Run Life

AM: 15 mile recovery run out at lake draper. Nice and easy pace on the dirt roads. Weather temperature was perfect, windy from the west. Good solid group should up, had 7 in total for the group run. 

PM: Treadmill run while watching the first half of the OKC thunder game. On the road playing the Suns and looking good. Second run felt well to shake out the legs, I always feel better after a quick second run. Picked up the pace at the end to stretch out the legs before going to sleep. Ran the last mile in around marathon pace. Total for the run was 6. Need to get up early for a morning run before reporting to a busy week at the school with a hospital rotation and 3 midterms. YUCK. Hope to get most my miles in today and tomorrow and then probably more Friday and Saturday. 3 weeks till Little Rock feeling confident and strong.  

AM: 8 mile morning run before rotation today. Felt good, a little tired. Wanted the extra hour of sleep but felt this was needed since tonight is going to be consumed mostly be studying and of course another run. Ran 6:30s most of the run to knock out 8. 

PM: Fortunately got out of rotation earlier then expected today. Was able to knock out a little studying/nap this afternoon. Squeezed in a 11 mile moderate run at about 6:20 pace at Mitch Park. Mitch is a hilly run comparative to what else is around Oklahoma. I should expect to see a lot more hills though while running out at Little Rock. Felt strong. Finished with several strides to wrap up my last mile of running.  

AM: quick 5 mile tread run before test and long day. Able to squeeze a 3 mile LT (lactate Threshold) run starting at 5:27 pace and stepping down every half mile to 5:13. Not much of a warm-up or cool-down but was able to clear head for a quick 30 minute run. 

PM: 11 more. Did another threshold type run of 10 miles. Did at about 85-90% of marathon pace and felt great. Did the 10 miles in 56:42, starting at a 5:46 mile and finishing around 5:26 for a progressive type run.  Felt real relaxed and smooth the whole run. Weighed in afterwards and was at the 152, which for me is the lowest I have been since my senior track season at UVU. That season was when I felt my best and set Personal best on the track in the 5k and 10k. I think for me the key is staying as close to this weight, while staying properly fueled. The nutrition thing for me has always been a struggle since I like my "bad" carbs and sweets. I have always been a heavier runner, but I am determined to stay at this weight. Especially for the marathon, every little pound you feel when racing 26.2 miles at a 5:20 goal pace. I am excited where my training is going. 

AM: 7 mile morning run

PM: 10 miles around Edmond. Was at Children's hospital all day. Saw some really interesting and exciting cleft lip/palate cases done. Legs were dead from standing all day. Came home and ran with the psycho mush dog JAX. Cruized around OC before doing a shortened Edmond Box. Dark came upon us pretty quick so we were sketchy for footing and vision. Jax started bolting at everything he heard toward the end of the run, almost ripping out my arm each time. Glad to have gotten outside, weather was awesome. Now to hit the books all night.  

AM: 4 mile run on the tred before school. quick 4 in 24 minutes. 

PM: Ran 12 total. 6 easy easy miles with Katie and baby Matthew and the hound dog Jax. then did 5 miles around 27:30 with 4 x 1 miles at 5 min pace and a quarter mile jog imbetween, so kept it continuous. Ran one mile really easy to finish up the workout. Legs felt a little tired from the week.  

PM: Body was dead from the week. Took a nap when I got home and crashed for an hour. When I woke up I was drudging to get out the door to even start the run. After two miles I started to feel better and get into my rhythm. ONly could handle one run for the day and made my lap around Edmond. 13 in total for the day. Needed the solo day and rest for tomorrow's long run of about 22. Probably run the Edmond dirt roads for Little Rock preparation. 

PM: Had a sick and deranged idea to run my long run on the treadmill. I dont really know why I wanted to be crazy, extreme, bored or whatever you wanted to call it but I did. Lately I have not really wanted to drive anywhere to run, and I have exhausted all of my Edmond routes so I just turned on the tv and ran. Finished the run in 2:11.23 ish so it was a 5:58 average. I felt good about this run, even though it was on the tread which is probably easier in some aspects. Surprisingly didnt get too bored but also didnt feel too beat up from the softer surface. Was happy with how easy the run felt. Slowly increased the last 10 miles from about 6 flat pace to 5:30-40s to finish up. Probably wont do that for awhile again, but needed a stronger effort long run since I am 2 weeks out from Little Rock. These runs I feel like have been detrimental for my marathon training. They build a lot of strength physiologically, as well as mentally. If you think about it, you need to attach your longer runs at a moderate pace, or progressive type deal. Training your body to run long, but also moderately hard will be one of the best ways to prepare for that 26.2 mile race day. Almost turned today into a treadmill marathon day, probably would have finished in 2:34-5 ish but felt like it was not necessary. All in all about as good of a workout as I would have liked for the deadmill.