smally

no motivation today, sore and could not get into a groove, I have no idea after today how I ran 20 miles close to marathn pace.

week 14 of 20 tomorrow, getting closer.

P.M - 2nd run.

Wrestled with the kids but for some reason had them in bed a bit earlier than normal, although tired from patients all day and the speed workout this afternoon, I decided it would be a good idea to run a 10k tired so I can get used to forcing through a run if I had to.

To my surprise I had a neat run, I was tired but I got into a zone where the run felt exhausting but at the same time I could have kept running marathon pace to the finish.  I guess I was pretending it was like the end of a marathon,  I can only hope it will be like that in Boston.

6 miles - 41:21 (6:52 pace)

1st run at lunch

Very nasty cold wind today plus I have got away from doing speed workouts outside until I find a track when the weather is nicer, too tough on the legs on the streets etc.

Supersets today:  400 (5:15) 800 (5:30) 2400 (5:45)  Times 2 with a 800 recovery run between.

I started with the 5:15 pace and felt a bit shaky so I put it down to 5:30 pace as soon as the 400 was done but I felt so good, I decided to keep it going which turned into a 5k.

New PB for a 5k TM -  17:04

I gave a push to break 17 but ran out of time, plus it takes at least 12 seconds to get to 11 on the tm.

I slowed down to 8.7 and did another half mile speed after a couple minutes, did the half mile at 5:30 pace, felt good but I could tell the legs were starting to get tired.

There is a 5 k race this Sunday, think I am going to run it, should be interesting to see how my road time is compared to my TM time.

10 miles marathon pace and threshold mixed.

I started the run at 6:30 average and held this quite well, at 5 miles I started playing with 6 min mile pace here and there, I probably ran close to 2 miles sporatically for the last 5 miles.  Quite happy with the effort especially after yesterday's double run with the speed.

10 miles - 103:53

4 miles with hills.  4 % incline at 6:52 pace total 16 mins, I would run at 1% grade for 3 mins then at 4% grade for 2 mins. 

1 easy mile, pretty tired from the key runs this week, had little time to run today, so maybe I will have legs for tonights hockey.

Did not get home until close to 1am last night, tough hockey game.

Saw over 50 patients in the morning, bit crazy.  Was going to do some hills but a patient beside me on the TM kept talking, decided to pack it in after 3 miles and go buy some new shoes.

Purchased some new flats and changed my trainers again, fun.

Going to run 14-16 with G tomorrow.

Plan to run the 5k race Sunday and 6 miles hills Saturday morning before work.

calves sore today, time to change the shoes.  ran with G, glad to see him get back at it, he will be fine for Boston. 

13.1 - 129:50 (6:51 avg )  felt like I was moving faster than this but maybe the wind etc, still pretty happy considering last night was a late night at the Spitfires game in a suite, lots of food and drink which meant for a crappy sleep.  Plus I did not eat breakfast because I felt a bit off from the crappy sleep.  Need to take longer runs a bit more seriously.

2.9 easy, g was starting to run out of fuel and my calves were sore.  7:15 avg.

Probably run 5-6 easy or hills before work and hopefully rest up the calves and the legs for a 5k race Sunday.   Curious to see how I handle the nerves and how close I will be to this weeks 17:05 TM time. 

rest, sore.  plus a 5k race tomorrow.

cold and raining, it was 2 degrees but with the wind and rain it was more like -3 feel.  

Julian my 7 year old ran the 1k race first, he surprised me and ran 5:29, I was emotioanl as I ran in with him to the finish.  Then he had his hockey game and scored 3 goals, awesome.

I felt great, have not ran a 5k for 2 years so I just went with what I would do for my speed training, I think I had more in me but I was a bit concerned about going out too fast.  There were a lot of university and high school elite runners so it was a good experience to see them out in front. 

I was passed with .5 to go by a friend/chiropractor who I have beat everytime I race him so I had the experience of either giving up and settle for a decent time or try and find the right momemt to pass him so with .25 left I surged and blew by him which was by all the people cheering, a great finish.

Considering the conditions, I am happy with the time and it was nice to finish first in my age group.

P.M - 5 miles 34:22 - 3 miles in a row at 4% incline at 6:52 pace, total incline was 3.5 miles.

Decided to get another hill workout at home.  We were putting in some new flooring in the gym downstairs, cool gym flooring that connects together and the best part it is cheap.  Put Elliot to bed and changed into the boxers and ran on the TM while the kids played around and Sarah finished the flooring, I had the tunes pumping and it was all fun.  To my surprise I ran at marathon pace at 4 % incline for 3 miles in a row and it was pretty easy, I kept telling myself ok 3 mins, no 6 min and the next thing you knew it was 3 miles.  Ran the next mile an a half at 6:45 pace and the last half a mile I ran at 4 % incline at 6:52.

Much easier than this aftenoon.  I took back the new shoes and the new flats and put an order in for the same pearl izume's and the same flats that I have been doing well with speed work and racing.  Also picked up a cool new shirt that I won for winning my age group, I was actually going to buy it last week, funny.

