Step by step, mile by mile

AM - light 4.5 fartlek run in 30 minutes in the brisk morning. Felt trashed waking up, but felt pretty good on the run in comparison.

PM - 2.5 WU, 3x(30s up steep hill, 45s up gradual hill). Jog down for recovery. Averaged 5:15 pace on the steep hill and 4:20 on the gradual one. CD around stg for 10 for the day.

Driving back to Cali all day, so no morning run. Longer run once I got back. All I ate today was basically 2 quest bars, which are high in fiber and sorbitol and low in carbs so that combined with 2 8 hour car rides combined for feeling not great at the beginning. Took a pit stop at 4.5 and felt much better after that and was able to do a little fartlek. 

Walked Allie to school and ran back quickly in the AM. At 2 I ran pretty fast to her school and jogged back with her for a 2 mile WU. Got back, changed shoes, and jumped right into the workout. 2x(4 min hard, 4 min easy), 2x(3 min hard, 3 easy), 2x(2 hard, 2 easy), 2(1 min hard, 1 easy) on very hilly trails. Took about ten seconds extra recovery catching my breath. After the first 3 minute hard the trails got too treacherous for hard efforts, so I ran the next two miles at an honest pace on a rough trail. Second 3 minutes I hit 1:30 in and saw I was going around 5:25 pace so I picked it up hard and did the second half at 4:10-4:20 pace. Paces for the hard parts were 4:55, 4:54, 4:53, 4:51, 4:42, 4:59, 4:24, and 4:29. My top tier goal for this workout was to get sub 5 pace on everything, and if not that at least get progressively faster. I'm way happy I hit the A goal, my stomach wasn't feeling A1. More B12(bc I had a lot of tuna before the run. Clever, I know). Would have neg split but the 4:59 and 4:29 were all uphill, but every hard part had at least some uphill so it was just a great workout. Covered 7.2 on the 40 min fartlek, so about 5:35 pace. Really just one of those runs where you lose yourself in it. I was very surprised to see I hit 16 miles!

Fartlek. Not too hard. Right quad had a knot in it but the hills helped loosen that up. Surprisingly hot out. Felt around 80's, but it was mid 60's. Stretch, core, and strength after. Icing after that.

My flight got moved from today to yesterday because of "snow-pocalypse so no running yesterday. Made sure to walk around a lot though to keep the legs somewhat alive. Was lazy and just visited with family until the afternoon, where I did 5 miles fartlek w/ strides after. Made sure to push the hills. Felt pretty good, I wish I had time to run yesterday, though. Guess it's deuces to #3 on the yearly mileage board.

Ran to a nearby high school, but it was locked down so I couldn't run on the track. Ran back and did a long uphill stride. My knees been feeling a little annoying lately, it's no injury but I'll take tomorrow off and stretch.

Drove back to Tuscaloosa today. Ran for a bit at 5:50-ish pace, then Ethan stopped me to talk for a second. He was about to go do a track workout, so I decided to go with him. Warmed up about 4 miles altogether. I did 8x200 w/ 200m recovery. I didn't feel great because I had some heavy Mexican food for lunch earlier, and a four hour car ride, so I was gonna try to just stay consistent. Went 29 on all of them. I felt pretty good, not sprinting or anything, just keeping a fast pace. After that I cooled down 2 or 3 miles, then ran the last 250m of Ethan's 800's with him for motivation, then cooled down some more and stretched. Ran grocery run after because Lakeside was closed. Good session.

I keep putting the wrong entries for their respective days. This is correct, but Sunday's run was actually yesterday's run. Today I ran 7 miles fartlek. The first 2 were figuring out my classes for the semester(that starts tomorrow), then 5 down to the park and back to the dorms. My classes are all really close to each other, but they're all more or less a mile away so that'll be good for waking my legs up in the morning(the latest class starts at 10AM). I could have done more 200's yesterday, but I think 8 was the ideal number to start because my muscles I use to go fast(glutes and upper quads) were fairly sore. Besides that I felt good, it was warmer out(high 60's) but the 10-15mph wind negated that.

