Early morning

Mon: 9/28/09
AM: 10 mile run (1:08:00)
Had to get up extra early this morning so I can hitch a ride to work with the vacuum in order to clean the glass out of my truck from the break in. Let's just say I wasn't pleased. However, the run was quite enjoyable. The temperature was crisp, yet I elected to run without a shirt. My legs felt a little beat up, probably from the pavement but my breathing felt much more normal today. A really pleasant run. Off to a 9 hour workday, 1.5hr drive to class, 2.5 hour class and a 1.5 hour drive home...Yeah, I have extra incentive to hate Monday's.

Sunday's are for Packers

Sun: 9/27/09
AM: 10 mile run (1:10:00)
Melanie and I lounged around a bit before we hit the streets for this jaunt. When I woke up this morning the sky was over cast and a light drizzle whispered amongst the trees. Correspondingly, I thought that we would be good waiting until the late morning to begin our run. False. It was humid and hot when we ventured towards Herring Run park and we paid the price for our laziness. I felt like crap and the pedestrian 7 min miles left me out of breath. At one point a car rolled by and yelled "Nice shorts fa*". I became irritated and surged after the car in hot pursuit. About 17.5 seconds later I became amazingly short of breath and gave up my chase; wheezing at the intersection. I am pathetic.

I like pancakes

Sat: 9/26/09
AM: 8 mile run (1::01:05)
Melanie and I got out the door a little later this morning after a pancake breakfast and me creating some delicious concoctions in the crock pot for later tonight. God do we sound domesticated. The run was nice as the air was cool and there was the slight presence of a drizzle. Again we took the Hopkins trail to the "new" hopkins trail to keep on the softer surface. Wanna know what we did after running? We went to the grocery store! Awesome, right?

Running is my mode of transportation

Fri: 9/25/09
AM: 3 mile run (21:00)
With my truck safely parked in the garage at work -with no window - I am forced to find other modes of transportation. I decided to pack the necessities in small spike bag and jog to work. Because Melanie scolded me, I included a fresh shirt so my co-workers would not think I had engaged in nefarious activities the previous night and strolled in wearing the same duds. The run was nice but way too short.

PM: 8 mile run (1:00:00)
Got off work a little early this afternoon and packed up my essentials and ran back home to pick up Melanie. We took the Hopkins trail to the "new" Hopkins trail, great run names - I know. It was cooler this evening and we didn't have any pressing plans other than to find some Gyro's for dinner so it was a relaxing run.

It's been a long time since I left you, without a dope beat to step to

So, it seems I have taken a hiatus from blogging my runs. Part of the long layoff was due to a drastic increase in my daily time commitments - starting school and new job. The second part had to do with me being stupid and injuring myself. On Thursday, September 9 I started to run a 3x3 mile workout but after 1.5 miles I felt a slight twinge in my left calf. Deciding to err on the side of caution, I stopped the workout and cooled down easily. The calf wasn't too bad during the day and decided to run an easy 10 miles in the rain on Friday. While the calf didn't hurt per say, it did feel a little "off". It's a tough feeling to describe and I can only say that it is an innate feeling I have developed over the years. This is where things get interesting, or stupid some might say. On Saturday, an acquaintance in Baltimore recruited me to run a 5k on the track to help add some depth to his race. I obliged, knowing that if I wanted to stick to the plan and run the Parks Half on Sunday, my calf needed to withstand a 5k. Well, I got 1200 meters in and wrenched things mighty good.

I wisely took Sunday and Monday off and when Tuesday rolled around the calf was feeling good. I got 20 mins out and started experiencing some slight tightness so I decided to turn around and be safe. The idea was to add on at the end if things didn't get worst. Well, 5 mins later the calf knotted up again and I was left to walk/jog the rest of the way back to the house. Luckily, the week and weekend were busy and taking the time off to recover wasn't as difficult as it otherwise might have been. Jilane did a great job of chronicling Ben's birthday weekend and Melanie and I added on to the fun fest with a somewhat "select audience" MGMT concert.

I started back running on Tuesday with an easy 6 and 6 double. While it didn't feel that long, a week off really zapped any semblance of fitness I had built up in the last few weeks. There is nothing to be done now but sack up and start over. Wednesday was one 7 miler. Thursday was one 7 mile because my car was broken into and the passenger side window shattered - pretty pissed about that one.

