Tempo Run - Taper

Tempo: Three repeats of five minutes warm up/cool down pace, followed by five minutes of 5-10K pace.

Distance: 3.4 miles

Time: 30:21

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ .5 

Gut: ★ ★ ★ .5

Energy:  ★ ★ ★ .5

Mind:  ★ ★ ★ ★ .5

Overall:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Soundtrack: Papa Roach, Metamorphosis

The excitement continues. Really getting into a taper is nice. One, it is a lot less running! And two, you can just feel the enthusiasm. I have a bunch of racers at work, and everyone was so excited to tell me how their final week is going when I walked in yesterday morning. I liken it to the night before some big exam in high school. Really, if you've studied all along during the semester, and got in the right amount of studying right up until the exam, there is not much that you can do (better or worse) the night before the test. Might as well sit back, review some notes, and enjoy yourself.

One mistake that I made this year was to get my bib number shipped to me. Sure it's more convenient, but there is a lot more fanfare about driving into downtown Hartford the night before and picking up your number. It's not quite a party, it's actually more like a bunch of running related items on sale, mixed in with some free stuff that you really don't need. But the whole environment of people coming down to get there number, rubbing shoulders with your fellow runners, is all the more exciting. I may actually just go down for an hour or so to hang out and check out the merchandise. 

So not too much to do between now and race day. I have a short twenty minute jog in two days - I'm not even sure what that's all about! Probably just to keep you doing something. The key here is to avoid injury at all cost! Shouldn't be a problem though, all this training should certainly keep injuries away, and looks like it's going to be a great race when all is said and done.

Tempo Run

Tempo: Eight repeats of 3 minutes warm up/cool down pace, then 3 minutes of all-out fast pace (obviously this gets slower by the end!)

Distance: 5.4 miles

Time: 48:41

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Gut: ★ ★ ★ ★

Energy:  ★ ★ ★ .5

Mind:  ★ ★ ★ .5

Overall:  ★ ★ ★ .5

Soundtrack: Genesis, We Can't Dance

Well running fans, it has become obvious that even the most passionate of us gets a little tired, bogged down and sick sometimes. It is official that the weeks where I work all-night on call, I am just that little bit less motivated to get up early in the morning and make that late-week run. I dropped a run two weeks ago (call week), and then again last week (call week). To make matters worse, return of the GI bug this past weekend, and loss of my distance run. With under two weeks to the half marathon, I'm not too excited about this.

The good news, today's run felt great - and I'm still a little queasy from the weekend. My legs felt really good underneath me, and maybe sometimes its good to get a break in there. Looking ahead, I should be able to hit all of my runs between today and the half marathon, so I think that I will be good. Think of it as a "very serious taper" up to this point.

In all seriousness, this kind of stuff is going to happen, and it's important to recognize that it's happening, and then get back on the horse. Ain't nothing wrong with dropping two runs, as long as you don't let those two be the beginning of a two or three week stretch, where you will start losing some time and endurance.

So I'm feeling good. I'm back at it. And we'll see how the rest of the week goes!

Tempo Run

Tempo: Ten minutes easy warm up. 2 minutes sprint, 2 minutes easy; repeat times 5. Ten minutes of easy cool down.

Distance: 4.2 miles

Time: 40:23

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Gut: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Energy:  ★ ★ ★ .5

Mind:  ★ ★ ★ .5

Overall:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Soundtrack: Disturbed, Indestructible

After running that longer distance over the past weekend, my legs needed a few extra days to recover. So I didn't get out to this week's mid-week runs until today, Wednesday. I found mostly that my quads were sore, which is great. I usually have left lateral knee pain and hamstring issues when I'm injured. This was more that "good" pain you feel after a good workout.

This all got me to thinking about pain and running while out this morning. All five of my sprints this morning were up a slight hill. By the last one, there was some definite pain. I was listening to NPR on the ride in to work the other day, and one of the old cranky dudes was talking about why people like to do things that appear to most other people as painful. The conclusion was that you don't like the pain part, but rather the part when the pain goes away. I think that this is true. The best part of a race is when you sprint through the finish line, and then it's all over. There is a whole infusion of hormones, adrenaline and endorphins right at that moment. It is a great feeling.

Then there is the lasting pain of say a great workout at the gym. My wife talks about this all the time. She'll say, "My arms are sore from working out. This is great!" And I totally get that. It's like the quad pain that I have been feeling over the past three days.

Then there is the pain that you get while on a run or after a run, that isn't the same. The key here is to figure out is this an upcoming injury, or is this just the aches and pains of being a runner. Almost everyone who runs will tell you that your legs have good days and bad days. This isn't just energy, power and endurance, some of it is pain too. There are runs where as soon as I start out my legs are achy in all different spots. I usually say to myself, "just keep running, and this will go away after 0.5 miles or so". And, it usually does. I'm sure a warm up and stretching would prevent this!

Injuries are a whole 'nother ballgame, and really put a damper in the whole processes. There are two kinds of injures, with two kinds of pains. There is the acute injury like a fall, twisted ankle or hamstring pull on the treadmill (yikes!). This pain is sudden and you really can't miss it. Most of the time you are stuck with a long rest and a walk home. Then there is the nagging injury - often a left over from an acute injury. These often come with some form of not-smart training. Wrong shoes, too hard, too fast, too long, not warming up, not stretching. You get what I'm saying. But like everything in life, the key is to learn from your injuries, get back to running when you can, go slow at first, and run smart. In no time, you are back to the good pain, and the bad pain is behind you!

Tempo Run

Tempo: Ten minutes easy warm up. 25 minutes at half-marathon race pace. Ten minutes of easy cool down.

Distance: 4.9 miles

Time: 46:27

Performance Stats (out of 5 ★)

Legs: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Gut: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Energy:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Mind:  ★ ★ ★ ★

Overall:  ★ ★ ★ ★ .5

Soundtrack: The Offspring, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

Man, I am totally in my element running in this cool weather. There is just something about running with a winter hat, light gloves and leggings under my shorts that makes me feel all cozy on these cool fall morning runs. This morning's run started off nice and cool once I got outside - you certainly couldn't comfortably pull this run off in shorts and a T-shirt. Once I got started on the first 0.5 mile of the warm up part of the run, I was all warmed up and the cool air around me was nothing but refreshing. At the end of the run, seeing the steaming coming pouring off of my gloves and arms in the light of my head lamp while drinking some water was very cool and mysterious.

I also think that some of my favorite runs are in the fall. The Hartford Half Marathon is coming up in just a few weeks. That's really what most of this training is leading up to, and it's been my biggest run of the year. But after that there are some great 5K races around town, and then the Manchester Road race on Thanksgiving. We've got some great races in the Spring and in the Summer, don't get me wrong. But the fall time just seems like the perfect time of year for a road race.

So I'm psyched to have found my running hat and gloves. And I'm even more excited to get out in this beautiful early fall weather and put them to use!