My journey as a marathoner...

Mon Oct 19 AM 5 miles, 33min PM 10 miles, 57min, drills, strides Tue Oct 20 AM 5 miles, 34min PM 12 miles, workout: Easy 8500m (29:30) Progression run at Nashua, 4x800 w/ 200 rest Lap 1-7:47 (5:53 pace) Lap 2-7:32 (5:42) Lap 3-7:11 (5:26) Lap 4-6:59 (5:17) 2min Recovery followed by: 4x800 (2:16, 2:14, 2:13, 2:12) w/ 200m rest Wed Oct 21 AM 5 miles, 34min PM 10 miles, 68 min, drills Thu Oct 22 12 miles,1:11min, 10xshort hills Fri Oct 23 10 miles, 64min, drills Sat Oct 24 7 miles, 49min, strides Sun Oct 25 AM 11 miles, Race: Mayors Cup, 7th,24:23, 7th Results PM 5 miles, 33min Total: 92 miles I just want to thank everyone who came to see and cheer me during the Mayors Cup race - from my coworkers, doctor,friends and family. I finished in 7th place/24:23 on a very muddy day at Franklin Park. I think on any other day, if the the course was firm, the effort would have definately been a sub 24min race, which was one of my goals going into the race. It didn't help either that I chose not

Mon Oct 12 12 miles, 1:10min, drills, strides Tue Oct 13 AM 5 miles, 34min PM 11 miles Workout: UML style of the Michigan (used 1.06 mile marker- Map here ) Track mile- 4:34 Recovery Road 1.06 mile - 5:27 (5:08 pace) Track 1200-3:27 Recovery Road 1.06 mile - 5:17 (4:59) Track 800- 2:19 Recovery Road 1.06 mile- 5:22 (5:03) Track 400- 64 Total workout = 5.68 miles in 27:36 (4:51 pace) Wed Oct 14 AM 5 miles, 32min PM 5 miles, 32min , drills Thu Oct 15 AM 5 miles, 34min PM 10 miles, 59min, 15x short hills Fri Oct 16 AM 5 miles, 34 min PM 10 miles, treadmill, 55min mile 1-6:00 (incline at 0.5%) mile 2-5:53 (1.0%) mile 3-5:49 (2.0%) mile 4-5:41 (2.5%) mile 5-5:38 (3.0%) mile 6-5:36 (3.5%) mile 7-5:24 (4.0%) mile 8-5:21 (3.0%) mile 9-5:00 (1.0%) mile 10-4:49 (0.5%) Sat Oct 17 AM 10 miles, 66min, drills PM 5 miles, 34 min Sun Oct 18 18 miles, 2:10 (pacing marathon runners) Total: 101 miles Wow, seems like a lot went on this week, but not really. Glad to be completely recovered from the cold I

Mon Oct 5 AM 5 miles, 33min PM 10 miles, 58min, drills, strides Tue Oct 6 AM 5 miles, 34min PM 12 miles, workout: Progression at Nashua Trails: 12750m in 41:19/2125m each lap Lap 1- 7:31 (5:41 pace) Lap 2-7:05 (5:21) Lap 3-6:48 (5:08) Lap 4-6:48 (5:08) Lap 5-6:40 (5:02) Lap 6-6:27 (4:53) Wed Oct 7 AM off (sick) PM 10 miles, treadmill, 58min (4:30 last mile) Thu Oct 8 12 miles, 1:10min, 12x short hills Fri Oct 9 AM 5 miles, 34min PM 10 miles, Davis road, 58min, drills Sat Oct 10 AM 5 miles, 34min PM 10 miles, Davis road, 62min Sun Oct 11 18 miles, 1:55min Total: 102 miles Another solid week. The progression run was better than Iexpected. It was the first time I've done a 6-lap progression at Nashua. Back in June I did 4 and was hurting a little. Then in early September I was only able to do 5 laps and now in October I am doing 6 laps at a faster pace than the other runs. I feel like my fitness has progressed a lot since the CVS 5k and can`t wait to test the legs again at Mayor's

Mon Sep 28 12 miles, 1:11 min, drills, strides Tue Sep 29 AM 5 miles, 34 min PM 11 miles, workout: 5x Chelmsford 1.93k on grass field w/ 2min rest Rep 1- 5:39 (4:42 pace) Rep 2- 5:45 (4:47) Rep 3- 5:41 (4:44) Rep 4- 5:41 (4:44) Rep 5- 5:36 (4:40) Wed Sep 30 AM 5 miles, 34 min PM 10 miles, 62 min, drills Thu Oct 1 AM 5 miles, 34 min PM 10 miles, 62 min Fri Oct 2 12 miles, 1:16min, drills Sat Oct 3 AM 10 miles, tempo Keene 5 Mile: 25:05 PM 5 miles, 36min Sun Oct 4 18 miles, 2:06 min Total: 103 miles Not much went on this week. Just another 100-mile, which was actually my highest since 2008. xc season. Since May, I've been gradually bringing the miles high. I rememeber back in June when 60 miles felt very tiring. During late summer, even 90 miles was very hard to get in. Coach G said the goal was to keep raising them to 95-105 during the fall. I have finnally arrived at that range where I am starting to feel more efficient in my training runs. I believe that all runners are different

Mon Sep 21 12 miles, 1:11min, drills Tue Sep 22 AM 5 miles, 34 min PM 10 miles, 61 min, 14x short hills Wed Sep 23 AM 5 miles, 33 min PM 10 miles, Davis rd, 57 min, drills Thu Sep 24 12 miles, 1:11min, strides Fri Sep 25 AM 5 miles, 34min PM 10 miles, workout: 4 mile fartlek on track (19:28 - 5:02,4:46,5:03,4:37) Sat Sep 26 18 miles, 1:48min Sun Sep 27 AM 10 miles, 62min,drills PM 5+ miles, 37min Total: 102 miles Coach and I opted to wait a few days to recover from the 5k race before attempting the first workout. On Friday, the goal was to run a 4 mile fartlek on track alternating slow(5:10) and fast (sub 4:50) miles. This workout felt extremely easy as I was trying as hard as possible not to run too fast on the easy miles, but just couldn't run any slower. I am guessing that is a good sign for now. Anyway, I am in the mids of another hard training block getting ready for Mayors Cup. It's funny how this works, train hard for a race, recover, train hard for another, recover then