Monday, October 10, 2011

Finis

Well, I haven't kept up with this thing for a while now, and it's not entirely because I've been too busy. The fall is always a tough time for me because my allergies combine with my asthma and my running tends to drop off. I can control either one of those exogenous factors with medication, but when they're both bad at the same time, I'm little better than "entirely useless."

I'll admit, too, I've grown tired of keeping the blog up. I never intended it to be a mere reposting of my training from logarun, and I haven't run well enough to offer any real insight to anyone looking for it.

To very briefly (by my standards) share where I'm at: I've got this semester left of college, and then 2 classes to talk in the spring, then I'm graduating from BU with a BA in Economics. After that, well, who the hell knows? I don't have a job lined up yet and I've got some solid student loans hanging over my head. I still have PRs left in me, though, so I'll be squeezing in as much running as I can regardless of where I end up working. Until we get a hard frost this fall, my running will be reasonably touch-n-go, with good days and bad days dictated by pollen counts. Fortunately, my new apartment is a lot less moldy and damp than my old basement apartment, so I'm doing better than I would be otherwise.

Also, after more than 3 years of waiting for my younger brother to turn 18, my family and I have decided to go back to using my mother's maiden name, McMahon. It was obviously a long process (and we still have to settle everything legally and officially) but we all felt it better reflected who we were, based on our familial situation (upon which I don't really see appropriate to elaborate here). So, since my "clever" blog title is no longer accurate and the pleasure I take in blogging has largely waned, I figured now was as good a time as any to wind this thing down.

Anyone who has interest in seeing what I'm up to are welcome to check out my training calendar on logarun.com. My username is Craig McMahon, so I'll be easy to find. Lastly, I just wanted to say thanks to anyone who reached out to me over the years. It's been an interesting exercise to have to analyze myself a little bit every week. At times, it was comforting and clarifying to write everything down; at others, it felt like a self-indulgent and masturbatory act of ego. Maybe, if after graduating, I become some stud road whore or ultra-marathon geek, I'll feel the need to start something bloggy up again. Maybe I'll get a job at runnersworld, and you can all read about my tips to your best half-marathon on 10 miles a week (please for the love of god, I'm kidding, don't believe that).

Regardless of what happens, I'm sure it'll be an adventure to find out. Take it easy, everybody. Happy Running!

-Craig McMahon

Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Drought Ends

You know, internet, I didn't mean to take a long hiatus from this thing. I ran a good 10 miler a few weeks ago and was all set to write a content blog that weekend. Then I missed it, then it was finals for summer classes, then I started a new job. . . and here we are. I'll give a nice long update now, but first, I want to mention that Johnny Kelley the younger is no longer with us. A legend in the New England road racing scene, Kelley won the 1957 Boston Marathon and represented the USA twice at the Olympic Games. He was also an alumni of my school, Boston University. I walk by his picture every time I go into the track locker room. His other highlights are too numerous to mention here and his influence on more than half a century of runners in the area is too vast for me to truly do him justice. I refer everyone who reads this blog to Amby Burfoot's wonderful reflection on Kelley, which you can find at http://footloose.runnersworld.com/2011/08/john-j-kelley-rip-1930-2011-1957-boston-marathon-winner-americas-first-modern-road-runner.html

As for my last month, it began very promisingly after the heatwave and unfortunately went south from there. I ran a ~70 second PR to win the Blessing of the Fleet 10-miler in Narragansett, RI (running 52:08) and thereafter had trouble with my left piriformis and sciatica-like symptoms. I got the troubles under control in time to run the Falmouth Road Race without any pain whatsoever, but fell apart after two miles and ran 37:13, which was some 10 sec/mile slower than I averaged for the 10-miler. It was, as usual, a fun weekend, but I was disappointed to run poorly. Fortunately, the real racing hasn't even begun yet, so I'm focused on making this last collegiate cross country season the best it can be.

