M'kay

Started with 3 miles Easy in 24:18 (8:06/mi, avg HR 148) as a warmup. Warmed up by running the 5k route as a recon, since I've never run a race in this neck of the woods before, and there were more than a couple turns. Fortunately, the course was well marked, and mostly flat, except for the initial climb from the start on a track. Out and back course.

Crowded field for the start (many more folks than I'd anticipated, plus a combined 5k/5mile start) but me a few seconds off the starting line. At 9am, we were off. It took about .25 miles to get up to speed due to the crowds, but eventually I got into a good rhythm. Pace was actually on the fast side initially, but felt pretty relaxed and easy (which I knew wouldn't last). My left foot and leg were still giving me some problems, so I vowed to ease off if they got any worse than troublesome, but they didn't. Started reeling several other runners in almost immediately.

Mile 2 still felt pretty easy. Breathing rhythm was still at 3-3 (although a fast 3-3), which was surprising, since my legs felt like they were pretty much at max speed without losing form rapidly. So I kept that pace knowing the O2 debt would come. At the Mile 2 marker, I was finally starting to feel it.....the breathing dropped down to 2-2 and I struggled to keep my breathing relatively deep in the belly and to stay on pace, but I tried to steer away from looking at my watch (garmin) often, running rather on effort I felt was sustainable. I was still reeling some folks in, but far fewer now. I did try to strategize a bit here......when I did pass someone, I added a little extra for a few seconds to make them "stay passed", and it seemed to work. I had one guy try to keep up when I went by him, but the extra speed I added briefly quickly dropped him, which felt good. No .1 marker, but the end of the race was the downhill followed by a half track lap. The downhill which I normally eat up was tough, and I could tell the pace had taken it's toll on my legs. I did manage a bit of extra speed for the final bit of the race, but nothing resembling a sprint....seemed like my legs had locked in at max speed and that was it. Crossed the line at 19:05 (unofficial....times to be posted in the next couple of days) feeling pretty spent, but strangely not quite as "wasted" as my only other 5k.

Interestingly, in this 5k, my leg speed appeared to be the limiting factor. Granted, I was chewing up O2 in the last mile, but in my last 5k, I was in a 2-2 breathing pattern by mile 1, where this race my 3-3 lasted until mile 2. Since I'm in a base phase now and have done no real speedwork recently, perhaps that's why my top-end was the limiting factor? I certainly didn't feel like I was in "puke gear" at the end, unlike my last 5k. In any event, a good way to kickoff '08, with a 16th place overall, 13th in the mens category, and 3rd in my age group. I later found out that the race was stacked in the 40-60 age groups, so my AG finish is a bit less impressive (3 of 12) and many ran the 5 mile race, but still I managed to drop my 5K PR by over 1 minute. All in all, a happy new years.

Of course, that's excluding my car saga. My 10 year old Saab decided that I wasn't authorized to drive it. Rather, my remote unlocker decided to stop working. Unfortunately, I'd armed the alarm, so while I could unlock the door with the key, the alarm would sound. On top of that, my wallet, money, and more importantly, cell phone were all in the car. So I waited until the least amount of folks were around, and set it off to retrieve my cell and call my wife for help (whom I'd thankfully *not* drug along with me to the race but instead let sleep in). Needless to say, it was embarrasing. Later, after some chow and the awards ceremony, I discovered my car remote decided to start working again, so I managed to get my rescuer to turn around 30 minutes into her trip to save me. Guess it's at least time for a new remote!

5K Race in 19:05 (6:09/mi, avg HR 177). Splits according to Garmin (3.17 mi total) 6:04, 5:59, 6:04, :56.

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 135 miles.

Off day.

2 miles Easy in 15:59 (7:59/mi, avg HR 159) warmup.
6.5 miles Steady State (2.5 up, 2.5 down, 1.25 up, 1.25 down) in 45:28 (6:59/mi, avg HR 178) with splits: 6:54, 7:34, 7:11, 6:28, 6:37, 7:17, 3:21

Decided to take yesterday completely off in order to rest after Tuesday's race and to celebrate my (step) daughter's 20th birthday, which we did by going to the Point Defiance Aquarium and Zoo. I guess it wasn't completely off, since we did quite a bit of walking, which I normally don't do having a desk (computer) job. As it turned out, I was completely wiped out and wound up taking a 1.5 hr nap once we got home (passed out is more like it), in time to get up, eat, watch a bit of football, and go back to bed. All in all, a good day.

