Step by step, mile by mile

AM - 3, 6:17 pace. wasn't hard... wasn't easy though. new year, fresh start, getting back into shape and all. 

RIP to MF DOOM, one of my favorite rappers of all time. 

SOTD: vaudeville villain - viktor vaughn

all caps - madvilliany 

doomsday - MF DOOM

books of war - RZA and MF DOOM 

AM - 3 miles, 6:14 pace. i'll try and get in something longer and slower after work

also i discovered lactaid which means i discovered greek yogurt and that stuff mixed with muesli is the bomb yo

AM - 5 on the treadmill at 8.2 mph. 100 miles in the next 6 days! time to get based up with some base training

PM - 5 miles in about 31-flat. wanted to go longer but my legs were just refusing to slow down, even if it did feel like they were. hitting 12 miles in 1:15 would be fun but i wasn't confident the legs could handle it after basically no running last week. after a couple of days of doubles i'll be back in my pace pocket

sotd: the middle of next month - boldy james

AM - 5 on the treadmill, 8.2 mph. wish my 24/7 gym kept those hours after the lockdown but i gotta wait until 5AM to run instead, at least until it gets warmer. last winter i was able to run outside at 4am most mornings and i have no idea how i did it

PM - 8 miles, 6:26 pace. had some of the worst stomach cramps of my life!! i was barely able to keep my back straight so when my watch died at 7.5 it broke me and i stopped there. not sure if the cramps were from the greek yogurt i had after breakfast or the coffee 90 minutes before the run, but hopefully it's unrelated to both because i can't live without my 3 cups a day and adding greek yogurt into the diet is easy protein. i'll get that PM 12 tomorrow!

mile just to say i ran

AM - 4 on the treadmill, felt fresh from two days basically off. i'm not sure if i got salmonella again or that lactose-intolerance medicine was false advertising but dealt with the worst stomach cramps of my life the past couple of days. mostly passed it now.

AM - 5 before work. cold and windy.

AM - 5 before work. for being below freezing out, it wasn't that bad. 4 years in Alabama have definitely made me better at running in extremes on the other side of the spectrum though. took it easy so i was surprised to see the first mile was 6:22 afterwards

AM - 5 on the treadmill. felt solid. ever seen the episode of the office where they race a 5k? i was andy on this run

AM2 - 12 at sandy. wet, cold, and hilly, my three favorite words to describe a run. oh, and muddy. last time i ran at sandy was november at about 7:08 pace, which was by far the fastest i've ever ran this tough-ass course. pace today was 6:40. probably should have been a few seconds slower but hit 9 miles right at 60 minutes and tried to get the pace to 6:38 so i could say i ran 30 seconds faster than i ever have at sandy; too bad the last 3 miles are all uphill. feels good to have 17 miles punched in before 9am!

PM - 8. came through the first two miles in 13-flat then relaxed; i'll be shocked if i can still do that in a few days

sotd: on that time - playboi carti

AM - 5 on the treadmill. was checking the logs last night and realized yesterday was my first 20+ mile day since september. my ex booty called me late last night but i went to bed at 8pm. tragic!

AM2 - 12 at sandy, 6:57 pace. was tired from the flux of mileage; finishing this run made for 42 miles in the past 28 hours. feeling pretty good! might end up getting 100 by thursday 

PM - 8. high 6:40 pace the first 4 then the legs ran out of juice. survived it! 

sotd: lost in moments - ulver. as someone who loves the industrial genre of music imbreding with basically any other genre, finding an industrial jazz song the other day that slaps was big for me

AM - off. recovery day; my legs aren't in desperate need of it but kinda feel like i'm at the cusp of overdrafting, with currency being miles and my legs being the bank in this metaphor. gonna try and get 25 again tomorrow if it feels feasible in the morning

PM - 5-mile shakeout, 6:18 pace. bounced back from the last two days much faster than i expected. felt really good! just super strong. 

sotd: ante up - M.O.P.

AM - 5 on the treadmill. felt pretty good. the cold front we've had the past week melts away today so i'm saving the rest of my mileage for the pm so i can run in 60-degree weather instead of 20.

PM - 5 miles with some strong headwind, 6:18 pace again. too fast for a shakeout! luckily i didn't space these first two runs apart by much so i can afford the time to take a little more rest than i like to between shakeout and longer run(it's usually about 90 minutes)

PM2 - 15 easy. watch died but i'm sure the pace was slow. easy day tomorrow!

AM - 5 on the treadmill. working out some kinks from not getting the chance to run yesterday, but them's the breaks. hopefully should get a chance to run tonight to get the 100-mile week, either way easy day tomorrow then it's trying for 100 miles in 4 days again

sotd: tookie knows II - schoolboy q

AM - 5 before work, 6:37 pace. felt good, went a little faster for a shakeout just because it was cold and i wanted to get back indoors. didn't get the chance to run after work yesterday, oh well

AM - 5 on the treadmill. gonna have a lot more treadmill running on deck with the storms starting to come back in full soon. in an alternate timeline andy williams wrote a song about spring in the south called "it's the least wonderful time of the year"

PM - 5. didn't get a chance to run earlier because of GI issues. feeling better afterwards; always feel like it's russian roulette with this where either you run it off or you make it 100 times worse

sotd: omegah red - books of war

4AM - 8 easy. felt good, especially for it being totally dark out and below freezing for all of it. 7:09 pace.

11AM - 8 easy. was gonna go for 12 but my legs told me stop at 8 so i did. ran an hour earlier than i planned so that might have factored in, but on the bright side now i have the chance to run again before the storms hit tonight, or just get an extra hour of recovery. 6:51 pace. turned the pace off my watch face so all it says is distance so all the runs for the next few weeks are gonna be about the same effort.

6PM - 4 jogging, 7:44 pace. rain ended up starting much earlier than the snake oil salesmen we call meteorologists predicted, so my only options were the turf football field and the treadmill. both have their pros and cons, but turf is my absolute favorite running surface and i figured as long as i take it super easy the constant turning wouldn't be too much of a hassle for my legs. going out the door i thought the most i could manage was 4, but after a few minutes loosening up i felt much better. usually when i do this course for the first time i'm more susceptible to straining my legs, so still called it early. i'll probably have to run here again in the early morning since it'll still be raining anyway. i can only run so many turns!

sotd: i'm so tired - fugazi

3AM - 6 jogging on the turf field, 7:53 pace. it was pretty nice out for 3am in January; since it had just stopped raining it was high 40's with 100% humidity

4PM - 3. 6:59 pace. felt good aerobically, body wasn't hurting, but legs were completely lifeless, as they have been since the morning run. hopefully the shakeout gets the recovery blood flowing

AM - off. legs really haven't felt that good since the second run on tuesday. kinda annoying when i did 25's last week no problem that a 20 kicks my ass; but i'm hoping it's either from the 10 miles of turf turns or my shoes being past their prime, preferably the latter since i ordered a new pair last weekend. legs feel much better than they did at 3am, but if i don't feel comfortable running i'll just do a session on the stationary.

PM - 30 minutes at high resistance. got a little over 8.5 miles so i was fine with it

PM - 3 on the treadmill. new shoes came in! wild that i've bought 9 models of the exact same shoe. legs felt okay, i think. really i won't know until i see how i feel in the morning. not feeling too bad an hour later though

sotd: neighborhood threat - iggy pop

4AM - 5-mile shakeout, 7:02 pace. felt like a deer on ice the first mile then relaxed and felt better. did a light pickup for about 2 minutes towards the end to loosen up the legs. nothing crazy, about 6-flat pace. didn't realize how worn down my pegs i've been using were until i put on a new pair

sotd - samurai sword - the microphones

AM - 5 shakeout, 6:46 pace. felt great, surprised my legs bounced back from tuesday already; my calves were absolutely ripped to shreds wednesday/thursday

also i found a rare peg 36 color scheme and i will 100% pay extra to get them because they're sick

sotd: a madman's dream - east flatbush project

4AM - 7 miles pretty easy, 6:53 pace. 100% humidity, low 60's, and windy... not terrible running conditions for an early january morning. moving back up to doubles today!

