M'kay

Crazy bad weather today.  Wind gusts up to 45 MPH with trees coming down across the road in spots.  Needless to say, I got some sprints in anytime I head the oh so familiar CRACK near the big trees.  Rain was sideways is places.  Middle 4 miles had plenty of leftover slush in the roadway making footing tricky (and wet).  Tired legs made this run difficult (not to mention the difficulty convincing myself to actually get out the door).  Almost talked myself into stopping at the 11mi mark (as I ran back past my house), but I kept at it for the full 13 miles.  Average pace was 8:09/mi, but it sure felt a lot harder today.  

Left knee in some considerable moderate pain in places on this run.  I'm considering going back on the full Cosequin dosage, but think I'm going to hold off for a few more days to make sure this isn't a fluke.  Tomorrow is definitely a recovery run day for me. 

Another crappy weather day. Fought gusting headwinds on much of the outbound leg (uphill, of course), then winds died on return so no boost there. Difficult to keep HR below 146 threshold. Some local flooding from all the rains and the snow runoff from increased temps today had me soaked above my ankles in about 5 minutes....felt like I was running cross country (not that I ever did run cross country) on the road. 2 dog encounters (same dog); 1st included a connection between my foot and it's jaw (just enough to let it know to back off); 2nd took about a minute for owner to finally retrieve pooch from our standoff, so overall recovery pace of 9:15/mi average is a bit off.

Time to retire my oldest pair of shoes today as the just hit 500 miles.

Much less left knee pain today.  Suspect pushed too hard on Easy run days this past week, so must continue to program in Recovery days.

Easy run at 7:56/mi average pace.  A beautiful day compared to the last few.  The winds I encountered were headwinds on the downhill and much milder than the gusting mess from the last few days.  Felt MUCH better after yesterday's Recovery day effort.  Some left knee pain (mild) 7-8 miles into the run, but much better compared to yesterday.  I'm taking this to mean that I needed to include more Recovery days in last week than I did, not that the Cosequin was having any real effect.
Last mile was 8x100m Striders w/ 100m rest in :17, :17, :19, :17, :18, :18, :18, :18. 
Run followed by plyometric drills, lunges, and squats.

Good running weather. Recovery run today; very easy to keep HR low enough today, even on most of the uphill sections.

Need to try Spenco insoles in these (Trance 7) shoes....some minor pain under ball on left foot. No wearing cushioned orthotics in these since they're smaller than the Adrenaline 7s I have. Not going to get Trances again...too cramped.

No knee pain today, so recovery sessions have done me good. Ready to tackle a Steady State run tomorrow.

Core exercises and stretching afterwards. 

Cooler and foggy today. Started with a 2 mile warmup at 8:02/mi average pace. Shed some clothing and started my 6 mile Steady State run. 3 miles uphill (progressively steeper), 3 miles downhill in 7:06, 7:18, 7:25, 6:24, 6:32, 6:40. Aiming for 6:55 avg pace, so effort was pretty even throughout. Felt pretty good and probably could've sustained for another mile or two, but that's for another week. Finished off with a 2 mile cooldown at 7:45/mi average pace (a bit fast as I unintentionally ran the first (slightly downhill) mile at near marathon pace before I backed off).

Plyometrics, lunges, squats, and stretching afterwards.

Easy recovery run at 8:35/mi avg pace, a bit fast for a recovery day.  No problems keeping HR down and speed was a bit faster than recovery zone.  Experiencing some minor pain in ball of left foot that I need to monitor so that it doesn't get worse.
Core exercises and stretching afterwards.

Left ball of foot pain this AM almost caused me to skip run, but it felt pretty good with shoes on, and didn't get any worse when I moved around. It's definitely being caused (or made worse) by Trance shoes I have, so I really need to stop wearing them. Decided to try run and bail if it felt worse.

4 miles on road, and decided to run the local logging trails. Figured my feet could use a break from the asphalt and I'd risk the odd painful foot-plant on the rocks. Started at 20% off MP and worked into 10% off MP halfway into run. Route had 2 very large hills, one early and one late, which definitely slowed pace, but took them much better than last time (few months ago). Overall pace in fast end of Easy range, with some miles at close to MP (downhills). Quads got pounded on extremely steep downhill section, and abductors sore towards end of run, but happy with the result.

2:16:39 @ 8:02/mi pace.