Bummer.

Saturday--snowing. I can't believe it. It's the first time in 39 years that it's snowed in our area in October. Bummer. I went to the YMCA and did 4 easy miles, 2 on the track (14:20) and 2 on the treadmill (14:03).

Friday--took off.

hobbled a bit

Thursday--Got to the country club early enough to stretch for a minute. What a concept! At the 2-mile mark, we (J. Manion, John C. the other John, Ed and me) started our pick-ups. Today was a ladder: 5 min, 4 min, 3 min, 2 min, and 1 min...with 2 min jog in-between each. We ran the 5 min at 6:00 pace, 4 min at 5:45 pace, 3 min at 5:30 pace, 2 min at 5:15 pace, and 1 min at 5:00. This took a lot out of me and Ed, as we hobbled a bit over the next mile and fell off. We did eventually join up with John Callaghan. John fell out of the workout after the 3-min run. Finished up in about 56:30.

Brief Rundown

Wednesday--4.4M in 31:00.

Tuesday--Workout @ Henderson. 1.5M, 1M, 800m...400m jog in-between each.
8:45, 5:36, 2:39.

Monday--YMCA

Sunday--4.4M with DJ. 31:45

Saturday--9M with Justin in Downingtown. 63:50.

Friday--2.2M

Back hurts

Thursday, 10/20--arrived late to the run. Running course in opposite direction. Spent nearly first two miles playing catch up. Learned that Ed, John M. and John C. would be doing 4x1 mile with a minute jog in-between...beginning at the 2-mile mark. I hung in there, running about 6:40, 6:30, 6:25, and 6:20. John C.'s last mile was 5:53! I was ahead of Manion for the most part for the entire run and caught Ed on the last stretch of the last pick-up mile. We jogged the last 1.7M or so. Finished up the 7.9 in 55:30.

Wednesday, 10/19--pouring. Went to the YMCA. Ran 2 miles on track in 14:09, then went straight to treadmill to mix it up,...and did 2 more miles in 14:09.

Tuesday, 10/18--mile, 800, mile, 800 with 200 jog in-between. Runs were: 5:50, 2:48, ---, 2:40. My back stiffened during the 2nd mile and I had to stop at 1100m. I was actually on pace to run 5:40 or so.

Monday, 10/17--easy 4.4M in 30:45. Back hurts.

Sunday, 10/16--short, easy run of about 3.5M. Back hurts.

CHS Hall of Fame 5K and Wind Gusts/Guts

Saturday, 10/15/11--CHS Hall of Fame 5K. 18:44.

My family and I arrived at Wilson Park at about 8:00 for the 9 AM race. It was quite windy and in the low 50s. I began my warm-up at 8:10 or so, about when I had planned. DJ and I ran about a mile and a half before stretching. I followed my usual routine. With 12 minutes before the gun, we headed back to the pavilion near the start. Many more people had shown up by then, although by most measures, this 5K race is a modest one.

I saw my buddy Justin, whom I talked into coming out for this event for the first time. I also noticed a couple of college-age men who'd likely take the pace out hard. The gun went off...and I was wrong. The first part of the race, slightly uphill, then slightly downhill, was rather pedestrian. The start was unlike last year's race where there were three guys in front of me from the start.The wind was gusting as we approached the mile mark. I peeked down and saw what I thought was 5:57. Oh my God! How slow! I was way off pace and a far cry from last year's first mile of 5:22 or 5:23. Today, I was hoping for 5:20, but figured I'd hit 5:30 with the wind. I knew we were going slow, but not that slow! At least we were all in it together, including CHS XC coach Ryan Comstock.

As we made the turnaround, I lost a little ground but rebounded. Heading towards the hill I felt myself inch closer to the two guys closest to me. I passed them going up the hill and had a clear lead approaching the 2-mile mark. I figured I'd eat extend my lead. But then Tommy Ferguson came back at me...for a few minutes...until I pulled away. For nearly I came a mile I held the lead. I felt the two young me, Tommy one of them, inch within about 5 meters. With a quarter mile to go, they took off and left me in lah-lah land. As I made my way up the last hill, I was just hoping that no one would catch me. I was fried. I realized that I would be third and have to settle for a slow time. I still maintain that the course is 3.15. So my 18:44 translates into about 18:20, which still way off the 17:00 campaign I thought I had forged this season.

Perhaps it's time to start training for the indoor season.

Light fare

Friday--warmed up .7, stretched, jogged back home (.7), and stretched some more. Light fare.

but no one will listen!

