Step by step, mile by mile

PM - 10. slow. felt okay. i think if i had tripled both days this weekend my legs would have recovered more; at least i'll get a nice paycheck.

AM - 5. the storms tuscaloosa is supposed to suffer through all week were just starting to roll in. a drizzle during my shakeout turned into heavier rain on my drive home, and 30 minutes later it was raining hard enough that flooding started. guess it's a treadmill day.

AM2 - 9-mile progression on the treadmill at a slight incline. ran the first 5 in 31:30, the next 3 in 18:00, and decided my original plan of 5 miles at 9.5 mph, 5 at 10 mph, 5 at 10.5 mph would probably go out the window at about 11 miles, so swung for the fences instead for a 4:57 final mile. 54:27 total time. not the same as running it out on the grass but i'm happy with it. cooldown for 15, man those post-tempo cooldowns feel long.

PM - 5 after work. probably my most taxing 5-hour shift to date, i'm happy i got out to the gym and while i think i could have done 15 easy outside 5 is all i could mentally handle on the treadmill. i honestly think people who enjoy treadmill running should be locked up. vote eugene for president 2036 so we can make that dream a reality 

sotd: long gone lonesome blues - hank williams

AM - 5 + core & hips. slept through the alarm and was a bit sore from yesterday so decided just to do a shakeout this morning and get my shoes wet this evening. i’m already sick of the treadmill running, no way i could do even half my normal mileage on one consistently.

PM - off. started raining super hard so i knew the flooding wouldn’t stop until the next morning, and as much as i love running, i hate running on treadmills more. if you couldn’t tell already

AM - 5 easy. finally woke up at 3:30 again! the first morning is always the hardest

AM2 - 20 miles! getting this done makes these last 3 weeks of training irrelevant because i finally feel like myself again. wasn't 100% sure i'd make it all the way at the start but i lucked out with it being one of those runs where you feel like you can run forever. well, almost forever. hit a brick wall right as i began mile 20 that made that last mile feel longer than the 19 before it combined. probably wouldn't have dealt with that if i wasn't constantly having to jump and sprint through puddles, two and a half hours of that tires you out a bit. very happy my body held up with getting 25 miles in before 10am, i wouldn't even care if i was too tired to get my post-work run in. i'd sure like to though

PM - 5 after work. wanted to go longer but did something as rare as a total solar eclipse and showed restraint

sotd: this old house is all i have - against all logic

AM - 5. windy and wet. was starting to get into it the last 10 minutes

AM2 - 10. after reading that running laps the same direction constantly can lead to the knee issue i had, i started doing them clockwise instead. tried doing it counterclockwise again last night, and my knee was a little sore when i woke up. gonna keep running clockwise so i don't think it'll be an issue, but it's annoying knowing that the problem is still there, albeit avoidable. only did 10 to play it safe

AM - 5 miles. very cold and very windy.

AM2 - another 5. not gonna run again until after work on saturday to let the knee feel good again and hit next week hard. hips after

9. could have been a better past 7 days, but the tempo makes up for the sub-par mileage. how jaded i've become where 104 miles is a bad week; i swear that 200-mile week ruined mileage perspective for me. anyway hopefully the knee gets better because if it hadn't rained and i hadn't re-aggravated the knee running the opposite way this week definitely would have been at least a 140-mile one

on a happier note(and also surely jinxing myself(referencing a jinx jinxes the jinx, nullifying it(or that jinxes the jinx of the jinx, ad infinitum))), if i can average more than 115 the next two weeks i'll beat my monthly mileage PR on the shortest month of the year(EDIT: i meant 165 miles per week. i love a good challenge). also i saw a guy on my run that looked EXACTLY like DMX, i asked him where the hood where the hood where the hood at and he didn't have the answer though so i don't think it was him