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The illness is gone I believe. I had to take it easier than I would like and had to back off on the schedule a bit. The trails have been good and my legs are coming back underneath me. A little tightness behind the knee and some soreness in the shin of my left leg as I try work out of the tough patch I find myself in. Tomorrow I will try an second attempt at a PMP with some lactic acid built in at the end of some aerobic work. Will let you know how it goes.
That's all I got.
The illness which smote me down Saturday is still lingering around the edges. I am trying to pick up the pieces and put the puzzle back together but it is proving a bit more complicated than I would like.
Saturday night was a tough one with my fever breaking about 4:00 am in a batch of cold sweats.
Sunday was another unscheduled 0. My second of the training cycle and 2nd one in two consecutive weeks. I couldn’t even pull a shirt on over my head without feeling dizzy and figured a long run was not a good idea.
Monday I was feeling 100% better and went for a 9 miler at lunch and felt pretty good. I don’t think I was nearly 100% but compared to Sunday I was a new man.
Last night, thinking I was better, I tried for a PMP run on the course and only made it 4.5 miles of the tempo. I then just did a cool down back to the parking lot.
This morning I ran in on the trails via the railroad bed. It was wet and muddy but it made my shin feel so much better. I will head home the same way hope it holds together. I will stay on the soft surfaces for the duration of the schedule except for the workouts and hope it heals quickly.
That's all I got.
Run in the ARWR on the patrol road until the snow turned me back. Hit by flu like symptoms mid run. 4 barfs and a lot of walking. Remembered to stop my watch every puke stop. I knew things were going too well. Went to Bruins game for friends getting married party (congratulations cab driver, didn't plan on being that much of a no fun) but could not make the rounds afterward. Bruins lost 2-1 in a shoot out after dominating the entire game except for the last 90 seconds where they decided to try and move down in the draft and stop skating. 4 in a row guys, way to collapse with the playoffs in site.
Tomorrow's workout is a scratch and I will come up with something on tuesday.
Today my diet consisted of a handful of oyster crackers, which I lost shortly there after, and a small bowl of plain pasta, which is staying put so far, and two bottles of gatorade. Probably not enough caloric energy for a 16 mile tempo on the course tomorrow morning. The fact that climbing stairs is a challenge is another clue. Tomorrow I am hoping for a better day.
That's all I got.
A little pace/sharpening work on the track tonight at Reggie Lewis. I am starving so this is just a quick data dump from the watch.
4 x 2 mile with 2:00 rest with John, Ely, and Liam.
1. 10:22 (5:12, 5:10), 2:02 rest
2. 10:14 (5:08, 5:06) 2.02 rest
3. 10:04 (5:06, 4:58) 3:11 rest (Ely and I were discussing pace for the last one a bit too long)
4. 10:10 (5:06, 5:04)
Very good workout, felt really strong. Had to remind myself to relax after the first mile and things were pretty easy from there. Kevin reminded me to relax and after such a novel suggestion I was fine. Easy speed is key for me in these types of workouts. I was very nervous doing 8 miles worth of work this close to the New Bedford effort but that fear was unfounded. I was just cruising right along. Thanks to Mike P. for the splits.
That's all I got.
The legs are currently recovering from Sunday’s effort. Monday was a 7 mile run appropriately renamed “Wide Swing” by Christy Mae. I had been calling it Lake Boon with Parmenter Rd. addition but that doesn’t have the same cachet as “Wide Swing.” So, Wide Swing it is. My shin was a little sore. At lunch I did an easy 64 minute Potter Rd run and my shin was a little worse. Yesterday morning I decided to run into work and it was the worst decision I have made in a long time. The road was coated with a thin layer of black ice which was very difficult to run on. As I went further down white pond road, it got worse. I never actually hit the ground but I came very close three times and had a lot of minor slips. One of the close calls I wrenched my left shin catching myself as my right leg lost all traction. The last 4 miles of the run were rather painful.
So began Operation: Cure my wound. In the fitness center at work I stretched and massaged my lower legs for a ½ hour. Went straight to the cafe and got a big cup of ice which I used for 20 minutes on my shin and calf and took 400 mg of ibuprofen. 2 hours later, repeat ice. 2 hours later, stretch, repeat ice, ibuprofen. 2 hours later, ice. 1 hour later run home. The run home was 20 times better than the run in. 4 minutes faster and virtually pain free. When I got home, I filled the bathtub with cold water and dumped all the ice from the ice maker in there. I submerged to my torso and sat in there for 12 minutes. I wanted to stay in for 15 but damn those things cold and I may want children some day. The pain was worth it because my legs feel much better today. I am going to do a 5 mile run at 11:00 to evaluate the healing process and decide if tonight’s track workout is a go. I believe it will be because I feel fine when I am running at pace because everything is loose.
