Week 14 - Week of January 31st

February 1 - Marlboro Retro Fitness. Easy, then Boston Simulator Hills.  Had a very sore lower back from shoveling an unexpected 2 feet of snow on 1/27!  Very little soreness after my run on 1/28, but it progressively got worse throughtout the day that day as well as in the subsequent days!  Ran at the gym because the roads and park (closed) were still snow and ice covered.  My lower back was tight and sore as I started running.  I didn't think I was going to run more than 3 miles.  After 3 miles, the soreness was gone and I increased the speed steadily and also did Boston Simulator Hills.  Pushed the last mile to about 6:00 finish! Felt great! Cooled down with 1.5 miles barefoot in 12:45.
Weather = Indoors
Weight After Run = 143.
Shoes - Nike Zoom Skylon (orange).

February 3 - Marlboro Retro Fitness. Progression Run.  Less lower back soreness.  Ran a total of 8.80 miles (4.10 miles in the first half hour (7:19 p/mi), 4.70 miles in the second half hour (6:22 p/mi)).
Weather = Indoors
Weight After Run = 142
Shoes - Nike LunarGlide2 (orange).

February 4 - John A. Phillips Park. Tempo Run.  Park was closed, but the main road and parking lot was clear, but the main path was mostly covered with snow and ice.
Weather = 16/08/55%; WSW5; MCl
Weight After Run = 144
Shoes - Nike LunarGlide2 (orange)

TOTAL MLES WEEK 14 - 23.10

Week 13 - Week of January 24th

January 24 - John A. Phillips Park. Hard Progression Run. Ran 5.25 miles in 35:01 (6:39 p/mi). Splits = 7:03, 6:55, 6:40, 6:34, 6:14, 6:01).  Felt really good.  First time running this hard in the new shoes.
Weather =
Weight after run =
Shoes - Nike LunarGlide2 (orange).

January 24 - Marlboro Retro Fitness. Long Tempo Run.  Another winter storm during my day off!  Ran 8 miles in the first hour, then 8.56 in the second hour.  Cooled down wtih 1.50 miles barefoot in 13:45.  Felt great!  Total miles = 18.06 in 2:13:45 (7:23 p/mi).
Weather = Indoors.
Weight after run = 140.
Shoes - Nike Air Zoom Skylon (orange).

Improvised snow/ice shoes (before and after).

Nike Air Zoom Elite4

January 28 - Easy Neighborhood Run.  Park was closed and covered with at least a foot of snow.  Neighborhood streets were clearer, but still covered with snow and ice.  So I ran in improvised running cleats that I prepared the night before!  Inserted screws (head first) into the soles with the sharp ends making contact with the ground.  My wife suggested it as opposed to what I saw on youtube (screwed in regularly with the heads making contact with the ground).  It worked like a charm and I had great traction! Ran 6.20 miles in 49:21 (7:57 p/mi).
Weather =
Weight after run =
Shoes - Nike Air Zoom Elite4 (green).

TOTAL MILEAGE WEEK 13 = 29.51

Week 12 - Week of January 17th

January 18 - John A. Phillips Park. Easy 4, Progression 6. Freezing drizzle so I decided to wear the removeable spikes because the park may be iced over from the recent snow storms.  After about half a mile and in the park, I saw the the paths were pretty much cleared!  I removed the spikes and continued to run.  Felt great througout the run and completed 10 miles in 1:12:32 (7:15 p/mi).
Weather = 41/32/78%; NNE18; Freezing drizzle.
Weight after run = 148
Shoes - Nike LunarGlide2 (orange).

January 21st - Morning after another snowstorm.

January 21 - John A. Phillips Park. Easy Run.  COLD!  As in single digit cold!  For some reason, I knew it was going to be this cold the night before...and I looked forward to it!  The roads and the park were still covered with snow and ice, so I ran with removeable spikes and completed 7 miles in 55:52 (7:58 p/mi).
Weather = 05/-04/46%; NNW5; Sunny.
Weight after run = 148
Shoes - Nike LunarGlide2 (orange).

TOTAL MILES WEEK 12 = 17 miles.

Week 11 - Week of January 10th

Gotta get better at keeping up with this blog!  I feel redundant because I also have my main log on Garmin Connect!  But this is all to keep my supporters informed of my progress for my training for Boston!  Thank you for your contribution and our fight against cancer!

This is Geoff Smith winning the 1984 Boston Marathon in 2:10:34.  I was a senior in high school and remember this race as well as his win the following year.  He is now the mentor for the American Cancer Society's DetermiNation Endurance Team!  How cool is that?  He provides us with training advice as we get ready for Boston.

January 11 - Marlboro Retro Fitness. Tempo Run. 1st hour = 7.5mi; 2nd hour = 8.48mi with Newton Hills Simulator beginning at mile 1.0.  Cool down was a 1.02 mile jog, followed with a 1 mile jog barefoot.  Felt great despite coming down with a cold.  Ate udon and rice before the run.
Weight after run = 144
Shoes - Nike Air Zoom Skylon (orange)
Total Miles = 18.0

January 14 - Marlboro Retro Fitness. Progression Run. Ran 7 miles in 46:30 (6:37 p/mi).  Last mile in 5:50.  Felt very good and strong.  After my last run on January 11th, all symptoms of the cold went away!
Weight after run = 147
Shoes - Nike Air Zoom Skylon (orange).

January 16 - John A, Phillips Park. Easy Run.  Ran 8 miles in 1:00:32 (7:32 p/mi).  Ran the last mile in 6:36.

