Step by step, mile by mile

8 miles with 4 miles alternating the pace per mile in the middle at 9PM. I really don't know how to define the paces. Miles 1 & 3 were on the easier side of hard. Miles 2 and 4 were on the harder side of easy. 5:45, 6:29, 5:33, 5:31. Last one hit around a 3 flat 800, a 4:20 1200, and closed in a 71 400m. I had sharp chest pains the first two miles before going hard and my stomach felt really bad so I was debating scrapping the workout altogether(the original plan was 8 miles alternating). I felt extremely sick to my stomach all throughout the 8 miles(and today, that's why no run until now) so I'm happy I was able to close pretty quickly by the end of it. 6:12 avg pace.

3 miles to tire myself out before bed at 2AM. Closed with a 5:39, so there goes that. 

Been super busy with exams lately. squeezed in 6 at 10PM w/ 2 half miles fast in the middle, separated by probs 5-ish minutes of jogging. My watch died so I had no run with my phone on the strava app, but I had to unlock my phone and navigate the app mid-800, so that took some of my energy that should have been spent on the 800's. 2:25 and 2:26. 

Another 2 AM run. 2 brisk miles to warm up. Hill strides. 3x200, 2x300, 1x400. Equal recovery jog. 33, 35, 34, 50, 52, 69. Cleared out all Halloween candy out of the pantry around 11, which meant lots sickness. Really started feeling it in the 400. Cooled down for 5 at 6:15 avg pace. Race tomorrow! Nathan and I are driving up to Birmingham and going go-karting after.

Another 2 miles in the afternoon. Chest pains. Usually they fade after two miles.

Stayed up until about 1:30 bc I'm really bad at ending conversations. After that couldn't go to sleep until 3, where I got up and ate my salad and drank some water. I figured since I'd be waking up in two hours, I didn't need to plug my phone back in(I usually have it play a podcast to lull me to sleep. Woke up at 1PM. The race started at 8AM.

Took another Strava CR down. Grocery run. .4 miles, 2.x% uphill grade. I ran a 2:06 which beat out the record of 2:18

Felt like I had a fever in the morning, but felt good enough in the afternoon to set out for a run. 3 WU, 4x200 w/ full recovery, 3 CD. Hit 30, 30, 30, and 29. Was supposed to do 8-10 200's, but after #4 I got dizzy and started feeling sick. I'm happy with the 29 bc I wasn't planning on stopping after, so I didn't even have the extra motivation of "I'm almost done".

Couldn't fall asleep again. My sleeping schedule blows. 4 miles at 2AM. My stomach was so wrecked from having a huge Moes burrito for dinner. Two more miles here and there throughout the busy college life.

My calves are tight and my glutes are sore. I haven't worn my aggressive spikes since junior year when I mained the 800. Not too sure why I decided after two years of it to switch to the 3200 senior year. I don't think I had ever even ran it before then.

This morning I woke up but the only food we have was the cookie cake for my roommate's birthday yesterday, so I had a slice of that before class. After class I was gonna nap bc I felt pretty bad from not sleeping well, so I decided to eat what we had, another slice of the cookie cake. After that I decided I might as well run now because I wasn't as tired. Ended up feeling pretty lifeless in the run after all. Scratched the workout. Did a mile striding 150m on the first three laps w/ 250 off, then another 100 off coming into the last lap so I could finish with a hard 300m. Did the mile in 5:29. Did some pushups and sprints up the bleachers but my legs really didn't have any life in them today. CD. Might go lift later today. I'm gonna run to Publix later and buy some Nyquil to have a real party tonight. In my dreams.

7 miles down riverwalk to a paved road for running I saw a couple days ago. Turned out to be a bust, it was maybe a quarter mile long. Went a bit quicker, watch lost signal but when it worked the pace was in the 6:20's, so a little bit quicker to make up for probably having no workout tomorrow.

The main high school around this area is American Christian Academy. They've won many state championships, and are thought to win this year too. I've been talking to their coach a bit about training me, and yesterday he called me. He talked to me about running for a while, and asked a few questions to determine which event he thought I'd be best at, based on workouts I liked and excelled at. He offered to train me if I, in turn, trained with his team as well. It'd be something like the job of an assistant coach(while still training to make Alabama's team, of course). Coach Tiller is going to introduce me to the team tomorrow, and see what I think.

