Day Off

No running today. Scheduled day off. After six days in a row it is nice to finally have a day off.

Sunday Long Run

Joel and I stepped off on this 12 mile run at 6:30. We went from my house through Kellyville via Chandler Mills Rd, up John Stark Higway into Newport then to my parents house via Pollards Mills Rd. This is one of my favorite routes to run. The first 6 miles are very easy, but the last 6 has very little flat ground. I ran negative splits (2nd half faster) today so I am pretty psyched about that. Overall pace was a 7:55 mpm. My body felt pretty good except for some muscle tightness in my calves, but I think that was related to the cold air.

Easy Run

I did an easy 6 miler on the treadmill. I wanted to run outside today, but the wind gusts were up to 30 mph. I decided that I would sacrifice the outdoors, and go for round two on the new treadmill. The run was good. I mixed in some hill running as well. I am trying to learn the different user settings and programs on the treadmill. It was a good workout in my new home gym before the family ever got out of bed. A twelve miler tomorrow.

General Aerobic Run

I did an easy 7 miler on my new Treadmill! It was fantastic. I threw in a half mile of uphill running every mile. Overall I pulled about a 7:40 pace. After I got done with the 7, I did an extra mile of strides. For this I did 7 repeats of .07 miles at 11 MPH and then .07 miles at 6 MPH. Next time I do treadmill strides I will probably do 20 seconds hard, 40 seconds easy and I will do that whole revolution 8 times to get in the extra mile. It will be a lot easier to control that way. An easy 6 tomorrow and then 12 on Sunday.

Happy Thanksgiving

I did an easy 4.2 miler this morning that went out Washington St then cut back over the RR trestle and came back into town on the rail trail. I felt really good and comfortable. The goal was to run easy today, which I did for the most part. Tomorrow I am scheduled to do a 7 miler with about a mile of strides afterwards. I stretched a lot after I got done running this morning and I hope to stay real loose before tomorrow's run. I haven't run more than three consecutive days in a while. Knee is still pain free.

Onto non-running news, Heather went into labor last night so her and Chris won't be joining us for Thanksgiving. However, Logan will probably be joining us by the end of the day!

General Aerobic Run

I did a nice 7.4 mile loop that went out Sugar River Drive and around the Case Hill Rd area. I felt amazing and I really tried working on the hills. I got to the first mile at 6:55 and realized that I was running a bit too hard. I ended up running a 7:20 mpm for the run. Everything seemed to go right today. This run was like the one or two good golf shots that you have every round...it will get you coming back everytime. No pain of any kind.

Shake Out

I did an easy 6 miler on the treadmill at Twisted Fitness at 7:45 pace. I had three blisters on my right foot that were quite sore yesterday. After soaking them in epsom salts last night I started to get some relief. Todays run felt incredible and I had no pain of any kind. My legs were still a tad sore from Sunday's race, but overall not too bad. My knees felt great. I feel encouraged that everything is starting to get back to normal.

Hanover 10K Turkey Trot

Today Mark Chase and I braved the 10K Turkey Trot in Hanover. I've wanted to run this race for a long time, but I've never been in shape this late in the fall. After getting registered I did a warm-up that was just over 2 miles, then changed into my racing flats and did some strides on the Dartmouth Green. My plan was to tackle this like a long tempo run and be just under a 6:30 mpm pace. Well, the mile markers were not very accurate in the middle of the race, so I couldn't tell exactly what my splits were. I knew I was in the low 6:00 range by the way my body and stride felt. I settled into a really nice rhythm about 2 miles in and held it there until mile 5, at which point I had to summon everything I had to hold my pace. I finished in 38:37 (6:13 mpm) which was a personal best by a long shot. I am quite happy with the race, and remarkably, I had zero acute pain in my knees. The race was also a bit of a surprise, because I haven't really done any hard core workouts since before the marathon. I feel like I am in great shape right now, and I am really interested to see how this next training cycle pans out. Up next, a couple fast 5Ks then 2010 Boston Marathon training full speed ahead!

Easy Run

I did an easy 6+ miler which went out Washington Street and turned around at the new Lowe's parking lot. I felt really good, and I pushed the last 1/2 mile or so. The pace felt comfortable, and I think I am set up pretty good for tomorrow's Turkey Trot 10K in Hanover. I am planning on running somewhere just under 6:30 pace, unless of course that feels easy. It will be a good solid workout either way.

General Aerobic Run

I did 7 miles on the treadmill at the gym. I was planning on running outside so I laid out all my clothes last night in order to leave the house without creating too much of a disturbance. When I got up it was raining so hard that I thought I would need flippers instead of running shoes. I decided to hit the gym instead. The run went amazingly well and I had zero knee pain. When I got done I worked on ankle stabilization for a little bit. The pace was comfortable during the run and I decided to do my final mile at 7:00 pace (marathon pace). I felt strong and in control. An easy run tomorrow and then my first post-marathon race on Sunday!