Here's what I got up to:

Monday July 25: 2PM- 5.5 mi: up to the BC Res, around once, and home at a sad, crawling short of shuffle. 9PM- 7mi river loop also pretty slow and easy. I wanted to go at 7 but it was rainy and I ate dinner instead. 6.5 total (the loop is short)

Tuesday July 26: 4:45PM- 4mi easy in NH (doctor's appointment, routine checkup)
9:30PM- 3+ up, 3xmile with 800 jog, 3+ down. I did this workout kinda weird(ly?). I did the whole first mile "hard" (about 5k effort) then jogged my 800 in ~3:10, then did the second mile with the first and last laps at ~tempo-y type pace and the middle 800 in 2:24 for a time of 4:59, then jogged another 800 in ~3:10 before finishing the last mile going 77, 75, 70, 67 for 4:49. The workout was 4 miles total in 20:59. It was 70 deg out and windy, so much more comfortable than it's been lately. I gotta get in the habit of running at like 7:30am so mornings stop getting away from me.

Wednesday July 27: 11:30AM- 4mi very slow, felt tired, heavy, but mostly hungry.
6:30PM- 10mi easy with Joey, some with James and Peter. All dizzy and stuff because I didn't eat enough today, but I ground it out.

Thursday July 28: 6:30PM- 81min easy tending toward moderate with Peter, Joey, and guest star Teddy V of Northeastern. I did not intend on running this far or averaging 6:20 pace, but I felt good and it wasn't hot out, so whatever. We ran all around the downtown and saw some attractive ladies. 12+ miles

Friday July 29: 9:30AM- 3mi at about 9min pace, with the middle 2 barefoot on the track. 5:30PM- 22min up, strides, 10-mi road race, 20min down with Joey and his HS teammates. The race went well- after about a half-mile, the pace slowed as people settled in. I felt fine at the initial pace, so off I went. I ran the first 5 miles pretty aggressively for my fitness level and the wheels came off at about 6 miles, but I was able to hold on for a 7 second win after being ~25 seconds up at 5mi.

Splits I remember:

5:04 (5:04)
10:16 (5:12)
15:20 (5:04)
20:35 (5:15)
25:47 (5:12)
31:06 (5:19)
36:20 (5:14)
41:32 (5:12)
46:58 (5:26)
52:08 (5:10)

Miles 6 and 9 had these ~100y long gradual hills, which felt like friggen mountains at that point. Sub-52 was right there had I been tougher on the hills.

Saturday July 30: 11:30AM- 4mi easy with Sean and some with James, ran really slow. My calves were fine, surprisingly, but my quads felt like I had tried to and succeeded in squatting the world. 5PM- 7mi easy with the Trethewey, still felt like my quads had gotten electrocuted.

Sunday July 31: OFF, tired, covered in blisters, and sore- but mostly lazy

Tot- 82

Monday August 1: 2PM- 4mi easy after class, hot out, quads still pretty ugly, but my blisters felt much better. 7:30PM- Fresh Pond once from the house with James, really slow. Quads still sore, stomach upset.

Tuesday August 2: 7PM- Joey, Peter, and Rob were doing a workout, so I ran up to the BC Res and around it a bunch of times while they worked out. Still felt sore, but today was under 7:00 pace. 11mi total

Wednesday August 3: 11AM- 4mi nice and easy before class. 6:30PM- 10 mi easy with Peter and the first half with Eric, 67min total. Left butt/hip was really sore. This was the beginning of the piriformis that hated me.

Thursday August 4: 7:30PM- 10 with Rob on the Fat Cat loop then a short addition to get 11 on the day. Left hip still sore, but not as bad as yesterday. I thought it was cause I was limping on my blister foot, but who knows these things.

Friday August 5: 6:30PM- 3.5 up, 8x~500 section of hilly trail on the Pinkerton course with jog back, 3+ down. My left hip/piriformis was really going nuts today; the cooldown was miserable. Running uphill seems to be good for it (more range of motion = more stretching?) so I did some net uphill surges on trails.

