Lousy tempo 7 mile run

I went out for a simple 7 mile tempo run. 3.5 miles out at 8:30s and then trying for 7:30s back. At two miles back, I had to take a break. I made it back, but here are my splits:

8:30
8:25
8:24
8:25 (pace 1/2 mile)
7:31
7:30
7:38
7:38 (pace 1/2 mile)

The average pace was 8:00 per mile -- which is what I was targeting. But it was tough getting that last 1.5 miles in. The muscles simply didn't have the strength.

1.5 weeks for my leg to repair for the marathon.

9 x 1 mile repeats...

This is the toughest workout of the session. But with my damaged right hamstring, I knew I wouldn't be able to make the 7:00 miles I would have normally targeted. Here are my splits:

7:22
7:21
7:18
7:19
7:20
7:22
7:30
7:38
7:48

Average time was 7:26 -- which considering I went out hoping for 7:30s is pretty good.

The weird part is that while my legs were sore and I couldn't keep my times under 7:30, my breathing was excellent. I was still able to cheer others on and I didn't have my head between my legs after I crossed the finish.

I'll take it.

16.6 mile long run - Not bad, considering...

Today was long run day. It was cool -- 10 degrees C., which is as good as it gets this time of year. But my hamstring was still very tight the whole run. A bit of pain still on the landing, and you could hear my right foot shuffling a bit -- almost holding me back -- on every stride. But I did it, so I can't say that I'm disappointed. Still two weeks to recuperate before the big day.

No question that I'll be able to do the marathon and no question that I'll get a PB for the Corning Wineglass Marathon this year. What _is_ in question is whether or not I'll be able to get my BQ.

I was looking for no faster than 8:30s today. Here are my splits today:
9:28
9:10
8:59
8:35
8:23
8:27
8:44
8:50
8:23
8:04
8:14
8:14
8:27
8:38
8:49
8:56
8:50 (pace, 0.61 miles)

My average pace was 8:39, so I'll take it. I definitely struggled up anything with a hill because of my gimpy hamstring. But I'm happy that I was able to run the distance. Lots of stretching of my right leg between now and October 6!

Tempo run - 6 miles -- but sloooooowwwww...

My hamstring was feeling a lot better today, so I thought today's short tempo run might go well. But it didn't. The goal was 8:30's on the 3 mile out and 8:00's or better on the way back. Granted, it was uphill -- but I'd still done it a LOT faster the week prior. Here are my splits:

8:35
8:33
8:37
7:59
8:19
8:29

Running was painful at the start and less painful at the end -- but at the end I didn't have the strength in my right leg to keep the speed up. I couldn't easily extend my leg on my push-off which meant that it was always partially bent -- and my quads at the front of my leg were incredibly tired at the end of just 6 miles.

Jenny had me do some stretches afterwards, so I'll have to keep that up. And I'll have to get rid of the pain so that I can run loosely so that my quads don't tighten up.

Re-Ripped Hamstring on the Weekend. Speed Work Tonight Didn't Go Well...

On the weekend, I was thrown from my horse and in the process I re-ripped my hamstring. You can see a video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TymB8EbEZqc.

So when I went out for speed work tonight, I really didn't know what to expect. But I did know that if I was able to run at all, it would be slow. I ran with Michelle and Nancy, who were looking to do 8 minute miles -- ish. Here are our splits for the 6 mile repeats (with a 2:30 break in between):

8:30
8:10
8:00
8:07
8:05
7:56

So my times generally got faster -- but still only to just above marathon pace. I was in pain for most of the runs -- although it did get less painful as time went on.

GREAT 9 mile tempo run...

Tonight went waaaaaay better than 2 nights ago. The temperature was much cooler -- roughly 20 degrees C. Bernie went out for our tempo run targeting 8:30 per mile. On the way back, the goal was 7:30 per mile for the 3 miles to the Forks of the Thames water stop, and then 7:20 per mile for the remaining 1.36 miles.

Here are our splits:
8:45
8:21
8:26
8:28
8:23 (0.37 of a mile)
7:21
7:27
7:27
7:13
7:03 (0.36 of a mile).

The overall average pace was 7:55, so I was quite pleased. And the average pace back was 7:20 per mile (4:33.5/k) - which is the best this year, and almost as fast as the 4:31/km I ran on October 25, 2011 which is just before I ran my personal best in Road to Hope.

Speed work - Mile repeats on a humid night. 4.5 x 1 mile at pace, 1.5 miles a trudge...

So, tonight didn't go very well. It was hot -- roughly 35 degrees C. -- and humid. John Ferguson told us to go easy. The goal was 7 x 1 mile repeats. So my original plan was to go out at 7:30 per mile for the first mile, and then knock off 5 seconds per mile for each additional repeat (separated by 2 minutes 30 seconds). We actually started off better than that pace -- but at 4.5 miles, the heat just had me by the balls and I had to take a break. Jenny came along and I did another 1.5 miles with her at 8-ish minutes per mile. Here are my splits:

7:14
7:16
7:15
7:14
7:20 (pace for 1/2 mile)
8:05 (pace for 1/2 mile)
8:07

So not a very successful night. The only comfort I could gather was that there were lots of other people who didn't have a good night -- although Bernie managed to knock off 7:10 per mile on average x 7 miles (with between 2:30 and 3 minutes break).