Week 7: 1/24/11 - 1/30/11 (11 weeks remain)
Monday: Last day of ski trip!
Tuesday: 10 miles w/ 5 mile lactate threshold run. Ran the extended Boston Common & Commonwealth Ave loop for my first day back after taking a little vacation. I actually got snowed on a bit at the start of the workout as I was crossing over the Longfellow Bridge, although it was only a light dusting, and had mostly stopped by the time I got to Boston Common. The LT portion itself went pretty well; I was trying to up the pace this week, and it felt pretty good.
Wednesday: 14 miles, medium-long run. I was feeling pretty good today, so I actually ended up running a large portion of this run (~10 miles or so) at an uptempo pace as well. Guess all that time off last week paid off.
Thursday: 5 miles on the treadmill. Not much else to say.
Friday: I actually didn't run today; spent all day running around between conferences and trying to buy 4 lbs of meat for a roast (as it turns out, you can't just walk into a market and pick up a cut of meat this large...), then cooking and consuming said roast. Today I'm apparently on the "fatty plan" :-P.
Saturday: Another 5 on the treadmill.
Sunday: DAMMIT! Started to feel not-so-great last night after dinner. I thought it was just a bad case of allergies, and went to bed early, only to wake up in the middle of the middle of the night struggling to breathe and blasting snot everywhere (you're all welcome for that awesome visual imagery, by the way :-P). Looks like I'm sick :-/.
Total weekly mileage: 34 <-- Shit :-/. Well, at least the workouts I actually ran this week were pretty good.
I'm inclined to take it kinda easy early next week just to make sure that I'm actually really well before I start running around in the freezing frakkin' cold again. I'd rather take an extra day off to get well than try to come back too soon and end up making myself sick again. Hopefully I can bounce back fairly quickly with some good sleep.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Recovery Week; or, Irresponsibility Redux
Week 6: 1/17/11 - 1/23/11 (12 weeks remain)
Welp, it's a good thing the schedule has this week listed as a recovery week, because the mileage this week was actually pretty lacking.
Monday: Off day
Tuesday: Snowed in - ran 8 miles on the treadmill.
Wednesday/Thursday: Busy in the lab trying to take over the wor- er, building robots for the good of all mankind.
Friday: So today we left for the Graduate Student Council Ski Trip. I woke up this morning with grandiose plans to put in 15 miles (although I was pretty lax about the training this week, I still wanted to be sure that I got in the long run, as it's the most important run of the week). Unfortunately, after I awoke this morning and sprang out of bed like the highly motivated champion that I am, I glanced out my window to discover that ZOMG IT'S SNOWING AGAIN! So upon realizing that this was my last chance to put in a good workout for the week, I nutted up and decided that I was going to break my cardinal rule of marathon training... and run on the goddamn treadmill. I ended up spending nearly 2 hours on the treadmill, and it was everything I thought it would be - long, boring, and horrible. WORST. WORKOUT. EVER. On the other hand, at least I got my long run for the week in.
Saturday/Sunday: ZOMG SKIING! Went up to Sunday River in Maine for three days of skiing with MIT's GSC, and it was kickass! I continue to be astounded with New England's natural beauty :-).
In other news, Maine is f*&$ing cold: the last day we were there it dropped to -12 [edit: -32 at the top, with windchill(!)], and I don't think it got up beyond 10 or so the entire time I was there. When I stepped outside my cabin, I could actually feeling the moisture in my breath freezing to my beard in real-time. Apparently Boston dropped down around zero over the weekend as well, so I guess things were tough all over New England.
Fortunately, the forecast for the next several days calls for temperatures between 30 and 40 degrees back here in Boston, which will feel positively tropical by comparison. Perfect weather for putting some work in :-).
Total weekly mileage: 23 <--About that...
Welp, it's a good thing the schedule has this week listed as a recovery week, because the mileage this week was actually pretty lacking.
