I lined up at the marker that said “25 minutes,” so I figured the people around me would be trying to move at a decent pace.  Now I know to move up a bit in the pack.  I might not finish in 20 minutes (although by next year I hopefully will be better than that), but at least I can get out at a decent pace and get a more accurate time.

Nonetheless, it was a fun time.  I took a week or two off afterwards – finishing up a ton of work for my classes at Rutgers – but now I’m back in the groove.

The other day, I did some speedwork at the lake.  I want to get a feel for the faster pace that I want to run for the 800m, so I ran 4 x 200m at around 35 seconds.  The first one was quicker (~31 seconds), and the next three were all around 35-36 seconds.  I was happy with the workout, and I finished up pretty tired.

Today, I went out for a 5 mile easy run.  I didn’t time myself, but it was around an 8:30 pace overall.  I think I started out around 8:00 minute pace and slackened off closer to 9:00 by the end.  I want to get back in the habit of one longer run a week – 5 to 7 miles.  I’m not going to run any crazy long runs (8+ miles) like I did over the summer until next summer rolls around, though.

Two weeks ago, my luck ran out. I was getting ready to enjoy a nice four day weekend – in other words I was going to get a lot of work done. But Friday I came down with a nasty cough, a horrible headache, and eventually a steady fever. This seemed like a good time to take a few days off.

On Sunday, most of my symptoms were improving, except the cough. I thought I’d go out for an easy jog to stretch out my legs after a few days of sitting around the house. It felt good to get out and stretch, but my legs were so dead I made it about a mile before I stopped and walked home.

Over the next two weeks, I didn’t go out and run.  The first week, my cough was still so bad I didn’t want to run hard. The second week, I intended to go out and get a couple easy workouts in, but I was too busy catching up on work that I missed while sick.

But, finally, I got out yesterday morning for a workout. I went to the park and warmed up. At first, I planned on some speedwork, but after my warmup I didn’t feel quite up to it. Instead, I thought I’d do some 800-meter cruise intervals – a medium intensity stamina workout.

I warmed up with a half mile jog (~4 minutes). My goal was to run six 800 meters at a pace of around 3:20 to 3:30 (around my goal 5k time) with a short walking recovery (2-3 minutes) between each rep.

The first one was good, coming in at 3:27. The second one, my legs felt decidedly fatigued, and I struggled through at 3:40. By the third lap, my legs were really dead and I just barely came in under 4 minutes. At that point, I decided it was time to call it an early day, stretch out, and head home.

It definitely felt good to get out and run, but my legs are definitely worn out from sitting around for a week or two without any exercise. Hopefully a few days of training will whip that fatigue out of them, because my 5k is coming up in just a few weeks – December 12.

I plan on going over to the park later today for a workout, so we’ll see how that goes.

The rain that has been pelting New Jersey for a few days has moved on. It was dark out and a bit brisk, but not too cold – in the mid 50′s. I love running in this kind of weather. I don’t get overly sweaty, but I don’t have to worry about my hands freezing off!

I went out for a simple 5k steady state run. The loop is actually about 5200m. Unlike last time, I took my stop watch and tracked the splits so I could gauge my recent progress.

• One Mile: 7:40
• Two Miles : 15:55
• Three Miles: 23:50
• 5200m: 25:30

I made a conscious effort to push the pace slightly today, to see what my time was like. Still, I was definitely not running at a full race pace. My breathing increased at first, but it stabilized at an increased but sustainable rate. My heart rate was elevated, but only a short 400m walk after I finished my heart rate was below 140.

I was thrilled with my time – which would be about a 24:30 or 24:45 5k.  Not a great time by any stretch, but it’s a milestone for me (the first time I ran under 25). I’m still not sure if I’ll hit my goal of 21:00 by December, but this is a step in the right direction.

The real weakness here was the second split. I’m not sure why I ran so much slower (~8:15) on the second mile, while the first and third miles were both a tad under 8 minutes.  The first mile is net downhill, so that might have helped, but the third mile is a slow, steady incline. Maybe I just need to work mentally on pushing through that second mile, and I can trim a few seconds off there.

It’s also nice to know that I can run a mile under 8 minutes without taxing myself too much. It’s been a long time since I’ve run a decent mile, and over the summer I was still pretty winded after doing an 8 minute mile.

