4/29/14. tuesday. 6 mile run

6 miles feels like a long way for a tuesday.  it felt pretty hot - about 70 degrees F, 28% humidity.  it was really nice that the sun was shining, but after a while i actually caught myself wishing for a little rain to cool me down.  not much, just a little.  although running in the shade was pretty good when I could find it.  hot enough that i ran in just shorts and running shoes.  but seriously?  have you never seen a scrawny old white guy with love handles, gleaming in the sun before?  the amount of catcalls and honks and yells i got was appalling.  I tend to tune out while I'm running, but this was excessive.  I'll just pretend that I was getting encouraged in my efforts.  because if i stopped to try and pick a fight everytime somebody said something out a car window to me yesterday, I'd never get my miles run.  who knows? I had my music turned up.  maybe I was getting propositioned by supermodels, not derided by idiots.  I didn't listen or look, so I'll never know.  it felt tough to run 6, but i ended up maintaining a steady pace.  it seems pretty fast in retrospect.  I think that once i turn around, I tend to run a little faster because I'm headed home.  avg pace was 8:19 min/mile, 7.2 mph.

days where i am on the go from 5:30am until 10pm are tough.  up early, work all day, longish run, fast shower/clean-up, quick dinner with E (A and T were at the gym), then to little league to watch a game, home, supervise homework, crawl into bed by 10.  tough days.

4/30/14. run.  coffee. orange. nuts. grilled chicken breast. mongolian grill. apple. granola bar. tortellini. broccolini. chocolate. granola/milk. lots of water.

4/28/14. monday. strength 1 and elevation mask run

at the gym for 5:30am strength training.  just keeping the weight/training consistent from week to week. maybe a few more weeks and I'll think about mixing this up a bit.  this will coincide with the transition in running (from speed to distance).  still on the fence.  I want to continue doing something but i want to make it the most efficient use of my time, the most bang for my buck.

after work i ran my 3 in the elevation mask.  I was feeling good, the sun was shining, and I ran a little faster than a normal mask day.  didn't feel too terrible.  although i was working hard to breathe, i never got that sick/pain in my abdomen.  maybe I either need to restrict the flow a little more, or start going a little further?  I think when the training plan transition happens, mask day will move to tuesday.  and the mileage will increase over time.  so i better enjoy these easy 3's while they last.

4/28/14. strength 1. presses. pull ups. push ups. GHD sit ups. GDH back ext. run in the mask. protein shake. coffee. orange. nuts. mongolian grill leftovers. apple. granola bar. mexican wraps (grilled chicken, guacamole, peppers) corn/feta/cilantro/lime. chocolate.  lots of water.

4/26-27. a 5K benefit, a tempo run, and a long run.

Sat morning I ran a 5K benefit run for the Oso Mudslide.  This was not a planned run, and I didn't count it towards my training.  I ran it with my sons and my good friend Jess. Theresa wanted to run it with us, but there was no way to guarantee we would be back in time for her to teach yoga.  I don't count this as training because my plan required a 40 min tempo run, and this was a 5K run at my son's pace.  I will do whatever it takes to support them in their goals to be active, even if it means 2 runs in a day.  I am extremely grateful to Jess.  She ran with Ethan, and encouraged him to do everything he could and he set a new 5K PR of approx 28 min (they actually ran an extra quarter mile or so because the 5K turn around wasn't well marked).  I ran with Alex.  This was his first 5K, and I just wanted to keep him motivated and moving the whole time.  He did it in approx 32 min, which is just awesome.  So proud of my boys, and just grateful to be alive.  Before the run their was a moment of silence.  then amazing grace on the bagpipes, and a rendition of taps.  Between the songs, they ran a bell once for each of the fatalities of the mudslide.  I was OK for the first few, but once they got over 40, and you thought about a human life snuffed out and gone for each chime... well, i choked up a bit.  After the run, I treated the boys to Double Downs for lunch.  tell you what, this really knocked me out for yoga.  i just wanted to lay on the ground and digest...

later saturday I ran a 40 min tempo run.  it was hard to run slow, and hard to run fast.  when I was supposed to run slow, I had to really be vigilant to stay on pace.  I kept creeping up on speed, and catching myself and forcing myself to clamp down on it.  then when fast, it was difficult to maintain that pace.  heaving chest, out of breathe, aching body, just wanted to stop.  ended up with about 4.8 something miles in the 40 minutes.

