Another good long run

I believe that my fitness has improved a bit. I thought today's long run was going to be a struggle after yesterday's run, which I ran most of it around marathon pace. The plan was to run long and easy according to how the body and legs were feeling. After a 7:04 first mile, the legs settled into a steady 6:40 pace. I stayed within plus or minus 3 seconds of 6:40 pace from miles 3 - 16. The last couple miles were ran at 5:55-6:00 pace.

I can't complain with how this week of running went. 71 miles in 6 days. It looks as though I won't be able to run a marathon till Nov. or Dec. Even though I'm anxious to run one very soon, I think running a marathon in Nov or Dec will work out perfectly. It will give me an extra 2-3 months of hard training. I'm feeling confident about running sub-6:00 pace for the marathon.

Today's Run: 1:59:44 (18 miles - 6:39 pace)

Feeling great

This week of running has gone very well. Here's a brief log of how my workouts went.

Tuesday: After a 25' warm-up, I ran a fartlek workout of 10 x 1 min. with 1 min. recovery. I ran the repeats at around 3k pace on rolling hills. 25' - cooldown. (1:10:05)

Wednesday: Easy recovery run (56:49)

Thursday: I ran with my friend Bob. We warmed up for 33 minutes before hitting the track for some 1200s. I don't know if I'd call it a warm-up because we were running about 6:40 pace. Ran 5 x 1200 with 400 recovery. I hit the repeats in 3:58, 3:58, 3:55, 3:50, & 3:54. I ran the last 2 repeats alone. 3 mile coold0wn (1:23:30)

Friday: Jumping out of an airplane took precedence over running on this day.

Saturday: What was supposed to be an easy run on the Cape Fear River Trail turned into a steady pace run. By mile 2, I locked in to about a 6:15 pace. I ended up picking up the pace to around 5:50 for the last couple miles. (1:06:19)

Easy day

Nothing special about today's run. I put in 11+ miles this morning on 2 runs. Because I do a company run on the first duty day of the week, I had to get up very early to put in some miles at my easy pace. I ran an easy 6 miles before running my company for 5+ miles. This works out very well for me because i'm able to put in the miles and use the day as a recovery day from the long run.

Today's Run: 42:30 / 48:14

Gotta love the long run

It was a great feeling to finally put in a nice steady long run. The mind and body fell into a zone once I got started. After a 7:05 first mile, I settled into a steady 6:40 - 6:50 pace, which I kept for the next 15 miles. Like most of my long runs, I finished off the last few miles at a faster pace. I ran miles 17 & 18 in 5:47 & 5:41 which still felt comfortable. Not sure if it was the weather (75 deg. and breezy) or that i'm underestimating my fitness.

I spent some time last night trying to find a race (10M - 20K) over the next couple weekends. I guess there aren't too many in the area around this time of the year. I wanted to run Virginia Beach R&R 1/2, but registration closed about a month or two ago. I normally plan out my races, at least the longer distances, but haven't done so due to my unpredictable work schedule. My next big races were suppose to be the Army 10-Miler and possibly the Marine Corps Marathon. Well, it looks like I won't be running the Army 10-Miler because I'll be in Fort Polk, LA for some training support requirements. For now, I'm thinking of running the WaWa 10 Miler at Hartwood next Sunday.

Today's Run: 2:00:22

Back from the field

I was on a field exercise during the past couple weeks. Despite going to the field, I was able to get in a run here and there. At one point, I went 4 days without running. When you're in good shape 4 days without running should not affect the fitness. Last week Sunday I came back for a day of recovery before going back on the field. I took advantage of the day by catching up on my running. That day I put in 20 miles, 12 miles in the morning with some fast running and then an easy 8 miler in the afternoon. I felt a little rusty in the beginning of the run, but once I got going everything was fine.

This week, I sort of got back into a routine schedule. The running economy feels good and it doesn't seem like I lost any fitness. I gave it a test on Thursday by doing some 1200 repeats with some 400s in the end. After a few warm-up miles, I ran 4 x 1200 (3:58, 4:01, 3:59, 3:57) with 400 recovery, then 4 x 400 (73, 73, 72, 73) with 200m recovery.

This morning I ran with my friend Bob. I wanted to run easy for 70-75 minutes. What was suppose to be an easy run turned into sort of a slower tempo run. We started out the run chatting about whatever topic came to mind. About 3 miles into the run the chatting was replaced with some rhythmic breathing. The pace was not hard, but decent enough that we were taking in oxygen every 2-3 steps. We turned around at 5.5 miles after averaging 6:28 pace. I thought Bob was going to slow the pace a little coming back. Instead, it was me that began picking up the pace. The body got into a good rhythm and I found myself cruising along about a 6:00 pace. This was a good confidence booster because I felt very comfortable running at about marathon pace. After all, maybe I didn't lose any fitness from the days I was on the field.

Today's Run: 1:09:42

What will life be like if you can't run...

I apologize for not updating my blog in almost 2 weeks. I've been very busy with work since I came off of leave. In fact, I just got back from a week-long leaders' training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. It looks as though I won't be posting much over the next 4-6 weeks. I'll be going to the field for some Army training beginning on Tuesday.

What do you do when you can't get out to train? This next 4-6 weeks will be very frustrating for me, because I won't be able to run very much. There's nothing worse then losing fitness when you're in great shape. I think my fitness will still be up there if I only miss a week or two at the most. But a month, I don't think so. My near-term plan was to run a half-marathon late September and a 10-miler and marathon in October. I'll most likely change my racing schedule because of all the training I'll miss. For now, I will have to try and squeeze in a run at every opportunity I get.

A little update on my training. I was fortunate enough to get in my workouts at Ft. Polk. It was unbelievably humid in the early mornings. I was out the door each day at 5am and would be drenched in sweat about 10 minutes into the run. This morning's run put me at 65 miles for the week. Not bad considering my busy schedule. Lately, I've been getting in quality workouts rather than high mileage. Every workout counts when you don't have all the time to train.

I did a progression long run this morning and it felt very good and comfortable. I ran the first 30 minutes averaging 7:14 pace, then the next 30 minutes comfortably at 6:45 pace, and then finished off the last 30 minutes on the track at marathon pace (6:00). The legs and body felt like it could go for another 5 miles at marathon pace. This was a good sign of my fitness, which I feel will be going downhill over the next few weeks. I'll try to stay positive.