booked massage...

I've booked a massage with a guy called terrel hale for tomorrow night at 6:30pm... i'm hoping he's got magic hands or something and will, just like chris martin did to somebody who tired their best but didn't succeed, he'll fix me.

did another 60minutes on the exercise bike followed by stretching. will do something tonight followed by another 15-20minutes in the ice bath... my leg actually feels better. it only hurts a little when I walk. i might, just might, go out for a little 4 mile jog this evening on the trails at about 8minute mile pace (i.e. as good as walking) and then see how it feels... then ice and stretch it... maybe it'll be alright... right?

patience, right? nah. panic.

an hour of exercise bike craziness last night. an hour this morning. planning on another hour at lunchtime, and even more (maybe 90minutes tonight). I'm tempted to lose all discipline and just go out and drink, eat bad food, and toss it all in. It's frustrating not being able to run when it's just one little flaw thats stopping me from running.

I am also even more aware now of the passing of time. If I could stop time and sleep for about 5 days and then train hard for another 10 days, and then restart time... that would ease my concerns. The shin is better than it was 24hours ago. But then again, it was fine when I started running on Monday night after 36 hours rest... and mondays run was bad within a mile and got considerably worse over the next 6 miles. But then when I've had this before I've run through it and then it's gone away after 2 or 4 runs. But I don't remember it ever being this bad. I'll try and stay disciplined enough to cross-train through until Sunday morning. I really want to turn up and race in the half marathon on saturday, but that would be stupid, and just isn't going to happen.

Everyday that passes feels like a day lost right now. Struggling not to panic mr mannering. (Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler?)

anterior shin splints

doctor confirmed the following, and we've come up with the following plan...
Anterior shin splits = muscle/tissue damage...
should be fixed in 3-5 days
cross train for 3 days and then try and do a gentle 5 miles a day until things feel good.
goal: even if I can't do perfect training, the goal is to get to the start line at london in perfect shape...
icing = good
stretching = good
cross training = good
booking a sports massage or many sports massages = good

he watched me walk and run a bit and gait/form looks to be perfect/good/great/whatever so thats not a problem. he checked a pair of my running shoes and theres nothing wrong with them (no need for othortics)

so this is the plan...
today through saturday:
90minutes exercise bike - morning
30minutes exercise bike with situps and pushups - lunchtime
120 minutes exercise bike - evening
saturday:
scratch the half marathon race this saturday, and hopefully be in shape for the cherry blossom 10miler in 12 days time.
sunday (if there is no pain in my shin at all):
5 mile - really gentle slow jog on the trails - morning
120 minutes exercise bike
be extremely disciplined about my diet - more so than usual cause I'm not running 20miles a day and therefore I have to really watch what I eat now.

start running properly next monday/tuesday and take it from there...

I could still be in good shape and rested for the cherry blossom race in 12 days time. so this might all work out as a great taper. positive thoughts. happy thoughts.

doctors tomorrow am.

booked an appointment with this doctor tomorrow - http://www.drpribut.com/ - hopefully having a second pair of eyes and ears go over the problem will help ease my mind a bit. Still hurts a bit to walk... but it feels better than it did this morning. Have to be disciplined about diet and cross-training not to throw away all of the hard work I've put in over the last 18 weeks.

I've been icing it all afternoon and taking lots of vitamin I.

Going to sit on an exercise bike tonight for a couple of hours and just read a book or two. Probably do something similar tomorrow morning.

Definitely starting to panic a bit. I need to do everything I can to get this fixed so that I can still run, and run well in London. The half this weekend is looking very unlikely - unless I feel 90% by friday morning... I know I recover quickly, but that might be pushing my luck. Happy thoughts.

On the up side - I'm really enjoying Following the Flame by Greg Lautenslager. A running book, granted, but I'm really enjoying it...

not so good.

right shin really bad. gritted my teeth through a very slow 7 mile run last night - all on my toes. Now painful to walk. Looking around to book a doctors appointment today... not good.

i'm thinking it's going to be better than alright...

did 30minutes on an exercise bike at lunchtime to get the legs working again. Right shin and right calf both feel a bit funny... but I'm probably concentrating on them a little too much. The link for this entry is a cracking decent single by a band called Battle. damn fine single. The rest yesterday has left me with loads of energy and my legs are just bouncing all over the shop. If I didn't have the weakness in my shin i'd probably be in quite good shape. If thats how I feel after one day off, imagine how good I might feel after a solid taper...

tempo run tonight... in just over an hour.

some websites predicting possibility of light snow showers for the race on saturday. that'd be cool. as in great. as in bloody brilliant.

minor set-back...

right shin still causing me trouble on sunday so didn't run in the 10k club race. Spent Saturday and Sunday doing lots of icing and overdosing on Vitamin I. Sunday was my first day off since January 23rd, and the previous day off was early december, and there you have my only 3 days off since Chicago last october. So... I probably needed a day off.

