AM run from home
just an easy morning run so i don't need to kill myself to get crappy daily mileage for the workout this afternoon. ran to grafflin, did a barefoot mile, ran back home. 4 miles. short strides after. not sure how the hip is holding up but for now it's holding.

PM run at Greeley
really shitty softball game. i got really pissed after i made this huge error in the outfield. all i wanted to do was run the bases which i did only once. went to greeley afterwards to run. did an easy 4.5 miles. basically just cruised and felt ok, nothing impressive. 14 on the day. a little apprehensive about the hip still but whatevs, i'm gonna keep running until tues when i get my wisdom teeth out.

AM run at the rock
i took yesterday off from running because i really messed up my hip on monday and it was hurting when i walked. so in my typical fashion i got super depressed because i really wasn't sure of the severity of the whole thing. going into this morning's run, i was planning on just doing an easy 6 miles if my hip wasn't hurting. maybe because it got a little better or because i've been od'ing on advil the past 24 hrs, i felt pretty good. i ran with andrew, mike, and rafe. it felt like i had taken about a week off and i questioned my fitness while running for some reason even though i only took a day off. rounding swan lake, mike went to go for his long run add-on while andrew and i started picking up the pace, dropping rafe. for the next 5 miles or so we were running at a good clip. we pr'd on the section from the bridge to sleepy hollow (11:19 for a little less than 2 miles) and it felt great to finally stretch out the legs and push the pace on a distance run. so 9.5 for the run. definately harder and longer than i would have liked considering the condition of my hip; i'm not too good at holding back from injuries and what not. gonna try to do some easy miles tonight after my championship softball game. longest entry ever, sorry.

long run at the rock
started out today's long run at an easy pace and then started the ascent for a super summit day. i like running long tough hills on long run days because it takes my mind of how long i'm running and let's me just focus on the challenge at hand. super summit was easily conquered and i really cruised back down the other side to swan lake and down the other hill. by then it was pretty dark and my last few miles in the rock were in pitch black which was pretty disconcerting even though i felt like i was going fast. i got back on the track and wrapped up my foot with the big cut on it to finish the run barefoot. this lasted for about 3 laps when my foot really started to kill and the shoes came back on. i was cruising at a pretty avg clip (6:30) and didn't feel as good as i would have liked. my hip randomly started to kill me with about 300m to go and i jogged in easily. i don't know how to handle this so i'll prob just try to run through it and hope it goes away. a man much wiser than myself said that there is a fine that teters between greatness and injury. hopefully i won't succumb to the latter. oh yeah, 14 miles of distance run.

easy day in CT
easy run in CT along candlewood mtn road and my little trail for 6 miles. felt pretty decent, i've been really enjoying my super easy sunday runs. rounds out 75 miles for the week. did some good drills and a tad more than a handfull of strides.

good week in terms of volume. pleased with the ease at which these miles are coming along and would like to remain over 70 until i go back to school. tempo run was a little less than stellar so there's definately work to be done in that respect.

Roxbury
8.2 mile "race" was pretty fun today. andrewboy and i weren't in the mood to get any miles in before the outing because we knew we'd have to wait a while for my mom to finish. so we chilled on this swingy bench and watched everyone warmup and stretch. they started the race and we quickly assumed the roll of taking (it) up the rear which we obvi liked. 6:58 first mile and even the pops was ahead of us. after a series of miles ranging from 6:24-6:35 with a very hilly mile in 7:08, I moseyed up to the 4th place by the end. roxbury is super bushleague and i'm pumped to toy with the regulars at the "roxbury mile" next weekend with andrew. tacked on another 2.8 miles after the race for 11 on the day bringing the total for the week to 69 in 6 days thus far.

recovery day at the rock
started out super crappy and was dizzy and not feeling good. maybe i am sick, i don't know. really slopped through the first 5 miles but was rejuvinated on a long hill for some reason. started feeling good again and saw khalid khannouchi equipped with his 2 bitches and soon after, Khassahun Kabiso (#2) and 2000 Olympic 5k champ, Milleon Wolde. The Rock is like a fast runner haven aside from me and the HG XC team. dropped the shoes for a mile barefoot on the track and picked up the pace a little. ended up not being such a bad run. 9.5 on the day. 58 so far in 5 days.

PM easy run at the rock
felt really good for the run. was having stomach problems during the day but somehow this ended up being a really good run. it was a really solid pace for an easy run and i was very relaxed. 6 miles for the run. drills after. 14 on the day.

AM tempo run
did today's 4 mile tempo on the track with andrew and the rest of the team. wasn't really sure of my fitness going into this so my goal was to start out at 5:40 and then play it by ear. splits went like this; 5:39, 5:39, 5:37, 5:38. i'm a metronome clicking off off 84.x for 16 laps and led the whole time while andrew drafted on me for the 4 miles. i'm not really in the shape i want to be in right now but i think i'm making progress. this definately wasn't too dificult an effort and felt pretty good/easy the first 3 miles. more like a jack daniel's type tempo as opposed to a dartmouth type tempo. breathing started to get a little labored by the end but i def didn't have lactic acid in the legs. i guess it's a decent start, so hopefully by getting these kind of sessions in once a week, i should start doing them at more respectable paces. 8 miles for the session.

easy day at the rock
easy pace today and felt good. for some reason we ran from the visitor's center to sleepy hollow to do a calibration mile which only depressed us and made us feel crappy. we were going really easy and consciously slowly and it was 6:50. blech. finished up the 10 miler up the big hill to the parking lot. felt ok on that but no steller. did some good strides after. hopefully will feel fresher now for tommorrow's workout.

