Running Times, Online

Monday AM rd. 20, hilly great pond loop, 2:07:29. Actually used a measured loop this week and it confirmed what I figured that I have been running a good bit under 7min pace for these runs, so my monday sessions have been longer than I noted them as the last month or so. total 20

PM road 5 shakeout with Melissa-who was pretty sick, found out the next day is was pneumonia. 45:32, skipped exercises for strength because achilles was like 95% and wanted to get it 100%. tot. 5

XT stretching, 100m walking lunge focus on glutes

Tuesday AM 1 mile warm up, 7:53, 18k basic aerobic paced tempo, 1:02:41(5:36 mile/3:29 per K pace)- around 6k loop. the 6k loop is a bit tougher then the 5k loop also it is 40m long, though over similar area, I stopped because I had to go to the bathroom, wanted to go 24K. splits 6k-21:01, 12k-41:48.2(20:47.3), 18K-1:02:41(20:53.6), 1 mile cool down, 7:08, tot. 13+

PM 41:08 easy to fields, about 5.5 miles, exercises for running technique 3×100y each with jog back rests-29:05, mile plus cool down 7:29 tot. 7++

XT stretching, exercises for running technique 3×100y each with jog back rests of springing, high knees, butt kicks, bounding, skipping with high knees. 100m lunge walk focus on glutes. Butts routine (3×15 each leg of prayer hammy, straight leg quad lift, abductor with apposing leg knee drive, mika butts, adductor with opposing knee up, 3×20 calf raises with stretching between sets, 35 straight leg core, 20 back crunches) sorry I don’t know the real names to all that stuff. the routine took 20:56- no rests-

Wednesday AM very hilly rattlesnake hill 9 mile loop- 58:56- again a measured loop confirming I have been underestimating my trail run lengths tot. 9

PM 40:05 easy around phillips and the sanctuary, then 10×50 second hills (roughly 250m) with jog down rests in sanctuary, then jog back to house bit under a mile 6:45- total running time-1:11:42- tot.9+

XT stretching, lunge walk for glutes, Butts routine(21mins)

Thursday AM 3+ warm up, 23:38, strides, 20min tempo on track, windy-bit worse then last week but not crazy- passing 4 miles in 19:49.8- splits- 1k-3:04.1, 2k-6:07.5(3:03.4), 3k-9:16.0(3:08.5), 4k-12:22.5(3:06.6), 5k-15:28.7(3:06.3), 6k-18:36.1(3:07.4). 3+ cool down, 22:39 tot. 11

PM rd.6 solo easy. No time, I forgot the watch. tot. 6

XT stretching, 50m lunge walk focusing on glutes in am, 100m lunge walk focusing on glutes in PM, mika warm up stuff

Friday AM 1 mile warm up-7:55, 26K basic aerobic pace tempo around 6k loop- 1:30:19- longest yet- 5:35 mile/3:28 per k pace. splits- 6k-21:08.3, 12k-41:53.0(20:44.8), 18k-1:02:42(20:49.9), 24k-1:23:20(20:38.1)- last 2k-6:58. Fighting to hold form last 2k other than that one bad patch at around 20 to 22k. 9:46 cool down, tot. 18++

Noon treatment and chiro adjustment from Mika

PM 40:00 easy to fields, 5.5ish, 10mins diagonals on football field- 16 sprints 15 jogs, bit over a mile back to the house, 8:46 tot.8++

XT stretching, mika warm up, 100m lunge walk focus on glutes, butts routine-see above- 22mins

Saturday AM 3 mile warm up, 22:20, 18k of 3′ hard 3′ recovery structured fartlek around phillips fields during a driving rain. 1:02:04 for 18k- 5:33 mile/3:28K pace, windy but that wasn’t the issue it was the mud. My legs were completely shot by the end of this and I was running almost 20 seconds per mile slower than last week around the same loop. My legs were so thrashed I thought I might fall on the cool down, which was 3 miles-22:38 tot. 17+

PM holt hill 5 solo easy 40:50- leg muscles still completely thrashed so I opted not to try the circuit for running technique. tot. 5

