12 miles

Ran 1:34 this morning... the longest run in a few weeks. I felt great and my legs are feeling good right now... I was thinking I might get a little soreness but it doesn't seem like that is going to happen. Daddy and the kids (in the stroller) joined me for the last 3.5 so that was pretty fun too. I am going to try to keep my mileage in the 30-40 mpw range for this next 8 week block of school. Towards the end of last block my mileage really started to slip because I was studying a lot more for the exams... mostly because of the fear of the unknown. The exams were definitely tough but they turned out better than I expected and it is nice to have an idea of what to expect now.

I am planning to run the veteran's day 8k XC race... the course is a muddy mess right now so hopefully it dries out a little in the next few weeks. It should be fun!

Still running!

I'm still running (some!). I just don't have time to write about it. Med school keeps me busier than I imagined and I am slowly learning how to survive on 6 hours of sleep or less. I really love it though and would study non-stop if I had the chance (it's a good thing I have a family so I am forced to take breaks). The kids are doing well and I am managing to spend all evening with them and some time in the morning as well. My runs are limited to 25-30 minutes or so during the week (on the treadmill to I can study anatomy powerpoints) but I am still getting out for a longer (10-12) on Sundays. Anyway, I wish I could be running more but am happy that it still fits into the day (at least most days).

Half marathon :: 1:29:27

The race went well this morning. I tried to be more conservative at the start than I was for the half in Fargo. It seemed to work much better! Here are the splits:

6:48 | 6:44 | 6:57 | 6:47
6:51 | 6:49 | 6:57 | 6:49
6:46 | 6:54 | 6:49 | 6:53
6:40

It was definitely a challenging course with a lot of rolling hills and one big one right after mile 6. I am really happy with the way I raced today... I let a lot of the women get away from me at the start and spent the last few miles chasing them down. It made the race a lot of fun. I caught three within the last mile and may have had a chance at 3rd place if I would have started my kick a little earlier. I ended up in 4th place (10 seconds behind 3rd) but she was really slowing at the end. I was pretty excited to see the finish clock was still under 1:30 as I was approaching the line =)

12 miles :: 1:30:26

Things have been a little crazy lately trying to settle into a routine with school, daycare, family-time, study-time, etc... I've been trying to fit in 4-5 miles each morning during the week and then longer on the weekends. It seems to be going ok although I would like to be running more miles.

My run went well today... 7:34 average with the last 3 being 7:11, 7:05 and 7:04. I felt good with the exception of a little soreness in my left knee... I haven't been taking the time to stretch before I run... apparently not a good idea.

It's time for bed... 3:00 comes pretty quick most mornings!

Busy

Sunday - 8 miles
Monday - 4 miles
Tuesday - 4 miles
Wednesday - 4 miles
Thursday - 5 miles (35:20) did 4 mile progression run 7:30, 7:06, 6:54, 6:52 and a cool down mile.
felt really good.

should get a long run in on saturday

10k :: 39:17

Today was a pretty fun day. I can't spend too much time on blogging though because I have lots of studying to do! The race went really well. I felt fantastic and the course was pretty fast (it was just a tad short.. it came up on the garmin as 6.17 miles). It was a little tough mentally because it was just a big square out on country roads (1.5 miles worth of gravel) so that meant no spectators and just a lot of open road to look at. I was happy with how well I was able to stay focused. Here are the splits:

3:49 (179) | 3:57 (190) |3:58 (195) |
4:05 (196) |4:10 (196) | 4:02 (195) |
4:01 (196) | 3:55 (196) |3:52 (197) | 3:30 (197)

(~60m short +15 seconds = 39:32 = NEW PR - ed.)

The 4:05 and 4:10 splits came on the gravel which was also into the wind and the last 1k was .o4 short. Otherwise it seemed to be a pretty consistent effort. I won the womens' division (and 75 bucks!) and took second overall. The guy that beat me was a real jackass. Too bad I didn't know that while we were racing... maybe I could have gone a little faster! He came up to me after the race to say good job and then proceeded to tell me that he could have beat me by more if he hadn't slowed up at the end. He looked back and saw that I was far enough away so he slowed down... and if I would have tried to catch him he "would have just blown me away". Congratulations buddy... you beat a girl. (barely - ed.)

It was a well-organized race and one that we will do again (next year Eric will run too... hopefully that guy shows up again so he can get his ass handed to him). (affirmative - ed.)

6 miles: Speed

Did a little speed work before the race on Saturday. Didn't have a lot of time to run so I made it short. 1 mile warm-up, 2 miles at 7:00 pace, 1 mile at 8:00 pace and 3x800 in 3:15 starting every 5 minutes.

Here is how it went:

7:45 (144) warm-up
6:58 (169)
6:55 (172)
7:46 (161)

3:00 (180) 130 in 1:10 and 120 in 1:20
3:10 (no data) 130 in :48 and 120 in 1:09
3:08 (176) 130 in 100 and 120 in 1:15

I felt great and obviously misjudged pace on the 800s. I backed off after the first one but was surprised at how I kept creeping down to run around 6:05 pace. It felt really comfortable.

6 miles

Felt really good today. 7:46 pace for 6 miles.

12 miles

Felt absolutely fantastic today... makes me wish that I had run the race yesterday. It was as if I could not feel my legs at all and they would have gone as fast as I wanted them to go. I averaged under 7:25 pace for the run with the the last 2 miles being 7:10 and 7:02. Fun run. I am hoping to do a little speed this week and then race a 10k next weekend. It is a small race about 25 miles from town but they have 75 dollars worth of gift certificates for first male and female. It sounds like the overall winning time isn't usually under 40:00 so that might be a good goal.

6 miles

Easy 6 miles today. Felt good to get out for more than 45 minutes!

Getting Adjusted

It's been a bit of a crazy week and it is nice to be done! Med school is definitely going to keep me busy and I am a little worried about fitting in my runs. It will just have to be whatever I can manage, I guess. Once we settle into a routine I am sure things will be much better. This week was extra chaotic because our schedule included extra in-class time as we were drilled with orientation activities on top of our regular schedule.

We had our first case study this week which was a ton of fun... just like playing House. But it also meant researching two different topics and giving presentations on Wednesday and Friday. I spent 5-6 hours on each topic which really cut into my running time! I didn't get a run in at all on Wednesday and only ran 3 on Thursday and Friday. But I will figure out a schedule soon and hopefully get back to being able to run more miles again.

Sunday - 13.3
Monday - 7
Tuesday- 7
Wednesday - 0
Thursday - 3 (with speed)
Friday - 3

I am looking forward to watching the half marathon tomorrow and might race a 10K next weekend depending on how the week goes. Daycare is going well for the kids... they are a little extra tired in the evening but seem to enjoy it. I am hoping that we all catch up on a little sleep this weekend =)

13.3 miles (1:45:00)

Felt great today. Wish I would have felt this way yesterday =)

Bad Day

Today was an odd day... there was a small 5k down in the park this morning (the local high school cross country team hosts the meet every August). It is usually a pretty small meet with mostly the high school runners and a few of the regulars in town. This year they changed the course so that it was completely on grass through the frisbee golf course which meant that it was pretty rough. I thought I felt ok at the start of the race although it was getting pretty hot already (it didn't start until 9:00 so it was high 60's, 89% humidity and 60 something dewpoint).

Pretty much as soon as we started racing I knew that I didn't feel good. It was really hard to find a rhythm which could have been due to the rough course but I just didn't feel like I had any go in my legs. I came through the first mile in 6:14... bad sign as I ran the first mile of the 5k a couple of weeks ago in 6:03 and felt fantastic. I gave it a little more time thinking that sometimes it just takes a little while to get going but it just kept going downhill... before I knew it I was running close to 7:00 pace and just felt like I was running through mud. I eventually dropped out just after the 2 mile mark (something I have never done but it really felt pointless to continue slogging on). It was interesting to see the HR data as it showed that I had averaged 194 for the second mile (which only ended up being a 6:59). Not a fun time!

And so it begins...

The kiddos started daycare yesterday. I don't start school until Monday but am bringing them this week for a few hours/day to hopefully make it a smoother transition. Other than a few issues (including watching a mommy and daddy show... Elle's description), it seemed to go ok. We are really careful about how much and what type of television that Elle and Owen are exposed to so to hear that they watched a show (and not even a cartoon) during the not quite 3 hours that they were there didn't make me too happy. But sometimes Elle doesn't describe things as they really happen so I will have to wait to hear Laurie's version before I get too upset. It was my understanding (and one of the reasons why we chose this particular provider) that the kids only watched a cartoon as they settled down before lunch/nap... which is how we structured our day at home too. It was really crazy when we were looking for providers how many of them allowed the kids to watch 2+ hours of tv a day. But enough of that...

6 miles today with a few ~200m strides. Legs felt really good.

3 miles w/speed

I could give a number of excuses today why I only ran 3 miles but it really came down to just not wanting to run. It has been a long time since I have felt this way so I figured there was probably a good reason for it. I did 1x1:00 and 2x:30 at 15 minutes.

9 miles

Felt much better today (7:50 pace). I will be happy when the weather starts to cooperate a little more =)

7 miles

Easy run. Felt ok but overall just not a good day for a run.

12 miles

Planned to run 1:30 today... stayed out for an even 12 (1:31:51). Legs felt really good today but HR was a little higher (in the 160's toward the end). It was pretty hot and humid again today though. Finished with a 7:00 last mile... felt really smooth and easy.

8 miles w/ speed

Legs felt really good today after the first set of speed. Average pace was just under 7:30.

7 miles w/ hills

7 miles with a few hill repeats at the end of the run.... getting ready for the big hill next weekend during the 5k.

7 miles w/ speed

7 miles on the treadmill this morning. 2 minutes of speed every fifteen minutes... 2x1:00, 1x1:00 + 2x:30 and 4x:30. Felt good.

10 miles

10 miles this morning in some pretty sticky weather. Felt pretty good today so will probably do some speed again tomorrow.

7 miles w/ speed

Legs were feeling better this morning but still a little heavy at the start. 7 miles with 2 minutes of speed every 15 minutes... 2x1:00, 1x1:00 + 2X:30, 4x:30. I felt much better after the first set of pick-ups.