PM - off. felt like i stretched too far and re-strained my calf; it's nothing major but i can tell over the past month my hips got out of alignment again so i'm using this as an excuse to see the chiropractor and give myself about 24 hours to let the adjustment set in. should be up and running again tomorrow night

sotd: fantasy - against all logic

PM - jogged on the treadmill for a couple minutes, then did 30 minutes hard on the stationary at high resistance. around tempo run effort, i guess. got 10.2 miles in that time 

4AM - short shakeout. legs needed more time to feel better than i expected. felt alright... i think. one run at a time.

AM - 5. felt much better than yesterday!

AM - stationary

PM - few minutes of jogging on the treadmill and some more stationary to loosen up, then drills and plyometrics. burpees kicked my ass, but i definitely have a better vertical than i did a year ago. with as much jumping as i did and my legs feeling fine this probably means i can start running again

really wanted to run today but i had really bad stomach cramps and a jacked HR all day. long as it's not covid, whatever; hopefully i can sleep it off so i can run tomorrow. surprised how sore i am from the plyo session last night; feels like i did leg day(go figure)

PM - 4, 6:41 pace. felt pretty good! wanted to go longer but with only 7 miles ran in the last 8 days and a weight session later tonight(albeit mostly upper body) i decided to keep it short enough to test out the legs without really testing them. i'll go for 10 tomorrow and that'll be the real gauge. looking back it's only been two weeks since the wheels fell off and i've gotten some good stationary work in so maybe i haven't lost too much fitness. hope not; i was starting to feel really good a few weeks ago. legs feel stronger from the plyometrics!

PM2 - 10 minutes on the stationary to loosen up then core, back, chest and hips. probably gonna be sore tomrrow. good!

another day without running but this is one of the best excuses i've had in a while to miss it. i was completely ready to run but came outside to find my tires had been jacked, and no one else in the lot. it's messed up, and after filing a police report and knowing replacing this is all coming out of pocket after buying new ones just a couple months ago, i'm demoralized to the point where i don't think a run would fix it. it's a cold world man

PM - 3 at night after finally getting new wheels on the car. i'd been up since 2am so i was pretty tired but wanted to get the legs moving so i forced myself to hilton. could have felt worse after 2 days of no running

also i got a great story out of this crappy situation with the wheels. i needed a ride to an auto shop to get lug nuts but obviously couldn't drive, and the only person available to drive me was my ex i haven't seen in about 2 years. we drive to the shop and it was honestly less awkward than i thought it'd be.

so i get back in her car and after a few seconds driving back to my place i hear her sigh and look over and she's got the whole waterworks rolling down her cheeks. i'm like yooo wassup g and she says she just found out her new bf is cheating on her. well, apparently she meant cheating on her at that very moment because she pulls off the main road and drives to what i assume was her mans' apartment and is like "there's that two-timing mfs car, i think i remember where she lives" and pulls out, slams on the gas and drives around looking for her house, i guess

so now i'm just awkwardly sitting in the passenger seat trying not to say anything like i'm in timeout or something, worried i'm about to get caught up in a first-degree murder charge. there was a look in her eyes; i've never seen it in anyone before and honestly, it put the fear of god in me lol. she drops me off and i tell her she's too pretty for prison and she peels off and now i'm praying my ex doesn't catch a case because that looks bad on my tinder resume

like any faithful ex would i (mostly jokingly) offered to beat up her new man but apparently he plays football for bama so i'd like to emphasize the fact that my exes go on to date national champions which kinda feels like a dub for me somehow

sotd: i hit it first - ray j. 

AM - 3 again. started to feel the days i haven't ran the past month coming back to haunt me but i definitely felt stronger than i would have if i didn't do the strength sessions this week. it's supposed to rain from noon through tomorrow morning but i'll still try to get out there for a shakeout tonight even if i'm tired after work.

AM - 5, 6:35 pace. was running on 3 hours of sleep yesterday and unfortunately didn't have it in me to do it again so slept through my alarm and didn't have much time before work, so took it a bit faster for still being half-asleep. felt much better than i have the past couple of days; i didn't look at my watch until after the run and i'm not sure if i expected the pace to be faster or slower.

feel like i've been lacking ambition in running the past couple of months, and REALLY feel like that switch got flipped the past couple days. not letting that fire get snuffed this time!

sotd - la mala ordina - clipping

AM - 10 miles, 6:39 pace. was tired but tried to pick it up the last mile and ran a 5:58. felt less like i was flying and more like i was desperately running for my life, lol. felt good to feel that pain; although i'd rather it correspond to something in the 5:20's instead. baby steps. shakeout and plyos tonight!

PM - 5, 6:51 pace. legs felt tired but had a LOT of bounce in them. guess that's why you do strength work

PM - plyometrics. tough one!

AM - 5, 6:36 pace. felt pretty good. took a step around mile 3 and felt my calf strain a bit. didn't feel it before or after that but told myself i'd stop at 5 to exercise caution. shame, but it's a run.

PM - 5 shakeout, 6:59 pace. felt pretty good! could feel the plyos in the legs, both for better and for worse(mostly better). weights in a couple hours!

PM - calves, quads, biceps, triceps. had a paradox where my calves felt strained from running, but the way to avoid that was by straining them more with weights, so might be incapacitated for the morning run tomorrow. either way, it was a good session.

bringing back sotd! today it's bad boy for life by p. diddy bc we're keeping the lombardi down in the dirty south!

20 min of jogging on the turf field

5 on the treadmill before work! felt good

AM - 8 easy before work, 6:53 pace. surprised i didn't cut the run short; it was cold with a vicious wind and corresponding wind chill. we're supposed to have a nasty winter storm hit us later today and last until tuesday morning, so monday's mileage is up in the air. hopefully the weathermen and weatherwomen are once again exposed as frauds tomorrow so i can get the work in. 

sotd: blockbuster night pt. 1 - run the jewels

treadmill

treadmill

treadmill

8 at hilton, 6:52 pace

7 on rodeo, first 5 at 6:17 pace. weights later.

6:40 pace on hilton. i forget why i stopped early

12 on sokol, 6:43 pace. weights after

12 on sokol, 6:39 pace

3 on hilton, 6:34 pace

7 on sokol, 6:41 pace

4 on sokol, 6:43 pace

letting my fans know i am alive and well, and also getting some decent 90-minute runs and strength training in lately. been super busy with things like work and academics but i'll enter all my training whenever it clears up(should be some point in the next few weeks, probably immediately after tax day). i'm gonna try to do a 30-mile long run the saturday after next and if i get that done i'll definitely be here talking my talk lol. haven't ran yet today because of a pretty nasty storm, but once it clears up tomorrow it'll be 70's and sunny for the next week. i'm gonna get some great runs in.

5 on sokol, 6:50 pace

9 on sokol, 6:37 pace

3 on sokol, 6:40 pace

treadmill

8 on mural, 6:43 pace

treadmill

12 on sokol, 6:34 pace. weights after

9 on sokol, 6:35 pace.

10 on sokol, 6:40 pace

10 on sokol, 6:38 pace

8 before work on mural. 6:41 pace. cold and dark!

9 at sokol, 6:42 pace

treadmill

treadmill. no running last couple days bc bad storms.

7 on sandy, 6:37 pace

treadmill

AM - 6 hilly, 6:52 pace. had a bad cramp.

PM - 3, 5:54 pace. felt amazing

AM: 11, 6:47 pace. tired from the second run yesterday.

PM: 5 on mural, 6:38 pace

11 at sokol, 6:37 pace. last 2 miles in 12:20

it rained all night so running on sandy should have sucked. lotta mud, lotta hills. however, i got my new shoes in the mail yesterday, plus a pair of 2" shorts(haven't worn short shorts since like 2017), so i guess that was a recipe for success.

11 miles at 6:18 pace with the last 4 in 24:07, 136 avg HR. felt amazing the entire way, i kept expecting the hills to finally do me in but it never came. a few days ago i felt super good on my second run of the day and ended up running 5:54 pace like it was 7-flat, and ever since then i've just felt great on every mile of every run. i'll probably run again tonight since we're supposed to have a severe storm hit us from basically midnight to midnight tomorrow(i'll say it for the umpteenth time, gotta love spring in the south), so not sure what i'll be able to get in. i might end up running over 100 miles this week for the first time in forever, but only if i can get in something tomorrow, so fingers crossed. if not i'll definitely clear that next week, then workouts start the week after that. 

