Pool Running is Fun

10 easy through Rock Creek.

 I'm getting stronger and I can feel it even with the hacking, sneezing, and wheezing of allergy season. 

10 miles easy through Rock Creek.  It was disgusting outside this morning because it was wet and muddy with a very high humidity.  It wasn't hot but hard to breathe and wet.  yuck.  I want a crisp fall morning, not the Amazon rain forest.

I took today off mostly out of tiredness due to a lot of beer yesterday and I had no will to run. I tend to end up taking a day off once every 7 or 8 days as a natural course, so I've noticed.

4 easy @ 6:00 am.

11 min WU

30 min tempo @ 10 Mile/Half Mary pace

11 min CD

Humid as hell once again but the allergies are not so bad.  I ran a different course for my tempo and I should have known how hilly it would be.  Kept throwing me out of my tempo pace into vo2 efforts. 

7 easy at lunch.  

I really wanted to get a morning run in but after that hard effort yesterday it was really tough to wake up early. I will try again tomorrow morning.  Damn it's humid...feels like the amazon just cooler temperature wise.  It is gonna be 92 degrees the next two days.  Where is fall at?  It's been like this most of the time since May.

7 easy in the humid rain.

5 Miles easy + Drills and strides

Yesterday morning was humid and disgusting and the high almost reached 90 by 3:00 pm. I was worried that the 5K race (gun time 6 pm) would be cancelled. At about 4:00 shit his the fan and a massive storm swept through.  Luckily I was on the Metro on my way to the race when it happened.  By 5:00 it was a steady rain.  The storm lowered the humidity and temperature by over ten degrees!  Once I warmed up I was only slightly wet.

I was a little perturbed when they delayed the start from 6:00 to 6:15 and then 6:20.  The gun didn't go off until 6:30.  Everything else about the race went really well.  I focused on my form and the pace while trying to keep up with the leaders.  I did not get my mile and two mile splits but when I looked down at my watch for the 3 mile split it read 15:43.  I knew then I would destroy my personal best at the distance.  I ran 16:13!  My goal this fall was to break 16:30!

I then finished and celebrated with some former Bowdoin Cross Country runners with 5 cups of free beer and pizza.  It was a great time! 

I attribute the success to planned and relatively consistent training.  This is the first time I've counted mileage and this blog is great for doing that. Also, I've trained in some hot-ass weather and it was cool at the start. I couldn't be happier with the result.

Results 

12 easy through Rock Creek.  Beautiful day.  It was 77 Degrees and felt amazing

7 easy at lunch.  Light lifting

12 min WU

30 min tempo @ 10 mile race pace

12 min CD

VFF run + 5 x 12sec hill sprints 

4 easy about 8:00 pace

7 easy about 7:00 pace + abs, pushups, etc. 

Hash run.  I decided not to run this afternoon due to very dead legs.  I felt a little niggle in my plantar fascia and I realized I wasn't getting enough recovery after last week's race then long run and workouts.

4 easy with some strides. I feel much better today after the rest day I took yesterday.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that I can only push as far as my body can recover.  With a long run, race, tempo, and a double run day in four days it took it out of me.  Ready to race tomorrow!

This morning was a beautiful morning for a race although the wind was a factor in today's event. The Georgetown Running Company racing team brought out a large contingent of fast men to race and I was counting on this when I signed up.  

We started the run in West Potomac Park aided by the wind for 2.5 miles.  My first mile was a very swift 5:02 and I felt good so I only backed off a little.  I was still with the leaders at that point. My second mile time was 10:10 and the third was 15:23.  Although there was not a 5K marker, I'm fairly confident I was close to my 5K PR at that point.

The wind sucked as we ran around the turn-a-round.  This is where I began to buckle due to the pace.  I did my best to relax and keep from slowing down and tying up.  It also sucked because the small pack I was running with took off, leaving me in no man's land. As I started my long kick for the finish, a huge runner sprinted past me going like miler pace.  I tried to keep up but I didn't have the spring speed.  After the finish I learned that this guy is a miler/800 guy for the GRC.

