Thursday 7-16-2009

Been awhile since my last post. Have been having a hard time getting back into the swing of Colorado running since getting back last week; I really think I responed well to running at near sea level whereas returning to Colorado has been difficult.

Today was only my second run of the week as yesterday was Lily's birthday and the day before that was my niece's birthday. I was able to get a hill workout in on Tuesday in the neighborhood, but I ran around 4:45pm during the hottest part of the day. Wow, that sucked for sure. It took a long time to cool down after the effort. Did four laps up the Washington/Tyler hill and then down Pine. Each lap is almost exactly a mile with about 120 feet of climbing every lap (in about a quarter mile I guess). The splits show that I started too fast on the first one and each subsequent lap was a bit slower. First lap was an average pace of 7:29 with the last one at 8:15...kind of sad really, but made sense given the heat.

Today I headed out for what was supposed to be between 6 and 7 miles at marathon pace. Not really knowing if am doing a marathon yet this year and therefore not really being sure what my marathon pace should be; I targeted hitting between 7:30 and 7:40. But, alas I pushed the pace as usual and ended up with an avg pace of 7:20 for about a 10K in a little over 45 minutes. Honestly I am kind of happy with this run as it was only a little over a minute slower than this years BB and I did it without really feeling too pushed or spent. Additionally, no real pain to speak of...legs are feeling pretty good to be honest.

More later....

Sunday 7-05-2009

Long run in Chicago for 15.36. Ran the first 7.6 or so with Katie at an 11 pace with less than a 130 HR. Then did another 7.6 in 8:03 or so for a HR of 162. First 7 was great, last was quite a bit harder...have not run this long since the Denver Marathon...the road is hard for sure. Spent almost 2:20 on mostly pavement...miss the trails, but glad to get some real miles.


Not much pain, gait was good with no real issues of concern. Need to keep these long ones in the program to build endurance.

Thursday 7-02-2009

Easy run along Lake Michigan. Felt a little tight this morning, but wanted to get a few in just the same. Felt smooth overall with some calve tightness in the last mile or so. Kept the HR around 142 with a max of 152.

Matt Carpenter

Read the article, never saw the video...

Wednesday 7/1/2009

Negative split/progression run on the Greenbay Trail in Chicago. Arrived yesterday with the family in Chicago for our yearly visit with the in-laws. Woke up this morning with an unfamiliar ache in the legs...I think I was just ready for a real run after a day off. I am also hoping that my legs are finally adjusting to another level of fitness after all of the hill and trail work.

Whatever, started off with an easy 3.60 staight up the trail to about Glencoe. Average pace of 8:06 with an avg HR of 148 / max of 155. I would like to think that the pace and HR had to do with my fitness, but alas it probably had more to do with arriving at near sea level from Boulder. Regardless, felt smooth and relaxed with a great gait. Turned around and headed back home. Notched up the pace to around 7 and below. Tried to keep it around marathon pace, but I just felt too good. Notched 3.62 in an average pace of 7:08. AVG HR was 166 with a max of 173. At the end of this workout I felt I could have kept going and going...really did not want to stop. But, there are several more runs this week including a 16 sometime this weekend, so I want to conserve a bit.

Awesome.

Monday 6/29/2009

Easy run in the morning. Thought I would have been more soar or sluggish, but felt fairly good overall. 4.41miles in 37:19 for a 8:28 pace with a 148 avg HR.