M'kay

LM warmup (10 reps), 24 (8 road, 16 trail) hilly miles in 3:25:09, 8:32/mi, HR 149, & stretching.

Realized that a long run isn't in the cards for next weekend, so pushed this one from 18 to 24, with lots of elevation change.  2800' of climbing in total made this run brutal.  Much of the downhill was not very runnable....braking because of the pitch just trashed my legs so by the time I hit the final 4 road miles down a reasonable grade, I was toast.  I can honestly say that this run was harder and made me feel worse than the 50 miler did.  Which tells me the 50 mile trail race I want to run in late July that features 8700' of climbing is going to be very very very hard.  

Okay, time to stop feeling sorry for myself.  Just signed up for the White River 50.  Time to start logging the needed vertical mileage. 

16 miles in 2:20:56, 8:48/mi, HR 143 (4 miles road & 12 miles trail) & stretching.

My very first back-to-back long run days.  Okay, so today might not appear too terribly long to some and the total for both was only 40 miles, but considering that my legs didn't want to run 16 feet today much less 16 hilly miles, I'm chalking this up as a success.  Another 3600' of elevation change added to 5600' yesterday equals hamstrings and quads that stopped complaining....and working....hours ago.  Trying to wrap my head around the fact that an 8:48/mi average is probably okay for today's run.  Now what does the 3+ hours I spent mowing (more like haying) the lawn and the 2+ hours I spent pulling the yearly tractor maintenance qualify as?  All done before the run, because I knew it wouldn't get done afterwards.  I think tomorrow will be an easy day.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:03:43, 7:58/mi, HR 139, PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Legs feeling a bit beat up after the past 2 days, but after the first mile or so, warmed up nicely.  Even warmed up, they weren't going anywhere fast....wasn't sure I'd dip below the 8 min/mi mark until late in the run.  HR low, breathing fine, stride okay, but pace was on the slow side.  The weather mix was really strange:  sunny, cloudy, sunny & hot, gusty winds, cloudy, rainy, sunny, winds from the other direction, cloudy, winds from all directions, rainy, and finally hail.   Flirted with the idea of running hill sprints today to get back on schedule, but my left knee would hurt on the uphill stretches, so thought better of it.   

LM warmup (10 reps), 12 miles in ~1:32:00, 7:40/mi, HR 152, w/ 3.55 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 20 x 1 min on, 1 min off Fartleks, 3.25 mile cooldown.  1.5 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

I set out on this run 3 different times and was confronted with hail all 3 times within the first minute or so.  Finally just went and thankfully it didn't last too terribly long (and was pretty small).  Hit the repeat portion feeling pretty good....that didn't last long.  These repeats were hard, I'm guessing because the first 17 were mostly uphill.  Even though the grade wasn't too bad, it seems to make a big difference in perceived effort and therefore pace. Last week's 1 min on fartleks in very flat VA felt fast but pretty easy....kept breathing rhythm below the redline and the legs felt okay throughout.  Today, legs felt trashed after the first few were done, breathing hit the redline by the 30 sec mark generally, and I flirted with the serious pain zone for most of them.  I'm sure the neighbors are all wondering what the heck I was doing out there....my face was likely a reflection of the agony I was feeling, complete with spit and snot on display for emphasis.  The cooldown miles were a forced march, fortunately downhill to make them bearable.  I guess the good news is that I covered 3.5 miles of distance during the "on" segments this workout, a tad more than the 3.42 I covered on this same workout April 6th.  

My feet thanked me today.  It's been a while since I've worn my lightweight trainers and they felt like cushioned gloves on my feet.  They just seem to fit and support in all the right places. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 8.1 miles in 1:03:00, 7:46/mi, HR 144, w/ 10 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, & stretching.

Today was a slog.  Out-waited most of the rain fortunately, but the run itself felt long and not easy.  The hill repeats felt pretty good though and the mile back from the hill sprint hill went by pretty quickly.  First hill sprints in a couple of weeks. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 12.01 miles in 1:29:54, 7:29/mi, HR 157, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 3 x 10 min Tempo Intervals w/ 3 min rest (6:14/mi, 6:15/mi, & 5:59/mi), 3 mile cooldown.

