Bret

Bleah!  No running or planned race today - got a bug or food from my Christmas party gave me major GI issues - very little sleep.  

AM - feeling a bit better today - went for a shake out 4 miles to test things out.  Felt fine by the end.  

PM - 6.5 miles at lunch - easy. 

PM - just under 9 miles at lunchtime out and around the dump and the Val Pak lake loop.  Ran the first mile or two with Richie who had a 3 minute masters PR in the half marathon on Sunday.  He ran 1:23:55 with a strong negative split - beating his nemesis in the twelve mile dropping a 6:07 late in the race.  Really happy for him and his progress this training cycle.  However just as we were warming into our pace he said he felt something tighten up in his calf so we walked for a bit and he tried to massage it out - but he ultimately decided to head back to the gym instead of causing injury.  He did not do any running yesterday and no massage or stretching.

Anyway - I had a good solid feeling run for the first time in quite a while.  It has been a week since I started using some iron supplements (still awaiting blood test results) and I think I may be on to something here...I think my iron has been low (or relatively low for me) which may explain a lot of issues I have been experiencing with racing and training.   

AM - 10 easy slow kinda-cruddy feeling miles before work this morning.

So I finally got my blood test results in and I think I have identified my culprit of racing malaise. Ferritin level is 24.  That may do for a sedentary person, (normal limits are 20 to 380) but not someone training as I do and wanting to race competitively - indeed from what I have read, the Ferritn levels need to be at least 35 and for many elites (not that I am an elite) it averages in the the 65-70 range.  I think Jake K's report in August shared that his was 108.    

HGB is on the low end too 13.7 and Crit is only at 40%.  

By comparison - in March of this year my HGB was 14.2 and my Crit was 42.6%.    

Will continue to focus on Iron intake with some supplementation as well as diet.   And will get rechecked again in a month or so.

PM - lunchtime on the treadmill, decent workout progression run.  3 mile warm up, then 2 miles at moderate pace 7:11, 7;03; then 2 miles at MP 6:49, 6:40; then 2 miles at HM 6:31, 6:22 then 2 miles faster than HM 6:18, 6:11.  1 mile cool down.  Felt better than I have been feeling, but not quite back to full strength or normal.  Pleased that I got through the workout, looking forward to doing workouts like this where I know I feel good and solid.  The iron deficiency should improve with the supplements over the next month or so.  With just a week of introducing the supplements, I feel considerably less fatigued and challenged by faster pacing.  

PM - 10 miles easy at lunch (dump run and val pak) quite windy - felt good, not sore/fatigued from yesterday's workout as I had been expecting/experiencing recently.  

PM - a little over 11 miles easy on a pleasant Saturday afternoon.