dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

Running even 4 miles has not been feeling good the next morning, so I ran 3 miles today.

I ran 2 miles today.  Running this short of a distance almost seems like a waste of time.

2 miles again.  HR has stayed consistent with where it was when we were in Arizona.  It is better than it was before I did the stress test, but still worse than it was before I started having problems.

3 miles easy

2 miles easy

2 miles today.  I decided to try throwing in some speed work as it seems that it doesn't matter how slow I run or how far, just getting out the door leaves me feeling like crud the next day.  Maybe running fast will help (even if it is just psychological).  I ran an all out 400 in 61s.  That is pathetic.  It tells me that speed can be trained, and that there is an aerobic component to the 400.

Just 2 miles today.  I felt better after running the all out 400 yesterday, so I decided that even if the  mileage stays low I should keep running something hard on most days.  I ran the 400 today in 61s again.

I ran 3 miles, with a hard 400 after a mile and a half in 61s, then an 800 in 2:40.  HR was around 180 during the 800.  Still higher than I would like it to be, but not too much worse than before.

I went to the Dr. today for a follow up. The pericarditis is gone, but I still do not feel like I have gotten back to normal.  The Dr. thinks that I should see an allergist to see if there are some allergy issues that are causing problems.  The pericarditis was definitely part of the problem, but it was not the entire problem, so there is more that I need to look into.  I will probably keep things easy for the rest of this week before trying to up the mileage again, but at least I know it is safe to run more.

I ran 3 miles today, running a hard 400 on the track again in 63s.  Had trouble motivating myself to run hard, so I ran an extra 200 afterward in 29s.

I ran 3 miles at school on the treadmill at 7:30 mile pace.  I wanted to see how the HR would respond at a steady state.  Results were not good.  I was hitting mid 150's at the end of the run.  It seems that while the elimination of pericarditis helped with the HR at 8:00 pace or slower, just upping the effort a little bit still causes it to spike.

I ran another hard quarter today, and ran it in 61s again.  I do not know what is up, but seriously, for an all out quarter I should be able to run faster than this.

I ran to the store and back with Anita in the running stroller today.  The wind was really nasty, but at least I got a tailwind on the way to the store.  Total time of 23:40ish.

3 miles today with both kids in the stroller.  Effort was actually pretty decent despite only finishing in 24:57 as I was using the normal stroller which weighs 40+ pounds and does not roll well like a running stroller, in addition to the kids who weigh about 40 pounds combined.

I ran 4 miles today.  Starting today I am slowly going to start increasing the mileage again.  I ran hard for about 1:30 near the end of the run to see how my body would respond.  Things seemed fairly positive, which is better than I have been able to say for the last couple weeks since I got back from Arizona.  I am thinking more and more that there is an allergic/asthma component to what ails me as I noticed today that when I felt like my airways were more relaxed my HR dropped.  I am also severely allergic to the city of Las Vegas, and I wish that it were only a spiritual allergy to the sin in "sin city" and not a physical one.  Total time of 30:23 for the run.

I still feel achy in the mornings and this morning was no different, so something is still wrong, but on the positive side of things my HR was a little on the lower side this morning (though still higher than I would expect it to be).  I ran 4 miles again, with another 1:30 hard just like yesterday.  Total time of 29:53.

I didn't feel super great today, but I got out anyhow and just skipped running hard at the end.  Total of 4 miles in 32:02 with the uphill half in 16:01.

I woke up today and felt horrible.  My legs hurt and I was kind of limping around the house for the first few minutes after I got up.  My legs took a couple hours to feel normal so I decided to skip the morning run.  I felt good enough to run later on in the day but didn't have the time after work.

I have started to suspect that the issues I am having may be related to complications with the exercise induced asthma that I had as a child (or potentially a different form of asthma).  Previously I was hesitant to think this was the case because my symptoms were nothing like what I used to experience, plus my inhaler wasn't doing me any good.  Now I am starting to think it might be the case because my allergies have been worse since I moved to Vegas, and with my heart being fine I wonder if my airways are reacting to something in the air and closing off, causing the HR to rise.  This could potentially be the cause of the fatigue I have been noticing, as I can't sleep as well at night if my breathing is disturbed.

I felt much better today after not running yesterday, and knowing that I would not run tomorrow I decided to run a little farther and faster, with the knowledge that I would probably feel like garbage on Sunday morning.  I ran 5 miles, and after running a slow first mile in 8:06 I sped up and finished with a total time of 35:07.  The last couple miles I ran were in the 6:20-6:30 range.  I practiced trying to get in a lot of air while I was running, and while my HR was still elevated I was able to keep it at a more manageable level (HR around 160 at 6:30/mile pace).

I didn't feel great waking up this morning, but I felt better than I thought I would considering I ran longer and faster yesterday than I normally do.

I was very encouraged by this morning's run.  Today was the first day since early November that I have run and had a HR that was close enough to normal that I could not say anything was wrong.  HR was in the low 130's at 8:00 pace.  While that is still higher than it used to be it is just as likely that the increase at this point is due to a loss of fitness.  I was practicing getting in a lot of air while running again.  I am not sure if the improvement is due to the breathing, or something else.  I plan on checking pollen counts to see if anything has changed here recently (maybe in the last week or so).  Total of 4 miles in 30:47.

I ran 4 miles this morning.  I felt a little achy, but not too bad.  The HR was about the same as yesterday, but I was running a fair amount slower for the first half of the run.  Total time of 32:24.  I will try to up the daily mileage to 5 miles tomorrow morning as long as I feel alright.

I ran 5 miles this morning in 38:18.  My legs felt a little stiff and tight at the beginning, but that slowly went away.  I practiced my alternative forms of breathing again, trying to see if it really makes a difference.  The basic idea of my new breathing technique is that I shape my mouth like an "O" and try to open up the back of my throat like I am singing, with the hope that it will open up my airways.

Early on in the run the HR was 132 while running uphill at about 8:10 mile pace (probably worth about 7:50 on flat ground).  This was the first time that I have seen my HR this low while running uphill.  I didn't believe my count at first, so I counted the HR again for 20 seconds instead of 10 and got the same result (my HR monitor broke a few weeks ago, so now I just check the HR manually).  About midway through the run I checked the HR on a mild uphill segment of trail because I realized that I was no longer breathing the way I was at the beginning of the run, as I was focusing more on breathing deeply rather than opening up the airways.  My HR was 144 which tells me that what I am doing with the breathing really is what is fixing things, because the HR spiked when I did something different.  I noticed that my throat felt tight until I started trying to open the airways again, but once I started focusing on opening the airways, my HR dropped once more.  When running downhill I measured my HR as low as 126 on a few segments, but it generally stayed around 132 just like earlier as I was running a little faster.

As I was getting to the end of the run I decided to see if I could still maintain an open airway even when running fast, so I sped up for 1:35 and took the HR at about the 1:00 mark, and again right as I started to slow down.  I am not sure how fast I was running, but the HR at 1:00 was 162, and at the end it was just a tiny bit higher, maybe 165.  I will take it as a positive that the HR was under 170.  I finally am starting to feel like things are getting back to normal.  I think that I will run 5 miles again tomorrow to be sure that I am maintaining things without regressing before trying to increase the mileage further.

I ran 5 miles again this morning.  Things went well enough that I think I will run 6 miles tomorrow.  There was a strong headwind during the first half of the run, and when running at about the same pace that I was running at yesterday my HR was only slightly higher despite the wind.  Total time was 39:2x for 5 miles.

Shayon had a Dr. appointment early this morning, so I decided to get my run in later in the afternoon after work.  What I didn't count on was being busy working on my thesis until after 10pm.  I was glad I didn't run in the morning, because when I woke up my legs weren't feeling super great (not horrible, but they could have been better), but I needed to make time for my run in the afternoon and I am kind of kicking myself a bit for not getting it done.  I think that not having the humidifier running the last few nights may be what led to not feeling great in the morning.  It is hard to get enough rest if you can't breath well, and I think the humidifier helps.

The plan as of Thursday was to run 7 miles today, and I felt good enough to run the full distance.  The only problem was that I had limited time after Kimia got her run done because we had to go to a baptism.  So, instead of running less I just ran the mileage faster.  I ran the 7 miles in 40:49 (about 5:50 average), running the downhill second half in 19:59 (5:42 pace).  My legs felt very good at that pace, as I did not feel like it took much muscular effort to do so.  My problem is that I am out of shape (I have not even run a full mile in under 6:00 pace in over 2 months, and I ran all 7 that fast today), and I couldn't get my breathing under control for long periods of time.  It is much harder to keep my airways open and relaxed when I am working hard.  The end result was that I had to work pretty hard to run sub 6:00 pace, even though my legs did not feel stressed (other than feeling oxygen deprived).  It felt good to work a little harder, although I suspect that breathing hard may not be the best as I feel like my airways close off a bit more after I run hard, almost as if my throat is irritated and tightens up in protest.

I ran 6 miles this morning in 45:59.  Hit the turnaround in 24:14, and finished the second half in 21:45.  I was rather pleased with how easy it felt, and to top it off my HR didn't get out of control despite speeding up averaging between 132-138 during the second half (it was downhill, but I still count it as progress).  I did have some trouble keeping my airways relaxed during the first half of the run, but overall the run went pretty well.

I ran out on the Pittman wash this morning.  I ran out on the wash, but by the time I was coming back, construction workers were already on the trail.  So, I had to take a detour home which added a little extra distance.  I will call it 6.1 miles total, although it was possibly a little longer.  Total time was 48:13.

