All it takes is all you've got

9 miles in 7:26 pace

Did 7X50 stride pick-ups in the first few miles.  Going in for some ART on my right ankle/foot this afternoon. Not sure what exactly is tight, but its causing my toes to flex strangely when I walk and feels like my ankle needs an adjustment.  I figure I'd better get some work done on it before it either gets worse or causes other problems.

Don't you love it when you leave your two year old alone in the kitchen and she proceeds to bomb, one by one, a whole plate of watermelon cubes all over the kitchen floor?  Sticky. 

Ran the trails south of East Boulder Community Park with the team

20 min warm up, stretching, strides

2 min at 5:30 pace, 1 min jog, 3 min at 5:37 pace, 1 min jog, 2 min at 5:39 pace

2 min jog

4X30 seconds at 4:48-5:23 pace w/ 1 min jog between each

2 min jog

4 min at 5:37 pace, 2 min jog, 5 min at 5:30 pace, 2 min jog, 4 min at 5:28 pace

2 min jog

4X1 min at 5:20, 5:17, 5:19, and final push at 4:48 pace (pushed hard to stay with Colleen on the last one) with 1 min jog between each

10 minute cool down

Garmin said 10.75 miles in 7:17 pace

I guzzled at least 40 ounces of liquid when I got to my car.  It was hot and I was THIRSTY! 

My right foot/lower leg is still feeling tight.  It was super stiff this morning before I started running. I did lots of stretches and warm up ankle rolls and that seemed to get it moving.  Had ART done on it yesterday and Richey said that my extensor digitorum longus is the culprit.  I'll go back in for more ART on Friday.  He also said he'd look into some good exercises for me to strengthen my shoulder.  He defined me as a "chronic shoulder dislocator."  Sounds defective.

7.25 miles in 7:42 pace

Started off really slowly as my right foot is still pretty tight.  It started to warm up about a half mile in, but that first half mile was pretty difficult.  I'm going in for a massage today, I'll see if I can get some more deep tissue work done on it.

Aaron downloaded some new Band of Horses songs and a few songs by Yeasayers to add to our workout mix.  Its always nice to have some fresh tunes.  This song really got me moving this morning:  

16 miles in 7:34 pace

The first 5 miles were very slow and a little sluggish probably due to the deep tissue massage yesterday.  Then I finally got moving and stayed between 7:00-7:30 pace after that.  My right foot/lower leg is feeling slightly better today than it was yesterday which is good. 

A.M. 4 miles at the gym and weight lifting afterwards.  My shoulder still feels pretty weak.  I tried pull-ups but couldn't fully extend down without feeling like it was going to slip out, so I did five with 75% extension.  Hey, at least I'm not as bad as the guy I saw struggling to lift these little two pound weights.  He was a big (strong looking) dude but for some reason he was straining to lift feather weights.  By the looks of it he had injured his shoulders or just had shoulder surgeries or something because he moved very slowly and didn't have full range of motion yet.  It looked painful.

P.M. 4 miles to the tractor park.  Aaron picked up pizza and met me there with the kids.  I ran my last half mile barefoot with the kids.   

Met my team at Tom Watson Park for some tempo running around Boulder Res

15 min warm up, stretching, strides.

20 minutes at marathon effort.  Pretty flat trail around the dam; my splits were 6:00, 5:53, 6:01, final .4 at 6:14 pace with a hill.

4 minutes jog to re-group

20 minutes at half marathon effort.  This section had a lot more hills than the first.  Splits were 5:56, 6:11 (big long hill), 5:50, final .4 in 6:08 pace (short killer hill at the end).

4 minutes jog

5 minutes hard (I did 5:40 pace) 

10 minute cool down

This was a pretty tough workout.  It was hot and its always pretty much fully exposed when we run around Boulder Reservoir.  I've been hydrating a ton since I finished.  The good news is that my right ankle/lower leg didn't hurt at all!  Yeah!

I talked to Coach afterwards and told him I do want him to get me into the New Haven 20K on Labor Day.  After talking to Aaron about it the past couple of weeks we think it would be a great opportunity for me to race the elite competition at sea-level and hopefully give me some added confidence going into Baltimore.  It will be my first National Championship and my first 20K.  Darren said Colleen may be doing it too which is cool.  I'll probably just make it a very quick trip.  Aaron will stay home with the kids and I'll fly out Sunday, race Monday morning and fly home Monday evening.