Clyde's Comeback!

11 mile warm up

10 mile tempo

1 mile cool down

Big workout this morning with the Circle of trust and Stephen. Met at the DC for my MTL run out around the fields. Hit the warm up pretty chill and it was around a 7:10 avg. Goals for the tempo were to just put it in gear and see how it went. Got out a little faster than prior weeks but wasn't able to bring the last two miles down as fast to finish. Still ended with a 5:26 avg for the 10 mile tempo. Basically the same route as weeks before but with a minor change because the trail is being worked on around mile 6. So todays route is just a little slower due to turns getting on the trail system. Last weeks avg for the 10 miles was 5:34. So some pretty good progress. Happy about the run and mileage this week.

Splits

5:33, 5:24, 5:16, 5:30, 5:30, 5:27, 5:32, 5:23, 5:28, 5:28

Actually a pretty even effort. The 5:16 has a little down hill. Other miles like 2,4,5, have some good rollers with the rest pretty flattish. At least for STG.

Regular DC loop. Hip was so jacked today. It just wouldn't loosen up doing the hip routine. Wouldn't pop back in like normal. So I knew today would be hard. If it wouldn't have hurt the rest of the run would have been pretty good. Hoping that through the day it'll loosen up and pop back in or whatever it does.

7.5 miles on the treadmill tonight. Hip was rough for about 3.7 miles but it finished feeling doable... not good though. Spent a half hour after doing the hip routine and trying to work it out. Could be an interesting tempo in the morning. Or none at all.

Tempo Tuesday.

I knew after yesterdays bad hip that today was going to be hard... I didn't think it would end up being this bad. Just felt like TRASH the entire morning. From warm up to cool down it was bad. Not only did the hip hurt but my heart rate was super high. Just regular effort took twice the amount of output. I guess they can't all be good... hoping this is just the ups and downs of training and not a glimps of things to come.

8 mile tempo kind of went like this. Hit 5 miles at a 5:34 avg then I just had to stop. Hip was killing me. Walked it out a little then started running again. Hit the next mile at 6:16, then 5:45 and the hip kind of loosened up so on the 8th mile I was able to hit a 5:25. But it felt like a 5:05 effort. Ugh. Guess I got through it... even though it was a bummer. Just mentally stressed out too. Need this hip to pop back and it just will not release. Maybe a visit to April is in order.

2.8 miles tonight on the treadmill. Had planned on staying on to hit 5.1 and square off my day at 20. But the hip hurt. And at 2.4 I felt a really sharp pain that about put me on the floor. I slowed down for .4 more but just decided to get off and see what happens tomorrow. Hammy is crazy tight too. I think they are related issues.

DC loop with a little extra. Got stood up by Logan Hooper for the second week in a row. (that's a joke on both ends boys). So it was just me and the road/ trail. Hip felt a lot better than the last two days but still hurts more than it should. The hammy felt great though. Spent most of the evening last night working both out with the hip routine, foam roller and sitting on the edge of the counter and using a softball to roll deep into it. Anyways it must have helped a little. But overall I just feel pretty flat with no pop. Quads and calves are carring fatigue over day after day where as a few weeks ago I had no recovery and felt freash and ready to hit it again daily. I think there is some neural fatigue going on:). If you can remember that then it showes your blog age...

20 miles on the spin trainer in 61 min's. Just a fairly ez spin out mostly for recovery to try and loosen everything up in the legs. Never really tried to push that hard.

20 more miles on the trainer. 60 min's. Basically the same effort as this morning. Not too hard.

4.2 miles right off the treadmill. 15 seconds in transition. A PR for me. bike shoes off. running shoes on. GO. Felt pretty good in the hip and hammy throughout the run. One really sharp pain about mile 3.7. I'll work them both over tonight agian like last night. Sometimes I stress myself out. Today was one of those days.

Speed workout. This one I've been wanting and setting up in my mind for a while. My MAIN goal today was the final 2 mile set. My old PR from the DC up to River Road was 10:16. That was at least 2 years ago- pre injury. I wanted and need it to go down today.

