cselland's blog

I thought it was going to be a great running weekend for me. Started off Saturday with my 10 mile 'pace' run (yes, I'm falling behind schedule - more on that shortly).  Morning was cool, and I felt great. Finished in 1:31 and felt great - like I could have run another 10.

Started getting delusions of grandeur - hoping the race could be 2 rather than 5 weeks off, etc...

Doing my long runs on a treadmill (at least occasionally) is starting to hold some appeal. I have a long backlog of movies I've wanted to see and with 20 to do today I needed a 3-hour-plus film - found it with 'The Green Mile'. When else do I have 3+ hours to kill? Pretty good movie and pretty good 20-mile (3:11) training run. Can't complain about either. Think I need to get back outdoors for the next one, although with football season almost here who knows?

Took advantage of this week's moderate weather to get my speed (term used loosely) and tempo runs in on Tuesday and Thursday nights. 5.86 miles in 55:16 on Tuesday - with my HR and pace flying all over the place (I chose to use the roads and not the high school track). Neighbors must have been confused if they were watching (he's sprinting, he's walking, he's sprinting again...) 6 miles in 53:02 on Thursday - decent tempo run although hotter than Tuesday and I felt it. In between on Wednesday was a business dinner which, while great for business, was definitely not helpful for my training.

Had an OK long run this morning - 18 miles in about 3:08 - felt good until about 14 miles in and then my HR started to climb. Probably had something to do with not getting out early enough and the heat climbing at the same time.

Still all told not bad - other than needing sidewalks on some of the roads I mapped out yesterday it was a pretty route.

Ran a dozen pretty decent 400 splits yesterday (Friday) morning - felt quite strong and energized and managed to finish with a flourish.

Unfortunately woke up today with a sore left hamstring, so decided to keep off the leg today (had planned to bike/x-train) in prep for tomorrow's 18 miler. As always, dreading the long run but I did map out a nice course on MapMyRun and the weather should be pretty good in the AM - nice and cool for August!

Knew this was going to be a tough week. Been traveling since Sunday and very little training - quick bike (cross-train) ride yesterday but today I needed to get in a 6-mile pace run.

Unfortunately I'm in Jacksonville, FL - not the ideal location in August. Despite the fact I stayed indoors and ran on a hotel treadmill, it was still oppressively humid and 51:57 wasn't my ideal time for 6 - was hoping for closer to 48:00.

But I'll take it. Figured dropping my pace a bit to be a much better idea than falling off the treadmill.

Back to New England tomorrow...

Ran 13 today in 2:06:44, which was right at my FIRST suggested pace of 9:45/mile.

Felt pretty decent - wasn't too hot, and my legs felt better than they had my past few runs. I think the FIRST program is definitely helping with that.

I still can't say I particularly enjoy the long runs, but today was at least a bit more tolerable - taking a new path through Wellesley helped (some nice trails - have to do that again) helped too.

Hammered out an 8-mile tempo run in 1:03 early this morning. Definitely felt good to go a bit faster than I had been and actually apply some intensity rather than just slogging through the miles.

I'm starting to get strangely addicted to running on the treadmill (NEVER thought I'd say that). The A/C is really helping keep my HR down and my pace up.

Will need to get out for my 13-miler this weekend. I'm definitely digging the Furman program. Will probably put in a few miles tomorrow although it's really nice to feel like I have an option!

At Simon's suggestion switched from the Higdon to the Furman Institute training method this week. A bit late to the game but thought it was worth a try.

Was a bit of an adjustment going from slogging through slow miles to running a series of (relatively) fast 800's. But it was certainly different and felt pretty good - despite the fact I didn't quite hit my desired times.

First of all, I want to thank Simon and everyone who commented on my admittedly whiny post the other day.

I know from at least some experience how great it feels to finish a marathon, but I clearly could use some advice on a better way to get there. I dropped out of my marathon training last year because I hated the drudgery so much - that won't happen this year (hotels & flights are booked and paid for in Chicago, and the family's looking forward to the trip!) but getting there's the hard part.