M'kay

2 mile easy warmup w/ 0.5 miles @ tempo pace (~ 6:20/mi).  13.1 miles in 1:25:53, 6:33/mi, HR 171.

Weather was decent: overcast and 45F at the start.  Race began 30 minutes late when three times the expected crowd showed up for race day registration.  Good for me, since it gave me more time to do a decent warmup.  Highlight of the race was getting directed off course...race director briefing at the start said to "follow the person in front of you" and the "white arrows" marking the course.  Well, unfortunately, there were some white arrows that looked identical to the course markings that sent virtually everyone off course at one of two spots.  In fact, the lead bicyclist, who'd marked the course, nearly got confused enough to go off course.  Anyway, it wasn't a big detour (my post-race map recon shows a 0.35 mi add in my case....some people cut nearly a half-mile off).  In any event, the course felt fast anyway, and garmin showed a 13.0 course *with* the detour. 

The first miles felt fast....according to the course markers, I was through 1 mile in 6:02 (6:06 garmin) and 2 miles in 12:26 (12:41 garmin), so I'm seriously doubting those were accurate, but I probably went out too fast.  I felt good through 4 miles, okay through 9 and survived the last 4.1....legs felt tired more than I felt the aerobic strain.  Took a gel at 9 but was wishing they had more water stops (only 1 that I found, but I passed it twice). 

My goal going in was to try to hit 6:30 miles as long as possible and run between 1:24 - 1:26, so I made that goal.  I managed to beat my previous time from 2 years ago (1:26:15).  If I take my average speed over the section where I added the extra mileage, I lost 2 minutes and 12 seconds, so that would've been good for a 1:23:41, which would've been a PR, but again, I think the course was short so my time was probably a bit more accurate.  All in all, happy to run the race that I did.  Now to recover while watching the Super Bowl.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:02:51, 7:51/mi, HR 146, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/Crunches ladder (7 steps), Leg Abduction (4 sets), & stretching.

Shorts weather (50F & sunny).  Legs tired from the race but none the worse for wear.  Left calf still bugging and right knee suddenly again during run today.....I'm starting to really wonder if it's these Asics 2150s (at least the knee part).  Slow starting on the hill sprints, but that's probably because it's been a week since I've done them.  Kept trying to remind myself that slow easy days are good.....my fast days went really well last week, probably because I managed to keep easy easy.

10.02 miles in 1:14:11, 7:24/mi, w/ 3 mile treadmill warmup, 2 x Drills (partial), 5 x 1K @ 5K pace w/ 2 min rest (5:51/mi, 5:54/mi, 5:39/mi, 5:39/mi, 5:52/mi), 3 mile treadmill cooldown, & stretching.

Cool temps and painful left shin steered me towards the treadmill today.  Unfortunately, I hit the limit of my El Cheapo brand K-Mart special 10+ year old treadmill....it couldn't hit close to 5K pace, so after the warmup, I was forced onto the roads.  Compared to the repeats on the nice hotel treadmill last week, these felt like torture.  Yes, double the length, but they really put the hurt on me. Guess I'm just glad they're done.

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 miles in 1:17:14, 7:43/mi, HR 150, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, core workout, & stretching.

Left shin a 3 pre-run, a 4 at the start, and 0-2 during the rest of the run.  Legs felt completely dead today, aside from a 1 mile energy burst around 4.5 miles in which helped carry me up the steeper parts of the hills.  Glad to have this slog done.

LM warmup (10 reps), 8 miles in 1:01:34, 7:41/mi, HR 148, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 1 mile walk w/ dogs, core workout & stretching.

Left shin felt pretty good today.  0 pre-warmup, 1 during the warmup, and 0-2 during the run.  Legs still a bit tired....feeling a bit weak up the hills but that'll change.  Good hill sprint sets...tired on the last 5 or so.  

LM warmup (10 reps), 9 miles in 1:02:49, 6:58/mi, HR 160, w/ 2 mile warmup, 5 tempo miles increasing from HM to 10K effort in 6:46 (up), 7:00 (up), 6:35 (up & down), 5:57 (down), & 5:58 (down), 2 mile cooldown & stretching.

It's been a long week and my body feels tired from the mileage, despite the easy day yesterday.  That made finding motivation to run tempo miles instead of tempo intervals difficult, and the spotty rain and wind didn't help matters any, but......I did it anyway.  Workout called for HM increasing to 10K pace, so I tried to keep the effort honest but closer to HM for the first mile or so then dole things out from there.  Given the nature of the terrain (not flat), regular pacing was out the window, but I need these runs on the rolling hills to regain some strength I've (perceived) lost.  Despite the headwind at mile 2 (uphill, of course), the 2 downpours (not including the one on the last cooldown mile), and just being tired, a good solid tempo run workout.   Not sure I quite got to 10K pace on the downhill miles, but the effort was solid. 

I may make tomorrow an off day if I'm still tired so I'm recovered for Sunday's long run....knowing full well that I'll likely run anyway, but maybe if I say it here, I'll actually consider it.

Decided to follow thru and take today as a rest day.