I only run on days that end in a "y."

14 miles - 10 on the trails again.  On the road to later today.  Not sure I will run tomorrow.  The terrain is not really great for running.  Heading to the Grand Canyon later.  We have a room right on the rim.  I do plan on running there.

After 2 full days off I expected my legs to feel better.  Early morning run in mid 7:00s followed by 6 x 100m.  Had fun freaking out the deer in front of the house :-)

Will go out for a lunch time run - going to cram 75 miles in 6 days.

4 @ lunch - 7:40's - 85 degrees and sunny - reminded me of Boston 2012.

Somehow I talked Russ in meeting me at my house for a med. long run through Great Hills and wonderful Rain Creek road.  Then headed back up Jollyville fighting the wind for a few miles.  We ran mid to low 7's with last 2 @ 6:50 and 6:30.  

4.75 miles at lunchtime on the grass and trail. 

5 easy on the trail and grass - after work run.

Got to the annex early for a quick 1.2 mile warm up and then ran 1.6 miles with the rest of the group to Austin High track.

Today was 1 x 2k, 3 x 1k, and 4 x 400m.  Felt very relaxed and pretty strong through out the workout.  Was able to lay down a 65 for the last 400m and it was not completely all out. Feeling good about where I am in my training right now. 

2 min active recoveries between 2k and 1k's, 1 min active recovery between 400's. 

2k @ 7:25

1k @ 3:35

1k @ 3:38

1k @ 3:35

400m @ 83'

400m @ 84'

400m @ 84'

400m @ 65'

3 miles easy back to the annex via the long way. 

PM - lunchtime run of 5.25 miles on grass, mulch and trail.

Nice lunchtime recovery run on the grass and trail in the rain.  

Ran the 14 mile Lake Austin trail loop and added the 3 mile triangle with Enfield and Expo hills at mile 12.  Finished pretty strong on a warm and humid and windy morning.  Picked it up on the hills dropped the pace in the 6:40s and the last .65 miles @ 6:20 pace.  6 x 75 m strides afterward.  Overall AP for the run 7:15.

Ran in my new pair of Kinvaras that I picked up at Academy last night for $44.  I stopped by to look for new running shoes for my son and left with new shoes for me instead.  :-) 

Due to the SXSW fest going on here in Austin there a tons of events happening.  Today there was a PBS sponsored 4.2 mile run on the trail with Peter Sagal - the host of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me.  Met up with some other friends and got a free T-shirt, coffee, OJ, copy of the U.S. Constitution, and breakfast tacos after the run.  I am guess there were about 150 runners that showed up.  Did a nice easy run for the first 3 miles and then sped up a bit on the last one.  This was purely for run and was not a race or timed event.  Afterward I ran with Dan on his way back to Barton Springs - I added about 2.5 miles.  

Anyway, it was fun to do something completely different. 

Shooting for close to 80 miles this week.  The plan is to do back to back 80 mile weeks and then taper down from there.   

6 miles easy on the grass and trail at lunchtime.  Sunny, dry and 52 degrees.

Met up with the group after a 2 mile easy warm up.  The route was an 8 miler that included the long climb up through Barton Hills and then the lollipop loop, then back down on Barton Skyway back to the trail.  The workout was do run the first three easy and the last five under half marathon pace.  This is a pretty tough workout and  I remember last year I struggled a bit.  It went better this morning - temps near 40 helped, too.  I ran the easy miles with another runner but soon dropped him when we dropped the pace.  No one in front so it was just me for the remainder of the run.   The lollipop loop is grueling and there are a couple steep hills before and after the loop - so one gets double the fun.  I felt pretty good during this run.  I could have pushed harder but I kept telling myself just run by feel and try to stick to the intent of the workout.

So - 5 miles easy then 5 hard - 6:25, 6:23, 6:07, 6:15, 6:10, then 2 miles easy. 

5.4 easy at lunchtime on the grass and trails.

5.6 recovery miles (8:50 pace) on the grass and trails at lunchtime.  Another beautiful day - 60's, dry and sunny. 

