Step by step, mile by mile

AM - Ran to and from Calc finals. I've never struggled in math, and I didn't today, but it sure was long and arduous. It's been storming hard lately. I felt pretty trashed but I'll chalk that up to not stretching/weather conditions for now. And probably from 2 days off.

PM - 7 miles in 46 minutes with Ethan. Weather was very rough. 8 strides after. Pace felt rough, but manageable. My body wasn't handling the conditions well. When I finished I was freezing and white as a sheet. It's been thirty minutes and I still am. Gonna go take a shower to warm up and stretch. Workout tomorrow!

Another 2 later to get dinner. My stomach felt pretty bad but my legs felt prime. Watch was dead but if it felt like the cadence and stride length of mid-5 pace, at an easy effort. Hopefully this feeling carries over to tomorrow! High mileage today, whoops.

AM - 2 mile shakeout to breakfast and back. Didn't stretch before so my form felt off, but I felt good on it. Still storming out.

PM - 2 WU, 2x(4x400) w/ 2 min recovery between repeats, 2 lap recovery between sets, CD for 10. Definitely a mental battle today. Conditions were terrible! 15 mph winds. Ran with Ethan. He made the recoveries pretty hard, he wouldn't let me do standing recoveries and had me jog with him instead the second I finished. It definitely made the workout harder, and it was already really tough. I hadn't eaten really anything and I felt kind of crappy. Avg time was 69. Was supposed to do 3 sets but after set one Ethan said either we slow the pace down or do 2 sets. Really had to work mentally on the last two repeats.

Busy studying for finals. Did core yesterday and I'm very sore from that.

Very draining day of finals. Was considering skipping running today but then decided I might as well. Ran to the rec, did a fast mile in 4:57, went downstairs, did some core, decided that the mile I just ran felt easy enough that I thought I could hold it for two miles. Unfortunately, my legs were tired from the previous mile. Ran another mile in 4:50(the treadmill wouldn't go any faster), and cooled down/strides for 8. Glutes felt tight on the CD. I only had a bagel for breakfast and a small salad for lunch, so today went pretty well!

Speed day! Warmed up three miles to the track. It was about 30 degrees when I left so I wore spandex, but brought shorts just in case. It ended up being a good move because I was pretty hot by the time I finished warming up. Changed and ran a lap in 69 just to stride out. My legs were pretty tired from last night's workout, I think it might have been the first time I did 2 sub 5 minute miles in a day. Glutes and hamstrings didn't have too much life in them. Workout was 2x(200,300) w/ 2/3 minute rest that was mostly walking. Went 27.9, 44.0, 27.6, 44.8. After that did some 80m sprints, then 3 100m sprints in 13.1(tailwind), 12.7(headwind), and 12.4(tailwind). Good workout! Coming in I wanted to go sub 30 for the 200's and sub 47 for the 300's, and it was super windy too so I'm happy. My PR's for these distances are 27.0 which I ran in early 2016 and 43.0 in early 2015(both w/ teammates pushing me). On the second 200m I thought I could beat that but I guess today wasn't the day, and I doubt I'm in 42 second shape yet. I think that 12.4 is a PR though. I hit the 200m in the last 300m in 28 but then my legs turned to lead. I liked this workout(that II found on Kyle Merber's blog), it isn't a ton of running but the running you do is high intensity. Felt good to be out of my comfort zone.

Logging some easy miles through Atlanta. Tuscaloosa is a pretty flat town, but I probably gained and lost close to 500 feet on this run, and my legs felt it a little bit. Woke up at 7 to get on a bus to Atlanta, got here at 2, and family was coming to see me soon so I left as soon as I arrived. Realized once I left that I hadn't eaten since yesterday evening so I had no life in me at all. Left Achilles felt a lil tingly on the uphill but now I feel fine. About to take my first icebath in 5 months.