Oops, kinda fell behind and forgot to post for a few days. So I'll try to catch up here...........Last Monday I went out to the bike path and hit up 3 X 1 mile repeats. I figured using the straight out and rolling hills would be a good change up. I wanted to run 4, but it gets dark QUICK and when I couldn't see my feet in front of me, I didn't want to find myself rolling my ankle or something. So I ran 3 and they looked like this:

5:08, 5:16, 5:20

Wasn't the greatest workout, felt ok during it. But I would have liked to keep it at like 5:15 for all 3. Although i was expecting something more along the lines of 6:00 so I guess I should be happy.

Tuesday I went out and ran a few straight easy miles. My legs felt like cement so it was a good shake out. Left the watch at home, just went and ran 9 straight miles. I will say I felt pretty good at the end!

Took Wednesday and Thursday off due to daddy daycare, but got back out there Friday for a Tempo Run. Ran 7 total miles, hitting a 1 mile warmup, 5 mile tempo, 1 mile cooldown. Tempo run was at right around the 5:20 pace for the straight 5. That felt a little tough, probably cuz I hadn't run, but I felt strong, like I could push harder.

Coming into indoor season, gonna try and get to some meets at BU...thinking the 1500 and/or the 3000 but I might crank out a 800 just to see if I can hit the old HS fitness level!! We'll see what happens..................possible 5K this weekend though!!!

So yesterday was quite the day that left me with mixed feelings about my workout. I had training for work in the am, so I worked a 15 hour day, slept for 2 hours, then went and picked up Jr before heading to the track for my workout. I had to do my workout yesterday because I wanted it to be fast and hard and I'm racing Thursday morning in Sunapee so I want to be well rested to. That being said, I had initially planned a workout consisting of 3 sets of 4X300 meters. Plan was to run 54/52/50 for each respective set. When I woke up however, I felt quite drained. I actually wasn't sure if I was going to fit my workout in. I hadn't fueled at all, I had a single bagel for "lunch" before racking out, and to be honest I hadn't had anything to drink. However I refused to quit, so I headed to the track with a somewhat alternate plan. Instead of 3 sets 4X300, I chose to drop down to 3 sets of 3X300. We'll call today the triple threat! I planned to run the same times but to be quite honest I was pleasantly surprised at what I produced.

Set 1:
51/51/50

Set 2:
50/48/47

Set 3:
48/47/47

I felt incredibly strong, however I did start to feel a little sick towards the end, probably due to having nothing in my stomach. I also completely seized up in the right quad during my cool down back to my car. Again, not eating and then hitting a hard workout was not smart but overall I felt I hammered a fantastic workout!! We'll see what Thursday brings and then hopefully next week I'll be meeting up with the Keenians on Wednesday and I'll be able to kick the training up a notch to prepare for indoor track!!

Yesterday was a good day, hit up a pretty decent hill workout on the bike path. Goal: 5 s-curves, 5 Court St, 5 s-curves. Took a shot at 22-23 secs for the first set of s-curves, wasn't sure on the Court St hills because I started further back than the last time, and then wanted to nail 19-20 secs for the second set of S-Curves. Aside from my ankle giving me a little trouble, I felt incredibly strong. After a very brief warm-up (ie from Symonds School to the S-Curves) I hit it hard and here is what I produced:

S-Curves- :21, :20, :21, :21, :21

Court St- :30, :29, :28, :29, :27

S-Curves- :21, :20, :20, :20, :19

I felt very good throughout this workout and in fact felt like I could do more. But as the darkness fell and my ankle started giving me more and more trouble, I called it a night with the work that I did and headed back to the car. Overall a very good workout.

Well, I ran a race this past weekend, a 10K in Shelburne, VT benefiting childhood cancer. Well, I didn't expect it to be a very big race, however I did have a time goal leading up to the race of 33:00. Well, the week leading up to the race I was bit by the K9 on the leg, leaving me pretty sore. In fact I wasn't totally sure I was going to be able to race. But I sucked it up and on race day I changed my goal to 36:00. Nope, that didn't happen either..............I led from the beginning, and ended up winning the race, but i ran a 38:00. Second place was 1:15 behind me, so clearly I wasn't pushed and with the cool temps I just kinda fell into the slower pace. Well, it's behind me, and next up is the Sunappee Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving Day. Goal: sub 18:00.

