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.