Nice weather today.  Decent warmup, drills were fine (done on the grass today, which was dry enough).  Back on the normal rolling course for the tempo intervals.  First two intervals goal was 6:19/mi at half-marathon pace, so both those turned out a bit fast.  Last interval goal was 5:57/mi at 10K pace, so a bit slow but I was maxed out on that one....legs tying up and breathing redlined the last couple of minutes.  My mind really didn't want to do this workout today and kept trying to talk me into skipping it or eliminating the last repeat, so I had my hands full ignoring myself.  

Probably won't be running much the next few days...headed out to Eastern WA for daughter's college graduation.  The last four years just flew by.

LM warmup (10 reps), 10.85 miles in 1:26:27, 7:58/mi, HR 159, w/ 3.2 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 8 x 90 sec Hill Repeats, 3.42 mile cooldown, PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Returned from 3 jam-packed days of driving to attend daughter's college graduation.  Wonderful weekend but no time to get any workouts in, so essentially a 3 day break.  1000+ miles of driving was probably the worst part of the whole adventure and I had the tightness in my calves today to prove it.  Legs were energetic but stiff.  Repeats went well overall...the last couple were really tough and legs got wobbly towards the end.  Glad to be back outside running after a short hiatus.

LM warmup (10 reps), 14 mile trail progression run in 1:48:34, 7:45/mi, HR 158, 2500' elevation change, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Clouds gave way to sun for much of the run, warming things up nicely.   Ran the 3 hills route, which is really 2 hills on an out and back with the turnaround at the top of hill #2.  Anyway, the hills are steep and provide both the uphill practice I need, but more importantly the downhill practice I need more.  Feel like I did better at not leaning back on the truly treacherous downhill, but legs were definitely being used to brake so that I didn't faceplant at a ridiculously out of control speed heading downhill.  So the legs were wobbly by the last 6 miles of the run.  I started pushing the pace on the return, or rather pushing the effort, which means the last hill was taken a bit more aggressively, which meant I was breathing harder but not going much faster.  Anyway, the first and last miles were road miles and once I hit the final mile, I clocked a 6:39, which definitely counts as moderate.  So my tired legs were beat up some more after yesterday's hill repeat workout.  The beatings will continue until morale improves.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8.08 miles in 1:00:41, 7:30/mi, HR 159, w/ 12 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 2 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Sunny and warm (60F+).  Hamstrings are a bit stiff and quads a bit sore, but the legs wanted to go today.  Probably the weather.  Hill sprints felt good...typical tough first couple and tired legs for last few but the middle ones were solid and leg turnover felt as good as its ever been.  

Thinking of going to run part 1 of the White River course this Saturday so I can see how hard these hill climbs and descents are going to be.  It'll probably make for a long day, since it's a couple hours there, a 26+ mile run in who knows how long, and a couple hours back, followed by the removal of our old malfunctioning dishwasher and the installation of a new one.  Part of me want to go run the Capital City marathon instead, but that's just the pizza memories talking.   

LM warmup (10 reps), 9.01 miles in 1:06:06, 7:20/mi w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 3 Tempo miles in 6:53 (uphill), 6:31 (flat), 6:08 (downhill), 3 mile cooldown.  1 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Sunny and warm (67F).  A bad run I won't be able to forget soon enough.  Forgot to grab my HRM strap...would've been nice to see what my HR was doing during the bad times.  The warmup was okay, nothing special.  Felt a bit tired during the strides/drills, but nothing too off-putting. Then the tempo started and within about 2 minutes I knew something wasn't right.  Initially supposed to be 5 tempo miles, 1 uphill, 1 flat, 2 downhill, & 1 uphill with 2 180s, I barely made the crest of the hill when I had to take the first of the unscheduled breaks for about 10 seconds or so.  I had my breathing under control, but my legs were weak and feeling weaker by the step, my shoulders were quickly getting tired and I just didn't feel quite right.  Off I went on the flats thinking things would improve but then didn't.  The legs were getting more wobbly by the stride with both quads and hamstring complaining loudly, and I still didn't feel quite right.  Considering that I ran a 6:31 on the flat when 2 weeks ago I averaged in the low 6:10s over 4 miles, I'm guessing something wasn't right.  After another 10 sec rest break just before the 2nd mile mark, I decided to just try to get thru 3 miles at tempo effort, whatever that might be and to pack it in.  The downhill was a bit kinder, but I still had a lot of trouble not dropping to a walk throughout.  Even the last 3 cooldown miles were tough.....I'll admit to 2 short walk breaks on that section.  Arrived back just in time to make a sudden bathroom pit-stop, which made me realize my blood had probably been getting diverted to my gut for some reason.  Not sure what I might've ate that would've done this.  Found myself feeling queasy for a couple of hours afterwards too...took a S! Cap to see if perhaps I was needing some electrolytes (after downing a Gatorade G2 immediately after the run) and that did seem to help.