Breathing was decent today, but not great.  I tried something new as I was running (focusing on the air coming in rather than how I was breathing), and this didn't work.  Once I stopped doing that my HR dropped back down a bit.  While controlling my breathing seemed to help at the beginning, I am starting to think that it may have outlived its usefulness and that it may not be helping anymore.

I ran 6 miles this morning in 46:32.  I had to guess on the distance a bit as I had to bypass the construction zone, but I wasn't off by much, if at all.  My legs felt good, but when I run lately my legs always feel good.  It's the breathing that is an issue, although that has been improving slowly.  I think it may be about time for me to finally get an appointment with the allergist, as my own tinkering seems to have gotten me as far as I can get at the moment.

I was probably just being paranoid, but I was worried that I might be increasing the mileage too quickly, so I only ran 5 miles this morning.  Total time of 38:47.  I ran out by the railroad tracks today to see if I could legitimately use the area as a place to run since the pittman wash trail is getting shut down.

I ran 7 miles this morning in 55:00.  I don't know why, but I had trouble keeping my HR low again.  I started controlling breathing again after the halfway mark and that helped, but my HR never got as low as it has been recently.  This is in contrast to yesterday's run where my HR was as low or lower than it has been on any individual occasion since things started to improve.  I am thinking more and more that I need to change up my diet a bit to see if I can reduce the junk that is always back in my throat.  This basically means that I need to cut out dairy foods for a while.  Hopefully that will work, but it will be a big change for me.

I ran 3 miles this morning while waiting at the dmv to renew my car registration.  I ran 3 more miles later on after I got home, and I pushed the pace for most of it, making it home in 17:40 after reaching the halfway mark in 9:50.  I was happy with how it felt to run hard, as my legs didn't feel too bad, and for the most part I felt smooth.  The breathing was not as good as it could have been, but it could have been worse, so I am not unhappy about that.  It helped to have a tailwind and net downhill for the last 1.5 miles, but nonetheless I was a little surprised and impressed with how fast I was able to run considering how out of shape I still am.

7 miles this morning in 53:57.  Hit the halfway mark in 28:30, and came back in 25:27.  HR was much lower than at the end of last week (129-132 for most of the run), but breathing felt weird.  I wonder if the weird feeling is actually what I should be feeling and is "normal" for other people.

Easy run this morning, running 7 miles in 53:40ish.  I felt decent, and the HR was in an acceptable range for most of the run.

Easy run.  Was planning on running 7, but time was limited and I ran 5 miles instead in 38:45

didn't run today because it was stake temple day and Kimia and I got up at 4:15am to go to the temple.  Didn't have time later in the day.

Things have been hard lately from a running perspective.  I have had trouble motivating myself to run because I feel to an extent like I should step away from the competitive side of running, and maybe just run for general fitness/health reasons.  The problem is that the competitive side of running was a big part of my motivation to run, and I have a harder time motivating myself to get out the door when I don't really have a goal attached to the effort.

I am still thinking things over, so I may still decide to pick up the mileage and train more competitively again, but right now it is hard given the health problems that I had, and knowing that those problems are still not completely resolved.

7 miles today.  I didn't have a watch so no time for the run.  I ran most of the 7 miles on the track at UNLV, and other people were running too.  This motivated me to run a little faster than normal (if I had a watch I probably wouldn't have run as fast) and when the running group started a timed mile shortly after I passed them I sped up so that none of them would pass me.  After a couple laps when I realized that I was pulling away from the group I sped up a fair amount to see if I could lap the leaders.  I never really got close to lapping the people at the front, but I put about 200m on them over the last 2 laps.

I ran 5.5 miles today, averaging about 7:00 pace for the run because I was on the treadmill at school, and I just wanted to get the run over with (treadmills are boring).

5 miles

8 miles

8 miles

8 miles

8 miles

8 miles

Ran on the track at UNLV.  Total of 8.5 miles averaging close to 7:00 pace for the run.

8 miles, running one mile hard in 5:07 (1:18, 1:17, 1:15, 1:17).  There was some wind, but it was not horrible.

8 miles

8 miles

8 miles total.  I ran a half mile fast in 2:40 during the run in an effort to see what  hard relaxed pace would feel like.

8 miles I ran a half mile fast in 2:42 on a slower section of the trail (four 90 degree turns, plus bad traction in places due to trail construction).  I was just trying to run hard and relaxed.  Lately with the minimal running I have been doing I feel like running something hard on most days helps me to stay sane.

8 miles between sessions of general conference.  I ran a mile hard on the track, only looking at my watch at the beginning and end (no splits) as I wanted to try and run hard while relaxing to try and get a feel for where I am at with my fitness despite the lack of training.  It was pretty windy, but I still managed a 5:08 which felt sustainable for maybe one more mile.  Afterwards I ran a hard 400 in 1:04, which felt really strange as I ran the first 200 into the wind in 32s, followed by a 200 with a tailwind in 32s.  What is odd is that I did not feel like I was struggling the final 200, I just had trouble increasing turnover.

I ran 8 miles today, running a half mile in 2:29 just past the halfway mark, and running another section hard at the end that I will call 0.8 (didn't get a time on that one).  Total time was 59:xx

8 miles in 1:01:40.  I ran the last bit to my house pretty fast, in 3:43 (it is downhill and I had a tailwind).  I am not sure on the exact distance for the stretch I ran hard, but it is around 0.8

8 miles

I got the flu so I haven't been feeling very good.  I tried to run for a minute or two (literally) and felt horrible.

I tried running out to the car after school today, and I felt better than Tuesday, but still did not feel very good.

The flu pretty much went away by Sunday, but I have still felt horrible.  It feels like I got some sort of sinus infection at the same time I got the flu (maybe because of the flu?).  I came down with a fever again today, and it peaked above 101 degrees this evening.  I fly to Boise tomorrow for a conference, so hopefully I feel a little better by morning.

I flew to Boise today, and I ran from the airport to the hotel (~3 miles) with my backpack (I traveled light) while wearing jeans.  I then ran from the hotel to the conference I am attending (~1 mile), and after dinner I ran back to the hotel (~1.5 miles).  Total of about 5.5 miles, all run wearing jeans, a backpack, and leather loafers.

Same sort of deal as yesterday, but in reverse.  I ran to the conference in the morning, and then ran back to the hotel after it was done.  When I was ready to leave I ran to the airport.  Total was about 5 miles, again wearing pants, a backpack, and leather loafers for all of it.

I ran 5 miles, running the last 5 laps plus a little extra with no shoes.  The last 3.5 miles were on the track.  After running a mile without shoes, I decided to see how my feet would handle running faster.  I ran a 78 second quarter, and my feet were not happy.  I could feel hot spots pop up on the bottoms of my feet almost immediately, and I think that when I run on the track I subconsciously extend my outside leg a little more, which led to my heel contacting the track more directly on the turns, and some mild pain.

I ran 5 miles today, running most of it on the track again (I alternate miles in different directions on the track).  I wanted to see how out of shape I am as I lost a fair amount of weight while sick and it seemed like it was mostly muscle mass.  Lately I have weighed anywhere from 116-119 depending on the time of day whereas before I would range from about 122-126.  My first indicator of shape was not good, as my HR was around 150 at 7:40 pace.  I also ran a hard mile at the end of the run to get a better idea of where I am at, and I finished in 5:14 (full mile, not a 1600) with splits of 78, 78, 79, 77 (+2 seconds to the finish).  The mile was not encouraging.  I felt almost immediately like the effort was hard, and to be honest the 5:14 was not that taxing, but it was pretty much all I could do.  I guess I can't get much slower, so hopefully it just gets better from here.

I ran 5 miles, running most of it on the track again.  This distance seems pretty good for me until I start feeling like I am getting more back to normal.  I decided to run a few strides as I was running, while also throwing in a couple hard 200's with the wind mostly at my back (the wind was really strong today).  The wind was in my face for about 50m on the first 200, and then at my back for the last 150, and I ran a 29.  On the second 200 the wind was in my face for about 75m, and at my back for about 125 (the tailwind was partially blocked by the man made hill which comprises the seating, so it was not as strong as before) and I finished in 30s.  I then started to run barefoot again.  Some other guys at the track started running 800's while I was running barefoot.  I wanted to see if my feet would get ripped up again, so I joined them on one of their repeats, running splits of 80s and 77s (2:37 total).  Even with the wind being as bad as it was I felt very relaxed, and I was much happier than I was yesterday.  Today I felt like I had another gear which is a positive.

Today my run was kind of broken up as I ran from school to the car, and after driving home Kimia and I ran with the kids to the track so that she could run a mile time trial.  As the track was closed due to lacrosse games on the field I ran back to the house, got the car, and we drove out to a different track so that Kimia could run her time trial.  My plan was to run while Kimia was running, but she wanted me to time her while she ran alone.

Kimia had already run 2 miles in the morning, plus her warm up, so she may have been a little more tired than normal (2 miles for Kimia is still a lot).  We wanted her to run the time trial because she has never broken a 10:00 mile (her pr was 10:16 I think) and she has really been trying to run more recently so we thought she could best that mark by a fair amount.  It was dark by the time she started, so I could not really see her, but it seemed like she started off fairly quick.  The first lap was a 2:09, followed by a 2:18.  After the second lap I told her that she had slowed down, and she immediately sped up some.  The third lap was a 2:14, followed by another 2:09 plus 3 seconds to finish off the mile in 8:53.  I think that if Kimia just gets some more practice she will be able to cut 10 seconds off of her mile time without improving her fitness.  We are both in the process of thinking up significant bribes to motivate Kimia to break 8:00 and 7:00 for the mile as she has told me she wants to shoot for that.

