9/15 - 9/21: Good Weather Good Running

The week started off right with a PR at Lone Gull, then I had a great interval workout, then another PR at Fresh Pond...I guess running hard during the heat of the summer is starting to pay off during the cool fall weather.

Stuff:

Sunday		15-Sep		Lone Gull 10k				10.10		Welcome to PR City, population: ME...Lone Gull 10k in 37:59.
Monday		16-Sep		Recovery/Double		0:07:51		7.00		~2 at lunch w/Raleigh then out in the PM.
Tuesday		17-Sep		Intervals				11.58		800, 1600, 1200, 1000, 600, 400 - workout went really well.
Wednesday		18-Sep		Easy + Strides				6.20		Easy miles with Raleigh, then around the Charles, then 6 barefoot strides. Ran into Chris from GBTC who had a good race against Kevin at Lone Gull. Good company on the run.
Thursday		19-Sep		Fresh Pond				7.63		Quick 2 w/Raleigh in the afternoon then a Fresh Pond PR in the evening - 14:04.
Friday		20-Sep		Moderate		0:07:51		7.00		Lunch run. Very warm, uncomfortable.
Saturday		21-Sep		Easy		0:08:16		6.06		Easy miles that were split up a little bit via errand running.

Tuesday Splits:

800-2:56.32

1600-5:43

1200-4:13.64

1000-3:24

600-2:01.18

400-1:06.25

Total Miles: 55.57

Lone Gull 10k Race Report

Back on May 18th I ran my first ever 10k, and labeled it as "shit race, good effort." It was just under three weeks after I had run Big Sur, and in retrospect it was a predictable outcome. The Lone Gull 10k had higher expectations. Intervals had been going well, Fresh Pond results had shown a steady improvement, all while running good mileage and staying healthy. So while this wasn't exactly a goal race, I still had goals for it.

Photo Courtesy of Tom Cole

I was relatively close to the front of the pack waiting for the gun to go off, and I didn't have any nerves. My warm up went well, and the weather was perfect. The first mile went by in a bit of a blur, but my split was roughly 6:04 - a little fast, but the effort wasn't concerning. I came through the 5k in just under 19 minutes, and felt good. There wasn't any wind along the course at this point, nor were there any hills of note.

I started to over think things just a tad towards the end of mile 3...wondering if my legs were getting tired or if my breathing was labored, but I took inventory and realized I felt really good and should maintain pace and increase effort. There was a slight hill toward the end of mile 4, but I was running strong and passing runners.

With about a mile and a half left I picked up the pace and really started to pass runners. I knew that there was a short steep hill at the end of mile 6, followed a short downhill before the finish and I picked out some runners to try and catch up to them at that point. Mile 6 ended up around 5:57, and I put my head down and handled the short hill well. For the final straightaway, I was able to open it up and pass a big handful of runners. I saw the clock approaching 38 minutes and kept the effort, but after I passed a big group of guys there was only one female runner that I would've passed just a few meters before the finish - so I let up just a tad to finish even...for some reason I felt like it would be a meat-head move to pass her at the last second, but now I'm not entirely sure.

In any case, I finished with a chip time of 37:59, averaging a 6:08 mile, and I didn't have to second guess letting up. That time is 2 minutes and 38 seconds faster than the 10k in May. Now my PR isn't so soft.

9/8 - 9/14: Steady

Sunday		8-Sep		Long Run		0:07:45		17.05		With the 30k coming up, I decided to skip the Call to Honor triathlon and go for a long run instead. Not an easy choice, but probably the right one. The run felt pretty tough at the end and my left glut was barking pretty loud.
Monday		9-Sep		Rest				0.00		First total day off in a while.
Tuesday		10-Sep		Intervals		0:07:56		10.08		800/(1000/600)x3 - 1 minute rest between each 1k and 600, 2min rest otherwise. A very tough workout due to the short rest. I felt very stiff prior to the workout, but loosened up and it went well.
Wednesday		11-Sep		Recovery		0:08:06		6.06		Easy start w/Raleigh then continued at an easy pace. Still a tough run due to 90+ heat.
Thursday		12-Sep		Fresh Pond				4.89		Fresh Pond in 14:45. Took it out fast for the first mile to try and build a lead. Second mile was 13 seconds slower, but I was focused on holding the lead and throwing in some surges. It felt like a real race. It was fun.
Friday		13-Sep		Easy		0:08:30		7.08		Ran home and back during lunch. Just took it easy.
Saturday		14-Sep		Easy		0:08:00		5.00		Easy miles - some w/Raleigh.

Thursday Splits:

800-2:50.17

1000-3:37.35

600-2:05.80

1000-3:31.30

600-2:08.85

1000-3:33.38

600-1:58.47

Total Mileage: 50.16

9/1 - 9/7: Consistency

The Big Sur Marathon was on April 28th. After that, I took two days off and got right back to it. Some interesting stats since that point:

- 133 days have passed

- 833 miles ran

- 18 days off from running

- 19 interval sessions

- 14 Fresh Pond races

- 19 games of Ultimate

- 2 triathlons

- 1 10k

- 1 5-mile race

- 1 1-mile race

More importantly, I was able to stay injury free. After missing a significant chunk of time leading up to Boston, my ultimate goal for the summer was to run consistently. That remains the goal for the foreseeable future.

