Cool Runnings!

Lunch - 5 easy miles on the treadmill.  My calves were a little sore yesterday after the long run on Saturday combined with some of the miles being fairly fast, so the plan today was just to run easy and give my legs a break while still getting in the miles.  Felt good, legs feel better and looser.  As long as it isn't raining when I get home, I will plan on taking Sam out for a run.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill again.  It would have been a nice day to run outside, but it was a bit chilly, and I didn't bring the right clothes for the weather.  Warmed up 1/4 mile at 8:00 pace, then settled into a nice comfortable 4.5 miles at 7:30 pace.  Worked real hard on making sure I had good form while running.  Cooled down 1/4 mile at 8:00 pace to finish the run.  Did not check my HR today.  It rained yesterday afternoon, so I wasn't able to run with Sam, but I am hoping today will work.

PM - 1.5 miles with Sam, average pace of 10:43/mile.  It was a little chilly out for him, so I ws hesitant to push the pace.  When he exerts himself in cold weather, he ends up having a coughing spell for several minutes.

Lunch - 6.25 miles on the treadmill.  I originally wasn't planning on doing anything other than easy miles this entire week, but that ended up not going according to plan . . . Warmed up 0.5 miles at 8:00 pace, then 4 miles at 7:30 pace.  I was originally trying to do 6 miles in 46 minutes, but realized fairly early on that I was going to do a little bit more, and at 4.5 miles, decided to increase the speed to MP to shoot for 6.2 miles.  Then at 5.5 miles, I upped the pace again to 6:40 to finish out the run with 6.25 miles.  Cooled down, then did some planks to finish the workout.  I haven't been lifting weights because my left shoulder has been bothering me a bit and I don't want to make it any worse.

Lunch - hard workout - 4 miles on the treadmill.  Our fitness center got two brand new treadmills, and I was anxious to see what they were capable of.  This was a progressive run that started off at 7.5 mph (8:00 pace), with the speed increasing 0.5 mph every 1/2 mile until I couldn't keep the pace for 1/2 mile any more.  1/2 mile at 8:00 pace, 1/2 mile at 7:30 pace, 1/2 mile at 7:00 pace 1/2 mile at 6:40 pace, 1/2 mile at 6:20 pace (was still doing very good here with my breathing and my stride), 1/2 mile at 6:00 pace (started to labor a bit here), 1/2 mile at 5:40 pace, then 1/4 mile at 5:20 pace - this was where I finally couldn't hold the pace for the full 1/2 mile.  I know I could have, but I didn't want to be completely wasted after the workout.  For the last 1/4 mile I cooled down walking, then walked for another few minutes.  I counted the first 1/4 mile of walking as part of my run.  My impressions of this workout:

1.  I was a bit surprised at how long into the workiout I was able to maintain good breathing - all the way to 6:00 pace.

2.  I was excited about how long I was able to go at sub-6:00 pace.  I feel confident that if I tried, I could run a sub-5:30 mile right now, and I also feel pretty confident that this year I might finally be able to break 18:00 in the 5K.

My workout today leads me to believe that the new treadmills go all the way up to 12 mph (5:00 pace).  At some point, as my training continues to progress, I may try to get in some V02 workouts at that pace to see how I do.  But that won't be for some time yet.

Lunch - 6 recovery miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace.  Legs were a little bit out of what from yesterday's workout, and I felt like I could never quite hit my natural stride.  However, I am glad I ran.  I noticed today that not only was I breathing extremely easy throughout the entire run, but I cooled down very quickly after I was done.  A month ago, that was not the case.

AM - 6 miles outside. I was originally planning on a long run of 12 miles, but my legs were totally dead, my shins were a little sore, and I decided it wasn't worth it to try and get in more miles when I wasn't feeling good, so I cut it real short. Average pace of 7:52/mile.