XT stretching

Sunday AM 30:37 warm up, 4×1200m hills with jog down rest, Legs very tired!, 4:11.2(5:04), 4:13.8(4:46), 4:09.2(4:49), 4:04.6(4:43), 12:11 cool down. Not as good as last week, but considering how shot my legs were I was pretty thrilled with it. tot. 12+

PM 5.5 or so with Melissa around and over on roads including all of the feaster 5 mile course- 45:09 tot. 5++

XT stretching, butts routine-24mins

Summary 145 miles, 6 workouts- 3 tempo runs 2 long, 1 short, 2 hill sessions- 1 long, 1 short, 1 fartlek/interval session- over 78 kilometers under 3:30 per K pace- that is more then 48 miles under 5:37 or so for the week. This was not a week of breakthroughs. But still the best week yet. The fartlek looks awful compared to last week, but I can’t tell you how much the mud killed me. I can tell you I was shocked to get those times on the hill today with how I felt after running in the mud yesterday. It was my second best hill session during this cycle and I was Hurting! (caps on purpose there) The 20min tempo was the best I have had and the the 26k was the longest session I have had and the first bad patch came much later than in the 25K I did early last week. Also with Melissa being this sick I can’t imagine my immune system has had an easy go this week to get its job done either.

Quote of the week “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” Atticus in Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

Monday 7AM 2 hours easy (2:00:36) road and trail, probably right about 18 but we’ll play it safe and call it 17++

10:45AM Mika for chiro and treatment

PM road 5 shakeout with Melissa, 42:50, exercises for strength after, tot. 5+

XT stretching, exercises for strength - 8×10 jump squats, 8×20 jumping jacks, 8×10 each leg high knee single leg hops, 4 mins walking lunge focus on glutes

Tuesday AM 1 mile warm up, 25K light tempo at Basic Aerobic Pace, on regular 5k loop, 1:26:09 - 5:31 pace, slowed after about 8 miles as I was having a bad patch holding the form running slightly slower it was easy and I felt I could have continued all day, splits-5k-17:08.6, 10k-34:12.2 (17:03.6), 15K-51:15.2 (17:03.0), 20K- 1:08:41 (17:26.4), half mary- 1:12:25, 25K-1:26:09 (17:28.5). 1 mile cool down - 7:33 tot. 17++

PM 40:26 easy to fields, exercises for running technique, jog mile plus back to house, tot. 7++

XT stretching, exercises for running technique-3×110 yards with jog back rest of springing, high knees, butt kicks, bounding, skipping with high knees, then 110 yards of walking lunge focusing on glutes. Butts - 3×15 prayer hammy each leg, 3×15 straight leg quad lift each leg, 3×15 abductor lift with opposite leg knee lift each leg, 3×15 mika butt activators each leg, 3×15 adductor lift each leg, 3×20 calf raises with stretching between, 35 feet from floor to 90 degrees with straight legs for the core.

Achilles and calf on left very sore after long tempo and drills- was waiting for something in that leg to start complaining. You don’t change your stride without side effects.

Wednesday AM Holt hill trail and road 9, 1:03:45, pretty easy, footing on trails real bad with all the oak leaves down now made it tough to hold 7min pace without breaking my ankle. tot. 9

PM road 6 solo shakeout, 47:54, achilles on right very sore and tight, so no short hills and had to stop for some stretching twice on run. tot. 6+

XT stretching (lots extra for achilles and calf), 4min lunge walk focus on glutes, butts routine (see above)

Achilles real rough today and the poor footing in the AM didn’t help. I iced and Melissa massaged it and used a whalebone to do some graston on it.

