Use it or Lose it

morning: 5.25 miles on tm. warmed up for a mile at 5 mph & 1.5% incline, then kept the speed at 5 mph and adjusted the incline as follows:

1,2,1,3,1,4,1,5,1,6,1,7,1,7,1,6,1,5,1,4,1,3,1,2,1,5,1,4,1,3,1,2,1

Was going to stop after the first ladder down, but then went back up to 5% and back down from there just to get a little more mileage in. Figured the tm time would pass faster that way.

The higher inclines got me working pretty hard, so I'm considering about one mile "equivalent" of fast running. 

morning on tm.  wanted to run 5 miles, but my dad called in the middle of the run and I talked with him for about 1/2 hour, then I got back on the tm and managed to run a couple more miles, but then had to stop and give evy a ride to the u.  Now I need to meet someone at 11 so I'm just going to log my 3.5 miles and will adjust my entry if I run more later today.  Legs were pretty dead from yesterday's hill workout anyway.

6 miles on tm, middle 4.5 @ 5.5 mph. 1.5% incline whole time.  Should've ran just a wee bit further to get over 20 miles, but I'm still happy :)

Felt pretty good even though I didn't want to start running. Read a blurb on motivation to do a long run - just get dressed as if it were a shorter run, then do the long, or something like that . . . 6 miles is long for me, btw, even though for most people it wouldn't be.

big goose egg today.  didn't sleep well last night, waking up around 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep so finally got up at 5 am and started cleaning house.  was depressed hearing news about susan powell and her kids, and just had zero motivation to run.

morning. didn't want to do my planned speedwork but knew I at least had to try.  Ended up doing better than expected, deciding to make my reps a full mile instead of the 3/4 mile I had planned, so I'm happy.  Don't know if I felt good because I had an extra day off (yesterday), or because I fueled well this morning (banana & yoghurt/oj smoothie) 1-2 hours before running.

tm set for 1.5% incline
warmup one mile at 5 mph, then
3 reps of 1 mile at 6 mph, with 1/4 mile recoveries at 4-5 mph
cool down one mile at 5-5.5 mph.

The reps were very doable and 6 mph seemed more like a slightly too fast tempo pace, so I should try to up the speed just a bit the next time I'm working on speed.

morning: 4.5 slow miles on treadmill. Hoping for hill work out tomorrow, but not sure it will happen.

also did my arm & shoulder exercises :)

morning, hills on tm, short warm-up, then kept speed at 5 mph and adjusted the incline every 1/4 mile:   1%, 2%, 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Wanted to go about another 1/2 mile but needed to stop and give Evy a ride.  Oh, . . . let's see if I can get do more . . . 

Ran outside for the first time in a long time.  Mid morning run to city creek mile marker 1.5 then to ensign school and back home.   Nice day to be running.

morning tm run.  Didn't feel like running, but felt good once I got going.  Pretty much repeated last week's tempo'ish run:

warm-up for a mile @ 5 mph and 1.5% incline
3 one-mile reps at 6 mph, 1.5% incline, with 1/4 mile recoveries of 4-5 mph, 1.5%
threw in a 1/8 mile stride at 6.5 mph after the last recovery to see how it felt (felt hard - glad it was only for a 1/8 mile!), then ran a slower cool down.

Next week I really should try to do short reps at 6.5 mph to mix it up.

ap ~ 11

morning tm run, laddered a bit from 5-5.5 mph, 1.5% incline.  Took about a 5 minute break around 3 miles when Evy first got here, then had to hop back on for another couple miles.  Unremarkable run, but it got me thinking that I really should consistently stretch and strengthen my legs.  I do feel good that I have in 10 miles so far this week! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

mid morning run to city creek one mile marker and back home.  tried to push a little bit on the hills, but boy it wasn't coming easy!  nice day for running, tho my ears got a little cold, even with headband on.

5 slow to city creek one mile marker and back.  knees a little achy the last few days, probably from the transition from treadmill to streets this last week.

needed some type of speed work, so warmed up a mile, then

4 reps of 1/8+ mile @ 6 mph, 1/8- mile @ 5 mph, then
8 reps of 1/8+ mile @ 6.5 mph, 1/8- mile @ 5mph, then
3 reps of 1/4 mile @ 6 mph, 1/8 mile @ 5 mph, then a short cool down.

Kept incline at 1.5% the whole time.  And, yea, none of my recoveries dipped below 5 mph. :)

(This work out was supposed to be similar to the "one minute on, one minute off" routine, but I don't like clock watching so I would generally run the "on" for a little over a 1/2 lap on the tm, and the "off" to complete the lap, hence the 1/8+ and 1/8- designations.)

Just an ordinary tm run, warm-up, then middle 3 at 5.5 mph, then cool down ~ 5.3 mph.  1.5% incline.

morning run on rm.  warmed up 5 mph @ 1.5% incline, then kept the speed at 5 mph and varied the incline as follows:

1/8+ mile was "on", 1/8- mile was "off" (1%)

2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 6 1 5 1 4 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 6 1 5 1 4 1 3 1 2 1

then cool down with approximately 1/4-1/2 mile at 5 mph, 1.5% incline.

This was a good workout, but I think next time I plan a hill workout I should do it slightly different and ladder up and back without the 1% "off" recoveries.

plan today was to run outside for 4-5 miles, then to avoid pounding my knees too much on the pavement, come home and run another 2-3 on treadmill.  however, the wind was a howling with debris flying, so i decided to just do it on the treadmill.

incline at 1.5%, did a short warm up, then laddered between 5 & 5.7 mph.  unfortunately just after 4 miles i got a call from my tenant who had locked herself out, so i needed to stop for 12-15 minutes to drive down and unlock her door.  (Driving back home on 11th avenue I could see all the saturday morning runners grimacing from the wind - normally they look pretty happy!)  Then back onto the treadmill.  i'd stiffened up a little from the cold wind and had to do a short warm up all over again...  But then got back in the groove and started laddering again, switching the speed at the start of a new song.  Boy, was I happy when I finally got to 8 miles; longest run in quite a while!  (Also my highest mileage week in a while.)

Note: i don't normally ladder during my "long" run, but since I was on the treadmill I figured it would help pass the time faster, and probably make me run faster.

Goose-egg. Feeling sick today, and had crummy sleep last night.  A long going nightmare that people were trying to kill me, and I kept hiding from them in a big building, and they kept finding me again, etc.  Kept waking up from the nightmare only to fall back asleep to the same nightmare. bleh . . . 

Wasn't sure how to approach today's run since I was sick and didn't run yesterday. Still feeling sick, but at least I got some quality sleep last night so I just decided to go by feel.  TM at 1.5%, quick warm-up at 5 mph, then laddered from 5.3 to 6.0 mph, and then back down again, clicking the speed button every time a new song came on.  Then did a short cool-down for 1/8 mile.  (ap 11)

early morning.  5 miles on tm.