Dec. 31

AM: 10 miles moderate

Got in a morning run along Bayshore Blvd before spending the day at Busch Gardens with the family and Valerie. 

I wanted to post my annual mileage, but I don't have my training log with me from the first 3/4 of the year, so I'll put it up later this week when I get back in town. 

Dec. 30

AM: 16 miles easy

Got in a long run along Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa. Flat and along the bay the entire time.

Dec. 29 - Blizzard Blast 5k (83 miles/week)

AM: Blizzard Blast 5k, 15:55 (PR), 2nd place, 8 miles total

I decided to jump into a race in Tampa while I am down here visiting some family. A 5k near the Bucs stadium was really my only option, so I jumped into this one. The name is a bit misleading because it's really humind in Florida. It was only about 70 degrees, but I was dripping with sweat afterwards. I at least got to run the race sans-shirt, which is a welcome change from the tights-only weather in Maryland and DC.

The race really wasn't that complicated. It went out pretty fast (71 sec for the first 1/4 mile), and by the time everything settled in, I was really only running with three guys. We came through the mile in 4:56, which felt exactly as it should have. Shortly thereafter, I made the only mistake of the race. One guy (the eventual winner) surged, but because there was one more guy with us, I opted to stay with him, thinking we would work together over the next mile to overtake him. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but of course that didn't end up happening as I ultimately settled for second.

Over the second mile, there were two small little bumps in the road (not big enough to be considered hills). I surged on both of those, dropping the guy who was with me. I hit 2 miles in 10:08 and spent the rest of the race trying to reel in the guy in the lead. I didn't quite catch him, but when I hit 3 miles in 15:23, I knew I had a good shot at sneaking under my PR, which I did.

Overall, this race was very promising. I definitely haven't been doing any 5k-specific work. The last time I ran a PR in the 5k, it was on the track in college, and I was on the track 2 or 3 times per week. I had halfway settled on the fact that because of my mediocre speed, it could have been a while before I saw another 5k PR. Today showed this was obviously not the case.

I'm also coming off of my two highest weeks of mileage since September, and two hard workouts this week. I also need to consider that I didn't run a step for four weeks in October, and I've only been running full time for a couple of weeks now. I didn't expect to come back in PR shape so soon.

So even though I lost a race I could have won today, it is at least a little bit encouraging that I can PR in a weak distance without much specificity in my training. It makes me believe I'm setting myself up for a strong Spring at the longer stuff where I am generally more competitive. Today was the end of a good 2007, and it was definitely a positive step into 2008.

I'll be in Tampa through Tuesday evening. Valerie and I will drive to Savannah for a night, and then back to Maryland on Wednesday. The warm weather (82 dgrees this afternoon!) is a huge relief right now, even compared to Atlanta.

Dec. 28

AM: 7 miles easy

I got in a quick run in the cold rain before driving from Atlanta to Tampa to see some family over New Years.

Dec. 27

AM: 13 miles easy

Tired legs today. Kept it pretty easy around Westminster and Memorial Park.

Dec. 26

AM: 10 x 800m @ goal 5k pace with 300m jog/2:00 recovery, avg. 2:26-27, 10 miles

PM: 6 miles easy shake-out

Ran a track workout this morning at Westminster's really nice mondo-surface track (I wish we had that when I went to high school there!), though I accidentally erased my splits during my second run. Whoops. 

Except for a couple of outliers (2:24 and 2:29), I was pretty consistent hitting 2:26-2:27. I started off way too fast in the beginning, but I was hitting even lap splits by #3 or #4. This is this first time since my stress fracture that I've been on the track. The week when I figured out I had a stress fracture back in early October, the big red flag came when I started limping during a track workout and had to drop out. I also tried out a new pair of spikes today, a pair of Nike Eldoret II that I got really cheap before coming home for Christmas. So far, so good--they could be the most comfortable spike I've ever worn. 

Dec. 25 - Merry Christmas!

