Step by step, mile by mile

AM - 9 miles at 6:17. 

PM - hips, core and stretching

AM - 10 miles, 6:22 pace. had to stop short of 13 because i thought i felt an achilles twinge, but once i got home and stretched i realized i kicked up a branch towards the end of the run and it had snipped me around there and that was probably what i was feeling. shame i stopped early, i felt great. i think every split was within 3 seconds of the first mile(6:22), and it was a breeze.

PM - core, hips, stretching

AM - 6 mile w/u, 2 x (4 x 400m) + 400m trying to go 75 for the first set, 72 the second set, and 69 the last one. 200m jog in ~60 seconds between repeats with a 400m jog in ~120 seconds between sets.

ran the times i planned to. sort of a pseudo-workout to "get in shape to get in shape", as it were. not gonna lie, even though i really haven't ran faster than 5-minute pace in over a year(besides that one mile repeat that came out of nowhere), i kind of just thought 70-flat would be a cakewalk if i'm running low 6's on my easy runs and dropping 5:40's and 5:50's at the end like it's nothing, so got a little humbled. i've got some work to do. first time i've ran on a track since january, missed it

PM - 5 @ 6:53 pace + weights. hamstrings are already sore so i'm sure they'll give me hell tomorrow. solid day of training.

AM - 6 miles, 6:50 pace. felt tired, but not sore.

AM - 6 miles, 6:26 pace. stomach started hurting really badly after yesterday's run and it was still present this morning so stopped at 6.

PM - 6 miles, 6:31 pace. still felt the stomach issues a bit, albeit less. decided to wind up the pace over the last half mile(2:59). need new pegs, but unfortunately won't have the funds for it for about a week. i've pushed this model to 800+ miles before, hopefully this one can at least hold out to 600

AM - a little over 4 miles w/u, 2 x mile + 2 x 200m in 4:55, 5:03, 30.6, 30.3. 3-minute jogging recovery after each mile, 90-second jogging recovery after each 200m. c/d for 10

another pseudo-workout, judging by how good this one was it's probably the last one. not gonna lie, after tuesday's workout i was worried i wouldn't be able to run under 5:20, but that 4:55 might as well been 5:20 with how easy it felt. my breathing was controlled, i was running even splits and never tightened up or anything. second mile was the same thing but just a little more tired from not being used to the fast stuff, so a little slower. 200's felt good too but i can tell my short game needs some work. big confidence booster; felt like a totally different runner from tuesday.

PM - 5 + weights

AM - 5 miles. kind of scary how easy 6:20's are getting

PM - stretching. at about 4 i got really nauseous and passed through it after a lot of throwing up about 30 minutes ago(7:00). feel like i could still go on a run but i'll rest up for tomorrow in hopes of salvaging a long run. if not i'll just swap out my B workout on tuesday to a long run; the anniversary of the last(and only) 30-mile run i've done is next saturday and i'd like to at least try to run that far again before then. plus i need some fatigue resistance training at 3+ hours of running seems like a good approach

AM - 4. felt terrible! at least in reference to how you want to feel before a long run; still felt a little sick. felt good enough to drag myself out the door for a shakeout though. no watch; just counted laps.

PM - off. had another wave of sickness hit. much like the pinnacle album of the abomination of a subgenre that is nu metal, i am down with the sickness

sotd: i am the black wizards - emperor. feel like i'm nearing the day i become accustomed to the screams and all-around harshness of black metal; and when that day comes i'll have to look in the mirror and realize i'm an emo hiding under a mask of tan skin and blond hair

AM - 10 miles, 6:21 pace. ran the last 4 miles in 28 minutes; probably should have stuck with the pace i'd been running but i felt guilty about a bad weekend of training from the stomach bug. on the plus side, i'm a couple pounds lighter from not being able to hold anything down until last night

6AM - 15 miles, 6:31 pace. glute felt a little tight towards the end.

2PM - weights + plyos

6AM - 3 miles, 6:34 pace. the pegs are far enough past their mileage that running in them just strains my legs, most notably in the achilles. i was planning on getting some pegs yesterday but every running store i went to was out so i had to order off eastbay. i'm nervous about doing any more real running in the shoes and don't wanna barefoot run so i'm not really sure what to do until the shoes get here, except be pissed off i can't run more. those saucony flats i've had for 5 years might still be serviceable; i'll try them out tonight

7PM - 6 miles winding up the pace the last half-mile. about the same pace as this morning but felt a million times better. super foggy! half-expected the exorcist theme to start playing. found a pair of old structures that are probably pushing 400 miles but will do the job until the new shoes arrive.

