16-mile "tempo"

out and back; 16.01 in 1:36:21 (6:01/mi.) First mile was a 6:19, that was the slowest. Felt good to be alive today and not dealing with super cold temps.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV) - "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

Back to it

12:49 pm - had to drag myself out (and have heather push me out the door) today, but knew it would get better once I was going, and it did. 10.27 in 1:09:48. Out and back from home into Topsfield. Cold but much more comfortable. Actually a little warm with two top layers.

Day off

first day off of the new year. Got up at 6 to run before Gordon track meet at Southern Maine. the dark and 12 degrees sent me back under the covers. had a fun time at the all day meet in gorham, me with some great performances by my athletes. ready to get back after my training fresh and rested.

Friday, January 25, 2013

22 degrees and a wind chill in the single digits felt downright balmy today. Dragged the Garmin 15.16 in 1:38:16 for a 6:29 pace.

We (Gordon College) have our second indoor track meet of the season tomorrow at Southern Maine. Looking to get some relays qualified for ECAC's tomorrow, next week at Tufts and the 16th of February at DIII New Englands (back at Southern Maine). Also some opportunities for school records in the women's 4 x 800, 60, 200, 1000 and mile, and the men's shot put.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

out and back at 1:09 pm, tried to zig and zag a little on the roads because it was pretty uncomfortably cold heading into the wind. It was 16 degrees, so a little warmer than yesterday, but the wind was more consistently in my face. Headed toward Beverly and ran around town a little. 12.19 in 1:19:30

Cold out there.

I think it was 13 degrees and windy. Got bundled up and even had the Garmin covered by mittens over gloves, just kept listening for the beep every mile. Felt like after today and maybe tomorrow everything will seem better, or warmer at least. 14.31 in 1:33:53 through Wenham, Hamilton, Ipswich, Essex.

Gordon College men's basketball, 79-71 over Western New England to move to 12-5 overall, 7-3 in the conference. Big game at first-place Curry this Saturday.

Track workout

headed out into the chill a couple minutes before noon; up to the outdoor track (.32) plus 2 miles on the track for a warmup; changed into spikes and shed a top layer and hopped into some mile repeats - tried to keep them close to 5-flat and then the recoveries were long (3 laps) but at 6:40 pace; 5:03, 5:05, 4:58, 5:08 (windy); 5:03; 5:02; 2.41/15:47 cooldown

10 mile time (including recoveries) was 56:35.

No more shorts

Went out at 12:30 pm into a brisk winter (seasonal) day. Out and back through Hamilton and Wenham. 12.15 total in 1:21:11.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

12:18 pm - another January run in shorts! 55 degrees and windy, 11.15 in 1:10:24. Out and back. Felt pretty well recovered from yesterday until the last couple miles, when the legs felt a little worked over. Amazed at how good I've been feeling. Definitely been getting close to 8 hours of sleep a night and eating plenty (as usual).

Saturday, January 19, 2013

New year continues to be a good one for running, nineteen days in, although January of 2012 was good, too.

Left the house a few minutes before 8:00 am, Heather, Ben, Grace and Emma planned to go to DD and meet me at Gordon at 10:00 (for practice). I ran from home to Gordon in 36:15 for 5.66 miles, then went out to 78:07, so I could be back in 2 hours. Ran mostly around Beverly, kept it in between 6:15 and 6:20 for much of the way. Much milder than yesterday (low 30's) with a little wind. 19.08 in 1:59:24 (6:16/mi.) Heather ran with the team afterwards for 8 miles.

Now I have a few hours to work on my project and get ready for sprint practice at 3.

97.31 miles for the week.

Friday, January 18, 2013

12.28 in 1:19:38. (6:29/mi.) 22 degrees and sunny. Cold but nice. Good last two days at work. Long run tomorrow and practice and writing final paper for my strength and conditioning class.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

12:00 noon - warmed up with Mary-Beth and did hull st. loop in 27:17, then went off for another 8. 14.27 total in 1:35:57.

