Hi, everyone- hope you all had a nice Christmas. It's always tricky training over break because I seem to have a severe allergic reaction whenever I come home resulting in wheezing, congestion, and sinus issues. Fortunately, they weren't too bad this time and I adjusted to being here relatively quickly. Christmas was good- I got a copy of Running to the Top!
Log-
Monday- AM- 29min easy with Ken, felt good. 12:15PM- Realized I was going to be late to my last final! Booked it, took the final (aced it) ran back for 3mi total. PM- 8mi easy, solo, slums to Mass Ave bridge and a few minutes indoors with Ellie. For my last run of the day I wore my new Nike Marathoners and one of the eyelets bruised the crap out of my right ankle because the shoe was so stiff.
Tuesday- Noon- 65 real easy minutes with Ken downtown and back, snowy out. 5PM- River Loop + a mile on Nickerson solo in the dark, felt really good- would have hammered if not for the really bad footing on the river paths. ~14 on the day.
Wednesday- Back in Derry! 25min up to pick up some of the long distance Pinkerton kids, then 27min of pretty hard tempo over really hilly roads, 18min down. Felt fairly good and ran at what I thought was a honest, hard tempo effort. It was tough to estimate pace on hills, but I would think I covered 5mi or so during the tempo. Chilly out! About 15deg with the wind factored in.
Thursday- 2PM- 10mi untimed over a really hilly loop. I didn't necessarily mean to not time this run, but I must have missed the start button on my watch with the thick gloves. 9PM- Snuck in another untimed 4mi after I felt guilty for sleeping in.
Friday- (Christmas!) 10AM 12mi easy, 85:47, hilly, hilly course. Dressed for the 20deg start to the run- did not expect the temperature to climb to 45deg by the finish. Got hot and felt awful.
Saturday- 4mi up, 8x90sec hills hard intensity, 4mi down. Snowy and slippery out- I decided to sacrifice a little speed for better footing- still got a great workout in.
Sunday- Noon- 12 easy with Geoff, same course as earlier, 84:45. It was 45deg and raining, shorts weather! Then watched my former Keene and Pinkerton teammate Peter Najem crush the field at the Millennium Mile (a downhill road race the next town over) in 4:01! 7PM- 4 easy with Geoff to cap off a solid week of hilly running.
Tot- 94mi. I'm feel like I'm rounding into very good shape and right now I'd like to just build on that momentum and keep training well but not at an unsustainable level.
Hope everyone's winter break is going great!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Finals Week
Hello, all. This was the bulk of my finals week (I have one tomorrow but that's it). It was nice to have a lot of extra time, but sad that all my teammates drifted away from Boston one by one over the course of the week. I'll be going home on Tuesday for a week (my younger sister's birthday is Dec 29th, so I have to at least stay for that).
Training wise, it was a good week. Mileage wasn't much, but it was good mileage- I'm looking forward to my upcoming 3k. Other than that, nothing too monumental happened.
Log-
Monday- Noon- 9 easy with Eric, out to Fresh Pond and back, 64min + strength work. 7pm- River Loop plus a mile inside, felt good, 5mi tot.
Tuesday AM- slept in, whoops! PM 9mi steady (checked the Coolidge mile- 6:18 except for Peter who has an inaccurate watch) + 6x140m strides in spikes + a few minutes jogging in spikes, 10 tot. Then walked to work.
Wednesday- PM 3mi up to Brookline Res, 5mi tempo in 26min- split 24:20 through 5 laps then added on 1:40. 3 down, then some 140 buildups in spikes. Peter and Eric were having good days, so it was tough to run my own tempo effort instead of running with them, but I think I did the right thing. Traveled to Worcester after to see about a girl.
Thursday- 10PM- Got back from Worcester just in time to take an exam, then finished my last lab of the season, then worked a shift, then came home and ran with Ken. Fit in the 7mi version of the River Loop very easy, untimed. 2deg with windchill and the wind was blasting us in the face the whole way back from the Mass Ave bridge.
Friday- 3pm- 95min easy, with James and some with Ken- did two laps around Fresh Pond (Ken did one, still recovering from his hamstring issues) then ended up with 15min indoors or so. Tuckered out towards the end but not too bad.
Saturday AM 25 easy indoors, then helped at the BU mini-meet. Mostly just worked the finish line and cracked jokes with Bruce. PM 10mi River Loop with Ken and James after dark again (too many dark, cold night runs this week!) in 69min, then 6x150 strides in spikes all in 22-23sec.
