JohnK

11 miles mostly easy. Felt good. 25 years ago today I ran my marathon PR -- I've been at this a long time.

11 miles, first 5 easy then (on the track) 3200 in 11:24 (86.0, 85.0, 85.5, 86.5, 86.0, 86.0, 85.0, 84.0), 800 recovery jog/walk, 1600 in 5:38 (84.5, 84.5, 85.0, 84.0), 800 recovery jog/walk, 800 in 2:42 (81, 81), 1.5 miles cool-down. Felt pretty good and am satisfied with the workout. The 3200 was fairly close to a time trial effort-wise but I feel pretty sure in a race I could bring this down to 11:00-11:10. I'm hoping to run a 3,000m in ~10:20 on June 7th so this workout indicates I'll have at least a shot at that. Of course dropping ~:03 per lap won't be easy even with some competition.

8 miles very early a.m. Felt good.

16 miles, first 2 easy then 20K on UGA track in 1:22.15. Started relaxed with first 1600 at MP then gradually dropped the pace. Went 6:51, 6:48, 6:43, 6:38, 6:36, 6:32, 6:27, 6:25, 6:23, 6:30, 6:37, 6:33 + 3:12. (So I slowed a bit after 14,400). 5Ks were 21:12, 20:32, 20:04, 20:27. The sun popped out at about 12K and it warmed up, so had that not happened I'd have run a bit faster the final 5K. Still, a good effort.

9 miles easy. Felt okay although noticed some groin/lower abdominal pain that has been bothering me some in recent weeks.

10 miles, easy except several ~150m accelerations. Felt good.

7 miles easy. Felt good but decided I needed a very easy short day.

11 miles, first 2 easy then 8 x 800 on UGA track in 2:49, 2:48, 2:48, 2:46, 2:45, 2:45, 2:48, 2:47 (=2:47.0 average). Took 400m jog/walk recoveries (~2:30+). 3 mile cool-down. Fairly satisfying workout although I had wanted to hit 2:45-2:46 for the average to be in line with my 3K goal of 10:20 (= 2:45.3 per 800). I thought these would feel a bit easier but on the other hand I ran them fairly consistently after a conservative start. So it's okay but I'll need to improve a bit over the next 4 weeks to have a shot at 10:20. (Sub-10:25 is my definite goal and I'd like ~10:20.)

10 miles easy. Felt pretty good following yesterday's track workout.

5 miles, mostly easy except one ~half mile in 2:55. Was out of town most of the day at our son's soccer tournament and could only fit in a short run this evening. Probably good to take a really easy day.

9 miles, first 3.5 easy then 1500m on track in 5:09 (82, 82, 84, 61), 800 very easy jog/walk recovery, 800 in 2:43, 800 very easy, 2 x 200 in :39 and :38 (400 recoveries), 2 x 400 in :79 and :79. 1.75 miles cool-down. Felt okay, not really pleased with the workout. I think if my life depended on it I'd be hard-pressed to run a 5:15 mile, in fact 5:20 is probably about the best I could do right now even when fully rested! But perhaps part of the slowness was due to riding the exercycle 30 minutes right before running -- I originally was going to run in the late afternoon but decided to go ahead and get it out of the way this morning. The other part of the slowness is old age!

11 miles easy. Felt pretty good.

9 miles moderate/steady pace (~64:00). Felt good.

12 miles, first 2.75 as warm-up then 5,000m time trial on UGA track in 18:20.5. 1600s were 5:52.0, 5:52.5 (11:44.5) and 5:54.0 (17:18.5) + 42.0. Long cool-down with a few pick-ups. Fairly pleased with the effort -- it wasn't 100% all-out but close. I think in a race under ideal conditions I could go sub-18. (8 years ago I ran a solo 5K time trial in 17:18, so I've lost about a full minute. Kind of disappointing but that's what happens going from 40 to 48!)

