Holidays

Ended up only running something like 15 miles due to holidays. Looking to get back into it this week.

Eh

Pretty Lack luster week; with exams and finals didnt do much, an
easy 4miler for the whole week:/

But on Sunday we went to Seton Hall University and managed a 213 after an exciting race where i tried to take the lead at 500meters, but was unable to hold on.

Best Week So Far

Had an awesome week, pretty much ran everyday with the exception of saturday. looked something similiar to this; cant remember.

Monday: 4
Tuesday: 4
Wednesday: 5 w/ strides
Thursday 1mi up, 6x200s, .5 cd
Friday: Easy 4
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Open track meet, ran an 8. hate indoors, mouth was dry, we got called back at 110meters of the 800 cause of a race director error. With all that i ended up running 2:25 or something miserable, can't wait to be back in shape!

Total: 21 Miles

Monday 11/30

Another easy day, 4 Miles w/ 10 strides. Nothing special to report, starting to feel back to my old self. Thank God.

Easy 16 Mile Week

Monday- 2miles w/ speedwork
Tuesday- 2mi w/u, 10x300, .5/1mi cd
Wednesday- 4 mi easy
Friday- 4 Mi easy
Saturday - 4 Mi Easy

Sunday-Today

Doing pretty good right now, had our first track practices but it was weak, 2mi warmup and strides lol I don't understand this program..

But to be honest it's probably a good idea for me to start off slow. I've been hitting the gym again and I'm starting to feel pretty strong with running and lifting so I'm happy.

Monday - 2.5
Tuesday-4.15
Thursday-4
Friday-4.25

Week of the 1st

Ended up running like crap that week, was sick or something but did 18.2 miles this week, trying to get back into it. More importantly, track practice is finally starting and I cannot wait.

Unfortunately, that really weird leg pain from summer is starting to rear its ugly head. I cannot fathom what this is and can only hope it goes away before I get into track. We'll see.

Week of Oct 25

Another fairly good week:

Tuesday: 4
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 4
Friday:
Saturday: 6.2

18.2

Much better week

This week has been a whole lot better than the past few. I've consistently felt very good all week and I'm very thankful for that!

So far this week I've managed:


Tuesday : Easy 5
Thursday : Easy 4.25miles (about 33 minutes)
Saturday: Easy 4 (fun rain run)
Sunday: Easy 4 Miles

Weekly Mileage: 17.25 (Track Base Time!!!)

wow...

Where to begin? I was on again off again sick this week. Managed 6.2 on Monday and NOTHING since. Road race tomorrow just for fun at this point. I'm going insane, I HATE being sick.

Update: Skipped the roadrace, did an easy 4 at night. Was sad too, found out the race was very small, I probably would've won.

Got 10.2mi in this week :(

Another Disappointing Week

I couldn't even tell you what I did this week, maybe nothing. Allergies are beating me up along with a lack of motivation and a yearning for track season.

Monday: Long run attempt on TM, stopped at 5 felt crappy.
Wednesday - About 3.1 miles
Thursday - Easy 6
Friday Off (Allergies)
Saturday(Skipped 8k)
Sunday(Baseball, we WON! I went 1-2 w/ two walks and a triple!)

Wow, looking back at this I didn't do anything. I'm very disappointed.

14.1Miles

Friday Off / Saturday 5k

Well I realized that training seems to be a week behind; last Saturday I PR'd at my 8k without training that week, so I anticipated feeling crappy today and skipped my collegiate meet.

Instead, I found a 5k about 45 minutes away, which on a good day I may have placed my AG / Top 10. Ended up running a 20:34 (About 6:37) and decided to count it as a tempo run.

It was unusually hot/humid after being very chilly all week (50's) and I'm taking that into account as well.

Double header for baseball tomorrow, and if I'm not too tired; maybe a long run!