5 miles on the TM hills.

Ran 2.5 of the miles between 4 and 8 % grade at 7:13 avg, tougher than I thought.

Maybe a bit tired from the 5k race yesterday.

A.M - Speed work.

3.1 - 18:06

2 min break

1 mile - 5:45

2 min break

Two half mile repeats @ 5:35 and @ 5:26

P.M - easy while watching the hockey game

5 miles @ 6:52 pace

Listened to my body and decided to rest today, hockey tonight anyway.

Legs are not tired from the back to back double runs but I am a bit less motivated to run an easy run on a tm.  crazy wind today so I will run 10 miles easy tomorrow, speed again on Friday then 21 miles after work Saturday.

Planned on 10 miles easy outside but it fits better into my schedule tomorrow.  Went home and decided to do the speed work that is left for this week.  30 seconds alternating between 5:15 and 6;29 pace.

For some reason I decided to not go below 10.5 and would go as high as 11.2.  Could have kept going but I decided to cool down after a 5k.

3.1 - 17:26

1.9 miles 6:52 pace.

10 easy tomorrow and 21 long progressive saturday.

40:42

Long run tomorrow.

21 miles today, 226:27 (6:58 avg)

Worked this morning, saw 50 patients from 9-11:45, 2 new patients.  I could not even snack I was so busy.  Had a quick bagel on the way home and started running with G at 1pm.

Ran the first 11 miles with G, 110:37 for the first 10 miles.  Mile 11 was with G deciding what we were going to do because I was going to pick it up the last 10 miles, 7:25 for mile 11.

I then took off and stayed around G by being a bit creative and running ahead then trying to catch up.  108:21 for the last 10 miles, pretty happy. (6:51 avg)

10 miles with G - 110:37

Mile 11 with G - 725

Last 10 miles - 108:21

6:58 avg for the 21 miles, decent negative split.  Ran a hill at mile 19 2 times in a row, felt pretty good.

Outside with the kids for a couple hours in the sun felt great.  hot tub with the kids was also rewarding after the run.

Might run 10 miles tomorrow as well.

sore calves, warmed up 1 mile then ran 3.1 in 19:42 besides the right calf felt easy.

great family day, outside all day with the family

Mistake today ran with my old shoes again which probably are close to 500 miles.  Calf was ok but started to hurt at mile 7 every step but each time I looked at the garmin I was always between 640 and 655 pace so I pretended that I was at the last 3 miles of a marathon, stupid but kind of fun.

10 - 108:20

have to be smart this week to avoid an injury.

Proud of myself today, I was quite sore with my right calf yesterday so I decided not to run.  This was really hard and I almost tried at lunch but sustained.  I probably would of ran tonight but I have to practice what I sometimes preach to my patients.  The rest is much more valuable than 6 miles.

Thanks Darren

6 mile this morning at 5:45 before work, kids all have chicken pox, needless to say plans changed for the day.  Right calf seemed alright for the run, did not enjoy running that early, not used to it.

6 miles at lunch, I wanted to run a speed workout but I knew deep down the calf muscle was not right.  I flirted with some tempo running but backed off after 4 miles at 26 mins.  I ran the last 2 miles easy and the right calf started to hurt, scared.

12 miles total, probably skip speed workouts this week so I don't tear the muscle.

So blessed!!  I was so concerned about the soreness yesterday but I stayed positive and was prepared to take today off and skip my addiction to speed workouts.  However the calf felt great today so I was apprehensive and somehow my new flats ended up on my feet, go figure.  To my surprise there was no signs of soreness the entire workout.  I did modify the superset workout because I did not want to flirt with disaster.

3.1 - 17:47 ( I had more but I was very apprehensive )

Took a min break/walk

3.1 - 20:17 ( wanted to do some pick ups but I am getting wiser with my age )

I have 7 one mile repeats scheduled but I think I will run a couple back to back 13 milers MP instead, it really pains me when I skip something on the schedule but I don't think there is much improvement that I can do here on in before Boston.

13.1 - 129:29 - 6:50 pace

Nice but frooze my jewels on the way back with the west wind.  Happy with the run becasue the calves did not hurt, new shoes were a bit weird but will be ok.  Would have been tough to hold that pace for the next 13.1.  Pretty good indicator that I will probably not go out that fast in Boston, instead run 6:55's - 7's for the first 10 - 12 miles then go for it, if I make it up great if not I am sure I will be able to break at least 3:05.  If I go out like I did today which did not seem fast but nevertheless I think I will bonk around 20-22 and end up running a 309 like Detroit. 

I feel I have lots of time to break 3 and I believe Boston should not be a suffer but a great experience that I have worked so hard to enjoy. 

busy morning with patients.  had lunch and only had about a half hour window before Elliot would get up from his nap so I decided to run a fast 5 miles on the TM.  I really should have kept it going until 6.2 but I knew Elliot was probably screaming in his crib (which he was) and I was still a bit concerned about the calf which does not hurt at all.  Plus we are running at least 13.1 miles tomorrow close to MP if not faster.