Not time to panic. But I'm going to stretch lots, and stick almost 100% to trails from now through to the Half Marathon on Saturday. Track workout on wednesday morning. As I only ran 100 last week I need to be more disciplined about what I eat. Those 3 lbs I lost last week might be back on. 35 days. 35 days. 35 days.

34 days to go - last weeks training

Mon, Mar 13 am	Easy	4	right shin
Mon, Mar 13pm	Easy	10	with Erik
Tue, Mar 14 am	Easy	11.5	deliberately very slow. right shin painful.
Tue, Mar 14 pm	Easy	7	right shin still hurts.
Wed, Mar 15 am	Easy	6	legs felt fine. right shin not bothersome at all. windy. lungs felt great.
Wed, Mar 15 pm	Hard	10	3 warm up - 4 tempo @ 5:37 (by Erik's watch) - 3 cooldown. with Ben and Erik and Max on C&O as track is closed.
Thu, Mar 16 am	Easy	15	legs tired after last nights run. tough.
Thu, Mar 16 pm	Easy	4
Fri, Mar 17 am	Easy	11.5
Sat, Mar 18 am	Hard	20	6 warmup - 14 slr - jogged in the last 2 because my right shin flared up again. RIGHT SHIN! knickers.
Sun, Mar 19	-	-	DAY OFF - first day off in two months
		99

erg - right shin bad during long run

right shin flared up again during the saturday long run. shame, because my legs and lungs etc were feeling fine.

Easy 12 friday morning. 6 stealth then 14 for slr = 20... shin started to hurt around rose drive after about 14 total and managed to grin and bear it for the next three or four. Then just had to back off the pace and jog home the last 2 miles. Shin got really bad down the concrete into georgetown after lovers lane. Erik came back to keep me comfort through just over the last mile which was very decent of him.

Iced it, taken a few too many vitamin I tablets. Icing it again in 5minutes. Need to stretch before every run - even first thing in the morning... I guess thats as much required discipline-wise as eating well, in moderation, and running the training runs I'm supposed to...

Next steps? Might do a gentle 4 this afternoon to just see how it feels and maybe sit in the creek to ice both legs. There is that race tomorrow... it makes sense for me to go, warm up with people, and then only race if it feels ok. It's a 5 loop thing so I can bow out if it hurts... and I know from previous experience that running fast and short actually doesn't seem to bother it because I'm more up on my heals I guess. Need to look after this one though...

Monday's plan on the canal with Erik is 2warmup followed by 3mile tempo X2 followed by 2cooldown... come on shin... sort yourself out. I don't have time for this.

continuous doubts - t minus 38

i do wonder whether i'm going to be in a position to run close to a 2:30 marathon. right now, i don't think so. I definitely am not comfortable enough running around 5:35's - 5:40's to consider doing that for 26.2 miles. But as I've not rested enough to run a fast workout (race or tempo run) on fresh legs, there is that unknown tapering effect that i'm beginning to dream about.

3warmup + 4tempo + 3cooldown last night which = 10.
15 this morning - down rock creek along c&o canal, switch to capital crescent, cut through up into west georgetown heading east and then up around Battery Kemble Park and then north through Glover Archbold Park across van ness area on melvin hazel trail to Pierce Mill then down rock creek a little until home = 15. I'm tempted to get one of those garmin gps watches so that I'll always know my exact distance and my exact speed... then i can train all scientifically. like einstein.

The more I think about it the more annoyed I am about this past sunday's race. With some many decent fast local guys out it would have been nicer to place higher up to show that I'm getting faster. It doesn't put next to your results what you did the day before. So that doesn't really count. I've added a couple of piccies from the 8k. look at me, aren’t i special and such rubbish. face like an arse kicked in.

