Friday, January 31, 2014

Week of January 27th - February 2nd, 2014

Monday:
1mi + circuits at Fit Club.  I was not in the mood to run in the afternoon.  Instead, I wallowed in self pity and thought about how miserable my track meet was yesterday. 

Tuesday:
9mi/59min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Nice run in the 12 degree weather.  Body stiff and tight.

Wednesday:
Am: 4mi/27min + circuits. 
Pm:  9mi/59min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Good run.

Thursday:
4mi/26min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Feeling a little tired today.  Short run.

Friday:
0mi.

Saturday:
24mi*/2:45 on Grafton, VT roads with Ferenc.  Good long run.  My body started to get tired from the pounding on the roads around 2:15.  I hung on the last 30min willing myself not to walk.  I'm glad I toughed it out.  Saw a bald eagle flying down Main Street in Bellows Falls, VT.

Sunday:
7mi/51min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Nice and easy recovery run.  My legs are pretty tired and sore.  Beautiful warm weather.

Total for the week:
59mi.  I got a solid long run in but no speed workouts, lifting or hill sprints.  I wanted a down week where I just got out the door and put in easy runs.  I'll probably do a workout next week. 

Friday, January 24, 2014

Week of January 20th - 26th, 2014

Monday:
0mi.  My body is tired and beat up.  Needed the rest.

Tuesday:
Am: 1mi + circuits with Fit Club
Pm:  4mi*/27min in Pisgah with Griffin + 5 x 8sec hill sprints.  I wore my new Kahtoola micro spikes on the trails.  They are awesome.  I could run on glare ice with confidence and traction.  The hill sprints felt great, I ran different parts of my hill getting varying degrees of steepness.  Feeling good!

Wednesday:
Am:  Played hoops with kids at school.  Pretty low key.
Pm:  10mi*/70min.  Track workout at Monadnock with Andy, Thomas and James.
2mi @ T - pace + 2 x 300m @ R - pace
Result (11:04, 52, 50)
This was a terrible workout for me.  My legs felt absolutely dead.  It was super cold at the track with 7 degree temps and a stiff wind making it feel much colder.  There was snow drifting on the first turn of the track so we had to run in lane 2.  (Which is why we did 300's and not 400's).  I was shooting for 10:40 on the 2mi which should have been no problem, but I couldn't come close to hitting 80sec laps.  Uggghh.  I only did 2 300's while Andy and Thomas did 4.  Just not my day. 

Late Pm:  Played some 4-on-4 and 3-on-3 basketball with Boj, Thomas and Brett.  Lot's of fun.  Messed around and got a triple double.  I'm going to be sore!!

Thursday:
Am: 1mi + circuits with Fit Club
Pm:  6mi/42min in Pisgah with Griffin.  I wore the micro spikes again.  Legs feeling tired.  Another cold afternoon.

Friday:
7mi/45min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Beautiful cold sunny day.  We saw 4 deer on Hubbard Hill.  Feel good.

Saturday:
4mi/27min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Nice easy shake out run.  It was snowing and warm out, 28 degrees. 

Sunday:
Master's New England Indoor Track Championships
mile - 4:46
800m - 2:10
Wow.  That was the worst track meet of my life.  I'm not sure what the culprit was.  My hunch is a perfect storm of a workout that was way too fast the weekend before, followed by a miserable workout in the cold on Wed, followed by an hour of basketball, running every day in micro spikes this week, and on top of all that I've been doing way too much anaerobic work and my mileage has been too low.  The end result was tanking and rigging up badly in both races.  I wish I could have given Mike the battle he was looking for, but it wasn't to be.  Good thing Chris was running the 800m to challenge Mike for the win, otherwise he would have ended up time trialing both races.  Despite my poor performance, I still had fun running and chatting with George and all the Rhody guys.  I'm glad Jonny enjoyed his first indoor track race and congrats to Mike on his dominating wins.

Total for the week:  40miles.  Time to reset and get my mileage up. 

