Step by step, mile by mile

5 in the morning. The mileage is starting to show in other ways besides just being able to run a lot, my easy pace is getting faster and faster. First time on these 5 mile morning shakeouts where I felt ready to run fast instead of just jogging to loosen up from the 10 the afternoon before. Gonna start weights this week, then maybe supplement some of my runs next week for fartleks to get the legs ready to run fast, then workouts the week after. I've had a few different moments in my running life I'd argue I was at my most fit(August 2016 and June 2017), hopefully about to add July 2019 to that list!

10 in the evening.

SOTD: A Friend - KRS-One

5 in the morning. Left arch needed to get stretched out that first mile but otherwise same ol', same ol'. Excited to do weights tonight.

10 in the afternoon. Put ice in my car water bottle before I left and words cannot explain how excited I was after the turnaround thinking about drinking that. Still amazed I can put myself through 4PM runs in this kind of heat. During yesterday's 10 the legs were hurting a bit but they felt fine today which means I can breathe a small sigh of relief with a long run around the corner. Gonna push back starting weights for a couple of days to save my energy for it today and save energy to recover from it tomorrow.

SOTD: Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

Long run. Difficult(how can it NOT be...), but easier than the 18 last week and the 16 before, the last few miles both times it felt like my legs were falling apart a bit, nothing was hurting but I could feel every step in every leg muscle in me, not today though. Maybe the mileage is finally setting in. Longest run of my life, but I also did 20 twice in the summer of 2016 so I knew what I was in for. Also someone call a OB-GYN because I went ALL THE WAY on Sandy today for the first time! Hills somehow got even more insane the last couple of miles, I doubt many people, if any, can say they've ran the entire thing considering I've seen one runner on it once the 2 years I've been running it and it's 20 miles of the most brutal course I've ever ran. Felt very proud standing on that asphalt 10 miles from where I started. Overall very proud, very hungry, very tired. Hospital shift at 5, let's see if I manage not to call in. Also also 110 miles over the past week! That was the goal for this Sunday-Saturday, not going to alter that.

SOTD: I Seen A Man Die - Scarface

5 in the morning. Tired of waking up hungover, might be going monk mode. Legs felt good, right achilles would feel tight for a couple seconds every couple minutes or so towards the end. Gonna stretch that out

Was actually super worried about the achilles thing, it wasn't anything major this morning but I'm so in love with running and training right now and I'd hate to have a reason to stop, not to say I wouldn't listen to my body if it told me to stop. So I ran on the grass fields instead of Sandy in case I had to pull the plug, after about 5 miles and absolutely nothing from the achilles I realized I was so focused on that that I didn't notice my legs felt really good! Not super fresh but the 20-miler was definitely shaken out of them. Feels like freshness doesn't affect pace, aside from the Thursday morning shakeouts where I try to just jog the entire thing. Decided to throw in a 1000m striding out, no rest or easier running before or after, just jumped straight into it and got back into the run as soon as I finished. Ran 3:25, felt easy enough that I'm really excited to do lots of 1000m repeats soon since that's my favorite workout besides all-out sprints. Also forgot to mention I didn't call in yesterday, worked the shift.

SOTD: Son of Yvonne - Masta Ace

5 miles shakeout in the morning. Legs felt stiff the first couple of minutes but they loosened up pretty quickly after that.

10 in the afternoon on intramurals, drizzled lightly here and there. Legs felt good, only complaint is a blister on my right big toe I accrued during the long run. Let's pretend that's correct usage of the word

SOTD: Cocaine Blues(Folsom Prison version) - Johnny Cash

10 on intramurals, first 5 or so with Gilbert Kigen(2nd in the NCAA 10k last month). Really nice guy. That was about 6-flat pace, I didn't blow up after but it was hot and bright out so I was definitely closer to overheating than I wanted to be. Doing a shorter shift today I think so should actually have a couple of hours of rest before sprint saturday commences. Might not do the half-mile of speed changes since today's AM run was pretty fast.

Sprint Saturday - 3-mile WU w/ last half-mile speed changes in 2:28, 5x120m sprints, 1 mile CD. Felt tired but when it was time to move fast legs didn't show it. Also got my first 3 week triple digit streak, let's see if I can get it to 4 by next Saturday

Truly sad news today, apparently last night a mother was driving her daughter and daughter's friend somewhere when she accidentally provoked someone into road rage and he decided to do a drive-by right then and there, killing the mother and wounding the girls badly. I don't even know what to say on the matter, besides posting it here so the girls can be in the bloggers thoughts and prayers.

