Tired morning

3:30 came too early this morning and I found myself tired and pretty slow moving today. It took me a long time to even make it down to the treadmill this morning as I kept forgetting things and in general felt like I was in a fog. I planned on 5-7 this morning with the hopes that I would feel up to 7... but it just wasn't in me today so I stopped at 5. Hopefully that means I will be feeling fresh and ready for 7 or so tomorrow.

The week so far

This week started with my 16 miler on Sunday, followed by a recovery run (5 miles) on the treadmill on Monday. I actually felt pretty good on Monday and am hoping to eventually get that run up to 7 or 8 miles. Tuesday was supposed to be a 7 mile hardish run but we had an ice storm which meant Eric and I shared time on the treadmill. I ran 4 at just over 8 minute pace (which on the treadmill feels pretty fast) and did another 3 later while the kids were napping. I did the middle 1.5 miles of that run at 7:30 pace. I need to get myself adjusted to the pace on the treadmill a little better. I always feel like I am working way too hard for the pace that it tells me. Today I ran 9 miles at 8:50 pace.. once I got going it actually felt pretty easy. I think I will just start trying to tick up the pace on my runs until I am running something closer to what I would be doing if I were outside. The good thing is that I seem to be holding up to the miles fine now and have been working on increasing the pace as well. Things seem to be going pretty well right now...

Sunday: 16
Monday: 5
Tuesday: 4, 3
Wednesday: 9

37 miles so far this week. I should be able to get 18-20 over the next 3 days for a total of 55-57.

Catching up

I finshed last week with 50 miles. 8 on Thursday, 6 on Friday and 5 yesterday. All were pretty easy efforts and I was feeling good at the end of the week.

Today was cold and windy and for the first time I wasn't really looking forward to getting out for my long run. Things started to click once I got started and I was running just over 8 minute pace for the first few miles. I ran some loops down in the park to stay out of the wind as best as I could. It ended up being a great run for me... 16 miles at 8 minute pace average (2:07:55). The last 5 miles were all sub 8 and I felt pretty good all the way through. That's all for now... Mr. Buddy is getting frustrated with me!

New shoes

I ordered a pair of Asic 2080s that are not agreeing with my feet. I was wearing the 2110s and had worn the 2080s before but for some reason this particular pair seems to be too narrow. I started wearing them last Friday and since then have had a number of minor issues with my feet and right achilles. The most worrisome was a burning and pulling sensation on the bottom of my foot and some tightness in my achilles. I went back to my old shoes yesterday and iced my foot and achilles... things seemed to be better this morning. Anyway, those shoes will go back. Yesterday was an easy 5.5 (had to get rid of the .5 from the day before) and this morning was an easy 6. Hopefully I will have time for 8 tomorrow and with a couple 6 milers to end the week I should crack 50.

*Niggles*

I had a hard time getting the niggles (as someone calls them) out today. My legs felt pretty good last night after a massage and some ibuprofen but they were stiff this morning and didn't really want to be on the treadmill. After 20 minutes or so, things seemed like they were coming around a little and I thought 5 miles seemed pretty reasonable. At 4.5 I started having some weird pain in the back of my leg behind my left knee... not sure what it would have been but that combined with my general discomfort was enough for me to call it quits for the day. I am encouraged because my Sunday runs are getting longer and faster and yet I am still making it a bit longer with each following Monday. I really don't like the .5 mile though..

I hate titles

I finished last week with 6 on Friday and 4.5 on Saturday. Saturday was a busy day with me trying to fit a run in on a short break that I had from work in the morning. I cut it a little too close and had to stop at 4.5 instead of the 5.5 that I had planned. The week ended at 47 miles with everything feeling good. The IT band tightness that I had been experiencing seems to be under control as long as I stretch well and ice with some regularity.

This morning I ran 15 miles in 2:03:14 (8:13 avg) with the last 6 in 8:04, 8:35, 7:53, 7:55, 7:45, and 7:39. I was trying to stay around 8 minute pace at the end and then finish the last couple with whatever I had left. I am not quite sure what happened at mile 11 (8:35) but overall it went pretty well. It was a solid effort and my legs actually feel pretty good right now. I have been thinking about what races I may want to run in the spring... Eric is convinced that I should run the Fargo half marathon in May. He might just have me talked into it...

7 and 5

Wednesday was an easy 7 and today was an easy 5. I had planned 8 for yesterday but ran out of time. Daylight saving time still has Elle messed up and she wakes up pretty early these days. No big deal.. I am anxious to get to 50 miles/week but know that it is just a number. I think I should hit 48 for the week.

Progress

An easy 6 miles on the treadmill this morning found my legs feeling surprisingly good. Last week on Tuesday my legs still felt sluggish from my long run.... I must be making progress!

