Quest For Boston

Not feeling the greatest after a late night celebrating the New Year. The annual New Years day run was today. It consists of a nice easy 5 miler with members of the island running community. A great chance to see people that you haven't seen in a while and shake off the new years eve hangover.  Turnout was lower than the past couple years.  I imagine it had to do with 8 degree temps a snow storm last  night and terribly icy conditions.  We still had over a dozen hardy souls show up.  The run started out pretty bad with stiff winds and cold but after about a mile it actualy felt good.

I actual enjoyed a treadmill run today. Cranked up Blues Traveler's Live- What You And I Have Been Through. A great album to run to.  Worked some hills.  Started at 3% and increased the % by one every 1/4 mile till I got to 10%. After that I dropped it back to 5% and stayed there for 30 minutes. Cooled down at 3 %. Felt great to tell the truth.

I got out the door for a nice easy run today. Temps were comfortably in the mid 30"s.  Did a lot of dodging of ice on the bike paths but at least they had been plowed today.  I felt pretty good. Hoping the ice melts today soI can have a more relaxing long run tommorrow.

Long run this morning went well. My back is a little tight afterwards. I assume it's because of all the ice and snow.  Trying not to fall down puts more tension in the back and I feel it. May be the reason My hip is feeling so tired also.

A short recovery run today. Felt o.k. after yesterdays long run. Todays the first day of my official training schedule for my Memorial Day Marathon.  It should be pretty easy the first couple weeks as my training is a lot farther along than the early part of the program I'm using.

God.  Todays run felt horrible.  I never got any rhythm going and the whole run was a struggle. I'm not really sure why.  Hopefully it's just one of those days. Nothing hurts. It just felt wrong.  Not sure how to explain it.

Today was much better than yesterday. I felt realy good until a 1/2 mile to go when my left calf tightened up.  Hopefully all these nagging little things come to an end soon.

My run felt really good this morning. The only issue I had was my foot started going numb with about a mile to go.  By the time I stopped my whole leg was tingling.  It felt fine almost as soon as I stopped running so I don't think it's anything too serious. We'll see how tommorow goes.

Today was the best I've felt since my long run on Sunday.  I actually enjoyed getting out there and running.  Probably has more to do with clear roads and trails than anything else. No problems with anything today other than my elbow stilll bugging me.  I'm happy.

I moved my long day up to accomodate an incoming weather front that's coming in tonight.  The run felt great.  I was tempted to go longer but don't want to deviate too much from my training schedule. Instead I pushed the pace the last 3 miles and ran them in 7:15's with very little trouble.  Gives me hope that I'm improving.  We'll see how I feel tommorrow.

Started out as a 3 mile recovery run but felt so good I stretched it out. I would have liked to go farther but know I would be putting myself in danger of injury.  It felt good to feel so good the day after a long run.

Off day today.

3/4 mile warm up followed by a 6 mile fartlek workout and a 3/4 mile cool down.  The workout felt really good.  Running using telephone poles made the distance go by so fast I couldn't believe it when the Garmin announced that it was time to turn around.  Loved todays workout.

Recovery run today.  It started out really tough. But by a mile I had forgotten all about how bad I felt and actually missed my turn around by a quarter mile.

Lousy weather so I'm back on the treadmill today. Eight degrees and icy roads; Yuk.  Workout consisted of  10 minutes at 2.5%, 10 min. at 3%, 10 min. at 3.5%, 10min. at 4%, 10 min at 5%, 10 min. at 6%, and 4 min. at 7%. I got a real good burn going. I guess the only good thing about the treadmill is that it provides 8 mile hills.

Another tough night of sleeping. I need to find some more work.  Easy run today. Heavy legs which is to be expected after a tough hill workout.

LSD in the slushy rain. Feet were soaked by the end of the second mile.  If I'd have been running alone I probably would have cut the run short.  My leg; from the knee to the buttocks, went from feeling a little tight to almost shutting down my run.  And then majicaly, it was fine at around mile 5. Not sure what was going on with that but I'm glad it went away.

Recovery run. Felt pretty good today. Treadmill again as the icy conditions continue.

3/4 warm up followed by 6 miles of fartlek and 3/4 cool down.  These are the workouts that are going to make a difference in my marathon come May. Miles plus intensity. I felt better this week thatn last with the same workout.  It makes me feel that there is some progress going on.   I'm still feeling issues with the left leg. Not sure if it's hamstring ITB or knee but the hamstring tends to tighten up and then knee to hip on the outside tightens.  I keep thinking a big part of it is the icy conditions and my stride changing because I'm worried about slipping.  I don't seem to have an issue with it when I get on the treadmill.  I'll just keep my eye on it.

Listened to my body today and took it off.  A day where I was dragging.  I'll go after it tomorrow.

Tempo run today.  7 miles in 49:30;  7:05 pace.  My first mile was at 8 minutes so the rest were under 7.  Felt really good. The idea of the workout was to push myself but not feel like I was struggling at all and that's what I did.

recovery day

Long day today.  I planned on a full 16 but the calves started cramping up so I cut the route short. After my shower and some food I felt a little better but the calves definetly are suspect.  I'll work on some self massage and stretching and hope it gets better.  Other than the last three miles the run felt pretty good. 2:10  of running was a good days work. Maybe having two hard runs this week leading into a long run wasn't the best idea.

Nice and easy was the theme of the day today. I was feeling a little fragile to start the day  but once I got moving I felt pretty good.  My thighs were soar but the calfs felt pretty good, especialy considering how they felt at the end of yesterdays run.  The schedule calls for a hill workout tommorrow. We'll see.

1.3 warm up followed by 6 repeat hills of .2 miles with .2 jog in between, 1.3 mile warm down.  Legs were definetly tired but they responded when I asked them to.  The last couple of hills felt the best.

1st- 1:15

2nd- 1:14

3rd-1:12

4th-1:11

5th-1:11

6th-1:07

Heavy legged afterwards but other than that it feels good.

recovery run on the treadmill today. Snow ice and sleet forced me indoors. Some live Counting Crows kept me loose and allowed me to take it easy.

Schedule called for ten so I did ten. I'm sure there's a reason for the mileage but I don't understand the logic.  The run was actually quite nice so I shouldn't complain.  I just felt bored- like I couldn't get the run done fast enough. Or maybe I'm just sick of the cold and ice.  Hopefully tommorow feels more exciting.  Maybe I just need a race.  20 miler in less than 3 weeks!!!!

Recovery run today. Feeling a little less burnt out  with the short run.

Easy day. Felt good. Long run tommorrow.