Getting back into the habit of exercising at lunchtime... be it a 4 or 6 mile easy run or exercise bike and stretching. My weight is also starting to drop towards where I want it to be. 151 on the scales this morning. First time I've toughed that in a lot of months. Cutting out the cookies and the bingeing and anything bad and replacing lunch with just a bowl of oatmeal seems to have done the trick. I'd like to get down to <148,>London. Much less of hugh to carry along with me on that 26.2.

Only 38 days left of being disciplined. Only 3 more races (10k, Half Marathon, 10miler). Only 4 more long (19+) runs. I need to add in some track workouts - probably early morning if I jog over to the AU track (work out where that is). Need to add in about 3 or 4 more tempo runs as well. Need to push myself right to the point where I'm about to break and hold myself at that point until I taper... Last hard workout on the 12th April - 8X800's. That leaves me 27 days until I taper. i need to stop be half arsed.

right shin feeling better

just went out and did an easy 6 and my right shin didn't give me any trouble whatsoever. Hopefully it'll feel fine after the tempo run tonight. It's just best if I avoid running hard on concrete unless it's really necessary.. or running hard two days in a row. And the scale of how happy i'll be with marathon times in London... looks a bit like this in my mind... so nothing short of a pr will really make me happy.




Such silly high goals... if I run a sub 2:35 then I might have half a chance of getting a semi-elite place in New York. That would be fancy.

39 days to go - booked flight to london

My right shin still hurts from the long run and race at the weekend. It was sore and tight during the warm up on Sunday. Felt sore afterwards. Really sore Sunday night and I ran with it Monday (12 am, 4 noon) and Tuesday (12 am, 7 pm). Slept in this morning to give it some rest. Sometimes it feels better after a run, but I’m not able to push my runs that hard… so I could do without it being hurt. Will put in an easy 4 this lunchtime just as an excuse to stretch it.

Booked my flight back home for London. Flying out on the Wednesday night, getting in Thursday morning. Gives me 3 days and nights to adjust to whatever jet lag there is. Thought about paying extra for a slightly bigger seat on the way out but instead I’ll just beg and grovel for an upgrade at the counter and see if that helps me any. Visa appointment at the US Consulate on Thursday, and then spending the Friday and Saturday just kicking my heels dealing with the hyperactive child that is hugh on taper.

Been looking back over my training before Chicago… wondering if I’ll even do as well as I did in chicago in London. Wondering if my goals are too big right now… should I be content with a pr? In my mind I see this scale of times from 2:39 down to <2:29>

less than 6 weeks - great 23 long run - poor st patricks day 8k

Probably shouldn’t have raced on Sunday. The long run (23) on Saturday morning went really well… really ended up pushing hard in the last 6 or 7 miles and felt like it was hard effort too. Then put in a gentle 6 on Saturday afternoon and my right shin was tight and starting to hurt a bit. During a couple of miles worth of warm up on Sunday my shin felt quite painful. Raced, and then the pain came back again during the warmdown. It’s the same old shin pain I’ve had a number of times before, and running higher up on the balls of my feet alleviates the problem. I think it comes from either warm out shoes or too much concrete running. There was enough concrete in the last 7 miles of Saturdays long run for the fatigue to really stress my shins so that must’ve been it.

The race went ok. So-so. I was quite slow, and about a minute slower than I should have been. My body didn’t feel like it wanted to go fast, and I dragged myself around in about 7-10 seconds faster than my marathon pace. I’m happy enough about the 23 long run not to be that bothered about not performing well in the 8k race. I am thinking about putting myself all out in the National Capital Half in two weeks time… take 3 or 4 days and rest beforehand, and really go out to see how well I can do. It’s risky, because If I do badly I’ll get all depressed and worried that all of this work has been useless. But then again, unless I take a risk and go all out, how on earth am I ever going to find out what I could do? “High risk… high reward” or something like that.

It’s getting up to a high of 80something today. Back to freezing first thing in a couple of days time. Silly weather. Went out and did suburban 4 miles from the golds gym without a shirt… I like running in the cold, but it’s nice to be able to run outdoors in just shorts and sweat a little. I’ll be bored of it by august. Easy 10 tonight with Erik. Hopefully shin will be fine after a couple of easy runs. 16 on the trail tomorrow am… probably take it really easy. Might even take my mpthrees with me.