Sunday was the longish run - 8 miles.  Not fast, not slow, just a longish run.  I felt like I could keep going for a while longer at this pace.  this is probably about as far as i will go without carrying water.  and once the runs get longer, its time to re-introduce gels to get my system used to them.

it was a good weekend, and I am proud of my family.

4/24/14. thurs. run and strength 2.

up at 4:45am, on the road at 5am.  this may seriously have been the darkest and rainiest run yet.  and that's saying a lot, seeing as I have run outside all winter long in the pacific northwest.  it was so dark, and the water was just coursing down the streets.  gutters overflowed into the streets until it looked like i was running upstream.  running from streetlight to streetlight, through driving rain, soaked through jacket, pants, shoes.  at least it wasn't cold.  would you believe I saw 2 other runners out there? I think my pace was inversely proportional to the weather conditions.  as the weather got worse, i ran a little faster to get it over quicker.  needless to say, i passed both other runners and kept on going.  i think my training is going well.  this was a training run, mostly recovery, the 12 hours after a hard hard interval run, and i ran with a 8:06 min/mile pace.  i feel pretty good about how things are going.

strength 2. legs and core.  I kept the weight same as last week.  this felt hard, but not excessively so.  I won't have the aching legs and glutes I had a few weeks back when i went too heavy on the lunges.  I did get a little light-headed during deadlifts (3x5 at 205#).  I don't think I was holding my breath, so I'm not sure what was going on.  felt pretty good.  I'm stringing my toes 2 bars better than ever.  I just wish I had a little more time in the gym.

4/24/14  run. strength 2. back squats. deadlifts. front rack barbell lunges. russian twists. toes 2 bar.  coffee. orange. nuts. pasta/sausage/peppers. pork roast. apple. nuts. protein shake. chicken enchiladas. salad. chocolate. lots of water.

4/23/14. Wed. 6 intervals of 400m.

the plan called for six 400m intervals.  hard run for 400m, followed by easy 400m recovery.  repeat 6 times.  with a half mile bookends runs to get to the track, and then to get home after (warm-up before, then cool-down after).  waited until 5pm so the track/field kids would be off the track.  i don't have a 400m flat section of road within a mile radius of home, so I really wanted the track last night.  E ran with me, which was pretty cool.  we split apart on the track due to our different paces, but it was nice to look around the track and see my son running with me.  both boys are running a 5K benefit with me on saturday morning in Arlington.  all registration money is donated to help the survivors of the Oso mudslide.

my sprints averaged roughly 10mph, which seems pretty fast to me.  I feel like the speed work has been improving my pace.  I wonder how that will translate to pace over some significant distances?

4/23/14. interval runs. coffee. oatmeal. steak. pasta/sausage/peppers. peas. nuts. granola bar. vietnamese sandwich (pork roast, ham, pickled carrots/peppers, cucumber slices, cilantro, siracha sauce/mayo). chocolate. lots of water.

4/22/14. tues. 5 miles.

it was a hard run.  first my GPS watch wouldn't pick up a signal.  i waited and waited.  but I needed to take E to a little league game, so i ended up running before it was ready.  with no GPS, it was nothing but a big clunky stopwatch.  then i didn't notice when it picked up a signal until I got a while into it.  I knew the avg miles to a certain intersection, and I had to do some mental math to figure out how much to add to my current miles registered.  math and running don't mix for me.  it was tough conditions too.  when i left, it was low 60s and sunny, so I went short sleeves and shorts.  some sort of devil squall blew in with cold cold wind, and piercing hard cold rain.  was just awful.  plus 5 miles seemed like a long way for a tuesday.  anyways, i got it done, kept a pretty average pace, still got dinner and made it to the game on time.  maybe not the worst run this year, but close.  feeling a little stiff and sore.  quads, but mostly right calf.  need to watch that on Wed's interval runs. 

4/22/14. run. coffee. orange. nuts. sausage/peppers/pasta. steak. apple. nuts.  cheese/crackers. chicken. snap peas. stuffing. chocolate. lots of water.