After Kimia finished, I finished up my run, running the last 1.5 miles barefoot.  I finished the last 4000m in 16:31, the last 800m in 2:37, and the last 400m in 1:14.  I was happy with how I felt, as I never felt like I was running all out.  I just progressively got faster over the last 2 miles as I was trying to finish quick so that Kimia would not have to wait for me any longer than needful.  Even the 1:14 felt very relaxed, which is a plus, especially since I was running barefoot.  I did get some more hot spots on my feet.  I guess that my feet are not yet ready to run barefoot 2 days in a row.

I ran 5 miles today.  The first 2 miles I ran with Kimia in about 19:00.  It was actually harder than the time would indicate, because I was pushing both kids in the stroller (and its not a running stroller, as our running stroller only holds one kid) and the whole thing with both kids weighs somewhere in the vicinity of 80 lbs.  Toss in the curbs and bumps where I had to slow down or stop, and the uphill first mile, and I think it makes the effort worth about 1:30 faster per mile than it really was.  After we finished, I ran 3 miles alone in 23:24.

I ran most of my workout on the track again, switching directions every once in a while to even things up.  I ran the first 4.5 miles with shoes on, followed by 1.75 miles barefoot.  I ran my second to last quarter in 68.  There was some wind so the last 200 was pretty hard, but I managed to run even splits (34, 34) because I upped the effort that last 200.  The track kind of rips up my feet, but to be honest I don't think that it feels too bad to run at those speeds without shoes on.  Total time for 6.25 miles was 46:51.

I ran 5 miles today, running the last mile barefoot.  I think that my body is not quite ready to run barefoot two days in a row, especially if I throw in anything that is fast.  I ran the last 800 of the workout in 2:30 (79, 71), and it ripped up the bottoms of my feet.  I also noticed that my body naturally tries to avoid ripping up my feet worse once the hot spots start to develop.  Subconsciously I seem to reach ground contact with more of a midfoot strike rather than a forefoot strike in these occasions, which leads to greater force being placed on my heel (thus the sore heel that I have now).  Total time for 5 miles was 34:47.  The barefoot mile at the end was a 5:55, which is the first time that I have broken 6:00 for a mile barefoot.  The 2:30 final 800 was also the fastest I have run for that distance barefoot as well (this is all relative to what I have done recently on the track, as I am sure that I have run faster barefoot on the grass in the past).

I ran 6 miles in 43:21.  I ran strides here and there during the first 5 miles totaling about .25 miles, and at 5 miles I ran .75 in 3:53 (78, 78, 77).  The wind was not horrible, but it was somewhat gusty and slowed me down a bit.  Something felt off today.  I felt really good at the beginning of the run, but after 3-4 miles I started to feel really sluggish, which is why I only ran .75 fast instead of a mile.  If I can convince myself to run slower tomorrow it would probably be a good idea.

I ran 5 miles today in 31:00.  I needed to hurry so that I could get to choir practice, so I started out with a 6:48 first mile (3:36, 3:12), followed by miles of 6:05, 5:58, 6:16, 5:53.  It was fairly windy, so the effort was actually harder than the pace would indicate.  Add in that I am way out of shape, and this really wasn't that easy for me.  I guess that I just need to be patient and have faith that things will get better with time.

I ran 6 miles today in 45:36, followed by an all out 100m in 13.9 and a little extra jogging to get me to 6.1 miles.  I was not happy with the 100 time as I had wind at my back and I was still over a second off of my 100 pr.  I was slowed down as I had to mess with my watch at the beginning and end, but I felt slow, uncoordinated, and awkward during the 100 as well.  During the run I ran two all out 400's, running the first in 64.3 (30.5±, 33.5±) seconds, and running the second in 66 (30.5, 35.5) seconds after running a mile recovery in 8:32.  The wind was pretty strong during both 400's, although it was especially strong during the second 400 as I felt like I was barely moving during the last 200m, and I was running as fast as I could go.  I was not very happy with the 400's either.  I felt like I had trouble really utilizing the strength that I have in my quads.  Even without the wind I do not think I would have gone any faster than 62 seconds on either repeat, which is pathetic.  I am not sure right now if I could even beat myself in a sprint if I raced junior high school me.  I guess it just takes time.  At least I am finally getting a little more consistent as I have not missed a day (not counting Sunday) since last Tuesday.  1600 splits for the run were 7:51, 7:35, 7:39, 7:19 (first 400 during this mile), 7:18 (second 400 during this mile), 7:37, plus a little extra to make up for the fact that 1600m is shorter than a mile.

I ran just under 3 miles on the roads, and then went over to the track again.  At the track I ran barefoot for a bit, running a hard 400 barefoot in 65s.  I was happy with the 65 as I was not going all out (but I also didn't have the wind I had yesterday) and yesterday I was wearing shoes.  I guess that this is my new barefoot 400 pr.  I was not actually trying to run quite that fast as I didn't really have a time goal that I was shooting for.  I was just trying to generate force on the ground without tearing up my feet.  I also ran another fast 200 earlier in the run just before I took off my shoes that I did not time.  After finishing I ran home for a total of just under 3.5 miles on the roads, and just over 2.5 on the track.  Total time for the run was 43:43.

On a side note, there was a family at the track while I was there, and the mom was timing her daughter and son as they each ran all out for 400, 300, and 200.  I thought that it was really kind of strange as the mom was all serious about taking the kids through their warm up and not letting them drink too much fluid.  She then timed them individually as they ran their workout and was cheering them on and setting time goals for each child as they ran.  The kids also had on fancy track spikes, which I thought was excessive considering their age (maybe 10 for the daughter and 8 for the son).  When the son did not hit his time standard for the 300 his mom was lecturing him on how he needed to focus like his sister, which made him upset because he felt like he was trying his best.  She then set a time goal for him in the 200 that was too ambitious (40s), and in an effort to please his mom he was busting his tail trying to hit that mark.  When he didn't break 40s (he ran 42) he was so upset that he started to cry.

Luckily the dad was not the track nazi that the mom was, and after a few minutes the dad came over to comfort his son.  I only mention this all because just watching this mom and her kids while they ran I kept thinking to myself "that kid is going to hate running when he is older because his mom is pushing him so much right now".  I just don't want to be a track nazi like that mom was when my kids get a little older.  I want my kids to enjoy running for the sake of running.  I don't want them to do it just because I expect them to, because if that is the case they will never develop the long lasting desire to run that will carry on into their adult lives.

I ran the first 2+ miles with Anita in the running stroller in 18:20, followed by 5 more miles alone in 36:40.  On the way home I ran a mile hard in 5:17-18.  The mile was downhill but into a headwind, so it probably evened itself out.  Total time of 55:00.

I only ran 4 miles today because I had to get done quick so that I could get home.  I didn't have my watch with me today, so I took a look at my cell phone just before starting, and shortly after finishing, and based on that I think I ran the 4 miles in approximately 25 minutes.  Two miles were a little harder and two a little easier, but I have no idea how fast I was actually going.

I ran 7 miles today, running some short sprints throughout the first 4.5 miles of about 100m each, generally giving myself about 500-600m recovery at close to 8:00 pace.  I ran six of these, and after 4.5 miles covered in 33:54 I ran an all out 100m which I timed in 14.3.  I was hoping for faster than that, but my legs were kind of tired after the other 100m sprints I had already completed.  I then finished up the run, covering the last 2.5 miles in 17:27.

I ran 7 miles today, running the first mile with the stroller and both kids while Kimia ran just behind me.  I then ran the last 6 miles alone, and during the second half of the run I ran a half mile in 2:32, followed by a half mile recovery and another half mile in 2:28.  Both half miles had a net downhill, but the trail I was running on had a lot of twists, and turns, plus some hills (mostly mild hills, but there was one that was really steep if only for about 50m) during both half miles, while both were run into a mild headwind.  During the repeats I could tell that there were aerobic limitations that were hurting me.  I felt like I couldn't really run any faster than I was already going, but at the end of both repeats I could tell that my legs had a lot more in them, and if I wanted to sprint all out I could have sped up quite a bit.  The total time for 7 miles was 52:43.

I ran 7 miles today in 51:38.  During the run I ran 4x200m with 200m recovery (between 62-68s).  Splits for the first two 200 repeats were both 31 high or 32 low.  The third repeat was a 32, and the final repeat was a high 30 or a low 31.  I was trying to simulate 800m race pace, because I feel like I need to get my short distance speed better, and I figure that now while I am getting back into shape is as good a time as any.  Later on in the run I ran one final hard 200 in 29.

I was really busy today, leaving the house early in the morning, and not getting home until 9pm.  So, I just ran 3 miles for the sake of getting my legs moving.  Total time was 22:24 if I am remembering correctly.

28 miles this week

During the first part of this week I ran 18 miles.  Nothing special happened

I ran 6 miles today.  Since I am in California at sea level, I decided to run 1 mile hard just to see where I am fitness wise.  I ran the first 3 laps on the quarter mile track (not 400m) without looking at my watch, and just tried to run hard without really pushing the pace too hard hitting that mark in 3:59.  On the final lap I really cranked up the effort and finished with a final lap of 1:12 and 5:11 for the mile.

I ran today in the Altra Adam for the first time.  I have run completely barefoot before, but this is the first time that I have run in a minimalist shoe.  I actually got these shoes free from a grant that I wrote for my thesis.  I did have to "destroy" the shoes as part of the testing that I performed, but they are still usable, so now that I am done using them for testing I am going to be wearing them more often. 

