OBJECTIVE
10 mi.@ 7:53

ACHIEVED
10.03 mi.@ 7:53

6:03 AM 73° 82% 0 mph

I felt really good out there today. No idea what to attribute it to but I'll take it!

I followed the approach that I took with last week's 9-miler: easy, body-dictated pace over the first third of the run; hit the overall goal pace over the middle third then go as fast as necessary over the final third to hit the overall goal pace. The pace over the 3.33 mile splits broke down like this:

3.33 mi. - 8:32
6.67 mi. - 7:44
10.0 mi. - 7:25



I was in a great place mentally where every intermediate landmark seemed "close". At the same time, I was in a good place physically where my body felt good and was cooperating with everything I was trying to do. These are the rare days when it all comes together and it becomes incredibly euphoric to run.

It's exciting to feel like I'm getting stronger physically and mentally. ... just need to keep that ball rolling ....

PRE RUN
weight=163.0
body fat=22.0%
apple juice & fig newton

POST RUN
SlimFast

Objective
4 mi.

Achieved
4.20 mi.@ 8:32

5:03 AM

Nice run this morning. Ran from the Hyatt along the Riverwalk to the Lakefront Trail to the Aquarium and back. This was a recovery run from yesterday's tempo. As expected my legs were feeling a bit chewed up but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I believe yesterday's ice bath post-run and wearing compression socks throughout the day helped. I'll wear them again today.

I saw a pair of cotton tail rabbits along the Riverwalk. I'm certain they were the same ones I saw yesterday for the first time. Also saw some huge fish while running along the pier. I have no idea what type they were but they were very big and surprisingly active.

As I'm cooling down, I'm noticing that my sweat has a hint of ammonia - a sign of fat burning (or not enough carbohydrates in my system).

Back to H-town tonight.

Pre run
-

Post run
Chocolate milk
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless

Objective
5 mi. Tempo @ 6:50

Achieved
WU 7:04 min.
5.02 mi.@ 6:51
CD 7:33 min.

5:04 AM

Wasn't sure what to expect from this run. It's been several months since I've ran a tempo or raced. I really don't have any indication of my current fitness. Today would tell. I wasn't sure about my routing either. The Lakefront is really uneven for long stretches and there can be a lot of bike and foot traffic. On the other hand, I'm not familiar with the Riverwalk for the distance that I'd need. It also crosses several intersections. I opted for the Lakefront only because of familiarity. From the Hyatt, I eased my way down to the Lakefront. My Garmin didn't pick up any satellites for that stretch so it recorded 0.0 miles for 7:04. While it was rebooting, I did dynamic stretches. The sun was already above the Lake Michigan horizon which surprised me for this early. After the Garmin found itself, I was off. I bounced around a little bit at the outset trying to find the pace. Once I found it, I thought there would be no way I would be able to hold it. I was happy to note a resurfacing project had improved much of the worst section of the trail. To get the proper mileage, I kept going north farther than I have before. It was new territory but the trail was busy today so it was easy to see the way far ahead. At 2.25 miles was no turn around. Of course, I wasn't supposed to stop here but I did. I caught my breath, chastised myself for stopping then started back. I just tried to find a rhythm and keep it steady. The pace slipped a bit but once I noticed, I was always able to bring it back in line ... with effort. Once back at Ohio Street Beach, I still had about .5 mile to finish and knew I didn't want to be on the streets heading back to the hotel. Instead I turned and went out the Navy Pier. Fortunately I hit 5 miles before I ran out of pier. It was a good run. Although I'm not exactly where I'd like to be, I'm not that far off.

I cooled down back to the hotel, grabbed a chocolate milk and hopped into an ice bath while eating some warm oatmeal. I'm writing this from the tub right now.

Tomorrow will be an important day to gauge how I feel. After Tuesday on the track and today's tempo, I want to be attentive to how my body is dealing with the increased load - volume and intensity. In addition to the ice bath, I'll wear compression socks all day. Tomorrow's run is an easy recovery run.

Oh, forgot to mention that I missed last night's group run for national running day. I hustled out of the office early to check in at the hotel and change clothes. Unfortunately I had left my running shoes at the office and didn't have enough time to go back and get them. That's okay. Even though I probably missed out on a good run that would have been informative, I most likely wouldn't have been able to pull off this morning's run had I run last night.

