Sunday, August 31, 2008

Week In Review

Time: 272:30
Distance: 39 mi.

Shy of 40 miles. Sick. No long run. Got to get back on top of things, one day at a time.

Three weeks to the Downtown 5k, eight weeks to the Marine Corps Marathon.

Bike Path

Time: 61:12
Distance: 9 mi.

Felt good enough in the morning to get a run in then. Trying to put together a knock-down-drag-out long run didn't make much sense, so I decided on 60 minutes of feeling good. I pretty much accomplished that much, at least, including getting in a few 6:15-ish miles on the way back.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Three Town Loop, Wildflower

Time: 28:40
Distance: 4 mi.

Very easy four miler to just sweat it out a bit. Still feeling fairly sick, with a lot of congestion and coughing. It's going to be a few more days before I am back on top.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Day Off

Trying to get over this cold before Sunday.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Puffer's Pond, Flat Hills

Time: 9 mi.
Distance: 67:16

Since I'll be in Amherst for a little while, I've decided to help out at the Amherst Regional High School cross country practices when I can. Despite the cold feeling a bit worse, I figured I could meet the guys for an easy run and see what the scene is. We ran very easy down to Puffer's Pond and then through the trails to Flat Hills and back. The good part of this run is that I couldn't hammer at all, the bad part was that I couldn't really cut it short. My cold is definitely getting worse.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Amethyst Brook

Time: 63:50
Distance: 9.5 mi.

Finally back in Amherst, but I wasn't feeling great in the morning, so I put the run off until the afternoon. I seem to have developed a bit of a cold, and I was still feeling it in the afternoon but really needed a run today. While my sinuses were clogged and I have a bit of a sore throat, my legs felt great. It was a beautiful day in the trails of Echo Hill and Amethyst Brook.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Day Off

Monday, August 25, 2008

Pumpkin Patch

Time: 52:07
Distance: 7.5 mi.



Easy afternoon recovery run up in Hanover, NH. After a day of hanging around the school and down by the Connecticut river, we were met by Neil Graves and Jason Lyon (going into his senior year at Dartmouth). We did a run they called "Pumpkin Patch," but I didn't see any such thing. Fairly nice the whole way, most of which was on the trails.

Autumn is in the air.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Week In Review

Time: 448:30
Distance: 63.5

Given that I was on the road the whole week and didn't get much sleep towards the end of it, this was a fine week of training.

Reservoir Park, Chestnut Hill Reservoir

Time: 93:10
Distance: 13.5 mi.

This was quite shy of the 2+ hour run that I had scheduled, but after a long last couple of days, this is what I had in me. Ari came over from Cambridge for it and Tom ran the first 30+ minutes of the run with us around Reservoir Park. We would have been closer to 80 minutes, but I got us lost on the way back to the McArdle residence.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Day Off

Friday, August 22, 2008

The Charles

Time: 77:56
Distance: 11.5 mi.



Morning run with Brian from Chez McArdle in Brookline out to the Charles, where we ran up to the North End on the north side of the river and back on the south side past Beacon Hill and Back Bay. While we weren't trying to really do a workout, I wanted a second effort getting my legs going this week, so I got Brian to do a 6 x 30 sec. fartlek which he pretty much schooled me on. We decided to jump in the river when we were done with that and Brian was met with the cheer of "Hey Gorgeous!" by some cute British tourists has he ran off the dock.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

North Providence, RIC

Time: 61:35
Distance: 9 mi.

I stopped in Providence heading back up to Boston and met up with Tarpy at his place near Providence College for a run. Max Smith and Mark Carroll came with us on the run, which went through North Providence and on a short bike path near Rhode Island College.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Fartlek in the Squan

Time: 64:50
Distance: 10 mi.

Target: Two sets of a fartlek ladder - 1:00 (1:00), 2:00 (1:00), 3:00 (1:00), 2:00 (1:00), 1:00 (1:00)
Workout: Good sub-tempo effort throughout

Fairly happy with this workout around a loop near Craig and Corey's place in Manesquan on the Jersey shore. Craig was worthless to do the warmup with me, as he told me he would try to do, but I did rope him in for the cooldown. A total of 28 minutes of workout time, with 18 minutes at sub-tempo pace.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Brooklyn Bridges

Time: 80:14
Distance: 11 mi.


The Manhattan Bridge and skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge

I met Nick early before his first day of work at the New York Road Runners. We ran from Brooklyn to Manhattan on the Manhattan Bridge and back into Brooklyn on the Brooklyn Bridge. Despite dealing with cars and traffic, it was a great way to see the some of Brooklyn and the beautiful bridges on the east side of Manhattan.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Amherst Run

Time: 72:09
Distance: 10.5 mi.