SOTD: Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst - Kendrick Lamar

Long night, went to bed at 5AM, woke up at 9AM, ran 5 to get my car, worked a long shift right after and was too exhausted to run after

5 in the morning. Very very very irritable from not getting to run any real steam off since Saturday morning. Achilles was tight when I got out of the car after

10 in the afternoon. Was kind of worried this weekend took too much of a toll on me, I think I'm good though. Pretty sure I need another good night's rest before I'll be 100% though

10 in the morning, probably switching my longer run of the day back to the AM. While it is much easier to do a shakeout with no food in my system than over an hour of running, it's a lot easier to relax after knowing I only have a shakeout left to run, plus there's a lot of stress in eating the right things at the right time so I don't cramp up on the PM run(not saying I'll start eating junk food again, but 5 miles is 100 times easier to power through with a cramp than 10). It was a much easier method when increasing mileage, but the long run is probably the only thing that'll go up in mileage in the next year-ish of training, besides the occasional accidental too high mileage day. Plus it gives me more time to get ready for the long run tomorrow! excited to (hopefully) run my longest run ever. As for the run today, felt pretty good. There's some sort of huge soccer thing happening on intramurals so I ran it on the turf field, lots of loops.

5 in the evening. Heat index said 107F... I believe it.

Longest run ever, probably the second most painful experience of my life after the morning after I had 16 shots of bacardi to end a 18 hour fast. Did it all on an empty stomach aside from a sip of water when I woke up and a couple sips of gatorade on the drive up to Sandy. Basically about 16.5 miles of a hard but fair run, then I bonked and the next 5.5 were pure hell. Started at 7AM on the dot, wore a black shirt along with black shoes, shorts, and spandex. Not a cloud in the sky either. I didn't feel like I would but I was pretty worried I'd black out without warning the last couple of miles. Even though I do think they look kind of dorky I think I need to make an investment in one of those ultra running backpacks if I wanna be able to do these long runs and not die lol. If anyone with experience with long long runs has advice on good food before/during runs please lmk(I was thinking clif bars, I tried a gel once and it made me sick after the run was over, willing to try again though). I was most worried about my legs on this run, they have been getting better by the day since the weekend and I knew I could do the normal 10 and 5 but I was really worried I'd get 11 out and hurt myself, but my sheer stupidity and defiance of physiology prevailed once again. Good character building today, run even managed to take less than 3 hours despite lots of huge hills + walking after the bonk so I wouldn't pass out or anything(cannot emphasize the magnitude of this bonk).

10 in the morning. Actually felt pretty good considering yesterday, got lots of sleep so that helped.

5 @ 6:30 pace with 4x200m strides thrown in at the end. Pace was a bit quicker since there was a huge storm about to roll in, darkest clouds I've ever seen. Hopefully power doesn't go out tonight because I have a test to study for tonight.

10 in the morning on the turf field. I had some pinpoint tightness in my left calf, I'm at the point where if I don't finish a morning run it's a potential day-ruiner so I took off my shoes and it went away immediately. 6-ish miles of barefoot running on turf put some strain on the achilles but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Probably a sign to retire the Vomeros for anything besides torrential downpour running. 

4.5 easy + 4x200m strides in the afternoon. Went 34.8, 32.3, 3rd one I hit the lap but didn't hear the beep so I slowed down, but then looked at the watch and saw it did lap so sped up hard and ran a 28.9, chill no-watch 4th stride after that. That was 10 times easier than the 4.5 miles before - I started at 3PM and the heat was brutal. Started driving to the rec center to lift, then realized I left my ACT card to get in at home. Called my mom on the way back, that call turned an hour long, drank some fluids during it, and that brings me to this current moment in time. About to go to the bathroom and try and get a lift in still. 28.9 in trainers... didn't see that coming.

10 in the morning. Even though I tried to go easier on the leg lifting yesterday still fairly sore, mainly hamstrings, but definitely less sore than I've been starting up weights in the past. Run was tough from that though, plus I was out with friends until midnight so I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted and it was very hot out by the end, gotta get back to waking up at 5AM while getting 8 or 9 hours of sleep a night somehow.

5 miles after my shift. Was drizzling and cool - perfect way to get my 4th 100+ mile week in a row. No sprint Saturday because of the rain though. Finally got a watch charger so I got to see how much I walk during my shift - not going to add it to the mileage, but walked 3.5 miles today.