6 miles

Still a little tired today so I took it very easy (8:14 pace). It has been very hot lately and it looks like it will last a few more days. High nineties during the day only cooling to mid seventies at night.... combined with 90% humidity doesn't feel very good. We usually get at least one of these streaks every summer... hopefully it ends soon.

13 miles

Slow run this morning... between being a little tired from the race yesterday and the heat/humidity it was not one of the most enjoyable runs. 13 miles at 8:02 pace.

5K- 19:08

Small race this morning.. I think 54 people in the 5k and 20 people in the 10k. None of the college runners showed up so I wasn't sure if there would be anyone to run with. The course was an out and back with a 180 turn around. The weather was decent... 60 degrees with a 12-15 mph wind.

It turned out that there wasn't anyone to run with except the guy that went on to win the 10k. I was about 10 meters behind him until the 5k turnaround point and then by myself for the rest... I went on to be the overall 5k winner! Woohoo =) Second place was a high school boy in 21:14. Kinda fun =)

Here are the splits and average HR:

3:42.7 (180)
3:45.3 (187)
348.7 (193)
3:53.0 (195)
3:53.4 (196)

Max HR was 201

I think I ran a little more even than the splits show considering that the wind was in my face for the second half of the race. I felt pretty strong through 2 miles... my legs actually felt really good throughout the entire race. I am excited to race again in 2 weeks after I have a chance to get a little speed in my legs. Fun time =)

8 miles + speed

What a fun run! My tight calf that has been bugging me for a couple of weeks now felt great as did everything else about this run. It's amazing what a good email can do for you =) Today called for 8 miles with 2:00 worth of speed every 15 minutes. I did 2x1:00, 2x1:00, 1x1:00 + 2x:30 and finished the run right at 60 minutes with a 1:00 stride. Average pace ended up being 7:30 as even the segments between the speed were a little quicker today. I found myself falling very comfortably in the low 7:40's as soon as I backed off the speed. It was a really fun run and looking forward to the speed sessions made the miles go by very fast. If I wasn't racing on Saturday I would have been tempted to stay out much longer. Good run!

Can you blame me?

I am having a pretty tough time right now... 3 weeks left until I have to start leaving these 2 sweeties at daycare. Needless to say I am quite the emotional mess lately. So how has this been affecting my running... I really don't think I am going to worry about the marathon anymore. I would like to still run it but am starting to realize that running 70+ miles/week while I am trying to balance family time and study time might not be realistic. Family obviously will come first and if something has to take the back burner it will have to be running. So I think I am going to drop my mileage some right now and do a little speed work to get my legs in something that resembles racing mode. And then I will just see how things go from there. I will still run as many miles as I can fit in to my schedule (without stressing myself out too much... something that I tend to do from time to time =)). If it happens that I can still run enough so that I can run the marathon, great! If not, at least I will have had a chance to run some races this summer.

14 miles this morning.

7 miles yesterday.

9 miles

I have been thinking for some time now that I don't want to focus my training on TCM. I really want to spend the rest of the summer running some races. I am pretty sure that I will still run the marathon (just with a different goal in mind)... assuming that I can put in enough miles during school for it to make sense.

9 miles for today (a little faster than usual just because it sounded fun). 7:30 average pace with the last 1.5 miles at 6:45 pace.

10 miles

Legs felt good today... 7:50 pace for 10 miles (under 150 HR).

8 miles w/ hills

8 miles on the treadmill with some inclines. Felt pretty good today.

10.5 miles

Legs felt better today. 7:53 pace with 148 average HR.

7.5 miles w/ 3 mile evaluation

I knew I was tired before I even started this morning... my standing around HR was 80 (about 20bpm higher than normal). I had planned to do 3 miles at 6:50 pace and then monitor HR and recovery time. The 2 mile warm-up wasn't enough to loosen my legs very much but it was starting to rain and get windy so I started the eval miles anyway.

6:48 (174)
6:50 (181)
6:49 (185)

The first mile actually felt ok but my legs were definitely tired. Mile 2 was a little harder and mile 3 felt about the same as mile 1 (even though the winds had picked up and the rain was dumping). Probably the most telling part of the run was that it took 3:00 to recover to 130.

7 miles

Recovery run. The long run yesterday wore me out more than I thought. My legs weren't really sore this morning.. more stiff and tired than anything.

18 miles

I have been taking it easy since the race so it felt good today to go out and get some good miles in. My legs felt really good and I tried to run a fair amount on grass today... probably close to half of the run was spent running back and forth on the edge of the golf course. 2:21:47 (7:52 pace). Average HR was 157... stayed under 160 until the last 2 miles (164). A recovery shake and ice bath later my legs are feeling good.

7 miles

Easy run at 8:02 pace.

7 miles

Another easy run this morning found my legs feeling good. 7 miles at 8:02 pace (146 HR). An easy 7 or 8 tomorrow and then I should be ready for 17-18 on Sunday.

5 miles

My legs felt ok this morning.... no soreness, just a little tired. I ran a slow (8:20 pace) 5 miles at 143 HR. I am going to take the next few days really easy so that I am recovered and ready to start next week with a good long run on Sunday.

10k

40:51 for 2nd place (9th overall). Here is the breakdown:

3:48 (184) | 3:58 (186) | 4:00 (189) | 4:03 (189)
3:56 (189) | 4:09 (191) | 4:05 (191) | 4:07 (190)
4:12 (191) | 3:50 (193)

Max HR was 203. It was pretty hot out on the course... it was mostly on an asphalt bike path with no shade. It was about 77 at the start of the race and we had to stand around in the sun for an extra 15 minutes waiting for the race to start.

I am disappointed because I let myself shut down a little after the first place girl starting pulling away. Instead of being mentally tough I started telling myself... she's 10 years younger than I am, she was the conference champion in the 10K this spring, blah blah blah.

Anyway it's probably ok because my legs feel really good a few hours after the race.

7 miles

Easy run today. Legs felt great after yesterday's 13 miler. Average HR 151 at 7:55 pace. My left calf and shin were a little sore yesterday and today... maybe due to running more of my miles on the road instead of the treadmill. Nothing serious but I will watch it nonetheless. I am standing in a cold water bath drinking hot chocolate right now instead of rushing around at work to finish everything by 7:45 like I am used to. It's a wonderful thing to be done working =)

13 miles

A shorter long run this morning. 7:51 pace felt nice and easy. HR stayed under 160 for most of the run.

9 miles

Easy 9 miles outside this morning (7:50 pace). Yesterday was my last day of work so this was the first relaxed Saturday morning that we have had in a few years. Unfortunately it won't last too long as classes start in 5 weeks. The run felt pretty good this morning although I started to feel a little tired toward the end and my HR reflected it as well as it went up to 165 for the last mile. I will probably keep my long run down to 14 tomorrow because I want to be ready to race on the 4th. 70 miles for the week.

10 miles

Easy 10 this morning at 7:50 pace (4 outside and 6 on the treadmill). Legs felt good and still no signs of the sore knee.

7 miles

Easy 7 on the treadmill at 8:00 pace this morning.

12 miles

Easy 12 this morning (7:50 pace)... 6 outside and 6 on the treadmill. Legs felt really good today. I started a new pair of shoes on Monday and haven't had any pain in my knee since. The miles are adding up a little quicker now and it's easy to forget that my shoes might be getting worn out.

Hills... sort of

10 miles (7:50 pace) this morning with some inclines thrown in... I'm hoping to get my legs used to the idea of hills. The only good option for us outside is the back of the levy out our front door... but it isn't the best footing and is way too dark to attempt at 3:30 in the morning. My legs felt pretty good today.

7 miles

Recovery run this morning on the treadmill. Legs were just a little sore but overall didn't feel too bad

15 miles

Legs felt good this morning.. no soreness and not too tired once I settled in. 15 miles at 7:51 pace. HR stayed under 160 for the first 6 miles then averaged 162 for the next 5 miles. Miles 12-15 were at 164-165. I was definitely more tired than on a typical long run but it didn't feel as if I had raced yesterday. It was a good indicator that I ran as controlled as I thought I had during the race... another good sign was that my knee didn't bother me too much. Just a little starting around mile 10.. I stretched it a little and was able to continue without any problems. I stopped at 15 just to be on the safe side. Recovered to 130 in1:03 and 120 in 1:15.

12k

The race wasn't exactly what we were expecting... not so organized and a little more of an obstacle course than your typical road race. We got a chuckle out of the course map before we began as there were many footnotes... run under the bridge and through the dirt path up the grassy hill.... over the bridge and down the handicap accessible ramp (with three 180 degree turns)... run along the bike path until you reach the 3 flights of stairs leading back up to the bridge... Last year they had trouble with people getting lost and missing a section of the course because it was pretty complicated, not well marked, and they didn't have any type of escort. Anyway, I was happy that this was going to be more of a workout effort than a real race.... the plan was to run 6:55 to 7:00 pace.

I ran a short warm-up about 20 minutes before the start, stretched and did a few strides. It was pretty humid and probably close to 60 degrees but I actually felt a little cold while we stood around waiting for the race to start (it finally did... 10 minutes late).

I felt really good from the start.. really relaxed. The first 4 miles went by in 6:44, 6:53, 6:48, 6:49. They were all on pretty flat roads... no cross country, ramps or stairs yet! Miles 5 and 6 were 7:05 and 6:59... it was somewhere in these miles that we had to run off the bike path into a frisbee golf course (the dirt path and up the grassy hill) and then a little later we ran down the ramp and back up 3 flights of stairs. I was still feeling really relaxed and controlled through these miles... it felt much more like a MP back-to-back effort that I had been doing prior to the half marathon. It was tempting after mile 6 to pick it up a little but I stayed on pace through mile 7... 6:50. I let myself go a little for a the last .44 and finished (on a huge downhill) at 6:17 pace.

I was 10th overall (99 runners) and the first woman in 51:23 (6:53 avg. pace) ... not a very competitive field =) But it was fun and probably a good training effort. My legs didn't get sore at all and my knee felt fine throughout the race and later in the day as well. It was a nice change in effort from the easy runs that I have been used to lately.

6 miles

Easy 6 on the treadmill this morning. Everything was feeling good. 12k tomorrow!

8 miles

I made it through 8 miles (7:50 pace) today without any pain in my knee. I added a few 200m strides at 6:55 pace just to get the legs moving a little before the 12k on Saturday.

