RB in motion

This morning I wanted to get in a nice easy 4-6 miles before my friend finished his half marathon race in Phoenix. I just ran down the canal that headed towards Tempe and then flipped back.  My hamstring felt a little tight probably due to the colder weather but was pleased that it felt better towards the last couple miles. After my run I quickly stretched a little then changed my clothes and headed toward the finish. As for my friend he placed 4th overall in the half with a sub 1:10 performance, so was happy for him. I really liked this race even though I didn't race it I definitely want to race this next year.
 

I decided to heat my leg before heading out the front door this morning. Which felt the best it has in quite sometime. I can tell that my breathing was laboring going sub 7 minute pace but was glad to get in the longest run I have done in 30 days. Overall, nice cool sunny day out in Az.

Nice easy miles between 7:00-7:30 pace, my goal this week is to target 40 for the week and then gradually build from there. My hamstring is feeling good and that is making me really happy! 

 I decided after HS practice to stop into Ahwatukee to run South Mountain.  Nice six miles averaging at 6:55 pace. At the very end did 4x20 second accelerations to get some turnover going, definitely feel slow right now. LOL  

An easy 2 miles at practice while my kids went longer. Then after practice drove to a nearby canal and ran 6 miles. This run felt good started easy and ended my last 3 miles near 6 flat pace.

Easy 4 miles in the morning dark. I really dislike the first couple of miles due to still being in zombie mode however felt finally awake the last half of the run.

Nice easy miles with the team after their first Invite of the season.

Out and about run in Ahwatukee. Started with a 7:20 first mile and then gradually brought down the pace each and every mile with my last mile at 6:13. Overall, felt pretty good! This route had a good combination of gradual ups and downs on the roads.

First run (2) was with the kiddos at practice, just jogged to the local park to give kids a workout. My second run was in Tukee 5.5 mile loop (Roads and Trails)

Easy 2.5 miles with the team and then later stopped by the Western Canal and ran an additional 5.5 miles with some 4x20 second accelerations at the end. Averaged about 6:47 pace for those miles.

 It was a half day at school, so quickly drove to nearby park and headed out for a nice neighborhood jaunt of 5 miles. Then headed back to the school for our Dual meet against our rival HS.

A.M. Nice morning run of 5 miles. (Just went by time but I am sure I had at least 5 miles) Hoping to get in a little P.M. running today as well.

P.M. Easy 4 miles with the team

Easy miles after work and coaching! Also did some accelerations at the end to get my legs going. Time to head to the Bay area tomorrow to visit family!

Nice 11 miles in Dublin Ca, ran first 5 at around 7 minute pace and then decided to test a harder effort for 2 miles. Ran the  2 miles in 10:30 and then ran last 4 mile  at around 6:30 average. It feels good to get after it a little. Definitely can tell that I did have a rough month of Feb due to the 2 miles feeling somewhat hard. However, I will get my fitness back soon.

Ran an easy 4 with my Dad, and then did an additional 4.5 on my own through Marschall Creek.

Met up with a few buddies, Kevin, Alan and Trevino at the Canal up in North Phoenix. warm up was 3.5 miles down the Bridal Path, then we started our mile reps on the canal. My plan was just to try and run 5:15-20 pace with our decided 2.5 min jog recovery. Our first mile was 5:19, then second one was at 5:08, and my last one was 5:06. I definitely felt the last one, but it was nice to have people to run with it which made it a lot easier. Couple of the other guys did one more but decided to call it quits since I wanted to finish strong and not go backwards on the 4th rep. Then we did a couple miles cool down down the bridal path again.

Easy miles with the team today!

Nice weather this morning and enjoying my week off from work. Averaged 6:45 pace for this run.

Ran with my team for their warmup before their track workout today. Then after practice ran 5.5 miles on the canal solo.

Nice early evening running a long the agricultural fields near my community. Averaged 6:45 pace for these miles and finished with a 6:05/6:07.

Nice miles this evening however, probably should have backed off on some of the food I had prior to this run. 
 

