I am one with the levee and the levee with me

Yikes. Two days where I couldn't drag myself out of bed.... Have to figure out how to overcome the newborn fatigue.

6 easy including 4 x strides.

Because I missed the half last weekend, I wanted to hop in this one to sharpen up. The humidity came back for the weekend (72F air/72F dew point at race start), and I struggled a little with it. Race started slow, and after a quarter in 78/79 I took the lead and started to push. I felt really good.

A couple of my part-time training partners joined me. Reached 1k in 3:14 and 1 mile in 5:10ish. Still felt good.

I continued to push in mile 2. Hit a couple 3:07 kms by my watch and reached 2 mile in 10:14is (5:04). I fell apart after that. 

I managed to keep contact until about 1k to go, and then one of the guys made a move. I started feeling pretty terrible in the 3rd mile. Once the move was made and I couldn't cover I dropped further and further back. Winner ended up at 15:45.

Not happy with the result at all. Not letting it get into my head. Just have to keep showing up and trusting in the system. I think I'm just a bad humid-weather runner.

16 miles, 7:12 avg.

10 easy

I had 7x1k planned, but my right knee started acting up on #2. I probably should've stopped, but I'm growing frustrated with interrupted training, so I figured I'd push it a little and see how it responded. #'s 3-5 were pretty good with only a few twinges. #6 it really acted up towards the end, so I called it good for the day. I really wanted that 7th repeat. I started it, but almost immediately the knee was complaining, so I jogged home from there.

6x1k @ 5k pace (3:00 rests) -- 66F air/66F dew point

3:15

3:10

3:09

3:09

3:08

3:10

#6 was on pace for 3:06-3:07, but I got cautious with the knee and backed off towards the end.

A little slower today than I'd hoped. Even though the temps were cooler, it felt muggy. And I may still be feeling the race/long run. Who knows. Training has been so up and down, I'm working on not stressing about itand just putting in the work.

A few hours after the fact and I've got a little swelling in the knee.

9 easy.

Issue in my knee is to the inside of the patella, sort of at the spot where the quad attaches. I feel it when pushing off. Best described as a "twinge," it's not really painful, but feels like it will become painful if stressed. I've had this issue before, but I'm not sure what the fix ended up being. Maybe I've got something buried deep in my blog. I felt swelling show up yesterday afternoon and persist through bedtime. This morning it felt close to normal.

Pulled out the knee sleeve and wore it yesterday evening. Iced a little before bed and slept with the sleeve on. Ran with the sleeve this morning. Aside from a couple aches at the beginning of the run, everything felt pretty much normal. The knee sleeves have worked magic for me in the past, and I'm hoping I can stay interrupted with this one.

10 easy. Ran without the knee sleeve and things felt fine.

10 easy. Still feeling a little funny in the knee, but no pain or twinges. I'll probably try doing my workout tomorrow to test it.

AM - Felt like a different runner today.

3 x 2 miles @ 5:20 w/ 2:00 rests was the idea. Temps were 61F w/ a 52F dew point. Once again I headed to City Park only to find the track closed for another event.

10:40 (5:20, 5:20)

10:33 (5:16, 5:17)

10:40 (5:20, 5:20)

There was a light (5 mph) headwind on the first and last segment, which I think is why #2 ended up faster. I hit the 5:16/5:17 and thought "I can hold this forever," but then the last segment was a lot more difficult. 

Best part: no pain or twinges in my knee. It still feels a little swollen, maybe, but I didn't anything wrong the entire run.

PM - 4 easy

16 mile city loop from Audobon Park, 7:15 avg. Most of the group didn't show up, but I made a new friend from the Bay Area who ran with me as part of his longer run. Nice morning for a long run.

10 easy including 6 x 100m strides

Dropped my mother-in-law off at the airport this morning, so that nixed the morning run. Only had time for 5 with Rylie in the evening. I'll take it. Better than a zero.

7 x 1000m on the levee w/ 3:00 rests + 2 x 30s sprints (paused 30s after last 1k before 30s sprint to simulate race finish). 