9 miles

My knee was still hurting a little this morning so I stopped at 9 again. It is frustrating to have a problem like this that never completely goes away. I will keep icing and be careful with my mileage!

9 miles

For some odd reason my knee was hurting pretty badly this morning. I usually only deal with the pain immediately after a race or occasionally the day after a long run. It was bad enough that I had to stop and stretch my IT band after 7 miles and still had to stop early at 9 miles. So I will ice and take ibuprofen today. Otherwise my legs felt good today.. a little tired at the start but after a mile I settled in to 7:50 pace and felt pretty good. My HR didn't go above 150 today... it averaged almost 10 beats lower than what is the new normal.

7 miles

Recovery run today. Felt ok after the first mile... a little tired and still a tiny bit of soreness in the legs. 8:15 pace.

17 miles

Long run this morning... 17 miles in 2:12:59 (7:49 pace) with average HR of 156. My HR stayed below 160 for the first 12 miles. Miles 13-17 were 161, 163, 162, 162, 163. I pushed a little on the last 400m of the run to see if I could get it up a little higher (just out of curiosity and because I was a little concerned that it was low because I was tired... even though I haven't been feeling tired). Anyway, it did go up to 169. I recovered to 130 in :52 and 120 in 1:02. My legs felt great with the exception of the last 4 miles when they started feeling a little tired. They are just a touch sore but I think that it will be gone by tomorrow. I think this was a pretty good run!

8 miles

I kept the miles at 8 this morning even though I felt fantastic. I expected to be tired today as it is the end of a 76.5 mile week for me and my legs were feeling a little off yesterday throughout the day. I was pleasantly surprised to find my legs feeling really good as soon as I got going on the treadmill this morning. I kept the pace at 8:10's anyway just to make sure I am not overdoing anything. Hopefully this means I will be feeling good for my long run tomorrow. I am running (racing?) a 12K next Saturday but am not planning on adjusting mileage at all other than a slightly lighter day on Friday.

11 miles

Easy 11 this morning at 8:00 pace. Legs felt pretty good during the run but I am starting to feel a little tired as the day goes on. Tomorrow's 10 might get changed to 8.

9 miles | 3 .5 miles

Easy 9 this morning. Legs were a little tired to start but felt better as I got going. I kept the pace a little slower this morning (8:10) and average HR was 148. I added a few 200 meter inclines in the last mile which got the HR up to high 160's.

Easy 3.5 miles this afternoon with the kids in the stroller. We did a little tour of the parks in the neighborhood which meant there were a few breaks during the run.

12 miles

70 degrees and light rain when I headed out the door at 3:30 this morning. I felt great today... there's something about running in the rain. I did the first 6 outside with the HR monitor on... I was running 7:45 pace at 156 HR. It wasn't that long ago that I couldn't take a step without my HR going up to 167. The last 6 were on the treadmill. Good run.

10 miles

Easy 10 this morning with 6 outside and 4 to finish on the treadmill. Legs were a little heavy for the first 2 miles or so but that lifted and I felt good for the rest of the run. 7:50 pace with my HR staying at 160 or under.

7 miles

Recovery run today... my legs weren't sore just a little tired. Nice and slow on the treadmill. 71 miles over the last 7 days.

Long run

It seems like it has been a long time since I have been out for a long run. It felt good to be out today for 2 hours... 16 miles in 2:04:50 (7:48 pace). I started feeling a little tired around 13 miles and stopped back at the house for some gatorade (thanks Elle!). It seemed to help after a couple miles and I felt pretty good by the end of the run. My legs never got sore (which is new for me) and a few hours after the run everything is feeling good.

9 miles

Easy 9 on the treadmill.

10 miles

Easy run this morning... 4 outside and finished on the treadmill. Averaged 8:05 pace and was able to keep my average HR under 160 for the entire run!

9 miles

Easy run on the treadmill. 8:15 pace.

11 miles

Easy run today. The first 7 1/2 were outside and then in to finish on the treadmill. Legs felt good. Average pace outside was 7:45 and then a little slower on the mill.

Don't fly United

That was the lesson we learned from our trip to Vermont. Other than one canceled flight and one that was delayed, we had a great trip. The wedding was beautiful and we had most of the morning on Sunday to spend with the groom (our friend from college who also ran cross country and track with us). He took us on a hilly trail run that really wiped out my legs... I will need to work on hills before TCM! I had planned on a long run but after close to 6 miles on the trails I was happy to just add another 1+ miles to make it 7 for the day. The wedding made for a late night on Sunday and with an early flight on Monday we didn't have time for a run before we left (and there was no way we were leaving the kids to go for a run once we got home!) so Monday was a day off.

Tuesday - Easy 9 this morning (7:50 pace). My legs felt great.

7 miles

Recovery run this morning on the treadmill. Legs were a little sore but overall didn't feel too bad.

Easy runs

Thursday - Easy 7. Felt good.

Friday - Easy 8. 4 miles outside and finished with 4 miles on the treadmill (averaged 7:50 pace). Felt really good today.

We are off early tomorrow morning to Vermont for a friend's wedding. It will be a short trip (back on Monday) but we should have a chance to get in some fun runs. We are leaving the kids for the first time (ever!).... we have never even left them with a babysitter yet. Grandma and Grandpa are coming to take over so things should go just fine though... Elle is very excited (Bud will probably be a little less excited to not see Mommy for 3 days).

Evaluation Run

The plan for today was a 3 mile evaluation run at 6:40 pace. I felt pretty good during the 2 mile warm-up and noticed that my HR was staying in the high 140's at 8:00 pace. I thought the run was going to go pretty well... but shortly after I picked up the pace I began to think differently. I was breathing much too hard for the pace and my legs just weren't there. My HR shot up pretty high right away and just kept climbing throughout the effort. I ended up stopping at 2.5 miles. Here are the splits:

6:39 (177)
6:41 (186)
3:22 (189)

Recovered to 130 in 1:20 and 120 in 1:37.

Catching up

Friday - Easy 5

Saturday - Easy 7

Sunday - Long run (13 miles). I felt really good during the run. I fell into 7:50 pace and stayed there throughout the run. My heart rate was nice and low... averaged 160 (the first few miles were all in the mid 150's, mile 12 and 13 were 166 and 168). I had planned on going a little further but it seemed like it was the right time to stop.

Monday - 6 mile recovery. Felt good.

Tuesday - Easy 7

Back to normal

My left IT band has been tight since the race and knee pain has limited my miles. My legs were sore on Sunday and my knee was hurting already at 2 miles so that is where I stopped. The soreness was almost gone by Monday but my knee was a little worse and I ran/walked for 3.5 miles. I have been icing 3X day since Monday, taking some ibuprofen and only running as far as I can make it before my knee starts to hurt. It has been getting better with each day... Tuesday was 5 miles, Wednesday was 6.5 miles and today I made it 8 miles without it even starting to hurt. So I think I am probably done dealing with that... I will still be careful the next few days though because I want to be able to get in a long run on Sunday. If all goes well I will shoot for 17 miles and try to get my mileage up above 65 for next week.

I am anxious to race again. I don't feel like I really raced the half... I figured I would be trying to hit a pace for the first 8-9 miles and then start tactical racing after that. However, because I went out too hard from the start, instead of racing the last few miles I could barely move the last few miles =) There aren't very many (any) races in the area for the next few weeks. It looks like the best opportunity is going to come on June 23rd... there is a 12K race in St. Cloud. It sounds like a neat race (interesting distance and the course winds through 3 different parks along the Mississippi). Plus my family will be able to watch the kids so that Eric and I can both race (if he feels up to it).

There is a 10K on July 4th that I want to race and then I would like to race at least one 5K this summer as well. But my main focus will be building for Twin Cities. The Dick Beardsley 1/2 marathon is on September 8... I want to race that as well (even if it is as a training type race). I am excited to get my miles up right now... if my legs can handle it I would like to be running 90-100 mile weeks in July.

The Race

I didn't finish in the time that I was hoping (or place for that matter) but for now I am just happy to be able to say that I did finish (in 1:31:24 for 11th female). Somewhere around mile 9 I started to hit the wall and by mile 12 I really didn't know if I was going to finish. I was hanging on for dear life at 7:30 pace as people were flying past me to finish. The medics grabbed me as soon a I got across the line and wanted to wrap me in blankets because I was pretty white and my lips were purple. I knew I was getting pretty cold on the last stretch into the wind but didn't realize how bad I was until I stopped. I didn't care about the blankets but I was pretty desperate for some sugar... I grabbed some oranges and gatorade and that seemed to get me out of the haze a little. I have never bonked on a run but from what I have been told it seems pretty similar to what I experienced during the race. But it doesn't seem right that I could have bonked during a half marathon.

I went out exactly as I had planned... hitting 6:35's for the first 4 miles and was feeling really strong. The next few miles were a little slower (6:48 averages over 3 miles... I missed the individual mile splits) but it was windy and I wasn't running in a group so I was still ok with the splits. Things seemed to be on track and I was reeling some of the women in that had gone out a little quicker. Mile 8 was really tough mentally... into the wind and I was by myself.. I could feel that I was dropping off the pace a little and then a spectator told me I was the 7th female. I thought there were only 4 ahead of me so that set me back a little too. I tried to dig in a little and tough it out and actually got down into the 6:30's again during the middle part of that mile. I felt better as I picked it up a little but just couldn't keep the pace by myself. It ended up being a 7:03 mile and things just kept getting worse from there. I was really starting to get cold (it was 56 degrees at the start of the race but dropping so that it was in the 40's by the end and the wind was steady at 20 mph gusting to 25 straight out of the north). My hands and forearms were really bad and from mile 10 on I was really struggling. Honestly, while I am not too happy with my time or place, I am just happy that I was able to finish.

So now what? I really want to know what happened. I am pretty sure that with the training that I was doing (even though it was only for 6 months) that I was in shape to do better than that. Maybe not. Maybe I was expecting too much and I died because I went out faster than what I could handle. I don't really know... but I want to run another half marathon! I am not sure when but for now I am going to take a week of reduced mileage (40ish) and then get back into some base miles.

3 miles

3 miles starting at 7:50 pace and working down to 6:35 pace for the last .5 mile or so. Legs felt really good today.

Day off

No run today. Hopefully the complete rest will do me some good. Tomorrow will be just a few miles with a little race pace mixed in somewhere. Then 2 miles or so on Friday...

