1st workout of 2010

6:06,5:55, 5:42, 5:48, 5:54, 5:35

The splits from my 6 mile tempo/pickup. I ran up and down 16th st to add a little flavor to the workout, which actually was just supposed to stop a little short of a workout effort-wise, but you know how these things go. Overall pace was 5:50.

Needle In The Hay

Last week went really well. I didnt do any workouts, but I did get in 60 miles for the week that ended with a 14 mile long run(6:16 pace). I finally decided to go north on Beach Dr to start the run, which made the last few miles much more pleasant than the typical gradual uphill into Sherril Dr collapse. Normally I finish the last mile that includes the hill out of the park in around 7 minutes... Sunday was right around 6 flat.
This week was supposed to the big week! I was supposed to run my first race in decent shape in over two years. I am going to have to skip the race for two reasons. First off, I need to work. Second, things are going well. Why race when I havent done any workouts? Why not toe the line without any excuses (hopefully in near PR shape)? Ive lost nearly 10 pounds in the last couple of months, I feel great and every week feels better than the last. There will a come a time...

(attempted to embed needle in the hay.... miss misery will do)

Late April Update

I feel bad for the couple of people who occasionally check the blog for updates into my training. Its been a couple weeks since my last post and that normally means that I am injured. I am happy to report that I am still healthy! I did take a down week last week, but I am on pace to hit 60 this week. I might miss a few miles here and there this week because I am heading to The Penn Relays on Saturday.

Whats the plan?

Well I have been debating two big options for this year. One option involves a typical training progression of base, threshold, intervals and a peak. The other option involves a year of base. I have been contemplating, waffling, debating and have come up with mixing the two options. But, I will be focusing more on the second option throughout the year. I will be building up the miles until September, including tempos in June and incorporating intervals in September. I will run races throughout the year, but my heart will be set on track next spring. Dream on...

Last Week

Last week went pretty well. I managed to hit 55 miles... probably the most I have run in almost two years. I also got in a pretty solid 2 mile pickup. Now that I have made it this far, I need to make sure I start to plan out somewhat of a future schedule, rather than just waiting until just before the week starts to plan my runs. But not too far in the future of course... x bitten, y shy.

Hello. How 'bout that ride in?

An interesting thing has happened over the past month. I have been feeling a little younger every couple of runs. It feels good to be at a point I havent been at in over two years. I am reminded of a part in once a runner when quenton (i think) is describing how you can never remember how it feels to race until you are actually racing. Well i am finding out the same goes for just running when you are starting to get into shape. The body becomes resilient. You can shift from tired to strong deep into a run. The mundane becomes profound. Ritual becomes life.

Another interesting thing happened yesterday on my run. I ended up with a random blood stain on my shirt. I was getting ready to do some drills before my strides when I realized there an unmistakable red spot on my shirt. After a number of attempts to figure where the blood originated, I gave up and gave credit to my nose (even though I have never had a bloody nose in my life).

Monday I added another mile to weekly pickup for a grand total of 2 miles! I headed down to the canal for a 9 mile run on a nice flat and soft surface. Unfortunately, it was extra soft on Monday as a result of some heavy rain. The run ended up going really well. I managed to hit 10:41 for my pickup after a fairly slow start. It took about 3 minutes before I really got comfortable and fell into a smooth and controlled tempo type effort. I will probably take next week off and move up to 3 miles the following week (sub 16 or bust...).

Slowly

I am starting to get into halfway respectable shape. I only ran 30 something miles last week to take it easy on my it band. I did manage to add a quick mile to the end of one of my runs, just to see where I was. I ended up hitting 5:37 with a gradual hill or two thrown in. Overall, it was good to get the legs turning over, but I did feel a little more pain than normal with my it band the next day.

I was planning on skipping the pickup this week, but I felt really good yesterday and decided to give it a go. The mile before the pickup, I ran 5:48, so I had a feeling that it would be a good bit faster than last week. I was right, as I came through the mile in 5:14 feeling strong. The best part was that my it band felt pretty good today. Now I just need to keep getting a little stronger each week and I might be ready to race one of these days.

Too Much

In my last post, I mentioned how I ended up getting a little overzealous during my long run... well, I did. I felt good Monday, but on Tuesday I was limping throughout my run. My IT Band was causing me a good amount of pain and I ended up cutting the run short. I also ended up taking Wednesday and today off to play it safe. I will try and do an easy run tomorrow, but I am not expecting to feel great. Ive been out so long that I am not in any rush to push through an injury; not to mention I dealt with an IT Band injury in college for 6 months. I ended up getting over it by taking a week off, so if it means I just need to take a week off again, I have no problem with this.