Back to work.
That’s all I got.
New Bedford Half Marathon today down on the scenic New Bedford shore. A nice 30 mph wind with temperatures right aroud 35 greeted the runners this morning. A good day to hone your racing in a group skills and driving into he wind.
I felt really good this morning even with all of the running around to various get togethers yesterday for saint patrick's day. I immediately threw out any intention of going for the win when Pat Moulton pointed out Alena Reta was there. Too bad they don't have testing at these races, then the drug cheats would not show up at every race with prize money. Alena won a race in holyoke yesterday and decided to double up for more money. He was 39 this weekend. Hard to tell how old he will be next weekend. We had a big group to run with for the first 4 miles and then I threw in a fast mile to get us back on pace and it petered down to 4. Matt Ely, Jeremy Borling, and a Westchester Kenyan. Some did more work than others and we really finished strong. I really tried to drive the last hill and last 1/4 mile.
These splits are funny because the wind was so strong. The fastest miles were the easy ones being downhill with the wind. Here they are.
1. 5.14
2. 5.24
3. 5.42
4. 5.28
5. 4.59
6. 5.08
7. 4.58
8. 4.57
9. 5.16
10. 5.08
11. 5.24
12. 5.20
13.1 5.44 (1.1, missed 13)
- 1.08.48
The right quad was 100%. The left shin was fine for the race but on the cool down really tightened up on me. I am on my way to ice right now. That seems to help a lot. The mileage for the week was really down because I took Monday off, tuesday easy, and had to skip Friday's evening run because after an hour through memorial forrest in the morning for the first time in a while, a casual 12" of snow fell in a nice end of winter screw you to marathoners looking for trails. 92 for the week. As my coach said "That 0 was probably the best thing you could have done." He was right. The next few weeks will be sharpening and honing the strength I have built through last 10 weeks. The trails appear to be closed until at least next week because it is going to be cold until Saturday.
That's all I got
Two runs on the trails today. Tow very muddy trail runs. I don't care though because my shin and quad are really enjoying the soft surfaces. One at lunch for 9.5 in 67:48 through nobscott conservation. The legs felt good and I was ready to do five if there was a lot of pain but the quad was perfect and the shin only hurt a bit on the down hill. This evening I ran around whites pond with Christy mae and it was just as muddy. I am not too enthusiastic about the chill that set in because it was back to pants and jacket to handle the light rain which was falling. Better than snow which is on its way I hear.
I am not to enthused about the forcast for New Bedford this weekend either. I was hoping for some marathon type weather around 50 or 55 to get used to the higher temps that will be here in April. Looks like Sunday will be right around 35 or so which means half tights and a compression top under the singlet again. Stupid Winter. You have had your time. Just let go!!!
That's all I got.
Crazy nice weather today with a temperature of 70 degrees during the lunchtime shakeout.
6 x 2400m with 90 seconds rest between on the track tonight indoors at Reggie. It was hot in there but not Harvard hot. I had remembered to throw a singlet into my bag so I was ok. The legs did not feel great and I was worried about whether or not I could do the workout but it turns out I could. Here is the data.
1. 7.40
2. 7.38
3. 7.36
4. 7.35
5. 7.33
6. 7.28
I am off to ice.
That's all I got.
There are few things I hate more than taking an unplanned day off. Monday was just such a day. With my left shin smarting and my right quad refusing to release, I just decided to take the day and hope for a better Tuesday. I really don’t think the 16 miles I had planned for the day will not really kill anything it is just the idea that bugs me.
The good news is it seemed to work a little bit. Tuesday I managed to get in two runs of 5 and 6 miles respectively. The second run was on some muddy, icy, semi-snow covered trails and it really made a difference. Today I will run in the woods at lunch and try to loosen the legs up even more for tonight’s attempt at a track workout. I am crossing my fingers in hopes of being able to go. I will not wear the 205’s but the 825’s in hopes of the extra cushioning helping my shin.
That’s all I got.
Very eventful weekend. Saturday was the double tempo at Lincoln with 2 loops of 4.6 on the hilly course. The first one was solo at 5:24, 5:32, 5:34, 3:10 (.6), 5:12 in which I tried to just hit a marathon type effort with easy effort and controlled breathing. My left shin and right quad were bugging me but nothing crazy, just thought it was tight. I then jogged around 24 minutes and waited for the rest of group and did a 23:07 with Justin and Brad. The breakdown was 5:03, 5:13, 5:06, 3:01, 4:42. This was the effort I was looking for and it felt really good. Unfortunately on the evening shake-out run around lake boon my right quad and left shin started killing me. They both tightened up around 3 miles which made the last two miles tough.