4/21/14. monday. strength 1, and 3 miles in the mask. pace review from sat.

it was good to be in the gym at 5:30am.  i'm not sure if i was a little tired, or what, but i was feeling a little weaker and it was hard to press the same weight as last week.  I had to break my sets into individual lifts, in order to keep the weight constant from last week.  shape of things to come, I guess.

the weather was really good for a run after work.  sunny. mid 50s.  elevation mask monday.  i kept a pace pretty consistent with previous mondays, but it didn't feel too bad.  my chest/diaphragm/guts didn't hurt at all, and I didn't feel like i wanted to vomit when I was done.  I think its probably time to adjust the flow restriction valve and make it a little harder to draw air.  

below is are data plots of pace and elevation.  I was comparing the sat run (4 mile fartlek in the woods) vs. a standard 4 mile road loop.  I would say that I managed to vary my pace quite a bit. 

4/21/14. coffee. orange. nuts. hamburger. chips. apple. nuts. cheese/crackers. steak. green beans. bread sticks/marinara sauce. lemon cheesecake. chocolate. lots of water.

4/19-20. "ah, a numbers guy". thus spoke Hal. plus a trail run. and a long run

as usual right now, 2 run weekend.  hard run on saturday, with a long run sunday in tired legs.

but before we get to that.  my good friend Jess is in Boston, right now, and is about to run the Boston Marathon for her second year in a row.  I'm so proud.  but at the Expo, she met Hal Higdon.  The Man.  He had a table set up and she met him.  told him i was running his "personal best" plan, and following it to the "T".  Hopefully she didn't mention my GPS watch data, my journal, my speed vs elevation plots, my incessant fretting about pace, or any of that craziness.  but Hal summed me up in 4 words.  "ah, a numbers guy".  yep, after coaching millions of people, i guess he's seen my type before.  I'm so jealous.  I would love to sit down for 10 minutes with Hal, talk strategy, talk pace, hear some war stories.  hell, i'm at a point in my life i'd rather hang with Hal than Rollins.  Just saying.

4/19. saturday. did my 40 minute fartlek as a trail run.  easy to vary the pace when the elevation and terrain changes so much.  took a pretty good spill towards the end, ass over elbows.  got mud in my ears, came up sprinting.  a few scrapes, no big deal.  man, although I love to run trial, afterwards my ankles, knees, hips, all ache.  in a good way, I guess.

4/20. 7 mile run.  wanted to keep it slow.  the entire family ran the first mile out (then they turned back to make it a 2 miler for them).  The boys and I are running a benefit 5K on saturday (Oso, the town that got wiped off the map by a mudslide a month ago). so they kept me slow for a mile, then i tried to maintain the same pace.  my goal was to finish the run feeling like good run it over again.  and i finished feeling pretty good.

4/17/14. Thurs. run and strength 2.

5am run, 3 more miles down.  I was surprised at how stiff and sore I was from wednesday's sprint intervals.  when I try to run fast, i get frustrated that i cannot move my legs fast enoguh and i tend to resort to longer strides.  this, in turn stresses my hips and a few other areas worse than normal.  plus the general strain on the muscles.  i especially felt this one in my calfs.  but with a day of recovery, maybe some extra foam rolling, I ought to be OK. it was dark and rainy for my early run, but it seemed a little warmer.  spring is definitely here.  after all that running in dark and rain and cold, it feels strange to be dreading it getting hot.

hit the gym after work.  it was pretty crowded, which I enjoyed.  the road is solitary, and sometimes running can be lonely.  I miss being in the gym and working out with others.  but there's only 23 weeks and 1 day until Berlin.  I kept it a little lighter on the squats and lunges, being as my lower body was already pretty sore.  when I did my 3 sets of 10 toes2bar, i was actually able to run the first 2 sets.  run 10, rest, then run 10.  last set was 5 and 5.  this was an improvement for me. 

only about 5 more weeks of speedwork, then the miles will start increasing. 

4/17/14. coffee. almonds/peanuts. ham and cheese sandwich. chicken noodle soup. granola bar. protein shake. greek meatballs/taziki sauce/feta/pits. orzo/tomato/onion salad.  salad.  lots of water.