4.5 miles

10 minute warm-up followed by 3x1000 at 6:25 pace. These were supposed to be at goal race pace or a little faster with long recoveries. I ran them in 4:00, 3:56, 3:56 with 3:30 recoveries between. I am still not really sure what pace I am going to be able to hold on Saturday... I want to think that I can break 1:27 which means I have to run under 6:39 pace. I am just not sure how far under to shoot... 6:35's would give me a 1:26:15. I might try to start with that and see how I feel.

4.5 miles

Easy run on the treadmill.

1.25 miles

I hadn't planned on running today but I wanted to practice taking cups of water and drinking on the run because I have never done it before. I ran .75 mile to warm up and then did 5 ~100m strides at 6:30ish pace while grabbing cups and trying to drink. I didn't end up taking in much fluid but at least I have some idea of how it is supposed to work. Hopefully I don't have to worry about drinking much during the half.

10 miles

Easy 10 today just under 8:00 pace. Legs felt good.

Sunday will be a day off.

4 miles

4 miles with 3x400 pick-ups at 7:00 pace.

Easy 5

5 miles today.. everything felt good after yesterday's workout.

1000m reps

5x1000m at 3:55 starting every 6 minutes this morning. Felt ok this morning.. a little bit tired and not a lot of snap in my legs.

3:55 (178) | 1:01
3:54 (176) | :58
3:53 (174) | 1:18
3:53 (174) | 1:17
3:53 (175) |1:13

Even though I felt a little tired from the start they still felt comfortable enough that I could have kept it up for some time. 5 felt like a good place to stop. 6 miles for the day.

Eleven days and counting

My heart just skipped a beat when I saw that there are only 11 days until the race. I don't know if I am more excited/nervous for my half or for Eric's race.... I guess nervous for my own race and excited for his.

Something I thought I wouldn't do for at least a few more years... I registered for TCM. I feel like I already have a pretty decent base to build on right now and I am not going to have a chance to train like this again until I am done with med school. I am done with my job at the end of June so that leaves 5 weeks before school starts to hopefully get up in the 100 mile/week range. The last 8 weeks before the marathon I will be in school so training may get a little tricky. One good thing is that the first block of school is all about memorizing biochemistry.. all stuff that I studied before in grad school... the bad thing is that it was 7 years ago.

Easy 4 miles this morning... my legs were a little tired but they started coming around by the end of the run.

Road Trip

13 miles today with 6 at MP. There was a nice 25 mph wind with 34 mph gusts blowing this morning so Daddy and the kids offered to take me out in the country so I could run with the wind at my back (sort of.. it was a SE wind and I was running straight east). The kids had a blast eating treats and watching movies while they watched for Mommy to run past.

The wind settled down quite a bit after the first few miles.. I could feel it blowing me a little right away which got me running a little faster than I had planned. The first 7 miles were very comfortable and I decided not to worry too much about HR and focus more on how my legs felt.
7:25 (146) | 7:33 (155) | 7:30 (157) | 7:34 (158) | 7:39 (159) | 7:35 (164) | 7:39 (166)

And the MP miles:

6:58 (175) | 6:54 (179) | 6:58 (180) | 6:59 (180) | 7:01 (181) | 6:56 (182)

I don't really know what to make of my HR these last two days. All I know is that my legs felt great today and I didn't start to feel tired until the last mile. No soreness at all and my legs continue to feel good as the day goes on. I was a little disappointed because of the HR data but I still think it was a good effort without being too much.

MP run

8 miles today with 5 at MP. My HR was high for some reason today. 2 mile warm-up with the first mile at 7:36 pace (155 HR) and second mile at 7:40 (164 HR). I don't know why my HR jumped during the second mile but it was off for the entire run. Here are the MP miles:

7:03 (173)
6:58 (177)
6:59 (179)
6:59 (180)
6:57 (181)

My legs felt great during and after the run. No soreness today and my legs never started feeling tired. Recovered to 130 in 1:02 and 120 in 1:13.

Easy 7

Felt good today. Easy 7 at 8:20 pace on the treadmill.

8 miles

My legs felt really pretty good this morning.. no soreness at all from yesterday and surprisingly fresh. I ran easy keeping the pace around 8:20/mile.

1000m reps

Today's workout was 1000m reps in 3:55 starting every 6 minutes. I felt good during the 2 mile warm-up and noticed again that my HR was low (150). I started the first rep and could tell right away that I was running too fast.. as soon as I get it in my head that I am running repeats I immediately shift into a "run fast" mode even though these were only supposed to be at 6:17 pace. It's a little tricky to do these on the road too because I don't have markers to help me with pace. Anyway, I was able to back off for the first one but got off track again on numbers 2 and 3. Here are the splits:

3:53 (178 HR) | :59
3:49 (176 HR) | 1:03
3:49 (177 HR) | :59
3:55 (175 HR) | 1:04
3:53 (176 HR) | 1:04
3:55 (176 HR) | 1:07

I was still feeling pretty good on number 6 but decided to stop because I could feel that I was getting close to the point of getting some muscle soreness and my stride was starting to alter a bit. These are the numbers from the first time that I did this workout on April 11:

3:54 (182 HR) | 1:27
3:56 (180 HR) | 1:47
3:47 (183 HR) | 1:54
3:47 (182 HR) | 1:46

Pretty cool.

6 and 8

Monday - 6 mile recovery at 9:00 pace on the treadmill. Legs were a little sore but overall I felt ok.

Tuesday - Easy 8 on the treadmill. Legs felt quite a bit better today.

Long run

My legs were a little sore after yesterday's run so I tried to be conservative on my long run this morning. My legs felt pretty good (I didn't notice the soreness in my quads until the last mile or so) and my heart rate stayed low for me throughout the run. I ran on the golf course and a dirt trail by the river for most of the run to take some of the stress off of my legs. I averaged 7:44 pace for 14 miles with an average HR of 159.

Coming around

After several days of feeling tired and not very recovered I am encouraged by today's run... 9 miles with 6 at MP to start my back-to-back efforts. After 2 miles to warm up these are the splits:

7:03 (169)
7:03 (173)
6:59 (174)
6:59 (175)
6:57 (176)
7:00 (175)

Recovered to 130 in :47 and 120 in :58. The average heart rate was pretty low for me at these paces and I felt great. Comparing it to a similar run on March 24, my average pace was about 10 seconds faster per mile with similar heart rates. I was pretty excited to see this =)

Easy running

Yesterday I broke my run into an easy 5 in the morning and another 2.5 in the afternoon with the kids in the stroller. Elle is a petite 29 lbs at 3 years old but Buddy at 16 months is a 27 lb beast so their combined weight along with the stroller forced me to go pretty slow. We had a good time.. it was sunny and 75 degrees... perfect for running or loading up on pretzels and lemonade.

This morning I felt a little sluggish and had a tough time mentally making it through 6.5 miles. I have been forcing myself to run slow lately on my easy days because I am scared that I am not allowing myself to recover completely. Sometimes the slow runs feel harder than the quicker ones.

Evaluation Run

Back to the 3 mile evaluation run to see where I am at. I attempted to repeat my March 20th effort which looked like this:

6:39 (177)
6:39 (185)
6:37 (185)

recovery
130 in 1:18
120 in 1:36
110 in 1:59

And today's:

6:39 (178)
6:37 (184)
6:39 (184)

recovery
130 in 1:08
120 in 1:30
110 in 1:50

I could tell even on my warm-up that my breathing was a little off today and my HR was elevated a bit. I feel like I am not quite recovered from something. Although I still recovered quicker today than I did during this run back in March. My legs felt really good today and the perceived effort was definitely less than last time I did this. I think I need to be careful this week because I want to make sure I get over this little hump of not quite being recovered. I might try to break my run up tomorrow into a 5 and a 3 to see if that helps a little. One other note about this evaluation is that it came a day later in my schedule than the March 20th eval (the third day after my back-to-back rather than the second day after).

I think I am making progress.. I just need to make sure that I recover.

Easy 6 and 8

My legs were a little sore yesterday during my 6 mile recovery run so I took it pretty slow. They felt better today but still not 100%. 8 miles for the day.. nice and slow.

Long run

The plan was 15 miles today with 6-7 at MP. The first 8 were very comfortable and stayed between 7:36 - 7:50 with avg. HR under 162 (pretty low for me) with the exception of mile 8 where it jumped up to 168 with no change in pace. I started the MP miles at 9:

7:08 | 173
7:06 | 176
7:06 | 177
7:05 | 178
7:07 | 179
7:03 | 179

I noticed during miles 5 and 6 of the MP that my HR was getting up above 180 and decided I probably should stop at 6. I recovered to 130 in 1:13 and 120 in another :31. I finished with one more mile to make it 15 for the day. I was hoping to get more miles at MP today but I didn't want to push more than I should.

Friday & Saturday

Friday - 6.5 miles easy. Felt really good but tried to keep the pace from slipping down too much. Stayed around 7:45's for most of the run.

Saturday - This was supposed to be my 9 mile run with 6 at MP (7:07) but I did my run while I was watching Eric's race. I knew this was going to be one of my only chances to watch him race so I didn't worry too much about my pace.. I just got around the course as much as I could. I ended up feeling pretty good and had some good stretches of 7:00 pace running (and a little faster). I strung together a couple of miles at one point of 7:00 pace. I probably totaled about 3-4 miles of MP throughout a 7 mile total effort.

Ok.. not quite

I thought I was recovered after feeling good yesterday so I attempted a volume speed workout this morning. After 1 mile of somewhat struggling to maintain 7:05 pace I pulled the plug and settled for an easy 8 with a couple of 2 minute pick-ups to get my legs moving. I figured it would be more important for me to be ready for this weekend's back-to-back.

They're back

My legs are finally back. Easy 9 on the treadmill felt great this morning.

Recovering

The long run on Sunday may not have been the best idea. My quads and IT bands have been screaming at me ever since. I didn't get much of a cool-down on Saturday following the race and felt a little sore after the drive home. Sunday morning I was sore and by Sunday afternoon I was really sore. Yesterday I managed a 3 mile hobble on the treadmill with the hopes that I would get out again in the afternoon with the kids in the stroller. We ended up getting wind and rain though so that second run didn't happen. I did feel quite a bit better this morning and after 3 miles or so my legs started feeling pretty normal. I still ran pretty slow and only went 6 for the day. Hopefully after another day I will be ready for some type of workout on Thursday.

