December 12 - December 18 Training

Monday: 2 miles (10:13), 2 miles (10:29).  Stayed in bed most of the day nursing a cold.  But it's going to take more than a cold to stop the run streak, now on day 697.  Probably shouldn't have gone to Brixx feeling miserable, but I did anyway for a second two mile run.
Tuesday: 2 miles (9:31), 3 miles (9:05), 2 miles (9:47).  2 Mile Warmup on the HHS Track followed by 12 x 200m on/off with a 2 Mile Cooldown.  The goal on the fast 200m's was to be under 50 seconds.  I averaged just under 46.5 seconds per 200m and had an average pace of 6:11.  This is the first time I have done 200m intervals.  They are fun because they are short!
Wednesday: 5 miles (9:15).  Still nursing a cold, so ran indoors on the treadmill.
Thursday: 5 miles (9:15).  Very cold outside!  It would have bee nice to be feeling better and get outside when my run streak reached 700 days today, but indoors with Dayquil.

Friday: 6 miles (9:28).  It was nice to get outside.
Saturday: 3 miles (9:31).  Busy day with a 2 hour flight delay to Minneapolis. Just ran 3 miles on the JW Marriott Treadmill after some Mall of America shopping.
Sunday: 2 miles (9:31).  Quick treadmill run before my brother came up to head to the Vikings game.  It was -24 outside!

Total Miles: 32 miles.  A low volume week due to having a cold the entire week plus a travel weekend to Minnesota.  Not quite back at 100% strength on Monday morning, but I should rebound with a 65-70 mile week if all goes as planned.

December 5 - December 11 Training

Monday: 5.21 miles (8:51), 5.86 miles (9:12).  First run a bit faster at DCP before heading to the second run at Brixx.
Tuesday: 2 miles (8:58), 5 miles (8:20), 3.11 miles (9:24).  After a 2 mile warmup at DCP, I headed to the HHS Track for 4 x (1mile @ temp + 400m jog).  The mile splits were 7:47, 7:44, 7:42, 7:40, so that felt pretty good.  Ran a 5K cooldown at the Streets of Indian Lake.  4th straight day of 10+ miles.
Wednesday: 7 miles.  Forgot the GPS again, so I ran the same 7 mile route that I ran on Wednesday and Friday of last week.  I am finding the easy runs are more enjoyable without the GPS since you don't feel pressure to run a certain pace.  Probably 10 minute miles, but that's OK!
Thursday: 2 miles (9:24), 6 miles (7:56), 1 mile (9:54).  Started with a 2 mile warmup at Drakes Creek Park and then went to the HHS Track and ran 12 x (400m on/off).  My goal was to keep the overall average pace around 8:00 and I was able to do that.  1 Mile Cooldown.  My training plan called for an easy 8 mile with some strides, but since I decided to cancel the Rocket City Marathon on Saturday, I went for a solid tempo run since I don't need to ease off for the marathon.  Sorry coach, that's what happens when I get OVER motivated.
Friday: 4 miles (9:38), 6 miles (9:21).  With it being 32 degrees out, I decided to split today's running into two runs. Ran 4 miles at lunch and took it very easy after the tempo run on the track yesterday.  Felt a little more loosened up on the second run, which was slightly faster and 4 degrees warmer at 36.  It didn't feel too bad outside today because there was very little wind.
Saturday: 2 miles (9:49), 6 miles (8:37).  Just wanted some easy miles with a little turnover.  Started at Drakes Creek Park and I was just feeling old, cold, and achy.  So I stopped after 2 miles and headed to the HHS Track to see if it would feel better over there.  So when I got on the track, I targeted 8:40 miles, which is 1:05 per 200m and 2:10 per loop, so it should be real easy to keep track of.  It went well and I managed 6 miles in the 8:35-8:39 range.
Sunday: 5 miles (9:15).  The plan for today was 18 miles, however, woke up with a cold and had no energy.  Did all I could do to get in 5 miles while watching the Vikings on the treadmill.

Total Miles:  60 miles.  I wanted the 70 mile week, but woke up with the cold on Sunday morning, which is now worse on Monday morning.