Sunday- 3pm- 25min up, then 2x(600, 600, 800) with 1:40 rest after each 6 and 2:20 after each 8, then 2 bonus 600s.
600 1:42
600 1:41
800 2:16
600 1:41
600 1:40
800 2:17
600 1:38
600 1:32.0 (31.8, 30.2, 30.0- smooth progression, felt very easy. Didn't see the sense in hammering, so to end quickly without hammering was nice. Peter did a good job going quick without racing or positive splitting, too).
1mi down, hungry. 9:30pm- 4mi River Loop with Ken and James- really snowy and slow going but an enjoyable run.
Tot 84
All in all, a good week. I'm pleased with where my fitness is right now. I didn't expect a 1:32 600 to be that easy, but it was. I'm very tired, though, and my sleep schedule is all out of whack from being able to sleep in late and all the night running. As soon as this is posted, I'm showering, eating, then bed by 1! (Which will be the earliest I've been to bed all week, haha!)
I hope those of you dealing with winter weather are coping ok. For me, the first week or two of bad winter weather always sucks really bad, then I adjust. Right now I'm definitely in the adjustment phase and I've done quite a very grumpy, windy runs. Fortunately, it's impossible not to crack up on runs with the guys.
Have a nice week, everyone!
-Craig
PS- I can't believe Christmas is 5 days away. I already got my mom her stuff, but I need to get the ball rolling on gifts for my younger brother and sister. . .
Training wise, it was a good week. Mileage wasn't much, but it was good mileage- I'm looking forward to my upcoming 3k. Other than that, nothing too monumental happened.
Log-
Monday- Noon- 9 easy with Eric, out to Fresh Pond and back, 64min + strength work. 7pm- River Loop plus a mile inside, felt good, 5mi tot.
Tuesday AM- slept in, whoops! PM 9mi steady (checked the Coolidge mile- 6:18 except for Peter who has an inaccurate watch) + 6x140m strides in spikes + a few minutes jogging in spikes, 10 tot. Then walked to work.
Wednesday- PM 3mi up to Brookline Res, 5mi tempo in 26min- split 24:20 through 5 laps then added on 1:40. 3 down, then some 140 buildups in spikes. Peter and Eric were having good days, so it was tough to run my own tempo effort instead of running with them, but I think I did the right thing. Traveled to Worcester after to see about a girl.
Thursday- 10PM- Got back from Worcester just in time to take an exam, then finished my last lab of the season, then worked a shift, then came home and ran with Ken. Fit in the 7mi version of the River Loop very easy, untimed. 2deg with windchill and the wind was blasting us in the face the whole way back from the Mass Ave bridge.
Friday- 3pm- 95min easy, with James and some with Ken- did two laps around Fresh Pond (Ken did one, still recovering from his hamstring issues) then ended up with 15min indoors or so. Tuckered out towards the end but not too bad.
Saturday AM 25 easy indoors, then helped at the BU mini-meet. Mostly just worked the finish line and cracked jokes with Bruce. PM 10mi River Loop with Ken and James after dark again (too many dark, cold night runs this week!) in 69min, then 6x150 strides in spikes all in 22-23sec.
Sunday- 3pm- 25min up, then 2x(600, 600, 800) with 1:40 rest after each 6 and 2:20 after each 8, then 2 bonus 600s.
600 1:42
600 1:41
800 2:16
600 1:41
600 1:40
800 2:17
600 1:38
600 1:32.0 (31.8, 30.2, 30.0- smooth progression, felt very easy. Didn't see the sense in hammering, so to end quickly without hammering was nice. Peter did a good job going quick without racing or positive splitting, too).
1mi down, hungry. 9:30pm- 4mi River Loop with Ken and James- really snowy and slow going but an enjoyable run.
Tot 84
All in all, a good week. I'm pleased with where my fitness is right now. I didn't expect a 1:32 600 to be that easy, but it was. I'm very tired, though, and my sleep schedule is all out of whack from being able to sleep in late and all the night running. As soon as this is posted, I'm showering, eating, then bed by 1! (Which will be the earliest I've been to bed all week, haha!)
I hope those of you dealing with winter weather are coping ok. For me, the first week or two of bad winter weather always sucks really bad, then I adjust. Right now I'm definitely in the adjustment phase and I've done quite a very grumpy, windy runs. Fortunately, it's impossible not to crack up on runs with the guys.