Miles : About 4.1

Weekly Mileage: Lousy 17.1

Thursday - Hill Repeats

Decided to skip practice today and did 6 hill repeats of about 400 meters, was pretty cold out by the time I got out (About 9pm) so only did them until I started to not be able to take the cold.

1 Mile Warm up

6x400 Hills (Probably an 80 second climb)

1 Mile Cool down

3.5 Miles

Tuesday Recovery/Wednesday Off

Nothing special to note today, did a recovery four miles with Myra.

About 35 minutes.

Total Miles: 4

Took Wednesday off to ensure I'm not jumping back into training too quickly.

Monday Speedwork - 1200's

After a mile warmup, we proceeded to do 6x1200s on hilly terrain.

[1200] [Mile Avg]
1. 4:25.52 (Avg. 6:10)

2. 4:40.83 (Avg. 6:02)

3. 4:42.16 (Avg. 6:06)

4. 4:42.85 (Avg. 6:08)

5. 4:49.03 (Avg. 6:18)

6. 4:45.74 (Avg. 6:13)

Mile Cooldown

Nothing spectacular by any means, 800's were split around 3minutes. Definitely felt it during this workout having missed all of last week, but was still hitting pretty consistent times so I'm content for now.

Total Mileage: 6.2 Miles

Long Run

Today was one of those days where one doesn't want to run, but after getting out it is amazing.

I set out for my "long run," after failing to do so for many weeks, at 8pm. The weather was cool with occasional drizzle of rain making for a very nice run. At mile 4 I met up with my friend Adam, a new runner, and did a mile with him.

After hitting my goal time for an hour, I felt so great I decided to tack on aother ten minutes, for about 8.1 miles. I do not feel drained at all, and with that middle mile with my friend toned down to my pace, figured it would have been about 65 minutes. Regardless, I feel rejuvenated and once again feel like running is great again; after dreading it for the past few weeks!

Weekly Mileage: 24 (Finally getting back up! Couldn't be happier!)

8k Tonight

This week, we had our weekly race on Friday, an 8k at Liberty State Park; overlooking great landmarks such as the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty.

The race was 2, 2.5m loops around the park. Despite steeping in a pothole and running into a pole, tree, and getting boxed in for the first time ever in a XC race, I managed to PR (this season) with a low 32.

The weather was great, no humidity or heat at all; but being so close to the water there was a nasty headwind on some parts of the course.

About 6-6.5 Miles total.

Tuesday/Wednesday

This week was all about getting my body back up to running shape after this random sickness. Tuesday was an easy 4 miles and Wednesday was 1mi w/up, 8 200-300m hill repeats, and 1mi c/d.

About 7 miles over both days

Finally!

After taking nearly a week off to recover from what I felt was an incoming illness, went out and did an easy 20 minutes to ease back into things, actually felt good.

2.5 miles

Monday 800s 5.75Mi Total

Monday was a nice speedworkout day, 800's uphill. Satisfied with this workout because I felt pretty sick and was still hitting 2:40s-2:50's not on a track so I'm definitely improving. 7 800's total.

Tuesday was 4-miles recovery in about 30-32 minutes, unfortuantely I've taken Wed/Thurs off because I feel I am coming down with something, everyone in my family is, and I really do not want to get sick.

8k Race Day

This morning started off with a pretty nasty rainstorm, as it has for the past few days, so I didn't really expect to have a meet at all. Regardless, I got up at 5am, downed some pancakes and coffee, and set off for school to start the two-hour trek, and try to convince him to do a closer road race instead.

To no avail, we finally arrived at Kutztown University; a very nice school with a beautiful campus. Right before the start a painful, cold rain started and I knew today would be fun.

The course was 2 loops out and back, first mile had a slight downhill and I went out in 6:16, two-mile split was 13:10, and no splits on from that point. Finished in 33:40, only one second slower than last week in much worse conditions and tougher course so overall I am happy.

This week, we plan to start increasing our mileage because it has been really pitiful lately.

