Step by step, mile by mile

AM - 3 miles + a few easy strides. Nothing really, just getting the legs loose for my first real workout this evening, should be fun. 7:0x pace felt like jogging this AM so hopefully that's a good sign. It shouldn't be too strenuous, just a fair amount of it.

PM - 7 miles w/ one set of 1000,800,600 in times not worth mentioning. The wind blew(thank you, thank you). Wanted more of a workout today so I got a good lifting session in after. Thanks for joining Rylie!

This job is going to be the literal death of me

AM - 6

PM - Yellow Hill repeats with the Apache. He put the hurt on me, reminding me I till have a ways to go to get in shape. I blame Walmart for not giving me any time to recover between runs. I spend 10 hours working, 11-12 sleeping, and trying to fit everything else into the remaining time. 

AM - 6 easy.

PM - Jogged for about ten minutes, laced up in the spikes and did a couple hard strides coming through the 100m in mid 13's. Wanted to jog a lot more and do more strides, but I could tell it would rain soon so I started the strides early, which didn't matter because it started pouring during my second one. Felt good on the strides nonetheless. Saw Rylie and her mom walking in the rain and gave them a ride back to their car after.

AM - 4 miles. Felt good since I didn't have to work last night, so I could actually rest up a bit. Did a pickup for 2 minutes or so, nothing hard, just trying to get near tempo pace for the 7-mile tempo run tomorrow(I type with fear in my heart). Went 5:20 pace for the pickup which is too quick, I'd like to start out around 6:10 pace and keep picking it up. Felt easy though!

PM - 5 with a couple strides. Would have done more but I might try to do my tempo in the morning.

AM - was originally supposed to do a tempo run this morning, but about an hour and a half out my stomach started hurting from not eating recently so I had some rice. That didn't sit well so I decided to do mile repeats at the park instead so I had a bathroom if things went south. I did 4 mile repeats in 5:26, 5:25, 5:08, 4:54. It was hard because the first third of it you were on the grass but you were fresh, the next third was on concrete so more responsive, but the last third you jump back on the grass and it slows you down. Really dug deep on that last one, it hurt. I had to start it twice because the first time my watch didn't start which stinks because I felt way better on that one for the 40 seconds I was actually running it. The others weren't too bad though, just a good effort all around. Didn't even take my shirt off so how hard could I have been going? All of these were faster than my paces on my 1000,800,600 last week so I'm getting fitter. Long cooldown + stretching, core and lifting after. Squatted 100lbs which is way more than I've ever done before(I'm just starting to understand how important strength is).

PM - 4 miles easy. Very slow. Forgot to mention I pet a horse on my cooldown, so an A+ cooldown.

AM - 5 miles ending with 4x200m trying to hit 36, 35, 34, 33 to shake out the tiredness and such from the legs. Actually hit 35, 31, then decided to try for 36 and 34, which I did. Overall they all felt pretty easy. The 34 I held for about another 50m after stopping the watch just because it felt good to stride out.

PM - 5. 

AM - 6 easy with strides, uneventful as always at 2AM.

This job is rough. If anyone likes hearing me complain about my job I'll be reading some scat poetry I wrote in angst Saturday night at "The Black Cat"

Fun workout with Kenny, I wish I hadn't worked all night prior to it so I would have felt better but we all endure trials of various measure. 5x600m and 5x200m. My good watch died and bad one didn't work so I just would start counting until Kenny finished and subtract the time. Because of the watch I took the 600's a little easier, I would sit on Kenny until different points(from 40m out to 400m out) and then shift gears and drop him(sorry Kenny). The times I got where 1:47-1:52 so not too bad, it wasn't hard besides being tired and having a dry throat. No matter where I kicked, it always seemed like I finished 50m ahead, except when I kicked with 40m left, but that was a pretty monstrous gear change. 200's were good, only timed the 5th, and by timed I mean waited for the watch to get to xx:xx:00 and run it, and I came in on xx:xx:28 on that one. Lifted after which was good, except that it's 12:30 now and I normally wake up at 7PM. Man this sucks. Thanks for tagging along Kenny!

hit a new record for consecutive sleeping time, just shy of 14 hours, thanks work. While sleeping was nice I woke up at 9PM so getting a run in wasn't possible. I'm counting some AM work mileage.

