Arie's Running Blog

Ran outside in Ithaca NY (I'm visiting Cornell). It was cold!

I was visiting Cornell and it was freezing outside. I ran the indoor track. It's a 200 meter track and I had to circle it 55 times! I'm crazy.

From my home to the American Tobacco Trail and then back. 7:53 average pace.

1:21:15

Treadmill run at the gym.

Treadmill run at the gym.

Just 5 times around Duke East Campus.

5.6M @7:36

3.6M @7:25

Was suppose to do tempo run but was sick as a dog. 

3.9M @8:15

was suppose to run 11M but was recovering from a flu. I ran anyway even though I was not 100% recovered but I shortened the run significantly.

5.6M @7:57

5.6M @7:52

3.75M @7:41

7.5M @7:58

3.75M @8:00

4.8M @7:57 (windy)

3.75 @7:37 (trail)

10.86 @7:55 (quite hilly)

3.13 @7:31 (trademill)

trademill run

1M @8:34

1M @6:40

0.5M @8:34

1M @6:40

0.5M @8:34

(trademill) 

11.69M @8:03 (quite hilly)

4.26 @7:31 (trademill)

6.12M @8:04

3.11 @7:16 (trademill)

Was suppose to do a 12M long run but was out of town (traveling) and missed it :-(

5.04@7:32 (trademill)

2.91 @7:28 (trail)

5M tempo run (1M warm up + 3M tempo +1M cool down)

This was my first attempt and semi-long distance racing. I set a 4 month training program beforehand and I tried to execute it. However, I was traveling like crazy and I missed too many runs including a couple of weekend long runs. I also made one bad mistake on the morning of the race - I drank way too much. In the first 6-7 miles I had the feeling I need to pee. By mile 7 I was about to explode. There were no porta-johns along the course. I finally found a nice bush to go behing and literally peed for one long minute. It was in the middle of a hill so I had trouble getting back into pace. Another bad thig was that I was too excited the days before and the night before I slept for less than 5 hours. Summing all this I had a good run up to mile 11. from that point I was barely moving. My pace fell from a 7:45-7:55 pace to 9:10-9:20 pace! I picked up at the end but it was really a disappointing finish. Over all I felt I could easily run it 3 minutes faster (1 minute lost for pee and one minute for each of the last two miles).

The race was good for learning my lesson. But if my goal is to BQ, then even a 3 minutes less (i.e a 1:42 1/2 marathon) is not enough for may age group. I will somehow need to get closer to a 1:30 or 1:35 1/2 marathon so I can do a 3:20 marathon. That's the goal.

Here are my splits:

mile   pace

1        7:10

2        7:31

3&4     7:35 (missed mile mark 3)

5        7:55 (includes water break)

6        7:54

7        7:41

8       9:06 (had to pee in the middle of a climb)

9       8:06

10&11  7:49 (was back in the grove)

12    9:02 (fatigue)

13    8:21

Recovery run.

Speed work. 1M @8:00

800m @3:01 +400m jog

800m @3:10 +400m jog

600m @2:20

2M @7:21

Hills

1.5M warm up (~8 minutes per mile)

3 X 300m hill of moderate slope

1.5M cool down (~8 minutes per mile)

Long run

Nice trail with rolling hills.

4M @7:41 (mostly trail)

Tempo Run

1M @8:35

3M @6:40

1M @8:12

Hills + run

4 X 300m Hills of moderate slope

3.15M @7:37 (trademill)

7.42M @7:49 (trail)

2.91 @7:08 (I really kicked on that trail that morning)

Speed work:  (trademill)

1M @8:30

800m @3:20 +400m jog

800m @3:20 +400m jog

800m @3:20

2M @8:15

Did some cross training yesterday and I'm afraid I over did it. I am going to run a 5K race tomorrow in hope to at least get very close to my PR if not break it. As always before a race I feel slugish. I'm going to pick my packet this afternoon - hopefully this will give me a boost.

That was an awesome race. I didn't break my PR but got close to it (see some excuses below). It was the 2nd annual 5K on Franklin street which is the main street of Chapel Hill North Carolina. If you know Chapel Hill, you know that it is very beautiful. 7:30AM start. 62F, mostly cloudy, relatively small crowd - perfect conditions.

OK, so what happened. I actually was at 13:12 at the 2 miles mark which is a 6:36 minutes per mile which should have landed me safely into a new PR. The next 3/4 a mile was OK no problem but then there was a big down hill and here is how the last 300 yards of the race were: 200 yards of a very steep uphill and then the last 100 yards we basically circled a parking lot making 4 90 degree turns within those last 100 yards! Duh! How can one kick it in the last streatch if you need to run up a steep hill and then do a stupid parking lot run with 4 sharp turns? I am sure that cost me my PR.

On top of that I was also a bit under the weather. Had running nose and sneezes and some ear aches and even though the first 2 miles were really nice I didn't feel very strong. I had problems falling asleep the night before not because the jitters but because I was all congested. But I sucked it in and did my best.

Now for the good news:

Final time: 21:03 (17 seconds slower than my PR) but... I came 3rd in my age group!!!!!!!!

Arie.

6:20am start, temperature was about 60F but it was very humid. It rained allo night so the air was clear and the trail was a bit muddy but beautiful.

Did 3.12M at a 7:45 pace so it wasn't totally easy. A great way to start the day.

Plan for the week:

Monday: 3M

Tuesday: XT

Wednesday: 4-5M

Tuesday: 3M

Friday: Rest/XT

Saturday: 7M

Sunday: Rest

Cross training. Did some bike and weights.

8:30AM, 50F at start, sunny with light wind. I started on Duke West campus near the chappel and ran on campus drive all the way to the East campus (1.5M). I ran the loop around the East campus (1.6M) and then returned all the way back to the way back with adding a little bit extra at the end (1.65M). Total 4.75M at 35:24 (7:27 pace). The run was not easy, the effort was more like a tempo run but over all it felt good.

Note to self: Go to sleep earlier.

8:20AM sart 55F no wind and sunny. Duke West to East Campus, this time without the loop. Nice pace (7:23).

26:13

6:10AM start, 60F, light wind, sunrise. I planed doing 7M but I felt really good and extended it to 8.4M. I am trying to control my pace and not go too fast in these long runs. I checked my watch and I actually did negative splits. The route was really nice. The first 1/3 was just smi-urban stting. the middle section was on the Americal Tobacco Trail (ATT). If you ever come to this part of the country you should check it out. The last part was hart residential part trail (part of the trail around Duke Golf course - another great running trail).

1:05:32

9:15 AM start, 65F some wind and sunny. Did two loops around Duke East Campus. It felt good. I wanted to go easy but I ended up doing it in 7:19 pace. I need to learn how to run slower in my easy runs and of course in my long runs but I can't seem to be able to do it. Any ideas?

0:24:08

I felt like I need to take a day off running. I have some inflamation in my knee and maybe in the achiles tendon of my right leg. Nothing serious. I will be OK tomorrow for a 5 mile run. I really need to learn to do my easy and long runs slower.

8:10AM start, 60F no wind and sunny. I did 3 loops around Duke East campus and a little bit more to make it a 5 mile run. I felt quite good. I tried to run slower and keep it a constant pace. I did quite well. Each loop is 1.65 mile and I did 12:12, 12:12 and 12:14 for the 3 loops respectively and then I ran the last 100m in 33 seconds.

0:37:11

Today is Israel's memorial day. In this day we ramember the soldiers who made the miracle called Israel possible and especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice. We also rememeber those who payed with their lives just for being a part of this miracle called Israel and were killed in so many terrorist actions in Israel and abroad. I am dedicating my run today to all of them. God, may they rest in peace. Tomorrow is Israel's 60th birthday. The sharp switch for the saddest day in the year to the happiest day in the year is perhaps the best way to explain who we are. God bless Israel - I miss you so much.

Arie.

AM run 4.75M

8:00AM start, 60F rainy. It was just a drizzle when I started but it got stronger and it was raining by the time I was half way through. It actually felt good running in the rain. Lucky me I keep a towel in my office. I planned to run another course which is 3.7M but due to some changes in my schedule I ended up running again the Duke West to East campus + the East campus loop. It felt good to run more. I controlled my pace to about 7:40 minutes per mile.

0:36:27

PM run 2.2M

I decided to run back home from work. It was about 75F and very humid so it wasn't the best conditions. But I did a nice pace. This is the first time I do two separate runs in a day.

0:17:10 

Today it's Israel's 60th independence day!!! Mazal Tov!

6:15AM start, 60F light wind, sunrise. I didn't sleep much last night. We had a friend over  yesterday and he stayed longer than I was hoping. The first couple of miles were a bit sluggish with lots of negative thoughts. But I pulled myself together and started to feel stronger.

What are you thinking about while you're running? I was thinking about all sort of things this time but most of the time it was about work. Somewhere between mile 6 and 7 I came up with an idea that will make my FORTRAN program run faster. I was now even more motivated to get home fast so I can implement it :-)

Over the pace was good 7:47 on average with the last 3 miles better than the first 3. It was the exact same course as last week and I did it a few seconds faster.

1:05:19

9:05AM start. 55F sunny and light wind. I started late this morning. I did what became my usuael run between the two Duke Campuses and the loop on the East campus. It felt good. It was moderate effort and the weather was nice after two days of rain. The pace was 7:42.

36:34

The plan for this week is as follows:

Monday - 4.75

Tuesday - 4.75

Wednesday - 4.75 (or maybe 6 if I feel good that morning and slept well)

Thursday - 4.75

Friday - I'm driving up to DC

Saturday - 7-8 miles in the beautiful DC

Sunday - I'm driving back to North Carolina.

I will not have a chance to have a longer run this weekend because of my travel. But at least I plan to move from 4 days run a week to 5.

8:10AM start, 55F, sunny and light wind. I ran what became my usual run between the two Duke campuses + the loop around the East campus. I also added two fartleks of 50 yards in what I think was my 10K pace.

