Boston Strong

48 & Sunny, ran 8.6 along river with my Dad riding his bike along side. Great weather, better company, legs felt good ... although aerobically seemed a little tougher for some reason today. 7:30 pace

30 & Sunny at start, 44 at end ... perfect running weather.  Nice relaxing 10 @ 8:22 on Greenbelt to conclude my PA training ... 136 miles in 12 days.  Time for two days of rest and family reunion celebration before returning to Atlanta!

Easy 5.2 @ 8:20 pace

Battling flu, but was nice to get out for an easy 5, made me feel better

Simls Lake - Finally got a break in the rain ... 6 @ 7:30 pace with strides on uphills, with 1 mile cool-down.  Should have held the pace & skipped the cooldown, as it started raining 1 minute from my car ... oh well ... I am sure cold rain will help my sickness!  Was glad I was able to get out there.

52 & Sunny - Duluth HS Track

Had to alter track plan a little, because half of track was in use when I got there ... not that I ever adhere to a track plan!  Was going to just do a 400/800/1600/800/400 ... but had to switch to strides until track cleared.

No warm-up, started with (16) 100 meter strides

29, 26, 23, 22, 20, 19, 19, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 19, 18, 19, 20

(4) 200m:  39, 40, 40, 40 (this is my target mile pace)

(3) 400m:  75, 80, 82 (last one was going to be an 800m, but I decided I had done enough speed work for one day ... this was intended as a light day, not a hard workout)

I decided to pass on the 800m & 1600m, but for kicks timed myself for 100m & 200m at end.

100m:  14.4     200m: 31.2  (pretty sure I can run these faster at the start of a workout with Alex lined up next to me, even though I know he can crush me at these short distances!)

Cooldown

Debating a hilly 10k Sat, not sure if I could PR, but would help me get 6 fast miles in ... as I have a hard time going sub 7's on training runs on my own!

Little Mulberry Park Trails, easy pace

Plan was to run 6 fast this morning ... slept in til 8:30 ... went to son's basketball game ... and really did not want to run all day.  Forced myself out just before dark for 3 hard, semi-fast miles ... oh well, at least I got out!

7:07, 7:25, 7:15, short cool down.

18 weeks to Boston ... almost time to taper!  :)

Easy run this morning with friend to loosen up.  Played 90 min pick-up soccer game this afternoon, then watched UNC win the national championship game against UNC-Charlotte.

I will be sore tomorrow!

Settles Bridge Park.  Discovered great new network of soft surface trails.  Park trails are great, interconnecting thru the forest, but there are also a bunch single track not shown on trail map, that take you down to & along the 'Hooch' Ran 6 miles, all new trails, & there are more out there to explore.

7 easy miles on Buford Dam trails, stopped on way home to run 1.5 @ 6:50 

70 & sunny ... Jones Bridge Unit river trails ... very hilly, great trails though ... chased a high schooler for a couple miles to get in some good tempo work.

Signed up for the Atlanta Fat Ass 50k on Jan. 8, thanks to the nudging of Timp ... 6 loops, some rugged terrain from what I understand.  Not sure what I was thinking ... thanks Tim!

Decided to split my run into 2 segments:

 Sims Lake park, 8 mile progression: 8:52, 8:21, 8:16, 8:10, 7:54, 7:37, 7:11, 6:28.

Drove to Settles Bridge for 8 easy exploring trails along river.

Day of rest ... although Alex & I are going to play pickup soccer at 6 ... so I will be sore in the morning!  I am pre-logging my 1 mile warmup jog!  :)

3 slow miles exploring along river ... more like a Sat. afternoon hike.

Great trails at Sweetwater Creek Park with Timp ... this is site of our 50k Jan. 8 ... so we covered the trails that will make the 5+ mile loop ... 6 loops will be pretty brutal, hopefully we will have the 50 & sunny weather we had today!

3:30- Pick up 7 v 7soccer game for 90 minutes

Ran on shores of Lake Lanier, slow going adventurous surface ... but spectacular views on a nice sunny day.  I would like to do 50 miles of shoreline in a weekend with a friend & a kayak ... taking turns running ... this would also enable using the kayak to cross bodies of water avoid coves which are not conducive to good running (wet, steep, rocky, swampy)& also provide access to exploring islands.  

There has not been a lot of desire to run lately, so I have done some exploring runs just to keep fitness up ... but they have been more adventures then running workouts.  Blew off running the last 2 days, cuz the desire was just not there.  

