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.

55 for the week

Easy 6 yesterday and 7 today give me 55 miles this week. Yesterday was tough mentally and physically.. I was tired after Wednesday's longer run and Thursday's faster effort and I just didn't feel like running. But I was glad that I stuck with it and got 6 miles. I felt much better today and actually enjoyed the run. I am happy that I reached 55 miles this week considering I had some faster stuff and I am still feel pretty solid.

7 miles

7 miles in 57:43 today. At 4.5 miles in I picked up the pace to 7:30 and brought it down to 7:00 pace over the next mile. It didn't feel like my legs wanted to go any faster than that so I held it at 7:00 pace for a mile. It felt harder today than I expected but that means it probably did me some good.

35 so far

Sunday - 14

Monday - 6 mile recovery run. My left knee was a little sore.. odd, but maybe from the harder Sunday run. I haven't had any IT band issues for a long time now so I wasn't too worried. The 14 on Sunday was all on pavement and I was outside for this run as well. I tried to run some on grass (golf course) but the frozen ground didn't make the best footing. I was going to go 7 but quit early because my knee actually hurt bad enough to make me think I should stop. Still managed 8:20 pace and had to work to slow myself down. Felt really good for a recovery day.

Tuesday - Should have iced after Monday's run! Ran on the treadmill and still felt some lingering knee pain. I was going to throw in a little faster stuff... build from a 7:30 mile down to 6:40 pace and try to maintain for a mile or so. I got down to 7:30 pace and managed that for a mile.. it felt like crap and I hung on thinking it might get better. It didn't and I realized going faster just wasn't happening for this run. I stopped at 5 because my knee was hurting and I knew I needed time to ice!!!

Wednesday- 10 miles at 8:45 pace. My legs felt great today and didn't notice my knee at all. Ran on the treadmill and struggled a little mentally to get 10.... it felt like I had already been running forever at 4 miles. I am not a big fan of treadmill running... especially after I get to run outside for a couple days in a row. At least I get to catch up on episodes of House =)

Merry Christmas!!

I haven't posted since Wednesday.. hmmm.... what has happened since then??

Thursday: easy 6

Friday: 7 miles with a 6:50 mile in the middle just to see how it would feel. I actually felt really good even on the treadmill. I thought 6:50 pace would feel like I was flying off the end of the treadmill but it was ok. I found that I was able to tick up the pace throughout the mile and could have continued for a little longer at that pace. It was encouraging but I can't imagine running even a couple of miles at that pace right now. I guess I will just build up slowly.

Saturday: Christmas with Eric's family... didn't take time to run. Ended the week with 45 miles on 6 days without a long run.


Sunday: I felt really good at the start of the run and decided to go with it. I ran the first few miles around 7:40 pace and was feeling fine. I had planned to run 15 or 16 but changed my mind and decided to go 14 but try to keep up the quicker pace. I finished the run in 1:48:19 (7:46 pace). I was definitely tired at the end and the last mile was a little tough but I maintained the pace. It seems like I am finding a different rhythm now that I have started incorporating some faster stuff.

The Plan?

7 miles yesterday with a few .5 mile pickups throughout the run. Nothing too crazy as the overall average pace was just under 8:30. Today was a nice 10 miler at 8:40 pace. I feel really good after (and usually during) these runs which makes me think I need to be running faster. Eric (Coach) and I were talking about the plan last night and he mentioned doing a long run (16-17), a longish run (10) and then spending the rest of the week running close to or at my goal 1/2 marathon pace for 30-40 minutes. I am not sure if I am going to be able to get in shape to run 6:30-6:40 pace for 13 miles but I am going to try. I think I will start next week by seeing how long I can last at 6:40 pace... even if it is only for a mile or so during a 40 minute run. Hopefully then I can just keep building on that until I am able to maintain for a couple of miles and eventually throughout a 40 minute effort. We'll see. If nothing else it will be a good test for me to see where I really am at right now.

11th week

This is the start of the 11th week since I have been running (seriously) again. I have been putting in a lot more miles than I have ever before but I have been doing so at a slower pace than I am used to. Yesterday I was crunched for time while at home for Christmas so I decided to give myself an hour to run rather than the 2+ hours it would have taken to do my usual long run. I wanted to see how a faster effort (7:30ish pace) would feel. I was hoping to get 8 miles in under 60 minutes. I ended up finishing in 58:39 with these splits: 7:26, 7:13, 7:21, 7:28, 7:27, 7:18, 7:09, 7:09. I really felt pretty good and probably could have hung on to that pace for another couple of miles. Considering how out of shape I was when I started this 11 weeks ago, I feel pretty good about this run. Even though it was a nice change from my usual pace, I sure missed my long run!

Today was an easy 7 on the treadmill. I was surprised that I wasn't tired at all from yesterday's run... my legs felt really fresh.

