Sunday, June 19, 2011

DOUBLE the Update- DOUBLE the HW Procrastination!

Hello internet. Sorry for the lack of the update last week, but I had some summer class midterms and things kinda got away from me. I also gotta get another job, because my normal school year one is about to end and I'd rather have a couple weeks of overlap than a couple weeks with nothing coming in. Anyway, all that's neither here nor there. Here are my last two weeks:

6/6: 11mi easy, took an unplanned detour to find a bathroom and got kinda lost. I ended up feeling pretty good once I got about 5mi in, though.

6/7: AM- 4 easy PM- 8 easy, doctor's appt, pretty sure I did this run around the outdoor track barefoot.

6/8: 7mi easy, still 84 and humid at 9PM after work. I really did not feel like running today, but I know it was more because of the weather and the fact that I put it off so late.

6/9: 2:30PM- 5mi easy, 94 deg or so. 10pm- 10mi steady after work, last 8 pretty damn fast. Got caught in a downpour with a 1mi to go, and of course I was wearing a ratty old pair of white nylon shorts. Good thing I was running at night.

6/10: 4PM- With Joey and Petah on the river, ~4mi up, 5x3min hard, 2min easy, then 20min down or so with a mile added on at Nickerson. We averaged under 5:30/mile including the rest, so we were getting in some good running on the hard parts. Great weather- the heat finally broke. All in all, an enjoyable day. 10PM- River loop, belly a little sloshy from lemonade

6/11: 1PM- 4mi easy, rainy and 50deg, which was awesome after the week we had. 6:30PM- 2 laps of Fresh Pond easy from the house, 11mi, felt good.

6/12: 5PM- 15 miles, kind of a shorter but harder long run than I've done the last month or so. I was clipping along at about 6:15/mile after the mile and ran to the Arb, did about a half-hour there, then ran a pace-check lap at JP (9:06) then came home via the Muddy River through South Campus. The total 1:42:30, but I'm being pretty careful on the distance- I bet I could have added 2:30 and called it 16. Oh, the games we play.

90 miles, 11 runs

Next week:

Monday 6/13: 4PM- 4mi easy with the Gilmore Twins. A mile into the run we stopped at Harvard so Kevin, who hasn't really run in 3 months, could do an 800 time trial. He ran 2:11.3! 8:30PM- 8 miles moderate solo on the river, too full from dinner still.

Tuesday 6/14: OFF, hadn't had one in over 60 days.

Wednesday 6/15: 2:30PM- Perfect weather, good day to tempo. 3+ up, 6mi tempo on the river in 32:08 (two mile splits- 10:52, 10:50, 10:26). I had only planned on doing 5mi, but I felt so good at 4.5 I figured I might as well keep going. 2+ down for 12. 9:30PM- 4mi easy to break in some new shoes.

Thursday 6/16: Back to Derry, 4pm- It was 88 degrees and I picked an obnoxiously hilly route, so this ended up being a very unpleasant 10 miler in just under 70min. After a much needed shower I headed to the Verizon Center in Manchester to watch my brother graduate from high school.

Friday 6/17: Noon- 4mi easy out-n-back: I put a watch on it to see what was up, surprised to head back under 7:00 pace after going out 14:30 at the turnaround. 28:17 total. 5:30PM: 3 up to the Pinkerton track for a nice little workout. I repeated my 6xmile workout, but cut the rest from an 800 sustained run to a 600 sustained run. I wore my new Streak XC 3s and while I like the shoes a lot, I can't wear socks with them and tore my heels pretty good. As usual, everything is rounded up to the nearest tenth, so totals might add up. Dammit, Jim- I'm a doctor, not an accountant!

5:08.6, 2:21.5
5:10.8, 2:20.3
5:07.4, 2:18.6
5:08.1, 2:17.4
5:06.9, 2:15.8
5:05.0, 1:02.2 for 300m and 8 miles in 43:23, or just over 5:25/mile. I'm pretty pleased with this one, it was easy as pie.

Saturday: 1PM- 4mi easy out and back, 28:49 8PM- 10 miles slow, picked another obnoxiously hilly course, 71:03. Tired, heavy. Long day yesterday.

