It's over, man. Let her go.

Didn't hit my goal (again) but I'm feeling confident about this week!

5 days running, 25+ miles

Didn't bike in to work today.  Hit the gym about Noon and decided to hop on the TM.  I started the 10k program but after about 4k a buddy hopped on the TM next to me and I had to slow down so I could carry on a convo with him.  After about 5.3k I stopped it and just restarted it doing some intervals for 20 mins.  Did another 2.83mi.  Guessing at the exact mileage, but 5.75mi ought to be close.

Feeling better about the running after a restful weekend.  I'll run something a little easier tomorrow so I can do well on Wednesday. It's gonna be a toughie!

I think I'll start splitting up my entries with the stats at the top and the commentary below.  That will make my life a little easier when I go back to review my stats.

Ran a fast-ish 5k on the track in 22:58 (7:24 AP) - splits:  7:44, 7:19, 7:12, 6:57 (last .1mi pace)

Then ran an easy 2mi (8:41 AP) on the track to cool off.

Commentary:

What a difference a few days makes.  I don't get it.

Had to get up early today to take a friend to the hospital for a procedure.  My wife volunteered to do it but based on how early it was, I knew she was volunteering ME.  No biggie, dropped them off and came back to work from home since my son had his tour of his newly renovated school today.  I should have gone for my run after dropping them off since I knew I had my podiatrist appointment today and the likelihood of running before the 4pm appointment was slim and after never feels good.

Work was good, tour was nice (aka let us show you what all your taxes go to), and as predicted, no run before the appt.  Got two cortizone shots in each foot and they hurt like a motha!  I think she was in a hurry because she didn't freeze the injection spot as much as she should have.  She also adjusted my orthotics since they were allowing me to put more pressure on my big toes than I should be, hence the wear right under the big toe joint.  Plus, the extra padding should help that nerve pain.  I wanted to get my orthotics checked out before now, but I'm too cheap to pay the $30 copay to go in and get checked out.  If I get injected I don't have to pay it and I knew I'd have to go back in anyways.  My wife doesn't get it, but in my mind, $30 is my entrance fee to the IKEA half.  I'd rather pay for a half marathon than a visit to the podiatrist if I can get that office visit free.

So, as I was leaving, the doc reminded me not to run until Friday or Saturday.  I asked why that was and she said that the cortizone needs to work, but mainly to keep the bruising down.  I decided to give it 3 hours.  I don't care much about some bruising.  That will go away.  I had to get my 5 runs in this week and after tomorrow's run, I don't know that I'll want to run on Thursday.  But then again, maybe I will.

So, in order to try and minimize any pain associated with the shots and to try out the orthotic mods, I decided to head to the track.  I was thinking about just jogging a couple miles and if I was feeling good, I'd do maybe 3-4.  No need to over do it before tomorrow, right?  Well, I began my warm up jog and was keeping it below 8:00 pace and feeling really good.  Feet felt great, weather was nice and cool (73F), and I was in the zone.  So after about 3/4mi of running 7:45-7:50 I decided I should try and see if I can come in under 24:00 in prep for the Steeler 5k, if I decide to do it.  The Steeler is basically flat as a track, so I knew if I could do it on the track I could do it in a race with 2,500 people and high adrenaline.  Even with the slower 3/4 mi start, I finished under 23:00!  I was pretty stoked!  I was negative splitting the entire 5k except for a 1/2 mi at about the 2mi mark where I went from a 7:12 to a 7:17 pace.

I was chatting with my buddy at work and I think I'll use the Steeler 5k as a quality workout before the half.  I'll add in a couple of miles that day to keep the mileage, but that will be my speed workout for the week.  So, I'm pretty sure I'll do it.  I just don't want to hurt myself trying to get a huge PR and then not be able to PR at the half.  I gotta say, it's nice to be slow because the PRs come a lot faster and easier.  :-)

Family convinced me to pick up pizza on the way home from the track.  It was going to be a 25-30 min wait and I seriously considered putting in some more slow miles while waiting for the pizza.  I was feeling good, but I knew I had already done 5+ and another 3 would have been awesome, but I want to do well in tomorrow's hard workout.  So, I read the news instead.

It's been a few hours now and my feet (mostly the injection sites) are a little sore.  The orthotic adjustments seem to work well, so that's good.  I'll know for sure over the next week or so.  Yesterday was OK, but today was very good.  I'll be on track for a great couple of races if I can keep this up.  :-D

PS:  If you've made it this far, you get a special bonus.  I was browsing through the Rite-Aid ad and they had their supplements buy one get one free and I saw one that caught my eye.  I don't know if it would do anything for running, but I'll pass it along anyways:  Horny Goat Weed.  Check it out.

I'm going to go in there and ask if they have it tomorrow.  Do I ask if they have Horny Goat.  No, Goat Weed?  No, I guess there's no easy way to ask for it except by it's full name.  I just hope they don't have to ask over the intercom.  lol

One day like this makes up for the crappy week I had last week.