I wasn't planning on running as much as I did today, but Kimia wanted to run a time trial for the mile since we are at sea level in California and I ended up running twice.  I ran 8 miles easy in the morning, and in the evening I paced Kimia to a new pr in the mile in 8:17 (1:52, 2:10, 2:08, 2:07).  The track we were on was a quarter mile track, not a 400m track so we didn't need to worry about adding on extra distance at the end.  it was pretty obvious that Kimia went out too fast as she ran the first lap 15 seconds faster than any other, and she had splits of 0:52 and 1:00 for that first lap.  I was worried that she would fade a lot at the end, but I was impressed with how she held it together.  To top it off, there was a good amount of wind, and even with drafting off of me, Kimia told me afterwards that she was really struggling into the wind.  The 1:52 first lap, and particularly the 52 second first half lap tells me that if Kimia simply maintains some consistency and builds mileage she will be able to break 7:00 for the mile eventually.

I ran 1 mile from the BART station to Kimia's sister's house in Concord after presenting some research at the ACSM conference in San Francisco.

I ran 2 miles today as I was traveling to and from the ACSM conference.

I ran about 4 miles today, running around San Francisco "sightseeing" before taking the train home from the ACSM conference.  I ran over by the Giants baseball stadium, and also ran by the water and through some parts of town.  I can say that I would never want to live in a city like San Francisco.  In order to get here every day I had to drive 15-20 minutes to the train station, followed by an hour train ride up into town, followed by about a mile walk (run in my case) from the train station to where the conference was at.  Total time spent commuting every day was about 3 hours.  If I just drove every day it wouldn't be much better time wise because of traffic.  To top it off, it is really expensive to take the train all the time, and if you are driving you have to pay for parking (unless your workplace has its own garage and they don't charge).  Definitely not my idea of the American dream... more like a nightmare to me.

I ran home from school today.  I was finishing up some of the final things that I needed to do in order to finish my thesis.  My problem was that by the time I finished what I needed to work on, it was the middle of the day, and my route home is completely exposed to the sun.  So, I ran home in approximately 103 degree heat with a decent headwind for about half of the run, while wearing a backpack that added approximately 5 extra pounds.  I didn't want to get myself in trouble with overheating so I made no effort to push myself at all, and I made it home in 1:10:44, almost 2 minutes slower than an 8:00 average.

I ran what I will call 2.7 miles while running errands today.  I ran to Walgreens to buy hair gel, then to the grocery store to get a few things, and finally to get a hair cut before meandering around a bit more and coming home.

I ran 8.6 miles today in 1:03:xx.  What a world of difference it makes when temperatures are about 20 degrees cooler, you have a little shade, and there is no wind.  Despite running to school where I have a net increase of about 200ft (vs. coming home on Wednesday when I was coming downhill) I had all of the previously mentioned benefits, and I made the trip about 7.5 minutes faster today than I did on Wednesday.  I was wearing a backpack again, but it only weighed 8 or 9 pounds, so it wasn't too bad.

I performed my thesis defense this afternoon, which was good to get finished.  Now I just need to finish up the last few necessary things to get graduated so that I can move to Iowa at the end of July.

I ran 5 miles today.  During the run I ran 3 sprints where I accelerated until I felt like I was going all out, after which I backed off and coasted until I had slowed back down.  I doubt I was ever really pushing really hard for more than 5 seconds, but the total time for each sprint was between 10 and 20 seconds depending on how quickly I sped up/slowed down.  I want to do this as I hopefully start to get back in shape again so that I can remind my body what it feels like to run fast.  Even before I stopped running much I started to struggle when I attempted to sprint, barely getting under 60 seconds when I ran an all out 400 at one point.  Since my training became sporadic I have not run faster than a 61 second 400.

I ran 5 miles today in approximately 108 degree heat.  I ran 4 sprints during the run.

I ran 4 miles today before we left to drive to California.  Only 2 sprints today.

We are in California to visit Kimia's family before we move.  I ran 6 miles today in 39:53, running on the Los Gatos creek trail.  I got excited running in a different place, and I ran faster than I had planned.  I ran a 1 mile stretch just past the halfway mark in less than 6 minutes, with half of it run in 2:42.  I also ran 1 sprint at the end of the run.

I ran 6 miles today in 46:xx.  I ran a few sprints during the run, but otherwise kept the effort easy.

6 miles in 48:00.  I actually had to speed up at the end just to catch the 8:00 guy.  I ran a few sprints again.  Part of why I ran so slow is because after each sprint I would slow down a lot, and I wasn't really speeding up later.  My legs felt kind of dead.  I guess that is what I get for letting myself get so out of shape.

6 miles today in 47:54.  No sprints today because I felt like I needed a break.

I ran 6 miles today in 45:10.  I ran 3 sprints again.  My legs felt more awake today since I didn't run the sprints yesterday.

I ran 6 miles today.  During the run I went over to the track and ran an all out 400, followed by 2 x 100m.  I could tell that my legs didn't feel 100% up for sprinting before I even started, but I was interested in seeing what I could do given the circumstances.  I ran the 400 in 63 seconds, followed by 13.8 for the first 100, and 14.2 for the second.  Results made me think that fresh I may have been able to run the 400 between 60-61 seconds, while running the 100 in the low 13 second range if I was fresh and didn't run a 400 first.

I ran 7 miles today.  I ran some sprints again, running 4 of them with 2 coming on uphill segments.  Total time of 53:46.  This is the first week in a while that I have run 6 times, and it felt good to get out the door more frequently.

7 miles this morning.  I ran some with Kimia, and she ran a mile time trial in 8:35.  Not her best, but not too bad.  I also ran a barefoot quarter mile on the track in 64 seconds, and ran a few short sprints later on after I dropped off Kimia at the house.

7 miles this morning in 54:39.  I ran 4 short sprints today, running all of them on hills or mild inclines.

I ran 8 miles today in 1:02:00.  During the run I ran 3 hill sprints as well.

I ran 8 miles this morning in 1:03:22.  The wind was horrible this morning, so I started off really slow.  17:23 at 2 miles, and 33:47 at 4 miles.  I finally started to speed up a bit once I turned around, however I was still way behind the 8:00 guy through 6 miles.  I finally started speeding up around the 6 mile mark, and I ran the last section to my house fast (about 0.8 miles in 4:10) so that I could catch the 8:00 guy.  I also ran 3 sprints during the run, with two of them on uphill segments.

I ran 8 miles this morning in 1:02:05.  I ran a few short sprints during the run, and near the 7 mile mark I ran a half mile fast in 2:39.  I didn't really feel like I was pushing too hard, but the ground was wet as it was raining, and I felt like I couldn't go faster due to slipping.

I ran 9 miles today in 1:08:02.  I decided to run an all out 400 at the beginning of my workout to see where I am at speed wise.  My problem is that I have been running so little mileage that in running 38 miles from Monday to Friday I had run more miles in 5 days than I had run in any given week this entire year.  In summation, my legs felt dead.  Even during my warm up I felt tired when running a few strides.

I started the 400, and by the 200 mark I felt like I had nothing left.  I tried to push the last 200, but my legs would not respond and I finished in 63 seconds.  The positive is that I ran the same time as I ran a week or so ago.  The negative is that I could only run a 63.  Womens 1500's in the diamond league have been closing in 61 for the last 400.

I then went to finish my run, running a hard mile from mile 6-7 in 5:41.  Normally I would have been disappointed with that time, but the mile is slow with lots of turns, uphill/downhill, and there was some wind as well.  To top it off I was dumb and left to run later than I should have, and the sun really drained my energy today.  In sum, I was actually content with the mile time and was just happy to be done with it.

I weighed myself when I got home and I only weighed 114 pounds, which explains some of my struggles during the hard mile (dehydration leads to overheating, which makes you slow).  After drinking some water I was over 117 pounds, and I started to feel more normal.

I ran 9+ miles today in 1:12:59.  I felt lethargic, so I never made any effort to pick up the pace, with the exception of 3 short sprints I ran.  I increased the time on the sprints to 20 seconds to let my body try to learn how to maintain pace a little longer when the effort is maxed out.  I had to take a detour during the run to bypass trail construction, so I ended up with a bit over 9 miles.

Same run as yesterday with the same detour, but minus the sprints.  Total time was 1:11:37.  I felt better today than yesterday but decided to skip the sprints as I hope to run another all out 400 tomorrow.

I ran 10 miles today in 1:17:15. I was going to run an all out 400 today, but the high school football team was about to practice and players were milling about everywhere.  I didn't trust that I would be able to run on the track without running into someone.  I ended up running 3 sprints today, and I increased the time to 25 seconds.  Between the first and second sprints I got excited to see a woman on a bike up in front of me, and I sped up for about a half mile so that I could catch and pass her.  After I finished Anita wanted to go outside, so I ended up running a mile barefoot while pushing both kids in the running stroller.

I ran 10 miles today in 1:17:31.  I ran 5 of the really short sprints again (rather than the 20-25 second sprints I have been running this week).

Kimia ran another mile time trial today.  I think we need to take a break from running those for a few weeks until she gets more used to the mileage she is running (currently on pace for 27 miles this week).  She told me that she normally doesn't hurt until the second lap when she runs these, but she started hurting almost immediately today, and told me that her legs felt dead.  Splits were 2:04, 2:11, 2:12, 2:05, +2 seconds for the extra distance to the finish.  Total time of 8:34.  I also ran a 63 second 400 while we were at the track, with splits of 31, 32, just like last time.  I ended up running about 3.4 miles total while with Kimia (pushing the stroller with both kids as well).