PM - 5, 6:33 pace. saw ethan running while i was stretching beforehand, he asked if i'd finish his run with him and i figured eh, it's been a while since i ran with someone. took it a bit easier because his breathing seemed labored(he said he ran a 15:20 5k last week so i'm kind of surprised), then once he dropped off after 3 miles ran the pace i wanted to from the start. ended up being about 6-flat, felt easy. good day of training. if i get a few more days like this in before workouts start, i'll be very excited to see what i can do when i really let loose :)

sotd- enecs eht no kcab - one be lo & DJ virus

AM - 3 on the treadmill

AM2 - 7 on sokol, 6:17 pace. felt great.

sotd: huh??? - rural internet

AM - 13 on mural, 6:26 pace. it stormed last night, so not only was the course soaked and windy, but also nearly 70 degrees with full humidity by 6:30am. the run should have sucked, and it did, stayed strong though. after like 4 miles the average pace never got slower than 6:27 or faster than 6:26, so i was running good splits even if i felt like i was about to catch on fire. 

also, if any southern vets have recommendations on combatting humidity on runs, would love to hear it. jogging 7:30's during the hotter months like i've done in the past is one thing, but aerobic runs like this in warm weather mean getting uncomfortably close to that red line, and i'm not trying to cross it on a run meant for recovery

PM - 5, 6:35 pace. i work this afternoon until late so my only chance to run was around noon. since the recovery time was small plus it's been a solid week of decent mileage, decided to take it easy... after running the first mile in 6:01 :)

sotd: stay fresh - j rocc

6-mile jog on the track, 7:12 pace. felt tired from yesterday, i'm pretty sure it's more to do with a lack of recovery than the running itself. feeling a lot better now that i got the blood flowing

AM - 11 miles on sokol, 6:16 pace. sokol isn't an easy course, so flying on it without putting in too much effort is a huge mental boon for that first workout next week. might do some short hills this week, but if i do it won't be anything too hard.

AM - 11 miles on sokol, 5:59 pace. if yesterday was a boon, not sure what you'd call this. double boon? boon squared? boooon? either way, this was awesome, and running it on a hilly course with an avg HR of 139 makes it even better. last 5 miles in 5:58, 5:55, 5:54, 5:47, 5:44

PM - 3 on mural, 6:16 pace. probably would have taken the PM off, but we have a nasty storm hitting us from tonight to tomorrow night so i probably won't get a chance to run in the morning. all i got was 3 before the storm hit WAY faster than expected

PM - 3 on hilton, 6:22 pace. felt easy, but conditions were terrible.

AM - 11 on sokol, 6:10 pace. felt way easier than the two sokol runs i did earlier this week. long run should be fun tomorrow if i'm feeling good. ready to hurt!

AM - 18-mile LR at mural, 6:12 pace. last 13 in 1:19:39.

quick complaint; this run definitely would have been faster at sokol or hilton, maybe even sandy. temperatures went below freezing last night, so at 6:30 the grass was wet and mushy which isn't the best surface for running fast. otherwise, perfect conditions. no wind, 36 degrees at the start and 48 by the end. also might be worth mentioning i went to the gym 30 minutes prior to bike on the stationary for a few minutes and do a bunch of dynamics and drills to warm up, mainly because it was cold out and i wanted to keep the pace honest from the start. might be worth doing even after it warms up. great run!

pictured below: why i immediately regret getting cool color schemes for running shoes 

PM - weights after work. mostly upper body and core, along with sled pushes and farmers walks. went heavy on the sleds and they killed

AM - 8 easy from northridge to sokol and back, 6:50 pace. then jogged to the track, did some drills, changed shoes and ran 6 x 100m strides with a 200m stride to finish it off. only timed the 200, that was a 30.0.

legs felt fine but i came up about 2k calories short of replenishing what i burned yesterday, and it bit me in the ass by giving me some serious hunger pangs during the run. strides felt great

also calling it now, i am 100% gonna lose at least one toenail this week. my middle 3 on my left foot have been on the precipace of falling off for about a month after a lot of trail running, and running in flats on a track isn't doing them any favors. onycholysis: a runner's best friend

AM - 4 w/u + drills and strides, then 4 x k w/ 2:45 rec in 2:59, 3:03, 3:04, 3:04. 5 c/d

nothing crazy on my first workout, but even the tower of babel started from the ground, right? botched that second k by coming through the first 200 in 31, surprised that didn't end up hurting me more but i guess calling 6:20's easy pace had to be good for something. kept the total work short since i knew my legs were gonna get shocked from actual hard running, but never tightened up or went over the red line, plus i felt pretty good on the cooldown, so i think i ran the times i was supposed to. happy with it all things considered! RIP to my index toenail

PM - 6 at hilton, 6:06 pace. obviously, i was still reeling from this morning ;)

AM - 6 on sokol, 6:24 pace. legs felt tired, but weren't hurting and really weren't all that sore either. however, what i said about not eating enough on sunday and it biting me in the ass, multiply it by 10 for this run. it's tough being a poor college student when you're burning over 5000 calories more days than you aren't, lol. ended up calling it at 6 because i was straight up starving, but also it's probably for the best i cut the 12 short this morning considering yesterday was basically all quality and i can't be getting greedy so early in training.

PM - 6, 6:18 pace. ankles felt a little stiff, i think that's more because of it being on hilton than anything else though

sotd: reptilia - the strokes

PM - 7 on mural, 6:17 pace. felt stiff at first, but the last 15 minutes or so i started feeling good. last 2 miles in 6:03 and 5:36. not too often that i'll dip under 5:40 to close out a run! hope to change that soon; bought myself an early birthday present in the form of a whole bunch of supplements after reading a book on them for endurance athletes. once i can add spirulina, beet root, and tart cherry extract to my pre-run shakes, it's over!

anyone else unable to comment on blogs? or am i being silenced for speaking the truth

AM - 4-mile shakeout, 6:43 pace. TERRIBLE run! i wore sweatpants for some reason despite it being 70 degrees out with full humidity, and by 10 minutes in my legs had overheated to the point they were completely lifeless. normally i'd be wearing running tights under, but i wasn't today, and couldn't strip the pants off and just run around in my briefs, so i was stuck in my own little slice of hell. those last two miles i just kept feeling crappier so i called it at 4.

AM - 8 on sokol, 5:59 pace. would have been longer(and probably faster considering the last 6 miles were 5:55 pace), but during that last mile my stomach was NOT having it. oh well, at least it felt a lot easier than 11 at the same pace last week.

AM - 4 miles on sokol, 6:11 pace. couldn't run this last weekend, isn't important why. felt good on this run(was already at 5-minute pace by ~10 minutes in), but since i hadn't run in 72 hours i cut it short since i could tell my legs needed a run to loosen up before i do anything else. in theory it should be back to the usual by tonight

AM - 8 miles on sokol, 6:07 pace. would have gone a few miles longer, but same issue as last friday where i really needed a bathroom but the park rangers hadn't unlocked them yet. it's kind of terrifying how controlled 6:00-6:15 pace has become for me lol

AM - 10 miles on hilton, 5:58 pace. kept it honest, but still relaxed. good run, hopefully 23-year-old me has a LOT more like it coming down the pipe :)

AM - 4 on sokol, 6:13 pace. watched the al davis 30 for 30 last night, it's a pretty good watch

AM - 10 on sokol, 5:58 pace. spent most of the run trying to recall where joe flacco signed this offseason; not that i'm a fan, it just bugged me that i knew i knew but still couldn't remember(spoiler: it's philly)

AM - 10 miles on mural, 5:57 pace. last 4 miles in 23:00.

this was supposed to be a long run, with the plan being to make the first 6-7 miles a little uncomfortable, but relaxed enough that i could drop the pace after that and still try and go for 20. legs felt good, conditions were perfect... but after 6 miles started having some rough GI issues. once that happened i said screw it and tried to run the last 4 miles in 22:59 or faster(so close). wish i could have gotten 20 in under 2 hours like i hoped, but in the last 72 hours i've done three 10-milers on three different courses all under 59:45, which is pretty sick.

AM - 10 on mural, ~6:10 pace. yesterday i tried to run the last 4 miles of my run in under 23 minutes and came up a few decimals short. today i ran the first 4 miles in 22:47. definitely could have held that pace a while longer, but i'm planning on doing a workout tomorrow so after 4 i ran another 6 a lot easier, about 6:35 pace(watch died near the end). i've been running for over 10 years now and i still have no idea how i got this fit over the past month or so(okay, i do, i just didn't think nudging my easy pace down would work out this well!)

