Week 7

Mon - 7.5 (60:00) keep it very easy today, legs felt good. Only issue was a strange discomfort in my right side / hip, hopefully it's nothing.

Tues - 0m decided to heat and rest my side.

Wed- 5m (38:30) side felt much better then Monday, had a few twinges here and there. For the most part felt good.

Thurs - 5m (33:06) ran on the treadmill, side was a bit sore to start felt good once I picked up the pace. Last 1.5m (8:00)

Fri- 9m (1:02:34) first full run with no pain in my side.

Sat- 11m (1:15:00) with Renee, Johanna and Eric. Keep it honest, legs were a bit tired today.

Sun- 7m (52:09) needed a rest day, slept in and took a short day on the treadmill.

Total - 45.5m 

Tough week not sure what caused my right side to hurt but put a bit of a damper on my week. 

Week 6

Mon - 8.5m was pretty tired from this past weekend. Could feel the legs but always happy to get out the door.

Tues - 9+ (60:30) took the day off from work, get some relaxing in and hustled out a relaxed run before heading to lifting.

Wed - 7.5 (60:00) in the storm stayed in the neighborhoods, made it the whole run with only one close call. In the final min I felt my feet slip and was very close to busting my ass, some how saved it.

Thurs - 6m (40:20) just a lazy day, lacked the motivation to run. Almost thought it was going to be a zero but around 9pm I got that surge I was looking for, got my lazy ass up and out the door. It was awesome to run.

Fri - 7m (46:20) was nice to run in some daylight before heading over to Keene. Felt really relaxed a bit surprised by the time and the effort.

Sat - 7m (49:00) in Keene keep it easy with the planned run for tomorrow.

Sun - 24m (2:42:19) this was an awesome run with some lifers! Meet up at Ferenc's house, rode over to the marathon loop with Josh, Greg and Eric. We rolled out on the loop seeming very relaxed. A few rollers in the early parts but mostly flatish around an hour in we turned to a dirt road and hit a beastly climb (never fails on a Ferenc run) after a 20min climb we were coming down the back side heading towards town. Almost as soon as we got onto pavement again the pace began to increase, we started to roll into town. Made one quick pit stop at the graffton county store for a drink the proceeded to roll in the final 4-4.5 miles.

This was an awesome run with some great friends, always enjoy running with this group.

Total - 69m 

Week 5

Mon - 7m (50:49) had to work a split shift so we were able to enjoy some day light. Followed with some lifting (legs)

Tues - 7m (45:09) we got rolling pretty well it was a bit cold and was pressed on time to make it to albany for lifting. Last mile in 5:30 felt good, every time Eric pushed I was able to surge with him.

Wed- 8m (61:00) with Meagan. Nice and easy around saratoga.

Thurs - 0 worked a spilt shift which need up just being a full shift then comig back for more. 

Fri - 8.5 (57:40) nice run and good weather. 

Sat - 0m recovery from last night (macknights bday) also went to chowderfest in saratoga. By the time I got home all I wanted as to sleep, so that's what I did.

Sun - 10m did the winter series in Albany went with the short race again 7k they advertised it as a 4m so I had some demons creep up when I hit the final turn for home and realized I was at 23:30 already. Would have been nice to know prior. Overall a good effort 25:00 (5:44) on a solo effort, makes me confident to know when I line up with competition I'll be ready to roll with them. 2nd place was 2:25 back, was all alone after the first 200 meters.

Total - 40m

Not a great mileage week, but had a good workout and good race. Need to have the next two weeks be better mileage wise before heading into DH Jone.

Wk 4

Mon- 8m (58:11) bit chilly out, legs felt good for the most part a little tiredness in the right hip flexer

Tues - 0m planned day off from running. Got in a very good lifting session with the team later in the night.

Wed- am - 5m (37:35) woke up wicked early, decided get some extra miles

Pm - 7m (47:17) 

Thurs- am - 3m (21:15) 

Pm - 7m (46:57) was supposed to do a workout but ended up hitting the store after work. Didn't start my run till 9pm, at that point I figured best to push the workout and just get some miles.

Fri - 2m (14:00) was planning to do a workout. My left shin has been sore for a few days but usually fine after a few mins of running. Didn't want to loosen up today. Decided to shut it down for some maintenance.

