Trust The Process

4.5 miles total

.5 warm up, 3.75 miles at 6:48 avg pace, .25 cooldown (treadmill)

Tested the ankle a bit today and it felt good.

4 miles @ 8:05 pace (treadmill)

12.5 miles @ 8:04 avg pace

Decided to run outside eventhough it was lightly raining when I left the house.  Once I was about 5 miles into the run (and away from my house) it started raining pretty heavy.  What a mess!

5 miles @ 7:59 avg pace (treadmill)

The run felt easy today.  I am hoping I am almost back to where I was before I took a week and a half off a couple weeks ago.  Going for a long tempo run tomorrow at half marathon pace to see where my fitness stands with the DC Half coming in less than two weeks.

Long tempo run today

1 mile warm up, 7 miles @ 6:49 pace, .25 mile cool down jog plus 3 minutes walking (treadmill)

My legs and lungs felt strong today and could have pushed it a couple more miles at that pace.  My breathing got a little messed up as I tried to eat my sport beans mid way through the run.  Thinking I will go with Gel for the half so I don't have to chew as much.  Hopefully the race atmosphere will help my permormance, but I am thinking about making my goal pace a little bit slower for the half.  I have had a much better experience racing in the past when I finish races strong as opposed to struggling to the finish.

4 miles @ 8:12 pace

Legs felt fresh today the day after the long tempo run

5 miles @ 7:57 avg pace (treadmill)

I didn't feel good at all for the first 2 miles.  Afterwards, things started feeling better so I finished the run with some strides at half marathon pace.

Long run tomorrow.  Planning on 18 miles, but will shut it down early if my ankle flares up.

14 miles @ 8:20 pace

Did my long run on Forbidden Drvie today in North Philly.  It had been a few months since I ran here and I was not used to the soft trail or the hills.  Half way through, I went off the trail to run some steep hills around the Chestnut Hill area.  I took the downhill section heading back to the trail at race pace as the decline simulated a section of the DC course.

I have not been hill training at all lately and it showed.  By about 12 miles in, my legs were burning and had nothing left.  I struggled for two miles before calling it quits for the day.  Given the hills on the DC course throughout, this does not help my confidence. 

I am going to run the majority of my long runs here for the next 10 weeks leading up to the Marathon to strenghen my legs since the marathon course is a significant elevation decline with rolling sections during the second half.

4 miles @ 8:04 pace (treadmill)

My legs felt really tight today, probably from the long run and hills on Saturday.  Will do my last tempo run tomorrow before the half on Saturday.

5.5 miles this evening.  It was 74 degrees at 6pm which felt pretty hot although it was pretty windy along the river banks.  I broke out the racing flats to see how my ankle would do in them. 

.75 mile warm up @ 8:35 pace, 4 miles in 27:08 (6:28, 6:42, 6:55, 7:03), .75 cool down @ 9:00

The last two miles of the tempo run was into a pretty strong head wind, but I was clearly struggling near the end and my ankle was sore during the cool down.  Thinking I will pass on wearing the flats for the half.

Given my splits today and struggles during my long run last Saturday, I am going to run at a more conservative pace for the half on Saturday (thinking about 7:15 pace) with the hopes of having a little left in the tank for the last couple miles.  It has been very frustrating over the last month not being able to train the way I hoped due to injury, but hopefully I can look back at my training patterns in the future and find a stable base that my body can handle.   

4 miles @ 8:17 pace (treadmill).  It was in the mid 70s outside again, but it felt hotter than that in the gym today.  I wish I had brought my garmin with me in my gym bag to work today because I would have preferred running outside in the nice weather.

It was a great day for the race.  Temperature was 60 degrees and sunny at the start warming up to about 70 by the finish.

Finishing chip time was 1:34:01 (7:11 pace).  I missed my initial goal of 1:30 but the time beat my previous half marathon PR of 1:37:44 (9/18/11) and my previous course time of 1:54:19 (3/20/10).

Mile splits were as follows:

6:56, 6:49, 6:41, 7:03, 7:59, 7:43, 7:23, 7:17, 7:04, 6:55, 7:19, 7:29, 6:54

I was pumped up for the race at the start so I started out at a faster pace than planned.  Miles two and three were downhill so I wasn't too concerned that I was going faster than my planned pace.  I slowed down mile 4 closer to my planned pace as I remember miles 5-6 were going to be significantly uphill.  I struggled through the up hills of miles 5 & 6 and I was questioning at the time if I would have enough left in me to finish strong.  Miles 7 & 8 still had some uphill but not as severe as before.  I got through these hills without as much struggle as miles 5 & 6 and was ready to pick up the pace a bit for miles 9 & 10.  I slowed down a bit for mile 11 as I was fighting a little cramp in my stomach and we were running right into the hot sun.  I picked it up a bit at the beginning of mile 12, but the last climb of the course (outside of the last .2 miles) killed me.  I had enough left in me to push for the final mile which I was happy to run sub-7.