On a non-running related note I had my first baseball game today in the 18+ Men's league with my dad/cousins and friend. I was the starting pitcher and went 4 Innings, 3 Runs, 2 Earned, 6 hits, 5 walks, 1 HBP, and 2 strikeouts. For never pitching before I was very happy with my performance. I went 0-4 and we went on to lose 7-4 in extra innings.

The field was destroyed from the storms the past few days, so it was basically playing baseball in quicksand.

Weekly Mileage: 19.1; going to break the 10% rule and try to get the team up to 25-30 this week.

Recovery (4.5)

Did an easy 4 mile recovery in around 33 minutes. Did 2 laps of striding straights/jogging turns.

4.5 Mi total

Wednesday - Hill Repeats

Nothing special, 10 200-300m hill repeats not timed, felt very easy and relaxed.

Barely 2.5 miles worth of running today; pretty sad.

7.1 Miles - First Day of So. Yr

So with a full day of classes from 9-150, I was exhausted and hungry come time for a semi-long run at 2:30pm.

Did an easy 7.1 miles in 60 minutes which felt good until about 5-6 miles in, where the dead leg symptom returned but I was not breathing heavy or exhausted at all.

Regardless the run went well; followed by a Phys Ed center meeting and baseball practice I was exhausted and came home to finish some homework.

First 8k of the Season

First 8k went much better than I expected. Started the morning off on the wrong foot by breaking my prerace breakfast (bagel w/ cream cheese + coffee) for a mini frozen bagel with butter hoping to avoid stomach problems. It did the trick because at the 11am start I was actually hungry and had no stomach problems throughout the race.

The day was a bit warmer than I would have liked, with temperatures in the 80's. I went out very easy in a 6:30 and was pretty satisfied with how easy it felt. Continued the race around that pace while picking off lots of kids to take a 30th place finish in 33:39, 4.5 minutes faster than my first 8k last year. It's good to know my training already has me started at a much higher level.

Took Sunday/Today off for some picnics and recovery; don't feel like pushing too hard or being super psycho about training just yet; trying to enjoy running for the moment.

First day of college tomorrow followed by a long run and a sports meeting; this'll be my first long, boring day of many after a very long summer break.

Weekly Mileage: 22, Pretty low due to a bad long run an three off days; expecting this week to be higher.

Easy 6

Did an easy 50 minutes, about six miles, with the team in a recovery/easy run effort. Nothing to report, legs felt good and am looking forward to (dreading) the race tomorrow, 6 am!

Took Friday off to recover, hopefully this race goes well, aiming for under 35, but as long as I break the time of my first 8k last year (38:xx) I'll be satisfied.

800m Repeats - 5 Miles Total

Did our speed workout on monday.

1 Mile Warm Up

1st 800

2nd 800

3rd 800

4th 800

1 Mile Cooldown

Was a great workout, not too fast but felt good to get the speed in. Will post times when Garmin charges.

6 Miles Easy

Did an easy 6 miler as my first XC practice with the team. Being the only returning runner, I'm taking on a more leadership type role to the freshman and newcomers, and I really enjoy helping others during practices, getting use to school, etc.

Got an easy 6 in, about 51 minutes. I'll post the splits tomorrow because by watch is not nearby.

Was nice to run with some new kids, felt very smooth and easy on this run; not too much dead-leg, hopefully this holds up for the 800's tomorrow, and the 8k on saturday.

Miserable (Sunday) Long Run

Once again the long run is the bane of my existance.

Set out for an easy 10-11 with my friend Nick. First three miles went well, all sub-8, but after that it went downhill. I felt horribly dehydrated at the three-mile mark, and by my four I took a walk break.

About 7-7.5 miles I called it quits, after even resorting to run-walking. When I got home I was inactive for the rest of the day, and really believe I was mildly dehydrated.

I put this run behind me and set my sights on our first 8k of the season, and doing what I can this week to stay fresh.

