intervals 8/6/15

15 min w-u + 3 x 1600 with full recovery /
5:27.5 (4:21)
5:29.1 (4:34)
5:28.7 (4:26)

Humidity was way down!

repeats 8/4/15

15 min warm-up + 3 x 800 with full recovery /
2:28.3 (3:23)
2:29.5 (3:38)
2:30.3 (3:25) = FAIL FAIL FAIL. The upper limit for repeats is 2:30. Then again, there were cows grazing in lane one.

tempo 8/1/15

14 min warm-up + 6K tempo / 21:58 (5:54.3)

hills 7/16/15

Last night -- 45 min with 12 x 45 sec hill sprints up Old Post Road.

intervals 7/13/15

14 min w-u + 4 x 1600 with full recovery /
5:39.4 (3:57)
5:39.1 (3:59)
5:41.0 (4:05)
5:38.3 (4:40)

hot, humid, the usual

LSD 7/11/15

89 min easy, brisk last mile / roughly 12.2mi total

hills 7/9/15

45 min in BP with 15 x 30 sec hill sprints. Temp down a bit but still swampy humid. Low quality sleep five nights in a row.

repeats 6/25/15

14 min w-u + 6 x 400 with 200 recovery /
74.2 (62)
74.8 (62)
74.2 (63)
74.9 (64)
74.5 (66)
73.8 (63)
Fewer (six vs ten) and slower (73-75 vs 68-70) than a high school workout. #nomegusta

intervals 6/22/15

13 min w-u + 5 x 1000 with 400 recovery /
3:24.4 (2:07)
3:23.3 (2:13)
3:24.7 (2:17) -- struggling with the heat now
3:26.1 (2:16) -- so ready for this to be over
3:25.6 (2:00)
Well that was seriously unpleasant, but I'm glad I got it in. This is the kind of workout that makes 5Ks just a tiny bit less terrifying.

LSD 6/20/15

14mi cruise / 1:41:40 (~7:16 pace)

tempo 6/17/15

13 min warm-up + 6K tempo / 22:28 (6:02.4 pace)

you are not prepared

I was not prepared! (shout out to the gamers)
2008 Village Fair results / 16:07
2015 Village Fair results / 17:44

Jeebus. Some of that decline is simply age, but certainly not all of it. I just haven't been back in the game long enough, and still have eight pounds that need to come off. There's a sub-16:30 5K in me somewhere; hopefully it will come around by November. Two good takeaways from today:

1) Despite being incredibly rusty, and despite the heat/humidity, I didn't make any dumb mistakes. I know this course pretty well now and held back just enough to deal with that last nasty little hill.

2) I confirmed my current VDOT is 57, so 17:30 at the Norwood Firecracker is within reach. Two hard training weeks coming up, then a mini-taper.

fartlek 6/1/15

9mi fartlek / 61:58 (6:53.1 avg)
2mi warm-up / 15:31  (7:45.5)
6mi hard-easy / 39:25 (6:34.2)
1mi relaxed / 7:02

cool, rainy, breezy

progression 5/30/15

12mi / 87:29 (7:17.4 avg) with steady increase
3 / 23:18 (7:46)
6 / 22:12 (7:24)
9 / 21:19 (7:06.3)
12 / 20:40 (6:53.3)

Stayed up last night watching the Rangers elimination game so I got a late start and the running conditions were miserable. Sweated out four pounds over those twelve miles. Ahh, summer.

maintenance 5/27/15

Morning cruise around the Pole: 7mi / 52:24. By 8 AM it was already quite warm and humid.

tempo 5/25/15

15 min warm-up + 5.4K tempo / 20:27

progression 5/23/15

73:00 easy + 8K brisk / 31:53

hills 5/21/15

45 min with 5 x 2 min hill repeats

intervals 5/18/15

16 min warm-up + 5 x 1000 with 400 recovery /
3:29.6 (2:12)
3:28.4 (2:14)
3:29.3 (2:15)
3:28.9 (2:22)
3:28.6 (done)
According to the "leave something in the tank" rule, I should have stopped at four. Pace felt good though - was aiming for 3:30.

progression 5/16/15

78:30 easy + 5K / 19:50
weight check -- 157 lbs

tempo 5/14/15

14 min warm-up + 5.6K tempo / 21:23 (6:09 pace)

race pace 400s 5/11/15

A new experiment for me: 400s at target 5K pace with moderate recovery. I've always done 400s just below my current mile pace (i.e., two seconds slower) with full recovery. But it's been 2.5 years since I've run a legitimate 5K so I thought this would be a good time to reacquaint myself with the unique torture of that distance. I hope to be in 17:30 shape for the July 4th 5K, so 84s. I'm also doing the Village Fair 5K in June but have zero expectations for that race.

