Training for a Belt Buckle

Walked 3 miles with the dog.

I just can't seem to force myself to get up early and run in the dark, so get up less early and go to work a bit earlier instead. RHR 52. (Need to get it back in the high 40's!)

6 miles this afternoon at 75-80% mhr.  I'm getting better each time at figuring out how much to speed up or slow down to get my heart rate to where I want it to be.  Ran down and then along the Trax trail and back.

The right ankle has been bothering me for a couple of weeks. I think it might be the Achilles.  Will work on the balance board and icing it at nights. 

11:33/12:29/12:52/12:15/11:52/12:24

1st mile has some good downhills and I had to force myself to slow down. Mile 3 I took the last half at the lower part of the range on purpose because it is a net downhill and wanted to save myself for the return uphill. It is a gentle grade, but goes on for about 3/4 of the mile.  First 3 miles felt really good. Mile 4 my legs and lungs felt tired - but net uphill and pushing the top part of my range.  Mile 5 the legs felt easy again and I had to hold myself back on mile 6 even though there are 2 good uphills in that mile.

Drank 4 oz Ensure, 4 oz. milk and a scoop of protein shake. 1 mile cooldown walk with the dog.

Time to stretch!

Was exhausted last night and fell asleep at 9:30. Woke up right before my alarm.

RHR 49 (better than yesterday)

Felt the nagging piriformis issue in the left hip first thing in the morning. Then it quit bugging me.

Did the same 6 mile route tonight as I did yesterday.  The first mile was a struggle because I had not warmed up yet. After that, the remaining 5 miles felt pretty easy and I had to reign myself in to stay under 80%. 

11:34/12:42/12:58/12:59/12:16/13:33 - didn't feel any slower than yesterday, but obviously it was.

Last quarter mile the legs felt tight - but I think it was from cold and not being tired.

Drank my ensure/protein concoction.

Left knee (behind) started bugging me a bit while standing around and then during the first half mile of the 1 1/4 mile walk for cooldown with Twilight.  Will stretch good.

RHR 48

Was wide awake at 5 this morning, so finally dragged myself out of bed at 5:30.

Went to bed with a scratchy throat. No surprise - sore throat this morning.

Did a 2.25 mile recovery run/jog down to the Trax and back.  Too lazy to turn on my watch, so let Twilight pace me.  She never broke out of her fast walk and had plenty of time to sniff and do her favorite tightrope act on curbs.

RHR 49

Probably a mistake to run today as bad as I felt, but I was tired of paying for races in 2009 and not running them.

Did 1.75 mile warmup, including part of it with Odee and then passed him back to Harold and Leslie as they started their walk of the course.

I knew that I would not PR because this is a tough course.  Battled nausea during the warmup, so decided to hope to break 30 minutes and do a tempo run instead of racing.

They asked walkers and people with strollers to stay near the back. Of course, no one listened, so a lot of the first mile was spent trying to gain some position.  Easier to do on the uphills when even more people were walking.  However, at that point I also knew I had no energy and wasn't going to break 30. The body was just too wiped from being sick.  Did what I could to push on the downhills, but by the end I was totally out of energy and couldn't even sprint the last .1 mile.

31:17 total      10:14 (uphill), 10:16 (mix of uphill and down), 9:58

Better than a couple of years ago, but not a race time I am very happy with.

3/4 mile cooldown including part of it with Rachel.  Leslie gave me some wassail to drink on my way home.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

RHR 48

Just got back from a recovery run of 2.25 miles with the dog.  Nice to be able to run in shorts and shirt with no gloves. :)

Lingering traces of being sick - but overall am doing much better. Recovery from illness is more like I experienced prior to 2009.

RHR 48

Still a little tired from being sick, but feeling pretty good.

My right ankle and both knees were pretty achy and sore today, so took the day off without a long run or workout.

PM - ok, I decided after cleaning my entire townhouse and reading 2 books today that maybe the pain in my legs was from running hills in the race the other day.  I have been avoiding them with my tendonitis.  So, at 5:30 I headed out for a 2-4 mile run.  I probably did everything wrong tonight - but I had a lot of fun.

I still had my heart rate monitor set for 75-80%, so went with that.  After about 5 minutes, my legs were feeling great, so thought I might do a little more than 4 miles.  The legs were loose and I was relaxed and the pace felt good. I have not yet looked at my mile pace, was running based upon listening to beeps on the heart rate monitor on one wrist and the garmin on the other.  At every mile beep I did a 25 stride pickup and then settled back down.  At my normal turnaround for my 6 mile run, I kept going.  I turned around at 10600 South.  Where I normally quit following the Trax trains, I kept going, then up 80th South to 7th East, down to 7200 S and back home.  Quit doing strides after 7 miles.  Mile 9 I let my heart rate drop below 75%. I was getting pretty cold since I only had dressed for a couple of miles.  Pushed the pace as much as I could in mile 10, but it is a gentle uphill, so don't think I got it as fast as I wanted.

Total time: 2:03:05

Miles:12:21/12:37/12:30/12:07/12:20/12:11/11:49/12:43/13:4710:39

Not bad time for a 'short' run.  Maybe there is something to this heart rate training after all.  Runs like this make all the tough runs worth while.

Longest run I have been on without hydrating or 'gu'ing.

Protein shake down.  Time to stretch.