Getting back to Boston

Slow 6 with the Chickens. Still a bit wheezy and lots of drainage but the big issue was just lack of fitness. Got it done though with a bit of progression.

A slow 5 on a loop I haven't done before. Down Burnham to Rogers, down Rogers to 70th (almost getting run over by Hooters), 70th to Phoenix, Phoenix to 62nd, up the hill to Waldron and back home. It felt just like what it was -- my first back to back runs in a while. Finally got a little loose after I topped the hill on 58th and could maintain a semidecent pace from there on. But I am way out of shape with 108 days to go.

Out and back in Furry. Which means lots of hills. Slow. Very slow.

Pushed the pace out of Ben Geren. Pushed being a relative term, but I was working hard no matter how slow that was.

Slow, hilly and cold, as in wind chill of 7 and temp of 19. Handled the cold OK. The hills, not so much. Stumbling with three miles left, even less. Must have strained my abs trying to regain control because they really hurt the rest of the way, slowing me down a lot. Got it done though. Need to get in a lot better shape in the next 104 days though.

Took two days off for sleep deprivation and sore abs, finally got back out this afternoon. I was able to hold a faster pace but it was hard to do so. Wound up at sub-9 pace at the end.

Bit of a tempo run this morning. Easy 2.5 out, pushed the pace coming back. Pushing the pace is a bit of a relative thing, but I was sub-9 for the last mile and low 9s for the 1.5 before that.

Easy at dawn after work. Joined Staci, David and Scooter for a half mile or so when they set out on their 14 from the Boys Club.

Cold one after work with wind chill in the teens.

Three slow loops around the gravel trail at Ben Geren. Did not want to be out there. The cold really wasn't an issue, the stiffness was. 

Long and slow at 5 a.m. with the chickens.

Easy run to ease into the one hour race. 

Went about how I thought it would go. No speed, no stamina. Took two early breaks then ran the last four miles nonstop and even managed a bit of a kick. Probably could have gone a little faster but not much.

Treadmill time before work. Not too sore from the race yesterday, although I really didn't race very hard

Finally got back on the mill before work, cranking it up to 7:30 pace for the last half mile. The legs will still go that fast. Sorta. Work has been brutal this week and the running has suffered.

Progression run with the chickens, finished just before the rain started (brief, scattered shower). Legs felt OK, as they should as much time off as I've given them. Got to buckle down now with 82 days to go. Jenny left town this morning until Friday so that excuse/distraction is gone. Going to go get a massage from Tiff in a few minutes. Maybe I can get her to work on the glutes.

Treadmill tempo run after four-hour mini-shift at work. Developed a stitch in my side for the first time in like forever, so broke the LT portion into two 1.5-mile segments at 7.8 mph. That went OK. I didn't want to overdo it with a race Saturday morning but it was a good reintroduction to tempo work. And the mill does kinda force me to keep the legs turning over.

Easy at Southside after dark.

Struggled through the 15K. Ran better than in Pine Bluff but way, way behind too many people.

An hour on the treadmill before work. Did not want to do 6. Did not want to do 3. But got it done anyway and it got better as I went along. Now if I could just get those 20 pounds to get better as I go along...

Kinda pushed it on the mill tonight. 7 miles in 66 minutes then walked a 400 to cool down. Gotta keep getting stronger and only 68 days to do it.

Back on the mill this morning and actually felt pretty good, so I stretched it to 10 and cranked up the pace for the last 2.2. Legs could have gone farther but the rest of me needed sleep. Good run, though, much needed with 71 days to go before London.

Mill run while watching the Gunners come back to beat Leicester. I was so jacked up after the winning goal in the 96th minute, I could have run for another hour. But I also needed to sleep.

Easy recovery run down to the Athletic Club on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

Speed work at SHS, 7 x 400 at roughly 7:00 pace with David, Terry and Kent. We were all doing our own thing; David did 4 x 2000 or something stupid like that.

Easy run to Southside and back. A little warm for my taste -- 66 and sunny -- but a beautiful day nonetheless.

Easy and slow at Southside. There was a soccer scrimmage going on the whole time and I ran more than they did -- more a comment on their activity than mine. Back off now for Texarkana.

Hoofed it down to Starbucks to catch a ride with Ron to Texarkana. Figured that was enough for one day.