AM: 12 miles easy/moderate

Between Christmas stuff in the morning and Christmas dinner in the afternoon, I squeezed in a run in 40-degree rain. Christmas morning is one of the few days of the year that I get to run on the golf course near my mom's house. It's normally a pretty busy public course near downtown Atlanta, so they don't take to kindly to runners. This morning, however, I had the entire place to myself, save for a few freeloading golfers. The only other days that I get to run on the course are when it's cold enough for the greens to freeze (so the course closes), which ain't that often in Atlanta. 

Afterward, I ate a lot of delicious food at Christmas dinner. I subsequently came home and passed out on my bed, laying horizontally. I then got up, sprawled out on the carpet in front of the fireplace, propping my feet up. My family's yellow lab plopped down next to me on the floor; judging by the licks to my face and cold-nosed nuzzling, he apparently wanted to snuggle. I obliged and fell asleep for another hour right there on the floor until I snored so loudly I woke myself up. 

Merry Christmas, everyone. 

Dec. 24

PM: 10 miles easy, core

When I drove up to the parking lot at the River this afternoon, I wondered, "Who's the joker running in the Santa hat?" 

Upon closer inspection, that joker was of course my running partner, Fellows. We (he) got some funny looks from some people along the trail, but obviously they just didn't have enough yuletide cheer. 

The rest of the day (and the past three days) was filled with quality low-stress family time.

To everyone else, may tonight bring you visions of sugar plums dancing in your head. Also, I have no idea what a sugar plum is, nor have I ever eaten or seen one.

Speaking of the same poem, evidence in a few lines of "T'was the night before Christmas" clearly shows that Ol' St. Nick was nothing but a carbon-emitting, baby-seal-clubbing tobacco smoker:

"He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot/

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot."

"The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,/

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath."

But for bringing joy and hope to billions of people around the world, I suppose he gets a mulligan. It is Christmas, after all. 

Dec. 23

AM: 1:00:00 easy/moderate over hills, immediately followed by 30:00 tempo, plus cooldown, 17 miles total

I ran the hard portion in Memorial Park in Atlanta, which is about 2.95k around. I tried to run as evenly as possible: 9:55, 9:59, 10:01. That gives me 5:26 pace, at least according to an online pace calculator. The tempo section was "comfortably hard," that sort of oxymoronic phrase often used to describe tempo runs." At about half marathon pace" for 30 minutes is probably more accurate, because that's what it felt like. No flats today, just trainers--I probably won't buy a pair of marathon racers until later in the spring, which I'd normally wear for a harder long run to get a feel for racing in them. 

Building up to Boston in April, this workout will gradually become the 1 hour easy/1 hour sub-marathon pace run that I like a lot. It's a good marathon simulator, in terms of getting really, really tired, but running fast and even. 

Dec. 22 - 84 miles/week

AM: 7 miles easy/moderate

A little recovery day caps off the end of a good week. 

Dec. 21

AM: 30:00 easy/moderate plus 10 x 1:00 hill repeats (Farmington Drive), 9 miles

Got up early for the workout before my 10.5-hour drive to Atlanta, making it progressively farther up the hill (at Farmington Dr. near Jones Mill Rd. and Beach Dr.) each time. A lot of driving today, but it's great to be home for Christmas. Rest for the weary. 

Dec. 20

AM: 12 miles easy

PM: weights, core, stretching

I met up with Patrick M about 3.5 miles into the run and went through Rock Creek Park. I was exhausted in the evening. I can tell I haven't slept enough this week; my body has that stretched-out, lingering fatigue. I'm driving home to Atlanta on Friday, where I hope to get in some better sleeping than I did this week. 

Dec. 19

AM: 10 x (3:00 on/1:00 off), 10 miles

PM: 5 miles easy, treadmill

Ran three Meadowbrook loops for the morning fartlek (13:27, 13:18, 13:30). Solid effort. I might actually try to get on the track when I'm home for the holidays, but right now that's a little difficult given the lack of daylight after work, when it's easiest to get on a track.

Dec. 18

AM: 8 miles moderate plus strides

PM: 8 miles easy

Played with my new heart rate monitor during the second, easier run.

