Run Derneld, Run!

Early morning run with some strides at the end (5.99 in 46:07)

Pre-dinner run with hills (5.5 in 41:38)

Just a few miles to know that something is wrong with in my left shin. Not sure what it is, but running makes it worse. (3 in 24:03)

Still not back to running.

10 minutes on the stationary bike and weights.

3 miles on the stationary bike (10:28). Then strength training.

3.7 miles on the treadmill. Stopped right away when I started feeling what could've been inflammation (3.7 in 29:33)

Test run. Cancelled a long run. (1.6 in 13:08)

In town training through Wednesday. Early morning treadmill. Felt discomfort in the last 5 minutes (9.1 in 1:12:26)

6.7 miles in 53:24. Didn't want to push it.

Felt really good this morning (7.92 in 1:04:48)

I need to run outside more... (8.8 miles in 1:10:30)

Just can't ankle it. Did a lap around the neighborhood.

Had a really nice run around the green belt today. Weather was great. Feet felt great. Had breakfast and then had a temple date with Cheyenne. Fixed some windows and the refrigerator. Good day! (13.4 in 1:42:30)

Went to work early. Ran a mile outside before incoming traffic picked up, and the gym opened. Then used the treadmill until the start of the day (1.03 in 8:20 and then 4.2 in 32:52)

Early to work again. A little sensation in the ankle. Nothing alarming, but I stopped anyway and switched to strength training. All running was outside. (3.7 in 30:00)
 

Came to work early. Made a last-minute decision to do a workout this morning, on an "track" comprised of several low-traffic roads at work (they are no-traffic roads at the time I went). 

4x0.8T w/ approx 1 minute rests. This is all approximated. I didn't want to use the lap timer on my garmin and just did this by feel. It went pretty great, and I estimate that I ran a 7:00 pace on the sets. Did 8 strides afterward. (6.03 in 45:00)

Easy run around the neighborhood after work. Even with the heat it felt good to loosen up muscles that were surprisingly sore from this morning's small workout. I'm so grateful that my ankles could stand even a small workout. I'm hoping (again) that the ankle issues are past. (4.12 in 33:52)

Early into work today. (5.65 easy in 46:07)

Came in an hour early and got a good run in. First outside, then on treadmill as foot traffic picked up for the start of the day. (10.35 in 1:22:35)

Did some tempo paced bouts, but overall I had no gas this morning...my body was happy doing an easy jaunt and didn't really respond to anything fast... so there was an attempt at: 20min tempo, 3 minute recovery, 15 minute tempo, 2 minute recovery, 2x400m repetitions with 400m recoveries, 1 mile threshold

Stomach ache. 10.05 in 1:22:43

Early in. 5.97 in 45:58. I included a 12-minute threshold-paced run in this towards the end. Good short push a few days before my half marathon this weekend.

Early in. Ran 4.82 outside then went in on the treadmill before the fire alarm went off due to burnt toast. Did a perimeter lap with Jack and had a nice talk. Not sure about total distance so just guessing (6.5 in 54:00)

Early in. Easy pace that slowly got faster as I warmed up. Feeling pretty good!

4.45 in 36:49. IF half tomorrow and more extended relatives coming to visit. Should be a fun weekend! Today Ellie and I walked to Reed's Dairy for our Daddy Daughter date. She walked the entire way without being picked up (she's 2). What a trooper!

This was not my best race, but it was a wonderful return from months of nagging injuries. It was so nice to have a race day with no stomach issues, no ankle problems, and no unexpeected family emergencies. 

I don't remember everything I ate the day before, but there was definitely a lot of brown rice, peas, black beans, and a LOT of cheap winco whole wheat bread. The morning of the race, about 2.5 hours before start, I had a piece of toast (made from the same cheap bread) with honey and a little bit of peanut butter. I don't always log my day-before-race food choices, but I felt the need since I didn't have any stomach issues this time. Maybe this will be useful information to build off in the future. 

Cheyenne drove me the 5-minute journey to the bus pick-up a little after 5. The race suffered from a volunteer shortage, and the race actually started BEFORE all the buses arrived. Therefore I looked online after the race to find that I had actually finished in 12th place and not 7th like I had initially thought. The age group medals were awesome. The race was Christmas-themed for no apparent reason (who needs a reason to celebrate Christmas in July though?) and the awards were ornaments indicating the age group rank you achieved. 

The first 5 miles of this race are a fast downhill, but manageable. I actually did a lot better on this than I intended. I finished the first mile in 6:03 and did not feel like I was going that hard, and I am fairly used to the feeling of racing downhill. I slowed down, as expected, when the course leveled out, but I didn't get that terrible fatigue that you get when you burn yourself on the downhill. Another runner and I played tag for a significant portion of the race, and he helped me perform better than I probably would have.

Like I said this was not my best race, but it was certainly one of the greatest reliefs I've felt in a while.

My garmin measured the course at 13.72 miles (the course was different from previous years due to construction), and I also did a warmup and cooldown. I'm writing this the evening after the race, and feeling pretty good.

Early in. Short easy run, then lots of stretching and some strength training. Feeling a lot sorer than I expected from Saturday's race. All the soreness feels like normal muscle soreness. I don't suspect any deeper injury...time will tell though!
 

Early in. Ran on the treadmill, and did only as much as my body was willing to do. (4.6 in 36:24)