Unfortunately, that didn't presage a good workout today. Supposed to be a 10 mile Steady State workout today, but things went south quickly. I went out a bit fast in my warmup, trying out my new pace ranges and overdoing it a bit. Today's temps hit 50 today, quite a bit warmer than normal. Once I started the Steady State portion, I could immediately tell the effort was substantially harder than it should've been. I'd decided on a 2-loop out and back course, in order to break up the uphill and downhill portions a bit more than my usual 5 uphill out, 5 downhill back. Some uphill headwinds during mile 2 made it especially hard to stay anywhere near my pace and I struggled mightily while my HR soared to near my max. I could also feel my leg muscles start the familiar burn and knew this wasn't going to be sustainable. I tried to focus and eliminate the bad thoughts, and decided to mentally focus on getting to the 2.5 mile mark, where I knew the turn-around and downhill section would be a mental boost. I managed to make it there, and quickly discovered the downhill stretch wasn't all that much easier, confirming my suspicion that today's run was not going well. To make this long story shorter, I did make the halfway point, and continued onto the second loop, only to be reduced to a short walk at around 5.5 miles, so I decided to turn around and pack it in shortly after that point to finish off a total of 6.5 SS miles, slightly slower than my new SS range (but still within the tolerance of my previous range).

I'm going to speculate that this is simply a case of too much too soon. With the race, walking around yesterday, winds, warmer temps, etc. I obviously wasn't recovered enough to properly execute this workout. Instead of giving into the "end of the world" feeling I've got right now, I'm going to chalk it up to learning, try to avoid as much of the inevitable muscle soreness I *know* I'm going to have following today, and to try to get back on track for Saturday's Progression Run.

6.5 miles Easy in 52:10 (8:01/mi, avg HR 157).

Bad math on my part extended this 50 minute run to 52 minutes. A bit worn down from yesterday's fiasco, but not as bad as I'd feared. I'm in a house full of sicko's, so I'm desperate to ward off whatever it is they're passing around. Will get some good sleep tonite for tomorrow's progression run.

Brooks Trance - 285.5 miles.

90 minute Thirds Progression run (11.46 mi, 7:51/mi avg pace, avg HR 145). First third 3.41 mi (8:48/mi avg pace), second third 3.77 (7:57/mi avg pace, avg HR 150), last third 4.28 mi (7:00/mi avg pace, avg HR 169).

Ran three out and back segments (uphill outbound, downhill return) with gradually increasing pace throughout each. Aimed for recovery pace first third, easy pace second third, and marathon/threshold pace final third. Felt like I nailed it. Started coming down with the same sore throat everyone else in the household has had last night, so I pushed the fluids last evening and this morning, so it didn't affect me during the run. Plus, got some extra sleep last night.

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 146.46 miles.

6 miles Easy in 47:52 (7:58/mi, avg HR 156).

Definitely caught the cold being passed around the house, but the extra sleep and hydration helped keep it's effects relatively minor. Nice and easy today, especially with the additional snow overnight making the roads a bit slick.  Got back to core exercises & stretching afterwards.

Brooks Trance - 291.5 miles.

7 miles Easy in 55:27 (7:55/mi, avg HR 155).

Overnight snow, so the roads were messy and slippery.  Still managed a decent easy run pace.  Trip to the chiro this morning went well....much improved over initial visit.  Still some nagging pain in left hip/hamstring area when running.  Lessens after time and not enough to affect gait.  Perhaps residual from chiro adjustments (corrections)?  Perhaps muscles straining to correct splay feet while running (I noticed I correct more when running, less when walking)?  Light core exercises and stretching after run.

Brooks Trance - 298.5 miles.

13 miles Medium-Long in 1:43:49 (7:59/mi, avg HR 158).

Despite dire predictions of additional snow, temps around 40 managed to melt most of the snow and slush on the road and I was back to running in the rain. Felt tired this morning; a bit zonked by my cold that's lingering. Felt uncoordinated and clompy during the run, but managed to keep effort medium and trudge through. Left bunion bugging me after 11 miles, so perhaps a revisit to the podiatrist is called for, although not sure what else he can do. Already starting to wonder about Thursday's Steady State.

Brooks Adrenaline (Blue) - 414.5 miles.

7 miles Easy in 59:13 (8:27/mi, avg HR 148).

Legs felt worn out and still a bit tired from the cold that's lingering, so I kept the pace very easy today.  Fortunately, the snow has almost completely melted off the roadway, and today I was spared from the rain and only encountered a bit of winds.  Core exercises and stretching followed the run.