AM - 30-minute w/u, 3-mile tempo in 15:44(5:11, 5:16, 5:17), c/d for a bit over 11.

training has been beyond mediocre since last friday(aside from tuesday) so i went into this feeling sluggish and a bit tired. still, i wanted to break 16 and thought i still could even if i didn't feel cash money. considering the fastest i've ran a 3-mile on a non-downhill course is 16:38 it was kind of risky to go for it but i think i played it right considering the pace didn't drop off. we only go up from here. now to take a nap and hit weights in a couple hours.

PM - plyos, core and weights. long one... took 90 minutes. new pegs came in!

PM2 - 6 miles, 6:36 pace. felt strong!

AM - 6 easy on the trails, no watch. i was starving because i burned about 1500 more calories than usual yesterday but didn't eat any more than the average day, but aside from that felt good. spent about 25 minutes after cleaning out my car so hopefully that delay in stretching doesn't have any repercussions 

AM - 10 miles, 6:13 pace. ran clockwise on the track so i could run on a fast course and not have to worry about the distance/pace being over-measured. was meant to be a long run, but there was 10-20mph winds the whole time and getting hit with that on the backstretch broke me mentally. probably for the best since my left ankle is pissed off about 5 miles of left turns now that it's over. i'd like to think if i keep doing it my ankle will get stronger and in a month i can do long runs on it no problem, but in truth a 400m lap probably isn't the loop meant for a long run. still, think i could have held that pace a lot longer if it hadn't been so windy

AM - 2-mile shakeout, 6:18 pace. ankle still felt a bit pissy the first mile but better the second, but i still felt the better move would be to let it breathe this AM. i think the chances of me feeling fine on tonight's shakeout are far better than it still troubling me so i'm not worried, no more long runs attempts on the track though. i could have probably ran the same pace at hilton yesterday considering how easy 6:18 felt this morning, albeit just thirteen minutes of it.

PM - 6, no watch

AM - ~5 mile w/u, 8 x 200m w/ 200m jog rec in anywhere from 60 to 90 seconds. ran 28.9 on the first one, 30.3-30.9 on the next 6 and 31.5 on the last one. c/d for 10

that last repeat probably would have been another high 28, but the last ~40m the lactic acid finally overtook me to the point where i was reduced to jogging the final few meters. short rest is no joke; faster than i thought i'd run though. pretty sure the ankle is fine so should hit weights after my nap. found a loop on the warmup i might try for my next long run 

PM - weights

PM2 - 6 miles, 6:25 pace. ran the first 2 miles in 12:30 because i felt great then eased up a bit. feel like i'm gonna make a big breakthrough when i bother to be consistent with my mileage lol. at least i'm on the ball on workout days.

AM - 6, no watch. feels like i'm just a couple sessions away from not being capped in mileage the next morning.

PM - 4 miles after work, 6:26 pace. i was cold, tired, and, most importantly, hadn't eaten in 12 hours so stopped 2 miles early. stomach was/is hurting after, hopefully that's gone by the time i lace them up tomorrow morning.

AM - 8 miles, 5:59 pace. still felt a little tired, but figured with all these runs in the 6:15-6:35 range lately i'd see how much more effort it'd take to get these down to the 5:50-6:10 range. turns out not much. aerobically it was super doable; my legs just need to get a little bit stronger. average HR was 134!!! considering 4 months ago i was averaging probably 7:20's on my easier runs i think it's conceivable that this could be the normal "non-workout run" pace by the time i'm getting ready to race in early febuary. 

PM - off. legs feel alright but figured i'd give them a little extra rest for the workout in the morning. maybe i'd be better off running to loosen up. oh well, i'll go hard tomorrow

AM - 6, 6:08 pace

realized as i was driving to northport for my workout that i work next wednesday and friday, so i'd have to shift my workouts next week back a day, which means i'd shift my long run to tomorrow, and obviously i don't wanna run a workout the day before that. i guess i could tell myself yesterday was a workout so i don't lose too much sleep over it. gonna hit at least 20 miles tomorrow or die trying

AM - 12 miles, 6:31 pace. didn't die trying to hit 20, but felt like it. i ate light yesterday and not much for breakfast, plus i started way too late and it was already in the 70's by 30 minutes in. wanted to gut it out but those last 2 miles i could feel myself on the precipice of spiraling. pace should have still been a little faster but i was trying a new ~3000m loop and i'm still figuring out all the fastest tangents, smoothest hills, etc. , as opposed to hilton where i could probably run that 1200m loop with my eyes closed with how many times i've done it. haven't ran many hills lately, they're a nice touch to the run. 