Tenative plan is add weights consistently next week, maybe some fartlek running too, and start the workouts the week after. Excited to run fast!

10 in the morning, threw in some one minute pickups after 3 miles. Started at 5:01 pace and worked down to 4:36 pace for the last one. Average HR was 124, not bad for having a couple of 5 minute miles in there.

5 after my shift, avg HR 118, not going to put these every day but just an indicator that I'm in really good running shape, not fast-running shape yet though. 112 miles from Monday-Sunday. Legs have started to stop feeling wrecked - I don't even need ibuprofen anymore - so I think this whole high mileage + classes + hospital work is going to be doable. It's going to get harder - that long run still has a few miles to increase to, I'm going from 18 hours on my feet to 30 at the hospital once I get on payroll, and normal weights and workouts - but if I can handle this I bet I can handle that too.

In other news, over the weekend I was called and compared to a lot of things, the better ones being Thor pre-getting fat, Hermione from Harry Potter(twice, one comparing my hair and one comparing my face to hers), and "my future ex-baby daddy". They all came from different people, and only one(the hair one) was said by a patient and not one of the nurses. Love working at this hospital.

10 easy in the morning. avg HR 119, maybe that's a sign I should speed up the easy running pace soon. My RHR is usually low 30's though so who knows.

5 on the track in the afternoon in the form of 4 miles easy with a push the last 400m + 4x200m strides. Did the same thing last Friday, the push was an 85 then and a 78 today. Strides went 29.4, 29.6, 28.4 and an untimed light-hearted 4th one. Based on the effort I put into the strides I'd say sub-60 400m speed is in my wheelhouse, doesn't correlate to any times I'm gonna run but it's always a good trick to have up your sleeve in a race, plus I've never had sub-60 fitness before starting up workouts.

5k in the am. Got to bed before 9PM so I set an alarm for 5:45 instead of 6:45 so I could start my run earlier. Ended up somehow sleeping through that for an hour and waking up at 6:45 anyway. Started running at the turf fields, but there were already two fellas there throwing a frisbee. While I commend them for having the dedication to practice such a thing so early, my morning 10 mainly serves as a sort of meditation for me before I start my day, and I couldn't relax hearing them yell and swear and worrying about getting hit by a frisbee the entire time, or dodging them. So after a couple of miles I decided to run around the law school instead, got maybe half a lap and a bird started trying to divebomb me, swatted it with a branch and it went away but I was so supremely pissed at this point I bagged the run there, I'll get the rest of mileage after class. Gonna start using a louder alarm

Couldn't get over the morning run so at a bit past 11 I headed out and got the rest of my normal AM 10, even managed to finish before noon. Guess today's gonna be a 3-run day, wasn't planning on trying those until 2020.

5 in the evening with some good strides and stretching included. Now to shower, eat dinner, and get a good night's rest before the long run tomorrow.

Long run complete - 24 miles, my longest run ever - and I can once again breathe a sigh of relief and relax for another week until Wednesday comes around again. Ran 8 miles out on Sandy and 8 back, then 8 running back and forth from the start of Sandy to the base of the first real hills and back, with my car in the middle. Ate a Roctane Gu at 8 and 16 miles, took a couple of short breaks after 16 and 21 miles to get some water and Gatorade in me, sitting in my car with the AC on blast, just a couple of minutes; long enough to get my core temp and HR down, short enough to keep the legs loose. No bonk, felt like I timed taking in the Gu and fluid perfectly, maybe a little too much fluid though, nothing major however. Even without a bonk 24 miles alone is damn hard mentally. physically though it's a piece of cake hahahahaha I am in pain

10 very easy in the morning. Earlier than usual because I have an interview at the hospital later this morning.

5 a little quicker in the afternoon w/ strides.

Got an offer to work full-time! Gonna be very busy in a couple months being a full-time engineering student/getting ready for med school/working 36 hours a week. Hopefully I'll find a way to fit in running there too.

3 miles warmup, 2x1200m w/ 200m rec, CD for 10. Tried working down to tempo during the warmup and that was embarrasingly slow based on effort so I thought about bailing on the 1200's altogether, but decided just to try. Ran 3:49 and 3:40. Both felt controlled, first one I dropped a couple of seconds every lap and the second one was even 73's. I knew all this mileage had to apply somewhere in my running, and I finally figured it out; my recovery time is way better than it's ever been. After a mile or two after the second 1200 I felt like I hadn't even done any hard running, honestly wanted to throw more 1200's in but decided the smart thing would be to wait. I'm excited for when I have higher volume workouts, but increasing that is more listening day by day to the body than planning something out, and it's a finer line with mileage this high, at least right now. Not a crazy workout but a good starting point.