Have a nice week, everyone!
-Craig
PS- I can't believe Christmas is 5 days away. I already got my mom her stuff, but I need to get the ball rolling on gifts for my younger brother and sister. . .
Monday, December 14, 2009
Sorry this is late
I'm sure there were hordes of runners unable to sleep last night, ha. I had a very very busy week academically, and so yesterday I sat around like a bump on a log and fell asleep before I remembered to write the entry.
It's funny what a difference a week makes. Last week I had to take a bunch of time off and I was worried my cuboid might be developing a stress fracture. This week, I've been 100% structurally. Here's the log-
Monday- PM- River West with the lads, 61min- this run is in the 9mi neighborhood.
Tuesday- AM- River Loop, ~29min, with Eric and Senor Ken.
PM- Ran to Jamaica Pond via South Campus and the Muddy River with a solid group including Teddy and his Northeastern guys, did the JP lap in 9:19, then headed home via Marky Mark, did the Coolridge Corner mile in 6:06, then added on inside til we got to about 58min. Good moderate run, couple tenths longer than 9. 6 strides on the track in spikes after, then 2x200 with Eric and Peter- 28.3, 27.7, smooth.
Wednesday- PM- 3 up, stomach issues. 2.5 in 12:40 on the treadmill (.5% incline), stomach issues, 5min jog, 2k in 6:17, 15min down. The plan was 2.75mi, 3k a touch faster, 1500 a touch faster. With all the essays I was writing and stomach issues I was having, I was just stressed, dehydrated, and feeling like crap. I cut it 2k into the 3k and while I felt pretty miserable about stopping short, it was just one of those days. Doesn't mean anything.
Thursday- 9 solo, didn't bother timing it- ran easy but not necessarily all that slow. Didn't feel great. Finished all my school work, finally.
Friday- Faulkner Hospital loop with Eric, Peter, Caputo. Started real easy and got it down into the 6:20 range by about halfway, then just stayed there. First cold day of the year- windchill of about 15. Still balmy compared to Keene. Added on a minute or two indoors to feel better about calling it 12- 80-81min tot.
Saturday- AM- River Loop backwards with a stop at Harvard to pick up Geoff and Kevin Gilmore. They were racing at Harvard at like 5:30 so Petah and I hung out with 'em all day at the house so they could relax. Peter and I did 6x~130m buildups on the track, then a relaxed 200 in 29.3. PM- Ran back to Harvard with the aforementioned + Krinjak and ran around the fields at Harvard with Krinjak and Peter. Peter went 4, Dave and I went 50min. Watched Geoff and Kevin race a 3k (Geoff 8:41.8 FTW, a pr, Kevin 9:00.02- I think that was a PR for him but he's too hard on himself) then jogged back to the house for roughly 8mi tot.
Sunday- AM- Ran to Heartbreak Hill on Comm Ave (26min) then did 8xhills with a decent sustained jog down. Ran more or less with Eric and ran between 79.x-80.x on all of 'em. Slight tailwind. Then ran to the BC Res (~10min), did 4x20 second strides pretty damn fast (or at least, after the hill it felt fast!) and then ran home. 12 tot.
Tot- 78 mi
All in all, not an awful week of training. Bruce called the bad workout on Wednesday ahead of time, then gave us 3 days of rest as opposed to 2 so we could do a restorative long run. Worked like a charm, I felt good on Heartbreak. I'm trying to be a little more cautious, a little more conservative with building volume and intensity back up. I'll probably try to run no more than ~85 this week. Jan 2nd Mini-meet is still penciled into the schedule.
It's funny what a difference a week makes. Last week I had to take a bunch of time off and I was worried my cuboid might be developing a stress fracture. This week, I've been 100% structurally. Here's the log-
Monday- PM- River West with the lads, 61min- this run is in the 9mi neighborhood.
Tuesday- AM- River Loop, ~29min, with Eric and Senor Ken.
PM- Ran to Jamaica Pond via South Campus and the Muddy River with a solid group including Teddy and his Northeastern guys, did the JP lap in 9:19, then headed home via Marky Mark, did the Coolridge Corner mile in 6:06, then added on inside til we got to about 58min. Good moderate run, couple tenths longer than 9. 6 strides on the track in spikes after, then 2x200 with Eric and Peter- 28.3, 27.7, smooth.