AM - actually did a run during lunch break, but I'm adding some work mileage in too. Felt pretty good. I don't work for the next couple days which I am BEYOND excited for.

PM - 5. I haven't hydrated or stretched really at all these past few days, plus I haven't gotten too much sleep so I didn't feel the greatest.

AM - 15 minutes easy + strides. Wanted to do some more but my left calf was tightening up. I'm gonna work on my hydration a lot these next few hours so I can have a good fast workout tomorrow morning with Kenny. My first 2 strides were 35 and 31.1 which I was pretty happy with because I didn't feel the best and they were in to the wind. Didn't time the lasts 2. Excited for tomorrow, I usually have fun on 400's.

PM - 4 miles jogging + some easy strides.

AM - Jogged around for a bit and met up with Clayton for a speedier workout this morning. What was on deck was 10x400m getting progressively faster and 4x150m. Just as we finished warming up it started to rain and get windy so that was annoying. First 3 400m's were 69(going 37, 32), 65(31, 34), and 67. After the 3rd repeat, I decided to just move to the 150's. I should have just toughed it out, but running with Clayton was a little demoralizing. He still has all of his fitness from track, so on this faster stuff he can whoop me. 150's were fun. Lately getting under 29 on the 200m's has been lucky for me so when I averaged 20.2(26 second 200m pace) and felt in control the entire time I was pretty happy. S/O to Clayton for running a 17 second 150m. Hopefully when we do some longer stuff I can get my revenge. He said he'd make a blog soon so S/O to him. CD for 7.

PM - I woke up(9PM) feeling dissatisfied so I decided to do some 600's on the track. I was planning on doing a few at tempo pace. After a couple I felt tired from just waking up and not eating since maybe 7AM so I decided if the next one was under 2:00 I'd end there. Went hard and did a 1:42. Pretty good for me as 600's go, especially for early preseason, and having a workout earlier/no food in me. Good times!

AM - 5 miles with 4x200m strides at the end. Only timed the 3rd one, that one took 30 seconds. Easy pace today was 6:20's. I don't think that's going to be a normal thing for a little while, but it was a good time. Starting to get pretty trim, I've lost nearly 20 pounds since finals.

PM - 5 at McCoy with Trevor. I could tell he wasn't in distance running shape(he's a basketball player after all), so I took him up a super super steep shorter trail for revenge for all the times he's made me push a pace when he biked behind me.

AM - on my lunch break I ran to Legacy, and did 4 laps continuous winding it up(1 lap=1/3 of a mile). Laps were 2:15, 1:59, 1:42, and 1:40. Tried to stay relaxed and easy on the last lap until the last 100 or so, but that was too late to bring the pace under 5:00. 5:21 for the mile on the last three laps. Tired from work so it was good.

PM - jogged 4.

AM - Ran a little over 2 miles to Legacy, ran a lap in 1:26(4:18 pace), and ran back. Felt good, I listened to my body and ran probably high 7's at the fastest yesterday, and today I was running low 6's on the easy parts, just because that's what felt easy today. I've seen a lot of guys on this blog whom push a fast pace on every run, and they all get injured, and when they aren't injured they aren't running that fast, which I find correlation in. The only exception I've seen so far was Ryan Raff, because he was the only person who actually had the times and was in shape enough to have low 6's as his pace on an easy run. Wanted to come through in 1:36 on the lap(4:48 pace), but I could tell I was going too quick about halfway through so I just sustained. I didn't stretch or anything, just did 2 miles, a couple short strides, and took off. Was not that hard of an effort, definitely could have held it through an 800 at least. Exciting stuff.