Sunday: 6:30PM- Allergies still all jacked up from being in NH, ran after work, felt pretty good. Last 8-9 miles pretty fast, 15mi total around Fresh Pond, etc.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Another good week

Hey there, internet. I had a pretty good week of training, except for my first ever "bonk" on a long run. I've had bad long runs because of heat, stepping in a pothole, getting lost, and a myriad of other reasons, but had never bonked before today. I didn't eat or drink much all day, and about 14 miles in, I got all dizzy and wobbly. I made the 4 miles home with any major problems, though, and after some GENERIC SPORTS DRINK (can't have the NCAA think I'm endorsing anything) and a snack, I was feeling more or less like my usual chipper, totally-not-sarcastic self. I'm going to squeeze this update in before I do some Econ homework, though, so if you'll excuse me, internet. . .

Monday 5/30: To Jamaica Pond, one lap, and back with James. Hot out again, 87 according to the weather service. My stomach was all kinds of messed up, so it was tough to gauge if this was a shitty run from the long run yesterday or a shitty run because of my stomach. I was absolutely shocked when James said we ran the 9+ miles under 63 minutes. I assumed it was 7:30s tops, and almost told James to truck on without me.

Tuesday 5/31: 4PM- ~3 up to Fresh Pond with James, two lap tempo (just under 5mi, I think one lap is 2.45 mi?), ~3mi cooldown with James. I still didn't have a watch, so I don't know what my time was, but I ran with a little more "urgency" in my stride than the 10k last week, if that makes sense. It was a good hard-but-controlled effort. 9:30PM- 4mi easy after work, tired.

Wednesday 6/1: 4PM- 8mi slow before work, quite tired today. There was a severe thunderstorm warning during this run, and the sky was dripping with anticipation. The rain held off during my entire run, which was surprising, during my bike ride to work, which was frankly astounding, and during my ENTIRE SHIFT, which is a goddamn miracle. Unfortunately, my luck ran out on my way home. The storm blew in from the west, which is the same direction I travel toward from work. During our shift it was upgraded to a tornado warning and I read about how Springfield, MA (maybe 2 hours southwest of Boston) got hit pretty hard by a tornado. All this is a roundabout way of saying I didn't so a second run that evening.

Thursday 6/2: 3PM- To the Arnold Arboretum in Brookline with Rob and James, Rob turned back for 60min, James stuck with me for 75min. We were running pretty honestly the whole time and ran the last 30-40min or so at just under 6:00/mile. James claims I push the pace on the hilly Arb trails, I say he doesn't enjoy the scenery enough! 9:30PM- 5mi easy including 10x15 second hill sprints up Summit Ave, felt quite good again.

Friday 6/3: Noon: 3mi very slow, wanted to prepared for the workout I had planned.
6PM- 4.5mi warmup (a little longer than I wanted, but I was looking for a track that wasn't being used), 6xmile avg 5:11.5 with an 800 at a moderate pace for recovery (avg about 3:06, I think) for 14.4k (basically 9mi) in 49:51, which is about 5:35/mile or 3:28/kilometer. I only cooled down half a mile because that was quite enough, thank you. I was pleased with this workout, since it was the first real quality session on the watch. I was recovering quickly despite running the rest at close to 6:00 pace, which is a good sign for where I'm at right now. Right now my general idea is to revisit this workout a couple times this summer but aim toward reducing the distance of the recovery jog and speed up the pace of the recovery run a little rather than try to hammer out 4:55 miles.

Saturday 6/4: AM- 4mi easy with Terence, who was visiting from New York.
PM- 9mi with James and Joey, with the middle 8.5 or so at 6min pace to Jamaica Pond, around, and back. I felt like trash while Joey and James toyed with me for about 3.5 miles, then my legs kind of woke up and I was the one-stepper for the back half of the run.

Sunday 6/5: 4:30PM- 18 miles moderate, first 9mi easyish with James and Rob, next 9 solo, 6:20-6:30 pace. Like I said above, not eating/drinking much = bonk. I don't much want to repeat that experience again.

Tot- 97 miles, another good week.

I think after next week, I'll probably take a day off or at least really light. I think it's been close to two months since I had one, but I'm not sure.