Sunday, July 26, 2009

JRags - Week 10 - Another very solid three weeks in the books (logs).

Sundae Sunday!

Monday:
AM - home to work. felt very good probably because of a good nights sleep.
PM - lakes from baronian to gantch with lena, ran around gantch looking for ethan, then 20 minutes barefoot on the diamond. felt really good. uptempo tomorrow

Tuesday:
PM - decent uptempo with jerz nick and brunk down the bike path, then along 60 toward waltham, then back sort of belmont or something. jerz and brunk got rolling a little earlier than i was ready for, so didn't feel so hot the first mile or so of the uptempo. splits were faster than i would have liked. borderline of "working out" instead of just "working"
7:41 6:49 6:50 6:07 5:49 5:38 5:45 6:13 6:38 6:29 7:08 6:37
middle 5 miles in ~29:00 or 29:10. cooled down back to the track, then 4 laps of stride the straight jog the turn pretty fast. strides felt very good even in wet shoes. 400m jog after 8 strides. stretch inside. felt pretty good overall, probably going at pace longer and slower for the next uptempo probably thursday. need to keep good sleep.
http://connect.garmin.com/player/9346928
middle 4.53 at 5:49 pace (29:08 pace)

Wednesday:
AM - to work. felt really good when i woke up the first time, but then terrible waking up for work. decent run in though. finally picked up new ghosts, half size bigger than the last pair. back to 3 shoe rotation, thank god.
great TdF stage today.
PM - didn't feel so hot on the run. dehydrated from the day. lakes to gantch, a mile around the turf, mile around bakery, and a few strides on the track. drills and stretch.

Thursday:
AM - easy to work. felt ok.
PM - reverse cemetery with jerz. both feeling pretty bad. felt pretty good after about 6 at powderhouse, reverse bakery to the track. good to take it easy again. hopefully a good uptempo tomorrow.

Friday:
PM - fells up tempo. much harder on the body in some ways but felt better after. our to short res with brunk and jesse in 22:15, ~4.5 miles up tempo in 26:30 from short res to the steep hill on people eater back to the 3 way intersection on long res and back to short res, then back from there in 24:30. in and outs on the track for a mile in 5:55. felt very good doing strides. form felt good and smooth. stretch and jog back to ossipee.

Saturday:
AM - reverse short res from ossipee after the tour. meant to do strides once i got back, but ran into nick and his dad, so tacked on a few miles with them. felt really good after a big dinner i think, as well as a pretty decent stretch at the track after the uptempo.
barefoot on the turf tonight.
PM - easy shake out with 2 miles on the turf. felt good, but ate a lot today. down week starts now, even though ive started feeling a lot better in the last 48 hours.

Sunday:
AM - slightly easier long run than usual. fire tower with nick and brunk to medford square to cloop. felt decent the whole way, didn't run out of energy too bad like i have the last few weeks. no strides, way too hot.

Last week in this up cycle. 82-79-90 in the last three weeks, so now I'm going into a down week of probably 65 miles or so. I've been feeling pretty good though. The second week was a little dicey because of my enormously inflamed and pussing toe nail and other general aches and pains, but felt good the last few days of this week. Getting in the fells did wonders for my body, I definitely have not been there enough the last month and it's taken its toll on me. Felt great after uptempoing the fells though. Down week of 14 long run and a bunch of 7-9 milers and an easier uptempo, then hopefully back at it for another big 3 week stretch of 90-100 miles with a tempo, 1 and a half uptempos, a long run, and lots of strides/drills/strength.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

JRags - Week 9 - Exploding Toes?

It's Sunday. Erik is a whore. What else is new.

Monday:
AM - around the alumni fields with jerzy. left post tib hurting pretty good, but warmed up eventually. nice to run on all grass after yesterdays abomination of a run.
PM - 55 minutes very easy in the fells. a little banged up this morning, so got in a very refreshing regeneration run. long res to rev short. 3 strides before L post tib started to flare up.

