Tuesday Feb 28 |
 | Road Run 51:28 [3] 7.25 mi (7:06 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 871's |
| Londonderry, NI - I had a delayed case of jet lag last night and woke up at 4 am and couldn't get back to sleep. At the hotel restaurant this morning, the waitress announced it was "Pancake Tuesday" and the chef had decided to make pancakes since there were a lot of Americans staying at the hotel. I thought part of my leg stiffness might be due to caloric deprivation so I took full advantage of the opportunity and had 6 pancakes (plus lots of other stuff).
I was originally planning on taking a rest day but they are calling for snow so I went ahead and did the twin bridge run - north from the hotel along the river and across the Foyle bridge then south along the east side of the river and back across on the top deck of the Craigavon bridge. The morning snow squalls had left a nice coating on the Donegal hills in the distance but by time I ran late in the afternoon it was sunny and cold. I think the pancakes helped - my legs felt a little better today. |
Monday Feb 27 |
| Road Run 52:19 [3] 7.5 mi (6:58 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 871's |
| Londonderry, NI - From the City Hotel south along the cycle path / pedestrian walkway on the western bank of the River Foyle. A very flat but somewhat monotonous run. Quads were sore by the end. |
Saturday Feb 25 |
| Trail Run 1:51:47 [3] 14.0 mi (7:59 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 871's |
| White Clay Creek SP / Preserve - Started at the Carpenter Rec Area lot following the Yellow trail down to Creek Rd. Then along the creek over to the park office for a loop up around Twin Lakes, over to the Boundary Line Trail, Pomeroy Rail Trail, across the creek at the Chambers Rock bridge, north again to the state line then back along the Penn Del Trail before reconnecting with the Yellow blazed trail. First 6 or 7 miles were hilly, then 6 miles of flat and 2 hilly miles climbing back to the finish. Legs felt good, a gorgeous sunny morning. I'm really enjoying these long runs.
Leaving for a business trip to Northern Ireland tonight. Hoping I can get some decent runs in over there this week. Forecast is for cold and rain. |
Friday Feb 24 |
| Weights 45:00 [3] | |
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| Sit-ups 5:00 [2] | |
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| 225 |
Thursday Feb 23 |
| Road Run 49:45 [3] 7.0 mi (7:06 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Brandywine Park / Rockford Park - Added the Tower Hill loop. Warmer and breezy. |
Wednesday Feb 22 |
| Road Run 30:18 [3] 4.25 mi (7:08 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Brandywine Park - Short loop from the Y in a cold drizzle. Still a little lingering stiffness in my right quad but other than that my legs felt fine. |
Sunday Feb 19 |
| Road Run race 1:30:58 [5] 13.1 mi (6:56 / mi) vdot: 50.3 | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Austin, TX - Freescale Half Marathon - We sat around all day yesterday watching the Olympics, chowing down on veggie pizza for lunch and pasta for dinner. Set the alarm clock for 4:30 am (race is supposed to start at 7:00) but woke up at 3:00 am. Sirens were blaring all night long. An ice storm moved in overnight and apparently there were lots of accidents.
We ate breakfast, chipped the ice off the car, and drove up to the start area north of Austin. It was 6:00 am and still pitch black. After putting on our bibs, etc., we figured it was time to head over to the start. Since this is a one-way race, we wouldn't be coming back to the car until afterwords. We locked the car doors with the keys inside the car and then realized I left one of the interior lights on - oops! A minute or two later we learned they had delayed the start until 7:30 due to the weather. Great - it looked like we were going to have to wait outside in the icy mist for an hour. The temperature was about 30 degrees and it wouldn't warm much above that all day.
Fortunately, they opened up the Freescale HQ building and let people inside to keep dry and warm. The place was packed to the gills with no room to sit or stand - all we could do was mill around in a continous loop for a half hour. About 7 am they told everybody to head to the start. We decided to make one last trip to the porta johns and got in a long line. We were still in line when they sang the national anthem. We made it in and out just as they were starting the wheelchair division and then crammed in to the start line next to the 3:10 marathon pace group. No time for much of a warm-up - not good. This is a pretty big race - 10,000 participants in all.
After the gun, it took about 40 seconds to reach the start line. The first mile was fairly congested and my early pace was slow as a result. Things started to open up after that and I picked up the pace, eventually settling into a 6:45 min/mile groove. The course was wet and there were a few patches of ice on the overpasses but they had salted/sanded the entire route. It was actually great weather for running. I ate a gu at the 10K point and carried a water bottle so I never had to use any of the aid stations. Probably should have had another gu around mile 10 but I still had some energy left to push a little on the last mile.
Splits were: 7:46 / 7:16 / 7:03 / 6:59 / 6:47 / 6:46 / 7:01 / 6:54 / 6:46 / 6:45 / 6:45 / 6:47 / 6:39 / 0:39. My goals for this race were 7 minute mile avg pace (actual was 6:57) and a top 20 placing in M45-49 (actual was 17 based on chip time). Overall placement was 148 out of 4000+ for the half marathon. Very happy with my run. Phil had a good race too, a few minutes behind me.