Saturday August 6: 11:30AM- 7mi moderate on a hilly loop, had some pain in the butt/hip but mostly it was just tight. 7:30PM- 8mi moderate on more or less the same course (I went home a different way to get in another mile) with only the odd spike of pain and mostly just moderate tightness in the butt/hip. Going to town on my ass with a tennis ball (. . . ladies) seems to have been helped. I didn't get any numbness or "oh god the white hot pain is making me buckle" feelings and after the run it didn't hurt much at all, so I was pretty hopeful at this point.

Sunday August 7: Did 2, hip killed, turned around and limped home. Sad panda.

Total: 79

Monday August 8: 5:30PM- 13.5 miles: 3 laps around Fresh Pond with Peter at a good clip (6:20 or so for the whole run, I think). After one lap we ran into a runner from Brown and rolled with him for a while. The hip mostly behaved, so that was cool. Today, also, was my 22nd birthday.

Tuesday August 9: 8:30PM- 2 classes, work orientation, didn't have time for shit til late. River loop with Rob, 15min at 2mi, then 6:15 pace the rest of the way, more or less.

Wednesday August 10: 11AM- 7 mile river loop pretty slow. My piriformis doesn't feel "injury" hurt, but it is "holy crap all that rehab" hurt. I looked up some exercises that are supposed to be "challenging" if you have a weak piriformis, and I could barely do more than a few reps. Nice weather, though, and no nerve "buzz" or numbness. 6PM- A lap around Fresh Pond, flying today. 8.5 miles with no watch, but I was wailing on it.

Thursday August 11: OFF. One of those days that sneaks up on you with stuff spaced out so that I could have been late to some stuff and squeezed in two 5-6 mile runs at various points about 3 hours apart, but I never did. Rats.

Friday August 12: 12PM- 6.5 mi easy with my younger brother on the river, nice weather. Last lingering hip stuff was GONE baby! 7:30PM- To JP around and back with 6x2min hard, 1min moderate in the middle just to turn the legs over a little. I went back kind of a different way for a little add-on. 9mi total

Saturday August 13: AM- 4mi easy before driving down to Falmouth with Peter, Rich, and Cordaro the Born Again. PM- 10mi easy, some with Peter and Kev, the other bit with Max Darrah, with whom I stayed that evening before the race. My teammate Rich Peters was one of the pacers for the Elite Mile the day before and therefore I say all the credit for the 10 sub-4 performances belongs to him.

Sunday August 14: Falmouth Road Race- 3 up, 7mi race 37:13 for God knows what place. I hit two miles in 10:10 with one of my teammates, but while Peter went on to roll a 35:45, I fell well off the pace and got picked off by the top two women finishers several miles later. I have yet to beat the first woman at this race, and I suppose I have to wait another year to try. 3mi down. Again, though, Falmouth is too fun a weekend to let a bad race ruin it- but a run like Peter's would have been just the icing to make it perfect. C'est la vie, right?

Total- 84 miles

Monday August 15: 7PM- 10mi very slow, 75min, on the river through a downpour with James. I was in an extremely bad mood, but James refused to allow me to stay that way the whole run.

Tuesday August 16: 6:55AM- Usually I round up to the nearest 15min, but I wanted to brag about getting this one started before 7am. 4mi easy, quads still sore. 6:30PM- Two laps around JP from the house with a stop at the TTC to do 4x150 and a 200 fast. Hip a little sore near the end, very tender after when I was stretching. Quads still sore, but I hit a good pace regardless.

Wednesday August 17: 6:30PM- 4+ up with James, 3x4x200 with 200 jog between reps and an 800 jog between sets. I averaged 31.4 for the first 10 and then ran the last two in 29.3 and 28.1. It felt good to open up a little and to know how easy this workout was, despite the fact that my legs were still rocked from Falmouth. 3+ down.

