M'kay

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.