4/16/14. interval runs.

yesterday was the first day of intervals.  Hal called for 8 intervals of 200m sprint, each followed by a 200m recovery jog.  warmup mile or so and a cool down mile.  ended up as a 4.5 mile run.  I really wanted to run these on the middle school track that's about a half mile from my house.  easy to stay on course, easy to measure off distance, smooth/uniform surface.  but Track and Field just started up at the middle school.  there were about 100 thronging 12-14 year olds warming up on the track and the field.  I couldn't intrude.  so i kept running towards the flattest spot I know of on my normal run loop. 

it sucked pretty bad.  crumbling sidewalk. curbs. potholes. patches of gravel/sand.  it was a horrible place to try and run really fast.  but i adapted and did my best.  I was generous with the length because the GPS watch isn't exact enough to measure .125 miles.  So my sprints/recoveries ended up at 250m, not 200m.  my average pace for the sprints was about 11mph.  this was hard to sustain for the entire interval, but I did my best.  next week I have 400m intervals.  I may have to wait until after 5pm so i can use the track.

I signed up the boys and I to run in the Oso Community benefit run on 4/26/14. (local community wiped off the map by a mudslide a few weeks ago - this made the local news).  It’s being put on by the Arlington Runners club, and 100% of the registration fees get split between 3 local organizations: Darrington Family Support Services, Oso Mudslide Relief, and Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue.  10K fits better in my training plan, but my boys want to run this with me so it’ll be a slow 5K for the Costanzo family.  I'll call this warm-up.  Then I'll go home and do my training run.  interested?  arlington runners club Oso Benefit 5K/10K

4/16/14. run. intervals. coffee. orange. peanuts. almonds. mexican chicken. corn. brown rice. apple. almonds. peanuts. roast beef sandwich. loaded baked potato. cottage cheese. chocolate. lots of water.

4/15/14. Tuesday. run.

i actually thought to myself, wow, nice, its only 4 miles today.  that's just crazy.  first off, 4 miles on a tuesday really isn't that small of a number.  but what's crazier is, it really was nice to only have 4 on a tuesday.  next tuesday is 5 and the tuesday after is 6.  longer runs during the week are hard for me to find the time.

the run itself was OK.  kept a pretty fast pace for the distance, 8:05 min/mile. i probably should be running a little slower on Mon/tues/thurs which are suppposed to be recovery runs.  but its hard.  i don't like to go slow.  there was a lot of traffic - i had to yell at a truck in the sidewalk.  at least it was warm and his windows were down and he heard me.  running directly after work is the best time for my schedule, but the after work traffic and cars and exhaust just all suck.

I am not sure how wed will play out.  I need to run intervals, so i want to run them on the track next to my house (middle school).  but the middle school track and field team just started up and they practice after school.  I should stay away from the track when the after school sports are happening.  they are supposed to be done at 5pm.  but i need to leave the house to take E to his little league game at 6pm.  one hour is enough to warm up, run my intervals, cool down.  but i won't get dinner and i won't get a shower.  and i won't get much sleep after little league and I run again thurs morning at 5am.  and it looks like its going to be raining.  nothing like laps around the track in the rain, with that orange clay mud caking up on your shoes and legs, enduring a miserable down pour.  oh well, enough feeling sorry for myself.  i will make my sacrifices, and i will do what i have to.  like i always do.

4/15/14. coffee. orange. almonds/peanuts. ham/roast beef/cheese sandwich. black bean soup. lara bar. apple. cottage cheese. cheese/crackers. mexican chicken, corn, tortilla. salad. chocolate. lost of water.

4/14/14. monday. strength 1 and run.

hit the gym at 5:30 am.  standard monday morning workout.glad to get it in, but I feel like i need more time.  running 6 days a weeks is a lot.  i wish i could get 3 days at the gym, but 2 is all i can swing right now.

ran my 3 after work.  beautiful sunny day, it was a monday, so i wore the elevation mask.  i really feel like i went slow and i took it pretty easy.  i think that's OK, especially being the recovery day after my hard 5K.  things went fine.  

as a little aside, I was looking back at the results of my first 5K race I ever took part in, the Everett YMCA Yankee Doodle Dash on July 4, 2011.  I finished with 27:23, and I was 118/350.  In my age group, i was 12/30.  With the time I ran yesterday, 21:38, I would have finished 2nd in my age group.  I would have have finished 17th in the entire race, 17/350.  So I think the speed training is helping me, at least in my short game.

4/14/14. strength 1. run wiht mask. presses. pull ups. push ups. GHD sit ups. GHD back ext. protein shake. coffee. orange. nuts. oatmeal. cheeseburger. caprese salad. chees/crackers. cashews. stir fry (beef, broccolini, onions, red peppers, spicy orange sauce) brown rice. salad. strawberry shortcake. chocolate. lots of water.