Brooks Trance - 305.5 miles.

2 miles Recovery in 17:03 (8:31/mi, avg HR 144) warmup. 10 miles Steady State in 1:09:38 (6:57/mi, avg HR 175) with splits: 6:37 (down), 7:10 (up), 7:18 (up), 7:24 (up), 7:29 (up), 7:26 (up), 6:29 (down), 6:29 (down), 6:34 (down), 6:37 (down). 2 miles Recovery in 17:38 (8:49/mi, avg HR 146).

Kept pace very easy in warmup, just enough to get legs moving and muscles warmed up. Brief pit-stop following warmup miles. Began SS run on a downhill mile for a change. which helped get into the groove without going out too fast. Weather turned downright foul at mile 3 with a drenching cold rain complete with headwinds. Headwinds faded after about a mile, but the rain continued for another 5. Still, despite the conditions, felt pretty good and managed to stick with the pace. Legs started to turn around mile 7 and by the time I hit the last mile, they were jello. Managed to complete the run 1 second slower than slow end of my Steady State range, but given the conditions, the cold I'm still fighting, and the hilly course, I felt like it was probably a solid SS effort throughout. Plus, my first 10 mile SS run. Finished off with a recovery effort (which was about all I had left) 2 mile cooldown.

Analyzing my splits themselves doesn't say much, but since it's an out and back course, the uphill and downhill miles pair up. I averaged the pace for mile pairs to get the results below:

• miles 1/2         6:53.5/mi
• miles 3/10       6:57.5/mi
• miles 4/9         6:55/mi
• miles 5/8         6:59/mi
• miles 6/7         6:57.5/mi

So aside from being a tad aggressive the first two miles, which is the flattest part of the course by far, I'd say the effort was pretty darn even. The run was hard, but one I'm sure will pay off. Plus, I shouldn't have any trouble sleeping tonight!

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 160.5 miles.

6 miles Easy in 47:29 (7:55/mi, avg HR 153).

Predictions of good sleep last night did *not* pan out.....I often find that after hard workouts, it's difficult for me to sleep soundly.  It's been a fairly consistent phenomena, but I'm not sure what's behind it.  In any event, it certainly happened again last night, when I found it tough to get to sleep, and then to stay asleep.

I also managed to lose ground to the cold I'm fighting.  I'm sure the effort put forth yesterday did me in, but the good news is that the ground I've lost, while present, is minor and didn't really affect me too much today.  Feels like I should have gotten rid of this thing completely in a couple of days.

Which made it surprising that I felt good on today's run.  Perhaps another lesson I re-learned today helped....start slow (something I understand the Kenyan runners do consistently as well).  I seem to have much better runs when I start out at Recovery pace and gradually warm-up into my scheduled pace for the day.  Some days it only takes 1/2 a mile, others 2 or 3.  Today, it was about 1 and I was feeling good, effort light, but speed well inside the Easy zone, something that's been tough for me lately.  So even with a mile in the Recovery pace zone, my average pace was in the middle of my Easy range, and the effort was easy throughout.  I need to remember this for all my runs in the future, and I'm sure things will go much more smoothly.

Speaking of smoothly, my form felt much more fluid today.  Not exactly prime, but much better than it's been the last week or two.  My chiro visit early this morning revealed significant progress over the past week alone, which may contribute to getting me back on track.  Whatever the case, I'm hopeful it'll stay this way.

Finished up with some core exercises and stretching.

Brooks Trance - 311.5 miles.

20 miles Long in 2:41:10 (8:03/mi, avg HR 152).

A wonderful nice and easy long run.  Temps in the mid-40s, clouds, and intermittent light rain made for ideal conditions.  Originally intended on running 18 miles today, but felt so good thru 18 that I decided to tack on an extra 2 to make myself work for it.  Leg muscles started to tire at 16, form started to break down at 18, but overall effort light and easy for the results.  I'll take runs like this any day of the week.

1st half in 1:25:55 (8:35.5/mi avg, HR avg 146), 2nd half in 1:15:15 (7:31.5, HR avg 158), so a nice negative split as well.

Brooks Adrenaline (Blue) - 434.5 miles.

6 miles Easy in 49:22 (8:13/mi, avg HR 145).