Overall, I was happy with my performance given some of my struggles in the last few weeks.  I was also happy that my ankle held up during the race and hasn't felt too bad after.  I napped after the race for about an hour but was then sightseeing for most of the afternoon in DC.  It wasn't until about 7pm that my ankle and arch started feeling really sore.

I am going to focus my next few weeks on getting in some strong tempo runs getting more comfortable running sub-7 minute miles as well as some solid long runs while taking my other runs during the week really easy.  My next race is a 10k in three weeks.  I definately plan to PR in this race.

Ran outside after work today.  Another beautiful evening.  I took it very easy today, 4 miles in about 35 minutes.  Legs felt like total crap today as my muscles were very tight.  I didn't do my regular stretching routine after the race on Saturday and I paid the price today.

Ran 4 miles at lunch today on the treadmill (8:30 pace).  Legs are feeling much better today than yesterday, but I still took it easy.  I will up the mileage and pace tomorrow.

8 miles outside before work this morning.  It was dark and rainy on the path, but the temperature was comfortable.

1 mile warm up (9:03), 5 tempo miles (7:08, 7:03, 7:05, 7:07, 7:08), 2 cool down miles (about 9:30 each)

My legs are still tight and not 100% from the race on Saturday.  I am hoping not to jinx myself, but my ankle has felt pretty good since the race.  We will see after my long run this weekend.

Long run today.  I skipped my run yesterday as I was exhausted after a long week of work so I ran 20 miles today to make up for it.

Ran the 20 in about a 8:17/mile pace.  I was moving along really well for the first 15 miles or so especially during the hilly section around the creek and my lungs felt good throught the whole run.  Around 17 miles, my quads were starting to burn.  By mile 19, my legs were on fire but was determined to finish the whole 20.  Took an ice bath when I got home that stopped the burning but I am really tight.  Will take tomorrow off and will plan to run a slow recovery run on Monday.  I am hoping these distances get easier at this pace the second and third time I run 20 miles before the Marathon.

8 easy miles after work today

It was about 50 degrees and very windy outside.  The first 4 miles were into a very strong wind and the average pace was about 9 minutes.  The last 4 were in about an 8:30 pace.  My legs felt dead today.  Not sure if it was the strong winds or if I am still tired from Saturday's long run.  I will see how tomorrow's run goes and will cut it short if things aren't going well.  I want something left in my legs for Wednesday's speedwork. 

Ran 4 easy miles at lunch today (treadmill).  Pace averaged 8:20.  My legs felt much better today, so I am feeling good about tomorrow's speedwork session.

Speedwork session at the gym this morning on the treadmill.  This was my first interval/speedwork session since late last year I think.

1 mile warm up with strides

2 x 1 mile @ 6:07 pace, 4:30 jog recovery (9:00 pace)

2 x 1 mile @ 6:00 pace, 4:30 jog recovery (9:00 pace)

1 mile cool down

I know this was on the treadmill (1% incline) and not as hard as it would have been outside, but I was very satisfied with today's workout.  My training has clearly paid off this year as I used to struggle to finish 800m intervals at this pace late last year.  For future speedwork sessions, I will plan to keep a similar pace but will try to add reps and cut back a little bit on the recovery time between reps.  I took some advil for my ankle afterwards, but I am not feeling too much pain post workout.

I have been making a conscious effort this week to focus on nutrition and will hope to do so leading up to the marathon.  At the beginning of the week, I was 185 pounds (6'1").  I am looking to drop 10 pounds before the race in 8 weeks.  I have some body fat to loose so I am optimistic that this drop in weight should have a big impact on my race times.  I just need to make sure I don't cut back on the calories too much to negatively effect my training.  I will give weekly updates going forward.

8 miles outside after work.  It was about 55 degrees and not too windy.  I wore my tights and a long sleeve technical shirt and got a little too warm but not bad.  Avg pace was 8:08.  Had to hold back my pace and I was moving along well.  Wanted to save my legs for tomorrow's long run.  It's forecasted to rain tomorrow morning so I may need to run on the treadmill tomorrow.

15.5 miles outside in a light rain. It was a terrible run today. I don't think my body fueled properly as I was really stuggling. As my last few miles were barely under a 10 min pace, I called it quits 1.5 miles early. I learned two things this week. I cut my calories too much this week and I shouldn't do a long run in the morning when I had just done a fairly long run (8 miles) the evening before. I am going to forget about this one quickly and focus on my 10k in New Orleans next Saturday.