Dust storm was in my area and didn't want to deal with allergies during the run. So hopped on a treadmill at my gym I use a few times a year. Just set the pace to 6:58 per mile and just tried to enjoy it. I am not a big fan of Dreadmill running. 

First run at practice an easy 4 miles then a few hours later did a workout of 1.5 up and then 4x1mile at Threshold pace splits: 5:37/5:31/5:29/5:25 with 1 min jog recovery and then .7 cooldown.
 

Quick run during my break between my last class for the day and then heading to our Peoria Invite.

Easy night miles after a long day at a track meet.

Windy run out today in the Copa. But always feels good to run without dealing with a long day at work. 

Late evening run tonight! Surprisingly felt really good and that I am getting stronger by the week. This is going on my 5th week of running and for the next month my goal is just to stay above 50 miles a week and target one workout while keeping my long run above 12 miles. Once my track season is over then I will start raising the miles. As for a race, I am looking on Getsetaz.com to hopefully find one for this month that fits with my hectic coaching/practice schedule. 

Ran 3.5 miles with the some of the team and then a couple hours later stopped in Ahwatukee and ran 6.5 miles at 6:45 pace average. It was windy out but still a nice run due to the cooler weather.

5 miles up and the did a fartlek that progressed faster each time frame. Did 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min and then back down. I figure I started at under 5:30 pace and went under 5 at the end. Then did a mile down.

Easy 8 miles around mesa, nice loop.

Ran at the new recreational facility in my town. Really cool place and nice 2 mile dirt loop that goes around the area.

Met up with my buddy Trevino and helped pace him for his last major workout before Boston. His goal is to run sub 2:30 so the plan was 15 miles at 5:43 pace. The plan was I was going to run mile 6-12 with him while Kevin K would do the first 1-6. When it was my turn to pace him our splits were 5:40, 5:36, 5:42, 5:29 (This mile I stopped to fix my shoe and hustled up to catch back up.5:37, 5:45. Josh averaged 5:42 for the entire 15 so it was a good workout for him.

A.M. Easy 5 miles from my gym out to Desert Classic in Ahwatukee.

P.M. Easy 5 miles in the evening from my house.

Out early and just stayed around my community, gradually picked it up each mile. 

 I stayed over at the in-laws last night which was nice to get up at a reasonable morning time and still be able to get in 8 miles at 6:42 pace and then drive to work which was a nice 10 minute drive. Did a fun loop that went down 55th street to McDowell to the Red Mountain 202 and down to Higley and back to the house. I also did some 4x15 second accelerations at the end for some leg turnover. 

Met up with a couple buddies and did a 4 mile up and then 2x2mile with 3 min jog in between. It was really hot out and my mouth was dry from the start. Our goal was just to run 5:30-35 pace we were out a little fast so eased back and were 5:34 and 5:38 for the first 2 miles. The next set we were out fast again and hit the mile at 5:22 and came back with a 5:27 for the second run. Overall pleased with the effort but didn't feel the best.

Easy morning miles before out teams invite. We did good won on both sides and a few meet records from my distance runners.

Evening running in Copa, windy out this evening but kept the temperature down a little.

Met up with Rob, for a run from Copper Sky Rec facility center. We ran a few 2 mile dirt loops and then headed out toward the fields. It was warm out but got the easy miles in. Avg 7:10 pace for the 10.

Copper Sky loop from casa.

Morning miles loop before track invite.

Morning practice from school, getting in the miles with the team.

Ran from the high school, warm up of 3 miles then did 16x30 seconds with 1 min recovery at around sub 4:40 pace, just based it off of feel and focused on being quick on turnover and pumping my arms.

Got a late start so suffered  little towards the end.  Avg 7:01 pace for the run and a good mixture of trails and roads.
 

Ran 2 miles at practice then drove to Kiwanis Park, I was lucky to bump into Sara Slattery, so we ran about 6 miles together which was nice to catch up and talk about life. She was an alternate for the 2008 Olympic team in the 5000 meters and her husband Steve was a great Steepler as well. After that I ran additional 1.5.

