M'kay

Still very sore in too many places to count, but the calves and quads appear to be the worst off.  Guess running and hiking on uphill trails where the trail is so steep that your heels never touch and then bombing down a gravel road for 6+ miles after running 37 or so might account for that.  Am I crazy for looking forward to finding some steeper trail runs near my house and hitting them ASAP when I'm still having trouble walking on flat surfaces right now?  I suppose I really enjoyed myself.

LM warmup (10 reps), 5.09 miles in 46:24, 9:06/mi, HR 151 w/ 4 short strides & stretching.

Cloudy and warm (77F).  Honestly not sure how I made it through 5 miles, but it did involve a couple of walk breaks.  The sharp pain soreness is finally gone from the legs, but the dull soreness remains in every quad muscle, the left calf is still a bit stiff, and every muscle from the waist down is still tired.  I tried the strides for giggles and while they could barely be called strides at that speed, the actually didn't feel too bad, so I believe once the quads finish recovering and some additional rest seeps into my legs, they'll be okay.  Until then, it looks like very slow miles are my future.

LM warmup (10 reps), 7.06 miles in 1:01:06, 8:39/mi, HR 156, & stretching.

Sunny and warm (79F).  Legs remain lifeless.  Quads groaned during lunge warmup.  A couple of short walk breaks but less than yesterday.  

LM warmup (10 reps), 14.07 miles in 1:54:37, 8:08/mi, HR 154, 1100' elevation gain, & stretching.

Cloudy and rainy (63F).  Legs finally starting to feel normal.  First few miles were slow and clunky, but started feeling better and by the last couple of uphill miles, I found one of my uphill gears.  Still missing the downhill gears though, and by 10 miles in was slowing again.  Quick bathroom stop at mile 10.5.  

Yesterday I didn't run because I spent most of the day working out in the yard....weed-eating, moving dirt and rocks, etc.  Too tired to even contemplate a run.

Today I'm not running because I'm apathetic.  Oh yes, I could blame it on having to work today or the fact that the fence contractor was here today, but the sad fact is that my mood when I thought of running was dark like the clouds.  I got as far as putting a running shirt on before bailing.  I suppose I'm overdue for some down time anyway and a 2nd "off" week shouldn't hurt too much. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.12 miles in 47:02, 7:41/mi, HR 164 & stretching.

Sunny and warm (72F).  Finally got off my lazy duff and got a run in after 3 days of sloth.  HR was high (surprise!) but I actually felt pretty good through about 4 miles before the legs got heavy.  Even though the pace was in the easy range, I was pushing a bit to make myself suffer for missing 3 straight days.  Felt good to get out again, but the nice weather really helped.  Maybe I'm starting to like running in the warmth of summer?

LM warmup (10 reps), 7 miles in 52:14, 7:27/mi, HR 171, w/ 1 mile warmup, 5 miles Steady State (7:34 - up, 7:55 - up, 7:17 - up/down, 6:40 - down, 6:40 - down), 1 mile cooldown & stretching.

Sunny and warm (74F).  Another run lugging a water bottle, more for practice carrying it (weight) than the water.  The SS miles were probably MP effort or a bit higher given the warmth and the lack of running lately, but were slow.  Maybe they'll get me back to some semblance of shape sooner. 

15.01 miles in a 2:09:54, 8:39/mi, HR 161, 1330' gain/loss, & stretching.

Sunny and hot (start was 70F, finish was 87F...ouch).   Plenty of walking today.  A bit of an exploration...a 1 mile side-trip down a previously unexplored road.  Busy on the forest road today.  Too busy.  Evidently an accident on the cutoff road had everyone seeking an alternate route and some moron was directing people up our road into the forest land.  Yes, you can cut through.  No, the odds aren't good that your packed down sedan will make it intact.  I'm thinking of sending a bill to the Dept of Transportation for my services as a temporary accident scene worker.  I did more than those guys holding the sticks with stop on one side and slow on the other do in a day.  My description of the route grew more dire with every telling.  I think I mentioned a giant chasm that had swallowed a jeep to the last guy.  Oops.

Almost forgot the 4 or 5 uphill fartleks I threw into the run.  Since I was dragging so much, I figured I'd get some extra work in on the uphills. 

7.04 miles in 58:23, 8:17/mi, HR 159.

Sunny and hot (84F).  Two miles on some completely overgrown logging roads that slowed the pace to a crawl, put several thorns into my legs, and make me long to get back to the roads.  Still feeling like total crap running.  Completely forgot the lunge warmup and ran short on time for the cooldown.  Can't wait for the fence and gate contractors to be done. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 10.67 miles in 1:24:39, 7:56/mi, HR 161, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Drills, 8 x 90 sec Hill Repeats with jog back recoveries, 3+ mile cooldown, 6 Strides & stretching.

Finally.  Sunny and pleasant (70F).  Managed to get out for a mid-day run despite the fence work ongoing.  Combined with the cooler weather, I decided it was high time to get a harder workout in.  Could tell during the warmup that I was finally feeling a bit better.  Hot sun is to me as Kryptonite is to Superman.  First couple of repeats could easily have been discouraging, knowing I wasn't covering as much of the hill as I typically do, but I knew my fitness has taken a hit lately and it is what it is.  Surprisingly, starting with repeat 5, I found myself covering more distance, much closer to how far I normally get.  Strange, since this was about the time my legs really started feeling heavy and I didn't feel like I was expending too much additional effort.  I'll take it.  The cooldown back home didn't become a death march (bonus) and the strides after I got back even went pretty well (moved from the normal portion of the workout because I had to get back to supervise fence construction while Dianna headed for the barn).  Haven't felt this good about a workout in a long time.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8.02 miles in 1:03:21, 7:53/mi, HR 153, & stretching.