58 miles

Easy 7 yesterday and 6 today give me my highest week of mileage yet. I am feeling really good and the pace on the treadmill seems to be coming around for me now. I am able to run comfortably right around 8:30 pace. I will probably stick with that for now and gradually try to bring it down more as I make sure that I am still holding up well to the miles. We are off to see my family for Christmas which means the long run tomorrow will be at my parents' house. Hopefully I am still able to get out for 2 hours or so.

7 miles

Easy 7 for the day. Felt really good this morning after yesterday's 10 miler. I actually was able to run comfortably under 8:30 pace on the treadmill. I hope I am getting used to it now so that my runs can be at a more reasonable pace. 9:00 pace is just too slow for what I want to be doing.

Update

Monday- Easy 5 mile recovery run

Tuesday- Still trying to feel comfortable going a bit faster on the treadmill.. managed just under 8:30 pace for 7 miles. Felt pretty good.

Wednesday- 10 miles at 8:45 pace. Once I settled in the pace felt fine. Still slower than what I would run outside but maybe that's ok for now as I try to bump my mileage up a little.

38 miles for the week so far. 20 planned over the next 3 days.

Good run

I finished last week with 5 miles yesterday for 45 total. Today was a solid 16 miles (2:08:10). I felt pretty strong and finished with the last 6 all under 8:00 minute pace. I don't feel as destroyed today as I usually have been feeling after my long runs. I actually feel like I have quite a bit of energy left. It's a nice feeling for a change...

Late!

Yesterday morning the alarm didn't sound... Elle and Owen both like playing with the alarm clock and I didn't check to make sure everything was set back to normal the night before. I think it probably was a sign that I needed to take a day off. It was -9 with a wind chill of -23 and Eric was planning to run on the treadmill. I would have run outside but by the time I would have gotten all of my clothes on and out the door it would have left about 20 minutes for running. I usually am cutting it pretty close in the morning to get my run done and be ready for work at 5:30 so waking up 35 minutes late didn't work too well for me. Eric convinced me that I needed to take the day off anyway and even though I felt guilty most of the day it was probably a good thing. Today was an easy 6 on the treadmill.

Overwhelmingly overwhelmed

Easy 8 miles outside today (1:06:00). I felt really good but have been struggling the last few days with feeling overwhelmed about how much time I am putting in to my running. With taking care of Elle and Owen full-time, working half-time and running this much, I don't have many spare minutes in my day. I stopped feeling sorry for myself around mile 4 and decided to remember how lucky I am that I get to take care of my babies instead of having to send them off to daycare =) Running is my away time.. my time to relax and not think about the kids and everything that needs to get taken care of at home, work, etc... When I forget to really enjoy it and start thinking about what needs to be done, I get overwhelmed and feel like I need to be doing something else. Hmmm... I guess I just need to stop thinking while I am running.

Feeling better

Yesterday was an easy 5 on the treadmill.. I actually felt pretty good after a mile or so and would have gone 6 but I got kicked off the treadmill again =) Today was 7 at a slightly faster pace than normal (which on the treadmill meant 8:30 average). I still am having trouble feeling comfortable on the treadmill running much below 9:00 pace. I have been working my pace down from 9:30 to just under 9:00 pace for a recovery type run. Today, I started out just under 9:00 pace and settled in to 8:30 pace after a mile or so. I gradually worked my way up to under 8:00 pace for the last mile and a half. I feel fine after the run so I know I really wasn't working very hard but for some reason it still feels much faster while I am doing it. Irritating.

Not today

14 today in 1:54:20. It just didn't feel very good today... I had a tough time mentally and was ready to give up at 12. I had decided before I went out that I was running 14 so I am happy that I stuck with it considering how I felt. I tried to throw some faster miles in the middle of the run to see if I could get things rolling a little. Miles 1-4 were around 8:20 so I dropped down to 7:46 for 5 and 6. It felt ok and I came back with 8:16, 8:15, 8:06 and then decided to throw in another 2 at a faster pace. 7:54 was all I could come up with for mile 10 and mile 11 beat me mentally and I ended up backing off. I was surprised to see that I still ran 8:03. I was still feeling rough mentally during mile 12 and felt myself slowing down as I thought about turning back and heading for home. I decided to suck it up and get 14 even if I had to slow down.. somehow making that decision was enough for my legs to feel a little better and I finished with 8:03 and 8:12. I realized after I ran that I really hadn't eaten much before I went out and it was alreay 10:00 by the time I got out the door. I was pretty preoccupied with the kids this morning and only had time for a piece of toast and a cup of cocoa pretty early. I also didn't finish my gatorade during the run because it turned to slush after about 30 minutes and I was too cold to take it in. I feel pretty beat...

Good week

Overall, this has been a pretty good week. I have been feeling good, and with the exception of a few weather-related issues have been able to get in as many miles as I was hoping. 7 today gave me 54 for week. As Elle would say.. not too shabby.

Stinkin snow

There is a nice layer of ice outside right now and a light snow on top this morning made it too slippery for Eric to get out and run outside. That means shared time on the treadmill again so I quit at 5 to give him plenty of time. My legs felt good today and 7 would have been easy enough.. oh well, I'd rather see him get his time in =)