Rhett

What a beautiful morning to get back into the flow of training.  I missed being in training mode for the last month with taper and recovery.  It was 59 degrees, clear sky, and a very slight breeze when I took off this morning right before the sun came up.  As the sun rose over the moutain I couldn't help but think how great it was that I was out running on this perfect morning.  Soon it will be close to 100 degrees at that time in the morning, so I took in every breath with joy.

I decided I better get started on training for the downhill of UVM today, so I ran up, up, up the highest paved road in Havasu the long, less steep way.  It was 8 miles to the top from my house and 1000 foot gain.  Then I turned around and ran down, down, down the short, steeper way back to my houses... 5 miles with the 1000 foot drop. 

I ran up keeping my effort on the hard end of easy.  I averaged 7:41 per mile.  When I turned around, I kicked it up to tempo effort and averaged 6:20 per mile on the way down.  It felt great to cruise down the mountain.

Total run 13 miles, 1:33:11, AP 7:10

Lower body weights

Ab and core work

20 minutes stair speed intervals

10 minutes elliptical

I guess summer is right around the corner.  When I started my run at 5 am this morning it was 75 degrees and by the time I finished it was 80.  I went to the track for the first time in over a year today to do my speed work.  I did all my speed work over the last year on the TM.  I figured it was time to graduate to big boy running and go to the track.

I drove to the track, then did 2 warm up miles on the road.  Then I hit the track.  I started with 8 x 150m In/Out sprints (50m build up/ 50m at 90 to 95% of an all out sprint/ 50m cruise) with 250m very slow recovery jog.

Then I did 1 mile recovery jog and then 4 x 1mile with 400m walk recovery.  Splits:  6:12 (on the first mile I realized just how much the pevious sprints had taken out of me), 6:11, 6:13, and 6:22 (I completely fell apart on this last mile.)  I then finished with 3 mile cool down on the roads.

It fet great to be back at the track and running fast.  I found that I have not run all out much probably since my days of playing soccer and my form was choppy.  I need to work on running smoothly at a full sprint.  I think it will help with my form when I step back to my normal speeds. 

Total run 13 miles,  1:41:??

Lower body weights

abs and core work

20 minutes stair speed intervals

10 minutes elliptical

Just the normal Tuesday/Thursday workout

I woke up at 4am and got ready to run.  I wasn't hungry so just had a glass of water before heading out the door.  About half mile into my run I realized I had forgotten to put any gu packs into my hydration belt which just had water in it.  I thought about heading back for some but decided to keep on going.  I was doing 20 miles.

The first 10 were uneventful.  I didn't push the pace since I new I was running without carbs.  I hit the 10 mile mark just under 1:15 for an average of 7:30 miles.  About half mile into the first mile of the second 10 I could feel my energy levels dropping.  I slowed to pace a bit to try and conserve energy, but it wasn't long before I felt like I was on a death march.  That was a tough 10 miles and the last 2 I felt like I wasn't even running straight anymore.  I was just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.  By the time I got home I was a bit delirious and I'm still not feeling too good.  The second 10 miles took me 1:24:15 averaging about 8:28 miles.  

Total run 20 miles, 2:39:15,  AP 7:59

Too make me feel just a little bit worse, I logged onto the SGM web site and found out that Doone and I didn't get drawn for the big race.  Oh well, we'll just have to find another one to do. 

One hour stationary bike.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers on the blog.

Same run as last Monday.  I'm going to call it my UP/DOWN run.  8 miles up easy, then 5 miles down at tempo effort.  AP up 7:45, AP down 6:09.

Total run 13 miles, AP 7:09, 1:32:55

Felt really easy the whole way.  Gotta like that. 

Tuesday/Thursday workout

Lower body weights

Abs and core work

20 minutes stairs speed intervals

10 minutes elliptical

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  Same as always.

Tomorrow I get to sprint again though!!!!!!!!!!

What a beautiful day for speed work at the track!!!  It was 60 degrees with no wind.

2+ mile warm up on the roads. 

8 x 150m In/Out sprints with 250m slow recovery jog.  The all out 50m sprint in the middle of the 150m felt much smoother and faster this week.

4 x 1 mile with 400m walk recoverys. Splits as follows: 5:52 (this felt slow after those sprints), 5:57, 5:56, 6:02 (my legs started tying up right at the beginning of this mile.)

3+ mile cool down on the roads.

Total run 13 miles, 1:45:59

Lower body weights

Abs and Core

20 minutes stair speed intervals

Was running late so no time for the usual elliptical work.  I'm so crazy mixing it up like that. LOL

If you recall last week I ran 20 miles without carbs and crashed hard early in the run.  I was thinking about that run and how I felt the night before and the day after, and I realized I probably had a little flu bug or something.  I therefor decided to recreate the run today.  I ate last night at dinner for my last meal.  I didn't eat before my run this morning.  I did pack gu packs with me incase I crashed like last week, but I didn't end up using any.  I just drank water on the run.  It was a much better experience this week.

I ran the same route as last week, and the first 10 miles I was 30 seconds faster, right at 1:14:30 for an AP of 7:27.  Of course I did slow down on the second half being that I had no fuel, but nothing like last week.  The second 10 took my 1:19:25, AP 7:55.  I felt a million times better than last week and was not completely delirious when I got home.  

Total run 20 miles, 2:33:55, AP 7:42

I definitely had some kind of bug last week.  I don't think I'll be attempting the fuel free 20 mile run any time soon again though.  It definitely is a tough run for those last few miles.  Next Friday 24 miles... with plenty of carbs! 

