I wasn’t paying much attention to the pace, and was surprised to see I’d averaged in the 6:30s for the lunch run. Not too bad considering the blustery conditions.

I definitely think adding a regular sports massage to my training cycle has paid dividends over the last 6 or 7 months. Recovery from tough workouts/races has been quicker, and my range of motion and flexibility is slowly but surely improving. Feel free to mention my name at the Landstown Meadows Massage Envy to take advantage of a 1 hour introductory session for just $39.00.

In other news, I just signed up for my craziest event to date – the 24-HR Adventure Trail Run held at Prince William Forest Park in early May. I have no idea what to expect, so will be treating the event as a bit of an experiment and a chance to log a few miles before the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Miler in June – yet another first for me as a runner. I’m kind of nervous, but excited at the same time. Should be an interesting couple of months.

Head over to the Music and Motivation web site where you can nominate the track that you find particularly motivating when you run.

You may also be interested in their Celebrity Playlists, Athlete Playlists and excellent Mental Fitness information.

AudioFuel is running music designed to increase your performance. If you’d like to sample their stuff, they’ve rather generously made available a free fuel sampler for you to download.

They also have an Audiofuel Shop featuring three different AudioFuel products, all designed to increase running performance by up to 20%.

Of course, if you’re not 100% satisfied with any of their products, they also offer a full money back guarantee.

Happy Miles and Happy Tunes!

[Note: this is not a paid post.]

Splits: 7:37 7:02 6:52 6:42 6:32 6:26

The image below shows me running off the bike path and state route 343 on the way out which was definitely not the case. The track on the way back is accurate though, so maybe I picked up a better signal as the run went on?

Anyway, none of the miles were easy and I find myself still struggling for any kind of “decent” form. I’m sure the running efficiency will return in time, but right now I feel very ungainly. Probably explains several of the new aches and pains I keep developing.

Nice to finish the month out with a longish run though, and 15 days of running and 88 miles is a lot better than I could have anticipated at the beginning of the month when I was still wearing the Aircast boot for my stress fracture. Here’s to an even better October!

Update: stats for the person who requested more details –

10.25 miles in 1:15:52
Splits: 8:08 8:16 7:47 7:47 6:57 7:25 7:16 6:44 6:58 6:45

Started with two easy miles (7:52, 7:37) and then ran a couple of miles where I jogged the length of a soccer pitch and “sprinted” the widths (7:15, 7:00). Finished off with two more miles on the longer grass of the high school cross country course (7:25, 7:15).

Legs felt fatigued throughout the run and overall it was quite a sluggish workout. Not sure if the fatigue is due to Sunday’s 14 miler or if I’m just trying to do too much too soon. At least the foot is still feeling good I guess.

I wouldn’t mind driving down to First Landing State Park after work tomorrow to run a few miles on the main trail. See how I feel in the morning before making any plans though….

Thursday (Day 11): Yesterday, on Day 10, I ran “too-fast-for-an-easy run” and predicted I’d regret it the next day. How right I was. Today was easily the toughest of the marathon training so far, but I survived…..just.

Plan: 60 to 70 minute run with 30 to 40 minutes at “Steady State Pace” – 6:14 to 6:25 per mile

Actual: The 2 warm up miles were fine (7:50 and 7:23), but I really struggled with the steady-state pace that followed. The next five splits were 6:21 6:18 6:13 6:14 and 6:14, but I really had to fight for every one of them – it was almost like race pace effort.

The humidity was unbelievable tonight and I was so glad to get back to the car after the 2 cool down miles (8:15 and 7:48). Luckily I was prepared and had 24oz of icy water and a couple of scoops of Recoverite waiting in the trunk – I needed it so badly….

Moral of the story: run easy on your recovery days, even if you are feeling invincible.

Also did W4D3 of the Hundred Push-Ups plan – 29 33 29 29 and maxed out 60 [total = 180]. Definitely needed the 120 seconds recovery period today, but surprised myself with the 60 consecutives at the end.

Friday (Day 12): Rare rest day. Still feeling the effects of yesterday’s “Steady State Pace” run.

Saturday (Day 13): Ran the Allen Stone Memorial 5k down at the boardwalk. Pretty happy with the race and despite fairly heavy legs, managed to work my way through the field from about 12th place in the first 1/4 mile to 6th at the finish. The 3 x 180 degree turns weren’t conducive to a fast time, but overall I’m pleased with the 17:35 finish.