Day Off

No Running. My knee feels incredible today. I am now working on ankle stability exercises to help correct this problem. My physical therapist believes that the ITBS is most likely caused by ankle instability. Light at the end of the tunnel......

Hills

I did 6 miles this morning on the treadmill at Twisted Fitness. My schedule didn't call for a workout, but I wanted to do something a little harder than normal. I chose hills. I put the pace at 7:53 and chose a hill session with an intensity level of 10 on a scale from 0-20. The "workout" went something like this:

60 second recovery at 1.5% grade
60 seconds at 4.5% grade
60 second recovery at 1.5% grade
60 seconds at 5.5% grade
60 second recovery at 1.5% grade
60 seconds at 6.5% grade
60 second recovery at 1.5% grade
60 seconds at 7.8% grade

I did this whole revolution 6 times, and I put in 6 miles and a cooldown. It wasn't too bad until the last revolution when I was really getting sick of running the grades. All-in-all, a great run with very little pressure on the knee.

Easy Run

I did an easy 10K on the treadmill at Twisted Fitness. My knee felt pretty good. I rocked out with the iPod. I am finding it very easy to run on the treadmill when I have music. Time goes by super fast and I am not really bored when I have tunes. I am going to run 6 miles on the road tomorrow morning.

10 Mile Progression Run

Joel and I did a 10.4 mile progression run that started at his house and went along the rail trail the whole way until the finish at The Home Depot. We stayed together for the first 7.4 then ran our own paces the last three miles. I ran a pace that felt hard, but one that I could control for a long time. I was in a nice rhythym and pulled just under 7:00 pace for the final three miles. I am still having some knee issues, and it is starting to annoy me. It is good to get back into harder running again.

Easy Run

I did an easy 10K on the treadmill at Twisted Fitness at 8:00 pace. I felt really good and just got into a zone listening to my music. I had a little knee pain on the left side. I noticed that the pain is no longer on the outside of my knee, but it is now just below my knee cap. Tomorrow off then 10 on Sunday.

Fartlek Run

Brandon and I did a 6 mile fartlek run on the superhighway. We did a 1 mile warm-up then did intervals of 30s, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 and 1:00. Equal rest between the intervals. The goal was to run 8:00 pace for the cooldowns, and 7:00 pace for the hard intervals. I think I was probably closer to 6:30 and 7:30. Overall, the workout went very well and I had very little knee pain at all. It was a good first workout after the marathon, and something to build from. I am finding that I didn't lose nearly as much fitness as I thought I was going to. I still feel pretty strong and snappy.

10 miler

I ran the Sugar River 10 miler with Brandon. It was a really good run, and we pushed the last two miles a bit harder. I had no soreness in my legs, but I did have some tightness in my left knee still.

Bald Hill

Ran my favorite loop with Brad in Bellows Falls, VT. This is an amazing run with some great sections of road and trail. The loop is pretty secluded so you don't have much traffic. My knee was sore for most of the run, but that is probably because it hasn't had much rest since last night. We hammered the last mile, and my knee actually started to feel better during that part. I am taking tomorrow off, then I will probably run 10 miles with Brandon on Monday.

Medium Hard Run

I ran the Ainsworth Road loop. I started out real hard and did the first mile in about 6:45 pace. I slowed after that a bit, but I still ended up running a pretty hard clip. My legs and left knee felt really good. My diet has been terrible the last two days, and I had Ramunto's pizza 2 hours before this run that was bouncing all around in my gut. I actually thought that I was going to throw-up for a little while. Overall pace was about 7:20. Tomorrow off and then 6 or 7 on Sunday.

Easy Run

I did just over 5 miles today on the treadmill at Twisted Fitness. My knee was a little sore at the beginning, but by about 2 miles into the run it was relatively pain free. After I got done running I went home and stretched quite a bit. Following the stretching I had zero pain or pressure in my knee at all! Yehaaaaaaaa! The actual run went very well. I built from an 8:00 pace to a 7:30 pace and held 7:30s for the middle 2 miles. During the last mile I started picking up the pace a bit more, and I finished the last 1/4 mile at my goal marathon pace for Boston...7:00. I felt amazing! Have I beaten the IT band?

Shake Out

My first run since the marathon. I had some minor pain still in my left knee. I did a half mile warm-up on the track then stretched for about 10 minutes. I then ran 2.25 miles on the track, alternating the direction each mile. I noticed that the turns were still putting a lot of pressure on the outside of my knee. I decided to get off the track and I ran about 2 more miles on the rail trail heading towards Market Basket. By the time I got to about 3 miles my legs got super tight and it was similar to the soreness I experience at the end of a long run. I love the marathon! I am going to spend a lot of time stretching, icing, and I will take tomorrow off. 5 on Wednesday.