I have not run more than 3 days a week for over a year now.  Today that changed.  I have decided to do Doone's long runs with her during her marathon training, so I'll be doing those with her on Saturday mornings as a nice recovery run from my Friday long runs.  We got up early since I needed to be at a service project at 6:30.  It was a beautiful morning and it was so fun to run and talk with my sweetie.  The time really flew by.  I can tell I will look forward to our weekly runs.  How great is it to get to go out and spend quality time like that with the one you love!

10 miles, AP 9:34

Up/Down run today.  I ran the first 8 up slower than normal even though I felt like I was giving the usual effort.  AP 7:56  Then I kicked it up to a tempo pace coming down the last 5 miles.  AP 6:03  I was right at 6 minute pace through 4 miles but faded to a 6:15 mile on the last one.  It was gravitationally aided, but it was the fastest 5 miles I've ever run-- 30:15

Now for the not so great news.  During my 2nd week of recovery after Boston on a 5 mile run my shin started bugging me.  I figured it was just some mile shin splints which I've always just iced for a few days and never had any reall problems.  Over the last couple weeks it has gotten to a high pain level, but not really bothered me after getting into my run after a couple miles.  The pain got high enough that I bought some compression sleeves last week and started using them.  It really seemed to help a lot.  When I started my run this morning, my shin felt better than it has in weeks.  However, when I was doing my 5 fast miles down this morning, I got sloppy with one of my steps and heal planted instead of landing on my forefoot, and a super sharp pain shot up my leg.  This was with about a mile and a half to go.  I was able to focus on form after that and finish without much pain.  I iced as soon as I got home which made it feel a bit better, but after showering and getting ready when I tried to stand up the pain was intense.  I sure hope it is just some inflamation and not a stress fractrue.  I'm wearing a compression sock on it now and took some imbuprofin and it seems to be doing a bit better.  I'll just have to be careful with it and make sure I don't doing anything too stupid with UVM right around the corner.

Total run 13 miles, 1:33:37, AP 7:12

I woke up and the first few steps out of bed were painful, but then my shin started feeling better.  I rolled it a bit.  That hurt!  Then I went to the gym.

Abs and Core work

Lower body weights.  Calf raieses don't hurt the shin until the very last one when I let off the resistance.

30 minutes elliptical.  I skipped the stair work since I decided the extra impact wouldn't be good on the shin.  Elliptical caused no discomfort at all and actually made walking feel better when I was done.

I'm hoping it feels good enough tomorrow that I can do some speed work.  If not, I'll just do some cross training.

My leg pain felt much better with my first few steps out of bed this morning, so I decided to attempt my normal speed work this morning.  I did 2+ miles warm up on the roads (Lots of pain for the first 1/4 mile then just mild pain.), then began my track work.

8 x 150m In/Out sprints with 250m recovery jog.  These felt good until the last couple when the pain started to increase.

Planned on 5 x 1 mile repeats (sub 6) with 1/4 mile walk breaks.  After the first mile which was pathetically slow and way to painful at 6:06,  I decided I better call it a day and live to run another day.  I just couldn't push the speed with the pain level I was at.  I'll give it a go again next week if I'm feeling better.

Total run 6 miles,  51:51 

1 hour stationary bike

Pain still very high in my leg when walking.  I'm wearing my boot I got when I tore my PF tendon.  It seems to help with the pain significantly.

24 miles, 3:00:00, AP 7:30

That is what I was supposed to be doing this morning.  Instead, I slept in.  When I finally got up, I iced my leg/ankle.  Today will be a total rest day.  Pain level is still high walking and my foot doesn't move quite right when I walk.  My shin bone isn't really hurting when I push on it anymore which makes me think I may have had some mild shin splints, but there is something else going on.  After a brief brush up on my anatomy, I realize the pain radiates along my posterior tibia tendon from about the spot where the shin pain was, down past my ankle bone to the side of my foot.  Hopefully I've just sprained that tendon and a few more days in the boot will have me good as new, but the feeling of pain, discomfort, and lack of control of the foot is very similar to what I experienced when I ruptured my PF tendon.  I may have to bite the bullet and go see the doc.  I'll wait until next week and see how it's doing though.  I'm sure I'll fork out a thousand dollars for them to tell me to stay off of it. 

The run could have been worse, but it could have been a whole lot better too.  Doone and I got up early and were running by 5.  We decided to run on the island for a couple reasons: 1.  It is flat and 2.  It is 3.7 miles so I would never be to far from the car.  The plan was to do 3 laps for 11.1 miles.  Mile one was definitely more painful than I anticipated.  The pain level seemed to come down a bit on the second mile though.  By mile 3 I decided things were definitely not right were probably only going to get worse if I kept running, so I called it a day after the first lap and left Doone to finish the next 2 laps on her own.  

3.7 miles AP 9:30

I'm now sitting here with ice on my leg typing this and hoping that I will be able to walk today and tomorrow.  If I'm walking normal, it will be a good sign that I'm recovering well, if not, I could be in trouble for UVM.  Looks like I won't be running for another week either way.  I have to go pick up Doone soon.  Better run... well hobble. :) 

After 4 complete rest days, I can now walk without a limp.  Yea! 

Abs and Core

Cycle x 1hour

Elliptical x 10 minutes

Still walking without  limp.

Still hoping to run UVM.

I woke up this morning and got out of bed and, sweet, no sharp pain in my leg with the first few steps.  It is still sore, but not the sharp pain I had been getting.

Went to the gym.

Abs and Core work

1 hour station cycle, 20.61 miles

I'm really hoping to go with Doone on her run Saturday.  I think there is a good chance I'll be able to do it.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  Still 48 hours of healing before then. 

1 hour elliptical

Leg is feeling pretty good today.  I can still feel the strain, but no pain with walking or elliptical.  I'm going to try and run with Doone tomorrow.  I'll keep myself on a short leash though.