Well, that was a clusterfk in the soup. I was cooked within the first three miles at 9:00 pace and it went way downhill from there. Ended up just trying to avoid being caught by the 2:30 pace group. Fortunately managed to achieve that anyway. Not that it's much consolation. Temp in the 60s, 87% humidity and no wind. Bleah.

Progression run on the mill. 5.5 building up, 0.5 at 8:00 pace, 0.5 cooldown. Went OK. Legs seem to have recovered from Sunday.

4 x 800 on the mill after work. Pretty good in spite of being very sleepy. Total of 6 miles in all.

Easy 5 after work. Mid-10 pace was all I could manage and had to do a little extra work to keep that.

Easy run with the WRA group. Long run in the morning.

Intervals at SHS after the WAR meeting. 6 x 400 at sub-7:00 pace. Not bad all things considered. Nathan joined me and helped keep my pace honest; I think he was taking it easy to stay with me.

Knee still a bit twingey but manageable.

Easy, slow 6 on the mill

Another Thursday night with WRA, 2.55 with the crew and another 2.55 with Lionel.

Able to push it more than I thought I would at the Chase Race. Ran the first mile in 8:25, cranked it down to 7:48 for the second. Could I have run the first in 7:48? Because of traffic and the slight net uphill, doubtful, but maybe 8:10 or so.

I looked up my time for this race last time I was here, in 2013. Ran it two minutes faster. But was still 6th in AG with the faster time. Two minutes faster this year would have been fourth.

Easy progression after work. Legs were better than I thought.

Easy 5 after work in perfect running weather.

First 5K of the year at Cabot. Hadn't run the course before; basically a lollipop out and back with some undulations. it was 40ish and windy, but not bad. Sun finally popped out late in the race. I was able to maintain the pace from last week's 2-miler for a 5K, more or less. Now just stretch that to 26.2... Not a great race but an improvement, I think,.

5K at sub-10 with the WRA advanced group, then another slow 5K on my own. Breezy and about 60, so not bad running weather, Enough to work up a sweat but not suffer.

Kent, and a 20-mph headwind on the westbound leg, made me work on Phoenix this morning. First mile was about 9:00 pace until I noticed it and squawked. Even so we wound up under 10:00 pace even with a two-minute walk break.

Easy 10K to SHS and back with a kick at the end. Forgetting that I was supposed to lead the group at WRA three hours later. Instant doubles! And my legs are telling me about it.

Slow, warm recovery run. Could have used some of that wind from yesterday. Tomorrow trying 16-18. Can I get there?

Got there. Barely. Way too many hills. My legs weren't ready for 17, much less 17 with hills. Got it done in 3:22 though. Or something around that number.

Slow one after work. Legs not cooperating.

Treadmill before work, possibly extended to make sure I get 100 miles for March :/

Progression run, pushing the last 3.8 fairly hard (certainly sub-MP at this point). A little better. Not much. Perfect running weather though.

Easy 5+ after work. Perfect weather again. Legs kinda stiff after yesterday's progression but got through it.

Doubles day. 5+ after work, 4.2 with the WRA group in the evening. Lot nicer in the morning when it was 45 than 82 in the evening.

10K at 5 a.m. on about 2 hours sleep. Legs were fine. Rest of me needed a nap. Pushed it coming back though, especially from Dunkin Donuts on.

Easy 5 on a nice cool morning, before my doctor visit to get my cyst re-scraped. Bleah. Hopefully it will no longer be an issue by the time I leave for London.

I knew it was going to be a slog, and it was. Not having run more than 17 miles since October took its toll. By the time I came out from around Lake Fayetteville, the flexors were gone. It was just about all I could do to break 5:00 after running the first half in 2:10 (which was in itself encouraging). I started out at 6:1 walk/run, which went well. My legs felt fresh and I was able to maintain sub-10 average even with the walks. I also tweaked the intervals if a walk happened to fall on a downhill, which may have been a mistake, but I wanted to take advantage of gravity. Anyway the pattern continued through the first half. But as the thighs fatigued, continuing to run 6 minutes at a time just wasn't much of an option. It was cool but humid, certainly a day where you could DNF if not careful (Holly did, for one). By the time I got to Scull Creek trail, it was walk most of the time and run when I could. Then I tried running a distance -- run four tenths, then walk. The hills up to the finish at Wilson Park were just diabolical, but the finish was downhill, which was nice. Good to see a 4 on the clock at the finish, which meant I'd broken 5 and finished before noon. All I wanted,. And I finished exactly where I thought I would in GP age group -- third. So that will be 24 nice points, putting me in second in the AG. That was the plan, and why I signed up for Hogeye to begin with.

