M'kay

2 mile warmup with 0.5 hard.  3.24 miles in 19:16-ish, 5:55/mi, HR 169.  2+ mile cooldown & stretching.

Not an auspicious start to the new year.  ~45 seconds slower than last year.  Conditions were colder this year (~ 18F at the start) but I wasn't fighting a stomach bug.  Didn't taper or take the day prior off though and the course seemed a tad longer this year.  Garmin recorded 3.24 versus 3.15, so perhaps?  Anyway, the first mile felt pretty comfortable (too comfortable), the middle mile was eh, the final hard but manageable and the final .24 on the watch was near a 5/min pace, so a good kick.  

The results?  Good question.  No times posted...evidently the cold weather caused a sticking malfunction on their tracking board.  The announcers called me as 3rd in my AG from their list, but mid-way through their announcements, another list was posted that had me 2nd AG (8th OA).  When I asked about it, I was told theirs was the official list.  When I pointed out that the other list was posted after they'd begun handing out awards, I was told their list of official, for now.  For now?  Really?  Whatever.  

So there it is.  Turning 40 really does slow you down. 

LM warmup, 5.03 miles in 38:07, 7:35/mi, HR 157, 6 x Strides, 2 x Drills, core workout & stretching.

Aborted an attempt at 6x4 min on/2 min off Fartleks mid-way through the first 4 minutes.  Warmup felt okay, drills meh, and strides fine.  But by minute #2 of repeat #1 my legs were completely dead, lungs out of air, I was spent.  Stopped to collect myself for a few seconds, mentally tried to get back into the game, started back into the repeat and realized it was futile.  Punted on the hard workout, opting instead to finish 8 easy miles but started struggling with those another mile in.  Finally just settled for 5 with a couple of walk breaks.  Guess taking one day off after the race wasn't enough of a recovery, or I'm getting sick, or something is going on.  Hope it doesn't last.

LM warmup, 8.1 miles in 1:01:56, 7:39/mi, HR 156 w/ 12 x 12 sec Hill Sprints & stretching.

A bit warmer out today....rains to arrive soon and wash the snow away.  Legs still feeling tired and running was an effort....felt uncoordinated and clumsy, especially in the left leg.  Got a bit better towards the end of the run and the hill sprints felt okay.

LM warmup, 12.11 miles in 1:26:33, 7:09/mi, HR 163, w/ 2 mile warmup, 8 miles Steady State (4 uphill, 2 rolling, 2 downhill in 56:58), 2 mile cooldown & stretching.

Warmer (40s) & rainy.   41 seconds faster Steady State portion than last week, but slower on the climbs and faster on the downhills, for whatever that's worth.  Still tiring.  Wound up pushing the last 2 miles pretty good too.

LM warmup, 12.07 miles in 1:32:10, 7:38/mi, HR 153, core workout & stretching.

Warmer (48F) & dry.  A comfortably easy jaunt up and down the hill.  Coming on the heels of yesterday's harder 12 miler was a bit tiring, but not too bad.

LM warmup, 7.17 miles in 55:33, 7:45/mi, HR 151 & stretching.

44F with a light rain.  Tired legs today. 

LM warmup, 20.23 miles in 2:45:01, 8:10/mi, HR 149, 2200' elevation change, w/ last 2.23 miles MP, core workout & stretching.

Mid-30s and clear.  Decent run up into Elbe hills.  Intended to go 10 miles over the top via the Ashford route, but after 1 mile of slow skating on the ice near the top, turned around and took a side route to extend the mileage past 20.  Plenty of good steep climbs that I took easy for the most part, so my legs felt surprisingly good by 18 and I decided to push the effort up to marathon pace for the last stretch.

LM warmup, 10.11 miles in 1:16:26, 7:22/mi, HR 153, w/ 2 mile warmup, 6 x Strides, 2 x Drills, 7 x 4 min on/2 min off Fartleks, 2+ mile cooldown, core workout & stretching.

30s & cloudy.  Roads a bit of a mess in spots after snow yesterday, but better than expected.  Only really affected the overall pace in a few spots.  Plan was for 6 repeats but I felt so good (well, okay, not really good, but not nearly as crappy as one normally feels after 5 repeats) that I decided to add a 7th and to push the mileage past 10.   Uphill ones were in the mid-to-upper 6 min range, up and down one at 6:05 and the downhill (last) at 5:35/mi, so I cannot complain.  In fact, the paces were pretty close or better than those I ran two weeks ago on 3 minute repeats.  The last couple of cooldown miles were a bit of a slog though and the legs were definitely tired.

LM warmup, 12.04 miles in 1:34:24, 7:51/mi, HR 149 & stretching.

Cool (34F) & cloudy. Legs clumsy and dead.  After 4 or 5 miles they got marginally better but not much.  Then things got worse around mile 9.  Slog to the end.  

LM warmup, 8.05 miles in 1:02:37, 7:47/mi, HR 147 w/ 12 x 12 sec Hill Sprints & stretching.

Drizzle & warm (48F).  Still feeling tired today and legs didn't want to stretch out until after 4 miles or so.  Hill sprints were all pretty strong, but faded on the last couple. 

LM warmup, 12.03 miles in 1:27:17, 7:15/mi, HR 162, w/ 2 mile warmup, 8 miles Steady State (5 uphill, 3 downhill), 2 mile cooldown, core workout & stretching.

Warm (53F) with some intermittent drizzle.  Nearly aborted this workout after the warmup.  Started the Strides/Drills and the legs were just beat.  Mentally, wasn't there.  Made it all the way back inside before I managed to berate myself enough to go for at least a couple of SS miles.  Took it 2 miles at a time and took a brief (15-20 sec) break between every 2 miles.  Boy, did I need it.  HR was up over last week and body just didn't want to cooperate.  The uphill was the worst, but the final 2 SS miles were still really hard to complete....legs felt like lead.  Pit stop before the cooldown miles.  Now I'm really wiped. 