3 mile WU on the river walk. Certain things felt tight at times, but I felt really strong. Ran a 2000m in 6:06. The AC at the rec wasn't working, and I wore an insulated shirt, so I got overheated really fast. Got some water and jogged a half mile. Tried to go for another 2000m and hit 1200m in 3:41-2 but the heat was destroying me. My stomach also felt like I had eaten something hot recently but I don't think I did. Even though I couldn't finish the workout a 6:06 2000m in early January shows I'm pretty strong already. At least I think so. Long CD for 12 for the day, and stretching, core, and strength after.

Morning run so I could have the rest of the day after physics w applied calc to relax/get a head start on homework. I ran on grass for the most part, and that combined with a heavy dinner last night, and a tough workout yesterday(and no breakfast) means my legs had very little life in them. Pace wasn't bad, it just didn't feel natural. My form felt a little off.

A mile between classes, then 2 mile WU to the track after class, and another mile on the track. Workout was 3x(150, 200, 300, 200, 150) trying to hit 20, 32, and 49. Actual times were 19, 32, 47.00, 31, and 20. Next one hit 21, 30, 49, 31, 20. Last set I hit 20, 32, 48.9, 32, 21.1. Normally I'd be happy I ran faster, but I wasn't going hard as much as I was trying to hit a certain pace. Got pretty close to the times on the last set though so I was starting to feel out the pace. Finished with 200m hard. I felt really good on this, form felt good throughout and I didn't tighten up after 100m. Hit 25.9 which is a huge 200m PR for me. I've never even gotten 26's. And in flats! 3/3 great workouts this week. Good conditions out today too. Mid 70's, 6mph wind, sunny... it felt great. Hurdle drills, CD for 12, stretching, core, and strength after.

7 easy miles. Hot out. I was pretty tired from an almost 4 hour long session yesterday but i felt good irregardless.

Another warm session today. 3 miles WU, 16x150 @800m pace w/ 100m recovery. Was trying to hit mid 21's, so about 1:55 pace. First 2 were about a second slow, then the next one was too fast, then the next few were on pace, but felt harder than they should. After about 7 I realized that the cones I assumed were used to mark 50m's were closer to 60m, and I used the 300m hurdle marks to set them at the right distance after that. After that, I hit 21 for the next 7 and it felt much more manageable. Last 2 I hit 22.04 and 22.09, but that was only because of headwind. By the end I was starting to be able to hit the pace and it feel pretty natural, which was the goal of the workout. I told myself I'd try to get 16 but if my form started to break down at all I'd stop. Felt good on everything, so another good workout! CD for 10. No weights after, I wanted to focus on homework. This semester is going to be challenging, which is a word I haven't used in reference to academics in quite a while.

4 miles in the zantes, but my arches really hurt so I went and switched to the structures and felt fine. Not sure if I was pushing the pace or just low on energy from skipping breakfast and lunch for homework

Speed workout today! Warmed up about 4 miles. Workout was 3x150, 1x200 w/ walking back to the start serving as rest. I felt congested and sort of sick today, and it was extremely windy, but I made the best of it. 150's went 19.70, 19.38, and 19.75. I didn't feel as fresh as normal, I didn't stretch or do strength the past few days so that might be why. 200m I went hard and ran a 25.38. I wanted to break 25 but 25.38 is still really fast for me. I'll just not worry about it, I'll get faster as I get stronger. Ran a 300m for fun after in 54, and did about 7 miles of CD for 12 for the day. Lots of stretching, core, and strength after.

7 miles easy w/ strides after. My left arch killed during it. Rolled that hard, massaged it, and stretched after.

Set a PR today... 15:56. Not running. You solve every square from 1-100 in your head. It might not sound too bad, but I'm only taking criticism from those with 15:55 or better. Figuring out 89x89 in seconds takes some energy! 

Strength session today. Lots of reasons this workout should have stunk today but negative thoughts don't make champions. 3 miles WU, 6x600m with long active recovery, not to recover as much as just tire me out. Good heat training today too. My times were 1:59, 1:54, 1:49, 1:55, 1:50, 1:51. Legs felt like lead from two days off. Arches hurt the first two miles then it got better. Long CD to the dorm, relaxed for a little while, then ran to the rec and did the normal stretching/core routine, plus a fun strength session.