Thursday AM 3+ warm up-23:58- strides, light stretch, 4 miles tempo on track in 19:59.6- light wind, supposed to be 20mins at 3:04 per K or bit better but struggled a bit, with the wind and in a track suit because it was cooler (I wear a track suit if it is under 50 degrees, so if it’s in the 40s I’m warm during workouts), about the same performance as last week but I was working a bit harder. Not great but with tight achilles I’m not pissed. Plus I’ve been getting better for 2 weeks and holding the same for 1 week on this workout, splits 1k-3:05.7, 2k-6:12.7(3:07.0), 3k-9:20.0(3:07.3), 4k- 12:28.1(3:08.2), 5k-15:36.8(3:08.7), 6k-18:45.5(3:08.8) last 400 in 74.2- 3+ cool down- 22:57. On the plus side the achilles felt better on the tempo and strides than in the warm up and cool down and I had NO trouble what so ever holding the form and no threat of the hammy at all felt I could go much further in terms of that. tot.11

PM rd. 5 solo shakeout 38:34 tot. 5+

XT stretching, ton of extra for calf and achilles, again with icing and Melissa massage and graston

Friday AM 15+ miles, loops around Phillips campus and sancutary trail, 1:39:39, babying the achilles, the long workout did a number on it with the drills on Tuesday so skipping that stuff today. tot. 15+

PM 6 miles road solo, 45:45, again no diagonals to baby achilles tot. 6+

XT stretching, lots of extra for calf and achilles, again icing and Melissa massage and graston, 4 mins walking lunge focus on glutes, butts routine (see tuesday)

Saturday 6AM 3 warm up, 22:08, 54mins 3′ hard 3′ recovery structured fartlek around Phillips fields, passing 9 laps (16,200m) in 52:56, so average pace with rests of 5:15.5 per mile/3:16.0 per K, for 10.26 miles. 3+ cool down 21:27 tot. 16++

PM road 6 easy, solo, 44:52, again just being careful with achilles so no exercises for running technique tonight, will either start them again tuesday or next saturday. tot. 6+

XT stretching, bunch of extra for Achilles/calf, 4mins walking lunge focus on glutes

Sunday AM 30:56 warm up, 4×1200m Porter Hill with (jog down rest), 4:06.4(4:52.1), 4:06.9(4:44.0), 4:05.0(4:44.5), 4:00.1(fastest yet on this hill old best 4:04.6(4:55.6), best set yet by far had only been sub 4:07 once before today- best set by 15.9 seconds. also far and away the fastest jog downs yet, I’d never come down under 5mins before today. Sub 9 mins for every cycle, had really never been sub 9:30. I think this is all more a measure of how much doing a circuit the night before takes out of my legs than anything else. It would have been nice to crack 4:00 as that is 5:20 pace and been my goal for this hill since I first ran it, 2 mile cool down 11:43 tot. 12+

PM 55:35 shakeout with Melissa, tot. 7

XT stretching, butts routine (see tuesday)

Summary 141 miles for week, 2 tempo runs, one hill workout, one fartlek/interval session. Good week, not as good as last week, but with the achilles hiccup it was pretty good. Last week I had just under 50 miles under 5:30 pace, I think this week I had around 31 under 5:32. I’d like to have about 60 in a week by the end of this cycle. Anyway achilles not at 100% yet but pretty close. I was real happy with the step forwards in the form change. It actually felt natural a couple of times, still don’t have it at all paces and have a hard time shifting gears but it is coming. 25K is far and away the longest session I have done since at least the summer of 2007 without it going, maybe since the problem started in January of ‘07. I’m planning at least one 30K this week. But it may just be one if the extra volume at the pace really kicks the achilles and calf’s butt.

Quote of the week - don’t have one listen to this instead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygNuRpwZqRU

Monday AM mostly trail 1:45:22, tot. 15++

PM 41:16 easy then exercises for strength (17:20), tot. 5++

XT stretching, exercises for strength (7×10 jump squats, 7×20 jumping jacks, 7×10 each leg high knee single leg hops, 30s rest after all)

Tuesday AM 1 mile warm up, 10 miles 54:17 on road, splits (5k-16:59.3, 10k-33:44.8(16:45.6), 15K- 50:47.2(17:02.4)) very easy aerobically but working hard to hold good form to protect/fix hammy. 1.7 mile cool down, 11:55, tot. 12++

PM 39:16 to fields, exercises for running technique 3×100m each with jog back rests- 28:24, bit under a mile back to house 6:39 tot. 7