7 miles with the ACA. Nice group of guys. Me and the teams varsity did a 45 minute trail run. Pace was very slow and I just felt great throughout. Did 4x150m strides after and felt supreme. I finished probably 20m ahead of the guys every time and it felt easy, but that's not much to brag about. Got around 22-25 for the strides. 

Overall I really liked the team. The boys were really nice and we had some good talks and I got to know Nick, Garrett, and David throughout the run. Didn't get to know the girls too well, but from the looks and awkward hells I was getting from them, I assume that might have been a disappointment! My looks never fail. I made sure to stay towards the rear end of the pack of 7 of us, and it felt really nice to run slow.

A mile later to find keys

A few thoughts/aspirations about the next few weeks...

I'm racing a 2-mile road race next Saturday. The plan is to go sub ten. Two weeks after that I'm going to Birmingham(where they held DI nationals earlier this year) to race at the BSC icebreaker. I'll be signing up for the 3k, mile, and 800 and race what I feel like(probs 3k and mile, but if I feel I need another couple hours to recover from the 3k, I'll drop the mile for the 8). With the San Diego half marathon just 20 days later, I think my half debut will have to wait a while. Maybe I'll race a Christmas 5k instead. I'm glad. Instead of tons of half marathon training/stressing over break, I'll have time to relax, run some killer trails and smash some workouts.

It's been a couple of months since my last real race(CC and homecoming were more of brisk jogs). I'm starting to get some speed in my legs and that excites me. I ran a sub 5 mile a week ago, and I barely did that senior year due to sickness(and suckness). I'd like to get back the level of speed in my legs where I can run sub 2:15's and sub 60's in track work again. I'm not too far off; I did a sub 30 200 earlier in the week and from how I felt I could have held it at least to 300m.

This last summer I got some crazy mileage in that gave me great endurance, but in return I was putting so many easy miles in my legs that I didn't put enough hard ones(except maybe some good tempos before Ragnar). I sacrificed my 5k fitness for the one of a marathoner, when 5ks were the only thing that mattered. That's my midnight ramblings, I don't think I've had any on the blog yet.

Felt sick yesterday. I was warming up to the track when I stopped at a red light and got hit with a wave of sickness. I probably could have done the workout, but I bet I could run it better tomorrow. The sickness was probably eating a ton of baked lays before the run. Time to go back to my wholesome fuel of a whole lot of veggies, fruit, and coffee.

Ugh. Felt sick today too, but despite feeling like total garbage(aside from my legs, which felt somewhat springy, which is unusual), I pressed on to the track. Plan was 10x400 @ 2 mile pace, followed by 4x400's @ mile pace. Hit a 65, 72, then I started dry heaving for a while so I ran home for 6. I really don't like having to end workouts early, and I was actually looking forward to this one. If I'm feeling better tonight I might try a fartlek or something, but right now my hands are shaking just typing this so we'll see how I feel. I probably feel like trash because it's almost three and the only thing I've eaten today were about ten animal crackers and half a cup of tea.

4 miles at night. .5 WU, then 2 miles going 12321 fartlek alternating between light posts. the 2 miles were mostly uphill, and the second mile when the hills got bad the light posts became scarce, so rather than run 75-125m hard for three light posts, I'd have to run that for just one. Hard pace varied from 4:30-5:15 depending on how hard the hills were. Once that part of the run was done I let the downhill carry me to Publix at around 6 flat pace for the rest of the run. 

2 miles warm up. Was going to do 2400m @5k pace, but after 800m I got antsy and took off. The splits I remember were 79 for 400m, 3:05 for 1000m, and kicked hard for a 4:49 mile(1600). After that my legs felt pretty tired from the heat, so I decided to cut my run short. Ran home, and realized I left my keys at the track. I ran back to the track, and laid down for a few minutes because I was just spent. I got back up after a while, ran home again, and realized I had totally forgotten about my keys, again. So my 6-mile run turned into a 15-mile one, my longest run in over four months. Oh man I'm tired. Good news is if I can keep that 1600m pace up for another 1400m in a few weeks I could go under 9 for 3k, which would be just great. S/O to the Zante's bc I think every time I've done high mileage runs, they've kept me feeling good. Besides like once when I did 15 using the Launches.

