Step by step, mile by mile

on a 5 day streak of 6 miles so hopefully that means i'm here to stay. Gonna bump it up 2 more daily miles every week until either my body tells me to back off or I hit 100 weekly. Today's run was took 40 minutes, I'm not too into pace currently, I just play an album while I'm running and check how far I got in at the end.

I've been doing all my runs on this dirt road about 10 miles out of town. a few days ago it flooded so I parked a quarter mile into the road, ran a quarter mile to where the flooding started, and back to the back of the road, so a mile out and back in total. I like it. It's short enough where it all blends together and goes by quickly, but long enough that I don't get bored and stop early like I do with laps at the park usually.

Hope everyone's been well!

Told myself in the morning it was too cold to run, but once the sun came out around noon and the windchill died down I got the miles in. Bumping up to 8 a day tomorrow!

farthest I've ran in almost 2 years. barely under 7 min pace, that was a good feeling bc I really wasn't putting in much effort, just easy running.

I've also been going to the gym in the evening. My routine so far is bike for 15 minutes to loosen up my legs, lift(mainly upper body), stretch, do core, and hit the steam room. Longest I've managed in there is 15 minutes so far.

8 again. 50 degrees and sunny out, perfect running weather. picked it up the last mile, i don’t know the split but it took 54 minutes in total. very tired from studying, and i have lots of schoolwork the next week so might not have time for the gym. definitely not tonight.

8 miles, a little earlier than usual because I had a pretty busy afternoon ahead. Picked it up the last 3 miles a bit, wouldn't have been tough but I had a little stomach trouble. 52 minutes this time to get it done.

8 in 53 minutes. Mileage uptake starting to show, felt tired.

8 miles on an out-and-back on Sandy Rd, not just loops. 54 minutes again, had to work for it. Course is tough as hell, and aside from a short breather at the top of the BIG hill 1.5 miles in, no breaks. First time I've accomplished that, and this was maybe the 4th time out of the 50+ times I've ran this route I ran the first 1.5 without stopping. Also the farthest I've gone on it save once in the fall of 2017 where I made it 7 miles out. Gonna take a few more weeks to beat that. Really just a brutal course. Hills make heroes!

8, rained so did it on the asphalt loop at the park instead.

4 in the afternoon, 4 at night. starting 10 a day tomorrow!

ran a few times over the past few days when I had time. Nothing more than 5.

legs felt a bit heavy, but not too hard.

8. Didn't have time to run yesterday. Lots of pop in the legs, sure I'm soon to lose that but excited to get it back when the mileage sets in.

uneventful. i didn’t have to stop after the hill for the first time.

first double digit run in lord knows how long.

been bad about logging mileage, I've been more than semi-consistent but not quite consistent the past month or so because of all the storms. Drove to the rec after and stretched, did core, and hit the steam room. Also got a gig at our local hospital which as hospitals go is pretty huge so that's good for my med school application.

same as yesterday.

same as yesterday. Moving up to 8 a day tomorrow!

knees were a tiny bit tight at the beginning but the hills loosened them up

Really just falling in love with running all over again. Crazy to think I ran my first half marathon 8 and a half years ago! Glad it's part of my life again.

got out earlier than normal today(8AM) 

Fluids midterm later today! Feel like I'm gonna ace it.

Saw some vans at the top of the hill, and Dan Waters walking a little farther down Sandy. I've heard that Alabama's team does long runs on Sandy, but I've never seen anyone running there until today. So, with the head XC/Track coach in the vicinity, I wasn't going to jog today's run. No watch but I'd guess low 6's for pace. Need a new band for my Garmin so I can start running with a watch again.

50 this week! Any more and it'll be the highest weekly mileage for me in a year or two. I'll get that next week.

4 more easy in the afternoon. I'm ahead in my classes for the first time in forever, so I was super bored without feeling guilty, so I went for another run. First double in about a year and a half I think. I was getting those good seratonin releases enough with one a day, but two a days are gonna have me generally happier than I've been in years. Love running and can't wait for when I can do doubles every day

AM - 8. Felt a bit tired the first couple of miles but felt better as I went on, and wasn't hurting anywhere so that's good. Probably gonna double again today to get some of tomorrow's mileage done since it's supposed to rain.

PM - easy 4.

Gave less blood than I thought, but still a fair amount so only 5. Was tired during it, probably from giving blood. Did I mention I gave blood

AM - 8. Still a little tired but almost back to normal.

PM - 4. Had a wicked side stitch but legs felt good.

Realized yesterday I was ahead in mileage and I could either cut the daily mileage down or take a day off. Took the day off.

AM - 8

PM - 4

AM - 4

PM - 8. Never done Sandy as the second run of a day before. Legs got turned to lead by those hills. Finished right before the storm rolled in! Score!

8 in the afternoon.

AM - 8. Legs felt very tired at the start of the hills but after a couple of miles I felt good.

PM - 4.

AM - 8. Sandy was pretty car-free so that was nice.

PM - 4.

AM - 8 miles. legs actually had some life in them today so i opened up my stride for the middle 4 miles, no watch though so no idea on the pace. gonna start using a watch again soon. felt good overall, had some stomach cramps but they didn’t start until the last mile so it wasn’t hard to power through.