3 mile warm up. 3x1 mile with about a mile in between then a 2 mile set and about 2 miles cool down.

Mile 1: 4:49- Started this out on the back side of LV. Has some net downhill. It was in the darkness and I really had no idea what pace i was going.

one mile jog

Mile 2: 4:54- Through B-hills. Flat then a small downhill then a uphill. So a pretty honest mile. Again I didn't really know how fast I was going. Just tried to be honest for the workout.

.6 jog up to the next set

Mile 3: 5:11- This mile has some good rollers and I didn't attack it like the first two. I really wanted to have something for the final 2 mile. So with the hills this mile was pretty good.

one mile jog over to the DC. While on this recovery jog I started a mantra in my head. "I need this today. Do it". I kept repeating it over and over. And by the time I crossed the river I was saying it out loud and letting out a few war cries. Today was the day.... Lets do this.

2 mile- 4:54, 5:19 (10:13 total). It wasn't very even splits. But again it was still dark and I didn't look at the gps once. This whole section is a net uphill with the final .1 or so up a steep ramp as you get to River Road. I was PUMPED after I caught my breath and was able to look back through the splits. A 3 second PR. I'll take it. Since it's my first attempt at a record in 2 years or so. And it's not like I'm doing it on fresh legs.

Pretty happy how the morning went. got some good turnover and some confidence back after my failed workout on Tuesday. I was up early and got the heat patch on the hip. That with the stuff I did last night on the hip and hammy seemed to help me run pretty "free" this morning. Glad this is in the bank. Needed it.

3.3 miles on the treadmill. Just EZ to loosen up the damage done this morning. Things felt pretty good. Other than right little toe has a new blister that really hurts.

Hip was relly hurting this morning. What freaking gives with this thing? Anyways I just wasn't in the mood to run. Kind of a bummer morning. Stayed on the treadmill and pushed through 5 slow miles. None of which felt very good.

5.6 miles around the inner B-hills loop this afternoon. Hip hurt. FML

25 Mile Big workout Long run

12.5 mile warm up

9.95 mile tempo

2.55 mile cool down

12.5 mile warm up. Uphill the entire way. Only wanted to be 12 miles up but the car lied and we ended up .5 too much. It felt like it too. 12+ miles of uphill starts to wear a brotha down. By the time we crested the summit my legs were heavy and I just wanted Dave and Logan to bring the car up and get me.

The bad news of the morning is I forgot my watch and or GPS. I don't think I've ever done that before. Bummer. Because today was off the hook. My plan was to hit the 10 miles back down at an agressive effort but not overdue it. The no gps thing sucked because I had no idea how fast or slow I was going.... until the end. I felt fluid all tempo until about the last mile. Then the lack of downhill training caught up to me and my quads had about had enough. I could tell the legs were getting a little heavy. So I finished and started counting. I counted at a nice even 1,2,3... and got to 252 when Logan came by. He said he was at around 52:30is. So I'm guessing that I was roughly 4 min's ahead of him. Which puts me right at or just under 5:00 pace for the tempo. It is some very good downhill running. But it's also after 12.5 mile of UPHILL.  I honestly cant stand the fact that I can't read back through those splits!!!!! Buggin overtime! Anyways it ended up being a special moring with the Circle of Trust as everyone ran well. Jogged the cool down very easy and called it a day. #youguysareclowns

55 mile bike ride. Was going to get on the trainer today inside and ride for like an hour or so. 20 miles to loosen up the legs. But as the day rolled on and temps got up to around 67 F I couldn't stand it anymore. So I went outside for a ride. I didn't plan on going this far but I couldn't get enough of how nice it felt. Actually got a little farmers tan line on my arms. Kept the pace super ez and think I only hit like a 17.8 mph avg. So effort wasn't hard at all. I'm not sure if this was a good, bad or neutral choice as to help the legs recover. But it was a fun ride.

