9/30 - 10/6

Mon: 6.5-miles (got to Tir na nOg a bit early)
Tues: 6 x 1000yd Lake Johnson Chip Trail (3:49-3:54)
Wed: 6-miles
Thurs: 6-miles
Fri: 3miles (shakeout run from the house... didn't bother with a watch)
Sat: Run for Athletes 5k, 4-miles before dinner
Sun:14.5-miles
Total: 50.5 miles (not sure how much I really warmed up / cooled down for the 5k)

Sean decided to switch up the track workout this week, so we met at our "favorite" alternate location, the "chip trail" at Lake Johnson. The chip trail is like a 1000yd dirt path. My times compare to about 1000m on the track. I did 6 repeats (first 4 were approximately on the 5min). It's an interesting workout. More mental really. I really don't have reference for where I am on the path (it's not marked), and I am hesitant to look down at my watch because the trail isn't exactly obstacle-free. Anyways, I ran pretty consistently and felt ok. The first one was my slowest (3:54). I ran the last one alone because I wanted to do 6 but most people wanted to do 5. I managed to run a 3:51 solo, so I was happy I was able to pace myself. It was a pretty good workout all and all, but I still find running on the track more satisfying.   

I ran by myself on Wed. That was pretty boring. I made myself not stop on Glen Eden, which I find difficult to do when no one there. My IT band / hamstring started bugging me a bit when I got back on the greenway. And my knee. So I stretched a lot when I got back. We kept it easy on Thursday too because Jennifer is racing and Katie and Melissa are coming back from injury. We saw two snakes and a dead cat. I don't think we can come back on the greenway anymore because it gets dark too quickly. I also saw a dead cat on my shakeout run on Friday. Treadmills are looking better and better. Not really, but I don't like snakes and dead cats.

Melissa told me about the Run for Athletes 5k in Morrisville on Sat. It stared the same time as Railroad Days and was closer. And it's also flat. So I signed up for that instead. It went ok. I haven't run a 5k in a year, so it's hard for me to figure out what a 5k should feel like. I knew it should feel harder than a half marathon, but I'm not a good judge of pace. Melissa, I, and this other guy went out pretty fast. Too fast for me. I looked at my mile split. 6 minutes. Awesome. It didn't feel that bad though. I was trying to not be negative and psych myself out. Actually, I had no idea I could still run a mile on the road that fast (without looking at my splits every 400m; the course was marked every 0.5miles, but I only checked my mile splits), especially when I knew I had more than a mile to run. I chased Melissa and the other guy as much as I could, and wasn't too far behind at the turnaround. I think I was around 12:30 at mile 2, which is more on target. However, my back and hamstring were pretty tight by this point (4 days of standing this week was not good), and that made the third mile rough despite Matt's best attempts to get me to run faster. My main motivation was actually not letting my friend Bri, who was pushing her almost 2-year-old son in a stroller, pass me. I finished up in 20:20, which was good enough for 2nd women and 3rd overall (it was a really small race despite the fact that runs on that course usually draw a decent crowd). Actually, I crossed the wrong finish line, then went back around, and Jim Young was nice enough to knock 3sec off my time (20:20 was actually the time I saw on the clock when I crossed the wrong line). I did manage not to get passed by Bri, who finished in just over 21 minutes, and 3rd women overall. I had hoped that I could break 20 minutes, but 20:20 is not a bad time for me, so I can co-exist with it. And I did get to see my friends Bri and Karri, as well as Crit and Donna, so that was nice.

I ran 4 miles from the house after work to try and loosen up my legs and back. I kept it slow, so it didn't feel bad, but it was dark by the end (I miss summer for that!). On Sunday I ran 14.5-miles easy. That was an adventure. I think I'll dedicate a whole blog post to that one. I ran mostly by myself though. This week has been a lot of that.

I found this training program on the BAA site. I'll probably use it as a reference for mileage and for some tempo workout ideas.