AM - stretching, core, and weights. did front squats + step-ups and i think it gave me carpal tunnel syndrome lol

AM - 6 at sokol, 6:07 pace. legs were grateful to have yesterday off, and the DOMS from weights yesterday didn't kick in until after the run, so double positive.

PM - 5 miles on mural, 5:59 pace. was planning on going a LOT longer but my calves were still a bit raw from yesterday, so 5:59 was playing it conservative

AM - 7 lighthearted miles on sokol, 6:26 pace. it's supposed to storm bad friday night, and we have a cold front precipitating it, so even though i started at 9:30 it was mid-40's and gray out(in late april. in central alabama). would have been great conditions if it weren't ludicrously windy. spent a few miles in the middle exploring the golf course next to sokol; i'll probably run it again, just not when i have to constantly have my head on a swivel for someone yelling "fore"

AM - 3 shakeout on hilton, 6:32 pace.

PM - 23 miles on mural, 6:13 pace. 30 minutes later and i'm still delirious, but i'll try to give a quick summary. ran the first 19 miles in an amazing groove, then not having any caloric intake during this run bit me in the ass and those last 4 miles i was just trying not to pass out. wanted to go for 27, but i thought i'd be lucky to get that far going 6:40 per mile so i'm fine with this. threw up after, first time i've ever ran hard enough to do that. great freaking run. shoutout to connor baller for calling me immediately after to gas me up lol

kinda pissed that i didn't just jog another 3.3 to run what probably would have been a mid-2:40 marathon, but i really didn't have anything left at the end there. next time.

AM - 6 very easy on hilton, no watch. legs had no life to them, but weren't hurting or even really sore, which was a surprise because i was pressing through a lot of pain last night. very windy, you could definitely tell a bad storm is hitting tonight.

AM - 10 at the gym with a 3-mile tempo in 15:55. felt uncomfortable from the start, but not any more uncomfortable as the run went on, which i think is the indicator i ran it correctly. not too shabby, considering i had a hard run just 36 hours prior. could have fooled me!

AM - 4 on sokol, 6:15 pace. put off the run until 9:30 and found out the hard way that's probably not gonna be an option again until september, barring another cold front. got to 4 before the heat cramps broke me. looks like it's that time of the year where the alarms go from absurdly early to ludicrously early.

AM - 12 x 400m w/ 200m jogging recovery in 60". w/u and c/d for 12. was already a mile into the cooldown by 6:30am so suffice to say i woke up early for this one.

splits: 72, 71, 72, 70, 68, 71, 70, 72, 71, 72, 72

average of 71.6. good session. i'd like to do 16 or 20 400's when the cycle brings this workout back around in the future, but given that i haven't done much running on the track i didn't want to throw too many turns on the ankles/knees too fast. never really done this workout before, i really liked it. felt like one of those workouts you can't fake.

PM - 5 on mural, 6:09 pace. 5:48 last mile.

AM - 3 miles on sokol, 6:10 pace. might do another long run tonight, depends on if i can handle the heat and if my legs are recovered from yesterday(mainly the former)

AM - 3 on sokol, 6:26 pace. won't mince words; felt god-awful. it's either the humidity or karma for putting off training yesterday. hopefully the latter, since i'm giving the long run another shot tonight. it's gonna be hot, and it's gonna be hell. luckily i have an addictive personality and i'm definitely fiending for the euphoria i got from the LR last week

PM - 7 miles on mural, 5:58 pace. did everything possible to offset the heat and it still won in the end. it's a damn shame, those last couple miles i was really starting to relax and get into it. just couldn't get through the chest cramps. it's supposed to rain tomorrow night so i might give this week's long run one more shot tomorrow if the incoming storm means slightly cooler conditions. 

AM - 5 on sokol, 5:53 pace. couldn't run in the AM yesterday and my knee got pretty sore for the rest of the day, so took the day off. usually the run right after an off day i feel lethargic, but the legs felt absolutely juiced. first 4 miles in 5:42, 6:02, 5:51, and 5:35 with some decent hills, then remembered i took yesterday off for a reason and ran an easier 5th mile then drove home. knee felt fine at least, and i have the peace of mind to get something slower and longer tomorrow knowing i did something faster today.

3 on sokol, 6:13 pace. forgot which pegs i wore

AM - 10 miles on mural, 6:04 pace. felt really good; wasn't blowing the door off the hinges the last few miles like i tend to at mural but was strong throughout. very muddy run.

was reading a book by brad hudson yesterday where he wrote that a marathon runner doing a bunch of 400m repeats for a workout is as useful as a 400m sprinter doing a 20-mile training run for endurance. i respect him as a coach(i wouldn't have been reading his book otherwise), but i still thought that was a really stupid take. while you're likely running much faster than you'd run in a marathon, it still helps to reinforce good form and mechanics, which is vital in a long race. if he had just said it wasn't an efficient workout for a marathoner i'd have no problem with it, but it's the sprinter analogy that annoys me. not like i could write a book any better, though. 

PM - 6 on mural, 6:16 pace. have 1-4pm off from work today, so as soon as my long break started i got the rest of my miles in. since it was only about 6 hours recovery since the last run and i spent a majority of it on my feet, wasn't running with much spunk. with that being said, honestly surprised it was that quick. i'll credit the storm hitting later today for making it 70's and windy out, which did me a lot more favors than the normal 1pm weather down here.

AM - 4 on mural, 6:09 pace. despite using the same phone alarm to wake up at 4am every day, today it decided to go off on silent mode(i've said it before and i'll say it again, extremely dumb feature for an alarm. my phone wasn't even on vibrate or "do not disturb"). i guess it's not a bad thing considering if i ended up waking up at 7:30 without it i probably needed more sleep than the alarm would have given me, but it also means it was already 70's with 97% humidity out the second i woke up.

having stayed in alabama the last couple summers i already knew easy running in humidity sucks, but aerobic running in humidity REALLY sucks. luckily i'm going to provo for at least a portion of this summer, but i am curious if it's something i could adjust to, if i could do something like that 23-miler at 6:13 pace i did a couple weeks back in these swampy-ass conditions. now THAT would be impressive.

PM - 3 on hilton, 5:49 pace. apparently, it was a BOGO for getting my ass kicked by humidity today, although if i'd waited another 2 hours for it to get dark out i think i would have been able to go 6-7 like i wanted. gonna just pretend this was a tempo run so i don't feel as bad for only getting 7 miles in today lol

PM - 4 on the roads, 6:30 pace. stormed all day and didn't clear up enough until pretty late, so got to do a run down some empty campus roads which is always fun, even if i hate running on hard surfaces. wanted to go longer, but again the legs really aren't fond of asphalt(god forbid i run on a sidewalk someday)

AM - 3-mile shakeout on hilton, 6:29 pace.

PM - 8 miles on mural, 5:43 pace. once again got my ass kicked by the heat, have to accept the weather two weeks ago was a fluke and any long runs will probably have to be done in the morning the next few months. after 5 miles of a great groove i realized the heat was starting to hit me hard so i decided to just close with a strong 3 miles and get out before i got killed. ran that in 16:37(5:37, 5:30, 5:30). 

i keep trying to imagine aaron rodgers not on the packers next year, it just sounds weird. wonder if all those anonymous sources on twitter are true

AM - 3 before work on mural, 6:09 pace. felt very easy. all i had time for today, hoping to get some decent mileage in tomorrow.

AM - 9 on mural, 6:05 pace. very very wet, probably 60% of my backside was soaked in mud by the end. i like to think it'd have been faster otherwise, but this still felt pretty easy. excited to see how elevation affects these aerobic runs, and even more excited to see how fast i'm running them when i get back to bama after a solid summer of elevation training

likely no running today. i got really nauseous with a killer migraine for most of yesterday and by the time i went to bed i was super achey and burning up. i feel better this morning, but not 100%. hopefully it's just a stomach flu or something and not COVID because i'm supposed to drive up to utah in a few days and that's just godawful timing. sounds like the kind of thing to happen to me, though. guess we'll see.

the symptoms started showing up after i cooked some eggs yesterday that i left a little runny, so it could be salmonella. honestly i hope so

PM - 3. after some advil and allergy pills this morning, felt much better. run was just "eh", but that's fine. gashed my shin open pretty good on a branch, didn't realize until i was getting gas for my car after and look down and see it bleeding everywhere

3 in a big storm, 6:20 pace

3 in another big storm, 6:17 pace

AM - 10 on the rail trail, 5:51 pace. felt great. drove down to yeehaw country(also known as texas) on monday and would have ran more since, but a brutal storm hit about a mile into that first texas run and lasted until late last night. hate running on asphalt but i'll be dadgum'd if it isn't easy to run fast on

PM - 5 on the country backroads, 5:53 pace. very hilly, very windy. only reason it was that fast was all the downhill(and tailwind) came in the last two miles, those were 5:37 and 5:28. went off today! i'm sure i'll be tired for the morning run tomorrow.

