Training Summary
This was the second week of 5 PM dismissals at Epiphany and it gave me a glimpse of what to expect when I am no longer an intern teacher. I was able to get in solid mileage and even did two workouts and a long run. The interval workout on Wednesday was decent and the tempo run on Saturday went very well. I was surprised how significantly the pace dropped in the final two miles with no increase in effort on my part. Overall, a week like this was just what I needed coming off the disaster that was New Bedford.
My legs felt decent for most of the week, with Friday being a particularly horrible run in terms of fatigue. One big help in getting in a few extra miles for the week was meeting up with Eric on Friday and Sunday. I definitely would have cut my run on Friday short if I wasn't running with someone.
The plan for next week is to drop the miles a bit but still get in the workouts and long runs. The science fair at Epiphany is on Thursday and Friday and my week will be dominated by helping kids get their boards ready and a paper I have due for BC on Thursday. If I can get in 80 to 85 miles I'll be happy. If I get in less, it isn't a big deal since I am due for a down week soon.
Monday
80 minutes
Tuesday
100 minutes
Wednesday
35 minute warm up to the Milton Academy track, 1600, 1200, 1600, 1200, 1600 w/ 200 jog rest in 2 minutes (5:13, 3:56, 5:16, 3:57, 5:13), cool down to 90 minutes
Thursday
70 minutes
Friday
90 minutes
Saturday
35 minute warm up to the Milton Academy track, 4 mile tempo run (5:34, 5:25, 5:19, 5:17), cool down to 90 minutes
Sunday
130 minutes
Total
650 minutes on 7 runs (just over 90 miles)
Holler of the Week
The weather this week was warm enough that I was able to run in shorts pretty much every day, but it was still cold and windy enough that it was pretty chilly walking around. Because of this, I got a ton of weather-related hollers this week. Most of them were something short and simple like "I know you cold!" but there were a few good ones. My favorite came from a woman who was sitting outised on her porch and said "Oooooh, boy just lookin' at you makes me cold!" I also liked an interaction I had with a teenager who was sitting on a stoop with his friends.
Him: Damn, ain't you cold?
Me: Nah, you?
Him: HELL yeah.
Epiphany Story of the Week
As I mentioned earlier, the science fair is coming up. We have encouraged students to make a title for their project that would draw people in. One of the 8th graders really took that advice to heart. He decided to go with scare tactics and titled his experiment on water quality from various towns around Boston "Holy Water or Poison?"
Song of the Week
On Thursday, I went to my first show at the new House of Blues on Lansdowne Street. I met up with Ted and his roommate, Tim, to see Bloc Party and was impressed with the venue and the band. My only complaint with the show was that the band did two encores. When I went to see Tapes 'n Tapes, they played as long as they were allowed to and then left the stage. There was no leaving the stage, waiting for a half-hearted clap from the crowd, and then returning to play a few songs. It seems to me that an encore is expected now and a second encore is not uncommon, but I can't help but think that it should be reserved for special situations. Ted mentioned before the show that his other roommate said the band should be called Clap Party since they try to get the crowd to clap along with every other song (he was right), so maybe they just did the two encores to get the crowd to clap some more. Either way it was a good show. The setlist is below and the video at the bottom is of the last song Bloc Party played in their second encore.
One Month Off
Trojan Horse
Hunting For Witches
Positive Tension
Biko
Waiting For The 7.18
Song For Clay (Disappear Here)
Banquet
Better Than Heaven
Blue Light
Mercury
This Modern Love
The Prayer
Halo
Price Of Gasoline
Flux
Helicopter
Ares
Like Eating Glass
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Beware the Ides of March
Training Summary
Turns out Caesar isn't the only one to have a bad day on March 15th. Too bad for him he didn't have NCAA basketball as a pick-me-up. The Terps are in the tourney!
Last week was a mixed bag in terms of training. On the positive side, I got in another week with decent mileage. Additionally, I had an OK workout on Wednesday. On the negative side, I raced the New Bedford Half Marathon and completely bombed. The race got out fast and I was in well over my head at the mile, going through the partly downhill segment in 5:05. I knew I had to ease off but was completely unable to recover no matter how much I slowed down. My next few miles were progressively slower, going from 5:20 to 5:30 to 5:40. During that time, my hamstring got increasingly tight and I eventually stopped to stretch at around 5.5 miles. I hopped back in the race when Eric ran by me and paced him for a few miles before dropping out for good at around 9 miles.
