M'kay

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.17 miles in 48:54, 7:55/mi, HR 160 w/ 10 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, & stretching.

Took the last 2 days off because I was feeling completely drained again.  So today felt like starting over again.  Vicious cycle. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 7.03 miles in 57:17, 8:08/mi, HR 163, w/ 2 mile warmup, 2 x Drills, 6 x Strides, 10 x 1/1 min Fartleks, 2.5+ mi cooldown & stretching.

Cloudy and cool (60s).  Legs a bit tired & sore already from yesterday.  Decided perhaps I'm over-reaching trying to jump back into workouts that are too hard and leaving me too drained, so scaled back today's to run an old standby....1 min repeats.  Fast but short, these normally go pretty well.  Today I was pretty cooked by halfway so running 10 was more than enough.  The cooldown back was a bit of a slog.

Shoulders have really been bugging me lately.  They get tired shortly into the start of the run and are distracting.  Lower back has also been problematic lately....going back to the core work I was doing before I switched to a new program in the hopes that it'll cure what ails me. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 10.05 miles in 1:17:58, 7:45/mi, HR 158, & stretching.

Light rain and cool (58F).  Quads a bit sore today.  First few miles were pretty slow and legs were tired but not as bad as they've been recently.  Warmed up a few miles in and decided to extend 8 miles to 9 and then 10.  Pushed the pace a bit on the downhills to catch the 8 min/mi pace and then decided to really push the last half-mile or so.....we'll call it a MP mile.  If all goes well, tomorrow will be a nice short easy day with short hill sprints.

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.1 miles in 48:27, 7:56/mi, HR 152, 10 x 12 sec Hill Sprints, & stretching.

Cloudy and cool (56F).  Legs tired but runnable.  First couple of hill sprints uninspired, but loosened up and got better.  All in all, okay for an easy day.

I'm beginning to think something really was going on over the past month or so.  Legs were tired today, but normal tired.  Comparatively, had some days where the felt....drained?  Not sure what the right word is to describe it, but different.  Closest comparison is probably bonking in a marathon hard, so perhaps I wasn't getting enough carbs into the muscles?  Dunno.  Refocusing on the basics, dialing the expectations back a bit, and taking it one day at a time seems to be helping.

LM warmup (10 reps), 12 miles in 1:27:30, 7:15/mi, HR 165, w/ 2 mile warmup, 2 x Drills, 6 x Strides, 8 miles Steady State (7:16, 7:22, 7:36, 7:48 uphill, 7:21 flat/uphill, 6:38 downhill/flat, 6:22, 6:14 downhill), 2+ mile cooldown, & stretching.

Cloudy, cool (56F) & some light rain.  1st warmup mile felt like none of my joints were really working...everything tight.  Got a bit better, drills not so bad, strides mediocre, but the Steady State went really really well.  I'd planned on only 6 steady state but when I hit the turnaround I decided to push on for 8 steady state miles, the same workout that went so horribly wrong last week.  It wasn't easy but I felt pretty good the whole time and didn't really start fatiguing until the last mile or so.  Even the last 2 cooldown miles were moderately quick.  Good run.

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.12 miles in 48:22, 7:54/mi, HR 154, & stretching.

Cloudy and cool (57F).  Nice and easy.  Loosened up after 3 or so. 

LM warmup (10 reps), 6.2 miles in 46:25, 7:28/mi, HR 155, & stretching.

Sunny and pleasant (mid-60s).  Late afternoon run, legs wanted to go.