PM - 4

80 miles this past week

Had some calf pain(not achilles) during my second run on Wednesday. I rolled it out and found a huge knot so hopefully it wasn't anything big. Took all of yesterday off, going to do some biking tonight and if the leg feels good, run a few miles tomorrow. I can't feel the pain anymore, even when I flex/stretch, so that's good. Just a minor hiccup, I've had one every time I build up mileage since I joined the blog. Might have more but as long as I listen to my body and shut it down quick like I did with this I should be fine.

Just 4. Legs felt pain-free, I had a lot of bounce in them from 72 hours off but I know I'll lose that feeling in about a week.

4 + stretching, core and steam room at the gym after.

another 4. probably bumping it up to 8 again tomorrow

8 in the morning. Rained for the first 5 miles or so. Only ate a couple handfuls of Walnuts on a very busy yesterday so I felt pretty tired, after the big hill at 1.5 I told myself "if you can get out 4 miles, you can make it back" and I managed to do that. Last 2 miles were a death-march though. Time to eat!

PM - 8

AM - 5

PM - 4. Wasn't planning on running again, but had about an hour before my 5PM lab so I just got it in.

AM - 8. Fartlek after the turnaround. Felt a little rusty the first couple but was starting to feel good by the end.

PM - 4. Driving up to Louisville to hang out with my best friend from high school on his mission, and spend a bit with an ex's best friend(love you Macy). A weird but good start to the 21rst birthday weekend.

Any drink order recommendations for the bars are welcomed :-)

semi-long run in the morning, with a 6-mile fartlek in the middle. A good way to start the day, longest I've ran in a minute

I would define my current fitness as "frequent half-marathon participant"

Another longer run after watching Infinity Wars for the first time today. Good movie, still not gonna watch Endgame until it's on Netflix though

Another 12! Starting to feel in shape

6 in the morning.

6 after my second midterm of the day, and last of the semester. Super mentally drained and not extremely motivated to run, but I'm glad I did because my legs felt really good. I was able to open up my stride and speed up, but it felt like I wasn't putting in any more effort. Maybe it's just a night-run thing. If that's the case, I'm looking forward to my nightly 8 miler when I'm up that high in mileage.

12 this morning.

12 in the morning. Managed to get out the door by 7 so that's a big step for morning runs for me. It was cold and windy since it stormed super hard all night, and started drizzling the last 4 miles.

Another 12-miler.

Well, the legs haven't fallen apart yet, so maybe this mileage thing is still doable. Might get a few 4 milers in the afternoon along with the morning 12, but with finals coming up I probably won't focus on mileage uptake until those are over. Still, 84 miles is no easy feat! I'm happy I've made it this far. I'll be starting my hospital job after finals, I'll be working in the cardiac department.

Longest run since 2016. Mentally it was about as tough as I thought it'd be, but still not bad. 

Top 5 on the mileage board for the month, hopefully I'll crack top 3 by the end of it. MIGHT do 100 this week which could very well finally get me my first #1 weekly mileage spot. It isn't going to feel as good as if I had gotten it back in 2015 or 2016 when we had pro marathoners and ultra runners topping the list every week, but I think running the mileage they were doing is a silver lining to it. Moreso, I'm glad there's runners on here still that inspire me to give my best every day. Still gonna try to make you guys look like punks on the mileage board though!

Went to the gym in the evening. Stretched, did core, lifted upper body and hit the steam room. Getting coffee with my first ex-girlfriend this week. Excited to flex my fit body on her, no pun intended

12 in the morning. legs felt pretty good, not like they’re about to fall apart or anything. gonna go to the gym tonight for the same routine as yesterday

12 in the morning. Legs did not hurt

4 in the afternoon + stretching, core and steam room. felt good so the first 2 miles were 6:26 and 6:01. felt good. typing this on my phone in the steam room lol

Super busy today so got a shorter quicker run in this morning with a watch, finally. Closed hard with a 5:31 mile with a 2:34 last half. Really happy with that since I haven't ran under 6 minute pace in a year and a half, based on how the last half felt I could probably run 5:00 after one or two okay workouts once I get a little speed endurance down. Excited to run fast more after finals. 6:28 avg pace

Another 6 at noon. Was going to wait longer but I felt ready coming home for my lunch break. In reality the legs felt like lead from not taking too much time to recover, but I got it done.

stretching, core, weights and steam room after afternoon classes. putting the work in

16 miles in the morning. was going to do 12 and 4 in the afternoon but i felt alright after 10 miles, and since it’s supposed to rain all afternoon and i have a lab final tonight i decided to knock all the mileage out. might go to the gym tonight after the final

Went to the gym after the final. Stretching, core, upper body, steam room. There was one guy in the steam room who looked even more resilent than me(I normally go 12-13 minutes, I've never had anyone outlast me), so we both stayed in there for about 22 minutes before I gave in and left. He left seconds after, but still, mad respect to that dude.

4 after morning classes. Couldn't manage to wake up at 5 today so didn't have time for a real morning run.

Was going to do 8 after afternoon classes, but figured I'd rather do two 16 mile days in a row than do a 16 mile day the day before a long run. Ran the out and back for 8 miles then ran up Sandy hill and past to get to 10 and came back for 12.

