Weekend

Friday: did 3mi to stretch my legs at NYSC

Saturday: 4mi in Philly!

Sunday: 14-15mi in Philly; East Falls Loop with extension into the Wissahickon.

Big Catchup

I haven't felt like blogging in a while... but I have been running. At this temporal distance, I can't remember the details of every day, but it should go something like this:

Present minus 3 weeks: was doing NYSC workouts during the week. C flew out to White Plains and we drove down to Philly to take care of some shit. Took a rest day on Saturday and then did the East Falls loop on Sunday.

Present minus 2 weeks: did two-a-day NYSC workouts during the week for 7-10 miles / day, although split into a morning 3 and an evening whatever. Did 6x800s on Thursday. Drove up to NH for the weekend and did a 10mi out-and-back down to where Rt 10 hits 25C. Then did 6mi from the VT side across at Newbury(burgh?) bridge and down to the common.

Present minus 1 week: ran outside during the week including a few longer runs north towards Ossining and south to Dobbs. Went to Chicago on the weekend and did the run from SurfHaus down to the bean, about 9mi. Rested the other day.

Present week: have been doing 5-8mi runs on the OCA, strictly north. Ran 10mi at NYSC today.

So I've been doing 40-50 miles a week, but my long runs are not long. I am worried. My race is less than two months away and I have not run more than 15mi in longer than I can remember. I need to ramp up, but the next two weekends are busy with weddings. I will try to squeeze them in. Really there is no excuse. The biking has made it harder to recover, but my body should be used to it. The traveling has been exhausting, but I should deal with it and insist on more sleep. I am not worried about finishing the damn thing, but it could be ugly. And my time goals are out the window. Let's hope for an improvement on number one.

Tues, Weds

Went to NYSC both days. A mirror workout of Monday's 5mi yesterday, then 7mi today in 51min (30min easy, then iFartlek for the last 3mi). Had a nice spindown on the way home: 9a to 117, to 448 down into Sleepy Hollow. Saw a few other bikers around Blue Hill Farm.

C is coming to town this weekend, so I need to try to get my 16 in tomorrow. Dreading it a little...

NYSC Hawthorne

I bought a student membership to a swanky gym, NYSC. At first the guy was going to make me buy a full membership (at $80/mo) but when I balked and said that I'd seen the summer offer on the website, he said "OK, I'll pretend you're 22" and gave me the cheaper membership.

Ran 5mi in 36:1x on a good ol' LifeFitness 95-series treadmill.

Catchup

It's been a long couple of weeks. The last push to get the POPL paper out took all of my energy last weekend and I biked on Friday (Loop), but then did nothing until Tuesday.

In between, I moved to Tarrytown, so that run was on the OCA Trail. I didn't map my runs yet, so they're almost not worth blogging. But I think I did 3 x 5-6mi runs on the OCA last week, plus a number of bike rides: from HPN to TTown, over to White Plains, down to Manhattan.

This week I must get back on track with running. CM looms just under 9 weeks away. Yikes.

Thurs-Sun

Thursday: 5mi treadmill run. Very slow warmup, then progression up to mid-9mphs? 35:xx

Friday: Pottruck to 34th to Mantua to W Fairmount Park to Girard Bridge to River Trail to Pottruck. This is between 4-5mi.

Then, a fun weekend:

Saturday AM: out-and-back run to Columbia Bridge @ pace; around 7mi.

Saturday PM: biked SuperLoop, betweeen 13-14 flat miles.

Sunday PM: ran SuperLoop, same 13-14 miles. Accidentally ran through Philadelphia Women's Triathlon.

Sunday PM: 24mi bike ride with Chuck. Went through the park, past the Mann, through to Wynnewood, Ardmore, then into Upper Merion. Fun part by Old Gulph Rd, back by Conshy St Rd, Belmont bridge to Manayunk, then Kelly Drive.

Presently enjoying a quiet Sunday night; am ensconced in my lantern-lit room with tea and Hélène Grimaud on NPR (and cranking on a POPL submission).

Attacked!

Ran Sweetbriar, but not without incident. Just after coming through the tunnel of the Girard St bridge, I felt claws grabbing at my scalp. A small bird had swooped down and was picking at my head! I swooshed it off, but was quite surprised!

Other than that, an uneventful run. Ran through 4th festivities near the PMA, then back down 19th, and walked to TJs from Rittenhouse for good company and good burgers.

Tuesday = Monday

This whole week is going to be staggered. It's an odd week anyways -- worked from Chicago yesterday and flew back today, and tomorrow is the 4th (but no holiday for the Harmony guys).

Ran an easy 4mi at Pottruck, then lifted upper body and spun down on the bike. Looking forward to more miles on home turfs tomorrows.

Monday = Long Run

This whole weekend got staggered by Saturday's rest day. Ran long
today, about 1h45m. Not sure of distance, and don't have time to
GMap, but hoping it was around 12-13mi.

Catching up

Wednesday: I think I did 3mi (can't remember?) on the treadmill, then lifted legs.

Thursday: 5mi on the treadmill in iFartlek style (plus .2mph on each
song change). 35:15 or so? FULL Upper body circuit, biked.

Friday: 3mi, again iFartlek. 20:4x.

Saturday: rested.

Sunday: Ran this

9mi loop in Chicago.

Have not had any caffeine in two days. Yesterday was rough and I slept about 16hrs. Today is much better, and I'm thinking of trying to kick the habit (but maybe after POPL deadline).

Hills

Hill repeats on the W Fairmount Park hill between Sweet Briar and the Civil War Memorial. Probably 6+mi all told? Biked 10min at Pottruck to loosen up.

Sweetbriar

Did an easy, slow Monday run: Thornton Manor to W River Dr to Sweetbriar to 34th to Pottruck. Then lifted upper body.

NCRT

Did my long run with Tita and Ahmad at GP Falls SP. Went nice and slow, and covered about 11.2mi, according to trail markers. So 88min = about 8min/mile pace.

End of Week

I kind of overdid it with the lifting on Wednesday (good rule: don't lift as much as you used to lift whilst training for EUSA Championships!) and spent the rest of the week shuffling around and grimacing. Not good.

Thursday: ran for 25min, maybe 3.5mi + bike.

Friday: biked the Loop. I was debating taking a genuine rest day, but it felt good to get out and stretch.


Saturday: ran a slightly longer variant of the Dru Hill / Hampden / JHU / Charles St loop in Baltimore. The map is from December. I think I did an extra mile up Keswick near the top.

Pottruck

3mi run, full leg lifting circuit (hurts!) + bike.

PM: Pottruck Speedwork

I was not excited for this workout, but after the warmup, all my sluggishness melted away.

2mi in 14:15, then 4x800 in ~3:10 each, then 1mi cooldown.

Early Week

Monday: 4mi run + a short cooldown + upper body circuit.

Tuesday AM: Between 3-4mi early morning run. Speedwork to come...

SuperLoop

It's Sunday, which means running long. I was kind of stiff all weekend and wasn't really looking forward to this. But after the first 30 minutes it wasn't so bad. I believe this slightly-longer-than East Falls loop is ~13mi. Took me about 100 minutes, which is about right.

EndOfWeek

Friday: 3mi on the mill, full upper body circuit + bike.

Saturday: woke up and beat the heat by running W River Dr/Sweetbriar/Girard/Lemon Hill/Parkway/22nd. I think this is 6mi.

Pottruck x 3

A solid first week of training.

Tuesday: 35min tempo followed by leg lifting circuit + biking.

Wednesday: Easy 3mi followed by upper body lifting + biking.

Thursday: Easy 3mi followed by 3mi pace + biking.