Pool Running is Fun

so today there was a free 5K for some Ethiopian American charity with huge cash prizes.  Of course a pack of Ethiopian runners came down and ran away with it.  It was hhhoooottt.  My time was slow, considering the 10 miler yesterday and the 100 degree humid heat.  Yet it was a good  tempo workout.  I just didn't have another gear after the first mile which is to be expected considering my mileage and utter lack of sped work.  Good time, free stuff, yay.  I ran like 17:3x something.

4 easy at 6 am.  8:00 min pace

7 easy at noon. 7:00 min pace.  Getting more accustomed to the heat.  Still sucks.

I am taking today off.  I am just really tired of my legs constantly hurting with soreness.  It is muscle fatigue and not joints/ligaments but it hurts.  This heat is really getting to me.  I just want to feel a little more awake and not hobble slowly down the stairs.

10 easy this morning through a very busy Rock Creek Park (Happy July 4th!).  I switched into my VFF and did 4 x 15 sec. hill sprints and form drills.  Going to be over 100 the next three days.  This heat just never ends.

7 easy, very hot. Core work, push-ups, etc.

8.5 easy-tempo range on treadmill at 10% incline.  I started at 8:00 for the first mile, then 7:30, 7:03, 7:03, 6:40, 6:40, 6:18, 6:00. I guess this is how I normally run my easy runs but I was able to track it all on the deadmill. The dreadmill sucks ass but it's so hot outside that it's hard to breathe.  Core work, etc.

12 Easy on the dreadmill.  It's 106 degrees F outside right now.  I didn't hit my mileage target this week.  the 4th holiday, the pick-up race last Sunday, the heat, and all of the beer I've drank this week put a dent in my plans.  Aiming for 60 next week as cool weather returns!

10 easy on the dreadmill.  Fu*#%^& hot again, 102 with high humidity.  It is supposed to break tonight and this week looks like it will be in the mid 80s.  Looking forward to actually running outside and not getting sick.  

10 easy after work on the C & O towpath.  My legs had no pop in them.  This is due to three days on the dreadmill due to the heat.  I still feel the dreadmill is not that great and should only be used for 100+ degree days or blizzards. Oh well. I couldn't get a good sense of my pace either.  It will be back in a few days.

8.5 easy. My legs feel like shit. They are not too fatigued but there is no pop to them and I feel slow.  The culprit is three days on the dreadmill...I did some barefoot strides and drills after the run.  Hopefully the spring in my step will come back.

10 easy after work.  Legs feel tired but my pace was faster than usual.

I didn't run today...achy joints and I'm dead tired.  The great part about it is I can take a day off whenever I want...no team or meets to be accountable for.

Easy 10. Great day for a run.  I'm going faster now on my easy days but I'm not realizing it since I'm going by perceived effort.  I still want to go no faster than 7:00 pace but today's run was slightly under.  Probably the cool temps and the fact that I took off yesterday.

I had to work today out in Alexandria so o my way home I stopped back in at my office in Foggy Bottom and changed into my running clothes. I ran the 3.5 miles out to Fletcher's Boathouse in Georgetown, ran a 4 mile race as a quick tempo with the DC Roadrunners, and ran back to my office. Not a bad day.  Tired.

Results

It is mid-summer and this week is a scheduled down week.  I am looking to run about 35-40 miles this week.  I decided to take today off after a hard effort last night.  This Saturday will be the Rockville Rotary Twilight 8K which is a popular race among the better runners in the area. I'll get to see what my basework has done so far on Saturday since I will be better rested than at any other race since the 10K last May.

7 easy after work.  Hot outside again, 100+ degrees tomorrow. No dreadmill though..effed up my internal pace maker by making like a hampster.

7 easy. Hot (what else is new).

7 Easy...hotter than hell.

7 easy followed by barefoot strides and drills.

4 mile hash run (will count as 2 miles)

I went on a hash run last night with my friends.  It was  alot of climbing, hiking, and trudging my way through a shallow river in the rain.  Not exactly training but it did leave me feeling more tired than I would have liked going into tomorrow's race a little more rested so I am nixing my easy 4 miles today for a day off.  I'm excited about tomorrow's race.