PM avg day at the rock
shiny new shoes (bo classics) for today's run and felt really good and fresh the whole time. basically cruised for 9 miles at a solid clip which andrew calibrated at some point to be a little under 6:30 but who knows. felt light on my feet and finished strong. did drills afterwards. 15 miles on the day.

AM run at preseason
morning run at the rock. legs felt pretty good and the pace was decent the whole time. did the last 1.5 miles of the 6 miles total barefoot on the track and the pace was under 6:30 but it def felt really easy and my stride wasn't that open. legs felt really crappy on the uphill strides afterwards and i've been walking around all day at work so the pm run probs will be terrible and depressing.

tough run at the rock
ran with brewster legend and princeton stud frank macreery at the rock today. he's def in great shape as he was cruising and i was laboring. def faster than my distance pace for 9.5 miles of a not so fun summit run. i don't know why i chose to do that. we started out at a solid clip and it didn't waver up the hill, he estimated at slowest 6:20 pace, faster at times. enjoyed running with someone who clearly dominates me in terms of aerobic monstrosity as he's doing 90 mpw in singles. finished strong up the big hill to the parking lot and did a couple of bush league strides until i pulled the plug after some minor pains in my groin. good day on the whole even though low mileage. going to try to make the week more even than the last.

avg day at cornell
really was expecting this to be one of the worst runs ever after being pretty dead from a tough week of running and a pretty late night. andrew and i drove from our hotel in ithaca to cornell to do a really good 10 mile run on trails in the rain. althouh our shoes reached saturation quite early on, we were feeling good, rolling and having a good run. i closed with 2 miles on the track with super heavy shoes just cruising in 6:16, 5:58. felt good. i also saw the captain of my hs track team from my frosh year while running there, weird.

70 miles for the week but i only ran 6 days this week because of our weekend excursion up to ithaca. really good week in terms of volume but my under distance speed is def lacking. not too worried though, the season is long and it is still pretty early

goals for next week: hit 75 miles in 7 days, do a good tempo run or threshold workout, get a good day in the pool

workout at the rock
did a threshold workout with andrew at preseason this morning. legs were pretty dead from the past few days but eh, we warmed up 3 miles and then did 5 x 1200 m loops with 1 min rest afterwards. i didn't really plan on going too hard today because it's even earlier for me than it is for andrew and it was my first workout all summer. the threshold pace is just below lactic levls so you should be straining but not too exhausted which is why you get 1 min rest. my legs were dead but we were relatively consistant with 4:09, 4:12, 4:15, 4:14, 4:14. the times are pretty slow but the effort wasn't that hard. my legs were just dead and it was hot as crap. 3 miles warmdown for 10 on the day. 60 in 5 days. i think i'm no longer in that good shape. hoping for easy running this weekend as i am heading up to ithaca. sorry for the rant.

PM run at the rock
started out easy to get rid of the sluggishness from the morning's run. after about 3 or 4 miles, i really was feeling good but the pace was in control. i totally cruised up the big hill to the parking lot and was barely exhasted by it. we tacked on another mile or so to round out 7.5 for the run. 14 for the day. 50 miles so far in 4 days. drills afterwards.

AM easy run at the rock
went to preseason with andrew for an easy morning run. was feeling pretty sluggish and the pace felt really slow until we got back to the track and finished up with a few barefoot laps. it felt over 7 min pace but we were rolling around 6:40 which was good for the ego which was faltering during the run. did some nice accelerators for a half mile to make it 6.5 miles for the morning. hope the legs aren't so tired for this evening's go. because i'm going away this weekend, i've been trying to frontload a lot of my mileage and i just hope it doesn't come back to haunt me for tommorrow morning's workout. ok bye.

recovery day at the rock
Mood:  smelly
looks like i am getting into better shape. i talked to my coach today and he cleared up a lot of my doubts as to my goals and plans for the upcoming season. so i'm going to keep the mileage to develop a good base and maybe jump in a race or two later on to test out my fitness. that's good news.
yesterday's mileage was validated by the fact that i didn't feel bad today. planned on something short but did a swell old 9 miles. after starting out easy i ended up getting into a very relaxed yet in control decent pace. was feeling good and really enjoyed the run. did strides afterwards which were really money.

PM party at the rock
Mood:  hungry
apprehensive about how i'd end up feeling for tonight's run after a pretty long morning run. i felt a little sluggish and tired but def could have run for a long while. did 7 to get 16 in for the day which is a record high for me. andrew and i cruised back to the sleepy hollow track where we did barefoot 1.75 miles. my last mile was 5:10 with getting faster each lap. did drills afterward. was stretching and saw khalid khannouchi (former world record holder and current american record holder in the marathon) chatting it up with the WTC guys. he waved to us when we left. sweet. good day on the whole and the end of tonights run was a confidence boost as to the shape i'm getting into. holla.

AM pre-season practice
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: my boss' cool accent at work
went to preseason practice with my old high school team. they were doing a tempo run with indian sprints today. andrew was exempt from the workout due to the fact that the team is so bad and he'd rather workout with me. we both did the "workout" with the "fast" group as a distance run. it was pretty easy, proving the rediculously pathetic shape kids on the team are in. got 9 in for the run. was longer than i had hoped for but the tempo was longer than i thought. hopefully this won't take too much out of me for later.