8.73 Miles Easy

Mile 1	7:16
Mile 2	7:18
Mile 3	7:16
Mile 4	7:08
Mile 5	7:11
Mile 6	7:26
Mile 7	7:33
Mile 8	7:19
Mile 9	7:21
Total Average Pace:	7:19

I did 3 loops around Memorial Park. Each loop I put on a different top. The purpose was to keep dry and warm. Sometimes it's these little comforts that make an otherwise miserable run, tolerable. It doesn't get any better in the near future as it will be in the 20's and maybe lower in the coming days. This will make training pretty difficult, but this is not the time to let up. I only have a few days before the marathon so I need to do the runs I have planned in order to be mentally and physically prepared.

I am approaching the marathon as my last big training run of the fall base building period. So basically I'm training through it. I used this same approach last year and it helped propel me to a very big year last year. The magic range is between 2:44 and 2:46. I have not really thought about the details yet, but I'll make out a race plan as we get closer to the race. It's great because I get to use last year's data to make the race as comfortable as I can while attempting to hit the range above.

8.72 Miles Easy

Mile 1	7:17
Mile 2	7:15
Mile 3	7:06
Mile 4	7:08
Mile 5	7:00
Mile 6	7:21
Mile 7	7:17
Mile 8	7:20
Mile 9	7:30
Total Average Pace:	7:15

Hills @ Cloverleaf ~10 Miles Total

Warm Up

4 Mile Hill Workout (4 hills)

1. 5:12
2. 5:17
3. 5:04
4. 5:04

1. 4:58
2. 4:58
3. 4:59
4. 4:50

1. 4:43
2. 4:58
3. 4:47
4. 4:39

1. 4:37
2. 4:38
3. 4:45
4. 4:07

Total Average Pace: 4:51

Cool Down

I commend Joe Flores and Vaughn Gibbs for going out there in the dark this morning. In 29 degree windy weather doing hills with me. They are either hardcore like me, or crazy like me. I don’t know which yet.

We started out at an average clip and then warmed up and finished strong.

A True Recovery Run - 5.81 Miles

My watch flaked out on me so I had to reset the time on it during the run. So I don't have the splits for the run. But I do know that I ran around 8:22 pace. As expected, the legs felt pretty tired. It was 41 degrees and I really didn't want to be out there but I got it done. It's supposed to be a lot colder later on in the week and I don't know what I'm going to do. I only have about 30 days of cold weather a year that I can tolerate and I used all of those up last year.

I'm going to still try and do hills early in the morning at 5:15AM for anyone that is interested.

8.73 Mile Recovery Run

Mile 1	7:18
Mile 2	6:54
Mile 3	6:43
Mile 4	6:34
Mile 5	6:39
Mile 6	6:25
Mile 7	6:31
Mile 8	6:31
Mile 9	6:22
Total Average Pace:	6:41

 

They say there is no rest for the weary and that quote never fit more perfectly than on my run today. Sean texted me and wanted to run at 10am, which is normally ok. Except for the fact that I finished yesterday’s workout at 5:30 pm and ended up going to bed at 1:20 am. I relented and ran with him anyway. Sam joined in with us as well. Any hopes that he would take it easy on me were dashed when we were running at 6:30 pace and he calmly says to me, “I can’t run any slower.” Needless to say, I was a good sport and ended up grinding through it. I will make up for this effort with a nice 8 minute pace 6 miles tomorrow!

16 Mile Long Run – 10 Mile Tempo In Between

Mile 1	7:37
Mile 2	7:14
Mile 3	7:10
Mile 4	5:59
Mile 5	5:57
Mile 6	5:55
Mile 7	6:00
Mile 8	6:00
Mile 9	5:58
Mile 10	6:06
Mile 11	5:59
Mile 12	5:56
Mile 13	5:55
Mile 14	9:14
Mile 15	9:24
Mile 16	8:50
Total Average Pace:	6:50

10 Mile Tempo (Miles 4-13) – 5:59 Pace

I had a little fun before my tempo today. During my warm up a guy decided to shadow me for the last 3/4 of my last mile. As we came closer to the 3 mile mark he decided to overtake me. So I sped up. Then he sped up. Then I sped up. Then he goes out into full 100 meter sprint mode. So I start picking it up as well. I quickly put a meter on him and then slow down to let him catch up. Then I put another meter on him and look at my watch. I’m .04 into my tempo run!  So I circle back to him and give him a high 5. Time to start my tempo, at least I got my strides out of the way! 

Sean wanted me to do 16 miles but 10 at 6:10 pace. I decided to start out with 6 minute pace and see how it went from there. It went really well. When I started out the run I was just jogging it and could see I was moving at 5:20 pace. Nice start! So I slowed it down to around 5:50 pace and just let the pace go from there. The run ended up being challenging but not difficult. The first 6 miles were a piece of cake but during miles 7-10 I had to bear down and concentrate a little more. Overall, it was a good little workout.

Happy New Year! - 8.74 Miles Easy

MIle 1	7:14
MIle 2	6:52
MIle 3	6:57
MIle 4	6:52
MIle 5	6:56
MIle 6	6:58
MIle 7	6:56
MIle 8	7:05
MIle 9	7:03
Total Average Pace:	6:59

I hope all of your running goals come true this year, or at least 1 one them!