Tuesday:
AM - home to work pretty easy. post tib was hurting a good amount from 2 to 4 miles. didnt have much time sitting down at work to ice it. iced when i got home though.
PM -
iced when i got home, and fell asleep reading before nick called, which is a sign my body is a little worn out. sleep should be a little better, but havent been able to fall back asleep after 6 or 7 most mornings.
great uptempo training run though. felt very very good after the second mile. post tib was fine just about the whole way. splits were something like
7:59 7:35 7:07 6:51 6:00 6:18 5:50 5:45 5:50 7:01 6:56
felt like by far the easiest up tempo yet even though it was def the longest. as i was saying to nick, i like the idea of "working but not working out." if anything this run wasnt even working, it was just not dicking around as much as usual. aerobic base is getting BIG.
6 strides, stretch and pedemyrtle. pushed a little the last 2 or 3.
great day today. better sleep a lot.
http://connect.garmin.com/splits/8808923

Wednesday:
AM - home to work, felt sluggish and tired. post tib felt ok, def feeling 16.5 from yesterday. slept 8.5 or 9 hours but was still very tired when i woke up. 2 easy doubles today and tomorrow. that should do the trick.
PM - sort of tired after work even though it was a light day. moderate 5.5 on the baseball field mostly barefoot.
6 strides and pedemyrtle.

Thursday:
AM - to work. felt much better than yesterday. less torn up and more rested.
PM - mid res with jerz and corey. we were a little trigger happy early running with mark for the first time, but felt pretty good. probably hopefully ready for an uptempo tomorrow. 8 strides and pedemyrtle. strides felt weird on the grass going toward college ave... (?)

Friday:
PM - not very good uptempo with nick. felt rusty and a little stiff. not having much time to warm up played a role, as did the heat and humidity. went from 4 mile mark of long lakes to horn pond, 3 laps, and back.
7:40 6:56 6:37 6:17 6:05 6:01 5:53 7:15 7:00 7:04
blood blister on second toe right foot was too painful to do strides or pedemyrtle. cant put all of my weight on that foot. wtfffffffff.

Saturday:
AM - toe in a lot of pain. blister under big R nail is pretty bad, and second toe aint much better. jogged a mile on the turf, but plantar fascia hurt a lot. stretched on bellow instead.

Sunday:
AM - fells to corey-melnick-memorial run. felt ok for the first 11, but the heat and dehydration hit me pretty early today. not a "great long run today." jogged in the last 3 or so with erik. good to see he made it through fairly unscathed today. plantar fascia was completely painless. ?
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/9157243


Not very exciting. I was going to hit 90, but figured running on a hurting foot saturday wasn't worth it. 90 might be a little much right now, so the upcoming week should be round-about 85-89.99. Lots of strides and more lower abs stuff, because I don't feel like pedemyrtle does enough for my abs, just hips and glutes.

ps, are we doing this lake relay road race?

Monday, July 13, 2009

Week of July 5-July 11

Sunday
Jul 05
15.0 mi Run
Drove out to the sheep field at the Fells with Brunnq and Corey and ran around Melrose looking for another park which we never found. Felt good! 6:50ish average pace most likely.

Monday
Jul 06
4.01 mi Run
Did the Alewife loop in 26:00 minutes and added on 2 minutes. Felt really good.
6.0 mi Run
Ran up to long lakes with Nick, Brunnq, and Corey, then Corey and I turned off at the intersection before the 1 mile mark and ran up the bike path to Alewife and home. Felt pretty good, a little tired.

Tuesday
Jul 07
4.01 mi Run
Ran home from work and added on a bit. Felt good, though a little tired.
10.0 mi Run
67:00. Ran with Nick, Corey, and Jeff (Cliff started out with us). Did bike path to Belmont loop like last Thursday but added on through Alewife plus Powder-Teele-Powderhouse and a lap on the track. Ran it uptempoish for the middle 4 miles, with splits of ?, 6:30, 6:05, 5:45. Felt good, though it was uncomfortable.

Wedbesday
July 08
4.01 mi Run
Ran with Corey at the Alumni Fields. Real tired to start but felt better by the end.
8.0 mi Run
Reverse Mid-res with Corey real easy in 59:00. Once again felt bad to start but felt better by the end. Did 4 strides after.

Thursday
Jul 09
11.0 mi Run
Small progression run. Ran with Corey after painting at my house in Brookline. Ran to the arboretum via Brookline Village and ran home along the Riverway and up the Muddy River with a little added on. Felt pretty good though definitely tired. Started off slowly and got going at a decent clip by the end.