13 miles 1:40:32

I wasn't sure how I would feel today after yesterday's race. I wanted to get a steady long run to complete my back-to-back but figured the pace might be a little slower than usual considering that yesterday was quite a bit more difficult than a typical Saturday. My legs were a little sore this morning and it took a mile before they started feeling ok. I averaged 7:44 pace for the run and maintained a heart rate in the low 160's until mile 11 where it jumped up to 168 without a major change in pace. I knew at 12 miles that I was only going to continue for another mile... my body was feeling the need to be done. My average heart rate for the last mile was 174 so I think I was probably right that 13 was enough for today.

Overall my heart rate was lower today than I expected, especially given that I ran a race yesterday. I did wear the monitor yesterday to try to get an idea of my max and according to that the highest that I got during the race was 195 during the final lap.

The 5K that turned into a 10K

Friday night at 7:00 there was a sudden change of plans. We found out that our college team was running in a meet in Moorhead, which is basically the same distance that we were planning to travel for the 5k road race. Even better, the meet actually had a 10k that didn't start until noon. We figured that the race distance would make more sense for me at this point in my training and the time of the event was much better for our schedule so we made the swap.

It's been a long time since I set foot on a track =) They ran the men and women together and there were a total of only 12 runners (4 women). I knew one girl was a 38:00 type of runner and I wasn't sure about the other two. I had never raced a 10k before so my plan was to try to run as even as possible... we figured 6:25 pace was a good place to start.

The weather was perfect.. 48 degrees, sunny, and a light wind. After the first lap I settled in to almost exactly 6:25 pace. Unfortunately, the faster girl was already getting away from me and the other two girls decided to sit on me. They both dropped off after a few more laps and I was left running by myself. The good news is that I was incredibly consistent... 95-97 seconds/lap. The bad news was that I wasn't really racing. I came through the 5k in 20:11 and was feeling really comfortable. After the race, I asked Eric how much of the race should have been uncomfortable/painful. He said all of it. I knew at that point that I really didn't know how to run a race that long. Part of the problem was that I have not raced in a long, long time and the other part was that I just didn't know what to expect from that distance. Anyway, I stayed pretty consistent through the second half with the exception of the last two laps which I finished in 2:57 (final lap was 85 seconds). I could really tell there wasn't much speed in my legs. The second 5k was 19:47 for a total time of 39:58... I was pretty happy to have snuck in under 40:00. I am pretty sure I had more in me but am still really happy with the effort. I was pretty comfortable for most of the race and think that if I would have been able to run with someone or have had someone to chase I may have raced a little more. Right now I feel more like I ran a 10k today than I raced a 10k today.

It was a fun day. The kids had a good time at the meet and it was fun to see our old coaches and some of the runners that we know on the team. It was a pretty crazy thing to be back on a track.

Race

Well, I am doing it. Eric convinced me that if something is going to make our day complicated it might as well be running. He's right. Now that the decision has been made I am pretty excited. Easy 6 today.

Easy 7

Easy run on the treadmill this morning. Felt good after yesterday's workout. I don't think I am going to race this weekend. I am disappointed because I would like to see where I am at but it would be difficult to fit the race into our schedule. We would have to drive a little over an hour to get there and for some strange reason the race starts at 8:00 in the morning. Add in that I usually work some on Saturday morning, Eric has a long run, and loading up the kids at 5:45 in the morning to get there in time to warm-up and it doesn't seem like such a good idea. We'll see. There is supposed to be a pretty low-key race sponsored by one of the sororities in GF on the 28th. I am having trouble getting information on it right now but if it is going to actually take place I will probably wait for that one.

1000 meter reps

The plan for today was 1000 meter reps starting every 6 minutes at 3:55-3:58 pace. Eric and I had talked about 4 or so reps as long as I was recovering to 120 in the 6 minutes. The first 2 felt great and were right about where I was supposed to be... 3:54 (182 avg HR recovered in 1:27) and 3:56 (180 avg HR recovered in 1:47). The third one still felt good but I could tell I was getting a little faster... 3:47 (183 HR recovered in 1:54). I tried to slow the last one down thinking that if I could get back above 3:50 I would go for 5 reps but I came through at 3:47 (182 HR recovered in 1:46). I could have added another rep and am still kicking myself a little for not doing another one. I felt better on the fourth than I did on the third and my HR and recovery time reflected that. But I was running them faster than we had planned and I didn't want to overdo things so I decided to quit while I still felt like I had more in me. I am excited to give this workout another chance. Hopefully I will control the pace a little better... the last two today were at 6:07 pace which is probably a little too fast for right now. I think I will try to hold 6:10-6:15 pace throughout and get more reps. 7 .5 miles for the day.

Tuesday- 7.5 miles easy

Monday- 6 mile recovery

Long run

14 miles today with 6 at MP. 14 degrees and no wind this morning felt great except that it is APRIL!! I felt really good from the start and was excited that I got to pick up Eric after 9 miles so he could run my MP miles with me. We were visiting his family for Easter so his sisters were more than happy to watch Elle and Owen while we were out running together.. something we don't ever get to do. The first 8 miles went by with my legs wanting to run faster than I felt like I should have been running. I averaged 7:30 pace and my heart rate was staying in the 165-169 range. I started the MP at mile 8 with a 7:09 (172), then picked up Eric and our first mile together was 6:57 (175). It felt really good so as long as my heart rate was staying at a decent level I decided to just go with whatever pace was comfortable. The next mile was a little slower (7:08, 178) because Eric had to adjust his shoe so I backed off a little to give him a chance to catch up... he was having a pretty hard time staying with me =) The final 3 miles were 6:55 (180), 7:04 (181), and 6:43 (183). I didn't start feeling any tiredness in my legs until the last two miles but my breathing was still very much in control throughout the run. The last mile was probably a little faster than it should have been but it was fun anyway. My recovery was slower than normal.. 130 in 1:22 and 120 in 2:12.

9 miles

9 miles today with 6 at current MP. I wanted to set my pace according to heart rate for this run but the monitor was dropping the signal quite a bit. I just settled in to a comfortable pace instead. Everything felt really good today following Thursday's workout so I feel like I recovered well from that.

2 miles to warm up and then 7:01 (178), 7:03 (172), 7:07 (174), 7:02 (186), 6:58 (177), 6:57 (180). Recovered to 130 in :58 and 120 in 1:07. I had planned to run in the 174-176 range so I may have been a little faster than what I wanted. But it felt good and my legs feel great a couple of hours after the run. I don't know how accurate the heart rate info is anyway because the monitor wasn't tracking very well.

50 miles for the week (6 days with no long run).

What a difference

The plan today was to repeat last Thursday's failed attempt at 3x1.5 miles with a .75 mile recovery between reps and a final hard but controlled .75 mile. Last week didn't go so well. I think there were multiple things that contributed to that... including a cold that I finally feel recovered from.

Today I wanted to slow things down a little from last week and hit 5:08 laps (6:50 pace) for the .75 mile loop on the first rep and then see how I felt for the next two. Here is how it all broke down:

warm-up
5:58
5:46
5:44

rep 1
5:05 (6:48 pace) 172 HR
5:03 (6:45 pace) 176 HR

recovery lap
5:31 (7:21) 172

rep 2
5:04 (6:46) 178
5:00 (6:41) 180

recovery
5:40 (7:35) 175

rep 3
4:57 (6:37) 182
4:50 (6:28) 186

recovery
5:17 (7:03) 181

Final Lap
4:36 (6:09) 186

Recovered to 130 in 1:22 and 120 in 1:39.

Today was a night and day difference from last week. But I also did not do a long run this week or hills on Tuesday. On top of that, I took Monday completely off. So it is hard to compare the two workouts. But I know that I felt great today and 6:45 pace on the first 2 reps really felt like a jog. It wasn't until the 3rd rep that I started feeling like I was getting outside of my comfort zone a little... especially on the second lap. Overall it felt very controlled and relaxed. It really was fun... during the second rep I was actually thinking about how much fun it was going to be to run the final hard lap. I like days like today =)

Feeling better

I must be getting old.. I don't think a simple cold ever used to take as much out of me as they seem to now. I started taking zinc on Sunday though and my symptoms were under control by Tuesday... it works pretty well. I ran an easy 6 yesterday after taking Monday off but was still feeling pretty tired. Today was an easy 9 and I felt like my energy was back. Tomorrow I will repeat the 3x2400 meter workout from last week but slow the pace a little. We'll see!

Update

Friday- 7 miles easy on the treadmill. Felt ok but could tell I was starting to getting sick.

Saturday- Went ahead with the planned 9 miles with 6 at 7:10 pace even though I was feeling a little tired (hopefully just from being sick). Overall heart rate and effort was much higher than it should have been for the pace. Here are the miles: 7:14 (173), 7:05 (178), 7:09 (178), 7:03 (180), 7:06 (181), 7:07 (181). I recovered to 130 in 1:02 and 120 in 1:21. Not a good feeling day.

62 miles for the week.

Sunday- I woke up feeling a little worse today and decided to take an easy day to try to get past this cold. Last time I was starting to get sick I ran a 15 miler and suffered for a week. 10 miles at 8:00 pace left me feeling tired but not wiped out. I gave in this afternoon and started the zinc treatment... I have a hard time with the tablets because the taste is pretty bad. I used the nasal gel though which was much better. Hopefully I get past this soon.

Not today

Well the workout didn't go as planned today. I had intended on running 3x2400 at 6:40, 6:35, and 6:30 pace with 1200 meter recoveries at 7:25 pace. Then I was to finish with a fast but controlled mile. Basically what Eric did yesterday but a little less volume.