So last night I picked up Suzie and took her into Tyler's room, and tripped over something on the floor. Jerking my left foot to regain balance, I felt pain in the left calf. It's still there. Figures -- I run 26.2 with no injury (but plenty of stiffness) but get hurt walking into my son's room. Hopefully it's just a twinge, but it's still there seven hours later. I'd be tempted to bag London if it doesn't go away; I think I can defer to 2017. Like I need an excuse to go to London during EPL season...

Short and slow after work. No problems with the niggle in my left calf, but legs still felt the effects of 26.2.

Pushed it a bit after work -- MP for 4.5 then picked it up for the last mile. Pushing being a relative term, since MP right now is 10:00 pace, but that worked OK. I need more runs pushing it. After London I'll start some speed work, especially since my next race after I get back will apparently be the Go! Mile. Need to be able to at least go sub-8 there, hopefully sub 7.

Easy 4 after work. Trying out the new headband. Don't think it will be adequate for a marathon except in really cool weather, although maybe OK for a 5 or 10K. Legs were fine even though I was quite sleepy. Got some sleep, got a massage, Chinese buffet with T, now at work.

Pushed it after work fotr 13K -- 6K at MP, 7K at LT. Muggy but breezy, which felt pretty good. It won't be nearly this warm in London, probably in the 30s at the start and maybe 50 at the finish. Only seven days away. On the plane in 55 hours. Yikes. Anyway, this is the last run approaching speedwork. Only easy stuff, unless the Chickens push me Tuesday morning.

Hill repeats with WRA up Hospital Hill. They did five reps, I did three. Which is three more than I wanted to do. But I figured a little extra strength wouldn't hurt if I didn't overdo it; not much hill work in this cycle (other than Hogeye).

On the plane tomorrow afternoon...

Easy run with the Chickens. Some went farther but I figured this was enough. My watch was set on KM for London so my even number was 7K, and that's what I did. Next run will be in St. James Park, I guess.

Easy run around the Royal Parks -- Hyde, Green and St. James. I needed this one; hips were very tight after all day in a plane and all  night at the theater. Scenery wasn't bad. Many many runners out there today. Not sure if that's because there's a marathon this weekend or that London is just a big running city. My guess is some of both. Now off for sightseeing and soccer; those should add a few miles of ambulation to the mix. Four, to be exact, including a LOOOONG hike to the Highbury and Islington tube station after the match.

Walk, walk, walk. The expo, the Tower of London with all its stairs, the War Museum.

Hiking to the Emirates Stadium for the tour.

Perfect weather, not a perfect run. Lack of fitness caught up with me at about mile 18 again. I was able to hold the walk/run pattern better than at Hogeye, but I didn't bank as much time early due to slower pace (2:16 half instead of 2:10). So even though the second half was four minutes faster, I wound up two minutes slower overall. Didn't manage to break 5 hours this time. I've got to get in more miles and work on the flexors that are shutting down on me. Lots of walking after, then even managed to get out and go up in the Shard after dark.

Hiking through Windsor Castle, Oxford and Stonehenge.

2 miles through airports

4 easy after work. Legs are OK. Jet lag isn't.

10K progression run, with the return leg at well under MP. Total average exactly 10:00. Felt pretty good actually, even as tired as I am after a rough night at work.

3.5K, pushing the pace before the WAR meeting. It was a tad warm so I cut it off from 5K to 3.5K

10K with the Chickens

Road Dog run. Took it nice and slow on a beautiful, cool morning which became a very hot afternoon.

After a few days off, treadmill before work. Mostly 10:00 pace, cranked down to 9:00 and then 8:00 for the last 800. Went OK. Walked 400 to cool down. Off to San Antonio tomorrow; we'll see if I get in street runs or treadmill. My guess is the latter, although there is a 5K Sunday morning if I can get a spot.