XT stretching, Butts, exercises for running technique (springing, high knees, butt kicks, bounding, skipping- felt very flat on these)

Wednesday AM Holt hill 9+ easy, 1:01:45 tot. 9+

PM 43:15 easy then 10×200m hill sprints with jog down rest, then 4:10 jog back to house, VERY tired, it was cold and raining and dark out, one of the more unpleasant sessions I have had. tot. 8++

XT stretching, mika warm up, walking lunges focusing on glutes, butts

Thursday AM 3+ warm up to track, 23:28, VERY tired didn’t want to do workout, couple strides with jog back rest, light stretch 20min tempo on track goal 3:06 per K, splits 1k-3:03.7, 2K-6:10.1(3:06.4), 3K-9:16.6(3:06.6), 4k-12:22.9(3:06.3), 5K-15:28.8(3:06.0), 6k-18:33.6(3:04.8), 4 miles-19:48.3 stopped at 20:00.7.  This Felt very good! nice and relaxed and more to the point I was still comfortable holding form as compared to the last couple weeks when I was really struggling by the end to hold it.  light stretch then 3+ cool down, 22:01 tot. 11

PM 5.6 easy, 41:40, solo on road, tot. 5++

XT stretching, mika warm up, lunge walk focusing on glutes, butts

Friday AM 1 mile warm up, 7:53, light stretch, 13.1 mile tempo-1:12:20, Very easy aerobic effort, much better time holding form, still struggling by the end but muscles starting to do  there jobs better. splits 5k-17:11.2, 10K-34:23.0(17:11.9) 15k- 51:28.6(17:05.6), 20K-1:08:34(17:06.4), 2 mile cool down 14:38 tot.16+

PM 40:30 easy to fields, then 10 mins diagonals- did 16 sprints and 15 jogs, smaller field than last week because there was a game on my usual soccer field. mile plus back to house, 7:59 tot. 8+

XT stetching, mika warm up, lunge walk focusing on glutes, butts

Saturday AM VERY tired, didn’t want to run, 3 warm up, 21:52, structured fartlek around Phillips fields, soft VERY windy 25mph, 3minutes hard and 3 minutes easy for 48 minutes.  Went much faster then I have been able to before on this session and I was covering more then a full loop of the fields-1800m- each lap, ended up at 8 full loops at 47:08- so 5:16 flat mile pace with the rest included.  Little under 4 mile cool down 26mins tot. 16

PM 6.2 solo easy, 45:50 tot. 6+

XT stretching, lunge walk focusing on glutes

Sunday AM watch manchester marathon

EARLY PM watch replay of NYC marathon on TV- Totally awesome!  GO MEB! GO USA!!!!

4PM 30:24 warm up, 4×1200m Hill repeats (Porter Hill) with jog down rests, 4:11.2(5:22.4), 4:09.4(5:27.4), 4:09.1(5:33.6), 4:04.6-new best time (old best 4:07) (5:36.3) Best session yet on hills total time for 4 reps 13.1 seconds better then previous best session.  Still I haven’t done long hills or medium hills with any consistency in the last couple of years I kinda expected more improvement from week to week in this area.  I’m not disappointed or worried as I feel I’m running these very well, just a little surprised my first session went as well as it did I guess.  I still really want to break 4mins on this hill, getting closer though.  12:47 cool down. tot. 12