Easy run in Amherst.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Week in Review

Time: 522:30
Distance: 78 mi.

Overall a very good week of training. The mid-week workout was tough, but it will take a few efforts like that to get used to it. Hopefully next time I'm on the track I'll feel better. I was very happy with the long and hard effort, as I don't think it will take too much more out of me to get up to 12-14 miles at that pace in the next month.

Olympic track started this week and has been exciting. I was very happy to see Leo make it through the first round, though I'm sure he wasn't too happy with his DFL finish in the second round. Anna also cruised into the final and I was able to watch her race live, which was fun. The men's steeple and 10k did not disappoint. Hopefully videos of these will be online soon.

Bike Path, Rosen Loop

Time: 115:42
Distance: 18.5 mi.
Map

Target: 5 miles steady warmup; 10 miles averaging 5:45; 3 miles recovery
Run: 6.5 miles steady warmup; 10 miles in 56:39 (5:40 pace) starting at 6:00 and working down around 5:30; 2 miles recovery


The wetlands along the bike path

I started this run pretty early so that I could get back in time to catch some Olympic track action on sketchy live online TV from Denmark. Eliot is in town for the weekend and volunteered to bike along for the run, which was particularly nice for this hard session. After running up to his house, we headed to the bike path near Amherst College. I was shooting to start 3 miles out and got to a decent pace, but missed the first mile mark (or there isn't one?) so I really started with 2 miles from Station Road.

The first few miles on the bike path were just getting into it, 5:59 and 5:52. Once I got onto the 7-mile Rosen Loop starting on Station Road I got a bit more on pace, even over the hills. I then did four miles in 22:45 (5:41 pace), two miles in 11:04 (5:32 pace) and the Station Road mile in 5:21. Because I missed the first bike path mile I was planning, I went back onto it for a final mile where I relaxed the pace to 5:38.

Overall, I was happy with how comfortable I felt, though it would be good for these runs to more steady throughout and less progression. I was able to take some water during the run, again, and some GU around 5 miles of the hard effort. My knee felt great, so hopefully the new shoes have saved me there.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Amethyst Brook

Time: 39:30
Distance: 5.5 mi.

Easy run with Paul Norton, a 2007 ARHS grad who now runs for Brandeis. We met at the main to the trails just as Gould was going by and we went with him to the North East Street entrance. From there we took the trails back through.

I was thinking of doubling, but decided against it to make sure I was good for Sunday. I am still a little worried about the tendonitis in my knee.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Belchertown

Time: 90:00
Distance: 13 mi.

I started out heading out on Warren Wright, the way that the Rosen Loop starts, but continued on it out to Bay Road. I messed around on a few roads out there trying to find a new loop, but ran into dead ends and I didn't want to run for a long time along the relatively busy section of Bay Road.

I seem to have developed some patellar tendonitis, particularly in my right knee. It's not too bad, but I felt it pretty strongly at both the beginning and the end of the run.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Groff Park Loop

Time: 56:45
Distance: 8.5 mi.

Evening easy run. Having new shoes is huge, but it will take me a couple of days for my legs to start feeling good again. My left plantar is a bit tight... probably a combination of standing at Wilco on Tuesday night for a few hours and the workout yesterday.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Half Miles

Time: 77:00
Distance: 12 mi.

Target: 8 x 800m in 2:30 with 200m rest in ~60 - 5 miles total
Workout: 2:30.7 (58), 2:31.3 (62), 2:28.6 (61), 2:30.2 (58), 2:30.8 (65), 2:28.5 (68), 2:28.5 (62), 2:27.2 (56) - 28:06; 2 x 200m untimed

Decent workout for the first time I've been below tempo pace in a long time. I headed down to the Amherst Regional High School track to relive the memories. My legs felt pretty uncomfortable from the beginning which I attribute somewhat to running on dead shoes, but I did recover aerobically fairly quickly. I settled in somewhat, but had to get back in the mindset of doing intervals, focusing through each one, taking one at a time, etc. I threw on two 200s at the end just to try to clean out my legs.

I did finally got a new pair of Nike Elite 4s which I finagled for less than cost a FinishLine.com.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Flat Hills Loop, Mill River

Time: 81:55
Distance: 12 mi.

Easy afternoon run from Puffer's Pond. I did a loop around Flat Hills and past Atkins Reservoir. That only got me about an hour, so I ran on the trails to Mill River and mucked around there for a little bit and came back up. I was pretty tired by the end of the run, and my legs are really dead from these shoes.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Amherst Loop

Time: 61:30
Distance: 8.5 mi.

