A clydesdale no more!

Had an amazing day yesterday so did not have a chance to go to the graves.  Even though it is a day late, I figured running up to the cemetery this morning would be a good thing to do.  Physically, I felt absolutely terrible and not like a runner at all.  Just one of those days.  This is supposed to be the first week of training for St. George but I think that I will hold off for a couple of weeks until I get that feeling back again.

I don't know what the deal is but I am not firing on all cylinders when it comes to running.  I will continue to take it easy until it comes back.  At least the mornings are beautiful so it does not feel like a chore to get outside.

Ugh!  I do not like this feeling.  I wake up every morning feeling like garbage.  I think I remember going through this before.  It may be a bug or just a cycle my body is going through.  I am not sure if it is better to take an aggressive approach and run hard through it or continue to take it easy.  It was quite a battle to get out the door and the desire to run barely won.

Drove to the Farmington cemetery to meet the running club.  Ran 1 mile before the group run.  Ran into along Main street (or whatever it is called) into Bountiful and headed back.  The first half felt really good. I caught on some sleep which really helped. The last half was a little tougher but still felt good.

Went to the UVM volunteer meeting and my kids and I will be at the mile 9 aid station.  If any of you will need something there, let me know. 

Felt tired and yucky this morning.  I will not let this beat me.  I went out and pounded out a good run.  I strapped on my Garmin so I would be forced to keep my pace honest.  Ran the first 3 miles in the mid 7's then ran the last 5 in the low 7's.  Not blazing by any means but it was a good effort and felt good.  I have to get back into the habit of no matter how I feel in the morning, it is going to start with a good run.

Did an easy out and back on the LPT.  Ran the first 6 miles a little slow then started to pick the pace.  Started feeling better and better as the run progressed.  Ran the last mile in 6:55 and it was very easy.  Physically I am starting to feel really good.  I just need to flush out the mental garbage and start seriously training again.  I'm going to jump into Pfitz's plan and follow it through SGM.

Nice and easy recovery run. Felt pretty tired for much of the run but the last mile felt really good so I picked up the pace.

Went to bed in Utah and woke up in Seattle.  At least that is what it felt like.  This weather is crazy.  It was raining very hard this morning.  I was up late working so I was very tired this morning and had a hard time getting out the door.  The first few miles felt very clunky.  I could not get into a groove.  Eventually got going and felt a lot better the second half of the run.  Of course this is when the rain really picked up.  Once I accepted that I could not get any wetter, running in the rain was kind of fun.

Nice and easy recovery run.  Felt great.  My body definitely wanted to move faster than I would allow.  I am trying to figure out how to work the long run in this weekend.  I may have to pull a DonGardinero and run in the middle of the night on Saturday.

 Good luck to everybody running UVM tomorrow.  My kids and I will be at the Deer Creek dam (mile 9) cheering all of you on.

Yesterday was a very full day and there was no way I was going to be able to squeeze a run in.  I seriously considered skipping the long run for this week but do not want to get in the habit of missing runs.  Drove to the LPT and headed out for a 17 miler.  Was afraid that I was going to be tired but as soon as I started the run I felt good.  The pace was very comfortable and everything was moving well.  There was a slight headwind and I had a little heart burn but other than that everything was perfect.  I made the turn around and it seemed that I had a headwind going back, too.  How did that happen?  The pace naturally quickened a little and I was having a great time.  Got a little spunky towards the end and ran the last 2 miles in 6:50 and 6:34. 

Plan called for a 9 mile run with 4 miles at lactate threshold.  Not having a rest day between my long run and this run had me concerned that I would not be able to do it.  Figured that I would start with 3 warm up miles and start the tempo run and if it didn't feel right, I would turn it into a recovery run.  My legs were very tired during the warm up.  Started the tempo run and, while I could feel the fatigue in my legs, I felt that I could maintain the pace.  My target pace was anything under 6:30/mile.  Splits were: 6:25, 6:25, 6:24, 6:23.  The pace felt great and was well in control.  I am very happy with this run. 

My legs are feeling pretty beat up and putting in an MLR was not going to help.  I knew this run would be slow and I just had to focus on survival.  Did an out and back on the LPT.  First half was at 8:00/mile and second half was at 7:30/mile.  Once my legs got warmed up and I got used to the fatigued feeling the pace quickened and I actually felt decent.  This is going to end up being a weird week with me shifting runs around.  Unfortunately, it is the recovery runs then end up being left off the schedule.

Super easy recovery run.  Very tired.

Yesterday's recovery run and a good night's sleep did the trick.  I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday.  Ran at a comfortable pace (7:45/mile) because I am going to do my long run tomorrow and I did not want to beat myself up. 

Felt surprisingly good this morning.  Did an out and back on the LPT.  Kept the pace comfortable.  Maybe a little on the slow side but it was supposed to be long slow distance.

Amazing what 2 rest days can do.  I felt really great this morning. It almost felt like I was being pulled down the road.  My pace was 30 seconds per mile faster than it usually is on this route.  Just ran at a pace that felt good.  A couple of the miles ended up being sub 7.  

Felt a little clunky this morning.  Really couldn't get into a groove.  Legs felt good and breathing was fine.  I just couldn't find that rhythm.  The weather was perfect and it was a nice morning to be out.

My legs were pretty sore this morning so I was happy to see a recovery run on the schedule.

I'm replacing one of the medium long runs each week with a hilly run.  Ran up to the mouth of Mueller park canyon and back.  I didn't really push myself really hard but it was a good run.  Got back to find that my car is broken down. 

Easy recovery run. 

Met Jeff (jtshad) for an early morning run in Layton.  Did an out and back on Antelope drive.  He was kind enough not to punish me on this run.  It was a great run on a beautiful morning.  Now it is off to a full day of watching softball games.

I had very low expectations for this run because of the irresponsible amount of soda that I drank yesterday.  Started with 3 easy miles and felt pretty good.  Ran 4 miles at LT pace with the target being anything under 6:30/mile.  First mile was 6:21 and felt surprisingly easy.  Even though the pace felt easy, I was struggling to find a good rhythm.  Messed around with the stride trying to find something that felt good.  Was able to find a comfortable stride and tried to maintain it.  Second mile was 6:14 and felt better than the first.  Third mile is slightly downhill and I ran that in 6:11.  Ran the fourth mile in 6:14.  I have no explanation as to why this run felt so good.  A couple of things that may have contributed:

• Skipping the long run last week
  
• Two hilly runs last week which may have helped with the leg strength
• Finally fully recovered from Ogden
• Hopped up on sugar and caffeine

Terrible run.  Did an out and back on the LPT.  Had a hard time getting going so I was resolved to just take it nice and easy today.  At the turnaround I stopped for a drink and when I started back up my left calf started to bother me.  With 5 miles to go I had to stop and rub it out because it hurt so bad.  Tried starting up a couple of times and it was still hurting pretty bad.  Knew that if I could get past the start up pain and get into a flow, I would be alright.  Started to feel better after a couple of miles although it did ache the rest of the way.  

Nice and easy recovery run.  There was zero pain in my left calf so it definitely was just a cramp yesterday.