A bit sluggish today.  Yesterday evening was Dianna's end-of-year WA State Hunter/Jumper Equestrian Awards banquet, so we wound up departing mid-day for the 2 hour drive there, attended the banquet for the evening, then drove back home.  Unfortunately, the sandwich and the 2 slices of pizza I had before I left, coupled with the appetizers and salmon dinner was not enough food to recover from yesterday's long run.  I've no one to blame but myself, since I knew this would be an issue. 

Dianna won 4 championships and 2 3rd place finishes in the 6 state divisions where she was competitive, so I'd say she did pretty darned well (again).  I think she secretly enjoys the recognition as I know she's the hardest working rider at her barn, despite protesting that she really doesn't care so much about the awards.  Definitely her evening and I think she enjoyed it.

I also wound up having a few beers throughout the evening, which I rarely do anymore, so after getting to bed until after my normal bedtime and waking up to a (rare) sunny day, I was *not* feeling it today.  But the warm, dry, sunny day made me think better about skipping it, and I managed a slowish easy run and felt better afterwards (probably the sandwich I ate afterwards too)!

Brooks Trance - 317.5 miles.

7 miles Easy in 56:22 (8:03/mi, avg HR 152).

Effort felt a bit higher than it should have and had an overall uncoordinated feel to the run, but good nonetheless.  Faced some headwinds uphill that probably contributed to the effort.  Still getting occasional twinges from hamstring/glutes....feels like a stabilizing muscle towards the outer/back part of the left leg.  Some substantial core exercises and stretching afterwards. 

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 167.5 miles.

2 miles Easy in 16:20 (8:10/mi, avg HR 141) warmup. 2 miles Strides in 15:33 (10 x :15 sec Stride, 1:00 rest, cooldown to 2 miles, 7:46/mi, avg HR 157). 2 miles Easy in 15:34 (7:47/mi, avg HR 152).

Icy roads without the courtesy of a snowy shoulder made today's workout especially difficult. Limited top-end on the Strides due to sciatic pain in left piriformis area at higher (mile race pace) speeds, but tough to even get there with the ice. Good cooldown run at a faster pace than normal with lower effort....legs just wanted to go.

Adding a few piriformis stretches to the routine. Finally isolated the pain area yesterday in a stretch, so it seems like I've got the classic signs of a tight piriformis muscle on the left side. Stretches seem to have aggravated it today, which means I'm in the right area at least. I'll go a bit gentler on the stretches, add some icing and massage in and hopefully resolve this issue shortly. Thankfully, this week is a recovery week with lower mileage, although it doesn't seem to bug me at 10k + speeds.

Brooks Adrenaline (Blue) - 440.5 miles.

7 miles Easy in 55:45 (7:58/mi, avg HR 153).

Nice and easy today.  Near freezing temps made the run slick at best and traction was an issue in several spots.  Road in sun == good.  Road in shade == bad.  

My piriformis stretching has evidently aggravated it, but not bad enough to terminate the run.  Despite some moderate discomfort early on, after a few miles things loosened up enough to fade to just minor.  I'll keep a close eye on things, but hope that a lower-mileage week and stretching will help resolve this issue. 

Brooks Trance - 324.5 miles.

2 miles Easy in 16:46 (8:23/mi, avg HR 146) warmup.  10 miles Steady State in 1:09:52 (6:59/mi, avg HR 174) with splits: 7:23(up), 7:17(up), 6:58(up/down), 7:19(up), 7:27(up), 6:54(flat), 6:37(down), 6:31(down), 6:38(down), 6:43(down).  2 miles Easy in 16:48 (8:24/mi, avg HR 147) cooldown.

A pleasant day (finally) for my SS run.  Sunshine, 35 deg temps, and what little headwind there was occurred on the downhill for once.  I tried to keep the pace a bit lighter than last week, but I must be a slave to the watch since my overall pace was only 2 seconds slower.  Effort felt a bit easier, but I still wound up starting to lose form around the 8 mile mark, and by 9 was working pretty hard.  A not-so-brief pit stop after the SS before the cooldown meant I was a bit cold and stiff already during the cooldown run, but I managed to warm back up and get the muscles loose for stretching.

Virtually no leg/glutes pain, so it appears moderating the new stretch and doing it several times a day appears to be working.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 181.5 miles.

6 miles Easy in 46:33 (7:45/mi, avg HR 154).