Thursday August 18: 6:45AM- 3mi easy, mostly barefoot on Nickerson, no time for more because I had to take a dump during the run and it killed like 10min. 8PM- 10mi moderate solo, felt good, last few reasonably hard.

Friday August 19: Woke up late, no time for a morning run. After work I took the bus to Derry. 8PM- No legs or light for a workout (friggin Derry barely has street lights) so I just wailed on it for 9 hilly miles.

Saturday August 20: 3:30PM- 4mi barefoot on Hood Field, 28:24, with Kevin, who is leaving for the University of Portland out in Oregon in 3 days. We had a barbecue for him and I didn't get out to run again, which was fine because frankly, my allergies were going nuts and I didn't want to deal with them.

Sunday August 21: 12PM- 7mi moderate over a hilly course in Derry, crushed the last 4mi without really meaning to, but I didn't have a watch on it. 7PM- 6.5 easy on the river, tried to keep things a little slower today because most of my runs this week have been quite fast.

76 miles, not a great week, but I started tutoring at a summer enrichment program and missed some doubles. This week will be better.

Take it easy, everyone, and rest in peace, Johnny Kelley. You will be missed.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Who Touched the Theromstat?

So America got hit with a pretty nasty heat wave yesterday. I think except for Seattle and its environs, the entire continental US of A was a furnace for most of last week. I'm told that New England, with real temperatures "only" in the mid to hi-90s and dew points in the 70s, got off easy. I mean, fair enough, but during runs this week, I wasn't thinking "theoretically, this could be worse." I was thinking "AAhhhhhhh! My brain is bubbling out of my ears!"

The horrible wet heat aside, I had a decent week of training. I set a personal record for "latest start of run" at 11:30PM. I saw Captain America (I have a weakness for superhero movies). I finished 3rd place at a mini-golf night (of 3 people total). I got a two-week gig teaching summer school in the middle of August. I think that's about it.

Le Log:

Monday 7/18: 1PM- 4mi easy in my new trainers (Asics Hyperspeed IIIs, if anyone is curious). I didn't wear socks and got a big blister, but I still love the shoes.
7:30PM- 3.5 up, 12x32 seconds barefoot on a turf soccer field at Harvard with an 88 second recovery run at a steady pace. After the 4th and 8th reps I took 5min total total. Cool down to 11mi. This was the day the humidity set in, so I was drenched 10min into the warmup.

Tuesday 7/19: AM- Had to get a bunch of work done, no time to run, boo. 7PM- With James and Rob to JP, 6:10-6:25s the last 7 miles or so, started very easy.

Wednesday 7/20: 11AM- 5mi at a snail's pace, 94 deg out but dry. No morning class! 7PM- To Fresh Pond and around (16:17) with Peter and James, add-on at Harvard plus 5x120y strides with jogback. 11 total, felt pretty good, 6:20-6:30 pace.

Thursday 7/21: AM- Two midterms today, studied all morning. Shoulda got up earlier. 9PM- Still 88deg with a 74 dew point. Holy ballsack. 3 and a third up, 4x3min hard, 2min easy + another 1:47 hard at the end to finish 4mi in 21:47, 3 and a third down. The weather was so gross that I decided to do something easy and really baby the 2min easy sections. At least I got something in. I think I counted this as 10 in the log, but it was closer to 11.

Friday 7/22: 4PM- I was up at like 9AM today (no class on Fridays) but spent the whole morning and early afternoon cleaning, organizing, throwing stuff out, making a list of books I'll sell and books I'll keep, etc. Since it was 103 out (109 heat index) I went over to the track and ran 35min indoors for an easy 5mi. 11:30PM- Rob, James, and I headed out for an easy 10 miles around the waterfront and back through Quincy Market. It was still like 93 when we started, and I wasn't sure I'd make it back with like 3mi to go. Yech.

Saturday 7/23: 9PM- 10mi real easy, no watch. Totally fried all day. However, James and I finally got an apartment for next year, so at least I won't be homeless.

