Monday 1/31: dog adventures

At first the run started off as any typical run: we were indecisive about where to go, so we decided to go towards Babson, because we did NOT want to run up weston rd. again. We got there, and finished our 22 minutes of warm up at the merge between the Babson and Olin campuses. Thus, we decided to do our fartlek around there. We did 16 sets of 30/30 fartleks. The roads were spectacular, there were no cars and they were all clear! This run was becoming better and better! Then we continued our cool down for a bit on rt. 135, then back behind BSC and back through babson and out to forest. We were making record time, when suddenly, something was blocking our path...it was a big dog without an owner. It seemed suspicious. At first, we tried to go around it, but it kept following us and jumping up. So Sarah looked at the name tag, it's name was Manny, or Danny, or Sammy, whatever you prefer, but it was about 30 houses away from its home address. So Brennan and I ran to its home to tell the owner that their dog was missing while Sarah tried to get it to follow. When we rang the bell, the lady was like "oh yeah, I was just going to go looking for him..." So then we went back to Sarah and Manny, who would not budge. Then suddenly when Brennan and I got there, he began to run in the direction of his house. Sick. We brought him basically home then finally his owner came to get him. Thanks to Manny, our superb run turned into a cold one as we came back to the high school, but we did save a dogs life today.

Saturday 1/29

17 up. We ran the same loop down the brook path and back on Washington street, but it took a little longer than usual because of the snow.

Our workout today was 12x100 "wind sprints" with 100 meter jog recovery. I didn't time the individual splits, because it was about effort, not time, but I got total time, which was around 10:30. During the sprints I felt pretty smooth and fast, though I am not that fast of a runner...Then after we had finished that workout, we had a surprise! We opted to do some 200s at 800 goal pace, rather than the entire workout again. The 200s were with 30 seconds rest, and my splits were: 34, 36, 36, 36. We decided that the area marked off was a bit shorter than 200 meters, because all our times were fast and we were going slowly.

26 minute cool down. Around town, grove, brook path, etc. My calf began to feel a bit tight, but other than that there have been no adverse effects from this workout yet...

Friday 1/28

Today I went for a 71 minute run. We went down rt. 16, pond and then back. There were sidewalks, but they were pretty bad. Pond was actually clear, but the sidewalks were all snowy. Other than the fact it was hard to run and my hip began to bother me, everything felt fine.

Thursday 1/27

I get text messages from 7 news if the Wellesley schools or Roxbury Community College are closed, so when my alarm rang at 6:30, I had two texts, and my heart sunk. Not so much for the Wellesley part--I don't mind no school--but I wanted a meet today. And then it was confirmed we had no meet, so I decided to watch TV and eat some ice cream, because what else is there to do? Certainly not homework!

Ideally I would have run on Comm Ave, but I had no way of getting there because my parents work. So for my run today, I ran with Joseph and we met Danny at the end. 60 minutes total. 25 up to get to Joseph, Weston Rd. was miserable and the sidewalk isn't plowed. Then 15 minutes of tempo back on Lowell and Bristol, which were excellent comparatively. Then 20 down. Everything felt fine and the tempo was definitely a hard effort to maintain the pace and go up those hills--it reminded me of cross country.

Wednesday 1/26

Today a contingent of us decided to meet at 10 to do drills. So I walked to Hardy and met Kevin there, then we warmed up for 18 to the high school. Then we did two sets of drills. During all of these, when I lifted my right leg, there was tightness and a twinge of pain in my hamstring. However, during my 15 minute cool down and strides, I couldn't feel anything. So I am guessing I have a minor strain, which hopefully with ice and stretching will go away soon.

Tuesday 1/25

Today we did a lovely 30/30 fartlek in the middle of a B run. So warm up was 25 minutes, 16 sets of 30 seconds fast, 30 seconds recovery, and then 24 minutes cool down back to the high school. For the fartlek portion we made it back to Beechwood/Parker, which were both very clear! I felt really good during this run, fast and strong. Except for my calfs were a bit tight because of running on snow.

Monday 1/24

21 minute warm up. 15 inside and 6 outside to get to the start on Washington St.

The workout today was 12x200 at goal 800 pace. We did them on Washington street, down on the sidewalk, back on the road. The side walk was mostly fine, but a bit icy and snowy at parts. Consequently, splits on the sidewalk were slower: 38, 38, 38, 38, 39, 39. Running back on the road was much better: 35, 35, 35, 36, 35, 34. So I guess they even each other out. These 200s felt pretty good, but hard. I tried to lift my knees and work on my form. Everything else felt fine.

16 minute cool down. 5 outside to get back to the high school and the remaining 11 inside.