(This worked yesterday, so I'll try it again: when/why did Jim Johnson join the BAA?)

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Well, I hope Jim Johnson is happy - we got some snow.

Out and back on the slushy roads of Wenham and Beverly at 1:30 pm

12.05 in 1:17:32.

2012 totals

Felt like cleaning all the data off my Garmin for the last 4 months, so I ended up updating my 2012 log and coming up with a yearly total of 3165 (down from 3700 in 2011).

Only 11 races in 2012, down from 21 in 2011.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgeHGnAgdMaodE11R3psYWRTaE5qazRjM1I3QnB3amc#gid=26

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Ran from Gordon over to the seminary and met Aaron for what is becoming our loop - essex st to miles river road to bridge st to 1a north to moulton to sagamore to bridge to essex st then back to the intersection of woodbury. Today Aaron joined me back up woodbury toward Gordon, then I added the hull street loop the long way at the turn. 12.07 in 1:26:18

Highly Irregular? yes. Unwelcome? not at all

I know 62 degrees and sunny is a little strange for mid-January in the Northeast, but, man, it felt good out there today. After 10 and a half kind of hard yesterday, I wasn't sure what to expect, but that spring air got to me...

headed out from Gordon College on Hull Street into Beverly, stayed on 22 south over 128, then took a left onto Cole St. by the Sterling Center YMCA, ran over the train tracks and onto Boyles out onto 127 past Endicott College, which must still be on break and into Beverly Farms. Stayed on 127 North into Manchester then took a left on Pine St. and ran all the way back under 128, where it turns into Chebacco Road in Hamilton and is dirt for just under a mile. Came out onto Essex Street (Rte. 22) in Hamilton and back Rubbly Road. At what I'm now calling "the turn", I opted for the long way again, and wound up just over 17 miles in 1:45:40 (6:12/mi.)

I realize that I won't be able to maintain this volume forever, but it sure is nice to be able to train right now.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

10.52 in 1:04:09
12:50 pm - left home and did 10-mile loop through hamilton and wenham with 5 miles on 1a north from arbor st in wenham to waldingfield road in ipswich. First mile was a 6:42, then averaged just over 6-flat the rest of the way. Ran in shorts on January 13 - 46 degrees; love it!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Ran at practice. Started out with John, Aaron and Andrew K. for the first 6, then ran another 2.75 with just Aaron and Andrew, then another 5.25+ with just Andrew. 14.09 in 1:41:42.

91.45 for the week.

Some quality work

Ran up to the Gordon outdoor track (.25) and did 2-miles for a warmup. There was some snow on the last 160 meters or so, with some breaks but some sections of pretty good cover. Decided that the spikes would help and opted to give some 1000m repeats a go. The last time I tried a workout on an interrupted track was at the Beverly track a couple summers ago when it was under construction and there were a couple raised platforms across all six lanes that you had to run up and over and the workout ended up being a bust.

Started out thinking 7-10 x 1000m would be good, with sub-3:10 as the goal. First one felt good in 3:05, jogged 600m in about 2:40, then back into it. 3:03 for the second, 3:07 for the third which would be my slowest. Had to adjust the effort so that I was at top speed heading into the snowy sections, and usually was pretty hard the last 200 to make up ground on the clean track. I started these at the finish line and ended at the 200m start, so I only had to run through the snow twice per 1000.

Fourth and fifth were 3:04; sixth and seventh were 3:03. Eighth was 3:06, then ninth was 3:03 again. Last one I ditched the watch and tried to run my fastest but relaxed. Finished with a final 600m jog and then switched back into trainers for 2 miles on the track cooldown and the jog back down to my office.

Sub-31:00 for 10x1000. 31:28 is my pr on the outdoor track. I would love to take a crack at 31:15 or 31:00 this spring.