splits (rest)
84.2 (77)
85.1 (77)
83.5 (79)
82.7 (78)
85.0 (78)
83.6 (76)
84.0 (80)
83.4 (2:00 - took extra time here to towel off and have some water. I was already thoroughly drenched.)
83.7 (76)
82.6 (81)
83.0 (83)
82.9 (79)
82.2 (83)
81.4 (done)

83.4 overall average: Pretty close, but lots of trouble feeling out the right pace, which comes as no surprise. Summer is here with a vengeance - the "thoroughly drenched" remark isn't hyperbole.

progression 5/9/15

78:17 relaxed pace on the town forest trails (~ 10mi) followed by 3mi on the HS track. Unfortunately I got a late start and the track team was out doing intervals by the time I finished my easy portion. The coach was okay with me being there, it just meant ceding lane one whenever I heard footsteps. At this stage, I am happy to oblige.

Mile splits for the progression -- 6:24, 6:15, 6:07. Pretty tired after this; time for a long nap.

repeats 5/7/15

Went back to the old standard today: 15 min warm-up + 12 x 200 w/full recovery + 10 min cool-down.
splits --
36.3, 37.5, 36.9,
37.2, 36.6, 36.2,
36.2, 36.4, 36.4,
36.0, 35.8, 35.4
 (36.4 average)
Love it. Everything about it. Even though the average split is seven seconds slower than my glory days, I still love it.

tempo 5/4/15

13 min warm-up + 5.2K tempo / 20:10

LSD 5/2/15

12mi easy
total for week: 42mi

hills 4/30/15

53 min with 5 x 2 min hill repeats

intervals 4/27/15

12 x 400 without a specific time target; just trying to simulate what an honest 10K pace should feel like. Everything ended up in the 86 - 89 range, 45 sec jog recovery. 2mi warm-up and 1mi cool-down.

LSD 4/25/15

78 min trail run / 'Pole town forest
total for week: 40mi

repeats 4/23/15

5K with alternating hard/easy 200s. The initial goal here was to stay under 100 sec per lap while running as inefficiently as possible, i.e., what not to do in a real 5K. Splits --
36.3 / 62.5  (98.8)
37.4 / 60.4  (97.8)
38.2 / 60.9  (99.1)
37.9 / 63.4  (101.3)
38.2 / 62.7  (100.9)
37.7 / 64.5  (102.2)
37.4 / 66.9  (104.3)
38.3 / 63.6  (101.9)
38.1 / 67.5  (105.6)
38.4 / 66.7  (105.1)
37.6 / 67.3  (104.9)
37.6 / 65.5  (103.1)
36.4 / done / 21:02.4 total
After lap six I gave up on the 100 second limit because I was doing the hard 200s too fast (as usual). I probably should have gone for 40/60. But I was pretty happy with the overall result, seeing as how I'm still carrying around ~ 15 lbs of extra baggage.

intervals 4/20/15

3 x 1400, full recovery / 4:56.0 - 4:56.7 - 4:56.4. Felt weaker than I had expected/hoped. Swirling wind and light rain.

LSD 4/18/15

10mi / 77:03
total for week: 38mi

tempo 4/16/15

The bad:  2mi easy + 5K tempo / 20:28 + 2mi easy
The good: 159 lbs! That's nine down, fourteen to go.

weekly summary 4/11/15

4/11 - 10.5mi LSD
4/10 - 4mi easy
total: ~ 36mi

foundation 4/9/15

6mi brisk

base 4/6/15

55 min easy

weekly summary 4/4/15

4/4 - 9mi base / 1:08:05
4/3 - 4mi easy
total: 33mi

base 4/2/15

6mi moderate

foundation work 3/30/15

6mi hill fartlek / 45:45

weekly summary 3/28/15

3/28 - 8mi base
3/27 - 4mi easy
3/26 - 5mi easy
total: 30mi

The Asics Gel Lyte 125

Easily the best daily training shoes I've ever worn. Man I loved these. Asics released the 125 something like twenty years ago. I bought one pair, did fifty miles, went back and bought two more (this when I didn't have a real job).

Twenty years later, I'm still looking for a decent replacement.

maintenance 3/25/15

4mi easy

maintenance 3/24/15

5mi easy

maintenance 3/23/15

4mi easy

maintenance 3/20 & 3/21/15

3/21 - 7mi easy
3/20 - 4mi easy

maintenance 3/19/15

4mi easy

Higdon quote

Hal Higdon was wrong about the mile. Just, so... comically wrong. If the mile is anything like "burning your fingers with a match", you aren't doing it right.

The reality:
The difference between the marathon and the mile is the difference between (1) being slowly roasted over hot coals, and (2) diving into a pool of lava.

maintenance 3/17/15

4mi easy / 30:20

maintenance 3/16/15

30 min easy