Friday
Jul 10
4.01 mi Run
Ran around the inside of the track and the triangle fields with Corey. Did 2xhill bounds and 4xhill sprints on the President's Lawn. Felt pretty good.
9.0 mi Run
Did mid-res from Ossipee with Corey in 61ish minutes. Felt good though a little flat. Raced him home from the bottom of Packard (200m, he initiated it).

Saturday
Jul 11
3.01 mi Run
3 real easy around the Fens loop. Felt good.
9.0 mi Run
Did lakes with Brunnq then ran to the baseball field at the alumni fields area and ran barefoot with Jeff (Brunnq ran with shoes on) for 4.5 miles, then ran home. Felt really sleepy so the run wasn't too good. Probably taking tomorrow off.

Total- 87 Miles

Good week overall though got tired by the end. I'm taking a down week this week which is much needed. Next week I'll add in a couple more uptempos.





Sunday, July 12, 2009

JRags - Week 8 - Learning how to roll again/Coogan's training

Sunday...

Monday:
AM - to work. a little quicker, but felt pretty good after long run.
PM - barefoot on the baseball field for 4 of 6. felt really good today. a little stiff (esp outer ankles) at first, but warmed up well and felt really strong and smooth. speedstars arrived.

Tuesday:
PM - pretty decent first uptempo with nick jerzy and corey. reverse belmont-ish. felt really good, more splits and everything to come.
http://connect.garmin.com/player/8215290
7:34 7:08 6:44 6:31 6:04 5:45 6:49 6:41 6:51 7:01
middle 2.45 miles (14:30) were 5:53 pace

Wednesday:
AM - home to work very easy. shins a little beat up. ran into the lovely dan darcy.
PM - got lost along the muddy river/jamaica pond from work/fenway. meant to do ~6 at a moderate pace, but ended up hammering the last 4 or 5 miles of the 8+

Thursday:
AM - home to work. beat up at first, but felt good after 3. 4 hills strides up beacon. stretch in the lounge.
PM - very good work today.
3+ barefoot on the turf, 2+ along short 05, quick 10 minutes pooling, a lot of drills, stretch, and pedemyrtle. lots of recovery drink.

Friday:
PM - another great uptempo. felt good. ran with nick and cliff until cliff dropped off at 4 or so. fire house to fake horn pond, back some new parts of the fells. splits are rough, nick will send me his watch soon.
8:15 7:08 7:32 7:19 6:19 5:49 5:49 6:18 8:06 8:20
drills and strides and a quick stretch, some of pedemyrtle. recovery drink.
middle 2.59 at 5:48 pace, 4.01 miles at 6:00 pace.
http://connect.garmin.com/player/8523911

Saturday:
AM - harvard really easy with nick and ana. felt pretty good after yesterday. 4 hill strides up electric. thats a really nice hill for strides. nothing hurt today either.
PM - to the baseball field, then barefoot around with jerzy and brunk. felt pretty good. very hungry by the end, so skipped strides. did some this morning though. it will be an adjustment doing so many strides every day.

Sunday:
AM - ive had the streak going for a few weeks now, so all things considered, i'd give today a "great long run today." revere beach with nick and brunk. terrible route.
7:30 7:10 7:07 6:46 6:41 6:30 6:34 6:31 6:36 6:40 6:50 6:48 6:38 6:36 6:48 7:22
upper left ankle (post tib) hurt all the way through, as did shins from time to time. decently hydrated and fueled the whole way. hot as fuck though.


82 miles on the week. Very good week I think. Hit up-tempo pace 3 times between Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. Did pedemyrtle a few times, once with Jerzy. Felt very much less injured and banged up than I did in the last 2 weeks, part of that being from the barefoot running. I'd like to keep this up maybe in morning runs during the year since I wont have to run to anywhere like I do now.
I can already feel myself improving at the uptempos after two. The first felt a little foreign running that fast just out on a run, but the second one felt more relaxed and was on much harder roads (up to the west of the fells).
I'm sure we all have reactions to the summer training we got so I'll give mine. Overall, I like it. Yeah, it's fairly generic and broad compared to last year's, but there were two things I found interesting.