Wednesday- PM- 3 up, stomach issues. 2.5 in 12:40 on the treadmill (.5% incline), stomach issues, 5min jog, 2k in 6:17, 15min down. The plan was 2.75mi, 3k a touch faster, 1500 a touch faster. With all the essays I was writing and stomach issues I was having, I was just stressed, dehydrated, and feeling like crap. I cut it 2k into the 3k and while I felt pretty miserable about stopping short, it was just one of those days. Doesn't mean anything.
Thursday- 9 solo, didn't bother timing it- ran easy but not necessarily all that slow. Didn't feel great. Finished all my school work, finally.
Friday- Faulkner Hospital loop with Eric, Peter, Caputo. Started real easy and got it down into the 6:20 range by about halfway, then just stayed there. First cold day of the year- windchill of about 15. Still balmy compared to Keene. Added on a minute or two indoors to feel better about calling it 12- 80-81min tot.
Saturday- AM- River Loop backwards with a stop at Harvard to pick up Geoff and Kevin Gilmore. They were racing at Harvard at like 5:30 so Petah and I hung out with 'em all day at the house so they could relax. Peter and I did 6x~130m buildups on the track, then a relaxed 200 in 29.3. PM- Ran back to Harvard with the aforementioned + Krinjak and ran around the fields at Harvard with Krinjak and Peter. Peter went 4, Dave and I went 50min. Watched Geoff and Kevin race a 3k (Geoff 8:41.8 FTW, a pr, Kevin 9:00.02- I think that was a PR for him but he's too hard on himself) then jogged back to the house for roughly 8mi tot.
Sunday- AM- Ran to Heartbreak Hill on Comm Ave (26min) then did 8xhills with a decent sustained jog down. Ran more or less with Eric and ran between 79.x-80.x on all of 'em. Slight tailwind. Then ran to the BC Res (~10min), did 4x20 second strides pretty damn fast (or at least, after the hill it felt fast!) and then ran home. 12 tot.
Tot- 78 mi
All in all, not an awful week of training. Bruce called the bad workout on Wednesday ahead of time, then gave us 3 days of rest as opposed to 2 so we could do a restorative long run. Worked like a charm, I felt good on Heartbreak. I'm trying to be a little more cautious, a little more conservative with building volume and intensity back up. I'll probably try to run no more than ~85 this week. Jan 2nd Mini-meet is still penciled into the schedule.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Cuboid Issue
Hi, all. Sorry for the brevity of this entry- I proved myself an impatient moron yet again. After hurting my foot last Friday, I took Sunday off, felt a little better Monday, then tried to force a workout. I made it through 6 of the planned 8x800 and averaged 2:23s with Peter and Elliot. I ended up having to take Tuesday and Wednesday off, then did a pitiful 4 on Thursday. Since then I've just added one mile a day, so I got through 7 today pain free. Everything is fine now- the trainer at the school, Brian (who is AWESOME, by the way) tells me I did something that sounds serious but is much less scary than it sounds. What's most likely, in his opinion, is that I slightly dislocated my cuboid bone, and the pain in my foot was the cuboid resettling back into position. That sounds pretty exotic though, so let's just go with "I stepped on a rock funny and hurt my foot, and it was fine a couple days later."
In terms of racing, I believe I'll be redshirting this indoor season. Between the credit transfer from Keene and my courseload here, I'll be here through the 2012 academic year anyway. Nothing is final yet, of course, but as things stand right now, this is what Bruce thinks is best. I'll likely open my racing season up January 2nd with a 3000 at the last BU developmental meet, then run a mile or two before finishing up at Valentine with perhaps a 3k, 5k, or mile. Basically, the goal of this cycle is to get some great training in, race sparingly, and really focus on taking significant chunks off my PRs. This will allow me to get another solid block of training in through March and come into the outdoor season with formidable fitness and some new personal bests. However, I don't want to look too far ahead. Right now, my immediate goals are (in order):
Stay healthy
Get in good training
Survive finals with a respectable GPA
Get my Christmas shopping done
Avoid starving to death due to lack of funds
Wish me luck on the last 3 things!
Have a nice week, everyone.