14.5 total for the day.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

left Gordon at 1:04 pm and ran the 2+ miles over to the seminary; met Aaron for 6.5, then added on hull st. loop on the way back to gordon. 12.35 in 1:28:27.

when I got to the turn to go back the short way, I thought if the long way back is going to make me stronger then i want to go that way, and if the long way back is going to hurt me, I don't want to know. Just at a point right now where 12 miles feels like the minimum daily run during the week. Until I start getting myself out of bed before work for a few miles, I probably will take advantage of having the freedom to run medium-long in the middle of the day.

(10:00 am distance practice - men: 7 x 1000m w/ 3:00 recoveries; women: 5 x 1000m w/ 3:00 recoveries

3:00 pm sprint practice - 200-150-100/150-100-100/100-100-100)

tonight, ben, grace and i watched the gordon college men's basketball team dominate roger williams, 69-48, to bounce back from a tough loss to une on tuesday. they're now 8-5 overall, 3-3 in the conference. The kids were great and had fun watching from the front row. On the way back to the car, grace slipped on the ice and wailed her head on the ground. Only cried for a minute, tough kid; makings of a mid-distance runner...she also wanted to run around the gym most of the second half.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

1:20 PM - 12.22 in 1:22:54 (6:47/mi.)

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

15.50 in 1:40:15. From Gordon through Wenham, Hamilton, Essex. I just felt like running. Another spring-like January day; not so eager to get on my snowshoes that I can't appreciate the recent weather. I'd much rather avoid snow altogether I've decided.

Monday, January 7, 2013

12.50 in 1:20:15; nice loop from Gordon - Hull St. to Thoreau Circle through to Grover Street to Dodges Row/Dodge St. to North Beverly, 1A North to Larch Row/Essex St., with a loop around the seminary to make it 12+. 

10-day forecast looks mild; maybe the snow on the outdoor track will melt in time for a workout later this week!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

10.29 in 1:08:21 at 12:56 pm. Tried to make it a recovery but had to keep it honest to be home by close to 2:00. Mostly stayed between 6:35 and 6:55. Beautiful day! Great sermon; Sunday school with Heather for the first time in a while. Developing our story of what God has done for us.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

After breakfast with Heather, Ben, Grace and Emma at Stone Soup in Ipswich and some shopping in Danvers - Babies R Us for a car seat, Trader Joe's for some specialty groceries, Burlington Coat Factory for some socks (I know, you had to know), headed out for a medium-long run eager to enjoy the forty degree sunshine.

First mile was 6:23 and I felt ambitious, since I would normally hope to average 6:40's on a run like this. Yesterday was fairly easy, though, so I thought 6:20's might be OK. To my surprise, mile 2 split was 12:19 (5:56), but I felt relaxed and good in my race rockers, so I just decided to try to hold sixes for as long as I could. The loop is rolling hills on mostly quiet secondary roads near my house, and so I ran on the shoulder, crunching the melting snow and splashing through the small puddles. Mile 3 was 6:03, mile 4 was 5:58, then mile 5 was a 5:46. From there I continued with a 6:02; 5:51, 5:43 (mile 8), 5:51, 6:00, 5:59, finished up with a 5:48, 5:45, and a 5:30.

Felt great! 1:23:04 for 14.08 total. (81 miles for the week)

Thank you, God!

Friday, January 4, 2013

Warmer, cloudy and windy. Ran from Gordon over to the seminary, met Aaron Baldwin and Stuart Guild for about 6, then added on a hull st. loop at the end by myself for 12 total in 1:27. 

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Coldest day of the winter, I hope. 16 degrees at 12:00 when I headed out. Sunny with a little wind. Ran down to HWRHS and did about 5 miles with Alex Vlahos, then ran back. 12.87 total in 1:27:43

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Cold thirteen at lunch in 1:23.
I can't remember two inches of snow ever lasting this long without melting at all - the outdoor track is pretty well buried.
How long until spring?
Above all, just happy to have the chance to be out there.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

First run of the new year was a memorable ten miles with my wife! Two-mile splits (because I can't help myself): 15:11, 15:06, 14:55, 14:36, 14:05. Heather's longest run since Emma was born in May!