Great PR and better (based on equivalency) than my 5K PR set last week!  Lets see what I can do with a 10K next week. 

Results 

I didn't run today because my legs were shot.  Sore as hell.  I think it has something to do with me racing in my Saucony Grid Type A5s.  There is not a lot of shoe there and I really pushed it yesterday.  It could also be the fact that I drank a little too much at my buddy's birthday party Saturday night.

4 Easy @ 8:00 min pace

7 Easy @ 7:00 min pace 

10 Easy after work.  There was a big-ass storm this afternoon but it returned to a calm light rain by 5:00 when I went out for a run.  It was dead around Haines Point.  No walkers, tourists, cyclists, nothing.  It reminded me of running down there in the dark on a cold December evening. It was cool because it was just me, the pigeons, seagulls, and the mallards.

12 min WU

6 x mile by perceived effort (around 10K pace) with 1:30-1:40 jogs in between reps

*into the wind

5:41, 5:37*, 5:24, 5:37*, 5:21, 5:44* 

10 min. CD

Very windy in one direction today.  Great workout though. I remember in high school coach got us ready to do mile repeats and everyone was afraid of the workout.  We were supposed to do three at 5k pace but he let us out of them at two.  Doing workouts like these I laugh at the workouts I used to do...man if I were a coach.

7 easy at lunch.  Beautiful cool fall day today.  My legs are tired from yesterday.  I'm going to do a nice and easy 4 miler tomorrow so I'll be ready to go for Saturday's 10K.  

Third week in a row with a race.  That's a lot of racing!  Next week I won't have a race.  I'll have two in October and two in November.  My goal race of course will be the Veteran's Day 10K on November 11.  This has got to be the fastest 10K in the D.C. area during the fall and it will be great to see how I fair next to the local elites.  I will get a dose of that at Parks on October 7th.

4 easy at lunch

Today Started off alright but the race was starting at 9:00 and the temps were going up quickly.  It was also very windy.  I began the 10K running with a local guy (like myself) and British female Olympian Claire Hallisey and went through the mile in 5:20.  We went through three miles in 15:55 and I was right on pace for a new PR.  Everything changed once we got out on that long stretch of freeway.  The heat was back and the wind was bad so I took turns breaking the wind in the lead with another guy.  At the turnaround it started to get a bit difficult to keep up.  I went through 5 miles in 27:00 and the pace worsened from there.  It just wasn't in my legs today.

Not that many quick people showed up for the 10K and I won $75 for my second place finish so it wasn't too bad.  The guy who won also ran the 8K last week and was much faster there as well so I'll take it for today.  I have three more chances at the 10K distance in cooler weather and quicker courses.

I've decided that two weeks in a row with races is doable but three weeks in a row is too much.  You get stale by the third week.  I need my long run and regular schedule back to run 10K at my potential.

Results 

12 miles easy through Rock Creek Park.  A beautiful day today and the temps were cool and pleasant at about 68-69 degrees.  My calves are destroyed from running that 10K in my Saucony Grid Type A5s.  They are a great shoe but they are a 3K-5K flat.  I am not going to use them for anything longer than an 8K.  I'll stick to my Kinvaras in my next race.

7 easy at lunch.  Tired. Beautiful day.

7 easy at lunch.  My legs still feel dead...normal I suppose after running a 10K and a 12 mile long run the next day this weekend.

11 min WU

36 minute tempo run @ about 1/2 marathon pace.

8 min CD 

7 easy.  Actually hot today.  I had to run shirtless.  I guess today could be called the last day of summer.

12 min WU

4 x 4 min. and 1 x 3 min. @ 5K pace with 1 min. 40 sec. recoveries.  I attempted a 5th interval but only made it 3 minutes.  I was spent. 

7 min CD 

12 moderate pace with a friend who I met at a race.  He is a lot quicker than me and puts in 90mile weeks but we decided to put in 12.  The miles fly by when you have someone to talk to.  I want to get a few more guys to come out and make it a weekly thing for our long runs during Boston Marathon training.

10 easy.  I was tired today because I went out until 4 am last night and slept like crap.  I still managed to drag my ass outside and I felt great after a few miles.