After I finished with Kimia I went out to run some more.  I was pressed for time so I just made sure to keep the effort fairly honest rather than running my short sprints and slowing down to 9:00+ pace afterwards.  I had to stay off of the trail due to construction, so I stayed on the roads for what I estimated at 6 miles.  I suspected it was longer so I remeasured with the course tool, measuring it at 6.4 miles.  Total time for the last 6.4 was 41:25, with the last mile around 5:30 pace.

I ran 12 miles today in 1:28:26.  I got up just after 6am this morning, but I knew Kimia should run first because she has a harder time in the heat than I do.  The problem was that she didn't finish her run until about 8am, and when I left at about 8:15 it was almost 90 degrees, and the sun was beating down on me.  I ran 10 miles easy, and then ran the last 2 miles hard in just over 11 minutes.  The last 2 miles are downhill, but it was around 100 degrees and I was nearing the end of my longest run so far this year (sad, I know) so I was happy that I was able to run those last 2 miles as fast as I did.

 Total mileage this week was just over 60 miles.  I finally feel like I am actually running semi normal mileage again. 

Even though I didn't run yesterday I felt a little off this morning, indicating that I am still not fully recovered from increasing mileage as quickly as I have been lately.  I still ran 10 miles, but I kept the whole run easy.  I had to take a detour to avoid construction so I ended up with about 10.5 miles in 1:18:00.  I then was running all over the UNLV campus yesterday getting things done, so I ended up running between a half mile and a mile extra.  I will call it a half mile.

I figured that since I am moving this week, and I don't feel fully recovered from last week, I should back off just a bit on the mileage this week.  I ran 8 miles this morning in 58:48.  During the second half of the run I ran 7 x 1 minute hard 1 minute easy.  To be honest I didn't really push the hard sections as hard as I could have.  I felt like the capacity to push myself was lacking just a little, and I was content to relax and run fast without killing myself.  I finished the second half of the run in 26:58 after a 31:50 first half.  I then showered and came to UNLV again, and I was running all over campus again trying to get things done.  I will give myself another mile for that.

9 miles this morning in 1:08:48.  I kept the pace relaxed, but it felt like I was doing more work with my calves.  I wonder if I am less economical than I could be?

At school today I got the final things finished up in order to turn in my thesis to the graduate college.  It feels good to be done.  I ran about a mile and a half extra running around campus today. 

9 miles this morning in 1:08:34.  I ran 3 x 400 during the workout followed by an 800.  First 400 was actually a little long long, was net uphill, and had a turn near the end that almost caused me to stop.  The split ended up being 1:12.  After a 400 recovery the second 400 was also a little long, and had close to zero net elevation change, but it had a super steep downhill with a cooresponding uphill, and 4 turns.  The split was 1:13.  I then had an 800 recovery before the final 400 which I knew was short, so I added some extra distance to hopefully make it long enough.  This repeat had a net downhill with no turns or funny stuff and I ran a 1:05.  I'm still not sure if the distance was right.  The 800 was actually a half mile, and this is the only split that had an accurate distance today.  It had a net downhill with one turn and some twisting in the first quarter, with a short but steep uphill (about 10 seconds) in the second quarter after going down under the railroad tracks.  Finishing time for the half mile was 2:21.

9 miles this morning in 1:09:xx.  I kept the pace relaxed for the most part, but I did speed up a few times to catch people I saw running up ahead of me.

I am in Utah with my family as we move to Iowa.  We stayed with the Pachev family last night, and I ran with them this morning.  We ran 2 miles with the kids and then ran up the canyon before running a 3 mile time trial to see where my fitness is at.  Starting pace was erratic the first 400 meters, but after that I settled down and got into a groove.  Splits were: 80, 77, 75, 75 (5:07), 75, 78, 76, 77 (5:06), 77, 76, 76, 75 (5:04) for a total time of 15:17.  I was pleased with the time as on Friday night I told Sasha that I wanted to break 16:00 and I was way under that goal.  I was also expecting to fade the last mile, but I negative split the time trial.  I am pleased that my fitness is coming back so quickly, but I can tell that I still have a long way to go.  Total distance for the run was 14 miles in 1:48:02.

10 miles at 4:00AM before leaving to drive to Nebraska

10 miles in the evening after getting to Ames, IA and getting keys for our new apartment

I have been feeling really tired with moving and unpacking so I was only going to run 8 miles, however I met another runner named John who also went to high school in Washington and we ran with one another for a little while.  Total of 10 miles

Still feeling tired and my legs feel kind of dead so I ran 8 miles today

8 miles again

About 3 miles into my run today I got hit by a nasty rain storm with wind, lightning, flooded streets, the works.  I almost came home after 8 miles, but as I was getting close to the house the rain started to get lighter and I was able to run 15 miles as planned.

I ran part of my run today with John (a little over 4 miles) and then ran the rest of it alone.  I was going to run 11 miles, but I started to have cramps and I came home just a little early.  Total time was around 1:18:45.

11 miles this morning in 1:17:48.  I did some short speed work during the second half of the run, running 20, 40, 60, 90, 60, 40, and 20 seconds hard with 60 seconds running recovery between all of the hard sections.  The workout was a lot harder than I expected as the intensity was pretty high and the recovery was fairly short, so I actually cut the speed work shorter than I had originally planned.

I ran 11.5 miles today in 1:25:26.  During the run I saw another runner a ways up in front of me so I picked up the pace to try and catch him.  I caught him after about 5 minutes slowing down shortly before I caught him so that he wouldn't know I had been chasing him.  On my way home I decided to run a hard 1000m.  I missed the marker at the end of the 1000, but I ran back and found it afterwards.  I estimate that I finished somewhere in the 3:08-3:10 range.

I ran 11 miles today with Shayon in the running stroller.  Total time of 1:27:02.

Easy 10 miles today in 1:16:51.  I ran a few short sprints during the run as well.

Total of 16 miles today in 1:54:04.  I ran 2 x 2 miles during the run, the first during the first half of the run, and the second about 2.75 miles later on my way back home.  Both were run on the same section of trail, just in opposite directions.  I ran the first repeat in 10:16 with quarter splits of 80, 77, 74, 78, 77, 76, 77, 77.  The trail curves quite a bit and rolls with a slight net downhill heading out, and with a slight uphill heading back.  I realized after the first repeat that I had pushed myself a bit too hard, so I took the second two mile repeat easy running a 11:02.  Splits were 83, 83, 83, 86, 82, 86, 82, 77.  Based on my splits it is obvious that certain quarters were faster or slower than others, although the final quarter during the second repeat is deceptive as it is uphill, but I closed faster than I began the first repeat.  Overall it was a good workout as it was my longest run this year and finished off my first 70 mile week this year as well.

I ran 5.5 miles this morning, after which I met John and ran a little over 4 miles with him.  I then ran home for a total of 11.75 miles.  In the afternoon I ran across campus in order to try and get some scheduling issues worked out giving myself another 0.75 miles.

I ran 9.5 miles today in 1:03:xx.  I ran 1.75 miles fast mid run running quarters between 81-88 seconds.

I ran 11.75 miles today, running 0.75 across campus and then running 11 more after I got home.  Time of 1:21:52 for the last 11 miles.

I ran home from school today, about 1 mile in just over 8 minutes.  After getting home I ran 10 more miles in 1:14:40, running 5 short sprints during the last 4 miles.

I ran 11.25 miles today with Shayon in the running stroller.  Total time was 1:27:02.

The plan for today was to cut back the mileage a bit as last Saturday's long run left me pretty tired the first half of this week.  I ended cutting the workout even shorter just to be safe because we had a fire in our oven and I didn't want to overstress myself.  Total of 6.75 miles in 49:30ish.

I ran home after class this morning (about 1.25 miles) and immediately changed into running clothes and ran 10 more miles in 1:09:25.  I ran 5 all out sprints during the run between 34-42 seconds each.  Recovery was around 5:00 for most of them, but about 7:00 before the final sprint.  In the evening after my final class I ran home again to get an additional 1.25 miles on the day.

10 miles this morning in 1:14:17.  I ran the last 0.5 miles (approximate distance) fast as I felt my legs needed to get a slightly different stimulus at the end of the run.

10 miles this morning in 1:10:50.  I ran miles 6 and 7 fast trying to relax as much as possible while still running under 6:00 pace.  Splits were 5:52, 5:36.  I thought the first split was going to be faster, but it was on a mild uphill with a mild headwind.  I also ran the final "mile" fast, running it in 5:28.  This mile was a lot slower than the others due to hills and turns, but my split was faster as I was running harder.  The distance for the final mile was estimated, but according to the course tool my guess was pretty much right on.

12.75 miles in 1:37:19.  I added an extra loop on the way out and on the way back of the 10 mile run that I have been doing lately which added about 2.75 miles total.  I kept things really easy because I was feeling pretty tired after my run yesterday despite the intensity not being super hard (only 3 miles fast with the fastest of the three in 5:28).

I was tired this morning so I slept in.  In the afternoon I ran some errands (literally) which got me about 2 miles, and after I got home I ran 8 more miles in approximately 59 minutes.

We had a ward temple trip this morning, so I did not have time to run until the evening (the temple is in Omaha, so it takes all day).  I ended up running 14 miles, while running the last "5" miles hard.  I had measured part of the "5" miles with the car but that proved to be grossly inaccurate, so I am not sure exactly how far it was or how fast I was going.  The only real split I got was 5:34 for the last mile, with 29:15 total time running hard.  The total time for 14 miles was 1:36:59.

