Good Mileage & 3 PRz

Week 7/21-7/27 was one of the better weeks of running I have ever had. I'm in the middle of a two week cycle of hard running, and this portion had a lot of quality thanks to two scheduled races and a last minute Fresh Pond race.

Sunday		21-Jul		Mass Ave Mile				12.35		Mass Ave Mile, then a tempo run in the evening.
Monday		22-Jul		Double				11.00		2m at lunch w/Raleigh. 9m in the evening - cut this one short after stopping at home to grab water, but ended up stopping just in time…
Tuesday		23-Jul		Killer Bee's				2.61		Legs feel empty - decided not to run before/after the game.
Wednesday		24-Jul		Intervals				10.21		1000x3/600/400x2/200 - really nice weather so I decided to do this on my own. Legs still a bit beat up, nothing felt smooth. Very 'meh.' Plantar facia on left foot is tight and right shin was tender/tight once I got home - roller + golf ball.
Thursday		25-Jul		Fresh Pond				4.95		NEW PR! 14:08 at Fresh Pond for the 2.47 loop. That's 21 seconds off my PR set LAST MONTH -  thatzcool!
Friday		26-Jul		Rest				0.00		Planned on an easy day, but had lots of stuff to do and Corven came up for a visit so I just scrapped the idea of a short run.
Saturday		27-Jul		Carver 5-miler				5.17		NEW PR!  30:57 for 5 miles. Very solid race. Developed a hot spot and blister so I didn't do much/any cool down.

Mass Ave Mile: I finished in 5:16, and while that is a PR - it was a terrible race. I've been doing intervals lately with a focus on mile-paced efforts, and I was feeling good about my chances of running under 5 minutes. I was obviously WAY off. I had terrible cotton mouth by the 2nd quarter, and that hasn't happened in any of my workouts. I came through halfway in 2:33, about 6 seconds slower than I was hoping...I think a lack of experience hurt me - I was too amped up. Need to relax next time.

Fresh Pond: Went out relaxed aiming for low 6 pace - I had a fairly difficult interval session the night before and just wanted to put in a good effort. Just under 6min for mile one, and it felt very easy. I picked up the effort slightly and I came into mile two around 11:38 (unofficially my 4th PR of the week, cool!). With a half mile to go I upped my effort even more, working towards a fast finish, and I guess this was just one of those nights where everything fell into place. 14:08 for the 2.47m course.

Carver 5-Miler: 30:57, and a full race report to come later.

Thursday Splits:
1000-3:44
1000-3:42
1000-3:38
600-1:53
400-1:17.23
400-1:13.84
200-31.85
200-31.85

Total Mileage: ~46.29

Summer Training - Down Week

With the heat wave in full effect and quite a few races on the schedule this was a bit of a down week for me in terms of overall mileage. One triathlon, one speedwork session, and one Killer Bee game...

Sunday		14-Jul		Appleman Triathlon				2.85		.5m swim/10m bike/3m run. 48th overall - kind of a 'meh' race. Not great, not terrible…a good workout.
Monday		15-Jul		Easy		0:07:54		8.53		Also did 6 barefoot strides - had a little bit of chaffing towards the end and didn't feel like getting that too irritated.
Tuesday		16-Jul		Intervals				10.02		800x2/400x8/200x2 - hot and humid as all get out. But I stuck with it and finished the workout. Tough to get a read on what my splits mean due to the weather.
Wednesday		17-Jul		Easy				4.00		Just an easy 4 around the Charles. Legs were really heavy today, but it felt good to shake them out a bit.
Thursday		18-Jul		Killer Bee's				4.70		Easy warm up w/Raleigh then the KB game - played very hard in the hot & humid weather.
Friday		19-Jul		Easy		0:07:56		4.00		Treadmiles at an easy pace. Extremely hot out - don't want to wear myself down.
Saturday		20-Jul		Easy		0:08:14		3.05		Easy.

Tuesday Breakdown:

800-2:47

800-2:55

400-1:17

400-1:15

400-1:16

400-1:17

400-1:15

400-1:16

400-1:17

400-1:18

200-:32

200-:32

Those splits weren't even close to where I wanted them to be. I was definitely a bit fatigued from the triathlon (my quads aren't used to climbing hills on the bike), but I think the heat was the real factor. I'm still fairly pleased though, because this would've been an easy workout to cut short but I stuck with it. 