Splits: 5:31 5:41 5:46 0:34

Nice little bonus to finishing 1st in the 40-44 age group was picking up a cool beer mug trophy.

Later in the day…..

Not used to doing the push-ups later in the day, but didn’t want to do them before the race in the morning either. Also snuck in the “end of week 4 test” before starting the workout….which in hindsight probably wasn’t a smart thing to do.

End of Week 4 test: cheated and stopped at 40 to keep me in Column 2.

W5D1: 28 35 25 22 35 (just!) [total = 145]

Made the targets, but hope to be stronger next time around…

Sunday (Day 14): Have to be honest, wasn’t totally up for the run, but once out the door I was fine. Learned my lesson from Thursday’s run and made sure I stuck to the required “long-run pace” (7:05 to 8:05). Yesterday’s 5k on the concrete boardwalk left both feet a little tender, but no real issues and the Newtons served me well.

Won’t bore you with the splits, but all the first half were in the 7:30s and all the second half in the 7:20s. Thankfully it wasn’t too humid today which made for a very pleasant run.

16 miles – 2:00:00 = 7:30/mile pace

Monday (Day 15): Another Hundred Push-Ups workout – this time W5D2:

18 18 20 20 14 14 16 40 [total = 160]

Like the lower reps/more sets of Week 5…

Also, marathon plan called for 35 to 50 minutes at 7:05 to 7:35 pace. As this week is a recovery week, I took the easy way out and did the bare minimum.

Left foot felt quite tender, probably due to the concrete boardwalk/Brooks T5 combo in Saturday’s 5k and overall I felt quite flat today. Hopefully everything will be better for tomorrow’s “Predict Your Time 4 Miler” at the Norfolk Botanical Garden.

Tuesday (Day 16): Easy 4:30pm warm up in the Newtons at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. The forefoot cushioning of the Gravitas made for a fairly pain-free run.

In the Summer Series “Predict Your Time 4 Miler” I predicted 24:59, but actually ran a 24:32 – 17 seconds too fast despite easing off in the final mile. Wore my Nike Zoom Marathoners (for a change) which was probably a mistake – not very comfortable at all especially with my left foot still sore from Saturday’s race.

Cooled down for a mile and a half with Ally. First time we’d run together for a while and it was nice to chat as we jogged around the beautiful Botanical Garden.

Wednesday (Day 17): More Push-Ups! This time W5D3 – 18 18 20 20 17 17 20 45 [total = 175]

Quite challenging today for some reason, probably due to the miserly 45 seconds rest interval. Who built this push-ups plan anyway?! Also, I figured out it’s really important to keep breathing when doing the push-ups – I still have a tendency to hold my breath when I get fatigued.

The left foot was quite sore walking around today, but oddly enough it was fine during the grassy soccer field run tonight. Not quite sure why it’s more sore when I walk, which seems a bit strange to be honest. Any ideas?

Anyway, didn’t want to take too many chances, so cut the run short to 4 progressive miles.

Thursday (Day 18): Rest day. Pigged out at the Sandbridge Island Restaurant and went for a short barefoot stroll on the beach. Enjoyable!

Friday (Day 19): End of Week 5 Push-Ups Test. Managed 65. Could have done more, but no real point – 65 was enough to put me in the 3rd column for Week 6. Actually, it probably would have been smarter to stop in the 50s which would have put me in Column 2 next week. Oh well, onwards and upwards. I should be able to knock out the hundred again by the end of July.

Finished off the test with 5 x 20 push-ups and 3 x 1 minute planks. The planks hurt and were a great reminder that i need to get my core back in shape!

No running today. Don’t want to aggravate the foot any more than necessary. Tomorrow, I’m running 2 x 5k’s in the morning as part of the Kale Running East Beach Run~Swim~Run Relay, where wife Ally will be the swimmer doing her best to dodge the jellyfish in the Chesapeake Bay.

In the evening, assuming I can still put weight on my foot, I’ll be running the Crystal City Twilighter 5k in Arlington, VA, which looks to be a great event and is billed as “the area’s premier twilight event with a flat course, great runner premiums and perks, and a fabulous after party.” I signed up earlier in the week and so far there are over 2000 entrants (not including elites). Looks like a ton of fun – I just hope I’ll be able to enjoy it and race well.