8PM 5 miles easy, 39:11 tot. 5

XT stretching

Summary 137 miles for the week- 5 or 6 workouts for the week- depending on if you call the 200m hills a workout or a short hill session.  3 tempos, 1 fartlek/interval session, 2 hill sessions.  Also a good set of diagonals and 2 circuits.  This was a very good week and I really feel I’m rounding into shape.  I’m tired but the performances don’t lie, I’m running these workouts on the same course as I have been and I’m getting much faster and increasing distance and volume.  I really feel I’m coming right after a long while of running like shit.  The 20min tempo was particularly nice 2 weeks ago I struggled at 3:12 per K and this week I felt very controlled and relaxed at under 3:06 per K.   Really this was just a damn fine week of training.  Two very easy and solid longer tempos.  Nothing to write home about except I haven’t been able to do tempos of that distance in a couple years.  In fact the 13.1 is the longest tempo I have done without stopping since before the Olympic trials in ‘07.  The 20min tempo isn’t a barnburner either but the effort was very easy and that is the key in threshold training.  If you go over the line and go hard you are using different systems and you don’t tax the threshold well and it doesn’t improve.  It is the one system you don’t really want to overwhelm so much as push it just a little, tickle it if you will.  A great fartlek session that had me averaging 5:16 pace for over 9 miles on very soft muddy ground in some crazy wind, a huge improvement on the first few sessions and a solid step forward on the long hill reps as well.

Instead of a quote I’m just going to send my congrats to all the USA men at NYC  today.  Great Job.  Obviously Meb but also Hall- only BR, Ken Martin, Meb, Al Sal have run faster at NYC for Americans.  But 6 in the top 10, particularly with the field that was assembled there today is just HUGE.  Only 3 americans finished in the top 10 from 1990 to 2003 with none from ‘94 to ‘02 and 6 did it today after 4 last year.  I particularly want to give huge shout outs to Nick Arciniaga a big 2:13:47 PR and his second top 10 at a major!  Jason Lehmkuhle- a 2nd straight top 10 at NYC!  A welcome to the marathon in a big way to Jorge Torress, 2:13 for debut at NYC is nothing to laugh at, heck ritz ran 2:14!  A welcome back to Peter Gilmore-2:15:22 at NYC is worth 2:13 or 2:12 at Cal international which was probably his other option for the fall and is a solid marathon after a long struggle for him. (yes I know he has run 2:18 this year, but this is still big)

What a year for the USA- a medal at world half champs, 2 sub 13 5k’s, the overall performance of the men and women from 800m to 10k at worlds on the track was just awesome!!  3rd at boston, 1st, 4th and 6 in the top 10 at NYC, top 10’s at chicago, and despite some tougher race courses a pretty decent top 10 for marathon times this year with 2:09, 2:09, 2:10, 2:12, 2:13, 2:13 and a bunch of 2:14’s and 2:15’s.  Very nice to see.  Now I just got to get my ass out there helping the cause.

nate

Monday AM 14, 1:33:25, holt hill, tot. 14

PM 7 shakeout with Melissa, road and fields, 58:41 tot. 7

XT stretching, mika warm up-still don’t have real names, sorry.

Tuesday AM 1 mile warm up- 7:51- light stretch, 15k light tempo- 50:39.7.  splits 5k-16:58.9, 10k -33:57.0(16:58.1), 50:39.7(16:42.8)- this is very easy running but it is hard work to hold leg in correct position so hammy doesn’t go.  1 mile cool down- 6:46 tot. 11+

PM 6 easy, solo, loops around phillips fields, 42:18 tot. 6

XT stretching, Mika warm up, butts, walking lunge focusing on glutes

Wednesday AM Holt hill 9++, 1:00:32, tot. 9++

PM 53:38 with Melissa easy shakeout, 6++

XT stretching, mika warm up, butts, walking lunge focusing on glutes

Thursday AM 3+ warm up, 21:54, light stretch, few strides- felt like 10lbs of shit in a 5lb bag. 20min tempo run aim 3:08 per K pace- actual 6400m/4miles in 20:00.6, splits 1k-3:06.6, 2k- 6:14.7(3:08.1), 3k-9:22.3(3:07.6), 4k-12:30.6(3:08.4), 5k- 15:38.9(3:08.4), 6k-18:47.1(3:08.2) last 400m in 73.5.  No wind today.  pretty easy effort but definitely still work to hold form, but easier than last week.  3+ cool down, 21:41 tot. 11