4/13/14. 5K "race" day. i set a new 5K PR that will stand for a while...

So today was supposed to be a 5K race.  I understand why Hal calls out periodic races.  to test yourself, and measure your gains.  to get some experience with that "race day" atmosphere.  the crowds, the people, the excitement, the pressure.  running in a big group, breaking free to run your own pace, setting a new PR.  but that being said, i didn't want to shell out $40-$50 to run in some local race.  and there was nothing closer than an hour away today.

so i ran my own race, over at the track.  I had 2 full days of rest and recovery to prepare.  I dressed for the part - a race singlet, my new gray running shorts, my adidas energy boosts.  2 scoops NOxplode, 15 minute warm-up: easy quarter mile lap, followed by some stretching.  then I ran balls out and set myself a new 5K PR.  hot damn, i ran with everything I had today.  finished that one off, heaving and wheezing, huffing and puffing.  left nothing on the table today.  although I had set a new 5K PR last monday on the beach of 24:00, today I ran it out in 21:38.  ran the first mile in 6:45, the second mile in 7:09, the 3rd mile in 7:06, and the last .10 in 0:36.  I was flying, avg pace of 6:59 min/mile, avg speed of 8.6 mph.  I just set a PR that will stand for quite some time (especailly since Hal doesn't call for any more 5K races during the next 24 weeks of The Plan).  feels really good to have knocked that out today.

4/13/14. breakfast sandwich (2 fried eggs, 2 pieces of ham, 2 slices of cheddar cheese, dave's killer bread, toasted). mashed potatoes.  grilled cheese with ham. NOxplode. cashews/peanuts/dried apples.  cheese burger.  caprese salad.  strawberry shortcake.  lots of water.

4/10/14. run and strength 2. 6th day in a row of running is always hard.

up at 4:45am, on the road by 5am.  it was hard.  the 6th day of running in a row seems to be mentally tough.  and getting up at o'dark:45 to do it is difficult.  I stood there in the driveway, for an extra minute, had a little trouble just starting.  but i did it anyways.  looking back at my data, my time seems roughly comparable with other thursday 5am 3 mile runs, but it felt tougher.  but maybe that's just because its fresher in my mind.  time heals all wounds - kind of like how i don't remember how bad a marathon is to run.  that's a self-defense mechanism, i guess.

did my strength 2 in the afternoon.  added a little more weight to the deads and the lunges this week.  after the first strength 2 day 4 weeks ago, when my legs ached for 4 days, I had backed down on the weights a bit.  i am slowly adding a little each week to get to the point where it feels hard to do, but i don't impact my weekend runs.

4/10/14. run. squats. deadlifts. front rack barbell lunges. russian twists. toes 2 bars. coffee. orange. cashews/almonds/peanuts. grilled chicken breast. potato salad. peas. apple. nuts. protein shake. chicken ravioli with sauteed kohlrabi. salad. lots of water.

4/9/14. run. 5 hill repeats. legacy of brutality

this was the last week of hill repeats.  these sure sounded better on paper than they really ended up feeling.  they were very difficult.  again.  i have faith and trust in The Plan, and I trust that putting myself through this will pay off in the long run.

again like last week, my recovery time seemed pretty good for the first few hills, but by the last few I was not fully recovering during the downhill jog.  but my HR recovery did seem better than last week.  I wonder if i kept up with the hill climbs, if this would improve?

4/9/14. coffee. almonds/cashews/peanuts. orange. sausage/egg/chard casserole. broccoli/carrot slaw. apple. almonds. grilled chicken on salad. potato salad. lots of water.

4/8/14. 5 mile tuesday.

5 miles, nothing special.  it felt like a long distance for a tuesday, especially for the 4th run of the week.  i was feeling stiff and sore and slow.  it was hard.  i think throttle-pushing on the beaches over the weekend really took it out of me.  funny how after 3 days of running hard on a vacation, I was still feeling fine.  but 3 hours back in the office sitting at my desk made me feel really stiff and sore.

anyways, got my 5 in, through the rain and gloom, staying on plan.  Wed is 5 more hill repeats.  brutal run, i will worry about it all day long.  and then that's it for hill repeats, I start an 8 week cycle of sprint intervals.  I guess my wednesdays, starting next week, will be spent at the track...