The race was a big disappointment, though there are a few positives I can take away from the experience. First, I think it was a bit of a wake up call. In talking to Kit after the race, I told him how I can easily remember being in good shape but rarely remember the hard work I put in to reach that level. He termed this "training amnesia" and I had a serious case of that going into the half marathon. I will still have significant restrictions on my time until I graduate in June and I still want to maintain a long term focus, but I hope to find a way to still do these while upping the intensity a bit to the point where I can be more competitive in races. Some other smaller things that the race reaffirmed are the need to listen to my body during races and the need to get back to doing core strengthening and hamstring exercises. In the race, the initial pace felt too fast, but I kept the pace because I felt I was in the group where I belonged. Obviously I was wrong. Also, my hamstring has been fine since the race, but this summer I learned how quickly that can take a turn for the worse.
Monday
50 minutes
Tuesday
100 minutes
Wednesday
40 minute WU, 3 x mile in 5:22, 5:18, 5:13, 40 minute CD
Thursday
100 minutes
Friday
30 minutes
Saturday
70 minutes
Sunday
110 minutes
Total
560 minutes on 7 runs (about 80 miles)
Holler of the Week
It's been pretty warm lately and I love it. The holler count has skyrocketed but it is obvious that folks are still a bit rusty from the winter. It has strictly been the boring "run Forrest, run"/"what are you running for?"/"put some clothes on" variety but it's better than nothing.
Epiphany Story of the Week
"What do you call it if an older person gets kidnapped? Is it adult-napped?"
- 8th grade student, asked in all seriousness
Song of the Week
When I saw Tapes 'n Tapes a few weeks ago, the opening act was Wild Light. I originally heard about the band when I saw the Arcade Fire play in 2006 and have seen them a few times since then. They just recently put out their first full length album called Adult Nights. This song is the first single from that album and is called California on My Mind.
Turns out Caesar isn't the only one to have a bad day on March 15th. Too bad for him he didn't have NCAA basketball as a pick-me-up. The Terps are in the tourney!
Last week was a mixed bag in terms of training. On the positive side, I got in another week with decent mileage. Additionally, I had an OK workout on Wednesday. On the negative side, I raced the New Bedford Half Marathon and completely bombed. The race got out fast and I was in well over my head at the mile, going through the partly downhill segment in 5:05. I knew I had to ease off but was completely unable to recover no matter how much I slowed down. My next few miles were progressively slower, going from 5:20 to 5:30 to 5:40. During that time, my hamstring got increasingly tight and I eventually stopped to stretch at around 5.5 miles. I hopped back in the race when Eric ran by me and paced him for a few miles before dropping out for good at around 9 miles.
The race was a big disappointment, though there are a few positives I can take away from the experience. First, I think it was a bit of a wake up call. In talking to Kit after the race, I told him how I can easily remember being in good shape but rarely remember the hard work I put in to reach that level. He termed this "training amnesia" and I had a serious case of that going into the half marathon. I will still have significant restrictions on my time until I graduate in June and I still want to maintain a long term focus, but I hope to find a way to still do these while upping the intensity a bit to the point where I can be more competitive in races. Some other smaller things that the race reaffirmed are the need to listen to my body during races and the need to get back to doing core strengthening and hamstring exercises. In the race, the initial pace felt too fast, but I kept the pace because I felt I was in the group where I belonged. Obviously I was wrong. Also, my hamstring has been fine since the race, but this summer I learned how quickly that can take a turn for the worse.
Monday
50 minutes
Tuesday
100 minutes
Wednesday
40 minute WU, 3 x mile in 5:22, 5:18, 5:13, 40 minute CD
Thursday
100 minutes
Friday
30 minutes
Saturday
70 minutes
Sunday
110 minutes
Total
560 minutes on 7 runs (about 80 miles)
Holler of the Week
It's been pretty warm lately and I love it. The holler count has skyrocketed but it is obvious that folks are still a bit rusty from the winter. It has strictly been the boring "run Forrest, run"/"what are you running for?"/"put some clothes on" variety but it's better than nothing.
