Quite pleasantly, my legs didn’t feel too weak or sore this morning just a couple of days after my long run. Usually a non-running day in between runs suffices for recovery, but I wasn’t sure if I had overtaxed myself on Sunday. Seems like I didn’t.

I made pretty good time at my first two splits, which were around 5:25 and 12:20, respectively, but then I seemed to wander mentally over the next segment, so I was around 20:15 for the third split. I had really hoped to come in about a minute faster for that split, since that would put me in a strong position to set a new personal record for this route.

Over the next nine-tenths of a mile or so, I made good time, but I wasn’t able to make up as much as I’d like, since I kept hitting traffic at the intersections with signals, and had to wait for five cars to turn in front of me at one point. Still, I knew it was the slow third segment of my run, rather than having to wait on cross-traffic, that was keeping me from my objective.

I hit the final split at around 27:30, with about a half-mile to go. At this point I tried to hunker down mentally and keep my concentration on running harder, and it felt pretty good to still have a lot of energy to go faster. I probably made up a fair amount of time in this final stretch, and wound up finishing in 30:39, which is almost half a minute slower than my personal best for this course, but still a decent time.

Today’s stats:

• Distance run: 3.98 miles
• Time: 30:39
• Average speed: 7.8 mi/h
• Average pace: 7:42/mi
• Calories burned: 578

That was a doozy. I had my longest training run this morning, a smidge over twelve miles, which puts me at the peak of my training program. I get to start dialing back the mileage slightly to conserve strength and get well rested before the half-marathon in three weeks.

I’m looking forward to tapering down my mileage, if only because my legs felt a bit heavy and fatigued when I started this morning. I was a couple of seconds slower than I wanted to be on my first split, not bad on my second split, and probably too fast in general over the first half of my run.

Still, I was making good time, even if I was a little slower at some milestones than I have been on earlier, shorter runs. I was hoping to finish somewhere around 1:34:00 or 1:35:00, which would give me a minute or two of cushion for an eight-mile pace. I reasoned that if I could run the 12.08 miles that fast, on race day I should be able to complete the final 1.02 miles in around eight minutes, which would put me well above a goal of 1:44:00.

But around mile 7 I started to feel a bit more fatigued, aching a bit on one side, and it was a battle the rest of the way. My splits kept getting slower than I wanted, and I felt increasingly like I had less and less to give. When I tackled the big hill for the third time, I was really struggling. In a lot of ways I felt like I was fighting all the way up the hill. My breathing actually got pretty labored, which is unusual. It probably did me no favors that near the top of the hill I had to pass some pedestrian smoking a cigarette.

Still, I managed to ascend the hill, and even though most of my remaining split times were slower than I wanted, I kept plugging along. It was definitely hard over the final few miles, and I was really trying to be tough mentally to keep up my pace. But toward the end, it felt increasingly like a contest between my will to run harder and my body’s physical ability to give any more effort. I did manage to find a little extra over the last mile and a half or so, at least in places, but even my fastest at that point was slower than it usually is.

Nonetheless, I managed to finish with a time that kept me under an eight-minute-per-mile pace. And even though I fell a minute or so shy of my goal for this run, I guess I don’t feel bad about it, knowing that I managed to run close to the full half-marathon distance while maintaining a healthy pace, and despite not feeling stellar physically.

If nothing else, I think the combination of easing up in my training over the next few weeks to build up my reserve of leg strength, plus the adrenaline boost I’ll get from running in a race with thousands of other people, will probably be enough to ensure that I make it through the entire race at an appropriately brisk pace while still feeling pretty comfortable. I’ll probably have to try not to get too caught up in the excitement of the race at the beginning and start too fast, but I should still be rested enough to overcome any overexuberance out of the gate.

Today’s stats:

• Distance run: 12.08 miles
• Time: 1:35:59
• Average speed: 7.6 mi/h
• Average pace: 7:54/mi
• Calories burned: 1805

Phew. I managed to avoid getting rained on throughout my run, and even better, I managed to avoid the Friday doldrums that have hampered me the past couple of weeks.

I wasn’t expecting to miss the rain, since it was still coming down when I got up and was raining a bit by the time I got out the door twenty minutes later. If nothing else, I reasoned that the wet weather my motivate me to run faster just to get out of the rain a little sooner.

