Getting back to Boston

Work got in the way of my running plans yesterday, but out early today at Ben Geren with Kathy L for an easy 6. The conversation was good and the miles kinda flew by, even though we weren't much under 10:00 pace. Good start for my March running.

Bed magnet got Tiffany this morning, so I did my run alone. Wound up with 12.25 in 1:57. I think my nose ran even farther than that. Good run though. Had time to do a lot of thinking. Didn't solve any problems, but did a lot of thinking. Tomorrow starts my cycle for Bayshore. Didn't think about that at all, though.

Up at the crack o' chickens to run with the Sheris at Marketpace. Maintained a good 10:00 pace, then after they both finished, I did another 2.6 on my own, including strides. It was in the 40s, but there were snowflakes fluttering by. Wind was strong and constant; for once, it actually helped to run downwind, which I did for the strides. Running into it, another issue.

So this was the first day of Bayshore training. In 81 days I'll be lining up in Michigan. Doesn't seem like much.

 Got a letter from Jen last night, and wrote back immediately. I was very happy to hear from her after a couple of weeks of no contact at all. My paranoia was unfounded. Can't wait to hear from her and, better yet, see her. 

Did three miles on my own at 5, then joined the crew from Creekmore for another 8, then to La Huerta for dinner and silliness. The 11 went OK. I'm getting into shape pretty quickly. We'll see how another 11 on Friday goes, though, although I might bump that down so I have a chance to run fast Saturday morning.

Six on Phoenix with Tiffany this morning. Four at Chaffee with Sheri and Kathy L. And three with the Advanced WRA group. That, folks, is a triple. I believe that's my first triple. And I was feeling it afterward. Rachel S. led the post-run stretch and I was struggling with it (of course she's so damn limber it's ridiculous). The two runs at Chaffee were slow -- just what I needed. 10:07 with Sheri, close to 11:00 with the group. Staci put me out front, so I set the pace. If anyone had wanted to go faster, I would have, but no one did.

Slow and steady with Kathy L. to work out the kinks. It actually seemed to work this time. Feel much better now than I did when I got up. How will it feel in Conway in the morning? Stay tuned.

Very little sleep after taking Heidi to the track meet last night, and that 4:15 alarm was really early. In spite of that, dragged myself out, met the gang and drove to Conway. No taper and heavy/increased mileage for the last two weeks, so I hoped for sub-14 but wasn't sure if that was possible. Ran the first mile in 7:03, dawdled a 7:13 for the last mile. But I got into lung-burning territory, so I didn't leave a whole lot out there. I think I should have checked the Garmin more to monitor my pace though. I didn't think I slowed down in the second mile, but obviously the clock begged to differ. Had a lot of fun on the trip. Crazy Vickie kept things stirred up coming and going. Saw a lot of people I knew, which is always nice.

Lousy weather for a cold run. Rain, wind, cold front coming through. Glad I did it, and glad I had some support. David L., Staci and Joel ran with me. David pushed me on my second loop ar Ben Geren, and they all three got so far ahead of me that I had to run MP to try to catch up -- and never quite did. The plan was for 15 with 8 @ MP. Wound up 14.7 with 7.7 @ MP. As they say, close enough. I didn't think I could get that much out of my legs as much as I ran this week and only one day after a hard race. But man, will I need that semi-day off tomorrow, although I'll still get in a short run at the clinic.

Double today -- slow and slower. Sheri et al were going 10ish, then I ran with the back markers of WRA at barely under 12:00 pace, ran being a relative term here. That's OK. Legs were quite sore after the weekend, and today was supposed to be a rest day anyway. May take that rest day tomorrow or do an easy 5. Tomorrow is supposed to be 12, but I don't have time to do 12, nor probably the motivation. So 5 tomorrow would actually be more miles than the plan calls for, albeit without the rest day.

Easy 6 after work. I'm trying to figure out how to wedge a 55-plus week in with work. If I just do runs like this every day, I'd have 42, then throw in a 12 and an LT workout and I'd be darn close. But it's getting in that little extra quality that's tricky. May have to get up and do the 12 in the morning tomorrow.

Twelve before work. Plenty of hills. Heavy legs after running at 9 pm yesterday. But I got it done, and even managed a little bit of progression. Took 1:54 to do the 12, so barely over 9:30 average, after the first four miles were >10. Now I've gotta go do a shift and a half at work. That oughta be fun... Early to bed for me, I suspect.