Sunday 7/24: 7:30PM- The heat broke! It was about 78 and breezy for this run. I ran about 10mi easy with James, going from about 7:20 for the first 3mi down to 6:20 or so by the time we split, then added on 6mi at about 6:15/mile including an 800 on the track in 2:26 to finish things up. Felt. . meh. It would have been an awful run if the weather wasn't perfect, so I'm thankful that the weather was, in fact, perfect.

92 miles, 10 runs

Oh yeah, I did core most days after the longer run, too (ladies).

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Karma

Things had gone too well for too long. After my long run last Sunday, I experienced an interesting injury. You ever get a charlie horse? You know, when your calf just suddenly CRAMPS and turns into a ball of pain and stiffness for like a minute? I experienced, over the course of several hours, a slow-motion charlie horse. Very slowly, over about two hours, my left calf clenched up and stayed clenched/cramped/whatever until bed. Since I was all limpy the next day, I got into the trainer's office and them show me some stretchin' techniques. I ended up talking two days off: one because I was limpy, and the other because it felt mostly better, but it's the summer and I have the luxury of time and used it to nip this in the bud. Other than a little achilles tightness today, I'm fine, and when my new shoes come in tomorrow or Tuesday, I'll be even finer.

Anyway. . .

Wednesday July 13: 10mi easy, 65min, with Peter. Felt good, but a little weird from the double days off.

Thursday July 14: 11mi hard solo, felt too good out the door to take it easy. I knew I'd pay for this later in the week, but I just wailed on this one the last 7 miles. Kinda makes me wish I had run with a watch today. . .

Friday July 15: 1PM- A real crack a'dawn morning run, 4mi slow. 7PM- 10mi easy, last 5mi moving along petty good.

Saturday July 16: 4PM- 7mi easy with Rob and an incoming freshman who was in town for orientation. It was HOT out, but we had fun taking our new teammate down to the Boston Common. 9PM- Hadn't planned on running again today because I was so bushed, but Matt was running an easy 3mi and I decided to join him.

Sunday July 17 7PM- 14mi moderate, really hot out. I felt like crap today, yech. I'm not too upset with this week, though, because the calf thing could have been ugly and instead all I did was miss two measly days.

Now, if you'll excuse me, internet, I have to finish up some Spanish homework and go to Shawes to buy some dinner.

59mi, 5 days, 6 runs. Take it easy, everybody.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

AAwwww yeah double update STEEZ

Things I really should do right now:

1) Put away my leftovers so I have lunch tomorrow
2) Study for my Spanish exam

Things I'm going to do right now instead:

1) Update this blog
2) Watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on ABC Family
3) Eat my leftovers
4) ???
5) Profit.

Here's what happened during the week that went from 7/4-7/10

7/4, America's Birfday: 7AM- Roll off the air mattress I crashed on last night, stumble to bathroom, cripple jog to downtown Keene, register for 4 on the 4th, cripple jog another 2 miles. 4mi race in 20:03, splits 5:01, 5:01, 5:00, 5:01, 5th place. The thing about racing in the Keene area is that even for the rinkiest of dink races, there's a damn good field. I got dropped like a pregnant lady's cigarette habit after the mile and ran the last 3 miles alone, other than two stragglers I picked off. Still, I wasn't displeased with the effort. 30min cooldown with a big group. 3PM- 5mi easy with Trethewey before we started barbecuing.

7/5: AM- travel back to Fitchburg then Boston, didn't have time for a run before my Int'l Finance class. PM- 11mi easy with James, felt good, ran slow.

7/6: AM- 4mi easy, didn't feel like running today and let some school stuff distract me. I'm such a good student. . . unless I feel like running.

7/7: AM- 4mi easy, felt good. PM- With a big group of BU teammates to Fresh Pond and back from the TTC, started easy but ran most of the back half around 6:20 pace or so. After I added on with a few people to get a solid 75min and 11+ on the evening.