TOTAL MILES WEEK 11 = 33.0
 

Week 10 - Week of January 3rd

Snow and ice won't keep me from running!

New Year, New Shoes!  My wife got my a new pair of running shoes for Christmas - Nike LunarGlide2!  I wore them for the first time on January 4 and they're awesome!


Week 10 - All runs at John A. Phillips Park, unless otherwise noted.


January 4 - Hard Progression Run.  Total = 5 Miles (splits - 7:07, 6:52, 6:43, 6:32, 5:59.  Ave = 6:39 p/mi).  Felt real good and new shoes were awesome!
Weather = 35/28/52%; SSW11; PCl
Weight after run = 148
Shoes - Nike LunarGlide2


January 5 - Easy Run at Marlboro Retro Fitness.  Planned to run 17 miles (8 in the first hour and 9 in the second), but felt flat.  Thought about my last 17-miler and it was only 14 days ago and I also ran a hard progression run yesterday!  What was I thinking?!?  Decided to just do 10 miles and not push it.
Weight after run = 147
Shoes - Nike Air Zoom Skylon (orange)


January 7 - Easy Run - 5.25 miles (splits - 8:15, 7:47, 8:00, 7:45, 7:42, 7:51.  Ave = 7:54 p/mi).
Weather = 27/19/52%; ESE8; Lt. Snow
Weight after run = 146
Shoes - Nike LunarGlide2 (orange)


January 9 - Easy Run - Total = 8 miles (splits - 7:52, 7:32, 7:38, 7:23, 7:38, 7:23, 7:26, 7:01. Ave = 7:29 p mi).  Ran with the removable spikes my brother-in-law gave me for Christmas with the shoes my wife gave me for Christmas!  The road going to the park was mostly clear, but the park paths were covered with snow and ice.  I had no problems running and even turned the corners, which were covered with ice, with confidence and no slipping!
Weather = 
Weight after run = 146
Shoes - Nike LunarGlide2 (orange)


TOTAL MILES WEEK 10 = 28.25

Week 9 - Week of December 27th

I should've ran on the morning of December 26th!  We had a great time with family visiting from New Hampshire for Christmas.  They arrived on December 24th, we went to midnight mass, then opened presents on Christmas morning.  There was a lot of food and wine, as well as XBOX Kinect!  Also, we kept on talking about going to Jollibee in Queens (it's a Filipino restaurant popular in the Philippines).  We decided to go on December 26th despite the incoming blizzard!  We left as the first snow began to fall.  By the time we got to Jollibee, snow was falling sideways!  We enjoyed the delicious food and I indulged in their famous fried chicken...skin and all!  We all left with more food for later and carefully drove dack to NJ!  The entire trip took us about eight hours!  The blizzard dumped about two feet of snow when it was over the next day.  After shoveling for the second time on the 27th, I wanted to go to Retro Fitness to run.  I waited until the So Family left and drove out to the gym later that afternoon.  Guess what?  The gym was closed and the parking lot wasn't even cleared!  Even the roads going to and from the gym weren't that cleared!  I was so upset, but I should've called ahead of time!  I couldn't even run outdoors because the streets were even worse and the park was closed.  I tried to think positive saying that the shoveling of snow was my exercise.  I even tried running in place during a football game!  I lost a total of four days of no running!  Ugh!

Week 9 - All runs at John A. Phillips Park, unless otherwise noted.

Dec 29 - Retro Fitness.  Easy run.  Roads still not too clear and the park is closed (paths not plowed at all)!  Felt flat after not running for four days.
Miles = 5
Weight After Run = 148 (not bad after not running for four days and eating all the Christmas food!)
Shoes - Nike Air Zoom Skylon (orange)

Dec 31 - Retro Fitness.  Easy Progression Run.  Roads still not too clear and park still closed and not plowed.  Drank my last soda at dinner!  No more soda until after Boston!
Miles = 7
Weight After Run = 148
Shoes - Nike Air Zoom Skylon (orange)

Jan 1 - Happy New Year!  Retro Fitness.  Long Sustained/Progression Run.  Ran 8-miles in the first hour (7:30 p/mi ave), then 9.15 miles in the second hour (6:29 p/mi ave).  Felt great taking in GU gels every half hour with water.
Miles 17.25 in 2h 00m 00s (6:58 p/mi ave)
Weight After Run = 146
Shoes - Nike Air Zoom Skylon (orange)

TOTAL MILEAGE = 29.25

2010 Recap

During dinner with my wife at a Chinese restaurant in the Brunswick Square Mall on January 11th, she reminded me again about updating my blog more often!  She said it'll help more for me as I recount not only the miles I run, but how I felt.  I told her that I have my log on Garmin Connect, but she said the blog would be to give updates for those who contributed to my fundraising efforts.  So I gotta get on it and update my blog more often!

As a recap, here's my running year for 2010:

Total Miles = 1,073.60
Total Racing Miles = 83.5
Total Time Running = 139 hours, 59 minutes, 13 seconds

Races:

March 7 - 34th Annual E. Murray Todd Half Marathon
                 13.1 miles in 1h 27m 23s (6:40 p/mi ave)
                 38th out of 597 finishers

April 19 - 114th Boston Marathon
                 26.2 miles in 3h 13m 31s (7:22 p/mi ave)
                 3,237th out of 22,540 finishers

Sept 19 - ING NYC Marathon Tune-Up
                18 miles in 2h 10m 59m (7:16 p/mi ave)
                175th out of 4,596 finishers

Oct 10 - 34th Chicago Marathon
              26.2 miles in 3h 11m 58s (7:19 p/mi ave)
              1,335th out of 36,088 finishers