Wow, my hip flexors are sore from yesterday's hills.  I may have to dial back by expectations for tomorrow's 1000's.

Great morning - low 50's and dry.  Arrived a bit early for a 1.4 mile warm up then met up with the group at the annex at 5:45am.  Then another 1.6 easy to Austin High track.  8 x 1000 with 200m active recovery but a full 2-3 minute recovery in between repeats - strict orders from the coach here.  First 5 @ 10k pace and then drop the last 3.  3 miles back to the annex.

1000's felt nice and easy - didn't feel hard until the last one.  But according to the coach that was the whole point of the workout.

5 x 1000m @ 3:45 (6:02 pace)

1 x 1000m @ 3:35 (5:46 pace)

1 x 1000m @ 3:33 (5:42 pace)

1 x 1000m @ 3:20 (5:21 pace)

3 easy back to the annex. 7:40's. 

5 recovery paced miles on the grass and trail - no watch but the miles felt slow - my legs hurt. :-) 

5 super, super easy recovery miles - tired legs for sure.

Met up with the group at 9 am.  The coach wanted to simulate the late start at Boston.  It was warm - 60 degrees.  We had some cloud cover for the first hour so that was good.  But then it was full sun, 25 MPH wind from the south, and 80 degrees and hot during the last few miles.  The coaches had put out ample water stops so that was nice.  I wanted to run 3 hours, but alas we could not keep the pace high enough to make that.  By mile 7 we had a good group of 6 of us and the conversation made the miles go faster. 

The pace wasn't blazing but that wasn't the intent of the workout.  3 runners broke away with 3 miles to go and I stayed at my pace.  With the mileage and the workouts this week I didn't think it was necessary.  I'll save it for next week's long run when we do 10 @ MPG. 

Glad to be finished.  My legs feel good now.  During the run I started to get a little sick to my stomach but I think that was because of the heat.

24 miles in 2:57:00 - 7:22 AP for the run.

Quite a big turn out for the Sunday morning easy run.  Met up at 7 am and did the 8 mile trail loop around Town Lake.  

Legs hurt for the first mile or two but got progressively better.

4 x 50 m strides after. 

14 days of running = a day off today.  May go to the gym for some core work.

Wow, did I want to keep sleeping this morning.  Somehow I got myself up and out the door.  14 mile run today but wasn't sure if I would be able to run some faster miles towards the end or not.  Surprisingly my legs felt pretty good by mile 2.  I checked the mileage at mile 7 to see where I had to turn around and didn't start my watch again.  I missed recording 4 miles but the pace was close to MGP.  Mostly 7:20's and 7:30's after mile 2, then MGP for last 4 or so.  6:50's - 6:40s then 6:30 last mile and 5:50's for the last quarter.   

5 miles easy at lunchtime on the grass and trails. Legs feel good.  This will be the last week of doubles I think.

Quick recovery run after work.

Ran 2 warm-up miles before the meet-up.  We met up north at a new location instead of doing this on trail.  The only problem with this route is that it was an out and back on Shoal Creek from 38th - this was a considerable portion of our 24 mile run this past Saturday, so I was kind of hoping to be done with this street for a while.  Oh, and we had no water support.

Met up with the group and then ran another 2 miles easy and then 10 mins at HM pace, then 3 x 5 minutes at sub 10k pace, and we were supposed to do 10 x 1 minute but we ran out road at the end - we should have gone a bit further up before turning around.  We ran the last one for 2.5 minutes so that counts as 3 1 mins in my book.

10 mins @ 6:20 pace

2 mins recovery @ 8:00 pace 

5 mins @ 6:00 pace

2 mins recovery at 7:54 pace 

5 mins @ 6:04 pace

2 mins recovery @ 8:00 pace 

5 mins @ 6:00 pace

1 minute recovery @ 8:00 pace 

1 min @ 5:50 pace

1 minute recovery at 8:20 pace 

1 min @ 5:50 pace

1 minute recovery at 8:20 pace 

2.35 mins at 5:43 pace

Short cool down - did not do my normal 2 plus miles cool down.  Only 10 miles this morning but I will run 5 + later today. 

