week of 16 February

Monday, Feb 16 - 5 mile easy run

Really nice run. I'm running much more upright now and I felt very efficient. I was taking short strides, but had a decent pace (around 9:00 after the first mile) and a low 129, 130, 131, and 136 after the first mile. There were also unforecast snow flurries and half an hour later it was completely blue skies. Neat.

Tuesday, Feb 17 - 6-8 mile easy run including the Rock

Did 7.0. I felt very strong *except* my runner's knee (or whatever it is) that I have been struggling with off and on since last Sept bit me in the first mile or so (downhill). It's been flaring up some the last couple of weeks. My running feels qualitatively different than it did before the half. I credit the rock circuit as much as anything else. The hills also seem to be paying dividends.

Wednesday, Feb 18

AM: 10 mile total moderate run including 10 min @ LT effort. Full recovery then 8-10 x 3 min hills @ 10k feel w/2-3 min jog rests. Finish run w/10 strides

It was hard to pack all this in 10 miles. I did about 1.6 warmup, then 10 min at a semi-wimpy LT. I just squeaked the 10 minutes in a section for a stoplight and then jogged about a mile to the bottom of my hill. Sometimes it's hard to arrange these around the terrain. I did 3 minutes uphill and 3 down. I pushed the down ever so slightly above a jog just to get to the bottom and have enough hill.

PM: 4 mile easy run

I never feel very good doing afternoon runs and especially after a hard morning run, but I trudged through 4.06 miles at a scalding 10:08 pace.

Thursday, Feb 19 - 5-6 mile easy run

Travelling for work. 5 miles @9:08 in an office park. Back and forth on a half mile stretch of road. I didn't have the heart for a 6th mile of monotony. Plus I was late.

Friday, Feb 20 - 8-10 mile moderate run including 10 x 20 sec @ 800m race effort w/ 1 min recovery

Still on travel but drove to a nice 1.8-mile bike path around a lake about 10 minutes away. Had to get up at 5am after the guy in the room next to me was yelling at someone on the phone from 3:30am-4:30am. Got there and did the first lap in seclusion with a head lamp. I forgot how many 20 sec @800m pace I was supposed to do. I did 20. Oops! Plus I thought I was supposed to do 10 strides and threw some extremely half-hearted ones in at the end (the last was maybe 10 yards). I was probably nowhere near 800m pace though. I don't even no what that is. I just ran hard for 20 seconds. Anyway, I made this harder than it was supposed to be, but only average 8:25 pace, so it wasn't terrible.

Saturday, Feb 21 - 7-8 mile moderate run including the Rock

I felt pretty stiff and it felt hard for the pace when I was warming up (this seems to be a Saturday theme), so I ran easy (135-139 bpm and low 9 pace). My knee was giving me trouble starting up on the strides during "the Rock," so they were more like jogs.

Sunday, Feb 22
- AM: 15-16 mile total moderate run including 5 miles total @ alternating paces: Mile 1 @ GHMP, Mile 2 @ GMP, Mile 3 @ GHMP, Mile 4 @ GMP, Mile 5 @ GHMP; 10 min recovery jog; then 2 miles @ alternating paces: 1 mile @ GHMP, 800m @ 10k feel. 800m @ 5k effort or harder. Finish w/10 strides

Pretty stiff, so I warmed up slowly and let the pace come to me. First couple of miles were 9:40, 9:30, then ~9:10 until I got to the track (5.4 miles). For the 5 "miles" (1600m splits) I did 6:53/164, 7:08, 6:48, 7:11, 6:47. I had planned on 7:20 pace for the MP sections, but I fell into ~7:10 and that felt right. 1800 meters in 10:01 rest (8:57 pace). My legs got stiff during the rest. It probably didn't help that it was snowing/raining and ~35 degrees. I had a little trouble ramping back up and the last part was 1600 in 6:54, 800 in 3:22, and 800 in 3:14. Jogged home and did the 10 strides (about 2 miles). Total was 15.6 miles.

