Long May You Run

10 miles out and back from home.  felt pretty good since I took yesterday off.  I should not feel guilty about not running yesterday but I do.  Relaxed and watched football all day.  1:22:58  8:18 ave

10 miles back and forth be hind the Capitol.  1:27:08  8:43 ave.  very very cold

5.65 am miles no watch

10.1 pm miles no watch B Street route 

5.65 am miles, no watch

10.1 pm miles, B street route.  Had a strong pace tonight. 

5.65 am miles no watch

10.1 pm miles, no watch.  Felt a little sore and tired. 

5.65 am miles.  Wow, very tired today, every step was work.  I like to think that days like today build strength.

10 flat miles out and back from home.  1:33:35  9:22 ave.  This was a labored effort.  Very tired.  Slowly hammered out the miles.  I'm happy with my total mileage for the week but it was a definite grind.

10 miles behind Capitol 1:29:53  8:59 ave

5.65 am miles

10.1 pm miles B street route, no watch 

5.65 am miles

10.1 pm miles, watch free. 

5.65 am miles

10.6 pm miles, watchless, B Street route. 

5.65 am miles.  couple of inches of snow on the ground, wore trail shoes, love them.  I was very tired today.  

15.16  2:13:42  8:49 ave pace

Out and back from home, flat route.  It's nice to run during daylight. 

10 miles on the track.  Warm day, 40-45 degrees, felt like early spring.  First day above freezing for a long time.  1:29:36  8:58 ave, slow and easy.

5.65 am miles

10.9 pm miles.  warm day, 40°  1:35:23  8:45 ave pace.  With the break in the weather, all the snow is gone from the track, so I don't have to climb the mountain that is B street.  What a nice little break, flat miles! 

5.65 am miles 52:08   9:14 ave

10.9 pm miles 1:37:38  8:57 ave.  Flat run home, 6 miles on the track.  I am very tired and beat up.  It's days like these that make me think I'll never be able to run fast again.  Today was a hard pounding grind.  I did not have the benefit of energy, rhythm, flow or any of those other thinks that make running nice.  Every step was a feat of strength.  I know it's making me stronger.  I guess this is why training is hard. 

5.95 am miles  54:55  9:13 ave pace, very tired.  Put a little tape on my achilles, made a huge difference.  I'm going to do this every day for a while.

 10.9 pm miles.  8:48 ave.  6 miles on the track.  I averaged about a nine minute pace on the track.  I was pretty miserable, my legs felt heavy, every step was work and painful.  This caused me to think negatively, which defeats the whole purpose of running.  I tried to push out the negative and focus on positive things, this worked of course.  I also became angry, I was upset that the running was so labored and hurting and I'm sick and tired of the cold.  The last two miles I picked up the pace out of anger.  My last two miles were 8:13 and 8:15.  Tomorrow should me an easy day, only one short run in the morning.  Saturday I've got to put down a 20 miler, I've been putting it off the last two weekends, now is the time.  I iced both achilles tendons, light day tomorrow, looking to be reasonably strong on Saturday.  Oh, and did I say I was sick of the cold?  Yes, I'm sick of the cold.  Next week is supposed to be lows in the high teens and highs in the low 30's.  Yipee! 

5.65 am miles, no watch.  felt better from yesterday.  I was not fast today, but I felt strength in my legs.

20.28 miles out and back from home.  Totally flat, ave pace 8:57  Total time 3:01:38

Perfect morning for a run (at least for January).  It rained over night so the roads were damp and the air felt moist.  It was 7:25 am, dark , perfectly still air, bright moon in the western sky, which was the direction I was headed.  My goal was at least three hours on my feet and or 20 miles.  This is my first 20 miler before Boston.  I started out slow and planed on staying slow for the first 10 miles.  Once I hit ten I was going to evaluate what to do then, hopefully I'd be able to pick it up a little on the way back, that was the best possible outcome, however, I was prepared to slog it back at the same pace and I was still going to be happy.

First 10

9:27  9:30  9:50  9:35  9:25  9:27  9:19  9:07  9:12  9:13

11-15

9:13  9:03  9:01  8:59  8:30  I'm starting to pick it up and by mile 15 I wanted to pound hard the rest of the way but I told myself to hold back, this is my first 20 miler in the training cycle so keep it at 8:30, maybe slowly take it up to 8 by mile 20.