Monday: Off day
Tuesday: Snowed in - ran 8 miles on the treadmill.
Wednesday/Thursday: Busy in the lab trying to take over the wor- er, building robots for the good of all mankind.
Friday: So today we left for the Graduate Student Council Ski Trip. I woke up this morning with grandiose plans to put in 15 miles (although I was pretty lax about the training this week, I still wanted to be sure that I got in the long run, as it's the most important run of the week). Unfortunately, after I awoke this morning and sprang out of bed like the highly motivated champion that I am, I glanced out my window to discover that ZOMG IT'S SNOWING AGAIN! So upon realizing that this was my last chance to put in a good workout for the week, I nutted up and decided that I was going to break my cardinal rule of marathon training... and run on the goddamn treadmill. I ended up spending nearly 2 hours on the treadmill, and it was everything I thought it would be - long, boring, and horrible. WORST. WORKOUT. EVER. On the other hand, at least I got my long run for the week in.
Saturday/Sunday: ZOMG SKIING! Went up to Sunday River in Maine for three days of skiing with MIT's GSC, and it was kickass! I continue to be astounded with New England's natural beauty :-).
In other news, Maine is f*&$ing cold: the last day we were there it dropped to -12 [edit: -32 at the top, with windchill(!)], and I don't think it got up beyond 10 or so the entire time I was there. When I stepped outside my cabin, I could actually feeling the moisture in my breath freezing to my beard in real-time. Apparently Boston dropped down around zero over the weekend as well, so I guess things were tough all over New England.
Fortunately, the forecast for the next several days calls for temperatures between 30 and 40 degrees back here in Boston, which will feel positively tropical by comparison. Perfect weather for putting some work in :-).
Total weekly mileage: 23 <--About that...
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Back on Track
Week 5: 1/10/11 - 1/16/11 (13 weeks remain)
Monday: Off day.
Tuesday: 9 miles with 4 1/2-mile lactate threshold run. Did the Boston Common & Commonwealth Ave loop, but rather than turning onto Brookline on the way back, continued down the Charles running trail until the Mass Ave bridge to tack on an extra 1/2 mile or so to the tempo. Went pretty well; not really much else to say.
Wednesday: AHHHHHH BLIZZARD! Cambridge got something like 15" of snow last night, so most of the roads/sidewalks were basically not runnable:
Other apartment buildings near my dorm
So instead of running, I did some cross training. And by cross training, I mean throwing snowballs and sledding ( :-D !)
Thursday: 14 miles, medium-long run. The roads had cleared up quite a bit since yesterday, so I went out for one of this week's medium-long runs. Unfortunately, many of the trails around Boston and Cambridge were still knee-deep in snow, which made running significantly more tiring (even if you weren't sinking knee-deep, the fact that it hadn't gotten above freezing since the snow initially fell meant that much of it was still powdery-ish, and therefore, when running, you only actually converted about 70% or so of the applied power to forward motion, the other 30% or so going to fling up a bunch of snow behind you). So today went pretty well (it was certainly very pretty outside), although perhaps a bit more tiring than I would have expected for only going 14 miles. My quads in particular were a bit sore by the time I got back, which is unusual for me.
Friday: Another 12 miles. Now we have ice instead of snow, which is fairly irritating (I can't run as fast as I would like, since that causes me to slip all over the ice and puts me in real danger of busting my frakkin' skull). Other than that, not much to report.
Saturday: 5 miles, recovery, on the treadmill.
Sunday: 18 miles, long run. Did the Fresh Pond + Boston Common & Commonwealth Ave double-loop again. The kids were out sledding on the hill in Kingsley Park, which was pretty cool. Still icy.
Total weekly mileage: 58 <--- Ah yes, that's better :-).
Monday: Off day.
Tuesday: 9 miles with 4 1/2-mile lactate threshold run. Did the Boston Common & Commonwealth Ave loop, but rather than turning onto Brookline on the way back, continued down the Charles running trail until the Mass Ave bridge to tack on an extra 1/2 mile or so to the tempo. Went pretty well; not really much else to say.
