running for my mind

6.5 easy on a pretty big loop. Nice to get the legs loose from yesterday's repeats.

Scheduled rest day.

I was tired all day today. I hopped in the hot tub at my folks and tried to relax, stretch, and massage a little. When I got out I laid on the floor and fell asleep for 30 minutes. Decided that was a pretty good sign I was worn out.

Goals this week - 50 miles - 800s - 4-5 mile tempo.

8 easy miles.

Ran my typical route, just a little farther. A nice out and back. I didn't take my watch and just enjoyed the run. Felt good to just get the legs loose and enjoy a clear morning before the sun came up.

8 easy miles - 

I just did my typical route but I tried to take it as easy as possible. (I think I was right around an 8:30 to 8:45 pace, but will check and post my data when I get home later.) This was actually quite difficult. I was forcing myself to slow down. I have read/listened a lot lately about the importance of taking your easy days easy. I want some feedback on this so if you happen to read this please let me know your thoughts by commenting below. A lot of people refer to the grey area as a pace where it is not really pushing you too much, but it is not really easy either. If you always train in this area then you will not progress. Now, I am not worried about always training in the "grey area" because I am doing speed work and tempo runs pretty regularly. I am more worried that I am doing more harm by going a little too hard on my "easy" days and really letting these runs be recovery days. I have heard that "easy" days should be between 1:00 to 2:00 slower than marathon pace (6:55).

For example, yesterday I ran 9 miles, during which I ran 8x800s. It was my speed day. So, today I should theoretically run "easy." I could pretty effortlessly go out and clip along at an average pace of 7:45-8:00 and not really feel like I as pushing myself too hard. However, If I am going to truly take it "easy," I could run as slow as 8:55.

So, my 2 thoughts are these: (1) 7:45-8:00 really is my "easy" pace as I have gradually become a faster runner and I should not worry so much, OR (2) I need to be more disciplined and I should try and slow down on my "easy" days like I tried to today.

Thoughts? Advice? Tips? 

6 easy miles with Brayden and Ashley. Average pace of 8:05.

16 miles.

I had a good long(er) run this morning. Left my house at 6:10 and met up with Brayden after 4 miles. Ran 8 with Brayden and then the last 4 back home solo. My average pace was a 7:44 and that felt nice. I pushed myself once at the beginning for half a mile and then I ran at marathon pace for 2 miles around miles 13 and 14. 

I wanted to push a couple miles to marathon pace near the end of the run to see how it felt. Surprisingly I felt good and could have gone another mile, but I wanted to have the last two be a little slower to "cool down" a bit.

At the beginning of the run my quads were a little sore and I mentioned to Brayden that I was feeling a little tired/weak. I attributed it to having a good running week and it just being cumulative fatigue. I loosened up and overall felt good. My knees were a little tight near the end as well, but that is to be expected from this distance for me. I iced them up when I got home and they feel fine now.

I feel good about this week and having hit all of my goals. I look forward to a rest day tomorrow and then starting another week. Only 2 months until race day. 

[update] After uploading the data from my watch and looking at my splits a day later, I am super pleased with this run. Brayden and I started speeding up around my 10th mile and the rest of the run was a decent pace for me. 

Scheduled rest day today. 

We got a ton of sleep last night even with it being daylight savings! 10 hours is solid for sure. After a hearty breakfast of pancakes and a little time playing with Grey I took an hour nap too!

Goals for this week - I think I am going to stay right around 55 miles and not try to push it past that yet. I week of maintaining, as it were. I am going to stick to speed on Tuesday with the goal of 1 mile repeats. Thursday I am going to shoot for another tempo of 5 miles. If I am feeling up for it, I might push that to 6. My Saturday run will either be 16 or 17. 

8 easy miles

I ran over to the track to meet a buddy over there that wanted to run 400s for his first time. I mostly just took it easy like I had planned for today, but I did pace him on one 400 so he could get a feel for how fast he wanted to go. Being on the track made me want to get my speed work in today, but I have it planned for tomorrow so I decided to stick with that. It was nice to just get out and get the legs moving after taking yesterday off. 

8 miles - 2 miles and a bit warmup, 3 x 1 mile repeats, and a cool down of just under 2.

It was nice to have Adam to run with again. Company is good, but company on speed days is great!

I have kind of felt like there has been a mental, more than physical, wall at the 6:00 min mile. I wanted to try and break that wall down a little bit today and it felt good. We ran the first mile right at 6:00, the next at 5:55, and the last at 5:52.

I am happy about this speed workout and I hope that this workout boosts my confidence and I won't be afraid of the 6:00 min mile barrier anymore.

8.5 easy this morning.

Felt good to take a nice easy pace and to be with good friends. I ran 3 miles before meeting up with Adam and Tyler. Adam turned east to head home when Tyler and I only had about .3 back to my house and his car.

Avg HR - 141 and Avg Pace - 8:24 

10 miles - 2 mile warmup, 6 mile tempo at marathon pace, 2 mile cool down.