6 miles at lunchtime at a pretty good clip - no GPS though. 

Think I am going to run the marathon in the Fastwich.  I like them more and more.  Besides, the bottom heels say "U R Losing" on one shoe and "I'm winning" on the other.  What's not to like about that?! 

5.25 easy at lunchtime.  

Point to point course this morning with the wonderful hills of the lollipop loop at the end. This part can be seen in those paces where I had 2 x 7:00 min miles towards the end.  The course was marked at 19 miles but somehow we ended up with 20, plus I had run 1 easy mile before meeting up with the group.  That should do it for the 20 milers!!  

I wanted to run 10-12 @ MGP and did pretty good I think after another solid week of training.  Started with the group and took off with another guy and we ran together for most of the way.  I lost him on the hills at the end - caught me at the water stop - but then I pushed the pace for the last three miles and dropped him again.  Felt pretty good overall but I am happy these runs are over for now.

8:50, 7:50, 7:21, 7:06, 7:08, 7:10, 7:08, 7:01, 7:04, 6:50, 6:47, 6:50, 6:50, 6:48, 7:05, 6:52, 6:50, 7:00, 6:35, 6:25, 6:27.

6 x 50 strides at the end. 

Going to try a new taper method this time around.  75% of peak milage for 2 weeks and then 50% for last week.  So I will shoot for around 55 miles the next two weeks.   

Nice easy run at lunchtime.  

14 miles - hills on Rain Creek out and Jollyville back.  Nice and cold - 35 degrees.  No wind so it felt pretty good.  

A couple super easy to warm up and then 7:20s, 7:00's for a couple and then 6:50, 6:47, 6:36, 6:37.

7:20 AP.

No double today - what to do for lunch?  Maybe I will hit the gym for some core.

6.4 miles on the grass and trail.  Nice breezy afternoon with temp at 61 degrees.  I miss running downtown at lunchtime.  Much more to look at and I would always see someone I knew.

1.25 miles warm-up and then met the group at the annex.  Boston peeps were doing 8 x 1000m @ HMP with 400m @ lap pace plus 15 seconds.  Russ and I ran together - we did the first few at HMP and then dropped it a bit from there to 10k pace. No stopping during the workout so it was a good mental challenge as well.  

2.9 miles warm up and then 8 x 1000m continuous.

1000m @ 3:56 - 6:18 pace

400m @ 1:55

1000m @ 3:55 - 6:18 pace

400m @ 1:50

1000m @ 3:50 - 6:10 pace

400m @ 1:50

1000m @ 3:50 - 6:10 pace

400m @ 1:50

1000m @ 3:45 - 6:02 pace

400m @ 1:55

1000m @ 3:45 - 6:02 pace

400m @ 1:55

1000m @ 3:45 - 6:02 pace

400m @ 1:55

1000m @ 3:30 - 5:37 pace

2.8 miles cool down.

nice easy recovery run during lunch.  trying to stay below 60 miles this week.

Last longish run before the marathon.  Ran a bit over a mile and then met up with the group.  Today was the hills of Expo and then the accent up Mt. Bonnel hill.  It was Russ, me and one other runner running together.  Once we got to the top, after after we ran the 109 steps to the top to see downtown, we started to drop the pace. We had to run Scenic and Enfield hills on the way back. 

  All of our legs were still feeling tired from Thursday's workout.  Somehow we managed to gut it out and finish pretty strong.  It was warm - 65 plus - and very humid.  It was tough.  

8:58, 8:20, 8:02, 7:36, 7:10, 7:03, 7:02, 7:25 (mt. bonnel), 6:44, 6:48, 6:50, 6:33, 6:32, 6:45, 6:31. 4 x 100m strides.

4.5  recovery miles to get some blood going through the legs.  They are still pretty sore from Thursday/Saturday combo.  Wanted to cut it short anyway so I could be home in time to see the kids get their Easter baskets.