Today's Run - 1/31

Although still cold the mornings are warming up and getting lighter earlier. These are great signs that spring is coming. I was out early and happy that I made it through the weekend without catching the flu that others are suffering with.

On tap this morning was a 8 Mile Easy Run at ~10:30 pace. I can't make my self run that slow nor do I have time in the morning, so I started at a 9:30 pace and worked down. I took it easy on the hills and then kicked it up for the last half. The Piper loop has some great hills and I like to run the out and back so that I can have some nice down hill sections. The out mile 2 and back mile 7 are a long slow hill that is down on the way out and up on the way in. This hill is a grinder that you need to manage your pace and perception of effort while climbing. I can tell that I continuing to become a stronger runner as I find that running up this hill is not as taxing even at faster pace.

This was a good warm up for my Tempo Run @ 9:01 this week. My travel was canceled due to storms in the Northeast. I will take tomorrow off and run again on Weds.

Today's Run - 1/29

After a long week it was nice to get out for a run this morning. I slept in later than usual and I was able to run after sunrise. It was a bit cold, still in the mid-20's when I headed out. I felt pretty rested since I did not run on Thursday. Rather then running a Long Slow Run, I kicked the pace up a bit from where I have been running. I clocked in an 8:29/mile pace and also worked on my cadence to average 88 spm.

It felt good to run after little bit of extra rest this week. I feel like I am ready to tackle my toughest week yet. I will be traveling again, so I will probably switch my runs around a little and run Monday, Tuesday, Thursday

Needed a rest and looking for execuses

I was supposed to head out for a run this morning. We had a good amount of snow and ice last night. When the alarm went off, I decided it would nice to get another day of rest. Since this is a down week I figured it would not be a bad thing. I also was a little worried about the black ice and risk of falling. I was OK with my decision until I watched a runner trot by as I headed out to work.

Today's Run - 1/26

This was a great easy 7 Mile run in the rain and snow. The temperatures were dropping all night and just above freezing when I headed out this morning. The rain changed to snow after a few miles. Although in the low 30's it was still warmer than other recent runs. I worked to maintain an easy 9:30 pace and the kicked it up in the last couple of miles.

Today's Run - 1/24

The recent cold snap reminds me that we are still in the midst of winter. The thermometer read 9 degrees this morning when I headed out this morning. I dressed in layers and I was able to stay warm through the run.

This is a recovery week after 3 weeks of mileage increases. I did a nice easy run at ~9:30 pace. My legs felt pretty good after a day off.

Today's Run - 1/22

I was looking forward to my long run this week, but it started out a little rocky which made me think about turning around after the first mile. Just getting out of the house took me longer than usual, I had prepared my clothes before going to bed with everything but my gloves which were still in the dyer. After getting dressed for my run I looked for my gloves and found that only one had made it from the washer into the dryer. Not a big deal, I have other running gloves but they are not as warm. After eating a bite and filling up my water belt, I headed out the door to temps in the low teens and single digits with the wind chill. I started out on the Piper Paddington Loop and after 1 mile my iPod battery went dead. With 11 miles to go I wondered if I was going to be able to make it through! But all of these issues I can only fault myself for not completely preparing for the run. I quickly worked to put the obstacles behind me and get into my run by breaking down the 12Mile run in smaller chunks. Even without the music the miles clicked away and at about mile 6 I found that one of my water bottle nozzles had frozen in the extreme cold. My other 2 bottle had not frozen over yet, probably because one Gatorade and the other had not been used as much so there was not as much water in the nozzle. I continued to push on, enjoying that this run was done after sunrise. I decided to do an out and back route after the 6Mile mark, and got to do the hills in the opposite direction descending the hills I climbed and climbing the downhills on the way out.

I worked to maintain a ~9:35 pace that was a bit slower on miles with hills. I finished this run up and felt good. I was not too sore but I did feel like I had run a good distance. I can tell that my shoes are coming to the end as my feet are feeling a bit tired after each run. This was a good week of running and I am looking forward to the recovery week this week. I hope to get to the Gym to do some cross training or swimming this week.

Today's Run - 1/20

Up and out early this morning for an easy 7Mile run. I decided to include some hills on this run even though it was supposed to be an easy run. I tackled the Q2 Section early in the run to get the aggressive hill climb early in the run and the finish on the long slow hill climb on Piper.

I am struggling to run slow on my long runs. I locked in the pace between 9:15 and 9:30 for this run. Considering the hills this was a good comfortable pace. My heart rate was under control and did not spike at the start of the run. I continue to work on my cadence and averaged 87spm.