Oh, and really starting to get fed up with my lack of discipline about diet. So… am going to start exercising at lunchtime as well as morning and evenings. Just through to London… but something like 4 miles through suburbia or on the exercise bike or just stretching and light weights. Enough to get my mind off a cookie and a coffee and fire my metabolism up enough to get me through the afternoon. And no more eating what I want. Strict policy of no cookies during the week, no chocolate at all, and no eating after 8pm if I’m just snacking. Get myself down to race weight for London as quickly as possible so I don’t waste all of this effort by going into a race holding onto 5 to 10 lbs worth of hugh that I really don’t need to carry around for 26.2 miles. Maybe I’ll lose 5lbs by the half in two weeks time and then see if 5:30’s suddenly feel really easy for 13 miles? No? Come on, let a boy dream a little.

last weeks training in full

Mon, Mar 6 am	Easy	6	easy 6 north through rock creek on trails. no injury problems. groin tight and legs tired - delayed soreness from saturdays 22 I think...
Mon, Mar 6 pm	Hard	10	2 warm-up - 15min tempo - 3 minutes rest - 15min tempo ~5:40's 5:45's. 2 warm down. with Erik. tough as my groin is tight and thighs were heavy and tired by lungs felt great afterwards.
Tue, Mar 7 am	Easy	11.5	reasonably easy (just short of) 12. groin tight. thighs very beaten up. might have an ice bath tonight to see if that helps them. but all just heavy usage pain, no injury pain.
Tue, Mar 7 pm	Easy	6	easy run. legs felt good on the hills. little bit of pain when walking in the 5th metatarsal of my right foot where it was previously broken, but nothing when running.
Wed, Mar 8 am	Easy	11.5	no problems.
Wed, Mar 8 pm	Steady State	9	3 warm up, then running on field next to track - 8X3 loops of the field... did them in about 2:05 - 2:15 so i guess they were about 600meters? dunno. ran hard-ish but made sure i was in control, so not all out like usual. some people went off to the trails but i run enough trails all week - the field was at least something different.
Thu, Mar 9 am	Easy	11.5	legs really didn't want to open up, but i think my stride is getting longer now i do all this speedwork and concentrate on getting a bigger more strong but still relaxed open stride. right? what do i know…?
Thu, Mar 9 pm	Easy	6	easy as it goes. thighs tired from the mileage this week.
Fri, Mar 10 am	Easy	6
Sat, Mar 11 am	Hard	23	10 stealth - 13 slr (Glover Archibald Pandas) = 23. tough but had little kevin driving me home for the last 7 miles. last 7 miles at 6min mile or below. tough. warm day too (60F). tough but great workout.
Sat, Mar 11 pm	Easy	7	dropped off dvd, went on run, picked up new dvd, and then went home. easy 7 to shake this morning’s 23 out of my legs. booya.
Sun, Mar 12 am	Hard	10	3 warm-up - 8k race - 2 and a bit cool down (st. patricks day 8k 28:03 42nd)
		118

23 mile long run - 43 days to go

the 23 this morning was good. painful in terms of the effort it required (especially in the last 6 or 7 miles) but really good. it took me 2hrs 39minutes... longer than i'll actually be running during the marathon in london, but the first 13 or so miles were quite average paced, then a bit faster and then really pushed it the last 6 or 7 home... little kevin really pushed me through the last 6 miles... so i think it shows i'm in good shape for london - being able to do this in a normal high mileage training week without any significant taper period, and now, in 10 days or so, my body will improve (super compensate is the term the scientists use) from this effort and be even stronger.

drinking loads of water - I'd forgotten - it's been so cold for so many months it's a strange reminiscing type of feeling being dehydrated.

ran an easy 6 miles to shake my legs out from this morning’s effort and return a dvd on the way out for my run, and pick up a dvd on the way back from my run.

loads of people planning on doing the race tomorrow... I'm really looking forward to it now. So I better get some food in me, watch a movie while putting my legs up on the couch, and get an early night.

44 days til london

Track turned out to be doing loops around cones in a field next to the track... couldn't get on it due to a bunch of hugh school lacrosse games. Decent enough workout. Not as good as normal, but different from just plugging away on the trails and bike paths. I'll need to add a track workout or a very motivated tarmac speed workout next week in addition to whatever tempo runs I'm doing. Maybe mile repeats along some trail, or maybe try something time based - 1min fast 1min slow X20. Maybe next tuesday evening.