November 29 - December 5 Training

Monday: 3 miles (9:38), 4.11 miles (9:15).  Both runs were in the rain.  Looks like I was the only one who ran at Brixx and I finished just before the hard rains hit.
Tuesday: 8 miles (9:04).  The plan called for 8 miles along rolling hills @ sub 9:15.  I ran in Fountain Brooke.  These aren't major hills, but they are constant up and down with no easy stretch and I always find it tough to just get near 9:30 pace.  So this was a good run at 9:04.
Wednesday: 7 miles (9:34).  Just very easy running today.
Thursday: 2 miles (9:22), 4 miles (9:10), 2 miles (9:36).  2 mile warmup at Drakes Creek Park followed by 8 x (400m@sub 7:20 pace + 400m jog) at the HHS track, followed by a 2 mile cool down.  I ended up averaging right at a 7:00 pace on the fast intervals with the first 4 around 7:05 and the last 4 around 6:55 pace.  First track workout since last March.  Felt good to get out there.  The resurfaced HHS track is excellent!
Friday: 7 miles (9:43).  I forgot my GPS and didn't want to drive back home with limited daylight.  So I ran the exact same route as I did on Wednesday. Probably closer to a 10 minute pace since I was able to just run easy with no trying to force a certain pace.
Saturday: 16 miles (9:07).  The plan called for an easy 15 miles progressing towards 9:15.  I felt a little stiff at the start getting out with miles of 9:49, 9:33, however, I was down to the 9:15 pace the 5th mile.  I kept pretty steady for the next 4 miles hovering around 9:15, then all of a sudden I was down to 9:06, 9:03 and the body just wanted to keep getting faster, finishing with miles of 8:54, 8:50, 8:43, 8:34, 8:09.  A good negative split by around 4 1/2 minutes.
Sunday: 12 miles (9:29).  The training plan only called for up to 6 miles, but I needed 7 to get a 60 mile week.  But I was feeling pretty good and didn't stop until I had 12 miles in and made it a solid 65 mile week.

Total Miles: 65.1 miles.  Biggest week since September but I expect most weeks to be at or above this total for the next 4 months and I work to prepare for London.

November 21 - November 28 Training

Monday: 5.83 miles (8:50), 3.41 miles (9:08). 2 mile warmup followed by 6 x (2:00@7:20 + 2:00@easy), Cooldown.  Second run easy miles at Brixx.  The fast intervals felt good in the afternoon.
Tuesday: 4 miles (9:31).
Wednesday: 2 miles (9:31). Terrible sinus headache, so just ran 2 miles on the hotel treadmill after flying to Detroit.
Thursday: 6.24 miles (8:21), 1 mile (11:09).  Detroit Turkey Trot 10K.  I didn't get a warmup in, so ran the first 3 miles at 8:44, 9:03, 8:51.  Then I went for the big negative split with the next 3 miles at 7:58, 7:56, 7:58 with the last .24 miles at a pace of 6:27.
Friday: 3 miles (9:31).  With over 7 miles of walking in downtown Detroit, just ran a few miles on the treadmill.
Saturday: 6 miles (8:09).  Back home in DCP.  After a 2 mile warmup, I ran miles at 7:47, 7:49, 7:37, 7:41.  Felt good to open up the pace.  That is the pace I want for the London Marathon in April.
Sunday: 12 miles (8:26).  2 x (2@easy + 2@sub 8:00) + 2 x (1@easy + 1@sub 8:00).  A nice solid run at Shelby Bottoms.

Total Miles: 43.5.  Traveling always seems to interfere with my training as I don't get in the miles when away from home.  But this week had 13 sub 8:00 miles.  I think that's the most sub 8:00 miles in one week since September 2015 when I was in prime training mode for Berlin.

November 14 - November 20 Training

Monday: 6 miles (9:42).  They extended the road in Fountain Brooke to phase 2, so now it is a 2.1 mile loop if I run all the streets in Fountain Brooke.  This is a nice rolling hill route, very tough on easy runs.
Tuesday: 8 miles (9:30). Easy miles with 20s pickup per mile in Fountain Brooke.  Today I received the Normatec Leg Compression Recovery System.  Below in the picture is Lebron James using it. Using this after workouts and long runs should speed recovery.  It will be interesting to see how this affects my recovery over the next 4-5 months training for London.

Wednesday: 9 miles (8:53).  Treadmill workout, 2@6.3 mph, 2@7.1 mph, 2@6.5 mph, 2@7.5 mph, 1@6.3 mph.  Felt pretty good for only being 4 days after a marathon.
Thursday: 3 miles (9:49), 4 miles (9:31).
Friday: 5 miles (9:31).
Saturday: 10 miles (9:09).  Ran 10 miles right at the 4 hour marathon pace.  Rodney joined me for half of the run on his 400th day of his run streak!  50 degrees out felt pretty good.
Sunday: 5 miles (9:22).