Wednesday: AHHHHHH BLIZZARD! Cambridge got something like 15" of snow last night, so most of the roads/sidewalks were basically not runnable:
My dorm's courtyard
Other apartment buildings near my dorm
Boston Common
So instead of running, I did some cross training. And by cross training, I mean throwing snowballs and sledding ( :-D !)
Thursday: 14 miles, medium-long run. The roads had cleared up quite a bit since yesterday, so I went out for one of this week's medium-long runs. Unfortunately, many of the trails around Boston and Cambridge were still knee-deep in snow, which made running significantly more tiring (even if you weren't sinking knee-deep, the fact that it hadn't gotten above freezing since the snow initially fell meant that much of it was still powdery-ish, and therefore, when running, you only actually converted about 70% or so of the applied power to forward motion, the other 30% or so going to fling up a bunch of snow behind you). So today went pretty well (it was certainly very pretty outside), although perhaps a bit more tiring than I would have expected for only going 14 miles. My quads in particular were a bit sore by the time I got back, which is unusual for me.
Friday: Another 12 miles. Now we have ice instead of snow, which is fairly irritating (I can't run as fast as I would like, since that causes me to slip all over the ice and puts me in real danger of busting my frakkin' skull). Other than that, not much to report.
Saturday: 5 miles, recovery, on the treadmill.
Sunday: 18 miles, long run. Did the Fresh Pond + Boston Common & Commonwealth Ave double-loop again. The kids were out sledding on the hill in Kingsley Park, which was pretty cool. Still icy.
Total weekly mileage: 58 <--- Ah yes, that's better :-).
Friday, January 7, 2011
My Irresponsibility Know No Bounds
Week 4: 1/3/11 - 1/9/11 (14 weeks remain)
The goal for this week was twofold: get back to Cambridge, and get back on track training-wise.
Monday: 6-mile run with the Caltech XC team on their first day back from the break. Saw Gustavo, Garrett, Anton, Chief, etc. Picked it up a bit on the way back. Pretty good overall.
Tuesday: Flew back to Cambridge.
Wednesday: Spent all day running around trying to get my apartment/lab back into some kind of shape after having been away for a month.
Thursday: 5 miles on the treadmill (couldn't get out of lab until 7:30 IN THE PM!). Received public flogging from Megumi for my irresponsible behavior over the previous couple of weeks regarding workouts.
Friday: 10 mile loop around Fresh Pond, 29 degrees. Went kinda not-too-well, actually. I haven't been sleeping well the past couple of days (still getting over jetlag, and trying to switch my sleep/workout schedule so that I get up and run in the morning's when it's still light outside). Legs felt kinda dead throughout pretty much all of the run. On the plus side, it was really pretty out! There's snow all over the place, and the section of the Charles between MIT and Harvard has almost completely frozen over. I'm going to try to get some photos of it tomorrow, perhaps.
Saturday: 5 miles on the treadmill. Didn't run outside today, as it was snowing.
Sunday: 18 miles, long run (10-mile Fresh Pond loop followed by 8-mile Boston Common & Commonwealth Ave loop). Got out at 8:45 this morning for the week's long run. We had fantastic weather today; it was a (relatively) balmy 32 degrees, sunny, the sun came out from slight clouds around 10:00 or so, and some snowfall last nig
ht meant that everything had received a light "dusting" this morning. When I looked out my window this morning, I decided that everything looked so damn beautiful outside that I should take my camera with me.
Street outside my dorm
Local park
John W. Weeks Bridge (the Charles is completely frozen over).
I was out early enough that I caught up to the snowplow.
Fresh Pond loop
Harvard Boathouse
MIT's Building 5 (the banners are for the Institute's 150th anniversary celebration).
Memorial Drive
Boston Public Garden
Storrow Drive running/biking trail
Even after having lived here for almost half a year, I am still amazed at how beautiful New England is :-D !