100 miles from Saturday to Friday

Oh also slight TMI but I peed blood after the second run. I know it can happen from strenuous exercise, and I haven't hydrated too well lately(I'm not mistaking dehydrated pee. I work with blood) so I'm gonna get that up because I know you can lose a lot of fluids running in the south.

12 at noon. alarm didn’t go off so I woke up at 8 and had coffee with an ex at 9 so i didn’t have time. coincidentally, we split up a year ago today. funny how life works like that. coffee was good, i remember why we split but i forgot why we got together, today was a nice reminder of that.

back in the triple digit club! hope my membership is an extended one

4 in the morning. Moving long run to tomorrow

8 + strides in the afternoon

Doing the long run in a little while. If I can manage the time this week to increase last week's mileage I'll probably be getting close to new mileage territory(my highest week is 114 when I was 18)

19 mile long run on a bright hot midday and good lord was it tough. I've ran 20 miles twice and 19 once so this is tied for my third longest run ever. I've been pretty good at knowing what I'm in for on every run but this one took so much more out of me than I expected. My legs didn't feel bad during but I kept getting sweat in my eyes which was awful, need to start hydrating during these long runs, and definetly not do them this late in the day this summer again. Glad I got it done, and hopefully legs feel livlier soon because getting up the porch stairs of my house was much harder than it's ever been, I'd be okay with taking an off day since I managed to hit 300+ miles which was my A goal for April

managed to swing by the rec center when i left to get some food in between studying sessions and get 15 minutes of biking in just to get the blood flowing in the legs.

6 in the morning, managed to get out the door before 6AM so that's a big step for me. Jogged the first mile or two and worked down to the normal pace naturally, legs were tired but not hurting anywhere. Need to get better at morning runs because this was a good start to the morning

10 miles + strides after my mechanics of materials final. I hope I did as well as I think I did because I really don't want to take this class again lol. Legs felt fine, I think I shook the long run out of them

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

slept in and did 6 at 10AM. Warm, but with all the 4PM runs i’ve done it was a piece of cake. first shift at the hospital a bit later today meant had to do a little less than i wanted, we’ll see how tired i am after but i’d like to do some sprints to work on form in the evening if i’m not too exhausted.

Sprint Saturday!! More of a fine-tweaking of mechanics than a workout. 3 miles very easy(7:25 pace), 6x100m, CD for 5. Only timed the last two since with such a short distance you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot with pressing start and finish, those were 12.69 and 12.42. Felt okay at the start and amazing by the end. 

Hospital was great! Working on the dialysis floor, I'm the only guy on the floor and I've never been called cute so much in my life. They literally thought I was in high school, one of them said "what are you, 15?"(I'd be hurt if I weren't 6'1) On top of that, helped the one girl who was my age instead of mid-30's with her math homework and she was so astounded she basically told everyone on the floor, and I'm not sure what she told them but they were all just as impressed. Great day for running and my ego. Anyway loved working with them and love getting to help people who need it

8 at 10, slept in again. Should get back to a good sleeping routine tomorrow. didn’t get a chance to use it before i ran but besides that felt good, legs felt excellent.

5 including strides in the afternoon. Had some delayed onset muscle soreness from the sprints, mainly in the back, and to a lesser exent the glutes and hamstrings. Got 2 runs in and about 6 hours of medical school studying in, productive sunday.

4 in the morning. Was very sore when I woke up but on the run felt good. Dogsitting Gunner so ran with him, I'm nowhere close to being able to handle a commitment like owning a dog but it's nice to pretend I own one by dogsitting every once in a while.

PM - 2 WU, stretches, mile(1600m) of speed changes in 5:41, mile in 5:08 with a 80 second first lap, 6x400m with the last two in spikes in 73, 71, 66, 63, 58 high, 58 low. 200m jog after speed changes, 800m jog after the mile, 400m jog between 400's, 400m walk after the first in spikes. When I said fartleks get me in shape, I definetly didn't think that meant I'd run this 3 days later! After the 5:08 I guess I needed a couple of slower 400's to get my second wind. 3 mile barefoot CD on the grass + stretches. Left the track at 9:30.

There's really no reason the workout should have been that good. I started at 7:30 feeling very tired, hadn't eaten since 1PM so I downed a can of sweet green tea for some easy calories, and drank some sugary coconut water during the workout too. Also hung out with friends after class which is why I started so late, had a bit to drink, nothing more than a bit. I should get drunk before workouts more often(kidding). Time to eat!!!

4 miles easy. Slept in and started the run at about 11, luckily all these 4PM runs are starting to show because the heat was no problem. Legs didn't really hurt at all which I wasn't expecting, only thing was my left arch; my insole in my sneakers shifted during my shift on saturday so I started feeling it then, and again last night after the last 400, and again a bit today, but nothing major. Going to the Nike outlet after class today to pick up a pair of structures and hopefully that'll be it.

Found a pair of pegasus 36s at a good price, so decided to buy them and a pair of insoles instead. Tested them out with 9 in the evening. Arch ached the first mile or so and then I never noticed it again, and managed to run out the tiredness from the legs too, great run! Felt like I could have gone on forever.