0:36:31

During my run around East campus a guy was playing with his dog and he let the leash off and the dog was jumping on me and licking me and sniffing me. I don't hate dogs, I fear them usually but I don't hate dogs. What I hate is dog owners who make themselves a nuisance. It wasn't too bad this time but a year ago a guy who ran with his dog went on my left side while letting his dog go from my right side and the leash just cut me pretty bad. It was right when I was about to go on a 4 mile run. I ran inspite of the fact I was bleeding. I still have  a 5 inch long scar on my right leg. The guy didn't even stop to say he's sorry or offer help. The guy from today felt really bad and appologized but I was cursing him. Not nice of me, I know. I kinda regret it.

8:40AM start, 55F mostly sunny, some wind. I run the usual West to East Campus plus the East campus loop but this time I als added a small loop around the main quad on east campus (about .6M). I added a couple of fartleks in 10K pace on the way back.

0:40:21

So far the plan of moving from 4 times a week to 5 times a week is working fine. I plan to keep doing it for at least a month till I attempt 6 days a week. I am also not going to increase milage at first, perhaps only on the weekend long runs. On 4th of July I will run a 5 mile race and I think a 7:00 pace is at reach for that race. In November I will run a 10K and we'll see if I can do that also in 7:00 pace.

I decided to go to the gym after running the same route for three consqutive days. I ran 35 minutes on a moderate incline in moderate speed (7:42). It felt good. I so far ran 4 straight days. I'm going to rest tomorrow. I will be traveling to Washington DC. On Saturday morning I am planning to do my long run from Arlington to the the monuments in DC and back. Looking forward to it.

0:35:00

6:50 AM start, sunny and windy.

I'm in Arlington VA for a conference. I had a great run this morning. I ran to the airforce memorial monument (I think this is how it is called) near the Arlington cemetary and then back pass my hotel and through Arlington downtown and eventually to the Mount Vernon Trail (MVT). The trail is very nice. I ran just a small part of it. The part I ran went along the Regan National airport (great for seeing planes just as they take off) and then on the banks of the Potomak north till a small park and back. It's a narrow trail and full of bikers but they were nice and courteous and for the most part you can run on the grass next to the trail. The view was beautiful. The conference is good too so it's been a great day. I miss my family tho. 

1:06:41 

8:50AM start, 60F light wind, sunny. I ran the usual West-East Campus + loop course. I was a bit tired this morning and had some back pain. I was driving 4.5 hours from DC back to Durham NC and this prolonged sitting and driving probably did it. Then I was doing extra holding my kids whom I missed so much. But I'm happy I didn't use it as an excuse. I ran in a good pace 7:36.

0:36:05

Paln for this week:

Monday: 4.75

Tuesday: 4.75

Wednesday: 5.5-6

Thursday : 4.75

Friday: Rest/XT

Saturday: 8-9 miles

Sunday: Rest.

The transition to 5 days running is working well. In a month I will move to 6 days. I also plan to keep it in the 25-30 miles range for alittle while till I push it above the 30 miles.

8:50AM start, 65F, windy at times, cloudy. I change the course a bit today. I ran through downtown Durham (if you can call that a downtown) and then back through East Campus. I ran it too fast (pace 7:26). I think I am back to my old habbit of trying to beat the clock. If I go down just a bit to 7:45 it will good. Need to work more on myself.

0:36:27

Over all it feels good to run more miles and more days. I'm resisting the urge to increase milage too fast. I think I want to keep the current level for 2-3 weeks and then increase a bit. My goal is to run the 5M on July 4th in a 7:00 pace and then the 10K in November at the same 7:00 pace. I think a solid 30 miles per week can get me there. What do you think?

Also, here is an interesting article on the benifits of maximal strength training:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18460997

9:10AM start, 60F sunny, no wind. I slept little last night and was a bit tired this morning. Of course I didn't use that as an excuse! I ran in a somewhat slower pace (7:44). These extra 10-12 seconds a mile made the run really comfortable. What puzzles me is that this pace suppose to be my marathon pace. I can see myself run at this pace for 5 miles maybe 10 miles, but a whole marathon? I know you people here say that speed will come with increasing the daily distance and moving to 6 days a week. I hope you are right :-)

0:41:23

Note to self: go to sleep before 11PM tonight.

6:10AM start, 52F, just sunrise. I got up early so I decided to go for a run. I did two loops around Duke's golf courses. Each loop is 2.9M. I did 22:29 and 22:55 splits. First I ran it counter clock wise and then clock wise. The course is pretty hilly and that way I can benefit from short steep hills as well as from long medium sloped hills.

0:45:24

Everyone was asleep when I left but when I came back my wife told me our older son woke her up at 6:20. She was not happy about my early run, to say the least. What a bummer.

9:30 PM start, 65F, a bit humid. I haven't ran at night for quite some time. It is usually not my choice. I couldn't run in the morning so I went to my long run after the kids were in bed. I also ran a bit less than I planned. Over all it was a very good week. My total approaches 30 miles. I will gradually increase it over the next couple of weeks.

0:59:42

Running 5 days a week feels great. I was afraid that moving up from 4 days to 5 would make me tired but it's actually the opposite. I'm looking forward to moving it up to 6 days a week. I just want to do things gradually.

9AM start, 65F sunny and windy at times. I was feeling tired and a bit down this morning. I'm glad I overcame these feelings and went out to run. I ran in not much slower pace than usual (7:45).

0:36:50

I am dedicating my run today to all the US soldiers who serves this country and especially to those who paid the outmost price for the freedom of this country. I am not a US citizen but I have lived here for 11 years and I love the people here and have a great deal of appreciation for this country.

8:50AM start, 65F sunny. Humidity is rising. Temperatures are still comfortable in the morning but one can sense that summer is already here. I didn't feel very strong this morning but I clocked a nice pace (7:40). I have too little sleep and too many worries. I just hope that my 7:00 pace for a 5 mile race is realistic. The race is a 4th of July one so I still have time to get stronger. The routes I am running on are more hilly than the one I will be racing on so that's good too. There is no such thing as a flat course in this area but relatively speaking the 5 miles race in down town Raleigh is quite flat. I ran my 5K PR and my first 1/2 marathon in that area and it's quite nice.

0:36:27 

10:30AM start, 68F drizzle and humid. I felt really crappy this morning. Illness of my son, problems at work, bad weather, etc. But I didn't give up and I went for a run. I changed the course a bit to make it interesting and I ran on campus to the trail and then back. A little less than I hoped to do but I had a good pace (7:40). I'm sure tomorrow will be a better day.

0:35:10

11:00 AM start, 70F but breezy. This was a really crappy week. My older son has some health problems and I have tons of problems at work and to top all that I have a cold with a bit of heartburn too. So you can imagine that I was not in the mood for anything, including running, this morning. I am proud of myself for eventually going out of the door and running. I took it easy and started slower than usual and felt great. In fact after the 2nd mile I felt so great about myself that I decided to extend my usual 4.75 to 6.40 miles by running an extra loop around East campus. Looking at my splits, I did the 2nd half of the run slightly faster than the first one and over all I averaged 7:48 which is not bad at all. Things got to get better from this point on, I know it.

0:49:54

One thing I have to do is sleep more but there are so many things to do after we put the kids to bed. Both me and my wife are working full time and have demanding jobs and we give full time to our kids too so 24 hours a day are not enough. Can I get an hour extension here and there?

6:30AM start, 65F, 90% humidity. yuck!

Boy that was one miserable run. I was so tired after only 5 hours sleep (my fault I know). But I pulled myself together and went on a "long" run. I was slow especially in the first 2 miles. I did want to stop and walk at more than one point but I was thinking to myself "what will I write in my blog? that I was weak? that I gave up? no way!". So I kept going and I actually did a not so bad pace (7:53). The course was quite hilly and the humidity didn't help either. But I went out, I ran it and now I'm happy.

1:06:13

I woke up at 6:10 and I knew it was going to be bad. I didn't want to wake up so early but I had a nightmare. I was dreaming I am at a conference and I suddenly realize that I had to check out of my hotel that morning and it's already 1PM and I was running back to the hotel when I woke up. Can anyone solve that dream?

I know that very few people (if anyone at all) read my blog, but it's such a great and inexpensive substitute for therapy!

8:45AM, 70F, 70% humidity. My body only starts to aclimate itself to the new conditions of heat and humidity. I ran this course the slowest I have ran it for quite a long time. I have a 4th of July 5M race. Hopefully my body and mind will adjust for the heat and humidity by then. Otherwise, the 7:00 pace goal will have to be adjusted.

0:37:17

Plan for this week. After 3 weeks of gradual increase in milage I plan to stay a bit lower this week on the weekday runs - nothing beyond 5 miles or so. Then try to have a longer run on Saturday or Sunday. Next week I want to start and increase the milage again and perhaps attempt 6 days a week running. I'm afraid that some of my daily run will be in the gym on the treadmill as over 90F temperatures are predicted this week.

8:40AM, 68F, 75% humidity, cloudy. It wasn't too bad weather wise. I did a better pace (7:44) than yesterday and hopefuly it means my body is starting to adjust. I'm reducing the milage this week by just a bit after 3 weeks of gradual increament and will get back to increased milage next week. I want to keep it at the 30something level untill my 5 mile race on July 4th. With this horrible humidity and heat I probably should downgrade my expectations for that race. Doing the 5 mile race in 36 minutes would be awesome.

0:36:45

I did sleep more last night but part of it I had my 2.5 years old daughter's feet stuck in my ribs. She's so adorable.

Gym, 5M tempo run. When I left home at 9:30 this morning it was already 75F and humid. So I went to the gym and did a 5M tempo run. I avareged 7:13 per mile but the last part of the run was faster than the first and I was actually going at 7:00 per mile for the last mile. I threw in some hills (at slope 1.5) during the run but it was mostly on zero incline. The outdoor courses I usually use are quite hilly, even more than the courses I race on. So a treadmill is not great in that respect either. The highs will be in the upper 90s in the next days and I'm afraid I will use the gym's treadmill more than I would like to.

0:36:27

9:40AM start, 82F, 65% humidity. I think this was my first real summer run for the season. I was very conservative - perhaps a little bit too conservative (8:01 pace). At least it wasn't very humid and there were a few light breezes here and there. The course is about 50% of the time in shade. But, nevertheless, it was hot! I think it was close to 85F when I finished. But I think my body is aclimating very fast. Yesterday I ran in the gym. It wasn't fun. I really hate the treadmill. It always hurt more and in strange places after I run on the treadmill.  Next week I plan to get up really early in the morning and be done with my run before 7AM.

