Number of 800 Repeats > Number of Hours of Sleep

2.5 mile w/u Target: 6x800m @2:38-2:40 w/2 mins. jog Actual: roughly the above 2 mile c/d Total: 8 miles From Charlotte I headed straight to Austin on Monday morning, and never have I been so thankful to be in Texas. The weather was absolutely perfect every day--low 40s and a spectacular sunrise easing into upper 60s and sunny with no humidity (a particularly rare treat for this section of the Lone Star State). All of this plus the proximity to one of my favorite running buddies, Allison, meant I solidly frontloaded my weekly mileage and enjoyed...

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Week in Review

82 miles 4 doubles 15-mile long run 60 mins. deep stretch yoga 5x10 mins. core 4 runs with Caitlin What can I say; any time spent in Charlotte makes for a fantastic week. (Yes, even if it was cold and rainy and dreary half the weekend.) Caitlin and I had a blast reveling in our homebody lameness, and most nights found us double fisting Nuun and wine (well, at least one of us was drinking the wine) before passing out into a deep, blissful slumber...

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In Need of Speed

Wednesday, 2/21 3 mile w/u Fartlek of (:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 1:30, 1:00, :30) x 2 2 mile c/d Total: ~9 miles Friday, 2/23 AM: 4 miles easy PM: 2.5 mile w/u Target: 10x400m w/1 min. rest; 5 @78 and 5@76 Actual: 75, 79, 76, 76, 75, 74, 72, 74, 73, 73 2.5 mile c/d Total: 8 miles Daily total: 12 miles Switching gears a little bit after Mercedes, I want to focus on putting a little pep in my step for the remainder of the spring. On Wednesday morning I ventured out for a solo fartlek to test the waters leading up the week's main event...a good old-fashioned...

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Week in Review

80 miles 4 doubles 3 nights in Birmingham 1 night in Memphis 6x10 mins. core Well, at least my weekly mileage total was respectable....

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Mercedes Half-Marathon Results

2.5 mile w/u Target: win; run faster than last year (1:17:54) Actual: 2nd place, $750, 1:19:28 Results 2.5 mile c/d Total: ~18 miles I should give this race a proper recap, but I'm not going to. I'm too far behind on my blog and, to be honest, I'm too embarrassed to dignify a slower-than-marathon-pace race with a serious play-by-play. All you need to know is my legs felt heavy and tired, my stomach was not cooperating (had to detour to a port-o around mile 9) and I was never even remotely in contention for the win. At least I had a fun slumber...

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Mercedes Half-Marathon Pre-Race Workout

AM: 2.75 mile w/u Target: 3x5 mins. @race pace and faster (3:40/k, 3:38, 3:36) w/2 mins. jog; 3-5x1 min. hard Actual: 5 mins. @3:39 pace; 5 mins. @3:36 pace; 5 mins; @3:34 pace; then 3x1 min. hard 2.25 mile c/d Total: 9 miles PM: 5 miles easy Daily total: 14 miles Running outside is a delightful, joyous gift that should not be taken for granted. After having been confined to my house and the YMCA treadmill since my last outdoor run on Friday, I've been dying to get back into the fresh air. Last night I took my first tentative jaunt on the streets...

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Week in Review

75 miles 4 doubles 1 day off 2 treadmill runs 3 days stuck in my house Well, if I haven't earned my stripes as a New Englander after this weekend, I doubt I ever will. As you've surely seen and heard on every news and social media outlet in the world, a blizzard (let's call it "Nemo") hit New England on Friday, and hit us with a vengeance. It is no exaggeration to say that between noon Friday and tonight, I set foot outdoors exactly three times....

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Found By Nemo

I captured the above video--of a plow truck fighting a losing battle with a snow drift--from the vantage point of our living room window, looking out onto (what used to be) our parking lot. Suffice it to say Nemo found us, and I did not run tod...

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Half-Marathoon Boot Camp: Workout #4

2.5-3 mile w/u Target: 13k wave alternating every k between 3:30/4:00 (5:37/6:25 mile pace) Actual: 3:54, 3:31, 3:56, 3:32, 4:00, 3:29, 3:58, 3:29, 4:03, 3:34, 4:03, 3:32, 3:56 = 49:02 (6:04 mile pace for 8.1 miles) 1 mile c/d Total: 12 miles While not nearly as fast as a similar (actually, harder) workout I did pre-Philly, I was still relatively pleased with this session. In fact, had I chosen to start and finish with an "on" segment instead of a "recovery" one, the overall time and resultant average pace would've been much closer to that previous...

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(Boot Camp) Week in Review

85 miles 3 doubles 3 workouts 30k long run 6x10 minutes core Week #1 of my half-marathon boot camp was a success! A challenging, exhausting, satisfying success, which is always the best kind. I'm proud of myself for navigating some tricky weather situations and still managing to finish (albeit not always knock out of the park) three solid workouts and a long run. With exactly two weeks between me and Mercedes, there's no time to waste--boot camp week #2 begins tomorrow!...

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Half-Marathon Boot Camp: Workout #3, or "30k For Emily's 30th"

Target: 30 min. easy, 30 min. tempo, 30 min. steady, 10x30 secs. hard for 30k total Actual: 35 min. easy, 30 min. tempo @6 min. pace, 30 min. jogging around looking for Terry, 30 min. steady @~6:20 pace, 5 min. easy for 30k total For her 30th birthday, Emily wanted to do something epic. Or, at minimum, epically symbolic. So after her initial plan of running the entire Boston course was scrapped due to, well, common sense, we enlisted Jordan to come up with something long and challenging but still fun and manageable, all in honor of the milestone...

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