Monday, August 22, 2011

Week 8/22 - 8/28

Monday: 7.3 am easy running (47:35). Felt great this morning. I could sense the cooler weather on horizon.7.7 pm in 46:45, kind of a progression run, warming up the first few, pushing some hills, and rolling the last 3 home around 5:40 pace. Great start to the week, 15 total

Tuesday: 10m am with Ken in 65:10 on a pretty flat loop into South Hampton. One good hill climbs about 100 ft but then you get it all back on the downhill. It was good to catch up with Ken. He has been my running buddy in Amesbury. Now that we're headed to Andover I'll probably have to find some more local guys to run with most of the time. Drills pm.

Wednesday: 5.5 am EASY, we're talking 7:15's or so. 6 pm easy again, this time on trails in Andover, checking out the new area. 11.5 total.

Thursday: 10.5 am with Ken steady in Maudslay. I showed him the electric fence I ran into during a harder run a couple weeks ago. Still can't believe there was no sign saying something like "DANGER: ELECTRIC FENCE". I had been in the zone, watching the ground for footing and suddenly, *ZZZZEERRROOOMMMM* and I'm doubled over on an electric fence. Good times. Anyway, it was a good run today, pretty quick for trails and I felt a hell of a lot better than yesterday.

Friday: 10 miles am with 3m tempo in 17:25 on the Maudslay course. It was humid this morning and my stomach felt terrible on the warm-up. Something about waking up at 5:30 didn't settle well. Anyway, once we were rolling on the course I fell into a good rhythm and mostly held back from going too hard. Fairly soon I'd expect to hold this type of pace or faster for 10k-12k tempos. What a fun way to run! / PM 6 miles easy with Ken in Amesbury. We kept it pretty darn slow, and both felt a little loopy, probably from a combination of high 80's and low blood sugar. Still a solid double and I am HUNGRY for dinner. Making apple chicken sausages, broccoli rab and egg noodles. Oh, and and probably a couple good IPA's. 16 total.

Saturday: 14 miles. Humid. Way too humid. I was drenched by 2 miles and feeling drained by 8. I was lucky to think of bringing a water bottle along today to practice nutrition mid-run. The Hammer Heed I used settled well, but I think I drank it too quickly. I ended up stopping to fill up at a farm stand. My gear was definitely not "dri-fit"ing today. (1:37)

Sunday: 5 miles super easy in the storm. There were a few strong wind gusts but I think the strongest ones had passed by the time I got out there around 2:30 pm. I ran trails near the apartment to stay away from electric wires and those sorts of hazzards. There was as surprising number of people walking around, checking out the downed branches and such. The coolest thing I stumbled upon was a great blue heron taking shelter in a cove next to Gardner lake. I hit the boardwalk and scared it out into open water... felt a little bad because a wind gust nearly shot it down right into the lake!

Total: 83 on the week. I felt good enough to do more on Sunday but figured it would be a smart recovery day on a great week of training to limit my run to 5. I am sleeping heavier, but that is pretty much the only sign that I'm training harder than in weeks passed. The fitness is coming along how I'd expect. 9 weeks from today I'll be running Cape Cod. 9 weeks might sound like a lot, but it really isn't. I have a long way to go in terms of building up my long runs, simulating race pace efforts and practicing nutrition. Not to mention, I need to find a pair of racing flats that work for me. If I am able to put together 9 more weeks with an 80m average, I'll feel pretty confident. Meanwhile, I will also know that much of the competition will have averaged no less than 100m, with some guys getting up to 120.

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