Slept in again and did 8 at 11. My saving grace was that it started drizzling 3 miles in. Arch hurt when I woke up, but Wednesday's are my busiest day so I knew this would be my only time to get good miles in, so I took a chance and assumed it just needed to get warmed up. I was right, luckily. I'm about to go to class and from there to a hospital shift until 9, might get a shakeout in after the shift if I'm not too spent.

3 after my shift, opened up my stride for a 5:20 second mile. Felt like a 6:00 effort-wise

4 in the morning. I've felt better.

Got a few miles into my PM run and had some kind of "pain" in my "ankle", i put quotes because it didn't affect my running and as soon as I stopped it ceased so I can't identify it more, I just remember it was in a place I've never felt before. I'd go 50/50 on a combination of not stretching after my AM run and either starting to run on pavement recently, or getting hard insoles recently. Probably could have pressed on, but today was a day from the start I knew wasn't going to be too good(I don't normally go about a day with that premonition) so I decided just to stop there, and hopefully after stretching, Advil, and a good night's sleep it should be gone tomorrow. And even though the day wasn't too good as I predicted, it wasn't any worse :)

10 in the morning on the turf field. Lots and lots of laps. No "ankle" pain!

5 in the afternoon. Highest mileage day since I got the calf strain I believe

Had a smidge of right calf pain on my Saturday morning run, so I stopped a bit early, wanting to do a longer run after my shift. Glad I stopped there because my shift ended up being over 7 hours and all that time on my feet probably would have been bad for it if I had gone any longer, felt the calf for most of the shift but didn't get any worse. Had a cute nurse ask for my number at the end of the shift so def worth it @Connor. Jogged a bit today after med school studying, but then remembered how frustrated I was last time I hurt my calf because I kept starting again too early so I went inside and did some intense biking, hit 9 miles in 24:30, definetly the fastest I've ever biked. Did core and some lifting including some lighter calf raises, and jogged back to my car and didn't feel the calf at all. Should clarify that it wasn't the same place as last time, but since the only issues I've had this year have been my calves I'm gonna start doing calf lifts to make them stronger. Probably good to run right now but I'll take tomorrow off and do a long bike workout to supplement and rest the calf a bit more for good measure.

5 in the afternoon! I have no scientific proof to back it up but in short since all(2 or 3) of my problems that have made me take time off have been my right calf, I took a bit of time to think of why it was there; I've never had a calf problem before. You could chalk it up to a year and a half off, but I think it's because I've been doing shorter loops for basically all my runs, all counter-clockwise, which means a few 90 degree turns left every 500m for my normal running loop. I didn't have any problems when I was doing Sandy Rd every day, that's actually when my training was going best mileage-wise, however bugs have been really bad up there, they'd basically circle around me the entire run, and hit me in the face constantly which i guess you could say bugged me(the blogger known as kedric is laughin somewhere in Texas right now), so I decided to cave in and get bug spray after I did the 500m loop clockwise for once. Might not be the cause but I think it's a solid theory.

Also SO conflicted with the NBA finals, in 2016 I made some bet with Alli P that Golden State would win(and of course 3-1 means nothing to Lebron), and ever since then I've been a huge fan of them, and dynasties in sports in general. However before Utah I lived in San Antonio for 7 years, so I was a huge Spurs fan, including when Kawhi was on it and they beat Lebron in 2014. So either way I'll be happy in part but also sad regardless of who wins. Still pulling for the dubs a lil more, and Lowry a fool for missing that game-winner lol

3 in the morning, woke up at 5AM on my own accord, always worth recording because always a big suprise, especially when I've been waking up at 8 lately and didn't  fall asleep any earlier than usual. No calf problems.

5 after my cardiac shift. Ran a cool 4-flat lap at hilton after my shift last week, each lap is three quarters of a mile and I knew I could beat that today but decided to chill out.

3 in the morning. Was going to do 6 but I still plan on doubling today and figured taking this week cautious probably wouldn't be a bad thing.

5 in the afternoon on the track with 4x200m strides. Was really just hot for this run(I don't mean that in terms of heat. I was on one!). Lapped my watch every 400m in case I lost track of laps, mostly 90 and 91's, couple a bit faster and a bit slower but that was about the average. Felt like my stride was matching that but effort-wise it felt like an easy run. First 200m was a 29-low, but even though I was on today I didn't want to put in any more effort than just striding out, and I know 29's in trainers aren't just strides(at least at this moment in time). Timed the last 100m of my last stride and sped up a bit for it, that was a 14-low. I had a frozen cherry and cranberry juice smoothie after class, a couple of hours before the run, noting that in case I just discovered my secret superfood. Felt like I could have ran 6-flat pace forever this evening.

5 miles easy in the morning. Legs needed a little shaking out those first couple miles.

6 easy in the afternoon. Was going to do 5 on the track a bit faster + 4x200m strides again, but I have another 7 or so hour shift tomorrow and I'd like to do sprint Saturday after.

9 in the morning. Solid pace but slept in and didn't start until 10AM on an empty stomach, proud I powered through the heat/humidity with no second thoughts. Got less than an hour until my hospital shift and ideally I'd go straight to the sprint stuff after, it's only a couple of miles but I'm okay with listening to my body, today's a lot of stress on it. 

Felt good after my shift so did sprint saturday. 1.5 mile warmup with the last .5 doing speed changes in 2:41, then 4x150m w/ 250m recovery. Not really focusing on timing these, only timed #2, that was 19.3. Good to know after a 9 mile in the heat and a 7 hour hospital shift I still can (basically) run a 25-second 200m.