A twilight race is a little tricky because you are not sure about what to eat during the day.  At about 3:00 p.m.  I was starving so I had some three cheese tortellini without really thinking about it. By 8:30 p.m.  I could tell that the digestion did not go as planned....

As I warmed up in the rainy evening I was excited because my legs felt great.  We started the race in the dark and I ended up putting out a 5:12 first mile and felt pretty amazing.  The course was pretty hilly...up and down, up and down.  Went through the two mile marker in 10:3X something and that's when I got a side stitch and stomach issues...I tried my best to deal with it but it lingered for two miles.  Although I pushed through it the best I could,  I feel that I could have gone 26:50 without this issue, or at least sub 27:00. But I know that this will come, along with the tempo runs, the speedwork, etc. for the fall. Sorta pissed me off though but next time I'll be ready.

As you can tell from my lackluster 45th place showing, this race is a summer's who's-who of the local racing scene, with Ethiopians and one really fast white guy taking the the cash awards.  Needless to say, their pace was about 4:50/mile.

On a bright note, my fall goal was to break 16:30 in the 5K...I honestly think I should aim to break 16:20!  That is, if I get a chance to race a 5K amid the various 8 and 10s in the area.

 Great race, lunch mistake, but it could have been worse.  Alright with it.

 Results

12 easy...averaged 7:15s.  Very humid today but almost chilly on the temperature side.  A little sore in the calves from the race yesterday. 

7 easy.  My calves are hurting....probably because I ran a hilly-ass 8k last Saturday in my very minimal Saucony Grid Type A5s.  I love these shoes but there is not much shoe...I wouldn't go much farther then a 10k in them.  I hope my legs feel better by Wednesday...DCRRC 1 mile and 3k events with $100 for the winner of the mile.  I'm no miler but it's a free event and different than the usual 8K and up races that I like to run.  Who knows, maybe i'll have some flashbacks to my glory days running the 1600m in high school.

7 easy.

This evening was the DC Roadrunners 1 mile and 3K track championships.  Last month I thought it would be easy to be in the top three and win come cash.  That was before this free event was advertised on the Washington Running Report.  Needless to say that the weather was great, competition fierce, and the times sick.

I'm no miler and I've done no speedwork (besides races) since early last May so I had no idea what I would do.  I finished in 4:45, well in the middle of the pack. The winner ran 4:16 and won $100 and since he beat the meet record, he grabbed another $200 to go with that.  Ouch...the lactic acid built up quickly in only the second lap...a far cry from high school when I didn't get that feeling until the last lap.  I could feel the lack of speedwork but did the best with what I had and kicked it in.

The 3K was slow but I ran more as a workout.  I started slow but increased my speed through the final lap.

I'm sore this morning and I only got 7 in total last night!  I don't have another race scheduled until mid September so it's time to get plenty of quality aerobic work in.

Results

Off today.  Too sore from the track meet races.

4 easy at 5:30 am

10 easy at noon.

Getting some quality work in with no plans to race until mid-September.  I had to take yesterday off because I was just too sore from the track races on Wednesday.  All of this marathon-esque training I've been doing doesn't equate well for anaerobic running and left me dead sore.  I felt better today though and sneaked in a few extra miles at lunch. 

10 easy...well not so easy by the end.  The combination of the 90+ degree heat and the 14 miles I ran yesterday turned the final 3 miles into a bit of a struggle. Oh well.  Now that I am not racing until September, it's time to get some good miles in.  Hopefully I can go for 65 miles for the next three weeks with a tempo session starting in August.

Although I could have probably run, I was not brave enough to suffer through the heat and humidity so I took the day off.  I have a slight twinge on my right achilles from overuse I believe. That and I need new shoes.

4 easy AM  8 min pace

7 easy PM  7 min pace

4 easy @ 8:00 min pace AM

7 easy @ 7:00 min pace PM