M'kay

6 miles Easy in 49:22 (8:13/mi, avg HR 145).

A bit sluggish today.  Yesterday evening was Dianna's end-of-year WA State Hunter/Jumper Equestrian Awards banquet, so we wound up departing mid-day for the 2 hour drive there, attended the banquet for the evening, then drove back home.  Unfortunately, the sandwich and the 2 slices of pizza I had before I left, coupled with the appetizers and salmon dinner was not enough food to recover from yesterday's long run.  I've no one to blame but myself, since I knew this would be an issue. 

Dianna won 4 championships and 2 3rd place finishes in the 6 state divisions where she was competitive, so I'd say she did pretty darned well (again).  I think she secretly enjoys the recognition as I know she's the hardest working rider at her barn, despite protesting that she really doesn't care so much about the awards.  Definitely her evening and I think she enjoyed it.

I also wound up having a few beers throughout the evening, which I rarely do anymore, so after getting to bed until after my normal bedtime and waking up to a (rare) sunny day, I was *not* feeling it today.  But the warm, dry, sunny day made me think better about skipping it, and I managed a slowish easy run and felt better afterwards (probably the sandwich I ate afterwards too)!

Brooks Trance - 317.5 miles.

7 miles Easy in 56:22 (8:03/mi, avg HR 152).

Effort felt a bit higher than it should have and had an overall uncoordinated feel to the run, but good nonetheless.  Faced some headwinds uphill that probably contributed to the effort.  Still getting occasional twinges from hamstring/glutes....feels like a stabilizing muscle towards the outer/back part of the left leg.  Some substantial core exercises and stretching afterwards. 

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 167.5 miles.

2 miles Easy in 16:20 (8:10/mi, avg HR 141) warmup. 2 miles Strides in 15:33 (10 x :15 sec Stride, 1:00 rest, cooldown to 2 miles, 7:46/mi, avg HR 157). 2 miles Easy in 15:34 (7:47/mi, avg HR 152).

Icy roads without the courtesy of a snowy shoulder made today's workout especially difficult. Limited top-end on the Strides due to sciatic pain in left piriformis area at higher (mile race pace) speeds, but tough to even get there with the ice. Good cooldown run at a faster pace than normal with lower effort....legs just wanted to go.

Adding a few piriformis stretches to the routine. Finally isolated the pain area yesterday in a stretch, so it seems like I've got the classic signs of a tight piriformis muscle on the left side. Stretches seem to have aggravated it today, which means I'm in the right area at least. I'll go a bit gentler on the stretches, add some icing and massage in and hopefully resolve this issue shortly. Thankfully, this week is a recovery week with lower mileage, although it doesn't seem to bug me at 10k + speeds.

Brooks Adrenaline (Blue) - 440.5 miles.

7 miles Easy in 55:45 (7:58/mi, avg HR 153).

Nice and easy today.  Near freezing temps made the run slick at best and traction was an issue in several spots.  Road in sun == good.  Road in shade == bad.  

My piriformis stretching has evidently aggravated it, but not bad enough to terminate the run.  Despite some moderate discomfort early on, after a few miles things loosened up enough to fade to just minor.  I'll keep a close eye on things, but hope that a lower-mileage week and stretching will help resolve this issue. 

Brooks Trance - 324.5 miles.

2 miles Easy in 16:46 (8:23/mi, avg HR 146) warmup.  10 miles Steady State in 1:09:52 (6:59/mi, avg HR 174) with splits: 7:23(up), 7:17(up), 6:58(up/down), 7:19(up), 7:27(up), 6:54(flat), 6:37(down), 6:31(down), 6:38(down), 6:43(down).  2 miles Easy in 16:48 (8:24/mi, avg HR 147) cooldown.

A pleasant day (finally) for my SS run.  Sunshine, 35 deg temps, and what little headwind there was occurred on the downhill for once.  I tried to keep the pace a bit lighter than last week, but I must be a slave to the watch since my overall pace was only 2 seconds slower.  Effort felt a bit easier, but I still wound up starting to lose form around the 8 mile mark, and by 9 was working pretty hard.  A not-so-brief pit stop after the SS before the cooldown meant I was a bit cold and stiff already during the cooldown run, but I managed to warm back up and get the muscles loose for stretching.

Virtually no leg/glutes pain, so it appears moderating the new stretch and doing it several times a day appears to be working.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 181.5 miles.

6 miles Easy in 46:33 (7:45/mi, avg HR 154).

Started off feeling tired and sore from yesterday. Once I got warmed up, I noticed I seemed to be going a bit faster than normal, so I decided to avoid watch monitoring and just run easy. Stride rate was a bit slower today too, so perhaps that allowed me to stretch out a bit more than normal. In any event, a good 15 seconds faster than my normal Easy pace while at an easy effort marked a good day. So did the sunshine, scant road ice, and calm winds. Marred only by the fact that my nemesis dog was on the loose today, so I wound up calling Animal Control once again, who advised me to take pictures.....I guess I can take pics over my shoulder as I'm getting out of dodge!

Core exercises and stretching afterwards.

Brooks Trance - 330.5 miles.

18 miles Long Run in 2:22:43 (7:55/mi, avg HR 151).

A hilly long run today.  Ran portions on some logging roads in the area, with plenty of ups and downs, such that by mile 13 my legs were feeling more worn out that they were at mile 18 last week.  Decided to avoid clock watching again, and went by feel, which meant that my early pace was somewhat more aggressive than normal, making it a bit harder to hold when my legs started straining.  Still, it was pleasant, with some mild rain ensuring the roads were wet, not icy; an elk herd encounter where I had them running alongside for a good 500 m or so before they decided to cross the trail ahead of me (a brief pause on my part to let them and not get trampled); and exploring some countryside I hadn't seen recently, including the back half of our property on the other side of the little river that runs through our property.  All in all, a good running day.

Brooks Adrenaline (Blue) - 458.5 miles.