.6 on the treadmilll while I tried to wake up. Then 6 miles around the inner b-hills loop extened through the secret st. Legs are JACKED up. Like marathon trashed. Oops. I did not want to do that on Saturday. Did not want a big recovery phase. I've only got three weeks until PHX and I might have to spend one of them in recovery mode.... stupid, stupid, stupid. On the flat my legs are super sore and hurt, on uphill they hurt but I can kind of stride it out. On any downhill grade... Fugetaboutit. Usually when I'm sore like this I can run a few miles and kind of loosen up. But today that didn't happen.

8 miles on the treadmill this afternoon. It was 67 F outside but I had kids home and had to hit the machine up. Quads were killer for like 4 miles. Just painful to even run. But by the closing miles things seemed to loosen up just a little. Enough to take the edge off at least.

DC loop at daybreak. Quads are still crazy sore and any downhill is trouble. But the legs were more runnable than yesterday. Pace was EZ and it seemed to take forever just to make it around the loop.

7 miles tonight. Quads were painful. Feel like crap.

DC loop with Logan and Stephen. Blah morning. Legs are still effed up. Like hurting. I'm just trying to keep the mileage up enough to not go into a premature taper. Really actually feel like crap overall. Kind of sick the last few days. No sleep. And quads that are epiclly thrashed. FML.

10.2 miles tonight. DC loop again. Legs felt crusty out of the box but as the run progressed I started to feel better than all week. Still way too much pain for the liking but maybe coming out of the run induced coma.

DC loop again. Didn't want to even run today. Feel like crap and have been pretty stressed/negative. Decided to just go out and maybe do like 4. Ended up just staying out and thinking. Quads are still lame. IDK... just ready for this crappy week to be over.

10.2 this afternoon. DC loop again. Just grinding it out. One mile, one run, one day at a time.

4 miles on the treadmill. Feel so burned out and sickish. It makes the normal pains and aches seem way worse. 1.5 more days and this week is over.

4.1 miles around the inner b-hills loop without going around the schools. Just another blah run. Ate lunch too late and about barfed up the chicken fried steak and mashed taters with gravy. Anything else...

Big MTL this morning with the Circle of Trust. I kind of felt that rather than doing a 11 mile warm up then trying to hammer the last 10 that... maybe today we'd just put it in "uptempo" gear from the start and keep it there all day. The guys were good enough to agree and accept my terms. So that's what we did. Right out of the car kept it honest all day without going into the tank and trying to hammer anything. Ended the run at a 6:25 avg for the 21 miles. At mile 17 or so I kind of started getting antzy and thought about hammering it in... Hit a 5:40, then a 5:45 and both felt way too hard. So I slowed back down and rejoined the guys. Pushed it a little more on the last mile in chasing Logan and hit one more 5:45 but other than that pace was pretty even.
Legs were still super tight. Quads and calves both have some serious knots that I'll have April work out later today. But overall I did feel better than I have all week. Really looking forward to resting and having April work out my issues. Hoping to get some mojo back next week.

DC loop. Had a bad weekend of eating. Just couldn't stop with the food. Belly was full of junk. So it was a 4 star morning. Kept the pace uptempo as to try and clear out any junk. Quads and calves seemd better but really flat... like no pop at all and some deep soreness. Tempo tomorrow might be interesting. 6:36 avg for the run.

7 miles this evening. Temps were almost hot at 73F. Got some new compression shorts at the STGRC and they seemed to help the quads while running. Hoping to have somewhat of a positive tempo in the morning.... but I'm not holding my breath about it.

Tempo with the Circle and James

4.4 mile warm up

8.1 mile tempo

2.5 cool down

So today I needed some kind of positive feedback. Not a super workout but something. Legs have felt DEAD since the big long 25 mile run two Saturdays ago. Plus I've been sick... just have felt like things were slipping away.

Warmed up and felt pretty good. Decided to take it out aggressive and try to hold on at the end. I knew my quads would shut down early as they are NOT recovered. Plus we had a little tail wind for the first 3 miles or so... but then a head wind on the last two. Ended up hitting the 8.1 miles of tempo (I went .15 past the stopping spot) at a 5:27 avg. My fastest avg was a 5:24 a few weeks ago but that was before we had to modify and change miles 5-8. This finish is a little slower and today was on WAY more trashed legs. So I'm happy with the effort. Even though my splits got slow at the end.

