The week in review...

Training update:

Sunday: 6/27- Aaron sent out an e-mail to meet at McMullen at 7:30am last Sunday and when I got there and it was already 90 degrees, I looked at Aaron and said, "7:30...Really?" There were about 10 of us and we started out not much slower than 7 minute pace. We ran to the end of the greenway and got up on the road and when we did that I could hear a lot of heavy breathing. People would surely be falling off the pace shortly (A pace that was set by Jay and Aaron). I played the role of the great former British middle distance star, Ian Stewart...never leading...always following! With 4 miles to go, the leaders decided to bring the pace down to just over 6 minute pace and I was the only runner able to maintain contact. By the time we finished, 14 miles later, a solid progression run was completed! Good stuff...

Monday: 6/28: Just an easy, uneventful 8 mile run with the ipod...

Tuesday: 6/29: As of late, I have been doing some of my workouts with Aaron and Jay (great training partners who are both about a zip code in performance outcome ahead of me). I certainly appreciate the fact that they let me tag along. For this workout, we met out at McAlpine and ran a couple of miles on the roads before we started the workout portion at the Old Bell entrance. Mike Beigay and Caitlin Crisman joined us for a marathon pace run of 45 minutes. What we ended up accomplishing was 7.2 miles in 43 minutes which was about 6:03 pace. That pace would put me just under 2:40 for NYC on 11/7. Maybe a stretch and you gotta dream big! It was warm out there and I want it to stay hot so that when the weather breaks in the fall when marathon training kicks into full gear, we'll feel that much better.

Wednesday:6/30: Just an easy 8 miler with the ipod (Jovi, the Crue, White Lion, and Jordan Sparks (?)...

Thursday: 7/1: Got an e-mail from CaitCris to meet her at McAlpine and when I showed up it was actually Thomas (who I've never run with before) and Meagan Nedlo (again, never run with and she was coming off of a 16:59 just 36 hours ago!) About a mile into the park we caught up with Caitlin and Justin and ran to the start of the XC course to start the workout which would consist of 14 X 1 minute followed by 1 minute and 15 second recovery. I must admit, when I heard this workout my first thought was...what am I going to do with minuters?" Since I hadn't run with these peeps before, what I decided to do was hang in the back and just assess the situation and see how everyone looked. Well, the girls set a visciously fast pace up front and it was all I could do to stay close behind. This went on for about 7 reps and one of the things I noticed was how Meagan's feet never seemed to be on the ground (it was rather impressive). After 7 reps, I decided to stick my nose up front and help share the effort with Caitlin and Meagan. This went on 'til the last one when I just needed to clean out the pipes! A good workout was had by all...

Friday: 7/2: Another easy 8 mile recovery run with the ipod...

Saturday: 7/3: Usually I run long on Sunday and since it was the 4th, Caitlin reached out to see if anyone was willing to go long (17 miles) on Saturday instead. I figured that I would be the only one showing up at the Monroe Rd. entrance to McAlpine. Boy was I wrong! Jordan, Ben, Mike, Caitlin, John, Jason, Paul and myself. At one point I looked at Paul and said...can you believe this? What a group...

The weather was cool for this run and the pace was comfortable UNTIL I was talking with Jason and we looked up and the pack was 10 seconds ahead of us. We finally caught up as we were in the 6:30 range and Caitlin was rolling. We still had the course to run and that is when things got fun. Jordan made a break (he hadn't had an effort based workout since his 14:59 4 days before) and Mike and Caitlin followed. I finally got a second wind and was able to go by them and go after Jordan (NOT!) Still a good long progressive run...2 hours of tennis in the afternoon...Prefontaine after that and then the Tour de France on Versus...great stuff!

Sunday: 7/4: A 10 miler at 8 minute pace and beautiful weather...

Monday: 7/5: Just an easy 8 miler because we're getting after it tomorrow...

Question: Since there is so much happening in the world of sports including the World Cup, Wimbledon, the Tour, Prefontaine...what performances have impressed you?

For me it was Rafa and Wheating...