So, I'll chalk this up to warmer weather than normal, not being fully recovered from the past several days workouts, possible electrolyte imbalance, and perhaps something I ate.  Fortunately, the ability to run 4 miles at Tempo pace is wholly unimportant right now so I can probably let this go without too much residual guilt.

My saturday plans have changed.  Decided to try to find some info on the trails I'd intended to run (White River 50 course, part 1) and discovered they're all listed on the Forest Service's website as "Snow".  The one snow gauge I could find in the area said it had 80+ inches of snow currently.  Wow.  The more reading I did, the more I realized the chances of running those trails before mid-June are slim to none.  So I went and found another really nasty route up near Ashford that gains 4200+' over the course of 24 miles.  

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.57 miles in 50:34, 7:41/mi, HR 151, & stretching.

Warm and sunny (67F).  Legs still feeling dead tired.  Saying I got 8 hours sleep last night is being generous....Dianna's got a horse show this weekend and was up late packing and then early doing more packing.  I really hope the legs will be recovered for a long hilly run tomorrow. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 31.5 miles in 4:25:00, 8:24/mi, HR 156 & stretching.

Sunny and warm (68F).  Long hilly trail run with 3400' of climbing/6800' total elevation change.  Decided to try running to Elbe, WA and back over the connecting forest roads, which would give me two significant climbs of about 1700' each and a place to get some more fluids at the halfway mark (Elbe gas station). Wasn't sure how far it would be exactly.....mapped it out at around 15+ miles one-way, so this would be a long run.  Even in the cool morning, the sun made things quite warm to start and it only got warmer.  Made it to the turnaround point in about 2:10-ish, took a short break to refill the water bottles and down a G2 and a "cheese croissant".  I'm not sure why they called it a croissant, but it beat the GUs I'd been consuming up to this point.  The return trip was very tough....the initial climb was at about a 10% grade which reduced me to frequent walk breaks in an attempt to let my pounding heart settle back into my chest.  The sun beating down didn't help matters much.  Fortunately, the truly steep parts didn't last forever and once I got to the top it was literally all (mostly) downhill from there.  Unfortunately, my legs didn't care much and were pretty much shot so my downhill paces maxed out at around 7 min/miles early on and got worse from there.  The last 5 miles or so were back on the pavement which my feet and legs didn't appreciate much.  Out of water with 3 miles to go, I limped home in 4:25 on the nose. 

The WR50 course is 18.5 miles longer and with another 5300' of climbing/10,600' of elevation change.  Today hurt.  That race is going to really, seriously hurt.

So I've got my very own personal 50K course and I now own the record.   I think I'll reward myself with a nice nap.  It could very well be in the chair I'm sitting in right now.  I'm not at all sure I'm going to get to the dishwasher installation today.

Planned to run after deinstalling the old dishwasher and installing the new one, just in case that task took longer than I expected.  It did.....7.5 hours including about 2 hours of ferret proofing.  Then, another 45 minutes of ferret-proofing after the ferrets defeated my initial work in about 5 minutes.  Since this didn't account for cleanup time, a run was out of the question.  Probably just as well since yesterday was an extremely hard run and my legs were really feeling it.

LM warmup (10 reps), 11.1 miles in 1:27:47, 7:54/mi, HR 158, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 8 x 2 min on, 2 min off Fartleks, 3+ mile cooldown, PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4), & stretching.

Calves are the only things still hurting from Saturday.....right lower calf/achilles was a bit stiff, so I wasn't so sure about running this workout.  It seemed to loosen up during the warmup so I went for it, but it did tighten up during the last reps and during the cooldown so I hope I don't regret the decision.  