Sunday was supposed to be a 24 miler on the course but about 12 miles in it became apparent I was doing some damage so I stopped at 15 after 1:42 of running. I was not too happy about it but I do not want to throw away all the work I have done to this point because I want 9 more garbage miles. They would have done more harm than good. I iced a lot last night and hope to be ok at the lunch time run. If I am still sore I may just bike or ellipical train if that is pain free.
Kind of a downer because the weeks training went so well. Maybe a sign of a little bit of over training. This week I will try to be about 110 miles.
That's all I got.
On the track at Reggie tonight with Mario and Terry. I am on my way to bed so this will be brief. The workout went very well. The intervalss felt easy and smooth. Even though I have been feeling a little ragged around the edges as of late the core fitness and strength is there. The workout was 10 x 1000m @ 3:04 moving to 3:00 with 2:30 rest between.
Here is the data.
1. 3.02.83
2.34
2. 3.04.49
2.36
3. 3.01.77
2.29
4. 3.02.85
2.39
5. 3.02.89
2.30
6. 3.01.11
2.35
7. 3.00.13
2.47
8. 2.56.15
2.26
9. 2.56.84
2.27
10. 2.56.62
A Good solid effort on the track and I hope to have all 8 cylinders firing again on Friday.
That's all I got.
Skipping the shake-out Saturday night was not the right move. My quads on Sunday morning were very sore. I had an agonizing 10 mile run on Sunday just hoping for uphills to take the load off my quads. I skipped the evening run again on Sunday night and took a nap instead. I don't want to head down the path of constant recovery between workouts for fear of having to gather too strong an effort to hit the workout splits then being further behind after every workout. I want to avoid the term "downward spiral" during this phase of the training because we are starting to get close. I don't think 5 miles around lake boon will be the difference anyway. But I did get my super sweet Tein front strut tower bar installed on my car. Check it out.
This morning I ran 8.1 miles into work via French Rd. I will probably run home the same way a bit slower.
That's all I got.
The workouts have not gotten any easier since I last posted with the step down workout from last Sunday. The same group gathered on Wednesday night at Harvard for 4 x 4k with 2.5 minutes rest. Unfortunately I have not gotten down the diet for a late night long workout and was repeatedly taking trips to the bathroom. The 2nd interval I had to slow way down or else I would not have made it to the end without incident. I had to turn the 3rd 4k into a 2k because I just could not continue to run with the butt tight. Luckily on the 4th one the intestinal issues had passed and I was able to finish that one full steam ahead. Here is the data.
4k 12.52
2.34
4k 13.16
2.10
2k 6.27
7.42
4k 12.51 (clockwise around track, weird feeling)
I figure these types of things happen from time to time and didn't let it bother me too much. Thursday and Friday were 8 to 5 mile runs at easy does it pace. This brings us to today’s run.
Tough tempo this morning on the marathon course from Hopkinton to mile 19 5 4 3 2 1 with 7:00 mile rest between the tempo segments. The idea was to start the first segment at 5:25 pace and take 5 seconds off per segment as we went along. Well, the marathon course is tough to do that on, as some miles lend themselves to being fast with out trying and some are slow with great effort. It was a gut check for sure. We had a really good group of guys to share the load which at least made it possible. I know this workout would have been impossible without TPS, and H. We missed the some mile marks because the sun was reflecting off the wet road and it was tough to locate the marks even though I have good land marks for where they are. I also think 7 is missing. Here is the data.
1 5.29
2 5.22
3 missed
3-4 10.43
5 5.22 (26.58= first 5 miles)
6 6.36
7 missed
7-8 10.44 (5.22 for both is a good guess)
9 5.19
10 5.25 (21.41 = 7-10)
11 6.49
12 5.09
13 5.20
14 5.08 (15.37 = 12-14, had to push a little bit more on the 3rd mile than I would've liked)
15 7.09
16 4.56 (downhill, weeeeeee)
17 5.21 (1/2 uphill, ugh, 10.17 = 15-16)
18 7.44 (notice a trend here, this was an uphill rest mile)
19 5.03 (strong finish)
2 mile cool down
Total running time = 2.11.32 including warm-up and cool down.
I have decided to shun the evening shake-out tonight hoping the 23 miles stand on their own and the rest is more beneficial than loosening up the legs tonight. This is the exact opposite of what I did last week. This pretty much exposes me for the fraud that I am. And you thought I knew what I was doing. Joke's on you.
That's all I got.