Epiphany Story of the Week
"What do you call it if an older person gets kidnapped? Is it adult-napped?"
- 8th grade student, asked in all seriousness
Song of the Week
When I saw Tapes 'n Tapes a few weeks ago, the opening act was Wild Light. I originally heard about the band when I saw the Arcade Fire play in 2006 and have seen them a few times since then. They just recently put out their first full length album called Adult Nights. This song is the first single from that album and is called California on My Mind.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Bedford Bound
Training Summary
Sorry this post is so late. Tom always says that life is a conspiracy to keep people from running. Apparently, life has it out for blogging as well. This past week, I was back up to the 80 to 90 miles a week range after being significantly lower last week. I did not meet my goal of doing strides three days (only did them once) but I did work out twice, so I really can't complain. This coming Sunday, I will race the New Bedford Half Marathon. Going into the race, I am uncertain about my fitness level so I will go out conservatively and increase my effort depending on how I feel. 5:30 pace felt comfortable in the workout I did on Sunday so I will try to begin there and see how things go. In all honesty, I'm not expecting much from the race and mostly just want to score for GBTC and help out the team.
I plan on working out on Wednesday evening and just doing mileage every other day. If the weather is nice on Wednesday, I'll head to the track at South Boston and run repeat miles. Otherwise, I'll do a fartlek in Franklin Park. The half marathon will give me a good idea of my fitness and will allow me to pinpoint paces for tempo runs and intervals, which will help me to structure my training for the upcoming months. I still want to try to do strides more often but the reality is that, whenever there is a time crunch, things like strides, stretching, and core strengthening are the first to go.
Monday
70 minutes
Tuesday
100 minutes
Wednesday
90 minutes
Thursday
30 minute warm up, 6 x Franklin Park road loop hill in 1:43 to 1:47, 25 minute cool down
Friday
30 minutes
Saturday
100 minutes
Sunday
35 minute warm up, 6 mile progression run in 5:42, 6:05, 5:55, 5:32, 5:39, 5:34, 50 minute cool down
Total
590 minutes (about 85 miles) in 7 runs
Holler of the Week
Nothing good...but there's warm weather coming. Bring on the taunting!
Epiphany Story of the Week
Last week was a bit of a whirlwind. The only clear memory I have is sitting at my desk trying to grade papers as one of the 5th grade girls tried to convince me that a rhinoceros is a dinosaur and a "triceminotops" is a mammal. Yikes.
Song of the Week
The Gaslight Anthem has been playing on my computer and iPod pretty steadily over the past week. I encourage any of you who didn't look at the video last week to check 'em out. The song for this week is a video made up of sound clips from YouTube looped and mixed together. It is a very clever idea that ends up working quite well. The creator has a webpage where he hosts the songs and accompanies them by videos that are spliced together versions of the YouTube videos.
Sorry this post is so late. Tom always says that life is a conspiracy to keep people from running. Apparently, life has it out for blogging as well. This past week, I was back up to the 80 to 90 miles a week range after being significantly lower last week. I did not meet my goal of doing strides three days (only did them once) but I did work out twice, so I really can't complain. This coming Sunday, I will race the New Bedford Half Marathon. Going into the race, I am uncertain about my fitness level so I will go out conservatively and increase my effort depending on how I feel. 5:30 pace felt comfortable in the workout I did on Sunday so I will try to begin there and see how things go. In all honesty, I'm not expecting much from the race and mostly just want to score for GBTC and help out the team.
I plan on working out on Wednesday evening and just doing mileage every other day. If the weather is nice on Wednesday, I'll head to the track at South Boston and run repeat miles. Otherwise, I'll do a fartlek in Franklin Park. The half marathon will give me a good idea of my fitness and will allow me to pinpoint paces for tempo runs and intervals, which will help me to structure my training for the upcoming months. I still want to try to do strides more often but the reality is that, whenever there is a time crunch, things like strides, stretching, and core strengthening are the first to go.