5 shaking out the legs on the soccer fields in the morning. Right inner ankle was a bit tight from the 150's yesterday but felt better as I went on.

9 in the afternoon, on Sandy for the first time in about a month. Felt really good, legs were eating up the hills, the heat was no problem with all the tree shade, and the bug spray worked its magic. Only problem was some GI issues,  I've been eating rice and seasoned beans topped with fried eggs twice a day after each run for the past week or so; works well when you're doing 5 and 6 mile runs a day, not as good with 9 milers. Going to target after I post this and shower to stock up on cereal. Saw a HUGE snake in the last mile that made me power through the GI stuff and drop the pace real quick - that thing had to be 3+ feet long and as thick as my forearm, pure black with a yellow underbelly. I gave it space and it didn't get territorial. 

5 mile shakeout in the morning. Legs felt okay to begin with and better by the end.

9 in the afternoon. Solid pace.

5 shakeout in the morning on the turf fields. Lightly drizzling which was a nice touch.

9 on Sandy after my midterm. Woof. Absolutely blazed through it like an engineering machine and finished first, then I realized I had less than 2 minutes left so no double-checking. I'm guessing maybe 20% of the class at most actually finished - 50 minutes was a ridiculous time slot to complete this one. Glad I did.

Long run this morning. Very humid and sunny, started at 9AM. Only made it out past 4.5 on Sandy once, and never close to 8 out. Hills were INSANE past 5.5, the type of hills you hear about people dying on trying to get their four-wheelers up. Easily the hardest course I've ever ran on. Extremely proud I did it in my longest run by far since I initially hurt my calf at the start of May. Legs felt completely shot when I finished but bought some bags of ice and took an ice bath and they feel fine now. 

5 in the morning. Came home late last night after my shift + hanging out with friends after so I tried to make it past the dining room and living room to my room in the dark. Unfortunately someone moved the table in the living room, and I smashed my right knee into the darn metal rimming pretty hard. It didn't hurt at all after a minute or so, so I assumed I didn't do any damage besides some bruising that was sure to come. Woke up this morning and it hurt to move at all, but after doing some range of motion it felt better so I decided to chance it and do my shakeout anyway. Hurt the first few minutes a bit but by the end didn't feel it at all. Really didn't feel anything besides which is super good considering the killer long run yesterday. Ran even easier than normal.

9 in the afternoon. I'd hate to speak too soon, but I'd say doing a 14 mile day less than 24 hours after hurting my knee probably means I can just train through it. Definitely took it slower to account for the darn thing though. Saw another snake today, this one probably 18 inches or so, nonvenomous this time(you can tell by the shape of the head).

95 miles the past 7 days! Turns out the mile out-and-back was a tad short I was running every day when I ran 3 weeks in 90-100-90 in April, so probably closer to 85-93-85 or so. So I'm in good shape rn!

decided to change things up with a 5 mile shakeout this morning

9 at 4PM. Wish I had gone home after class instead for a bit to let it cool down, hydrate(did NOT hydrate at all today!!) and go to the bathroom. I could handle the heat, but those last two issues made the run a lot harder. Didn't walk or anything though so I guess it wasn't that hard. To quote Ludacris, "you got defeated by the heat but ehh, we'll just say it alonzo mourn-ed ya"

In short, and in alliteration, I was hot, hungry and hungover, so the run was hell. Actually wasn't too bad, I didn't get any farther than tipsy last night and I'm normally good on running on empty. Heat was tough with the sun beating down, but I managed better than yesterday since I hydrate super well on the rare occasions I drink, maybe less rare after how much fun last night was though.

ran right after my 7-hour shift, legs felt exausted from it but didn’t show it. 3 WU w the last half mile speed changes in 2:25, ran 5x80m sprints, no watch, CD for 5. 2:25 def could have been faster. working an 11-hour dialysis shift tomorrow #busymanwithabusylife

Also, unless Mike swoops in with another 130 mile week, I think I finally got my first #1 mileage board week. It's a relative accomplishment lots of others have, but it's something I've been trying to get since I was 17 and I've had at least 10 weeks where I was in position with a day or two left and either hurt myself or someone would swoop in with a crazy long Saturday run or something. Anyway S/O to all the mileage monsters that inspired me on the blog, Wesley Hunt, Jake Krong, Butlerb, etc

Tried waking up before my shift. Didn't happen. A good lesson in life - sometimes you have to put yourself out there to get chances for opportunity - After my shift yesterday we were all looking at the schedule, and realized we were super understaffed for today. I wasn't supposed to work, I'm an unpaid volunteer that's only supposed to work 4-hour shifts once a week(I overachieved and started with 2, then asked to get my Saturday shift extended from 4 to 7 hours), but I offered to spend my Sunday doing an 11-hour shift unpaid. All the nurses and PCT's were so grateful that they all told the head of hiring for the hospital they need to get me hired, since I'm so devoted and they're understaffed anyway. Haven't gotten the offer yet, but also haven't submitted my application, and it's sort of the "apply and you got the job" type deal, or at least they're making it sound like it. On top of all that I managed somehow to get 9 in after the shift and I think I'm gonna die lol. So hype because volunteering for a hospital is good on a med school application, but having worked at a hospital already is a big deal. Plus almost no volunteers get hired, and it took me less than a month to(hopefully) get the offer. What a great day

