Bret

PM - 7.5 miles easy outdoors at lunchtime.  Warm.

PM - 7.5 miles on the treadmill at lunchtime in a new pair of Kinvaras - which I noticed late in the run a slight pain on the left forefoot - so I may just use these gradually on short runs for a bit.

AM/PM - got in 10 miles in two runs - the second on the treadmill followed by some indoor rowing.

No running today.

AM - 5 miles on the treadmill at an early lunch.  Last two miles were fast - 6:18 then 5:52 pace.  Not planned - but I felt good with the rest day yesterday and some decent sleep.

AM - 4 miles easy with Finn this morning before work.  Busy schedule today.  No other running expected - unless I can move something this evening and get to go to the All-Comers meet.

PM - All-Comers meet - mile 6:04.  Goal was to try to run even 90 second quarters.  Splits were 90, 91, 93.5 and 89.75.  Not bad - with the exception of the 3rd lap.  Very humid/sticky high dew point.  I had a planned originally to run the 5000, but then got tickled with idea of doing the mile and then the 5000; but I knew mid-way through the mile that I was going to only run one race as I was feeling like I would not have the energy to come back in less than 20 mins to do the second race. 

Saw James run a nice sub 5 min mile and Allie run a very well-executed 5000.  Nice job to both of them.

PM - 3 very easy miles at lunchtime on the treadmill - recovery run pace.

AM - 3 miles easy with Finn before work.

PM - lunchtime on the treadmill  4 x 400 at 80-82 avg per rep.  2 min rest.  Warm up and cool down.  Trying to resurrect some lost speed.  Read an interesting article on the number of folks who run under 5 mins for the mile over age 50.  Not a whole lot.  About 15 per year officially.  

AM - 3 miles very easy

PM - 5 miles after work. 

Travel day.  Drove to Virginia beach for vacation with the family ahead of our nephews wedding next weekend.  A series decisions regarding meet up with other family members for dinner conspired against well intended plans for a run today.  Oh well. 

A little over 4 miles this morning with Riley on the boardwalk at VA Bch.    

AM - 6 miles with Riley this morning.  Headed north along the shoreline today.  She was on the "struggle bus" again today -as she put it -  though we did slow the pace down considerably.  It is quite warm and humid.  

AM - 4 miles easy with Riley on the boardwalk in Va Bch.

PM - treadmill workout 4 x 400 at 80 secs with 2 min rest - warm up and cool down.  Hotel treadmill - felt a little unsteady - but ended up being fine.

AM - 5 miles with Riley on the boardwalk and north end of Va Bch.

AM - 10 miles steady state with a fast finish.  

AM - 4.5 miles easy with Riley this morning.  Foggy and humid.

PM  - 3.5 miles on the treadmill before the rehearsal dinner. 

AM - 8 miles with 10 striders at the end.  

AM - 4 miles on my last morning in Va Bch.  Heading out to New Orleans today for a business conference.   

AM - 4 miles in the warehouse district of New Orleans.  

PM - 5 miles late afternoon.  Tried running through different parts of the city and along the river.  Hot and not the nicest most scenic run I have done in cities where I have traveled. 

AM - just an easy 3 miles this morning in some light rain.  Tropical disturbance in the gulf is pushing in some wind and rain in the next few hours here in New Orleans - actually ran past Jim Cantori from the Weather Channel who was setting up for a "remote" with the Mississippi River in the background.  Never a good sign about the weather situation when he shows up!   I am going to get an earlier flight home today instead of staying until tomorrow.  

AM - 3 miles easy with Finn - back at home.  He has not had a run in over 10 days as I have been traveling - and so he really was excited to hit the road this morning.  

PM - 8 miles with Richie at lunchtime.  He was in town on business.  Really good catching up with him and having a chance to go for a run.  

PM - busy work schedule - and then commitments in the evening - got just 3 miles in after work.

PM - 4 miles at lunchtime outside

PM - 4 more after work.

Rainy humid sticky morning in Buckhead.  My youngest daughter, Delaney is doing a summer internship for Susan G. Komen Atlanta and part of the fundraiser - race organizing team - So I put this on my schedule.  Goal was to average under 6:40 pace per mile.  Splits were 6:37, 6:28 and 7:04 with a quick .1 finish giving me an AP of 6:38.  Goal met. 

Overall good organization to quite a large event which starts at the same place as the Peachtree 10k which takes place in about 10 days and covers the first mile or so of that route too.  Thie event is a fundraiser and celebration of cancer survivors etc. so the atmosphere and focus is on that more so than the race itself.  As a result they were about 10 mins late on the start and a little off on the course measurement which I normalized for my pace.  Not very many serious runners here - and I recon that I was in the top 15 finishers.

Slight grade up to the first mile.  Some short rollers and net downhill for the second mile.  Middle of the third mile had a longer and sharper uphill that slowed my pace - but the gradual downhill to the finish helped me regain that loss of pace.  

Reasonably pleased with effort.  Would like to see some faster times - but my HR, cadence, strength all suggest that this was the best I could do with what I have fitness and speedwise at this point in time.  Over the last month or so, in doing those couple of All Comers meets my times are consistent with my fitness level and show my goals are appropriately set and have been evenly met.   Would like to see a decent 10k in the Peachtree in the 42-43 min range (6:55 pace) if the weather cooperates.  Following that I plan increase my mileage volume in prep for a fall marathon.

PM - 12 mile "long" run on the treadmill in the evening.  Busy day. 

PM - 8.5 miles on the treadmill at 70% HRR aerobic effort.  

Looked at max HR efforts in races over the last 4 weeks.  I had a VO2 Max test over 6 years ago at a lab and the MaxHR was 184 bpm in the test.  I had been under the assumption that my max HR has probably declined over the last few years with my age - but the data from these races is showing 185-187 as max HR efforts in mile and in the 5k I did recently.  (Obviously there could be accuracy issues with HRM - but I also looked at HR efforts for 6 months or so as well - and it is consistent).   Given the recent results - it may be that my max HR has not actually declined at all or very little.

So I am using 184 as my max in order to calculate my HRR numbers for training efforts.  

The last several months I have been doing mostly easy efforts well below 70% HRR.  Also the mileage has been limited to 35- 50 mpw.  My concern and focus has been with being able to run enjoyably and injury free.  However, only so much can be gained in aerobic fitness at those intensities/efforts.  I would like to find out if more training at higher intesities and volume at my age will still result in improvements in fitness and race times.  

I think - though I could soon find out I am wrong - that the last 6-8 months of that type of effort may have gotten my body a decent starting point from which to transition to more volume at more substantial efforts - albeit still mostly aerobic.  We shall see.  Hope nothing breaks...

AM - 3 miles very easy with Finn before work - with an extended amount of stretching and rolling afterwards.  Feeling quite sore the last two days.  

PM - 8.5 miles at lunchtime outdoors.  Too warm/hot to be an enjoyable experience at that distance.   

PM - 9 miles on the treadmill at lunch at aerobic pace.  Heading up to Minneapolis for business this afternoon.  Second run is a question mark.  

AM - great running this morning in Minneapolis around Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles - per the suggestion/request of Rob Murphy.  

AM - 4 miles with Finn on a rainy/wet morning back at home.  

PM - treadmill tempo at high aerobic zone effort.  Total of 8 miles with about 5.5 of them at tempo.