PM: 4 mile easy jog

4.26 at 9:44 per mile

Total: 67.4 miles

week of 9 Feb

Endurance/ General Strength Phase 1-2x this week – Core Plank - Begin face down elbows bent, lift entire body off ground in a pushup position except for hand to elbow touching ground. Hold position for up to 2 minutes. Back should not slouch. Suck in your abdominal muscles. If you start slouching immediately stop! Forearm Plank w/Alternating Leg Lifts – Same position as above but lift one leg up off the ground approx. 1 1/2 foot or until it is level with your head. Hold for 30 sec, place foot back down and repeat with opposite leg. Foam Roller Exercises 1-2 x this week 5 Weeks to goal Half Marathon race MPW 66 Monday, Feb 9 - rest Rested. I'm good at this. Tuesday, Feb 10 8-10 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit 8.8 miles I think. Great run. Woke up early (4:45) and there were less people out there when I ran. Wednesday, Feb 11 AM 12-14 mile moderate run including 10 x 10 sec steep hill sprints w/full recoveries and 10 x 2 hill min @ 5k effort w/2 min jog rests. Full recovery then 10 strides Underestimated my route and ended up with 14.7. 8+ on warmup loop (including the 10x10'' hills). Did the 10 x 2 min @5k hitting 180-181 bpm at the end of the last couple. Did 2 min rest between except after the 5th I did 3+ min rest to get back to the bottom of the hill as I was inching my way up until I ran out of hill. Did 10 "strides" on the way back. The strides were kind of short and half-hearted. PM : 3 mile moderate w/ 5 strides Did 2.75 miles at 10+ min/mile. Forgot to do the strides. Argh. Thursday, Feb 12 6 mile easy run Did 5 miles at lunch. I was quite sore and did maybe 10 min/mi. It was also *incredibly* windy. Airport reported 50 mph gusts. Was literally knocked off my feet once. Friday, Feb 13 9-10 mile moderate run over rolling hills w/ 30 sec @ 5k effort/30 sec jog rests x 15 This went very well except that I tweaked the same place from last Friday on one of the 5k efforts ["sharp twinge in a muscle (or maybe tendon) on the medial side of my left knee between the knee and that big hamstring tendon. I also had some pain at the very, very top of my right calf, below the back of my knee."] It had been slowly getting better and hadn't interfered with running. Anyway, it didn't stop me from completing the intervals. I hit the lap button every 5 min just to keep count and keep the mile auto-lap from triggering. The paces for the 5 min segments (includes 5k and jog) were 7:58, 7:57, and 7:51, but they were all quite uphill (gained 120 feet in the first 5 minute segment). Just for the hell of it, here's the elevation profile for my standard 9+ mile work route. From mile 2 - 5.5 actually looks like a pretty nice Boston simulator. Saturday, Feb 14 6-7 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit I could feel the tug on the back of my leg at first, but it subsided. I felt kinda tired and I believe we talked about going easier on Fri/Sat to be more recovered for Sunday, so I kept around 140 bpm. Rock circuit was fine, but passers by always come buy when I'm doing lunges or supermans and never when I'm doing push ups or something normal looking. I went to home depot procured a 2x8 for the treadmill. The deck is 60 inches long which makes the math nice since one radian is about 60 degrees. A 2x8 is actually 1.5'' thick, this should be about -1.5 degrees. Sunday, Feb 15 15-16 mile moderate run including 15 min run down a slight grade hill (try to run down the same grade as Boston) @ marathon effort then 45 min run up a hill @ LT effort Finish run w/10 strides I did my old run around the lake I used to do all the time and got back to my house after 8.6 miles. Jogged a few minutes on the treadmill with the board underneath (neg incline) and had a few sharp pains in my runner's knee. It was OK after I got up to speed though. I did

week of 2 February

Monday, Feb 2

Rest. Still sick and happy for a scheduled rest day. Fever was down to 99.6 before I went to bed Monday night and I still didn't feel well, so I didn't set the alarm.

Tuesday, Feb 3

Scheduled. 7-8 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit. Slept in. Glad I did. I wasn't over the bug yet.

Wednesday, Feb 4

Scheduled AM: 12-13 mile total moderate run including 4 x 2 miles @ 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, and 6:40 w/3-4 min jog rests
PM: 4 mile jog

6:29 AM 9.63 1:22:41 8:35 143 (71%)

On the two mile warmup to the track, I felt like my old self, like I'd finally caught my breath after the HM. I shot for 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, and 6:50 w/600m rest. The first two miles (1600 actually) were 7:39, and 7:39. My heart rate averaged something like 148 on the second mile, which I thought was very good for the pace. I felt a twinge in my hamstring on the 3rd laps, but it quickly went away and I forgot about it. I stepped up the pace for the second two miles and could start to feel my hamstring. After the first mile (7:26), it started to build (tugging sensation) pretty quickly and I could tell I was favoring it, so I decided to shut it down and jogged away from the track. I took the long way home from the track (4+ miles) and ended up at 9+ instead of the scheduled 12-13. Bummer.

5:00 PM 4.00 0:38:00 9:30. Four boring miles on the treadmill. Hamstring was stiff but OK for jogging.

Thursday, Feb 5

Scheduled 6 mile jog.

