M'kay

8.09 miles in 1:05:37, 8:07/mi, HR 144 & stretching.

Cardio fitness is fine.  Muscular fitness is lacking.  At least I think that's my conclusion, since my legs were tired holding an 8+ pace while my HR and respiration rate were low.  When I finally convinced my legs to "go", it was in the low 7s range, my HR and respiration were still down and my legs were working.   

LM warmup, 12.06 miles in 1:35:38, 7:56/mi  HR 155, w/ 3 mile warmup, 2 x Drills, 6 x Strides, 18 x 1 min repeats every 1/2 mile over 9 miles & stretching.

65F.  A real butt kicker today.  Tackling my perceived neuromuscular deficiency and hip tightness with some additional stretching throughout the day and the reintroduction of drills, more strides, and shorter, faster speedwork that focuses on full strides instead of turnover (which I seem to have plenty of).  Legs were already tired after the warmup, the drills/strides helped loosen them up some, then the 1 min repeats really worked them hard.  Its been quite a while since I worked my legs this hard on a workout.  The 1 min repeats didn't really tax me cardiovascularly.....I was breathing hard but in control.....but my legs got tired and I didn't let them slack off any.  I'm sure I'll feel this one in the morning.

LM warmup, 8.04 miles in 1:07:20, 8:22/mi, HR 144, & stretching.

75F & sunny.  Not sure what to make of this run, so I won't make too much of it. Typical first couple of miles where the legs were tight and uncoordinated.  Then they seemed to loosen up some but were very very tired.  Tiredness persisted through the run, but I did manage a decent closing mile given the downhill trend.  Whatever.

LM warmup, 4.54 miles in 37:58, 8:22/mi, HR 138, 2 x Drills, 6 x Strides & stretching.

62F & humid.  Legs felt tired pretty quickly again, along with the uncoordinated muscle contractions.  Managed to get a set of strides/drills in, but when I launched into the Steady State portion, I (barely) managed a mile before I was through.  Legs are just toasted.  Maybe I need a couple of decent days off where I only stretch and do core work.

Trip to the chiro today.  Leg hip was rotated a bit, so perhaps the adjustment helped.

LM warmup, 8.22 miles in 1:04:39, 7:52/mi, HR 152, w/ last 3 miles moderate, stretching and core work.

Cooler  & cloudy (61F).  The rest day helped some but still 1/2 mile into the run the left leg/hip uncoordination returned.  The hip flex muscles felt weak and seemed to be straining at a 8:45/mi pace.  The adductor muscle was tight....feet kept hitting the opposite (planted) leg on its way back to take a stride.  And my left leg strides didn't seem to have any power.  Muddled through that for a couple of miles, stopping to stretch a couple of times.  It got a bit better around the 4 mile mark and by about 5 miles felt pretty good, so I started pushing a bit.  Last 2 miles downhill were in the mid-upper six minute range so I have some good turnover and strides going.  Seems like once I finally warmed up and shook everything loose, things were decent.

So, focus on stretching, hip and core work, especially the left, and see what happens. 

LM warmup, 24.46 miles in 3:45:11, 9:12/mi, HR 141 & stretching.

Sunny and warm (68F).  Late day run today after spending the morning cleaning carpets.  First 3 miles was out and back to the bathroom, then up Scott Turner into the Elbe Hills for some trails.  The forest road got regraded and some quarry spalls spread......so instead of fairly compact roadway, I was dealing with large loose rocks.  Not so much fun.  Discovered a new trail today....Looking to intersect Memorial East instead I found Snoey.  Snoey to John R. (?) to Anvil Loop to Upper Elkspur to Memorial East and back home.  Ran into the guy who spends all his weekends maintaining the trails, so I stopped and chatted with him for quite a while getting the scoop on the trails, got a map, and got a phone number so I can report trees blocking the trails.  He likes maintaining them, but often has difficulty finding the blowdowns......sounds like the perfect job is for me to report the ones I find while out running.  Almost like its not work at all....

Legs pretty spent after today's effort.