6/27-7/3

Monday:

• AM: 4mi (29:17) Easy run.
  
• PM: 9.3mi (60:23) Ran at Mine Falls Park in the evening to avoid the heat and sun. It was still over 85 degrees though. The run started out easy but I was feeling good and I just kept revving things up. By the end I was probably close to 6min/mi pace and I finished with a full speed 200m on the track. I wrapped up with 6x100m barefoot strides on the grass and some core work.
  

Tuesday:

• AM: 5.8mi () Easy day and supposed to be hot and humid so split mileage between two runs.
  
• PM: 5.9mi () Did not want to run tonight but forced myself. Really wanted to sit on my ass.
  

Wednesday:

• AM: 4mi () Easy run. Really humid.
  
• PM: 8mi () 2.2mi warm-up with 2x2400m @10km pace w/ 800m rest and 2.2mi cool down. I have never done 2400m repeats and did not feel like pushing too hard because it was in the 80's and a bit humid so I figured that I would just settle into what ever pace felt comfortable and go with that. I was pretty consistent as I ran 7:43 (5:04), 7:42 and hit 5:08 at 1600m for both. The only real difference was that I pushed the last 200m of the second one a bit more but both were very comfortable. I finished up with 6 barefoot strides on the grass.
  

Thursday:

• AM: 8.1mi (60:23) Easy run in the morning to avoid the heat and recover.
  
• PM: 4.1mi (27:57)
  

Friday:

• AM: 4mi (28:59) Easy run.
  
• PM: 8mi (58:02) I originally planned on going 10 miles but I was so damn tired that I cut it short. My first mile was 7:59 and my last was 6:26. Crazy! I will be going really short the next two days as I am racing Sunday morning and maybe Monday morning if I feel up to it.
  

Saturday: 4mi (27:45) Nice easy run to shake out the legs. A bit tired from the week but hoping to run fast tomorrow. Finished up with 6 strides.

Sunday: 5mi () 2mi+ warm up, HASLAW Manchester Mile race and 2mi+ cool down. I was feeling a bit heavy in the legs prior to the race and it was really humid but it was a down hill race, so ... Anyway, I warmed up a bit with my son Samuel who was doing his first mile race. We lined up a bit back of the line so that we would not get in the way of the "big guns" and were off at the gun. I immediately found my self running with the top three women (Julie Cully, Nicole Blood and Nicole Shappert) and tried to pull ahead because I just did not want to be that guy you see on TV running with the women. It did not work. I felt totally out of control going down the hill that drops 188 feet in just over 1/2 mile. By the time we got to the flat I was able to gain control and push past Nicole Shappert but not able to catch the other ladies. I finished in 4:19 gun time (4:18 net time) for 17th place overall. I peeled back to cheer on Samuel and he crossed the line in 6:59 gun time but had a 6:54 net time for 123rd overall and 1st in his age group. He got a nice shinny medal for his efforts.

I am a little uncertain about how to feel about this race. I think that the hill was worth about 15 seconds, so that puts me around 4:34 for a flat mile. The biggest thing I take away from this race is that I am not doing the right work to allow me to run as fast as I want in the type of race I want to run. I need to change that.

Full results.

Completed: 70.2 miles

6/20-6/26

Monday:

• AM: 8.1mi(57-) Felt pretty darn tired, especially at the end of the run. Need sleep.
• PM: 3mi (22-) Ran easy in Mine Falls before Sam's track practice.
  

Tuesday:

• AM: 10mi (70:48) Glad to get this one out of the way when it was cool. I still suffered a bit at the end due to hydration issues. I saw my first deer in Mine Falls Park. I am a bit surprised because it is pretty hard to get there without crossing a major road.
• PM: 3mi (20:30) Felt pretty good but it was hot.
  

Wednesday:

• AM: 3mi (22:30)
• PM: 9mi - 2.2mi warm-up (15:05) followed by 12x400 @5k pace w/ 200 rest and 2.5mi cool-down. I felt good on the warm-up but a little flat on the workout. It could have been because it was pouring and the track was a wet sponge and my shoes felt like lead weights. My times were 71 (99), 70 (92), 72 (89), 71 (90), 72 (89), 71 (89), 71 (91), 72 (90), 72 (94), 72 (90), 70 (88), 68. This is about a 71 average, which is probably closer to my current 3k pace, not my 5k pace. I have been feeling really tired lately and had blood work done this afternoon to see if I have any deficiencies or if there is anything more sinister going on.
  