Sat - am 5+ (37:05) did some drills and rolled out the legs before running. No discomfort in the shin.

Pm - 8+ (58:20) roads were pretty sloppy for the afternoon but still nice to get a easy run in.

Sun - 7+ was supposed to double but never happened. Did the winter series in the morning, ran the 3m (17:23) not nearly as fast as I wanted but there were some bad sections of road and a solo effort so no complaints. Ended up taking a nap when I got home, once I woke up I had no motivation for a 2nd run. Decided to instead go clean my car and do some grocerys. 

Total - 53m with a planes day off and one day for maintenance. 

Wk 3

Mon - 8+ (60:31) weather was awesome tonight. Only mistake was being vet dressed. Seems weird to say that in mid January.

Tues - 7m (46:35) good run was able to miss majority of the rain. Picked it up over the last couple miles. Afterwards headed to Albany for some weight training..was informed today's gonna suck doing super sets...there was no lie in the statement it sucked..but enjoyed it at the same time.

Wed - 10m (73:13) was extremely sore from yesterday's lift, took the first half of the run to feel like I could lift my legs. Sucked but at least I knew why I was tired/sore.

Thurs- 10m (65:13) got some snow last night so I pushed my workout to indoors on the treadmill. Easy 3m warm up then changed into flats for a 5m controlled tempo. This was the first workout of the season, felt good the first 2-3 miles the last couple I was hurting a bit but never breaking down. Hit the 5m (28:36) had to laugh a bit that's close to the fastest I've raced in the past few years. Pretty happy with the run and can't wait to build on it.

Fri- am - 2.5m (19:43)

Pm - 5+ (38:03) nice easy shake out was feeling pretty sluggish this morning.

Sat- Am - 9m (1:04:22) nice and easy morning run with Eric and Megan. Nice way to start off the day.

Sun - 18.48 (2:09:57) went to the Joe Benny pancake run. First 15 with the group then added on 3m felt really good, on top of that I didn't take any fuel the entire run and still felt stong.

Total - 71m

First week of marathon training went pretty well had a good tempo run and a solid long run.

Wk 2

Mon - 9m (60:49) went out into the neighborhoods to avoid traffic. Roads weren't to bad.

Tues - 6m (36:53) on treadmill to damn cold outside. Last mile in 5:14 felt good. Afterwards went down to FF for some heavy lifting with the team. 

Wed- 8+ (54:30) got a late start to the run, mainly do to watch the mighty duck which didn't end till 8pm. Oh well it was an awesome run.

Thurs - 10++(1:15:04) nice and easy run, followed by hitting the gym ( right next to our house) nice little gym and quite. Proceeded with a legs day.
Fri - 5m - (43:14) Legs were sore all day, decided for a slow and easy recovery run.
Sat - 10m (69:50) w/Eric and Meagan Hogan. nice weather and good run the last 10 mins or so there was a bit of rain but nothing to impact the run. Pasted by a place we were looking at for next year possible.
Sun - 14++ (1:43:36) In Albany with the Fleet Feet team, started out pretty relaxed and worked our way down around 10.5 - 11m a group picked it up to finish out the run. I stayed back with one of the girls, funny part was we were still hitting 630-640 pace.

Total -63m

Summary - Good week starting to build the miles up and feeling good doing so, had a nice progression run on Tuesday and 2 solid days lifting. Next week will be around 70m and need to keep up with the lifting days / progression runs.

WK 1

Official the first week of the new training log! Time to get back to updating the blog, and to answer Boj's question before he asks the week number is just easier and (actual) trying something new.

Mon - 10+ - headed out to Miller rd for some hill repeats, got in a 3m warm up + strides.

Goal 5-6 x 800 repeats plan to run relaxed and get up the hill. Was interesting to do a workout with only the headlamps for light. times - 3:04/3:02/3:02/3:01/2:57. had a 2++ cool down back to the house.