Put in an easy 12 Thursday morning. My muscles are definitely getting tired, and my thighs struggle up steep inclines. Easy 6 thursday night and let myself sleep in this morning to get a bit of extra rest before tomorrow's tough workout (23). Will put in an easy 6 to shake out my legs saturday afternoon and then spend a good bit of time stretching. Have no idea how sundays race will go. Don't so much care about my time (i say that now...) but will treat it as a solid tempo workout. There are supposedly about 6,000 people running it so it's going to be a big mess at the start. Might need to get there really early to get bib and chip and disappear to warm-up somewhere or just read. The added incentive for finishing fast is to get through the end, pick up my bag, pick up any bagels and cookies and then get myself to the Liverpool Arsenal game at lucky bar by 11am.

This morning the temperature was in the 60's... high of mid 70's panned for both saturday and sunday so the trails are going to be packed with joggers and weekend warriors coming out of hibernation.

I'm looking forward to the collection of races and workouts over the next four weeks... In these four weeks I think I can make the final push for improvements that will help me in London... I hope.

I know there must be a bunch of guys (and girls) who train less than I do but run faster 10ks, 10milers, half marathons, marathons... and I do ask myself why on earth do I bother putting in so many miles and sacrificing so much going out or hanging out or just enjoying a bit of drinking and socialising... but I guess it's not about comparing my times and effort to other peoples time and effort... it's about comparing my time to my previous times. If I've put the work in and I improve on my ability to get from a to b on my feet, then the work is worthwhile. Nobody takes the amount of hard work you have put in into consideration when starting and stopping a stopwatch. Either you're faster, or slower... simple enough. I think there’s quite of bit of the British upbringing left in me that assumes we should all strive for effortless dominance. An outstanding belief that trying harder, believing in a strong work ethic somehow demeans what you achieve because you were too keen. Other people who tried less hard and achieve the same goals are therefore better? Right? What about other people who try less hard and achieve just less than you… if they were only a minute short of your marathon time, but trained half as much, does that make them better? I guess I do revel in the superfluity of 130 – 140 mile weeks. I enjoy pushing myself to the same volumes as in supposed ‘elite’ training regimes. If this is a 4 year plan, and I’m only in the first 6 months of the first four years, then maybe all of this work will finally break me into good to great times in about 3 years… maybe I should stop contemplating about it all, trust the work, and just keep putting in the miles of running. Be it hard or easy or alone or with a pack of fellas or with one other person or whatever.

Shut up hugh.

dammit

liverpool lost. we're out of europe. track tonight is up in the air cause there's no track to run on (the school are using it). doesn't exactly make me feel like training. at least england will win the world cup in the summer, and that'll provide me with some consolation. dammit. liverpool lost. dammit.

47 days til London - under 5 weeks until I taper

Feeling like I might have this cold forever. Didn’t eat well over the weekend… chips and beans and eggs while watching Liverpool misfire against Charlton on Saturday, chicken and cheese quesadilla sat pm, cookies late sat night, junk nibbles sun night in front of the Oscars. Two late nights back to back sat and Sunday as well. So I felt a bit rubbish all day Monday. Put in a reasonably solid 11.5 Sunday morning on the trails, and then took a nap Sunday afternoon instead of doing a double. 130+ for the week so it’s not like I needed he mileage. Easy 12 Monday morning, and then I met Erik in the early evening and we jogged out two miles to c&o and then put in 2X15minutes tempo runs out and back on the trail. He dropped me pretty quickly and my legs didn’t want to open up at all. I really had to concentrate to keep my stride long and stop it from tightening up. I doubt I ran faster than 5:40’s…

The worry I have now is that it really does take me a huge amount of effort to hit my marathon pace outside of a race. My goal pace of 5:45’s aren’t coming as easy as I’d have liked. I’ve not really stopped for long enough during the last 16 weeks to actually taper and then gauge how a taper would give my legs a chance to store up a bit of fast in them. It’s all going to come down to a magic taper at this point. I wonder how much extra speed I’ll get out of my legs through merely giving them a two week taper? I wonder how much faster I’ll be just by being at the race I’ve been thinking about and aiming for, for the last half a year… I’m tempted to taper for about 2 or 3 days before the National Capital Half marathon to see if that allows me to run a good time. Then again, if I run rubbish there, then it’s just going to depress me (just as running badly in the Philadelphia distance run last year really pissed me off). There is an 8k this Sunday in dc, but I’m going to do a hard 23 Saturday morning so the 8k, time wise, won’t matter. Then there’s a 10k the next week… and I think I’ll run the 10k, rest 10 minutes, and then go back out on the course and run it again (hopefully won’t get in trouble for doing this). But then there’s the half marathon in three weeks time and then cherry blossom 10miler in 4 weeks. Do I take those times and work out what sort of marathon shape that puts me in and re-assess my goals? If those times predict I’m only in, say, 2:35 marathon shape do I go out in London to run a 2:35 rather than try to run a 2:30 and then from 17 miles onwards hold on for dear life?

