Day #31 - Speedwork. If it can be called that.

As the end of the last post indicates, I was not especially looking forward to today's workout. I slogged through a 2.5mi warmup, then 5x800m at around 5k pace (so, around 3:10 per) then a South St / Walnut loop from Pottruck. I think this is over 8mi, and it was a hard workout for the shape I'm in, but I really should have done a 6th. Poo.

Day #30 - Split Run

3mi on the treadmill, then an AM loop. Something like 54min all together, should be at least 7mi.

Oh I really don't want to run intervals tomorrow. Whine whine whine.

Day #29 - Strawberry Mansion

The schedule only called for 8, but as I came down off the Plateau 4 miles into my run, I felt good. So instead of turning right and heading back to Center City, I made a left and ran to my favorite bridge. Went up and over, as Blitzer would say, and while I was waiting for a break in the Kelly Dr traffic, I saw a fast woman running about 1/8 of a mile ahead. Caught her at the parking lot just before John B Kelly and sped up a little so we wouldn't be in that awkward slow-pass two-step. Then, even though my legs were still the tiniest bit achy, I felt stronger with each marked quarter... by the time I came round the bend at Girard I was in a full-on kick. Ran hard down the last bit of Kelly Dr and Boathouse Row to Lloyd Hall, then grabbed water and ran easy back via Spring Garden and 34th.

I think this run is between 9.5 and 10. My watch said 1h9m, but I turned it off while I walked down the stairs coming off the bridge and forgot to turn it on again until halfway between St Joe's boathouse and John B Kelly, so time essentially unknown. But, on the whole, a good run!

Day #28 - bye bye rest days

Ok. The honeymoon is over and the hardcore begins tomorrow. I have a little over two months until taper begins. This plan is a little insane: 7x20+ mi runs and tops out with a few 70mi weeks. I may scale that back a bit, especially if I develop knee and hip trouble like I did when I first did 60mi weeks training for Philly two years ago. But my legs have a lotmore miles on them now, so I am hoping that my body will be able to take it.

Today was an easy day: 3mi treadmill run (.25 cooldown), then upper body circuits.

Day #27 - NCRT bliss.

Happiness is... doing my long run on the NCRT. 15mi in 2hrs on the nose (1h59m26s--just barely negative split! I think it's also a slight downhill.) This was just a lovely run. Perhaps I'll write a few more lines about it tomorrow.

Day #25, Day #26

Friday I took a goose egg. Drove down to DC with K8 and Em-ill-ee and got stuck in horrible traffic... I didn't catch up with Tita and Ahmad until 9.30. I actually considered heading out for an Inner Harbor run, but thought it would have been rude. So I did not run.

Today I ran the Dru Hill / Hampden / JHU loop. I felt a lot stronger than the last time I ran this (when I stabbed my hand on some glass in the last half mile) and finished about 5 minutes faster. It's a bit more than 8mi.

Day #24 - Loop it, loop it good.

Training is so weird. I know that each individual day in a cycle doesn't much matter. I know that what's important is the cumulative effect of 18 weeks of hard work. But it's hard not to be disappointed after a day like yesterday. When I step on the mill not wanting to do it and bail after 20 minutes. The whole reason that I lock myself into a training plan is to impose some structure on the madness; to not have to worry about listening to my body and wondering when I should push hard and when I should take it easy. No, I lock myself in, and just ask my body to dial up whatever numbers the calendar calls for. In this framework, deviating from The Plan is failure. But yesterday revealed the bogosity of the fiction: sometimes you do need to listen to your body and you can't let your schedule dictate the effort. Sometimes a day off is exactly what's needed.

I've been whining all week. Chris saw me come home on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday all tight and sore and crabby after struggling through my workouts. And yesterday was a ridiculously easy run. Not even 3 miles. But it was exactly what my legs needed. If I'd kept up with the numbers on the calendar, my workouts would have gotten poorer and poorer. Instead, when I tied up my shoes and hit the path today, suddenly running was fun again. My legs had pep and I felt like myself. Part of it was the weather, I'm sure, but the bulk was finally giving my body a proper rest.

Anyway, I ran the Loop from Pottruck today. Call it a 12mi run, with a middle 4 miles at close to tempo pace on the Kelly Drive backstretch.

Hooray.

Day #23 - Unscheduled Downtime

Working late, a hailstorm, and still-tired legs led to me taking 'er easy today. Did a 20 min treadmill run, but my legs and heart both weren't in it... so I stopped. I'll try to squeeze a double in tomorrow.

Day #22 - Eight and done.

Ran my 8 in 1h3m. Still sore from Sunday and never really got past that first-few-minutes-of-the-run feeling. Hoping tomorrow is better.

Day #21 - Jaysus!

Shit. I didn't look at my training plan. I just assumed that yesterday was a rest day. Instead, I was supposed to do 4. Oops.

I did get an easy workout in (legs were still tight from Sunday): 30min on the stationary bike, then lifted upper body.

This week goes down as: (4) 8 8 8 7 15 7 = 57.

