A good week

M- 6.54 easy
T- 6.54 easy
W- 12 easy
Th- 8.95 including 16*400 with 200 jog recoveries
F- 7 easy
Sa- 10 including 6 @ tempo plus 4*1 min on, 2 min off
Su- 14

Total- 65

Decent enough run this morning. Christened the calf sleeves- haven't taken them off since I bought them! Was pretty tired though. Need more sleep. Also need to slow down my easy runs and start doing some core work again- been neglecting it badly the last few weeks- always happens when I up my mileage but I need to keep on top of it

Haven't decided whether I'm going to run or not tomorrow. Was planning a rest day but have got a bit of a streak going at the moment and it will be impossible to hit 65 miles again this week if I only run 6 days...

Back to work tomorrow, grrrrr.......

some advice...

don't do a tempo workout three hours after eating a big pizza lunch! was meant to run this in the morning to avoid this potential issue but things happened and i ended up delaying the workout until Sophie was napping

Still had a decent effort but stomach was doing flips throughout and I just didn't feel too hot, either during or after the run. I did a total of 10 miles in 62:17 with the middle six in 35:19 then 4 * 1 min 'on'/2 mins 'off. To cap a day of over eating, Lisa and I went on a rare 'date' tonight and had amazing curries at Bombay grille! Potentially an interesting choice of pre 14 mile run fuel- we'll find out tomorrow morning! 14 miles seems pretty daunting at the moment, but if I can get out and do it that will be a 65 mile week and things will be looking up

Funny in the park today. there's me running in just shorts and everyone else in tights/jackets, etc!come on people it's over 60 degrees! what are you going to wear when it's freezing??!

excited tonight because pre date, Lisa and I took the opportunity to do some shopping together 'sans kids' and I picked up a sweet pair of calf sleeves. have been looking to get some for some time and eventually got round to it! bright white too so you'll definitely see me coming!

Meineke Bowl here today was pretty exciting! I took my family 'down town' today and we went on the light rail (my first time!). The tram (as expected) was packed with WV and Tar Heel fans and it was interesting for my parents to see that bit of US 'culture'. I had to explain tailgating and they were impressed by the pre game rally put on by the Tar Heel brass band. We watched some of the game when we got home and I was having a few problems trying to describe what was going on to my Mum, especially trying to explain to her that despite the crazy interest in the game the two teams were from Colleges and were essentially playing a consolation prize match up. My Dad on the other hand showed no interest whatsoever. It's Wrexham FC or nothing for him!

Happy Boxing Day!

I actually got Boxing Day off work for the first time since I left the UK- only because it was a Friday though. Nice and easy run today to recover from yesterday's workout and prepare myself for tomorrow's tempo- 7 miles in 47:15.

Why is leftover meat even better than it was the day before??

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had as much fun as we did! Things didn't go to plan to start with however! Got to the airport yesterday and no sign of Mum and Dad. They had flown via Atlanta and the line for passport control was ridiculous so they missed their connecting flight. So we packed the upset kids back in the car and went home (via Mcdonalds which cheered them up a bit) with me planning to return later to get them off the next flight which they were on standby for. Just about to leave the house with Emily now changed into her pjs to come with me and we got the dreaded phone call. There was only one seat left on the plane so they gave it up to the next person and stayed in Atlanta for the night

So Christmas morning wasn't as planned. Kids opened up their presents and we jumped in the car and luckily this time they were on the flight. Back to the house and more presents to open so the kids were in heaven!

While Sophie napped, Lisa cooked and Emily talked Grandma's ear off, I headed out for my workout which ended up kicking my butt! 2.25 mile warm up, then 16 400s with 200m jog recoveries. Originally I had presumed that 75s for the 400s and 60s for the recoveries would be a reasonable goal but it was soon clear that the 400s were going to be closer to 80s so I pretty much ignored the watch and just tried to run relaxed but hard for the rest of the workout. Ended up running the reps between 76-79 seconds with all the 200m sub 60 but was tempted to step off the track on numerous occasions! Only being accountable to Coach, this blog (!) and the thought of the impending 9,000 calorie eating/drinking fest got me through it and I was happy I gutted it out.

When I got back to the house the smell in the kitchen was amazing and my parents and Emily were on the terrace soaking up the sun- certainly different to the Christmas day weather my parents are used to. Dinner was amazing (thanks Lis!) and then we all went for a nice walk and hung out for the rest of the day playing with all the new toys. Good times!

12/24/2008

Ran to work this morning, decent enough run. 12 miles in 1:20 and change. It was very early and there were not many cars on the road, felt like I had the city to myself. Obviously everyone must be on holiday today, still a few hours to go for me....

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Hot and cold

So Saturday I ran shirtless and for last night's and this morning's run I was in jacket, tights and gloves! Nice 40 degree change in temps there! back in the 60s again by Christmas day apparently! And the weather changes have been reflected by how i've felt running the last few days. At the weekend when it was warm I felt crap, but the two cold runs this week have been great!

Yesterday I put my run off until after work as family still away till tonight. Of course i ended up having to work late and didn't get on the roads until after 8, but I did 6.54 miles at 6.55 pace. Then after dinner, the Packers game and a few hours sleep, I got up and did the same run again in reverse, this time at 6.49 pace.

I pushed my planned Tuesday workout back to the end of the week. I tend to do that when I have holidays. I become a 'holiday warrior', taking advantage of the time out from work to get some decent workouts in. So the back end of my week looks really stacked now!

Tomorrow I am running the 12 miles into work so that Lisa can pick me up in the afternoon on our way to pick my Mum and Dad up from the airport (yea!), then Christmas Day I'm planning to knock out the 16*400 workout before the big eat and drink fest begins, friday will be easy, hard tempo workout on Saturday and 14 miles on Sunday. If I get through all that unscathed I should start feeling pretty fit again soon

Change of scenery

Ran at Mcmullen again today, nice change of scene from my usual haunts. No whipper snappers laying down the hammer today though, just me and Powderfinger on the ipod. 10.24 miles in 1.08.40 (6.42). Didn't feel great again to be honest but job done. Week was as follows-

M- off (planned)
T- 5.3 easy
W- 8.05 easy
Th- 7 inc. 8*800 with 90 secs recovery. 800s were 2.35-2.40 finishing with a 2.33
F- off (unplanned- work got crazy)
S- 9.42 hard
Su- 10.24 steady

40 miles for the week as planned, back to 7 days running this week, hopefully 60 miles and coach has me doing 16 400s with 200 recoveries as my speed workout this week which seems somewhat daunting at this point!

After the run I headed to South Park Mall to finish xmas shopping. On my way there I realised I was going to get there too early so stopped at the track to do a few token strides- what a weird feeling it is to have all this time at the weekend! Finished off getting Lisa's presents and went to the shop to pick up some more Saucony Rides for myself. Have realised that starting xmas shopping early is not a good idea. You just end up buying a lot more than you planned in the first place!

Came home and have since been procrastinating over getting done what i need to get done ever since!