Weekly Mileage: About 26-27 miles

Tempo Run

Yesterday I set out on a tempo run. While not fast by most standards, this run gave me confidence knowing I could sustain a fairly fast pace despite being tired recently.

1.5 mi Warmup (11:43)

20 Min. Tempo Run (2.87 mi/6:59 avg. )

Mile 1 - 7:02

Mile 2 - 6:59

.87 - 5:59 (6:53 pace)

So even as I was clealy fatiguing (felt the lactate, heavy breathing, etc.) I was ble to keep increasing the pace. I'm very pleased with this run.

Total mileage for the day, roughly 4.5. Afterwards, went to gym and lifted/biked.

6.5 Miles Easy

Today I went out with my friend Andrew (great HS runner with a 5k pr of 16:40) down the infamous Holmdel course for an easy 6 mile run. Had a great time and looking forward to our season together this fall.

Unfortunately we had to take a small break at the 5k point because the park was closing and we moved our cars in fear of a ticket.

6 Miles - 48:59 (8:10 avg)

Mile 1 - 8:08

Mile 2 - 7:21

Mile 3 - 7:34

.1 Jog to cars - 0:51

Mile 4 - 8:24

Mile 5 - 8:31

Mile 6 (.91) - 8:07

2 Laps on the track worth of strides, stride the straights jog the turns.

Lots of steep rolling hills and car dodging on the tight shoulder at the end. All in all a GREAT run considering how crappy I've been feeling. Honestly this run felt great and was a real confidence booster.

I'm hoping I can hold up for the 3-4 mi. tempo run scheduled for tomorrow. Guess we'll find out.

6.35 Miles Easy

Today I learned about a new park with trails nearby so me and Myra headed there for a nice easy run. Coming off of three days off, I was just hoping for a painfree run that I could complete. Originally, I intended to do an easy six but all bets were off when I got lost mid trail and couldn't find the parking lot lol. Luckily, Myra came to the rescue just in time.

In addition to the easy run, I got a nice little fartlek-type speed workout during the run due to deer that fear nothing, and a dead-end trail that led to, what I believe, to be a satanic worship area. Needless to say I feel I broke my 800m PR during both these encounters.

6.35 Miles - 57:52 (9:07 avg)

Mile 1 - 8:56

Mile 2 - 9:15

Mile 3 - 9:45

Mile 4 - 8:33

Mile 5 - 9:13

Mile 6 - 8:42

.35 - 3:23

I believe the times are a combination of two things. This being a trail course I was doing a lot of safety-based running, dodging roots and lots of terrain change. Second, my garmin tends to act up when it isn't in an open environment. I do not believe I ran that slowly based on how I felt.

3 Days Off/3.25 mi

Since I've been feeling exhausted and like I was coming down with something I opted for three full days off, and tonight went for an easy 3.25mi run on the treadmill in 26 minutes. Nothing hard or anything, nice easy jog.

In a few hours when I wake up I'll hopefully have six miles logged from my new training program. If all goes well, this could be the motivation and positive reinforcement I so desperately need.

Off Day

Today I went to the beach with Myra, got home and felt really drained and almost as if I was coming down with something. Surprisingly, I took three one-hour naps and feel pretty good. Legs are a little heavy so I took today off and going to see how I feel tomorrow.

On a brigther note, I plugged in my times to runnersworld.com's training plan and have a program all ready to go for the season. Hopefully I'll feel up to starting it out Monday.

3.25 Miles

Headed out with my High School cross country team today for a few easy miles. Found out the hard way I'm not in shape for any speed yet lol. Ended up doing a rather difficult 3.25 miles in around 26 minutes with a few walk breaks, heat and humidity is really going crazy this time of year, never remember it being this bad.

Going to put in a few more easy days and then start up some speedwork to get going for the season, have my physical today and then all that's left to do is race, hopefully my legs stop feeling so dead.