AM - 10 on the hilly backroads again, 6:11 pace. ran this right after waking up without the aid of caffeine; i usually wake up at least 90 minutes before a run to really wake up and ALWAYS have some form of caffeine beforehand, and today i saw the effect of it, or lack thereof. the pace was good but mentally i just didn't want to be out there lol. sucked it up and did what i needed to do.

PM - 6 miles on the backroads, 6:09 pace. first time running 15+ mile days back-to-back since january. that's embarrassing :) what's more embarrassing is if i continue the trend tomorrow, it'll be the first time since september!

AM - 11 miles on the backroads, 6:09 pace. made sure to make it extra hilly. 

PM - 6 backroads, 6:00 pace. ran at 3:30 with not a cloud in sight and i only sort of completely regretted it. i hear heat stroke builds character

AM - 10 on backroads, 6:09 pace. slept in and started the run at 8:30, oh boy did that suck. wasn't super hot but sun was blaring and it was warm enough to bring the misery. hills were just salt in the metaphorical wound. probably not running tonight so i can wake up absurdly early tomorrow to drive to provo, and considering that drive is about 18 hours not sure how running tomorrow will fare either. it'll probably be a two day drive, but i'd rather the second day be shorter. last few days were money so i'm not too worried about an off day.

PM - 3 in farmington, new mexico. 5:56 pace. knew the ~6000ft elevation was gonna kick my ass before i even started the run, i just don't think i was aware how much i could get my ass kicked :)  good god that thin air burns the lungs something terrible. i woke up at 2am and had done a 13-hour drive prior so i'm gonna say those were also major factors for the suffering, if nothing else than to help me sleep tonight. would have done more but the place i drove out to ended up being a major dud for a running route; all short dead ends or had lots of aggressive trailer park dogs. 

AM - 5, 5:59 pace. was gonna run on the treadmill at the hotel, but the gym there was literally 93 degrees and the thermostat wouldn't turn down, so decided just to leave for provo an hour early. found out during the drive i'd be arriving about an hour before my homie i'm staying with would be home, so decided to run a few miles on this random desert road so i wouldn't be waiting around once i got to provo. considering i drove for 5 hours then just jumped out the car to run, i'd say it was a good run. elevation still kicked my ass but much less than yesterday. i need a run where my legs aren't stiff from a long car ride to really see how much the elevation is affecting me

AM - 6 miles trying(to no avail) to find a good running route immediately by the place i'm staying the next few weeks. 6:10 pace. i assume some people enjoy running in that they get to explore new areas; not me. guess it's time to go hunting for the perfect morning trail.

also, got asked to be a groomsman yesterday for a wedding in a couple weeks. only mentioning this because the groom in question reads my blog and i'm calling him out for not telling me he was engaged until yesterday, even though he knew i was coming to utah this summer for months, and has been engaged for months. his fiancee reminded him about asking me about the groomsman thing and i wonder how much longer he'd have waited to ask if not for that. anyway s/o to will; my wedding gift for you is me buying the dress clothes i wasn't aware i needed to bring with me. besides that, happy for them. the three of us have been friends for like 8 years and if you've seen the last episode of the office where michael says "my kids are growing up and marrying each other", that's the vibe

AM - 3 on kiwanis, 6:30 pace. never running here again lol, the unkept lawn in front of the UA law school is a better grass loop than kiwanis was. would have just drove to the trail i've been eyeing and running another few miles there but my left calf hasn't felt good since i didall that asphalt/concrete running yesterday, and the uneven grass didn't do it any favors. i miss bama and the good grass loops it had, even with the unbearable humidity

Noon - 4 up and down a very technical mountain trail, 7:02 pace. considering garmin says i gained over 1000ft elevation just in the first two miles, that pace is pretty good, especially considering i could barely run back down without risking dying by means of a loooong tumble. probably donating plasma later today, if it doesn't kill me it's probably a triple-run day, even if the mileage won't constitute it. 0-for-3 on trying to find a good running route in provo! i'm depressed

PM - 4 on BYU mural, 5:55 pace. I ran the first couple miles of yesterday's run here and wasn't a huge fan, but after realizing there probably isn't a ~1300m flat and fast square grass loop like there is at bama, i liked it a bit more knowing there probably isn't much better as far as grass loops go. it's only about .40 miles and it's more shaped like a right-angled triangle than a loop, but take what you can get i guess.

AM - a little over 10 on BYU mural, 5:58 pace. felt pretty good; i was tired from staying up late watching a terrible horror movie with the people i'm staying with(joe wright's "woman in the window"), but physically it didn't feel harder than any other aerobic run i've done at lower elevation the past couple months.

AM - 3-mile shakeout, 6:28 pace. only did this because my homie wanted to do this workout with me but he was taking forever to wake up so i got some miles in.

AM2 - 8 x 200m with 200m jog recovery in 60". averaged about 31-flat. nothing too crazy; we weren't sure if we'd even find an open track so i didn't have a real workout planned, so just sort of pulled this out of the hat. felt pretty good. 10 for the AM in total. 

PM - 4 on mural, 5:57 pace. left achilles felt a bit tight, otherwise felt great.

AM - 12.5 with the blog sensei himself(better known as sasha) and blog veteran chad(pretty sure i got his name right. i'm no elephant!). 7:05 pace with a 5-mile pickup in there in 29:13 that felt REALLY good. kept having to check my watch because i don't think 5:50 pace has ever felt that easy. i would have taken pacing duties for a couple of miles, but as soon as i got ahead sasha had to scold me for (unintentionally) dropping the pace down :) can't remember the last time i ran with someone(again, no elephant); it definitely was a nice way to have the run go by a little faster.

PM - 3 on mural after work. 6:4x pace

bagel

another bagel today. ran after my first job moving stuff and had my right peroneal tendon flare up. it's happened a handful of times the past year or so, and every time i've shot myself in the foot(or ankle) by coming back just a smidge too early and extending the time spent not running. i'll probably give it the full 72-hour recovery. done some strength work(mostly above the waist) to compensate. it sucks, but what can you do.

PM - 3 on mural, 6:09 pace. i was taking it easy, i swear. ankle felt a bit tight, but wasn't hurting so fingers crossed i'm in the clear

Noon - about 5. ankle continued to bug me after wednesday's run, but i said i'd play coach and give my basketball-focused homeboy a workout to get him some aerobic fitness(8 x 400 w/ 200m rec). the first 4 he was dropping off pace each repeat, so i offered to pace him for the first 200m of #5; did that in like 41(he'd been averaging like 92 up to that point). i was surprised my ankle felt better after it, so i told him i'd run his last 3 and just to stick on me. ran 85, 80, and 75 with him in tow on every repeat, so i'm proud of him. didn't put in much effort on my part, but somehow my ankle just felt better on every 400 until it felt completely normal on the last one, and about 90 minutes later it still feels fine. weird. not gonna run again today, but that's a huge boon if by some miracle jumping into his workout cleared up the tendonitis.

PM - 3 miles, 5:50 pace. probably(definitely) too fast, but eh, my legs were supercharged and it was a short run. ran without the calf sleeve after basically having that thing on 24/7 since last saturday, barely noticed it

PM - 3 miles between shifts, 5:52 pace. ran on a grass field with a pretty good slope on either side so got some uphill running in too

AM - 8 miles up and down the canyon, 6:04 pace. first few miles were all uphill with a strong headwind. sort of demoralizing to start a run, but once i turned around and had nothing but downhill and tailwind, it got a lot more fun. kept track of the mile markers on the trail, so even though i ran what my watch called 8, it seemed to undermeasure a bit. i hate blogging mileage that doesn't end in .0 or .5, so i won't add an extra 100m or so, but i will take two seconds off to account for what the pace more likely actually was(watch said 6:06). hate to jinx myself but i think this one signified the ankle is all better and i'm ready to get back in the trenches, so to speak.