Yet just a couple of minutes or so into my run, the rain stopped. I was feeling so-so physically. I wasn’t too tired, because I managed to get to bed at a pretty decent hour last night and slept quite well. My legs perhaps felt a little fatigue from yesterday. Overall, it wasn’t bad, though I didn’t feel like I was at my freshest.

My first split was a little slow, but my second split was a little fast. The third split was again a bit slow, but the fourth split was on the fast side. I was a little over twenty-seven minutes when I hit that final split with about a half-mile to go, and I really hunkered down mentally to focus on pushing myself to a strong finish, thereby avoiding a repeat of last Friday. It was easy for my body to slow up naturally if I let my mind wander just a little, but I did a pretty good job of maintaining my concentration on the task at hand, and it paid off nicely.

Considering how I tend to run a little slower on Fridays, since they’re the back end of consecutive days of running, I was just hoping to beat thirty-one minutes, though I would’ve been content with breaking thirty-two minutes and simply finishing at an eight-minute pace per mile.

But I wound up posting 30:20, which not only far exceeded my goals, but was only seven seconds off my previous best for this run, which I achieved on Tuesday.

The upshot of today’s run, and my three runs so far this week, seems to be that I’m getting stronger, because even when I don’t feel like I’m at my physical best and think I’m laboring, it turns out that I’m still running faster than I did not that long ago. So, this augurs well.

Today’s stats:

• Distance run: 3.98 miles
• Time: 30:20
• Average speed: 7.9 mi/h
• Average pace: 7:35/mi
• Calories burned: 578

Despite getting more sleep the past several nights (if not quite enough sleep), I felt sore and tired when I set out this morning. I was feeling like my legs weren’t fresh and my body wanted to be back in bed for another hour or two, which didn’t seem like a good physical state for running essentially a 10K.

In particular, the overall sense of tiredness and soreness kept me less than sharp mentally, so I wasn’t concentrating very much on maintaining good form and lifting my knees higher.

Still, I posted a good initial split of 5:27, and despite feeling like I was laboring all the way up the big hill, I managed to complete the second segment in just under seven minutes, which is a good time. And while I wasn’t giving much thought to my form and to lifting my knees higher, I think I must’ve been doing it instinctively, since I could really feel it in my quadriceps, plus my times seemed to be fairly brisk, in spite of my perception that I was struggling.

I managed to post a quick time for about the last mile of the first lap of my circuit, and even though I could still feel myself toiling on the second half, my times remained good. I was hoping, especially after seeing my time at the approximate halfway point, that I might approach my time from last month’s 10K, when I ran 47:27. I was at about 40:30 with just under a mile to go, which was going to make it tough, but I seemed to find a well of reserve energy at that point, since I was more focused mentally and could really concentrate on propelling myself to a strong finish, even managing to attack the last couple of hills rather than ascend them passively.

Even though I hadn’t felt particularly sharp physically or mentally for most of the run, and would’ve sworn I was going slowly, I managed to clock in at 47:26, which felt pretty good.

Now I just have to redouble my efforts tomorrow not to lose focus and not to allow myself to post a clunker of a time for a third consecutive Friday.

Today’s stats:

• Distance run: 6.2 miles
• Time: 47:26
• Average speed: 7.8 mi/h
• Average pace: 7:42/mi
• Calories burned: 909

Much better.

After last Friday’s debacle of a finish in my four-mile run, I resolved not to let my focus slip today so my time wouldn’t suffer again.

Of course, my legs might have had other ideas about that, since they were still a bit sore from Sunday’s eleven-miler, and the muscles in my upper legs were still feeling the effects of getting more use than usual, on account of me adjusting my form to lift my knees higher.

Still, I felt pretty good overall since I managed to get to bed quite a bit earlier than normal and thus had a good night’s sleep for a change.

I also tried to use the new form from the outset. I think it does make a difference, since I posted a time of just under 5:20 for my first split, which is the fastest I’ve recorded. And though I was right at seven minutes for the second segment, which was a little shy of my previous best, I think I did better at maintaining form up the large hill. It was on that incline in particular that I could really feel the difference in terms of which muscles hadn’t been getting so much work in earlier runs, since it takes a lot more effort from the upper legs to lift the knee and leg higher. This probably goes a long way toward explaining why my lower legs, especially my calves, have always been pretty strong, whereas I don’t know that the same is true of my thighs.

