half months off, completely. That's right, no running at all for two and a half months. On top of that it was the holiday season, I was working a ton and our son Noah was born. In the end, I think I gained about 15 pounds. Yikes!

Around the new year I decided to get my act together and start working out again. I could not run so I started out walking 4-5 miles each day on the treadmill. I felt like such an old fart but I knew that this was the only way I was going to get back running. After time I started adding in a some running, alternating 1/4 mile run with 1/2 mile walking. Eventually, I increased the run portion and by the first of March I was able to run 3-4 miles straight. None of this was fast, mind you. Most of my mileage has been at 8:00 minute pace and sometimes I can work down to 7:30ish pace for a mile or so. Most days I begin each run with 20-30 minutes on the bike and some easy stretching. This whole ordeal is making me really appreciate running and also realize that I can not do it as much as I would like going forward.

This is where the new beginning part comes in. I dabbled in cycling last summer a bit but did not really do it consistently, or for a long time. I decided that I need to add cycling back into my game plan and have decided to give the whole triathlon thing a try. Winters in New Hampshire are a bit rough for cycling so I started by buying an indoor trainer and also went as far as buying a new triathlon bike. I am going to put swimming off a little bit and get my running and cycling miles up. I am only running about 25-30 miles per week right now so I have a lot of work to do.

Based on reviews I read I bought the Kurt Kinetic Rock and Roll Pro trainer. I have put a decent amount of time in on it and like it so far. The only thing the Pro model adds is a larger flywheel (12lb add on to 6lb flywheel). I have been riding by feel because I have not switched the speed sensor to the rear wheel yet and the battery in my HR monitor is dead. I figure that it does not matter too much at this point because I am just putting in the hours and getting used to the bike. Right now I have a crappy, 15 year old cycling computer but I would like to find one that has gps (would be nice), cadence, speed, HR and power when I move outdoors. I am leaning towards the Garmin Edge 305, although that lacks the power option. I need to look around a bit more.

Now for the really exciting part - the bike. I have been riding a 1996 Trek 5000 with an 8-speed Ultegra groupo for a number of years. Not that this is a bad bike, but it was called an antique when I took it to the bike shop. After lots of research and reading about the new component groups, the different frame materials and brands I bought a used 2009 Kuota Kueen K with full SRAM Red groupo on Ebay, shown in the picture below. It came with Easton Circuit training wheels, but these will have to do for the first year. If I spend any more money my wife will not be too happy. I have not been able to ride it because it came completely disassembled and it is at the bike shop until April 8th getting built.

While buying this bike I discovered that I am not a very good Ebayer, if that is a word. I did not really get the hang of how the auctions ended and got a bit frustrated when I lost a bike to people 'snipping' at the end of the auction. I really wanted the Kueen K but bid on a Kuota Kalibur at the same time and ended up winning both bikes. Oops. The other bike is a 2008 Kuota Kalibur with the Campy Record groupo and Reynold MV32 wheels. Oddly enough, the bike did not come with tires, rim strips or brake pads, so I have to buy those. There is no way I can convince the wife to keep both so I am going to ride them both to see how they feel, compare the component groups and wheels and then sell one of the bikes.

Well, that's it for now. I am glad to be back to training and posting on my blog and actually pretty excited that I have something new to work at. I will try to do both the Tuesday rides from Goodales Bike shop (40-60 miles at 23-24 mph, or so they say) and the Wednesday track sessions with the Gate City Striders and post those workouts when they start in 3-4 weeks. Here is a summary of the last two weeks of training:

Monday: b(20), r(5.0)
Tuesday: b(30), r(4.0)
Wednesday: b(30), r(5.2)
Thursday: b(40), r(6.0)
Friday: b(33.3), r(0) <-- Actually rode outside
Saturday: b(23.2), r(5.8) <-- Outside again, a brick
Sunday: b(30), r(0)

Bike total: 205.5 miles
Run total: 26 miles

I am still getting used to the riding and my running is still not where it should be. I am shooting for 225-250 miles on the bike next week and 30-40 miles of running. Last week I rode 150 miles and ran about 25-30 miles.