0:38:06

Note to self:  put sunscreen and a hat!!!

Happy event:  My black toe nail finally fell off and a new toe nail emerged beneath it. hoooray!

6:00AM start, 75F, 80% humidity. It's going to be 100F today and still in the 90s in the evening so a very early morning run is the only option. I came out on sun rise and it was already hot and humid. The first mile was hard but I warmed up and the rest was quite nice and smooth (7:49 average pace). The route is a combination of trail and asphalt with lots of hills.

1:05:39

Plan: Next week I'm going to increase the milage and I also want to try a longer run on the weekend. I've been running this 8.4 miles route for 4 weeks and I feel ready for a 10 mile. I also want to do speed work on Wednesday but I'm not sure it's a good idea. In the past those speed works have been very hard. The 5M race is 4 weeks from yesterday. It's going to be my first 5M race so I'm guaranteed a PR :-) but I want to do a good time (36 minutes maybe???).

They installed new machines in our gym and I had to check them. So since it is my rest day I just did 8 minutes slow run and played with the treadmill options. It was fun. It's 100F outside and I have the feeling that running on a treadmill, as much as I hate it, will be a viable option.

I also did some core training but very light.
 

6:20AM start, 72F, 80% humidity. Got up early and hit the trail. Did two loops one clockwise and the second counter clockwise, less boring that way and the slopes are different. It's not an easy trail. I avareged 8:00 pace but the first loop was definately faster (it was the easier direction too).

0:46:22

6:40AM, 75F, 80% humidity. Started a little later than I was hoping. I took it easy today on purpose. I plan to do some speed work tomorrow. The pace was a bit slow (8:14) but the splits were quite even. It's a tough course with nothing but hills and hills. One can't expect to do as well in 75F and 80% humidity as in 55F and 60% humidity. I just hope I'm not getting slower by the day.

0:47:45 

Running on a trail as its risks. One of them are the bugs. I swallowed one today. The big risk is that one gets in your eye. That can be really painful. Anyway, it reminds me the following song:

There was an old runner who swallowed a fly

I don't know why he/she swallowed a fly

Perhaps he/she will die... 

Did 40 minutes on the treadmill this evening and included 4 800meter intervals at 5K pace (6:40). Ran total of 5.25 miles. I had a lot of energy after the nap and this speed work was not too har on me. Next week I'll try 5 800meter intervals in a 6M run.

0:40:00

7:30PM start 80F 80% humidity. But the weather was not the worse part. Apparantly there were some wild fires about 200 miles east of us and the wind brough lots of smoke with it. They declared code Orange for air quality. I hope I didn't do something stupid by running outside. It didn't feel bad on the trail inside the forest. Anyway, it was hot and I took it easy (8:13 average pace).

0:47:45

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wildfires/2008-06-12-north-carolina-smoke-fire_N.htm

Gym run. The new treadmills have a 5K race program on them. I had to try it. For some reasone the new treadmills are giving me aches in places I haven't felt before. Yet another reason to run outside even in the heat.

0:24:35

6:20AM start, 70F, 85% humidity. There was a little bit of rain during the night which cooled things a bit but kept the humidy very high. I extended my run from 8.4 in the previous weeks to 10.2 today. It was harder but it felt good. I held nice pace and good form and didn't fade at the end (although I was a bit slower). I averaged 8:03 for the whole distance. It's not an easy route. Lots of hills some of which are nasty. It's part sidewalks part trail. I think I will do this course next week again and then increase.

1:22:11

8:00 AM 70F and 75% humidity. It was actually quite nice outside. I was still tired from sunday's long run so I took it very easy (8:25 pace). I did the usual 2 loops around the golf course.

0:48:47

8:00AM start 68F, 75-80% humidity. Morning are much more manageable now in terms of weather. I pushed a little bit harder today than yesterday but still not really hard. My average pace was 8:13. Humidity is still high and slowing me down.

0:47:42

Thought of the day: I went to buy running shorts yesterday. I went to a designated store for runners and bikers. And here is my question. Why do running shorts cost 30-40 dollars a piece? Yes they are light and made out of breathing material but I am willing to bet my shorts that the marginal cost of production is less than a dollar per piece. Even if you add shipment costs and tariffs at the port it won't grow much per piece. So why are they marked up 1000%? How much do you guys/gals pay for running shorts?

I ended up buying Nike ones that were the cheapest ($26) and since I got a $10 gift certificate as a prize for coming 3rd in  my age group in the last 5K I did, it cost me "only" $16 (before taxes). My hard running payed (literally).

Did speed work on the treadmill. I ran total of 6 miles with 5 intervals of .5M at almost 5K pace (6:50 to be exact) each and a short recovery of 0.3M at 8:20 pace in between, plus cool off and warm up .

0:45:15 

I'll be in Pittsburgh this weekend for a conference. Gonna run there 2-3 times. Anyone out there? 

6PM, 65F, 60% humidity. I am in Pittsburgh for a conference. I ran through Chenley park just a short 3+ mile. Boy that was an hilly one. It was nice to run outside after a day of travel.

0:24:55

If anyone in Pittsburgh is up for a weekend long run, I'm open for suggestions.

5PM, 72F, 50% humidity. Nice run in Chenley park in Pittsburgh. This course have some mean hills. One of them is called squirell hill (poor squirell). Over all a nice scenery. Did a good pace even in those tough up hills.

0:31:33

Today is my 11th Anniversary. I love you Galit (thst's my wife's name of course).

6:45AM 60F, 85% humidity. I ran with a colleague that came with me to Pittsburgh for the same conference. I actually didn't know he's a runner till now. I was surprised to learn he has more than 10 marathons under his belt and that he runs ~50 miles per week. Wow. So we ran together in Pittsburgh. It was anice run, lots of hills but nice streets and parks. We did a slow pace 8:20 so I finished with some energy still left for the rest of the day.

1:16:53

Today is the longest day of the year. I should use it well.

6:50 AM, 68F 90% humidity. I rested yesterday and had a good night sleep so I pushed harder today. I averaged a 8:02 pace which is about 15 seconds per mile faster than what I usually do on this course. Tomorrow I'm going to take it a bit more easy because on Wednesday I plan to do a tempo run. The 4th of July race is approaching.

0:46:33

7:30AM, 68F, 70% humidity. I was doing a nice pace again (8:00) and it didn't feel too hard. I think it's my endurance building due to increased weekly milage but it also was due to a very good and long night sleep. I rn two loops again. I usually run the first in a good pace but then fade a bit on the second loop, but not this time. I did pretty much the same pace both of them.

0:46:23

I think that the single most important thing I can do to have a better race next week is to sleep more. Yes I will keep doing my miles and I will do a tempo run and some speed work. But all of those will have little effect if I don't force myself to go to bed early.

The problem: after a long day of work I feel it's a waste to just go to bed and do nothing fun so I fight it and end up going to sleep too late.

Solution: Yesterday I took one of the research papers I'm working on to read in bed, after 5-10 minutes I was sleeping like a baby :-)

8AM, 72F, 75% humidity. I was doing tempo run this morning. Started with a mile warm up at 8:00 pace and then did 5 miles tempo. I didn't keep a steady pace really. I started with 7:15 pace and faded gradually to 7:45. I ended up with another 0.6M at 8:00 pace. Over all average was 7:43.

0:50:53

Ran at the Gym. Did negative splits to acustome myself to holding up the pace.

0:40:00

7AM, 72F, 80% humidity. My usual run of two loops around the golf course. This time I ran with my iPod which I almost never do. I only use it if I run at the gym. The ran was OK, I felt a bit tired but did an OK pace of 8:06.

0:46:56

My 5 mile race is a week from today (4th of July). I am going to do a long run on Sunday and run on Monday and Tuesday too but short an easy. I know you guys will say that there is no need to taper for a 5 mile race. I just recently moved to 6 days run a week and I think I can use a bit of extra rest before the race. I might do a really short run on Wednesday if I feel like it.

8:00AM start 78F. I run with a group of runners of a local club. A nice and interesting combination of trails which I didn't know. Their pace was a little bit more than I could handle but I tried to keep up with them. Over all it was a nice and interesting experience.

1:17:59

7:20AM 72F 90% humidity. It rained all night so it was cooler this morning but the humidy.. oy the humidity. I took it easy because a) I did a long run yesterday and tomorrow I want to do speed work; b) I have a blister and c) someone called my cell phone at 4:30 in the morning and just killed my night sleep. So I ran the usual two loops and then added a little piece to top it of to 6M. Averaged a 8:26 pace. I think I'm getting slower.

0:50:45

Wanted to do track speed work but the school whose track I usually use is renovating the track, so I went to the Gym. Ran 6 miles in which I entered 4 800m intervals at 5K speed. I also ran the last two miles in a close to a tempo run speed. It felt like a good work out.

0:46:20

This actually concludes my training for the 5M race on Friday. I'm going to either run a slow 3-4 miles tomorrow or just go for a swim in the evening. Given that I have an annoying blister, I'll probably opt for the second option.

7:45PM 80F, 45% humidity. I was planning to swim but the pool was close for some local team. So I ran. It was nice. Still hot but not humid at all. I did a good pace (7:49) and felt good.

0:28:57

The start was 8AM with 75F and over 80% humidity. If you read my blog the last week you know that I said that anything below 37:30 will be cool and below 37:00 it will be awesome. So let me give you the bottom line: 0:36:36 (7:19 aveg. pace) hooooray!!! The gun time was 0:36:39 which probably means it took me 3 seconds to cross the starting mat. That makes sense given the fact that I placed myself not on the first line.

The splits were a bit crazy:

mile 1: 6:49 (as usual starting way too fast)

mile 2: 7:24 (more reasonable pace, some turns and starting to climb)

mile 3: 7:40 (all climbs and pay time for the fast pace at the beginning)

mile 4: 7:22 (back on track in term of pace, no more big climbs)

mile 5: 7:21 (momstly down hill and then the finish line at sight)

On second thought the splits were not totally crazy. 3rd mile was really almost completely up hill. The hills started at about 1.5 and kept going up and up till a little pass the 3 mile mark. We roughly gained 120 feet in those 1.5 miles. Then it sort of flattened till 3.5 and then the net loss of hight begun but it was not all down hill.