Almost blew off a 3rd day, but decided to go out in the rain &get something in.  As usual, I never really know what I am going to do until I start, so after glancing at my watch a couple hundred yards in, i decided on a few mile repeats, that way I could quit & get out of the rain early if I wanted.

Mile 1-Out    6:20  gradual downhill

Mile 2-Back   6:13 gradual uphill

Mile 3-Out    5:53 gradual downhill

Jumped on trail for 2 slow recovery  miles, then ran mile back in 8:00.

Planning on going to Spin class, and may do a few more on treadmill just because it is pouring out.

Power went out, so I got to Spin late.  Decided to do a few songs as a warmup, then jump on the treadmill and do a workout.  I think I decided this about midway thru the first song where we were doing long uphill climbs starting out seated, progressing to standing, finishing with 10 seconds sprinting over top of hill going into a 60 second downhill sprint ... repeats!  Yep, I pretty much decided 30 minutes of that was going to kill me, so I opted for the treadmill ... it is in the same cinema room ... so you still have the blasting music and motivation flowing out of the Hot instructors mouth.

Anyway, first mile on treadmill was progressive from 10:00 to 6:53, bumping the speed every 30 seconds.  I cranked out 4 miles at 6:53, and by this point the room was completely empty & I was watching Christmas Vacation on the Big Screen.  I opted to wrap things up, so I cranked it up to 6:39 pace for 1/2 mile, then cooled down for a half mile.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! 

6 slow & easy miles at Settles Bridge trails ... soccer game at 4:00 ... will be 57 & sunny!  :)

All I want for Christmas is this same weather on Jan. 8th!  Well, a Dodge Ram would be nice too!

Started at Buford Dam, 3 miles on trails, 8 on shores of Lake Lanier, then to a friends house to get a ride back to my car.  Beautiful day ... shore running is slow go!

Went to George Pierce Park with Alex, we ran 5.2 @ 8:15 AP.  I then proceeded to beat him in a game of 1 on 1 basketball ... then we beat a couple college kids in 2 v 2.  Nice Day.  Running is relatively easy, you can get in a rhythm & just go ... basketball & soccer put a beating on my legs with all the starting, stopping, lateral movement, etc ... I am getting old!

Lots of hills, pushed hard at end to get AP down to 8:00.

Took Alex to basketball & left from FCHS, ran 2.5 miles to Sawnee Mtn Preserve, did 2 loops on Indian Seats Trail ... /\_/\ ...  that is the elevation profile .... then ran back to HS ... 10 miles total.

Only 5 kids showed up for basketball ... so I could have skipped the run & played 3v3! 

I am not big on mileage goals ... & I have taken 4 days off in the last 9  ... but I am 38 miles short of 2,000 for 2011 .... hmmm I guess that would make my magic number 13 ... as in miles I would need to run each of the next 3 days.  Probably won't do it ... then again, it would be a good last push before my 50k in 10 days.

PM - Rogers Bridge - 20:08 5k, 0.9 mile cooldown ... 6:46, 6:31, 6:15, 5:50 last tenth.

Repeat of yesterday hills ... planned on not pushing as hard ... but pretty similar paces, although I did not push as hard the last 3 miles ... where yesterday I was specifically trying to get my AP down to 8:00 flat.  Happy with run, after some hard running yesterday.

PM - George Pierce Park, 55 & sunny, 3.8 @ 8:44.  Then played 2 v 2 with Alex against a couple guys in their 20's ... we were down 10-4 playing to 11, win by 2 ... we won 14-12.

Jones Bridge River Trails - 6 with a friend, then 8 more on my own.  10 more to go tomorrow!

Went to Spin Class this morning, after 4 songs jumped on treadmill, the back on Spin bike for cool down song.  0.6 mile progressive warm-up, 1 mile at 6:53, then progressively faster last mile ending at 6:00.

Only 7.4 miles to go ... & it will be sunny & 62 this afternoon!  WooHoo!  :)

PM - Put on my racing flats & singlet & went to Sims Lake Park ... didn't really have a specific goal, other than run 7.4 miles ... pretty fast.

Finished off the year with a great 7 mile progression run, with the 2,000th mile of the year being one of my fastest ... then a 0.45 mile cool down.  I am pretty happy with this run, especially since it concludes 52 miles running in the last 4 days.  I would say I made pretty good fitness gains this year ... which I guess one would expect when they run 310% more mileage than last year ... and most importantly, I was injury free all year!

Happy New Year to All!