Good conditions: low-60s air, 61F dew point. Light headwind on the last 3 reps.... Don't know if that explains the slowdown, but lately I've been consistently seeing a drop in pace into even a light breeze.

3:08

3:12 (fell asleep)

3:07

3:06

3:13 (big dip)

3:12

3:11

Would have liked to see the pace continue drop on the last 3, but I'm not too worried about it. 

10 easy. The baby slept almost all the way until my alarm went off. Uninterrupted sleep.... I've missed your warm embrace.

6 easy. Most likely all I can get in today.

AM - 2 x 1600m (2 lap jog, 4:00-4:15 rest), 4 x 800m (1 lap jog, 2:10-2:20 rest) @ 5k pace at the City Park track. It was warm and somewhat humid; 76F air, 67F dew point.

4:56

4:51

2:25

2:25

2:29

2:28

The last couple 800s got hard and just started to touch on pain a 5k should cause. Up to that point I felt great. The fitness is coming.

PM - Added 4 easy stroller mile w/ Rylie.

16 easy. The wind was howling. Between that and feeling tired/sore from yesterday's workout, avg pace = 7:41.

10 easy. I'm amazed at how sore that Saturday workout made me. You'd think it was my first workout of the year.

6 easy + 8 x levee sprints (~200m).

6 easy. New shoes.

Had a really fun time at the local turkey trot. It was surprisingly competitive. I tucked in behind a couple guys at the start, and the pace was pretty slow at first. 2:40 first half. Picked up to 5:16 at the mile. Then a few of the college guys ratcheted up the pace. Came through 2 in 10:16 for 5:00. That felt terrible. The pace increase was so gradual I didn't notice at first, and I thought I was just feeling like crap because I'm in worse shape than I thought. Negative thoughts.

I started to lose touch with the lead pack, and didn't fight too hard since I knew 5:00 pace was too much. Well, I'd hoped it wouldn't feel too hard, but my body told me otherwise. I came through 3 in 10:28 for a 5:12. Lead pack was breaking up and some of the stragglers weren't quite out of reach. Told myself to just run a strong 4th mile and I could probably pick a few of them off in the 5th.

4 miles came in 20:40 for another 5:12. Happy to see no drop in pace. Surprisingly I started feeling a lot better in that mile. I had 4 guys who were all catchable. Caught them all before we entered the stadium for the finish, but unfortunately I struggled to shift gears. 2 of them got me before the line. 25:49 for a 5:09 final mile.

Progress. 

I trip to the ER with one of the family scrapped most of the day. Managed to squeeze in 4 tonight.... at least it's not a zero for the day.

AM - 3 warmup, 8 mile tempo starting at ~5:40 and dropping to ~5:30. Temps were about 42F at the start with no wind. Beautiful morning. I had a rough night's sleep with the little one, and it was tough to get out the door.

Splits from the Garmin: 5:42, 5:42, 5:39, 5:36, 5:32, 5:27, 5:27, 5:27 

Total time: 44:35

I didn't feel 100%, almost certainly due to Thursday's race, but I felt like I could have held sub-5:30 for a long time.

PM - 5 easy stroller miles w/ Rylie.

Big city loop with some of the Power Milers. 6:55 average. Took the first mile to loosen up (7:45) then dropped to 7:15 for 2-6. Miles 7-16 were about 6:50 working down to 6:35. 

10 very easy. No watch, but somewhere around 7:45-8:00 pace. Legs are feeling pretty tired.

10 easy. No watch but a much quicker pace than yesterday. ~7:15 estimate.

3-2-1-1 mile ladder w/ 3/2/1 min rests.

16:04 (5:21, 5:21, 5:22) -- big dip mile 3

10:46 (5:22, 5:24) -- big dip mile 1

5:18

5:19

Weather was really nice, if a little warmer and more humid. 62F air / 62F dew point. No wind.

Felt really smooth. My calves started to complain in the middle of mile 6, but otherwise no distress.

8 very easy. I took the day off work for a certain GI procedure, and I took the post-procedure run this afternoon very gingerly.