5 very easy in the afternoon. Went home because I forgot my student ID, but about to head to the gym for weights. Hopefully I recover faster this time.

Easy 10 in the morning. Legs were hurting a bit from weights yesterday, felt better as the run went on.

Easy 5 after my shift. Quicker than normal. Weekends are gonna be tough when I start working 6am-7pm, I'll probably have to start my runs at 4 in the morning.

And the 100+ mile week streak goes from 4 to 5! 526 miles over the past 5 weeks.

10 in the morning. About to the point where this doesn't even tire me out. A good sign. Kind of wanted to move tomorrow's workout to today but decided not to. Next month of workouts are just going to serve to get me used to running hard again, so tomorrow won't be too hard, but it was one of my favorite workouts I'd do back in the day.

5 after my shift. Went late so it was dark by the end, before that there was a sweet rainbow in the sky.

Workout in the morning. 3 WU, 6x300m w/ 100m jogging rest in 48.2, 48.6, 48.9, 47.5, 45.7, 44.5. CD for 10.

Not too hard of a workout today, just trying to stay relaxed running fast. Love 300m repeats, 30-ish seconds recovery isn't a lot but I managed.

Easy 5 in the afternoon.

10 in the morning on the track. Left achilles felt a bit twingy at about 9.5 in, hopped on the grass and felt better, still felt it a tiny bit though. Not sure if it's from the speed stuff yesterday or running on the track for my morning 10-miler the past few days, either way might move the long run to Friday and do away with the second workout this week, we'll see. Hopefully I'm making a bigger deal about it than it is.

5 miles in the evening on the intramurals. First mile calves were hurting, even though I've already figured it out it's worth mentioning for future reference/less experienced readers of mine(hi Eva) that even if you're in superb general running shape, running on "all cylinders" can hurt you all the same as it puts more strain on muscles that are needed for that(so, calves). So even if I'm running nearly 120 miles a week, I still have to ease in high-end speed as if I weren't. I partly blame myself on slacking on sprint Saturday's these past couple weeks. Despite that, after about 1.5 my legs started feeling REALLY good. So I started dropping the pace, and nothing hurt, nothing felt tight, nothing fatigued any more than before. So I kept speeding up, and kept doing it until it culminated in a good progressive run with a sub-6 last mile. Nothing too impressive, but this is the first time since before I hurt my calf in May that I ended a run with that. And it felt SO good! Even though these workouts haven't been much I feel like the mileage is increasing the benefits tenfold. My easy run pace has dropped significantly this past week. Happy the achilles wasn't anything more serious. Happy about running. Happy about life. Speaking of, did my physical today, passed the drug test and got blood drawn to find out I dodged the hepatitis bug once again, so I'm cleared to officially start working as a Primary Care Assistant at the hospital! It's probably the lowest you can be on the path to a medical career, but it's also something no one else at my school has(I'm the only UA student working there).

10 in the morning. SO nice out today... 69 with a breeze. Autumn is my favorite time of the year so any hints toward it get me ecstatic. 

Another 5 progression. Another sub-6 last mile(felt easier than yesterday), and the run in total was a full 20 seconds faster on avg pace, 6:52. Not bad for a 7:50 first mile. Might switch up the training and do one workout, a long run, and like 4 of these weekly for a couple of weeks and see if my body feeds off it like my mentality does. It's so fun to do this after all these easy high mileage weeks, they're much more exciting than the usual running and really get the endorphins pumping but don't take much effort. Also probably not going to do the long run this week, I'm gonna start waking up right at 4AM since I'm gonna need to be up that early get 10 in before hospital shifts, and on days I don't work early(weekdays) go to the gym right after since they open at 5:30 to have it mostly to myself, besides a couple of gym nuts and early-bird old-timers.

Woke up right at 4AM succesfully on my first attempt. It sucked. Messed around for about 40 minutes until I felt motivated enough to get out the door, ran my 10 on the track, went and did weights after. Can't remember the last time I started a morning run and it was dark out, I've probably only started a run this early off a full night of sleep(so discounting Ragnar) a couple of times, it'll be kind of fun if I can get used to it though. It's peaceful getting those miles in while the rest of the world sleeps. Did overhead barbell lunges for the first time, those are tough. Felt like I pulled a glute after lol. Finished right at 7, when I'd usually be a couple miles into my morning 10, so a good start to the morning.