Friday, January 17, 2014

Week of January 13th - 19th, 2014

Monday:
Am: 1mi with circuits at Fit Club with kids.
Pm:  6mi/48min on the trails of Saxton's River with Ferenc and the girls.  Wow.  This was a miserable run.  My body was exhausted and those damn hills with the snow, ice, and mud were the worst thing for me.  I needed either a day off or a flat easy run.  I kind of ruined the run for Ferenc as I stopped to walk on hills and plodded the rest of the time.  Lesson learned, don't run in Saxton's River if I need an easy day!

Tuesday:
Am:  2mi/14min at Fit Club.  Very easy run.
Pm:  Had to ref 2 basketball games.  Legs feel great after reffing.

Wednesday:
9mi*/61min - track workout at Monadnock.
8 x 400m with 200rest
Result:  (72, 71, 70, 69, 69, 70, 69, 64) - with Andy, Boj, and James

This was a No-Man's-Land workout.  Too fast for I pace (I also would run longer than 400's for I paced stuff) , too slow with not enough rest for R pace.  I got sucked into running a workout I didn't really want to do.  It went well, but what system was I stressing?  Oh well, I'll stick to Daniel's for now on.  Nice warm weather.

Thursday:
0mi.  Played some intense floor hockey at school today.  I should have run, but I wasn't feeling motivated.  Tomorrow lift and run.

Friday:
8mi*/53min in Pisgah with Griffin + 3 x 8sec hill sprints.  I felt great today.  Days off work!  I thought I was racing at Smith College this weekend so I only did 3 hill sprints instead of 6.  Turns out the meet was last weekend!  Oops!  Well, at least I don't have to make the decision to do the meet or watch the Patriots play.  Patriots it is!

Saturday:
7mi*/47min - Track workout at Monadnock w/Ferenc
200-200-400-300-200-200 @ F pace with plenty of jogging/walking recovery
Result:  (30, 29, 58, 42, 29, 28)
It was fun to run fast!  The workout went well.  I wore my spikes which was a good idea due to the slick frozen track and the heavy snowfall that started coming down for the last few repeats.  Legs are good and tired now. 

Sunday:
17mi/2:05 in Pisgah with Ferenc, Lena and Ellie.  Gorgeous day out there with the sun shining and 3 inches of fresh fluffy snow.

Total for the week:
50 miles
This was an ok week.  I got a good long run in, 2 speed workouts, and some hill sprints.  I didn't lift at all or do yoga this week.  I need to make sure I do those next week.  I'm racing at USATF Master's New England's next Sunday.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Week of January 6th-12th, 2014

Monday:
0mi.  I had a two hour delay at school today which would have been the perfect opportunity to run, but it was pouring rain so I opted to stay indoors and lift weights.  In the afternoon, the weather was better but I had some errands that needed to get done and I felt like a day off from running would be good for me. 

Tuesday:
2mi*/14min in Pisgah with Griffin + 6 x 8 second hill sprints.  The plan was to run longer, but the trails were absolutely treacherous.  They were rock hard and icy.  I decided to turn back and not risk cracking my head open on the ice.  It was also very cold and windy with the temp at 8 degrees.  I'm not sure what it was with the wind chill, but it felt damn cold.  The hill sprints went really well.  Tomorrow track workout.  I'm thinking a mix workout of some kind.

Wednesday:
10mi*/69min - Baker St track workout w/Andy, George, Boj, Thomas, and Nick
5 x 800 @ I pace w/400 rest + 5 x 200 @ R pace w/200 rest
Result:  (2:29, 2:29, 2:28, 2:26, 2:27) + (33, 31, 31, 31, 31)
Good workout.  I hit the paces and felt pretty relaxed doing so.  It was a bit cold and blustery at Baker Street today. 
Lifted weights in the morning.

Thursday:
7mi/48min.  I ran in Pisgah 5 miles with Griffin and then I dropped her off and hopped on the roads for 2 miles.  The trails are really icy in spots. Feeling good.

Friday:
0mi.  I wasn't feeling motivated to run on the icy trails that were hidden by the half inch of snow we got today.  Did 4 sets of pull-ups at school.

Saturday:
12mi/1:22 in Pisgah with Ferenc and Griffin.  It was warm today, 48 degrees.  The trails were slushy with only a few icy spots.  Feeling good.