Friday June 5th:

Very pleasant, very easy Friday morning run. It was raining. I got drenched. It was fun!

Saturday June 6th:

Ran the Equi-Kids 5k which turned out to be a lot of fun on a challenging, rain-soaked cross country course. My warm up was shorter than normal at 1.7 miles, but definitely gave me an idea of the terrain I’d be up against. Next challenge was choosing the correct shoe, of which I had three pairs to choose from – the Adidas Supernova Glide, Puma Trailfox and Nike Zoom Kennedy spike. I decided on the Trailfox (which I hadn’t worn since Muddy Buddy last July), but wished I had something more comfortable to wear – the Pumas were very stiff from laying around for 11 months….

The race was soon underway and I found myself in the middle of a pack of five; running comfortably and enjoying being in a race for a change. So many times this year I’ve found myself in 2nd or 3rd spot with no chance of catching the guy in front, and no fear of being caught by the guy behind. I felt good through the first mile (5:52), most of which was on the saturated grass but there was also a nice little stretch through a shady wooded area.

I still felt good at half way as we passed by the start area and headed out for the second loop. I pushed the pace a little, took the lead and reached two miles in 11:43. Almost immediately however, the speed in my legs seemed to disappear and the eventual race winner overtook me on the inside. Rob Dinterman, friendly rival from several races earlier this year, also passed me in his quest to track the leader. I urged Ron on and watched them draw away with every stride.

I dug deep, and held on as best I could for a 6:04 last mile and 18:38 3rd place finish. Not too bad considering the tough little cross country course. Thoroughly enjoyable race though…

Sunday June 7th:

Today’s run was surprisingly the longest since the Frederick Marathon 5 weeks ago and high time I did something further than a 10 miler. The weather was pleasant – not too hot and not too humid – and I ran within myself for the first six miles. At some random point in the seventh mile, something clicked and I decided to push the pace a little. Really it was just a question of letting the Newton running shoes take over. Enjoyable Sunday run in which I felt great the whole thirteen miles.

Splits: 8:09 7:36 7:34 7:33 7:39 7:23 7:22 7:08 7:09 6:48 6:46 6:27 7:03

Monday June 8th:

Easy 4.5 mile run to start the day. Wore my newer Newton Gravity shoes which I’m trying to “break into” at the moment. Nothing fast, just a leg-loosener for a mid-day hard effort.

Second run of the day – Royal Air Force Repeats taken from the “Running Tough” book (pictured left). The workout is a favorite of former world marathon record Steve Jones and is basically an easy warm up, followed by 4 x 5 minutes hard (preferably on grass) each with a 2 minute jog recovery, and finally a cool down.

I did pretty good despite the 83 °F temperature and covered the following distances in the 5 minute period:

1st effort = 0.82 mile
2nd effort = 0.83 mile
3rd effort = 0.85 mile
4th effort = 0.86 mile

I enjoyed the workout and will look to run faster and further next time around.

Think I’m all caught up again! By the way, Saturday is the CHKD 8k at Norfolk and I’m looking to taper slightly on Thursday/Friday in the hope of running a pretty quick time. My 8k best is a 28:59 set at the Neptune Festival 8k back in 2006. It would sweet to trim a few seconds off my time. We’ll see in a few days I guess…..

Time to relax in my Zensah’s…..

Next up was a 1000m swim at the local rec center. I knew the pool would be closed on Memorial Day, so decided to make the most of the day and log a few laps. I managed 8x100m and finished with a swift 200m – swift is probably not the best descriptor, but I was trying hard to pick up the pace.

Back at the house it was time for Hundred Push Ups W6D1 which called for sets of 40, 50, 25, 25 and a minimum of 50. My arms were a little tired from the swim, and I could only manage 33 in the final set. Still, 173 push-ups wasn’t a bad effort.

I ended the day with an easy four miler in about 31 minutes – nothing fast, just an enjoyable run to stretch out the legs.

I’ve had a couple of good runs the past two days and my strength and speed seems to be back to about 85% of where I’d like to be. A few more days of hard work will put me in prime position to log a solid long run on the weekend and then gently ease in to the two week taper.

Earlier today I was looking back through my previous marathon times. My all-time best 2:51:00 took place at the end of 2006 and I’ve had six attempts to beat the mark in the last couple of years. Hopefully Shamrock will be lucky seven and I finally smash the 2:51 hoodoo! We’ll see. 19 days and counting….