Getting close

Tuesday we ran 1200's on the track, times were consistently 401-402. After 4 I decided my time was best spent jogging around the track with some of the other guys who raced on Sunday. Got in about 10 miles for the day.
Saturday I plan to to the 10k at the Tufts track meet then have a final long run on Sunday. As a result I am allowing my self to take today (wed) off and get ready to finish the week off in a proper fashion.

Wind breaker

I had the luxury of running behind this guy from mile 10-12 at which point he fell of pace. I wonder if it had anything to do with that sail like jacket he was wearing.

Rain

but not too cold out so I didn't mind getting out and trudging around in the weather. Probably one of the best runs in a while. Mostly trails in the arboretum.

77 minutes.

Into the wind

I must say I look very Anglo Saxon in this last mile photo.

Eastern States 20

I wrote the entire race write up for this, which I rarely do and then it got deleted somehow.
Here is the short of it. forst 10 into a 10 mile headwind. 66 min.
Second 8 out of the wind in residential area.
last 2 back into the wind.

Final time 2hr 11min.

Let the healing begin

Certainly not out of the woods yet, but Koda is home and the therapy sessions have begun. Therapy consists of sets of 1 set of 20 back leg flex and extensions on each leg while the other back leg is supporting weight. We do these 2-3 times a day. Then some work in his doggie sling that supports him hind end while he walks. He is slowly getting used to using his back feet. He is also getting back in the habit of barking at the neighbors when they walk down the hall way so that is a good sign, he hasn't lost his charming personality. Whining because he is hungry and barking at the neighbors as they walk down the hall. He can walk on his own althought not good for extended lengths and recommended by the vet yet. He is still on 8 weeks of crate confinement with the exception of getting out for the bathroom and brief assisted walks.

Trapped.

It is a sad day!

Took the dogs for a short walk today and when it came time to chase the squirrels back up the tree, while Koda was running, something horrible happened to koda's back. He was unable to walk on his back legs and was yelping and "screaming". We rushed him to the emergency room and they diagnosed him with a slipped disk. He is there now and will have surgery tomorrow. I am hoping that surgery was the right thing to do and not simply prolonging the inevitable. Coming from the country, I know what can often happen with dogs when they become debilitated.
After some quick testing the vet did say that he will likely return to a normal lifestyle and be able to walk on his back feet, because no nerve damage was done. But, he couldn't do any jumping or excessive running.

Keep Koda in your doggie prayers.

Weekend wrap up

Friday was an easy day with a simple 20-30 minute jog at the arboretum with the pups.
Saturday I ran for 65 minutes pretty easy pace.

Sunday was the New Bedford half. This is known in our parts as a fast marathon. I can honestly say that it is now a challenging course, whith the exception for mile 13.I feel like I went out pretty conservatively and ran evenly for the most part. However Gremlin says a different story, 614,624,623.625.605.620.608621.615.607.604.615. I do remeber making a conscious effort to push the pace the last 5k. It had been a while since I was able to do that at the end of a race, but I still didn't feel like I had the kick I have had in the past.
I can honestly say that I think this is the fastest I could have run on this day. I can also honestly say I should have done things differently building up to race day. Dietary, running etc., that would have resulted in a better race. So in all I think I am content. BTW weather was perfect 61deg sunny. 10 more degrees and I would have called it a hot day! Isn't that funny how quickly we get weak to temps. I am hoping for a 40-50deg Boston marathon day as opposed to a >65 deg on, because that may spell disaster!

Tempo Thursday

Things went well during this workout, which is a first for the past few weeks. Warmed up for 26 minutes then on the track for 10k. I didn't get a final time for the 10k, but it was faster and easier than last weeks 10k.
The splits went like this, 557, 558, 557, 554, 553, 555, 127. Afterwards ran for 22 minutes easy.

Total time running 83 minutes.

One gear

I was certainly feeling yesterday's run and also the 2 days off before. The entire run was like running in mud. I was lucky to just get the run finished. Ran for 65 minues.

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bib #2146    

Mixing it up

As the 'thon approaches I am getting a bit nervous about my current fitness. So, thought I would go for a longer warmup before the track workout. This resulted in an 86 minute warmup. Then 2 mile repeats 558 and 605 I attempted a 3rd but failed miserably.
Ended the day with 1hr 50 minutes of running. Distance, not real sure.

Koda is also glad the rain is gone.

Cooper making a 180 deg cut for the ball!

Mt Washington road race

Registered for this event a couple of weeks ago. It is a lottery event so I am not sure if I'll get in. We have entered as a GBTC group so maybe Tom has some connections to get us "picked" in the lottery process. Who knows. All I know is that it is supposed to be a pretty miserable event.Many do i continue to sign up for these things!?
They basically shut down part the road that goes to the top of mount washington and we race to the top. It is 7 or 8 miles, I'm not really sure. I think the grade is in the 10-11% range also, which from what I understand is not flat! I. Think the elvation at the end of the race is 5k' which isn't much, but enough to give you that tight uncomfortable feeling in your chest.

