Thursday and Fridays Runs...

After a very long day at work on Tuesday, I decided to take it easy and rest on Wednesday.

Thursday
Total Mileage: 4 miles
Total Time: 35:25
Average Pace: 8:51
Splits: 9:27/8:47/8:33/8:37
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18584643

Friday
Total Mileage: 3 miles
Total Time: 26:09
Average Pace: 8:43
Splits: 9:22/8:25/8:19
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18651335

5 miles with 6 100 meter pickups

Today we headed to the bike path for a quick five mile run with some pickups. First five pickups were fast (between 5:38-6:15), the last one was very hard to do but I was able to keep it under 5k time (around 6:45ish)

Splits
Average/Max
9:44/8:07
8:27/5:38
9:05/5:58
8:41/5:59
9:26/7:06

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18438289

6x100m hill repeats on 100 Acres Hill

Today we headed back to 100 Acres hill for some 100 meter hill repeats. Plan was to do 6 repeats at pace that felt like 5k. After the warmup to the bottom of the hill Anthony and I started our repeats. First 3 weren't too bad and was able to get in the mid-low 7s for the ups. The fourth and fifth got tougher but was able to maintain the pace. I felt the sixth repeat in my lungs, so the idea we had to do a couple more was scrapped. We walked a little of the recoveries - and had a nice and easy return trip to work. I was pretty tired for the last 1/2 mile or so - but I think that had to do with Alec's nightmare that woke me up in the middle of the night.

Splits
Average/Max
8:55/7:04
9:12/5:29 (had two ups of the hill and one recovery)
9:32/5:47 (had four ups of the hill and five recovery)
9:32/8:08
8:53/6:21

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18392009

Friday Hill Run

Today we headed out to the 100 Acres hill to do some "easy" repeats of the whole hill (.4 miles one way). I was able to go up and down 3 times. Felt great to do some hill work again since that was one of my major problems at the CCM. I was also able to mark off 100meters for next weeks hill repeat day.

Total Distance: 6 miles
Total Time: 56:16
Average Pace: 9:22

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18159235

TRACK DAY!

First day at the track in a long time - at least for a structured track workout.

1 mile warmup @ 9:40 pace
400m @ 1:42 (6:50 pace) / 400m recovery
400m @ 1:44 (6:58 pace) / 400m recovery
400m @ 1:45 (7:00 pace) / 400m recovery
400m @ 1:45 (7:00 pace) / 400m recovery
200m @ 0:42 (5:37 pace) / 200m recovery
200m @ 0:44 (5:54 pace) / 200m recovery
200m @ 0:45 (6:00 pace) / 200m recovery
1/2 mile cool down @ 11:10 pace

Felt really good today at the track - ran hard and had no problems. I was hoping to get another 200m in but I was getting a bit tired and didn't think it was going to be a quality 200m so I decided to skip it.

Another four miler

Nothing fancy today for the 2nd run since Cape Code. Just a normal four miler on the bike path.

Total Distance: 4 miles
Total Time: 38:50
Average Pace: 9:42

Splits
9:52
9:31
9:45
9:41

First run since marathon/DNF

Today was the first run, after taking a week off, since the Cape Cod debacle. The plan was to take it easy - but given the rest (and the "anger" I had in me from a poor marathon) - I ran alot harder than I probably should have.

Total Distance: 4 miles
Total Time: 34:54
Average Pace: 8:43

Splits
8:42
9:07
8:04
9:00

Last 1/3 of a the third mile was mostly around 6:30 or so.

Cape Cod Marathon Race Report - DNF

After finishing my first marathon in Providence RI last May I was
looking forward to doing another this fall. I picked Cape Cod and
dragged my buddy Drew into doing this as his first. Race day weather
was GORGEOUS. I slept really well the night before which I though
boded well for a good day of running. My goal for this one was right
around 4 hours - but since I'm still new to the marathon distance I
really just wanted to finish - which was the same for Drew. I told
him we would start together and finish together and just try and enjoy
a nice long run.