Started off feeling tired and sore from yesterday. Once I got warmed up, I noticed I seemed to be going a bit faster than normal, so I decided to avoid watch monitoring and just run easy. Stride rate was a bit slower today too, so perhaps that allowed me to stretch out a bit more than normal. In any event, a good 15 seconds faster than my normal Easy pace while at an easy effort marked a good day. So did the sunshine, scant road ice, and calm winds. Marred only by the fact that my nemesis dog was on the loose today, so I wound up calling Animal Control once again, who advised me to take pictures.....I guess I can take pics over my shoulder as I'm getting out of dodge!

Core exercises and stretching afterwards.

Brooks Trance - 330.5 miles.

18 miles Long Run in 2:22:43 (7:55/mi, avg HR 151).

A hilly long run today.  Ran portions on some logging roads in the area, with plenty of ups and downs, such that by mile 13 my legs were feeling more worn out that they were at mile 18 last week.  Decided to avoid clock watching again, and went by feel, which meant that my early pace was somewhat more aggressive than normal, making it a bit harder to hold when my legs started straining.  Still, it was pleasant, with some mild rain ensuring the roads were wet, not icy; an elk herd encounter where I had them running alongside for a good 500 m or so before they decided to cross the trail ahead of me (a brief pause on my part to let them and not get trampled); and exploring some countryside I hadn't seen recently, including the back half of our property on the other side of the little river that runs through our property.  All in all, a good running day.

Brooks Adrenaline (Blue) - 458.5 miles.

6 miles Easy in 49.08 (8:11/mi, avg HR 150).

Lousy sleep last night; felt stiff and sore today.  Slow pace for first 1.5 miles until I got loosened up and settled into normal pace for the effort.  Some new snow overnight means slush on the road, which should freeze nicely come tomorrow when the temps drop below freezing.  Sigh... 

Brooks Trance - 336.5 miles.

7 miles Easy in 55:36 (7:56/mi, avg HR 155). Run interruped by .01 ice skating a couple of times, otherwise nice run.

13 miles Easy in 1:43:16 (7:56/mi, avg HR 154).

Ran early today since our internet was out since yesterday, then the power went out this morning, so unable to work.  Felt tired, legs especially.  Later miles legs felt very tired, but managed.  Startled from a loud screeching sound at miles 11.5, which I came to discover was a decrepit van towing a more decrepit trailer which had somehow spilled some of its load and come off it's rear axle.  Ouch.  Helped the driver put the camper shell he'd been dragging back on, but he refused other help, so I finished the run, in time to get back to more lack of power.  Finally back online this afternoon!

Brooks Adrenaline (Blue) - 471.5 miles.

7 miles Easy in 55.28 (7:56/mi, avg HR 149).

Felt pretty easy today; not much leg fatigue. Overall, easy runs seem to be getting easier for the pace.  Followed with core exercises.

Decided to try the Virtual Training Partner functionality of my Garmin Forerunner 305. Immediately decided it was a bad idea to do on an Easy Run day, when I should be running by feel rather than trying to match a previous performance, but thankfully I felt good today and was shortly ahead of my virtual partner, allowing me to ignore those competitive urges. Neat function, but I can't think of many time I should be using it instead of just running by feel.....perhaps some harder workouts? Something to think about, I guess.

2 miles Easy in 16:38 (8:19/mi, avg HR 142) warmup. 10 miles Steady State in 1:09:14 (6:55/mi, avg HR 171) with splits: 7:02(up), 7:13(up), 6:56(up/down), 6:33(down), 6:42(down), 7:13(up), 7:19(up), 6:58(up/down), 6:39(down), 6:35(down). 2 miles Easy in 16:26 (8:13/mi, avg HR 150) cooldown.

Decided on an out-and-back course, 2.5 miles uphill, 2.5 miles downhill, times 2, for the Steady State portion. This was partially to avoid the more icy sections of the road, but it's also about time for me to get over my trepidation of loop-style courses. There is something about loops that is difficult for me mentally, so better start dealing with this in practice.

Today's effort seemed much more reasonable for the pace and distance. Kept a good 3-3 breathing rhythm for all of the 1st half, and only found myself in a 2-2 for steeper uphill sections of the 2nd half. My first half split was 34:29 and my second half was 34:45, so I slowed a bit but not horribly. Plus, my legs were *not* complete jello by the end of the run, a bonus. Unfortunately, my streak of needing a restroom (desperately) at the end of the SS portion continues, and the last mile of the SS was a bit uncomfortable due to some gastro-distress. All in all, a good run for a workout I tend to find harder than most.

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 202.5 miles.

6 miles Easy in 47.14 (7:52/mi, avg HR 154).