5 in the morning-ish. Slept in a bit, my body was wrecked from the weekend, but my legs weren't any worse than the rest of me, and I felt better as I went on. Had a homeless guy come up to me after. Normally I don't give in to soliciting, but his story had a lot of similarities in trials I've endured, and even though I didn't get much help in them I know how much it'd have meant to me for someone to, so I bought him breakfast. Was worth the few dollars to see his face light up. On the drive home I thought about a way to try and minimalize homelessness. The best solution I can think of is a non-profit housing service where you're provided food and housing for doing work for the house itself, whether it be cooking, cleaning, etc. All things that benefit the house itself(maybe community service as well to try and provide minimal funding). I hope one day to found something like that. I'd probably have it double as rehab too, at least in that there'd be no drugs allowed and you'd have the resources to get clean if the withdrawals directly affect your health. Really just hate that we all get one chance at life and some people have to live it in such painful conditions

9 in the afternoon. Legs felt GOOD - the weekend got shaken out of them more quickly than I thought they would. Left arch started to ache a bit at the end, luckily I got insoles in my trunk like lil nas x got horses in the back

5 on RV in the morning, by that I mean 11AM, and that was still following my routine of roll out of bed and run. Looks like I'm gonna have to make a sacrifice in much less staying out late with friends, maybe going as far as an 8PM bedtime. Hopefully I can figure out a way to space out my second run where I'm still recovered enough for the long run tomorrow morning, if not I guess I can push it back a day. Felt a bit stiff the first mile or so from last night, good by the end. 

9 after class. Felt good - good enough to run it twice tomorrow? Who's to say.

Long run, nothing special besides being the 5th longest run of my life I believe. Tough, but not as tough as last week since I did my PM course twice instead of the killer hills past 5.5 out. The inner lining of my shorts and my inner thighs were not on good terms by the end

5 mile shakeout in the morning. Since my final is tomorrow no class today, so I slept in to let the body recover, basically went from run to class to hospital to friend's house with no real break to recover except for an hour or so after the run where I made lunch. Legs felt fine but it was very hot out at 10AM and it took a bit more willpower than usual to get it done. At least I'll get a bit more recovery between runs today with no classes.

9 on Sandy Rd in the rain. More like Muddy Rd. Wore my tortoise-shell glasses(not prescription i'm 20/10 like a 9 year throwback) and my older trainers and had an absolute blast, it was very cool out with the rain and I was slipping and sliding all around, never fell though luckily. Felt like I could have gone on forever today. Was sad to end it at 9. Strided out the last half mile to stretch out the legs

5 in the morning. Had a dream I met some fiery redhead and spent too long with her and forgot to study for my test so the last twenty minutes were me cramming outside the classroom, like actually dreaming of studying the formulas for things like specific gravity and mass flow rate. Woke up from that at 5AM and was too stressed about that to go back to bed so got the miles in early.

11 after the final. Wanted to do 14 to make up for Sunday, but around 5.5 I could tell I needed to get out of the oncoming storm fast. Craziest weather I've ever ran in. Pinecones and branches falling from the overhead trees like hail and winds that made you feel like a tree could collapse at any second right on top of you. Loudest thunder I've ever heard while outside too. Heard a tree fall with about half a mile left, I didn't see it and have never seen one fall but I don't know how that sound I heard could have been made otherwise. Had a really painful chest cramp but after the turnaround it was barely noticable when you're running like your life depends on it. Final went well.

5 shakeout in the morning. Was worried because I didn't stretch right after my run with the storm and all but felt fine.

10 in the afternoon, felt mentally tired. I'm gonna get to bed early and greet tomorrow with a good attitude and firm handshake. Second time in my life I've gone back-to-back triple digit weeks, with 91 miles these last 6 days. 

5 in the morning. Didn't end up going to bed early, went over to watch the new Jordan Peele movie, "Us"(still got a good night's sleep though). I'm pretty sure I'm the only person alive that thought Get Out wasn't that good of a film, but I liked this one a lot more, definitely scary. Woke up to a calf cramp and thought this run would go south but felt pretty good, besides I started the run at 10:40 on a hot sunny day.

10 in the evening after my shift. Felt really good 30 minutes in and dropped the pace to something faster than I've done in a while - maybe it was from not doing hills on my 10 for the first time in forever. 106 miles Monday-Sunday, second highest mileage month ever

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 :)

5 at 5:50AM. Took it about 20 seconds a mile slower but felt 10 times better than on yesterday's morning run.

10 at 9:50AM. Wasn't sure if I'd do 3 runs today with my final but some stressful stuff occurred and I needed to run the bad juju off before the test to clear my mind. Gonna be sleeping in my car tonight. Such is life.

5 at 9:10PM. got my lease cleared at 5pm, so no sleeping in the car but i had to spend the next 6+ hours moving with a short running break near the end. super psyched to finally live alone after 21 years... the place is really nice for $450 a month. listened to “the love below” on the run, the album i became a man to(with late registration being the album i became 3/4ths of a man to). love that album, “she lives in my lap” is probably a top 2 favorite song of mine. walked nearly 8 miles with moving and finals today, plus the 20 miles i ran, so i’m exhausted enough now that maybe falling asleep on a hardwood floor won’t be too bad.

