M'kay

LM warmup (10 reps), 9.35 treadmill miles (incline 1) in 1:11:20, 7:37/mi, w/ 3 mile warmup, 6 x 0.5K @ 5:49/mi (last one 5:40/mi), w/ 2 min rest, 3 mile cooldown.  PU/Crunch ladder (7 steps), 4 leg abduction leg raises (4 sets), & stretching.

Not bad for treadmill miles, but still mentally difficult.  Fast repeats actually made things easier.  It was nice to get fast, targeted repeats at the goal pace.  

LM warmup (10 reps), 7 miles in 54:48, 7:49/mi, HR 142, & stretching.

Ran after work.  Sidewalks still snow covered & many roads icy and slushy, so finding a place to run was problematic.  Wound up running around some type of military supply depot....nice, quiet, lit, and nearly 1 mile loops, but getting there and back on the roads was dicey.  Managed to reopen the blister on my right foot with all the shifting footings.  Some minor left calf pain (0-2) throughout the day, and the left arch is still sore.  Playing things safe by keeping the mileage low this week, since I'm on travel, but tomorrow will attempt to pace a co-worker thru 6 miles at a 6:40/mi pace.  Hopefully the roads will cooperate.

LM warmup (10 reps), 7.03 miles in 51:10, 7:16/mi, HR 151.  Stretching.

Weather warmed up enough to melt most of the snow and ice on the roads.  Goal was to pace Jim through 6 miles at 6:40/mi pace.   Not everything went as planned.  First mile was in 6:51 and it had Jim working way too hard; obvious (to me) that he wasn't fully recovered due to travel.  Suggested we switch to a mile on/mile off format, so he could get some hard running in while recovering between repeats.  2nd fast mile was in 6:48, still a bit slow, probably because our slow mile was too fast and he didn't recover enough.  3rd fast mile in 6:37....got the rest correct that time.  Last mile was in 6:48 for me, a bit slower....mentally harder since we were on the main road and were running into traffic without a shoulder after dark....not ideal.  Good MP workout for me and most of the faster miles felt pretty easy.

LM warmup (10 reps), 11.84 miles in 1:26:59, 7:20/mi, HR 152, with 3 mile warmup, 3 x 10 minutes @ HM/10K pace (6:25/mi, 6:29/mi, 6:02/mi) w/ 4 min rest, 3 mile cooldown, & stretching.

Better than I figured things would go, considering it was an evening run after work and I was tired.  Last hard workout before returning home tomorrow.

Spent the day traveling back home from VA.   Managed to take the dogs on a 2 mile walk.

LM warmup (10 reps), 6 miles in 46:24, 7:44/mi, HR 156, 2 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Getting used to the nice sunny weather (52F).  Felt a bit harder than it should've.....normal considering my recent return from a work trip.  Hopefully, tomorrow will feel normal.  Burning sensation still in my left arch....more icing and stretching.

2 mile easy warmup w/ 0.5 miles @ tempo pace (~ 6:20/mi).  13.1 miles in 1:25:53, 6:33/mi, HR 171.

Weather was decent: overcast and 45F at the start.  Race began 30 minutes late when three times the expected crowd showed up for race day registration.  Good for me, since it gave me more time to do a decent warmup.  Highlight of the race was getting directed off course...race director briefing at the start said to "follow the person in front of you" and the "white arrows" marking the course.  Well, unfortunately, there were some white arrows that looked identical to the course markings that sent virtually everyone off course at one of two spots.  In fact, the lead bicyclist, who'd marked the course, nearly got confused enough to go off course.  Anyway, it wasn't a big detour (my post-race map recon shows a 0.35 mi add in my case....some people cut nearly a half-mile off).  In any event, the course felt fast anyway, and garmin showed a 13.0 course *with* the detour. 

The first miles felt fast....according to the course markers, I was through 1 mile in 6:02 (6:06 garmin) and 2 miles in 12:26 (12:41 garmin), so I'm seriously doubting those were accurate, but I probably went out too fast.  I felt good through 4 miles, okay through 9 and survived the last 4.1....legs felt tired more than I felt the aerobic strain.  Took a gel at 9 but was wishing they had more water stops (only 1 that I found, but I passed it twice). 

My goal going in was to try to hit 6:30 miles as long as possible and run between 1:24 - 1:26, so I made that goal.  I managed to beat my previous time from 2 years ago (1:26:15).  If I take my average speed over the section where I added the extra mileage, I lost 2 minutes and 12 seconds, so that would've been good for a 1:23:41, which would've been a PR, but again, I think the course was short so my time was probably a bit more accurate.  All in all, happy to run the race that I did.  Now to recover while watching the Super Bowl.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:02:51, 7:51/mi, HR 146, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/Crunches ladder (7 steps), Leg Abduction (4 sets), & stretching.