7 miles in the hail/rain. Was supposed to be easy, and felt pretty easy, but I just started thinking about outdoor and got excited. Pace was right around 6 flat for the most part. According to my heart rate, it was more aerobic than easy.

4 mile WU. 20mph winds w/ 30(?)mph gusts today. 20x200 aiming for 32s. 200m recovery. Averaged 31.9, but that was only because I ran a 28.9 last 200 to mimic how tired I'll feel when finishing. Lots of lactic acid and tight muscles. Not trying to save the world on this workout, just trying to hit my paces, which I did pretty well. Those last 5 I was starting to feel it, but I prevailed. Hurdles after that, and CD for 13. Core/stretching and another sweet strength session after.

Normal easy run, with strides after. Ran on the fields for a few steps and my arches began to hurt. Realized that everytime my arches have hurt lately I've been on the fields, so probably gonna cut back on that. I went to bed at 8 last night so 12 hours of rest felt pretty nice.

4 mile WU. 2x(250.250,150,150,200) 800m pace. It was a hard workout and I've been super taxed with school the past two days so I wasn't as mentally strong as I should have been. Times went  36.7, 36.6, 21.0, 22.0, 29.0 for set one. I got really down on myself because I was running a little slower than I wanted to so I was just in a really negative headspace. Watched a little motivational video and that fired me up a little bit. Hit 35.1, 35.0, 22.0, 21.8, and 28.0 on set two. When you add everything together it's an average pace of 1:54 for the 800m so not as bad as I originally thought. Skipped strength bc I don't want to feel like I did today on my next workout. Windy 250's are pretty tough, by the way.

7 miles w/ a 1.5 mile pickup in the middle. Not intentional. For the first mile or two, I was reeling in this guy, despite not going too hard of a pace. As I got close to him I surged and passed him as to not cut him off. I hear his footsteps speed up, and realized he matching my pace! I wanted today to be easy, but my competitive edge got the best of me. It was pretty fun, he was a tough runner. He matched every surge I had, and I was going pretty quick, but on a steeper uphill he sprinted up it and I just kept the pace easier. I realized that if I wanted to maximize the mileage on the riverwalk loop I'd have to turn pretty soon. so I sped up again and got a few seconds ahead of him. As I turned we made eye-contact and waved at each other, so all's well that ends well.

Hard stuff today. My legs felt pretty tired and heavy since the 20x200 earlier this week, I think I still have junk in my legs or something. I wish I had ran yesterday, but schoolwork is the priority. Strength workout today was 3x200m in 30s. 5x2 minutes hard. Averaged 4:37 pace on the hard, but I think it's probably a few seconds quick. 3x200m in 28. First 2 of those were miserable but the last one felt good. Went and played racketball with Grant for a few hours after my run. Legs were on fire after.

Shakeout before dinner.

S/O to Ryan, Kedric, and my lone peak boys for killing it at the oval.

Aerobic run today. Normally I don't run with my watch on easy days because I get too competitive knowing I'm being tracked, but I was running a different path today, and I was curious what my pace is on these days. I was pushing the pace so I turned the watch off mid-run so I could relax a little. 6:19 avg pace for what was tracked, so the actually avg pace was probably in the 6:30's. I felt really good the first mile or two, but since I went a little too quick in the beginning I felt a little tired in the middle miles but I don't think it'll affect me too much. Did some strides during the run. I hate how windy it is here, it's always 15mph+.

4 mile WU. 3x150m in 19, 20, 21. 3x(300,400,300 @mile pace) in 47,63,46, 47,64,48, 48,64,46. 3x150m in 22,21,21. 

Good stuff. I felt really tired and didn't eat too much breakfast so I thought it wouldn't go great. But it went fine. More than fine. I'm really happy these paces are sustainable in January. The pace felt pretty natural come set 3. CD for 12.

7 miles. Very hot out. I dressed with what I had clean(basketball shorts, cotton shirt, calf sleeves), and it was very hot so not fun stuff. My calves were burning crazily after about a mile, I blame the calf sleeves. And very sparse stretching after a hard workout yesterday. Lastly, a good portion of skin was torn off my right pinky toe yesterday from either the sock or the shoe itself. So not a very fun run, but I'm blessed to be healthy and fit.