Anyway, I managed to make good time the rest of the way. I was right at twenty minutes for 2.5 miles, and then hit my last split at roughly twenty-seven minutes. At that point I knew I had to maintain concentration and not allow myself to slow over the final half-mile or so, and instead I focused on trying to run even faster, since I was nearing the finish and still had quite a bit left in the tank. Since I didn’t have an iPod to blare uptempo music, I tried instead to think fast thoughts. It sounds stupid, but it actually seemed to work. And in any event, I managed to shave more than half a minute off my previous record at this distance, so I was quite pleased.

It definitely has me feeling pretty good this morning, which is impressive considering optimism and good cheer might be hard to come by in a couple of hours or so when I get a stack of seventy or so midterms to grade.

But the combination of a good night’s sleep and a good, hard run to start my morning definitely have lifted my spirits. It’s also a nice way to kick off this week’s training, since this is the week my mileage peaks before tapering off so my body gets fully rested in preparation for the half-marathon.

Today’s stats:

• Distance run: 3.98 miles
• Time: 30:13
• Average speed: 7.9 mi/h
• Average pace: 7:34/mi
• Calories burned: 570

That was quite a workout. My body and legs felt pretty good this morning, and I was also pleased to see the temperature hovering around 50 degrees, with actual sun. In fact, it was so bright in some directions I almost wished I had worn sunglasses, except that mine tend to fog up and get covered in sweat, so I tend to prop them up on my forehead, which defeats the purpose.

In any event, the time change, plus getting to sleep a little later on account of it being the weekend, meant I had much better conditions for running than I’ve had in a few weeks. And I got off to a fine start, clocking in at 5:25 for the first three-quarters of a mile.

Then, as I got past the one-mile mark and approached the big hill, my memory finally fired and I remembered something I had struggled to recall last night. Earlier this week I had been reading Runner’s World online, and I saw an article about stride technique. Last night as I lay in bed, I was trying to remember the gist of the article, but couldn’t, and I forgot to look it up before heading out the door this morning. But, early into my run, I suddenly remembered the crux of the issue. Evidently African distance runners tend to run with a higher stride than their American counterparts, and the thinking is that by lifting their legs higher, they not only avoid overstriding, but they also get more power when they push off their foot, more spring in their step.

So, I decided to try this technique. It was a bit challenging as I tackled the hill, but my split at the 1.5-mile mark was about 12:10 or so, which is a personal best. It was hard to tell if I owed that to the change in form, or if it was mostly the good start. But then, as I hit the kept lifting my legs high over the next mile or so, I felt like I wasn’t straining myself so much, yet I was still running just as fast. Or faster, as it turned out. When I hit the split around the 2.5-mile mark, I clocked in at about 19:45, which is roughly forty-five seconds faster than my previous best for that point.

And it kept going like that. At around the 3.5-mile mark I was at 26:48 or so, another best. And I hit roughly four and a half miles in around thirty-five minutes. It really seemed like it was my day around this point. Even though my right shoe came untied around the three-mile mark, about a mile later, miraculously, the stray shoelace somehow tucked itself into the shoe. It looked like everything was breaking my way.

And then I got back to the big hill. I’m not sure if I just started to get tired, or if I started to break form, or what exactly happened. I do recall staring ahead at the bottom of the hill and suddenly having the length and height of the ascent confront me. I don’t think I’ve ever had that daunting feeling on my previous runs, though that’s probably because there’s usually a pedestrian or a car or something somewhere along the path that prevents me from seeing the totality of the climb and its full magnitude.

So, whether due to flagging energy or crumbling technique, or perhaps some subconscious fear, I think I started to slow. I was a little under forty-two minutes after cresting the hill around the 5.25-mile mark, which meant it took me closer to eight minutes to run that three-quarters of a mile that I had done in just under seven minutes earlier in my run. And I was at 50:10 when I checked my next split at roughly the 6.3 mile mark. I was definitely a couple of minutes or more behind my 10K time, though I was still in good shape, at least timewise, to break my goal of 1:28:00 for the 11-mile distance. I perhaps labored a little less over the next two and a half miles or so. I was essentially running two and a half loops of a circuit that’s just a little shy of four miles. I had run the first loop in a little under thirty minutes, and I was just over thirty minutes for the second loop.

