Great dane miles

Well It's been quite awhile since I've updated here (About 2 months).  As one might expect, a lot has gone down since early may in regards to my training.  After I stopped blogging in early May, I decided to take about two weeks completely off from any sort of aerobic activity.  It was time to give my body a real rest, and enjoy my last two weeks of school.  Now of course, I couldn't be satisfied with doing totally nothing, so I did do core / lifting every other day with AJ.  Once I got back to Danbury in mid may, I went to see the doctor, who then pointed me in the direction of a reallly great physical thereapist over by the hospital.  I was told that I had Achilles Tendonitis not Tendonosis as I was originally told back in February.  This was good news, Tendonitis is less of a chronic issue.  Anyways I made several trips to the PT from mid may through Mid June all the while getting back into my cross training which mainly consisted of swimming, and using the elliptical.  On Saturday June 10th I went for my first run:  2 miles on the track, walking 200 meters in between each 800.  From there I ran every other day, increasing my miles of continues running just abit each time.  After one week I hit 14 miles, then the next at 28ish.  After two weeks of every other day I began to run every day in later June.  I have stayed doing the PT excersises and always roll out and stretch before and after runs.  My mileage is making significent jumps, however I am still keeping on the side of caution just a but.  I have never felt better about going for a run in my entire life than I do now.  Being hurt these last several months has opened my eyes to how much of a gift being able to run really is.  It has also reminded me of my own perseverance, and how proud I should be of that.  I will continue to update this as usual going forward.  This calender week will be about 45 or so miles, next week will be slightly ovr 50, I have a goal of reaching 70 and staying at that for 3 or so weeks from late July through early August.  I am sticking to my plan of little to no concrete workouts, however I might throw a road race in as early as two weeks from now just to keep my sharpness. I'm more than excited for Cross, which is now just under two months away,  Looking towards great things.  PS:  Today is my frist day off from running in a week, so the "0" for today is a little outlier of what progress I've been making.

Early morning Terrywile gathering with Julio, Jack and the high school guys.  The guys had a "Long Run" scheduled with a 20 minute tempo in the middle portion of it on the track.  Although I'm not doing anyworkouts this summer, I did allow for some tempo work so I can get used to flirting with 6 minute pace.  Did 3 miles straight, fet suprisingly fine for most of it, but my fitness has a long way to go.

Joined Parker Timmerman, Tyler Manion, Gabi R from NF, James, and Matt D from NF for a nice long run at Bridle this morning.  My first LR over 9 miles in months.  Felt very stale, likely from yesterdays fast running.  Pace overall was around 7 minutes, but from mile 5 - 7 we were averaging near 6:30, hopefully within a month I'll be able to do a run like this and not be as tired in the legs. This weeks total mileage (Monday - Sunday ):

-Monday: Coney Island day, 5 in the AM, 4 in the PM = 9 Total

- Tuesday:  6.5 alone in the hot sun.

- Wednesday:  6.5 with the high school guys.

- Thursday:  8 Miles in heat of the morning at Terrywile.

- Friday:  OFF,. lifted at the edge. 

- Saturday:  8 With the high school guys

- Sunday:  12 mile Long run at Bridle:

-Total:  50 Miles

Long Work day at both Ridgefield and Woodbridge followed by really feel good run around NY9 loop.  Legs feelin great.

AM:  Today is double day, first run, about 4 miles down to the King Street trails and back, felt exhausted after standing cooking for the fam.

PM 5.5ish miles in the eve, cut it back a half mile because of pure darkness, felt especially great today. 

VERY tiring 7 miles in the morning, took it easy as my legs were just very tired, the plan for the rest of the week is to either take tomorrow or Friday off and the other day do a 5 mile tempo @6 mins pace on the track. Saturday will be 8ish miles, and Sunday will be 13 miles. Total week will be 

Much needed off day, weight room lifting.

Tempo with Rob and Julio on the track in the morning, goal was to go 5 miles straight at 6 minute pace. Heat was a huge factor, but tried not to let it get to me, Rob led us first Mile in 6:02, I took over and kept it smooth for next two miles crossing through 3 in 17:59, at this point both Rob and Jukio were dropped off and I was starting to feel it.  Hit last two miles in 6:10 to have a total of 30:20, not bad for a first long tempo session, probably going to do this next week and try for slightly faster than 6:00 pace.

Met up with the fellas for an 8 Mile CR, very traily terrywile run legs feel dead.

Long Run in the early morning with some of the alumni and Coach's company at Bridle.  Legs felt super tired / heavy the first few miles, but around 4 miles starting rolling into an honest 7 minuteish pace.  James and I turned at 42 minutes, came back in 39 minutes as we were rolling at around 6:20 pace for a few miles.  Threw one last mile in afterowrds for 13 total.  This marks a week of about 54 miles, goal for the coming week is to be around 60, and still manage to take a day off, we'll see what happens.