6 easy. Super, super tired today. 3 miles up to the fields, 3 down. Ran the first three at 6:46 pace and then decided to turn my watch off and not care about pace, which was pointless because I ended up running quicker once the watch was off. Legs aren't hurting or tight from yesterday, they're a bit tired, but less tired than the rest of me.

2 miles to get dinner in the afternoon. Gonna stretch and roll out tonight, and probably do some core too.

2.5 WU, 6x9 strides with 2:30 rest. My freshman and sophomore year our coaches always talked about how the first 7 seconds of a race won't affect the rest bc lactic acid won't build up or something like that. I researched it last night and it's actually somewhere between 7-12 seconds depending on your raw speed. On the recovery I felt ready to go after about 20-30s so that's good. CD and Moes for 7.

3 miles running from the dorm to ChemE, to TCF, to Publix, back home. I stopped at the first two for classes and bought food at Publix(or would have, had I remembered to bring my wallet) so these miles weren't all at once. TCF to Publix was about half a mile, and I did that at 5:15 pace and it felt good. I feel pretty darn good.

I brought only my dorm keys and a pencil to calc today and despite that was still able to be the only one in the class who could prove "Snell's principle of least time" in the 50 min class period. I started with 5 minutes of class left. After class, my professor told me I could be a very good calc professor if I so choose. Anyway. As soon as class got out I ran a new WU path to the track which was refreshing. My quads, hamstrings, and glutes are pretty wrecked from yesterday, I didn't anticipate that. I guess running 100% all out + grass works some muscles I haven't built up yet. Did a long warmup, stretches, and strides, but nothing seemed to work. Went on with the workout. 5xmile w/ 30s rest. Got to .66 at about 5:05-5:10 pace, I felt fine, but my legs were still tight so I bagged it. Did a 400m in 70 which felt pretty easy and cooled down to the dorms for 8.

Grocery run

Washed the car, went to  IHoP, and bought some new shoes earlier in the day. Got some new zoom elites for 40$, and a new pair of New Balance spikes for 5$. Warmed up to the track and tried a lap fast in the spikes. I told myself not to look at my watch but at around 210m I couldn't help it and glanced down for just a moment. 28, which got me excited. I'm glad I saw that because knowing I was going quick helped me push past a wall. Really regretted those eggnog pancakes Finished in a high 58/low 59 which was pretty cool. 

Jogged 6 miles on riverwalk. Took it real easy. It was fun, I just relaxed and got lost in thought. Very chilly out today - high 50's and very breezy at midday. Couldn't even go shirtless!

2 miles to the track. I call it warmup but it's usually a 6:50 then 6:20 so maybe I'm going too quick. I feel good during it so it's probably fine. 2x1600m in 5:31 and 5:29. Recovery was a bathroom break. Not at a hard effort, just trying to work on aerobic stuff. Very windy out and my stomach felt uneasy so I stopped at 2. Then 4x300m @3k pace(54s) with a 100m walking rest. Felt ready to go by the end of the rest which was good. Did 51, 53, 50, and the last one I told myself to go under 50 and got a low 45. Felt quick but not a crazy effort, plus I finished running into the wind. After that 1x(80, 100, 120, 100, 80) meter sprints. Wore my spikes for the first two but my feet started hurting so I changed back into my trainers. I think my lunaracers are near retirement, they don't propel as much as they used to. Ran to Jacks for a cup of water and ran home for 11.

Grocery run. On the way back I passed two guys in a pretty dimly lit area. They moved to let me pass as I ran by, and I turned my head to thank them, and saw they were running after me! I sprinted away, but I could still hear them chasing me. I wasn't sure if they were being dumb or not, but either way I wasn't sticking around to find out. Thank God for turnover.

3 @ 2AM. Would have gone for longer but I ate something spicy for dinner.

4 miles on almost no rest of any kind. Real busy today, lots of hustle and bustle to exams. Did four strides in the middle. Started with 150m and ended doing 300-ish. Felt better by the end. I've got two classes tomorrow, then I'm gonna do a tough workout tomorrow, then after that heading to Florida w/ my roommate for Thanksgiving bc my family won't fly me back home.

2 to class before leaving for Florida.