PM - 4 on mural

AM - warmed up a couple miles, then tried pacing t-bird for a 3-mile tempo at 6-flat pace. after 800m he was falling off and told me to just go, so i ran another 4 laps for a 8:10, so about a 5:10 mile. that felt really good, and i wanted to hold it for longer, but t-bird was basically jogging and my ankle has been a bit annoyed since yesterday. funny how it originally got upset after running on pavement, then got better, then as soon as i tried running on pavement again it once again flares up. and by funny, i mean it put some merit behind me demonizing pavement and sidewalk running the past couple years. i get that it's doable, and most people on the blog run nearly all on roads(i did too back in my 2015-2017 days on the blog), but i've stuck to soft surfaces since i picked training back up a couple years ago and my legs respond way better to it

anyway like i said t-bird had fallen off, so i stopped after the ~5:10 mile and told him i'm switching up the workout and we'd just finish with 2 x 800 trying to run the second lap faster. i ran 2:20(73, 66) and 2:18(70, 68). the homie killed it and ran 2:50 both times with solid negative splits. wish it had been a more substantive workout, but i definitely got something out of it, and had fun. going into the 800's i was hoping i could do 2:30 going 80, 70 so i was very surprised(my watch charger broke so i had trevor taking my splits, so it was mostly ran on feel) not exactly sure on the mileage but i'm confident i got at least 8

AM - 7 on mormon mural

AM - 13 on mormon mural. no calf sleeve or KT tape the past 24 hours and the ankle felt 100% the entire time, thank heavens. i'm going back down to the south after my best friend's wedding but that still gives me 3 weeks at elevation, and barring something else flaring up i'm gonna try my hardest to get triple-digit mileage for each of those. the 13 felt good, i was out of breath for a while after though. didn't have trouble doing it but i could tell i lost a bit of fitness since the ankle originally got aggravated. gonna really get on top of plyos and weights when i get back to bama so this kind of thing doesn't happen again.

AM - 5. warmed up on the track for a workout, but on the last lap i felt a tweak in my left calf and stretching didn't do much do alleviate it. did a couple hard strides that felt pretty good but i knew the workout was doomed so i drove back to the apartment. after stretching, rolling and icing the calf feels fine again so silver lining, i guess.

AM - 2. jogged to mormon mural and my ankle felt better than yesterday, but still a little irritated. then i saw sage ducote fly by and realized today is the utah valley half, and i told spencer i'd cheer him on so i stretched on the sidewalk for about an hour looking for him. unfortuanetly i haven't seen him in over 5 years, so i'm pretty sure he ran past me without me recognizing him. once the pacer holding up a sign with a certain pace on it(that i won't say in case i'm wrong and he was behind it) passed, i figured he'd have had to pass by at that point, so ran about 2 miles on mural, but my ankle still felt off so i jogged back to the apartment. i did see former blogger and running partner a couple weeks back in chad though, and i cheered for him. nice job, spencer and chad!

also a couple hours later driving down university i saw former(i think) blogger tom slick as well(i could tell because it said the pseudonym on his shirt). shoutout tom too

AM - 5 on mormon mural

PM - 5 on mormon mural after an exhausting shift. felt my calf flare up those last couple minutes

AM - as i set out to run i thought it might be better to play it safe since my calf felt off at the end of yesterday's second run, so i went back and did some squats and lunges to supplement. then after about 45 minutes i said "screw it" and went out anyway to run 7 on missionary. actually felt really good; since my watch charger is broken i've just been setting a timer on my phone for however many miles i want to do at 6:30 pace and run that out, but i'm pretty sure this was closer to 6-flat pace. calf felt good, i think it may be mormon mural as a course that keeps screwing with the wellbeing of my ankles. it's a tragedy because if i drive somewhere for my late evening run there's no way i'll find a parking spot within a mile of the apartment, so i'm kind of forced to run there for my PM runs, at least until my friend's wedding. then i'm fleeing the state like i got a warrant lol

PM - about 4 on mormon mural, probably more. really wish i had a working watch on this one because i was flying. wouldn't have been surprised if it was around 5:45 pace. felt good.

AM - 7 on missionary. wanted to go for 10 but i was pressed for time

PM - 4 on mormon mural. uneventful, aside from it being hot.

AM - 11 on missionary. hips and ankles were very sore waking up, can't explain how but i think the air mattress had something to do with it. i'm homesick for my bed(bedsick)

AM - 11 on missionary. probably gonna be a lot of boring fundemental running the next 6 weeks or so, save some light work next week with trevor. 

AM - 11 on missionary. had to deal with stomach cramps the last 7 miles or so, but i persevered. 

AM - 10 on missionary, 6:16 pace. finally got a working watch charger! i was curious to know the pace i'm running, but more curious to know the elevation gain on missionary considering it's a grass field running on a decent slope. gained(and lost) 700 feet, according to the watch. i normally don't put that much faith in elevation conversions but with that plus all those hills i thought it'd be worth knowing what the equivalent would be for 6-flat pace on one of my bama courses, turns out about 6:24 pace(for a 13-miler, which is what i'm planning on bumping up to starting tomorrow). so if i can keep my missionary runs in the 6:1x pace range, i'd consider it quality aerobic mileage

AM - 4. blew out a tire last night and had to spend most of my free time before a long shift getting it replaced. got a few miles in while they changed it

AM - 10 on missionary, 6:10 pace. wanted to go a few miles longer but really needed a restroom towards the end and there's none available on missionary. i really really really miss sokol(and it's bathrooms)

PM - 4 on mormon mural, 5:49 pace. got impatient and went out while it was still in triple-digit temperatures. last couple steps on mural i felt my left ankle flare up to the smallest possible degree that i could notice, but didn't feel it in the last quarter mile from the field back to the apartment so i'm confident it'll be alright; just confirms my theory that mormon mural is cidium for the ankles, at least for me. i'm sure keeping my foot on the gas and running in heat didn't help but i'm confident the course itself was the main factor. i'll say for the two billionth time i'm homesick(or coursesick) for sokol, hilton and mural back home

AM - 10 on missionary, 6:02 pace. great run, felt like i finally figured out how to pace the course. would have gone for 12 but i wanted to play it safe with the ankle, which felt fine. might run tonight, if i do it'll have to be on pavement though, so we'll see

PM - 4 on the riverwalk, 5:56 pace. i'll skip the diatribe about how much i hate hard-surface running, but i'll just say if i ever say i'm considering focusing on road racing just know the real gene is probably lying dead in an unmarked grave

AM - workout with trevor. i did 8 x 400 alternating between pacing trevor for 80 and running it by myself in 70. 200m recovery in about 50 seconds. ran 74, 69, 75, 68, 80, 70, 80, 67. then 4 x 200m pacing trevor for the first 3. ran 32.2, 30.0, 29.2, and 28.6. t-bird pulled even with me on his last one so he probably ran 29-flat, so big shoutout to him because for a 210 lbs basketball player in trainers with no prior sprint training, that's sick. nothing too hard, those last couple fast 400's were a little tough with the short rest though. some of the pachev clan showed up halfway through so shoutout to the blog sensei too. 10 total

AM - 10 on missionary, 6:04 pace. felt tired from yesterday, but my cadence didn't get the memo. last mile in 5:47, which i think is the first sub-5:50 i've dropped on this course. might get a PM run in if i can get t-bird to save me a spot on the street so i can drive up to missionary again and not have to park 3 miles away when i get back. reason 2081 i miss bama: i had a lot i could park in without getting a ticket!

AM - 7 miles easy on missionary, then met with trevor at the track and ran his warmup with him for another mile. 8 x 100m strides in trainers after that, first 4 trying to accelerate the first 30m, hit full speed the next 40m, then deaccelerating the last 30m. last 4 i mostly just ran hard throughout. timed those in 13.2, 13.7, 13.2, 13.0. jogged on the turf for 10

AM - 10 on missionary, 6:14 pace. one of those mornings where i just felt lifeless and had no motivation to get out there, luckily i was able to get myself out the door before i actually talked myself out of a run. didn't feel great mentally, but about 100m into the last mile i decided to try and beat my fastest split on missionary from thursday, which i did with a 5:36. felt much better after that.