So I'm quite happy about the results. I was 13th in my age group which is not glorious (out of 39 males age 35-39). I placed 76 out 387 who ran the 5 mile race.

0:36:36

A tought: It's always so encouraging to see those men and women in their 60s or even 70s running. I just hope that 30 years from now on July 4th 2038 I will run this race again and win my age division :-).

Happy 4th of July to every one!

6:50 AM 70F 90% humidity. There was a huge storm last night so it cooled off a bit but the humidity went up. Anyway, It was more of a "recovery" run after yesterday 5M race. I did 4 loops around east campus is more or less even pace (13:22, 13:05, 13:07, 13:09 per loop). The average per mile pace was 8:00 sharp.

0:52:45

8:30AM 72F 85% humidity. After the 5M race on Friday and after I (for some reason) ran a 6.6M the day after that race, I felt so tired yesteday. Even an afternoon nap didn't make me feel less tired. I eventually slept well last night and this morning I was ready to go running again. I ran the route between the two campuses and the loop around the east campus. It felt good. Not a great time but not bad either (7:52 pace).

0:37:24

Plans for the future: There is a nice 10M race in September but my wife put a veto on it as it is going to be the Jewish new year eve and she's planning a family vacation for that weekend (rummors say it's going to be VA beach). Oh well. So the next one will be a 10K on November 16th in Raleigh. Last year I ran the 5K version but this year I'm definately ready for the 10K. It's a long time from now and it's going to be a long long summer. If plans will change I will do also the 10M in September. It can serve as a nice long tempo run.

8:45AM 75F 85% humidity, light wind. The conditions were pretty bad. I should have started earlier. I did my run between the two Duke campuses and two loops on the East Campus. The pace was good and quite constant (7:55 average).

0:50:43

6:05AM, 68F, 90% humidity. It was good to hit the trail early. The humidity is very high in those early hours but at least it's not hot. I ran two loops around the Duke gold course. Very uneventful.

0:47:59

Gym speed work. I wanted to use the tracks but I had a very late start this morning and conditions at 9AM were quite horrible. I did a total of 5.45 on the treatmill and included 4 intervals of 0.5M at speed of 3:20-3:25 per half a mile.

0:42:00

It's now decided. My next race will be 5K on September 6th. Lots of speed work for me.

6:10AM, 72F and above 90% humidity. I was so wet at the end of the run. The early hour is good in terms of low temperatures but the humidity is at its peek. At 8AM it is actually almost 80F but the humidity is down to about 70% or lower. I am not sure which is worth. Also the trail I'm running is almost totally inside a forest and I think it's even more humid under the trees than it is out in the open. The trail is wet and the land is still warm and the covering trees make is feel like you're running inside a greenhouse. Given that my pace was good (8:13 average). 

0:47:38

My next race is a 5K and I'm actually quite excited to have another chance to try and break my PR of 20:46. My training will include lots of speed work.  

8:30AM 75F 80% humidity. I went to Duke East Campus and did 3 loops (each is 1.65M). It was good effort but I didn't feel like I'm killing myself. The splits were great (13:04, 12:44, 12:33). In mer mile terms: 7:55, 7:43 and 7:36. Pretty good. So maybe I'm starting to re-gain my speed. It's also the fact that I'm making myself to go to bed earlier and also due to the relatively cooler weather in the morning. Tomorrow is rest day and the long run is on Sunday.

0:38:22

6:45AM, 68F ~90% humidity. Conditions were actually quite good. I didn't feel the humidity and the temperature was very comfortable. It was one of the best runs I had in quite a while. I felt very strong. I took a clif shot before the run and I think it did the trick. The pace was very good (7:50 average) and I kept it on the hills as well.

1:19:59

8:15AM 70F, 85% humidity. My legs felt a bit tired after yesterday but it was a good run. I did the two campuses run and a little bit more on the quad of the east campus. It drizzeled a bit on the way back. My average pace was 7:52. I looked at the same run I did in May and then I paced 7:35. Hopefully it's the weather factor.

0:42:07

8:40AM, 74F, 80% humidity, light wind. It was actually (relatively speaking) coll this morning but I was unable to go for a run early. Our little daughter was keeping us awake between 2 and 3 AM last night. I felt a bit tired but of course I went for a run anyway. Took it easy and it felt good. I avaraged 8:06 which is just 10-11 seconds slower per mile than last time I ran this route.

0:51:56

Here is a list of annoying things that a runner can encounter on a trail:

1. A group of people walking and talking not caring they block the whole width of the trail.
2. Some one walking with a dog with the leash in full length.
3. Some one walking with a dog with the leash in full length listening to an iPod (the person, not the dog)
4. Some one walking with a dog with the leash in full length talking on the cell phone (again, the person, not the dog).
5. Someone walking with two (or more) dogs all on full length leash.
6. Someone walking with a VERY friendly dog without a leash.
And the most amazing thing I actually saw on the trail:
7. Two guys walking on the trail, one with a dog on full leash and the other holding a guitar (seriously) singing and not caring they block the whole trail.

6:30AM 68F, 85-90% humidity. Temperatures have been lower in the morning in the last week or so. It had a very positive impact on my pace. I ran my usual two loops around Duke's golf courses. I averaged 8:04 but I ran the second loop faster (8:08 in the first and 8:00 in the second). The run was an effort but also enjoyable.

0:46:45

There was someone on the trail today that, to my oppinion, did a sub 6:30 pace. She ran counter clock wise wile I ran clock wise so I saw her a few times. Wow! I always had hard time imagining how such a pace look like. Really amazing what some people can do.

Gym run. Did 6 miles with three 1 mile intervals in them:

0.0-1.0 @8:25

1.0-2.0 @7:19

2.0-2.5 @8:20

2.5-3.5 @7:19

3.5-4.0 @8:20

4.0-5.0 @7:19

5.0-6.0 @8:10

average pace 7:47.

0:46:43

8:30AM 75F, 80% humidity. Three loops around Duke East Campus.  It was a really good effort but I didn't feel like I am killing myself. The pace was quite good and the splits wonderful. Each loop is 1.65M and I did 13:04, 12:44, 12:33 per loop or in terms of per mile pace that was 7:55, 7:43, 7:36. I think I'm gradually gaining my speed. It's also the fact that I sleep more and the more convenient temperatures in the morning. Tomorrow is rest day and the long run is on Sunday.

0:38:22

6: 30AM start, 75F 95-100% humidity. Conditions were pretty misserable. Humidity was too high. But I averaged 7:58 pace. When I entered home I looked like someone took a bucket of water and poured it over my head. I drank 1 liter of propel with in the first 5 minutes after I came back. It was less glorious than the same run last week when conditions were much better.

1:21:12

6:25AM 76F 85-90% humidity. Recovery run. I felt really tired yesterday after my "long" run. With three kids there is not much opportunity for resting during the day. I had a good night sleep and this morning I still was a bit sore so i took it VERY easy. Did 8:40 pace and it felt really really easy. Toward the end of the first loop my nipples got very sore. I never felt pain in this part of my body. So I ran the second loop shirtless. Never did it before. It felt good.

0:50:14

I bought new shoes last week and I am dying to try them. Probably tomorrow on the treadmill.

6 miles Gym run (8:08 average pace). I wanted to test run my new shoes. I have been running in very ridgid shoes so far because I ove pronate and I have a falt foot. This time, however, I decided to try shoes which give a little bit less support but are also a little bit less rigid. I bought the Brooks Addiction 7. Today they felt OK. It's hard to tell how good they will feel on the trail. I will try them agian on the track on Thursday.

0:48:49

9:15AM start, 80F, 70% humidity. Very little sleep last night and a late start this morning. Did one of my usual routes. Was trying to pay attention to my form during the run especially to "running tall". My pace was quite good for the conditions 8:01. Tomorrow is speed work and I'm hoping to be well rested. As soon as the kids go to bed I'm taking a book with me and going to bed too.

0:42:55

9:00AM 78F 65% humidity. Speed work on Duke's tracks. This is the first time I try these tracks. Amazing facility. I ran the tracks in my son's school and there is no comparison to the Duke's tracks. Soft and very springy and really very well maintained. I did 3 times 1 mileintervals with 0.5 jog between and 1 mile warm up in the beginning and a 1 mile cool down at the end. Total of 6 miles. The intervals were hard I did 6:57, 7:08, 7:08. Slower than I'd like but it was late and warm and I'm happy the third interval was at the same pace of the second.

I ran with my new shows and really liked them. I did 6 miles on the treadmill 2 days ago and 6 today on the tracks and I think tomorrow I will try them on the trail.

0:48:14

9:15AM, 76F, 65% humidity. Relatively convenient conditions. I did my campuses run with two loops at the east campus (8:02 average speed). I was a little sore after yesterday's speed work but also very happy that I insisted on going to the tracks and not doing it on the treadmill. This is the forth week in a row in which I'm running almost 40 miles (given that I do my 10 miles run on the weekend). I'm contemplating a cut back week next week.

0:51:27

6:15AM 72F ~70% humidity. I started a bit too fast so I got tired towards the middle. The last 1-1.5 miles were a bit of a struggle. It's the longest I have ran since my 1/2 marathon in april, so I'm very happy I finished and with the time (average speed 8:09).

1:37:42

8:40AM 78F, ~65% humidity. I ran the trail where it's shady so with the relatively low humidity and still not too high heat, it felt quite good. I did an OK pace (8:08 average) and I am starting to feel really goon in those medium short runs. The first 2 miles are a bit of a struggle but then I get into a pace and it feels good. I also felt quite OK after my long run yesterday. Last week I was very tired but not this week, event hough I increased milage to 12.  

0:47:13

The new shoes feels really good. I'm glad I moved to less rigid ones.  

9AM, 80F, ~65% humidity. Wow that was a hard one. It was so hot and I was fighting to keep a good pace. I averaged 8:06 which is good for this course in these conditions.

0:51:53

It's the 4th week in a row in which I will do close to or over 40 miles and I'm starting to feel tired both physically and mentaly. I am definately going to have a cut back week next week.