Dec. 17

AM: 10 miles easy recovery

PM: weights, core, stretching

Cold and windy this morning. Last week before Christmas, and it can't go by soon enough.

Dec. 16

AM: 15 miles moderate/hard

Went up to Riley's Lock with Klim, Dylan, Nate and Steve Crane. Rainy and cold...37 degrees. Started off at a decent clip along the towpath, then went out to some country roads, before Klim and I picked it up for the last 25 minutes (and also added a cooldown). Hit 11:10 for the last two miles, which was OK through the mud, and because my running pants were so water-logged that they kept falling down.  Whoops. Should've worn tights today. Klim dropped me pretty hard in the last two miles--bad for the ego, but ultimately probably good for my running.

Dec. 15

AM: 10.5 miles easy

PM: 5.5 miles easy

Ran with the GRC and a few Pacers guys in the morning from the store. Shake-out run with Samy, my college roommate, in the evening before his Festivus Party.

Dec. 14

AM: 12 x (2:00 on/1:00 off), 10 miles

Hilly fartlek through Rock Creek Park. Lots of fog this morning.

Dec. 13

AM: 9 miles moderate, strides

PM: 60 min. stationary bike

Chevy Chase neighborhoods in the morning before work. 

Dec. 12

AM: 10 miles easy

PM: weights, core, hashbrown omelet

Dec. 11

AM: 5 x (6:30 on/:90 off), 10 miles

PM: 60 min. stationary bike

I set out this morning with the intent on just running some mileage, planning to do this workout tomorrow. However, when I got out the door, my legs felt light and crisp, so after a quick warm-up, I just rolled right into the workout. Normally, I take the time to stop and stretch, change into flats, and maybe do some strides, but today I just went with it. Finished up my 7 mile loop in 40 minutes for the entire workout, including recovery jogs, though I "cheated" the last recovery jog, running hard through it so I could see a nice even number at the end--perhaps a little obsessive-compulsive on my part. Some days all systems are just going to feel good, so I'd rather make it a real workout day instead of a mileage day run too aggressively.  

Dec. 10

AM: 15 miles easy/moderate

PM: weights, core, stretching

I didn't get a long run yesterday, and since I've missed my fair share of them already, that meant dragging my ass out of the door early before work. It turned out to be a decent run as the cold and rain stayed away--a pleasant change from this weekend. 

I haven't seen the sun in about a week. I'm beginning to miss it. 

Dec. 9

AM: 6 miles easy/recovery

Got in an early morning shake-out before driving the 8+ hours back from Ohio. Great trip all around for several reasons aside from the race, which I've already discussed in length:

1.) Learned what an "A.C. Slater" is. And a growler. And a heater. They pretty much all mean the same thing. 

2.) Saw Delilah of "Hey There Delilah" fame--and it turns out she's pretty damn quick. She won the women's race.

3.) A wilder than expected post-race party, where one or more runners were tasered by the cops. Turned out to be some of the Atlanta Track Club guys, who I've run with and raced against before. 

Dec. 8 - U.S. Club XC Nationals (67 miles/week plus 2.5 hours cross training)

PM: 10k XC race, 255th place, 36:21, 13 miles total (including morning shake-out)

I can say without hesitation that this is one of the most difficult races I've ever done. All of the snow in Ohio melted, making the entire course a huge mud pit. Plus, we were the last of five races that day, so everything was incredibly chewed up. The entire run was as intense as any championship college race.

The almost first two miles were chaotic, and I may have lost my cool a little bit. This admittedly may have not been the best "rust-buster" race, because my racing senses were a little dull. Moving anywhere was tough in what amounted to a sea of bodies (~450 guys). I freaked out too much--my confidence was a little shaken from all of the time I missed, even though I know I'm reasonably fit--and all of the mud and ice flying in my face just shook me up more. Thus, I wasted a lot of energy in the first half of the race running through some of the worst parts of the course: ankle deep, soul-sapping mud. I'd try to cover someone's move, but then I'd hit a mud hole and would find myself running backward again and have to negotiate a hay barrel to boot. The entire race was spent reading myself, the other runners, and the course itself...but, hey, that's cross country for you. It's hard for a reason. The time is supposed to be irrelevant, and it was. Times across the board were a full three minutes slower than the road or track.