I had to hurry my run a bit this morning because I was late getting out the door.  My problem is that once I start getting moving a little faster than normal my runs generally turn a lot faster.  I started around 8:00 pace, but progressively got faster until I hit a 6:35 mile about 5 miles in.  I finished in 1:03:39 for 9 miles.

At school I helped another student with some research she was working on and I ran an additional 2.2 miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace. 

The buses were all messed up today because the President was on campus, and I had to walk home.  I ended up running the last half mile because a bus finally passed by and I wanted to see if I would beat the bus home without pushing myself.  Later on I ran an additional 10 miles, running 3 x 1 mile repeats with 0.5 mile recovery.  I decided to run the first repeat a little easier and then progressively get faster.  I ended up with splits of 5:22 (mild downhill followed by 3:54 recovery), 5:11 (flat with a 180 halfway through followed by a 3:57 recovery), and 4:56 (mild uphill, the same as the first repeat but in reverse).  The 4:56 mile was the first mile I have run all year where I have broken 5:00.  I then ran easy for just under two miles before running one final hard mile in 5:06 and finishing at my apartment.  This mile is hilly and has lots of turns.  I had trouble making a few of the turns because of the speed and how sharp they were.  Based on my measurements from the course tool I may need to add a second or two to make this a full mile.  My total time for 10 miles was 1:05:50.

I ran 1:34:39 today giving me approximately 12 miles.  I did not run a direction I normally go, so I am not sure exactly how far I went.  I purposefully took it really easy today after the speed work I ran yesterday.

11 miles today in 1:24:56.  I am running my first race in over 9.5 months tomorrow evening, so I decided to try to get a feel for goal race pace by running a 400 on the track in 75 seconds.  I ended up running a 72, but the second 200 was a 37.  I then ran a 200 to try and get a little more practice and I ran a 38 or a 39.  Overall I felt kind of tired during the run, but that may help me come tomorrow because I ran fairly slow as a result.

I ran my first race in over 9.5 months this evening.  It was a local 5k that gets some fast guys every year.  I warmed up for a little over 3 miles before the race started.  I had the runs all afternoon and my stomach didn't feel the best but I was hoping that I would still be able to run well.

The race started and I went out in the front pack of guys.  My plan had been to try and hit about 5:00 pace, but once the race started I got excited and went with the guys on the ISU run club hitting the mile mark in 4:46.  Shortly after the mile mark I started to fall back as the fast first mile was too much considering my fitness level right now.

I struggled to maintain pace the most when the course went uphill, leading me to think that I am lacking strength right now and I may benefit from some time in the weight room.  After about a mile and a half I also started to experience chest pains consistent with what you feel when you push too hard and overexert the muscles between the ribs.  This highlights the aerobic deficiency that I still have, and also caused me to realize how unaccustomed I am to running at this effort level for a long period of time.  This was the bigger problem of the two, as late in the race my legs still felt like they had more in them but I was being limited aerobically.  Considering that I had not run a single mile under 5:00 all year until earlier this week I guess I should not be surprised.

I hit 2 miles in 9:59 (5:13 mile), in 5th place but gaining on 4th who had dropped off of the front pack about a half mile after I did.  I passed that guy and took 4th place only to be overtaken by another runner who was smarter and started off a little more slowly.  It stayed this way until the finish and I covered the final 1.1 miles in 6:03 to finish in 16:02.  My official time was 15:58.3.  I am not sure where the discrepancy came from, but I will take the official time as 15:xx sounds a lot better than 16:xx.

Overall I feel that this race gives me a good starting point to improve on as I move forward and continue to improve my fitness once more. 

I ran 16 miles this morning with a bunch of the guys in the running club.  I wantedto get the run finished fairly quickly so I took the initative to speed things up and I finished in 1:48:24.

I ran 10 miles today in 1:15:34.  The original plan was to run 11+ miles, but I still feel a little sore after the race on Friday evening and the semi long run the next morning.  My left ankle also started to act up about 7 miles into the run, so I slowed down the pace to about 7:45-50 for the last 3 miles.

I felt much better today compared to yesterday.  I ran with a couple guys on the club team, so the run was a little faster than normal.  I was also late meeting them, so I got in some fast running right at the beginning.  Later on in the run I ran 4 short sprints.  I felt awkward and uncoordinated running the sprints... not quite sure what to make of it.  Total time was 1:26:41 for about 12.5 miles.

I ran a 5 mile tempo this morning on a 2 mile section of trail that has markers every quarter.  The trail is rolling with a net downhill going out, and a net uphill coming back.  Today there was some headwind going out so it negated any benefit from the downhill, and didn't really help on the uphill sections.  My goal was to start out relatively relaxed at about 5:30 pace, progressively speeding up as I went.

Everything pretty much went according to plan as I had half mile splits of 2:44, 2:45 (5:29), 2:41, 2:45 (5:26), 2:46, 2:40 (5:26), 2:42, 2:41 (5:23), 2:37, 2:31 (5:08).  Total time was 26:52.  Overall I am happy with the tempo.  I was a little slower than I had planned on miles 3 and 4, but I ran mile 5 a fair amount faster than planned, so I was right about where I wanted to be.

Total of 12 miles for the run in 1:18:53.

In the afternoon I helped another student out with her research study and ended up running about 3.5 miles extra, all at 8:00 pace on the treadmill. 

I have been working on running early in the morning again, but today that did not happen.  I ended up running home from school (about 1.25 miles) and then running an additional 10 miles later on in about 1:19.  I felt somewhat sluggish today, which is not necessarily a bad thing considering that I have run more mileage this week and I ran a hard workout yesterday.

10 miles this morning in 1:16:50.  I ran 7 short sprints this morning of about 10 seconds each, running all out.  I had between 0.5 and 0.75 recovery between each one.

I ran over 18 miles this morning, giving me my longest run of the entire year so far.  I ran the first 14+ miles with Josh, another PhD student that I am in classes with.  He frequently gets over 100 miles per week during the summer, but he doesn't do much speed work so he is not as developed when it comes to doing faster stuff.  We kept the pace pretty brisk for most of the run, and while I am not sure exactly how far we went together there was a section where we may have gotten under 6:00 pace for a couple miles.  

At 1:36:00 we parted ways and I started a mini tempo for a few miles at the end of the run.  I will give myself 14 miles up to that point, but based on Josh's estimations it was probably a bit longer than that.  I ran 3 miles hard with splits of 5:40, 5:36, 5:30.  I was surprised at how hard that pace felt.  I was expecting to hit about that pace without even pushing, but I felt sluggish and I had to push harder than I wanted to.  Because of how I felt I backed off and coasted in the last mile instead of running it hard, although I did pick it up again for a couple minutes as I neared my apartment.

Total time of 2:00:28 for what I will call 18.25 miles.

10 miles this morning in 1:15:38.  I ran an all out quarter this morning to gauge whether or not my speed has improved since moving to Ames.  I picked a quarter on the trail that had minimal elevation change (but it did have two curves that were pretty tight), running two strides before running the quarter.  Result was a 61.4, which is about 2 seconds faster than I was able to run before moving.  So, things are trending in the right direction.  Now I just need to get under 60 seconds again.

I ran home from school in the evening which gave me about a mile and a half extra.  After getting home I performed lunges with Shayon on my shoulders or in my arms as resistance.  In the past I would perform wall sits, but I felt that it was not translating to my running well as the exercise was isometric.  I figured that I would give lunges a try for the next while to see if I get better results.

I ran 11 miles this morning in 1:19:01. During the run I ran 6 x 1/2 mile with a quarter rest after the first two repeats, about a mile rest after the third, and then a quarter rest after the fouth and fifth repeats.

Splits were 2:24, 2:23, 2:27, 2:21, 2:26, 2:25.

To be honest I was not very happy with the split times as I had been hoping to run all of the repeats between 2:20 and about 2:23 and I was not even close to doing that.  I suspect that the lunges last night may have taken more out of me than I thought they would.  I just felt like I had no pop to my legs this morning and when I would get moving faster I would start going anaerobic even when I was only hitting quarters in 72ish.  73-74 on the other hand did not feel so bad.  I think that I may run this workout again in a few weeks to try and see if I am making any progress.

I ran home from school in the evening giving me another 1.5 miles. 

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:19:32.  The only thing that got me under 8:00 pace was a 7:30 last mile.  I just felt like I needed to run slow today.

PM: I ran home from school, giving me an extra mile and a half. 

I have been tired and sore the last two days, so rather than running a difficult speed workout today I ran a longer tempo keeping the pace just slightly under 6:00 for most of the tempo.  I did have a short break of just over a minute two miles into the tempo as I ran off course briefly (on purpose), but otherwise the tempo was continuous.

The run started with a 9:00+ first mile, three miles total, followed by the tempo which was finished in 35:26 with splits of 6:06, 5:56, 5:59, 5:53, 5:49, 5:43.  I then ran 3 miles back to my apartment, followed by adding about a half mile after getting home.  Total time for 12.5 miles was 1:25:47 (1:21:44 at 12 miles).

After getting home I performed lunges with Shayon on my shoulders, and afterwards I performed jumps starting at 90 degrees, jumping up one step, going back to 90 and jumping up a second step before coming back down to the beginning and repeating the process over again.  These were also performed with Shayon on my shoulders (he weighs a little over 20 pounds). 

I ran 12 miles this morning in 1:30:02.  I kept the pace easy for most of the run, but in the second half of the run I did run a few strides just to get my leg turnover up.

I ran 20 miles this morning to finish off my first 80 mile week this year, while running my first 20 mile run of the year.  It felt good to be out for that long, and it also felt good to finally be running weekly mileage that is adequate for marathon training.