5 at 8AM. i think i’m gonna skip the 10 miler today, normally i’d be fine to do it and i believe i still am but my body is semi-wrecked from yesterday and i think i’d break my body down more than i’d make it stronger. plus my car is packed full of my belongings and it’ll take a fair amount of time and energy to move that. i’m taking this weekend easier... with respect to mileage at least, since i will be working my first two shifts at the hospital and they’re both 13 hours. still, very happy i covered 60 miles in 3 days, that’s a ton of running, even for me. 

5 at 2:30PM. i think the vomeros strained my achilles a little more than the pegs would but otherwise fine.

4 at 5:15AM. overslept so all i had time for.

6 in the PM. despite running 7 or so straight 100+ mile weeks, still haven’t beat my highest mileage week from when i was 18. next week that should change hopefully.

typed out a big entry on my running plan but i thought it’d be more exciting to be revealed in my running than through my words. should be a fun read over the next few months, body perservering of course :)

5 at 8:20AM. sore from this weekend; didn’t run yesterday because i was tired and considering how i felt this morning i’m glad i didn’t. looks like i’m running a mormon week of mileage.

10 at 12:10PM. felt alright, probably better than any of the second runs of the triples last week, marginally faster too. i’ve has a knot in my right calf since i woke up, but i don’t feel it while running and it feels like every run loosens it up a bit. got my deposit back from my last place, so no more sleeping on hardwood floors for eugene!

5 at 8:30PM. first 3 miles my left calf was tight, i was confused but then remembered it is my third run of the day, crazy how that’s already lost it’s significance. stopped and stretched after 3 miles and didn’t feel it again.

5 at 6:50AM. calves didn’t have anything to say.

10 miles at 10:00AM. felt good so sped up the last 4 miles. last half mile my stride really opened up and it felt really easy! finished my 15 before noon so great start to the day. working a shift this afternoon, hopefully since it’s only 4-ish hours running 5 after won’t be hard.

5 after my shift(8:15PM). felt pretty good.

5 at 7:50AM. slept in. slightly faster last mile trying to catch the marine trainees that started running about 300m ahead of me, caught all but one.

10 at 11:10AM. would have gone earlier if i had woken up earlier/hadn’t done laundry. picked it up to about 5-flat pace for the last half mile. felt natural. i think to ease into fast running when i’ve been at full mileage for a bit(probably late september) i should introduce fast running by doing faster closes on my second runs for a couple weeks before real workouts cross my mind, since i’ve already been running for a while it’s hard to go fast enough to break down muscles.

5 at 6:30PM. a bit earlier than usual; i’m trying to move all my runs earlier in the day to account for school and i figured i can’t wake up at 5AM until i finish my third run before 9PM. first triple with all three runs 7-minute pace. not trying for it, just been feeling good today. listened to droptopwop by gucci mane and metro boomin, that tape was basically all i listened to fall 2017. still thumps, would recommend

5 at 6:40. a bit slower but felt good.

10 at 9:40. hot out towards the end but still felt pretty good.

5 at 6:50pm. drank too much water beforehand.

5 at 6:30am. legs felt beat. glad i get a “break” from high mileage with the shifts this weekend.

10 at 9:30am. ran out of clif bars so all i had between the two runs was a sip of juice for calories. those last 3 miles were really hard mentally because of it.

5 after my shift around 8pm i think.

4 before my shift at 5:00am.

100 miles in 5 days... not bad :-)

6 after my shift at around 8pm.

3 before my shift

7 after.

5 at 8:30am. slept in. body felt like crap from this weekend.

10 at 11:10am. felt much better than this morning, better than the past few days. guess this morning was just shaking off the weekend.

8 miles around 7pm.

Might have to condense my morning 5 and 10 to a early-morning 15 soon to account for classes on MWF, T&R I'm still good for triples, that's probably when I'll do my harder running, but I'm getting ahead of myself. That, or start waking up at 4AM. I'm not sure which sounds worse.

5 at 7:50am. slept in again.

10 at 11:00am. very very hot. need to start waking up way earlier.

8 at 7:10am on intramural after my shift. lot on the body. 

5 at 6:50am on Hilton. 

10 at 10:00am on intramurals. went by WAY faster than the other 10-milers this week; not sure if it was the weather(mid-80’s, overcast, AND a breeze! gets me VERY excited for fall weather) or just my body getting used to the mileage. either way felt good aside from a sore left arch that’s been on my case since my shift yesterday - wore sneakers with no support - but nothing bad enough to hinder form or stop mileage. when i hit a quarter mile to go i hit the lap button and just took off without thinking, 5:05 pace. felt good.

8 at 7:00pm on intramurals. foot ached but felt better!

5 at 6:40am on Hilton. faster last mile. 

10 at 9:20am on intramurals! felt good! it’s starting to trend to cooler temps. def still warm but with the wind it wasn’t even that hot compared to earlier this week. fall is 100% my favorite time of the year so these runs get me really elated. light at the end of the tunnel for a huge week!

8 at 6:20. all three runs @ 7-minute pace today!

