Great dane miles

Met up with Alumni gang (Ro, Pat, James) and Will, a grad from Weston to meet in ridgefield at a trail I had never heard of for a long run.  First couple miles felt terrible, and a majority of this trail was in direct sunlight so that made things rough. However the trail ended after 3 miles and then we set forth on a long road loop. We stopped at 40 mins, and I made a decision to do the whole long run with Pat and will rather than turning back with James and Ro, this turned to be a great decision. I started to really get into a rythem with my breathing and felt my stride was very even as we neared 8,9,10, and 11 miles.  We stopped for water about 75 mins in, and then within 10 minutes were back on the trail. The next two miles I started to Rev up the pace and Will went with me, we dropped the pace down nearly a minute down to around 5:40. I looked down at my watch and realized that this was he longest I'd ever gone. There was about a mile between the end of the trail and where we parked so the last mile we settled back down. At this point my back was in extreme soreness, and upon finishing I downed an entire Gatorade. Overall I hit 15.5 miles in just under 1:45. Super proud of myself, especially since I did a long run earlier this week, or certainly earned myself tomorrow off. 

Much Needed off day

AM:  20 Mins feel like crap.

PM: Couldn't get enough of the Ridgfeild trail so I went back.  Went down to Ballard and back, cruising back the last couple miles around 6 minutes.  8 miles total Felt excellent.  Did a Lift routine at the rec, threw in core and hip.

Low Mileage day, Did a King street Chambers loop to switch things up a bit.  Arms feel very sore from lift, tomorrow I should be doing speed work with Jack.

Speed workout with Jack, 10 x 4's @73-75 (Only stuck to that for first half).  Hit 73 on the button for the first 5 and felt excellent.  Still a little sore in my arms from lifting two days ago.  Brought the pace down for the next few: 72, 70, 68, 68, and then I put the hammer down for my last one hitting high 60.  Felt awesome, kind wish I threw in a morning run today as my milage is going to suffer from the 7 mile day, should certainly do one tomorrow and Friday to tack on 5 more miles to the week.  Tomorrow more supplimatary after I work at Barlow.

Did not have my watch so mileage may be slightly off, did the warmup with team than ran the "Dirty Mexican" trail solo.  This run generally takes about 55-60 inlcuding the warmup so I assumed 8 miles to be accurate. Also did some lifting at the rec prior, worked on my lower back, an area of weakness that I have.  Felt alright

Threshold workout:  Terrywile Multi Effort Loops. X 4.

Warm up was quick with the alumni guys, got into the T7's and begun very quickly.  First loop hit in 5:29 BUT an elderly man walking his two dogs had to take up the entire path at the tp of the first hill so I had to come to a complete stop, holding me back a solid 5 seconds at least so I'm going to say this first one was more accuratly 5:24ish.  Second one was hit right on pace at 5:20.  Third I began to feel lots of weakness but I really threw down the hammer up the last hill, probably lost a few seconds going down the last hill and on the gradual hill about 800 meters in so I hit 5:23.  Last one I went into with a good mental attitude so the first 400 was very solid )around 76-77).  I began to weaken up down the hill and back up again, however I threw it all in towards the top of the last hill and managed to hit 5:25, still in my pace range of 5:20-25.  Overall very solid workout considering several factors that were not present when I did this last time:  1.) I jumped for 30 mins at Skyzone earlier which may or may not have taken something out of me. 2.) The grass was noticably high in some areas. 3.) The people were noticiably high as the smell of weed was very present in the small medow. 4.) The presence of people in general caused my tangents to be a little unefficent (especially that old man with his dog).  Considering all those factors, I am satisfied with averaging 5:23 instead of 5:20. 

Easy running on the Ridgefield trail after work.  Feeling VERY sore and beaten down, mostly in my legs.  Still kept a solid pace, likely due to the hard session yesterday.  Resting easy tonight to be ready to go for New Milford 90 with Jamezz.

Long run in New Milford with Stemp and James, legs felt very tired, James tried to throw the hammer down on the way back and I followed through until about 15 minutes back, then I threw the chill pill down, solid run overall.

27 Mile bike ride in Carmel with same group as yesterday, felt solid 2 hours, last 20 minutes very hard, felt awesome.

Terrywile trail run with the alumni guys, at first I felt like crap, but as we moved along I pushed the pace, feeling a good workout coming on either tomorrow or Thursday, probably tomorrow.

Made a last minute workout plan because I haven't done one in a bit, decided on Mile repeats at 5 minute pace. The first was in trainers, and felt awful, hit 5:04 keeping that pace most the way through, took 5 minutes rest between each rep. Put on the T7's for the next 3. I followed the same pattern for all 3, I was slightly ahead of pace at 200, then slowed up to be on pace at 800, but then by 1200 I would be a little slow (3:47 or so) Id kick it in the last lap to hit on pace (5:00-5:01) for all 3. Overall great workout considering I decided on t last minute, should have probably cut the rest down to 3 minutes, as I want 5 minute pace to eventually be threshold for me, rather than interval. Did some core with the alums afterword. Speed workout Friday, and then LR Saturday. 