The run itself went pretty well; I started feeling the first effects of fatigue around the 15-mile mark, but not the ZOMG-JUST-LET-ME-DIE kind of fatigue that characterized the first longer runs I started doing at this point last year. Altogether, I was pretty pleased.
Total weekly mileage: 44 miles
The goal for this week was twofold: get back to Cambridge, and get back on track training-wise.
Monday: 6-mile run with the Caltech XC team on their first day back from the break. Saw Gustavo, Garrett, Anton, Chief, etc. Picked it up a bit on the way back. Pretty good overall.
Tuesday: Flew back to Cambridge.
Wednesday: Spent all day running around trying to get my apartment/lab back into some kind of shape after having been away for a month.
Thursday: 5 miles on the treadmill (couldn't get out of lab until 7:30 IN THE PM!). Received public flogging from Megumi for my irresponsible behavior over the previous couple of weeks regarding workouts.
Friday: 10 mile loop around Fresh Pond, 29 degrees. Went kinda not-too-well, actually. I haven't been sleeping well the past couple of days (still getting over jetlag, and trying to switch my sleep/workout schedule so that I get up and run in the morning's when it's still light outside). Legs felt kinda dead throughout pretty much all of the run. On the plus side, it was really pretty out! There's snow all over the place, and the section of the Charles between MIT and Harvard has almost completely frozen over. I'm going to try to get some photos of it tomorrow, perhaps.
Saturday: 5 miles on the treadmill. Didn't run outside today, as it was snowing.
Sunday: 18 miles, long run (10-mile Fresh Pond loop followed by 8-mile Boston Common & Commonwealth Ave loop). Got out at 8:45 this morning for the week's long run. We had fantastic weather today; it was a (relatively) balmy 32 degrees, sunny, the sun came out from slight clouds around 10:00 or so, and some snowfall last nig
ht meant that everything had received a light "dusting" this morning. When I looked out my window this morning, I decided that everything looked so damn beautiful outside that I should take my camera with me.
Street outside my dorm
Local park
John W. Weeks Bridge (the Charles is completely frozen over).
I was out early enough that I caught up to the snowplow.
Fresh Pond loop
Harvard Boathouse
MIT's Building 5 (the banners are for the Institute's 150th anniversary celebration).
Memorial Drive
Boston Public Garden
Storrow Drive running/biking trailEven after having lived here for almost half a year, I am still amazed at how beautiful New England is :-D !
The run itself went pretty well; I started feeling the first effects of fatigue around the 15-mile mark, but not the ZOMG-JUST-LET-ME-DIE kind of fatigue that characterized the first longer runs I started doing at this point last year. Altogether, I was pretty pleased.
Total weekly mileage: 44 miles
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Vacation Part 2
Week 3: 12/27/10 - 1/2/11 (15 weeks remain)
This week sucked, training-wise.
Monday: Off day
Tuesday: 10 miles, down by the beach. Dead legs.
Wednesday: Rained out.
Thursday: 5 miles, easy.
Friday: 9 miles with 4 mile lactate threshold run. Ran this down by the beach, and it actually felt surprisingly good (my legs felt dead all throughout the previous week). Kept a nice, even pace throughout all 4 miles.
Saturday: Happy New Year! In other news, I did not run today.
Sunday: Also did not run today.
Total weekly mileage: 24 <-- Not good :-/.
This week sucked, training-wise.
Monday: Off day
Tuesday: 10 miles, down by the beach. Dead legs.
Wednesday: Rained out.
Thursday: 5 miles, easy.
Friday: 9 miles with 4 mile lactate threshold run. Ran this down by the beach, and it actually felt surprisingly good (my legs felt dead all throughout the previous week). Kept a nice, even pace throughout all 4 miles.
Saturday: Happy New Year! In other news, I did not run today.
Sunday: Also did not run today.
Total weekly mileage: 24 <-- Not good :-/.
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