M'kay

LM warmup (10 reps), 22 miles in 2:47:03, 7:35/mi, HR 160, w/ last 11 miles Moderate (7:22/mi), 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, & stretching.

Full range of weather today:  sun, clouds, calm, wind, rain, and sleet.  Okay, no snow.  Basically a 2 loop course, with the 2nd loop moderate.  Noticed a problem right away on the first loop....my HR was about 8-10 bpm higher than typical at the same effort, so evidently my day of rest yesterday was not so much.  Or something.  Anyway, went with it, got a decent easy pace 1st half done, then settled into the 2nd half.  Felt better at the faster pace for the first few miles, but since there were 11 of them, I just went by Moderate effort instead of trying to get close to MP today (so the miles weren't Easy but they weren't MP miles either).  GUs at 11 and again at 16.5.  Hit the deathmarch stage around 18; fortunately, the rest was downhill, but it hurt nonetheless.  Managed to hobble thru a 1.5 mile walk w/ the dogs afterwards, but it was sloooooow.  I'm going to be feeling this tomorrow.  Come on super-compensation!

LM warmup (10 reps), 6 miles in 47:45, 7:57/mi, HR 145, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 2 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/Crunch/Leg Abduction ladder (7 steps), & stretching.

Very stiff and store today, mostly in glutes and hips.  Nearly feels like I raced a marathon.  Today's mileage was pretty close to torture, but I knew getting things moving and loosened up would help in the end.  Managed to gut thru the first few hill sprints, which really did help loosen things up, but it's going to take another day or two to get my legs back.  Will need to relook my training week tomorrow once I can assess things again.

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 Moderate miles in 1:11:34, 7:09/mi, HR 160, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, core work (7/7/4), & stretching.

Hips still a bit stiff this morning, so I decided early to swap tomorrow's and today's workout.  Really, this just flipped these workouts back to the way they're given in the training plan I adapted, so maybe the author knew something I didn't.  In any event, I wasn't feeling like this was going to be a particular good one going in, but I was wrong.  After settling in over the first mile or so, I just focused on keeping it moderate and went from there.....turns out I felt pretty good throughout.  Pace still is quite a bit off my goal MP (but they weren't easy miles, so I'm dumping them into the MP miles bucket), but at least things felt better.  Plus, a nice day outside to boot.

LM warmup (10 reps), 13.91 miles in 1:41:40, 7:18/mi, HR 156, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Strides/Drills, 6 x 1 mile @ 10K + 5 sec pace (~ 6:15 flat) w/ 3 min rest in 6:00 (down), 6:30 (up), 6:33 (up), 6:01 (down), 6:31 (up), 3 mile cooldown, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, & stretching.

Wasn't sure how I'd feel after doing a moderate session yesterday, but one I got started on the warmup, I could tell the legs were raring to go.  Still dealing with some left shin pain but nothing intolerable.  First couple of repeats felt good, next couple started working, and the last 2 my legs were tired but otherwise things were fine.  I'm chalking this up as a really good workout.  Now to keep this up thru the 15K on Saturday.

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 miles in 1:15:54, 7:35/mi, HR 153, 1.5 mile walk w/ dogs, PU/Crunch/Leg Abduction ladder (7/7/4), & stretching.

What a gorgeous day....55F and sunny.  Legs got pretty tired by 6 miles in but feeling good otherwise.

LM warmup (10 reps), 10 miles in 1:18:34, 7:51/mi, HR 148, w/ 15 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, 1 mile walk w/ dogs & stretching.

Crazy nice weather....sunny and 54F.  Really tried to hold back today....feeling decent but not spectacular.  Legs still a bit tired.  Hill sprints went really well after the first couple.  

Mixed feelings about tomorrow's race.  It will only be my 2nd 15K and I won (outright) the first one, so in some respects this one's going to be a bummer.  But I'm really hoping to run in the 58 minute range so I can at least PR.  My memory of the last 15K race is that I went out pretty hard and hung on....hoping I feel like doing that again tomorrow.  At least the conditions should be ideal.  Wonder what the course is like though....

2 mile warmup in 15:04, 7:32/mi, HR 154 w/ 0.5 mile tempo (~ 6:20/mi).  LM (10 reps).  15K in 58:33, 6:17/mi, HR 167.  2 mile cooldown in 16:13, 8:07/mi, HR 140.

Perfect racing weather...sunny and about 50F at race time.  The 15 mile was pretty stacked at the top since this was the PNTF 15M championship.  After a brief warmup (where the tempo portion again felt like crap....typical), lined up for a 9am start a few rows back this time, a nod to both the quality of the 15M field and to try to not go out too fast at the start.  Worked as planned.  

Aimed to run in the 58 minute range, hoping for 6:15/mi pace at best but would settle for 6:20/mi pace.  Since I haven't run the longer (than 5K) course before and couldn't find a course map, I wasn't sure what the terrain would bring, but I knew there were a slew of turns and some contour to the course, based on the 10K route I did manage to lookup.  Announced at the start that the 15K and 15M courses had both been certified recently, so definitely in for a fair race.

Not a whole lot of elevation change, but some rolling to start, climbing to the 3 mile point followed by a decent downhill then some flats to the turnaround, then reversed.  Splits were 6:15, 6:22, 6:29, 5:59, 6:18, 6:37, 6:10, 6:06, 6:14, 1:58 (5:25/mi).  First half I was pushing pretty hard off the back of a group, caught them in the 3rd mile, then pushed to stay ahead.  Got passed (chicked!) around 4 but lucky me....she was running the 15M!  Less competition after the turnaround, but I did pick off two more runners and was trying to close as much as possible on a third when the kick began.  The faster closing miles are mostly because of the downhills, but now I'm wondering if I should've pushed harder in the beginning miles?  Oh well, next year I guess.  Happy to take 1st in my AG and 6th overall, which should put me in good standing for the series competition.  One more race in a month (20K), a week before my marathon.  Also happy that I was able to PR on the tail end of a big mileage week for me.  Now off to find more food!