I slept in this morning, so I had to keep the pace brisk almost right from the start.  By the time I was about 4 miles into the run I was running pretty close to 6:00 pace.  I made it to 5.25 miles in 34:57, and 8.25 in 53:00.

1:18:00 into the run I started running 3:00 off 5:00 on, repeating this 5 times before running the last bit back home.  I am not sure what pace I was running (during the fast or slow sections), but all combined I think that I was still averaging low 6:00 pace (no worse than 6:15 and sometimes faster).  I ended up running the last 4.25 miles in 26:34.  The total time for the run was 2:05:16.

In the evening I performed lunges and jumps up stairs again with Shayon on my shoulders.  I felt better doing the strength exercises than I thought I would. 

I ran 11.25 miles this morning in 1:21:40.  I ran a half mile fast catching up to another runner, and just as I caught up to him he turned right, while I had to turn left, so I wasn't able to talk to him at all.  I am not sore at all, but my legs still feel off after the long run on Saturday plus the lunges and jumps I performed Saturday evening.

I ran home from school in the evening to get in an extra 1.5 miles. 

I didn't feel good today so I only ran 8 miles, followed by an extra mile and a half running home from school in the evening.

I progressively ran more and more each day from Tuesday until Friday, making it to Friday with a weekly total of 55 miles.  I didn't feel great on Tuesday, but I felt a little better each day this week.  The workout I ran last Saturday was probably a little over ambitious considering it was my first 20 miler of the year, but I feel a little better now that have been running easy all week.

I felt horrible today.  I was planning on doing a long run, but I scrapped those plans and decided to run 15 miles instead.  During the run I scrapped those plans and decided on 12.5 miles, which I changed again, running 11.5 miles instead.  I stopped 3 times during the second half of the run to take breaks as I did not feel good.

After how I felt at the end of last week I backed off a lot this week.  By Saturday I was feeling a lot better and I ended up running 10.5 miles with 4 x 1 mile repeats.

During the week I ran 49.5 miles, running a few miles fast here and there but not running any true speed work.

I ran 15.5 miles today, running 1 mile in the middle of the run in 5:12, and then running the last 4 miles in approximately 23:15-20.

I ran to school this morning getting in 3 miles as I ran the long way.  I then ran 7 miles in the evening, running home from school and adding extra mileage

I ran 3 miles to school in the morning, ran another 3 miles before Anita's dance class in the evening, and then followed it up with an extra 4 miles after the class was finished.  The 3 miles before the class was time limited so I ran it in about 17:20.

I only ran 4.5 miles today because I didn't feel very good.  I think I am getting sick with something.  I did run a mile and a half hard because I had to get home quickly and I had limited time, but I probably shouldn't have.

Only 4.5 miles again today.  I didn't feel very good again.

I ran to school in the morning and then ran 8.5 miles in the evening for 10 miles total today.

I ran 10 miles this evening in 1:23:xx.  I ran so slow because I didn't feel very good and I was trying to run more slowly so that I could run a little farther.  It was probably too much, in fact the 8.5 miles yesterday evening was probably too much considering that I slept about 12 hours last night and I still felt like my legs were not rested.

I felt bad enough at the end of last week that I only ran 5 miles today.  I kept the pace slower than 8:00 pace the whole time, finishing in 41 or 42 minutes

I ran home with the kids after Anita's dance class, but I forgot to bring shoes with me to school today (I wore some dressy looking slippers to school) so I ran barefoot.  I was also pushing the stroller (not of the running variety) and I figured that all together it weighed about 90 pounds with the kids, bags, and stroller weight added together.  As a result of this, plus running on a trail in the dark with rocks and sticks all over the place it took me 30 minutes to run the 3 miles home.  After Kimia got home I ran 2 more miles to finish with 5 total.

I ran 6.5 miles today.  While I was running another runner passed me and I sped up to talk with him.  It ends up that he was running around 6:20 pace, and I ran with him for just under 2.5 miles, so overall my run was a lot faster today.  46:xx for 6.5 miles.

I ran 8 miles today in 1:05:30ish.  I am still trying to keep the effort really easy so that I don't overdo things.  I missed the bus right after finishing my run so I ended up running home as well.

I ran to school this morning, and after my morning class I ran another 8.5 miles in 1:05:30ish.  I ran a couple fast quarters during the run to try and simulate the effort that I want to run during the race I am running tomorrow.  Based on how I have been feeling I should probably not be running the race, but I signed up for it a while ago and now I just hope that running it doesn't push me over the edge again.  I feel like I just tried to get back in shape too quickly and I have been dealing with symptoms of fatigue related to overtraining in addition to getting sick.

 I ran my first cross country race since 2008 today.  I didn't expect much because I have either been sick or dealing with symptoms of overtraining over the last month or so.  The course the race was on is really slow due to lots of hills so I decided to go out at about 3:20 kilometer pace (about 5:20 mile pace) with the goal of finishing around 26:40.

The race started and I went through the first kilometer in 3:18, followed by a 3:22 for the second kilometer (lots of steep hills during this kilometer).  I felt like the effort was really easy during these two kilometers, even thinking to myself that it didn't feel like a race because it felt so easy.  The third kilometer still felt semi easy, but I did feel like I was starting to work a little more.  I ran a 3:23 for the third kilometer, followed by a 3:22 for the fourth.  At the end of the fourth kilometer I started to get some abdominal cramps, and in general I started to feel pretty cruddy.

The second half of the race was completely different from the first.  I ran the fifth kilometer in the 3:27-3:29 range (16:52-54 for 5k).  I was passed by 3 people during the fifth kilometer, and by another at the beginning of the sixth kilometer.  One runner dropped out just as I was passing him, and I felt envious that he was able to take the easy way out and just quit.  The sixth kilometer was between 3:35-3:37.  I was surprised that I had slowed down so much, but generally I just felt tired.  I didn't hurt, I didn't feel like I was pressing hard, but I also didn't feel like I could go any faster.  The seventh kilometer was a 3:33, with another runner catching me just before this mark, and pulling away a couple hundred meters later.  The last kilometer is probably the fastest of the race as it is flatter than any other kilometer of the race, while there is a long stretch to the finish so guys start their kicks really early.  At the beginning of the final kilometer I was just hoping to break 27:30 (it would have taken a 3:28 final kilometer to do this), but out of nowhere I was able to speed up and I closed out the race with a 3:11 final kilometer to finish in 27:13, holding off another runner that was trying to pass me in the process.

This race was really strange to be completely honest.  It felt so easy early on, I slowed down a ton in the middle, and somehow I was able to speed up by over 20 seconds from the penultimate to the final kilometer.  I will look at this in a semi-positive light, as it tells me that once I do get my fitness back the potential is still there to really run well.  I think that I just need to really focus on staying consistent and staying patient so that I don't overdo things.

I ran 1.5 miles to school in the morning, and then ran another 8.5 miles in the evening.

I ran 8.25 miles today.  All of it was at an easy pace, but I still felt tired

I was studying all day today for a test that I am taking tomorrow.  I ended up only running 3 miles today.

I stayed up really late studying last night, so I woke up too late to run this morning.  I ended up running 1.5 miles home after my test which finished just before 10pm.

I ran 7.5 miles today.  1.5 miles to school in the morning, and then 6 miles home in the evening

I ran 12 miles today.  It felt good to get out for a little longer today.  The test and studying this week took a lot out of me.  I have been having a harder time managing everything here than I did at UNLV.  I just need to get back in the habit of always running in the morning again.

I ran 10 miles easy today

I ran 9 miles today in 1:06:40.  I was not running super fast, but this is still one of the faster runs that I have done in the last few weeks.  I feel like I need to keep things slow for a while longer before adding in any speed work again.

I ran 6 miles today in the evening.  I was trying to figure out some issues with an assignment that is due on Friday, and I am too stubborn to give up and I ended up not having enough time to run very far because it was late.  On the plus side I did end up figuring out the problem

I ran 10 miles today, running 1.5 miles home from school and then running another 8.5 after I got home.  Total time was around 1:17:30.

10 miles easy in 1:19:05.  I actually forced myself out of bed in the morning.  I really need to get better with this.

I ran 10 miles today without looking at my watch for the entire 10 miles.  I was trying to guess how long it would take me to finish the run while I was out.  About halfway through I figured that I was on pace for about 1:19 mid, but I got lazy in the second half and really slowed down a bunch.  As I neared the house at the end of the run I told myself that I was probably going to finish around 1:21:00.  When I stopped the watch at the house I finally took a look at it and saw a final time of 1:21:03.  I was impressed that I was able to guess my final time so accurately.

I ran 6 miles this morning in 47:28, followed by running another 5 miles in the evening in 39:22.

Everyone in our house has been sick the last few days (including myself).  I decided to run 8 miles today instead of 10 because I have been feeling just a little bit achy, and I didn't want to overdo things.  Total time for the run was 1:01:43.

To describe how things have been with everyone getting sick, Anita woke up four times last night to throw up so none of us slept well.  Anita threw up five more times today and I feel bad for her because she doesn't really understand what is going on.  She was telling Kimia this morning... "food... mouth" before running off to the bathroom to puke in the toilet (I wish that it would have ended up in the toilet last night).  She has also been telling us that her belly hurts, so Kimia is going to take her to the doctors office tomorrow just to make sure that she is okay.  Part of the problem is that she is having trouble holding down fluids and we do not want her to get dehydrated.  When she is not throwing up she seems to feel more or less okay, and she had fun at her dance class today, so at least she was not miserable all day long.