Gym. I did a 10K on the treadmill. I didn't sleep much last night and tomorrow I am planning speed work so I was taking it easy today. Ran the first 5K with some slope and the last 5K flat. Over all the pace was good 8:03 on average.

0:49:52

Gym, speed work. I planed to do my intervals on Duke's track this morning but they were closed for practice of some team. So I ended up doing these intervals on the treadmill - which I really don't like. I will have to go back to the tracks at the local highschool. They are not as good as Duke's but they are almost always free. I did 5 times 800m intervals, each at 3:20 each. With the warm up and cool down I ended up doing 6 miles.

0:45:28

6:20AM start, 70F, ~80% humidity. Relatively easy run after my speed work yesterday. It's going to be a rest day tomorrow (hooray!) and then a long run on sunday.

0:48:53

6:15AM 70F ~70% humidity. What a great run. The relative low temperature and humidity helped a lot. I fet great all the way. I was careful not to start too fast. After 8 miles and some major hills I still felt good. At mile 10 some more hills came and they were difficult but after those I felt great. The last two miles were very strong. My average pace was 7:55 !

1:34:59

After the run I took an ice bath. I filled the tab with cold tap water and got in it in a bathing suit. I let my boys pour ice into the water. They loved it. After 5 minutes in the cold water I felt it was enough. My legs didn't hurt at all the whole day after. Afternoon I felt very tired and the 1 hout nap I took was a life saver.

6:15AM 70F, ~80% humidity. First day of the cut back week. I did what seems now like a really short distance. Pace was good (8:05). I hope to get to do some hill training tomorrow.

0:29:54

I jogged 0.5 mile from the parking lot near the gym to my favorite hill and then did 4 hills repeats. The hill is about 200-250 meter long and the slope starts from very mild and raises to medium from about 1/3 the way up. I tried to run lifting my knees as they say you should do (why??). I think I did OK. I took 1:15-1:20 minutes to do each climb.

Then I jogged 0.5 mile to cool down and did 4 miles on the tread mill (average pace 7:50). Did negative splits and it felt good.

0:31:19

9:15AM 85F, 65% humidity. These were not optimal conditions. Nevertheless, I felt very light and my pace was surprisingly fast for the heat (average 8:06). The route was the familiar one between the two campuses and I added two loops on the East campust. It suppose to cool down a bit tomorrow. Eventhough it's my cut off week, I might do some 400m intervals with in my run tomorrow (I'm planning to do 5 miles).

0:51:51

While running the second loop around the East Campus, a lady that was walking toward me said something like "You're cheating because I just saw you a few minutes ago". I decided to take it positively and think I'm just unbelievebly fast :-)

9:15AM, 80F, 60% humidity. The over cast made it feel not too bad. I planned to do some speed work but my schedule didn't allow it. I will try tomorrow. Instead I did my regular run between the campuses. The pace was good (8:00 falt on average).Last night my wife and I crushed shortly after the kids went to bed. I felt really rejuvinated this morning.

0:38:00

9:15AM 78F, 50% humidity. Really nice conditions this morning (relatively speaking) and these nice conditions will be here for a few days. I went to the Duke tracks and did 5.25M (I didn't count well the laps so I did one extra - my stop watch revealed that ex post). I included 4 x 400m speed laps in them (1:39, 1:43, 1:43, 1:37) with 400m jog between. I ended with 2 miles (7:50, 7:35). Walked a bit to cool down after I stopped my watch. Over all a good work out although my legs were a bit tired. I should definately do the speed work in the middle of the week rather than on Friday. But these 400m repeats were an extra and I'm OK with the not so fast pace I did them. I really like Duke's tracks, it's an excellent facility.

0:40:35

The Olympics starts tonight and I know these are usually not a big deal here in the US. But is is hard to exagurate how much I am excited about them. Looking forward to watching the openning ceremony tonight and the competitions in the following days. I plan to watch mostly the track and marathon (GO! RYAN GO!) races and some of the swimming and cycling races and of course the beach volleyball (wink)...

6:30AM 67F, 60% humidity. Finished the cut back week with a shorter long run. The first 2-3 miles were an effort. They are hilly but beyond the terrain there is also the fact that my body is not warm yet. The cooler weather was great. It started to rain toward the end. The pace was really good (7:47 average)

1:05:48

6:30AM, 66F, 75% humidity. Weather has been good to us here in the south east. My speed has improved a bit and it was also the cut back week that helped. I did 8:02 on average where the second half was under 8:00.

My left foot really hurts. I'm not familiar with the English terms for the different body parts and muscles. The upper part of the foot close to where it connects with he leg hurts. I had something similar with a previous Brooks shoe. I think it's an issue with how they tie. It hurts more on the down slopes and on flat surface and much less on up hills. It was the first time I enjoyed the up hills :-) Icing it helps some.

0:46:37

My wife and I watched the Olympics on NBClast. I ended up going to bed close to midnight but Wow! what an amazing 4X100m relay swim! What a drama. The victory over the French was so sweat. The determination of these swimmers is really inspirational.

9:30AM, 74F 60%humidity. Weather has been amazing in the last 3 days. Running felt so much better this morning. I did 4 loops on Duke's East Campus. Each loop is 1.65M and I did them in 12:54, 12:35, 12:43, 12:32 (in per mile terms: 7:49, 7:38, 7:42, 7:36). Heat and especially humidity has such a negative effect on me.

0:50:43

I'm still suffering from a pain in my upper left foot. It's sort of close to where I tie the laces. I so much hope it's not a stress or overuse related injury! I usually hurts a lot in the first 1-2 miles and then not so much after that.

9:30AM, 67F, 70% humidity. Can you believe it? 67F in the middle of August? What's going on with the weather? It must be due to this global cooling that everyone is talking about.

 Anyway, the run was easy and pleasant (8:14 pace which felt very easy). I still have this pain in the upper part of my left foot. I'm afraid it is some kind of tendonitis related to the tendon which goes on the top of the foot (and whose name I don't know). 600mg of Ibuprofen take care of the pain after the run. Also the first 2 miles are more painful than the rest of the run. I really don't know what to do. Should I stop running till it goes away? Any advise will be appreciated.

0:47:44

9:30AM 72F, 65%. Not bad weather for this time of the year. I was supposed to do 7M with 5M tempo in them today but my left foot still hurts quite a bit. I didn't want to agrevate it. I did 5 mile over all and just 3.3M tempo in them. I did one mile warm up at 8:45 and my foot was hurting. So I went on and did just 3.3 miles at 7:15 average pace. Itas a really good effort. Then I colled down with 0.7M at 8:30 pace. I hate to do less than planed but I think that I had to. Over all I think my left foot is getting better. It may be just a bruise from tying the shoe too tight. I will experiment with different tying techniques. I also might try to run with my previous pair tomorrow and see how it goes. 

0:38:46

No running today. I decided to let my foot rest an additional day. I am going to rest tomorrow as well and see how it goes on sunday. I hope it's not a stress fracture. I'm really starting to panic. Not running made me feel a bit down this morning but I think it's the right decision.

6:45AM 68F 70% humidity. After two days without running I felt well rested and anxious to run. The pain in my left foot was almost gone. I used my old pair of shoes. I had a little less than 700 mile son them so they are suppose to be still OK. I decided to drive to the American Tobacco Trail which is 1) a trail surface and 2) roughly flat. I didn't have any plan in terms of distance and decided I'll play it by the ear. The trail is 3.75M and I parked at the north end and decided to run it back and forth. After these 7.5 miles I felt great and had no pain so I turned around and started to run it again but this time till the 2.5M mark point and then back, after these additional 5M I felt good but a bit tired but I, for some reason decided to top it of with an additional 0.6M to make it a half marathon. As you can see in the splits below, I got slower at the last 2 miles but overall did it in a very nice pace and was able to finish strong. Also, if this was an official race time on a certified course, it would have been a new HM PR. A couple of hours after the run we went to the swiiming pool with the kids. The water wer sooooo cold but I loved it. It was great for my muscles. The only problem was that mu nipples were burning from the cold water and chlorine. I still have chafes there.

Splits:
3.75M @ 29:22 (7:50)
3.75M @ 29:41 (7:55)
2.50M @ 19:36 (7:50)
2.50M @ 20:26 (8:10)
0.60M @ 04:39 (7:45)

1:43:45

Tomorrow I'm going to go back to my new shoes and see if the pain returns.

8:45AM 75F 70% humidity. Tried my new pair again and the pain came back big time. This run was really painful. I think I should ditch these shoes and go back to the ridgid stability shoes. It didn't hurt a lot after the run but I don't think I want to go on with these shoes in hope things will get better. I did a very slow pace, especially at the first 1.5 miles. Over all I did 8:43 and I think I can safely assume that this can be more or less a marathon pace for me. If it wasn't for the pain in my left foot I felt I could keep running and running at this pace.

0:55:45

8:45AM, 71F, 85% humidity. School has started for my boys and we are getting up early. That means I will have to run only when I get to my office. So today I ran again between the campuses and did 2 loops on the East campus trail. My left foot still hurts but I see improvement.  Pace today was faster than yesterday (8:17 average) and I was working harder but still not too bad.

0:53:02

Tomorrow an easy day, probably just 5M. On Thursday speed work. They installed completely new tracks in my sons' school and I am excited to try them. They suppose to be one of the best in the state (at least I know why we are paying so much tuition).

8:15AM 74F 80% humidity. School started for my boys so I get earlier to my office after I drop them off. I did a short one today and took it easy (average pace 8:14). Tomorrow I will try to do speed work if my left foot will let me.

0:39:05

8:15AM start, 70F 80% humidity. Went to Duke's tracks to do speed work. It was quite humid but the temperature was OK and it was cloudy. The tracks were relatively empty. The football team was coming out of their change rooms to practice in a near by field so I had to be careful not to bump into any one of them in some of the laps I did. Toward the end of my workout came two guys who looked either kenian or etheiopian. They were warming up at what seemed to me like a 6:30 pace and after I was done with my run I was able to watch them do some speed work. Wow!