Sunday's Run

It was a great morning for a run... 32 degrees and sunny. My legs felt really good and I had a hard time keeping the pace slow from the start. I finally quit worrying about it around mile 6 and just made sure everything stayed feeling comfortable. I was still feeling really good at mile 10 so I picked up the pace a bit and ended up with 8:13, 8:08, 7:45 and 7:24 for the last 4 miles. 14.5 total for the day (8:27 avg). My legs were a little sore and pretty tired for the rest of the day. A nice leg massage from my wonderful husband was a great end to a great day!

My legs were pretty tired this morning and 4 miles was enough to get all of the kinks worked out. I was happy to not have any soreness in my knee which is a first after a long run.

Brrrrrr....

I had originally planned to run 6 today but 5 (41:34) felt comfortable and I wanted to be ready for the long run tomorrow. I am happy with how the week ended.. 44 miles and everything feeling good! It was pretty chilly running outside because of the wind. I'm not ready for winter...

I can't believe it's only been 5 weeks

It feels so good to have running be such a routine thing again. It has only been 5 weeks since I have been doing this consistently and I can't imagine my day without it anymore. Thursday and Friday were each an easy 5 miles on the treadmill. With the exception of a little soreness on Monday, my knee has held up great this week. Hopefully if I continue to ice and take things slow, it won't be an issue anymore.

Good run

7 easy miles this morning on the treadmill. I should hit 45 miles for the week even with a 3 mile day on Monday. It was a fun run.. everything just felt good today.

Recovered

My legs felt great today after a few minutes of getting the last kinks out from Sunday's long run. Just an easy 5 miles today on the treadmill although I was tempted to go a bit more. I only got 3 miles in yesterday because my knee went from tight to sore at 2.5 miles. So I decided not to push my luck today as I want to go 7 tomorrow. Still icing, taking ibuprofen when I remember, and running sloowwww...

2:00:00

14.13 miles (8:30 pace) with no knee problems. I am tired but very happy. My legs felt pretty good and I only had a little tightness in my knee at two different points in the run. Most of the run was on a dirt path along the river so it was nice and soft. The last 2 miles were 8:07 and 8:00 even though it felt like I was just hanging on at the end. Good run... time for a nap!

It doesn't take long

4.5 miles for the day in 38:20. Running outside brought the pace down to 8:30/mile. I really don't even feel like I ran but my knee was starting to get a little tight so I quit at 4.5 to make it an even 35 miles for the week. I'll take it. I really want to get 2 hours in tomorrow. It's funny how just a month ago, 4.5 miles was a longish run for me and now I feel like it's hardly even worth logging anything under 5 miles.

Feeling Better

5 miles for each of the last 3 days.. I am pretty happy with how my leg has been feeling but am still trying to be a little conservative. I will try for 6-7 tomrrow and then 2 hours on Sunday. I have been keeping the pace at 9.5 minutes/mile which is dreadfully slow but is what feels really easy for now on the treadmill. I get myself in trouble on Sundays when I run outside because it's easier for me to run at a faster pace and still feel comfortable. The 12 miler I did last week was at 8:20 pace. It felt great but I think I am paying for it a little now with my knee problems. Anyway, I will try to keep things slow so that my legs hold up to the mileage considering that I am not used to it yet.

Training Again

Well, I am back running seriously again for the first time since before I became pregnant with my now 2 1/2 year old daughter. So far things are going well with the exception of some IT band tightness and resulting soreness in my left knee. I ramped up the miles a little too quickly as I have only been running 15-20 miles per week for the past few years. Here is how October looked:


Oct. 8-14 :: 34 miles for the week with an 8 mile long run

Oct. 15-21 :: 42 miles for the week with an 11 mile long run

Oct. 22-28 :: 30 miles for the week on 5 runs with a 12 mile long run. I was going for mid to high forties for the week but opted to take a couple days off because of the soreness in my knee. I was trying to be careful as I wanted to go for my first 2 hour run on Sunday.

Oct. 29 :: The goal was 2 hours but I only managed 9 miles (1:15:35). My knee was already bugging me at 1.5 miles in and I probably should have stopped earlier than I did but I was hoping that it would go away. It actually got to a point where it was affecting my stride so I knew I needed to pull the plug.

Oct. 30 :: 1.5 miles... I decided before I started that I would quit as soon as it hurt. Lots of stretching, ice and a steady low dose of ibuprofen to help reduce the inflammation.

Oct. 31 :: 5 miles! I was excited to make it 5 without any soreness... just a couple twinges to let me know it's still there.

Overall I am pretty happy with my start back. It has been quite a few years since I have been in racing shape so I am hoping to build a base this winter and run some races next spring and summer. We'll see what happens. Running slow is frustrating for me because in college we focused on quicker paces and low volume. I want to see what will happen if I put in some long efforts and right now my body is telling me the only way that will happen is if I run slow.