After two days off for sheer exhaustion, felt up to undertaking a tempo run tonight at SHS after work. I didn't hit the full 4 miles of LT on the schedule, but I did manage 2.5. Considering that it was 75 degrees when I started, I thought that was pretty good. Now to shower, bed, and up at dawn to run with Tiff.

Heard some thunder rumbling this morning as I got ready for my early run. Decided not to chance it, drove to MAFC, got in 5 on the track, showered, had breakfast upstairs, then came home just long enough to make a cup of coffee. Glad I got it done, though, instead of dawdling.

Six and a half with the Sheris this morning, 6 with Kathy, 4.5 by myself. That made up today's 17. And doing Massard at the end made it that much tougher. Wound up with a 9:21 average, which was decent. First long run in the Newtons, and the calves are mooing right now. Think I'll go hit the ice bath.

Another 11 with the Wednesday night crew, or 3 on my own then 8 with them. Pushed the last three at sub-9, including the Old Greenwood hill. Surprised at how well I ran given that I did a reasonably hard 17 yesterday. Another hard 8 with Rose, Jamie and maybe Tiffany tomorrow. Maybe I am actually getting back in shape, spare tire notwithstanding.

Crack o' dawn run with Joel, Rose and Jamie from the schoolhouse. As expected, they tried to cook me. Not so expected, I held up pretty well, with the last mile or so at MP. Pretty good with the kind of mileage I've been putting in lately.

I told myself I was going to be a good boy on today's 14 with David Langford and not push the pace. Then we got to the return leg of the second loop on Phoenix. Uh, no. We cooked that last 3.5 fo' sho'. Last mile was in 8:15 into the wind, and felt even faster. That was in spite of my left quad complaining loudly. So I've done 55 miles since Monday. Yikes. I can definitely tell I'm getting stronger. If the speed comes with it, I just might have a chance in Traverse City.

Today was supposed to be an easy recovery run. But as usual when I run with Tiffany, it wasn't. I had to dial her back a couple of times in the first couple of miles, then when we got to Southside and headed down the hill by Hardscrabble, the hammer went down. She says I did it, I think she did it, but whatever happened, we got faster. I wouldn't be surprised if the last mile was at MP, although I didn't check splits. Good run, though. I just have to make myself take tomorrow off. I enjoy running with her way too much, for a variety of reasons. :)

Wasn't sure what I had in me when I set out on this morning's run. Didn't sleep well, didn't carb up yesterday as I had planned. The 7-mile warmup went OK, even with a significant wind in my face for a while, but the left quad started tightening in the MP portion. And the double out and back meant I still had to deal with the wind some more. But after a bad sixth mile (8:20), I put the hammer down, well under 8:00 pace for all four remaining miles. The result was a 7:56 average for the MP portion, which would put me into the low 3:28s at Bayshore. I'll take that.

Then at the WRA clinic that slavedriver Staci got me to run another 3.55 with the ladies. Very slowly, but I'm glad I did. Legs feel better after I finished than before I started. Nice 20.56 mile day... 

Recovery run after work. Decided to stretch it a bit into a GA run and add some hill sprints. Went pretty well, felt strong on the sprints and maybe even a touch faster. HR stayed in the 130s all the way, even during the sprints (not long enough to get them up high and I took extra time between to let HR come down below 110). Pretty good run, all in all, and took me over 200 miles for the month.

Stress reduction run after work. I'd intended to do a tempo run at 6:00 am, got dressed but never got out the door and eventually went back to bed for an hour. Tonight, I was completely frazzled and I needed to burn off some frustration. So I gave T some money to get his (and my) dinner and headed out. Then I ate and crashed. Felt a little twinge in my left hammy early, but that didn't last long. Otherwise nothing special.

Up at 4:30 to run with Sherrie. I wasn't sure how much the legs had in them after finishing a run at 8:30 last night, and sure enough they were complaining after six or so. Sherrie had enough time to do 9, so we did that and I called it a morning. Not quite up to Pfitz' schedule, but this week, I think, is just about surviving at this point. Just get in what mileage I can, get through the week and deal with training next week. Now for my shower and a little nap before work...

Up at dawn to run with Tiffany. She decided to push me. I let her get ahead about 50 yards, ten reeled her in, and we just kept getting faster and faster. The downhill to Reynolds House was darn near a full sprint, or what passes for one for me. Good to know I can go that fast, though, even downhill.