Tues - Am - 3m - 24:23 W/Derrick (legs pretty sore)

Pm - 5m - 36:47 on treadmill started snowing out and plan cold (no want to deal with this on a solo run)

Wed - 12m - 1:21:09 Was planning to do the Hang Over Half and see where I was at, that didn't happen got a horrible nights sleep and my body felt like shit. I pulled the plug at 7m and jogged off 3m to complete the day. Off day but looking forward to the rest of the year, and got some useful advice...In short "you need to have a race and pull your head outta your ass" and i agree 100% sometimes you just need someone else to remind you of that.

Thurs - 5m (31:22) last mile 5:11 on treadmill. Didn't start my run till 8:45 was happy with the run. Last mile hurt I need to do that more often

Fri - 0 Traveled over to keene right after work

Sat - 5m (at the track)

Sun - 10m - 1:09:22 was real nice to run beech hill while in keene, roads were quite and had some decent weather.

Total - 51m

2013 review

A little early on the 2013 review but with the racing season done I'll get this done early. This year was a mixed bag I started the year with a few poor performances (again). I made the decision to switch things up and have someone else coach me. This was a completely different approach then I had ever taken with training. Most of the time I was tired and not seeing the results when I raced, I was assured that this is how I should feel at the time and things would turn around. Unfortunately my body had different plans, around mid June/early July my achilles acted up for the first time in a while. This lead to a solid 3/4 weeks off, in that time it was a nice physical and mental break from running. This also began to fuel the fire again, I began to look around at what some others were doing and what I had done in the past. One HUGE portion that I noticed is a lot of ppl were out working me. Doing the miles and the niddy griddy (as Wilson would put it). Once I resumed training it was back to square 1, this involved a slow build up and racing back into shape. This got me a season pr in the 5k and the best 5k in the past few years of 16:38 (nothing amazing but a step). Along with this the decision was made to add strides and weight training back into the plan. Luckily the fleet feet team has a personal trainer (man it's tough). All this brought back the hunger and the mind set that I need to get back to out working ppl and everything will fall back into place.

As far as 2014 go I look forward to the challenge of getting it back. I'm going to continue with the weights and extra stuff. Also want to get back to how I was in college (being a mileage hound) which started again this past week with a nice 16m run to end the week. I hope by putting in all the work the results will come......only time will tell

Stockade - athon

Sunday 11/10 - was the stockade-athon 15k. We arrived around 7:30 and got over to the brooks tent to drop off our bags and get out of the cold. Around 8:15 we headed out for a easy warm up in preparation for the race, legs were feeling good only thing to decide was what to wear. 8:55 I headed to the start line, the start for this race is different then most they split the men and women to get equal space on the front line. I tucked into the 2nd row and awaited the gun. Shortly after 9am we were off it took about half a mile but I eventually tucked into a group which included a few of the stoten women and Sara from the fleet feet team. After mile 2 the group was a bit smaller with myself, Eamon the 2 stoten girls and another guy from ARE. We moved thru the course pretty well and continued to stay together. We hit the 5k mark in 17:34, the course then drops for a 1m - 1.5. Once back on the flats I felt a urge to make a move but decided against it (poor choice) we came thru 5m in 28:22, shortly after I began to slow and Eamon took the lead. He yelled and motioned for me to get on his shoulder and hang on but again I didn't respond ( another poor choice) 

Over the next 3m I struggled to get moving or change gears. Once I hit the 8m mark I was able to change gears and get moving again, I was able to finish in 55:23 which is a pr for the course. 

There were some positives and negatives from the race:

Positives: I felt really relaxed thru 5m and confirmed I am in pretty good shape.

Negatives: I didn't go when I felt the urge and also didn't go when Eamon told me to come with him.

I need to get tougher and trust my training.

Below are some photos from the race. 

10/28 - 11/3

Mon- 7m (43:00) did a progression run with some good climbs in the beginning and towards the end of the run. Started out at 6:43 for the first mile 2-6 were 6:10-6:15 and the final mile in 5:47 

Tues - 7+(50:23) with Derrick. Before heading to fleet feet to do some weight training. 

Wed - am 3+ (23:30) w/ Derrick

Pm - 9m track workout. Went with the classic KSC workout of mile/2x800/4x400 on half rest. Everything felt good except my hamstrings which were tight from lifting the previous day.

Times: 510/234/237/73/74/75/74 

Was really happy with how the workout went and how I felt going thru it.