5 at 7:40am on Hilton. slept in despite going to bed the earliest so far this week.

10 at 9:20am. felt pretty good. love being able to do these first two runs so close together.

8 at 7:20pm after my shift. sort of wanted to do 10 to feel next week’s mileage out(highest i’m going for the next year... seriously this time!), but I hit 135 miles from Saturday-Friday by doing 8. i couldn’t ask for anything better, A++ goal, and i did it on the first try!

2.5 during my lunch break

10 after my shift at 7pm on intramurals. by the end i couldn’t even tell i’d been working since 6am. forgot to mention i fell down some stairs on thursday, i hurt my right ankle a bit but i only feel it occasionally when running and running doesn’t make it any worse so i’m just trying to take advil and run through it.

what a week!

2.5 before work at 5am.

10 after my shift at 7pm.

been slacking on finding new music lately, gonna check out a new album every week. this week’s album is “Dare Iz A Darkside” by Redman.

5 at 9:00am.

10 at 11:20am. slept in so it was very warm for my first 15 today.

10 at 6:40pm. last half mile at around 6-flat pace since a real nasty storm was on the verge of hitting. bought a yoga mat for the new apartment so stretching and staying limber will be much more convenient.

5 miles at 6:30am. didn’t wake up as early as i wanted to but still not bad, progress at least.

10 miles at 8:20am... on Sandy Rd! i haven’t ran it in about a month, it’s my favorite course out there but it’s brutal so it’s nice to get in better shape and come back and see how the tough parts get easier. nothing better for peace of mind than driving into the forest to run in the serene and secluded nature, plan on doing all of my second runs that aren’t track/grass workouts here. 40 miles in just a smidge over the last 24 hours!! i feel fine so that’s good. finished my 15 before 10AM.

10 after my shift at 7pm. the last few miles it was storming hard all around, but barely drizzling on intramurals. it was cool to be running in the dark and see the lightning illuminating the ground as it tore through the black sky.

5 at 5:30am. one of the best things about my new apartment is it’s less than a third of a mile from a track; ran to it, on it, and back for 5. glad i finally woke up at 5, i may have to wake up a bit earlier or just get better at running as soon as i wake up, 30 minutes of boondoggling before the run isn’t time efficient. liked running in the dark; life is made up of little moments and sweating in the dark to “Careless Whisper” by George Michael are the type of moments to make it worth living.

10 at 8:20am. felt a little nauseous but besides that good. a good bit faster than yesterday.

10 at 6:30pm. ate too much lunch and felt sluggish, pace wasn’t though.

5 at 5:30am.

10 at 7:20am. started off a bit quicker, and then during the second mile a bug flew at me in the opposite direction and hit me right under my right eye. it felt like i’d been shot point blank with a bb gun, i think it got it’s stinger imbedded because it took me a few seconds to realize it hadn’t flown away or moved at all, i had to pluck it off. still stings something awful, but i’m way too obsessed with my mileage to have let that stop me. took it easier because getting past the pain from that was enough effort. still ended up being a bit faster than yesterday. in better news getting gas set up in my apartment today so i can cook soon and get into a better diet.

10 miles at 5:50pm. fastest third run of the day so far! can’t believe i’m already at 400 for the month.

5 miles at 5:20am. tired and slow. could be from mileage, but more likely from sleep. i’ve been barely averaging 7 hours a night if that. i need to sleep more but balancing engineering classes, work, and running is tough, plus i need to find time to study for the MCAT. i’ll figure out a way to balance everything over the next week or two, but any semblance of free time is out the window.

10 miles at 7:20am. kept it honest on miles 3-9, especially on the uphills. last uphill(about 1.2 miles left) i felt my right achilles ache for a second so i stopped and stretched and took it easier for the rest. didn’t feel it again.

10 miles after my shift at 7:30pm. as i finished mile 10 i sank to my knees and pounded the grass in triumph. not something i’d do normally, but 125 miles in 4 and a half days... i don’t even know what to say. i’m beyond blessed to have such a capability for mileage.

12.5 miles after my shift at 7:30pm to end a 10-week 100+ mile week streak with a 150 mile week. no big deal.

back by popular demand! the song of the day is “Nina Cried Power” by Hozier.

12.5 easy after my shift at 7:40pm. stayed later than normal. rained hard all day and on the run so my post-work intramural run was basically running in one giant grassy puddle(more like a lake). that kind of surface doesn’t take it easy on the achilles; feel alright though. 

SOTD: Ask Yourself - Foster The People

10 at around 4:30pm. it’s been raining hard constantly since Saturday, and it’s set to continue until tomorrow night. hard to do 25 when a lot of the places i like to run are unusable(back when i was 18 i ran almost entirely on asphalt and sidewalks, but i don’t like the feeling of it anymore), so i’m gonna ease up today and tomorrow, run a few more 25 mile days before the weekend and then pick the mileage back up for september. it’s been nice to have a day of recovery where recovery doesn’t mean ~13 hours on my feet going up and down the hospital.

SOTD: 30 - Danny Brown. one of my absolute favorite songs. the instrumental sounds like Dr. Seuss ODing on heroin and the lyrics speak to my very being

5 at 7:30am and 10 at 9:20am. pretty uneventful, nothing felt bad though.

SOTD: Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! - The Beatles