At noon, went to the running class. The plan was a 5min warm up, then 3 x 4min tempo with a 2 min rest.  Warmup and rest was about 8:50 pace, tempo was 7:30.

This evening I had to take Annalee to the church for mutual and since this was the last week before scouts starts, I figured I'd go for a run.  What else was I gonna do?  Went farther than I had thought I would, but here's the paces:  8:06, 8:47, 9:09, 11.26, 9:07 (.73mi)

Commentary:

Last week, I just followed Leah on the tempo pace and I'm pretty sure we were faster than we should have been.  I'm guessing closer to 7:15.  It was hotter last week too, which I think definitely made it harder.  Today, we had all 4 runners and so the two faster ones went off with Greg and Jake and I stayed a little back with Leah.  Jake and I are about the same level.  I made sure to bring the Garmin because I wanted to be closer to my target paces.  We were shooting for a 7:20-7:30 tempo pace.  We did pretty well, with a 8:50 rest period.  I would have liked to have gone a little faster than the 7:30 tempo, but it worked well for both of Jake and I.  Jake and I will be running again on Friday.  Tomorrow, I'll take it easier.

This evening's run was pretty fun.  I couldn't find another cemetery, so I mapped out a route on mapmyrun.com and it looked virtually flat.  It wasn't.  It was a lot of rolling pavement.  I missed a turn and went down the 1/4 mi hill I didn't want to go down.  I walked a little on the way back up.  Otherwise, ran the whole thing.  I was shooting for a 9:00 or so pace since I was really just trying to get some time in.  Went faster on the way out than I should have, but I brought it back before I was done.  A bit tired tonight, but with the exception of the sore injection sites, I'm doing well.  I've got to keep the mileage a little lower tomorrow.  I don't need to be injuring myself. 

Plan for the rest of the week will be to do about 3-4 tomorrow and Friday then get in some good mileage on Saturday if I'm still feeling good.  Great quality miles so far this week.  :-)

Just put in a couple easy miles today at about 9:20 pace and a little upper body strength.  Still feeling good.  :-)

Ran downtown about lunch time with Jake.  We both were looking to just keep it easy, very conversational, and get a few easy miles in since we were both planning a longer run this weekend.  Kept about a 9:50 pace or so.

Beautiful weather this last week.  Low 80s with nights in the 60s.  Fantastic running weather.  Maybe that's been my secret this week.

Looking back at my goal for the week, I feel like going out and running another 0.09 miles so I can make my goal today.  I guess it will give me a reason to get up and go for a run tomorrow.  lol

Signed up for the half today, so I'm committed!

Stats:
9am, 75F

7.09 mi at 8:02 avg pace (154 avg HR)
Walked a lap
3 x 400s with short recovery (1:47, 1:41, 1:34)
0.75 mi cool-down at 8:10 pace

Commentary:

Ran at the track since I had almost put in my goal miles for the week and I wanted a softer surface to minimize stress.  I wanted to get some more miles at a consistent 8:00 pace and see how I did.  I figured 10mi would be a bit too long even though I really had wanted to get in a 10mi long run before my half and it would have been cool to see if I could do it at an 8:00 pace.  I settled on 7.09 mi at 8:00 pace or slightly below (had to get that 0.09 that I didn't get in yesterday  haha).  Pace was consistent between 7:50-8:00 for the first 5 miles then I started dropping off just slightly.  Partly due to some leg fatigue, but mostly the boredom of the track and letting my mind wander a little more.  I think the slowest split was about 8:10.  HR was consistent at about 154-155 which is good for me.  With some rest before the race, I should do OK.  I think the 1:45 goal may be a little fast but I'm going to leave it there because hitting 1:45 would be AWESOME!

I need to do some thinking about next week's plan.  I haven't signed up for the Steeler 5k on Saturday, but I'm pretty sure I'll do it.  We're supposed to have the ward picnic that day but the family isn't overly excited to go so maybe that isn't a factor.  It's a "large" 5k (2,500 runners or so) which would be the biggest race I've run and you finish in the stadium which would be very cool.  Assuming I do it and that I'm going to take the Thursday and Friday off prior to the half, which is the next weekend, I'm not sure what my quality runs will be next week.  Wednesday will definitely be a quality run since we're doing fartleks for class.  Maybe a long-ish run during the week?  I need to put some thought into this, but I'll probably plan on a easy Friday run with Jake again since that seemed to work well and was fun for both of us.

The week of the half, I'll probably just do some easy miles Mon & Tues, class on Wed, then maybe just a couple of slow miles each day on Thurs & Fri.  I want to be fresh for the half, so I need to take it easy.

No real pains or concerns.  I just need to keep stretching out the front of my right hip and my calves/achilles.  I was getting a little pain under my right arch, but with some care it seems to have gone away.  Basically, I'm feeling good mentally and physically going into the next week which feels great.  Confidence is high and even if I don't meet my goals, I'm quite certain PRs are going to be broken.