Morning run from the house. I started off very stiff from yesterday, and decided that I would be shooting for a fairly slow recovery run the whole way through. I took the bike path to Amherst College, looped around the center of town and back. I ran into Nelson Lacey, who said that Matt is training for a half and is planning on running Boston.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

2008 Marine Corps Marathon Training Plan

My training plan for the Marine Corps Marathon this fall, constructed in consultation with Tom McArdle, is based on five two-week cycles. Week one of each cycle will have one mid-week workout and a long hard weekend effort (the marathon preparation run) and week two will have two mid-week workouts and a slightly longer easy run. The fartlek, hill, and track workouts during the week will contribute to both aerobic and anaerobic strength, muscle strength and form but should never take a lot out of me. The workouts I've listed in the calendar are just a very general guide of what I am planning for. The long and hard marathon preparation runs just over marathon pace will hopefully reflect the development of long distance fitness throughout the course of my training and prepare me for long runs at the hard effort. Finally, the long easy runs will give me volume runs close to total marathon time.

This whole schedule is flexible, and I will definitely adjust it as time goes on.

Long Runs
Long Easy:build to 2:20 (140 min.) at recovery pace
Long Hard:build from 10 to 15 miles at MP+ (~5:40 pace) with a warmup and cooldown

Workouts
Fartlek:4-10 intervals of 2-5 min. with 20-30 min. total volume and short running rest
Track:400-800m intervals w/4-5 mi. volume and short running rest
Hills:200-300m (45-70 sec.) hills

Milage
Consistent target of 80-90 miles per week, which with ~20 mile long runs means 9-12 mi. (60-80 min.) daily

Marathon Pace Reference
(4:22 for every 10 sec. per mile)
5:302:24:06
5:402:28:28
5:502:32:50

AUGUST
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
         1
2
3

4
5
6

7
8
9
10
Long Easy
(120 min.)
11
12
13
Fartlek
14
15
16
17
Long Hard
(5-10-3)
18
19
Track
20
21
22
Hills
23
24
Long Easy
(130 min.)

25
26
27
Fartlek
28
29

30
31
Long Hard
(3-12-3)


SEPTEMBER
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
1 2
Track
3 4 5
Hills
6
7
Long Easy
(140 min.)

8
9
10
Fartlek

11
12
13
14
Long Hard
(2.5-15-2.5)
15
16
Track
17

18
19
Hills
20
21
Long Easy
(140 min.)

CVS Downtown 5k
22
23

24
Fartlek
25
26

27
28
Long Hard
(2.5-15-2.5)

29
30
Track







OCTOBER
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday



1 2 3
Hills
4
5
Long Easy
(140 min.)

6
7
8
Fartlek

9
10
11
12
Long Hard
(2.5-15-2.5)
13
14
Track
15

16
17
Hills?
18
19
Long Easy
(90 min.)
20
21

22

23
24

25
26
Marine Corps Marathon

27
28

29
3031

Week in Review

Time: 600:00
Distance: 77.5 mi.

A decent week, but I have still been struggling to get consistant without a plan. I don't mind having a flexible schedule and taking days off, but I don't like being all over the place in terms of working out, running in the AM or PM, etc. That being said, for a week that I traveled to Boston, Providence and Nantucket, this was a pretty good week.

Luckily I had a good chat with Tom who gave me some pointers for a new two week cycled training plan that will really start next week. I'll have five cycles of weeks with two workouts and an easy long run and one workout and a hard long run before the week of the Marine Corps Marathon.

Also, this is not a hard time to be motivated, now that I've got hours of Olympics to watch every day.

Shutesbury Hills

Time: 130:44
Distance: 20 mi.
Map

Long run from Atkins Reservoir up into Shutesbury. To get in over two hours with a lot of soft surfaces I did two ~8.5 mile loops on Sand Hill, Pelham Hill and Pratt Corner roads with a connector to where I started of less than a mile. For this 20 miler there were less than 8 miles on pavement, the rest is on nice (but hilly) dirt roads. I got back to my starting point at 124 minutes and added on about six minutes on the road near the reservoir.

Overall I felt fairly good, and was also able to take water at around 30 minutes and water along with some GU at close to 90 minutes. I took both easier than I thought, but fought off a bit of a side cramp as a result in the last 30 minutes. Aerobically I was feeling fine, but my legs were pretty dead by the end. I am badly in need of some new shoes, which are supposedly in the mail.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Holyoke Range, Atkins Orchard

Time: 81:54
Distance: 12 mi.