I missed my interval workout this weekend – I was super busy. But after this, I’m looking forward to hitting the track next weekend!

Saturday, I jogged over to the park for a fairly intensive cross country stamina workout. I jogged two miles over at an easy pace. After loosening up a bit at the park, I ran 12 x 400m repeats (essentially a 5k broken up into 400m increments). I rested for about 45-60 seconds between repeats. My goal time was 1:45 to 2:00 per repeat.  The first two 400′s I ran a bit slow (1:57 and 1:51). After that, I found the pace and I kept right around 1:45 for the rest of the workout. The last rep I picked up the pace a bit and ran about 1:35.  I walked around the lake to regain my breath, and then I jogged home two miles as a cooldown.

Sunday, I went out for an easier endurance workout. I went for a five mile jog – out to the park, around the lake twice, and back. My pace started out a bit quick for a long run (~8:30/mile), but I think I eased back to ~9:00-10:00/mile after the first two miles. The first three miles felt great, but I was really drained on the last two. Maybe it’s because those last two miles almost all up hill…

Today, I went out for another stamina workout. My legs were a bit tight in the beginning – I might have worked a bit too hard the last two days. I did a fairly easy steady state 3.25 mile run.  The first mile was at about 8:15 pace, and I eased back a bit to around 8:30 for the last two miles. After the first half mile, my legs loosened up and I felt pretty good the whole way through. My heart rate was elevated at the end, but my breathing was very regular until I kicked the pace for the last quarter mile.

Walking around this evening, I noticed my right calf is tight. I stretched it out a few times, but I’m going to have to watch out tomorrow and make sure I don’t overwork myself. It’s time for an easy day, anyway…

Then, last year, I started going to the high school’s track meets. I told some of my old students I’d come watch, and I had a blast. At one of these meets, one of my old students insinuated that I was old, fat, and slow. She might have used nicer words than that, but the bottom line is that she challenged me to a race.

Well, that was as good a reason as any for me to start running again. I went home that night, jogged two miles, and started on a regular workout routine. Our race – which was supposed to take place last June – never happened because she backed out. Probably a good thing, since I wasn’t in such great shape after only a month of training.

Ahh, but this year is a whole new year. I trained pretty regularly throughout the summer. I took a few weeks off in the end of August and beginning of September, because I pushed too hard and hurt my foot. It’s all healed up now, though, and I’m continuing with the routine.

Although I haven’t written much of anything recently on this site, I plan on keeping a log of my running activity. I don’t know if this would interest anyone as a reader – but it would be good for me to track my progress and my health throughout the year. So, if you don’t want to hear about my training… go read something else!

My Goals for This Year

My most immediate goal is a 5k race coming up in December. Each year, Rutgers hosts a charity 5k event in December – the Big Chill. It’s a competitive 5k run (and a fun 5k walk), and the event is used to collect toys for kids in the area for Christmas. This’ll be my first official race since high school, so I want to go out and see what kind of time I can run. I don’t expect anything spectacular. I’m pretty confident I can run about 25 minutes right now, and I’ve got two months left to train. My goal is to shave a few minutes off and run somewhere between 22 and 24 minutes.

I’ll probably find another 5k to run in the Spring, but my other goals for this year involve track events.  Three of my old students have now stepped up and challenged me to a race. Before you go thinking that a grown man shouldn’t be racing high school kids, keep in mind that these are all Seniors and three season athletes. It’s all for fun, but I would like to beat them all…

M. has challenged me to an 800m race. His PR last year was around 2:10 – a respectable time and better than I ran in my high school years. My goal, then, has to be to shave a few seconds off and run about 2:00 to 2:05. That’s going to be tough…

S. was the student who originally challenged me to a race last year. She wants to run a 400m. Her PR is somewhere around 68-70 seconds. I’m pretty confident I can run in the mid 60′s by June, and that’ll be a given if I hope to be competitive in the 800m race.

L. is the last to come on board, and she wants to run a 200m. She said her PR is in the high 20′s. If I’m on track to run a 60 second 400m, I should have no problem busting out a high 20′s 200m.

So those are the goals for the year. We’ll see how they work out.