Shorts weather (50F & sunny).  Legs tired from the race but none the worse for wear.  Left calf still bugging and right knee suddenly again during run today.....I'm starting to really wonder if it's these Asics 2150s (at least the knee part).  Slow starting on the hill sprints, but that's probably because it's been a week since I've done them.  Kept trying to remind myself that slow easy days are good.....my fast days went really well last week, probably because I managed to keep easy easy.

10.02 miles in 1:14:11, 7:24/mi, w/ 3 mile treadmill warmup, 2 x Drills (partial), 5 x 1K @ 5K pace w/ 2 min rest (5:51/mi, 5:54/mi, 5:39/mi, 5:39/mi, 5:52/mi), 3 mile treadmill cooldown, & stretching.

Cool temps and painful left shin steered me towards the treadmill today.  Unfortunately, I hit the limit of my El Cheapo brand K-Mart special 10+ year old treadmill....it couldn't hit close to 5K pace, so after the warmup, I was forced onto the roads.  Compared to the repeats on the nice hotel treadmill last week, these felt like torture.  Yes, double the length, but they really put the hurt on me. Guess I'm just glad they're done.

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 miles in 1:17:14, 7:43/mi, HR 150, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, core workout, & stretching.

Left shin a 3 pre-run, a 4 at the start, and 0-2 during the rest of the run.  Legs felt completely dead today, aside from a 1 mile energy burst around 4.5 miles in which helped carry me up the steeper parts of the hills.  Glad to have this slog done.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:01:34, 7:41/mi, HR 148, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 1 mile walk w/ dogs, core workout & stretching.

Left shin felt pretty good today.  0 pre-warmup, 1 during the warmup, and 0-2 during the run.  Legs still a bit tired....feeling a bit weak up the hills but that'll change.  Good hill sprint sets...tired on the last 5 or so.  

LM warmup (10 reps), 9 miles in 1:02:49, 6:58/mi, HR 160, w/ 2 mile warmup, 5 tempo miles increasing from HM to 10K effort in 6:46 (up), 7:00 (up), 6:35 (up & down), 5:57 (down), & 5:58 (down), 2 mile cooldown & stretching.

It's been a long week and my body feels tired from the mileage, despite the easy day yesterday.  That made finding motivation to run tempo miles instead of tempo intervals difficult, and the spotty rain and wind didn't help matters any, but......I did it anyway.  Workout called for HM increasing to 10K pace, so I tried to keep the effort honest but closer to HM for the first mile or so then dole things out from there.  Given the nature of the terrain (not flat), regular pacing was out the window, but I need these runs on the rolling hills to regain some strength I've (perceived) lost.  Despite the headwind at mile 2 (uphill, of course), the 2 downpours (not including the one on the last cooldown mile), and just being tired, a good solid tempo run workout.   Not sure I quite got to 10K pace on the downhill miles, but the effort was solid. 

I may make tomorrow an off day if I'm still tired so I'm recovered for Sunday's long run....knowing full well that I'll likely run anyway, but maybe if I say it here, I'll actually consider it.

Decided to follow thru and take today as a rest day.

LM warmup (10 reps), 22 miles in 2:47:03, 7:35/mi, HR 160, w/ last 11 miles Moderate (7:22/mi), 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, & stretching.

Full range of weather today:  sun, clouds, calm, wind, rain, and sleet.  Okay, no snow.  Basically a 2 loop course, with the 2nd loop moderate.  Noticed a problem right away on the first loop....my HR was about 8-10 bpm higher than typical at the same effort, so evidently my day of rest yesterday was not so much.  Or something.  Anyway, went with it, got a decent easy pace 1st half done, then settled into the 2nd half.  Felt better at the faster pace for the first few miles, but since there were 11 of them, I just went by Moderate effort instead of trying to get close to MP today (so the miles weren't Easy but they weren't MP miles either).  GUs at 11 and again at 16.5.  Hit the deathmarch stage around 18; fortunately, the rest was downhill, but it hurt nonetheless.  Managed to hobble thru a 1.5 mile walk w/ the dogs afterwards, but it was sloooooow.  I'm going to be feeling this tomorrow.  Come on super-compensation!

LM warmup (10 reps), 6 miles in 47:45, 7:57/mi, HR 145, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 2 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/Crunch/Leg Abduction ladder (7 steps), & stretching.

Very stiff and store today, mostly in glutes and hips.  Nearly feels like I raced a marathon.  Today's mileage was pretty close to torture, but I knew getting things moving and loosened up would help in the end.  Managed to gut thru the first few hill sprints, which really did help loosen things up, but it's going to take another day or two to get my legs back.  Will need to relook my training week tomorrow once I can assess things again.