Anyway, I did 7.5 miles total and within them four 1 mile repeats with 0.5 mile cool down in between. here are the splits:
1M @ 8:16
1M @ 7:01
0.5M @ 4:36
1M @ 7:02
0.5M @ 4:50
1M @ 7:07
0.5M @ 4:54
1M @ 7:11
1M @ 8:54

I'm not too happy with my 1 mile times and with the fact that I was getting slower. My foot is still not perfect but that's not an excuse. I think recovery is my weakest point.

0:59:51

8:15AM start, 70F 80% humidity. Nothing special just the regular two laps around the golf course. Did the first lap in 24:00 (8:17) and the second at 23:27 (8:05). Foot still hurt inspite all the experiments I did with tying. Need new shoes.

0:47:27

6:45AM 70F 70% humidity. Drove to the American Tobacco Trail again. I did my Half Marathon on it. I started strong but the last miles were not easy. On average I did 7:54 pace which is great. I "broke" my PR again but it's an unofficial time.

 1M  @ 7:41
 2M  @ 7:36
 3M  @ 7:44
 4M  @ 7:48
 5M  @ 7:36
 6M  @ 7:46
 7M  @ 7:45
 8M  @ 8:07
 9M  @ 7:54
10M @ 8:03  (1:18:00 for 10 miler!)
11M @ 8:21
12M @ 8:22
13M @ 7:45
0.1M @0:56

As you can see I did very well the first 7 miles but not too well after that. But I'm happy with breaking again the HM time.

1:43:25

Yesterday marathon was amazing! Those guys at the front! Wow! 2:06 in those conditions is amazing. Poor guy at the 4th place lost his medal at the last meters. He just hit the wall so hard he couldn't care less about the medal.

9:15AM start 77F, 80% humidity. Conditions were not great and I was still tired after my long run yesterday. I have to admit to having negative thoughts this morning and thinking about taking the day off running. But it all changed when I started running. I actually felt great and although it was hot and humid I enjoyed the run. I think I might have even experienced the famous 'runners high'. My pace was good too (8:10 average). School started today and it was fun looking at the new students filling the campuses.

0:43:40

I tried a new way to tie my shoes and it actually felt much better. I have a doctor appointment on Thursday and I might ask for an X-ray or maybe a referral to specialist.

11:20AM, 80F, 75% light rain. I couldn't run in the morning so I did a lunch run. The humidity was quite bad but the light rain helped. I did my regular run between the campuses and 2 loops on the east campus. The pace was fast (8:03 average) but I felt good eventough I didn't sleep much last night.

0:51:33

It was raining hard this morning (tropical storm Fay) so I went to the Gym. Ran 6 miles on the treadmill doing negative splits (average pace 7:47). Speed work will wait for tomorrow.

0:46:41

8:45AM 77F 80% humidity. Speed work on Duke's tracks. Conditions were brutal. Humidity was awful. My plan was to do 6 times 800 meters with 400m rest. I am glad to say I survived it and did very well for the conditions at hand. Also they were working on the field and part of lane 1 was blocked so each round was actually longer than 400m but I'll count them as 400m. The 6 intervals were at 3:25, 3:28,3:25, 3:27, 3:28, 3:28 which I think is pretty good. Above all I didn't fade at the last 2 intervals (but my 400m in between got slower).

0:52:42

Here are the full splits:

  1M @ 8:07 (warm up)
 .5M @ 3:25
.25M@ 2:17
 .5M @ 3:28
.25M@ 2:26
 .5M @ 3:25
.25M@ 2:16 (+water break)
.5M @ 3:27
.25M@ 2:39
 .5M @ 3:28
.25M@ 2:36 (+water break)
 .5M @ 3:28
.25M@ 2:45
  1M @ 8:55 (cool down)

8:50AM start, 75F, 80% humidity. Again preatty bad day for running. I did two loops around the Duke golf course. Took it easy (8:22 pace on average).

0:48:32

8:15 AM start 75F, 70% humidity. Conditions were very hard. Given that I was very happy with my effort and pace (7:55 on average). The coming week will be reduced milage and reduced effort toward the 5K on Saturday. We went to the pool in the afternoon. The cool water were great for my legs.

1:20:46

9:20AM start, 77F 55% humidity. The humidity was about 20-30 percentage point lower than what we had in the last few weeks. It felt so much better and I was able to be so much faster. There was light wind which was helpful as well. I averaged 7:51 on my usual route between the campuses and the loop on the east campus. This week is taper week before the 5K race on Saturday. I'm also watching TS Hanna and wonder if it will reach our region by then.

0:37:15

9:00 AM start, 70F, 80% humidity. I felt a bit less strong than yesterday plus it was more humid today. But over all it was a good fast run. I averaged 7:55 for that route which is not bad at all. Tomorrow some last speed work before the race on Saturday.

0:37:30

8:40AM 70F 70%humidity. Went to my sons' school track. They completely renovated them and they are brand new and amazing. I did 5 miles total with 4 x 800m intervals in them. I did the 800m in 3:17, 3:17, 3:18, 3:22. So the last one was a tad slowr but not too bad.

0:39:06

I have the 5K on Saturday (if we're not going to hit by Hanna) and I will probably do a very short and easy run tomorrow and nothing on Friday.

8:40AM, 70F, 75% humidity. Last workout before the race. Did a short run but at a high pace. It felt good and I was still fresh after it. Some big storms are coming our way. It seems like it will rain on Saturday. Hopefully not har and hopefully it won't be too windy. I also hope the race will not be cancelled.

0:28:59

Complete rest today before the race tomorrow. I'm watching TS Hanna with some worry. It is going to rain tomorrow for sure but I'm more worried about the winds. It suppose to make landfall in South Carolina sometimes tomorrow morning and then move over us pretty quickly. I hope the race will not be cancelled.

I never raced in a heavy rain. I did some training runs while it was raining but it was always light rain and light wind. Any tips for running in heavy rain and possibly windy conditions?

No race today due to TS Hanna. the race was postponed for tomorrow same time in the morning. Actually the storm was not bad and by this time (10AM) it is mostly over but conditions were pretty bad at 8AM. So I'm a little bit disappointed as I felt very ready but one day delay is not bad. It will be dry and sunny tomorrow and VERY humid.

It was a bit disappointing race for me. I felt like I peeked yeasterday and I felt very ready but the execusion was horrible. I ran the first mile way too fast 6:12. I don;t know what I was thinking. It actually didn't feel that fast. I didn't think I was doing 6:12 as I was running it. People were passing me all the time. Then the next two miles I totally bonked I did mile 2 in 7:06 and the third one 7:04 and the last 0.11 in 43 seconds which is more like 6:31 pace (the last 0.25 miles were down hill). After 1.5 I was feeling really tired and at the 2.5 mile I was in trouble. I finished strong but that was kinda too late. I'm not sure what went wrong but it wasn't my day. The result is not bad. I ran 21:03 in April but I am quite disappointed. I will be 39 next month and I feel like the wondow of opportunity to run close to 20 minutes is closing on me.

Over all it was a relatively big race and it was VERY well organized. It was sponsored by the IT companies in the research park and they spent lots of money on it. So they had tons of food and beaverages for afterwards and even ice cream and they even gave a way a lenovo laptop in a raffle and pretty big money prizes for such a  local race ($125, 75, 50 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in both male and female categories). The first guy broke the course record in 14:40 - Wow!

0:21:04

Some lame excuses:
1. The start line was VERY narrow. I sucked because I had to navigate between slow people for the first 1/4 mile. But my 1 mile split was actually very fast.
2. The y didn't have a mat on the start line and it was by the gun. So I recorded my own time with my watch. But I don;t like that.
3. The weather was horrible. 75F and 90% humidity. I was already sweating at the start line. My times deteriorate with heat and especially with humidity.
4. The race was scheduled for yesterday but was postponed to today because of Hanna. I think psychologically it affected me.
5. Due to the race being postponed my taper was too long and too deep. I think I peeked yesterday and today I just didn't have it in me.

8:50AM 76F 70% humidity. Ironically I felt strong this morning (after I disappointed myself in yesterday's 5K race). I went for my usual 4.75 short route and did 7:36 pace. If only the humidity yesterday would have been 705 and not 90%..

0:36:09

The best thing is to look forward. There is a 10K race I want to do in mid November. I never raced a 10K. I'll declare today as my first day of training toward this goal.

8:45Am start, 75F 80% humidity. I decided to go for a shorter run but to add 4 hill repeats to it. So I did about 0.75 to the beginning of the hill, stopped my watch and did 4 times up and dow that hill sprinting and lifting my knees on the way up and slow jog on the way dow. After doing these 4 hills I contiued my run and completed the other 4 miles.

0:37:47 (without the hills)

I was still thinking about my 5K. I looked at my training program for the PR 5K I did about a year ago. It was a November race and the weather was perfect an this is definately an important factor. So being 20 second slower when it's 75F and 90% humidity rather than 60F and 45% humidity is not bad at all. So first of all I decided to be less hard on myself. But I could not help comparing my training then and now. I noticed several differences:
1. I did about 15-20 miles a week a year ago training 4 days a week and about 35-40 now training 6 days a week.
2. I did a lot of hills back then and no hills this time.
3. I did good tempo runs (tho short: 2-3 miles) and not so good tempo runs this time.

So as a conclusion I decided to care more about quality and less about quantity. Today I did 4.75 again but I added 4 hills. I think this is better than doing a 6.5 miles and no hills. I will do more tempo runs and will use them to learn how to maintain constant speed and good form for a prolonged time and not start too fast right away. I will be a bit less worried about logging a lot of miles (tho I will probably still do over 30 miles per week).

My main goal is a 10K on November 16 but I might add a 5K on the way at the end of October.

8:50AM cool but humid and an overcast. I did my regular 4.75. Felt good and strong and did a nice 7:50 pace.

0:37:12

8AM 65F 85%. Humid but cold. Went to the tracks to do my tempo. The goal was to keep a close to constant pace over 4 miles. I have achieved that goal but it's relatively easy to do when you can check yourself every quarter of a mile. Here are my splits:
1st:   7:55 (suppose to be a warm up)
2nd:  7:14
3rd:  7:17
4th:  7:16
5th:  7:07
6th:  8:43 (cool down)
So appart from kicking it up a bit at the last mile of the tempo it was fairly constant pace and a tad faster than the 7:20 I planed to do. Judging by my performance this morning I could have done a 10K in less than 47 minutes. Another conclusion: weather has a HUGE effect on my performance.