Thursday: 6mi (43:30) Real easy run. I cut it short because of work and bailed on the second run because I did not feel like running in the rain again. Probably for the best. I got 9.5 hours of sleep last night too.

Friday:

• AM: 4mi (28:30)
• PM: 10mi (65:29) I only intended on running 8 miles today but I was having so much fun doing a hill workout that I decided to add on a little extra. I looked for some long hills in Nashua that I could grind out and found just that in Shelley Dr and Browning Ave. I did four long hills that were about 1/2 mile each and a bunch of shorter climbs. I really enjoyed this run and it reminded me of doing hill tempo runs in college in the Chestnut Hill area with my running partner-in-crime Jesse Darley. Good times. Anyway, I felt much better today than I have been feeling for a while and it may have something to do with adding "meat with feet" back into my diet a couple days ago. More on that later.
  

Saturday: 5.1mi (38:16) This run totally sucked. My legs are so hammered from yesterday. I guess that this is the pay-back for having such a great run yesterday. I still think that it was worth it!

Sunday: 14.1mi (101:48) I felt alright today, but I am still not recovered from the hill workout on Friday. This is the first long run that I just ran a comfortable pace every step and did not try to push at all. It was kind of nice.

Completed: 75.3 miles

6/13-6/19

Good week this week. Hit 67.4 miles even though I skipped one afternoon run to be conservative and avoid an injury flaring up. The workout was alright. Not much to say.

Monday: 8.1mi (52:56) I was a bit tired from yesterday and just wanted to work the hills on this run but ended up running fairly quickly. I really pushed all of the uphills and blasted the last mile in 5:38.

Tuesday:

• AM: 3mi (23:15) Easy morning run.
• PM: An hour on the bike. I started to feel a little tenderness in the lateral side of my right gastrocnemius so I took it easy on the bike. Better safe than sorry.
  

Wednesday:

• AM: 3mi (21:14) Quicker than I expected. Easy run to test out my leg and it all feels good. I do not feel any pain but the spot is still tender. Ice, advil, foam roller and friction massage.
  
• PM: 10mi () Track workout tonight - 2.2mi warmup, pyramid run (4/8/16/8/4/2/2) with half the distance rest except for equal rest on the 200's - all at 5k pace. I ran 71 (85), 2:25 (2:51), 4:54 (5:27), 2:25 (2:43), 69 (107), 29.0 (94), 30.0. Finished up with a ~3.5mi cool-down. The weather was really nice for the workout but I only felt alright. I was expecting to feel great but I was a bit flat. The only part of the workout that was a little tough was the 1600, but it was easy after that. I was surprised that I ran the 200's as fast as I did and that I stopped the watch on exactly 29.0 and 30.0. When I did 200's two summers ago I could not break 30 seconds no matter how hard I tried so this shows that my basic speed is pretty good. I just need to work on the lungs. I finished up with some core work and 6 barefoot strides on the infield.
  

Thursday:

• AM: 4mi (28:31) Easy run. Morning runs are coming along and I am feeling better with each one that I do.
  
• PM: 8mi+ (59:46) This was an easy regeneration run and I took it easy due to the heat. Overall I felt pretty good considering the workout that I did last night.
  

Friday: 9.7mi (71:30) This was a crap run because I was tired and got completely dehydrated by the end of the run. I lost over 5 lbs of sweat on the run and walked the last 1/4 mile home. Blah!

Saturday: 6.5mi (45:32) Easy run

Sunday: 15.1mi (1:41:34) I wanted to get in a nice easy long run because I have been limited to about 12 miles each of the last 2-3 weekends. The weather was phenomenal and I felt decent. I finished the run with a 400m @ 5k pace in 66 seconds and then did 4 strides. My speed must be coming along because I have dropped the 400m in my long run from 72 down to 66 with the same effort.

Completed: 67.4 miles

Coe-Brown Developmental Track Meet

Samuel had his second track meet on May 28th and I am a bit behind in posting his results. For the second meet in a row he decided to run the 100m and do the long jump but added the 200m to his repertoire. Samuel was able to improve his 100m time and place from 18.43 seconds for 4th place to 17.90 seconds for 3rd place. He also added almost 18 inches to his long jump by improving from 7'-11.5" for 3rd to 9'-5" for 1st! I wish I could have improvements like that now. In his debut at 200m Samuel finished in 40.1 seconds for 3rd place. Not a bad day. I took a bunch of pictures of Samuel and any other Gate City Strider kids that I could.

