Step by step, mile by mile

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!