Step by step, mile by mile

6 in the morning, got out before 6AM again. If I'm going to miss a run this week it's probably going to be within the next 36 hours

Another 6 after today's final. Just one more day and two more finals and my hair can stop turning grey for another few months

Also s/o to my boys Connor and Kenny bc they're both out rn but hopefully recovered and back on the blog soon!

6 in the morning. Managed to get out the door at 5:30 as opposed to 5:59 the last couple of days

Another 6 after my 7PM final. Now real training can begin pretty soon! I'm beyond excited for it

ran with a watch today, hopefully doing that from now on. first mile i felt slow and tired, my body lasted me through finals but now that they’re over i can feel the lack of sleep and proper nutrition, proper recovery, etc. anyway I ran the first mile in 7:05 which really surprised me, i guess i’m in better shape than i thought. tried not to speed up and ran a 6:36 second mile, and i got excited from that and tried to run the next mile around tempo effort. 5:36 with a faster second half. then drove to the rec center, ran another mile and worked out/stretched/core/etc

4 in the evening. Wanted to do 8 or 12 but I didn't get much sleep last night and felt exausted on the run, but better as it went on. Learned how to change autolap and now I have it set to 4 miles which I like a lot. 6:48 avg pace which leads me to believe 6 min pace might actually be easy, which is a big confidence booster with workouts starting next week. Need to start going to bed early if I'm waking up at 5 though

10 miles pretty easy at noon. Legs felt tight at the start from lifting yesterday but better as I went on. watch died at 9.4 but for that it was 6:56 avg pace. Supposed to storm a LOT soon and I'm not looking forward to it!!

4 in the morning, wanted to do a long run but had a chest cramp I couldn't work through. Cleaning up my diet starting today so no more ice cream/pizza/cookout hangover cramps from here on out. In the afternoon I did 8 miles with the first 4 in 25:25, then a 5:41, then I remembered I wanted to do a workout tomorrow so I jogged the last 3. First 5 didn't feel too hard. I though doing 3:20 kilo repeats were out of my range a week or two ago, maybe not.

4 easy in the morning + strides and drills. Felt good, 6:33 avg pace. Finally doing faster stuff this afternoon!

3 mile WU, 1000m, 800m, 600m w/ 400 jogging rec in 3:17, 2:31, 1:47, 1 CD

I suspected with around 600 days of no real workouts I'd probably need a rust buster workout or two, and 200m into the 1000m I knew I was right. Managed to hang on and run some okay times without giving too much. That 600m wasn't balls out but was definetly around the limit of how quickly my legs can move right now. Ran on the soccer fields, first time running on grass in forever and I forgot how it saps some of the force from your stride. Drove home, had some sweet tea and about an hour later I went and jogged 3 more with strides

So, that third run of the day was a mistake on my part. For further reference on doing 3 runs a day, spacing time to recover between each is important. Anyway right after mile 3 of run 3 yesterday I felt some pain/soreness on my outer left calf so I immediately called it there. It really wasn't much pain, but I pride myself in knowing what pain to run through and what pain to heed. Got a good night of sleep and as of this morning don't feel it anymore unless I do deep calf stretching, so I'll take today off and probably bike and do the gym routine tomorrow morning an do a shorter run in the evening if it continues to feel good, and use the rest of the week to build gradually to 12 a day, then try to get another 90 next week.

Went to the gym in the afternoon. Did probably my best upper body workout to date, probably time to start using 35's which seems big to me because that's what my dad would always curl in the garage when I was a kid. Then did some really good hip/leg work without using the calves too much, and some good core too.