Monday
70 minutes
Tuesday
100 minutes
Wednesday
90 minutes
Thursday
30 minute warm up, 6 x Franklin Park road loop hill in 1:43 to 1:47, 25 minute cool down
Friday
30 minutes
Saturday
100 minutes
Sunday
35 minute warm up, 6 mile progression run in 5:42, 6:05, 5:55, 5:32, 5:39, 5:34, 50 minute cool down
Total
590 minutes (about 85 miles) in 7 runs
Holler of the Week
Nothing good...but there's warm weather coming. Bring on the taunting!
Epiphany Story of the Week
Last week was a bit of a whirlwind. The only clear memory I have is sitting at my desk trying to grade papers as one of the 5th grade girls tried to convince me that a rhinoceros is a dinosaur and a "triceminotops" is a mammal. Yikes.
Song of the Week
The Gaslight Anthem has been playing on my computer and iPod pretty steadily over the past week. I encourage any of you who didn't look at the video last week to check 'em out. The song for this week is a video made up of sound clips from YouTube looped and mixed together. It is a very clever idea that ends up working quite well. The creator has a webpage where he hosts the songs and accompanies them by videos that are spliced together versions of the YouTube videos.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Houston: The Aftermath
Training Summary
Well, I didn't come anywhere near doing what I hoped to this week with respect to running. Much of it was due to a lack of sleep on Saturday night because of a very early flight back to Boston on Sunday, which threw off my sleep for the first few days of the week. After my run on Monday night it was pretty clear I wasn't going to get to my mileage goal for the week. The outside of my left shin hurt bad enough that I ended my run early and took the next day off. By Wednesday, my shin was feeling much better and I was able to salvage the week a little over the final four days. I had a fast but enjoyable run with Eric on Friday evening that probably went a bit overboard on pace, though it felt nice to run uptempo at the time. On Saturday, I did the new South Boston loop that I have been running quite a bit lately and is quickly becoming one of my favorites. It is great because the scenery is always changing and you get a nice mix of city streets and beach sidewalks. Sunday was the weekly GBTC long run. We met up at the Boston College T stop and did an out and back on the marathon course. I felt off the entire time and was never able to get into a rhythm. Still, I managed to hang on until the final mile and a half of the 16 mile run. I poked my head into the Epiphany gym when I got home from the run and there were about 15 guys in there playing basketball, so I quickly got changed and went over to play. I am sure it will catch up to me eventually, but my team won five in a row so I ended up playing for about two hours straight. It was a ton of fun, though unfortunately it will probably be the last time I play for a while if things go well with running.
At the beginning of the week, I was feeling a bit frustrated with how my training was going so I looked back at my log. I was a bit surprised to see how consistent I have been over the past three months. I have slowly increased my mileage and I had a six week stretch with no missed days. When I first decided to go to grad school while continuing to work at Epiphany, I knew I would be very busy and my training would not be ideal. Still, I think that I am putting myself in position to run well when my schedule clears up a bit. A few things for me to focus on in the coming months are getting in one solid workout a week and doing strides at least three times each week. Two workouts would be ideal but I need to get in one and have the second one be gravy if it works out. Strides will help my body remember what it feels like to run fast which will make it easier to hop right into track workouts in May.
Monday
30 minutes
Tuesday
off (left shin sore)
Wednesday
30 minutes
Thursday
70 minutes
Friday
100 minutes
Saturday
90 minutes
Sunday
110 minutes
Total
430 minutes on 6 runs (just over 60 miles)
Holler of the Week
I ran with Eric on Friday evening and the weather was amazing. The wind was very strong, especially along Carson Beach and coming back home along Dorchester Ave., but the temperature was quite mild and I was able to run in shorts and a t-shirt. As we made our way towards UMass Boston, we cut through some neighborhoods by the Savin Hill station. At one point, we came upon a park with a group of boys playing pick-up football. As we were crossing the field, one of the boys yelled to me "Did you pay for the other half of those shorts too?"
Epiphany Story of the Week
One of my duties at Epiphany is teaching swimming lessons to the 5th and 6th graders twice a week. On Tuesday, it was just me and one of the 5th grade boys waiting on the bleachers for everyone else to get changed. We got to talking about what each of us did over break (he played a lot of video games and watched a lot of TV, which seemed to be the standard Epiphany boy February break). I told him I went to Houston and he asked me where that was. When I told him Texas, his eyes lit up. He immediately asked me "You didn't by any chance meet a girl named Jessica, did you?" His question killed me. He was playing "Where did you go to college? Oh, do you know...?" with the perspective and life experience of a middle schooler. Against all odds, I managed to not meet his cousin's girlfriend.