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 Moderate miles in 1:11:34, 7:09/mi, HR 160, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, core work (7/7/4), & stretching.

Hips still a bit stiff this morning, so I decided early to swap tomorrow's and today's workout.  Really, this just flipped these workouts back to the way they're given in the training plan I adapted, so maybe the author knew something I didn't.  In any event, I wasn't feeling like this was going to be a particular good one going in, but I was wrong.  After settling in over the first mile or so, I just focused on keeping it moderate and went from there.....turns out I felt pretty good throughout.  Pace still is quite a bit off my goal MP (but they weren't easy miles, so I'm dumping them into the MP miles bucket), but at least things felt better.  Plus, a nice day outside to boot.

LM warmup (10 reps), 13.91 miles in 1:41:40, 7:18/mi, HR 156, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 6 x 1 mile @ 10K + 5 sec pace (~ 6:15 flat) w/ 3 min rest in 6:00 (down), 6:30 (up), 6:33 (up), 6:01 (down), 6:31 (up), 3 mile cooldown, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, & stretching.

Wasn't sure how I'd feel after doing a moderate session yesterday, but one I got started on the warmup, I could tell the legs were raring to go.  Still dealing with some left shin pain but nothing intolerable.  First couple of repeats felt good, next couple started working, and the last 2 my legs were tired but otherwise things were fine.  I'm chalking this up as a really good workout.  Now to keep this up thru the 15K on Saturday.

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 miles in 1:15:54, 7:35/mi, HR 153, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/Crunch/Leg Abduction ladder (7/7/4), & stretching.

What a gorgeous day....55F and sunny.  Legs got pretty tired by 6 miles in but feeling good otherwise.

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 miles in 1:18:34, 7:51/mi, HR 148, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 1 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Crazy nice weather....sunny and 54F.  Really tried to hold back today....feeling decent but not spectacular.  Legs still a bit tired.  Hill sprints went really well after the first couple.  

Mixed feelings about tomorrow's race.  It will only be my 2nd 15K and I won (outright) the first one, so in some respects this one's going to be a bummer.  But I'm really hoping to run in the 58 minute range so I can at least PR.  My memory of the last 15K race is that I went out pretty hard and hung on....hoping I feel like doing that again tomorrow.  At least the conditions should be ideal.  Wonder what the course is like though....

2 mile warmup in 15:04, 7:32/mi, HR 154 w/ 0.5 mile tempo (~ 6:20/mi).  LM (10 reps).  15K in 58:33, 6:17/mi, HR 167.  2 mile cooldown in 16:13, 8:07/mi, HR 140.

Perfect racing weather...sunny and about 50F at race time.  The 15 mile was pretty stacked at the top since this was the PNTF 15M championship.  After a brief warmup (where the tempo portion again felt like crap....typical), lined up for a 9am start a few rows back this time, a nod to both the quality of the 15M field and to try to not go out too fast at the start.  Worked as planned.  

Aimed to run in the 58 minute range, hoping for 6:15/mi pace at best but would settle for 6:20/mi pace.  Since I haven't run the longer (than 5K) course before and couldn't find a course map, I wasn't sure what the terrain would bring, but I knew there were a slew of turns and some contour to the course, based on the 10K route I did manage to lookup.  Announced at the start that the 15K and 15M courses had both been certified recently, so definitely in for a fair race.

Not a whole lot of elevation change, but some rolling to start, climbing to the 3 mile point followed by a decent downhill then some flats to the turnaround, then reversed.  Splits were 6:15, 6:22, 6:29, 5:59, 6:18, 6:37, 6:10, 6:06, 6:14, 1:58 (5:25/mi).  First half I was pushing pretty hard off the back of a group, caught them in the 3rd mile, then pushed to stay ahead.  Got passed (chicked!) around 4 but lucky me....she was running the 15M!  Less competition after the turnaround, but I did pick off two more runners and was trying to close as much as possible on a third when the kick began.  The faster closing miles are mostly because of the downhills, but now I'm wondering if I should've pushed harder in the beginning miles?  Oh well, next year I guess.  Happy to take 1st in my AG and 6th overall, which should put me in good standing for the series competition.  One more race in a month (20K), a week before my marathon.  Also happy that I was able to PR on the tail end of a big mileage week for me.  Now off to find more food!

LM warmup (10 reps), 6 miles in 45:54, 7:39/mi, HR 145, PU/Crunch/Leg Abduction ladder (7/7/4), 2 mile walk w/ dogs, & stretching.