Did 6.04 0:59:56 9:55 130

Friday, Feb 6

Scheduled 8-10 mile moderate run including 5 uphill then 5 slight downhill strides. Run over rolling hills

Did 9.20 1:19:33 8:39 144

My hamstring was a little stiff, but felt pretty good and then about 0.5 miles in, I had a sharp twinge in a muscle (or maybe tendon) on the medial side of my left knee between the knee and that big hamstring tendon. I also had some pain at the very, very top of my right calf, below the back of my knee. Ugh. Well, it subsided pretty quickly and I did the rest of the run. I had to stop at a light though without about 2 miles left and it stiffened up and I could really feel it as I jogged the rest.

Saturday, Feb 7

8 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit

Did 7.77 1:19:38 10:15 147

Slow pace is from the rock circuit. Splits were 9:08, 8:24, 8:43, 8:37, 8:32, 8:30 with HRs between 142 and 153. After the rock circuit, HRs/paces were 9:11/150, 8:55/153. My heart rate always goes up after the rock circuit. I could still feel the weird twinge from yesterday but it was muted and didn't get worse. I've been doing these on the upper end of easy recently but was a little more rambunctious with this one. It felt good to run off my frustration after losing to go 0-5 in basketball. (I'm the coach of my son's team.)

Sunday, Feb 8

Scheduled. 19-20 mile total moderate run including 3 x 3 miles (run the first 2 miles @ GMP then run the last mile @ 10k effort). 5 min jog rest between reps

Sunday 19.81 2:53:38 8:46 153 (76%)

The plan was just to pick it up for the 3 x 3 and not press. The good news is that my hamstring was completely fine and my new niggle didn't cause a problem. I was "off" from the start though and my 8 miles before the fast parts were at right around 9:00 pace, but my hr was kinda high for that pace (138-143).

The first segment went 8:22/153, 1:42/158 -- bathroom break :-). After the break I jogged 5 minutes rather than restart immediately and did the other two miles in 8:07/155, 8:11/162. 5 min jog. 8:04/162, 8:06/166, 7:43/172, 5 min jog, 8:15/171, 8:22/172, 8:08/176. On the second intervals, I tried to up it a little in the last mile. Not 10k effort, but harder than MP. I was very tired and it was pretty tough just to jog that last cooldown mile. As you can see, my heart rates were pretty marathon-like even though the paces were snail like. I just didn't have it today. Also, the trail was very slow. The snow melted and the normally firm dirt/crushed gravel was very spongy and there were lots of muddy spot. It started out at a pleasant 47 degreses, but got to 69 degrees by the end of the run!

In summary Mindi totally kicked my ass on long run pace today. I had an accounting error for January mileage though. I was looking at the 216 in December. I actually did 229 in January. Not even close. So, there!

Week - 56.5. Scheduled for 69. Ouch.

Thinking back, I'm kind of hoping my tough run today was for lack of endurance. If it was then I did my half on something else and maybe I have room to improve? There has to be a silver lining :-)

This could be you!

Hey, look, I'm a success story! It was a 3:39 PR, but my last half (that I raced) was Sept 2007. Still, my best age-graded PR before that was 10 miles at 6:53 pace and I did 6:51 for 13.1. Not too shabby.

week of 26 January

Monday - Rest
Tues 8:15 PM 0.00 0:07:04 - 97 (48%)  -- elliptical
     8:25 PM 3.00 0:29:37 9:52 139 (69%) -- treadmill
Wednesday 6.00 0:58:45 9:48 134 (67%) -- treadmill
Thursday 7.00 1:21:13 11:36 134 (67%) -- treadmill/rock circuit
Friday         8.31 1:17:35 9:20 144 (72%) -- easy, skipped workout
Saturday 6.74 1:12:20 10:44 148 (74%) -- rock circuit
Sunday         4.37 0:39:17 8:59 140 (70%) -- bailed because of stomach bug
This Week 35.41 6:05:51 10:08 139 (70%)
Last Month 216.54 32:45:08 8:56 147 (73%)

I can't remember the last time I only ran 35 miles in a week. I did manage to squeak by Mindi for the month though (216 to 215).

Traveling to St Louis and back made it tough (hence the PM run on Tuesday and the treadmilling). I was still sore most of the week. As the general soreness has worn off, the hamstring isn't quite right yet. Finally, I got some sort of stomach bug overnight. I was supposed to do 13-14 w/ 40-45, alternating 4' MP/1' 5k, plus 3x200m cutdowns. I figured I'd do 4 miles to warmup and see how I felt. After 2 bathroom breaks in 4 miles, I felt like going home. Given how I feel at the moment, I'm glad I did.