AM - 10 miles on missionary, 6:05 pace. last mile in 5:26; probably leaving provo next week with that as my fastest split on the course. i'd wager that same effort would have given me a high 5:0x mile at sea level on a better route. it's funny; i'm feeling the same sense of eagerness about leaving utah that i was 5 weeks ago as i was heading here. maybe moreso

AM - 10 on missionary, 6:15 pace, yadda yadda yadda

AM - 10 on missionary. was actually gonna go a few miles longer, but some security guard came out talking about how it was private property and i couldn't run here. dude was like 7 inches shorter and a couple years younger than me, so i started to bust his chops about how i've been running here a month and ran by security guards no less than 100 times, but the southern hospitality in me came out so i wished him well and left. luckily i only have 3 more AM runs left in provo and wednesday and friday are gonna be with trevor at the track, so i'll just have to find another course to run on thursday and then i'm gone.

PM - 3 w/ strides

AM - 6 w/ strides, 6:30 pace

PM - 2 mile w/u, 5 x 300m w/ 100m jog rec, 3 min rec, 5 x 200m w/ 200m jog rec. ran 50, 48, 47, 48, 47, then 29, 30, 29, 29, 28. had trev run repeats 1, 3, and 5 with me each set, he balled out. c/d for 7

not really a workout i'd write out for early on in a training cycle, but when i hurt my ankle the first couple weeks up here + never found any running courses i liked, i sort of just resigned to this trip up to utah as nothing more than getting a bit of general fitness before some better training the next 3 weeks in texas, then it's full throttle(hopefully) when i'm back to bama. with all that being said, i just wanted to do a fun fast workout with trevor and that's what it was. yeah, fun, in the same way passing a kidney stone is. 

PM - 4

AM - long warmup, then 2 x 800m w/ 200m jog rec in 2:31 and 2:27, then 8 x 100 with trevor. was going to do a few more 800's, but my left calf felt a little tight from the PM workout on wednesday and i didn't want to risk anything considering i have to work, pack up my stuff, and attend a wedding today before waking up very early tomorrow for a 13-hour drive. 800's felt really easy, splits were even on each and i definitely could have held the pace for mile repeats had i been willing to do something harder today. last run at elevation! hopefully i can get a run in tomorrow at the hotel, i'll get in what i can doing the rest of the drive on sunday, and then it's on to some bigger mileage.

AM - 30 minutes on the elliptical. was too tired last night to work out from a 15-hour drive and was still too tired to actually get my feet off the ground, hence elliptical

PM - 4 miles on hilly backroads, 6:26 pace. legs were lifeless from driving 21 hours this weekend. also ran in the afternoon while the sun was blazing and it was extra humid because it had rained about 30 minutes prior, so any aerobic gains from elevation were negating by nearly dying of heatstroke out there. hopefully it's more forgiving in the morning.

AM - 6 aerobic at 5:56 pace then 1 more easy. humidity hit hard after about 15 minutes and i had to just survive the next 20. could have definitely held that pace for a while if my body wasn't on fire. the southern runner's mantra: survive in the summer to thrive in the fall

PM - 4. was dealing with some nausea this morning

AM - 6 miles, 6:43 pace. felt terrible from yesterday, but i'm sure my next run will feel better than it would've if i skipped this. go habs!

AM - 10. slow.

AM - 10 on backroads, 6:50 pace. 94% humidity, ew. for anyone who runs in either dry altitude or at humid sea-level wondering if the other is worse, i'll settle the debate and say humidity is WAY worse. feels like i can't go faster than "brisk warmup" effort without immediately overheating. it sucks, but you work with what you get.

sotd(got a few since i haven't done one in a few months):

whoop tang flow - theophilus london

yoppa - falside

coordinate - young dolph

we're all alone - masayoshi takanaka

pride - kendrick lamar

alone, together - the strokes

i wanna smoke - gangsta pat

thieves in the night - black star

AM - 8 miles, 6:00 pace. put off the run until 9am instead of the normal 6am start, surprisingly felt much better out considering the humidity was much lower than yesterday. still tough to run in, but this i can work with. last mile in 5:44.

sotd: gone daddy gone - gnarls barkley

off

AM - 6 miles, 6:07 pace. took it easier the first few miles since i couldn't run yesterday, then upped the pace to something a bit brisker for the last mile and a half in 8:12. felt pretty comfortable dipping under 5:30 pace for that long.

AM - 8 miles, 6:26 pace. it was hot, bright and humid early plus my urine tint this morning let me know my hydration since my last run has been piss-poor, so there was a lot of suffering on the backroads today. really wanted to go for 11 but by 8 my HR had been jacked for a bit, my muscles were starting to cramp, and i'd been dealing with sweat in my eyes since like mile #4, so i caved.

PM - plyos/core

sotd: cutthroat committee - key glock

AM - 8 miles on the backroads. first 7 at 6:09 pace, then jogged the last mile because my left achilles was a little tight. i was probably being overcautious, but why risk it. very hot and humid again; i think i'm going back to starting the runs at 6 instead of 8, which honestly probably won't make much of a difference considering how ridiculous the humidity is at sunrise. like getting to choose the bullet you're about to get shot with

sotd: unfinished sympathy - massive attack

off

AM - 6 miles on hilly backroads, 6:26 pace. been feeling less like running and more of a guessing game to how far i can get before the humidity kills me as of late. today's the halfway point of my stay in texas so i've got about 10 more days of it

off(rain)

AM - 8 on hilly backroads, 6:30 pace. easy. stormed hard this morning so even though i pushed the run back a couple hours it was very nice out.

PM - 5 miles on the rail trail, 5:50 pace. my first day in paris two weeks ago i did 6 on this trail at 5:56 pace and it about killed me, so doing this one at 4pm instead of 6am and still having it be way easier was definitely a mental boon. happy i finally got out for a second run here, it's hard to commit to get out the door when you know it'll be heat death

AM - 8 on hilly backroads, 6:26 pace. easy again, i was a little tight from the fast second run yesterday. otherwise good stuff; i might hit 100 this week if i can be consistent with the doubles. i don't even wanna know how long it's been since my last triple-digit week

PM - 5 on rail trail, 5:56 pace. felt a good bit hotter than yesterday; i think if it weren't for that 5:50's would be an absolute breeze

AM - 8 miles on hilly backroads, 6:25 pace. could have been a few seconds faster, but my right calf was having a little on-again, off-again tightness. i haven't ran a step on grass in 3 weeks, my legs hate it. just 8 more days, boys

PM - 5 on rail trail. running at the hottest point of the day finally caught up to me and i got my ass kicked, badly. got a little over 3.5 at 6:01 pace then just died out. pretty sure running when it's this bad out is more wear on my body than any aerobic gains. i'd love to run at like 7pm when it's cooler but the evening is the only time all of my family is home and i'd feel guilty skipping out on that to run. not sure what i'll do for the next week, might not hit 100 after all

AM - off. back was extremely sore waking up. id normally shoulder all the blame on running on the asphalt rail trail, but considering the two runs before did nothing it was probably a combination of going too hard in the heat and dying, and it being on a hard surface

PM - 5 on hilly backroads, 6:14 pace. considering i had no shade and it was high 90's and humid, i'd call this a better effort than the 5 at 5:50 pace a few days back. it was brutal. back was still very sore but i managed

AM - 8 on hilly backroads, 6:19 pace. absurdly humid, was sure i'd be reeling from it and the run would be a total slog, but i surprised myself. probably cutting out the PM run until i get back to bama then hitting full mileage, i'm excited for it. hopefully the humidity isn't too bad in T-town and fall comes early this year for us.

AM - 8 miles on hilly backroads, 6:04 pace. felt like absolute garbage going into it, but after mile 3 just felt like i shifted gears without even doing anything. ran up the ordinarily killer hills like they were speedbumps. not gonna play the conversion game but on a faster course in fairer weather, this would have been really fast.

PM - 5 miles on hilly backroads, 5:58 pace. was overcast and drizzling at the start, but basically the second i hit the turnaround it stopped and the sun came out and the rest of the run it felt like i was running in an oven. managed to power through it with a 5:41 last mile to get the pace under 6

AM - 8 on hilly backroads, 5:58 pace. extremely humid, shocker. even for how humid it's been, this was something special. so ready to be back in bama, although looking at the 10-day forecast looks like there's a lot of rain on the horizon. again, shocker.

averaged 6:12 pace for the 73 miles and still felt like i mailed it in pretty hard this week. good mental boon with starting workouts up in a couple weeks

PM - 5 on rail trail. objectively the hottest run of the summer so far. first 3.5 at 6:00 pace, then my left calf started getting a cramp and i eased up. felt fine for the rest of it.