7/8: 1PM- 3mi easy, I hit snooze a bunch of times this morning and waited til after my first class to run. 7PM- 3mi w/u with Sean, my gainfully employed and retired from competitive running roommate, then on the track for a long, solo workout. I decided to do mile repeats with a steady 800 run again and just figured I'd stop at some point after I did 4 of them. I felt so good I didn't call it quits until after 7 of them, which, when you add in the 6 preceding half-mile recovery runs, adds up to 10 miles on the track. While the miles and the jogs (and thus the overall pace of the 10mi) was fast, what was really awesome about this workout was how easy it was. I didn't really feel like I was working until after the 5th hard mile. I only cooled down a mile, though, because 14mi on the afternoon and 17 on the day was quite sufficient.
Mile (800 run)

5:02.9, 3:04.3
5:06.6, 2:59.6
5:05.4, 3:01.9
5:06.1, 3:01.7
5:04.9, 3:01.3
5:03.2, 3:01.6
5:01.8, (53:40 at 16k, 100m in 22.0 seconds to make 16k a real 10miles) in 54:02.8

Avg: 5:04.5, 3:01.4 and 5:24.4 per mile overall.

Saturday 7/9: Noon- 4mi super slow, no watch. I didn't feel as bad as I thought I would, but that's probably because I kept it REALLY easy. 6:30PM- 10mi easy solo on the river, kept it really easy again, over 7:00 pace for the splits I checked. I got rolled up by a friendly but competitive pair of gentlemen who informed me they had been on my trail for over a half-mile. As I told them, it's good to get rolled up every so often. Keeps the old ego in check, y'know?

Sunday 7/10: 6:30PM- 17mi starting easy but the last 11 miles were definitely on the steady side of things.

Total- 94 miles with a 4mi day, not bad, not bad.

Ahora- Yo tengo que estudiar para una prueba en Espanol.

Very Overdue Update. . . and there'll be another one this evening!

When I'm a day with the blog, I go "hmm," I should do that. After three days, I tend to think "meh, might as well just do a two-weeker in a few days." After nearly a month with no updates, I think "I have a blog?!" with mild indignation. Anyway, the longer I put this off, the longer the update will be, and the greater the likelihood that I write a Teal Deer post.

It's been a fun, busy, and at times frustrating couple weeks. My first session of summer classes ended, and I missed a B+/A- in my Economic Policy class by like 2 points (there were only 13 in the class, so the curve was murder). I went to Long Island with one of my roommates and took a sweet tour of Theodore Roosevelt's mansion, Sagamore Hill. Hmm, what else. I didn't manage to procure a short term job, so until mid-August, I will be surviving off savings and whatever odd jobs I can find helping people move furniture or whatever. It's not the end of the world, but not an ideal situation either.

Anyway, I have a Spanish exam to study for and I still haven't done my long run yet (waiting for it to cool down a little) so I gotta get caught up on this thing before I do this week's entry after my run.

From where I left off:

Monday 6/20: I woke up today with a fever, so I guess it wasn't just allergies that messed up my long run the day before. I decided to run through it, did a 6.5 mile morning run, then decided running through it was a dumb idea and slept through my afternoon run. Class today SUCCCCKED.

Tuesday 6/21: 11AM- 4mi pretty quick between classes. 5PM- 10+ miles, 66min or so, with a group of BU folk. We were moving along well, which is always nice.

Wednesday 6/22: 11AM- 6.5mi easy between classes, gross day out- it was really warm and humid with that half-assed warm rain that feels like a camel drooling on you. Felt slimy the whole time, yuck. 9PM- 3 up barefoot, 2x(5x200)avg 31 with 200 jog between reps, 14:20 for 4k total, 4ish down. It was downpouring out the whole time and I had basically zero fun, despite spiking up.

Thursday 6/23: 3:30PM- 9mi easy with James, to Mayor's Park in Cambridge. Didn't feel like going out that night and running again.