5:12, 5:16, 5:18, 5:33, 5:38, 5:34, 5:42, 5:38

So I started out a little too fast... agian there was a tail wind. Miles 4,5,6 are about regular. They all have some rollers and on and off trails. Then 7,8 are slower but the legs were hammered... quads wanted to stop at mile 4.5. And there was a noticable head wind on the last couple miles or at least like 1.5 or so.

Anywho I'm glad it's over and in the bank. Might do a few mile repeats on Thurs but other than that I can relax my legs and brain until March 1 and rest assured I've done all I can do. I think I'm ready to bring it in PHX.

8.1 mile run this morning. Middle B-hills extended through the Secret St and LV. Flet pretty good for an EZ laxi taxi run. Not running last night was both good and bad. Good because I felt rested. Bad because I didn't workt the tightness out in the evening and a short 3 miler would have done it. I'm crazy hungry right now and the body just wants to gain weight.

147lbs after the run.

24.1 mile bike ride around noon. Out to Sandhollow and back on the new road. It's 12.0 miles from my house out to the lake where the roads intersect. I'd guessed 13 so I was way off.:). Didn't try to hammer it at all but wouldn't allow myself to just coast. Ended up right at 20.1 mph avg. Pretty good effort considering the hills and crazy A wind on the return.

8.1 mile run off the bike. Same loop as this morning. It was 73F and I had the shirt off for the first time in 2014 for a run. Salty Sweat covered the body. That's one big concern for PHX. Is the warmer temps. Most of my big workouts have been in sub 32 F temps with this cold winter we've had. A race temp of even 50F will be warm.

Anywas kept the run honest but had no watch to check pace. Felt so so throughout and by the end was CRAZY hungry.

146 lbs after the run.

Middle B-hills then the Secret St. Just an EZ recovery run. Tried to keep it smooth all morning. Really wanting and needing some energy to come back to the system over then next week or so.

146 lbs after the run.

4 miles tonight out and back over by the park and to River Road. Just enough to loosen up the legs before coming home and doing the hip routine. Feeling pretty achy all over.

6 miles on the treadmill this morning. Was planning on doing some kind of speed workout outside. But I woke up on the wrong side of the bed as they say and just didn't want to ... so I didn't.

10.2 miles tonight around the DC. My plan was to do 1 mile on the way over at LT pace and then make an run at my DC to River Road 2 mile PR of 10:13. But... things didn't go as planned.

Started out with the 2.5 mile warm up over to the middle of B-hills. Then got going on the first mile.

4:52- Yikes I only wanted to hit like 5:05 or so. Hard enough to open up the lungs but not kill anything. So this ended up too fast. Jogged from there about 2 miles over to the DC. While jogging over things felt hard and I was really negative about hitting the 2 mile.

1.3 @- 4:52 pace.... and then I stopped. Got out on the 2 mile. Started out at what felt hard but seemed controlled pace. Although I felt like I was working really hard and didn't feel like I was going anywhere. Pace seemd slow. I never once looked at the gps. So coming into the mile I decided to stop- thinking I was just way too slow.... then my watch flashed 4:49 for the mile and as I stopped I then hurried to get going again. Now thinking shiz... I can kill my PR. But it only lasted like .3 because I just couldn't get going again. And something just said stop Clyde. So I did.

So kind of bummed I just didn't finish off that mile and most likely would have got a new PR... and I'm just mad at myself for not running smarter and watching the watch to see where my pace was. Kind of a failed effort. But I did get the lungs open. And was able to get some of the junk left over from last weeks sickness to come out. Got the legs to turn over too. Just not for very long.