First, the tempo runs in August. I have very similar ideas to Coach Coogan's when it comes to the tempo run progressions, but maybe at higher intensities. His "training runs" are analogous to my uptempos and his tempos in August correlate to the tempo runs I have in mind as well. I've always thought we should take down the intensities from our old tempo runs, but maybe not quite as much as Coach Coogan recommended. If I'm a 26:00 8k runner (which is still 59 seconds faster than my PR...) my tempo runs should be 5:57-6:12 pace according to the 45-60 second rule. The paces I had in mind were a little faster, maybe 5:40 or so, but as he said, these workouts are still a base building exercise. The real work is yet to come, and I want to be ready for it.

Second is the surprising large emphasis on strides during summer. I think this is a great idea for every one of us. No one will ever get slower by doing more strides, and I think it's unreasonable to thing that building up to 8-10 strides will significantly fatigue you for the next day's run. As Brunk has explicitly said, "nothing will come instead of mileage." For a 10k runner, I agree, but no one should feel as if these strides are going to wear you down so much that you need to take a short recovery day the next day because of them. Strides don't have to be all out tests of top speed, most of them should be just enough to stay in touch with mile/3000m speed. True, I am looking at these strides from a miler's perspective, but I'm fairly certain there is no track event that CAN'T come down to a fast finish. You guys saw the 10k at NESCACs and DIII NE's. Sure, 10 strides can be time consuming, but so is everything we do in running.

One last plug. Here's another way I decide whether to go the extra mile in running or not:

Would you prefer that the Williams guys do it instead?

Sunday, July 5, 2009

JRags - Week 7 - 4 Time Freedom Run Champ.

Sunday UpDizzle.

Monday:
AM - home to work. felt pretty good, but had to rush a bit to make it to orientation on time.
PM - 30 minute pool with stoner. bluffed at going longer, but didnt feel like it.

Tuesday:
AM - started running to work, but R foot hurt. didnt really feel like running anyway. adizeros def make it worse.
PM - easy with nick. worst route ever. felt alright though after the first 3 or 4. 2 strides (awkward) and pedemyrtle.

Wednesday:
AM/PM - Complete off day. first one during a season since last outdoor other than one day in May. Right foot was hurting.

Thursday:
PM - lake pretty easy, foot felt a lot better.

Friday:
PM - easy with greg and tim back home. foot felt ok, even in a few strides.

Saturday:
AM - 3 up, 3 race, 3 down, 2x he-man breakfast at orems diner. got out pretty fast, but let the pace slow after the first plate of french toast and eggs. lost concentration and started doubting myself half way through the 6th and final french toast. knew i had it in me to get through the finish, but had to regain focus to get over the last eggs. one the eggs were gone, it was a piece of cake. actually just a piece of bacon or two. felt good in the race too, ran 16:02 to win.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2974436

Sunday:
AM - great long run with danny joining me on the bike. felt miserable for the first 2 miles or so, but oh well. pretty hot out too.
early splits a little fuzzy
~8:00
~8:00
7:30
7:15
7:00
6:45
6:40
6:40
6:15
6:07
6:25
6:25
6:48
7:10
didnt feel like i was pushing at all, but thats probably because danny was biking. felt easy until the hill on evergreen. rigged hard from there back, about a mile and a half. one nature valley bar at about 6 miles. right foot still achey all around after. i want to see pat about that. outside dorsal flex tendon sore.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2976241

Major downweek. Felt a few injuries creeping up on my right foot. Thought I had some tendonitis, but iced that away. May have some alignment issue that is pushing and pulling on the wrong things. Random parts of my ankles hurt a lot at the beginnings of runs, but felt better by the end of the week. Nothing really to highlight, except my road race on Saturday. Smoked it again, not particularly fast, but felt good. Very much more in control than recent years.

I've gotten pretty lazy with my running related non-running activities lately, with the exception of pedemyrtle (could be better there too). I havent been stretching much, I rarely ice, and I haven't been very consistent with strides. Starting my next upweek today, I want to make sure I'm firing on all cylinders by staying religious about all those things.

BADGER ME TO DO SHIT!!!

kthnxbye.