After the race we went over to the Marathon finish and watched for an hour or so. My only stiffness post-race was some tightness in my quads. This was an awesome event. A great place to do a first marathon - fast, friendly course and well organized. I think I've got the itch to do a marathon now. |
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| C • Freescale Half... 5 |
Friday Feb 17 |
| Trail Run 32:00 [2] 4.0 mi (7:59 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Austin, TX - Easy run with my younger brother Phil from his place over to the Town Lake trails then across the pedestrian bridge and back. It was 80 degrees and sunny here yesterday but cloudy and 40 degrees today. Forecast for tomorrow and Sunday is even worse.
We rode the half marathon course in the car today. The hills are barely perceptible. It would be hard to imagine a much flatter course. |
Thursday Feb 16 |
| Weights 45:00 [3] | |
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| Sit-ups 5:00 [2] | |
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| 200 |
Tuesday Feb 14 |
| Road Run 29:43 [3] 4.25 mi (7:00 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Brandywine Park - Easy run, stayed in B'wine Park and skipped the Tower Hill climb today. Will take a couple rest days and then probably do a short run Friday in Austin with Phil to loosen up the legs. |
Monday Feb 13 |
| Road Run 46:45 [3] 6.5 mi (7:11 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Brandywine Park / Rockford Park - Just the basic loop today - starting to taper for Sunday's race. The sidewalks and roads were not near as treacherous as I expected. Lots of kids out sledding on the big hill beneath Rockford tower. |
| Weights 45:00 [3] | |
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| After the run. |
| Trail Run 5:00 [2] | |
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| 225 |
Saturday Feb 11 |
| Trail Run 1:30:48 [3] 11.5 mi (7:53 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 871's |
| Fair Hill NRMA, MD - Started from the Big Elk Chapel lot and headed north across Rt. 273, down to the covered bridge, then jeep trail to the northern edge of the park and over a big loop east of Appleton Rd. Recrossed Rt. 273 on the easternmost overpass then up toward the South Appleton lot, down to bridge across the creek and up hill to finish. Trails were a little choppy from all the horse traffic making it tough to get much of a rhythm but Fair Hill is still my favorite place for long runs. This was my last big run before Austin. Couldn't have asked for better training weather the past 2 months. |
Friday Feb 10 |
| Weights 45:00 [3] | |
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| Sit-ups 5:00 [3] | |
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| 225 |
Thursday Feb 9 |
| Road Run 1:16:42 [3] 11.0 mi (6:58 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Brandywine Park / Rockford Park - Did the full Monty today - regular loop plus Tower Hill, MBNA, and Baynard loops plus an extra credit loop along the creek in Brandywine Park. Probably the coldest day since mid December. |
Tuesday Feb 7 |
| Road Run 57:35 [4] 8.5 mi (6:47 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Brandywine Park / Rockford Park - Added the Tower Hill & Baynard loops. Crisp, clear day. Legs felt great so pushed most of the way. |
Monday Feb 6 |
| Road Run 53:05 [3] 7.5 mi (7:04 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Brandywine Park / Rockford Park - A cold wind was howling when I walked out of work so I put on an extra layer. Didn't feel too bad once I got started though and was probably overdressed. Regular loop plus Baynard Stadium. |
Sunday Feb 5 |
| Weights 45:00 [3] | |
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| Sit-ups 5:00 [2] | |
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| 225 |
Saturday Feb 4 |
| Trail Run 1:54:03 [3] 14.0 mi (8:09 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 871's |
| Brandywine Creek SP / Woodlawn Preserve - Set out from the bridge parking area just as the rain was starting. It kept up for the whole run. I felt like I had a pretty good week of training up till today but this was a struggle. Ate too much for breakfast and my stomach was kicking back hard on the big hills up in the Preserve. Fortunately, things settled down after a couple of bio breaks. Passed Doc Nippert (DVOA resident podiatrist) out runninng with his chocolate lab on the east side of Brandywine. Crossed the creek at Adams Dam Rd. to do a big loop on the west side, then recrossed to finish on the flatter stuff along the creek. |
Friday Feb 3 |
| Weights 40:00 [3] | |
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| Sit-ups 5:00 [2] | |
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| 225 |
Thursday Feb 2 |
| Road Run 50:01 [3] 7.0 mi (7:08 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Brandywine Park / Rockford Park - Was late getting out of work for the 3rd straight day, barely finished before dark. Regular route plus Tower Hill loop. |
Wednesday Feb 1 |
| Road Run 52:45 [3] 7.5 mi (7:01 / mi) | |
| shoes: New Balance 907's |
| Brandywine Park / Rockford Park - Exact same route as yesterday only in opposite (CCW) direction. I'll be really glad in a few weeks when I can get back to evening trail runs - this route is starting to get tiresome. |