Feeling pretty good after yesterday's race, but taking things easy.  Enjoying the spring-like weather.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 59:00, 7:22/mi, HR 151, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/Crunches/Leg Abduction (7/7/4), & stretching.

More spring weather.  Feeling pretty good so I wound up pushing the pace a tad bit, probably moderate in spots.  Hill Sprints were very strong and quick, but took the power out of my legs by the end.  The downside is that my left shoulder was bugging me...just felt tired and achy during the run.  Don't know what in the world I could've done to it.

LM warmup (10 reps), 14.11 miles in 1:47:54, 7:38/mi, HR 152, & stretching.

Cloudy, cool, & some sprinkles.  Ran out and back up into the forest land....run I haven't done for a while.  Essentially uphill outbound and downhill return, getting gradually steeper the closer to the turnaround.  Legs really hurting on this run....felt like jello by the time I hit the turnaround, so the fairly steep downhill stretches just pounded them.  I made it back but the last 5 miles was a real bear just keeping my legs moving.  Oh, and garmin must've gotten a bit lost on the outbound stretching, because it was farther than the normal 7 mile turnaround point, hence the extra .11 on the return.  Need to do this again at least once more before the marathon.

On a separate note, can someone please explain to me how one injures their shoulder while running?  I seem to have done it somehow.  The top of my left shoulder has been bugging me the last couple of days, seeming to get worse each day.  If this keeps up, I may have to run in an arm sling by Friday.  Worst part is I have absolutely no clue where and how this happened.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:02:39, 7:50/mi, HR 143, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Dragging today.  Tired and completely unmotivated.  Decided to punt on the hill sprints since the legs feel particularly dead, the left shin/foot is bugging me today, and my feet generally feel tired.  Also decided to punt on the core workout since my left shoulder is still bugging me, although it is a tad bit better than yesterday.  Perhaps I've overdone things with the push-ups recently?  Another thought is that I did something walking the dogs (who tend to tug on the leash fairly continually), so I switched leash hands.  About all I can do save stop running.  Hoping I'll recover for tomorrow's hard workout.

LM warmup (10 reps), 13.02 miles in 1:35:23, 7:19/mi, HR 157, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 10 x 1K @ HM-to-10K pace in 3:46 (6:06/mi - down), 4:02 (6:30/mi - up), 3:59 (6:27/mi - up), 3:46 (6:05/mi - down), 3:38 (5:53/mi - down), 3:44 (6:02/mi - down), 3:55 (6:19/mi - up), 4:00 (6:28/mi - up), 4:00 (6:28/mi - up), 3:41 (5:58/mi - down), w/1 minute rest between repeats, 3 mile cooldown.  1.5 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Breezy but nice (50F).  Legs still a bit tired and were definitely the limiter on this workout.   Tried to start out closer to the HM end of things and finish closer to the 10K pace end, but difficult to tell since things weren't flat.  Just trying to keep the leg moving the last few.....the 1 minute rest interval didn't give me a whole lot of time to recover between reps.  But, I averaged a 6:13.6/mi pace for the repeats, between my 10K (6:04/mi) and HM (6:25/mi) paces, so I'll call it good.

Shoulder felt a bit better again today, so maybe laying off the push-ups for a few days was a good idea.

LM Warmup (10 reps), 6 miles in 47:40, 7:57/mi, HR 142, PU/Crunch/Leg Abduction ladder (7/7/4), & stretching.

Legs absolutely shot.....no energy at all.  During the lunge warmup, they were popping like microwave popcorn.  Almost bailed after a few steps, but trudged through it.  I am definitely at my absorption limit....question is, have I gone past it or am I right at it?  I've got a 24 miler tomorrow to figure that out.

LM warmup (10 reps), 24.1 miles in 3:15:29, 8:06/mi, HR 151, & stretching.

Ran up into the hills, equipped with 100L hydration pack & a set of GUs.  8 miles up, a couple flat, a couple downhill, then reversed.  Some sections somewhat un-runnable in both directions, so this was a leg thrasher workout.  All in all, felt wiped but not horrible by the end, probably because I stayed fairly well hydrated.  Three GUs helped too.  Not a run I want to do very often though...

Due to the popping noises coming from joints, tendons and ligaments in my legs, many from places I'd never heard noises from before, decided to take this as a rest day.  Instead, I climbed on the roof with a 4-gallon sprayed strapped to my back to spray moss-out on the pump house roof.  Then, I proceeded to pull out some trees that had started to grow up against the side of the pump-house, taking frequent breaks because it took all my strength.  Then, I got smart and just spread the moss-out pellets on the roof-line of the house, probably saving myself in the process from falling.  So, yeah, not really much rest today.