Warm & sunny today (69F).  Much warmed in the sun and I was baking.  Legs were still a bit tired from Saturday (and probably from yesterday's dishwasher install).   Ran these repeats pretty hard, quite close to the puke level.  First 7 were uphill, last 3 downhill, overall average 5:42/mi.  Even though they hurt pretty badly, I'm encouraged because I think I ran them stronger than the 20 x 1 min on/off repeats from 2 weeks ago.  But maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Iced the right calf afterwards in an attempt to makeup for abusing it. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 14 miles in 1:42:22, 7:18/mi, HR 157, w/ last 6 miles moderate effort (~ MP terrain adjusted) in 6:26 (down), 6:30 (down), 6:30 (down), 6:32 (down), 6:30 (down), 6:55 (up), 1 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Warm & humid, then rainy and pleasant, then back to warm and humid.  Lower right calf still a bit tight and sore...both calves a bit tight, but fine otherwise.  A good run, one where everything felt doable and not overly hard.  Love these runs....just hard enough to feel like you're working at it without completely zapping you.

On another note, it's time for me to get over my hangup with sub-6 minute paces.  Why is it that speeding up from 6:05 to 6:00 doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but speeding up from 6:00 to 5:59 seems like it's the hardest thing in the world?  Answer?  It's mental, you (meaning me) idiot.  I fall apart trying to run a sub-6 pace, not because I can't but because my mind keeps telling me it's too hard and I can't do it, or at least not for long.  Okay, so maybe the not for long part has a ring of truth to it, but the rest is pure bunk.  Reflecting on my 5K PR, it's embarrassing.  Oh, it's not too terribly slow for my other races and I don't focus on that distance and I don't train specifically for it blah blah blah blah.  But I really should be a low 18s and probably an upper 17s 5K runner right now given my fitness, which means the reason I'm not is.....the dreaded 5:xx mental block.  So here it is.  I'm done with it.  Not going to let something stupid like my own mind push me around like that.  From now on, I *love* running sub-6 paces and it feels easy, sustainable.  If it hurts, its because hurting feels good and I can keep hurting because I can run sub-6 paces just fine, thank you.  So time to pencil in a 5K and bring my 5K PR down to a more respectable time and get past this hangup so I can keep improving.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8.07 miles in 1:02:11, 7:42/mi, HR 155, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, calf raises & stretching.

Started out sunny and warm (74F) and finished in cloudy, rainy, and pleasant (56F).  Missed beating the rain by 1 minute.  Tired today....need to get some additional sleep tonight.  Legs were dead from the start and the first 3 uphill miles were slow....mid 8s.  Next 4 downhill miles were better, legs felt looser and pace dropped quite a bit.  1st hill sprints was ugly but the rest were good.  Legs started really tiring with 5 remaining but I got through them all.  #s 3-10 really felt good as I focused on running as fast as possible while staying relaxed, which is probably faster than when I add that extra percent or two but feel like I'm straining.  Last uphill mile home was a slog but at least the pace was decent.

My reign at position #4 in the 35-39 AG slot on the Northwest Runner Best Times List for the marathon for 2010 has come to an end.  Basically, I ran the first marathon that counted when the list was reset for the year and now that other marathons have been run by speedier folks in my AG, I have been usurped.  Ah well....it was nice while it lasted. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 11.36 miles in 1:22:55, 7:18/mi, HR 155, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 3 x 10 minute Tempo Intervals @ HM, HM, 10K pace in 6:19/mi, 6:14/mi, and 5:57/mi avg, 3 mile cooldown.  PU/SU/Leg ladder & stretching.

Another crazy weather day.  Bouts of sun intermixed with torrential downpours and hail.  I tried timing my run for the non-downpour and hail portion of the day and managed to avoid most....except for the downpour and hail during my last (and toughest repeat).  Fortunately I wasn't thinking too much about the weather during it.  But I get ahead of myself.

Still a bit tired despite getting more sleep last night.  The warmup felt decent but the legs were completely unenthusiastic about the drills.  After laboring through those, I discovered another gear during the strides.....suddenly at top speed my leg turnover was noticeably increased over previous strides.  Wow.  Perhaps trying to focus on the relaxed portion of the strides (and hill sprints) has helped?  Or maybe I was just imaging things.  In any event, the turnover increase was noticeable so I'll take it.

