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| Well, one of the biggest benefits of house-sitting for Pete and Kara is that I get to run on my old Manasquan routes. This morning I went out and did the beach loop for about 6 plus another 4 out on the bike trail. Felt great in beautiful weather. 10 miles @ 1:12. Nothing "funny" in the hip today, but I do think that little bit of faster running yesterday did me some good. That combined with all the easy miles had me feeling refreshed and relaxed today. It's amazing how much more enjoyable a run can be when you like where you're running. |
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Posted by Tim Ragan at
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| even though my legs seem to have lost some flexibility. I haven't really done any fast running now for a few weeks and I was thinking that today I was due for a solid effort. The plan was to do 10 with 3 or 4 in the middle at tempo pace. The warm up felt fine, but after just a mile @ 5:50, I felt a strange tightness in my right hip. If this had come after 2.5 or 3.5 miles of fast running, I probably would have just hung in there until the end. But after just one mile I decided better to back off, stretch it out, and jog it in for 8 @ 56. Since I've upped the volume and let the pace drop my stride has shortened a little and my legs have tightened up. I know better, but now I know by experience, don't neglect one aspect of training at the expense of another. Don't just run lots of miles but nothing fast. Now I'm rethinking things and am planning on keeping the mileage at 70 miles per week (instead of getting up to 80) but adding in a day of fartlek and a day of tempo effort intervals. This should result in a more balanced set of legs (plus weeks of 60, 70, 80 or 70, 70, 70 average out to the same thing.) Once the real marathon training starts, months from now, I'll up the mileage a little more, but by then my legs should be hard! |
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Posted by Tim Ragan at
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| I felt pretty good today despite some raw conditions. Drizzle, cool temps, dark early. After a few fairly easy miles I was cruising by the end of today's 8 miler @ 61 minutes. I think I'm ready for a workout tomorrow, looks like it might be a warmer, let's hope the wind cooperates. |
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Posted by Tim Ragan at
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| My plan for the day maybe wasn't thought all the way through. I was thinking I needed a nap this afternoon after clinical. So, I ate lunch and got in an hour or so of time under the sheets. Then I had planned on getting up and going for a run. But since I ate a light lunch I woke up much too hungry to run the 10 miles I was thinking of. So instead, I ate a very early dinner, then headed up to the office to take out the trash. By the time I got home it was pretty late and I almost bailed on the run altogether. But I know if I want to get the miles in this week in a reasonable manner, there is no room for a day off. So I headed out the door at 7:45 for a quick 5 miler @ 34:34. I pushed it a bit and my legs responded. I'm feeling recovered enough to be thinking about a tempo run on Friday. |
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Posted by Tim Ragan at
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| Still felt pretty sluggish today. The first few miles of today's run felt pretty awful. But after about 4 I started feeling OK. Finished up 7 miles just a bit faster than yesterday. I just have to remember that I shouldn't feel great this week after my first high mileage last week. It's all about recovery. |
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Posted by Tim Ragan at
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| Today was definitely a necessary very easy recovery run. My legs actually felt pretty good, but I had no urge to run any faster than about 7:45 pace. So it was 7 miles @ 54 in temperatures that were probably 20 degrees warmer than yesterday; crazy, today I had just shorts and a t shirt, whereas yesterday I was fully geared up. The little drizzle today wasn't too bad. |
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Posted by Tim Ragan at
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| Wow, the last time I ran 20 miles all at once was almost 2 months ago. But today felt really good. It just goes to show that those little things do make a difference. I felt better today than I did all week, and I'm pretty sure it's because I got a lot of extra sleep for the last two nights, and also paid attention to re-fueling. Last night I had pasta and a bagel, then this morning pre-run I had a bagel and some coffee; so I definitely started off with a full tank. I planned on running at the reservoir but the snow scrapped that plan. So instead I started in Sea Girt, did a loop around town, then up into Spring Lake, around the lake, into Belmar, around Lake Como, through Belmar, around Silver lake, into Avon, around Sylvan lake, then turned around and headed back. By the time I turned around I had hit 12 miles, so from there back south to about 18 miles I had a nice tail wind. One final loop around Sea Girt got me right up to 20 @ 2:28 (1:15/1:13) Starting tomorrow, recovery week!
Total for the week: 80 for the year: 207 |
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Posted by Tim Ragan at
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I think the part of my training that was missing this week as I jacked up the mileage was extra sleep. Sometimes it's hard to match up the running volume with the sleeping volume, but last night I slept for nearly 12 hours and felt totally refreshed! I say BS to the people who claim you can't "catch-up" on sleep, in fact, I think that is what the weekends are for This afternoon I went out and did an easy 8 @ 58 and felt relaxed and near 100%. No pushing it though, need to save it for tomorrow's long effort. |
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Posted by Tim Ragan at
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| I had my brain checkup today, and all is well. I'm good for another 4 months. After I got home I decided to celebrate by heading up to run in Thompson Park in Lincroft. It's nice to switch it up, and despite being cold, it was beautiful! I did an easy 9 @ 68 minutes. Started off easy and finished up feeling strong. More easy miles tomorrow, then LONG Sunday. |
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Posted by Tim Ragan at
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| Part 1. Up and finished with five miles before sunrise. At the start of the run, I felt a little lazy for being on the treadmill instead of outside, but then I came to the realization that there is nothing lazy about running 5 miles before sunrise, whether inside or out! I just cranked the mill up to 7 minute pace so I was done in 35 minutes. Now it's off to school.
Part 2. Got home from school this afternoon and headed out the door for run #2. My legs were feeling pretty sluggish, the cumulative fatigue is gathering. 7 miles @ 54:47, probably my slowest run in quite a while, but that's what my legs felt like doing, so, no pushing. This is my third building up week in a row, so I just have to hang in there through Sunday, then next week is a recovery week. 12 miles for the day. |
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Posted by Tim Ragan at
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