5 progression in the afternoon with the last two miles in 5:50, 5:45. 6:19 avg pace, not bad for a 7:15 first mile. Went a bit harder to see if I could handle it but not too much, had a stomach cramp after the first mile to the end. As my boy CB would say, a good starting point. Those second and third miles I was thinking about how crazy in shape I'd be by the end of the year if I keep up this mileage with actual base period workouts. Hope to see that day.

10 miles easy in the morning. Waking up at 4am was much harder today so this run mainly served as waking up my body for a few hours of studying before a midterm at noon. Still blows my mind 10 miles is more like a cup of coffee to me than a hard effort. 111 avg HR. Oh, and this run puts me at my highest month of mileage ever, beating August 2016 when I got 390.

5 progression in the afternoon. Last 2.5 in 14:38 running off some steam after I got stumped by the last question on my discrete mathematics midterm, we get a drop test though so it's alright. Had some bad stomach cramps all day including the run, I tried switching from eggs for breakfast to oatmeal with protein powder. Not sure if it was from the gluten(not intentional, but I've had gluten only a couple of times this summer) or the powder, but  I realized how little I've had gluten typing this so I'm gonna have a protein shake and eggs tomorrow morning and see if the cramps persist. Last volunteering shift tomorrow, technically I don't have to but I'd like to volunteer a full 13 hour shift to see if I can wake up at 4AM, run 10 miles, eat, work 13 hours, run 5 after, and survive before I actually have to. Stay tuned. Also, my weakest point as a runner has always been tempos; I'm scared to death of them, I've done probably less than 10 in my 9 years of running. These progression runs are helping me conquer that fear. Doubt tomorrow will be a progression, but if I'm feeling good I wouldn't mind it. Slim chance though.

10 in the morning, was pressed for time so went a bit quicker. 6:49 pace with the last 5 miles in 32:04

5 very easy after my shift. 12 hours is a long time to work... here's to 30 years more!

5 miles in the morning before another long shift. Felt like it was never gonna end. At least the legs didn't hurt, and it'll only get easier from here, besides tomorrow morning, good chance that'll be harder.

5 in the morning. Legs weren't hurting after yesterday's shift but I was so exhausted I decided the better move would be to just make up mileage later in the week. Slept way in(in reference to a 4AM alarm) and did an easy 5 at 8:30. Busy week on tap; moving to a new apartment and getting my job training tomorrow, and the last of my summer finals on Thursday. Friday will be a sigh of relief. 

10 miles in the afternoon with 3-5 being a fartlek of half mile on, quarter mile off. Wanted to do more than I did, but started the run at 5PM on a sunny southern day, so I decided after 4 to take the last 5 miles easy to put myself in a good place for a Wednesday long run. Went 2:44, 2:44, 2:42, 2:30 for the "on" portions for 3 miles in 17:27, not bad considering how tough this weekend was.

5 easy in the morning, overslept and had job training at 8 so couldn't get in my morning 10.

10 miles sweating pounds off at 1PM.

5 at 8PM. Uh oh... I think I love triples. For those who haven't experienced it, there's a certain relief you feel during the second run of the day when you got all of the hard running out on the first run, so you can just take it easy and think about how much you enjoy the activity... the feeling you get from this on the third run is 10 times better. Also was listening to Late Registration during it, it's been my favorite album since I first heard it 10 years or so ago but I hadn't listened in a while and I forgot by how great of a margin it's my favorite album. Addiction, Crack Music, Roses, Gone, and Hey Mama, among other tracks, resonate within me like nothing else.

5 at 6:30AM. First 1.5 or so was shaking out the kinks but after that felt pretty good.

10 at 1:30PM. Hot out, but the clouds were nice.

5 miles at 8PM. Also was listening to To Pimp A Butterfly during it, it's been my favorite album since I first heard it 10 or so years ago but I hadn't listened to it in a while and I forgot how much of a piece of auditory art that thing is. Really every song is a favorite for me, but more than the others I love Wesley's Theory, These Walls, How Much A Dollar Cost, You Ain't Gotta Lie, and Mortal Man.

Well, I said at the start of the month I wanted to make this one big for me in terms of running. 476 miles later and I think I took it a little too easy :)