As far as today is concerned, decided to run a speed workout..............planned to run 6X400 repeats. Wasn't real sure what to expect for times because I forgot to figure that out before leaving the house, but as I got into them I planned to just run consistant times. Well, I changed my plan a little at the track, instead of 6X400, I ran 4X400 and then finished with 2X400/200 combos. First 400's went as follows:

1- :67
2-:70
3- :70
4- :71

I'll be honest, for some reason my legs felt like cement. But I finished up with the two 400/200 combos. I ran a hard 400, jogged a 200, then finished with a fast 200. Times were pretty decent, I was very happy with the 200's:

1- :70/:31
2- :72/:30

Finished up the day with a jog back to Wheelock Park to pick up Jr and the truck and head home. My leg cramped up during the cooldown, which concerned me, but I'll survive. Tomorrow= Easy 4 or 5.

So plan today was to hit up a speed workout, well kinda.............wanted to do mile repeats. Goal was to go out to the bike path in Wheelock and complete 4X1 mile repeats with full recovery. Well, once again the plan fell through since it's kinda hard to run repeats with a stroller! But I did manage to get out right before work for my mile repeats I wanted. Instead I headed to the Baker St loop, measured out an exact mile with the truck before hand, then let my legs do the work. Instead of the 4 I had initially wanted to do, I completed 3X1 mile repeats due to the time and darkness. My times were pretty much where I wanted them:

1- 5:23
2- 5:30
3- 5:29

Instead of the full rest, I did half rest between each. Thus I took 2:45 rest before hitting the next mile. I actually felt pretty good. I have a 10K in Vermont coming up this Saturday, so I'm pretty confident at this point that I will do ok. I feel like I'm truly getting my legs back at this point, so all is good!!!

So yesterday didn't go quite like I had planned! My goal was to get up around 8 am and head straight out for my hill workout. Once complete, head back home, hit the weights and then head back to bed for a couple more hours of sleep. Well what really happened.....................I woke up at 10 am, and after fighting my own body, I headed out the door, climbed into my truck and drove to Keene for a hill workout. I parked at Wheelock and planned to run to Drummer Hill and knock out 4 hills. Headed out at a nice jog, felt like crap and when I got to Drummer Hill, I felt like the workout just wasn't going to happen. I battled through though and ran 4 hills:

1-1:30
2-1:37
3-1:40
4-1:37

Not truly impressed with my times, I felt I had really worked hard for the times I got. But I have to remember that this was the first time in a year I've hit Drummer! The interesting thing is that after the third and fourth Drummer, I felt pretty strong and decided I would up the workout with 4 S-Curves on the bike path. So I head down and ran 4 more short hills:

1-:21
2-:21
3-:20
4-:19

Now those felt good, I figured I could do many more, but knew I still had to hit the weights so I headed back to the car and headed home. Once I got home I hammered a damn good leg workout on the weights, I felt spent but strong. The downfall...............no nap for me and now that I'm at work my legs are tired!! Easy run today, run the fatigue out!!!!

Got up this morning and once Jr went down for his nap, I headed downstairs to hit the weights for a leg routine. Hammered the legs pretty good, but felt strong about it. Goal today was to hit the weights in the am and hit the track in the pm. So at 5:00, I headed out for my run. Thought I'd try something a little different today, something I saw on RunningTimes.com............a combination workout. I decided that I would try the first one I saw, Tempo Run + 1000m repeats. I left Wheelock Park and after a brief 6 minute warmup, I progressed straight into a 10:35 tempo run. Clocked it after my run and found I ran 1.8 miles at Tempo Pace. I was a little concerned because during the Tempo portion, I felt pretty fatigued in the legs. Didn't think I was going to get anything out of the track workout. But when I got to the Middle School, I took a little rest and started my 1000m repeats.