-Craig
In terms of racing, I believe I'll be redshirting this indoor season. Between the credit transfer from Keene and my courseload here, I'll be here through the 2012 academic year anyway. Nothing is final yet, of course, but as things stand right now, this is what Bruce thinks is best. I'll likely open my racing season up January 2nd with a 3000 at the last BU developmental meet, then run a mile or two before finishing up at Valentine with perhaps a 3k, 5k, or mile. Basically, the goal of this cycle is to get some great training in, race sparingly, and really focus on taking significant chunks off my PRs. This will allow me to get another solid block of training in through March and come into the outdoor season with formidable fitness and some new personal bests. However, I don't want to look too far ahead. Right now, my immediate goals are (in order):
Stay healthy
Get in good training
Survive finals with a respectable GPA
Get my Christmas shopping done
Avoid starving to death due to lack of funds
Wish me luck on the last 3 things!
Have a nice week, everyone.
-Craig
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thanksgiving/Jackalopes at NXR
Hi, everyone- I hope everyone's Thanksgivings were great! Mine was nice and quiet- just the 4 MacPhersons at home, gorging ourselves. In terms of training, the week proved tough- but it was nice to get home and recharge a little.
The log:
Monday- AM- overslept, then skipped class to watch NCAAs.
PM- 13 easy, 86:33, last 3-4 miles about 6:15 pace, just easing along.
Tuesday- AM- overslept again, went to bed late.
PM- 3 up, 2 sets of (1600, 1200, 800, 400) with a 400 sustained jog between everything (about 7min pace) for a total of 7miles on the track in my ventulus 2s. Had a nice big group to run with- Eric, Peter, and I traded laps. Bruce said keep it around 72-73/lap and feel good, so we did that. Splits:
1600- 4:51
1200- 3:33
800- 2:21
400- 68
(extra 400 jog)
1600- 4:52
1200- 3:31
800- 2:23
400- 62 (~28 last 200, decided to close down the last 150 fairly good- didn't press, stayed smooth)
7 miles total in 37:39 (~5:24/mile) (no stops- just right into each interval). 3 down. Felt great in the spikes- did some mobility drills over hurdles after with Peter and Ken, then caught a ride back to New Hampshire in the evening with my friend Owen.
Wednesday- AM- Squeezed in 3 before an early dentist appt. Stayed out til 2am again- really need to cut that out. PM- 14 easy, cold, rainy, windy, miserable out. Felt terrible because I didn't eat all day, then felt like an idiot for not eating all day.
Thursday- Thanksgiving- 12 easy before dinner, felt absolutely awful with allergies/cold. Getting 5-6 hours of sleep about 5 days in a row was idiotic, as was not eating any real food for two days. Also, I'm allergic to the family cats and it takes me about a week to get adjusted to them again. These short trips home are killers to training. Cut the planned 14 and hill sprints short to eat.
Friday- AM- Travel to Wappinger's Falls, NY, for the Nike Regional Meet. My Pinkerton boys ran for the Flying Jackalope track club, so my high school coach, Kevin McGrath, and I chaperoned them. I've gotta say, those Nike guys do a first-class job with stuff- Anna Willard and the author of A Memorable Run spoke at the dinner and they were both fascinating speakers. Plus, it's always a good time to hang out with Kev. Anyway, did a workout at the course- 3 up, then 3min, 5min, 10min, 5min, 3min @ tempo effort with 4min jog rest in between, then a few minutes down. Let me tell you, that Bowdoin Park is not an easy cross country course! Twisted my foot on one of the trail's and it hurt pretty bad.
PM- 4 miles easy from the hotel at night, ran around the lit parking lots doing about 10x10-30sec surges for variety. Left foot KILLED.
Saturday- AM- 3 easy at Nike Regionals, foot hurt too bad to run so I stopped and figured I'd just let it rest. The boys didn't do quite as well as they would have liked- 12th place when their regional ranking was 10th. It was a long season, though, and their coach wasn't necessarily into preserving their conditioning for post-season meets.
Sunday- Off, foot felt a little better, but why rush things?
Tot- 73 (70 miles in the first 5 days). Not an awful training week, but not ideal, of course. I think I'll be back to normal by tomorrow, and if all goes according to plan, I'd like to average about 15-16 miles a day for the next 60 days or so. We'll see, though- if I get in solid quality and am racing well, the volume is of secondary importance. Overall, except for the stupid foot twist, I'm pretty happy with the way my fitness is progressing. I'm sure there was something else I wanted to say, but I forget what it was. Anyway, hope everyone had a nice holiday and is ready to attack the end of the year with renewed vigor.
Have a nice week!
-Craig
The log:
Monday- AM- overslept, then skipped class to watch NCAAs.
PM- 13 easy, 86:33, last 3-4 miles about 6:15 pace, just easing along.
Tuesday- AM- overslept again, went to bed late.