2 miles to warm-up in 43 degree weather with a light rain and 17 mph wind... felt pretty good. I was running our 1200 meter loop so each rep would be 2 laps. The first lap was 5:00 (172) or exactly on 6:40 pace and felt pretty good. The second lap was on pace as well and I finished the first 2400 feeling pretty good. My legs were a little tired but things seemed to be going ok. I was expecting the second rep to go a little better as this seems to be the case for me when I am doing this type of work. The recovery lap felt good and I was ready to go after the 1200 meters. The first lap was a little faster than I was supposed to go.. 4:52 (180) rather than 4:56 but I slowed a little on the next lap.. 4:55 (186). It was during the second loop that I knew things weren't going to finish well. My legs were really tired and they weren't coming around like I expected they would. My breathing wasn't terrible but it seemed like the effort was harder than what we intended for this workout. I was pretty sure before I started the 3rd rep that I wasn't going to finish the workout but thought I would give this lap a try to see if things were going to ever come around. They didn't. About 200 meters in I decided to push a little and just make this lap a hard but controlled 1200 and call it good for the morning. I ran a 4:48 (I messed up the avg. HR for this lap but think it was probably a little higher than 186 based on a few glances at the watch) or 6:24 pace and it didn't feel good. I seemed to recover ok though.. down to 130 in 1:05 and 120 in 1:22.

While it is easy to say now that I am done, I am pretty sure that I could have finished the last 2400 at the intended pace but I don't know if it would have been in my best interest. Today it seemed like it was my legs that were the limiting factor... if that really was the case is it ok to push through that and keep going? But my heart rate wasn't leveling off either so maybe it wasn't just tired legs. I am concerned that I am not recovering well enough from my runs and am starting to dig myself into a hole. Hmmm... maybe we are being a little too ambitious with the paces we set. Sometimes it's easy to forget that I don't have the base that Eric has. But my recovery down to 120 heart rate has been pretty good lately and seems to be getting better as the weeks go on.

I'd like to think that it was just an off day but I suspect that I may be pushing things a little more than I should be right now and I am not recovering as I should be. Don't know.

Hills

Hills on the treadmill today. 7 miles with 5x400 meter hills (5.5% incline) at 7:00 pace... 400 meter recovery between. The first few felt pretty good but by the last two my legs were burning. Definitely not used to hills.

6 mile recovery run yesterday. My legs felt pretty good.. tired but not sore.

Back-to-back

Yesterday was day one of my third week of back-to-back workouts. 9 miles with 6 at 7:10 pace. It was great running weather.. 33 degrees, no wind and a light mist.

I started with my two mile warm-up and then hit the first faster mile at 7:09 (175). I felt really relaxed and could tell again this week that I was going to have to hold back some to keep the pace from getting too fast. The next 4 miles felt really comfortable: 7:06 (173), 7:11 (174), 7:07 (175), 7:08 (174). I finished with a 7:16 (173).. I could feel that I was slowing down over the last 100 meters or so... not from being tired but for some reason I just decided I was ready to be done. I recovered to 130 in :48 and 120 in :54.

Today's conditions were similar to yesterday only a little better.. 43 degrees instead of 33. Warm enough for shorts! I planned to run 14 miles with the last 5 at 7:10 pace. I wanted to keep the first 9 around 7:40 pace or 162 heart rate. I averaged about 7:32 pace and stayed right around 162-163 until mile 9 when I hit 167. I could tell at that point that the effort was changing a little too.. not in my legs so much but my breathing changed some. I started the 5 miles at 7:10 pace still feeling pretty good. This is how they came out: 7:08 (173), 7:08 (174), 7:11 (177), 7:06 (178), 7:06 (174). Things changed again a little around mile 3... my heart rate started going up and I started to feel it in my legs a little this time. Something happened again though right before mile 5... my heart rate went back down and my legs felt incredible. I had to really try to keep the pace from dropping. A couple of times when I checked the GPS I was running 6:55 and it felt better than any other point during the run. My average heart rate was lower than miles 3 and 4 too. I am not sure how that works.. this is the second time that this has happened during one of these efforts where my last mile feels really good and the heart rate drops a few beats too. I recovered to 130 in :58 and 120 in 1:15. I finished with another slower mile to get 15 for the day. It was just too nice outside to stop at only 14 miles. Good run.

Last week ended with 65 miles.

8 miles

Another good day... everything felt really smooth this morning and I really enjoyed this run. 8 miles with a few hills on the treadmill. I started at 3.5% and increased the incline gradually over 600 meters up to 6%.

8 miles

8 miles (8:05 avg. pace) with 1x600, 2x400 at 6:00 pace on the treadmill. Legs felt good again today.

11 miles

11 miles on the treadmill this morning. Felt really good today.

Evaluation Run

The plan today was to hit 6:40's for the 3 mile evaluation run. Conditions were pretty good this morning... 12 degrees and a little windy (but nothing like it has been the last few days). I hit the first mile at 6:39 (177) but didn't feel very good at that point. It took until about half-way through mile 2 before I started to feel comfortable. Mile 2 was another 6:39 (185). I felt pretty relaxed and smooth by the time I got to mile 3 and finished with a 6:37 (185). I recovered to 130 in 1:18, 120 in 1:36, and 110 in 1:59. 7 miles for the day with a 2 mile warm-up and 2 mile cool-down.

Monday- 6 miles on the treadmill. Felt pretty good.. legs were a little tired but not sore.

16 miles

16 miles in 2:02:36 (7:40 pace) this morning. Heart rate stayed around 160 for most of the run. The last two miles or so I felt like the effort changed a little. My breathing didn't seem to change and my heart rate only increased 1-2 bpm but I started feeling tired in my legs. Probably the most frustrating part of the run was the wind.. a nice 32 degree morning but the wind was blowing 21 mph gusting to 27.

Slow down

9 miles today with 6 at current marathon pace. I had a hard time keeping the pace where I wanted it to be.. around 7:12-7:15/mile. I was trying to slow down a little this week based on Mystery Coach's suggestion after last week's back-to-back and evaluation runs. The 6 miles broke down like this: 7:07 (172), 7:07 (175), 7:09 (171), 7:18 (169), 7:01 (174), 7:09 (168). I have really lost my ability to judge pace... it is frustrating. I used to love being able to hit a 400 in the exact time that my coach would ask for... it was neat to be that tuned in to pace. I found that every time I let my mind wander a little today I would drop down around 7:00 pace. I'd slow down to try to get back on track but eventually the pace would drop down again... except for mile 4. But then I freaked out because it was a little slower than I expected it to be and took off like a nut for mile 5. Overall I feel pretty good about the effort. It felt really controlled and my legs definitely wanted to go faster.

63 miles for the week.

9 miles

I had a little more desire to run when I woke up this morning than I have had the past few days. If I would have had to run outside today that may have changed... we got about 7 inches inches of snow dumped on us yesterday and to top it off it was 5 below zero this morning. The weather has been pretty crazy this winter.

9 miles on the treadmill at 8:00 average pace with 1x600, 2x400.

Tired in the head

This week I have been lacking motivation... the tiredness in my body is gone (my legs felt great today) but my head hasn't quite come around yet. I gave in today and stopped at 6 miles.

11 miles

11 easy on the treadmill (8:10 pace).

Evaluation Run

Tuesdays have become the evaluation day. The plan was to try to hit the same pace this week as I did last week and monitor heart rate and recovery again. Last week I ran 3 miles in 6:32 (176), 6:28 (184), and 6:31 (191). The first mile today I could tell I was a little tired and my legs were heavy.. I was having a hard time sticking to a pace and came through a little fast in 6:28 (178). Mile 2 felt a little better and the heaviness seemed to lift a little.. 6:28 (184). I felt a lot more tired this week on the last mile than I remember feeling last week... it was also a little faster than it should have been.. 6:24 (184). I recovered to 130 in 1:26 and 120 in 1:56 so recovery was a little slower this week but overall average heart rate was lower and pace was a little quicker. But what does it all mean?

Yesterday was an easy 7 on the treadmill. My knee was a little sore on Sunday but felt fine yesterday and today.

Part two

Today was the second part to my first of Mystery Coach's famous back-to-back efforts. I had planned to run 14 miles at a steady pace (7:40ish) following yesterday's 5 mile tempo. I felt good today and found myself slipping into the 7:30's and even 7:20's for some of the early miles. I held back until mile 11 and then I let the pace go where it wanted to go. I focused on staying relaxed and keeping the effort from getting beyond what felt comfortable. The last 4 miles were 7:17, 7:06, 7:02, 7:00. I was definitely tired at the end of the run but I think I could have kept the pace for another couple of miles.

14 miles (1:44:37). 10 miles at 7:36 avg. pace with 4 averaging 7:06 pace.

Good run

Yesterday I mentioned that the workout today would include 5 miles at 7:00 pace.. I was wrong. That isn't until next week. Today the schedule called for 5 miles at 7:10-7:12 pace. The first 2 miles during the warm-up were at 8:00 pace and then I gradually picked up the pace so that the 3rd mile of the warm-up was a 7:28... and then I was ready to have some fun. I have been itching to start some of this faster stuff and I knew my legs were feeling good today so I was excited to do this workout. I was running pretty relaxed and the pace felt really comfortable. The splits were 7:11, 7:02, 7:02, 7:03, 7:04. I had my mind set on running this workout at 7:00 pace so when I found out that it wasn't supposed to be that fast I decided on a compromise and figured around 7:05 would be good. It was probably a little faster than what I was supposed to do but it felt good. We'll see how tomorrow's long steady run goes now.

9 miles for the day with the possibility of a second run later (in shorts!).

64 miles for the week. A little lower than I wanted but Monday was a 3 mile day due to my knee problems.

*I did get out for that second run. 36 degrees and sunny.. it was perfect for a slow 3 miles in shorts =) So I guess that brings up my miles for the week to 67.

It's not all bad

While the snow makes it much more difficult to run at times, it can be pretty fun as well.

10 miles this morning on the treadmill as Eric ran outside in shorts.... we might have to start doing rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to run outside as the weather starts getting nice =) I felt pretty good this morning and added 1x600, 2x400 at 6:00 pace just to get the legs moving a little.

Tomorrow I am planning to run 9 miles with 5 at 7:00 pace... we should be able to work out our schedule so that I can get outside to do this. I always feel better at the faster paces when I am not on the treadmill.. plus it is supposed to be in the 30's again tomorrow.

8 miles

Easy 8 today on the treadmill. I was going to add a little speed during the run but decided not to as I could feel just a little tightness in my knee. In the past when this has flared up it usually goes away within a day so I am surprised that it is lingering a little. I need to be better about icing and stretching throughout the day.