Day #19, Day #20

Saturday was almost an exact repeat of last week: I was hoping to get the long run out of the way, but I ate a too-salty snack too close to heading out, and my mouth and stomach were both whining the whole time. I turned around just after Sweetbriar for a something-more-than-6-but-less-than-7mi run. Must remember not to eat those rice cracker snacky things before trying to run long!

Sunday was a monster day. In the morning I met K8 for a spin out Manayunk-ish, and then some puttering around in Fairmount Park. Total time was around 1h40 minutes. (I forgot to reset my cyclocomputer so mileage unknown.) In the evening, I did my long run. The weather, which had been hot and sticky all weekend finally started to turn around 8pm, so I was actually pretty comfortable (but still sweat gallons). I ran out to East Falls, made the left turn to Manayunk at Ridge, and continued past the spot where the Philly Marathon mile 20 and turnaround is... until the watch said 1:05. Stopped at the BP station at East Falls for a Gatorade on the way home and felt revived. Finished in, well... as the photo shows, 2:10:17 (running time; I stopped the clock while refluiding). I haven't GMap'd this, but I think this is between 16 and 17 miles. The time was right in the range that I wanted to do, so I'm happy.

With almost 4hrs of cardio... I slept well last night!

Update: I GMap'd it; it's actually a little under 16. Poo!

Day # 18 - Easy Seven

Ran out to John B Kelley and back via the river path. It was hot today, and is staying hot all weekend (we may not go below 70, even at night). I have a very long run to do this weekend so I just did the first half of this run nice and slow (I have my watch again! around 7:50 pace). Hit the turn around and ran the return about a minute faster than the out, but still at a nice, easy pace. 7mi and change in 55:xx.

This was a good run. I'd been feeling a little battered by this week's workouts, so it was good to just go out and do an easy run and have it be really easy, even with the heat. I ran without my iPod, which I should do more often. Being out in the quiet as the sun set into the Schyullkill made for a very peaceful evening.

Day #17 - Bikram Tempo Run

I realized that I forgot to post the plan for this week. It is/was: 8 7 8 7 18 7 for 55 total. Of those, I decided that Tuesday would be at whatever pace I felt like, Wednesday easy, Thursday hill or tempo, Friday easy, Saturday Long, Sunday pace. Despite what I wrote yesterday, so far so good.

Today I set out from Pottruck for an 8mi run and planned to do 3 at tempo pace. I ran the Montgomery Loop, and basically did that, although with the heat (low 90s) I was dealing with at the start of the run, it may have been more of a tempo effort than tempo pace (I keep forgetting my watch! Must remember to bring). Even so, I felt pretty good about this workout. After an easy (hilly) warmup from Pottruck, I felt locked in for the mile from the Concourse down the hill from Belmont, and the two on MLK. Took it easy down the river path and back on Chestnut.

Day #16 - What doesn't kill me...

...sometimes just makes me slow. Um, yeah. Starting to dread the endless days with a real run. It's weird: 7 on the easy days isn't so much more than what I did all winter (4), but mentally it is taking some getting used to.

I was all toight today and really, really, really didn't feel like running. I dragged my sorry, whining legs to Pottruck, did 4 and change on the treadmill in 30, then went outside and ran--no scratch that, jogged--a Spring Garden Loop. I think this makes just a bit under 8mi (so I definitely covered the day's seven.) Hoping that taking her easy means I have energy for a tempo or some hills tomorrow.

Day #15 - Pottruck, Mantua

Ran a 10k on the 'mill, then up the hill to Mantua and back for a little over 8mi.

Day #14

If the number of the training day is evenly divisible by seven, then I don't run. Not that I could have run today anyways. I think I may have had a mild heat stroke yesterday. I ended up bailing out at Race St, running a bit to around Chestnut, and finally giving up and walking the last half mile home (it's very unusual for me not to be able to finish a run... the boy is stubborn.) Then I got home, ate some food, and took a two hour nap. And then ate some more. And then napped some more. I was really wiped out for 3-4 hours. The only other time I've been like that in recent memory was after Chicago last year, when I was seriously zonked out for most of the afternoon.

Anyways, yes, I did not run today. But I felt like getting outside so I went for an easy spin on the bike. Went up the river path to Sweetbriar, and up to the Concourse. Then instead of going up St George's Hill, I took Parkside and started exploring. I'm not really sure where I went after that, but I'm pretty sure I was in Haverford, I definitely crossed over Cobbs Creek a few times, and I came back from 75th all the way to 22nd on Spruce. A little over an hour, probably closer to 17 or 18 than 20. But I feel refreshed, and (unlike the hokey-pokey) that is what this workout was all about.

Day #12, Day #13

Ugh. I should know that if I make a post like the last one that I need to be prepared for some comeuppance.

I set out for my long run on Saturday, but too soon after an afternoon snack. It was hot, my mouth was all salty, and I was dragging. So when I got to the 3.5mi mark, I decided to invert Saturday and Sunday's runs and turned around to come home. Call it almost 7 in 49.

