The Party Is Over

I guess I have to admit it now. Summer is over. The temps this morning were in the low 40's F with a little wind do contend with. That called for long pants, shirt and gloves. I was very comfortable with that wardrobe but hard to believe I was wearing shorts and a tee just last week. Darn.

Yesterday was an easy recovery day.

Today was warm up and then 2.5 miles on the track with the 100 meter straights at a fast clip. (near 3K pace) I finished the morning feeling pretty good with my legs and back finally starting to loosen up and become more limber.

Monday: 1:00:19 8 miles

Tuesday: 1:19:26 11 miles (2.5 miles on track with 100 meter sprints)

Windy Progression

The plan called for a ninety minute run with each thirty minutes increasing the pace with the last thirty near marathon pace. If I recall correctly the last time I attempted this run I had the same windy conditions to contend with. With gusty winds I knew that hitting my paces would be difficult and that keeping a controlled effort would benefit me in the end. I started my last segment a little early because of the route I was running I figured with the increased pace I would run out of real estate and have "city" streets to contend with and that just doesn't work when you are trying to run up tempo. My assumptions were correct and the last segment was a bit shy of thirty but still a decent effort. My legs felt decent but I can still feel a little hamstring stiffness lingering from the 25K two weeks ago, at least that is what I am chalking it up to.

The workout rounded out as follows:

first 30:00 8:08 pace (on trails)

second 28:37 7:10 pace (roads)

last 25:50 5:58 pace (roads)

Total: 1:26:37 12.3 miles

Weeks Total: 69 miles

Years Total: 2013.7 miles

General Aerobic

Yesterday was a recovery run after a pretty decent week and morning of harder running. In the last week I have bumped up the volume and performed two decent fartlek workouts. I am happy with the progress and as long as tomorrow's progression run goes as planned this will be a good step in the right direction.

Friday: easy run up woodland and small umd loop

54:00 7 miles

Saturday: down to the new lakewalk extension and home via Chester Bowl and Rock Hill.

Totals: 1:20:00 10 miles

Take Out The Gloves

The weather in the northland has been amazing the month of September. So nice that I have worn shorts and a tee for the entire month to date, until this morning. I woke up to temps in the mid to upper 40's and that's long sleeve and light glove weather for me.

Yesterday I ran the Rice Lake Road loop easy and had my trouble with cars not giving way to me. I am running on new pavement and the DOT has not painted the white lines, so the cars are not smart enough to watch the yellow line. To make this topic even more frustrating is the fact that I am wearing a bright, one of brightest on the market, headlamp and still some of the early commuters just don't pay attention. I hope some morning I am not writing this blog from a hospital bed. Damn! Pay attention!!

The workout this morning went way better than I thought it might go and that tells me I am ready to tackle the next ten weeks full steam ahead. I did a nice warm up to Lakeside and then proceeded to run 4 X 5 minutes at 10k pace with 3 minute recovery between. I had a tough time getting a good groove but in the end the intervals looked pretty decent. Nice...

Wednesday: 1:00:00 + 8.1 miles (easy, avoiding cars)

Thursday: 1:19:30 11.2 miles

(intervals: 5:26, 5:26, 5:21, 5:21 paces)

Back On Track

I used Monday for recovery and general mileage and this morning I got back into the routine of Tuesday/Thursday workouts. I was a bit skeptical after yesterday's run that I would indeed be ready for the fartlek workout this morning but it went really well and I should be ready to tackle the rest of the week.

The next three to four weeks will be a bit of a grind but I must stay focused on the goal some eleven weeks away. Each day/workout has a goal and hitting those workouts will be a primary focus and if they go as planned good things will come on December 6th.

Monday:

Woodland to Martin loop plus a short UMD loop.

8.5 miles easy

Tuesday:

First fartlek run since the 25K and it went well.

