Getting back to Boston

Eleven hours of work, then dinner, then a beast. Started out thinking 5, then just kinda doubled that. Felt pretty good really; it was cool and dry and the legs weren't too bad. Not too shabby for 14 days after a marathon. Pretty substantial negative split to boot.

No run last night due to GI issues, so going for a double today. Easy 5 before dawn up to SHS. Quads took a while to loosen, but last couple of miles felt pretty good. Could have done a couple more miles no problem, but there were time constraints. Probably another 5-7 miles tonight. Tomorrow, WAR has a run/meeting at Creekmore. Might see if KK wants to go.

If I'm gonna get to my yearly PR, I need to average 275 miles for the last three months. I can do it, but that's a bunch. Lots of doubles, I suspect, and maybe a few Pfitz midweek MLRs. And no break after CIM, either.

Easy run with the WAR crew at Creekmore before a short club meeting tonight. Not too many there, which was good. Legs were a little stiff after the hard MP push at the track last night. I did 1.75 to warm up before the meeting, then we did four laps around the park perimeter. I'll be back there in 18 days for the 10K, if not sooner to run with KK.

Intervals at roughly 10K pace on the mill today. And it was HARD. Still a little sore for some reason, took a while to get loose, and the legs didn't want to turn over that fast. And yeah, when I finished the third rep (3 X 2000m), I was out of breath. But I got it done. Another session or two like that might actually get me ready for a decent 10K on the 22nd.

Planning a double today. AM run was a little variation on one I've done before, ROUD style, and it wound up being 6.23 miles (which is exactly what mapmyrun said it would be, so I guess the Garmin was accurate for once). Warmer than I would have liked, and sunny to boot, so a bit of a struggle in that respect -- plus the hills on Free Ferry and Old Greenwood.

Tonight, a shortie at the park with KK. Plan is to get her to do four laps tonight. She doesn't think she can. I know better; she's plenty fit. Addendum: We did four laps, with one brief walk break at the 2-mile mark. She was having some asthma problems, but got it done anyway. I recommended she take a hit of her inhaler before running to head that off. Also may have talked her into letting me take her out for her birthday on the 17th, which is progress.

Between now and the 10K, I'll do two long runs on Mondays, probably two more interval sessions, then back off for a couple of days. That course is fairly hilly, but I have yet to run a 10K that wasn't (never ran one on the RT at Little Rock, unfortunately). Certainly Toad Suck has its undulations.

93 laps at MAFC at what I would term moderate pace, after some XT, mainly upper body and abs. Did the 7.02 in 1:01. Not scintillating, but decent after a double yesterday and not much sleep last night.

New route for me today. I was supposed to go run with Lorna in Van Buren at 6:15, but I overslept. So I woke up at 6:30 and headed out at 7. Decided to do the Okie run, then added a few twists on the return trip (motivated by a detour to MAFC for a bathroom break). From MAFC, went to Dodson, to Greenwood, back on Dodson to Old Greenwood, then to Country Club, and came up on 58th. Wound up being almost exactly 12 miles, and felt like twice that (many, many hills). Glad that 10K wasn't this morning!

 So now a shower, a nap, brunch with T, then head for Fayetteville and beat those cheatin' so-and-sos from Allbarn! I will so enjoy winning this one! 

Indoors at MAFC. Legs still a bit heavy after Saturday's 12 plus football, but I got it done in 2:28, possibly with a bit of negative split. Back to work tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Every once in a while you get one of those runs where you feel better after you finish than you did before you started. Sometimes it's a long run, sometimes a solid set of intervals. Tonight it was just a recovery run. Legs were still kinda stiff when I got on the mill tonight, but they didn't stay that way long. I resisted the temptation to start cranking up the pace early, bumped it to 9:00 pace after about four miles, then put it on MP for the last half mile and cruised in. Felt really energized after I finished, which probably means I'll have trouble sleeping (again), but it was definitely a good run.

I've put in my app for Stockholm now, and she's working on flights and the London side trip and all that stuff. I'll need to pay for the flights pretty soon; thank goodness the new card will be here in the next couple of days. And the deposit has already been put down. About to check to see if my passport app was received today, and T is working on his passport app. Also figured out the schedule issues; I'll need to swap about four days to pull this off, minimum, more if I give myself some extra cushion for jet lag.

Moderate progression run at MAFC, with the last 20 laps(ish) pushed at MP or below. Felt pretty good, especially given my recent sleep deprivation. So gonna eat and crash early. Hope to get in intervals tomorrow, like 4 X 2K at 10K pace.

Specific endurance intervals on the mill at MAFC: 4 X 2K at 10K pace with 3:00 "active recovery", which to me means slow jog. Plus 1.5 warm/cool. Total 8.77 in under 75:00. Went pretty well; feel like I might actually be able to run a decent 10K on the 22nd. We shall see. Finished at 10:15, which is the latest I've ever been up there. Practically had the place to myself. I can imagine how empty it is at midnight.

10K after work at SHS. Kept it slow. That is all.

Easy run on the FF/Old Greenwood/Phoenix/74th/Rogers loop. Legs felt heavy, but got it done at 9:26 average.

Intervals tonight on the mill. Went to the track first, but there was a JV football game or something. So went to MAFC instead. Warmed up with 2, then a mile at 8.6 (5K pace), four minutes recovery, then 440s at 5KP with 1 minute recovery. Worked out to be almost exactly 8 miles. And 5KP felt easier than I remembered it being in a while. Maybe I actually have a fitness base now. And maybe I can lay down a good 10K on Saturday. Drove the course today; it's undulating but not horrible, and I think I can sustain a good pace, plus the last quarter mile is straight downhill.