Total Miles: 50.0.  A decent week with 50 miles when you consider I am coming off back to back weeks with a marathon.  My coach will be gradually increasing the speed workouts in the upcoming weeks as I work towards a goal of 3:25 in London on April 23.  That means I need to be sub 7:50 for an entire marathon, compared with a 7:53 pace with my 3:26:48 BQ.  That won't be easy, but with hard work it can be obtained.  Just watch!

November 7 - November 13 Training

Monday: 2 miles (11:30).  2 miles of post marathon recovery on the treadmill before flying back to Nashville.
Tuesday: 3 miles (10:31).  Taking it easy.
Wednesday: 3 miles (10:00).  Still going pretty slow.
Thursday: 5 miles (9:21).  Legs finally felt a little better today.
Friday: 3 miles (10:37).  Practicing my Tunnel Hill Pace.  Hoping to go 26.2 out of the 50 miles tomorrow in Vienna, IL.
Saturday: 26.6 miles (11:49).  Ran the southern route of the Tunnel Hill 50 miler.  That is all I had planned to do since I ran NYC Marathon 6 days earlier.  Felt the same right leg adductor soreness after about 10 miles that I felt last Sunday.
Sunday: 3 miles (9:57).  Legs felt pretty good considering I ran a marathon yesterday.

Total Miles: 45.6 miles.  I should have an easy couple weeks coming up where I start to build my mileage base and then prepare for a long training cycle to get back the sub 8:00 speed that will be necessary for London on April.

October 31 - November 6 Training

Monday: 3 miles (9:51).  I even though some pickups in there and still felt so sluggish I could barely keep it under a 10:00 pace.  Makes me wonder how I can run a marathon in 6 days.
Tuesday: 8 miles (8:54). Workout:  1@warmup, 2@9:00, 1/4@slow, 2@8:40, 1/4@slow, 2@8:20, cooldown.  I felt sluggish again at the beginning and felt like I had to work some to hit the 2 miles @ 9:00.  But the further I got into the run, the better I felt and had to pull back some on the 2@8:20 to keep from overshooting the pace.  All easy running until Sunday now.
Wednesday: 5 miles (9:53).  Sluggish taper run.
Thursday: 4 miles (9:22).  Nice and easy, didn't feel too bad out there today.
Friday: 3 miles (9:31). Treadmill run in New York City.  After walking 2 miles back to the hotel from the expo, I really didn't want to walk another 20 minutes to run outdoors at Central Park, so opted for the treadmill.
Saturday: 2 miles (10:00).   A quick 2 miler on the hotel treadmill.
Sunday: 26.42 miles (11:05).  New York City Marathon.  Going into this race, I was targeting to run 4:15-4:30.  I really have not had any outdoor training runs in the past 4 1/2 months.  The only outdoor runs in that time frame over the half marathon distance were marathons (Grandmas and Nashville Greenway).  Nothing exposes a lack of training like the marathon.  I felt really good the first 10 miles, right on target for 4:15-4:20 and then my right leg started hurting.  So after 11 miles, I started working in a 30 second walk break every 1/2 mile.  But by mile 20, it hurt just to walk.  I walked most of mile 23, but realized it actually hurt a little bit less to run a 12-13 minute pace than it did to walk.  So it was walk/run until the finish, which was officially 4:57.  Ouch!  I've gained a new respect for those marathoners who consistently go out and run 5+ hour marathons.  That takes a lot of courage and determination to be out there that long.  Going in to 2016, all of my marathons were under 4 hours.  At Disney World in January, I lost that record when I slipped to a 4:03 marathon.  That actually took the pressure off of thinking I had to run every marathon under 4 hours.  An the Nashville Greenway Marathon came in at around 4:25 5 weeks ago before slipping to 4:57 at New York. But I needed to finish since this was my 3rd of the 6 majors.  My goal is to run the 6 majors and collect the special medal you get for running all of the Majors.  I've completed Boston, Berlin, and New York City.  In April of 2017 I will run London, followed by Chicago in the fall of 2017.  That will leave Tokyo as the final major marathon, which I am tentatively planning for February of 2019.

Total Miles: 51.4.