10 min jog

So, yesterday's jog was a mistake(I knew it would be too(I was supposed to just bike) but I was just super antsy to run). It wasn't a huge one, I felt completely fine for 10 minutes and took a step and felt it, it went away after a couple of steps but I stopped there. I probably could have been good to go if I had took another 24 or 36 hours off, but now I'm back to where I was Tuesday recovery-wise. I'm okay though, gonna play it safe and start up again Saturday evening or Sunday. Overall a good learning experience this week, I'll be smarter for it. I am happy that it came from pushing a third run of the day too early so I have a direct cause-and-effect and that it didn't just come from the normal everyday stuff. I was a little unmotivated to run after finals and this got me super amped to run again so silver-lining. anyway

 I went to the gym today and biked for about a half hour, and got some good lifting and core in, I hope I have the time to keep the gym sessions up this summer. Wanted to bike for like 2 hours but was worried to could aggravate the calf but it felt fine. Hopefully don't lose too much fitness from 5 days off

Same thing as yesterday. Can do all of my normal reps with 30's no problem now. 

taking today totally off to make sure the calf strain's healed up, but plan on running tomorrow. Hopefully got the right recovery estimate this time!

Finally. I was ready to let every profane word I learned in public school fly the second I felt the calf pain, but unfortuanetly I didn't get the chance to. 4 miles at 6:28 pace but I swear I wasn't pushing it. Seems like I'll have to get my runs in before 10AM or after 5PM because I went at 2 and the humidity was brutal. 

4 in the morning with the last 1000m in 3:28, hopefully that's enough for me to be content doing the rest of this week's mileage easy

also happy birthday to my main man kenny the apache!! been running with that guy since 2013 and he’s a great running partner and one of the, if not the, nicest runners i’ve ever met, and i’m sure anyone that’s met him would say the same. he’s gonna go sub 2:50 in the next year mark my words fastrunningblog

ran a mile and stopped because I thought i felt calf pain, so I went to the gym and had a really good workout. I stretched after, and I tried some deep calf stretches and didn't feel anything, then ran to my car and felt really good, so maybe I imagined it, or maybe it wasn't a strain and just needed to be stretched out. guess we'll see tomorrow

Another 4 in the morning. I think a couple of things might have been affecting the calf, one is I've been opting for a uneven and rocky, but fast, course instead of my normal Sandy Rd lately since driving out to Sandy and back means 30 miles of gas used, but I think it puts more strain on the calves(and thinking back to it I think the calf strain originated stepping wrong in a rockier area) which is fine when I'm healthy but right now Sandy is the easier route on the legs. I ran there today and felt better, I could still feel it at the end though. Each time I run 4 miles I feel a bit better but being as the calf pain is still there, albeit barely, so I think I need a few more days off. I have many choice words about it and none of them are blog-friendly but I'd say two weeks of (choice word) training are okay if it means I can get good training in after so I'm just gonna end the post here. See ya in a few

10 minute jog. As hard as it is to not eat pizza or sweet stuff, I've felt pretty good these past few days eating the right vegan way

short jog with strides. legs felt good after the strides

6 on the rail trail in Paris(TX), gonna be here for the next week. At the turnaround I had a bit of tightness in my right calf but after maybe a mile at most it faded away and even doing stretches now I don't feel anything. Hopefully it just had to be run out. Humidity was through the roof(combined with two weeks of lackluster training) so an easy run at 6:49 avg pace meant a higher heart rate than usual. Happy I got it done! 

Lots of cross training all day since I'm in a ranch family now. Biggest workout was when my dad cut down two 50 foot trees and chopped them up and I had to move them about 30 feet to the burn site. Managed to carry, drag, or flip some very heavy limbs, felt exausted after like I'd just ran my body to shreds in a run and felt happy because I miss that feeling, and hope to feel it soon. I wore the pegs all day and my calf was aching by the end I think it means the problem may be from the shoes, which would be amazing because I just can't figure out a way to get rid of this darn thing. If so all I have are my saucony flats with me(always kept a pair of flats and spikes in the trunk since high school, never stopped), but the blisters would be 100% worth getting to crank out some high mileage right now. Probably gonna shed a few pounds this next week, I haven't been able to get under 160 all year despite getting down to 153 in the fall.

