2/26/08 Greenside Drive / York Road 5:30 - 6:30 pm… 45 degrees, drizzling, and a bit humid I warmed up for 8:30, then ran a two mile course around my apartment (courtesy of MapMyRun.com). Much like last week's workout, this was ran faster than intended. However, I no longer think of this as a huge deal since I'm only doing one hard workout a week. This was intended to be a two mile tempo run at an 8:00 pace, but the actual splits were 7:14 and 7:23. The course isn't flat, but not exactly hilly. Net elevation is negligable, though. I immediately went into a 10 minute cool down, and felt like I could do more afterwards. However, I ended the day there with slightly over four miles (round down to four) in favor of a solid icing session. I don't think that my goal for the Saint Patrick's Day 5K in less than three weeks (3/16) is out of reach. As I've said before, I want to at least break 23:00 in order to start the racing year on the right foot toward breaking 20:00 in a 5K. Next week's workouts include 2 x 1600 at a 10K pace on Tuesday, and a 1 mile time trial on Thursday (10 days before the first race). During the early races of the fall, running a mile time trial within a week or so of the race became fairly indicative of what my first mile time would be.

It pretty much boils down to curiosity. I'm intrigued as to how fast I can flat out run a mile right now, albeit without competition. The mile time trial, in theory, should be significantly faster than the repeats on Tuesday, if I hold true and do those at a slower pace. The time trials in the fall were something like 10-15 seconds faster than my first mile times in the following races. Of course, between now and next Thursday, I may scrap the mile time trial for hills or something to that extent. It pretty much boils down to how the workout goes on Tuesday.

I've not run since Saturday. If I have time, I'm going to try today and see how it feels. I'm kind of pessimistic though.

February 28, 2007 Greenside Drive / York Road Van Buren Hills 6:00 - 7:00pm… Wind chill of about 20 degrees. I warmed up for almost 13:00, probably a bit under 1.5 miles. I decided recently to switch up how hills are being done. I like doing the short hills because my legs definitely get a workout from it, but I feel too well rested afterwards. Therefore, every other week I'll switch things up and do a long set of hills. The long hill in question is next to my apartment complex (up Van Buren road). The net elevation is fairly high. The hill itself is about 200 - 250 meters long, based on MapMyRun.com. Until I get an official measurement, I'm chalking them up as 200s (I need a meter wheel!). Being that this was the first week, I only did three. 1. 1:20 2. 1:18 3. 1:18 Cool down of 12:30 afterwards. I'll round mileage on the day to about three total. After each hill, my legs felt heavy and my lungs burned... much like after the hills during high school XC workouts. For some reason, that makes me feel more confident in my running ability today. I'll probably get up around 7:00am tomorrow. I have to do a boatload of studying for a Business Law exam on Monday, but I still want to be able to squeeze in a 5.5 mile run tomorrow. Now's not the time to take time off... after all, my season begins in just over two weeks! Of course, the season officially begins in just over ONE week...

Rick: are you sure that they weren't a bit longer than 200? Or were you intentionally doing them at a 10:00 + pace? Perry: well, even if you wait until race day to register ($70), you'll still get the $10 CBRC member discount!

I've a bit of a cold myself -- hope you get over yours ASAP DR. I'm going to continue trying low & slow mileage, and doing other exercising. It's almost worrisome how I came to enjoy not running by the end of this past week

Sounds like you invented a new stroke! I haven't done any extensive swimming in a couple years, but the last time I did it was truly fatiguing. Yesterday I did my final pre-marathon "long" run --- 8.1 miles in 1:02:02 (average pace 7:40/mi). The idea was to run it at marathon pace, so I'd intended to run the first half an an 8:00/mi pace and the second half around 7:50-55/mi. But I started out overeager, running mile one just over 7:00 and mile two around 15:30. However, once I made a U-turn at mile 2.5 (at the end of Golden Beach Rd), I found myself running face-first into a steady, savage stream of wind --- at least 30 miles an hour --- for the next four miles. It was almost unbearable. Luckily the final two miles put the wind at my back, allowing me to finish with a swift pace. This is how the rest of the week will go: Today: Off Monday: Off Tuesday: 3 miles slow Wednesday: 4 miles at marathon pace Thursday: Off Friday: 3 miles slow Saturday: Off Sunday: MARATHON

NEVER EVER switch up shoes or try out untested clothing on race day - especially at something as long and grueling as a marathon...