30:00 minute warm up

12 X 1 minute fartlek at 5K pace with 1 min. rest

28:00 warm down

1:25:00 12 miles

Mid-Day Run = Trouble

For three plus years I have been running my weekly runs at 5:00 AM and my weekend runs usually are complete by 9:00. So, when I do an occasional mid-day run I usually don't feel worth a crap. Today was one of those days. The positive side was at least I got the run completed and didn't have to take another zero for the day.

I ran with Erik and we hit the trails right out from his house and managed to find our way to Lester Park and complete one long loop before making our way back to his house. The day was yet another beautiful, sunny, warm LATE summer day. (soon I will have to refer to the fall season, but with the recent temps it hard) The trails here in Duluth are amazing and durning our run of near two hours on complete trail, it was hard to find anything that qualified as moist soil. Notta. My legs, mostly hamstrings, felt a bit tight and I wonder if it was just the result of taking the day off yesterday while camping in Hayward and taking in the Fat Tire 40 festivities. Could be, or it could just be the timing of the day.

The week after racing a hard 25K has left my legs in decent shape. Other than today, I was had a decent week of running. I didn't do much for volume but this was a recovery week and it will be time to pump up the volume over the next few weeks.

Here is how the rest of the week unfolded.

Thursday: 59:22 8.1 miles (RLR loop)

Friday: 1:00:02 8.5 miles total

6X 2 minutes at 5K pace with 1 min. recovery

*the fartlek intervals felt very good this morn

Saturday: 0 mile

Sunday: 1:46:30 12.6 miles (all trails)

Weeks Totals: 37 miles (4 runs)

Years Totals: 1944.6 miles

I'm Back

Just 72 quick hours after what I called, "a brutal race", I am fired up and ready to tackle the next twelve weeks of marathon training. I was able to take the little good out of the 25K race and let the bad go to the wayside. Now it's time to push forward and look forward to chasing some serious time goals for the fall racing season. Time to get to work!

I had taken Monday and Tuesday off just to let my legs have a good recovery and this morning I ran a good road loop along with half mile on the track with striding out the straights just to get things loose, and I found myself feeling pretty good today. I will continue to take it easy this week and maybe add a short fartlek-type workout on Friday or Saturday.

Monday and Tuesday:

0 miles - recovery

Wednesday:

Pig's loop and added a short strider session at the track.

Totals: 7.5 miles

Brutal Conditions

That's how I summarized Sunday's City of the Lakes 25K in Minneapolis. After two loops of both Calhoun and Harriet I was nearing the last mini-loop of Harriet and I was toast. I managed to hang with a group that was consistently running 5:40 pace and after the second mile I was very content with this pace. (my pace heading into the race was to be desired at 5:35 pace) Once we hit the final water station heading out to Harriet and pushing up the small hill one more time, the foursome was down to three as I was falling off the back like a caboose off it's tracks. This made for a very long and grueling three miles. As I went through the half-marathon in 1:14:46, I knew that running 1:28 was going to be more than I had for the day. I did manage to finish with a little up tempo for the final mile but barely. All I can say is I managed to change my perspective greatly in the last 36 hours. With a little rest this week I am hoping to hop back on the marathon training plan and get fit as a fiddle for CIM on December 8th.

Here I go again...

Saturday:

Easy running on the Rock Hill trails and small loop in Hartley.

Totals: 32:00 4+ miles

Sunday:

City of The Lakes 25K: 1:29:06 (1:14:46 half mar. split)

17th place overall

3rd place in age division

total for day: 16.5 miles

Weeks Total: 53 miles

Years Total: 1907.6 miles

1K's At Sunrise

Tuesday: 1:06:35 8.9 miles

this as the first early morning run I had done in close to ten days since I was on vacation all of last week. I woke up pretty well and had good energy so towards the end of my loop I made my way to the UMD track and did 6X100 meters at 3k-5k pace.

Wednesday: 52:38 7.1 miles

I took an easy recovery day this morning on west Skyline. The headlamp has been broken out of storage and will be a permanent fixture on my head until I run the marathon in December. Legs are feeling pretty decent.