Anyway, time to move on and get back to running and blogging!

Finally, a long run

Tue: 9/8/09
AM: 15 mile run (1:36:00)
This was a super hilly route that I put together for the marathon training group. I added on an extra loop around Lake Montebello, which is 1.36 miles, to make 15. Overall, I think I felt ok. It's tough to maintain pace when things are so hilly, but the average pace came out to 6:24's. I got pretty tired around the 70 minute mark. My hip flexor tightened up the last few miles which made it tough to pick up the pace when things came back downhill. Good effort. Lifting session after.\

PM: 7 mile run (NT)
Was working with a client this evening who had 3x2 miles on his schedule so jumped in for the warm-up and paced him through the first 2.5 sets. Amazing how easy 6:10-20 pace on the track is. Calves were a little tight but was surprisingly chipper after some stretching. Solid mileage day.

Not so long

Mon: 9/5/09
AM: 8 mile run (58:00)
A game of Kings (with a category "things Malibu would say") followed by an impromptu dance party left me feeling like 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag this morning. Today was another failed attempt at a long run but I don't think it was too much of a waste. I know I'll get it done tomorrow and the two days of recovery were warranted.

Week in Review

88 miles - 64 singles

The volume wasn't what I was hoping for this week again. Really need to get serious about it if I want to continue making progress. Obviously, the highlight was the race on Saturday. I was pleased with the racing instincts and the fitness on a tougher course. Shooting for a more intense week next week.

Bad decisions

Sun: 9/6/09
AM: 8 mile run (58:00)
Was planning on going long today but turned around early with Melanie and before I knew it I had convinced myself that doing the long run tomorrow was a better idea. The thought process was along the right lines, feeling that I should really recover from the hard effort yesterday, but I actually felt decent. We stayed on mostly soft trails and the weather was pretty temperate.

Bad decisions is also the name of of a pretty decent bar in Baltimore. From the name and outside appearance, you would think this was a dive. In fact, it's a cool place to go if you want to get away from drinking beer and try some new stuff out.

Scalps

Sat: 9/5/09
AM: 3 w/u, 10k race (4:58, 5:03, 5:03, 4:50, 4:55, 5:04, 70 = 31:05), 3 c/d
Total = 12 miles - 1st place

Pretty happy with this race as I sit here and write this. Not so much because of the time or the prize money - which is going to hep finance my tuition - but more because of how I raced.

I saw 4 Kip's (as Jordan would call them - one was actually named Kip tho) at the start and knew it would be some tough competition. I also saw a dude warming up with a white necklace and remembered the cardinal rule; never lose to the guy in the white necklace. Daniel Too won the Rockville 8k in July in 23:50 or 40 something and the Ethiopian had been a little behind. To my surprise, the pace started out rather conservative . The first 1200 was pretty much downhill and I expected the Kenyans to roll. However, I had the lead for the first 800, running rather easy. Perhaps, because I was that guy not wearing a jersey, they thought I was a local schmo and let me go. At 1200 it was a pack of 7 or 8 and the Kenyan the Ethiopian began throwing surges to see what the field looked like. I stayed patient and slowly reeled them in as I needed.

At the mile mark I decided to throw in a surge of my own just to see who responded and how. Too went with me right away and as soon as I stepped off the gas he began to press himself. We were starting to head up the hill I knew this is where I wanted to press anyway so I grabbed on for the ride. At 1.5 I looked back and saw that we had gapped the next 4 guys by a good margin and the race for first was down to two people...that is until we hit 2 miles and Too dropped the hammer and put 20 meters on me. The lead would stay at this length for the next 3 miles over the rolling course. There were two turn around points - one coming after a long downhill section (the slow second and third mile).