Run was very needed after a confounding problem at work, so pace was probably a bit more aggressive than normal, but effort felt the same.  Nothing else special.

Brooks Trance - 349.5 miles.

90 minute Thirds Progression run (11.62 mi, 7:44/mi avg pace, avg HR 155). First third 3.53 mi (8:30/mi avg pace), second third 3.83 (7:49/mi avg pace, avg HR 153), last third 4.26 mi (7:02/mi avg pace, avg HR 169), followed by 2 Miles Easy cooldown in 15:41 (7:51/mi avg pace, avg HR 156).

Ran three out and back segments (uphill outbound, downhill return) with gradually increasing pace throughout each.  I thought the return of rain would bring wetter but better traction but instead I encountered slippery conditions throughout.  I'm sure pace would been better on the second and last third without having to deal with treacherous footing, but it was what it was.  Overall, felt like a great run, and finished feeling like form was fantastic and I could kept going.  Decided to cool down with an easy 2 miles after the progression run was done.  Both progression runs so far have been workouts where I've felt great and have been real confidence boosters, although I do feel a bit guilty about the mileage not being high enough on long run day. 

Brooks Adrenaline (Blue) - 485 miles.

6 miles Easy in 47.54 (7:59/mi, avg HR 152).

Started out very sluggish today...slower than normal on uphill half. Ice covered by a dusting of snow, so at least traction was better than yesterday.  Once downhills hit, regained normal energy in legs and actually went a bit harder to push average pace back in to normal range. Core exercises and stretching afterwards. Focused on stretching as left leg again troublesome overnight, probably due to sitting in car for a few hours yesterday.

7.5 miles Easy in 58:27 (7:47/mi, avg HR 156).

Warmed up quite a bit faster today. After reading some more of "Brain Training For Runners", decided to focus on activation of core muscles by pulling belly button towards spine while running. Tough to do, but seemed to cause a pace and a tad bit of effort increase (mostly to do with keeping those muscles "activated") which resulted in a pretty fast easy run, despite the fresh snow conditions which made things very slick.

Running in the snow may actually be helping me, since it certainly helps prevent overstride...the only way I've managed to stay upright so far is to keep my CG under me and to pay close attention to balance. Also curious that my easy run pace has increased without a large effort increase over the past couple of weeks, coinciding with all this snow and ice.

Followed up with core exercises and stretching.

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 210 miles.

3.75 miles Easy in 31:29 (8:24/mi, avg HR 155) uphill warmup.  10x20 second Strides w/ 1:00 rest (2 miles, 16:42, 8:21/mi, avg HR 159).  3.75 miles Easy in 27:51 (7:25/mi, avg HR 155) downhill cooldown.

Well, today was eventful.  Snow covered most of my route, significant enough to make footing an issue when attempting speed greater than slow easy paced running.  Interrupted by a work phone call 3 miles into my warmup.  Strides were run at the appropriate effort, and my legs/feet were moving quickly, but as a whole, my body didn't move much due to a high slippage factor.  Not sure if I met the intent of the Strides workout, but it was definitely a moderately intense workout today.  By the time I made it back home, my legs were Tired 

Brooks Adrenaline (Blue) - 494.5 miles.

7.5 miles Easy in 59:16, 7:54/mi, HR 156.

Tired and heavy legs today. Sudden spike in work related software trouble reports is definitely impacting my recovery cycle. Need to get to sleep early tonite to recharge for tomorrow. Hoping the snow melt continues so I'm not forced into a treadmill Steady State tomorrow, as half the road is still covered. Core exercises and stretching after the run.

Brooks Trance - 363 miles.

6.25 miles easy in 49:52, 7:59/mi, avg HR 149.

Today was supposed to be 14 miles, 10 Steady State. Body was not willing to cooperate. Some serious work issues this week raised my stress level pretty significantly the last couple of days. Combined with the slog thru some serious (for these parts) snow on the ground the last couple of days and my body was just plain worn out. Thankfully, I realized it after one SS mile that took way too much effort and was slow to boot. Decided to bail on the scheduled workout and run tomorrows today.

If I feel better tomorrow, I'll run the SS workout tomorrow and push my long run to Sunday, which will give me an easy day between harder efforts. If not, I'll likely just freelance tomorrow and get back on schedule Saturday. If I'm still pretty tired, I may try to convince myself just to take tomorrow off completely. Hopefully the work stress is coming to an end as I seem to have fixed the things that have been causing problems.

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 216.25 miles.