PM- 3 up, 2 sets of (1600, 1200, 800, 400) with a 400 sustained jog between everything (about 7min pace) for a total of 7miles on the track in my ventulus 2s. Had a nice big group to run with- Eric, Peter, and I traded laps. Bruce said keep it around 72-73/lap and feel good, so we did that. Splits:
1600- 4:51
1200- 3:33
800- 2:21
400- 68
(extra 400 jog)
1600- 4:52
1200- 3:31
800- 2:23
400- 62 (~28 last 200, decided to close down the last 150 fairly good- didn't press, stayed smooth)
7 miles total in 37:39 (~5:24/mile) (no stops- just right into each interval). 3 down. Felt great in the spikes- did some mobility drills over hurdles after with Peter and Ken, then caught a ride back to New Hampshire in the evening with my friend Owen.
Wednesday- AM- Squeezed in 3 before an early dentist appt. Stayed out til 2am again- really need to cut that out. PM- 14 easy, cold, rainy, windy, miserable out. Felt terrible because I didn't eat all day, then felt like an idiot for not eating all day.
Thursday- Thanksgiving- 12 easy before dinner, felt absolutely awful with allergies/cold. Getting 5-6 hours of sleep about 5 days in a row was idiotic, as was not eating any real food for two days. Also, I'm allergic to the family cats and it takes me about a week to get adjusted to them again. These short trips home are killers to training. Cut the planned 14 and hill sprints short to eat.
Friday- AM- Travel to Wappinger's Falls, NY, for the Nike Regional Meet. My Pinkerton boys ran for the Flying Jackalope track club, so my high school coach, Kevin McGrath, and I chaperoned them. I've gotta say, those Nike guys do a first-class job with stuff- Anna Willard and the author of A Memorable Run spoke at the dinner and they were both fascinating speakers. Plus, it's always a good time to hang out with Kev. Anyway, did a workout at the course- 3 up, then 3min, 5min, 10min, 5min, 3min @ tempo effort with 4min jog rest in between, then a few minutes down. Let me tell you, that Bowdoin Park is not an easy cross country course! Twisted my foot on one of the trail's and it hurt pretty bad.
PM- 4 miles easy from the hotel at night, ran around the lit parking lots doing about 10x10-30sec surges for variety. Left foot KILLED.
Saturday- AM- 3 easy at Nike Regionals, foot hurt too bad to run so I stopped and figured I'd just let it rest. The boys didn't do quite as well as they would have liked- 12th place when their regional ranking was 10th. It was a long season, though, and their coach wasn't necessarily into preserving their conditioning for post-season meets.
Sunday- Off, foot felt a little better, but why rush things?
Tot- 73 (70 miles in the first 5 days). Not an awful training week, but not ideal, of course. I think I'll be back to normal by tomorrow, and if all goes according to plan, I'd like to average about 15-16 miles a day for the next 60 days or so. We'll see, though- if I get in solid quality and am racing well, the volume is of secondary importance. Overall, except for the stupid foot twist, I'm pretty happy with the way my fitness is progressing. I'm sure there was something else I wanted to say, but I forget what it was. Anyway, hope everyone had a nice holiday and is ready to attack the end of the year with renewed vigor.
Have a nice week!
-Craig
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Back on the Track!!
Well, the big news this week is that I had my heart MRI'd (is that a word? it is now) and it was found to have no congenital defects, major structural abnormalities, or permanent damage. This means (cue the fireworks, marching band, and appropriately decorated cake) that I am allowed to run again! I still have to go through the formality of going to the cardiologist's office and getting officially cleared, but the MRI technician assured me that if there was anything worrisome, he wasn't allowed to let me leave the hospital. The whole process actually wasn't too awful- they piped in some Beatles music and I feel asleep for a fair bit of it. Keeping your eyes closed in the MRI machine keeps the claustrophobia away and it can be quite relaxing. The "worst part" was the slight bruising my arm endured as a result of the contrast injection. Not bad at all!
Log:
Monday- AM- River Loop solo, 30:37, felt good. PM- 13 easy, first 53 min with James, Mike B, and Balint, then turned around on Comm Ave when we saw Ellie and ran for about a half hour with her. My strides afterward went pretty good for a 17 mile day, ha.