Total Miles: 37.15

Just Another Week of Summer Training

Sunday		7-Jul		Long Island		0:08:43		4.12		Easy jog with Eli and Raleigh - another really hot day. Didn't have the time for a long run w/the noon wedding.
Monday		8-Jul		Long Island / Fartlek		0:07:15		11.21		5m @7:30 pace in the am, 10k at 7:05 pace in the PM. Didn’t realize I was going that quick for the AM run, and my legs felt really fresh in the evening so I ran a Fartlek.
Tuesday		9-Jul		Intervals				11.21		1000x2/600x2/400x2/300x2/200x2 - 1000's at 3k-5k pace, 600's just at or above mile pace, and everything else at mile pace and below. One of my best workouts ever. Crowded track and I was in lane 2 for a lot of the faster intervals. Just need to recover!
Wednesday		10-Jul		Recovery		0:08:32		6.01		Easy 4 around the Charles, then another couple with Raleigh. Tried to keep the effort light - it's tough to gauge, for me, with 80+% humidity.
Thursday		11-Jul		Killer Bee's				3.31		No pre-game run. KB miles + a handful of barefoot strides after the game.
Friday		12-Jul		Recovery		0:08:51		4.01		Dang it's hot out!
Saturday		13-Jul		Easy		0:08:41		1.11		Just a very quick jog with Raleigh and some stretching. Did a tiny bit of biking as well to make sure everything is in order for tomorrow's triathlon.

Tuesday's Workout:

1000-3:29

1000-3:30

600-1:54.70

600-1:55.75

400-1:11.56

400-1:11.95

300-51.77

300-51.77

200-32.85

200-29.76

Total: 40.98 - not the worst for a busy & hot week.

Appleman Triathlon Race Report - 2013

Oh how quickly I forget...I went into the race feeling pretty confident, but yet again not having any recent training on the bike. I continue to think that somehow my running will really translate. It doesn't.

I practiced my bike transitions the day before - getting on the bike with the shoes already clipped in and leaving the shoes clipped in to transition to the run. While practicing this I almost wiped out on my dead end street - it was very close to ugly. So I decided I would wait to incorporate that for another tri. This time around though I decided not to wear socks, to wear my bib under the wetsuit, and to forego a shirt for the bike/run. Trying to take care of each of those things in the transition adds unnecessary time, and poor transitions have been an issue the past few years.

The swim was uglier than expected. My wave had a fairly large amount of swimmers, and with a horseshoe shaped swim course, everyone was bunched together trying not to add any distance as they rounded their way back to the shore. Right from the gun I could tell I should have moved to the front of the pack - I was kicked and kicked someone at least 5+ times in the first 100 meters. My swim has improved a lot since last year, but I literally had to wait for an opening a few times due to slower swimmers crowding ahead of me. I finished the swim in ~15:38, good for 82nd out of in that 460+ participants and a 1:04 improvement over last year - I expected that to be much better though.

I don't get transition splits from this tri, which sucks, but I think I made decent time for once. I can't say for sure, but I was likely just under two minutes.

The bike was tough. Do to my complete lack of training and practice on the bike, I'm still a novice when it comes to gear selection. This course doesn't have devastating hills, but it certainly has a few spots where I worked hard. I finished in 34:49 (which includes a transition), not-so-good for 117/460, and a 9 second 'improvement' over last year...there is a lot of room for improvement here, which is encouraging...I guess.

The transition to the run went OK. I probably close to 1:30 - but that's partly a function of the distance I had to go from dismounting the bike toward the run. Note: I need to figure out a way to slip on my shoes already tied. For the sprint distance, I would benefit greatly from just slipping the shoes on and high tailing it out of the transition - so there are still ways to improve here as well.

The run, as usual at the Appleman, was tough. My first mile was ugly - something like 6:5x - but I was finding it very hard to find a rhythm. My quads were really hurting from putting a lot of energy into the bike, and the roads are rolling for the first 1.5 miles. After that point I entered the trails and was able to move a little bit better, but the trail is narrow, rooty, and rocky. I was very cautious as I didn't want to bust an ankle with more important races on the calendar. Towards the end of the trail-section, I crested the final big incline and booked it down the hill before taking a left toward the finish. This downhill is very uncomfortable for me. With my quads cooked, I feel like I'm really loose and unsteady, but I held it together and continued to pass runners. There was a small group of runners about 250 meters ahead of me as I took the left with a half mile to go. I felt like they were slowing considerably, and a kick wouldn't have served much purpose - so I made final .5m push. I ended up passing the group with about 60 meters to go..I finished in 21:29, 9/460, and 1:01 faster than last year.