Line up at the start and once the gun went off we went out at the pace
we planned for 9:15, we fell into a nice groove around 8:50s which is
exactly what we planned out to do. Course was great - running along
the coast with the changing colors of the leaves provided a nice
backdrop. We got to the half way point at 1:57 - again exactly on
target. The first half is slightly hilly - the second half is very
hilly. Through 15 miles we were still on pace to finish a touch under
4 hours. But then the big hills started and our pace started to
suffer which was fine by us. A little after mile 18 Drew fell behind
and a little after mile 19 I had to start walking. At this point my
knees and hamstrings were starting to hurt. I started to run for
about a half mile and walk a half mile. Drew was doing the same and
caught up to me just short of the 20th mile. We then did run/walk as
best as we could but my legs were starting to quit on me - hamstrings,
quads, knees, calves, ankles - you name it - it hurt. My feet started
to really swell so I kicked off the shoes and did some walking for
about a quarter mile or so - around mile 23 I put them back on. Here
is were things REALLY got bad - I had to sit and stretch for a few
minutes - got back up and we started to walk again. We then jogged
for about a quarter mile then we were forced to walk yet again. I
paused for a moment as I thought I might get sick, and while I was
waiting to see if I was, I got the most crazy cramp in my calf and
fell to the ground. Drew walked back to me to help me stretch it out
(he said I yelped like a sick dog and turned to see me lying in the
road begging for runners to run over me). Once the cramp cleared, we
decided we were both done and werent going to finish - by my Garmin we
had 2.5 miles to go. We hopped a ride in a support vehicle that
happened to drive by and they gave us a ride back. My first ever DNF.
Not a great feeling.

I keep second guessing the decision to stop/quit - we toyed with the
idea of trying to jog 1/2 mile and walk 1/2. But looking back now
with a relatively clear mind we wouldn't have made it. Drew and I
both feel defeated today - we have all the soreness of a full marathon
but no sense of accomplishment. We did meet and run with some fun and
friendly people for quite a bit of the race - Liz from Duxbury (1st
time racer finished in 4:14:45) and Sean from the Cape - 4:35 - both
were great to run with and talk to.

I plan on recovering this week - and start gearing up to take my
aggression out on a 5k that's coming up at the end of November.

Update - and CVS 5k shoutouts

Its been a busy week with the wife still out of town and trying to get the house ready for sale. Here are the runs since the last update:

Wed 9/16
Total Mileage: 8 miles
Total Time: 1:10:55
Average Pace: 8:51
Average Speed: 6.8 mph
Max Speed: 10.0 mph

Thurs 9/17
Total Mileage: 7.5 miles
Total Time: 1:08:46
Average Pace: 9:09
Average Speed: 6.5 mph
Max Speed: 9.6 mph

Fri 9/18
Total Mileage: 17 miles
Total Time: 2:45:57
Average Pace: 9:45
Average Speed: 6.1 mph
Max Speed: 7.9 mph

Mon 9/21 - with 5 x 600m pickups
Total Mileage: 8 miles
Total Time: 1:12:51
Average Pace: 9:06
Average Speed: 6.1 mph
Max Speed: 10.4
The pickups were supposed to be at 5k pace - we held them around 7 minute miles with some speeds in the 6 minute mile pace. Max speed for the entire run was 5:44 during our 4th pickup.

Tues 9/22
Total Mileage: 10 miles
Total Time: 1:37:34
Average Pace: 9:45
Average Speed: 6.1 mph
Max Speed: 7.8 mph

Congrats to everyone that ran this weekend at the CVS 5k in Providence. A special set of congrats to the following people:
John Waller 23:07/7:27
Tim Coffey 23:14/7:29
Justin Finch 24:36/7:55
Steve Grayson 29:16/9:26
Shawn Murdock 32:03/10:19
Carson Heinemann 33:24/10:45
Jessica Sweeney 45:26/14:38

10 miler Monday - and shoutouts

Nothing fancy about today's run - just a "quick" 10 miler on the bike path.

Total Mileage: 10
Total Time: 1:33:24
Average Pace: 9:20

I also want to say congrats to Cheryl for completing her first marathon at the Rochester Marathon and to Brandon (from Brandon's Marathon) for completing his first full Ironman Triathlon at Ironman Wisconsin. Awesome job you two (and to anyone who raced this past weekend).