September 30th-October 6th Training

Monday: 9 miles (6:45); 6.2 miles (7:12)

Tuesday: 10 miles (6:42); 6.1 miles with 4xstrides, 4xhill blasts (7:33)

Wednesday: 3 miles (6:51). Wanted to run further but it was pouring rain during lunch and I ran this three hours before the workout; 14.9 miles with 2 miles@10kish, 1/2 mile jog, 1 mile@5kish, 1/2 mile jog, 8x1/4 mile hill with jogdown recovery. The weather was just under 80 for the temp and just under 70 for the dew point, so I slowed down my goal times to 9:50 and 4:45. Ran 9:43 for the two mile with splits of 4:52, 4:51. It felt fast at first but once I got settled in, it became a little more comfortable.I ran 4:35 in the my mile, which I was pleased with because it didn't feel that bad.  I averaged upper 71s on my hills, which climbed about 40 feet in the quarter mile.  It's kind of a sissy hill but was enough to work my hip flexors and adductors pretty well.  Good confidence booster because I normally don't run these sessions on the road very well and I was expecting to die on the hills.  Fitness is climbing.

Thursday: 11.6 miles (6:48); 6.8 miles (7:27)

Friday: 8 miles (6:53); 6.8 miles with 6xstrides (7:08)

Saturday: 14.7 miles with 15k race.  I was trying to get under the state record of 46:44, which is 5:01 pace, so the goal was to keep it around 5:00 pace and see how I felt.  The weather was pretty warm, with a misery index of almost 140.  Was consistently running in the 4:55-5:00 range for the first 10k and feeling pretty smooth, then I could start feeling the heat.  At 7 miles, I had about a 20 second time cushion, so I backed off the pace some and finished up at 46:37.  Good confidence booster because I felt like I could have run 65:30 if I would have hammered for a full half-marathon.  Not bad for a solo effort in warm conditions; 3.1 miles (7:22)

Sunday: 20.1 miles (6:13). Rained out first thing in the morning, so didn't get started until after 2pm.  Got started a little faster than usual but hung out in the 6:10 range, rather than slowly dipping down like I usually do.  Legs felt really good but the body just didn't want to dip under 6:00 pace today (other than for two miles).  Felt pretty decent at the end.

Week Total: 120.4 miles. My first good week since the spring with decent volume, intensity and endurance work.  It would have been fun to duke it out at TCM but I enjoyed following the race. A lot of guys took their shot at the front and a ton of people raced well.  I was surprised to see Nick Arciniaga rally back a few times and then eventually get the win, after outkicking Josphat Boit. Getting dropped and then catching a few times shows major mental toughness.  My favorite person to see win is someone who does most of the work during the race.  Other than that, I like seeing guys battle through adversity, only to come back and take the victory.

I'm heading out to Boston to run in the BAA Half this Sunday.  The course looks tough and I don't really have a time goal.  I don't think I can knock out a Trials qualifier on that course with my current level of fitness, so my goal is to duke it out and not completely die on the hills during the second half.  I saw Zach Hine is on the entry list, so I'll probably key-off him since he's consistent and fit.  While he'd probably smoke me in a shorter race, finishing close to him will be a good race for me.