0:45:31

8:40 72F 90%humidity. The regular run between campuses. Still in quite fast pace (7:52 average). I'm looking forward for the weather to get less hot and less humid. Rest day tomorrow and probably 10 miles on Sunday.

0:37:23

6:50AM 74F 80-90% humidity. Since conditions were not so great I didn't push it, especially not in the first third. I ran strong and averaged 8:00. I also fought the urge to put more milage than the 10 I planed. I felt good at the end although I was totally wet.

1:21:41

I will be traveling in the next 3 days and I'm going to make a big effort to run. Lets see if I can do it.

5:30AM 76F 80% humidity. Yes 5:30 it's not a mistake. I'm flying to DC today and will have meeting all day and will give a talk at UMD and then go to dinner so that was my only chance to run. I ran in our neighborhood just 2.2 miles but did them fast. It's a very hilly route so it's as if I also did hills training. It's the shortest I ran in a very long time but getting up so early for this purpose was the main thing. I did 7:34 pace on these hills.

0:16:38

7:40AM 68F 60% humidity. I'm in Washington DC. Had a very nice run this morning. Went up Wisconsin Ave. to Macomb to Conecticut Ave. pass the Zoo and down to Dupont Circle then on P street through Georgetown and up Wisconsin Ave. back to my hotel. I really love DC. Weather conditions were nice as well. Lots of people running in the streets. Did a nice pace as well on those crazy up and down streets (7:48). I'm looking forward to my run tomorrow morning.

0:43:20

6:50AM about 60F and low humidity. I'm still in DC. I ran from my hotel through parts of Georgetown all the way down to Lincoln Memorial. Then along the reflection pool to the  Washington Monument. Up 15th street to Pensilvania Ave. Ran infront of the White House and all the way back to Georgetown and back to my hotel. Very nice and scenic run with lots of ups and downs. Nice pace over all (7:49 on average).

0:55:53

9:15 AM 70F low humidity. Went to Duke tracks to do speed work. Eventough I slept a lot last night I felt tired after two days of traveling. I did 5 intervals of 0.5M at 3:19, 3:17, 3:17, 3:20 and 3:22. As you can see I was loosing it a bit at the last two intervals. Over all I did 5.5 miles.

0:42:51

3:20pm 76F 45% humidity. Did my run late today because of schedule issues but the weather is great. It was actually fun to clear up my mind after sitting in my office all day and teaching. Did a nice pace (7:43 on average). Rest tomorrow.

0:36:41

8:00AM 58F 90% humidity. Wow! what a run that was. I averaged 7:38 on this distance. The cool temperature was great. I felt really great throughout the run even in the last couple of miles. I wish this was a race or something like that. The course is quite challanging with a lot of hard hills but also some relatively flat areas. But in total the course is tougher than your average race course. I'm thinking that a 7:30 for a 10K should be a very reasonable pace. We'll see how I do in November. I also might do another 5K on the flow sometime at the end of October. Next week and the week after I have lots of traveling to do. Hopefully my running will not be affected too much.

1:31:35

8:15AM 65F, 80-90% humidity. Nice temperatures. Did the loop around Duke golf course twice. Was planning to run easy this morning after yesterdays long run but didn't manage to. I did  8:07 in the first loop and 7:55 in the second (8:01 on average). Legs were a bit sore after yesterday but nothing serious.

0:46:31

Product review: Whole foods have their version for the Propel fitness water. I tried it this morning and for some reason picked the Mango flavor. Yuck! I love mango but these water were just awful. I drank it all anyway :-)

3:15PM, 75F, 50% humidity. My schedule did not allow a morning run. I started by running 0.75M to the bottom of the major hill on this route. It's actually just a 100m hill with medium slope. I stopped my watch and run up and down the hill 5 times. Then resumed my run and did the rest of the run. I hate running after lunch. I felt nausea almost all the way and I still do now. Surprisingly the pace was not bad (8:09 average).

0:38:42

8:45AM, 60F, 60% humidity. Nice weather a little bit of wind. Did my usual run which felt great (average pace 7:45). I'm going to travel tomorrow but will try to squeeze a tempo run in the morning. Starting from tomorrow I have crazy 10 days.

0:36:51

Gym tempo run on the treadmill. I'm traveling to Madison Wisconsin this afternoon and this was the only way i could squeeze a 6 mile into my schedule this morning. According to the treadmill I did 8:20,7:19,7:13,7:13,7:08,8:20

0:45:33

7:00 AM, 58F, 80% humidity. I'm in Madison Wisconsin. Ran 6.5 miles on the trail near Lake Mendota on the campus of the university of Wisconsin Madison. Beautiful. I woke up at 6:45, opened the curtains and the lake is literaly 20 feet from my window. The sun just started to rise the rowing team was already in the middle of the lake. I did a quick morning routine and at 7 I was already out running. Did fast 6.5 miles on this mnice trail. Lots of people outside. It's a wide trail that in most areas divided to walker/runners side and bike side. Very thoughtful. My pace was good (7:46) eventhough I had little sleep. I'm coming back to NC tonight and tomorrow morning we are going to NYC! I hope to do my Sunday run in central park.

0:50:29 (splits: 25:09, 25:20)

6:45AM 65F 80% humidity. Went to a run on the Hudson river in NYC. Went all the way down from 84th west to 14th, turned around went back up to 95th and down to 83, around the vblock and back to 84. Over all it was a very nice run. Lots of interesting things on the way. It was a little bit shorter in length than what I hoped to do but a 9.1 miles run when on vacation is not bad at all. I hope to get another short one tomorrow. Probably to central park.

1:13:18

 http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ny/new-york/942287437560

6:50 AM about 65F, I ran in central park. I had a plan for some route but I ended up going a different one. It was a nice run. I later on approximated the length of it so it's pretty rough. But I did a 8 min/mile pace. Tomorrow I will be in Palo alto California.

0:36:40

3:45PM (west coast time), 76F 50% humidity. I'm in Palo alto CA (visiting Stanford). I slep little last night and woke up early to catch a flight but I was able to sleep some on the plane which helped. I did a run around Stanford campus. The weather was great and it was dry and I did the 5 mile in an excellent pace.Goint to run tomorrow morning as well.

0:37:19

7:40AM (west coast time), 60F 65% humidity. Gogeous weather as usual. Did a wider loop around campus. I even passed by the track course and did a loop around it. They have a wall with all the names of their students who have world records, olympic medals and NCAA championships. Very impressive. I loved this run. Did a 7:43 pace.

0:42:28

Tomorrow Iam going back to NC and I might need to miss a run.

10:20PM 55F, 85% humidity. Night run. I came back from Palo Alto CA today and after spending time with family and dealing with all sort of things found some time to run. Did a short loop around campus. Did 7:41 pace so it was short but fast. Tomorrow I will also have hard time to find time to run. I might skip it tomorrow and run on Saturday instead. Sunday suppose to be free.

0:16:55

5:40PM, 72F, 50% humidity. I missed my tempo run this week due to my travel to California. So I did sort of a tempo run today. Here are the splits:

1.5M @ 8:08 "warm up"
3.3M @ 7:11 tempo
1.6M @ 8:02 "cool down"

The reason for the odd splitsis that I was not using my regular route. I was feeling great after this run. Rest tomorrow and a long run on sunday.

0:48:48

6:15AM start, 54F, 90% humidity. It was all dark when I started. I took a small flash light with me. I did the 3.75 mile portion of the American Tobbaco trail back and forth twice. I never ran that far or that long. I did really great. I was tired toward the end but not ruined. My average pace was 7:51. I can't belive it!

splits:

7:30
7:50
7:47
7:59
7:55
7:52
8:02
7:55
7:48
7:46
7:53
7:50
7:45
8:03
7:56

I would say these are pretty regular splits (apart from the first mile). I'm so tired now. My legs are fine because I did an ice bath.

1:57:52

6PM, 70F, 55% humidity. Did the usual run between the two campuses. I was planning on doing an easy run after my 15 miles yesterday and I was actually feeling OK during the run but it turned out to be a fast one nevertheless (7:47 pace). I'm traveling tomorrow and I am not sure I'll have time to run.

0:36:56

10PM at the gym in my hotel. Nothing special just 4 miles in a little less than 8 minutes per mile pace.

0:31:43

4PM, 72F, 55% humidity. Planned on an easy run and it did feel easy. The pace was 7:58 which happens to be an easy pacelately.

0:37:53

Tomorrow I will not run. It's Yom-Kippur and I am fasting for 25 hours. i will see how i feel on Friday.

5:30PM, 72F, 75% humidity. Nice run between the campuses and on the trail. I was fast but I didn't feel I'm pushing it too hard. Average pace 7:39. soon I will start to think I run better in the evening than in the morning.

0:36:21

9:15AM, 58F, 70% humidity. This is the end of my cut back week. I went on the trail and did the main loop and the additional loop (together 3.7M) twice. I did it once counter clock-wise and then clock wise. Splits were 28:31 (7:42 pace) and 28:37 (7:44 pace). I didn't feel very strong but the pace was very good for this hard terrain. This coming week I'm going back to high millage and hills and speed work and all that fun.

0:57:07

9:30 AM it was cool and not humid but sunny. I ran to the east campus and did two loops. I wanted to go slow after my intense 7.4 miles yesterday. But I ended up running it in 7:50 which is a bit too fast for what I should have. I felt my legs all day. Tomorrow I'm going to do the 4.75 but add 5 hills repeats.

0:50:06

9:20AM 65F 70% humidity. Did my usual run and added 5 hill repeats. I did 0.75M to where the hill starts, raced up with knee lifting and jogged down 5 times. Then I went on to run the other 4 miles. My average pace on the running part was 7:58. Tomorrow just an easy run and speed work on Thursday.

0:37:53

9:10AM 65F sunny and nice. Did a nice run with medium effort. I felt good after a good night sleep last night. Pace seems constatly below 8 min/mile (today average 7:50). Tomorrow I am going to do speed work and I'm quite excited about it.

