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.