PM 41:17 on roads solo easy, 5.7 miles, tot. 5++

XT stretching, lunge walk focusing on glutes, butts, mika warm up

Friday AM Holt hill 10+, 1:10:54, easy, tot. 10+

Noon mika for treatment and adjustments

PM 40:03 easy, 10mins diagonals, 10mins jog back to house, tot. 8

XT stretching, lunge walk focusing on glutes

Saturday Noon 6+ solo shakeout, 48:48, tot. 6+

PM 6+ solo shakeout, 44:05 tot. 6+

XT stretching, mika warm up

Sunday 11AM 3 warm up-23mins, bunch of strides including one 1minute effort, race Mayors Cup 8k at Franklin Park.  very muddy.  12th place 24:48. 3mile cool down, 23 mins.  I was really hoping for more here I guess I shouldn’t be too pissed given that after splitting 24:48 for 5 at cow harbor I thought my goal should be just to run that time or better at franklin park if the course was in fast shape and it wasn’t but I really feel my fitness is coming around and I felt like I should have been in the lead group.  I raced pretty smart and pretty hard, not great in either case but not bad either.  I’m just not quite where i hoped to be yet.  Certainly moving in the right direction, just not as fast as I would like, is it ever? tot. 12

5PM 10+ miles easy, started with Melissa, then solo, 1:18:56, mix of road and trails, tot. 10+

XT stretching

Summary 123 miles for week, 2 tempos, 1 race.  I cut a lot of the quality and all of the circuit work this week to try and give my legs a chance in the race.  It didn’t really pay off like I hoped.  But it was worth a shot.  Back to work now.  I had been planning on the USATF-NE xc champs in 2 weeks but I may skip it.  I’m not real sure. I may do it but try and do all the extra work that week anyway.  Which could be a total shit show.  Again I got to look at things and think about what I want to do.  Overall not a bad week, not a bad race, not what I’m looking for but another small step in the right direction.  I hope you had a good week.

Quote of the Week “Many of the great accomplishments of the world were achieved by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.” -unknown

Monday AM 1:15:00 easy, solo.  road and trail mix, tot. 11

PM 40:02 easy mostly loops around Phillips fields, exercises for strength(17:41), jog back to house long way, 10:17, tot. 6++

XT exercises for strength- jump squats 6×10, jumping jacks 6×20, high knee single leg hops 6×10 each leg, 30 seconds rest after each. stretching

Tuesday AM Holt Hill 8+ solo medium, 46:00, first mile 6;03, last mile 5:12, tot. 8+

PM 40:01 to and around Phillips fields, exercises for running technique with jog back rests (25:28) mile plus back to house, 9:54, tot. 7++

XT exercises for running technique-3×90y with jog back rests springing, high knees, buttkicks, bounding, skipping- Felt VERY flat on all of these.  Stretching

Wednesday AM Holt Hill 9 easy, 1:00:37, first mile with Melissa, tot. 9

PM 41:31 solo easy, then 10×20second hills with jog down rest, felt very fast, 56mins total running, tot. 7+

XT stretching, Butts(prayer hammy, straight leg quad lifts, abductor and adductor lifts, glute activator, calf raises, straight leg jackknifes)

Thursday AM 3.5+ warm up, 25mins, few strides, light stretch, 20min tempo on track, breezy but less than last week, covered 6300m.  1k-3:10.9, 2k-6:21.4(3:10.6), 3k-9:31.9(3:10.6), 4k-12:43.0(3:11.1), 5k-15;54.8(3:11.9), 6k-19:06.3(3:11.5) stopped at 20:01.2-jogged to 4 miles (20:26) then light stretch.  3+ cool down-23:12. Had a hard time keeping foot and stride where I wanted it to help the hammy.  Muscles very tired.  Very tired in general, not nearly as easy as it should have been today. tot. 11

PM 6 miles easy solo, 43:53, tot. 6

XT stretching

Friday AM 1 mile warm up 7:56, light stretch, 20k tempo run on rolling 5k loop-1:08:29- 5k-17:09.3, 10k- 34:12.8(17:03.6), 15k-51:25.4(17:12.6), 20K-1:08:29(17:04.3)  very hard to keep foot and stride how I wanted/needed it the last 5k but I did and so the hammy held.  Couldn’t have held it much longer, but for right now I’m happy with that.  The calf will get stronger, the adductor will get stronger, the glute will get stronger.  At least now that they are getting used they will get stronger.  1 mile cool down 7:04 tot. 16+

1PM Mika for treatment etc..