50 Minute easy run with Rohit down to Rogers park, feeling alright tomorrow should be a hill day.

60 minute run at solid pace with Waterman, felt a bit sore in my hamstrings, overall pace stayed even the whole way through. 

Long run at the Monroe trail with the alumni guys and team. kept the first few miles at gradually fast pace (6:40-7). Missed be turn off, so we went down a few roads and did a lake loop.  Started the tempo at 55 minutes in.  Being alone, I went too hard too fast. I did not have a GPS watch on but I must have been going 5:20-30 pace for 15 minutes. I then felt myself breaking down a bit and slowed up rapidly to slower than 6 minute pace from 15-23 minutes. I decided to end the tempo a few minutes early just because I was so blown out.  My last 10-15 minutes were kept easy with Will and Rohit, 90 minutes on the button, exactly 14 miles, solid effort, good mileage for the week.

Big bike day....Like really big.  75 Miles to NYC with the Hat city bike club.  One of the funnest experiences of the summer, went down the typical putnam trailway, onto the north county trail, through a bit of Yonkers, onto the south county trail, stopped at a deli, and eventually went through the Bronx where I almost died a bunch of times ( I suck at unclipping out of my bike that's seat is far too high).  But I made it onto the next bike trail in the south Bronx which took us along the water all the way down to a great restaurant in Battery park, then went back up to parallel to Grand central, and biked the 10 or so blocks to GC which was beyond a nightmar, but it all got done, happy to have gotten in one last super bike before ended.

Night running with Jimmy, kept it very easy on the golf course, great to catch up and relax. 

Another easy night run with Jimmy and Zach, at one point I felt the pace was too weak, so I took it upon myself to amp up the pace in Rogers Park (which was amazing at night) while the guys did some barefoot running on the turf.  Had a good discussion with Zach about Nutrition afterword at my house....really need to start getting into the habbit of keeping a good diet at Albany.

AM:  One last easy run with my mom, down Birch, and then out to State Line, pace was VERY slow, but it was mostly for mom, so I allowed it and was cool about it, totalled 5.5 miles.

PM: 5.5 Miles Starting to get back to buisness with a Speed Interval workout of 10 X 4's taking a 1 minute rest between each rest.  Goal pace for the first 5 was 70, i hit all of them on pace, or a second fast.  After the 5th, I took a lap to jog around and put on my shoes and get some water (About 6 minutes).  Goal pace for the next 5 was 67.  I hit the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th all at exactly 67, and I dictated the rest very well between them all I never took more than 1:10 for rest.  However, before the last one I took a whole 3 minutes, as I really wanted to lay the hammer down here.  The rep startted a bit slow at 34ish, but then I picked it up at the end to hit 65, not exacly laying the hammer down, but pretty acceptable considering I was running on a black track in direct sunlight in 82 Degrees.  

Very busy packing day, almost was going to take the day off, but manaaged to suck it up anf get in 4 miles around 11:30, at solid pace after a tearful goodbye to most of my friends.

60 minute run with Alvarez one last time, mostly trails so on the slow side and hilly. 

well today was supposed to be a workout early in the morning, but due to my moving into Albany that did not happen,  I was up way too late saying a few emotional goodbye to a few people and simply did not have the energy to get it done while also finishing packing hand everything.   Therefor this was my first day running in Albany with Liam and Calvin, the only two other pure distance freshmen. We did a few boring loops around campus and bathed in the fountain afterwords.   Looking back on the week:  It was low in milage, but that is a good thing considering what I have coming for me next week with the team and the time trial which I intend on really running fast at.  

liam took me and Calvin down Washington to a park downtown.  For the first 40 I felt awful mentally and just generally tired, this could be due to several factors, most likely that I spent a considerable time yesterday walking to Chipotle as all the dining halls were closed.  Anyways at 40 minutes we did 10 minutes of barefoot in the park, and then headed back.  I really began to feel good and starting picking up the pace from 7ish to 6ish around 55-60 minutes in.  Calvin went with me, but around 72 minutes we decided to take it easy and wait up for Liam who had fallen back, the last 10-15 minutes me and Calvin started to pick it up again and finished at the fountain in 85, roughly 13 miles. 

Easy mileage with the freshmen XC crew, nice relaxed pace, felt a little stale.

