Arie's Running Blog

7:15 AM it was 30F and the sun was starting to shine. I was doing 3 loops on the trail (each is 2.9M). Did them in more or less even pace 23:01, 22:53, 23:04. This is the end of the cut back week. Next week back to build up again.

1:08:58

Noon, 60F and sunny, light wind. REally nice outside and I ran in shorts and a t shirt - something I didn't do for a very long time. Ifelt great and did a 7:38 pace and it wasn't a walk in the park but it felt OK. Will do another 7 tomorrow but we are expecting much cooler temperature tomorrow.

0:53:28

Nice noon run. Whent to the trail and did two loops of 3.7 each. The first in 29:02 and the last in 28:56.

0:57:58

Went for a tempo run today. Wasn't the best day for it, it's cold and VERY windy. But I thought I need to face the elements.

I planned to do 7.5 miles out of which 6 miles tempo at 7:10 pace. I started way too fast. First of all my warm up 0.75 mile was in 7:33 pace, Then the first mile was in 6:46 pace which is way too fast (it's sort of my 5K pace!) Then the pace fell down gradually 7:04, 7:17, 7:16, 7:27 then after the 5th mile I just had nothing left in me and slowed down to cool down 1.75 miles in average pace of 8:10. In the last 2-3 miles of the tempo part I was facing really strong head wind. There were moments I felt like I wasn't moving.

It wasn't the best tempo run but it was a hard workout and I feel I gave what I could. Learned some lessons from it too. I think I would do MUCH better in better conditions. The over all average pace on the 7.5 miles was 7:26 and if I can keep something like that on the HM at the end of March, I will be all set for a nice PR.

3:30 cold and cloudy. Did easy 6.4 on my usual route. Legs were tired after the tempo yesterday.

0:49:32

noon, nice and sunny. Did easy 6.4 on the usual route. I think I'm doing my easy runs too fast. In fact I know I'm doing them too fast. I tried to slow down today but still did a 7:51 pace instead of 8:30.

0:50:16

7:30 AM, 42F and warming up. Went to the American Tobacco Trail. Did two times back and forth til mark 3.5M. Here are my splits:

7:48, 7:59, 7:58, 7:54, 7:45, 7:57,7:51,7:39, 7:50, 7:51,7:50,7:35,7:50,7:43.

So they were all over the place.

1:49:32

Went for an easy run afternoon. Really enjoyed the slow pace (8:06 average) and felt great afterwards.

0:56:43

Flew to Austin TX this afternoon. Got to the hotel, unpacked and went for a run on the trail along the Colorado river. It was warm and humid. Where else can you run shirtless in the middle of February? Only in Texas.

1:00:47

Got to the hotel late from dinner and a whole day of meetings and giving a lecture. I rested a bit and then head down to the hotel's gym for an easy 7 mile run on the treadmill. It's the farthest I ran on a treadmill. Did negative splits.

0:57:23

Came back from Austin and was quite exhausted. I ran from my office to home adding some extra loop to make it a 6 mile run. My left leg and my left knee hurt.

0:48:15

I postponed the speed work to Friday becasue I was traveling all week. I went to the trail around the east campus which is 1.65 mile loop. I ran 0.65 easy and then 1 mile hard. My 1 mile times were: 7:02. 7:01, 7:05, 7:05, 7:05. The recovery times between (those easy 0.65 mile parts) got slower and slower. I don't know if this is really what I'm suppose to do in spead work or is this cheating.

Anyway, I think the 1 Mile repeats are too taxing for me, bot physically but also mentaly. Someone with my "speed" should probably do the 800m repeats.

1:14:56

7:20AM, 38F rising to 42F. Went to the American Tobacco Trail for my long run. I did a speed work on Friday and rested on Saturday but I didn't feel completely fresh. The first 3-4 miles were a bit hard and so were the last two. I ran two loops of 7 miles and here are the mile splits:

1M: 7:47      8M: 7:45
2M: 7:55      9M: 7:43
3M: 7:59    10M: 7:59
4M: 7:53    11M: 7:49
5M: 7:49    12M: 7:38
6M: 7:59    13M: 7:53
7M: 8:00    14M: 7:50

miles 3 and 10 were up hill and 5 and 12 were down hill the rest were a mix. I'm happy with this run.

4:30 PM, easy run 8:10 average pace. Still a bit tired after yesterday's long run. It was a fun run and I could think about lots of things. I am giving my students an exam on Friday and I was thinking about questions for that midterm.

1:05:45

10:30PM cold and windy. I'm in DC for work. Had meetings all day and got time to run only at night. I did a nice loop from Georgetown to Dupont Circle and up on Connecticut Ave. to that neighborhood when the National Zoo is and back west to Georgetown. Lots of hills.

0:42:18

11:45AM sunny and windy (sometimes very windy). Tempo run. Went from myoffice to the trail on the east campus. After that 1.5 miles warm up, did 3 loops on the east campus and then an additional fast 0.8 miles on the way back to a total of 5.75 miles tempo. This si close enough to the 6 miles I was planning to do. I finished with 0.8 miles cool down back to my office. The pace for the tempo was just a tad slower than what I was hoping it to be. The time on the loops was 12:07 (7:20 pace), 12:08 (7:21 pace) and 12:00 (7:16) and the 0.8M part was 5:54 (7:23). I was hoping to be closer to 7:10 but given the fact that it's a trail with rolling hills and it was windy, I'm happy with the pace.

1:01:02

7:15 AM, 42F with some wind and occasional drizzle. Did 15 miles on the American Tobacco Trail in an average pace of 7:48. The per mile pace ranged from 7:37 to 7:58. I felt good all the way apart from maybe the last mile and a half where I felt a bit tired. I still did the last mile in 7:50 pace. Here are my mile splits:

7:47
7:50
7:53
7:55
7:46
7:37
7:49
7:39
7:41
7:54
7:49
7:45
7:58
7:50

1:56:56

4PM, nice 50+ F. I had a dentist appointment earlier but felt good and decided to run. Went for a slow run and felt OK. Did 8:07 pace which felt very comfortable.

0:56:46

4:30PM cloudy and some wind. I'm very tired. My legs feel heavy. Was telling myself the last 7 miles in a marathon would feel even less great so I must toughen up and finish it. Did 8:04 which suppose to feel comfortable but wasn't.

0:56:25

4PM. Still very tired. I think I figured out why I'm under performing. I am taking anti-biotics (dental related). These 6.4 miles were really hard. Was trying to keep a reasonable pace (8:05).

0:51:42

4PM. Another lousy run. Luckily it;s my cut back week so it doesn't matter. Pace fell to 8:12 and still feels hard. I'm taking anti-biotics and it really drains my energy.

0:52:31

Noon, 55F nice and sunny. I figured out that running early might help and it did. I ran my usual course and also stopped for some hill repeats (did just 3). Pace was slightly better (8:00) and it felt slightly better.

0:51:09