PM 40mins easy, then 10mins diagonals (12 diagonals) 1 mile back to house, tot. 8+

XT stretching

Saturday AM 3 warm up, 21:17, very very tired. light stretch, 42mins of 3 mins hard, 3 mins recovery structured fartlek around Phillips fields (it took 42:24 to do 7 full laps, each lap is roughly 1800m) so overall pace is just under 5:30 mile which on soft wet fields isn’t so bad.  This as a side note moved to the track would be a great bread and butter workout for college cross country for the men do 3:00 1k’s followed by a rest of 800m in 3:00.  A good college runner could go 30mins, but if you can do an hour to an hour and half you’re real fit.  Really teaches control at speed and recovery under a bit of stress. Women could slow the times to 3:30 per K and 800m or 3:20 if they are really good.  Anyway did a 3 mile cool down in 20:21 tot. 14

3PM did some running and drills with Mika to film form and work on strengthening and getting proper firing from calf, abductor and glute.  Highlight was half mile on track in 2:44 going 1:31, 1:13.  tot. 1mile or so

PM 6++, easy shakeout, first 3 miles with Melissa, mostly on Phillips fields, 46:35, tot. 6++

XT stetching, Mika stuff Ii’ll post what the exercises are next week when I know the names, he is going to email them to me)

Sunday AM 30mins warm up- 4+, cold rain roads a bit slick, weather unpleasant. 4xPorter Rd. Hill 1200m with (jog down rest) 4:15.0(5:32), 4:12.4(5:08), 4:12.2(5:33), 4:09.0(5:40), 2 mile cool down 12:41, tot. 12+

PM Mika warm up stuff, then 5+ easy in snow, mostly on Phillips fields, very slick, 36:22, tot. 5+

XT stretching, Mika warm up stuff- again I’ll post it next week when I know the real names.

Summary 127 miles for week, 2 tempo runs, 1 medium run (light tempo), 1 hill workout, 1 fartlek/interval session, 2 circuits, 1 short hill session, 1 set diagonals.

Ok the hamstring.  Basically I got a lot of emails and whatnot after worlds and have been trying a bunch of stuff. I got one email from a guy who had fixed a similar problem.  The more we emailed the more apparent it became to me that we had a very similar problem.  I was very impressed that he was able to fix it himself.  I began doing the exercises he did- the walking lunges and the butts stuff.  These made me sore, also some of the stuff we talked about combined with this soreness to make me more aware of my stride.  Last Thursday during my regular tempo I noticed that my ‘bad’ toe landed pointing out.  I noticed as the hammy felt more and more like it was going to go the more it seemed to point out.  The email kid had said that when his started to if he focused on using his butt and his calf to push off it would help.  I tried this but couldn’t seem to fire either.  But when I forced my foot to go through straight I could.  This helped the hammy a ton.  But it was very hard to hold the foot in the right place as my calf, abductor muscles and glute are not used to this.  I played with this a bit at the end of last week and ran it by Mika.  This week we continued to work with it.  I really think it is going to work.  I think it is going to take some time.  But the 20k tempo is the longest effort I have been able to do since I did a single 20k tempo in September last year at about the same pace.  That effort was after about 5 months of not bothering the hammy and at the time I thought it was gone.  In comparison the hammy has been total shit since worlds.  Now changing my stride is no small thing but it is something that can be done.  So I’m going to work on it and hopefully be back to the long stuff next year.  I may try a half marathon as soon as December.  I’ll have to see how things progress.

As to the immediate, I’m going to cut back on the circuit work and some of the quality this week to let my body breathe a little for Mayors Cup.  I’m not sure what I’m shooting for.  I wouldn’t be surprised to struggle to finish in the top 15, like at Cow Harbor, but that said I feel like my fitness is really coming around and I would like to contend for the win.  So we’ll see.

Quote Of the Week “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” -Harriet Beecher Stowe