Sunday		1-Sep		Long Run		0:07:48		16.24		Battle Road. Extremely humid, and then finished the last few miles in a complete downpour. Tough run, fun run.
Monday		2-Sep		Recovery/Bike		0:08:11		7.21		Just easy running, then 9m on the bike too.
Tuesday		3-Sep		Intervals				11.33		400x4/1200x2/400x4 - 400's were supposed to be at 3k pace and 1200's at 5k-8k pace. Ended up doing things mostly too fast, but hopefully I can take a stab at a fast mile soon.
Wednesday		4-Sep		Recovery		0:08:26		7.04		Started w/Raleigh then just kept it easy.
Thursday		5-Sep		Fresh Pond		0:06:37		3.06		Took it as a fairly easy tempo, and didn't have much time for a warm up or a cool down.
Friday		6-Sep		Tempo		0:07:15		6.09		First 2m w/Raleigh were a warmup to a solid 4m at ~6:35 pace.
Saturday		7-Sep		Recovery		0:07:32		5.16		Finished this a bit faster than I thought I would. Felt comfortable though.

Tuesday Splits:

400 - 1:16.22

400 - 1:22.23

400 - 1:20.28

400 - 1:22.03

1200 - 4:23.15

1200 - 4:27.37

400 - 1:22.05

400 - 1:20.20

400 - 1:16.86

400 - 1:11.38

I started off a little hot on that first 400, but it was my responsibility to lead the interval, and so I'm ok going a little fast on that one. The final 400 was ok - I was trying to open it up and practice feeling that burn for the final quarter, and I didn't have a lot of juice in my legs as I started to turn into the final 200. I opted to hold form instead of trying to get on my toes. I've been feeling pretty strong to finish these workouts lately though...I'm going to need to find a good time to improve my mile time.

Total Miles: 56.13

8/25 - 8/31: Back to the 50's

Ran every day and no less than 4m, plus I matched my Fresh Pond PR - which is actually a big boost mentally for me. I wasn't sure if the 14:08 was somehow an outlier that would take me awhile to replicate, but that obviously wasn't the case. After that run I feel like I could dip under 14 minutes if I have a proper warm up and don't have so many hard miles in the days beforehand. I won't do that of course, but still.

Let's get to it...

Sunday		25-Aug		Long Run		0:07:41		15.75		Battle Road miles.
Monday		26-Aug		Recovery		0:08:07		4.02		Easy jog home during lunch.
Tuesday		27-Aug		Intervals				11.52		800/1000/1600/1000/800/600 - first two intervals felt stiff…after the 1600 I felt pretty good though. It's nice to feel stronger as the workout goes on.
Wednesday		28-Aug		Recovery				5.04		Easy.
Thursday		29-Aug		Fresh Pond				7.00		Fresh Pond, 1st place in 14:08 (matched my PR). 11:43 split at 2m. Followed up by a long cool down.
Friday		30-Aug		Recovery				6.05		Easy pace w/Raleigh. Finished with 6 barefoot strides.
Saturday		31-Aug		Fresh Pond				4.39		14:3x for Fresh Pond, followed that up with 6 barefoot strides uphill at Kingsley Park.

Thursday splits:

800-2:46.29

1000-3:37.90

1600-5:51

1000-3:40.70

800-2:52.86

600-1:57.70

Total Miles: 53.77

8/18 to 8/24 - Rest Week?

After two 50+ weeks in a row, this week was supposed to be easy to allow my body to recover before getting back into another cycle of 2 weeks hard/1 week easy...I don't think this week qualified as easy though. The final day of the Ultimate Tournament (3 games), an interval workout, and two Fresh Pond races is a lot of hard running. I took three days off though, which is the first time I've done that in quite some time.

In any case, less mileage more quality...

Sunday		18-Aug		BUDA				7.50		Three games today, we won Div 4. FUN.
Monday		19-Aug		Rest				0.00		Day off.
Tuesday		20-Aug		Intervals				11.03		(600/1000/600)x2, 400x3
Wednesday		21-Aug		Rest				0		Work dinner. Easy run turned into a day off.
Thursday		22-Aug		Fresh Pond				8.09		Fresh Pond. 2.74m in 16:04. Legs felt like crap warming up, so I'm really happy about this run.
Friday		23-Aug		Rest				0.00		Rest.
Saturday		24-Aug		Fresh Pond				5.75		14:23 for fresh pond

Intervals: 

600 - 2:05.69

1000 - 3:32.13

600 - 2:06.70

600 - 2:07.70

1000 - 3:37.62

600 - 2:07.60

400 - 1:16.84

400 - 1:16.27

400 - 1:08.42

A fairly up and down workout on Tuesday, but that is a very respectable 68 second quarter to finish things off. I had some very tired legs after the tournament, but I was able to maintain a quality effort without losing form.

Conclusion...not an easy week, but my legs didn't have the cumulative pounding so it counts as restish.

Total Miles: 32.37