No track this week or for the next 5 weeks. Bad timing as this is when I could really do with being made to run short fast stuff. This being the Anaerobic Training phase and all that.

Ah well. Injury-wise… nothing really bothering me. Right foot still is bruised but since I’ve folded the tongue of my shoe back under the laces it’s getting better every day (the tongue was knocking against the painful bit and apparently aggravating it – I’m so delicate the tongue of my shoe appears to be able to cause an injury). My left foot is in it’s best shape for over two months. I think the new shoes really helped, and being stricter about sticking to trails. There’s still localised pain if I rub the first metatarsal but I can clench my toes about 70% now… two months ago I couldn’t clench them at all. My groin is very tight and I feel pain in the lower abs, but I’m just being better about stretching after running to see if that helps me. I think that the additional speedwork talking. I only used to get that pain after races. Now I can get it from hard training. Isn’t this just showing I’m working harder in training? No? Ah well. It’s all going pretty well really. Only complaining about the small things.

48 days to go - last weeks training

Mon, Feb 27 Evening	Easy	14	Reasonably easy. felt fine. slept in mon am. lack of motivation.
Tue, Feb 28 Early Morning	Easy	6	easy 6 and then subway. didn't take long so i've shifted the time of the run back to 6 miles
Tue, Feb 28 Evening	Easy	13.5	didn't feel terribly great. right foot problem still there but not too bad. just a bit bored by it. i think this is what they call overtraining.
Wed, Mar 1 Early Morning	Easy	12	slow and slow and slow. really slow. couldn't have gone faster if I wanted. legs heavy and not feeling it at all. at least I got the miles in. wore kayanos and although right foot was fine left foot really hurt in them. just like last time I wore them. took laces out of them when i got home, and they are gone.
Wed, Mar 1 Evening	Hard	11.5	8X800. considering how heavy and tight my legs were not surprised that the average time was down vs. same workout in january... but legs feel much better for having done the speedwork. average 02:37.5 (vs. 02:35.3 7 weeks ago)
Thu, Mar 2 Early Morning	Easy	6	legs felt better. ran with a little more of an exaggerated stride to bring my knees up just to bounce through the run. feeling better and more motivated that at the start of the week. legs getting fresher.
Thu, Mar 2 Evening	Easy	10	started off and finished really slow (8:00), but up to 7 or faster for most of it. with an Erik. lots of chatting. legs opened up near the end and felt good.
Fri, Mar 3 Early Morning	Easy	12	easy does it. lar dee dar.
Fri, Mar 3 Evening	Easy	6	legs felt fine. quite bouncy. new easy loop - down rock creek up lovers lane and then back up rock creek and home via top of adams morgan. not bad. slightly longer than previous easy 6 (ish) and less concrete.
Sat, Mar 4 Early Morning	Hard	22	windy and cold. lots of running into a headwind which made it feel quite a lot of work. with a joe and einstein balls. tight groin but all in all quite healthy. 10 stealth - 12 pentagon army navy (slr)
Sat, Mar 4 Afternoon	Easy	6	i like this route enough i'm adding it as my permanent easy 6. two big-ish hills and mostly trail. need some light for lovers lane but nice loop. legs feel great. knees bouncing up. solid. not used that word for a bit. solid.
Sun, Mar 5 Early Morning	Easy	11.5	run felt fine. legs quite good considering i'd put in 22 and 6 yesterday. quite fast today. only run today as instead of doing another 6 i'm going to get some shuteye. only feeling tired, no pains. which is pretty damn great.
		131

crikey that was a bit windy and cold

friday went by alright - 12 am and 6pm. added a new 6mile-ish route... because it was light enough I went up lovers lane and then looped back up rock creek after crossing over along p in north gtown. then finished it by going up to conn and across the bridge to the top of adams morgan. if it's light enough i might do this one whenever i need 6 miles.