16-20

8:22  8:04 (oops, a little faster that I wanted) 8:08 8:04 7:21, then a cool down of .28 miles at 9:25.

I decided to hammer the last mile, I wanted Rattletrap to be proud!

After a couple of days of miserable running, this one was wonderful.  I felt very strong at mile 15.  This run turned out to be much better than I had hoped for.   A very good day indeed.  

I weighed myself after the run, 148.  I felt good about that too. 

5 miles on the track.  Beautiful day, lots of sunshine, nothing in the legs.  Yesterday took all the juice out of me.  9:57 ave.  wow.  There was no use going forward, going home and resting was far better for me than running another 5 miles, so that's what I did.  I ate a bunch of junk too!  I feel shame.

7 miles on the track 1:06:49 9:33 ave I am so tired. Normally this would be a 10 miler but i'm cutting back this week. Time to absorb some training.

5.65 am run 55:52  9:53 ave pace.  I didn't know I could run this slow.  The body is screaming for a reduced mileage week.  Brain is listening, request granted.  I'm cutting 5 miles off the afternoon run and will probably do so the rest of the week.

5.65 pm run 52:22  9:16 ave pace.  I'm sure enjoying the reduced run tonight.   

5.65 am miles  9:14 ave 52:10

5.65 pm miles  8:58 ave 52:38  

nice short, slow runs today.  starting to feel stronger, this is a good sign for the 5K on Saturday. 

5.65 am miles 54:54  9:43 ave  slow and easy

5.65 pm miles  50:50  9:00 ave pace.  A little tired but I feel like I should be in pretty good shape for Saturday's race.   

5.65 am miles. slow and easy, race tomorrow, trying to store up some leg juice.

I slowly ran the course before the race to warm up, threw in a couple of pick ups to get my legs ready to "sprint" 3.1 miles.  5K's are tough, there's no falling into a rhythm or grove or any of those things that actually feel nice.  I was shocked that I was not under 20 minutes.  I wish I could blame it on feeling lousy or a nagging injury but I can't.  I felt pretty good today and a sub 20 was a foregone conclusion with visions of perhaps a very low 19 and just maybe an 18:59 as an unexpected shocker (those pretty much never happen in this sport but I thought I was strong enough that there was a glimmer of hope).  I blame all those down hill summertime 5K's where I put up a few 18 and a half and 19 minute 5K's.  I was excited to test my true speed and did not fulfill my minimum expectation.  Oh well, a few years ago I never would have thought that I'd be here complaining about a 20 minute 5K.  I guess that's what keeps us coming back, hopefully stronger every year.

So, first mile 6:18.  I knew sub 19 had to be 6:06 so I'm thinking if I can't speed up I'm looking at 19:15, which would be great, actually anything in the 19's and I'm happy.  At the end of this mile I'm feeling great.  I even threw in a minor burst as I approached the mile marker to launch myself into the second mile, I'm rockin and rollin!  Mile two ... 6:27 ... ruh-roh!!  I'm giving it all I've got and I ain't got more to give, I thought I felt it slipping but you never know for sure until you look at your watch when you hit the mile marker.  Okay, all I can do now is keep pounding as hard as I can.  The people in front of me keep getting smaller, definitely not a motivating sight, in fact, it's a de-motivating sight.  I'm pushing and stomping and doing the positive mantra thing but I'm still not flying!  In fact, it's feeling like every third mile of every miserable 5K.  Third mile ... 6:39 ... you gotta be kidding me.  I'm thinking to myself "what kind of weak stick Boston Qualifier are you, a 6:39 ... pffffft that's not even a good mile in a 10K)  ... now I'm approaching the clock and I see the 19 and I also see the :58 go to :59 and I'm still a few steps away from crossing the line.  I can't believe what I'm seeing.  And I love this sport?  What the heck?  Can't wait for the 10K!
 

6 miles on the track  52:06  8:41 average.  Felt pretty good.  11 hours of sleep last night, very nice.

11.2 miles, six on the track 8:55 ave pace on the track.