PM - 5 easy

AM - 5 easy

PM - was going to do a big workout, but I slept in too late to get in a good workout. I had a little time though so I got in some 150's and 200's. Gonna focus on strength over speed these next two weeks.

AM - 5

PM - 5. Had to go to the bathroom really badly but besides that I felt pretty light on my feet. Wanted to do a ten miler but I have a few big workouts these next couple of weeks.

AM - some easy running on the roads + 400,200,200 with 100m easy between everything. 400m was supposed to be sustainable and 200's getting something harder. 73, 28 high, 28 low. Felt tired but better after, hopefully woke up the legs for tomorrow's workout. I haven't stretched at all lately or hydrated well the past couple days so I'm gonna get on that right now.

PM - 5 miles very easy. I felt tight in a couple places so I found easy pace today and dialed it back another notch. Also did 2 easy strides. Icing right now for good measure. Tomorrow is gonna be fun running-wise, tough workout on deck.

Workouts can go many different ways. It's much easier to have a workout go bad opposed to well, but occasionally, when the stars align you get an A+ workout. And that didn't happen today. What I got might have been an A++ workout. Today's workout took place at RCL, at 8000ft. I don't know why but when I do workouts there they usually go very well. 3 mile WU, 3 mile tempo/time trial in, get this, 15:14(5:02, 5:13, 5:00). Finished up with 3x1000m in 2:48, 2:44, 2:56, hitting the last 800 on the first two in 2:09 and 2:07, and easing up for the last one. Wanted to do a mile after to top off the workout, but I was starting to hurt(starting..) so I called it there. I think I can live with it. Man this one hurt. Very happy with it. One of the runs where it's just you out there loving running, haven't had enough of those lately. Went out with the mindset that I wanted to go hard enough that my next run or two could be 10 minute miles and I'd find it understandable. Iced after in the creek which was colder than anything I could have imagined and it hurt just as bad as the workout. The craziest part, in my opinion, was that my heart rate never got above 142! It was pretty chilly up there though so maybe that should be held accountable.

AM - 6. Quads and hamstrings feel pretty thrashed but it was to be expected.

PM - some jogging to loosen up then 8x100m. First 4 in trainers, last 4 in spikes. First 3 were low 13's or high 12's, last 5 were 12.4(in trainers!), 12.2, 12.1, 12.2, 11.8. My 100m PR coming into this was 12.6, so I obliterated that. I think my 200m PR of 25.4 is going to be smashed real soon. Good stuff, all of the 100's I felt like I could have held for a while more.

I keep thinking "with the previous day I should be completely dead" and every day I'm stunned. Maybe the legs are finally adapting to the ~80 mile weeks! 6 easy miles that felt very nice + 4 easy 200 strides. Went 36, 34, 34, and 29, which I didn't expect at all because it felt like a 33 in terms of effort. By far the easiest sub 30 200m I've ran.

PM - 4 easy with a couple light strides.

AM - 20x400m jogging the bend as recovery. Started off with 77's and 78's and worked it down to 72's and 73's, so nothing too hard, just a good aerobic effort. Took a two lap recovery after number 10. After 16 I realized people were probably going to be on the track soon so I decided to do 18 instead and try to crank the last 2 in spikes. Did 59 low and 59 high, and MAN it hurt! The lactic acid really started to pile up around #12, but I'm happy with that because it gives me practice for powering through when I'm getting tired and tightening up. Drove home and cooled down the long way to the canal and iced(I'm still in the creek while I type this).

PM - glad I did so much of the daily mileage this morning because I woke up at 9PM(work starts at 10) and 2 miles was all I had time for. I just woke up and immediately found some shorts and shoes and took off so I had a lot of stiffness to work out that first half mile or so.

AM - the usual easy stuff. For some reason it felt eerie out at 2AM so I kept the pace a bit brisk, pretty close to 6 flat.

