August 22 - August 28 Training

Monday: 5 miles (8:47), 5.1 miles (8:39).  Probably running a bit too fast for easy runs, but the weather was great today with a low dew point.
Tuesday: 3 miles (9:07), 9 miles (9:09).  For the second run, ran the Boomer route.  After a 3 mile warmup, 10 x (1:00 on/2:00 off).  Ran 5K effort on the fast intervals.  It seemed like most of them were on the uphill.  I had not run the full Boomer Route in 15 months!  I need to start running that route more often.
Wednesday: 4 miles (9:10). Woke up with a sore throat so only ran 4 miles rather than 8-9.  My wife came down with a cold this past weekend, so my turn is here. Probably going to be a tough 3-5 days to get over this.  Will probably run minimal miles and try to get some rest.
Thursday: 4 miles (8:54).  Day 2 with the cold, so I just ran 4 miles on the Station Camp Loop.
Friday: 5.5 miles (9:15). I thought my cold was getting better so started on the Boomer Route from SCHS, but by the time I reached Fountain Brooke I was feeling pretty weak.  So turned back towards the car.
Saturday: 3 miles (9:10).  Felt weaker today than yesterday, so just ran a few.
Sunday: 1 mile (9:15). 13.1 miles (9:08).  I felt weak on the warmup and really thought about driving home and skipping the race, but that would be the wimpy thing to do.  So I gutted it out and ran the Half Full Race 13.1 Half Marathon starting at Nissan Stadium and going to Shelby Bottoms and back.  Pretty close to the Tom King course. Late start at 7:40 and it was pretty warm.  At the turnaround, it looked like someone near my age group that was only 10-15 seconds behind, so I sped it up for the next 3 miles and no one was near me after that.  Very tough mentally to finish with it getting warmer and warmer with less shade.  But I knew all I needed to do was finish and I should get top 3 Age Group.  I ended up second age group (50-59), but barely got under 2 hours.  With my getting over a cold combined with the warm temperatures, this was the toughest of my 21 half marathons ever!



Total Miles: 52.7 miles.  Not a lot of miles, but I did get some quality runs in this week despite coming down with a sore throat on Wednesday, leading to a cold.  5 Station Camp Loops and the Boomer over the past 8 days gave me more elevation change than I am used to running.  This is what I need to continue to do in order to get ready for the New York City Marathon, 10 weeks from today.

August 15 - August 21 Training

Monday: 3 miles (9:23).  Company visiting from out of town, so had dinner downtown had not much time for running.
Tuesday: 8.5 miles (8:31).  Treadmill run.  3 mile warmup, 2@7.7 mph (7:47), 1/2 slow, 2@7.9 mph (7:35), 1 Cooldown.  The fast miles felt pretty easy on the treadmill.
Wednesday: 9 miles (8:49).  Finally back outside as it cooled down to the low 80's, although humidity is still there.
Thursday: 10 miles (8:55).
Friday: 5 miles (9:07).
Saturday: 3 miles (9:07), 6.52 miles (8:52), 2 miles (9:29), 6.23 miles (8:54).  I ran a 3 mile warmup before running the Hendersonville Half course preview.  I was pretty thirsty after the warmup, so after getting to SCHS, I was really thirsty and someone had stolen the 100 bottles of water that were dropped off.  At that point, I felt really dead and knew if I continued it was just going to be a strugglefest.  I walked to Country Hills Golf Course and had some water and then kept walking up Saundersville Road to get back to the Streets of Indian Lake.  With about 2 miles to go, I jogged it back in.  Later I ran an easy 10K in the evening at Drakes Creek Park.  Definitely disappointing to see me struggle after only half of the half marathon course.
Sunday: 4 miles (8:22), 4 miles (8:38).  Ran the Station Camp Junior Loop at 11:30 AM and I felt pretty good. It was mid 70's and humid, but I kept getting faster after each mile and this was a PR for me on this segment since joining Strava in January of 2015.

Total Miles: 61.2 miles.  Not a big volume week, but this was my fastest paced week for the year with an average pace of 8:51.  So far in August, my average pace is 8:57, which is significantly lower than the previous months.