When I arrived, I found the first turn to be covered in snow still, so this concerned me as well. But I started my first of two 1000m repeats. Through the snow and on fatigued legs (which warmed up quickly) I ran the first repeat in 3:17. Took full rest and did my second in 3:20. Goal for these was 3:25, so well above my goal, with the snow being a hazard, and felt absolutely great. Was going to try a third, but it got dark real quick and didn't want to chance the ice and snow in the dark. So I headed out for my return to Wheelock. All in all, I'm very pleased with this run. I'm pretty focused as I've decided I have a 10K on the 12th in Vermont. 10K Goal: 33:00!!

So I am feeling pretty good today, didn't do a whole lot of running but had to take a physical fitness test for my work and pretty much smoked it. I guess I'm feeling stronger and I feel like I'm progressing back to a competative level. Part of today's PT Test was a mile and a half run, this after pushups, situps and a 1-rep bench press. I finished the mile and a half in 8:02. I was looking for 8:15 today, so I again hit my mark. Well, I think tomorrow I'm going to hit the track for some intervals.

Had a plan today, go out, run a bunch of hills and hammer a good workout. Also planned to hit the weights this morning to get a good leg/chest/tri routine in. Well, plans have a funny way of changing!!! Def coming down with a cold or something cuz when I got home there was nothing but sleep happening to this body. Woke up feeling worse, but said I'm hitting the hills no matter what. So with only about an hour to knock it out, I hit the bike path for a hill workout.

Goal: 6 Court St hills, 4 S-Curves

As soon as the bike path was in sight, I remembered oh yea, they don't plow the path and it def snowed a foot the other day. Damn, now what?! Well, most of the snow was melted, but it was still pretty wild. I hit the hills anyway, and decided I would change it up a little from my goal. I started with 3 S-Curves, knocked out 6 Court St hills and went back for 3 more S-Curves. Due to the snow I wasn't sure what my times should be but this is what I ran:

S-Curve: :22, :21, :21

Court St Hill: :36 (started further back, more snow), :23, :22, :22, :22, :22

S-Curve: :21, :20, :20

Despite the snow, I felt strong and felt like I hammered a good workout. But def need to hit the weights in the am, Biceps/Back/Legs!!

Franklin School Fun Run

Got up early, dressed warm and went out for the Franklin School Fun Run this morning. Was advertised as a 2 mile race, found out it was really 2.1 miles, but regardless had a pretty good morning. Bounced out to an early lead, but fell to second just after mile 1, in part because my legs sort of felt like cement through the first mile. But overall came in 2nd with a time of 10:55. My goal was sub 11:00 so the race was a success. Plus, that puts me close to where I want my fitness to be at this point. Now that I'm feeling better about my training and racing, I think this winter will be a productive indoor season, if I can find the time off from work. Then, into the Spring and Summer for some serious racing. Things are looking exciting!!! Next Race: Turkey Trot 5K in Sunapee on Thanksgiving Day!!! Sub 18:00???

Monday's Workout

Goal: 400, 800, 1600, 800, 400...............5:45/mile pace for all, half recovery
Results:

400 (:71)
800 (2:35)
1600 (5:34)
800 2:39)
400 (73)

Overall felt pretty good. Except it was very late, completely dark at the new Keene Middle School Track, and my ankle is still pretty sore so I ran the workout with a brace. I had my ankle x-rayed, not broke, so the doc thinks its a sprain. In my mind, keep running and do the physical therapy exercises I was prescribed! Next up, Franklin School 2 mile road race this Saturday! Goal (A): sub 11:00, Goal (B): 11:15

Ok, we are going to try this again...............my hopes, use this as not only an update on training but also my training log. I'm horrible at keeping up with this stuff!!! So let's see it's been so long since I've posted, so a lot has happened. I've begun to get myself more serious again in my running. I've been running a few races through the summer/fall that have set my sights high! I've done pretty well, below are the races I've run so far:

CHaD Come on Irene 5K (12th) 18:16

Run Your Buns Off 4.2 miles (1st) 25:29

Miles for Smiles 5K (2nd) 18:11

NH Half Marathon (4th) 1:25:17

OctoberFest 3.66 miles (21st) 21:42

My times are a little higher than one would like, especially to compete with, but it sets my goals! Get back down to sub 17 for 5K, continue to race at the top of my age group if not the entire field. So I've kicked up my training again, adding hills and speed work into my program, along with weights. If I can find the motivation to keep training in the snow, next spring/summer should be a good one. Indoor track, here I come!!!