The sun will come tomorrow

At least I hope. Then maybe I'll go for a run. the past 2 days of miserable have had similar effect on my running. Nothing on Sunday and nothing on Monday. This is the grossest weather I've seen in a while. Constant rain, wind, and cold. ThE cold is the worst part. The good news is that it is ending tonite and we ar supposed to have decnt weather for the rest of the week. Hopefully mytraining will be the same. New Bedford half is on Sunday and I don't want to go into that feeling stagnant, and I also have a marathon coming up which I I should probably not take for granted.

Cold and rainy

East 67 minute run in the miserable weather.

Friday 3.12.2010

Almost didn't make it out the door. I tried my best to make excused and talk myself out of going out this evening. Eventually I made it out the door and ran for 63 minutes. Feeling much better after getting that run out of the way.

Thursday Tempo

Wednesday was a R&R day
Thursday however was not. Met a few guys at the RLTC for a 30 minute warmup then a tempo run on the track. Ran 10k, 37:45. The first mile went something like this 615, 605, then 558's and 559's for the rest of the run. Felt pretty good at the end but don't think I could have continued comfortably for more that 2 miles.

17 minute cool down.

Dominos

Warmed up 26 minutes. Then groups of 4, one person in the group drew a domino and multiplied the numbre on the domino by 100 and this was the distance of the interval. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, there were a few stipulations. The first was that these were no normal dominos the largest number of dots was 18 and I think the smallest was 9. We didn't find out this until we started drawing dominos. The second part was that whoever drew the domino was to not tell the rest of the group what they drew. The idea of this was to simulate a race like experience where you never know when the people around you are going to push pace or even stop pushing the pace.
We ended up doing 1100, 1000. 1400, 1400, 900. I called it a day after this and did a 12 minute cooldown.

Nice change for a Tuesday .

Done

Day after Stu's

Didn't feel too bad this morning. I made it a point to sleep in till 0930, so I got plenty of recovery/rest. Oh the joys of working from home.
When I finally rolled out I was very suprised that I only had a tight right calf. So this evening I headed out for a nice spring run. The weather has been fantastic during the past 3 days. Now that most of the snow is gone it has left benind some nice grass medians and also some really soft trails in the arboretum. Had it not been for these desireable running conditions today's run may not have gone so well. After all was said and done I finished with 80 minutes.

TOmorrow we start our track workouts on the outdoor track. We'll see how a hard workout goes. I don't expect much from myself coming off a race Sunday.

Paces for Stu's 30k as per Gremlin.....

630,641, 36sec(gremlin had a stroke during mile 3), 620, 633, 634, 609,629, 636, 654, 635, 647, 652, 653, 634, 624, 615, 726

Stu's 30k

To catch up on my weekly run log should be easy
Friday = rest
Saturday = Rest
Sunday = 30k

I started out the 30k right on 630 pace and planned to attempt to keep it in that range if the course would allow. For the most part I was able to do so with the exception of a 648, some high 630's a 605 and mile 17 which was 715. I was toast at the end of this race. There wouldn't have been a chance in hell that I could have continued on for another 8 miles. This makes me nervous, but it also lets me know where I am and what I need to do. First of all no more long stretches of no running. I need to maintain consistent weekly training to ensure I don't loose any more fitness. Second I plan to go out at Boston running somewhere between 635-640's for the first half, then see what happens. That should be an honest start to the Marathon, and lastly I learned that running fast is hard and running fast up hills is even harder.

30k, 2hr2min 58sec. 21 for the day. that is all she wrote for this post.

catching up

Wed - easy 42 minute run,
TR - 3.5 mile warmup, 5k on the track (1750), 20 minute cool down

Tuesday no track

Since Sunday was a race day the wiArd recommended the group just go for a run, and that is what we did. Sometimes these are the hardest runs. I felt good throughout the whole run. We ended up closing the last few miles but I am not sure what the pace was.

1hr45min30sec
no idea of the distance but I'm pretty sure it was over 14. Track workout on Thursday.

Ready for shorts and shirt weather

Slipped out the door in the standard long sleeve, long tights, gloves, and hat for a 75 minute run. We are not having the freezing cold anymore, but it isn't shorts weather for me yet.
Suprisingly I am not really sore from the race. Not sure if that is a testament to past training or maybe I just didn't run hard enough. I am thinking training because I know I left it all on the course Sunday. At least it felt that way at the time.
Somewhere between 10 and 11 for the day.