Thursday--broke normal routine and ran just 2.2M in 15:45. I'd like to get my legs feeling light for Saturday's 5K, which I maintain is actually more like 3.15 but no one will listen!

like Sprite: refreshing

Tuesday--Henderson: 3 sets of 400 with 100 jog in between repeats and 500 jog between sets.
84,82,81,81
80,78,79,77
76,74,74,72

This workout was like Sprite: refreshing.

Monday--took off
Sunday--8.5M, 8 of which was on the boardwalk. 58 minutes. UPDATE: I checked and found out that the boardwalk was 7.5 (in 54:00), which makes the total run 8M not 8, in 58:00.

Cape

Did short run of a couple of miles (7:00-7:15 pace) because of Cape May tourney. Hoping for longer run tomorrow!

Felt refreshing, though

Thursday, 10/6--WC Country Club. 7.9 Borough run. Plan was to run first two mile steady state and then move into fartlek mode, 5 minutes pick-up, 1 min scale back. Ed, John Callaghan and I did this together. I hung off them for 5, sometimes 10 meters, but would pull near even at the end of the five minutes. I did particularly well on the hills. Since I wasn't part of the initial conversation about this plan, I thought we were fartlek-ing for the balance of the run. I didn't realize we were doing just 5. We stopped the pick-ups in the Shart Hills area, not too far from Suzanne's house. We had "room" to do one more, and I was hoping we did because I had gas left in the tank. Instead we called it quits at 44:55, having started at about 15:55. Had we kept going we would have picked it up again at 46:00 and reached High Street at 51:00. We then could have jogged the last quarter or so and finished up in about 53:00. Instead we finished in 55:45. Felt refreshing, though.

Wednesday, 10/5--4.4 easy run.
3:33(.5M)
7:11 (1.0M)
14:20 (2.0)
15:45 (loop 1)
19:10 (2.7)
22:45 (3.2)
24:05 (3.4 tennis courts)
29:25 (4.2)
30:45 (4.3/4.4)

Tuesday, 10/4--Henderson at 5:40A. Workout was 5x1000 with a 200m recovery. Just to think--I had just done this workout on the Rustin XC course the prior Saturday, except I gave myself a much more generous rest period. Runs were: 3:41, 3:40, 3:36, 3:32, 3:29. 3:34 avg. Justin had a really good workout, ahead of me by 3-5 seconds per 1000. I wasn't dead afterwards, so I wish I had given a bit more of myself. I'll have to compare this to the last time we were given this workout.

On Tuesday, 9/21/10. 5x1000 at 5K pace with a 200 meter jog in-between. I got there a tad early that day so that I could get a couple of extra minutes of stretching in since my hamstring is not 100%. My runs were: 3:36, 3:26, 3:31, 3:27, 3:16. We took turns leading these. I led the fourth, which was probably my most comfortable run. I went out a little hard (my first 200 was :35) and had to slow up. Even though my hamstring felt sore, this workout was a good one. For additional perspective, on 9/7/10 we did 5x1000 and ran 3:47, 3:38, 3:30, 3:28, 3:23. The average was 3:33, 6 seconds slower.

Sick-'n-Tired (of being sick)

Sunday--Justin and I got together for my usual 11.5 mile run. We said we'd go at any easy conversation pace and then see how things developed. We chatted it up mightily for the first mile (8:00). We reach 1.7 in 13-something, a full minute or more off my usual pace. I was liking this, though, particularly given my 5x1K workout yesterday. We reach the turnaround point at 43:40, a far cry from 40:00 or 41:00. We dropped the pace to 7:05 or so and held it for a while. The last two miles were in 6:50 and 6:45, respectively. We came in at 83:20...for 7:15 pace. This was exactly 4 minutes off my pace a couple weeks ago. We ran the second 5.75mi in 39:40...6:54 pace. Incidentally, that day I did the entire run at 6:54 pace. Today felt a whole lot more relaxed and less lonely! I tell you what, though: I am sick-'n-tired (of being sick).

Target: 3:20

warmed up 1.
stretched well
5x1000 on Rustin's XC course, like I've done before with Justin and DJ. Target pace: 3:20 with 3:40 recovery...for an even 7 min.
trial 1: 3:30
trial 2: 3:20
trial 3: 3:20
trial 4: 3:16
trial 5: 3:17
...for an average of 3:20+.

Still Sick

Friday--Still sick. On meds. Yuck! "Easy" run of 4.4 mi in 31:05. 7:04 pace.

Thursday--7.9 with the Borough rat runners, a term of endearment in this context. Got there late and had to make up ground. 56:30. About 7:10 pace

Wednesday--4.4 mi was planned, but a mile into the run I began to see lightning. No way was I going to continue. I jogged back home. 1.5 mi. Still sick.