sat runs were decent too. started soon after 6:30am from iwo doing a stealth 10 before slr. dammit was it cold with the wind on key bridge going into town. i could actually feel the wind cut through my shoes and socks and biting at me toes. quite cold in burst for parts of stealth on c&o and then on the actual slr route back up mt vernon towards town. slr route was a lot of concrete - iwo to just by memorial bridge then down past pentagon, to 4 mile run, to mt vernon and up to key bridge and home. 12 it was. not that cold by the wind really made it hard work. with a joe and Erik, who I'm trying to get called Einstein-balls. cause he teaches science and has one of those satellite watches... see? see? Catch the fish, not drop it? see? Catch? see? no? no.

did the 6 i talked about above this saturday pm. just shy of 120 this week. with 12 or 14 tomorrow am, and 6 or 8 in the afternoon (if I feel like I need to shake my legs out) I'm back to where I want to be mileage-wise. Keep that up for 5 more weeks and then taper. booya.

groin tight and I wonder how much that reduces my ability to run fast. I'm going to spend more time this week stretching after running and see if that helps it. Cause, you see, I read in the Haile biography that he had a tight groin (due to coughing) and it meant he couldn't run as fast as he wanted - so, i might be the same, right? i think I better go. i think you better had.

life back in the legs

after a miserable start to the week I'm getting much more response from my legs towards the back end of the week. Gentle 10 with an Erik last night from Iwo Jima out along C&O canal... dark by the time we got back but a decent run. He's got on of those Garmin satellite watches so it went off every time we hit a mile - we pretty much spent the time chatting away about everything and anything - solving the worlds problems on a run - and miles we a gentle 7min mile (maybe dropped to 6:40's near the end). Legs really started to open up on the way back and the air felt good going through my lungs so that was quite fun.

Easy 12 this morning. felt fairly easy. nice enough run too. Spring is starting to kick in. I was out of the door by 5:20am and by the time I hit the trail (after going down rock creek and across the bottom of gtown) at glover the other side of georgetown I was quite clear -on the trail- what not to sprain my ankle on. grammatically poor sentence that last one. crikey. ran into a couple of small packs of deer this morning by the zoo, and a skittish fox along the canal, and the gtown crew where out getting shouted at on the potomac. It's enough to be running when it just above freezing, but getting in and out of the water as well and then enduring a sport which is even more pain endurance/tolerance than running... hats off to them. Not that I was wearing a hat. stuff. things. shut up hugh.

52 days - motivation (slowly) on the up...

Track last night. 8X800. ran a little slower than I would have liked but felt much better than I have done for the last few days. Glad to have a decent bit of fast running and just one half decent track workout seems to have boosted my confidence a bunch. Ran an easy 6miles this am and felt like I had loads more fast left in my legs. Workout tonight in which I'll put in a bit of fast stuff as well - maybe a tempo workout of sorts.

The piccie is from a workout right before christmas, but i realised I had no photos on my blog so I added one. of me on the track. when i'm talking about me on the track. i'm sorry, i'm very simple.

and talking of how simple I am... motivation is up while reading the Haile Gebrselassie biography. cause it's easy to think about how ridiculously hard he's working out, or any of the elite Ethiopians discussed in the bit of the book I was just reading, and I'm simple enough to be inspired enough to try harder. maybe I should just read running books from now through to London. Once A Runner could get another visit.

a few more miles in - getting back into it

put in 6 miles during lunch yesterday. 13 last night at a medium to easy pace. 12 this morning a very slow pace (doubt I could've gone much faster - very tight and heavy). Felt pain in my throat this morning so I think I might be getting a second cold before the latest has even gone away. Didn't take resting pulse last night so don't know what thats telling me. I'm glad I made it out of the door this morning instead of getting back into bed. It might only be two mornings sleeping in, and I might have run 45miles so far this week (beginning Monday am), but I just feel like I've been lacklustre and really lazy and pathetic. whinge whinge whinge.

So, low motivation, lots of little injuries that don't completely clear up, legs heavy, a bit grumpy, anti-social, I think these are all huge great whopping signs of being overtrained... but mileage has been down over the last three weeks. I think trying to train for 24 weeks might've bitten me somewhat. grumble grumble.

track tonight. no races this weekend. the 10k st paddys race is now an 8k, which is too short for my liking, so I'm going to do the club 12k instead. I don't care about any race results but just want to use the races as fast tempo workouts. So, 7.3 miles tempo run is a lot better than 4.5 (or whatever 8k is in miles).

53 days. Just need to keep working hard and then I'll be able to stand at the starting line at London knowing I can do well. silly hobby.