"There are no compromises." -Once a runner

AM: 12.5 with the slowbies.  Best weather yet 75 and not very humid.

AM: 6 with the slowbies. Been trying to focus on arm swinging even when going slow because I have recently realized how much it helps when going fast and yet after a min or so of swinging decently my arms get tired lol. Then to the track for a sprint workout. Hardly a workout really but I got kicked off the track by football practice. Striders, stretches, 2x200m in 29.25 and 30.5 with full recovery mostly walking. Decided it was fine to get kicked off then anyway because im not used to sprinting and 200m gets a lot of lactic acid buildup. Maybe I should start with 100's or 150's? Really have to focus to keep form for 200m sprint but form is what it is about so maybe thats good. The track was terrible. Never going back to that track. They had stuff in lanes 1 and 2 and the track was asphault and uneven. Wore spikes but shouldnt have they didn't get very good grip on the asphault.

PM: Decided this mornings 'workout' wasnt enough so did 8x10sec steep uphill sprints with full recovery.  I have decided that form, strength, and speed are the things lacking from my training.  I should be making even more headway than I am (like how come college runners are SO much faster than me although we run similar mileage and types of workouts?) I refuse to believe that they all have superior genetics to me. I came into running late in life which might give me a bit of a disadvantage but maybe I can get that back through proper training.

AM: 4 pretty quick for a morning maybe 7 pace dunno no watch. So I know I always preach easy on easy days.  And suddenly I have changed my tune.  I think that I need to drop some mileage (to maybe 65 or 70 miles in doubles, so a lot of pretty short runs) and pick up the pace.  After I get comfortable with that I can pick the mileage back up to where I am.  There are a couple of reasons I have for this.

1. The reason for this is that running sub 6 pace and running 8-9min pace are totally different beasts.  They take different biomechanics.  If you are going to train biomechanics (which equates to running economy -- the piece where whole chunks of pace can be knocked off in a season) then you need to run with at least similar form to how you will be racing.  Its that repetition that gives you the muscle memory that allows you to not worry about form and pace and yet stay economical.

2. After 2 months at high mileage I am going to have diminishing returns from it.  I could take a serious bump in mileage say to 110 and go through another breakdown phase and either come out better or with an injury.  The risk is too high and honestly it just takes too long at 8-9min pace.  So I need to introduce a new stress to my training.  That new stress will be pace.  Hopefully my body will, over the course of several weeks, adapt to it as it adapts to mileage.

Im aiming for 7-7:30 pace for all of my easy runs but since I am doubling I can still hit decent mileage and have all of the runs very short so that they aren't too stressful and so that I can concentrate on good form throughout the run.

And it sets up another stress that I can add to my running after 3-6 weeks of this type of training which is increasing the mileage at the new pace.  But I won't do that until I start feeling comfortable with this new regimen.

PM: 4.25 at 7:10 pace

AM: 4.5 at 7:00 pace

PM: 4.5 at 6:50 pace

AM: shoes were wet so I decided to run on the beach barefoot.  After 1.5 miles I got huge blisters and had to get back.  Bad idea.

PM: letting the blisters heal

AM: struggled to hit 7:10 pace for 4 of the 5 miles

PM: Felt good went 6:40 pace for 5 in 88 degree weather.  Probably too fast.  After reading some more of pfitzinger I am thinking about splitting my 'easy' runs into recovery runs and general aerobic runs.  Mornings could be recovery at 8+ pace insuring that I get a recovery run before and after every workout. And afternoons that don't have a workout could be general aerobic miles at about 7min pace.  Want to read pfitzingers road racing for serious runners.  Right now all i have is his advanced marathoning book which is not really what im interested in.

Even Jack Daniels puts my 'easy' pace at 7:10-7:22.  Then again he puts my marathon pace at 6:12 or something like that lol.  These are based on my mile and half marathon PR's.  And I think that I am nearly in the shape I was in for both of them.

AM: Ugh horrible.  'raced' 5k in 19:16.  After the first mile in 5:35 I just gave up entirely due to heat.  Cruised it in.  Probably my 6:40 paced 5 mile yesterday didn't help.  I do think im in good shape.  But I didn't try and the heat is oppressive.  Can't wait for monday when I move down to Birmingham and get access to treadmills.  Also thinking I will do that plan of recovery vs aerobic runs.  Also think im gonna forgo racing until its below 70 degrees.

Think im gonna jump back to 75-80miles next week with recovery runs in the morning and aerobic runs in the evening when there is no workout.  Of course this is assuming that I can fit this stuff into my schedule.  Starting an away rotation at UAB in cardiology electrophysiology.