M'kay

6.5 miles in 50:19, 7:44/mi, HR 144.  Heat wave at 44F and sunny.  Slow first mile but then warmed up.  Kept effort very light today since this was a high mileage week.

8 miles in 1:01:44, 7:43/mi, HR 146.  Sunny and cool (36F).  Another slow start that lasted all 4 uphill miles today.  Legs were a bit tired from standing out in the cold at the barn for a few hours yesterday.  Opened up a bit on the downhill return.

4 treadmill miles in 30:24, 7:36/mi, HR 153.  Felt pretty strong all things considered.

13.02 miles in 1:40:00, 7:41/mi, HR 153.  30 min warmup, 3.72 mi, 8:03/mi, HR 140.  Fartleks: 20 x 1 min on, 1 min off, average pace 5:46.7/mi (< 5K pace).  30 min cooldown, 3.87 mi, 7:45/mi, HR 150.  Sunny and pleasant (44F).  Felt pretty tired on the warmup, moreso than usual which is probably why I crawled through the first 2 miles.  Repeats got tough going quickly, partially because the first 9 were uphill (then 5 flat, 6 downhill), but mostly because it's been awhile since I've run this workout.  Managed to stay pretty strong throughout most but perhaps the last couple.  The cooldown was an effort just to get the full 30 minutes in....if I run 4 more tonight, it'll definitely be at recovery pace.

9 miles in 1:09:31, 7:43/mi, HR 147.  Left adductors stiff and sore from yesterday's workout.  Barely got under 9/min pace for first mile.  4 uphill miles were tough but things finally loosened up about 2.5 mile in and got tolerable.  Felt pretty good on the flats and the return, but started tiring at about 7.5 miles in.  Need to take it easy today and hope I'm rested enough for tomorrow hill repeats.

4 treadmill miles in 30:52, 7:43/mi, HR 151.  Felt better after this afternoon's run, so I decided to get another short one in tonight to help stay loose.

12.93 miles in 1:40:52, 7:47/mi, HR 148.  28:46 min warmup, 3.40 mi, 8:28/mi, HR 143.  12 x 90 sec Hill Repeats w/ downhill rest.  25 min cooldown, 3.40 mi, 7:20/mi, HR 146.

 Tough day.  Woke up tired again.  Warmup started off okay but slow.  Left hip (site of sore adductor that felt pretty good pre-run) started "snapping" on the outside for a few minutes about 5 minutes into the run.  Last evening, I'd discovered that there is a tender spot on the outside of my hip/leg near where the snapping was occurring, and from the research into the snapping phenomena, it seems I've got an imbalance in my flexibility between my abductors and adductors.  Makes sense because the adductors are pretty sore and difficult to stretch well.

Got through the warmup and to the hill.  I wanted to get the workout in and the adductor felt better than it had since Tuesday's session, but part of me wondered in the wisdom of this workout.  All that meant was that my heart wasn't really in the first few.  They felt sluggish and I lost good breathing early in each repeat, something that doesn't usually happen until the last repeats.  Interestingly, my average & max HR for the repeats is a few points below other recent Hill sessions.  Halfway through, got a bit mad at myself for wavering and committed to finishing as strongly as possible, which worked mentally until the last few, when I got cautious again about not straining my adductor.  Average pace of 6:05/mi, which I was shocked to discover afterwards was actually better than last week's pace with 2 extra repeats this week.  Kept the cooldown easy and started feeling the sore adductor again for the last 15 minutes or so.

I'm pretty sure I've found my ragged edge.  I'd guess I'm close to getting into the overtraining zone, needing a bit more rest, and with some minor injuries that could really flare if I'm not careful.  Luckily, next week is travel for work, so I was planning on a recovery week anyway.  I'll take the long run this weekend easy (pace-wise) and cut things back next week to get myself away from the cliff.

6.5 miles in 51:37, 7:56/mi, HR 145.  Left hip & adductors still stiff and sore, so another slow start.  Cold (29F) and damp air today didn't help matters any.  Hopefully, this run loosened things up a bit and tomorrow will be better. 

Time to face facts.  It didn't even take 1/4 mile today to figure out my left hip/adductor and now glutes are officially "screwed up".  Things haven't gotten better and have frankly gotten worse so that I now can't fool myself into thinking it's just some soreness that'll work itself out if I keep running.  I knew if I would've gone past 1/4 mile today, I would've run the 18 to 22 scheduled, which would probably have made things much worse in the long run, so I'm officially bailing on today's and tomorrow's runs now.  I'll re-evaluate Monday and see about easing back into things then.  Unfortunately (fortunately?) I'm traveling for work starting tomorrow through next Friday, so a doctor's visit is out of the question, so here's hoping rest and stretching helps fix what ails me.