I offered to help with Kenny and his workout, and to my abhorrent disdain he said he wanted to do the workout in the AM. But, I came out nonetheless. He was doing a similar workout to mine yesterday, so I ran across the field to give him splits, and ran his recoveries with him too. Running across the field I was going pretty quit, and I racked up a lot more mileage than I was planning on today. Luckily it was almost exclusively on track and turf. I also ran the last 2 of Kenny's repeats(the quick ones). I ran in lane 2 the entire time and that one was a 73 so I don't know what it really was. Second one I took Kenny through the 300 in 60 and let him kick. He had a pretty good one. Hot out. Gotta hydrate well because I lost some fluids today. Already burned 3200 calories today and it isn't even 11 AM yet.

Overall an amazing week with 3 new PR's, also my first week finally hitting full mileage(not injured or anything, just lazy). Super excited to keep training like this and get in really good shape!

Just 5 in the AM, trying to play it safe with doing 31 miles in just about 24 hours on Friday and Saturday. Honestly more than anything it was because I slept super late and woke up at 9:30PM. Lately I've been needing 12 hours of sleep.

AM - 5 on the golf course. Wet out there. I'm going o do some k's out there tomorrow morning. Should be a blast. Going to try to tough it out and hit 10

Been having trouble sleeping, by that I mean with my job I need 12 hours a night which is a big time consumer, which caused me to miss my PM run yesterday which I was unhappy about, but I made up for it this morning. Did 1000m repeats on the golf course. It actually measured .01 short but I had sharp turns and had to run on pavement in spikes so it worked out. Wanted to get some good volume in at an aerobic effort, so was aiming for about 10k pace(3:20-ish). Hit 3:02, 3:15, 3:11, 3:19, 3:17, 3:11. The first one I hit way too fast, but then I got the hang of it. Legs felt good after #6 but the spikes I had on(sockless) were really tearing up my heels so I decided #7 would be my last. I took it out fast, and every time I rounded a turn I just tried to keep surging and ran a 2:49. Cooled down barefoot on the wet grass, that was nice. Did strides after and drove home. A bit later I figured I might as well get in all my mileage in the morning and did 3 more on Gov. I had to bring the car back though so the pace was about 2 minutes per mile faster than I wanted it to be.

AM - 4 easy

PM - 2 mile WU, yellow hill sprints, CD for 10 for the day. I'd sprint from light pole to light pole, resting in between, and man it was brutal. Harder than any of these workouts the past couple weeks.

AM - 4 with 3x200 strides. Didn't time the first one but it felt pretty bad. I felt tired. The second one was a 30 and the last one was 27, which for a pretty controlled stride in heavy trainers, I'm very happy with. 

I think my fitness is in a pretty darn good place right now. I'd say I've never been in better shape, I think early spring me could take me down in a 10x400m because 63's and 64's were just so easy then, but that's the only thing(I guess "a year ago me" in a 20 miler too). And that's without necessities I'll add into my training once I'm done working nights, like long runs, weights, drills, cutting out junk food(not time related. A guy's gotta have something), stretching, and doing more than just super easy jogging on my distance days, among other things. Even if when I start doing all of these things it ends up doing nothing, I'm still happy at the rate I'm improving. Another big thing that's changed is I'm starting to really like strength work(hills and longer repeats). Any longtime readers of the blog know in the past I've hated anything longer than 200m's, but I guess that's a good thing since strength work is just as essential.

PM - 6 easy w/ 4 strides. Felt tired.

AM - workout. It was cold out, and I never really was able to warm up the body so the times weren't amazing. Did a 1000m on the grass in 2:54 that felt pretty bad. It didn't hurt but I just felt like I couldn't go any faster. Then drove to the track and did 2x400 in 58 low and 58 mid, then 6x200m in 28, 27, 26, 27, 28, 28. These were all on the lower side(like 26.3 or 27.1). Just wasn't really able to ever get into a good groove. After the 200's I did some short sprints and cooled down for 11. At least those 400's were good! I've always had the fear mentally of going under 60 in a 400 at practice, it just seems so much harder than 61, but this was pretty easy so that was good.

PM - 4 easy. S/O to fellow SEC runner Craig Engels for signing to the Oregon Project!