Blue Hills Trail Race

Last Sunday (April 29th) I did the Blue Hills Trail Race for the third time.  I love this race! Very well run, small (250 max for the 2 distances (3 and 10 miles), and a great course with nice mix of ups and downs.  Have been training since late February and felt better this year than ever.  Probably been running 20-25 miles a week which is a good space for me (probably would like to bump up to 30 a week).  Been doing a lot of runs on the Charles River, but also some training runs in the Blue Hills (both the actual course a few times, and hill work).  Beautiful day for a race (high 40s and sunny by start).  Felt much better than last year and definitely did the hills a lot better than in the past.  Wasn't sure how I was doing until near the end, the goal was to break 1:25 for the 10 mile run (Last year did it in 1:27 approx.  Did much better than expected, finishing in 1:20:33.  Felt great.  Did some good tapering week before.  All in all the best race I've ever had by far.  Here's to keeping it up.

Blue Hills Run

Terry and I did almost an hour (58 min) in the Blue Hills on Saturday morning.  I'm thinking maybe did a 9 or 9 1/2 minute pace (forgot my watch).  Both of us felt pretty good and probably could have gone longer.  Wearing ankle braces on each side (thanks to Miriam for the suggestion) and really helped a lot. Going to try to do a 6 mile run today, then a run or some hills Wednesday and Thursday, then a longer Blue Hills run on Saturday. 

PHATLEKS!

Did just over 5 miles on the Charles.  For most of the run did phartleks.  150 -200 meters sprint, 100 meters walk.  Felt pretty good.  Still using the Hayasas (today got two really good ankle braces for my sore outside of feet) and seemed to work pretty good.  Nothing real fast.  Fastest pace was 4:18 (basically sprinting) and averaged about 9:06 (which included the walking).  Felt okay.  Starting to do some new trail running strengthening exercises including 1 and 2 leg squat, push ups/ pull ups, one leg stands with eyes closed.  Also going to incorporate more foam roller exercises.  

Still Running

Took most of last week off with what I think is a sore Peroneal tendon aggravation on my left outside foot, or maybe a small stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal?  I'm hoping not.  Yesterday did the 4.2 (this ended up being 4.25) Charles River Loop.  Averaged 7:54 so slowly getting faster.  First time I tried out my new shoes (North Face Hayasas) which are trail running shoes but double pretty well on the road for short distances.  They felt really good.  Still have to do some Phartleks this week do try to improve that time and get ready for the Blue Hills.  Will take today off, then run Wednesday and Thursday, then longer trail run on Saturday.

Training from March 18-22 according to Garmin

Activity Name Start Time Distance Elevation Gain Avg Speed(Avg Pace) Max Speed(Best Pace) Calories Charles River 4.2 mile Loop Thu, Mar 22, 2012 4:14 PM 33:29:00 4.22 130 7:54 5:42 500 Charles River 4.2 mile loop Wed, Mar 21, 2012 3:37 PM 34:42:00 4.21 22 8:13 6:12 498 Charles River 4.2 mile loop Tue, Mar 20, 2012 4:12 PM 34:31:00 4.21 26 8:13 5:54 502 Charles River 4.2 mile Mon, Mar 19, 2012 11:06 AM 34:03:00 4.21 27 8:06 5:49 497 Blue Hills Hill workout Sun, Mar 18, 2012 4:34 PM 31:52:00 1.01 301 31:31:00 15:21 286

Achilles 90% heeled! 5 runs in past week

I'm back to running.  This week ran 5 times, Sunday - Thursday.  Sunday was hill workout in the blue hills, Monday-Thursday was my 4.2 mile Charles River loop in Cambridge.  Best pace was Thursday, on the hottest day, at 7:56.  Training for the Blue Hills 10 miler at end of April.  Going to shoot for 8 minute mile pace (a stretch) for that race.  2 years ago hit 8:42, last year 8:41.  Got to have ambitious goals. Also just ordered the North Face Hayasa Trail Shoe, and am totally pumped to try them out next week.

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Ran this week 10 miles (two 5 mile loops) and achilles finally feeling better.  Also rane about 3 or 4 times in Utah over Christmas.  still some pain.  But biggest string of runs I've put together since July.