Thursday: 9.3 miles total

my first trip to the track for 1k's in a few years. I was to do 1k's at "cruise interval" pace, which for me worked out to be 5:10-5:13/ mile pace. I ended the workout as I had remembered from years past and was "pleasantly fatigued" and ready for my warm down. It probably looked funny but I was wearing my headlamp while on the track just so I could monitor my pace during the repeats as there are no lights on at that hour near the track.

Here is how the workout ended:

30 minute warm up

4X1k repeats: 3:25 (slow), 3:19, 3:18, 3:16

20 minute warm down in rock hill trails.

North Shore Mile

I had an invite from my buddy EK to join him for a "time trial" mile. We initially set out to run at the UMD track, but upon arrival the woman's soccer team was setting up for practice and that just wasn't going to work for us. On to plan B, which was to run on the marathon course between miles 18 and 17. After a decent warm up and a few strides we set off in the mid 70'sF afternoon temps for what would be an attempted 5:00 minute mile or slightly under. We were getting quarter mile updates via GPS and the spilts unfolded as follows: out in 76, 74, 72, and closed in 70 seconds for a mile of 4:53. Very good for the both of us and once we completed our warm down we hit Lake Superior for a cool bath. Overall a very positive way to start a new week, and a very positive way for EK to be heading into his race.

Totals: 7+ miles with 4:53 mile at TT.

Unmotivation Transitions To Motivation

Weeks Review

Mon and Tuesday: 0 miles

Wednesday: 50:00 7 miles (paths in Lino Lakes)

Thursday: 54:33 7.4 miles (trails)

Friday: 1:08:33 7.5 miles (Hartley trails)

Saturday: Great Northern Classic Rodeo 5K

1st place: 16:03

9.8 miles total

Sunday: 1:29:23 13.3 miles (closed last 20 minutes at 5:45 pace)

Total: 45 miles (5 runs)

Weeks Totals: 1854.7 miles

With the week starting on vacation and attending the State Fair I was in no mood to get up at 5:00 to get in a hour run. The last week I have been feeling way off and not sure what to attribute it to. I was starting to feel burned out mentally and wondering if I was physically ready for a break as well.

By Wednesday I was getting antsy and needed to get out for a short run just to see expend some extra energy. The run went OK but nothing close to stellar. Upon returning home and hitting the trails for a few day's I was feeling similar fatigue in my legs and I was ready to fire off an email to the man who has written my training plan and ask if I should bag the next two weeks or so just to allow some rest before heading into the marathon phase of training that waits me just one short week away.

Saturday morning I woke up early and knew I had postponed my 'Tempo Run' from Thursday and needed to get it done. Here's where my motivation was near zero. I didn't want to do this workout solo and couldn't come up with any names that may want to join me. So, instead I wobbled to the computer and checked out Northland Runner and found a local 5K. I had no expectations heading into the race and was thinking if I broke 16:30 I would be satisfied. While driving over to the race I was thinking of a way to run the "workout" and still get a decent result. My initial thought was to run 5:30, 5:20, and 5:10 as a progression-type run. Those plans were shot when I pleasantly found myself running 4:55 pace for the first quarter and had to really struggle to slow to the opening 5:13. In my mind I was now starting to think that there may be a decent race ready to unfold and I shouldn't hold back and give it a good effort. My second mile was 5:10 and I was surprised to have a little push left. I started to push the last mile then the rigging started about 2.5 miles in. I wanted to have a strong finish so hitting the last mile in 5:16 was still satisfactory and seeing the clock just click past 16:00 was very encouraging.

I haven't ran close to 16:00 for a 5k in many years and having this happen on a day where I was just out for a hard effort was more than inspiring considering the way my training has gone the last two weeks. I made it through the rest of this week with a Hot summer run today, 83F at the finish, and I am now rejuvenated for the 25K this next weekend and now to start my marathon build. Here is to a better week of training!