Double day:  Morning 5.5 on Ball Pond, legs feeling especially shot.

PM:  4.5 over down to state line, legs feeling slightly better but still pretty tired from yesterday.

Last minute workout call from Rob last night, 3 x 2k @5:30 pace. Doing this workout on very tired legs, first time running anything this fast in awhile.  First rep was smooth, 6:55, then another 6:55, final one should have probably cut in half but went though anyway in around 7:05, not bad for tired legs.

Day off, very needed, Pat Healeys funeral today, he was trully a testamate to my encouragement.

Morning run for breakfest around Ball pond and state line area, legs feeling smooth after 48 hours off.

5 Mile tempo again with Rob and Julio, this time we went out a tad faster in 5:54, going through 2 miles in around 11:45.  I felt relaxed, but its tough to focus with so many laps, Rob relaxed the pace down to 6:00 again for the third mile, early into the 4th mile I started to fall off Julio, but remained within 10 seconds of him for the remainder of the duration.  Topped off the last two miles in 6:00 each to hit 29:45, a whole 35 seconds faster than last week, and felt much stronger too.  Looking towards a high mileage weekend.

Met up with the high school guys for a clean 11 miles in Newtown / Monroe.  First run with new GPS Watch Garmin Forerunner 25, pace was kind of all over the pace bouncing around from 6:40, to 7:10, and then back, but overall feeling great.

Long run with James and Julio at River road.  Didn't get the GPS going until we turned around at 6 miles, last 8 miles was a nice average of 6:50 with a few miles around 6:30.  This closes off a 60 mile week for me.  Can't be anything but thankful to be capable of being able to do this so relitively soon.  This marks just six weeks since my first run, and about 4 weeks since my mileage has been over 40.  The plan for next week is to run the New Milford 8 Mile road race to get some of my competitive juices flowing again.  Setting up for the week:

Monday:  8 Miles in the morning EASY

Tuesday:  Another Threshold session wih Rob and Julio 8 miles?  Potential Double easy afternoon run of 6 miles.

Wednesday:  OFF

Thursday:  Potential Double day to total 12 Miles.  

Friday:  Easy 7 Miles

Saturday: 8 Mile Road Race + 4 miles of warm up / cool Down 

Sunday:  No more than 13 Miles LR.

Week Goal total: 65ish,  But I'll be fine with 60 again.  

Very easy 8 miles in the hilly and hot roads of ball pond, legs are tired so pace was kept around 7:30, little workout planned for tomorrow with Rob and Julio.

Simple 1K repeats on the immaculate track with Rob, Julio and Fratz. The goal was to keep it 3:15 -3:20 which is 5:20 pace, a little faster. This is my first time playing with this pace is awhile, and I'm coming off a high volume week so naturally I knew my legs were going to be tired.  First two felt surprisingly comfortable, 3:19 or so each. 3rd one I took the lead on, started to feel the heat but kept it smooth 3:16. 4th and 5th ones I really started to feel he heat, but held onto pace without any major problems. last one was a bit of a throw away as I really felt wiped and didn't feel like going to the well this early on, so I was a bit back at 3:30. Taking a good 48 hours off and taking a great day at the outlets with the boys.

Off Day, giving myself a nice 48 Hours to recover in prep for saturday.

Double day:  

AM:  6 Miles around the neighborhood, pretty quick run despite hills and heat.

PM:  Another 6 with the guys at Terrywile, legs feeling very very tired.

Very Low Mileage day in prep for tomrrow's New Milly 8 Miler, legs are feeling tired, but taking a nice 24 hours to relax should be all set for tomorrow.

New Milford Road Race:  Today was my first "Race" since NCAA regionals a whole 9 months ago.  The goal was to keep ir comfrotable for a majority of the race making for a smooth tempo effort.  First few miles were a little fast for comfort, and a pack of New Milford high school kids and a few college alums pulled away from me but I kept my effort consistant.  After several hills in the third and fourth miles I began to get into my groove, setting me up for my fastest mile at mile 5.  I ended up passing most of the guys in that pack ahead of me including my old teamate Eric, who ended up catching me back at about mile 6.  We worked the massive Canterbury hill together and flew down the last 1200 meters of downhill quick.  My Splits were:

5:50, 6:02. 6:22, 6:13, 5:47. 6:05, 7:03 (Monster Hill), and the last mile was technically .13 short of 8 miles, but I was going at about 5:40 pace.

Overall great effort, can't be more thankful for being able to run like this again.  

Deciding not to long run this week with the race yesterday, and plans for a very high mileage week next week.  10 Miles with Rob, Julio, and Corey. Julio took this one out hard, especially on the way back, going sub 6:20 pace for a few miles.  It was a bit tiring for me, but nothing too out of control.

Week total was short at 55-56 miles, Next week I plan on raising volume no days off, hoping to reach potentially 70.