Sunday I woke up early and it was actually kind of cool. It's always tough to follow an evening run by a morning run, but I figured this was as good a time as any. So I slathered on the sunscreen, tossed on my shoes and still-damp shorts, and headed for the Wissahickon. Made it to the Forbidden Dr parking lot in one piece, but the run home was a slog. I was basically darting from water fountain to water fountain as my legs got tighter and tighter and the day hotter and hotter. I guess this is why the long run is important. Anyways, an unknown distance (around 15 though) in 2hrs.

Day #11 - Bounce

Unlike the training plans I've used before, this one assumes that you've been doing around 40mpw. So there are a few weeks around 50, and then it ramps up fairly quickly. It's good that, despite easy days going from 3-4mi to 6-7mi, I am feeling a little antsy for more, not battered. With one exception (week 12), this is the last week that has both an off day and a long run of <= 2hrs. Live it up now I guess!

Ran out W River Dr at sunset. The weather was cool and breezy (if a little sticky... but hey, it's Philly in summer... whatta you expect?!) and the sky all pink and pretty. I had some pep in my legs today: to the AM in under 12, W River Dr in 19 something, and mile 3 at Sweetbriar right at 21. Went a little under a mile more to Black, then up to the Concourse and back down the hill I was running on yesterday. Back via the Parkway and 22nd. 52min total, I'm calling it 7.

Day #10 - 8 for effort

I ran hills today. Nothing huge, just four repeats of the large-ish one up Lansdowne from Sweetbriar to where the Concourse starts. I didn't GMap it, but going by my watch (68min running time) and estimating a 3mi warmup up the river path and MLK plus a return across Girard and Lemon Hill, I think it should have been at least 8 for the day.

Day #9 - A good run...

...is one that's done!

The last 24hrs were a little bit crazier than I expected them to be. There was one claim that we really wanted to be able to make in our ICFP paper (for those in the know: essentially that a really, really simple type system was all that you needed for doing anything with q-lenses; in particular, that we'd used to it check the 1000s of lines of Boomerang code we have.) I'd ported a bunch of code and thought I was done, but then discovered a bug in the Makefiles of all things, that was hiding two errors. I was still confident that we could get things to work with our type system, but I was running on fumes and I wasn't sure that I'd be able to get it done by the time the paper was due (and so, was afraid we'd have to weaken the claim.) Happily, I was able to get it done and check really truly all of our examples, but it was a slog to the finish. It's one of those things that's kind of silly--probably nobody who ever really reads the paper will take much notice--but as a scholar, it was really important to get right.

Whew! That's more computer science than this blog has ever seen, I think. OK, what about running? As yesterday's post indicated, I wasn't able to do my full workout yesterday. Today I came home around 2.30, ate a crapload of food and promptly fell asleep until 7.30. Got up at 8 and ran a Strawberry Mansion (really a St Joe's boathouse, which is at the 2 1/4 mile marker, about 1/8 of a mile short of the bridge) out and back on Kelly Dr. I think this is just under 9 miles, so I'm actually only 2 and whatever miles "in the hole" for the week.

Day #8 - In the hole...

This always happens with marathon training... a day gets busy and something has to give. We are preparing the camera-ready for our ICFP paper, and I could only find time to sneak in a 3mi treadmill run at Pottruck. I may try to do a double today and make it up, or maybe I'll just call it a bust and move on.

Day #7

And on the seventh day, he did rest. Or rather, he didn't run, but biked. Did a couple of Sweetbriar / St George's Hill / Chamounix / Strawberry Mansion / Reservoir / Girard loops. Just over 20mi in a little with the to/from from home in around an hour (hooray!) I love biking.

Last week was 53mi in 7 workouts over 7 days. This week goes down like this: 8, 7, 8, 7, 15, 7 for a total of 52mi in 6 days. I am hoping that today's spin will give me legs new pep, but if not, I may split Wednesday's 7 into morning/evening runs. Hills on Thursday.

Day #6

And on the sixth day he (did not rest but) ran a Montgomery Loop, and saw that it was good.

Day #4, Day #5

Friday: ran a Sweetbriar / Lemon Hill loop (46min, should be at least 6mi).

Saturday: ran a SuperLoop (1h41min; should be a little under 13?)

Day #3

Another 8 (maybe .2mi less). I had to start earlier than I wanted (so it was still really hot) so I started with 4mi on the treadmill--quick warmup, then some 800m repeats--and finished with a Spring Garden Loop.

Today's 6 will be a nice break.

Day #2

I did another 8 miles today. Or, at least, I ran for over an hour, which is usually at least 8. I did 2.5mi on the treadmill, then ran outside for something around 45min.

Day #1

Ran an 8mi Montgomery Loop without my watch. Today I'll do another.

Here we go...

Sunday's 13 didn't happen. MCF and AMS didn't feel like going to Gunpowder Falls, so we went to their swanky MAC gym at Harbor East. I was planning to run for an hour, then run back to Bolton hill, but the skies opened (and the lightning closed the pool, canceling AMS's swim) so I took a ride home when they left. Ran a good hard 10k, but that was it.

Monday: did 5k at Pottruck, lifted upper body.

The rest of this week goes 8,8,8,6,12,8 for a total of 53.