Bagel Run

A week ago I fumbled out some sort of plan for my long runs. Back to basics, back to golden 70s mantra of long slow distance (LSD...). Since I'm not aiming at 2.15 marathon time (to be honest), I should not run long runs too fast. So today I really tried to stick to this "new era" plan. But what do you know.... It's a lonely road when all others are running ahead you, laughing away. I ran 16+ miles (7.04/mile = plan was to keep it between 7.00-7.15) and, after all, I'm quite pleased with this one.

Friday Hills

I did some hills (725m) on Ten Mills Road. Because of more or less long absence of hill workouts, I started this period with 5 repeats with rest jog. That felt a pretty fine solution for this morning, so suprisingly I have nothing to complain about. HHhhmmm... why I did only five repeats. What a wuss I am!

In the evening we did an easy 6-miler which felt really nice. Such a joy.

Thursday

Yesterday was fun and easy, but this morning my body was set on hurting mode - again. Today's only (ez) run was 7+ miles (7.50/mile).

Workout Wednesday

Morning shake-off, 4.5 miles. Easy pace with no remarkable pain. Nice. Otherwise morning was rainy and cold. In the afternoon it's time for another group run at HCC.

Man it was wet, almost cold! Evening's run was 11+ miles (around 6.35/mile) of which 8.5 were moderate tempo (for me) @ 6.26 pace. First week of this year has been 76.5 miles but who counts them?

The Cost of a Smile

Morning's 6-miler felt slightly worse and hurting than yesterday's flight. But that was kind of expected. In the afternoon I hope that the weather would not turn into winter too fast, and hence I'd be able to run another round, and to do some core/coordination exercises. Talking big?

Maybe not. I just ran an ez 5 miles (6.52/mile) and try to set my mind for core exercises later this evening. But that's only a try.

Fartlek - On Fire

Nevertheless, I think that I might like Mondays. Not as a big fan, but I can live with them. Reason for this change of mind is Monday's potential for suprises. I'm not claiming that this type reasoning holds all the laws of rationality, but is life so rational after all, right?

I did a fartlek consisting of 5*3min.'2min. and 5*1min. with 2 min. rest jog. Longer "on"-ones I ran with really relaxed effort @ 5.20-5.18 pace. This outcome was really satisfying, since I was prepared to fight with my worn-out legs @ 5.30 pace. The shortest ones I wandered @ 4.57-4.48 pace which burnt my soles! I really don't know where this all of sudden joy of rendo (relaxed running) came from. Today's only workout increased my mileage with 12.5 miles (6.49/mile).

Greenbelt

This morning we went to do an easy trail run in Greenbelt Park which turned out to be a neat place to run. No wonder that on our way back we met a group of GRC runners. At least some trails were marked with mile posts, trails were really runable, and some parts of them reminded me of home (pine trees + trails covered with pine needles). Run was 7.5 miles with easy pace. Sun was shining again. Week 63 miles.

Bagel Run

Bagel run, 15+ miles (7.20/mile). The plan before Boston is to run my long runs with slightly more moderate pace than last summer. Then if these legs are cooperative later on, on every third long run I'll finish strong (e.g. last 3 miles @ marathon pace). Let's see how long these plans will last.

To Do or Not To

Prediction Run: We missed 11.00 AM by twenty seconds. But then I compensated this huge disappointment with two donuts. Yammy.

This morning darling was undecisive between tempo (rendo) and no tempo. So we ran an easy 6-miler after which we decided to do a half-cut hill workout - 5*80 seconds with jog rest. That was mentally relaxing, physically not so much.

Racing, racing

Last year's last race was different. Not bad, but different. Due to really gusty winds some of the power lines were fallen down so the course was changed into 4 loops instead of one 4 mile loop. No worries with that. However, the biggest "problem" was that when 1.000 runners (in inaugural race, good job!) run the same loop, surely somebody gets lapped. So after the first lap race started to feel more like slalom rather than straight forward pushing of pace. But that didn't matter so much after all. Basically, it was just unexpected for a sucker like me. During the second lap I also lost the touch with my arms due to really tough and cold wind. What a rookie. I finished 6th (TWO minutes after winner) timing 21.27 (5.21/mile).

Year 2008 in numbers: 2993 miles (58 per week, 249 per month / 4816 km (93 per week, 401 per month). I happy.

Now we will start 2009 with a race, Resolution Prediction Run. The aim is to run slow, but to finish close to 11.00.