I ran to school in the morning for a total of 1.5 miles.  In the evening I took the long way home from school for 3 miles, dropped off my backpack and then ran 6 more miles for a total of 9 miles in 1:09:37.  I actually have noticed that I kind of like running with my backpack loaded up with my stuff because it forces me to run slower, and I have a straighter posture when running (versus a forward lean) so my back has been happier with me (odd that adding weight to my trunk and messing up my center of mass seems to make my back feel better).  I am also hoping that there will be some sort of stimulus that will benefit my running by training with all the extra weight.

I did not feel good today, worse than Tuesday in fact.  However, unlike Tuesday I did not want to cut my run short as I felt fine while running on Tuesday and later wished that I would have run farther.  Instead of running less I decided to just run really really slow so that I would not stress myself too much.  I ended up not wearing a watch on the run so I have no idea how slow I was going, but I would guess that I was averaging anywhere from 8:20-8:40 pace for most of the run (probably even slower at the end).  I ran a total of 10.5 miles, running 9 miles after school, and then running the final mile and a half home wearing my backpack.  I have to say that as a whole the run was miserable.  I felt decent for the first 5 miles or so, but by the time I hit 6.5 miles I was not feeling very good, and by 7.5 I just wanted to be done.  When I picked up my backpack after 9 miles I felt so cruddy that I just stood around blowing my nose for a few minutes trying to gather the motivation to run home while lamenting the fact that the bus was not coming any time soon.  I finally did run home, and shortly after arriving Shayon started to throw up.  Yay, more vomit, just what I have been wishing for.  I went to bed earlier than normal (around 9:30pm) leaving Kimia to watch the kids and put them to bed because my whole body ached while my stomach feels like it is all tied up in knots.  On the plus side I do not have a fever, so at least I have that going for me.

I ran to school this morning for 1.5 miles.  In the evening I ran home from school, ditched my backpack in the woods and ran extra before picking up my backpack and finishing the run home.  The total was about 8.5 miles in 1:08:01.  My total wearing the backpack was about 4.75 miles (1.5 in the morning, and 3.25 in the evening).  I stomach still felt like it was tied up in knots during the day and during the run, however I did not feel weakness like yesterday.  I did have diarrhea during the run which was not fun, and at times it was kind of painful running as my stomach was acting up on me, but all in all it was much more pleasant that yesterday.

I was feeling a lot better today than I have felt in the previous few days so I decided to run a little farther and a little faster.  the plan was to run 11-12 miles with an average pace for the run around 7:30 rather than 8:00 pace (or slower) which I have been running lately.  I felt great for the first 3 miles, making it to 3 miles averaging around 7:25 pace.  Around this same time my stomach decided to start complaining, albeit mildly, and despite feeling like the effort was similar I slowed down and barely broke 8:00 on the next mile.  I got slower and slower each subsequent mile after that and my stomach hurt more and more the farther I went.  I ended up deciding to only run 10 miles and I struggled home finishing my final two miles just under 17 minutes.  Total time for the run was 1:19:40.  I was fast enough the first 3 miles that despite feeling horrible and running slow the rest of the run I still averaged faster than 8:00 pace for the run

We had stake conference today.  Shayon threw up in the middle of it, but luckily Kimia was able to catch almost all of the vomit in Anita's blanket which she brought to keep Anita warm in the stroller on the walk to church.  The stake presidency has asked all of the members of the stake to evaluate whether they can give a more generous fast offering because our stake has been using more than it is bringing in.  I imagine that Kimia and I could donate a little more.

I ran 1.5 miles to school in the morning.  In the afternoon I ran home from school (3 miles) after which I dropped off my backpack and went back out to run 6.5 miles more (9.5 miles total).  Total time for the run ended up being 1:13:35.  I did not feel 100%, but it is the best I have felt since maybe last Monday (or possibly the week prior) so I ran 2 x 400 with 400 recovery just to get my legs moving a little faster.  I ran the first in 1:18, and the second in 1:21.  So nothing spectacular but it felt good to go fast for a little bit.

I ran 10 miles today in 1:17:02.  I felt pretty good today, but at times I felt a little awkward, almost like I was lacking coordination.  I ran home from school in the evening for an additional 1.5 miles.

In the morning I ran 1.5 miles to school, while in the evening I ran 3 miles home plus an additional 6.5 miles after getting there (9.5 miles in 1:16:17) for a total of 11 miles on the day

I ran 10 miles after school today in 1:19:47.  Nothing special happened, except I am starting to wonder if the stomach pain I have been having (it has been there even when I do not mention it on the blog although pain was minimal today) is a result of being sick, or if being sick just made the pain worse.  I wonder this because the pain has persisted all throughout this week despite not feeling sick anymore.  I am not quite sure what to make of it.  Passing gas seems to help things a bit, but only if I am constantly letting it rip the entire time I am running, and sometimes that does not even seem to help.  On some occasions it seems like the pain does not start until after I start running, while on other occasions the stomach pain will start up mid-day and is merely present while I am running.  My point in mentioning this is that I am not sure if the discomfort is caused by running or simply limiting me while I run.

I felt really tired today so I ended up breaking my run up into smaller chunks.  I ran 1.5 miles to school in the morning, followed by running another 1.5 miles home in the afternoon.  I was at home for a little while before running 7 miles more to finish up 10 miles on the day.  I ran a half mile at 6:00 pace near the end of the run because I wanted to get my legs moving.

The plan today was to run 12.5 miles at an average pace of 7:30-7:40 per mile.  I just did not feel in the mood to plod along at 8:00 pace today.  However, once I left the house that plan almost immediately went out the window.  I was not really trying to go faster but I started my run under 8:00 pace (I usually start slower and then speed up after a half mile or a mile) and by the time I was 2 miles into the run I was already running close to 7:00 pace.  I progressively got faster after that.  I ran the two miles before my turn-around in 6:48 and 6:49 (mild net downhill) and I hit the halfway mark (6.25 miles) in 44:35.  After I turned around I immediately sped up even more even though it was not really my intention and I ran the next 2 miles in 6:25 and 6:13.  I slowed down a little bit over the next few miles, but I sped up again the last mile running it in what felt like right at or just under 6:00 pace.  Total time for 6.25 miles was 1:24:12 (39:37 for the last 6.25 miles).  Average pace for the run was 6:44, with an average of 6:20 over the second half.  It felt good to run a little faster today.  I want to be more careful than I was a couple months ago when I started to develop symptoms of overtraining, so I better not do this too often, but today at least it felt good.

This was a bad week for running.  Only a little over 30 miles for the whole week

This whole week is going to be crazy, and today was just the beginning of it.  I didn't have a lot of time so I only ran 6.5 miles today.

Again, I did not have a lot of time to run, but I was able to get in 8 miles today.

I had a 15 hour day at school today.  I only ended up running 3 miles as a result

Again, I had a 15+ hour day at school.  Today I was only able to run 1.5 miles.

I was so tired from the last few days that today I slept in and only ran 3 miles as a result.

Today I just needed to get out and relax for a while, so I didn't worry too much about the speed or the time while I was running and I went exploring.  I ran around the golf course for a while (very hilly), after which I hopped onto some trails that were right next to the golf course and I ran around there for a while (not as hilly but lots of twists and turns).  I ran through a few streams just for fun and I ended up making it back to my house after close to 1:50:00 of running.  I estimate that I ran somewhere between 13.5 and 14 miles.  I will count it as 13.5 just to be on the conservative side.

I ran 8 miles today in just under 1:01:00.

I ran 10 miles today in 1:10:51.  I kept the pace faster than normal because Kimia had somewhere that she needed to go.

I ran 10 miles today, running the final 8.5 miles in 1:05:10.

The plan today was to run 10 miles.  During the run I decided to add in some strides to get my legs moving a little faster without stressing myself too much.  I ended up running 4 strides spread throughout the second half of the run and I finished 10 miles in 1:17:49.

Upon arriving home I found out that I was locked out of the house so I ran around the neighborhood for a bit until Kimia got home again.  This added approximately two more miles to my total for the day bringing me up to 12 miles for the run.

10 miles total today, running 1.5 miles to school in the morning and then running 8.5 miles in the evening in just a little under 1:05.

I ran about 15 miles today in 1:48:27.  I ran west through the park like usual, but then ran around the golf course again like last Saturday since the course is closed for the winter.  After I exited the golf course I ran my usual route again until I hit 7.5 miles after which I turned around and retraced my steps.  I kept up a decent pace throught the run, and during the last mile and a quarter I also ran 3 strides just to get my legs moving more quickly.  54:54 for the first half of the run and 53:33 for the second half with most of the difference coming in the first/last 1.5 miles (approximately 11:27 and 10:19).

I ran 11 miles today in just over 1:26:00.  I felt tired near the end of the run and I wonder if I am coming down with something as I have had a sore throat since yesterday.

I ran 11 miles this morning in 1:26:45.  I ran on the golf course again plus I ran through some trails behind the golf course as well which kept my average pace slower than the effort would have indicated.  In the evening I ran the last mile home from school after I initially started walking to give me 12 miles total for the day.

I ran 10 miles today after I finished my final exam for the day.  I forgot to bring my running watch with me, so no time for the run.  After I finished I picked up my things and then ran the extra mile and a half home to finish with 11.5 miles on the day.  During the last few miles of the run I also ran 4 short sprints spread out over about 3 miles.

10 miles this morning in about 1:18:00.  Saw a girl on the ISU cross country team out on a run.  I timed myself while running behind her and figured out she was running somewhere between 6:10-6:20 pace per mile.  It is not often that you will see a girl out on an "easy" run going that fast.