Workout day with the team: 8 X 1K's with a minute rest in the grassy area in front of state quad.  First 4 most of the team (only about 10 or so guys) kept together at a pace bouncing from 3:25-3:30, Zach and Kyle mainly tool charge. I decided to lead around the 5th and 6th as the pace dropped to 3:20, by this point the only ones left hanging were me and Kyle. I felt very solid, it felt good to hit the turns hard, really prepping for XC terrain. 7th one was around 3:17, it was becoming a struggle to hang with Kule but I was able to. Last one Kyle took out around 37 for the 2 and I was done, stayed strong through the rep hitting about 3:22, Cal remained several seconds behind me, and everyone else who finished was a bit behind him. Overall great workout, really excited for Friday and Saturdays efforts, but I am watching so that I don't burn out later in the season.

Did some drills again, form work, and then off on a 50 (We did 10 to start the day).  The run felt very tiring although the pace was certainly not terrible, I was just tired, I also obvoisly don't know these roads yet so blindley following Z Cook and company also made this run feel long.  

Aerobically felt fine today, however, my feet are really starting to feel sore and with random pains here and there.  I feel that this is largely due to my shoes rapidly approaching their retirement date.  Shoes like the asyms should typically have a lifsepan of about 400 miles, according to this blogs tracker, these shoes are a little over 370, however, due to varoius walking i have done over the past summer I'm sure I've tacked on as much as 20 to them in addition to my regular miles.  These shoes were excellent for me, From my return after Nationals at the start of July, to my few weeks training for my failed 10k, to the long hot runs of late July, the brutal speed workouts of August, and the arrival into Albany, the shoes are worthy of a propper goodbye.

Felt Alright going into this time trial, Nutrition, and sleep were on point, but idk wasn't feeling totally strong, mainly.just not in the mental state to race, not that this was a real race.  Pace was supposed to be taken out for the first mile in 75's but we took it out very slow (77-78) for the first two laps.  Therefor the second half of the first mile was very fast as I crossed through the mile in 5:01, but certainly not in the fassion that was desireable.  Calvin and Kyle had a sizeable gap on me at this point, and a few others passed me as I had to refocus myself.  I remained 10-15 meters behind Zach and Tyler through the next 1200 meters.  I tried focusing on my heal strike and staying focused.  With around 400 to go, Zach took off, I was slightly gaining ground on Tyler when I crossed through in 9:12.  Overall it was an alright effort, I could have asserted my pace early on and run better tactically, but 5th isn't bad, I'm overall happy with it.

Workout day, 5 x Mile repeats with one minute rest at at goal pace of 5:36 on very flat ground at a trail 30 minutes from campus.  I was grouped to go with Tyler and Harold, I stayed honest with the pace for the first one which I hit about 5:34, just a second or two off Calvin and Zach who were set to hit 5:32.  I ran the second one entirely with Zach and Calvin we hit about 5:30, I felt so great, maybe yesterdays time trial hasn't hit my legs yet, but I was really ready to roll.  The third one I officially switched over to running with Zach and Calvin, and we hit 5:25.  Fourth one was also hit in 5:25, for both the third and the fourth I carried the pace fast to the 800 in 2:40, and then relaxed myself the second half.  The last one followed a similer dynamic the first half, but then Zach pushed a bit on the second half and we hit an even 5:19/20.  I liked that this threshold workout was actually run like a threshold is suppossed to feel (Comfortably hard).  Back in high school the times may have been slightly faster but it would be a mean race to the finnish, everyone trying to drop each other.  Jones mentioned that he believes in Volume > Intensity, which is something that wasn't neccisarily the same back in Danbury, I like it. 

40 minute run with Calzone.  Pace was slightly quick for an off day.  felt fine muscularly, felt fine aerobically, felt TERRIBLE in my stomach, this could have been a result of either my poor nutritional choices today, or some other factors from last night, regardless I was able to get the job done, 2 loops around campus.  

Very Solid Long Run with Kyle, Calvin, Harold, and Matt.  After our little "10 Minute Warmup", we began at a relitively quick pace around 7:15 as we headed off campus down the rail trail to a set of roads that took us onto a major road in Colonie, a suburb of Albany.  First 20-25 mins I tried to keep myself composed, focusing on my form and staying tall.  The heat was really starting to get to me around 50 minutes when we stopped for water at Mcdonalds.  I felt really good after our little break and relly started to roll with Kyle and Calvin as we turned into a park around mile 9.  The next few miles we progressed down from 6:40, to 6:20 and around mile 13 we were hitting an even 6 minute pace.  The last 2 miles or so I really began to feel fatigue, mainly from the hot summer heat.  We averaged 6:34, the fastest overall average LR I've ever done.  Unfortunatley most of this run was on hard surface (Sidewalk / Road), but afterwords I took a nice 8 minute ice bath, got a nice dinner in me, and continued to stay hydrated through the rest of the day.  Going to need to recover relitively quickly from this, with the hill workout coming in 2 days.