48th overall.....meh.

Cool race photo: http://racephotos.instaproofs.com/store/?page=buyPrintPage&event=856947&col=0&id=222228121&type=original

Easing Back After Illness

The week of 6/23-6/29 was sabotaged a bit by flu like symptoms, and this week was an attempt to get the mileage back into the 50's. It didn't work out that way though, as the weather was a bit too hot and humid to be effective with those miles.

Sunday		30-Jun		Long Run		0:08:01		12.08		Nothing like bonking hard on a Sunday run. The last 2+ miles sucked. Spent yesterday afternoon in the sun drinking and I was super dehyrdated for this entire run.
Monday		1-Jul		Easy		0:08:15		5.01		Easy 2 w/Raleigh, then 3 more keeping it easy. Resistance band 25x3.
Tuesday		2-Jul		Killer Bee's				6.95		~4.5 at lunch at 8min pace + KB miles.
Wednesday		3-Jul		Hills/Double		0:08:02		8.70		Three hill route at lunch. Left hamstring tight from ultimate, and higher up on the hamstring has hurt since Escape the Cape. Plus easy evening miles w/Raleigh.
Thursday		4-Jul		Intervals				6.01		800x3/200/300/400/600/dnf - ran to Danehy at noon (I'm dumb!), really hot and I didn't have any water after the 800's…after I missed my pace for the 600 I could tell my legs were cooked. Been feeling worn down lately anyways.
Friday		5-Jul		Long Island		0:07:46		4.53		Tough to gauge effort - ran along State Park in Long Island and had no shade in  95 degree heat. Followed up the run with some swimming.
Saturday		6-Jul		Long Island				0.00		No running today. Did quite a bit of swimming though.

Thursday:

800-2:52

800-2:56

800-3:02

200-34.9

300-54.34

400-1:14.94

600-1:59.11

The heat at the end of the week hit me pretty hard, but I tried to just keep at it in order to acclimate. I normally feel pretty tired and thirsty - but I just try and keep at it and as long as I don't get dizzy or noxious, then I think it works for me.

Total Miles: 43.3

Training Through Illness

Turns out that the night before the Tory Row 5k was the start of some sort of virus. I was tossing and turning with some weird cough, and though I felt ok on Sunday - it wore me down this week. Each morning I woke up with a slightly sore throat, stiff neck, and my eyes hurt...I think it was a migraine...or at least migraine-ish. And though I wasn't totally out of commission, I felt shitty Mon-Thur.

Anyways, I had to back off for a few days. I wish it were for a different reason, as I don't think I was able to really get in a 'recovery week,' but it's still less wear and tear on the legs. So whatever.

Sunday		23-Jun		Tory Row 5k				8.73		Tory Row 5k in 18:53.  Bad night sleep with a strange cough, and run in some pretty decent heat. Shit race.
Monday		24-Jun		Recovery/Rest				0.00		Didn't feel well today. Sore throat, stiff neck and a migraine…all of it felt kind of minor though, so hopefully tomorrow is better.
Tuesday		25-Jun		Killer Bee's		0:07:30		5.03		~3m warm up before ultimate and kept the garmin on. Had a migraine in the morning and felt shitty all day.
Wednesday		26-Jun		Rest				0.00		Migraine in the morning, pretty bad chest congestion…going to be a long week if this keeps up.
Thursday		27-Jun		Rest				2.00		Another morning migraine, and still sick - but overall feeling a little better. Easy 2 at lunch for the sake of sanity.
Friday		28-Jun		Intervals				10.29		600/800/1000/300x8 - very hot out for this workout and I really struggled to recover after each one. Bad cough at times too…but hit most of the times. Pelvic 15x3. Resistance band 25x3. Right ankle still sore from Big Sur trail run/sprain? Weird.
Saturday		29-Jun		Fresh Pond				3.31		Fresh Pond in 15:08. Worked pretty hard, but I knew this would be a shitty run…basically a short tempo. MYRTLx2 + some weight training after the run.

I really wanted to make sure I got in the mile-specific speedwork in preparation for July's Mass Ave Mile, so even though it was pretty rough - I was able to hit the times. 600/800/1000 at 3k to 5k pace, and 300's at mile pace:

600-2:06

800-2:54

1000-3:39

300-53.27

300-56.42

300-54.70

300-55.71

300-54.69

300-55.50

300-55.52

300-53.56