Saturday: 9 Mile LT

The schedule said do a 45-60 minute LT. The temperature was about 25F with pretty decent wind out of the south. The path was pretty crappy, so Matt and I headed to the roads around Cricket Hill.

Decided to do three loops. I felt pretty decent. Here's the lap data:

It was a total of about 15 miles followed by a strength circuit. I'm worn out.

Doing a two hour run tomorrow.

22 miles, but not pretty.

The long run today was 22, I barely managed an 8 min average pace and I was WIPED. Very strange, either I'm coming down with something or suffereing fom some post phoenix syndrome. This is strange after a rather good speed workout Thursday (did 7x1000 with 4 min jog between each one, at 3:23 averagem that is a 5L25 mile pace).

Anyway, I hope this is just a temporary fatigue issue...

2 Miles

Nothing to see here. Please move along.

Matt Gibson: Superstar!

I have received quite a few questions about the legitimacy of the picture I took of his life-size poster at the new Fleet Feet store. While I am honored by your confidence in my Photoshop skills; I cannot accept the praise. Some corroborating evidence arrived in my inbox today--the Fleet Feet email newsletter.

A Week Late: Mile Repeats

The schedule said 5 to 10 reps. I did 7. I started on an eighth but because I was going to try to see how using carbs would help my performance (downed two Clif Shot Blocks). Unfortunately, I let too much time lapse after the 7th and my legs would not go, the were sore and I was feeling blisters. It was time to stop.

I mostly felt pretty good, and I was glad to do these inside at East Bank--although I feel I need to get the time down about 20 seconds/mile prior to being ready for Boston*.

My laps were pretty even, ranging from 1:21 to 1:27. I kept the heart rate at 86-87% after the first lap of each mile. I was recovering to 120 pretty easily between reps. Here are the mile times:

5:34, 5:43, 5:43, 5:36, 5:38, 5:39, 5:37

I wore the Nike Zoom Jasaris. I really like the way these shoes feel, but I am having the same problem with them that I have had with some other shoes this winter. It seems that when I run more on my toes, I push the insole up the back of my heel and out of the shoe. The problem wasn't as pronounced on the Jasaris as I have found on my Adidas trail shoes, but it was still uncomfortable. The solution for my trail shoes is to use my orthotics, but I don't really want to do that for speed training or races. So, I need to find out if there is a better solution to the problem.

*How will I get that time down? I think a combination of five things:

1. Increased economy through more training. Boston is still 81 days away according to the fancy new countdown widget on the right.
   
2. Decreased weight (somewhat plays a part in increased economy). I am right about 130-131 right now. I think I can get that 125 which should translate into a few percentage points increase in aerobic capacity.
3. Increased vVO2(max) through more training and the addition of the strength circuit.
4. More speed training, primarily the 100m sprints done at the end of recovery runs.
5. Timing on a track with more gentle corners or on the path without turns.

Somewhat looking forward to the 800s next week.

Where's Eduardo?

Ed's eyes were obviously good enough to spot the women's Trials pace group and camera carts at the Phoenix Marathon.

Speechless

From the new Fleet Feet store.

I even impressed myself....

So today I went out for a medium long run, planning to do 15 or so. I got early and was out the door running by 5:45 AM, doing about 8:30's or so, nothing to get excited. About 10 miles into this I felt the call, so I cut the run short and ran to the Harvard indoor track to use the "facilities". At this point I had done 12 miles, average pace 8 min according to Dr. Garmin. Not fast, not slow...

Here is where it gets good. After I unloaded the goods and felt much better, i decided to do some repeat miles for laughs and giggles. Mind you I was fairly tired and wearing my heavy training shoes, but here are my splits for a 5x1mile with 200 meter jogs between each mile:

6:15
6:11
6:04
6:00
5:57

At this point I called it quits rather than risk injury, although I think I may have been able to crank 1 or 2 more...

Waddle On

Because the path was pretty snow-covered on Saturday, I bagged the 10 x 1 mile. The forecast for Saturday afternoon and Sunday suggested that conditions would be pretty good for the repeats. Well, I didn't feel good when I woke this morning and since I wasn't going to do the long run with everyone else, I decided that I would wait until it warmed up this afternoon. Big mistake. The combination of not feeling well and brunch with Fearghal and Suzanne at Stanley's pretty much sabotaged my effort this afternoon. I got about 12 miles total, but mostly slow plodding.

Matt and I are planning to do 15-20 in the morning.

And therefore I am a wuss... <--Ed wrote that

snow snow snow snow

15 in the snow, slip and sliding the entire way, slow, at about 8:30-8:45 pace, but difficult.