Wednesday

10 miles (8:06 pace) on the treadmill. I wasn't sure what to expect today after yesterday's faster effort. My legs weren't sore at all and they actually felt pretty fresh. I would have gone another 2-3 miles today but some light snow on top of already slippery roads brought Eric back inside after just a couple miles. I stopped at 10 to give him plenty of time to finish his run. It was a good reason to stop a little early and have some extra time to enjoy my morning a bit before work and kids.

Evaluation Run

The plan for today was 3 miles at 6:30 pace while wearing the heart rate monitor to check recovery. Eric and I worked out our schedule so that I could do this outside instead of on the treadmill... thanks =) We have a 1200 meter loop by our house that is pretty clear of snow and ice right now so that is where I headed. 4 degrees (above zero!!) and a 9 mph wind... not too shabby. A 2 mile warm-up and I was ready to go. The first mile felt really relaxed.. 6:32. The second mile was more of a mental battle than anything. About halfway through I started thinking maybe I would stop at 2 or maybe 2.5 or maybe I should just suck it up and finish what I was out there to do. Mile 2 passed in 6:28 but I was still waffling about how much longer I wanted to keep up the effort. I could feel that I wasn't relaxed anymore and not surprising when I checked my pace I had slowed to 6:38. Finally I got my head in the right place (thanks jackelope) and I focused on relaxing.. a quick look at the watch showed that I was back (6:22 pace). Mile 3 ended up being a 6:31 and a good lesson in what running relaxed can do for me. The most surprising part of the whole workout was the recovery. I have a pretty high max heart rate (don't know what it is for sure)... my average heart rates were 176, 184, and 191 and I was recovered to 130 in 1:22, 120 in 1:41, and 105 in 2:01. I didn't think I would recover that quickly. It has been 5 months since I have been back running again and I am surprised at what I have gained in that time. I ran the equivalent of a 20:10 5k today and while it was challenging it certainly wasn't a race effort. I am looking forward to racing now.. I have a 5k planned for April 14.

Yesterday I had to cut my recovery run short.. my left IT band was tight after Sunday's run and my knee hurt bad enough at 3 miles that I knew I needed to stop. A lot of stretching and icing paid off because it felt fine today.

Monday- 3 miles
Tuesday- 7 miles with 3 mile evaluation (6:32, 6:28, 6:31)

Great run

It's funny that I didn't want to run today... I normally love my long run and really look forward to heading out the door. For some reason this morning I just wasn't excited about running but I knew I needed to get it done. The first mile was a slow 8:26 and I was worried that it wasn't going to get any better. I decided to forget about the watch and just run whatever was comfortable. A few miles later I was running in the 7:40's and starting to feel really good. At mile 11 I decided I would try doing the 3x1 mile reps (with a recovery mile between) that I was going to do last weekend but had trouble because of the weather. The roads weren't great today but I was able to find some relatively clear stretches. I wasn't too worried about time... I just wanted to run relaxed. The first one felt really good and I was surprised that it was a 6:46. I felt ready to go at the end of the recovery mile (7:50) and had another pretty clear straight stretch of road. This one felt a little quicker but I still wasn't pushing too hard.. I was very surprised to see a 6:19. Whoops. The recovery mile went by in 7:32 this time and I wasn't in a great spot to start the next mile.. I had to make two turns so that I was heading back home and both were pretty slippery which meant I had to slow quite a bit. I could feel this one in my legs quite a bit more than the first two.. I think I was feeling the effect of the 6:19. I finished in 6:41 which was still better than I expected it to be. I can't remember having a more enjoyable run. 17 miles (7:37 avg.)

The week

Sunday- 16 w/ 3x1200 at 6:46-48 pace
Monday- 8
Tuesday- 8 (8:00 pace)
Wednesday- 13 (8:10 pace)
Thursday- 7 w/ 2x600, 1x400 at 6:00 pace (7:50 avg.)
Friday- 10 (8:05 pace)
Saturday-8 (8:05 pace)

70 miles for the week. Overall pace is starting to come down on the treadmill. Still anxious to get it under 8:00/mile.

Easy 10

10 miles at 8:00 pace on the treadmill. Felt good today and enjoyed the run... it didn't seem to take forever today. It's still snowing...

Snow!!

Even more snow last night and it is still going strong. The roads are not good right now... the plows have not been out and there must be 8 inches of new snow already.

7 miles on the treadmill today with 2x600, 1x400 at 6 minute pace to try to get the legs used to some turnover. It was pretty fun and I am really looking forward to doing some faster stuff when I can get out on the roads. 7:50 average pace.

13 miles

13 on the treadmill today. Legs felt really good but I was having a hard time staying motivated. Sometimes it takes forever to get to 6 miles on the treadmill.

8 and 8

Monday- 8 mile recovery run. I am looking forward to the day that I don't feel so tired after my long run.

Tuesday- Felt good today. 8 miles at 8:00 pace. I was happy to feel comfortablte at 8:00 pace on the treadmill today.. I need to keep working that down.

New week

It snowed. A lot. We must have gotten 8-10 inches of snow late yesterday and in the night. That meant the roads weren't great this morning. Eric screwed some sheet metal screws into the bottom of my shoes for traction before I headed out at 6:30. It worked really well. I had to stick to a few of the main roads that had been plowed... running in tire tracks on our street was pretty slow. I felt good today. I was averaging around 7:50 pace for most of the run but dropped into 7:40ish pace whenever the roads were clear. I had three ~1200 meter harder efforts between miles 10 and 15 with a mile recovery between. I ran them at 6:46-6:48 pace and felt pretty comfortable. I had planned to do full miles but the roads/traffic made it too tough. Anyway, it ended up being a pretty solid 16 miles.

65 miles

Saturday- 7 miles.. felt really good today. This week ended up being ok... 65 miles with a few days early in the week where I still wasn't feeling back to normal. I should be able to get my mileage back into the 70's next week.

8 and 10

Thursday- 8 miles at 8:00 pace with a few treadmill hills in the last 3 miles. I seem to be feeling back to normal again.

Friday- Felt good today. 10 miles at 8:12 pace.

Finally

I felt good today! 13 miles =)

Slow start

Monday - Slow, easy 6 miles. My legs were sore from the long run.

Tuesday - I had planned 8 for today but didn't have the energy... it didn't take too much for Eric to convince me to stop at 5. My quads were still really sore and I was tired. Looking back now, I think my legs were probably more sore from running up a rather long gradual hill while pulling a 50 lb sled countless times Monday afternoon =) I got a pretty good hill workout in without really realizing it.

Long run

I waited to run today until it warmed up a little outside.. I figured it would irritate my throat less if the air wasn't quite so cold. It really didn't feel right to be doing a long run mid-day and it took a few miles before I even started to enjoy the run. 16 miles later I was happy to be done. Not one of my better runs... it was much more difficult than it should have been given the pace (7:48/mile).

Glad to be done with this week

The week ended with 6 miles yesterday and 7 miles today to give me 40 overall from 5 runs. I am still not over my sinus infection but am seeing gradual improvements.

Back at it

Feeling a little better this morning. My throat is starting to come around and I have some energy back. 7 miles at 8:10 pace on the treadmill felt pretty good.

No electricity = no treadmill = no run

I am sick. The long run on Sunday may not have been such a good idea. I woke up on Monday feeling pretty rough and decided a day off would probably do me some good.

Tuesday morning I felt a little better so I decided to go a slow 5 on the treadmill. I felt pretty good but as the day went on my throat started getting pretty sore. Up until that point most of the problem was in my sinuses. It wasn't the same sore throat that I am used to with a sinus infection... this felt really dry and tight. It hurt to swallow. I have never had anything worse than a cold so I was a little worried about how this felt. I went to bed last night thinking I would see how things were in the morning and at least try to get a few miles in.

Wednesday- The electricity went off in the night a few different times.. not cool when it is 20 below zero. It was still off at 3:00 this morning when our battery-powered alarm went off. I felt like crap and couldn't run without electricity anyway so I went back to sleep. My throat is pretty sore but I still think it is just a virus.. no white spots to indicate strep and my chest feels fine. I don't feel very good about taking two days off this week but it seems like it's the right thing to do.

Sick =(

Not feeling so good today. I felt a cold coming on yesterday and had a pretty restless night. I actually felt pretty good while I was running but decided to take it a little slower... I didn't want to wear myself out too much for the rest of the week. 15 miles at 7:55 pace. My legs feel great but I am pretty tired and can't breath through my nose. I am supposed to be taking a nap but somehow I got involved in watching some track/cross country on tv.

73 miles

73 miles for the week (70 in singles).

Friday- Ran outside so the pace was a little faster. 10 miles at 7:50 pace.

Saturday- Felt really tired today.. I think I am getting sick. Only went 7 miles...outside again (7:50 pace).

Getting there

Wednesday- It was a mental battle yesterday to get in 12 miles.. my legs were still feeling a little tired and I really didn't want to be running. It's a good thing I had American Idol and House to keep me entertained.

Thursday- I felt a lot better today and decided it was time to put in a few faster miles. I mananged to get 8 miles total with 4 at 7:12, 7:12, 7:00, 7:00. I felt ok but definitely not good. I am looking forward to getting out of this little rut.

Sore legs

I think the 20 miler on Sunday beat me up a little more than I thought. My legs have gotten more sore with each run I have done since Sunday.

Monday morning they felt pretty good.. I ran an easy 6 miles on the treadmill. Monday afternoon I had a rare chance to do a second run so I hopped on the treadmill for another 3 miles and my legs felt worse when I was done... nothing more than a little muscle soreness but still somewhat annoying.

Tuesday- I ran 7 miles this morning on the treadmill and and my quads are not happy with me right now. It just wasn't a good morning for running. Hopefully things will be feeling a little more back to normal by tomorrow so I can enjoy my 13 miles.

Will it ever end?

I had that thought more than a few times this morning during my run. I was a little disappointed because the weather finally got me... I usually get out for my run around 6:00 on Sunday morning but it was -23 with a windchill of -40. I waited until 7:30 with the hopes that it would get a little better but it didn't change. So I decided to hit the treadmill.

20 miles in 2:46:00 (8:18 pace). I decided to go longer and slower than what I have been doing (with some help from Eric) because I tend to try to better my time for my long run each week. I knew it would put a lot of pressure on me to try to run faster than 7:39 pace for 17 miles given that I was going to be on the treadmill and the pace always feels faster for me on the mill. So I had a little more fun by running 20 at a relaxed pace. I felt pretty good and only feel a little muscle soreness coming on.