AM - 6 on hilly backroads, 5:59 pace. normally the first 3 miles are slower since the course starts tough but started pretty fast and eased up after 3. probably my last run in texas unless i run this afternoon.

PM - 3 on hilton before it started storming hard, 6:17 pace. missed hilton bad, nearly bust buck by the first step. because of the aforementioned storm i had about 15 minutes of respite between my 9-hour car drive and my run, and that was all spent unpacking, so legs were completely lifeless. got some blood flowing, at least. about to train my ass off

AM - 5 on sokol, 6:23 pace. missed it, but by god all the rain bama got this past week turned that course into a waterpark. no traction at all. good news is after a bit more rain tonight it's clearing up for the next week. and, for 100% humidity i handled it pretty well.

AM - 8 on sokol, 6:07 pace. didn't think switching back to grass after a month of running on asphalt and gravel would have any real effect on me, but my sore hamstrings beg to differ. humid summers mean the grass is very wet in the morning which definitely makes the courses in town i have an affection for a bit more difficult, on top of my body having to deal with the humidity as well. with all that considered, solid run. i don't know if it's physically possible for me to survive a fast long run until like late september, though. doesn't mean i won't try

off(rain)

off(rain)

off(rain)

AM - 10 miles on sokol, 6:16 pace. very sloppy conditions, haven't ran much the past few days because of absurd bouts of rain making all my courses untenable(giving the definition of that word a good stretch there). we got over two inches in under an hour at one point. i did a couple miles at the gym the past couple days but i'm not gonna log them to shame myself into getting real treadmill mileage next time it's the only option. 

AM2 - hour at the gym. mostly spent doing weights but also did some core and started off with a few minutes on the stationary bike(something i do before every morning run). did some cable kickbacks to end it and i knew by like the second kick my hamstrings are gonna be killing me the next few days. isn't supposed to rain today for once so hopefully getting a PM run tonight is on the table

AM - 5 on mural, 6:36 pace. very very wet and way too hot for 7am, man. glutes are extremely sore, rest of the legs don't feel too bad though. did the last half-mile at about 6-flat pace just to test the turnover

AM - 7 on a soaked sokol(aka soakol), 7:02 pace. still very sore from weights, most of it faded as i ran but i had some tightness in my left calf that wouldn't fade so i stopped a couple miles early. very easy mileage in not very ideal conditions.

off(soreness)

6:48 pace on hilton

6:42 pace on mural

AM - 5 on sokol, 6:23 pace. really haven't felt that good since the first weight session a week ago; the soreness went away by like wednesday but my legs just never really got the spark back. hopefully the drop in pace this morning is a good sign.

AM - 5 on mural, 6:30 pace. felt like i had the training wheels welded on, maybe because my alarm didn't go off and i couldn't run until 10.

PM - 5 on hilton, 6:20 pace. felt like the training wheels are loosening off, maybe because we were blessed with a cool afternoon and i got to bask in a 75 degree heat index(for reference, the heat index at this time saturday was 106). i want to pretend this is fall coming early, but i know better.

sotd: this is how i disappear - my chemical romance

AM - 5 on hilton, 6:24 pace. it was very nice out for 7am(i usually start at 5:30), dew point had my shoes soaked to the brim in record time though. felt like i was running with sponges on my feet made of cement!

AM - 10 on sokol, 6:34 pace. felt like dogshit the entire time, which is a real shame because it was mid-60's and overcast out so it should have been a perfect run. it's annoying, but nothing to do except put the miles in and hope i'm stronger for the next run.

off(hurt)

AM - 5 on hilton at 3am, 6:42 pace. outer right ankle was a bit tight after work wednesday. not full-on peroneal tendonitis, but the omen of it. that dang problem is basically the only thing that's kept me from being able to run of my own accord the past 18 months(that and crippling anxiety), so i heeded it. this run mainly served as a test, and i passed feeling fine! very relieved. something about hilton in the extremely early morning always makes my pace fall off the map regardless of my fitness so 6:42 pace is pretty good

AM - a little stationary and dynamics at the gym, the normal warmup for a run. tweaked something in my inner left ankle before my PM run yesterday bringing in groceries up the stairs to my apartment. felt some shooting pains last night so i was worried but felt fine this morning. since i work today i didn't want to risk reaggravating it on a morning run to have it get worse throughout the shift, so just a PM run today, hopefully. can feel myself losing fitness! gotta get back on the train soon

PM - 3 on hilton after work, 6:03 pace. factoring in going straight from work to the park and it still being decently hot out at 6pm, this pace would have probably been easy on a better afternoon; not to call this effort hard, just somewhere in the middle. had to get a feeler out on the aforementioned lost fitness

AM - 8 on mural, 6:21 pace. course was wet, but not as bad as i feared; guess the sprinklers weren't on last night. tried picking up the pace for the last mile, but my left achilles tightened up about a quarter-mile in so i eased back off and it let me finish the run. other than that, felt good.

AM - 10 easy on hilton, 6:48 pace. went to bed right after work yesterday because i was exhausted and woke up naturally about an hour before my alarm. didn't feel like finding a way to waste that extra hour so just did the run at 4am on hilton, although the humidity had it feeling like 4pm out there. always enjoy finishing a morning run before the sun rises, can't really put into words why. my guess is it's because it reminds me of when i'd do 5 miles at 4am every morning when i was doing 3 or 4 runs a day. sometimes i can't believe i ran as much as i did a couple years ago

AM2 - plyos and core at the gym. first plyo session in forever went better than expected. core was a reminder that i literally never do core and am stupid for it. was still doing some advance exercises though

sotd: eyes to form shadows - dalek. sometimes i think the music i listen to nowadays would make a 16-year-old me piss myself

AM - 10 on sokol, 6:20 pace. i was a bit sore from the gym yesterday, but nothing too bad. weather absolutely sucked, nearly 80 and 99% humidity by 6:00am when i started. definitely had to work to get up those grass hills. solid run.

AM - 5 on sokol, 6:33 pace. died out there, although i think it's primarily due to the unreasonably excessive heat wave we're currently under. the weather channel used something called RealFeel™️ to tell me it was already the equivalent of 86 degrees out by 5:45, dear god. might get a treadmill tempo in tomorrow morning if it's still this rough out.  hell, might do that either way.

AM - 5 early on hilton, 6:48 pace. rained heavy last night but i couldn't mentally commit to the treadmill so i ran on asphalt. gross. anyway go braves for leading the NL east for the first time this season! that division is a joke but with our best player out for the year it'd still be nice to see them get smoked in the NLDS

AM - 6 easy on sokol, no watch.

PM - 4 on hilton, 5:56 pace. the 8 or so hours leading up to the run were some of the most nerve-racking of my life from a few different angles, and those feelings weren't exactly swayed so by the time i got to hilton i was a time-bomb ticking down to a panic attack. i'm not sure if i ran it off or just lengethened the fuse. either way felt excellent, i was flying but wasn't going hard. 

AM - 6 on sokol, 6:25 pace. left achilles felt a little tight at points(mostly when running on soft dirt), and i knew if i went too hard i'd be dealing with it all day at work and the PM run would be off the table, so kept it short. besides that felt pretty good.

PM - 3 on hilton, 6:15 pace. would have gone longer but i got a super sharp stomach cramp after i hit 3 so i stopped there. some very ominous flashing clouds on the horizon told me tomorrow morning's run is gonna be sloppy. this one was too, for the record. it just wasn't raining during the run itself.

AM - 11 easy on hilton, 6:47 pace. started early, then once sunrise came and i had a better view of the grass i was running on the pace dropped from just under 7-minute to 6:30's and 6:20's without any real change in effort. good start to what i hope to be a good week of training.

PM - 5 on hilton, 6:32 pace. my left achilles was a bit iffy towards the end of work but i think it's more due to wearing some very worn down pegs to a job where i'm on my feet most of the time. could have worn the magenta ones but that color clashes badly with just about every item of clothing i own. anyway it had just stopped storming hard so if running on a soaked grass course didn't bug the achilles i'm probably okay

embarrassing factoid: i haven't ran 16 miles in a day since may 14th