4/8/14. run.  coffee. orange. almonds/cashews/peanuts/cherries. ham and cheese and spinach sandwich. black bean soup. apple. almonds. bbq chicken sandwich. broccoli slaw. salad. cookies. lots of water.

4/5-4/7. Sat/Sun/Mon. Run like Pre...

Wow, what a weekend of running.  kids have spring break, and we took a long weekend at Long Beach WA.  They say its the longest beach in the United States.  it just went on and on as far as the eye could see, and it was incredibly wide.  I had plotted out a few runs on the roads to meet my plan, but once i got there and took one look at the beach, I was hooked.  I have just been reading a biograpy about Pre, and there was a picture of him training and running on the sand dunes north of Coos Bay OR.  I know I was pretty far north of where Pre ran, but i was inspired to do all my running on the beach for the 3 days.  absolutely flat and completely deserted.  it was misty and foggy, and there was no point of reference.  no landmarks, nothing but desolation and solitude as far as you could run.  i mostly ran without my ipod, just the roar of the wind and the crash of the surf and the cries of the gulls.  and my own thoughts. 

Sat.  35 minute tempo run, ended up with 4 miles.  this day was really windy.  I don't realize it, but i started out running with the wind.  I just thought I was running really easy, going fast, long strides, feeling good.  it wasn't until I turned around to run back (now into the wind) that I realized how much the wind had been assisting me.  it was hard to run back.  as opposed to a tempo run with a marked change in pace, I just tried to keep the same percieved level of difficulty while running.  i forgot to use the "lap" function on the GPS watch, maybe next tempo.

Sun.  the long run, 8 miles.  I had no idea how difficult it would be to run long, when the beach was so featureless and unending.  no landmarks, no people, nothing in sight.  you lose track of time and distance.  I kept the ocean on the right as I headed out, and on the left as I ran back, otherwise there was no way to know where i was going.  i would run past a piece of driftwood and think to myself "didn't I just run past that same piece of driftwood?".  it was disorienting, and it was a mental struggle to keep going just for the sake of going.  nothing on the horizon to run towards, except more horizon.  I used the lap function to run a 10K, and then another 1.78 miles to end up at 8 total. my 10K was a new PR, but only by a few seconds. 

Mon.  supposed to be a 3 mile recovery run, but i ended up with a new 5K PR.  the wind was mostly died down, and once I started running, i wanted to go fast.  i knew this was my last chance to run this beach, and i wanted to make it a good one to remember.  the sand was a little softer and a little harder to run in, but i ran this 5K real hard. ended up htting 5K in 24:00, a 30 sec PR.  this was the way to finish off my weekend at the beach.

I thought a lot of Pre while I was running this weekend. mostly because I am reading his biography right now, and because I had the chance to train on the dunes and the beach.  I'm so glad to have had this opportunity in my training, and I feel really good about my new 5K PR.

4/4/14. rest day. but about my need for speed.

its a day of rest, so I typically don't journal.  but i have been thinking a bit about running, and about running goals. this mental dialogue was spurred by a conversation with my best friend Manuel.

I think, after having run for a little while and having a few marathons under your belt, you have a choice as to what you do with your running.  I had proven I could complete a run of 26.2 miles, and that i could recover in a reasonable amount of time.  but where to go from there?  I think I feel the options for me were:

1. maintain status quo. a little running now and again.  maybe some races/runs planned from time to time.  but running is basically maintenance and supplement to overall fitness goals.
2. run faster.
3. run further.

I followed choice number 1 for over a year.  it wasn't really a choice I made, but I just got lazy.  number 1 is the easy way out.  you can decide running is no big deal, that it's just something you do from time to time, and just go with the flow.  this is the path of least resistance, the path you take when you have other fitness goals, the path you take when you are wandering around with no goal in mind, or it could even be the path of cowardice.

number 2 and number 3, on the other hand, are real.  they are big time.  these are things that will not happen on their own.  this year, I chose number 2.  You cannot think that you can do what you have done before, and expect different results.  it is unrealistic to expect that following the same plan i did last time, or working to number 1, will make me run faster.  i have made a conscious decision that i want to run faster, and I have chosen an event to train for.  based on this, I have selected a running plan designed to help me improve.  For the first half of the plan it has interval training, hill repeats, tempo runs, and fartlek.  for the second half, it puts in more miles per week than i have run previously.  This is different than any other plan I have run, and it is specifically designed to help you get to your personal best.  I have to have faith that this training will develop me to where I want to go.