Boys' Results
Girls' Results

6/6-6/12

I got a little behind on updating the running blog but finished the week with 69 miles. This is quite a jump from what I have been doing so I need to be careful for the next couple of weeks.

Monday: 10.3mi (72:44) Speaking of stepping up my game, I was going to start morning runs today but when I got out of bed my calves were so sore from yesterday. I put it off to tomorrow.

Tuesday:

• AM: 8.5mi (61:20) Wanted to get it out of the way before the heat settled in.
• PM: 3mi (21:40) I stopped in the woods in Groton on the way home from work for my first double. I really love running on the trails because it is so much cooler, it forces you to run light on your feet so that you do not turn your ankle (there are a lot of rocks and roots) and it forces you to get some lateral motion in. I finished off the run with 5 strides.
  

Wednesday:

• AM: 3mi (22:40) Really slow run. Pretty tired.
  
• PM: 7mi () Track workout tonight - 2.2mi warmup, 3x1 mile @ 10k pace with 400m rest and then 2 mile cooldown. It was REALLY hot tonight and I do not run well in the heat so I did not have high expectations. My plan was to cruise 5:20 pace for each and take it easy but things went a bit off course. My splits and rests were: 5:13 (2:29), 5:18 (2:51), 2:41. I felt great the first one, tried to slow down to goal pace the second one and was dying of the heat and bailed after 800m on the third. Overall it was a good workout but it was a bit painful due to the heat. I was totally wiped after the workout and went to be at 9PM. I am planning on running the USATF NE 10k on Sunday and wanted to get a better feel for 10k pace. 5:20 should be doable considering that it will be 60 degrees at race time, not 90 degrees.
  

Thursday: 10mi (74:48) This was just an easy regeneration run. I ended up on the treadmill, to my great dismay, because I did not want to deal with the storms or the heat and humidity. I actually felt really good today despite the beating my body took in the workout yesterday. It must have been the 10 hours of sleep last night and the air conditioned gym.
Friday: 10mi (72:30) Slow easy run.
Saturday: 5.2mi (36:44) Easy run to loosen up for tomorrow. I am pretty tired from standing around in the cold rain all day at Samuel's track meet. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow.
Sunday: 12mi (76:41) I was supposed to race today but just did not feel like driving 2 hours to race. Instead I did a progression run today and did a 400m on the track at 5k pace after 6mi (69 seconds) and after 12mi (70 seconds) to get the fast twitch muscles involved. Finished with a couple strides.

Completed: 69 miles

5/30-6/5

This week was alright. I hit a new high weekly mileage of 57.4mi in 6 days but I had to skip the track workout again (because of weather this time) and had a crappy race. Going into Rhody I felt that, based on the workouts so far, if I ran sub-16 I would be happy. This was my first race in almost 2 years so I did not want to set too high of a goal. However, I ran 16:24 and just could not move. I am trying not to get too disappointed because this is exactly how my season started out two years ago (ran 16:28 for my first race) and I finished the season running 15:10 just 5 weeks and seven races later. I am not doing the same volume as I was back then so maybe I have to step up my game if I want to run fast.

Monday: 10mi (68:14) Felt great in the beginning of the run but it was 90 degrees and I fell apart the last 2 miles.
Tuesday: 7.6mi (55:53) A bit tired from yesterday.
Wednesday: 0 - I did not run because of the crazy tornado warnings up here. Second week in a row that I missed the workout ...
Thursday: 10mi (64:49) Wanted to get in a little quality. I ran an out and back and did the first half easy (33:20 at turn) and then gradually dropped to 6min pace for the last 3 miles.
Friday: 10mi (68:28) Easy recovery run.
Saturday: 5.3mi (37:29) Easy run to rest for tomorrow's race.
Sunday: Did the Rhody 5k in RI. 3 mi warm-up over the course (22:10), 5k race in 16:24 (horrible!), 3.5 mile cool down solo (26:13) + 5 mile cool down with the Greater Boston guys (37:31). 14.5mi total.

Completed: 57.4 miles