This morning was the first time I have worn shorts on a morning run this year! It was nice to not pull tights on. I felt good during the tempo and was having fun while I was doing it. I am glad that I hit the 6 miles under marathon pace.

I don't know exactly what my goal is going to be in the next two months before my race with the tempo runs. I originally thought I would work my way up to 10 and stop there, but now I am considering maybe continuing to up it each week by 1 mile. That would push me to 13 or 14 miles depending on when I do my last tempo before tapering. What do people think?

8 easy miles

I met up with Brayden and Ashley to run 8 easy this morning. I wanted to test myself and go with Adam on his tempo, but I knew that would not be the smartest thing for me or my training. I am sure he killed his 5 miles though.

Because I was running a little late this morning, long night with a sick child, Ashley took off before I got to their house. Brayden and I ran a little fast the first mile and the second mile way too fast for this easy day so we could catch her, but I knew we would have 6 slow ones after so it was ok.

17.5 miles. 

Logged 17.5 this morning, 12 of which were with Adam. It was super nice of him to tag along for as long as he did. He only planned on doing 8 with me so he might hate me tomorrow.

Overall, I felt good with this long(er) run. The first 3 miles I had a few kinks to work out but they vanished once Adam and I got into our conversations. I felt similar the first few miles of my run last Saturday.

Now that is is 8pm I realize how this run and this week have worn me out. I have felt pretty sluggish all day and I am excited for a good night's rest and the day of tomorrow.

Goals - I feel great about this week and hitting my goals. I pushed a little past my goal of 55 miles, hit my mile repeats on Tuesday, and my tempo on Thursday I pushed to 6 miles. I will post my goals for this coming week tomorrow. 

Planned rest day.

I was still pretty wiped out from yesterday's long(er) run.

Goals for this coming week - 10 to 12 400s on Tuesday - Tempo of 7 miles on Thursday (I am going to be playing this one by ear because we are headed to Jackson Hole for the day. So, I might bump this to Friday.) - Saturday long run of 18 - Total miles of 60 again. 

8 easy miles with Adam this morning.

I was feeling a little tight in my knees, but nothing out of the usual little tightness. For some reason my stomach has been unsettled on almost all of my runs lately. Even this slower easy run gave me some issues. I need to figure it out.

9.25 - 2 mile warmup - 10 x 1/4 mile repeats - 2 and a bit cool down.

Well, the last 24 hours have been less than desirable. I have been working for almost a year for a firm downtown. I have technically been a clerk waiting for a full-time offer. If you know anything about the process of law school and finding a job, up to this point I have done everything "right." I have tried to check every box. I was in the top of my class, got on law review, and got a clerkship my second summer. That clerkship has continued and I have been working part-time during this school year. Yesterday, I met with the managing partner of the firm and he told me that they will not be extending me an offer. His exact words were, "don't count on it." He was kind enough to say that he would write me a good recommendation though!

So, when I got home I wanted to put on my shoes and just start running until I couldn't go any farther. I then realized that that type of a run would not fit well into my training schedule! (stupid logical mind got the best of me) So, instead I just waited for this morning's run. However, when I woke up I just didn't have the fire that I did last night. 

It is hard to do a track workout when you get to the track and it is locked. I tried to not let this bug me, but I was really looking forward to trying to shred the track apart with my 400s. I improvised and decided to just do some 1/4 mile pickups or repeats on my normal route. Because my route has a decent amount of change in elevation, I decided that I would be happy with running my 1/4 miles in 80 seconds, and hoped to run some in 75. (75 was my original goal for the track)

Overall, I felt OK with this run. I didn't feel great, but I finished it. By the end I was pretty spent dodging cars at a 5:00 min pace!

Sorry for such a long post. I guess I needed to vent a bit.

 [update] Tyler pointed out that this post doesn't make me seem too stoked on today's workout. I am. I just am still upset about the work situation and that obviously has shown through this post. Sorry.

PM - Came home from school and ran 2.5 miles with Whit and Grey. Whit is just getting back in to running so it was a nice slow pace. She did great though. It was nice for me because I was, and am still, feeling pretty tight in my calves from this morning. This short jaunt loosened them up a bit. I look forward to a nice easy run tomorrow.  

9.75 easy miles this morning. Met up with Adam but he had to head downtown for work so we only ran 5 together. Felt great on the run but my legs are still sore from yesterday as I write this (it is about 8pm).

We left Salt Lake about 1pm today and drove up to Jackson Wyoming. I am going to still try and get in my tempo in the morning but I have no idea on which streets to run.  

8 miles behind Adam. 2 mile warmup, 4 a little quicker than marathon pace, 2 mile cool down. 

Had thought and was planning on doing my tempo this morning in Jackson but we awoke to snow and wind. We luckily wrapped up there early and headed home.

Adam hadn't run yet so we headed to Wasatch for a tempo session at about 5:15pm. Lack of sleep and driving almost 600 miles in 24 hours showed on this run. It didn't help that there was a headwind for part too.