LM warmup, 8.18 miles in 1:04:13, 7:51/mi, HR 152, & stretching.

Warm again (52F).  Took over 5 miles before my left hip loosened up and the muscles in my left leg quit firing when they should've been relaxed.  Makes for an uncoordinated run.  Need to get the roller out tonight and work some kinks out....hopefully that'll help.

LM warmup, 8.25 miles in 1:05:06, 7:54/mi, HR 151 & stretching.

Tough to get going after 2 days off. 

LM warmup, 10.10 miles in 1:19:06, 7:50/mi, HR 160, w/ 2 mile warmup, 6 x Strides, 2 x Drills, 4 x 1 mile repeats w/ 3 min rest, 3 x 1 min on/off repeats, 2+ mile cooldown, core workout & stretching.

Rainy and cool (38F).   Warmup was slow, strides & drills felt good, but motivation was nearly non-existent.  Mile repeats in 6:38, 6:51, 7:13, and 6:20, with the first three uphill and the last a mix of up and downhill.  3 x 1 min on/off felt good.....short enough that breathing didn't become an issue and fast because they were either on the flats or downhill (5:25/mi, 4:59/mi, and 4:57/mi paces).  Cooldown was necessarily slow.

LM warmup 8.08 miles in 1:04:09, 7:56/mi, w/ 12 x 12 sec Hill Sprints & stretching.

HR monitor on the fritz today.  Oh well.  Quick turnover but short stride was the result of yesterday's hard workout today.  Wasn't sure the 1st mile was going to be under a 9 min pace for a while.  Hill sprints were decent but uninspired. 

LM warmup, 12.17 miles in 1:27:51, 7:13/mi, HR 161, w/ 2 mile warmup, 8 Steady State miles (5 uphill, 3 downhill), & 2+ mile cooldown, core workout & stretching.

Late run again today.  Feeling tired and worn down.  Wanted to quit after the warmup, punted on the Strides/Drills and went straight into the Steady State.  Aside from tired legs/body, not bad.  A slower first mile but the rest were as fast if not faster and did not require the stops every 2 miles.  Legs were getting fried by miles 7 & 8 of the SS portion; otherwise I probably could've pushed through and done 10 SS miles.  But better to leave a bit in the tank. 

LM warmup, 8.13 miles in 1:04:05, 7:53/mi, HR 148 & stretching.

Easy late-day run.  Weather warmer and pretty pleasant.  Not bad aside from the stomach woes from forgetting to take a lactaid dose this morning with my cereal.  Ugh. 

LM warmup, 20.03 miles in 2:38:44, 7:55/mi, HR 150 & stretching.

Just plain worn out today but determined to get the long run done.  Spent the morning at puppy kindergarden, so the run was afterwards.  Got 1 mile done then the landscaper showed up unexpectedly to discuss another project that just cropped up.  2.5 hours later, onto the last 19 miles of the run.  A bit flatter than the last long run, but still plenty of climbing.  Fought the general fatigue more than anything.  Glad to be done.

LM warmup, 10.1 miles in 1:17:13, 7:39/mi, HR 154, w/ 2 mile warmup, 2 x Drills, 6 x Strides, 7 x 4 min on/2 min off Fartleks (5 uphill, 1 up/down, 1 downhill), 2+ mile cooldown & stretching.

Spent 7 hours yesterday pruning trees, hauling limbs away, raking and doing other yardwork.  We'll call that crosstraining the core and upper body.  Back a bit tweaked but okay.  Warmup slow but decent, drills pretty good, fast strides.  Repeats hurt plenty, more the heavy breathing than the legs getting tired (aside from the last downhill repeat....legs got pretty smoked on that one).  A smidgen faster than the same workout 2 weeks ago. 

LM warmup, 13.03 miles in 1:36:29, 7:24/mi, HR 151, w/ last 6.5 miles moderate (~ MP effort), core workout & stretching.

A good nights sleep.  Decent (shorts & long sleeve tech tee) weather.  Feeling pretty good aside from a small tummy-ache.  Good miles today.  Left hamstring/glute a bit tight for the first couple but things shook out well.  Uphill miles about average but the HR on those was low (mostly in the 140s) so when it came time to push the downhill return I kept the pace in the 6s.  Mostly the low 6s, aside from mile 9 where my concentration obviously drifted (plus, it was flatter than most).  A good medium workout.

LM warmup, 8.5 miles in 1:06:42, 7:51/mi, HR 145 w/ 12 x 12 sec Hill Sprints & stretching.

A summer's day in January....sunny and 60s.  Nice easy run.  A bit tired so slow going but not too bad.  Hill Sprints not spectacular.  Two stops mid-run, one to chat with a neighbor out cutting up firewood and another so a neighbor could show me a bigger hill to run up.  Added some mileage to the run, but the breaks made up for it.  A bit more concerning is the pain on the underside/outside of my right foot when pressure is applied.  Need to break the ice out tonight. 

Just when things start looking good.......

Hurts to put weight on my foot today.  Managed to talk myself down from what probably would've been an ill-advised and short-lived run.  So here I sit pretty cranky, upset that I'm missing a run on our second unheard of 60 degree sunny day here in WA, hoping that whatever this is heals quickly.

LM warmup, 7.29 miles in 57:27, 7:53/mi, HR 156 & stretching.

After resting foot for 3 days and getting most of the pain to recede, tried to jump back into the schedule with an easy 8 miles today.  Fine until about 6 miles in and then foot started hurting again.  Quit at the house and punted on the remaining .7 to get an even 8.  Not feeling too bad afterwards, so perhaps some ice will help matters.