Week of June 28th-July 4th


14.0 mi Run
Did twin peaks with Corey. Started out with Brunnq, Jragz, and Nick, but they broke off after two peaks. Still feel weak- I wish they didn't take so much blood from me!
Posted on Monday, June 29

MondayJun 29
4.0 mi Run
Ran past Gantcher and did reverse 0-5 with Corey to backwards C-loop. Felt okay.
6.0 mi Run
Ran at the track for a bit with Corey waiting for people to show up then ran for a bit with the crew along the way to the fells, then turned around and did 2 miles barefoot at the track. Felt good, though we were running really easy.

TuesdayJun 30
4.0 mi Run
Did lakes with Corey. Felt okay. 28:40
10.0 mi Run
Ran after painting with Corey. Ran up the Muddy River to Jamaica Pond to Larz Anderson where we did a few laps and ran home via Brookline Res., the high school, and the Muddy River. Did 3 strides after. Felt better than I have since the blood drawing but still tired. I've eaten red meat the last 2 nights and have gone heavy on the iron supplementing so hopefully that will help.

WednesdayJul 01
10.0 mi Run
Ran to the indoor track because it was raining and did a few miles there then ran back to Ossipee and met up with Corey. We ran around Alewife and added on a bit up Broadway after running back through Porter. Felt good! 6:40ish pace. I slept a bunch last night.

ThursdayJul 02
4.0 mi Run
Ran around the alumni fields. Felt pretty good.
8.0 mi Run
Did bike path to Belmont with Corey and Nick (Brunnq went further). Ran 6:30 pace average. Nick just wouldn't stop pushing the pace (just kidding Nick). Felt pretty good. Did 5x10 second hill sprints after.

FridayJul 03
4.0 mi Run
Ran around the alumni fields with Corey. Felt pretty good.
9.0 mi Run
Mid-res from Ossipee with Corey and Brunnq. Felt pretty good

SaturdayJul 04
8.0 mi Run 2 up Needham 5k Road Race- 2nd place, 16:05. Pretty happy with the race. Drove over with Burnstein and Corey. Went out with a pack of 5 through the mile in 5:00, which got widdled down to 4 by the 1.5 mark, and 3 at the 2 mile mark. Burnstein surged with about 800 meters to go and finished 6 seconds ahead of me. 3 down Didn't push too hard.
3.0 mi Run
Shakeout to Stew's house alone.

Total- 84 miles

A good week overall. I felt bad to start the week, but I've been feeling a lot better recently as I've distanced myself from the blood drawing, slept well, and gotten used to the mileage. I'm happy with the race because I have done anything faster than 6:30 pace recently aside from hill sprints, but 5:00 pace actually felt comfortable. I had a really good long run today with Brunnq and Corey so things are looking up!

Friday, July 3, 2009

More than just running

My summer thus far summarizes as follows:
-a few weeks of just running to stay in shape, following track season. During this time I hammered almost every run. I think maybe I was trying to get ahead of myself and figured since I wasn't running many miles, they should be quality miles. Soon I found that I was constantly tired (even during 30-50 mile week). I found out pretty quick that I had to slow down and allow my body to recover

-around 5 weeks ago I started trying to build a base. I took a day off almost every week, but still managed 60-70 per week. I felt good--almost as if I was in the shape I was in during the end of last summer--so way ahead of last year's training.

-last week I hurt my knee. It is the same kind of injury I had during indoor, although I hurt my other knee this time. I was playing a casual game of pickup basketball and was in a good amount of pain afterwards. I'm pretty sure this was the onset of the injury and it has hurt on every run since then. The pain is tolerable, although I have really toned down my running over the last week. I think that with normal volume the pain would be worse.
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I have mixed feelings about what is going on with me. Of course it sucks to not feel great, or even good on runs. I've had some awesome runs this summer, and all I want is to be able to replicate that feeling every time. However, I've learned that just running is not going to get me where I want to be. For some people that works, but I'm starting to think I have to do more. As soon as I hurt my knee I resumed the PT exercises I had been doing in the winter. I also started lifting, and I want to maintain a regular lifting schedule (something I have never done, unfortunately). I think my body needs to be stronger to support the beating it takes when I run. As much as I'd like to think I'd pick this stuff up anyway this summer, I'm starting to think that this injury was my wakeup call towards actively improving my strength. I cannot wait to run pain free, and that is my motivation right now. I will not stop trying to get healthy and once I am healthy, I will not stop trying to stay that way.