The orchard in South Amherst

Easy morning run out on Middle Street to the Holyoke Range State Park (just shy of 30 min). I explored the trais and went out and back in a few directions before taking the trail that leads to the Atkins Orchard and comes out on Bay Road. Overall a nice run, but my legs are a bit tired.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Echo Hill Loop

Time: 34:10
Distance: 5 mi.

Short loop for a double run through Echo Hill from home in Amherst. My legs felt surprisingly good, probably because of the run this morning.

Riverwalk, City Loop, Boulevard

Time: 61:30
Distance: 9 mi.

Morning run with Neely in Providence. We looped around Riverwalk and through the center of the city and then back past the Brown Track to the Boulevard. I was pretty stiff at the beginning and tired by the end. Luckily, we had time to refuel at Louie's afterwards.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Dragon From Pawtucket

Time: 68:55
Distance: 10 mi.
Map


The Henderson Bridge between Providence and Pawtucket

After skipping a morning run in Boston, I went down to Rhode Island to run with Neely. We did the Dragon run, but we did it from his summer place in Pawtucket. It went fairly well, probably helped by a great nap that I took beforehand.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Day Off

Mid-week day off.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Brant Point Runners 5k

Time: 62:00
Distance: 9.5 mi.

Goal: run hard, win, enjoy getting on the line with TAW
Race: 1st, 16:25.9 (5:32.5, 5:14.4, 5:08.2)


The race goes near Brant Point and the Brant Point Lighthouse

Taylor was invited by someone who saw him running to hit up this "road race" which seems more like a weekly fun run put on by the Brant Point Runners club. We really had no idea what to expect and when I got there I had to tell the woman I signed up with that, no, I did not know my way around and, yes, I did expect to be near the front. Oh, and there was no pace car/bike and they didn't close off the roads. And the course record was "either 16 or 17." There don't seem to be any results online, but the next guy was 18:10ish and then Taylor was third in 18:20-30. I ran the first 1/2 to 3/4 miles with the other leaders and then took off.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Run To The Beach, Nantucket

Time: 82:40
Distance: 12 mi.

Morning run with Taylor from his place on Nantucket in the town of Nantucket out to the beach near Maddaket (I believe) and back. It did get a little hot by the end, but overall the weather on the island seems fairly mild. I always like running with Taylor, who is getting back into running fairly seriously now. There are bike paths along many of the bigger roads, which are great for running.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Week in Review

Time: 506:30
Distance: 74 mi.

Another decent week of training, though I don't seem to have the motivation to run more than 6 days per week at the moment. I'm glad that I got the good Rosen Loop workout in after skipping it on Friday. After that on Saturday it didn't make sense to kill it on Sunday. After next weekend I will have a 10 week training plan leading up to Marine Corps.

Walden Pond

Time: 120:00
Distance: 17.5 mi.


Trails at Walden Pond

After a night in Boston, Ari and I headed up to Walden Pond in Concord/Lincoln for a long run. Ari is getting back in shape for the CVS Downtown 5k and back up to 75 minutes for his longest run of the week. We explored the trails and quickly found that there is a lot more there than is on the park map, so we had no problem getting his time in just looping around and exploring. The trails adjacent to the pond were fairly crowded, but once we got away they were quiet.

After dropping Ari off at the parking lot I added on another 45 minutes no faster than we had been running--not much faster than 7:00 on the windy trails. I was pretty tired by the end regardless, and sat dazed in the pond for a few minutes after I finished.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Rosen Loop Progression Run

Time: 75:00
Distance: 12 mi.

Target: Rosen loop (just shy of 7 miles) in 5:50 down to 5:20
Workout: Felt fairly comfortable running 5:40s down to 5:20s with the last mile in 5:05

I woke up early this morning to do the hard run that I should've done yesterday. It felt relatively cool, but the humidity was pretty serious. I started at the railroad tracks headed east up the first big hill and did the loop clockwise. This way I hit the high point of the entire hilly loop just after the first mile. I felt relatively comfortable the whole time, with some leg soreness bothering me more than aerobics. This was a much better workout on a far hillier course than last week's tempo.

The whole loop is less than 100m (20 sec) shy of 7 miles, so I've adjusted the splits accordingly. The first three miles were 17:00 (5:40 pace), the next 3 miles in 16:20 (5:26 pace), and the last (slightly downhill) mile in 5:05 for a total of 38:25 (5:29 pace for a full 7 miles).

Friday, August 1, 2008

Day Off

Motivation pretty low today. Tired of running alone. Tired of Amherst. Tired of waiting. Tired.