But when I reached the big hill for the third time, I was feeling definite fatigue. Though I’ve run up that hill twice in a run on a few previous occasions, I had never done it three times in one run. My pace felt like it was slowing considerably, and I actually started to feel an ache in my stomach. I wasn’t sure what was causing it, but it was unpleasant.

I think I managed to get through that hill the third time on sheer willpower. I was determined to make it up the hill and to my next split at around the 9.25-mile mark by telling myself I wanted to try to make it there with sixteen minutes to spare. My reasoning was that sixteen minutes was enough time to run two miles at an eight-minute pace, and since I had maybe a mile and three-quarters at that point, it would give me plenty of cushion to meet my goal. When I hit my split, I had more like 15:15 to finish my run, but I knew that I was still on pace to meet my goal, especially since the worst of the hills was now behind me.

Still, I felt a bit like I was laboring. Even when I was on flat or gently downward-sloping terrain, it was hard to keep lifting my legs high. This technique definitely taxed my hamstrings more than I had been previously, and it seemed like my calf muscles were also getting a rigorous workout. I had one more sizable hill to climb just past the ten-mile mark. It was challenging, but at least at that point I knew I was nearing the finish and that I should really try to push myself and give all that I had left. I found I was able to maintain the high stride on the steeper downhill grades, which was good.

In the end, I was still able to push myself to finish strong, since I felt like I had something left in the tank, even though my legs felt more taxed. And I managed to clock in more than a minute under my goal, which felt good.

In retrospect, I probably should’ve tried the new technique on my short runs during the week, rather than implementing it shortly into a long run. But I’m notorious for not planning ahead and deciding to do new things in the middle of a run, whether it’s running farther (or substantially farther) than I originally planned, or trying a significantly different stride technique. Still, it will be interesting to see how it pans out over the next couple of weeks as I use this technique on some shorter runs and, presumably, develop the strength in the appropriate muscles to use this technique. At the very least, I did seem to notice some considerable improvement until my body began to protest.

Today’s stats:

• Distance run: 11.01 miles
• Time: 1:26:51
• Average speed: 7.6 mi/h
• Average pace: 7:54/mi
• Calories burned: 1633

Now that October is in the books and November is upon us, I thought I’d do a survey of my progress in training for the half-marathon.

In the month of October, I ran on seventeen of the thirty-one days, taking a total of eighteen runs (including the warm-up jog I did before my 10K), and ran 79.49 miles for the month. On those runs, I burned an estimated total of 11,793 calories.

Those are pretty heady numbers, but I think they only tell part of the story.

At the beginning of the month, I hadn’t yet cracked an eight-minute-mile pace on any of my initial runs, none of which had been longer than four miles. Granted, I was also not quite two weeks into my training at that point, but I was still a bit slower than I wanted to be as I was beginning to build strength and endurance, while also feeling my way as I started running serious hills for the first time.

I continued to run around a 8:10-8:20 mile pace for the first half of October, occasionally going a little faster (and sometimes a little slower) as my mileage increased. Then, in the middle of the month, I finally cracked the eight-minute barrier by more than a hair, and ran my first race in what was a blisteringly fast time for me (still the fastest average pace per mile I’ve managed so far).

In hindsight, running that race seems to have been about the best thing I could’ve done in terms of training mentally (and physically), since it gave me a major boost of confidence. My times since the race have been significantly faster than in my earlier training, as I’ve been quite a bit faster than eight minutes per mile, with the exceptions of the two clunkers I put up on the past two Fridays, when I was running for a second consecutive day and my legs felt at their weakest. And it’s not only been continuing to run at a clip that’s fast for me, but also the fact that I’ve sustained a sub-eight-minute pace as my mileage has increased and inched closer to the half-marathon distance. I think probably after last weekend, when I ran ten miles and kept my pace under eight minutes, I started to feel like I really had a chance of cracking the eight-minute mark over the half-marathon distance.

