January 23 - 29 Training

Mon: AM - 8.9 miles easy with 4x20s pickups (7:15); body felt about 80% coming off the flu.  Didn't have much push off on the pickups.  PM - 5.1 miles easy (7:19). Miserable conditions; very cold, windy and rainy. 


Tue: AM - 10.1 miles easy (6:59); took another easy day to make sure the body was back to its normal state.  PM - 4.2 miles easy (7:38)


Wed: AM - 14 miles including 6x(800m, 400m).  The goal was sub 2:25 for the 800, 68s for the 400 with 400 recovery jog after the 800 and 800 jog after each 400.  This was a very tough workout and probably the first time attempting to run 800s at sub 2:25.  I ran (2:23, 69), (2:21, 67), (2:23, 66), (2:24, 69), (2:24, 69), and (2:26, 70).  Things got really tough after the 3rd set. I thought about stopping the workout after five sets, but toughed it out and completed all six sets.  On the last 3 sets, I fought hard on the 400s to hit 68s, but could only managed 69/70.  I swear the legs felt like bricks!  PM - 5 miles very easy (8:18)


Thu: AM - 10.4 miles moderate progression working down to 6:00 (6:23); felt very smooth and comfortable. After the run I went straight into doing circuit training for my Army physical training.   PM - 4.3 miles easy (7:50)


Fri: 10.1 miles easy (7:25); legs felt very heavy and tired from the consecutive workouts (intervals, moderate progression and circuit training).


Sat: 21 miles long run (6:30). Ran the first 14 miles easy on rolling hills, the next 5 miles at sub 5:45 pace, and then 2 miles cooldown.  I ran a similar workout (fast-finish long run) four weeks ago, but the fast-finish portion was at sub 5:50 pace.  Comparing the two, I felt more comfortable and smooth in today's run, which is a good sign that my marathon fitness is improving. 

Dec 31, 2016                                      Jan 28, 2017

Sun: AM - 6 miles easy (7:44); PM - 4.1 miles easy (7:48)


Weekly Total: 103.3 miles on 12 miles/ 7 days
Solid week of training!  I couldn't be any happier with how my body responded coming off of the stomach flu two Saturdays ago.  One day I was laying in bed the entire day, and a few days later I was knocking out one of the toughest intervals sessions.  And I also got back into the triple digits for the weekly mileage.  Life is good! 

January 16 - 22 Training

Mon: AM - 9.3 miles with 8x20s pickups (6:58); ran the pickups lightly because the legs really didn't feel like running fast.  PM - 4.7 miles easy (7:39)

Tue: AM - 12 miles including 4 miles threshold at 5:20-5:30, 1 mile easy, 2x800m w/ 800m jog; ran the 4 mile tempo in 21:34 (5:28, 5:25, 5:22, 5:19), 5:24 avg pace.  The first 2-3 miles felt relatively smooth and comfortably hard.  The last mile, however, was a bit tough and I could feel the legs starting to get heavy.  After a mile easy jog I ran 2x800.  The goal for the 800 at sub 5:10 pace, but I was much faster than that.  Ran 2:29 and 2:28, respectively.  PM - 5.8 miles easy (7:28)

Wed: AM - 9.3 miles easy (7:04); PM - 5 miles easy (7:19)

Thu: AM - 9.5 miles including 3x90s uphill, 3x90s downhill.  Didn't treat this as a "real" workout, but more like some tougher and longer strides.  Covered .29 miles of uphill and .33 miles of downhill for the 90 seconds.  PM - 5.1 miles easy (7:20)

Fri: AM - 7.3 miles easy (7:28); PM - 5 miles easy (7:17)

Sat: Did not run. Caught the stomach bug.  Probably the worst sickness I've had in a very long time. 

Sun: 8.6 miles easy (7:21);  legs felt heavy in the early miles, but better as the run progressed.  I had planned to run another 5-7 miles in the late afternoon, but decided it was probably best to give the body a bit more rest coming off the flu. 

Weekly Total: 81.7 miles on 11 runs/ 6 days
I would have ended the week at 105 miles had I not caught the flu.  Oh well.  The good thing is that I have a really strong base and background, so a missed day or two of training wouldn't affect my fitness.  If anything, it will likely charge my batteries a bit more. 