Met up at the DC with the Circle of Trust and Riley. Nothing really special about today. One loop around the Mayors loop then a big river loop down into Bloomington. I personally felt pretty trashed, wasted, and like a fat kid. So the slower pace was just fine by me. Dave and Logan were both chomping at the bit to push the pace in the last 5 miles. So we did hit one 5:30 mile and some other faster stuff on each end of other miles. But for the most part it was chill and the legs were heavy. 6:56 avg for the run.

Decide Saturday to go on a little camping trip up in the Fishlake national forest in the Last Chance area. Just a solo outing to go mellow out and workout some internal issues. Drove up and arrived late Saturday night. Slept like crap. Up about every 35 min's. But Sunday ended up being AMAZING. Did a short scoutiing hike early morning. Then came back to the car and did a 6.1 mile run down on the main road and up some other dirt road. Just felt good to shake the legs. Kept the pace super chill. After that I had breakfast and tried to nap for an hour or so before doing a longer hike out looking for treasures. It was a good day. Drove home without having to stop for a potty break.

Felt almost FANTASTIC for a Monday. I wont read into it much farther than the letter "F" that fantastic begins with. But things felt right. Kept it EZ and just tried to work on form a little. HIps square with shoulders, knees, arms, feet. Kept the stride short and bouncy. MOJO is on the rise.

146 lbs. Glad to see the weight low... and on a Monday.

6 miles on the treadmill this afternoon. Feeling pretty relaxed and smooth. We'll see how a short tempo goes in the morning.

Big workout. Last tempo before PHX.

4.7 mile warm up

5 mile tempo

3.5 or so cool down

 Splits- 5:00, 5:21, 5:33, 5:36, 5:38

So today kind of sucked.... bad. I had bad stomach issues that started around mile 3. Maybe even a little before. Forced me to stop the tempo and go into Maverick for a potty stop at 3.8 miles into the run. So the last 3 miles of the BIG 5 mile tempo were all jacked up. Oh well. I tried to figure out why my stomach got so jacked up while we ran back on the cool down. My original conclusion was that I'd eaten 2 blood oranges and an apple right before bed. Not the best idea but they all tasted soo good that I couldn't stop. But then after re thinking it. Today before running I decided NOT to take my Imodium pill. I didn't forget to take it. I just thought "it's only 5 miles of tempo this morning". I don't need it. That proved to be false. I've been taking them before all big long runs and tempo workouts. And I feel it helps big time. So note to self. Just take them... always.

Anyways ended the 5 miles at a 5:27 avg which isn't bad considering I really only tempoed 2 of those miles. Got out a little too fast but I knew that would happen with this being a shorter workout.

Now I'm ready to really dive right into a good taper. Relax the mind and body and let what happens happen in P'town this weekend.

146 lbs again after the run. And 5 star morning. :)

Inner B-hills extended through the secret street. Just a regular old taper run. Nothing too awesome to report. Calves are carring some extra knots in them... awsome. I decided that I'll stay off the scale the rest of the week. My weight was down both Monday and Tuesday so from here on out all it'll do is stress me. Guess I'll be what I'll be. No all you can eat outings planned between now and then. If there was any magicall marathon fairy god princess thing out there. Let her tap me on the head three times with her wand. Let the stars line up. Let the mind and soul be at peace. And let the legs and body work like they have in training runs the last two months. ineedthismutha

4 ez on the treadmill. Woke up yesterday with a fever and body aches. Tried to play it off all day and was busy with lots to do... but by the end of the day I could hardly stand up. Super chilly, dizzy and achy. So that sucks. In bed all night with same. plus lots of external drama. FML.

I know I've done the work. Logged the miles. and am ready to run a great marathon. But I just have had this feeling through this whole training phase that somehow things would get all jacked up. It seems I just cannot out run the demons who want to slay me.

Anyways I got on the machine today for 4 miles or a little over a half hour. Just long enough to get super sweaty and dizzy. Weight was high too. Awesome.

Nice chill run with the Circle up a cannal trail in PHX. It was only a block or so from our hotel which was nice. Temps were warmer at around 52 F or so for the morning hours. But it felt great. Left the room shirtless. I finally started to feel like the fever was gone and feeling a little better than earlier this week.