THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

Well, this went better than expected.  I have maintained a little bit of fitness despite my lame excuse for training the last few months.  This was a certified two-loop course, measured .08 short on my Garmin but it's certified so okay I will take it haha!  There is about 1.5 miles of the loop going North uphill into a 20mph headwind in the cold and I rolled some terribly slow miles in there.  Overall I actually felt pretty decent.  I worked all night last night so getting close to 24 hours without sleep now but once I got rolling I felt okay.  Tired now though!  I think a little fresher without the wind I could've dropped a minute or two.  This definitely gives me hope that I am at a better starting point for the year fitness wise than I expected.  I actually felt pretty strong the whole time and definitely finished with some gas in the tank and not aerobically stressed, so could've ran harder I think.

Splits 6:35, 6:42, 6:49, 7:15, 6:44, 6:52, 6:40, 6:49, 6:55, 7:29, 7:00, 7:01, 6:50

afternoon:  6 at recovery pace on the indoor track at the downtown Y followed by 30 minutes of core. Feeling good!!

pm:  3 recovery on the home treddy.  I think I am infected with running disease again

am.  treddy hills, 6:48 ap.  .5 warmup 8:24, 2.5. up 4% 7:30 pace, 5 down -2% 6:22,6:18,6:15,6:11,6:07.  feelin groovy!!  30 minutes legs and core afterward with two handstands.

pm.  5 ez on the south Y treddy

joined Mike for a few loops of his 40 miles for 40 years, first 5 mile loop slow, started the second one slow then took out with Kyle for the last 3 somewhere under 7:00, last mile I was 5k grimacing.  jogged back .5 to catch Mike and Elaine.  two pieces of banana bread and off to bed.

It was cold,the snow was whipping, 23mph wind with a -3 windchill.  Oh how I love the sting of snow which eventually was nothing once my face froze, but it defrosted on the way home,  I wasn't alone, Kyle joined me for this morning run in which we could not convince anyone else to join!  Ran fairly briskly although we were snowbunny-ing it.

recovery pace on the home treddy.  20 minutes of core and handstands.  looking forward to a long run tomorrow!

East Y dreadmill, needed to keep my phone near in case the school called.  Wanted a long run but lost my ipod and didn't know how I would survive the boredom so lots of button pushing. 

2 mile warm up

2 at 6:27 pace

2 x 1200 at 6:15 with 400 recovery

6 x 800 at 6:15 with 800 recovery

cooldown to 15

Eventually when I'm in shape again this workout has 8 x 1200 and another 2 mile tempo at the end, but this was good enough for today.  Legs are tired.

am: 8 super ez in the great outdoors.  up to 29 degrees!!  dreaming up a wicked core/plyo workout for this afternoon.

afternoon:  hit the downtown Y for some Tabata and as I ran a warm-up lap ran into Eric, the Epic Ultras race director, we got to talking and....6 miles later, I finally peeled off and hit core hard and heavy. 

2 sets each of mountain climbers, push-ups, sit-ups, squats with handweights, burpees, lunges with weights, reverse lunges with weights, mason twists with medicine ball, box jumps, plank jumps, bicycle crunches, ball push-ups.  sweaty mess

Super easy by my daughter's school. My legs are feeling the core from yesterday.

Treadmill speedwork.

20 minute warm up

4 x 60 sec on/off 5:27 pace

2 minute jog

6 x 90 sec on/off 5:56 pace

3 minute jog

10 minutes 6:22 pace

Tiny cooldown

8 ez on the home treddy.  saving juice for the Kingman hills tomorrow.  Yeah feels so good to bust a 70 mile week and I all sorts of endorphined up!

7:16 AP.  drove out to the Kingman Hills with Kyle.  We went hard from the beginning and he basically ran my tail off.  burn baby burn

Afternoon nap won today, but at least the Voice did not.  I had to run some errands all morning so put jeans on and they were....tight.  I could not believe how quickly the voice reared its ugly head.  I tried my best to ignore it.  Slept as much as I could push it in the afternoon then parked at the school and had time for 3 very slow recovery miles.  Dropped Vanessa off then headed to the Y for a few more miles before work. It was hard, but I walked by the scale and didn't get on it.  I have resolved not to sweat the numbers this year and just be healthy.  Ran 3 ez on the treadmill then blasted hard through 10 minutes of core and off to work.

so excited to have a plane ticket and I AM REALLY GOING TO RUN BOSTON!!

Ran 8 ez in the blustery wind by Vanessa's school then dropped her off and jogged 4 more on the south Y mill before heading to work. I gotta find my ipod or get another one!!

Treadmill Yasso-ish 800s.  2 mile warm up, 8 x 800 with 400 recovery, first 4 at 5:56 pace, then 3 at 5:52 pace and 1 at 5:49 pace.  2 mile cooldown.  I may squeeze in a half-marathon between shifts saturday morning if I get off work on time, and this seems to be a good workout leading into a half.  These were hard in a fatigued  kind of way, my breathing wasn't hard and my legs really weren't hurting--I was just fatigued.  I think part of it was boredom, not used to treadmilling it without music.

nice n easy in the wind through the HS course

Whether or not I make it off work in time in the morning to race the half marathon, I am going to run at least 13 miles.  So, in my undying devotion to 70 miles a week, I jogged 5 very easy on the treadmill.