Tuesday- ~4miles to Heartbreak Hill, 6xHydrant to Hydrant with jog down at a fairly good intensity (untimed) then ~5mi back to BU, changed into spikes, 4x200 easy with 200 jog (31, 30, 30, 29), hurdle mobility with Rob and Billy, short c/d jog. Felt pretty good out there, but it'll be nice to rejoin the group. I also learned something I already knew- I have TERRIBLE hip flexibility. Rob was shooting over those babies like he was born to do it, and Billy has the approximately build of the Jolly Green Giant. In comparison, I could barely do hurdle walkovers. I have a looong way to go if I want to steeple in the spring.
Wednesday- AM- River Loop solo, 30:32, felt pretty good again. PM- Fresh Pond 12, felt unnecessarily good and did the ~5mi section around Fresh Pond at a little steadier an effort (just under 31min), 79min tot.
Thursday- AM- off for MRI appt. PM- Decided to celebrate my freedom by jumping into Elliot's workout with him! 3 up, 8x800 avg 2:19 with 400 jog, felt great, didn't bother spiking up. 2 miles down. It was awesome to work out with a teammate!
Friday- AM- River Loop with Eric- 28:30, got downpoured on.
PM- River West 9 in 59:38 with a big group + the famous Kevin Gilmore, felt good but held back from running steady or doing a progression run. Too hungry to add on and do 12. :(
Saturday- 2pm- Res to Res via Beacon + a lap around JP, ~12mi- run was 86 min. Left quad really sore- woke up in the middle of the night with an awful charlie horse.
7pm- 4 miles easy with Colin, Billy, Dave K, and James indoors, 30min + light strength after. Left quad pretty bad.
Sunday- AM- 5 miles slow/easy by myself. Bruce had originally planned for me to do a 5-6mi steady section during my run today, but my left quad is still sore and tight. I think it feels a little better than last night, so hopefully a very light day will leave me ready to go for the workout on Tuesday. I have a loooong way to go til my first race, which means I have enough time to get scary fit!
Tot- 92mi in 11 runs, one day basically off.
Log:
Monday- AM- River Loop solo, 30:37, felt good. PM- 13 easy, first 53 min with James, Mike B, and Balint, then turned around on Comm Ave when we saw Ellie and ran for about a half hour with her. My strides afterward went pretty good for a 17 mile day, ha.
Tuesday- ~4miles to Heartbreak Hill, 6xHydrant to Hydrant with jog down at a fairly good intensity (untimed) then ~5mi back to BU, changed into spikes, 4x200 easy with 200 jog (31, 30, 30, 29), hurdle mobility with Rob and Billy, short c/d jog. Felt pretty good out there, but it'll be nice to rejoin the group. I also learned something I already knew- I have TERRIBLE hip flexibility. Rob was shooting over those babies like he was born to do it, and Billy has the approximately build of the Jolly Green Giant. In comparison, I could barely do hurdle walkovers. I have a looong way to go if I want to steeple in the spring.
Wednesday- AM- River Loop solo, 30:32, felt pretty good again. PM- Fresh Pond 12, felt unnecessarily good and did the ~5mi section around Fresh Pond at a little steadier an effort (just under 31min), 79min tot.
Thursday- AM- off for MRI appt. PM- Decided to celebrate my freedom by jumping into Elliot's workout with him! 3 up, 8x800 avg 2:19 with 400 jog, felt great, didn't bother spiking up. 2 miles down. It was awesome to work out with a teammate!
Friday- AM- River Loop with Eric- 28:30, got downpoured on.
PM- River West 9 in 59:38 with a big group + the famous Kevin Gilmore, felt good but held back from running steady or doing a progression run. Too hungry to add on and do 12. :(
Saturday- 2pm- Res to Res via Beacon + a lap around JP, ~12mi- run was 86 min. Left quad really sore- woke up in the middle of the night with an awful charlie horse.
7pm- 4 miles easy with Colin, Billy, Dave K, and James indoors, 30min + light strength after. Left quad pretty bad.
Sunday- AM- 5 miles slow/easy by myself. Bruce had originally planned for me to do a 5-6mi steady section during my run today, but my left quad is still sore and tight. I think it feels a little better than last night, so hopefully a very light day will leave me ready to go for the workout on Tuesday. I have a loooong way to go til my first race, which means I have enough time to get scary fit!
Tot- 92mi in 11 runs, one day basically off.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Secret Miles
Hi, everyone. Veteran's Day this week proved the perfect break from school and allowed me to get a jump start on getting back into shape. I'm almost up to my preferred level of volume and intensity. As I already mentioned, the Jackalopes are official now. Helping out at Regionals and cleaning up today took more time than I would have thought, so I don't have the Jackalope information up yet. It's coming, though!