0:37:14

9:00AM 65F sunny and humid. Track speed work. Went to Duke's track to do 5 X 800m repeats. My intervals were 3:20, 3:20, 3:19, 3:22, 3:23. So it's quite good but a little bit slower than I was hoping for. I didn't have what it take to do 5 X 3:15 today. An easy run tomorrow, rest on Saturday and then a long run on Sunday.

 0:42:54

10AM, 70F, 80% cloudy and a drizzle. It was a nice run. My usual one again. Felt good and strong all the way. I need to build up my milage again and that's what I'm going to do starting next week. This week it will still be aroound 35M if I do my 12M on Sunday. Pace today was good too (7:49).

0:37:08

7:40AM 45F 70% humidity. It was cold! I wore double layer and long pants. The cold temperatures were great for my speed. I could not believe it but my average was 7:32. The last 1.5-2 miles were a bit hard but I don't think I lost a lot of speed on them. The projected time for a HM if I continued the same pace would have been below 1:40.

1:30:23

10AM, 52 F, 50% humidity sunny. Nice and cool. Decided to take it easy in terms of milage this morning after my 12M yesterday.Pace was fast (7:33 avg.). It seems like I am running all my runs at the same speed (maybe apart from speed work repeats). Not sure this is good but so far it works for me.

0:35:51

9:10AM 50F, 70% humidity. I didn't sleep well at night and woke up with a slight headache. I'm having some troubles at work these days. Of course the cure to all of that was to run. I planned on 5 miles but ended up doing more because it made me feel good. The pace was good and slightly slower than previous two days (7:40 average).

0:49:05

11AM, 55F sunny and nice. The usual run at a very good pace (7:32 average). Nothing special to report. Tempo run tomorrow.

0:35:49

10:45AM,55F, 50% humidy sunny and windy. I'm not used to the cold weather yet but it does wonders to my pace. I was doing tempo run to day. I started from a different point this time and ran 1M to the East Campus loop. I did 3 loops tempo (1.65M each so it's 4.95M total) and then another mile back. The times were:

warm up mile: 7:57
loop #1: 11:36 (7:02 pace)
loop #2: 11 :37 (7:02 pace)
loop #3:  11:42 (7:05 pace)
cool down mile 7:42

Wow! I'm amazed by my time. I was working hard during the tempo but not as nearly as hard as I would imagine a 5M at close to 7 minutes per mile would feel. In fact if this was a 5M race I'd shutter my 5M PR by more than a minute! There is a huge difference between running 5M on July 4th when it's more than 80F and 90% himidity versus running it when it's 55F and 50% humidity.

Tomorrow easy 5-6 miles. I plan to do 12 or 13 miles on Sunday. So far my training progresses very well.

0:50:33

9AM nice and cool. Two loops around the trail. Did nice pace (7:55) for this course but it was not easy. Two loops of 2.9 each the first in 22:47 and the second in 23:10.

0:45:57

3:30PM, 68F 40% humidity. My wife was suppose to come back from NYC yesterday but La Guardia was shut down due to weather. So this morning it was a huge caos there and she was sent to Charlotte. I drove down there to pick her up. Round trip it was almost 5 hours. So we came back close to noon and I had lunch. I waited till 3 till I felt that lunch has sank down and took a clif shot and drank 3/4 of propel and waited 20 minutes till that sank down. The run was 2 times the 6.4 course I sometime do, So I ran to the east campus did two loops there and came back and then did exactly the same again. The first 6.4 were at 48:36 (7:36 pace) and the second 6.4 were at 49:48 (7:47) So I definately faded a bit on the second part but both were good paces. I didn't do as well as I did last week but today it was about 15-20F warmer and I was after almost 5 hours of driving. I'm just cutting myself some slack here :-) I also did 35 seconds break between the two 6.4 runs during which I was drinking the 1/4 bottle of proppel that I left at the start point. If I add these 35 seconds I ran the 12.8 in 99 minutes (7:44 pace average). I'm happy.

1:38:24 (1:38:59 with break)

3:30PM cold and sunny. My schedule allowed me to run in the afternoon. I was still sore from the weekend ling run so I took it easy. Did 8:11 pace which is kinda slow these days. I was happy with it.

0:38:54

4:00PM 52F, 40% humidity, very windy. It was really cold. I was a bit underdressed. I ran 0.7M to the bottom of a hill and did 5 hill repeats. I't a medium grade, medium length hill. Then continued to do the other 5.7M. Pace was a little faster than yesterday 7:49 on average.

0:50:03

11AM, 48F sunny and some wind. Ran between the campuses and added a small loop on East campus quad. OK pace (7:50), legs were less tired.

0:41:53

9:00AM 46F, 50% humidity. Was cool but the sun made it feel better. I headed up to the trail around Esat Campus for my tempo run. Warmed up with 0.6M and then did 3 X1.65M loops and an additional 1.05M to make it a 6M tempo and then cooled down another with 1M. I maintained an almost constant pace on the 6M tempo with an average pace of 7:13. The last mile was really hard I had to dig deep to maintain my pace. I'm starting to think that if I keep up this hard work and rest well the week before the 10K and if the weather will be good, I might be able to pull a 7:15 pace for the 10K. But maybe I'm just dreaming.

0:57:25

11AM, 55F sunny and nice. Nice run on my usual route. Good pace and effort. Rest tomorrow and long run on Sunday.

0:36:28

4PM, 68F, 40% humidity. Could not run in the morning so I ended up running in the evening. Due to the clock change I started when the sun was going down and finished when it was already dark. Did 3 times the 3.7 loop and then a little bit more than 2 miles addition in my neighborhood. It was a tough run. I stopped for 25-30 seconds each loop to drink some propel. Tomorrow will be a very easy day. I have a nother week of build up and then a week of taper toward the 10K.

1:48:25

10:30AM, 58F, 60% humidity. Slow recovery run. Yesterday's long run was hard so I took it really easy today (8:23 average pace). The cool air was very pleasant.

0:39:48

 Not a lot to report. Before noon run in my regular route. Was a bit tired and did a 7:57 pace.

 11AM, 62F, 65% humidity, cloudy and windy. I was faster today and my legs felt less tired. I covered the distance in 7:40 pace which felt a bit hard at times. I need to rest well before tomorrow's speed work.

0:40:59

 8:30 AM, 60F sunny. Went to the tracks for some speed work. Did 6 times 800m with 400m jogs in between plus 1M warm up and 1 mile cool down. The 800m were not very strong but not bad at all: 3:14, 3:13,3:15,3:16,3:18,3:19. As you can see I was getting slower by just a little. Easy miles tomorrow and long run on sunday.

0:52:41

10:30AM, 65F, 70% humidity. I got bored with my usual run and changed the route to go through "downtown" Durham. Ended up coming throught the East Campus and finishing the usual way but it was a nice change. Good pace too (7:26). I do need a day of rest tomorrow before my long run on Sunday.

0:44:16

7:00AM 48F sun just shining. It was cold at first but warmed up nicely. Felt not so good at the first 3-4 miles but then it got better. I guess I was too cold at first. The last portion of it was a bit hard but I don't think I slowed down much or at all.  This is the last long run before the 10K next Sunday. Going to taper and take it easy this week. I feel like I need it.

1:46:34

10:30AM, 55F 50% humidity. Excellent conditions. Did my usual route and was able to keep a nice pace (7:44). This is sort of a taper week toward the 10K on Sunday.

0:36:43

10:30 AM 48F sunny. Was cold. I ran 0.75 miles to the bottom of a hill and did 3 hills repeats (not much but it's my taper week). Then I went on to the rest of the run. Over all the pace was good (7:42). I hope weather will be good on the weekend. I want to see if I can pull a 7:30 average pace for the 10K. Easy run tomorrow and then some light speed work on Thursday and I will be pretty much done for this race.

0:36:35

11AM 48F sunny. Went to my usual run and ran it too fast (7:37 average). It didn't feel that hard during but I guess I twisted my right ankle a little bit and it hurts some. I will have to see about tomorrows run.

0:36:10

Right ankle hurts so no speed work today. It is not crucial 3 days before the race. I went to the gym did 10 minutes fast walk on the treadmill with medium incline, 20 minutes on the bike (6mi) and some weights. I'm taking Ibuprofen and trying to rest. I need to retire my current shoes.

11:30AM 60F 90% humidity. Used a break in the rain to put a run. My ankle flet much better so I decided to go ahead and run. I bought new shoes yesterday and they felt great and I'm going to use them on Sunday. I actually did something which was kind of a tempo run. Pace was 7:25 for 4.75 miles and I had still something left when I was done. I have 48 hours rest till Sunday.

0:35:16

2PM start with 52-54F and 40% humidity. Perfect conditions apart from the wind which was quite strong at some parts. The start line was packed and I had to work my way very hard to pass a lot of people in the first 1/2 mile. The course was not easy. From 1.5 to 3.5 it was a constant climb. We also faced some head wind at this part of the course. It flattened some till 4 mile and then it was net decline but with some up slopes on the way. The average pace was just below 7 minutes per mile. Unbelievable.

mile 1: 6:35 (opps)

mile 2: 7:03 (some up hill)

mile 3: 7:17 (all uphill, head wind)

miles 4 & 5 :13:59 (7:00 average)

mile 6 + 0.2miles finish : 8:09 (6:48 pace) (mostly down hill)

Place over all: 75/950

Place in age group (M 35-39): 12/66

I still can't believe my time. It was definately the hardest race I ever done. After the race my older son did the 1 mile run. He's gonna be 8 years old soon. His time was 8:13. I'm very proud of him.

I'm in Ohio. Ran in the hotel's gym. Just 4 miles, nothing special.

0:30:38

9AM, 30F sunny, light breeze. It was a cold start. I did the loop around the golf course twice maintaining a constant good pace (7:50 average). It was a good effort but not too hard.

0:45:27

I am thinking about future races. There is a HM at the end of March that I want to do. At the end of February there is a 20K race in downtown Durham and I think it will be an excellent practice for the HM.

12:15, 42F sunny and light wind. Very fast 4.75 miles. Average pace 7:11. I need to do a switch from fast running to endurance. Will start doing that next week.

0:34:09