That was hard.  Gnarly wnw 26mph wind, lotsa big hills, tired from work, splits all over the place depending on what direction the wind and whether going up, down, or flat.  Still bested last year's time.  My buddy Kyle who ran 1:25 a few weeks ago barely slid under 1:30, so I will let him vouch for what a beast today was.  We even got a little cold rain.  Crazy splits 6:35, 7;09, 7;06, 6:36, 7:12, 6:51, 7:28, 6:26, 6:56, 7:10, 7:44, 6:51, 7:13, and a rockin uphill sprint to the finish at 7:10 pace.  Then I showered, napped in the car back to Wichita, and am now back at work.  I am actually very pleased with today's effort and result.

It was a glorious and sunny 62 degrees, I was floating along like a gazelle, reveling in nature, when i... Bit it.  concrete belly flop on Woodlawn.  It tore one palm up, scraped the other, and took out a knee and elbow.  There was enough blood to make it look like I was fleeing the scene of a crime as I ran home whimpering.  My left palm has lots of layers of skin peeled up like a banana.  ahem. so, no pushups today.  I will try again tomorrow for my epic run.

Joined Shelby at the downtown Y for his workout, 2 mile wu, 2 mile tempo 6:45, 6:20, 2 mile cooldown.  Then I ran into Coach Jeff and ran about 3 more cooldown with him.  Banana peel hand is a little better, but looks gross.  Trying to motivate myself for a solo long run tomorrow....

-3 windchill this morning and I couldnt' find my gloves, so that settled it--dreadmill.  Today was better though, since I plugged into Pandora on my phone and had music!!

2 mile wu, 2 miles 6:27 pace, 1 mile jog, 8 x 1200 at 6:15 pace with 400 recovery, 1 mile jog, 2 miles 6:40 pace, 2 mile cooldown.  Sweatfest!!

Did my park-and-run(plod) at Vanessa's school. Very ez, legs are heavy from yesterday, pretty sure I didn't even beat the 9:00 girl. I am down to the skinny work pants.

Very quick overspeed workout on the home treddy.  Sick kid, between shifts, had to haul out of bed to get her, so a little tired and short for time but satisfied with the workout.  Warmed up 15 minutes very slow, then 12 x 45 seconds on/75 seconds off--4 at 5:27 pace, 4 at 5:21 pace, and 4 at 5:15 pace.  Then I did 5 minutes at 6:18 pace and a tiny cooldown to 6 and off to take care of my baby and get ready for work.

10 super ez on the home treddy while Vanessa watched a movie.  Today I opened the closet door that I face, so my view was actually a little better.  Pandora and some headphones and all in all, it wasn't so bad.

Home treddy. Not sure if I will wiggle 3 more in later or not to get to 70 for the week. Looking forward to 20 with friends tomorrow!

7:39 ap. Good run overall, but a workout Flop. Met up with the crew, Kyle, Jarrod, Mike, and Rob, and west we went onto the country roads. 10 nice n easy and talking then started what I wanted to be a 6:50ish tempo for 10 miles, but that only lasted 3 miles and I slid into the low 7s. Don't know if it is this respiratory bug I have or what, but I had no mojo today and I knew it. Eww. Hopefully I get one more good one in before Psycho on Feb 8th for a confidence boost. Now off to keep hacking up a lung!

had to take yesterday off with miserable respiratory bug.  6 today in the cold, fatigued and winded. ew.

pathetic miles by Vanessa's school, although the chest pain and wheezing subsided a little bit towards the end, and then I stopped runinng, and the never-ending coughing fit began, quite a sight for the other parents.  Anywho, got her home and did 24 minutes of drills, then showered, went out, and overate.  must be feeling better to eat that much.

Windy today, and wind triggers coughing fits, so I hit the east Y treadmill.  I decided to try for a little workout since I am feeling better, although not 100%.  20 minute wu easy, 3 minutes of 1 minute up 6% 6:40 pace, 1 minute flat 6:00 pace, 1 minute down -2% 5:27 pace.  I f did 3 of these with 3 minute recovery and felt like I was gonna puke, so I switched to 6 x 1 min on/off at the same--up, flat, down. then I jogged for 8 minutes, then 10 minutes at 6:40 pace, then 2.15 mile cooldown easy.  I don't know if that was so hard becase it was so hard, or if I'm just still sickish.

am:  laundry 9.  so put clothes in the washer, run 3miles, but clothes in the dryer, run 6, haul clothes back to apartment.  I am going to squeeze in another little run this afternoon right before work, so, with 15 planned with the group tomorrow I should get my magical 70 this week!  still sniffly and a little cough-y but feeling much better!

afternoon: 4 ez on the south Y treddy