February 2 - 8 Training

Mon: AM - 8.5 miles easy (7:16); PM - 5.6 miles easy (7:42)

Tue: AM - 11 miles with 4 miles in 23:14, 5:49 pace (6:32 overall avg pace). First six miles were easy and then the next 4 at marathon pace/effort. Splits were 5:49, 5:49, 5:48, 5:48. It was freezing (18 deg) with 12mph winds.  Pace felt controlled;  PM - 5.1 miles easy (7:27)

Wed: AM - 8 miles easy (7:17); PM - 5.1 miles easy (7:20)

Thu: AM - 10.6 miles with 6x800 w/ 400m rec jog. Conditions were windy with 15mph winds gusting to 25mph.  The 100-200m and 500-600m stretch were tough because of the headwinds, but I ran strong.  Splits were 2:30, 2:31, 2:29, 2:30, 2:30, 2:29.  PM - 5.2 miles easy (8:15)

Fri: AM - 8 miles easy (6:54). Felt really good but I about froze my tail off; PM - 5.4 miles easy (7:37)

Sat: 20.2 miles with 16 miles moderate at 6:07 pace. Goal was 16 miles at 6:10 pace.  Ran 5 loops of the downtown loop (2.97 mile loop) and a shorter 1 mile loop.  Felt good, smooth and controlled.  Definitely could have gone one more loop feeling controlled.  

Sun: AM - 7.6 miles easy (7:19); PM - 3.8 miles easy (7:49)

Weekly Total: 104.1 miles on 13 runs/7 days

Another 100+ mile week.  I'm really happy with how quickly my legs recover from the hard workouts and back-to-back weeks of high volume.  Saturday's workout wasn't a walk in the park, but it also didn't feel tough as I thought it should.  This may be a sign that I'm getting fitter.  

Jan 31 - Feb 13

Feb 7-13


Mon: AM - 6M easy; PM - 8.7M easy (14.7 tot)
Tue: AM - 5M easy; PM - 12M including 8 x 800 (2:32, :26, : 29, :27, :28, :27, :27, :28) w/ 400 rec + 3 x 200 (33, 33, 32) w/ 200 rec.  (17M tot)
Wed: 13.4M easy
Thu: AM - 5.5M easy; PM - 10.2M easy (15.7M tot)
Fri: AM - 5M easy; PM - 14.5M including 10M tempo run in 57:07 (19.5M tot)
Sat: AM - 9M easy; PM - 4M easy (13M tot)
Sun: 18.8M long run; 6:24 pace


Weekly Total:   112 miles on 12 runs / 7 days
It was an A+ week of training this week.  An interval session of 800s on Tuesday, a 10 mile tempo run on Friday and a 2 hr steady long run complemented a 112 mile week.  The 800s went very well and I was quite surprised that I consistently hit sub-2:30 for the half-miles.  I never ran 800s that fast in the past.  On Friday, I ran a 10 mile tempo on the track. I started out at what felt like marathon pace and then slowly decreased the pace as the run went on.  I ran 5:46 pace for the first 3 miles, then 5:37-5:40 pace for miles 4-9, and then finished strong with a 5:30 mile.  


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Jan 31 - Feb 6


Mon: AM - 5.8M easy; PM - 8.7M easy (14.5M tot)
Tue: AM - 12.8M including 15 x 1' fartlek on rolling course w/ 1' rec at brisk pace; PM - 5M easy (17.8M tot)
Wed: DNR
Thu: 6M easy 
Fri: DNR 
Sat: AM - 10.5M easy; PM - 6M easy (16.5M tot) 
Sun: 18.6M steady long run; 6:28 pace


Weekly Total: 73.4 miles on 8 runs / 5 days
It was a low mileage week, compared to last week, from two DNR (did not run) because I had my last wisdom tooth extracted.  I thought that I'd only miss out on one day (surgery day), but that wasn't the case as the percocets stayed in my body forcing me to DNR on Friday.  I still ended the week on a good note as I put in 35 miles of steady easy running in the weekend.