This is a little scary to commit to, and it is is a huge pressure, and it entails a lot of personal sacrifices.  But I think that more than a year after my last marathons with no real running since, it was time to make a decision.  So for 2014, I choose speed.

4/3/14. its been a long week

its been a long week.  i was very tired this morning, and it was difficult to get out of bed and hit the road running by 5am.  difficult, but i did it anyways.  nothing spectacular about those 3 miles, just 3 closer to my goal.  it was dark, and a little chilly.  still wearing the nike flash jacket for the 5am runs.  if it ever warms up too much for the flash jacket (like maybe July), I have a few LED armbands I got for christmas.  But even after what felt like an aggressive week (4.2 min fartlek sat, 7 mile sunday, 3 mile mask run monday, 5 mile tues, 5 hill climb wed) I still maintained a pretty decent pace this morning (8:23 min/mile, 7.2 mph).  I wonder if I'll see any noticeable speed improvements after a taper period, or if its still too early?  the week after next calls for a "5K race".  I'm not feeling too inclined to search out an actual race, but I will probably prepare as if it was a race and really go for it.

hit the gym after work.  back squats, deadlifts, front rack barbell lunges, russian twists, toes2bar.  kept the weights consistent with last week, just a little heavier on the deads.  But I can't forget how those lunges at 115 messed me up for 4 days, so I kept those a little lighter.

my body weight is still pretty consistent.  I try to hit the scales every thursday morning right after I wake up.  I forgot today until after my 5 mile run.  it looks like I'm down a pound or so, but its been my experience that a 3 mile run can easily take 1-2 pounds off my body weight (short term dehydration).  So if I looked a pound light, I'm probably on a flat line.  I'll probably try to validate that tomorrow morning with an extra measurement.

PS. weight came in at 176.4 friday morning, exactly as I suspected

4/3/14. run. strength 2. back squats, deadlifts, front rack barbell lunges, russian twists, toes2bar. coffee. orange. almonds/cashews. pork jerky. corn/hominy/chicken soup. turkey and pesto sandwich. apple. protein bar. protein shake.  chard/mushroom quiche. salad. easter candy. lots of water.

4/2/14. hill run repeats. five of them.

last week, 4 hill repeats were bad.  but 5 are worse.  it really came down to one step at a time, telling myself I would not quit, i would not walk, i would just run one more step.  then one more. then one more. to the top, then to turn around and do it again?  so hard.

I wore the heart rate monitor.  i was curious to see the spike in HR, and to see how long it took to come back down during each jog back down the hill.  i was surprised that although the first few showed a fast recovery, the last few didn't look so clean.  I think i found it harder to recover each time.  I wish i had pulled this data for the 3 hill and 4 hill days, to compare. my max HR stayed around 157, but the recovery was not as complete for after hill 2 and 4.  and after hill 5, I didn't go back down the hill, i just head out on the cool down mile.  so i kept the HR pretty constant.

I know, I know, nobody gives a shit about the data but me.  but i think its cool.

only one more week with hill climbs, then i move on to wednesday's being intervals at the track.  some weeks 200s, some week 400s.  but lot's of them, especially after a weeks getting into it.

4/2/14. run. hill repeats.  coffee. orange. almonds/cashews. calzone. mac&cheese&bacon. apple. protein bar. hominy/corn/chicken soup. cheese quesadilas. salad.  lots of water.

4/1/14. 5 mile run on a tuesday?

this is still the first half of the training plan, so the emphasis is on speedwork.  but even so, the miles have ramped up a bit.  5 on a tuesday was more than i expected.  the day was so busy, that i had to take E to Little League practice and run my miles from there.  some new ground.  pretty much ran up the east side of Paine Field airport, and back down.  it was an acceptable route, but I couldn't have gone much further north without hitting the boeing freeway.  if i run this route again, i will need to figure out some new loops to work in.  felt good, i think my pace was good - not too hard, didn't get out of breath, just did the miles.

this video came out yesterday.  when I watched it, it brought chills to my spine and tears to my eyes.  I can't wait for Berlin.  I am seriously thinking about it every day.  every time i run.  eyes on the prize.

Berlin Marathon video

4/1/14. run. coffee. orange. almonds/cashews. pork jerky. thai pork in lettuce wraps. coconut rice. apple. cottage cheese. protein/gatorade shake. calzone. salad.