8 miles at ~6:20 pace on some sandy trails. Trails were difficult, hilly, and it was hot and humid. Good effort. 4CD. Went jet skiing after.

5 miles shaking out a 5 hour car ride back home. Did 2 minutes hard in the middle. Got .43, or ~4:39 pace, on a rolling downhill. Not too bad of an effort, my legs were really tired from the car ride and my stomach felt bad from only having some green tea and a bag of chips about 6 hours before. My watch isn't working so I had to use the Strava app, which I'm not a fan of. I was curious what my pace was for the normal part of the run so I measured the pace for 200m of a pretty flat area, 6:07 avg pace. Probably a bit slower in the last couple miles.

600 miles on the brooks!

Another mile to get dinner. I'm 100 miles ahead of the guy behind me and 100 miles away from the guy in front of me, so it looks like I'm locked in for the 17th highest mileage of the year on the blog. At least those 100+ mile weeks of 99% easy running were good for something.

Hard workout today. I only had a salad for Thanksgiving so I stuffed myself last night/this morning instead. Definitely regretted that. 1600m, broken up into 400m @3k pace, 200m easy, 400m @ 3k pace, 200m easy, 400m @ mile pace. No rest between repeats, 4 minute active rest between sets. Would try to do as many as I can. I didn't expect the workout to be as tough as it is, but that's my own fault. On the 200m I was hitting under 7 minute pace for all of them(on one I even hit 5:50 pace! Geez). Ran a 4:55 on the first 1600m, a 5:05 on the second one, and ran the first 1k but felt pretty spent, so rested for a couple minutes extra. Then I did the last 400m that I missed in 65. Averaged 67s on the mile pace and 72 on the 3k pace. Windy out today. Did a 150m sprint in 21 in my trainers and some 150m strides. CD for 10. Wasn't feeling great but I hit the paces I wanted to. 50 miles for the week, with only 5 days of running. 

6 miles jogging. About 30s per mile faster than last time but felt the same effortwise, despite it being around 16 hours since I last ate. Calves are tender from yesterday.

Distance run with the ACA boys, followed by 4x200m. Mile CD. Extremely windy out. I felt pretty sluggish and heavy on the run. The 200's were on the pavement in my trainers. 30s rest max. 1 and 3 had tailwind, 2 and 4 headwind. 29, 30 for the first two. Third one I let Dante, who was hitting 37's, get a 7 second headstart. I beat him by about 3-4 seconds. I didn't hit my watch correctly but it felt quite a bit harder than the first one so at least 28. Last 50m of the 4th one the headwind killed me and I jogged it in. 32. Felt sick to my stomach on the 200's but otherwise I felt pretty good.

I'm finally back on a good sleeping schedule so it feels good to not have me "waking up" and me "being awake" separated by about 2 hours.

I had Nathan drive me to the nearby disc golf course for today's run. 3 miles to warm up the legs. I don't know if today was just a really good day for me or what, but I was hitting 5 minute pace on it and it felt like nothing. Turned on my watch for about 100m of it and it was close to 5 flat pace, but I'm sure I subconsciously picked up the pace. Changed shoes and did another mile around the course. Made a loop where I would run up a semi-steep grass hill for about 100m, then it would flatten out, and I would keep going until I hit .10-.11. Then I'd recover for about 30s to a nearby dirt trail with a very gradual decline for .15-.16, then recover again for around 30s downhill back to the start. Did four sets of that. On the uphills my times were 31, 31, 27, and 26. I lost two feet so technically the "downhill" portion times went 40, 35, 35, 35. For better reference the uphill paces went from 5:10-4:30 and the downhill paces went 4:20-3:55. After that grabbed my bag and ran on the asphalt trail for a mile until I got to a semi flat portion and did 2x1 minutes, the first one getting progressively faster, then about 90s recovery, then the second one trying to hold my pace I was going at the end of the first one. My paces were 4:39 and 4:19. CD for 10.

9 miles on the riverwalk in the clunky old pegs. It stormed all last night/this morning and there was a 20% chance when I went out for my run so I was prepared to ruin some trainers. Wasn't too bad though. After 3 I stopped and did some drills. Did some strides in the last few miles coming back. I like doing strides mid-run, it feels more natural. Going to stretch and do core in a sec, something I've been neglecting lately.