Sunday:
Am:  3mi/22min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Griffin had a showdown with a very large male German Shepherd and a big hound mix.  They backed down.  No one messes with the queen of the dark forest!
Pm:  8mi*/52min.  Monadnock track workout solo.  I spent 20 minutes or so kicking ice off the track in a few spots.  I decided on a mix workout T pace and I paced stuff.
3miles @ T pace:  16:04
400rest
3 x 800m @ I pace:  2:28, 2:27, 2:24 with 400 rest.
Good workout.  It was a bit windy on the home stretch of the track.  I really good, nice and smooth.

Total for the week: 42miles.  This was a low mileage week thanks to the two days off.  I'm pleased that I lifted 3 times, did hill sprints, and two track workouts.  Next week, I want to get my mileage up and get a long run in.  I'm going to race at Smith College on Sunday night.  The plan is to do the 800m and the 3000m.  The 800m is first, which will make coming back to do the 3000m pretty tough.  It's not the world's fastest track from what I hear, but it will be fun to get out there and race.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Week of Dec 30th - January 5th, 2014

Monday: 
0mi.  Feeling tired from 42mi in the previous 3 days.  A day off was in order.

Tuesday: 
8mi*/53min - Track workout at the Monadnock track with George and Thomas.
5 x 400 + 5 x 200 with full jogging recoveries - R pace
result:  (69, 65, 65, 64, 63, 34, 31, 30, 30, 29)
This was a pretty solid workout.  Thanks to George for snowblowing the track we had two full lanes that were snow and ice free.  It was cold out, 9 degrees, but nice and sunny. My legs felt good and I was able to stay smooth and relaxed for the most part. 

Wednesday: 
12mi/1:23 in Pisgah with George, Ferenc, Thomas, MacKnight, Lena and Ellie.  Nice easy run.  Had fun out there.  I lifted weights in the morning.  A good way to start 2014.

Thursday:
6mi/42min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Nice easy run during the snow storm.  I opted not to wear my snowshoes and I could have used the traction, but it was a good run nonetheless.

Friday:
8mi/57min on the Putney dirt roads with Ferenc.  Yikes.  It was cold out there!  The wind chill was somewhere around -15.  We started off into the wind and it was brutal.  With the wind at our backs, running in the sunshine, the run got much more pleasant.  Legs feeling good.

Saturday:
8mi*/56min - BU Mini Meet
mile - 4:29
800m - 2:06
The mile went well.  I moved up through the field and was able to negative split (2:15/2:14).  I was happy to break 4:30.  I really wasn't sure what I was capable of.  Boj and I joked after the race that a 4:29 is like a minute better than a 4:30. 
The 800 was tough.  I figured I could at least run 2:04 possibly faster.  I settled into the pack and moved up towards the front at the bell lap.  I was starting to feel the lactic acid build up.  I got my self into position for a big kick.  With 100m to go, instead of kicking, I rigged up.  I haven't rigged in an 800m like that since college.  It's a pretty terrible feeling, but it was a good workout and a nice little rust buster.  I'll have to jump into another 800m soon to run a faster time.  I'd like to be on another 4x800 relay team in March so I'll need a fast time in order for a team to pick me up. 
George had a good meet running 4:47/2:12.  It was fun watching him battle in his races.

Sunday:
7miSS/50min on the Saxton's River trails with Ferenc, Lena, and Ellie.  My legs were sore and tired from wearing spikes yesterday at the race and possibly from the 2hrs of shoveling I did on Friday.  I talked Ferenc into turning around and doing a short run.  We were planning on 2hrs or so, but there was no way that I could do that on this day.  I've learned long ago listen to my body.  Beautiful day in the woods with awesome snow conditions.  We saw a barred owl sunning itself in a tree.

Total for the week:  49miles.  I would have liked my mileage to be more like 60, but I'll take it.  The indoor races were ok, considering they were the first races of the season.  I have a lot of work to do in the 800m.  I'll get there.  Usually, I peak for indoors in December or January.  My big races are in March so this is probably a great place to start from.  I'm hungry to run more track races and get faster.  Next week's top priority is to do hill sprints.