Practice: Easy 5 with team

Post Practice: Easy 3 in the hills of Tukee. 

2.5 up and 1.5 down. Then did a LT workout at 5:24 average. A little windy out, but did 3x1.5miles with 3 min active recovery in between. The first one felt a little off but then warmed up nicely for the last two 1.5 LT's. Overall, glad how this went!

A.M. Nice easy a.m. miles from my house out to Cobblestone fields. Great weather this morning. 

Easy run with the team post race running.

Nice weather this morning, was a little nervous about this run because I have been feeling my achilles tendon. Been icing, stretching and rolling the past day. Surprisngly I did 15 miles today for my planned long run. Started at 7:30 and gradually progressed faster each mile. Avg: 6:50 for the run today and felt good aerobically....

Easy 9 on the dirt.

Easy a.m. 5 from home. Felt relatively good for waking up early..

I met up with Sara Slattery old friend and fast lady. She has a lifetime track 5k PR of 15:17 (4th in 2008 Olympic Trials) just blazing. She also is a AZ HS running legend who still holds the State Mile and 2 mile record. It was good catching up and chatting about life. We averaged 6:55 pace! I am going to have her come during the fall and speak to my kids about running. Overall, good run!

Easy miles 

Easy miles with the kiddos.

Been feeling my mid-upper back and could barely tolerate walking today. Taking the next couple days off. Need to rest the back! 

Decided to test out my back, feeling better so took it easy for the 45 minutes. Will try running another 45-60 minutes this evening. Had first day of State Champs for my team and overall they did good, competed well, responded in critical situations and majority of them ran PR's.

Nice eas run again this evening, still feel the back. Did some 5x20 second acclerations at the end. The new shoes feel good as always.

Met up with Sara Slattery at Kiwanis for an easy 70 minutes.

Decided that I needed to get on the track and do some work. So did 3x1 mile at 5:04/5:01/5:01 with 3 min active recovery. The 2nd and 3rd mile hurt but felt good to go hard since it has been a couple of weeks since I have worked out. After my last mile rep I did 4x200 meters at 32 seconds with 1 min recovery between them. Overall, positive is my back feels good now.

Easy 5 miles out at night.

Progressive Aerobic run started at 7:12 pace then brought the pace a little quicker each mile. Splits were 7:12/7:02/6:57/6:45/6:32/6:24/6:11/5:55/5:40 (MP for that mile)

Morning and afternoon miles of 3.5 and 4.5 with the afternoon finishing off with 4x35 second hard acclerations.

Easy running

Ran in a 160 meter indoor track at Copper Sky Rec facility.

After end of the year track banquet, stopped by Western Canal for an easy run. After about 4 miles I decided to pick up the pace. Ran miles 4-5 at 5:19 and then jogged a 6:40 mile then mile 6-7 ran 5:08 mile. It really felt good to get my legs turning, and then jogged back the last mile under 7 min pace. I really have no races planned at all. Unfortunately my coaching duties have kept me real busy and racing this whole entire year hasn't been a priority. Hopefully I can find a race to train for so my workouts will have purpose. As of right now and with the heat rising here in AZ I am happy just to run and throw in hard running here and there! 

Copper Sky Rec area with Robbie! Pretty windy out but the mile pace was recovery for me. Avg 7:11 

2.5 up and then did 4 mile lactate threshold off of where I think I am at (85-88% effort). A bit windy out as well, my splits were 5:37/5:30/5:31/5:23 the last quarter of my last mile I picked up do 5 flat pace so that was more VO2 effort. Then I did a cool-down of 2.5 miles back to my house. Overall, just feel like mentally I am not clicking but with the weather change that is probably why....

Nice loop around the copa!

Ran from Granada Park, made a left at 40st off the Biltmore canal and went up a gradual mile climb then flipped back. Warm out the last couple miles!

Easy 8 with 4x200meter with full recovery. 36/33/32/31