Pre run
-

Post run
Chocolate milk & instant oatmeal w/skim milk
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless

OBJECTIVE
warm up
5 x 1/2 mi.@ 3:07 w/.25 mi. active recoveries
cool down

ACHIEVED
1.92 mi. WU
3:07 / 3:05 / 3:06 / 3:07 / 3:04
1.98 mi. CD

total time = 1:02:53
total distance = 7.40 mi.

5:55 AM 78° 79% 2 mph

First time back on the track in several months. Although my splits were consistent and appear controlled, the workout felt anything but! It was up and down. At times, it felt really good to be turning my legs loose and running fast. At other times, I really felt like I was struggling to "keep up" and that my form was all over the place. I think this is just a reflection that I haven't been on the track in some time. One of the things I messed up early on was running the first couple of recoveries too fast. This put me in a deficit before even starting the next interval. I slowed the recoveries down in the later sets but by that point the damage may have already been done ....

PRE RUN
weight=165.0
body fat=22.7%
water

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & GrapeNuts w/cinnamon sugar & skim milk

500 cal.

Uncertain calories!

Paige and I combined for a healthy dinner tonight. Had a chopped salad with low fat balsamic vinaigrette, black bean & cilantro soup and pumpkin bread.

After moving a few boxes and some furniture to storage, we stopped to try a new yogurt shop, Orange Leaf, close to the house. I had a potpourri of self-serve: snickerdoodle, brownie batter and coconut yogurts with blueberries and shaved coconut toppings. I know that's an odd combination but I wanted to try it all.

I have not idea what the dinner calories or yogurt calories totalled.

500 cal.

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless

300 calories
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless

350 cal.

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless

OBJECTIVE
4 mi.

ACHIEVED
4.06 mi.@ 8:44

5:06 AM 79° 78% 4 mph

Recovery run on tired legs. Yesterday's ice bath seemed to help so I will most likely be in the tub again today.

Wednesday, June 1 is National Running Day. Long-time followers of my blog will recall my surprise when I first discovered there was such a thing. Well the occasion did not sneak up on me this year. First, I should make you aware that there is a site to help coordinate your activities for the day. Using the site, I found that there will be a few different group runs in Chicago on Wednesday. I was particularly interested in the run being put on by City Running Tours. I signed up for their event. Normally their running tours of major US cities cost $60. In honor of National Running Day, Wednesday's run is free. Of course, I realize they will probably use an abbreviated route and there will probably be an overabundance of other runners. But it's free so it can't help but be worth it, right? I chose the Navy Pier route over the Grant Park route. I figured I'd be hustling from the office to make the 6:30 PM start and the Navy Pier is a short mile from my hotel. Should be interesting. Hopefully I am introduced to some new city routes and also see some sights that I'd otherwise overlook. Who knows, I may even meet some new running friends.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

PRE RUN
weight=165.0
body fat=23.0%

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

300 calories

600 calories

@ 1 pm

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless

600 calories

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless

230 calories

OBJECTIVE
8 mi.

ACHIEVED
9.54 mi.@ 8:00

6:28 AM 77° 81% 3 mph

Happy with this run. It was really good to back yesterday's 9-miler with this solid effort. I was a little slower-paced this morning than yesterday but that was somewhat by design. Similar to yesterday's run, I decided to block this run into 3 3-mile segments. Like yesterday, I let how I was feeling dictate the pace over the first 3 miles. Unlike yesterday, I did not want any mile to be faster than 7:53. I did a pretty good job keeping it in check.



0-3 mile pace = 8:20
3-6 mile pace = 7:54
6-9 mile pace = 7:52

I was feeling tired over the final third of the run but it was a "good" tired; not the dreaded "dead dog" tired. As long as I kept the pace in check, I was able to push along just fine.

I only had 2 water stops today. One at around 4.5 miles (ate a fun size Butterfinger) and another just before 8 miles. Each time I stopped at Meyer Park. It looked like there was a big soccer tourney about to start the day as I was passing by.

Without much thought yesterday, I decided to try a tracking my daily caloric intake via blog. Over the years I've tried a few different tracking variations. Up to this point, they've all been focused on nutritional components: carbohydrate, protein and fat. The tracking has never lasted long because it's too time intensive. This time I just decided to track total calories and just send it to the blog when I eat. I'll try it for a while (which I know makes for bad blog reading!). The last time I calculated my daily caloric requirement, I believe it came out around 2,600 per day.

PRE RUN
weight=165.5
body fat=22.9%
diet V8 splash

POST RUN
SlimFast & multivitamin

100 calories

10 calories

pork roast on broth w/chunk potatoes & carrots
calories unknown