Overall, I still feel good about the run. Because it was a little shorter tempo than last week I think I still might try and run several miles at marathon pace during my long(er) run Saturday.

8 easy, 2 solo and 6 with Tyler.

It was a good morning. Nice and clear and crisp. We finished just in time I think. Small flakes started falling right when we finished. Tyler told me it is supposed to snow a lot tonight. Should make for a fun long(er) run tomorrow!

18 miles - 10.5 of the miles Adam was nice enough to join me on. 

I feel better right now after 18 this morning than I did last week after my 17.5. That is a good thing. It was a fun run overall. We had snow coming down pretty heavily for the first 9 miles. It was then nice and clear with the occasional nasty road condition.

Mile 10 was actually a good 30 seconds or so faster, for those of you who really want to get nitpicky. I managed to step in a huge puddle and completely soak my right foot. I thought I paused my watch while I was assessing the situation, but didn't.

We clipped off 4 miles at marathon pace to see how my legs would hold up. It felt good to let the legs loose for a bit. Every once in a while it was a little sketchy at that pace with the road conditions and cars flying by, but overall it was fun. We slowed up for mile 15 and then I tried to close the last 3 miles strong after dropping Adam at his house.

Overall, I feel good about my goals even though I didn't hit them right on the head. I mixed them up a bit and feel fine about that. I ran a few more miles than I had anticipated, which is fine with me. I got in my 400s, but missed the full tempo. That is ok though because my tempo ended up being at a high exertion level and then I got in another 4 at marathon pace during my long run. I feel like it was a successful week.

Scheduled rest day.

I am feeling better today than I did last Sunday, even though I ran more miles and had a little longer run yesterday than the previous Saturday.

Goals for this week - Maintain right around 60-65 total miles. - Speed work on Tuesday, shooting for 800s. (I don't know how many I will do. I might do around 6, but try and do them a little faster than my previous set of 800s) - I would like to get a tempo in of 7 miles as well on Thursday.  

9.25 miles this AM. - Fun to get out with Tyler and Adam.

I felt great on this run. Nice to have an easy day after last week's miles and long run on Saturday. I still am feeling a little tight in my right lower calf from last Tuesday's speed workout I think, but it is not inhibiting my running. Those 400s really blew up my legs last week.

I need to be better about stretching!!! There is always something to work on. 

9.75 miles - 2 mile warmup - 6 x 800s - 2 x 200s - cool down.

I feel really good about this workout. I planned on doing 6 x 800s and doing the first one at a 5:45 pace and then doing each one 0:05 faster. I was stoked to pull this off. After those I decided to do a couple 200s to just rock at full speed for a bit. It felt good to let my legs fly.

repeat distance time    avg.pace goal pace
1 800 3:01.3 5:46 5:45
2 800 2:59.1 5:37 5:40
3 800 2:56.1 5:33 5:35
4 800 2:54.6 5:29 5:30
5 800 2:51.8 5:22 5:25
6 800 2:46.7 5:15 5:20
7 200 0:30.1 3:55 n/a
8 200 0:30.2 4:02 n/a

Here is a link to all the workout data. Each of the 800 repeats came in at .53 of a mile, aside from the first one. (maybe that makes the math make more sense?)

9 easy miles this morning - Planned on running a few miles before meeting Brayden and Tyler. They both had to bail so I ended up running solo. If you missed it, the moon was awesome this morning.

10.75 miles - 1.5 mile warmup - 7.5 at marathon pace - 1.75 mile cool down.

Tempo Thursday - I felt really good on the tempo. I could feel the hills a little but was stoked to keep all of my splits faster than my goal marathon pace. For whatever reason that is about all that I have to say. Overall, it was a nice time!

8.25 easy miles - roughly 2 solo and the rest with Brayden and Ashley. Ran a loop from my house. It was a fun morning run and was awesome weather! My phone said 50 when I went out at 6:15.

20 miles - Ran 10.75 solo and the rest with Brayden

This was a fun run and it was great weather this morning. I feel really good about this 20 miler. I feel like there is this mental fear with running 20 miles and today was my best 20 miler to date. Last year I felt good on my 20 milers but always struggled the last couple of miles. Today I was able to finish strong so I am happy about that. The other day Tyler said that I need to remember that I am in better shape and I am a better runner than last year. I am starting to believe him a little bit now.

Today is Grey's first birthday so we are having a little party etc. I can't believe she is already a year old.

Scheduled rest day.

Felt good to have a nice relaxing Easter!

I felt good this past week. Was probably the best running week I have ever had. I was able to hit all of my goals or exceed them in a bit.

Goals this week - I am going to bump up the miles just a bit and shoot for 70-73. I am shooting for mile repeats on Tuesday. I think I will do 4 x 1 mile repeats at a 6:00 min pace or just under. This past week I did a 7.5 mile tempo so I want to bump that up a bit, but don't know by how much. I will either do 8 or 8.5. I plan on doing a 20 miler on Saturday again too. Should be a good week!