Easy golf course loop at Ben Geren. Haven't run there since April. It's still the same.

Rest day today, easy 4 tomorrow, then the race.

Easy 4 with strides on Phoenix. Let's see if I have anything tomorrow morning.

Negative split by a minute today in the 10K. Which is bad news, because it means I dogged the first three miles. Well, maybe that's too harsh. It took me three miles to warm up. Tried dynamic stretching today instead of an extended warmup jog. Shoulda done the jog. Or maybe done both. First 2.5 miles, I wasn't even maintaining marathon pace, and I knew it. Got on Cliff Drive, and the uphill coming up off Old Greenwood kinda got me going. That, and I did what I usually do during races -- just try to pass as many people as I could. I didn't pass all that many, but I darn sure didn't get passed by anybody. Really felt strong for the last mile and a half, and ran decent splits. Not decent enough even to get my goal if I'd run them all morning, but better.

Wound up 47th overall, 8th in AG. Not sure how many entered. I think there were 800 something, but that was 5K and walkers too. Unfortunately, the walkers really clogged things up for the last mile or so and I was having to weave through them. I don't think it slowed me that much, but it didn't help. 

Then I decided I hadn't tortured myself enough, so I ran the whole course again. Ten minutes slower this time than the first time, but I still ran it in under an hour. 

Went to SHS tonight after Tyler went back to Fayetteville for an easy fish. Fish became sushi, became ROUD, became a beast. I just felt like I was cruising, and it was nice and cool, so I just kept going. Then I ran the last mile in 8:30, which also felt pretty good after yesterday's race.

 I think I'll do a double tomorrow then try to settle into the before-work running mode after that. Weather may not cooperate, but we'll see. I can still use the gym after work, even at 10 p.m. during the week. 

With the first day on the new schedule, went to MAFC on the way to work and did 6 on the track. Just kinda cruised; legs felt pretty good considering 10 late last night, and was able to push the pace a bit in the last mile. Averaged about 9:08, I think. Then as soon as I got out of the shower, text went off: Time to go to the ER. So good timing. I did kinda feel invigorated after that run. We'll see how the new gig works out, but I think I'm gonna like it. Although I'll probably have to do some rounding Thanksgiving weekend due to shortage of bodies.

I might even go back to the gym after work for 4 or so. We'll see how I feel. Now I just have to figure out when and how I'm gonna get in anything 15+ during the work week.

Felt really draggy this morning, kinda like jet lag, so didn't run before work, Ended up getting in another late-night sushi at MAFC after work. Nothing dramatic, just about 9:20 pace, get 'er done and get home. Gonna try to mark the old birthday with some intervals in the AM. If I can get a good night's sleep for once.

Started off my 52nd year today with a really busy day. Full shift, seven admits and a consult, then came home, changed, went to SHS and did mile reps in the dark, in the rain.

Plan was to do 5 X 1m at ~10K pace. Couldn't quite hit that, in part because the Garmin is still bamboozled by sharp turns on the track, but each rep got faster: 7:40, 7:32, 7:30, 7:28, 7:26. Would have been nice to run those splits Saturday in the 10K, put it that way.

 Yep, I'm another year older and another year slower. No longer married, trying to date again with limited success, trying to connect with my son (that's going better), getting the hang of the new job. I fulfilled a dream by running Boston, and in so doing made a ton of new friends. But all in all, not sad to see year #51 disappear in the rear view mirror.

And it was a bit overwhelming to see all the birthday greetings on FB and RWOL. Nearly 150 on FB, many, many on RWOL as well. I know FB reminds people, but it's still nice that they took a few seconds to drop me a note. Tyler, Scott and Dad all called, couple of people texted me greetings, and several people said something at the hospital too. 

Fifty easy minutes on the mill after work, thanks to getting off at 8:15. I'd planned to skip tonight and go to sleep early if I'd worked through, but got to leave 1:45 early. Which gave me time to run and still get to bed at the planned time. It's cold(ish) and rainy, but I could  have run outside if circumstances had been better. Probably will run outside a bit tomorrow.

Morning run today before work. Sunny, high 40s, very little breeze, nice day to run. Went down Waldron, up Rogers to Old Greenwood, down to Cliff, wound around past Hardscrabble, and up 58th to the Casa. I'd actually planned to do 7; the jog down to Cliff instead of turning on Gary was spur of the moment. Wound up with a pretty good progression once I got going; of course, coming downhill from SHS on didn't hurt that. All in all, a good run. Gonna try to do 10+ tomorrow at the WAR Room before work. I may wind up with a 50+ week in spite of the new gig.

Now for a shower and a nap, and hope the ER doesn't get busy just yet. 

Ten miles before work, same route as Friday, in reverse, with a detour down Leigh to Phoenix and back up Old Greenwood hill to Cliff, then back home the same way. Pushed the pace pretty hard, averaged 8:40ish with at least one full mile at MP. Now shower, rest/nap, and work.

Planned to do 2 X 2m at HMP tonight. Nope. Not gonna happen. It was all I could do to finish one rep, and I felt like I was gonna pass out in mid-rep. So I just jogged out the rest of the workout to finish 6.25. Got over 200 for the month.