Training Log: July 29-August 4

Sunday - AM: 10 miles, 1:05:25. Rail Trail. Continuous run with a 3-mile tempo thrown in the middle for shits and giggles. 16:13 for the fast stretch with splits of 5:28, 5:25, 5:20. Pleasant surprise; at this effort level I figured on 5:30-35 pace at best. I'll take it. PM: 3 miles, 23:00. WHS Track. 16-minute warmup with Marky Mark and Katie G., then an abbreviated version of the dynamic routine (still needs tweaking), followed by a mile of striding the straights/jogging the turns with Driscoll. Thrusting muscles will likely be sore tomorrow.

Monday - AM: 6 miles, 43:35. Hopedale. Double pond loop with Driscoll, dragging ass early on but managing to snap out of it by the end. Noticeably sore in some odd spots, which was probably to be expected. Dominated breakfast afterward at Town Common; the black forest pancakes didn't stand a chance.

Tuesday - AM: 7 miles, 50 minutes. Industrial Park. Plan was 6 strides on grass mid-run but a rutty stretch of grass forced me to nix that idea. Improvised with 5 strides post-run on the pavement in front of my house instead -- now that's how to think on your feet.

Wednesday - AM: 7 miles, 47:50. Bike Path. 15 minutes easy, 5 x 2 minutes @ 5K effort w/2-minute jog recoveries, 14:50 easy back home. If this is what 5K effort feels like then I have no desire to race a 5K anytime soon. Not bad for my first structured workout in over two months though.

Thursday - AM: 11 miles, 78 minutes. Hopedale. Another great run on the trails with MD. Plan was for 10 miles but inadvertently managed to sneak in an extra mile because of my own absentmindedness.

Friday - AM: 5 miles, 35 minutes. Pakachoag. Leisurely stroll before work and prior to the serious heat and humidity setting in. Felt like I was floating but likely still just sleeping and not actually running.

Saturday - AM: 12 miles, 1:16:45. Beach 2 Beacon 10K. 21 minutes up, 4 strides, 10K in 33:45, 22 minutes down. Other than butchering the first mile this went pretty well; didn't feel totally comfortable but wasn't killing myself either. Splits from my watch were 5:07 (5:07), 5:27 (10:34), 5:26 (16:00), 5:34 (21:34), 5:26 (27:00), 5:40 (32:40), 1:05 (33:45). Note to self: Don't follow women's elite pack through a downhill first mile of a major 10K road race and expect them to be slower than 5:20 -- just don't.

Totals: 61 miles, 8 runs. Another good week in the books, very happy with the direction things are heading in right now. Great weekend up in Maine with my NB Boston 'mates, which really got me excited for the fall racing season. It's gonna be a good one, I can just tell.

As for training, more of the same on tap for next week with a mid-week hill workout to mix things up a bit. Hopefully I can squeeze in two sessions of drills/dynamic routine as well. Consistency, consistency, consistency.

Quote of the day:

"It's a reasonable course but if you're tired on the big hill, you're going to hate life. I was hating life."
- Pat Tarpy on the B2B 10K