Friday 6/24: AM- 8.5 miles, one lap of Fresh Pond from Ashford. Drive to Long Island with James, got stuck in traffic and was trapped in the car for 7hrs. PM- 7mi with James in Long Island with some 30 second easy surges near the end to get the car out of my legs.

Saturday 6/25: AM- 3mi easy around the Roosevelt Estate. I highly recommend the tour (it's like 5 bucks) if you're ever in the area. PM- 10 miles moderate with James and Billy on Billy's trails in East Sachem, truly delightful.

Sunday 6/26: 11 miles moderate, with the last 4mi especially moderate (ha!). Allergies pretty bad today, must be all the rain.

Tot- 84.5mi

6/27-7/3

Monday 6/27: AM- Economics Presentation. My topic was on the possibly damaging effects the imposition of a minimum wage COULD have on the people it's supposed to help. I think the whole class got a B, so that was a little irritating. 4:30PM- 4mi quick before work, 6:15s after the mile or so. 9PM- 3+ up, 4mi tempo on the river in 20:49 (5:12, 5:16, 5:12, 5:09), 3+ down. I was kinda crampy and tired on the warmup, so I was satisfied with this workout.

Tuesday 6/28: 9PM- Between finishing up the paper that was the basis for my presentation, work, allergy shots, and Spanish, this was the first hour I had to run. 10mi steady/moderate on the river, 63min, but I was about 8min at the mile and 15 at 2, so the last 8mi were pretty solid.

Wednesday 6/29: 3PM- 7mi easy, up to the BC Res, around twice, and home. It was warm out and I felt like craap. 9:30PM- 8.5 easy on the river, full of pizza (boss's last day at work).

Thursday 6/30: 3PM- 9 easy, not sure if it was hot out or what, but I had planned 12-13 easy and felt too shitty to finish it out. 9PM- Hadn't planned on doubling, but I was pissed off about earlier and decided to belt out 4 miles without no watch. Ran mostly barefoot on the infield of the track.

Friday 7/1: 4.5 up, 8xKeene 400s, 2.5 down. Warmed up and cooled down with Peter and James. Keene Quarters, which Nate Jenkins mistakenly calls "Aussie 400s" just because the Australians invented them first, are when you run a 400 somewhere between 2-mile and 5k pace, then run a 200 around 6min pace for recovery. The whole session is 4800m/3mi and you want to average something in the realm of a hard 4-6mi tempo run pace for the 3miles. Target: 71-73 for the 400s, 45-46 for the 200s. I started too fast and the session ended up being ~15-20 seconds faster than I wanted. Oh well.

69.0, 45.0
69.2, 46.8
70.4, 45.7
70.9, 48.0
70.1, 47.0
70.9, 47.6
71.5, 46.8,
70.7, 45.1

15:34.0 total, just about 5:12/mile. It wasn't so bad, but I would have preferred to be a little slower on the 400s and a little quicker on the 200s. Good workout, though.

Saturday 7/2: I kinda forgot what I did today- my log indicates I did two runs of 6.5mi and 9 miles each. Good to know.

Sunday 7/3: AM- 4mi easy before I took the train from Cambridge to Fitchburg, where Trethewey picked me up. PM- 5mi easy with Trethewey in Keene, couldn't be bothered to run more.

Tot- 87.5

That's it for now, but after I go running, I'll update this week's training. I raced a 4-miler on Monday, but for those of you who aren't good with The Google, you'll have to check back to see how I did!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

DOUBLE the Update- DOUBLE the HW Procrastination!

Hello internet. Sorry for the lack of the update last week, but I had some summer class midterms and things kinda got away from me. I also gotta get another job, because my normal school year one is about to end and I'd rather have a couple weeks of overlap than a couple weeks with nothing coming in. Anyway, all that's neither here nor there. Here are my last two weeks:

6/6: 11mi easy, took an unplanned detour to find a bathroom and got kinda lost. I ended up feeling pretty good once I got about 5mi in, though.