This Thursday I have the MRI of my heart. I'm a little apprehensive about the procedure, but if I get cleared, at least I can stop the secret miles sham of the last few weeks. Anyway, here's the log:
Monday- River Loop, 32:20- hit the mile in 8:26! Ha, I felt good so I don't care. PM- Fresh Pond 9+ in 63:42, strides after in my spikes including a relaxed 200 in 28.2. Core/strength circuit after. I gained weight on that layoff! Got like 6 lbs to lose.
Tuesday- 12PM- 3 miles up to the BC Res, 10k tempo: (8:42, 17:28 (8:46), 26:08 (8:40), 34:44 (8:36). Felt good, didn't feel the need to press. Breathing was fine but my quads/ass were rocked from the strength circuit yesterday. ~3 down. 7PM- Slow 30min shakeout with James indoors, felt good but tired.
Wednesday- Big River Loop with Eric, 68min, felt a little sluggish but not dreadful.
Thursday- 13 miles easy, 90min, first 38 min with Eric, then 5x15 second hill sprints afterward. Felt much better than last Sunday's 12 miler.
Friday- 3 miles up to the Brookline Res, then 2x3laps+ a little to make it 2x3mi instead of 4500. Averaged about 4:58/lap (just under 5:20/mile) and ran for 16min each. Took a 3:30 rest jog after each- covered about 7mi in 38:50. Very good workout- it was real windy at the Res and it got dark out near the end of the second 3mile. 3miles down, almost got hit twice.
Saturday- AM- 45min slow indoors before Regionals- I knew I was going to be out in the cold/rain all day, so I wussed out and ran indoors. PM- 45 minutes slow indoors with Billy after Regionals. Cold, miserable, muddy day. Did a bunch of strides in my spikes afterward.
Sunday- 14 easy, 1:37.43, first half with Ken. Felt tired, hungry, and thirsty the whole way. Body still isn't used to being on its feet for more than an hour or so. The same thing happened to me at the beginning of the summer, I'll come around.
Tot- 91- not a bad week for bootleg training.
There was other stuff I wanted to say. . . if I remember it, I'll do a new entry. Hope everyone had a good week!
This Thursday I have the MRI of my heart. I'm a little apprehensive about the procedure, but if I get cleared, at least I can stop the secret miles sham of the last few weeks. Anyway, here's the log:
Monday- River Loop, 32:20- hit the mile in 8:26! Ha, I felt good so I don't care. PM- Fresh Pond 9+ in 63:42, strides after in my spikes including a relaxed 200 in 28.2. Core/strength circuit after. I gained weight on that layoff! Got like 6 lbs to lose.
Tuesday- 12PM- 3 miles up to the BC Res, 10k tempo: (8:42, 17:28 (8:46), 26:08 (8:40), 34:44 (8:36). Felt good, didn't feel the need to press. Breathing was fine but my quads/ass were rocked from the strength circuit yesterday. ~3 down. 7PM- Slow 30min shakeout with James indoors, felt good but tired.
Wednesday- Big River Loop with Eric, 68min, felt a little sluggish but not dreadful.
Thursday- 13 miles easy, 90min, first 38 min with Eric, then 5x15 second hill sprints afterward. Felt much better than last Sunday's 12 miler.
Friday- 3 miles up to the Brookline Res, then 2x3laps+ a little to make it 2x3mi instead of 4500. Averaged about 4:58/lap (just under 5:20/mile) and ran for 16min each. Took a 3:30 rest jog after each- covered about 7mi in 38:50. Very good workout- it was real windy at the Res and it got dark out near the end of the second 3mile. 3miles down, almost got hit twice.
Saturday- AM- 45min slow indoors before Regionals- I knew I was going to be out in the cold/rain all day, so I wussed out and ran indoors. PM- 45 minutes slow indoors with Billy after Regionals. Cold, miserable, muddy day. Did a bunch of strides in my spikes afterward.
Sunday- 14 easy, 1:37.43, first half with Ken. Felt tired, hungry, and thirsty the whole way. Body still isn't used to being on its feet for more than an hour or so. The same thing happened to me at the beginning of the summer, I'll come around.
Tot- 91- not a bad week for bootleg training.
There was other stuff I wanted to say. . . if I remember it, I'll do a new entry. Hope everyone had a good week!
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