Weekly Mileage: A miserable 15.5 due to sickness, exhaustion, and lack of motivation...

Semi Long Run

Since I missed my weekly long run on Sunday I decided to make up for it yesterday. I hit the treadmill at the gym with Myra because by the time I could get out it was late afternoon and the heat/humidity was unbearable.

Got a nice 8 miler in with a time of 1:01.48, which is slightly lower than 8-minute pace. The treadmill was set at around 7:15 to 7:30 pace most of the time, but I incorporated and easy two mile warmup, so most of my splits were comfortably in the low sevens which I am very happy about.

Althought I despise the dreadmill and get very bored, I do appreciate the pacing capabilities of it that I severely lack.

4 Miles Easy

Monday morning I set out for an easy four miles with Myra in some gross weather. The heat and humidity were out very early this morning. Nonetheless, got a nice easy run in and acclimatized a little for my first upcoming XC race.

Mile 1 - 8:27

Mile 2 - 9:05

Mile 3 - 8:00

Mile 4 - 7:54

Total : 4 Miles 33:28 (8:22 avg)

Afterwards we sprayed each other with the hose to cool down/get sweat off lol.

Little Speed Workout

Got up and went out for a speed workout with Myra.

2.1 Mi W/up

6x1 Min Pickups w/ 30 second recovery jogs

1 - .16mi (6:13)

2 - .17mi (6:02)

3 - .17mi (5:52)

4 - .16mi (6:19)

5 - .17mi (6:02)

6 - .15mi (6:34)

1.5 mi c/d -- 5.1 Miles Total

I liked this workout because it was a nice introduction to start off my summer speedwork. With my legs being very tired lately, it was great to get them moving quickly without over working them.

Took today off and going to try to do a longer run tomorrow, overall very happy atm as my taper/recovery week comes to an end.

Weekly Mileage : 24.1

Off

Despite really wanting to run I took another off day today, guess this is my taper week. With my first 8k on September 5th I want to assure that I'm fresh as can be and can get a good assessment of the season.

My latest revelation is that maybe I'm actually running too slow. We'll see in the coming days.

4 Miles Easy

Did 4 Miles easy yesterday afternoon with Myra, sans watch, somewhere in the ballpark of 35 minutes. More importantly, legs felt good. Going to do another 5-6 today with some 1 min pickups, hopefully all goes well.

Two Days Off

Took two days off to make sure everything is ok. Did a circuit and some abs/core work. Going to do an easy four tomorrow, hope it goes well.

5 Mile Recovery

Last night I set out on a recovery run with my friend Kyle. Unfortunately, I'm still experiencing a very unique soreness in my quadriceps. After three miles my muscles just become extremely heavy and drained no matter what pace I'm going. These past two months I've been putting in more mileage than I ever have, maybe that's the cause?

5 Mile Recovery - 44:44.72 (8:57 avg.)

Mile 1 - 8:35
Mile 2 - 8:24
Mile 3 - 8:27
Mile 4 - 9:20
Mile 5 - 9:56 (30 second walkbreak)

As one can see, after three there was just nothing left and it was a recovery run! I've been putting in 40mpw, while not alot, is something my body is not use to ever attaining for a long period of time. I might take a day or two off to get fresh, any ideas?

10 Mile Long Run

Sunday I set out for a nice early long run with my friend Nick, who is much faster than me. Hit my p.r. for ten miles at 1hr and 20 minutes and felt great for most of the run.

10 Miles 1:20.16 (8:02/mi Avg.)

Mile 1 - 7:56
Mile 2 - 7:58
Mile 3 - 8:03
Mile 4 - 7:28
Mile 5 - 8:02
Mile 6 - 8:07
Mile 7 - 8:17
Mile 8 - 8:12
Mile 9 - 8:06
Mile 10 - 8:03

Overall, I am happy with this run. It was my fastest time so far and it really didn't feel all that bad. Next week I'm going to increase the distance a little bit.