Sunny and pleasant (66F).   Legs felt pretty decent today.  Probably pushed a tad harder on this easy run than I should've, but it was a really nice day, the legs wanted to go after taking yesterday off (again), and I was weak.  Will be glad when this fence is done and I can get back to my normal running routine.

LM warmup (10 reps), 16 miles in 2:13:24, 8:20/mi, HR 156, 1500' elevation gain & stretching.

Mid afternoon run after a lazy morning followed by a nap.  Considering I rarely nap, I think I was pretty worn out from the past week.  Considering I haven't been running much, it must be life wearing me down a bit.  Good to catch up on the sleep.  

Run was decent.  Same climb up the forest roads, but took the left fork 7 miles in to tackle the steep climbs/descents there.  Ran the whole thing, which is saying something considering my (lack of) mileage and the steepness of the terrain, but I paid for that on the return when I barely managed sub-8 miles on the gentle downhill.   Pleasantly tired.

LM warmup (10 reps), 2.01 miles in 16:52, 8:24/mi, HR 144.

Sunny and warm (78F).  What began as a warmup for a real workout turned into a short easy run.  Felt like garbage, left hip was hurting and just couldn't talk myself into it.  I'm thinking that Sunday's yardwork might've tweaked the hip.  So I bailed. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 11.51 miles in 1:33:22, 8:06/mi, HR 166, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Drills, 8 x Strides, 2 sets of 5 x 3 min On, 90 sec Off, 3 mile cooldown & stretching.

Sunny and warm (80F).  Attempt #2 at yesterday's scheduled workout.  Based on my recent training, this workout was completely overambitious.   So it was just a suffer-fest, even with mostly walking recovery intervals.  7 uphill repeats, 2 semi-flat, 1 downhill.  I split it into 2 sets of 5 each in mid-workout, mainly to give myself a bit more recovery time before the second set of 5.  Call it self preservation.  The cooldown was a run-walk-forced-march-back-to-a-water-source.  I'll be feeling this one for a while.

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.11 miles in 51:30, 8:25/mi, HR 151, & stretching.

Hot (85F).  Left hip/groin hurting this morning, but it didn't bug me during the run so I guess it was okay.  Perhaps that's because I was slow.  Would have gone for 8 if I'd been feeling it, but was tired and figured 6 was smarter.  What a genius I am. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 miles in 1:12:40, 7:14/mi, HR 164, w/ 2 mile warmup, 6 miles Steady State (7:09, 7:23, 7:28, 7:17 uphill, 6:17, 6:25 downhill), 2+ mile cooldown & stretching.

Krypton was shielded behind clouds today, dropping the temps into the mid 60s but more importantly allowing me to get a decent workout in while not feeling completely sapped.  Unfortunately, Krypton's evil twin brother, Lactose, snuck in on some mac & cheese last night, so today I was dealing with a visit from the Bowel monster, which struck about 3.5 miles into the Steady State portion, causing a not-so-quick-thank-goodness-I-packed-my-emergency-supply-kit-stop-in-the-woods.  After finally vanquishing the Bowel monster, I resumed a steady state that had been feeling very good and finished with some faster-than-normal-because-things-were-feeling-good-must-be-because-I'm-wearing-my-fast-shoes-cooldown-miles.  

When training is going well (or at least better than it has been) and Steady State sessions are on my diet, I typically hate them.  Why?  Because I tend to force a pace rather than an effort and wind up running them too fast/too hard.  Since the pressure to hit paces is off (replaced by pressure to just have a string of good runs for a change), I love 'em.  Isn't perspective amazing? 

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.5 miles in 51:49, 7:58/mi, HR 150, & stretching.

Mid 60s & pleasant.  Tired this morning, decent recovery run, loosened up last couple of miles to sneak under 8:00/mi average. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 20.05 miles in 2:53:21, 8:38/mi, HR 152 & stretching.

Partly cloudy and pleasant (upper 50s/lower 60s).  Took a 45 minute break 4 miles in chatting with a neighbor I'd never really met before.  Ran 12 or so on the logging roads, exploring a couple I'd never run before.  Rocky and hilly.  Legs were pretty toasted for the last 8 or so, but I manage to make it back. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.15 miles in 52:15, 8:29/mi, HR 135, & stretching.

Overcast & cool (58F).  Worn out.  Decent mileage week + yesterday's long hilly run == slow and easy today.  The good news was that the HR corresponded well to the slow pace finally. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 9.07 miles in 1:10:35, 7:47/mi, HR 157, w/ 2 mile warmup, 2 x Drills, 8 x Strides (2 during cooldown), Ladder of 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, & 1 minute on, 1 minute off, 3.5 mile cooldown & stretching.

Partly cloudy & pleasant (67F).  Tired this morning despite the 9 hours sleep....a sign the body is settling into training again.  The warmup was okay, drills the same, strides progressively better.  Goal was to start with the 6 min on around 10K pace and run each progressively harder.  Problem is, I haven't run a 10K since 2008 and have no clue what a 10K pace feels like anymore.  Plus, ran them all generally uphill but with varying degrees of uphill-ed-ness.  Nonetheless, I think I did fairly well, only falling off pace/effort perhaps in the middle where I fought against zoning out.  The difference between the 1 min on pace and the rest was pretty stark, reinforcing....something?  Not sure what.  Did 2 strides on flat sections of the return, just to see how they'd compare to the pre-workout strides.  Wow.  Fast, smooth, did I mention fast?  Much better than the pre-workout strides, which were decent.  The rest of the cooldown was a bit of a slog, but glad to have this one in the books.