5K sweatfest on the treadmill at the hotel in San Antonio. Bleah. Now I remember why I don't run in hotel fitness rooms.

Hill run with the Chickens from Z-mart, and as usual I blasted it back down the hill on Old Greenwood to the finish. Which I really need to do since I got into St. George yesterday. I have 4 months plus to get in marathon shape and get my quads in downhill shape, so I'll need a lot of runs like today.

Foggy 8 at dawn, 3/:30 walk/run, still maintained a decent pace and blasted it for the last two miles or so.

Slow and sore after what amounted to a tempo run yesterday. And warm too. High 60s but sunny and humid, felt a lot warmer.

Humid and slow after work

Soupy after work

Didn't feel too bad until I got out in it. 60ish but muggy and the sunshine made it feel 10-15 degrees warmer.

Easy run after work,.

Progression run on the treadmill

Humid and sluggish but pace was decent.

Slow with gills

8 X 200 at Southside at about 49 seconds per rep. Very humid. Last three reps reminded me of Hutchins' 400s at track practice. Thought I was going to pass out, barf, or both.

Slow and humid

Horrible race. Hot, humid and out of shape is a bad combination, I started out running about 7:00 pace. By the end it was about 9:00 and I thought I was going to dry heave.

Slow and humid

Slow run on the Mercy track after 15 days off, due to heat. humidity and mainly laziness. 

STarted my 10th year of running with 41 laps at the Mercy track in semicomatose state.

First run in almost two months on a beautiful, clear, cool morning. It was a slog, no question, but I kept going and never walked. Baby steps, baby steps.

Slow after work at Mercy Fitness. Medial thighs feel very heavy. Not quite sure how to address that other than gradually building mileage, or stretching those areas before the run. I think the stretch will be the first thing I try.

Warmup mile-plus at Mercy followed by weight work. Even that mile was hard. I gotta get going. Even if its just a mile a day for a while.

Up and down Stadium Drive

Walk/run at SHS. Out of shape, lot of discomfort, but kept moving.

Slow, painful walk. I'm starting to think this is more than just deconditioning. If the pain doesn't start to go away I'm going to have to get it checked.

Another power walk. I think some of the discomfort is the IT band flaring up, I hope so, I know how to deal with that.

Another power walk. I was checking the HR and it was creeping into the mid-120s, which indicates that I'm out of shape, but also that I'm pushing hard enough to do some good. It seems like the hip is feeling a little better, although still somewhat stiff.

Another power walk on the mill, 2 miles in less than 30 minutes. The flexors are starting to feel a little better. Maybe I'll try a run Friday morning in Springfield before we leave for CoMo.

Treadmill run at Springfield, 4 min.run,1 min walk. It was hard, but I got it done.

Hikes from parking garage in Columbia to the stadium and back, total of 3 miles.

Walk-run (mostly walk) in the cold rain at SHS. Thought the legs might be loose after a 3-mile warmup. Nope.

Slow walk at SHS. Chilly and windy but really not bad. Legs behaved.

1 a.m. treadmill walk at work, under 50 minutes. I gradually increased the pace as I went and the final 3.8 was probably a bit too fast; I'm feeling it now in the flexors. But I guess I need to strain the flexors a bit to get them to respond.

OK, so I walked 2.9 and jogged for 2.5 minutes. Better than I've been doing, and the flexors didn't bark (yet). So I count this as progress.

Easy hour on the treadmill in between beeps. Original plan was 2.5 but I kept extending it as more interruptions happened. Flexor was tight to start but seemed to loosen a little.

Treadmill after work. Actually ran a mile nonstop, walked a bit, ran another half mile, then walked to finish 30 minutes so I could get home and get to sleep. It went OK. Legs stiff and sore; zero surprise there.

Walk along the riverfront with Chelle. First time I've been down there. Cold north wind to negotiate, but a very nice trail. I'll have to run it soon.

Two miles nonstop run at SHS. Temp about 30, wind chill well below that. Chelle came out there with me, bailed within 10 minutes. Don't blame her. Even so, got relatively warm within two miles, enough to pull the headband off the ears and slide the sleeves down. Could have removed the gloves too. I'm way out of shape, but slowly making progress.

Slow run outside after work. Flexors feeling it as usual.

5K on the mill at work, trying to stretch out after yesterday's run.