9 Total Miles

Well yesterday I headed down to the beach with my best friend Myra and decided to do some mileage on the boardwalk. Ended up doing 6 miles easy with a slow mile cooldown. Nice little wind was pushing me on the way there, while back down I had a headwind which was a good thing to push through. Later on that evening I did an easy 2 miles barefoot on the beach with her. All and all a good day and got my easy run in.



7 Miles 56:45 (8:07/mi.)



Mile 1 - 8:09
Mile 2 - 7:41
Mile 3 - 7:42
Mile 4 - 8:08
Mile 5 - 7:55
Mile 6 - 7:58
Mile 7 - 9:07 (c/d)


Took today off and going to do a long run tomorrow, hopefully that goes well.

Weekly Mileage: Around 33.5

Off Day

After some contemplation regarding yesterday's "run", I decided I do not want to get demoralized or risk any overtraining so early in the summer/pre-season. Took today off to let my tired legs rest and take care of some aching pains. Went bowling with some friends instead and got running off my mind.

Going to do at least an easy 4 tomorrow and see how I feel from there.

6 Miles Easy (Yeah right...)

6 Miles - 48:37.15 - Avg. Pace: 8:06/mile

Mile 1 - 7:18
Mile 2 - 7:36
Mile 3 - 7:50
Mile 4 - 8:07
Mile 5 - 8:16
Mile 6 - 9:25 (yikes!)

Splits:

I set out for an easy 6 miles; half easy, half recovery. I was cruising along fine until mile 3, where the recent workouts of 8mile beach run on saturday and 10mile long run on sunday caught up with me. My splits starting htiting positives, so I just cruised in to avoid any unnecessary damage from an easy run.

Did some stretching and drills in pool afterwards to avoid any more impact.

Debating tomorrow off or very slow...

7.5 w/ Mile Repeats

Today was a very interesting day, a friend of mine I met at a recent 5k invited me to his cross country practice for mile repeats, me and my friend from college decided to head over and give it a shot.

The course was almost entirely up hill, and juding from the times it may have been more than a mile, my garmin was acting up in the woods and I believe it was a little in accurate. Nevertheless, was a very good speed workout tailored specifically to the upcoming cross country season.

2.5 mi. warm up - (21:04/8:27/mile)

1st Repeat - 1.13mi(8:08/7:11/mile)

2nd Repeat - 1.01mi(7:42.59/7:38/mile)

3rd Repeat - .25mi(1:11.8/4:41/mile)

2.4 mi cool down - (23:47.06/9:55/mile)

The general slowness of the repeats is what leads me to believe the course was off. Even on my worst days I don't think a mile repeat would be that slow, maybe the gargantuan hill at the start is what derailed the training, others reported times that were off as well.

We were really feeling it afterwards so took an extra slow cooldown.

First Track Season

The first topic I want to share is my experiences around my first ever Track and Field season. The high school I came from was so small that we only had a cross country team. Never feeling too great at distance races, I was anxious to go to college and try my hand, or foot, at track. Come to find out, I have a newfound passion for running with this first ever season.

My first T&F season was way more than I expected. I learned that I have a knack for hurdling, running a 57.29 PB at the end of the season in the 400m IH. Also, we had a great group of people who decided to run and train for the 4x800 relay, myself included, and we ended up taking first at regions and second over all at Nationals, in 8:00.99, giving us the title All-American!!

All in all, track is such a great sport and I am looking forward to the 09-10 season, and hopefully bringing home more All-American plaques!

First Entry

Hey everyone out there, I set this blog up a couple of months ago to detail my training and racing experiences throughout my first year of collegiate running.

Now that I have some free time, I'm going to post my training on the blog everyday, along with races and whatever else I decide to include.

I hope you guys find everything interesting, feel free to leave comments/tips/etc. Have a good run!