Song of the Week
Ted told me about a band called The Gaslight Anthem on our long run on Sunday. I checked out their MySpace page last night and bought their album today. They are a New Jersey band and make no attempt to hide the Springsteen influence on their music. The song below is called "The '59 Sound," which is the title track of their latest album.
Well, I didn't come anywhere near doing what I hoped to this week with respect to running. Much of it was due to a lack of sleep on Saturday night because of a very early flight back to Boston on Sunday, which threw off my sleep for the first few days of the week. After my run on Monday night it was pretty clear I wasn't going to get to my mileage goal for the week. The outside of my left shin hurt bad enough that I ended my run early and took the next day off. By Wednesday, my shin was feeling much better and I was able to salvage the week a little over the final four days. I had a fast but enjoyable run with Eric on Friday evening that probably went a bit overboard on pace, though it felt nice to run uptempo at the time. On Saturday, I did the new South Boston loop that I have been running quite a bit lately and is quickly becoming one of my favorites. It is great because the scenery is always changing and you get a nice mix of city streets and beach sidewalks. Sunday was the weekly GBTC long run. We met up at the Boston College T stop and did an out and back on the marathon course. I felt off the entire time and was never able to get into a rhythm. Still, I managed to hang on until the final mile and a half of the 16 mile run. I poked my head into the Epiphany gym when I got home from the run and there were about 15 guys in there playing basketball, so I quickly got changed and went over to play. I am sure it will catch up to me eventually, but my team won five in a row so I ended up playing for about two hours straight. It was a ton of fun, though unfortunately it will probably be the last time I play for a while if things go well with running.
At the beginning of the week, I was feeling a bit frustrated with how my training was going so I looked back at my log. I was a bit surprised to see how consistent I have been over the past three months. I have slowly increased my mileage and I had a six week stretch with no missed days. When I first decided to go to grad school while continuing to work at Epiphany, I knew I would be very busy and my training would not be ideal. Still, I think that I am putting myself in position to run well when my schedule clears up a bit. A few things for me to focus on in the coming months are getting in one solid workout a week and doing strides at least three times each week. Two workouts would be ideal but I need to get in one and have the second one be gravy if it works out. Strides will help my body remember what it feels like to run fast which will make it easier to hop right into track workouts in May.
Monday
30 minutes
Tuesday
off (left shin sore)
Wednesday
30 minutes
Thursday
70 minutes
Friday
100 minutes
Saturday
90 minutes
Sunday
110 minutes
Total
430 minutes on 6 runs (just over 60 miles)
Holler of the Week
I ran with Eric on Friday evening and the weather was amazing. The wind was very strong, especially along Carson Beach and coming back home along Dorchester Ave., but the temperature was quite mild and I was able to run in shorts and a t-shirt. As we made our way towards UMass Boston, we cut through some neighborhoods by the Savin Hill station. At one point, we came upon a park with a group of boys playing pick-up football. As we were crossing the field, one of the boys yelled to me "Did you pay for the other half of those shorts too?"
Epiphany Story of the Week
One of my duties at Epiphany is teaching swimming lessons to the 5th and 6th graders twice a week. On Tuesday, it was just me and one of the 5th grade boys waiting on the bleachers for everyone else to get changed. We got to talking about what each of us did over break (he played a lot of video games and watched a lot of TV, which seemed to be the standard Epiphany boy February break). I told him I went to Houston and he asked me where that was. When I told him Texas, his eyes lit up. He immediately asked me "You didn't by any chance meet a girl named Jessica, did you?" His question killed me. He was playing "Where did you go to college? Oh, do you know...?" with the perspective and life experience of a middle schooler. Against all odds, I managed to not meet his cousin's girlfriend.
Song of the Week
Ted told me about a band called The Gaslight Anthem on our long run on Sunday. I checked out their MySpace page last night and bought their album today. They are a New Jersey band and make no attempt to hide the Springsteen influence on their music. The song below is called "The '59 Sound," which is the title track of their latest album.
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