So, my confidence has swelled over the past month, and my performance has improved substantially. Then, there are the physical benefits. My weight has gone down about six pounds from the end of September, but more importantly, I feel like my legs are getting a lot stronger. They ache less when I run during the week, and my body isn’t disagreeing with me as I push it to run faster and farther than I’ve generally run in the past. Also, there’s the effect all this running is having on my attitude and overall mood. It’s probably a good way to help relieve stress, but I also find it’s invigorating to go for a brisk run shortly after rising in the morning, and I think it helps to put me in a better state of mind for the rest of the day (assuming I’ve gotten enough sleep the previous night, which remains one area of my training where I need definite improvement).

So, I’m now about four weeks away from race day, and I feel like I’m in pretty good shape, both figuratively and literally, to run a half-marathon and break 1:44:48 (which is 13.1 miles at eight minutes per mile). That’s not bad, considering I estimated my finish time at 1:52:29 (just a rough estimate off the top of my head of what I thought I could achieve, really) when I filled out my half-marathon registration earlier this month.

Of course, there are still a lot of unknowns. I’ve never run the half-marathon course, so I won’t know with certainty where the uphill sections are, and where I should try to make up time. I’ve also never run with several thousand other people; there were more than 800 people running the 10K, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to what I’ll experience at the half-marathon. And there’s still the unknown of how things will proceed over the final weeks of training. I’m not at all worried about finishing the race, since I’ve run at least that far twice previously, before I had begun to run regularly or train systematically. But, I suppose there’s always the possibility I get sick or roll an ankle or have some other unforeseen mishap interrupt or impair my training.

Still, barring some unforeseen complication, I’m full of optimism about my chances at the end of the month.

To read the scuttlebutt out of New York (I’m including you, NYT), you’d think Yankees fans had been waiting a lifetime for another chance at a World Series title.

(Actually, in the case of these tykes, they have waited a lifetime. But they can get back to me about being long-suffering Yanks fans after they hit puberty in a few years.)

It’s just the latest manifestation of the arrogance I associate with New Yorkers, and one that grates on my nerves in the worst way.

Fortunately, the Onion skewers this New York state of collective delusion mind perfectly in a story about another long-suffering fan base down in Philadelphia.

The last time the Philadelphia Phillies brought a World Series title back to the City of Brotherly Love, the nation’s financial sector was in complete ruin, the cost of a gallon of milk was only $2.74, fans watched the Fall Classic while huddled around their slightly-less-streamlined high-definition television sets, and Philadelphia slugger Ryan Howard was just 28 years old.

This week Howard, 29, hopes to lead the Phillies to their first World Series championship in more than 360 long days and end a title drought that has been punctuated by several embarrassing losses, including a 2009 opening-day defeat by the Atlanta Braves and a June loss to the Atlanta Braves. During its infamous dry spell, the team has also come up short twice, winning both an NLDS and an NLCS title but having absolutely no World Series ring to show for it.

To put into perspective just how long the Phillies have gone without a championship, the earth has almost made one full orbit of the sun since the franchise last paraded through downtown Philadelphia holding the famed Commissioner’s Trophy.

Wow. Has it has been a long time. Just ask this guy:

“Truthfully, I never thought I would live to see the Phillies get to another World Series,” longtime fan David Oswald said. “When I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last November, the doctor only gave me eight months.”

Amen.

Well, that was humbling. Just as I was beginning to swell with confidence about my progress and prospects, I go and turn in a clunker of a time.

I’m still trying to figure out what happened. The weather was nice by the time I went outside to run: dry, a bit overcast, and a comfortable 59 degrees. It was a welcome change from the wet weather I endured yesterday, and the cold temperatures that have been chilling the last several runs.

Of course, while I knew I was in line for more hospitable temperatures, I wasn’t expecting the brisk head wind that blew straight into my for most of the first three-quarters of a mile. Still, despite the wind, and a few seconds lost to waiting on traffic at an intersection, I made my first split at 5:45, which was only about fifteen to twenty seconds behind where I wanted to be. And I even managed to make up a little bit of that on the next segment, clocking the second three-quarters of a mile in about 6:20, even with the wind at my side and the big hill to slow my pace. I was hoping the third segment would see me make up a little more time, since, presumably, the wind should now be at my back, but for whatever reason I didn’t seem to feel it (probably the tree cover denied me any edge), though I continued to make good time, reaching the 2.5-mile mark in a little more than twenty minutes.