2 miles easy and then I bagged the run due to some pain in the groin/lower abdominal area. I'm really concerned that this is an old injury that has returned to haunt me. I missed maybe 8 months of running from late summer 2000 to spring 2001 due to an abdominal strain/tear of some sort (never really identified it). Maybe it's something else -- sure hope so. (Played 90 minutes of soccer last night, a parents vs. kids game at our son's season-ending cookout, which was not good for the injury!)

7 miles easy. Felt pretty good. The groin/abdominal pain was minimal so I'm pleased about that. Have decided to go very easy and short the remainder of the week regardless of how good it may feel. I'm due for an extra easy several days anyway.

11 miles, first 2 easy to track then 10K on track in 41:09 starting w/ 3200 a bit above MP (6:57 then 6:54), right at MP with 1600 in 6:44, a bit under with 1600 in 6:37, then 600 in 2:30 and the final 3K of the 10K in 11:27. 2.75 miles cool-down.

Decided to run some on the track for a good, level surface and as I felt good I decided to work the pace down somewhat and hit the final 3K at close to 10K race pace. Not a real demanding workout.

10 miles, easy except I ran one mile on the track starting at ~6:45 pace the first 400 and then gradually speeding up to run the final 400 in :90. Otherwise a very relaxed run. Felt good.

10 miles, mostly easy ~7:30 pace but I dropped down to ~6:40 pace for 2 miles. Felt good. Still having a little groin/lower abdominal pain at times but it seems to be responding to careful stretching.

7 miles, going 3 easy then 2 at ~6:40 pace and 2 easy. Felt okay.

7 miles, first 1.5 easy then 5K tempo in 19:32 (w/ miles in 6:23, 6:17, 6:10) and 2.5 cool-down. Felt good.

11 miles, first 6 a bit quicker than usual easy pace then a mile in 6:26 followed by a 5:54 then 3 easy to cool-down. Ran the last mile with my daughter, who will be in 9th grade next fall and plans to try cross country.

7 miles mostly easy, mixing up the pace some. Felt okay.

8 miles, easy with one mile in ~6:40. Groin/lower abdominal area noticeable but thorough stretching later in the day really helped so I think this is the key (i.e., I've got a lot of tightness in the hip/butt/groin area on the right side I need to address regularly!).

8 miles, mostly easy but threw in one ~400m at close to 5K race pace and .75 at MP to threshold. Felt quite good and the groin area was much better -- I spent a good bit of time stretching prior to running (which is not what I normally do) and it seemed to help. So, I believe I'll race a 5K tomorrow, not aiming for an all-out effort but will view it more as a workout and test for the injury.

Was pleased that I had zero pain in the adductor/groin area and felt pretty strong today, at least until the final ~0.5 mile that was all uphill and a real grind. I went 5:45, 11:39, 17:55(?) so after 2 it was slow but I knew this wasn't a fast course and really I wasn't too concerned with finish time. I was in maybe 12th place at the half mile, passed 5 people and was not passed the entire race. I just need to be more careful and keep stretching thoroughly and I'll be back on track soon.

11 miles, mostly easy but I included 3200 on the track with a 100m acceleration on each lap. Felt surprisingly good after racing yesterday.

10 miles, first 4 easy then 3200m on track in 12:20 going 100m close to MP, 200m gradually increasing pace, 100m pretty hard (not all-out) -- this repeated for the 8 laps; then another 4 miles easy.

12 miles, first 4 easy then (on track) 1600m in 5:31, 400 easy recovery jog/walk, 1200m in 4:09, 400 recovery, 800m in 2:43, 400 recovery, 400m in 78, 400 recovery 400m in 79, 800 easy, 3K tempo in 11:55, 4.125 miles easy.

8 miles easy. Felt okay, somewhat fatigued from yesterday's workout but more from only ~4 hours of sleep last night.

11 miles, basically easy. Felt okay but heat and humidity have set in -- not surprising since tomorrow is June 1st.