Tempo repeat goals were 6:18/mi for the first 2 and 5:57/mi for the last one.  I also wanted to avoid running the first one too hard like I normally do.  So the first one in 6:20 was a bit slow but a success since it was the slowest of the group.  Plus, the wind was starting to gust by now, so conditions were less than ideal.  Each of the repeats feature a 180 turn where I probably lose a couple of seconds, so I probably ought temper the paces accordingly, but oh well.  Repeat 2 felt hard but decent and I brought that one in under target.

Repeat 3.  Time to put $$$ where my mouth is.  The other day, I vowed to stop letting those 5:xx paces intimidate me.  It was difficult with the weather worsening, my legs tiring, and the normal "no way you can run 10 minutes at a 5:57/mi pace" thoughts surfacing, but I took a deep breath, pushed the thoughts out of my mind, stood tall, and went for it.  I kept my head up looking down the road, much more than I normally do, and tried to just go hard and not look at the watch so much.  Here's where the hail started greeting me.  Fun.  Looking up and down the road, I realized I probably run with my head down too much, which probably means I lean forward from the waist too much.  Anyway, at about 1/2 mile in I was on a 5:32/mi pace.  Wow.  Now the outbound leg is downhill slightly so it was expected to be a bit fast since I normally lose some on the uphill return.  I just tried to stay loose, push, keep the "you can't" thoughts out, and finish.  So when I hit the 10 minute mark and the watch showed 5:57/mi pace I was thrilled.  Then I wiped all the snot from my face and beard that had accumulated during the past 10 minutes.  Real fun.  The cooldown was uneventful, aside from crashing hard with about 1 mile left and stumbling in the final mile.   

Interestingly enough, about an hour later I got what I believe is an Ocular Migraine.  My vision gets all funky, with wavy lights moving through making it difficult to read.  I've gotten these before and they seem to be triggered by particularly hard exercise efforts.  Fortunately, I don't seem to get the headache that some people do who suffer from these.  I probably ought confirm my self diagnosis with my doctor sometime, but I've gotten these for years now after certain hard exercise bouts and I haven't keeled over yet, so I don't think it's too dangerous.  

Score:  Dale - 1, 5:xx/mi Mental Demon - 0

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.5 miles in 49:03, 7:32/mi, HR 148, & stretching.

Cool and rainy (50F).  Legs felt heavy and uncoordinated. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 14.14 miles in 2:33:23, 10:51/mi, HR 138, w/ 2300+' elevation gain.

LM warmup (10 reps), 16 mile progression run in 1:57:11, 7:19/mi, HR 149 w/ last 7 miles @ MP, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

First three+ miles felt bad...made a pit stop and things magically felt better so I started pushing the pace on the steeper uphills.  Just kinda gradually kept upping the effort until I was in full-blown progression run.  Another pause to talk to the security officer, out patrolling the Hancock managed forest lands at mile 11, then really picked up the pace for the last few.  Started tiring with about 3 to go but kept at it to the finish.  Better than expected after yesterday's adventure and hole digging exercise.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8.09 miles in 1:01:42, 7:37/mi, HR 147, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Sunny and pleasant (62F).  Back is a bit stiff and tired from yard project work over the weekend; otherwise a good run feeling pretty decent.  Hill sprints good but not magical and my legs were really tired for the last 5.   

LM warmup (10 reps), 12 miles in 1:31:24, 7:37/mi, HR 151, w/ 3+ mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 8 x 2 min Hill Repeats, 3+ mile cooldown.  PU/SU/Leg ladder & stretching.

Mostly cloudy and humid (58F), but I did manage to miss the rains.  Warmup felt okay, strides & drills felt really good (legs weren't nearly as "weak" feeling as they normally are doing these).  2 min repeats versus 90 sec repeats from 2 weeks ago, so the goal was to go out a tad slower in the beginning, focus more on form and running the entire repeat without fading.  Nailed it, except for the first and last.  The first was too fast (6:02/mi)...fresh legs.  The longer recovery jogging back to the start actually helped keep the recovery pace up in a more reasonable range, or maybe it was because I wasn't killing myself early in the repeat and then hanging on.  In any event, the next 6 were all in the 6:09-6:15/mi range....strong through the entire repeat but teetering on the edge by the end.  The last was a tad slow (6:21/mi), which is either because I decided to go harder for the last and faded at the end, or was just tired by the 8th repeat.  Either way I won't complain.  6:12/mi versus 6:03/mi average on the shorter (90 sec) repeats with faster recoveries.  Still a bit of a death march during the cooldown though....the legs were toast.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8.06 miles in 1:01:50, 7:40/mi, HR 149 w/ 6 x Strides & stretching.