I was hoping when I started to try to get close to thirty minutes for my overall time, since I ran this route in 30:49 on Tuesday. I thought I could at least shave a good chunk of time off that mark, even if I didn’t quite break thirty minutes. So, at the very least I was hoping to reach my final split in under twenty-seven minutes, which would leave me a shade more than half a mile to go, with a pretty flat stretch left to run. I didn’t quite hit that mark, but I was around 27:28 or so for that final split, which made thirty minutes a virtual impossibility, but still meant I was making good time.

And then, inexplicably, I seem to have run the final half-mile or so in almost six minutes. I didn’t feel like I was going particularly slow, though I must’ve been plodding along. My legs felt a little heavy, but they had felt heavy from the beginning of my run, and it hadn’t seemed to have made an appreciable difference in my pace. I was back into the head wind, but I’m not sure it was quite so strong, and regardless, the wind hadn’t slowed me that much at the start of my run. Still, I was shocked when I reached the end of my run and saw my time — 33:12 — was way beyond thirty minutes. At first I thought it said 32:12, which seemed slow enough, because 33:12 seemed impossibly lethargic.

Again, I’m puzzled as to what happened. I might not have felt very strong by the end, which wouldn’t be surprising, given that I also ran yesterday and I often experience a dip in performance on Fridays. But I still find that explanation less than convincing, since none of that seemed to affect me over the first 3.5 miles. The best explanation I can imagine is that my mental focus must have wandered in that last stretch, which meant I started to think about something other than trying to finish strong. It’s nice to enjoy a sort of mental respite while exercising, but, at least for me, it seems to come at the expense of performance. Probably this is an indication that I’m someone who shouldn’t listen to music on an iPod while running. Or maybe I’d just need to listen to music with a fast tempo.

In any event, I’m surprised and disappointed, but it’s a minor setback. I’d be much more concerned if I thought my slow time today was a sign of a physical problem, or if I had been laboring all the way and had been going slowly throughout my run. It’s just a good reminder of the importance of the mental component, and how concentration really seems to matter for me.

Today’s stats:

• Distance run: 3.98 miles
• Time: 33:12
• Average speed: 7.2 mi/h
• Average pace: 8:18/mi
• Calories burned: 580

‘Twas wet this morning when I went for my run. It wasn’t a heavy rain, but it was a bit steadier than a sprinkle. On the plus side, the temperature when I left was about 48 degrees, according to the thermometer on our balcony, so it wasn’t bone-jarringly cold. And the raindrops made me feel like I was hardly breaking a sweat, even if I was getting quite wet.

This was the first time I had done a run entirely in the rain, and it was also a good bit longer than the last time it rained on me. If nothing else, it was a good experience to prepare me for the possibility of having to do a long run in the rain. The wet conditions didn’t really bother me too much (except for when I stepped in a puddle around the four-mile mark while trying to run around a school bus turning in front of me). Occasionally I’d catch a raindrop in the eye, but it didn’t sting, and the discomfort was fleeting. Probably the worst part about running in these conditions is that my shirt got much wetter than it does when I’m only contending with sweat; the moisture-wicking technical fabric is no match for constant rain. I suppose if I did a longer run in similar conditions I could wear a windbreaker or light poncho to keep my shirt dry (or at least drier), but I always imagine I’d feel uncomfortable running in anything more than a shirt and shorts. (Note: I may change my opinion on the matter if and when the day comes that I have to run in freezing or sub-freezing conditions.)

In any event, the weather was nothing more than a minor nuisance, something I’d change if I could, but nothing that seriously affected my run. I set out hoping to break thirty-nine minutes, and my split times were strong all the way, making it quite easy for me to achieve my goal. I was pretty strong on the hills, though perhaps not quite so fast as normal on the descents, especially the steeper declines where I tend to pick up a lot of speed. And I probably didn’t finish so strongly as I often do, kicking it into a higher gear over the last few blocks or so, but I kind of felt as I was running that I had been going stronger than normal throughout my run, which might have been why I didn’t feel like I was going significantly faster over the stretches when I did try to speed up over the last mile and a half or so.

Today’s stats:

• Distance run: 5.00 miles
• Time: 38:37
• Average speed: 7.8 mi/h
• Average pace: 7:42/mi
• Calories burned: 728