5 miles - 29:09

I also decided that I would like to try and run at least 1 run a week like this where I can eventually hold the pace until 10 miles, I really want to break 1 hour for 10 miles.  Maybe not likely but I am sure I could have broke 36 mins today for 10k if I really had everything on the line.  This of course is a TM but I have always found that its not that much faster in the right conditions.

ps- hope the 20 miler went well today!!!!

Started out well with G today 19:20 for the first 3 miles but his legs gave out and his breathing was off so we backed off.  G ran 2 hard back to back 10 mile runs and I think it caught up to him today.  I did some pick-ups while running with G so I ended up running 10.2 at 6:55 pace, had a good sprint up the only hill in the area.

Took my son Julian to his hockey game and he rocked out there, he scored 6 goals and was such a good back checker, so proud of him.  Got home and Sarah took Julian to the Junior playoff game and that gave me a window to run 3.1 on the TM because Elliot is still sleeping and Sadie is keeping herself entertained.  Ran at 8.9 average with half of the run at 4% incline. 20:52

Perfect timing Elliot is up and ready to rock.

10K - 35:31  (oops originally put 45 instead of 35, thanks Brian)

WOW, great speed run today.  On the list was 8 - one mile repeats at 5:45 with 400 easy recovery.

Decided to see what I could do running a 10k on the TM and I rocked it today.  Put the TM at 10.5 and left it there the entire way except for the last .2 I stepped it up to 10.8.  I felt awesome for most of the run, no form problems and at 5k I knew I would hang on to beat at least 36:36 which is my previous bp 10k.

2 min break then ran 1.8 at 6:40 pace.

10 MILES - 59:09

After yesterday's 35:31 10k I thought I would take it easy but I decided to run the superset which is 10 miles total but broken up into 2 parts.  I started the run at 530 pace then kept it at 542 pace until 5k which was 17:48, I really wanted to quit at this point but I decided to take it down to 10 on the tm which is 6 min pace.  I still thought I would pack it in but I started to settle in and feel comfortable.  To my surprise I started to think about a pb for 10 miles and kept it going, it was exciting to blow away my outside 10k record of 103:40.  I am starting to grind it out and hold the 6 min pace which is very positive for my shorter races and hopefully this gives me the confidence for leg turn over in the marathon.

Proud of the effort yesterday and today and hopefully I can have a strong 23 miler on Friday and officially start to taper.

Hockey night, so 4 easy, tired from the last 2 runs understandable.

Ended up losing 4-3, not going to play next year in that league.  Scored 3 goals but we needed a win to be in the final, sucked.

Oh well, less chance of an injury not playing next week, hate to have a hockey injury before Boston.

Was going to run 7 but at 3 miles I was drained, I think the 2 PB runs really sucked the life out of me, I quit at 4 miles and will load up with energy and rest tonight before the 23 mile run tomorrow.

Think I should hold off and run it a bit easier than close to MP because I am starting to get a bit tired.  It would be nice to run 23 miles and know that your close to 3 hours for a marathon if I finished an extra 3 miles so I will have to check the ego tomorrow.

Decided to take a pass on the 23 miler and wait until Sunday.  Really drained yesterday, so I ran 10 miles pretty easy today 6:51 pace and I feel more lively than yesterday.  Plus I will be able to run the first half with G on Sunday, it is Sarah's birthday today so we had lunch and I got adjusted and had a massage.  Need to rest up the next 2 nights and have a fun run on Sunday.

Today's run was all about running easy and visualizing running Boston, I was pretty zoned in and the pace felt very easy.

rest

Made sure we took it easy today, first 13 miles I was 7:36 average which is new for me for a long run, I believe that was with a min pee break as well.  I actually found it tough today because the wind was terrible at times.  I decided to pick it up for the last 10 miles hoping to run 23, I ran the first 5 miles at 7 minute pace which was really discouraging because I am used to running 6:45's when I do a progressive run but I really had no legs today, I finished hard to 20 miles and brought down the avg to 7:24 which is decent considering I have a cold and Elliot is sick so I have had crappy sleeps lately.  I really think Monday and Tuesday's 10k and 10 miler really took a lot out of me this week.

Anyways I am glad G had a good run today, he needed that for confidence.  I have to move on and realize that I have had some great long runs that are 3 hour pace so I am sure with some proper tapering and a bit of luck with the weather I will be ready to go April 20th.!

Happy Sunday everyone

Added 3.5 miles last night on the TM nice and easy miles a bit sore from the 10k.

Great rebound from yesterday's long run.

I guess the slower pace allowed me to have better legs, I am not sore from 22 miles which is new for me.

10 Km - 37:34

I ran 5 miles at 6 min pace then on purpose wanted to run the last 1.2 miles at marathon pace but I got bored so I picked it up again after half a mile.  Regardless I am happy to run this number especially because it did not feel like I was racing.

I just have to fight this mini cold I have.

6.5 - 6:48 pace, felt solid. 

would like to run again tonight but i need to rest my right hip flexor, kinks a bit on abduction.

did a solid .4 hill at %4 grade at the end, felt good.