Consistently drizzly.  Fairly easy miles with some tired legs, especially the quads.  Can't seem to get my calves loosened up, which is to say that once/day calf stretches don't seem to be enough for me right now.  They're pretty strong right now but the range of motion I have in my ankles just plain sucks, and tight calves are at least partially responsible.  Guess I need to find more time in my day to get them loosened up.

LM warmup (10 reps), 11 miles in 1:19:02, 7:11/mi, HR 157, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 5 Tempo miles in 6:03 (down), 6:49 (up), 6:51 (up), 6:28 (rolling), 6:13 (down), 6:29/mi average, 3 mile cooldown.  PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Cloudy and cool (56F).  A good night's sleep but I was still pretty tired this morning.  Hamstrings and quads felt a bit sore during the warmup & strides.  Jumped into the tempo aiming to focus on effort and not pace, especially after my last disastrous attempt at a 5 mile tempo run 2 weeks ago.  Somehow I managed it....stayed away from watch watching and just kept the effort honest.  My legs were pretty tired and ready to be done by the end of the tempo....didn't even really want to run the 3 cooldown miles.  

So here it is.  Logically, I know running tempo's on courses with terrain that's not flat (and has two 180s) will be slower than the same effort tempo on the flats.  I'm just having trouble wrapping my mind around how much.  4-ish weeks ago back in pancake-flat VA, I ran a 4 mile tempo at ~ 6:15/mi average.  Today on a double out and back course (so zero overall elevation gain/loss) with some relief to it (nothing more than a 2-3% grade at the most), I'm 14 seconds/mile slower.  That just seems like a lot.  The $64,000 question:  Does the terrain account for all of that time or is something else negatively impacting me?  Anyone? 

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.57 miles in 49:30, 7:32/mi, HR 150, & stretching.

Light rain and cool (50F).  Today is a recovery day so I didn't look at the watch much during the run, which mean I was surprised by the overall pace.  Felt like I was seriously dragging the whole time.  Didn't help matters that I was soaked by the first mile. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 20 miles in 2:35:34, 7:46/mi, w/ 2275' climb & equal descent including a 600' climb in 1 mile.  

Ran a fairly quick 20 in the mist and light rain up the long gradual hill into the Elbe forest land and down the steep backside & return. Pushed the downhills a bit since I was only doing 20 and need to condition the quads.  Ran-walked the steep climb at mile 10-11 but still made decent progress up the hill.  

Done in time to wolf down some food and head to meet up with Dianna @ the barn crew for some paintball.  Always wanted to try and never gone until now....a day later and I'm exhausted, but not sporting the bruises that most everyone else has.  What does it mean when 90% of the time I got killed were headshots?  Definitely buying my own face shield/goggles if I ever go again....couldn't see 5 feet in front of me most of the time due to google fog.  Still, a good (and muddy and exhausting) time had by all.

Taking a day off.  Been a long couple of weeks and after yesterday's long run and paintball wars, I'm beat.  I didn't add the sprints I did playing paintball into my running numbers, but I probably should.  Once I got the hang of things, I realized I could outrun most of the folks out there in the mud and slop and would move the skirmish line as far forward as possible on one of the flanks by running forward at the start until I spotted someone or hit the far boundary.  Quite fun but my legs are beat.

LM warmup (10 reps), 11.42 miles in 1:24:50, 7:25/mi, HR 156, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 8 x 3 min on/2 min off Fartleks, 3 mile cooldown.  PU/SU/Leg ladder (7/7/4) & stretching.

Still feeling tired today.  Interrupted during strides/drills by friendly running neighbor, little impact, then between fartleks 1 & 2, so a much longer than 2 minute break there.  Fast sections were okay....really started dying on the middle ones as they were up steeper hills, but still managed a 6:10/mi average with the first 6 uphill, 1 rolling and 1 downhill.  #s 5 & 6 were ugly with a 6:47/mi pace for both, so eliminating those brought the pace down to 5:58-ish.  Tired the rest of the afternoon, although that could be because I spent it a Lowes picking out kitchen cabinets.