AM - 10 miles, 6:18 pace. felt cruddy the last 72 hours so it felt good to just cruise for an hour.

papa eugene got the rona bug, he just found out this morning. talked on the phone with him for the first time in months yesterday, mostly about the election and incoming economic collapse from the pandemic. not the most fun conversation, but i'm glad i had it in retrospect. he's pretty healthy for a guy in his 50's, and doesn't have many underlying health conditions, so hopefully it's a mild case. if he had any control over how he caught it i'm sure it will be, the guy was stocking his ranch like it was the apocalypse back in january.

was planning on coming to see him for the first time in about 2 years for christmas. i hope i still can.

PM - 6 miles, 6:19 pace. winding up the pace the last half mile. windy!

AM - 400m hills on a gravel trail. 10 miles total, averaged about 80 on the hills. had a lot of "pretty" runs lately so i've been overdue for an ugly workout which i got this morning. most workouts that are more focused on fatigue resistance over running fast usually are. nothing to do but move on to weights in a few hours and get the mileage in until thursday and hopefully get a prettier workout in

PM - weights session, closer to two hours than one. i think i was subconsciously compensating for this morning. it was a good one and much better than my post-workout lifts usually are so now the slate is clean

AM - 6 miles, 6:24 pace. was tired from weights and it was very windy, honestly figured it'd be like 7-flat.

PM - 6 miles after work, 6:17 pace. went faster than i should have but got hit with a wave of existential dread a couple hours before and was trying to exercise that out of me, no pun intended

AM - 6 miles very easy, no watch

PM - a few minutes at about 6:15 pace, not enough to warrant counting it towards my mileage. felt good, but i wore a pair of 1" shorts i haven't donned in years(not a fan of short shorts anymore. much more of a half-tights guy in my old age), and let's just say either the lining shrunk or i have something to feel good about. anyway in the interest of not catching a public indecency charge i stopped pretty quickly. got a workout tomorrow morning i really wanna go well so i wouldn't mind a bit more rest than i deserve

AM - jogged to rodeo, ran 10 miles at 6:08 pace, jogged to my car, drove to the track and ran 2 x 300m strides in 46 and 50 with 300m jogging in between. 12 total

realized i got my work days mixed up and i work later today, but i wasn't tryna get another easy day so did something a little faster, but not too hard. wanted to hit 48's on the 300's but the first one was too fast and with the 10 miles fresh in my legs i just tightened up on the second one.

PM - 3 easy, 6:25 pace. these 6:20-6:30 pace runs haven't been hard but this is the first one that's been genuinely easy where it felt like recovery pace. got caught up in a long facetime with my family and wanted to try to do the workout i wanted to do today in the morning tomorrow so shortened the run, my knees been a little tight since yesterday during work so i'll play it by ear. it felt better this morning, and basically fine tonight, so hopefully

AM - warmed up 3 miles on the track, did my drills and strides then one of those black SUVs cops usually drive pulled up and parked by the gate. i'd hopped a fence to get in and figured i was in trouble so i just jogged over to the gate and waited, for about 10 minutes. eventually i figured i'd jog over to the other side out of the line of view and hop over the fence and bail, but as i was i noticed the guy get out and hop the fence himself. turned out he was just a guy walking around the track. i did another stride to get my body ready again but my right ankle felt off. not exactly hurting, and it felt fine when i jogged back to my car, but when i went fast it felt a bit uncomfortable. whatever. it's raining all sunday so this gives me a chance to do my long run in better weather tomorrow

PM - stretching + hips. knee is feeling off again; i think i'm gonna need to see a chiropractor in the morning to nip it in the bud. that probably means i'm doing the long run on the treadmill on sunday, which sounds gross

realized last night the chiropractor i went to last spring isn't open on weekends, so guess i won't be running the next 2 or 3 days :( it's annoying but you roll with the punches, and i'll bike tonight and tomorrow night as well as get a lift in tomorrow morning so i shouldn't lose much fitness. i'll probably do core and hips in a minute too