At 4 miles I was hurting and worried the Ethiopian behind me was going to roll me up but we hit a steep downhill section and I pulled the Mike Morgan out of my bag and ROLLED on the downhill while trying to stay relaxed. I got within 10 meters of the leader and it put me back in the race. He lengthened the distance again when the downhill was over but at 5 miles I saw him start to fade. I put my head down and just grinded; hoping I could catch him but not really thinking I could. At 5.25 I knew I was going to catch him as he was coming back fast. Decision time. Do I roll by him or sit and kick? I know Kenyans typically will break and give up when you pass them or put them out of the money (Yes, this is a generalization but I have found it to be true more often than not) so I decided that I was going to surge hard. I caught him, spent about 5 seconds running a little slower just behind him and then threw down. I was hurting and and knew that if he stuck to me I was done. At 5.5 there was a right hand turn and as I took the turn I slowed down and looked behind me. The gap was opened and I knew I had the win.

The only problem with the plan is that I had about 1200 left to run and I was hurting. I flailed about, just reminding myself that I was almost done. When I hit the 6 mile mark and saw the hill I had to run up I almost decided to walk it in. Instead, I hit the hill, pushed for about 5 seconds to get through the steep part and then cruised it in.

The time wasn't bad considering the course and I took some good scalps. After talking with the Kenyans after I found out they are training for the marathon and are in the midst of some pretty tough training. If he would have been fresh the race would have been over early for me. Luckily for my pocket book, I'm a bitch and took it easy the last few weeks!

Shakeout

Fri: 9/4/09
AM: 6 mile run (42:00)
Just one, short easy run today since I am going to race tomorrow. The weather was nice, even after sleeping in and I tooled around the Inner Harbor for a bit. Things felt good after stretching out.

100th post

...And it's a good one to catch-up. I haven't updated in a while for two reasons 1. I've been a little busy lately (I just got a new job at the Princeton Review as an Assistant Director of Communications - sounds better than it is). 2. Last week I was in quite the "unmotivated spell" with my running. Anyway, here is a recap starting with the most recent runs.

Wed: 9/2/09
AM: 3 w/u, 5 x 1 mile w/1min rest (4:49, 4:48, 4:47, 4:46 - kicked off track), 2 c/d
Really had a good one going today and the security guard screwed me over. Apparently, there is a "fox around" so they need to keep the gates locked. Last time I checked, a fox was going to go in and out a fence I can fit through at will. Wish I would have seen what I could do on the last repeat.

PM: 6 mile run (42:00)
Stayed on the trail today for the softer surface. Rolled my ankle a little but nothing big time.
_____________
Tue: 9/1/09
AM: 11 mile run (1:15:00)
Ran down to Herring run park and Lake Montebello. Felt pretty decent.

PM: 6 mile run (41:30)
Ran the Hopkins trail before dinner with Melanie's parents and the Yankees game
_____________
Mon: 8/31
AM: 9 mile run (1:04:00)
Was feeling pretty good this morning. Ran the Inner Harbor to Patterson Park and was moving a decent clip without trying.

PM: 6 mile run (42:00)
Explored the new trail north of Hopkins today. Pretty good footing and scenery, too bad it's a little short.
____________
Sun: 8/30/09
AM: 9 mile run (1:04:00)
Felt horrendous this morning for some reason. Maybe it was the rough weekend and sleeping on the floor.
____________
Sat: 8/29/09
15 mile run (1:43:00)
Met up with the Marathon training group. Today there was a pretty legit guy who wanted to run 15 and I enjoyed the company.
____________
Fri: 8/28/09
AM: 10 mile run
PM: 6 miles with Melanie
____________
Thur: 8/27/09
Off
___________
Wed: 8/26/09
AM: 8 miles - was going to go long but felt like crap and bagged it.

Tracks are for running

Thur: 9/3/09
AM: 8 mile run (1:00:00)
Ran from the Hopkins gym and hit the trails running north with the intent of running 10 miles. Unfortunately, the trails are a little short - I guess I was hoping to find some more. I was content with doing laps when I found a track at the end of the trail with an astro turf infield. It was 8am and gorgeous weather when a man came out of somewhere and told me the track was closed. Really, the gates look open to me? Seriously, what the hell is the big deal about being on a track? It really irks me that, in our litigious society, people can't even run on a piece of land specifically designed for running. Anyway, I could rant forever on the topic. When I got back to the gym I had hit 8 miles and didn't feel like running mindless loops. Did a decent pedestal/med ball session.

PM: 6 mile run (42:00)
Out and back on the river trail with Melanie. Didn't feel all too bad