The run streak continues!

August 8 - August 14 Training

Monday: 5 miles (9:35).  Slow Brixx run.
Tuesday: 3 miles (9:14), 6.32 miles (8:23), 1 mile 9:22).  16 x 400m with 90s jog, with 3 mile jog after each 4th.  Ran the first 3 400m's of each set at 8.2 mph (7:19) with the 4th one at 8.6 mph (6:59).
Wednesday: 9 miles (8:57).  Progression from 9:20 to 8:30.
Thursday: 7 miles (9:09), 3 miles (8:33).
Friday: 3 miles (9:14), 3 miles (9:13).
Saturday: 20 miles (8:51).  Long run on the treadmill while watching the Olympics.
Sunday: 4 miles (9:06).  Ran to Durham Farms from the house.  This may be my new 4 mile route rather than driving to Drakes Creek Park.

Total Miles: 64.3 miles.  I need to up the mileage to get ready for New York City in 12 weeks.

August 1 - August 7 Training

Monday: 3 miles (9:30), 3 miles (9:12).  Ran a few on the treadmill before Brixx.
Tuesday: 8 miles (9:22). Indoors.
Wednesday: 7 miles (8:31), 3 miles (8:57).  2 mile warmup, 4 x (1 mile tempo + 90s rest), 1 mile cooldown.  Ran the mile repeats on the treadmill at speeds of 7.5, 7.6, 7.8, 8.0.
Thursday: 6 miles (9:18), 3 miles (8:45).
Friday: 6 miles (9:16).
Saturday: 2 miles (9:10), 3.17 miles (7:13).  Ran the Smyrna Parks 5K in 22:52.  Not a PR, but the 5th fastest paced run of 3 or more miles ever, so I can't complain considering it was mid 70's.  Started out the first mile in 6:59, but slowed to 7:30 in mile 2.  Without increasing the effort much, I was able to get down to 7:15 in mile 3 and ran the last .17 miles at a 6:48 pace.  Course was long!  The race predictor calculators translate this 5K speed to a 3:39 marathon.  That's not bad at the start of the marathon training cycle for New York especially in these temperatures.
Sunday: 12 miles (9:16).

Total Miles: 56.2.  Not a big volume week, but I wanted to be ready to give a good effort on Saturday's race.  Going to race another 5K next Saturday in East Nashville for the Tomato 5K.

July 25 - July 31 Training

Monday: 5 miles (9:48).  Early 5 AM run on Monday morning was absolute misery out there.  Around 77 degrees with a high dew point.
Tuesday: 3 miles (9:22), 4 miles (9:20), 3.1 miles (9:47).  Ran 3 miles at lunch on the TM and then ran 4 miles on the TM at 6 PM and then went to Station Camp to add a few more miles.
Wednesday: 2 miles (9:58), 4.06 miles (8:53), .7 miles (10:47).  Ran 12 x 1:30 on/off at Drakes Creek Park.  Didn't run these very fast, but it was HOT out.
Thursday: 7 miles (8:47).  The plan was for about 10 miles starting sub 9:00 and going to sub 8:30. Got going a little too fast at the start and then just had no desire to continue after 7 miles. Should have run it inside on the treadmill.
Friday: 4 miles (9:36), 4.51 miles (9:36).  Easy running.
Saturday: 4.21 miles (9:20), 4 miles (9:30).  Decided to push the long run to Sunday.
Sunday: 20 miles (8:59).  20 miles on the treadmill while watching the PGA Championship.  4 miles @ easy, 4 miles @ 8:27, 4 miles @ easy, 4 miles @ 8:13, 4 miles @ easy.  Plan called for 16 miles plus up to 2 mile cool down, but the tournament was getting pretty good so I ran a couple more.  I felt pretty good on the treadmill today.

Total Miles: 71.1 miles.  Salvaged a 70 mile week out of this, first one since early June and longest run since Grandmas Marathon. I think August will be filled with more treadmill running if the weather pattern continues.