70 miles

Thursday - 8 miles

Friday - 10 miles

Saturday - 7 miles

All done on the treadmill averaging around 8:15 pace. I am working on bringing that average down.. I still feel like I am running much faster on the treadmill than I really am. I want to get that average pace under 8:00 soon. I had intended to do an evaluation run on Thursday but was feeling a little tired. I decided to wait until next week to give myself a little more time to adjust to the increased mileage. I am going to try to stay right at 70 miles/week or even a little higher for the next month or so... then it will be time to work on some faster stuff.

Good week so far

Sunday - 17 (7:39 pace)

Monday - Felt ok on my recovery run.. my legs were a little sore and I had a pretty good knot in my left IT band. 7 miles (8:30 pace on treadmill).

Tuesday - The soreness was mostly gone but the IT band was still tight. Once I stretched and got warmed up, it was fine. 8 miles (8:20 pace on treadmill).

Wednesday - Felt really good today. Took it slow (8:20 pace) for 13 miles.

Solid day of running at our house

41 miles between Eric and I for the day... pretty cool.

I went for my longest run yet... 17 miles in 2:10:13. I couldn't believe how good I felt considering it was -15 when I left the house at 6:15 this morning. Thankfully, it wasn't windy when I started and as the wind picked up the temp went up a little as well. Overall, the weather wasn't a factor at all today. With the exception of frosty eyelashes freezing my eyes shut every once in a while, I was fine.

Average pace for the run was 7:39 with my last 6 miles being 7:25, 7:31, 7:11,7:37, 7:18, and 6:47. I was surprised at how good I felt over the last few miles and had a good time running the last mile a little hard. It really didn't feel like I was running that fast... I was surprised that I was under 7:00 pace. I have to say I am pretty proud of this run =)

65 Miles

I made it to 65 today with an easy 7 miles on the treadmill. I am pretty excited and my legs feel good.. I thought I might feel a little more tired at the end of the week with the increase in mileage but I feel fine. Tomorrow I will shoot for 16... it's going to be a cold one.

Big week

With 8 miles yesterday and 10 today, I have 58 miles so far this week. I have 7 planned for tomorrow which means I will end the week at 65 (my highest ever). The arch on my right foot started hurting a little yesterday towards the end of my run and bugged me a little today as well. I have been a little cautious with my pace this week to help me adjust to the increase in mileage so hopefully this just goes away.

12 miles

Got up early enough today to get in 12 miles (1:40:00). Everything felt pretty good today...

Evaluation

7 miles today with 2 at 6:48 pace (my goal race pace + 20 seconds). I felt pretty good during the 2 miles and started feeling it a little in my legs towards the end of the second mile. I probably should have toughed it out for another mile but I was a little hesitant because I know I have a big mileage week planned. Anyway, the goal of this was to see how fast I recovered and have something to compare to and hopefully improve on in the coming weeks. I seem to have a very high max heart rate as my heart rate during an average run is often in the 150's. My heart rate during the first faster mile was around 170-175 and climbed to 185 at the end of the second mile. I recovered to 124 in 60 sec and 116 in 2 minutes.

New week

This week started off well. I had a good long run yesterday... 15 miles at 7:38 pace with pretty even splits throughout the run.

Today was a 6 mile recovery run. Tomorrow I am hoping to do 2-3 miles at 6:45ish pace.

17 weeks to go

The half marathon that I am training for is on May 19.. that leaves 17 weeks left to train. I think there is a lot to be done in that 17 weeks.

I ended the week this morning with an easy 6. Thursday was a 7 mile progression run with some hills in the last 3 miles (on the treadmill). Yesterday was an easy 8. 58 miles for the week.

I am planning to bump my mileage up starting this week.. hopefully I will get up around 65 miles/week.

Time for an update

Monday- Easy 6 miles. Felt pretty good and not too tired from the long run.

Tuesday- Easy 6. I had planned to do a little bit of a build-up but just didn't have it. My legs felt worse than they did on Monday.

Wednesday- Felt really good today. 10 miles at 8:20 pace on the treadmill. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel up to some faster stuff.

Cold probably doesn't quite describe it...

Hmmm... 13 below zero with a 15 mph north wind to make the wind chill a whopping 35 below zero. It was a pretty chilly morning but I really really really wanted to run outside. I am bored on the treadmill and it is always easier for me to settle in to a faster pace outside. So I toughed it out for 15 miles. I stayed within 2 miles of home and did lots of looping back and forth to try to stay out of the wind as much as possible. There were a couple of times where my hands started burning and I couldn't move my fingers very well so I would head for home thinking that I would have to finish on the mill but both times I managed to get the blood flowing by moving my fingers as best as I could and that was enough to make the feeling pass.

Anyway.. the run! It was my best long run so far. 15 miles in 1:55:09 (7:40 pace). The last 8 miles were sub 7:30 (with the exception of mile 10) and I finished in 7:00. I felt great and if it hadn't been so cold I may have convinced myself to go a couple more. As it was I was just too excited to be done to even consider going more. 6 hours post run I feel great... a little tired but no soreness of any kind.

The week

Here is how this past week went:

Sunday- 15 (7:54 pace)
Monday- 6 (8:30 pace)
Tuesday- 5 (3 miles at 7:20 pace)
Wednesday- 10 (8:28 pace)
Thursday- 6 (8:25 pace)
Friday- 6 (8:05 pace)
Saturday- 6 (8:20 pace)

54 miles for the week.

As I look back over the week I am able to see that my pace really is dropping. It's nice to see as I think about when I started this just over 3 months ago and I was running closer to 10 minute mile pace for a lot of the treadmill runs. Now I just need to get my mileage up a little higher and keep bringing the pace down. I really am having fun lately and am exicited about the long run tomorrow... except that it is 15 below zero right now (not even considering the wind). I hope it gets a little better by tomorrow because I don't want to get stuck on the treadmill.

It's Friday!

Thursday- Easy 6 (8:25 pace). Felt good... wasn't tired from the longer run on Wednesday.

Friday- 6 miles at 8:05 pace... a little faster than my usual easy on the treadmill but still felt really good today. So far it has been a good week. I would have liked to have had a few more miles by now but we have had a few days of shared treadmill time. Not a big deal.. I would only have 3 or 4 more total miles at this point anyway. I should still get 55-56 for the week.

Easy 10

Felt really good today. Averaged just under 8:30 pace for 10 miles on the treadmill.

Bumped

I had planned to run 7 this morning with at least a few miles under 7:30 pace... but I got booted off the treadmill at 5 =) Just kidding. I offered to be done at 5 miles so Eric would have plenty of time to get as many miles in as he wanted. I finished the last 3 miles at 7:20 average pace with the last probably being closer to 7:15. I actually felt better the longer that I stayed at the faster pace... if only I had had more time... =)

New week

Sunday's run started off a new week on a good note.. 15 miles in 1:58:20 (7:54 avg). I felt good and was happy with my pace especially considering the 20 mph wind (with 30 mph gusts). The last mile was tough heading straight into the wind but I managed to finish pretty strong with a 7:31 last mile. I felt tired but not exhausted after the run and I didn't have any muscle soreness which is pretty new for me after a long run. My knee also didn't tighten up at all during or after the run. Overall it was a good day.

Monday - 6 mile recovery run on the treadmill. I felt good today.. no soreness of any kind. I think that is a first for me following a long run.

Slacker

I finished the week with 52 miles and I feel like a total slacker... I think it is because I ran a 4 miler yesterday and only 6 today. Yesterday I was tired.. Buddy had his 12 month check-up on Thursday which meant 5 shots and a grouchy baby. He was up at 2:15 and that was the end of my night. I didn't want to take a day off completely but I also wasn't in the mood to run. I settled for 4 and felt guilty most of the rest of the day. The good thing is that 8:30 pace on the treadmill has become very comfortable for me... I am hoping to keep bringing that down.

Good run

6 miles today with a 2 mile warm-up, 2 mile tempo, and 2 mile cool-down. The middle 2 miles were a 7:12 and 6:52. The first half mile of the 7:12 felt pretty clunky on the treadmill but I found my rhythm and then started to feel smooth and fast. I felt great through the first 1200 of the 6:52 and then started getting a little tired. I seemed to recover from it really quick though and the 2 mile cool-down was at 8:00 pace which felt really easy after the faster stuff.

Easy 9

My knee felt fine today after some good stretching and icing yesterday. I am also trying to stretch really well before I start running now too. I ran an easy 9 on the treadmill (8:45 pace) and felt pretty good. I am hoping to throw in some faster mile(s) tomorrow.. we'll see.

Better than expected

I was a little concerned about how I would feel today because I had some problems with my knee after my run yesterday... it actually hurt to walk. My IT band was very tight and a massage revealed some pretty sore spots. I did some stretching and iced a few times. I am thinking it probably flared up due to the slipping around during my run.. I noticed it a little around mile 9 but it gradually got better and didn't start bugging me again until a few hours after I was done.

I wasn't surprised when it tightened up after a few minutes on the treadmill. Fortunately it didn't get any worse until I was almost 5 miles in to my run. I stopped at 5 before it actually began to hurt. With a little more icing and stretching I expect that it will be fine by tomorrow.

Winter Wonderland

This weather this winter has been quite strange... too warm and very little snow. Up until Saturday night what little precipitation we have had has been mostly in the form of freezing rain. It caused some pretty slippery conditions for a while but the roads finally cleared off a few weeks ago and we have had great running conditions. That all changed this weekend... 7 inches of snow fell Saturday night. The roads hadn't been plowed yet Sunday morning and not many people had cleared sidewalks so the long run was postponed until today. I made it out for an easy 7 yesterday on some pretty poor footing.. my best bet was running in wheel tracks but the lose snow made it tricky. I was happy to make it home with only one fall.

The roads were better today.. compacted snow with some slippery spots but overall not too bad. It was pretty cold... -1 but no wind so it didn't feel too bad. I made it out for 15 miles with an average pace of 8:11. It took a few miles to get used to the footing and being bundled up so much. Once I settled in I felt pretty good. The pace never came down under 8:00/mile but I think it was mostly due to the footing. Overall I am happy with the run and a few hours after I actually don't even feel like I ran. Pretty good feeling.