Feaster 5 and greatful for what I've got

What a great morning, my family cheering me on, perfect running weather, makes you happy to be alive and greatful to be able to go out there and do it. As far as the race went, 6:15 was out of the question after I went through the first mile in 6:52. Despite trying to get towards the front it was stop and go the first 1/8 of a mile, dodging people and trying to find a pace, then I was greeted by that big hill in the first mile. When I looked at the clock on the road it showed 7:15 (basically took me 20 seconds just to get to the starting line). Anyhow with the first mile down I pushed through the next two and started rolling over the last 2 miles. Not a bad go of it, I just needed to shave about 20 seconds off that first mile and I likely would have beat my time from the summer. This course was not as easy as I thought it would be and it felt like it took me the first 1/2 just to get rolling. Pretty good negative splits over the second half just wish the 1st half was faster. Great way to start a great Thanksgiving. Definately work this into future Thanksgiving's from now on.
Splits:
1st-6:52
2nd-6:34
3rd-6:34
4th-6:19
5th-6:11
Total: 32:33 (6:30/mile)

Good week

Last week I jumped back into it- 47 miles for the week, 4 runs over 9 miles, a quick 4 mile jog w/ my wife (first time we've jogged together in a long time) and a quick 1 mile run for time on the track (6:04). The Feaster 5 mile in Andover is on Thursday (Thanksgiving), I am planning on going out at 6:15/mile pace and trying to hang on. I ran 6:24/mile for a 5 miler in Nahant, I think my fitness is better and I think this course is likely faster-that is my hope anyhow. If that is the case I ought to negative split the last mile. We'll see what happens!!!!! Looking forward to getting a decent test of my fitness. On another note, I have begun using Running Ahead to log my runs, far superior to MapMyRun in terms of logging tools. Some of the advantages of Running Ahead it is free, unlike MapMyRun which is free until they start boning you when you try to get history. That bothered me initially, but I still fessed up the 30 bucks for the year. Lately, I've just gotten tired of the ads on the page, you can't log track workouts easily, and the reports that you can generate on Mapmyrun have a bunch of useless crap( i.e. calories per run etc). So, I have begun logging all my runs on RunningAhead (plus it has a workable gadget that you can see to the right). Now, I just have to figure out how to port over my records from Mapmyrun to Runningahead.

First run back from the Swine

Two weeks of straight zeros. Tonight I did my standard 7 miler along the Charles after work. Didn't feel great leg wise, heavy, slow, etc. But, respiratory wise I wasn't hacking during or after and tonight I feel pretty good now. So, I think I'll take a look in the morning, if it is as bad weather wise as they are saying, I'll put of running. But, Sunday looks for sure to be a nice day for a 10 miler nice and easy. Still considering my schedule for the next 6 months. What I'm thinking now is:
1. Providence marathon
2. Boston Prep 16 miler
3. Eastern States 20 miler
4. 1/2 at the Hamptons
5. Get in a couple smaller races 5K, 10K
6. Stew Chase
7. At least one snow shoe race

Just keeps getting better

Things I got going for me this week:

1. My daughter just got diagnosed w/ Swine Flu and an ear infection.
2. My whole family likely has swine flu, which people have died from.
3. I have been sleeping on the couch the last few nights because I wake up in the middle of the night with coughing fits that wake my wife up.
4. My wife lost her voice w/ this thing.
5. I'm not running, neither is my wife
6. This blog kind of becomes pointless without the running aspect, although I am definately plodding along now.

So much for Manchester

What a depressing weekend for me. I ran an easy 7 miler Thursday, I was coughing afterwards but thought it felt better. Friday I went over to the track and did a pre race pace workout, 2xmile,2x800,2x400 all at marathon pace (7:30 was my guess). In reality I feel like my fitness before this cold was more like 7:20 shape if I had a good day. Anyhow Saturday morning I woke up congested w/ a sore throat, I headed up to Manchester to get my packet etc. hell I already paid for the race I was gonna do it. Saturday night I trick or treated with the kids and by around 8pm I had a bad feeling that I just wasn't getting better. Sunday morning I got up all congested and nasty, headed up to Manchester, laced up my sneakers, closepinned on my bib and walked around a bit. The day was perfect, partly sunny, 50's, couldn't ask for a better day.  About 45 minutes before the start I found the timing company, turned in my chip, went back to my car, changed and went home. I knew if I started the race I wouldn't drop out, I wouldn't get a race that was an accurate reflection of all the work I've done, but I would get myself seriously sick. Although I have only run one of these things I do respect the distance-I also don't want to plod through it-I want to go as fast as possible.  I had a cold last year that I kept pushing for a month, take a day off-run-day off run-until I was seriously sick with a bronchial infection. It is now Tuesday and I still feel like crap, I haven't run and I'm not gonna until this thing is 100% gone. This was the perfect nightmare as far getting sick the week before and there was nothing I could do. This was seriously depressing for me. I have thought about hammering this marathon out for the better part of 4 months, and my confidence was huge over the last month as I increased mileage and intensity. I completed a few key workouts I wouldn't even have considered 6 months ago. I think the best thing to do now is take some time off and regroup. I'll lay out some race targets over the next six months and pick a goal marathon for the spring.  Oh well. On an even more depressing note, my wife has this thing now and both my kids are struggling to get over it. So I got that going for me!

Nasty Cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got a 9.5 mile run in on Sunday for the Lynn Woods Stone Tower Trail Race then by Monday morning I had a nasty cold. Fearing Swine Flu I took off Tuesday from work, it has been getting better but I have not run. So far I have taken Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off from running. I think I could manage a run today but I have some serious congestion. Last year I had a similar cold and I pushed through it and developed a nasty bronchial infection-which was nearly pnemonia. It is getting down to the wire now with the Marathon on Sunday. That gives me 3 days to clear this up. Not how I wanted to be going into this thing. This is turning into an unplanned sit on my ass taper and I feel myself getting slower by the minute. I will need to go on a run today just to see how I feel. It drives me crazy, because I always felt like I could just run these things off (I never missed a practice rowing in college). Maybe it just age, but I am learning the hard way that I need to throttle back or else I really take a few steps backward.

Charlestown Track 10x800

This was the last hard workout before the Mancherster 26.2 next Sunday. This workout felt great and I am confident in my fitness level. What I noticed most was the 200m jog in between was a legit jog and not a plod and I felt "recovered" before the next interval-the rest time in between was consistent on each one as 1 min 8 sec between for the 200 jog. I will hit the track next Tuesday for 4xmile at my marathon pace and the rest of my miles next week will be easy w/ a few pickup miles to keep my legs fresh. Splits below:
1-3:14
2-3:16
3-3:12
4-3:13
5-3:08
6-3:11
7-3:10
8-3:12
9-3:06
10-3:01