So I really felt like I didn't start "racing" until about 4.5 miles into it, when I was already well into oxygen debt but was able to find some new gears and snap out of it and reel some guys back in. I started closing early, and I finished ahead of some guys who I've never beaten, and close to some guys who have run a lot faster than me at other distances. So even though I felt like the event was one of those blow-up, did-you-catch-the-number-of-that-bus kind of races, my performance ultimately wasn't all that bad. I have to remind myself that this is really the beginning of the return to running, training, and racing, and since that's the case I don't consider this a bad start. It just wasn't a great one, either. 

The race and the entire trip with the GRC guys was a blast; don't get me wrong. I've never experienced conditions like that, and you only get so many races as deep as that one was. In the end, covered in mud, dejected and exhausted, I above all just felt glad to be back to racing. 

Dec. 7

AM: 7 miles easy, strides

I'm flying out to Ohio this evening after work for U.S. Club XC Nationals. There's four inches of snow on the course right now. Interesting to see how this will go--I have no real expectations except that it's probably going to hurt like hell given that I'm still "coming back," and that it'll be really, really cold.

It's beginning to sound like quite an adventure--if there's enough snow perhaps I'll find a yeti?

Dec. 6

AM: 8 miles easy/moderate, treadmill

PM: 45 min. elliptical

Remember the scene from Rocky IV, where it shows Rocky and his hulking Soviet opponent Ivan Drago training simultaneously? Rocky is outside in Siberia, running through the snow, up 14,000-foot mountain peaks, and lifting logs to get ready for the big fight. Meanwhile, Drago is indoors, hooked up to all of these high-tech machines that measure punch velocity, caloric expenditure, using crack Soviet scientists to prepare him for his big fight with the Italian Stallion.

With all of the time I spent working out indoors today on various machines, I felt more like Ivan Drago than Rocky. Well, except for the steroids.

"I must break you."

Dec. 5 - snow!

AM: 8 x 3:00 on/1:00 off on grass, 8 miles

PM: 60 min. elliptical, core

Put on my spikes for the first time in a while and ran fartlek on the grass field at Beach Drive and East-West Hwy. The loop is about 1,110m, at least according to Google Earth, which makes it perfect for this workout. I was fairly consistent throughout, hitting close to the same splits and finishing each "on" in the same spot. With a light dusting of snow, the conditions are probably similar to what we'll see this weekend in Ohio. That race is looking more and more like the type where you just throw away the watch and race, which I guess is the romanticized ideal of what cross country is supposed to be, anyway.

The snow kept falling throughout the day. We got a few inches, which is fine until it refreezes, when it just becomes a pain in the butt. I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be gone by the time I get back this weekend.

Dec. 4

AM: 9 miles easy

PM: weights, core, stretching

Bought my first Christmas tree today! This will be the first tree I've put up since high school--I got a little nostalgic.

The Christmas tree smell is amazing. It's a good thing I enjoy the smell so much, too, because the sap stuck to my hands like a noel-napalm. It doesn't want to come off.

Dec. 3

AM: 8 miles progression run over hills

PM: 45 min. elliptical, core

Progression run in Rock Creek Park before work.

Dec. 2

PM: 14 miles easy/moderate

Ran in Greenbelt Park with a bunch of UMD guys. It's been a while--I hadn't run with any of them since the summer. 

Dec. 1 (56 miles/week plus 3.5 hours cross-training)

AM: 11 miles easy/moderate, stretching

PM: weights, core

Hilly run with some Georgetown Running Co. guys in Rock Creek Park. 

Nov. 30

AM: 25 min. tempo, 8 miles total

PM: 45 min. stationary bike, core

My first tempo run in quite a long while. I felt like hell and had a horrible R.I.C. the entire time, so given all of that I was glad to hit my splits (~5:30). My first loop (around the stables in Meadowbrook) was quicker. I slowed on the second loop, but managed to pick it back up to pace by the last mile or so.