4 miles in the morning, it's my lil sister's bday and she wanted to ride her bike alongside me, so about a mile at 11 minute pace and then 3 at about 6:48 pace. Calf ached for the first 10 minutes and then went away

I knew I could do an 8-miler since I did 6 yesterday, so instead I decided to see if I could do a two-a-day. Answer is yes, felt no calf pain and was cruising even though it was very warm and humid. Managed to power through without dying off but as soon as I finished I was cooked. Took a minute and ran another mile. 6:19 avg pace

6 in the morning, woke up super groggy so it took about 3 miles to loosen up. 7:06 pace

3 easy in the morning, and 5 in the afternoon on a very hilly and hot route. First day since I initially hurt the calf where I never felt it which is excellent. pretty sure the PM run would be a tad easier than tempo effort on a flat cool course.

same as yesterday

Got back from Texas at about 7AM and passed out immediately so I only did 5 easy after I woke up around 4 or 5PM. Very hot out. Sad to leave Texas but excited for the summer to start! Classes start next week and my hospital job starts the week after.

Easy 5 on the soccer fields in the afternoon, super hot out. Should start working my way back to hard training again tomorrow, hopefully I can will myself to that 5AM run mentality in the morning but if not I have a few days to transition before classes so it's alright. Psyched the calf healed up, I've never had something stick around for that long and I know injuries can be a lot worse but just two weeks had me going crazy so I'm just super happy to get back to training, plus it was a good learning experience, and got me even more hyped to train my rear end off this summer!

8 at 9AM. no watch, left the charger in texas i think. got humbled by the hills on Sandy but i survived them

Doing a couple mini-workouts in place of normal workouts this week. Today did 2x200m to loosen up in 35.1 and 30.2, then 3x300 w/ 100m recovery trying to go faster in 54.7, 50.2, 43.4(goal was 54, 51, 48). Then did some bleacher laps focusing on moving my feet quickly going up. Those hurt way more than the track repeats. Didn't get out the door until 8-ish so I was sweating pounds off this morning. The 43 was nice but it doesn't mean much, except that hopefully I can develop a monster kick in the future.

5 miles easy. Trying to burn off some extra calories the past few days by doing the second runs of the day in the heat. It's working pretty well.

Just 4 in the morning on Sandy. Was going to do 8 but humidity + some really pesty bugs drove me to my breaking point after 4, so I'll do some more miles tonight.

Only managed 2 at 4PM, but got in a solid core workout and finally got under 160 again so there's a silver-lining here. Gonna make up for today's mileage later in the week

8+ and strides, no watch so calling it 8. Felt good to turn over the legs on the strides, they've been heavy since Monday. Managed to get out the door before 6 even though I didn't manage to get to bed until 2, but at least I beat the humidity and got my miles all done for the day, so now that it's over and done I feel pretty good. I think there's an anecdote about a bird and a worm and something about being early but I forget it

4 in the heat after the first day of summer classes. Love running and love getting to do it twice a day

8 in the morning, got more sleep than last night but not much more. Might move workouts back a week to get my mileage back up first.

4 after classes. Probably going to start going to the library after class and study for a couple of hours and wait for it to cool down. Gonna get to bed early and maybe do some fartlek work tomorrow morning if I feel up to it. Love fartleks, I don't know what it is about them but I feel like they get me in shape faster than any speed or tempo work. Hope I still love them at 5AM

4, 3, 2, 1 minute fartlek with equal recovery this morning. Legs still felt tired and was running hungry, but I managed on the faster stuff. Started at 5:20 pace for the 4 and worked it down from there. WU and CD for 9. Somehow woke up on my own accord at 4:45 so I was able to get back home before 6:30, great start to the day.

Easy run in the evening shaking out the legs from this morning. Mid-80's and breezy while the sun set, perfect running weather. Barely broke a sweat which is a bigger indicator of fitness in the south than a good workout. Listened to Watch The Throne on the run. Ball so hard mf wanna fine me