High Speeds

Total of 16 today - did a two mile tempo at 5:10 pace.

Did 4 miles of tempo running at 5:00 pace. I had to break it up into chunks due to issues with my quad/back.

Did the same workout as Tuesday - ran into similar issues and had to break it up. Total of 4 miles at tempo pace.

Total of 9 today in the afternoon - had a final project presentation in the morining. Felt very tired at night and so did not do my evening run.

Did about 7 of my miles on grass.

Did most of the morning run on grass - I'm hoping this helps with the issues I've been having.

  Today did a workout - 10x1000. The workout was on asphalt - my hypothesis is that running on concrete has been aggravating whatever problem I've been having with the lower back/left quad. In one direction there was a headwind - the other direction had some uphill. I started out in 2:59 - then did 3:00, then I had a quad spasm about 600m into the third interval. At that point, I was worried that I would be unable to finish the workout. Before giving up, I tried increasing the rest between intervals from 200m to 400-600m, and it worked. I ended up running around 3:02-3:03 for the next 5 intervals. The last two were faster - 3:00 and 2:57.

  This has been my first decent workout since the Thanksgiving race. 

Most of the morning run was on grass.

Today I decided to do a repeat of the workout last Saturday - except this time I didn't have to break up the tempo. I went to the Walnut Creek Trail - which is where I ususally do Saturday workouts. It was raining, which slowed things down a little - but otherwise things were good. I had 15:36 at 3 miles according to the trail markers - which I know are a bit off based on Noah's GPS - so it was more like a 15:15. I really need to wheel that course. . . The last mile was ostensibly in 5:25 (there was a 180 turn halfway through) - again I don't know how accurate that was. In any case, I felt a lot more mobility, and did not encounter a spasm. Running on grass appears to be working. It appears that running on concrete is the problem, or at least a major factor. 

It's kind of funny - one week of running on grass did more than two months of seeing a sports therapist. Hopefully, it keeps working.

Did 9 in the afternoon with a mile pickup in 4:47. Felt weird at night - a little bit of a scratchy throat, so decided to cut the evening run.

Did a mile pickup in 4:47.

Repeated the 10x1000 workout from last week. This time it went better - in part because it wasn't 70F :-). I took 2- and 3- minute rests. The splits were 2:58, 2:58, 2:59, 2:58, 3:00, 3:02. 2:59, 2:56, 2:55, 2:56. Definitely an improvement from last week - running on grass and avoiding cement appears to be working. Total of 12.

It's not Christmas if you don't run 12 miles in the snow :).

Did 16 hill sprints of 250m (got around 44 or 45s for most of them). The sprints were in two chunks - 5 followed by a rest and then 11 more.

12 miles in the snow.

12 miles of fun in the snow today.

12 miles in the snow.