May 28th through June 2nd

Sunday, May 27th

pALS 5k: 16:30, 1st place

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/12/ma/May27_pALS5k_set1.shtml

To start things off, I was very happy with my time today.  I ran pretty evenly the whole way and felt comfortable out there.  As an added bonus in this one, I had my significant other out there today, along with my brother Steve, and Kelsey's Dad, Dave.  My brother rarely runs and mentioned prior to the start of the race that he had only ran 3 times in the last three months.  Considering his training and the conditions, it was pretty cool to see him run 23 and change out there.  My brother also happens to be the guy who introduced to this great sport and addiction.  

No big award for winning, just a medal and I'll take that..happy with my time and the company I had at the race.

Kelsey: 21:44

Dave: 23:39

Steve: 23:45

(5)

Pros:

-Hit my goal of getting back down to 16:30 for a 5k

-Solid, consistent pace

-ran in race flats and they helped

-Good fun had

-Nice to have "my people" out there

Cons:

-Strained my right calf in the second mile (hope there are no lingering effects)

-Didn't have enough time to warm-up (luckily it was hot out there, so a little over a mile gave me enough time to work up a sweat).

Monday, May 28th
16 miles in Burlingame with the Gazelle.  Early morning jaunt after a very late night.  We hit up the first 5 miles of the Lil Rhody Run Around and then ventured off track.  We had fun, hammered out some miles, ended up lost, and finished on the roads.  After about 90 minutes, I was feeling somewhat disoriented.  While the trails are always more fun,  I was happy to play it safe and finish on the roads.  Somehow Gazelle and I were able to run pretty hard right up until we finished.  Great run and effort.

Note to self: Bring a water pack on these long summer trail runs.

Tuesday, May 29th
6+ miles on Weekapaug roads.  First part with Kelsey and second half on my own.  Felt this run!

Wednesday, May 30st
0..off day..did some mowing.

Thursday, May 31st
"No Time" Workout
2 mile warm-up w/Kelsey and Lu
8X400
76-74-73-72-69-70-70-68..w/short rest.
1 mile cooldown

Friday, June 1st
7 miles with Gazelle from my house, through the Weekapaug roads, and down to the sand trail.

As I was waiting for the Gazelle to get to my house, I suddenly noticed blinking lights and a man on a bike.  I thought to myself, "Could it be?"  Sure enough it was him.  We immediately started the run at a solid pace.  It was pretty neat to see the sun come up and run on the beach...all before the work day even started.  Awesome run!

Jeff headed back out on the bike to knock out more miles.

This quote sums up how the WTAC does it:

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle (Jeff) wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

- Unknown

Saturday, June 2nd
8ish
A not so fun weather day...
Threw down a 5-4-3-2-1-30 sec workout.
With the humidity and circling shore winds, this workout was a tough one.  I intended to get a quality effort in and throw some hills into the mix to make it a really good workout at the end.  The hills weren't happening.  Sucking wind with rain pouring down, I decided to cash it in and head home.

About an hour later, Kelsey and I ran an easy three from Misquamicut Beach and through some parts of the Tom McCoy Fun Run course.  Good times.

Weekly Miles: 47
This week stands as one of my best training weeks of 2012 and arguably, my best week since 2006. Positive takeaways from this past week: getting back to 16:30 in the 5k (and hungry to get faster), a really solid long run, and some really fun running in general.