6/7: AM- 4 easy PM- 8 easy, doctor's appt, pretty sure I did this run around the outdoor track barefoot.

6/8: 7mi easy, still 84 and humid at 9PM after work. I really did not feel like running today, but I know it was more because of the weather and the fact that I put it off so late.

6/9: 2:30PM- 5mi easy, 94 deg or so. 10pm- 10mi steady after work, last 8 pretty damn fast. Got caught in a downpour with a 1mi to go, and of course I was wearing a ratty old pair of white nylon shorts. Good thing I was running at night.

6/10: 4PM- With Joey and Petah on the river, ~4mi up, 5x3min hard, 2min easy, then 20min down or so with a mile added on at Nickerson. We averaged under 5:30/mile including the rest, so we were getting in some good running on the hard parts. Great weather- the heat finally broke. All in all, an enjoyable day. 10PM- River loop, belly a little sloshy from lemonade

6/11: 1PM- 4mi easy, rainy and 50deg, which was awesome after the week we had. 6:30PM- 2 laps of Fresh Pond easy from the house, 11mi, felt good.

6/12: 5PM- 15 miles, kind of a shorter but harder long run than I've done the last month or so. I was clipping along at about 6:15/mile after the mile and ran to the Arb, did about a half-hour there, then ran a pace-check lap at JP (9:06) then came home via the Muddy River through South Campus. The total 1:42:30, but I'm being pretty careful on the distance- I bet I could have added 2:30 and called it 16. Oh, the games we play.

90 miles, 11 runs

Next week:

Monday 6/13: 4PM- 4mi easy with the Gilmore Twins. A mile into the run we stopped at Harvard so Kevin, who hasn't really run in 3 months, could do an 800 time trial. He ran 2:11.3! 8:30PM- 8 miles moderate solo on the river, too full from dinner still.

Tuesday 6/14: OFF, hadn't had one in over 60 days.

Wednesday 6/15: 2:30PM- Perfect weather, good day to tempo. 3+ up, 6mi tempo on the river in 32:08 (two mile splits- 10:52, 10:50, 10:26). I had only planned on doing 5mi, but I felt so good at 4.5 I figured I might as well keep going. 2+ down for 12. 9:30PM- 4mi easy to break in some new shoes.

Thursday 6/16: Back to Derry, 4pm- It was 88 degrees and I picked an obnoxiously hilly route, so this ended up being a very unpleasant 10 miler in just under 70min. After a much needed shower I headed to the Verizon Center in Manchester to watch my brother graduate from high school.

Friday 6/17: Noon- 4mi easy out-n-back: I put a watch on it to see what was up, surprised to head back under 7:00 pace after going out 14:30 at the turnaround. 28:17 total. 5:30PM: 3 up to the Pinkerton track for a nice little workout. I repeated my 6xmile workout, but cut the rest from an 800 sustained run to a 600 sustained run. I wore my new Streak XC 3s and while I like the shoes a lot, I can't wear socks with them and tore my heels pretty good. As usual, everything is rounded up to the nearest tenth, so totals might add up. Dammit, Jim- I'm a doctor, not an accountant!

5:08.6, 2:21.5
5:10.8, 2:20.3
5:07.4, 2:18.6
5:08.1, 2:17.4
5:06.9, 2:15.8
5:05.0, 1:02.2 for 300m and 8 miles in 43:23, or just over 5:25/mile. I'm pretty pleased with this one, it was easy as pie.

Saturday: 1PM- 4mi easy out and back, 28:49 8PM- 10 miles slow, picked another obnoxiously hilly course, 71:03. Tired, heavy. Long day yesterday.

Sunday: 6:30PM- Allergies still all jacked up from being in NH, ran after work, felt pretty good. Last 8-9 miles pretty fast, 15mi total around Fresh Pond, etc.